Thomren frowned, horror plain on his face. “So you are going to bring charges against him? And the girl? Will you arrange for her auction yourself?”

“No.” Kain looked at him, ensuring he had his full attention. “I’m going to help her disappear.”

The demon blinked twice, his mouth parting in shock. “What? Kain—have you lost your mind? If you do this—”

“I will be a traitor to our kind. I know.” Kain didn’t blink, keeping their gazes locked. “You once swore a blood oath to me, my friend, to follow my command through eternity, but that is not why I’m asking you to help me do this. I am asking you because I trust no one like I do you. I will not command you in this, Thomren—but I will ask. Will you help me?”

Thomren looked at him for a long time. Finally, he breathed out, the frown on his forehead smoothing. “This is about your mother.”

Kain broke their gaze, forcing down the swell of anger and despair any thought of her always brought. Very few people knew that story—and of those, exactly one he would let live for mentioning the Breeder who’d borne him.

That one person was Thomren, the man who’d brought his pregnant mate to his Lord Protector’s home because he’d needed Selma to see that some demons could be trusted to keep a Breeder safe. Content.

“It’s about not dooming a woman and the children she’ll bear to an eternity of misery,” he said, voice low. “Her introduction to our world has been too violent. She’ll never accept a forced mate bond. And the thought of her enduring rape and torment because I followed the fucking rules, and sent her to an auction?”

Thomren clasped his hand on Kain’s shoulder. When their gazes met again, there was understanding in his second’s eyes. And pity.

“When I first saw Meredith, the thought that someone else might win her made me sick with rage and sorrow. And I know had I not won her bid, you would have done anything in your power to ensure she’d still become mine. So I will do this for you, my friend. If making her disappear is what you can do to protect your Breeder, I will help make it so.”

“What about my things?”

“They are in the trunk. Thomren got them out before dumping your car in the river,” Kain said, keeping his focus on the road ahead.

A small, indignant gasp sounded from the passenger seat. “You dumped my car? I spent a quarter of my savings on that!”

He refrained from mentioning that, according to his underling, that moving pile of junk was better suited for the bottom of the river than transporting anyone around. “It was too easy to track. If your Procurer is following you, he’ll have a harder time tracking you this way.”