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“Dammit, Laylah, don’t wig out, she really does mean fate.”

She grit her teeth. “Caine, I’m not in the mood to be jerked around. Tell me what’s going on or I swear I’ll fry you.”Advertisement

“She’s …” He hesitated before the words were seemingly ripped from his lips. “A prophet.” Prophet?

Well, that was a conversation ender.

Laylah sucked in a startled breath, her powers faltering.

“She sees the future?”

“Only in glimpses,” Caine warily admitted, clearly driven by a primitive need to protect the beautiful Were. A dangerous position.

If she truly were a prophet then she would be considered a holy grail among the demon world.

“I thought they were extinct,” she said.

“Most people thought the same of Jinn mongrels,” Caine pointed out dryly.

Laylah grimaced.

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Couldn’t argue with that.

She turned toward the Were who possessed such an eerie resemblance to Harley.

“So if you’re not completely out of your mind, why has some mystical fate brought me here?”

She shrugged. “I don’t have a clue.”

“Great. Then fate’s out of luck …”

“No,” Cassie hastily interrupted. “It’s the child.” Laylah’s gut twisted in fear. “What about him?” “He’s in danger.”

Laylah frowned. That was the prophecy?

“Not really a newsflash. Why do you think I was trying to get away? If you hadn’t interfered …”

Caine’s growl trickled through the air. “Careful, Jinn.”

Cassie waved aside her champion, her expression troubled as she touched Laylah’s arm, insanely indifferent to the danger of being so close to the stasis spell that surrounded the baby.

“Don’t be blinded by the obvious threats. There are more than you suspect.”

“Perfect,” Laylah muttered, then she jerked back in alarm when the crazy Were placed a hand directly over the spell surrounding the baby. “Hey. What are you doing?”

The woman’s eyes flared with a blinding white light. “The Gemini.”

Laylah stepped back, cradling the child tight against her chest. Hidden threats? Gemini?

It was the sort of babble that she would expect from a fake prophet, not the real deal.

“I don’t know what that means.”

“The alpha and the omega.” Cassie shrugged, her eyes returning to normal. “To find the end you must return to the beginning.”

Chapter 17

A cold prickle filled the air, sharply reminding Laylah she already had enough known enemies to worry about without adding mysterious ones.

“Okay. I really need to be on my way.”

Cassie shook her head. “Not yet.”

Caine spun toward the empty fields, catching the unmistakable scent of vampire the same moment as Laylah.

“Cassie, someone’s coming.”

“Tane,” Laylah breathed, relief slamming through her that he was safe.

Caine lifted his brows in surprise. “A friend of yours?”

“He’s not alone,” Cassie said, thankfully diverting Laylah from the need of explaining her complicated relationship with Tane.

“That damned gargoyle,” Caine muttered, his head tilted back as he sniffed the air. “And … what?”

“Darkness,” Cassie breathed.

Caine swore. “We’re out of here.”

Cassie lifted a restraining hand as Caine reached to toss her over his shoulder.

“No, Caine. I must speak with the vampire.”

Laylah might have admired the tiny woman’s ability to tame the once rebellious cur if she hadn’t been consumed with the sight of the infuriated vampire who was barreling toward her with a strange fey tossed over his shoulder and a gargoyle on his heels.

It wasn’t a sight you ran across every day.

“Damn you, Laylah, you’re supposed to be …”

“Don’t start with me, He-man,” she warned, wisely shifting backward as Tane tossed aside the unconscious fey and glared toward Caine. Two alphas in the same space was never, ever a good thing. “It wasn’t my choice to be here.”

Tane moved to stand directly between Laylah and Caine, his frigid power lashing through the air.

“I thought I caught the stench of dog.”

Caine’s eyes glowed with the inner light of a pureblood. “You want a piece of me, bloodsucker?”

Laylah grabbed Tane’s arm. “No, Tane. We don’t have time for a pissing contest.”

With a blithe disregard for life and limb, Levet waddled between the two predators, studying Caine with a puzzled expression.

“Hey, I know you.” He rubbed his stub of a nose. “Mon Dieu, what have you done to yourself?”

Tane scowled. “What’s going on?”

