“I, uh…” I thought about that evening’s events, remembering I had my purse when I went to the bathroom in that bar. I also had it when I left the bathroom and saw the men at the mouth of the hall and instinctively knew they were after me (another thing that freaked me, and not just that they were after me, but that I knew with one look they were). I still had it when I turned the other way and ran out the back exit.

I threw it aside somewhere in my dash.

“It’s somewhere between the Mad Helmet and where you found me,” I told him.

He nodded. “I’ll see if we can find it.”

“Thanks,” I said softly.

“Shower.”

It was me nodding that time.

“Rest,” he went on.

That would be impossible.

I nodded again anyway.

He held my gaze before he said, “You’re safe, Delilah.”

I took in a deep breath.

He watched me do it, looked back into my eyes, stepped away, then, in a blur, he was at the steel door, opening it.

He went through and didn’t look back when he pulled the door closed behind him.

Chapter Two

Torture

Abel

Abel walked through the back door of the restaurant.

He smelled her and looked left.

Jian-Li was sitting in her armchair in her office drinking tea, the standing lamp arched over the chair giving off soft light that barely cut the dark.

Waiting up for her sons.

Waiting up for him.

He turned that way, stopped in the door, and leaned against its frame.

“Everyone is safe?” she asked.

“So far,” he answered quietly.

She took a moment to let that sink in.

“There are others,” she said softly.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

She drew in breath through her nose, took a sip of tea, then stated, “And they’re evil.”

He felt his jaw get hard, but he made no reply.

He didn’t need to. She knew what had happened to Delilah and she could guess where her sons were now.

“We knew this,” she continued.

“Guess my instincts were right. Just took two hundred years for that shit to come about.”

She nodded once and said, “Then it’s good we’re prepared.”

Abel said nothing. They’d be talking about this, just not now. He had a wolf to hunt and, if he found him, hopefully successfully interrogate.

“We’re prepared, Abel,” she said again.

“Yeah,” he replied but went no further with that. Instead, he told her, “Gave my phone to Delilah. Need to borrow yours.”

Her brows went up. “Her name is Delilah?”

He nodded.

“That’s lovely,” she said.

It was. It was also apropos. She was a temptress.

But he knew that. He’d been dreaming of her for over a hundred years.

The reality was better.

Even stuck in his thoughts, Abel still saw it shift over Jian-Li’s face and felt his stomach tighten when he did.