“Well,” said Gabriel. He glanced behind him and dropped his voice. “You want to go find out?”

Gabriel had an idea already. Nick could sense it. It would probably be half cocked and downright crazy. The kind of plan Nick would usually talk him out of.

The kind of plan Nick was expected to talk him out of.

“Sure.” Nick met his eyes. “Let me get my coat.”

Common sense would have dictated that they bring Hunter along. He was a Fifth, and a powerful one, and they were literally playing with fire.

But Nick was already on edge, and he wasn’t sure he could handle the pressure of being with two people on opposite ends of a spectrum: one knowing his secret, one not.

So he and Gabriel went out alone.

Nick drove. Gabriel usually claimed the driver’s seat, but Nick needed to be in control of something or he was going to go to pieces. He’d snatched the keys out from under his brother’s hand in the front hall, ready for Gabriel to protest.

But his twin had just shrugged and said, “Fine. You drive.”

Thick clouds hung overhead, blocking the stars, cloaking the road in darkness. The rain had stopped, but those clouds would only need a little push to start dumping water again.

Rain could’ve been a safety net. Maybe they should have brought Chris.

If nothing else, for conversation. Gabriel wasn’t saying a word. He’d been silent for miles. Nick could feel the tension like a vibration in the air, mixing with the cool humidity, as if his brother’s uncertainty created a whole new level of energy.

Gabriel was waiting for Nick to spill, to pour out his problems the way he usually did. Nick was the thinker. The talker. The analyzer. Gabriel was all about action. If Nick presented a problem, Gabriel provided a solution—even if his idea of a solution was a fistfight.

Not having a way to solve this problem, this distance, was making Gabriel nuts. Nick could tell.

And a petty, vindictive part of Nick reveled in it.

That lasted about twenty seconds. Then he felt like crap.

He glanced over. “Hey. What’s your plan?”

“To set him on fire.”

“Seriously.”

Gabriel’s eyes were on the windshield, his voice dark and full of anger. “I am serious. I’m sick of him fucking with you, Nicky. I don’t know what he’s doing to you and Quinn, but I know something is up.”

So all that silence had left Gabriel with time to draw the wrong conclusions.

“We’re not setting him on fire,” Nick said.

“Fine. What do you want to do?”

The words were a challenge. Nick wasn’t sure how to respond. Honestly, he wished they could simply walk up to Tyler and ask what the deal was. He was so tired of fighting.

“I don’t know yet,” he said.