Page 43 of Forbidden

The last thingWolf wanted to do was go back to In Extremis, but it was best to act normal for now. Missing a shift would just irritate Lilith. Shadrach teleported him backto the bar, and as promised, they’d only been gone about ten minutes. Less than his usual break was supposed to last.

Talon and Malachi offered to join him at the bar tonight in solidarity, but Wolf turned them down. It was a nice offer, but he thought their presence would do more harm than good. Lilith had made her threats; she’d leave him alone for now, unless he ignored her order to bring Ira tomorrow night. He’d be fine on his own.

He noticed, as he got to work, that Shadrach didn’t go far. He didn’t stay overtly close, but he stayed in the club for Wolf’s whole shift, sitting in Talon’s usual booth by himself with an expensive bottle of scotch, his dark eyes trailing around the room but most often, Wolf noticed, watching him. Keeping an eye on him. Wolf was oddly endeared by it, and when he wasn’t thinking about Ira, he was pondering Shadrach’s change of heart. Had Ira’s prophecy about the human in his future intrigued him that much?

At the end of the night, when the last of the customers were ushered out of the building, Shadrach cheered Wolf with the bottle and disappeared.

“Since when are you two friends?” Xyra asked, picking up a chair and hanging it upside-down on its table.

Wolf didn’t know how to answer that. “We’re not, I don’t think.”

Were they friends? He’d done what Talon and Malachi had offered to do, hanging out and sticking close. Or was it because Talon had offered to do it? He and Shadrach had always had a sibling-like relationship, antagonizing and helping each other in turns. Maybe he’d really done it for Talon.

He felt more settled as he, Xyra, and Storm left for their cars together—they didn’t let him stay behind aloneanymore, after what happened last time. They pulled out of the parking lot one after another, and Wolf turned toward the Rink—and Ira.

When he arrived, pulling in beside Malachi’s red Mustang, he found Talon leaning against the wall by the door, cigarette dangling from his lips.

Wolf chuckled as he approached. “Did they make you come out here?”

“Mm-hm,” Talon replied. “The place is already a dump. You’d think a little smoke wouldn’t be a big deal. How was your shift? Any more trouble?” His eyes gleamed with danger at the prospect.

“No, it was all good. Shadrach stuck around and kept an eye on things.”

“Did he? That’s a little surprising.”

“It was. I think all of this has him more interested than he wants to let on.”

Talon smirked, digging in his pocket and offering Wolf his pack of cigarettes. Wolf took one and lit it, leaning against the wall beside him.

“Thank you for agreeing to go with Ira to see Lilith tomorrow night,” he said after a few companionable moments of quiet. “I’d rather he stay the fuck away from her, but…”

“But she won’t let that happen,” Talon finished. “He could be valuable. Heisvaluable. That’s why the guild is so reluctant to let their prophets go.” He hummed thoughtfully. “It does present an interesting notion.”

“What does?” Wolf asked.

“The prophets are the seat of their power. If they didn’t have the prophets, would the guild fall?”

“They could still hunt demons even without theprophets,” Wolf reasoned. “The way these guys do.” He gestured to the wall behind them.

“But they’d be flying blind. Patrolling without purpose and killing whatever they happen across.” An amused smirk lifted the corners of Talon’s mouth. “And apparently these guys now have a prophet. One who believes in whatever cause they’re creating here. That has to mean something.”

It did, indeed, but the implications were far above Wolf’s pay grade. He turned his focus away from it. “One prophet leaving won’t be enough to bring down the guild, though. You’d need to remove them all somehow.”

Talon nodded slowly. “Maybe that’ll happen. I have a feeling Ira knows a lot more about our future than he lets on.”

Wolf chuckled. “Some, yeah. Probably. He doesn’t tell me everything. I think he worries sharing too much might change things.”

“Maybe it could.” Talon shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh. “I wanted Alex no matter what. I had no idea getting him would set all of this in motion.”

Wolf didn’t know what to say to that.DidTalon set all of this in motion by tempting Alex away from the guild? Or was all of this preordained?

“Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Wolf said, folding his arms and staring out at the line of cars in the uneven parking lot. “But I think Ira would say everything is happening the way it’s meant to. He knew about the Rink before he saw them actually finding it the other night. He already knows what it’s going to be, and the moment he realized it was time to actually go and get started on it, he wasso excited. Like this was the beginning of something he’d been waiting ages for.”

Talon hummed.

“Whatever this is—whatever it’s going to be—it’s going to change things. If it means being with Ira,” he gestured at Talon, “and being with Alex, isn’t it worth it?”

Talon smiled, a rare, genuine thing he usually reserved for Alex. “Yeah. Hell yeah, it’s worth it. And I think you’re right. I think they’re—we’re—building something here, and it’s going to be unlike anything we’ve seen before.” Talon tossed his cigarette butt into the empty ceramic planter beside him and leveled a smile at Wolf. “If I had to band together with anyone, I’m glad you’re among them. And I like your human.” He chuckled. “He keeps things interesting.”

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