Satisfied that he’d crippled the breeding operation, Alec took the subterranean tunnel that led to the garage of Charles’s castlelike home. Because the structure was built atop a small rise in the center of the community, the Alpha was both cushioned from his enemies and able to view the extent of his domain.

From the exterior, the home was majestic and lovely. Gray brick covered the exterior, which was distinguished by two turret-shaped corner staircases that connected the three stories. A large, rolling green lawn and imitation gas lamps lining the driveway gave the home a storybook quality. A coat of arms featuring a black diamond decorated the space above the front double doors. There was nothing to tell mortals that a demon ruled from here, quietly biding his time until he could attempt to destroy the world.

Pausing a moment, Alec took time to appreciate his situation. While there were plenty of mortals filtering through the gated community—postal workers, gardeners, pool cleaners, baby-sitters, and the occasional police patrol—it wouldn’t have been easy for him to get this far as a Mark. And getting to the pups? That would have been impossible. Yet Jehovah had given him this task—a task he’d needed an archangel’s gifts to accomplish.

The Lord worked in mysterious ways . . .

Alec shifted into a lower-floor guest bathroom. The stench of rotting souls was overwhelming in the house, as was to be expected. Every pack member traversed the halls here on a regular basis and Charles—an unmated wolf—was known for his insatiable appetite for sex, which kept a large quantity of women in the house.

That was why Alec started in the master bedroom.

The private domain of the Black Diamond Pack Alpha suited a wolf. Wood paneled walls, tan carpet, and forest green drapes gave the impression of the great outdoors. As Alec expected, two women lounged there, naked and decorated with details that betrayed one as a witch and the other as a wolf. A console at the foot of the bed was raised, revealing a hidden television. They were too busy giggling over a talk show to notice him standing in the shadows of the unlit sitting room. Charles was absent.

Alec kept moving, shifting from room to room, growing more uneasy by the moment. Aside from servants, the home appeared to be empty. Where the hell was everyone? When an Alpha was in residence, his home was usually crammed.

Pausing in the office, Alec searched the desk but found nothing of note. Just rosters, dues spreadsheets, mating and birth records—the tools of a healthy pack. So he returned to the bedroom, shifting to a seated position atop the console television with his legs dangling in front of the screen. He spread his ebony wings with their gold tips and waved at the naked ladies.

The women screamed.

He knocked out the spiky-haired blonde with a single burst of lightning from his fingertips to her chest. He leaped atop the brunette and covered her mouth with his hand. She stared up at him with wide, horror-filled hazel eyes. Every infernal with the most basic of training knew who he was on sight.

“Howl,” he warned darkly, “and I’ll stab you through the heart with a flame-covered silver sword. Nod, if you understand.”

She moved her head in the affirmative, her tousled curls tumbling around a pretty face.

“Where’s Charles?” He removed his hand.

“He left.”

“You should try telling me something useful,” he murmured. “Like where he was headed.”

“I don’t know, Cain. I swear. He left in a hurry.”

“Why?”

“Whatever the reason, it has to be important. When he’s in full rut, nothing can drag him away.”

“What was said to get his attention?”

“Devon, our Beta, said he had an important phone call. Something about Timothy.”

“Who’s Timothy?”

“His kid.” She swallowed hard. “The one you killed.”

Alec’s gaze narrowed. “Did you overhear the call?”

She pointed to the sitting room. “He took it in there. I couldn’t hear him, but he wrote something down. Then he dressed and grabbed a change of clothes. That’s all I know. I promise.”

An Infernal promise was worth about as much as used toilet paper, but the smell of the wolf’s fear was potent. If there was anything that passed as truth with Infernals, it was that they’d do anything to save their own skin.

“How long ago?”

“Twenty minutes, maybe.”

Touching her neck, he sent a surge of power through her that rendered her unconscious. He leaped from the bed and moved into the next room. There was a small writing desk with an old-fashioned corded phone. A blank pad of paper and a pencil waited for the next note or message, while a desk lamp sat unlit and oddly placed, as if it had been shoved aside hurriedly.

He picked up the pad and pencil. Rubbing the tip of the lead lightly over the page, he revealed the imprint of the prior messages.

