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  I move, grabbing Ben’s arm when he doesn’t. He mutters under his breath as we leave. I don’t turn to him until we’re outside. “You know better than this.”

  “He’s a lying...”

  “He’s not a reliable witness. I’m taking over this investigation.”

  Ben frowns at me. “You can’t be objective about this.”

  “You’re denying that you put words in that kid’s mouth?”

  He’s silent, fuming. I stare him down.

  “I think you’re the one who can’t be objective here, Ben. You’re off the case. Go back to Haleton.”

  He opens his mouth. I don’t want to hear his objections, so I don’t give him a chance to say anything else. “You just gave me enough rope to hang you. Go back and I’ll let it go. Stay and I’ll tighten the noose.”

  He scowls at me. “I want my notepad back.”

  “You’ll get it when I’m done with the case.”

  My vacation is officially over. I need to get to the bottom of this. Who the hell killed Eden’s fourth?

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Logan

  The whisper-faint ringing leads me back to the basement I woke up in. Should have known. I use the flashlight on my phone to search the room. The body on the ground is unrecognisable, but the crate has been locked back up, and the ringing is muffled enough to be coming from inside. I stop calling. The damned thing is locked. She wasn’t nice enough to leave the key. It’s a heavy box, unsurprisingly. It’s going to be harder to haul it up those stairs than it was to let it slide down them when I brought Catherine’s body down to what was meant to be its final resting place.

  What harm would leaving him here do? He’s trapped, but he’s immortal. It won’t kill him to wait here for me to find the key and bring it back.

  I hesitate, but I know I need to get back to Rapture. I need to warn Eden. I need to make sure Catherine doesn’t get to her.

  “You awake in there, Asher?” I call out, knowing I won’t get a reply. He’s out of it, or he’s dead. If it’s the latter he won’t revive for the better part of a day. It feels wrong leaving him, but I don’t have time to waste. I get the hell out and stalk back to the car, my cell clenched by my side. I throw it onto the passenger seat before I take off back in the direction of Rapture. I should call her. Give her some advance warning of the shit that’s going down.

  I hesitate and the cell slides out of reach onto the floor. Decision made for me, I guess. Relieved, I floor the accelerator. The sooner I can get back to town the better.

  Who the hell knows how long Catherine’s been out of her box? I have to assume it was before I brought Asher to the site of her burial. Otherwise I don’t see why she wouldn’t have stolen my car to get back to Rapture. Maybe that’s not where she is.

  I laugh out loud at that last thought. Of course it’s where she is. She has unfinished business in her hometown. A Goddess she needs to destroy.

  I’m not going to let that happen. This might be a suicide mission, but if it is I’m ready for that. One last dive head first into danger. One last chance to protect Eden, to save her life.

  That’s when I realise nothing has really changed. I’m willing to die for her. I always have been.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Eli

  The body hasn’t been picked up yet. It’s the first thing I check on, with a call to my contact at the ER. Haleton’s hospital was hit with a big emergency this morning when an old office building went on fire in the middle of town. They’ve been dealing with patients with varying levels of injury and no ambulances are free yet to come. Not to pick up a body only to transport it to the morgue. This isn’t a priority. I made a call to my station next, to inform them I’m working this case and to ask who’s handling the investigation into the fire. Apparently the cause hasn’t been determined yet, but I’ll check on it later. It’s just another weird coincidence in a day apparently full of them.

  I head straight to the doctor’s office building and a weeping woman allows me entry, sniffing as she opens the door. “Oh, I thought you’d be the ambulance.”

  “I’m sorry, they can’t get here for a while. Big emergency in Haleton.”

  She nods. “It’s just so... I don’t know how much longer I can wait around here knowing he’s in there...” Her voice cracks. “He was so young. So smart. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  “That’s what I’m here to figure out. Can you show me where it happened?” I follow her to a door that she stops outside of.

