“Oh, well. That’ll happen when you get shot.” Don’t leave us, he seemed to recall telling Daniel, panic clawing at his throat at the thought of him throwing himself into a fight he couldn’t possibly win. He took another gulp, then tipped his head back against the stone, looking at Daniel askance. “I meant them, though.”

Daniel was still crouched before him, empty hands folded between his knees. He lifted one now, slowly, reaching toward Liam’s face. Liam sucked in his breath, too afraid to move, not wanting to break whatever spell was between them. A quick flick of Daniel’s long fingers, and he brushed a sheaf of Liam’s hair to one side.

“That’s good to know.”

Liam wondered what Daniel would do if he reached up and took his hand, laced his fingers through his own. He didn’t want to startle him away, this wolf in the forest who’d sized him up and crept closer, wanting, maybe, to be tamed. But maybe Liam was the one who should be scared. Daniel’s intensity was molten, searing. Liam didn’t fear it, precisely, but he knew it enough to grant it a healthy distance.

He kept his good hand wrapped tightly around the coffee mug.

“Do you think you’ll be well enough to leave for Wewelsburg tonight?” Daniel asked.

Liam let out his breath. “That’s the idea. We’ll need a way in, though. And if—”

He stopped himself short. He wasn’t yet ready to confess what he feared finding there. Not even to Daniel. It was his mess to clean up.

Daniel cocked his head, waiting for him to continue.

Liam swallowed the last of the coffee. Daniel deserved to know at least some of it. “I’m worried about Kreutzer. He knows about the book and the shadow world’s powers, and he’s got my older research. But I don’t know how much else he’s figured out.”

“Ah.” Daniel sat before him, close enough Liam could smell the coffee on his breath. “You think he may be able to use the book before we do.”

Liam leaned forward. He was feeling more like himself now—the hunt, the promise of control a signal fire on the horizon. A chance to take all the badness he’d unleashed and use it for good. “There’s still time. If we can get the book before Kreutzer makes sense of it, we’ll be unstoppable. The entire Third Reich—demolished.”

“I’m ready,” Daniel said.

Liam set down the coffee mug and rested his hand on his knee, fingertips trailing onto Daniel’s as well. “Whatever you thought Siegen was gonna be like, Wewelsburg Castle will be much worse.”

“I know.”

“It’s Schutzstaffel HQ now. Heinrich Himmler himself holds court there—with all the other SS chiefs.”

Daniel’s knee twitched beneath Liam’s fingertips. “That’s why we’re going, isn’t it?”