The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(78)

She almost dropped the phone. Not Rachel at all—a recording. “I know it’s not her. You can stop now.”

But it just kept playing on loop until Zach extracted the phone from her hands and ended the call. He pulled her into his arms, and she actually let him, sinking into the feel of his skin on hers. The comfort was a lie, but she took it all the same. “She could already be dead.”

“He kept the other two alive for almost a week.”

But things had changed between Elouise and Neveah. The unsub was learning, evolving. Elouise had been his first—she’d stake her badge on it. Maybe not his first killing, but his first ritualized killing. With Neveah, he’d perfected his technique, added elements that hadn’t been there with Elouise. Why?

That was the question. Or, rather, it was one question to add to the growing list currently threatening to drown her.

“We can’t take anything for granted.” She slipped out of his arms and stood. The sun no longer felt like a welcoming friend. Now it was a glaring reminder of a time slipping through her fingers. If Rachel was still alive, she was on borrowed time. And there wasn’t a damn thing Eden could do about it.

Nothing except find the piece of shit who was doing this.

He. “Rachel said ‘he’ in the recording.”

“We always thought it was a man.” Zach hadn’t moved from his spot on the bed, watching her get dressed with an unreadable expression on his face. “The evidence of sexual activity indicates it.”

“That can be faked.” At least to some extent.

He narrowed his eyes. “You think there’s a woman involved. Why?”

“I don’t know.” There was something there, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “It’s just a gut feeling. The entirety of the Elysian faith centers around this powerful woman and her daughter—who is equally powerful if one were to look at it like that.”

“What do you mean?”

She pulled her shirt over her head and met his gaze. “What no one seems to remember is that Persephone wasn’t only Demeter’s daughter or Hades’ wife. She was the queen of the underworld in her own right.”

He studied her, almost as if seeing her for the first time. “Martha considers you her Persephone.”

“Yes.” She sat on the bed to pull on her socks. “And so does the unsub.”

His sigh was so quiet, she half wondered if she’d imagined it. She knew what he wanted—for her to promise to be safe and to actually follow through on that promise, but she couldn’t do either. If putting herself into the path of danger meant Rachel would survive this, she’d do that without a thought. That was her job. She’d signed up for it when she took the badge. Rachel was just a kid.

Once upon a time, Eden had been just a kid caught up in the dangerous world of Elysia. No one had come to save her back then, but Rachel had a whole team working to ensure she got out of this alive.

She pushed to her feet. “We need to get moving. Hopefully forcing them to give DNA samples will spook the unsub into action.”

“You mean action like making an attempt on you.”

That was exactly what she meant. She turned to face him, squaring her shoulders. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Make time.” He stood, and she got temporarily distracted by the sheer sight that was Zach Owens in the nude.

She forced herself to look away. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand all too well.” The sympathy in his blue eyes almost did her in. “You can’t change what happened to you. It wasn’t your fault, and it was beyond your control. You’ve made something of your life that would make anyone proud. Getting yourself killed isn’t going to do anything but guarantee that they win.”

She glared. “I know that. I have no intention of getting killed.”

“That’s not the same as saying you’ll be careful.”

“For fuck’s sake, Zach, enough. You’re not my mother.” Her mother, who might be involved in this deeper than she wanted to think about. “You’re not my brother. You’re not my goddamn boyfriend. You don’t get a say.”

She hadn’t realized he was allowing her to see the anger on his face until he shut it down. “Fine.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Fine. You want to shut me out? Shut me out. That’s not going to make me stop caring if you’re okay, and it’s not going to make it any easier to keep out of my bed.”

She actually took a step back. “I’m out of your bed. Right now, in fact.”

He gave her a look like she was a few crayons short of a full box. “Eden, I could have you right now, and you’d be screaming on my cock inside of five minutes.”

She opened her mouth to tell him he was wrong, but her body was already tingling, her nipples pebbling, and things low in her stomach clenching, making the words a lie. “You’re a jackass.”

“No. I just call it like I see it. You need to retreat after last night—fine. But don’t go rushing headlong into some harebrained scheme because you’re afraid I’m going to put you in a cage.”

“You couldn’t put me in a cage if you tried.”

He nodded like she’d said something else. “I’ll get dressed and give you a ride into town. I have a few things to take care of before we do the DNA tests, the main of which is organizing another search party for Rachel.” He saw her look and shook his head. “I know, but it will keep folks busy, and that’s important right now.”