“But you’re wrong. You’re not the most expendable.” Heedless of Lina’s murmured protest, Ronin closed the distance between them, pulling Dagan in for a hug. “And I know you’re fully capable of handling it.”
Sudden pressure blurred Dagan’s vision at Ronin’s unexpected words. At his brother’s faith in him.
“I also know you’re going to protect her,” Ronin whispered into his ear, “Which includes keeping your hands to yourself, right?”
Dagan stiffened at the undercurrent of warning in his brother’s voice. Of course. Just because he was good enough to risk his life for Lina didn’t mean he was good enough for her. Not in Ronin’s eyes. He never would be.
Knowing Ronin expected it, he gave a grunt of assent.
Ronin let him go and knelt to run a hand down Lina’s cheek. “Lina, I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt you. I love you.”
She gave Ronin a half-hearted smile, closing her hand over his. “I love you too, jackass. Now get the hell out of here before I inadvertently blow you to smithereens.”
Ronin wordlessly rose and headed toward Keegan.
The expression on Keegan’s face practically tore Dagan in two. He couldn’t have looked more sick to his stomach. Dagan gave him a quiet nod that acknowledged his eldest brother’s unspoken request to keep himself safe.
“Take care of yourself, little bro,” Taeg said, his voice uncharacteristically serious.
Dagan watched as his brothers and Maya left the clearing. Part of him wanted to yell for them to come back, not to leave him. He’d gotten so used to the four of them handling things together. But he’d made the right call. Lina needed his help, and he was going to give it to her.
“You should have gone with them,” Lina croaked, her voice resigned.
Dagan turned to her with a grin. “And miss out on the fun of hanging out with you? No way.”
She let out a hoarse laugh. “Here’s to hoping we live to see tomorrow.”
Wasn’t that the freaking truth? But she didn’t need to know he felt the same way about their chances. Right now, she needed strength and reassurance.
He gave her a cheeky wink. “Nothing like living on the edge, sweetheart.”
Nothing like living on the edge.
Chapter Seventeen
“What do you mean they’ve escaped?”
How was such a thing even possible?
After stomping down the wide stone steps leading to the castle grounds, Belpheg raked his chief sentinel Emry with his withering gaze. “They were outnumbered!”
Emry flinched, folding his yellow wings into his body. “They slipped away through the holes they rent in the shield and then lost us in the woods. We traced their tracks back to the site of the portal, but they were already gone, and we couldn’t pick up their trail on the other side.”
Belpheg gritted his teeth, and a stray bolt of energy zipped from his body, flitting through the air above Emry. The sentinel bit back a yelp and ducked, his eyes going wide with terror. Belpheg turned away before he gave into his urge to destroy the ishtari demon. Much as he might want to do so, halfway decent help was hard to find these days, and the kind that flew was even harder to come by.
“You assured me you’d be able to capture them once they broke through the shield,” he said quietly. “Easily, you said.”
“Ye-yes, but…we didn’t expect them to break the shield in so many spots…or to bring winged backup.”
The brothers had taken a great risk in bringing help with them. Of course, it was no more than could be expected, given their prior track record. Which was why Belpheg had taken the extra insurance of booby-trapping the blond angel. Time to make better use of her.
“Find Thorne,” he said to Emry. “Have him bring the angel to me.”
Once the brothers knew she’d been rigged to go off on his command, they’d be sure to fall into place. At least her adopted angel sibling would, and he already knew from witnessing their actions that where one brother went, the others would eventually follow.
A hoarse chuckle from somewhere behind him had him whirling around. It was Rage, Mammon’s long-lost son. He leaned casually against the stone railing with his hand in the pocket of his black jeans. A hint of a silver necklace peeked out from the collar of his fitted black shirt, and he wore a matching ring on his right hand.
“What is it?” Belpheg snapped at the vampire hybrid, who gazed at him in amusement.
“You’re gonna find it hard to talk to Thorne,” the vampire said. “I found him in the room of that hostage you took. He’s dead.”
Belpheg sucked in a breath, somehow setting off a momentary stutter in his heart.