"Not all of it," Lucien said.

"Tell him or I'll push you," Anya said. "And then I swear to the gods—bastards that they are!—that while you're recovering and unable to stop me I'll find your little girlfriend and mail you one of her fingers."

Just the thought caused a red haze to curtain his eyes. Danika…hurting…Do not react. Do not allow fury to swamp you. "You will not touch her."

"Watch your tone," Lucien told him, tightening his grip on his woman.

"You don't even know where she is," Reyes said more calmly, marveling at how protective the once stolid Lucien was.

Anya smiled a secret smile.

"Anya," he warned.

"What?" she asked, all innocence.

"Aeron needs to be with us," Lucien said.

"Aeron is no longer up for discussion," Reyes growled. "You weren't there. You didn't see the torment in his eyes. You didn't hear the pleading in his tone. I did what I had to do, and I'd do it again." He spun away from his friends. Glanced down. The puddles were now undulating fiercely against the jagged rocks lining the ground. They were still beckoning.

Deliverance, they whispered.

Just for a little while….

"Reyes," Lucien called.

Reyes jumped.

CHAPTER TWO

"ORDER'S UP."

Danika Ford caught the two steaming plates that slid across the silver warmer. One a greasy hamburger, hold the onions. The other a chili dog with extra cheese. Both were overflowing with heart-attack-in-the-making fries and wafting delicious scents to her nose, making her mouth water and her stomach rumble.

Last thing she'd eaten had been a bologna sandwich before bed last night. The bread had been crusty and the meat ripe. Sadly, she would have paid good money for another crusty, overripe sandwich just then. If she'd had any money, that is.