Page 38 of Forbidden

Ira snorted out a laugh.

“Come on.” Wolf hauled him to his feet and then leaned down to kiss him soundly on the lips.

Ira sighed into it, tipping his head back and pressing closer. When they parted, he smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi. Come on, I got you a sandwich.”

Ira let himself be led, and when they reached the old air hockey table where the food was spread out, he absentmindedly checked his brand-new phone for messages, surprised to see he had one.

It was from Nathan.

Just heard they’re looking for a missing prophet. Been to your place. Paladins instructed to keep an eye out. Haven’t told anyone I spoke to you.

“Crap,” he muttered. He’d been gone less than a week. He’d known the guild would notice his absence quickly, but being away from them, it was easy to put them out of his mind and focus on things like Wolf and building their new life together, which included the Rink and their friends. In all the excitement, he’d forgotten what a threat they still posed.

“What is it?” Wolf asked, leaning over him. Ira angled the phone so he could read it. “Shit.”

“Share with the class?” Talon drawled, bracing his hands on the air hockey table beside Alex, who sat on a stool with his mouth full.

“The guild has noticed my absence,” Ira said. His stomach knotted with anxiety, but they’d done a good job making him disappear. He’d left everything behind they might’ve been able to track, and he hadn’t even used a credit card since meeting Wolf. They couldn’t possibly know he was with Wolf or that he’d been in contact with Alex and Luke. They would probably suspect and come looking for him eventually, no matter how well he hid his tracks. It was too big of a coincidence that he was the third person to leave the guild in less than a year. Even the thickest idiots at the guild would assume they were related.

“What do you think they’ll do?” Wolf asked. “They don’t know where you are, and they have nothing to track you with.”

“They’ll…” He blew out a breath, considering what the guild’s next logical step might be. “Nate said they went to my apartment already, so that means they’ve seen that I left my phone and ring behind. They know I don’t intend to come back. Then, they’ll probably ask my neighbors if they’ve seen me. I didn’t speak to the landlord or anything before I disappeared, so they’ll probably take care of all of that. They won’t want the police getting involved. They’ll probably check my bank statements, but I haven’t used my debit or credit cards since I disappeared. They might resort to bullying information out of halflings from the club, if they start to suspect I’m with you guys—which they will, eventually, if they don’t already.” He fidgeted. He didn’t want them going after anyone else. “Maybe I should call my old supervisor or something, tell them I’m quitting, make it official?”

“You said they wouldn’t just let you go,” Wolf said gruffly.

“Yeah, but I don’t want anyone else getting caught in the crossfire.”

Talon waved a hand. “There’s crossfire in every direction at this point. The best thing to do is choose a side and hunker down.”

Ira knew better than most that he was right, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“Don’t worry about people at the club,” Wolf said. “We’re used to random paladins showing up occasionally to bully us with questions we don’t want to answer. Luckily for us, not many halflings know who you are, and the ones who do won’t talk. This will blow over. We just have to stay the course. Keep being careful and covering our tracks.” He gave Ira an imploring look. “Don’t give them any more information than necessary.”

“Right, yeah.”

Wolf nudged him into taking a bite of the sandwich before him, but he had a feeling things were going to get worse before they got better.

Chapter 10

One night,three weeks after they found the Rink, Wolf walked into In Extremis with an uncharacteristic pep to his step. He’d fucked Ira in the shower before dropping him off at the Rink for his scheduled training session with Alex and Luke—though Ira maintained it was torture rather than training. Wolf approved of whatever they were doing. Ira’s visions weren’t knocking him off his feet these days, and his appetite had increased exponentially. He didn’t even make jokes about Wolf feeding him anymore. They’d fallen into a comfortable routine together. Ira trained hard and slept hard, they fucked hard, and life was good. Life was better than he could ever remember it being.

He should’ve known there was another shoe on the horizon, waiting to drop.

Xyra looked grim as Wolf rounded the bar. Carding her fingers through her blue hair, she said, “She wants to see you.”

His good mood plummeted like a stone. “Fuck off, are you kidding?” he exclaimed. “I just got here.”

Her serious expression didn’t change. “She knows about your prophet. I don’t know how. She asked me about him. I told her I’ve never seen him and don’t know anything about him.”

Wolf sighed. He’d expected Lilith to learn about Ira eventually. She owned the club, after all, and she had ears everywhere. Those who were loyal to her far outnumbered those who weren’t, and they were all too happy to rat out their brethren to curry her favor.

Xyra studied his face intently. “What are you going to tell her?”

Ears everywhere, he reminded himself, glancing out at the dance floor. There were half a dozen people sitting right in front of them at the bar, and all the demons had better hearing than humans. He couldn’t know how many of them might run to Lilith with information to curry her favor. The only people he truly trusted weren’t here tonight.

“As little as possible,” he murmured, and Xyra nodded.

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