“Or what you think is a lie.” Defiant, Galen said, “I don’t know how, but Cronus was the one who locked me up. The other possessed warriors, too. Cameron, Winter and Puck. Ask Keeley.”

“I can’t ask her. She’s too busy fighting for her life.”

Concern caused lines of tension to branch from the warrior’s eyes, as if he truly cared. “For all we know, Cronus has a twin.”

“And this is the first we’re hearing about him? No.”

“An alternate reality? Time travel? Anything’s possible.”

“You won’t convince me—”

Delighted feminine laughter stopped him cold. Or hot. Baden turned to see Katarina squatting beside Ashlyn’s bed, shaking hands with Biscuit. She’d taught the stray a trick already?

Beautiful, cunning bitch. She’d probably lied about the death of her dogs in a bid for sympathy.

Could she really fake that kind of pain?

The children cheered. Completely won over.

Like I once was. So gullible...

“You should work on that,” Galen said, his tone dry. “Staring at your girl like a creeper will only get you a restraining order. And maybe a blade across your carotid. Because yes, I could have killed you five times over since you started watching her.” He hiked his wide shoulders in a shrug. “Who knows? I still might.”

“She’s not my girl,” he muttered.

“Out of everything I said, that’s what you focus on?” Galen rolled his eyes. “You’re worse off than I thought. As bad as the rest of them.”

Maybe, because Baden continued to watch her, unable to look away, his gaze held captive. There was no denying the desire he still felt for her. Fool! He wanted her in his arms, and in his bed. And he would have her, he decided. He didn’t have to trust her to enjoy her delectable little body.

First things first. Finding a new home base and convincing Galen to join him. With the right incentive, the prick might even guard Katarina whenever Baden had a new mission.

If he betrays me...

I’ll make sure the incentive properly motivates him to behave.

Baden thought for a moment, nodded with cold determination. He knew just the thing.

* * *

Katarina avoided Baden’s general direction as she checked on the people who’d checked on her while she’d mourned her dogs. Some had fared better than others, but wow. Immortals could be wounded just as badly as humans. Who knew?

“I recognize the look in Baden’s eyes.” Maddox had parked himself on his wife’s gurney, his daughter curled on his lap, his son stretched out beside Ashlyn. “He’s leaving us again.”

Katarina’s heart kicked into a too-swift rhythm. As she petted the dogs, she told the warrior, “If he wants to go, don’t try to keep him here.”

Maddox focused on her, and she would have sworn a faint skeletal mask covered his features. “Who are you to him? To us? You calmed him once. You don’t have a say in how we treat him.”

Ouch. Way to put her in her place.

Ashlyn batted at his arm. “Rude!”

“You didn’t marry me for my kind demeanor,” Maddox told her, nipping at her fingers.

Katarina flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t have to be anyone to Baden—or to you—to know steel bars aren’t the only thing capable of creating a cage. You love Baden, and you don’t want him to resent you. Therefore, you have to let him go.”

She had to let him go, too. She was ninety percent certain he would drop her off somewhere as soon as he finished here, and one hundred percent certain she was ready to return to her old life. Baden had heard her pledge to Alek and now believed she was a power-hungry whore. It hurt. It hurt bad. The man who’d held her in his arms and comforted her, who’d placed her on his lap and pleasured her, hadn’t given her the benefit of the doubt. He hadn’t even asked for her side of the story. Or, more accurately, ordered her to tell it. Now, she wasn’t going to explain a damn thing. Let him think the worst.

Thank the good Lord she hadn’t slept with him! Any man who thought he was right all day every day and overlooked her wishes wasn’t worthy of her attention.

And yet, she was disappointed she wouldn’t have an opportunity to train him, certain she still wanted him but didn’t want to want him, saddened she wouldn’t have the chance to desensitize his skin and gutted that she wouldn’t see him again. Well, his loss! She would have rocked his world.

“She’s someone special to him,” Ashlyn said, “and you know it. We all know it. She has a say.”

Before this, Katarina might have been someone special. At least as a possible lover. Now they would never know. “No, Maddox is right. I don’t have a say with Baden. And I don’t want one. I’m going home. I’m going to miss you. I’m going to miss you all.” The ladies of the house were total sweethearts.

She wondered if she could keep them after the breakup. Baden could keep the men.

“Stay in touch,” she added, giving Ashlyn’s foot a gentle squeeze. “If you look up my name, you’ll find me.” To the kids, she said, “I’m taking the dogs with me. You can visit—”

“You’ll take the dogs over your dead body,” Urban snapped.

“Yeah.” Little Ever nodded, her golden curls bobbing at her temples. “Your dead body.”

“Children.” Ashlyn sighed. “What have I told you about intimidating others?”

“Make sure the situation really is life or death first,” Urban grumbled.

“That’s right.”

Katarina fought a grin—until she felt a familiar heat press against her backside. She stiffened, Baden’s scent teasing her nose, her nerve endings suddenly buzzing with sensation...with the need for more.

I’m furious with him. I shouldn’t crave him.

“I’ve spoken to Galen,” he announced to one and all. “He and I are leaving. For the safety of everyone I love,” he added as protests rang out.

“Not this again,” Lucien said.

“You need us,” Sabin said, “and we need you, too.”

Reyes, the keeper of Pain, glared at him. “We’re part of the war whether you’re with us or not.”

Baden remained unmoved. “You need time to heal, and I’m going to get it for you by keeping Lucifer busy, unable to spare a soldier to hunt you. I can flash into the underworld. You can’t. Even Lucien is blocked.” Amid the strained pause that followed his words, he said, “I know I don’t have the right to ask you to let me go—to accept this—but I’m asking, anyway. For me...for your women.”