  “In there,” she whispers, stepping back.

  “I’ll need a few minutes to study the room. Will you be okay out here?”

  She nods. “Oh, wait. Could you bring me my jacket? I left it over my chair last night and I’m getting kind of cold sitting around waiting.”

  I nod. Nothing should be moved from the scene, but it seems more important to keep her comfortable than to stick rigidly to a rule that doesn’t matter. It’s not evidence. She had nothing to do with this. I go inside and close the door. The lights are on and there’s a lot of blood on the floor, a little splashed around the room. None of it has reached the woman’s jacket. I check her pockets on the off chance there might be a murder weapon stashed. Nothing but a handful of wrapped hard candies and a packet of tissues. I take it out to her and go back into the room.

  Blake was average height and muscular. His throat has been slit and he’s face down on the ground, so the attacker came at him from behind. The element of surprise could mean almost anyone could have done this, but I doubted it was someone thinner or weaker than him. He would have struggled. He could have overpowered most of the men in this town. There aren’t that many in their prime like he was. I look around for other clues, or a hidden discarded weapon. I find nothing.

  I leave the room. The doctor’s secretary is standing there, hugging herself even in the jacket. There is sort of a chill to the air, though I half wonder if I’m imagining it.

  “Have you eaten today?”

  She’s shaking a little. “No. I couldn’t. Not after I found him like that.”

  “You need to sit down, and you need to get some hot food.”

  She must have been here for hours, waiting. She’s going to have a lot longer to wait. Considering it takes a couple hours to get here from there and an ambulance is unlikely to be dispatched soon. Maybe I was hasty to send Ben back to Haleton. I could have had him bring her food and wait with her. I consider my options. I don’t have any leads and I’m going to have to go out and have a good look around the perimeter of the building. Find out how the killer might have gained entry and who might have seen him enter or exit the building.

  “Where have you been waiting?”

  She brings me down the hall to a seat by the front door. It faces out a window. “I sit here to eat lunch some days. It’s quiet and there’s enough light to read by.”

  “Okay. You can wait here. I’ll go bring back food. You might be waiting a few hours for the ambulance. Unfortunately there’s been a fire in Haleton.”

  She nods. “They told me that when I called to ask how long it might be.”

  “Any preferences for lunch today?”

  “Coffee and a sandwich will be most welcome, Sheriff. Thank you.”

  I can see a cafe along the street. Might as well ask questions while I order her something to eat. I wonder if Ben even went over there. Probably just grabbed the first random person he saw on the street and lead him into the answers he wanted. “Did my deputy ask you any questions?”

  She nods as she sits down. “He asked some strange ones and I’m not sure he believed my answers.”

  My stomach churns. What the hell else did he do wrong? “What did he ask?”

  “If I knew the doctor was one of Miss Eden Rose Masterson’s lovers.” She flushes beet-red. “If I knew she was a... whore.”

  What the fuck? I frown as I take it in. Ben might be a prick, but this was out of character even for him. If nothing else, he’d
never curse in front of a lady.

  “He’s been a little erratic today. That’s why I sent him home.”

  She smiles. “I’m glad. It was disconcerting. There was something in his eyes. It scared me, a little.”

  Shit. This reeks of the influence of one of Eden’s enemies. There’s some kind of destructive force in town, and I’m going to have to figure out what’s going on before someone else gets hurt.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Eden

  I’m afraid. Lawson’s been gone for almost an hour now and I still can’t move. I’ve calmed down enough to know he was acting in my best interests. Now I’m just freaked that I can’t move my body. My head and neck are moveable, but that’s it. All I can do is sit here and wait for him to break that damned spell he cast before he left.

  “This is so weird,” Nick murmurs, his voice curious.

  “It sucks,” I tell him, raising an eyebrow when he flashes a quick smile my way. “What?”

  He leans in and kisses my neck. The light way he’s doing it makes it tickle, but I’m trapped against him so there’s nothing I can do about it.

