Chapter 23
Iris
Ipress my finger on the light switch to my right. The burst of fluorescence sears my retinas, so I blink a few times to adjust while I stride to the shelf in front of me and swipe a dagger—my excuse if someone saw me coming down here, or if I encounter anyone on my way up.
Even though it kills me to stay five more minutes in the armory without helping Emily, I have to make sure I won’t bump into Cain.
When the time is up, I get out and climb the stairs.
My muscles twitch with the need to tap into my hellseeker speed.
But I don’t. I can’t appear anything but oblivious to the hate crime happening in the basement.
As my feet touch the first floor, I make a beeline for the back of the mansion, exiting through the door and taking the pebbled mosaic garden path.
The sun is high in the sky. It flickers a dizzying dance through the shrubs and the luxuriant branches of the hawthorn trees.
Even though the radiating heat is beating down on me, I can’t shake the iciness that sunk its claws deep beneath my skin—akin to permafrost—the moment I left Kaiden’s penthouse.
Today, though, it somehow seems worse. Ominous. It sends shivers down my spine.
Aside from the two men attending to the flower beds, the garden is empty, so my shoulders sag a bit in relief. It’s short-lived, though, because the second I reach the gargantuan oak tree and take my phone out of the back pocket of my jean shorts with trembling fingers, all my muscles lock up.
Biting my lower lip, I tap on the screen to unblock his number before calling. All the stoicism I gained from my mental prep on my walk here is shot to pieces when he answers on the first ring. “Angel.”
Kaiden’s pet name for me lands like a sucker punch to my solar plexus.
My legs can’t withstand my weight, so I slide down the tree until I’m seated on the grass.
The bark prickles my skin through the thin fabric of my T-shirt, as I say, barely above a whisper, “Don’t—” Fuck.
Why is it so hard to speak? “Don’t call me that,” I repeat, white-knuckling the phone.
Somehow, I find it within myself to clip out, “Something happened—”
“What’s wrong?” he interrupts, alerted by the urgency in my tone.
The velvety timbre of his voice cleaves my bleeding chest wide open again.
I inhale sharply through the debilitating pain.
“I um…fuck, I don’t even know how to tell you this.
Grayson has gone mad over the news of Erik being a serial killer.
It’s my fault…I gathered all the evidence, called the police, and also alerted the media because I didn’t want to risk the Council burying it.
And now Grayson thinks you fabricated the evidence to hide Erik’s disappearance.
” My next breath stops short in my lungs.
“Kaiden, they kidnapped Emily. She’s being interrogated. ”
The sound of something smashing to pieces pierces my ear. “Motherfucking FUCK! That self-righteous scum. Logan and the pack have been going crazy looking for her; she disappeared last night.”
“He’s torturing her. Cain. The enforcer,” I mumble. A string of sharp curses follow from his end. “This is all my fault.”
“None of this is your fault, Iris,” he snaps.
“Yeah, it is—”
“Stop blaming yourself for killing that piece of shit and letting the world know what a sick fuck he was.”
“Listen, I will try everything I can to get her out, okay?”
“No, Iris. I’ll come deal with it. I’ll burn the building down if I have to. This is a blatant breach of the Celestial Treaty; Emily is under the Conclave’s protection. They have no fucking right.”
“I know, but Kaiden, please think before you do something stupid. This could start a full-on war between the Order and the Conclave.”
“Grayson should have thought about that before kidnapping and torturing one of us.”
“Let me at least try. If I don’t succeed, you can come, but you must know there are wards in place to protect the house against demons.”
“The basement isn’t warded. They can’t bring demons in there otherwise.”
I scoff. “That might be the case, but you can’t even set foot on the grounds. How will you get into the basement?”
“Let me worry about that. I’ll let Logan know. The Order better be prepared to face the wrath of the pack because they will come swinging—”
“Kaiden, your way will result in a bloodbath. I don’t know how many wolves are in Logan’s pack, but I don’t want to risk any of their lives. Trust me, my way is better.”
He takes a long moment to sit with my words. “Fine. There are secret tunnels under the compound. You can use them to get Emily out.”
My eyebrows pinch in confusion. “What are you talking about? What tunnels?”
“Trust me, bootleggers built hidden tunnels all over the city during Prohibition. Beneath the Order’s house are tunnels much older than that—since the initiation of the Templar Knights. How do you think the Order brings demons into the cells?”
“They told us they drop the wards momentarily, but we never know when it happens, so there are very few chances for a security breach.”
Kaiden lets out a mirthless chuckle. “That’s a big, fat lie. They use the tunnels, Iris.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Does it matter?”
“No, I just…fine. How can I get to them?”
“I’ll send you a blueprint of the house and instructions on how to get to it. One entrance is right next to the cells.”
“Okay.” This plan is much better than hiding Emily in one of the rooms and waiting until the opportunity to escape presented itself, which, in hindsight, wasn’t the best idea. “Just don’t do anything rash.”
“You have until midnight. I won’t be able to hold Logan or Ava back longer than that. They’re worried sick. And, angel? If anyone touches you, I’ll burn that fucking house down, along with everyone in it.” He hangs up.
His words shouldn’t warm up my insides, right?
There’s something seriously wrong with me because I should at least be a little unsettled by them.