Page 53 of Knight’s Dominion

Please no.

Scanning the area around her, reaching out with her senses, Grace searched the shadows for movement, but she was alone. Her heart was in her throat as she rounded the duct, sucking in a harsh breath, when her fears were realized.

Tina lay on the hard roof, her hair fanned out around her pretty face, her body laid out like a sacrifice. Her skin was gray, emaciated, like something or someone had drained the life right out of her. She'd been missing for two weeks, but the condition she was in…it wasn’t decay, this was something else. Her skin looked leathery, taut, like it had been vacuum sealed to her skeleton.

Grace crouched beside her friend and ran the backs of her fingers across one cold cheek. "Who did this to you?"

Why?

What the hell was going on?

Tina stared blindly at the stars overhead, and Grace gently closed the female’s eyes, fighting back tears. They were friends. Tina had worked and fought beside her for the past two years, and like most demi, she'd suffered a lot of shit early in her life, only coming into her own after gaining her powers and learning what she truly was.

She didn't deserve this.

No one deserved this.

Grace stood and searched the rooftop again. Whoever did this to Tina had wanted Grace to find her. Demon butcher. That's what the demon on the roof had called her while she'd dangled off the side of the building.

Someone wanted her to stop. And she had a feeling this was only the beginning.

CHAPTER 15

Grace watched as her team carried Tina off the roof. She shook as rage pumped through her, fierce and hot. Whatever happened next, whatever the knights had planned, she would be a part of it. For Tina. For all the demi who had suffered—were suffering right now—at the hands of their enemy.

Yanking her phone from her back pocket, she hit the number Chaos had programmed into her phone, a number she seriously didn’t want to use.

He answered almost immediately. “Grace?”

She locked down the violent emotions rampaging through her before she spoke. “You found the house yet?”

“Something’s happened.”

How could he know that? How?

She hadn’t bothered telling him about Tina, why should she? Another dead demi? Big deal, right? The knights had bigger things to worry about. They wanted to win the war, but they didn’t give a shit about the casualties. Even as she thought it, her belly gripped tight, guilt slicing through her. Because she knew different. Because she knew Chaos, and that wasn’t him.

Christ, she had the sudden urge to cry. Instead, she held tight to her anger, the only thing capable of holding back her tears.

“You asked for our help. We’re coming with you. You need to concentrate on containing the beast. We’ll hold back the demons guarding it,” she said, ignoring what he’d said.

A pause. “Okay.”

“Okay?” The word slipped out, sounding as stunned as she felt.

“You expected me to fight you on this?”

“Yes.” She’d expected his anger at the mere suggestion, despite telling her he wanted them to work together. Trust didn’t come easy. She’d been waiting for him to take back the offer since he made it.

“You don’t know me as well as you think you do, Grace.”

His voice dropped when he said her name, and she squeezed her eyes closed, doing her best to ignore how deeply that affected her. “Text me the address.”

More silence.

Her phone beeped.

“Done,” he said, in that insanely deep, soul-shaking voice.