Nick must still be with the Daimons, plotting who knew what against them. Rage over that ripped through him as it opened wounds that Ethon struggled every day to keep closed.
"Fine, you little bastard. You better stay in hiding."
Sooner or later, Nick would be back and Ethon would kill him.
Dev stared down as Sam finally slept. Even though she was tall and a fierce fighter, something about her looked incredibly vulnerable while she slept.
Why am I so attracted to you?
All he wanted was to keep her safe and that made no sense whatsoever. It was like she was under his skin and just being near her made him feel more alive than he ever had before. In fact it was taking all of his willpower not to strip his clothes off, lie down beside her, and wrap her in his arms.
This was so not him. He was normally more than content to have his one-night stands and then send them on their way as soon as he could.
He heard a light knock on the door.
Stepping away from the bed, he opened it to find Ethon on the other side. "Chi and I are downstairs. The Charonte are beginning to stir so that they can get the club ready to open. Do you guys need anything?"
"No. Thanks."
Ethon inclined his head to him. "Acheron said to keep her here even if she protests."
"And she will."
Ethon laughed. "Yeah, probably." He moved to close the door.
Dev stopped him before he withdrew completely. "You and Sam seem a little tight. Do you know how she became a Dark-Hunter?"
Ethon's expression was as dry as his tone. "She sold her soul to Artemis."
Dev let out an irritated breath at his smart-ass comment. "I'm being serious, Ethon."
He glanced to the bed as indecision marked his dark gaze. Finally he looked back at Dev and answered. "Her sister betrayed her. Sam had just been voted in as queen and her sister wanted the crown. So she made a pact with a group of Daimons for them to kill Sam and her immediate family to remove them from the line of succession."
That news hit him like a blow to his gut. The cruelty of it was unfathomable. What kind of bitch would do such a thing? "You've got to be kidding me."
"I would never kid about this. I think it's why Sam has the power of psychometry."
Dev frowned. "I don't follow."
Ethon swallowed hard before he lowered his voice. "Had she known what her sister was thinking and planning, she'd have been able to save her family."
In a weird way, that did make sense. "So who all did her sister kill? Sam and her other sisters?"
"Sam only had the one sister." Ethon's features turned sharp. Deadly. "They killed her husband, Dev, and her three-year-old daughter, right in front of her eyes as she lay dying."
Pain slammed into him with those words. For an entire minute, he couldn't breathe. How had she stood it? He wanted her sister's blood for her. What kind of bitch could do that to her own family?
Her own sister? Her niece.
And he hoped with every part of him that Sam had gone for her sister's throat and ripped it out.
"No wonder she fights like she does."
Ethon nodded. "It's why she can't stand to feel powerless. Had she not been pregnant, about to deliver her next kid, they would never have--"
"What?" Dev's heart stopped beating.
Ethon's expression told him that the Spartan was every bit as sickened by what had happened to her as Dev was. "She was pregnant when they killed her. I thought you knew."