Page 40 of Property of Crypt Keeper

I shrugged off his hand and cleared my throat. “This is a big favor. I need you to do something for me, and I need to know I can trust you not to say anything.”

“I’m utterly insulted. That you would feel the need to even question my loyalty to you… well, that… hurts,” he shot back in mock sadness.

With an eye roll, I shook my head. Then I glanced at him. “I need you to swing by my shack. I would do it, but I need to get Zara home.” Damn, that seemed so weird to say. “I need you to check on my… uh… prisoner. I’ll explain later. Just don’t fall for their tricks and let them out.”

“Who do you have in there?” he asked suspiciously.

“It’s a long story that I don’t have time for right now,” I told him as I saw the clubhouse door open and one of the brothers come out and light up a cigarette.

“Fine. But tomorrow I have all the time in the world for this story.”

I gave him a curt nod.

We went in, and I noted that Zara was sitting on one of the couches with Lily getting her hair re-braided. Zara’s eyes locked on mine from across the room, as if she’d immediately sensed me walk in.

As I approached, I watched Lily hurrying to get the band around the end because Zara was already standing up.

“You have fun today?” I asked her.

I was surprised to see her face break out into a huge grin as her eyes lit up. “I did. Lily and I drew pictures, and I got to hang mine on her wall. She said she will keep it forever.”

“Thanks, Lily,” I told the teenager who spent the majority of her free time at the clubhouse because it was the only place she truly felt safe these days.

“Well, kiddo, let’s go home.”

Mako’s brows shot up.

“I mean, back to my brother’s. We’ll pick up some dinner on the way home.”

She picked up my helmet, and I plucked it from her hands. She looked at me in surprise.

“We’ll be leaving this here. We’re taking my truck,” I explained.

She looked momentarily sad.

“Until we get you proper clothes and your own helmet,” I conceded. Then I ignored the jaws that fell as I bustled her outside and into my truck parked around the backside of the building.

Zara was munching on chicken nuggets when my phone rang.

Mako.

I switched it to my phone from the truck’s speakers. When he spoke, I was glad I had.

“Why the fuck do you have a demon bitch in your cage?”

10

KATALINA

The shack had settled into silence again. Not peaceful. Never peaceful.

The wards on the metal hummed constantly beneath my skin, pressing, testing, reminding me exactly where I stood. Between the chafing and the wards, my wrists ached faintly from the cuffs, though I’d long since stopped reacting to it. Pain was information. Nothing more.

Restless, I paced the small length of the cell, bare feet quiet against the wood, mind working through angles, exits, patterns. Constantly coming up without solutions.

Gideon had left too quickly. That bothered me. Not because I needed him there, but because it meant something had shifted.

And I didn’t like not knowing what. I hated being in the dark.