Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(135)

So Rose had gotten her chance and she’d taken it. I smiled, thinking of Rose running. She would run straight for her mother and she wouldn’t look back and she’d managed to save Robert in the process. She would feel the sun on her face again and know her mother’s arms around her. She would get her life back, and I was so grateful for that.

“That’s marvelous,” I murmured. “How’s Marini taking all of this?”

“He’s this close to losing control,” Trent said, holding his thumb and forefinger very close together. “He’s been violent and cruel. I worry he’s going to take it out on you.”

“I think you’ll find a companion has many talents,” I said enigmatically. I would have to sooth the vampire and I hated the prospect, but I couldn’t have his beast loose. I swallowed twice before I got the next question out. “Has Daniel…does he know about…Dev?”

Trent frowned. “I think so. I haven’t heard, but I can’t communicate every day. This is the part I don’t think you’ll like. Marini sent the magician and two other vampires to deliver the prince’s body to the Order’s headquarters last night. Only Thomas came back. He said they were ambushed and only he got away. I don’t know why, but I think he was lying about something.”

“Naturally he survives.” I hated Chad with everything I had. Before all of this was done, I was going to kill that vampire. I knew Neil would be upset but I wouldn’t let Chad get his hands on my best friend after what he’d done to Dev. I would protect Neil by avenging my husband. “How long do I have before sundown?”

Trent checked his watch. “Fifteen minutes. If you’re all right, I need to get down to the dungeons and check something out. This morning a couple of the guards found a wolf prowling the sewers. He won’t leave his wolf form, and they couldn’t chase him away. It was like he was tracking someone and wouldn’t give it up. I think he’s sick but I need to figure out if he’s a friendly before Marini up and kills him. Maybe I can get him out.”

My hands started shaking. “Is he white?”

“I think so,” Trent said.

I was running for the door before Trent could get up.





“Neil?”

My voice was hushed in the gloom of the dungeon. I forced myself to go in. I was pretty sure that my every nightmare would take place in this dark prison from now on. The first thing I saw when I entered the dungeons was Dev, that big body of his hitting the floor with a resounding thud. He wouldn’t get up again. I hated the fact that when I closed my eyes and thought of my husband, this was the image I got.

I shook the thoughts from my brain and rejoined reality. A white wolf lay on the stone floor of the same cell where my husband had died. He was so still, his fur matted and drab, and I feared I was too late again.

“You know this wolf?” Trent was careful now because there was a shifter watching us.

I nodded. “He’s my friend. He was tracking me. I have no idea how he managed to get all the way here, but I’m sure he was looking for me.”

“Marini will be thrilled to find out he got close enough to sniff out his companion,” the shifter muttered. I was almost certain he would shift into a large snake. There was something about the eyes even in human form that reminded me of the cold dead eyes of a snake.

“I need to get in there with him.” I forced myself to concentrate on Neil and not the predators that surrounded me.

“No,” the men said in perfect harmony.

“Please,” I begged. “He isn’t dangerous.”

“I’m not taking that chance,” the shifter said. “The master is going to be pissed enough we let him get anywhere close to us. The last thing I need is him knowing I let his companion into a cell with an unknown wolf.”

Neil’s white head struggled as he tried to look around for me.

“I’m here, sweetie,” I said through the cell bars. I moved to the cell and shoved my hands through. I was able to get close and Neil whimpered as he finally caught my scent and realized it wasn’t a trail but the destination. His clear blue eyes turned and found mine, and I cried as he crawled toward me. “It’s all right, Neil. I’m here. It’s going to be okay.”

I didn’t know why he wouldn’t change, but I didn’t care. He often stayed in wolf form when he felt vulnerable. I just let my fingers run through the soft fur of his back. He crawled close and turned over to offer me his belly, a sure sign he needed comfort. I rubbed him and murmured reassuring words to him.

That was how Louis found us some time later.

“I see you woke up,” the vampire said, staring down at me as I kneeled by the cage. Even with some distance between us, I could feel his rage. “And you found a friend.”

I kept my expression as soft as I could. Louis’s beast was dangerously close to the surface. Daniel’s plans were working. Marini was losing control and he was more prone to make mistakes when he panicked. Unfortunately, he was also more likely to beat the shit out of me. I had to avoid that at all costs. “You remember Neil.”

He should since he was the one who had given Stewart permission to cart him off to the Hell plane.

“I remember the wolf,” Louis said with not a whit of concern in his voice. “He was given to the demon as payment for the demon’s betrayal. He looks worse for the wear.”