Right at commissary

Right on Pvt. Mitchell

Left on Garrison Way

White van, black Suburban

Directions to the duplex where Eve was staying. Why? The consensus was that Charles was responsible for the terrorizing of Raguel’s class. If that were true, why would he be jotting down Eve’s location as if he didn’t know it? And why would that information, which he should have already had, cause him to leave two willing women in bed?

Alec shifted back to the motel. He freed Giselle, whom he’d once again cuffed to the sink. “Come on.”

She scrambled to her feet and ripped the gag from her mouth. “Is he dead?”

“Not yet. But the pups are.”

“All of them?” Her tone was both awed and horrified.

“Yes.”

“Oh, man . . .”

A surge of alarm struck him, a rolling wave of emotion from Eve that halted him midstride. He reached out to her, but the sensation was gone as quickly as it had come, leaving behind a quiet, peaceful stillness.

“Hurry up,” he bit out, urged to haste by the mystery.

“Where are we going?”

“Monterey.” He returned to the bedroom.

“Yay!” She clapped. “That’s south. We’re finally getting somewhere.”

“Don’t get too excited.” He touched her and tried to shift to the other room, just to see if he had the skill to move them both. He made the trip. She didn’t. He shifted back, cursing.

Giselle’s eyes were lit with amusement. “Doesn’t work on Infernals. Our cooties don’t travel well with angels.”

“I’ll have to leave you here, then.” He glanced at the clock. It was shortly after four. “The way things are going, we might all be dead soon. You should go do something you always wanted to do before you croak.”

“Ha! Archangels can’t die. And you’re not getting rid of me. Cain of Infamy turned into Cain the Archangel, and I had to be in the vicinity when it happened. I’m half dead already. At least with you I have a chance of saving the other half.”

Alec pulled the car keys out of his pocket and set them on the dresser. “Archangels aren’t invincible.”

“Might as well be,” she scoffed. Then a stunned silence permeated the space between them. “Wait a minute . . . Something happened to one of them, didn’t it? Which one?”

“You can head down to Anaheim. I’ll let them know you’re coming.”

“That’s why you’re an archangel now, isn’t it?”

He pulled out some cash and set it next to the keys. “Grab everything that’s here and take it down with you. I don’t want to have to come back here, if I can help it.”

“Cain, damn it! Talk to me.”

He moved into the adjoining room and took a last look around, praying that he wasn’t forgetting something. With the enormity of information passing through him—from the handlers underneath him and the seraphim above him—he was barely keeping his own thoughts straight.

“Are you a machine?” she cried. “Don’t you care at all about what this means? I’m not ready for the world to end yet.”

“Can anyone ever be ready for it?” he retorted, aggravated by her outburst.

Giselle skirted him and got in his face. Hands on her slim hips, she demanded, “What about that woman you were talking to on the phone last night? I heard the tone of your voice. She’s special to you. Do you care about what the end of the world means to her?”

Alec paused and exhaled harshly. Examining his feelings for Eve was like trying to see through fogged glass. He knew they were there, could see the shadows and shapes, but the details were lost to him. It was similar to being served his favorite dessert and discovering he had no appetite.

“Yes,” he said, honestly. “I care about what happens to her.” There was more than sex and love involved in his feelings for Eve—respect and admiration, affection and nostalgia. The best days of his life had been spent with her. Being an archangel didn’t change everything.

She nodded. “Okay, then. Tell me what’s going on, so I can help.”

He related the bare minimum required to bring her up to speed, while simultaneously reaching out to Eve. She seemed to be . . . napping. She was presently a blank slate, hovering in the space between consciousness and REM sleep. He frowned, wondering if the panic he’d felt from her a moment ago had been part of a dream. Having never shared a connection like this with anyone before, he wasn’t certain how they worked. He reached out to his brother and found him unconcerned about Eve beyond what Alec would expect.

Abel expelled him forcefully. Stay out of my head, Cain, before I find you and kill you.

Alec gave the mental equivalent of flipping him the bird.

“Wow.” Giselle sank onto the bed. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be any help, but I will sure try.”

His brows rose. “What happened to the Mare who thought we were on a suicide mission?”

“She hooked up with an archangel. Kinda changes the odds, you know.”

“Pack your stuff. We leave in five.”