  “We’re alone at last, but you can’t move.” There’s something teasing in his tone that makes my skin warm.

  “Nick!” I gasp as his hands brush over my breasts, awakening my nipples.

  “Just providing comfort to my Goddess,” he whispers, moving to slide behind me, his legs coming down either side of my own when he’s in place.

  There’s room for him get back there, because I’m perched close to the edge of the couch.

  “Relax,” he tells me, as his hands move under my top. “I know what I’m doing.”

  I should tell him to stop, but I don’t want to. He makes me feel so wanton in his arms even if I can’t physically react to the impulses he stirs. I love it.

  “Don’t worry, if someone comes back in while I’m making you come...”

  “You’ll stop?”

  He snorts. “No. I was about to say, you won’t care because it’ll feel so good.”

  “Nick,” I tell him off with no real sharpness to my tone. I’ve already decided that I want this.

  “Yes, Eden?” His hands are under my shirt. They pull the cups of my bra down and his fingers begin rolling my nipples.

  I groan. “Don’t stop.”

  I feel his grin against my shoulder as he leans in to kiss me there. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to.”

  He plays with my nipples, stroking them into rock-hard points. His cool fingers have worked me up into a frenzy of need by the time he moves his right hand down the flat of my stomach, wriggling his fingers down past the waistband of my jeans and into my panties.

  I want to lean back against him, to arch my hips, but I can’t move. All I can do is whimper and moan under his feather-light touch. He’s taking it so slowly I can hardly stand it.

  His middle finger strokes through the wet seam of my lips, and comes back up slowly toward my clit. Dampening that sensitive spot with my juices, he starts to rub his finger gently over the swollen mound of flesh. I gasp, and he squeezes the nipple he’s still teasing with his left hand.

  Desire pulses through me and I rock against him, spreading my legs wider. I lean back and he murmurs against my neck, his grip tightening on my breast. Oh, wait, I can move now? How did that happen? Oh, who cares... He strokes a little harder and I groan. I’m so fucking close.

  “Better come for me now, Eden,” he tells me. “If you don’t want an audience.”

  The crackle of the walkie-talkie on the table barely hits my ears as I come, tensing under Nick and feeling him move his hand to thrust his fingers inside my drenched pussy. He doesn’t linger. We have imminent company. I can hear someone out on the porch.

  He lets me go and I stand up and fix my bra just as the front door opens. Nick gets up from the couch, sucking on his fingers. The blissful expression he wears distracts me completely. I don’t care who just walked in, I want to go upstairs and finish what we just started.

  He grins slowly as he wraps an arm around me. “I knew taking your mind off things would work.”

  “Work?”

  “To break that weird paralysis Lawson put you under.”

  “Then why didn’t you do that an hour ago?” I raise an eyebrow, but I don’t get a chance to hear his answer.

  There’s a loud crash and we both turn towards the sound. Lawson stumbles to the ground as he enters the room, clutching his stomach. He’s hurt! I rush to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  My light floods into him. He’s in state of emotional flux. Love and Hate wage war within him. I connect to the love and my light boosts the feeling, but I don’t know how to fix this. All I can do is put him to sleep. His eyes close as his body relaxes into slumber.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Nick asks.

  I shake my head. “She did this. Diana’s mother.”

  My heart sinks at the realisation. If Lawson couldn’t take her on, what chance do I have? Everyone needs to be loved, don’t they? A chill settles over me. I already know the answer to that, and it doesn’t make me feel any better. Just because you need a heart to live doesn’t mean you use it to love. The thought makes me shiver. What if Catherine can’t be made mortal? What then?

  She’s already struck out by killing the man who was meant to be my fourth. What if she tries to hurt Nick or Eli? Shit. Eli’s still out. He could be in danger right now.

  “What is it?” Nick is frowning at me.

