Knox twisted his mouth. “I’d say Gavril has her in one of his properties. I would imagine that he has many, but I doubt if all are Victorian-style houses, so that may narrow it down. Larkin, I need you to find out if Gavril owns any such properties. You can use the computer in my office. Be as thorough but as fast as you can—Khloé’s depending on us.”
“I’m on it.” The harpy stalked out of the room and dashed up the stairs.
Her face hard, Harper planted her hands on her hips. “I’m infuriated with myself for letting Thea fool me.”
Keenan flexed his fingers. “Same here. I should have seen that she was playing the damsel in distress card in the hope that I’d keep her close so that she’d have access to Knox.”
“You couldn’t really have seen that so clearly,” said Ciaran.
Harper ground her teeth. “We should have at least considered that that might have been the case. I didn’t trust her, but I also didn’t think she’d use her son that way. She seemed genuinely afraid for him.”
“She probably was—she has to fear that Gavril won’t live up to his end of the deal,” said Levi.
“Whatever the case, she dies tonight,” declared Jolene. “Thea and her son both do.”
“Damn fucking straight,” said Keenan.
Just then, Tanner prowled inside the living room and sighed. “You have no idea how difficult it was to convince Devon and Raini to remain at my apartment and wait for an update on what was happening. Any developments since we last spoke, Knox?”
The Prime brought him up to speed, his expression hard. Tanner muttered something under his breath. “Can’t Khloé use her gifts to free herself?”
“She’s in the grip of a containment spell,” Keenan told him. “She can only telepathically connect with Ciaran.
Ciaran abruptly stiffened and then bit out a harsh expletive. “We have a major fucking problem,” he announced to the room.
Keenan stilled. “What problem?”
Ciaran’s nostrils flared. “She’s being delivered to Enoch. He apparently paid Gavril to acquire her.”
People spat curses, forgetting to be careful of not doing so around Asher.
Rage slammed into Keenan, making his icy calm falter for a moment. “What?” He listened carefully while the imp explained. Despite that Khloé seemed confident she could escape the crate, fear still battered at his cold calm, threatened to crack it open and shatter it.
Jolene turned to Ciaran. “Do you know if she has her blade with her? The one that can kill Enoch for good?”
“She has it,” the imp confirmed.
“But she can’t use it until she’s out of the crate,” Tanner pointed out. “Enoch might not plan on releasing her from it.”
Jolene sniffed, all haughty. “As if a crate could contain an imp. It’s insulting that Gavril would think differently.”
“If he’s so sure she can’t get out of it, the containment spell is probably very potent,” said Tanner.
“It won’t make a difference,” Jolene told him. “She’ll get out. We need to be there to help defend her when she does—she’ll be facing Enoch, Thea, and Gavril.”
Harper nodded. “Thea will gladly kill her if Enoch doesn’t. And I think we can safely say that Gavril would have no desire to keep Khloé alive, though he might not necessarily want her dead. He’d kill her out of spite.”
Tanner took Asher’s hand, who gave him a dimply smile. “How are you doing, little man?”
“He’s fine,” said Harper. “Whatever Lane did doesn’t seem to have harmed him or even stolen any of his powers.” She frowned. “I don’t know what leapt from him to Lane, but I’m not so sure it was an ability. And if I were Thea, I’d be nervous as hell right now.”
Asher touched his mother’s face. “Want Koey.”
Harper kissed his palm. “Yeah, we all want Khloé, sweetheart. She’ll be here soon.” She looked at Tanner. “He saw her be taken, so he’s a little upset and—”
A hiss escaped Ciaran through gritted teeth. “They’re taking her to Enoch now.”
The bottom fell out of Keenan’s stomach. “Where exactly are they taking her?”
“She doesn’t know yet,” said Ciaran, his voice strained. “But she’ll tell us when she gets there.”
*
Khloé’s stomach rolled as Thea took them on yet another short teleporting trip—the woman’s gift didn’t take them far, so they were having to make seconds’-long pit stops along the way to wherever Enoch waited.
Khloé braced herself for another teleport, but it didn’t come. Apparently, they’d reached their destination. Still inside the crate, she found herself sitting in the middle of a dirt street. She blinked, feeling like she’d traveled back through time to the old west.
Dilapidated wooden buildings were all around her—saloons, a blacksmith, hotels, banks, and a jail and sheriff’s office but to name a few. Many windows had been shattered or boarded up. Wooden planks were rotting, and metal was badly rusted. It made her itch for a tetanus shot.