“Enjoy being in the lead while you can, skýla.” Bitch. “It won’t last long. You’re weak.” He pricked at her pride, determined to send her into a rage, to make her vulnerable. “You’ve always been weak. I remember how Haidee killed me, yes...but I also remember how easy it was to steal dimOuniak from you. I remember how Maddox swiped up a sword upon his possession and stabbed into your vulnerable belly six different times. You were utterly defenseless, unable to stop him. You couldn’t even—”

Cursing him, she swung at his head. When he blocked her fist with the palm of his hand, she swung at him with her other arm, going for his throat. He leaned back, avoiding impact, while catching her other wrist. A single twist spun her around, allowing him to pin her arm behind her back.

“See? Weak,” he whispered into her ear.

“Bastard!”

Destruction laughed as Baden wrapped an arm around her neck to draw her against him, the pressure he applied enough to choke anyone else.

“Asshole,” she managed to rasp.

A sharp pain exploded in his thigh before his entire leg went limp. He released her, stumbling back. The hilt of what had to be a poison-tipped dagger protruded just above his knee.

“I’m going to rip out your—”

A pained moan drifted from the hallway, snagging his attention, silencing him.

Katarina was waking.

“Dibs on the first kill,” Torin said with relish. A gun cocked.

His friends had returned.

Pandora stiffened. Baden yanked out the dagger, and for the second time since his return from the dead, he bled. But just as before the blood was thick and black. He could only guess at the reason: the beast, who was more alive to him with every day that passed.

With Destruction shouting obscenities, Baden tossed the weapon. Pandora dodged left, but not swiftly enough. The blade grazed her shoulder. She sprinted toward the window, jumping...diving. Glass shattered, warm air blustering inside the living room.

He raced over, seeing she’d left smears of black behind. As she soared down, down, she used a retractable wire to slow her momentum. Swinging forward, she crashed through a window in the middle of the building.

He wanted to give chase, to attack, but the urge to safeguard Katarina—the key to his point—proved stronger.

William had her draped over his shoulder. “Where do you want her?”

Torin and Cameo flanked his sides, weapons drawn and at the ready. Baden wanted to make their lives easier, and yet he kept adding complications.

“The couch,” he said. The scene of the crime.

“There’s no one to kill?” Torin pouted. “I always miss the fun.”

William tossed Katarina onto the couch cushions. When she finished bouncing, he noticed the large knot on her forehead. One he’d sported on several occasions. Pandora had head-butted her.

Scowling, he shoved William in the shoulder. “Be more careful with her. She could have a concussion.”

“That’s not exactly a me problem, now, is it?”

Cameo gave her semiautomatic a little toss, caught it by the barrel and pistol-whipped the shit out of William. As he cursed and rubbed the fresh wound, she said, “Consider it a you problem from now on. Any injury she sustains, I’ll make sure you sustain as well.”

Baden and Destruction shuddered in unison.

Note to self: Earplugs are my best friend. He had no idea how Cameo lived with her demon. Anytime she experienced a moment of happiness, the kind that would change her life for the better, the demon erased the memory, ensuring she remained forever surrounded by darkness.

Without light—hope—there was no desire to live. A fact he’d suffered firsthand.

“You’re worse than my children,” William muttered. “You know that, right, Cam?”

The male had four children. Three sons and a daughter. The daughter was murdered months ago, and the sons were now in the midst of a vicious war with her killer’s family. A war the killer’s family would not win. William had fathered the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Cameo—thankfully, blessedly—shrugged.

Torin holstered his gun and held up a shredded box. “Monopoly, anyone? Got the M&M’s edition. The stray dogs outside the hotel used it as a chew toy, but I think I managed to salvage most of the pieces.”

More stray dogs?

Katarina moaned before bolting upright. Panting, she gave the room a panicked scan. Her gaze met Baden’s, and she scrambled to the edge of the couch, holding out her hand to ward him off, as if she expected him to attack.

“The woman,” she said. Most of her hair had fallen from the topknot, long dark waves now framing her face. The sight of her in such disarray caused his gut to clench. So fragile—the weak died swiftly—but so damned beautiful.

Destruction snarled at her, but made no new demand to kill her.

“She is Pandora, the one I told you about,” he said. “She’s my enemy.”

“That’s who attacked you?” Torin laughed. “Wow. The chick has balls, that’s for sure.”

Baden frowned at him. “She plans to kill me, to take me out of the game, before coming after the rest of you.”

William nodded, impressed. “That’s not exactly a bad strategy.”

“And,” he added, wanting to punch something, “she’s already earned a point.”

“A point?” Katarina asked. “What game are you playing with her?”

With a scowl, he focused on her. Any other human would have cowered. This one lifted her chin, a now familiar action, refusing to back down. Brave, but foolish. Merely another weakness.

“A dark and dangerous one. At the end, the one with the most points lives and the other dies. As you might, very soon. You drugged me,” he snapped.

She flinched. “If you wanted a passive prisoner, you should have chosen someone else.”

He’d thrown similar words at Hades.

I’m nothing like the king. I have limits.

Easier said...

“The human drugged you?” Torin barked out another laugh. “Dude. Are you embarrassed? Because I’m embarrassed for you.”

“Like you have room to talk.” William poked him in the shoulder. “Your girlfriend has spanked you on a number of occasions.”

“Yeah, but I was a very naughty boy. I started worldwide plagues, and I needed to be taught a lesson.”