  “That witch is out there and Eli isn’t home yet.” I get my cell out of my pocket and call him. He needs to be warned. He needs to come home. The line is busy so I leave a message and a text. My heart is thumping hard in my chest. Please don’t let her hurt him.

  Chapter Thirty

  Eli

  No-one saw a damn thing. I’ve questioned everyone in the line up of shops across from the doctor’s office, and the people in the houses down the street. Everyone had good things to say about him. He was well liked. No known enemies. I expected as much. I bring his secretary back her sandwich and coffee.

  She takes it with a smile that dies quickly.

  “You’ll catch him, won’t you?” She asks, her gaze more intent suddenly, more desperate. “Whoever did this. You’ll catch him?”

  I nod slowly. “There’s nowhere to run. We’ll find him.”

  She relaxes a little, and starts unwrapping her meal. I leave, considering my next move. I make a quick call to Haleton and find out a known arsonist was spotted in town before the blaze started. Officers are out searching for him. The ambulance is finally on its way to pick up Blake’s body.

  When I end the call I notice messages from Eden. She needs me to get back to the mansion. Diana’s mother is in town and she believes that woman is behind Blake’s death. She hurt Lawson too. None of us are safe. I put my cell back into my pocket.

  The mystery is halfway solved. As much as Eden’s heartfelt plea to bring me back home got to me, I can’t go back now. I need to find Catherine. She’s trying to hurt Eden, and apparently she got to Lawson. I can’t let anything else happen.

  So the woman’s a Goddess of Destruction. No-one’s infallible. I just need to be smarter than the bitch. Clearly, she’s not staying near the scene of the crime. I wonder if she’s at her daughter’s house.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Logan

  I enter town and know where I’m headed. Catherine knows I’m coming back to Rapture. She’s been inside my head. She didn’t try to stop me. I’m not a threat to her plan to destroy Eden.

  My insides twist up as I drive towards her mansion. I don’t want to have to see her again, in the flesh, but I don’t know what choice I have. This is Catherine’s final destination, it’s her end game.

  She wants to take Eden down and I need to stop her.

  That’s all. There’s nothing else.

  Yet, I can’t help the anger that’s simmering under the surface at the thought of being around the woman I love
d for so many years. The woman who rejected me.

  I’ll just have to channel that energy toward Catherine. She deserves to be ripped to pieces for what she did to her own flesh and blood. I need to put a bullet through that immortal brain of hers. Incapacitate that bitch so I can find a way to make sure she never wakes up again. There must be a way to keep her from rising.

  I stop outside Eden’s mansion and sit there, gripping the wheel. It’s going to hurt but this needs to be done. I get out of the car and run straight into someone. I back up and he grabs my wrist.

  The Sheriff who tried to kill me when I was immortal. I smirk at him. This must be something of a surprise. He stares me down with narrowed eyes, his grip tightening on my wrist.

  “Nice to run into you again, Sheriff.”

  “Where have you been, Logan?”

  His grim expression is levelled at my blood-soaked upper half. I can’t help the laughter that rumbles through me. “That’s not your concern.”

  “Considering I’m looking for a killer, I’d say it is.”

  I pull out of his grasp. “Look elsewhere.”

  Probably should have changed before I came here, in hindsight. Oh well. I clear my throat as I head to the gates. “Let me in,” I call over to the security guard I can’t remember the name of. “I need to warn Eden of a threat.”

  I’m suddenly crushed up against the bars, pain searing through my body as Eli twists my arm.

  “You’re the threat, Logan. But you won’t be for long. I know you’re only mortal now.”

  “And I know you killed the guy who murdered your old girlfriend. But what’s a little secret between friends?”

  I feel handcuffs click into place and roll my eyes. “You can’t arrest me.”

  “Who said that’s what’s happening?” That spark of anger in his tone is like a fuse that’s just been lit. He’s not in control. He’s going to get his gun now. And I haven’t warned Eden about Catherine yet.