She snapped a towel off a brass rod and dried off the beautiful brunette’s body, all the while thinking that this was such a better home than that snake-tatted soldier’s. But she didn’t have time to do the flesh-reunion justice. The final round with the current soul in play was not just approaching—it was here.

Time to close this match down and win it.

After vacating the familiar skin of Matthias’s second in command, she had taken to the air and extricated herself from that brick house. The spiteful side of her had wanted to park it inside that female attorney or in her father—just for kicks and giggles and the drama of it all. But with the way things were, she didn’t think that was a wise idea: everything was so perfectly arranged, the players’ predilections and proclivities ensuring how they would act.

It was the wardrobe equivalent of a perfect outfit.

And she needed to win this one for reasons more than the game: She wanted payback for Jim Heron’s performance in her private quarters. And not the one with her minions, the one when the pair of them had been alone.

She’d been utterly unprepared for his attack. Or the fact that he was so clearly much more than just another angel. Adrian or Eddie could not have pulled off something like that. She didn’t know anyone who could.

It just made no sense—Jim Heron had been chosen for a defined role and he was supposed to be a lackey who was neither good nor bad. Matter of fact, he’d been agreed upon by both sides because each team thought that he would influence things according to their values and take cues from a prescribed amount of “coaching.”

What utter bullshit that had turned out to be.

That first soul they’d battled over? Jim had done everything possible to push the man toward the good—proving that Devina’s faith in him had been misplaced. That son of a bitch was a savior in a sinner’s clothes, not one of her kind. Which was why she was going to have to get even more involved from this point on; there was no one on the field representing her interests, and manipulation of the situation was critical if she was going to prevail in any of these innings.

If she didn’t finesse things, she was going to lose after going oh-for-four.

And that was why she’d taken Jim down below to her realm when she had. She’d needed to get him away from Matthias—any contact between those two was a bad idea.