He looked real torn up about that. Pushing off the wall, he didn’t even bother to hide his grin. “We’ll be in contact.”

Kat stood and I followed, more than ready to get the hell out of Dodge, but as we walked past Lotho, he suddenly stepped in front of Kat. I started to pull her back from him, but he was fast.

“You have balls bigger than the males in this room,” Lotho said, his face inches from her. “I like you. And I’d keep you if it weren’t for the fact that you’re part Luxen. So that’s probably good news for you. Boo for me.”

And then he kissed her. Full-on, mother-freaking kissed her.

Before either of us could react and I could unleash my fury, Lotho shifted into something that was nothing more than smoke and shadow, and was gone.

“I’m going to kill him,” I swore, feeling the Source crackling along my skin.

Kat jerked out of my grip, her face pale and lips tinged in blue, like she’d been making out with a Popsicle, and she swung on Hunter and Archer. “I want to leave right now.”

Hunter glanced at Archer. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea, before this whole trip goes to waste.”

An hour later, we were finally topside. It was dawn the following morning, and I was still so angry that the metallic bitter taste filled my mouth with every breath I took.

“You guys are more than welcome to come back to Lore’s place if you want to chill out for a few hours before you hit the road again,” Hunter offered. “Get some rest. Grab something to eat. Whatever.”

As Kat climbed into the backseat of the Explorer, I glanced at Archer. We really could use the time to rest before we got back on the road. Kat had barely spoken the whole time it took to get out of the damn maze of underground tunnels, and I knew she was exhausted. Probably disturbed, too.

What do you think? I directed the question at Archer.

He opened the driver’s door. I think we could use the R&R and I think Lore and Hunter are good, um, people, but heads up, Kat doesn’t want to go back to the base.

My brows rose as I glanced into the interior of the backseat. She was fumbling with the seat belt. Smiling a little, I leaned in, brushed her fingers out of the way, and buckled her in. Do tell?

She wants to go home. She wants to see her mom. It’s all she’s really been thinking about for the last hour or so.

I sighed. I didn’t have the heart to even broach that subject with Kat. Visiting her mom would be risky—too risky.

“Thanks for the offer,” Archer said, turning to the Arum. “We’ll take you up on it.”

Hunter quickly gave him the directions before doing that shadow thing and taking the extraordinarily fast method of traveling. As Archer climbed into the driver’s seat and I got in the back instead of the front passenger seat, he pulled his phone out of the compartment in the center console and tapped the screen. He frowned.

“What’s up?” I asked.

He shook his head. “There’s a missed call from Luc. Let me check this out, but he’s probably just impatient, wanting to know how everything went with the Arum.” Getting situated in his seat, he retrieved the voicemail. The minute his gaze flickered up and met mine, I knew whatever he was listening to wasn’t good. When he lowered the phone, lines formed around his mouth. “Luc said . . . he said Nancy is missing.”

“What?” Kat asked, her chin jerking up.

“I don’t know. I need to call him,” Archer replied. A nugget of unease sprouted in my gut and grew as I listened to the one-sided conversation. While Archer quickly explained what had gone down with Lotho and that the Arum was on board, the worry over what the hell Nancy was up to didn’t lessen.

Archer hung up, dropping the phone in his lap as he twisted around to face us. “All right, so it looks like Nancy has gone MIA. Sometime after we left was the last time anyone at the base had seen her. Luc and General Eaton have no idea where she is.”

Kat glanced at me. “But what does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Luc seems to think she’s probably heading to wherever those kids are stashed and he’s got some people on the lookout for her, but with Nancy . . . man, you never know with her.”

True. I didn’t know what to think about that. If everything worked out with the Arum and we successfully took down the Luxen invaders, yet Nancy disappeared off the face of the Earth, it wasn’t a good thing. No way was I living the rest of my life wondering where in the hell she was and if she was going to pop up again one day, when we least expected it.

“It’s not the biggest of our problems right now.” Archer’s eyes met mine, and for a brief second, they flickered over to Kat. “Nowhere near it.”

That was also true. “Luc will find her,” I said, and I had to trust in that. But as I got all up and close with Kat, maneuvering her surprisingly pliable body around so she was stretched out across the seat and her head was in my lap, I couldn’t stop thinking about Nancy Husher. Did she really go for those kids? Or was there something else? If I’d learned anything by being around her, it was that there was nothing the woman could do that would surprise me.

I leaned down, brushing my lips across Kat’s cheek. “Get some rest, okay?”

She smiled a little. “That sounds bossy.”

“Okay.” I tried again as Archer fired up the Explorer. “Take a nap.”

One brow rose. “That’s still bossy.”