Something shot out of the water, grabbed her around the waist, and dragged her under. Fast, too fast for Cyrus to stop him. But not too fast to see who it was who’d taken her under.

Father Ike.

Cyrus jumped in the river but as soon as his feet hit the water, something shook him out of his meditative state.

His phone vibrated wildly in his jeans pocket. He took it out, breathing hard, pressed the phone against his chest and his pounding heart.

A text from Paulina.

Got your email. What’s going on? Everybody okay?

Cyrus stared at her message, his eyes focused but his mind still in the river. He took a few deep breaths and slowly came back to himself. He knew exactly what he was seeing in his meditation, that this case was putting Nora in danger. He’d seen with his own eyes a drunk asshole holding her against her will. He’d heard the fear in her voice when she’d called to tell him one of their witnesses had shown up at her front door. Except why had it been Father Ike he’d seen grabbing Nora? Why him and not the drunk kid? Why him and not the witch?

He didn’t have time to figure that out. Paulina was waiting.

What are you doing up? he texted back.

Woke up, went to the bathroom, checked my phone. How scared should I be right now?

Been a crazy night, but we’re okay. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Call me if you want. We can talk. Wide awake now.

Cyrus thought about that. After seeing what he saw in the river, he wanted to hear her voice so bad it hurt. Still, it was almost two in the morning. Paulina needed her sleep. So did he.

He was about to tell her “no,” that it was okay, he’d tell her more about it tomorrow. But he didn’t. The elevator thrummed. The Viking had arrived.

He texted back, You mind if I come over?

Cyrus could see the sleepy grin on her face as she replied.

Don’t mind one bit, Daddy.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Nora was shocked by her own relief at seeing Søren stride into her dungeon. He didn’t say a word, only pulled her into his arms and held her.

“I thought you’d be with Kingsley,” she said. As soon as she was in his strong arms, she let herself relax. Exhaustion had finally caught up with her.

“You know he can’t stay away from Juliette all night. He went home an hour ago. I wanted to check on you and when you weren’t home…”

“You thought I was in jail, didn’t you?”

“It did occur to me.”

Nora laughed against his chest. He held her even tighter and she inhaled the scent of him—frost on frozen pine trees and the clean smell of soap from his recent shower.

“What happened?” he asked.

“It’s a long story. Can it wait until morning?”

“No.”

“Fine.” She gave him the CliffsNotes version—the drunk dickhead, Cyrus interviewing a vampire, the witch they were looking for who found them first. She shook her head, sighed.