“I think we’ve lost them,” Sally said after what I could have sworn were eons of running. We collapsed against the entrance of a seedy building. “I just hope you’re going to mention this on my evaluation sheet. It should get me beaucoup extra credit.”

“Consider yourself credited,” I answered, standing up straight in an attempt to ease a stitch in my side. “Where are you going now that Magoth is in this world?”

She straightened up as well, tidying herself via a reflection in a dirty window. “I have another two weeks with you all, so I’ll just run him to earth. See you later, sugar.”

“But—”

Sally was off before I had a chance to question her more. I watched for a moment as she quickly blended into the lengthening afternoon shadows before I did the same into the slightly different version of reality that was known as the shadow world. I knew of only one safe house in Paris, and it was there that I headed.

“Hello. I’m May Northcott. Is Gabriel here, by any chance?” I asked some forty minutes later as the door before me opened.

The woman who answered the door blinked green eyes a couple of times, then smiled and stepped back, gesturing me into the house. “Welcome back, May. Drake and Gabriel just returned. You’ll find them—”

A door leading into the hall burst open. I didn’t stop to thank Suzanne, the green dragon who had let me into Drake’s Paris house. I just ran for the man who emerged, flinging myself on him with a shameless whimper of joy. “Gabriel,” I whispered into his mouth as I tried my best to kiss the breath right out of his lungs.

“Widdel werd,” he answered, kissing me in return with such vigorousness that his words were incoherent. He wrapped both arms around me and hoisted me up so our mouths were at the same level. I dug my fingers through the soft, shoulder-length dreadlocks, tugging wordlessly on his hair until he gave me what I wanted. Dragon fire, as hot and potent as his mouth, swirled around us in a dance of light and shadow. The taste of him, the feel of him pressed hard against my body, and his heady scent sinking deep into my being triggered something deep within me that had been locked away the last six weeks.

“Mate,” he groaned when the need for air forced our mouths apart.

“You don’t know how I’ve needed that,” I said, my tongue running around my mouth, savoring the taste of him. Gabriel always tasted like he had been eating something with cloves in it, partly spicy, partly sweet, and wholly addicting. “And I have so much to tell you. Sally, the candidate for demon lord, actually helped me earlier.”

“Later,” he said, his face twisting as if he was in pain.

“Are you all right?” I asked, stepping back to see if he had acquired any wounds while making his way out of Abaddon. “Did Magoth’s demons do something to hurt you?”