He did. Slowing down just enough not to tip the car, he took a corner fast and hard. Thank the gods for remote parts of Wisconsin. Where they were now was blessedly uninhabited.

They breezed past a motel that would have been a great set for a horror movie and then more trees. As soon as Adam found the right spot, he slowed and guided the car off road.

"Are you all right?" He glanced at Claire.

"Better." Her face was green, belying her answer.

He went slowly now, over huge bumps that knocked his teeth together and enduring the branches scraping the paint off Thomas's Mercedes S550. Finally, he was deep enough in to not be seen. He hoped. Adam turned off the headlights and cut the engine.

He shifted, fingers itching to hold his sword, which he'd stashed behind the front seat. Honestly, going head-to-head with two demons right now was not the wisest course of action. They weren't ready to face creatures who could regenerate limbs, heal almost any wound, and had almost zero vulnerabilities… not yet.

It was best to hope that the Atrika passed them by, gave them time to plan and prepare. That didn't stop Adam from wanting action, though. Like Thomas had wanted it. Like Theo wanted it. Now Theo sat hunched over in his seat, fists clenched, jaw locked.

But sometimes good sense had to win out over testosterone.

He adjusted the mirror to reflect into the back seat. There, Claire took deep, measured breaths with her eyes closed. For being plunked down into an alien world and into a life-or-death situation simultaneously, Adam thought she was doing exceptionally well.

He let his gaze trace the curve of her cheek. She was brave. Pretty, too, in an unconventional way. She wore no makeup to speak of and, by the looks of her creamy, clear complexion, probably never had. Her dark hair hung to her narrow shoulders in a tangle of natural curl. Her face was heart-shaped, chin coming to a sharp little point. A long—nearly too long for attractiveness—nose sat atop a nicely shaped mouth, bottom lip much fuller than the top.

Adam noticed women. All the time.

Even when he'd been deeply and insanely in love with his wife, he'd noticed them. He'd never been unfaithful in his life, but no woman escaped his eye. Claire was very attractive in a pixielike way. She was small, which made him instantly want to protect her.

His stomach tightened. He wondered what she'd had to endure in her life. It couldn't have been easy to survive as the only elemental witch on Eudae.

Her eyes popped open to find his in the rearview mirror. Their gazes caught, locked. Adam almost fell into the power of her blue eyes. Oh, there was a lot to this woman… much more than he'd seen so far.

"They're near," she whispered. Her voice in the quiet sent a shiver up his spine.