Page 64 of King

Daniel met his glare without flinching. “Two reasons.” He didn’t acknowledge King’s irritation, simply continued. “One, time moves differently in the Realm. One day there is like a week up here. Amara’s brother’s funeral is Saturday, right?”

A curse burned at the back of King’s throat. He had forgotten entirely about the time distortion. His gut twisted. He couldn’t leave Amara alone to deal with that. No fucking way.

He forced himself to chill the fuck out before asking, “What’s the second reason?”

“Because I said so,” Daniel answered, his tone infuriatingly calm. Then, before King could explode, he added, “Until I find Valkas and know exactly who the demon is, I’m not wasting my time or anyone else’s running around the Realm blindly. We do that; the demon gets wind that we are on to him. Then we are fucked because he will go so deep in hiding even I will have a hard time finding the bastard.”

King clenched his jaw so tight it ached. “And how do you know this Valkas asshole will even tell you who it is?”

A slow, dark grin stretched across Daniel’s lips, his blue eyes glinting with something almost wicked. “Oh, he’ll tell me, but like I said, if we go in there running around, this demon will hear about it and know I’m on to him. We have to do this smart.”

Ryker crossed his arms, his face set in stone. “I’m also hunting the bastard. We’ll find him, King. But we have to do this smart.”

King gave a tight nod. He hated that he wasn’t the one tracking Valkas down himself, but his focus had to be on Amara. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.

His gaze shifted back to Daniel, a question eating at him. “So, even with all your powers, you don’t know who this demon is?”

Daniel let out a short chuckle, his brows lifting. “If only it worked that way.” His smirk deepened. “If only.”

King narrowed his eyes. “Then how the hell does it work?”

Daniel tilted his head as if genuinely considering the question. Then he shrugged. “Fuck if I know.” His grin was downright smug. “I’ll let you know if I figure it out.”

“For the first time since stepping into the office, King laughed. It was short, rough, but real. Somehow, that was the exact answerhe expected. Daniel left the office without another word. King just shook his head. Fucking Daniel.

“I have your schedule cleared until this is taken care of,” Sloan informed him, returning King’s attention to the conversation. “Keeping Amara safe is the top priority. If this fucker gets to her, we could lose Daniel, and that can’t happen.”

Amara had been King’s priority from the moment he laid eyes on her. He’d known it before he was willing to admit it, and now there was no denying it. But he kept that to himself. Instead, he gave a short nod and shifted his focus to Charger. “Anything else I need to know for our trip to the Demon Realm?”

“More than we have time for,” Charger replied, glancing at his watch. “Raven is on rounds right now. Why don’t I head out with you, and we can talk some?”

“Sure, I’m heading back to the house,” King said before turning his gaze back to Sloan. “Anything else?”

“No, that’s it,” Sloan said, dismissing them with a wave.

“King.”

Becky’s voice pulled him back just as he was about to leave. She’d been so quiet that he’d almost forgotten she was still in the room. He turned to face her.

“How’s Joey?” she asked, her eyes filled with genuine concern.

“He’s good.” King gave her a small, appreciative smile. “We broke him out of the hospital today and got him settled in.”

“That’s great,” she said with a warm smile. “We’ll be there Saturday to pay our respects to his father.”

“Thank you,” King replied, feeling a rare flicker of warmth at her words. Sloan was a lucky bastard. Becky was one of a kind.

With a final nod to Sloan, he turned and headed out with Charger and Ryker.

“Come on over, Ryker,” King offered as they made their way to their bikes. He liked the warrior-slash-warlock. Actually, he liked his Mate, Susan, even more. The woman was a riot and had no problem giving them hell. King grinned, remembering the time he’d gone over to their place and found her chasing a rooster down the street with a broom, cursing and threatening the damn bird like a wild woman. Yeah, that had been a first for him.

“Can’t, but thanks,” Ryker said, shaking his head. “Susan is threatening to bring the chickens and that fucking rooster into the house if I don’t pick up a heating lamp for them.”

“She’d do it,” Charger snorted, shaking his head.

“Fuck yeah, she’d do it,” Ryker muttered, then let out a low curse. “That’s why my ass is going to get a heating lamp. She already bought fucking diapers for them.”

Both Charger and King froze next to their bikes.

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