Talons gripped the back of my shirt, and a heartbeat later, I was in the air, high above the roof and rapidly climbing. The way-too-large shirt lifted as the imp flew over the roof. I began to slip out of the shirt. Panic exploded. What undies did I grab? Oh God, it was the pair that had Hump Day plastered across the ass. I was going to fall out of this damn shirt to my death and be found splattered on the sidewalk in undies that said Wednesday and it was Sunday.

People were gonna think I’d been wearing these for days. The medical examiner was going to be horrified.

I could not let that happen.

Still over the roof, I swept the daggers in a high, wide arc and sliced them through the imp’s arms.

The imp shrieked as hot, wet blood sprayed the top of my head, and then I was falling, and fast. A wicked sense of déjà vu hit me, but this time there was no Protector to save me. This fall wouldn’t kill me, but it was going to hurt bad, like a whole lot of broken bones kind of hurt, and I just got done healing.

At least, I didn’t think this fall would kill me. My heart stuttered as I braced myself for pain—

An arm snagged me around the waist, stopping my free fall so suddenly the air was punched out of my lungs. I was a yo-yo, jerked up so fast that my entire body spasmed. My hands opened and the daggers slipped free, falling to the roof as my back connected with a hard chest that was colder than the air.

Wintermint surrounded me.

Heart thudding fast and heavily, I turned my head, catching the sight of plump white feathers streaked with gold cutting through the air.

Zayne had caught me.

Where he’d come from or why he was here didn’t matter. He caught me, just like he had before, and that was further evidence he was still in there.

“You saved me,” I gasped. “Again.”

“Did I?”

“Obviously,” I forced out, barely able to breathe through the gust of the cold wind as I looked over my shoulder.

Vivid blue eyes lit by grace met mine. “Huh.”

I started to frown. “What does ‘huh’ mean?”

He veered to the left, out of the path of an imp. “It means this.”

Zayne let go.

He dropped me.

10

Zayne actually dropped me.

I was too stunned to even scream as I plummeted. There was a shriek as the dark shape of an imp shot toward me, and wouldn’t that be some shit if a damn imp saved my life.

Zayne caught the imp midair—

The shock of water seized my lungs as it reached up and swallowed me, dragging me down. Chlorine burned my eyes and nose.

I found the stupid pool.