Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy #1)(70)

“She offered it,” he said. “I was already hunting her, but the deal was her idea.”

I wasn’t about to admit how jealous I was. “So now she’s your girl, eh? What happened to not falling for humans?”

“Never said I fell for her.” Zane frowned, shifting his stance. He was such an obvious liar. “But of course she’s mine. I claimed her.”

I chuckled, although I was a fucking hypocrite to taunt him for it while I was still pining over an absolutely hopeless situation.

“So, Everly,” I said. “You know where she is? And this Archdemon of hers, how strong is he?”

Zane sighed heavily. “In a fight to the death, the two of us together, against him…” He shrugged. “We’d hold out for a few minutes. Maybe.”

“Fuck.”

“I’m telling you not to go after her, Leon.”

“Noted. Where is she?”

“Goddamn stubborn bastard,” Zane scowled, hands shoved in his pockets. “There’s an old coven house, northwest of here. I’ll text you the coordinates, as close as I can estimate them. Juni and I went there looking for —”

“Juni?” I snorted. “Fucking hell.”

“Oh, shut up.” He shoved me, and reached into his jacket for another joint. “I think we both know you’re goddamn bleeding romantic, Leon, so don’t taunt me for it.” He put the joint to his lips and lit up, the sour smell wafting around us. “Anyway. We were looking for the elder witch, Heidi. Didn’t find her.”

“I could’ve told you she died years ago.” Zane tweaked an eyebrow at me, and I shook my head. “Suicide. I didn’t do it, though Kent likely would have set me on her sooner or later.”

“Ah, well...we got another nasty surprise instead. I thought he was going to rip us to shreds before Everly gentled him like a lamb. We were lucky the witch was willing to talk with us. If she hadn’t been, well...” He shuddered. “I wouldn’t be standing here right now. That Archdemon would have killed us both.”

“You get a name?”

“Callum.” Zane flicked his ash to the wind. “Never heard of him. He’s ancient. He’s been out of Hell a long time, if I had to guess.”

“Perhaps the coven summoned him a long time ago, and made a deal with him.”

“Maybe. Hell, I’d stick around for a witch’s soul.” He glanced over at me pointedly. “Have to make the trouble worth it.”

“Yeah? All that trouble with Juniper worth it?”

He exhaled sharply. “She’s a little monster. Vicious as hell, body like a fucking succubus. It’s worth it.”

The night grew colder as we stood there, passing the joint in silence. It always felt the same with Zane: always steady, the one constant through my few centuries of life. We could part for decades like it was nothing, then spend decades more in each other’s company.

A howl pierced the night, and Zane and I glanced toward the trees at the far side of the shore. Dark, long-legged shapes scuttled through the shadows, like massive spiders on the prowl.

Zane spat in the sand. “Fucking Eld. Been centuries since I’ve seen so many in one place.”

“They’ve been hunting Raelynn,” I said grimly. “Stalking her house. They’re forming packs. I nearly lost my arm to them.” I rolled my shoulder, where the tenderness still lingered deep, near the bone. It would heal eventually.

“They’ve been coming for Juniper too, but she holds her own well enough. They dug up her brother from the yard though.”

“Marcus?”

He nodded. “She buried him in the yard up at her cabin and the beasts dug him up.”

I shook my head. “She went down into the mine and got his body out?”

“Yeah. I went with her. Wouldn’t recommend it. Awful place.”

I had to laugh. I’d been feeling sorry for myself, but at least Raelynn wasn’t dragging me right onto the God’s doorstep. “She’s mad.”

“Completely. She’s going after the Hadleighs next.” He grinned at me. “Don’t think I’ll be able to convince her to save the old bastard for you to kill.”

“Dead is dead.” I shrugged. “Tell her to hurry up. It’s hard enough keeping Raelynn alive. Damn woman’s sense of self-preservation is broken.”

“If she’s spending time with you? Clearly.”

“Asshole.” I shoved my knuckles against his shoulder as I turned to go, and he caught my wrist, holding it captive.

“Hey. Don’t get yourself killed,” he said softly.

I scoffed. “I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be reckless.”

“Hasn’t killed me yet —”

His fingers moved from my wrist to my throat, squeezed, yanked me forward so we were face to face. “Don’t. Get. Yourself. Killed.” Each word punctuated by a squeeze. The bar in his tongue flashed silver as he spoke, the mark I’d put there ages ago. “Got it, kid?”

I scowled. “I fucking hate that.”

“I know.” He let me go with a shove, and took another long drag from the joint. “Call me if you need me.”

“And you’d better do the same.”