SEDUCTIVE PREY

REASON AND RUNES

The sinister gleam in his eyes fades with the smirk on his face. Followed by a blank stare and several sobering blinks. Lucas scans the faces of everyone in the room and is met with grim looks.

"What happened?" He zeroes his eyes in on me for an explanation.

"Your father happened." Eden answers for me.

"Well, that explains all the homicidal looks on everyone's faces," he regards Eden with pain-filled eyes. "What did he say?"

"He has my dad," I sigh. "He's having a phone delivered to me and he wants me to call him when I get it so he can tell me where to meet him... alone. And if I don't, he's going to kill my dad."

"Abso-fucking-lutely not... he cannot be trusted, Ali. I am privy to his thoughts every time he chooses to use our blood bond to son-jack me and whatever he has in store for you, it's bad enough for him to keep it well guarded even with me inside his head. He's playing you."

"What would you suggest I do then?"

Because I'm running out of options here.

"I don't know," he shrugs. "Maybe Kaia could be the key to bringing him down," he tells me. "To capture the devil, you will always need a few angels on your side. And not just any angels... archangels. Oh, and you'll need dragon breath."

Dragon breath?

It takes a moment before the realization that he's referring to Zayd sets in.

"If he even senses someone else in the vicinity, my dad is as good as dead, Lucy."

Narrowing his eyes at me, he tells me, "You know I hate when you call me that... also, if you go there alone, you'redead."

"Well, unless someone can give me a better alternative... I don't have a choice. I'm not going to let my dad die."

"You can't even defend yourself right now." Tristan chimes in. "Your power is gone."

"What do you mean her power is gone?" Lucas examines me with narrowed eyes.

"Can I speak to you alone?" Ethan asks. A pained expression on his face.

I know where this conversation is going to go, because his first instinct is to protect me at all costs. But my first instinct is to protect my family. Still, I follow Ethan into the next room. Because for all intents and purposes, he's my family too now. And I am completely emotionally unprepared for the argument we're about to have.

"If you're going to tell me to sit this one out, you already know what my answer is," I fold my arms across my chest the moment were alone.

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"Of course, you do."

"So, if I ask you not to go, will you stay here and let us protect you?" He asks.

"I've already lost my mom, I lost Kyle who was buried alive, I lost Lexie who was kidnapped by Zayd, and my grandpa who was also kidnapped by Zayd... I'm tired of losing people." I sulk.

"Good," he nods. "Then you know how I feel. Because I've already lost one wife and I'm not trying to lose another. Not you."

His eyes burrow into mine and I feel the weight of the words that pass through them unsaid. I want to argue with him and tell him all of the reasons why I have to do this. But my argument dies in my throat because he's right. I'm not the only person who has lost someone. He lost Zara, he lost his father for many years, he's lost members of the syndicate, Tristan and Celeste have lost members of the Syth, and I don't even want to think about how many angels Kaia has lost fighting Satan and his daemons throughout time. No matter how scared I am to lose my dad, I can't be selfish.

Not now.

Not when so many of them have lost so much already because of me.

And not when my heart is standing across from me, staring at me like it will be the end of him as well.

No. I can't let my decision be one of impulse. I have more than just myself to consider.

"I can't lose you." He sighs.

"Then tell me how we get him back without me?" I sigh.

"I will... I just need time to come up with a plan that isn't suicide." Ethan assures me.

"And what if we don't have time? That phone could be delivered at any moment and the call could come through at any moment. Time isn't on our side Ethan."

"Then we should use it wisely."

Ethan heads back into the room Lucas is being held in and I follow as he walks right up to his makeshift cage. "We need a plan. One that doesn't involve Ali going on a suicide mission. What would you suggest?"

"Well first, I would suggest we ensure Lucas can't be son-jacked moving forward or all our planning will be for nothing," Kaia steps up to his glass cell and etches a new rune into the glass that illuminates a bright red light before fading into a dull white one. Making a little tweak to his containment cell. "That's better."

"He's gone," Lucas says to no one in particular. Looking down at himself. "I can already feel the absence of his influence. And I don't know why, but when you were talking just now, I got the feeling he wants you to bring the archangels and Zayd to him. Which means you need to keep them as far away from this as possible. So, forget what I said."

"Then we're back to square one." I sulk.

"What about my father?" Ethan asks. "For what was done to him... he definitely wants revenge."

"If there was anyone my father was ever afraid of, next to God, it would be Eli Deatherage." Lucas nods in agreement. "But I also agree that you should take Ali with you. My father also believes in failsafe's, which means he could have two or more plans running concurrently to bring about the same desired effect. And you won't know which one to give your attention to. So, plan for them all. He will want to capture Ali, as much as he will want to rescue me. And he will want to hurt one or all of you for helping with my capture."

Tears form in my eyes because as he's warning us, I'm reminded of how great of a friend he's been to me. And how no matter what, he always made sure I was safe, comfortable, and happy. It makes the situation we're in suck that much more. Because it's supposed to be us against the world. Lucy and Ali-Cat until the day we die. Only, we're not dead, I'm hoping to live long enough to actually enjoy being married to the love of my life, and his father is trying to kill me.