Page 13 of Knight’s Absolution

“You think he’s there?” Gunner growled out. The powerful demon the other female was mixed up with, the same male who had recently summoned a beast from Hell and let it loose on the city in the name of Diemos—the current king of Hell. Lucifer, Diemos’s father, had managed to send the beast back, but he’d sacrificed Tobias to do it.

The knights had believed their brother Tobias was dead. He had succumbed to his inner demon completely soon after he lost his mate—but before he was sucked into the bowels of Hell with the beast, they saw the truth. Their brother’s eyes hadn’t been black anymore, they’d been bright green, back to the way they’d been before Scarlet was killed. Tobias had been looking right at them as he was taken from them all over again.

They wanted the fucker responsible for that shit. They needed to take the demon down before he built his army back.

It was only a matter of time until Roc's female finally came into her power and was forced to use it, forced to open the gates of Hell for Diemos.

“Could be a trap,” Gunner said.

Chaos nodded, worry in his gaze as he looked at his mate, her determination written on her face.

“We need to go now. I’ll call my people,” she said, taking her phone back and immediately tapping on the screen.

“Don’t message James just yet, we need to make a plan. I’m not running into this headfirst, right into a goddamn trap,” Chaos said, voice hard.

James was telepathic and Grace’s right hand. He sent messages out to her crew using his ability, kind of like a mass text but far more secure, and there was no chance of someone missing the message.

“We don’t know for sure it’s a trap, Chaos,” she said, eyes flashing. “And do you really think I’d run in there without a plan of my own?”

Chaos gripped the side of her slender throat and held her gaze. “I know how fucking kickass you are. How capable. But you have been worrying about this female for the last four months. I am going to say the same thing to you that I do to my brothers, the same thing they’ve said to me when my emotions are involved and I’m ready to tear the fucking walls down. Step back, let me take lead on this.”

“I’m not staying behind,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Not asking you to, angel, I have a feeling we’ll need you and your people if this is a setup. But let me take point on this one, yeah?”

She released a long breath but nodded. “Okay.”

“I’m going over there now,” Gunner said, a tight, strange urgency gripping him low in the gut. “Do a flyby, check out the situation.”

“Good,” Chaos said as Laz, Zen, and Kryos walked into the control room.

Gunner yanked off his shirt and tucked it into the back of his jeans as his wings extended. He quickly texted Roc and took flight. His brother would want to be in on this. Plus, they’d need all the manpower they could get if that twisted demon was involved.

Roc was there when he arrived, hovering above the empty lot. It was dark, and Gunner couldn’t sense a damn thing, not one single demon.

“Anything?” he asked Roc.

Rocco shook his head as his white wings, streaked with demon blood, beat slowly, the silver tips glinting in the moonlight.

Gunner didn’t ask where the blood came from, he already knew how Roc spent his time, and he fucking got it. If Gunner knew his female was still out there, he’d torture, kill, tear down fucking walls to get to her as well.

They’d both seen what happened to Tobias when he lost his female, how he’d embraced the darkness, the demon inside him, instead of living with the pain. But right now, Rocco wasn’t the only one fighting the darkness inside him, trying to pull him under. Fuck, at least Roc had a glimmer of hope. Gunner’s had all dried up.

They waited, watched, used their senses to search the other houses on the street in case the female they were searching for was somewhere there. The dull thump of their boots on the packed soil when they finally landed broke the intense silence.

“Where are you, love?” he muttered.

Love?

Where the fuck had that come from? Guilt shot through his chest even thinking of using the endearment with another female. It should be reserved for his mate and her alone.

But he could admit to himself that he’d thought about the curvy little goth demi more than once. Her pale face and unusual violet eyes. The terror he’d seen in them when he’d pinned her by the throat to the car seat flashed through his mind more often than he’d like.

They were still trying to pick up any sign of her, to sense her, when Chaos arrived, followed by Zenon and Lazarus.

“Anything?” Chaos asked as his gaze slid to Roc. He didn’t approach, though, or try to get their brother to talk. He’d learned by now that Roc could only handle one thing at a time and keep his control. Having all his brothers coming at him at once would send him running.

Gunner planted his hands on his hips. “Nothing, no sign of her or anything else.”