Laylah and Cassie shared a glance of mutual female exasperation.

“Long story short, this is Caine who had a run-in with a demon lord who transformed him into a pureblood,” Laylah said.

Tane stiffened. “The cur who held you captive?”

“She was never my prisoner,” Caine snapped, as if offended by the accusation.

“Please, we have little time.” Cassie stepped forward, belatedly capturing Tane’s attention.

“God … damn,” he muttered in shock.

Levet was equally astonished. “The last of Darcy’s sisters.”

Tane nodded. “Styx must be told.”

“No fucking way …”

“Caine.” Cassie hastily halted Caine with a hand to his chest. She glanced toward Laylah, as if hoping for a little “women versus men” cooperation. “I am only here to deliver a warning.”

Tane predictably ignored what he didn’t want to hear. “I’ll take you to your sister and you can deliver all the warnings you want.”

Caine’s scent was musky as his wolf prowled to the surface.

“Touch her and die, vampire.”

“Tane, you must listen to her,” Laylah commanded. “She’s a prophet.”

Dead silence greeted her little announcement.

Even Levet was speechless.

Nothing less than a miracle.

At last, Tane shook his head. “Impossible.”

“Cassie, you’re wasting your time,” Caine snapped, firmly scooping her into his arms and heading for the Jeep. “A vampire’s ego is too bloated to listen to advice, no matter who’s offering it.”

Cassie didn’t struggle, but she did pop her head over Caine’s shoulder.

“Vampire, you must not kill your prisoner.”

Tane glanced toward the forgotten fey lying on the ground. “Why not?”

“You will have need of him.”

“I will have need of him? Wait.” Tane clenched his hands as Caine settled Cassie in the passenger seat and then leaped behind the wheel, taking off in a cloud of dust. “This mystical future shit is pissing me off, “ he muttered.

Laylah parted her lips to demand an explanation of why Tane was carrying around an unconscious Sylvermyst, when all three of them froze in alarm.

The scent of herbs carried on the breeze, and something much worse.

A deranged vampire.

“Umm …” Levet cleared his throat. “Can you be pissed off somewhere far away from here?”

Tane glanced toward the horizon. “Damn. It’s too close to dawn to make it to my lair.”

“Hand over the Sylvermyst and I will consider offering you shelter.”

The female voice came without warning, nearly making Laylah jump out of her shoes. Tane, on the other hand, had his dagger flying toward the gas station and the sword pulled from the scabbard he’d strapped to his back.

With the calm arrogance only a vampire could claim, the woman snatched the dagger from midair and stepped out of the decrepit building.

“Hunter,” Tane rasped in a low tone.

“Hunter?” Laylah questioned, not sure whether she should be relieved or screaming in horror.

“They’re vampires who are born with the rare ability to wrap themselves in such deep shadows that no one can detect their presence,” he explained. “Traditionally they hire themselves out to hunt down demons who don’t want to be found. Very exclusive and very expensive.”

Laylah wondered if Tane was mistaken.

The female looked like a fashion model with the exotic beauty that only a mixture of races could achieve.

Tall and slender, her glossy black hair that hinted at her Asian ancestry was contained in a tight braid that hung down her back. There was also a touch of the East in her faintly slanted eyes, although they were a dark shade of blue that revealed a European heritage. Her skin was as pale as alabaster and her lips a lush shade of pink.

She was drop-dead gorgeous.

Of course, she was dressed in black spandex from head to foot that gave off a whole Mission Impossible vibe and the sawed-off shotgun holstered at her side did warn she might not be just another pretty face.

Twirling the dagger, she approached with a bold nonchalance that Laylah could only envy.

“You must be Jaelyn,” Tane said.

“And you must be Tane, the Charon,” the female drawled.

Laylah frowned. “Are the two of you acquainted?”

“No, but I recognize her skills. What do you want with the Sylvermyst?”

The vampire glanced toward the unconscious fey. “I’ve been tracking him for days.”

“Why?”

She smiled, flashing her fangs. Nope, no fashion model. “Not your biz.”

Tane narrowed his gaze. “Considering he’s currently my prisoner, I’d say it’s very much my biz.” pqdm.com