The first daemon stepped out of the laundry room, green eyes glowing, and studied her from head to toe. “You are not the One,” he growled.
Oh, shit.
Panic clawed up Dana’s throat. She didn’t think, just let instinct rule as she turned to run. And made it as far as the couch in the living room before the second daemon emerged from Casey’s bedroom, blocking her path to the front door. This one drew in a long whiff and uttered only one word.
“Misos.”
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Dana’s adrenaline spiked. The daemon from the kitchen had followed her and effectively cut off her only other means of escape.
“Where is the One?” the second growled.
Dana backed up against the TV cabinet. She opened her mouth, but fear rendered her speechless. She started to shake.
“She doesn’t know,” the first said.
“She knows,” the second growled, moving closer. “Where would she go?”
Dana’s trembling intensified.
“To the colony,” the first said, easing forward. “If you want to live, tell us how to find her.”
“I—” Dana choked back a sob. “Please,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
A look passed between the two just before they lunged.
Dana never had the chance to scream.
Theron was not in a mood to go a round with this half-breed. He suddenly wanted answers that had nothing to do with Nick or the colony.
“I asked you a question, hero,” Nick snapped. “Of what interest is Casey to you?”
Theron’s jaw clenched, and impatience bubbled through him. He needed to find Acacia and figure out what in Hades she was up to, but the aggression flashing across Nick’s face held him up. The half-breed was itching for a fight, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t about to let Theron out of his sight until he got his answers.
Theron decided that being honest—to a point—was the best way to handle Nick so he could get the hell out of here and go find Acacia. “The king’s health is failing. He wants to meet his daughter before his time is up. I’m to take her to Argolea unharmed.”
Nick’s amber eyes grew wary. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Bullshit.” Those amber eyes flashed. “Either tell me the truth or I’ll have my soldiers throw you out by the scruff of the neck and beat you to a pulp in the process.”
Theron’s muscles flexed. “Try it.”
Nick’s upper lip peeled off his teeth. “Argonaut or not, you don’t scare me. We’ve existed for hundreds of years without your help. I doubt there’s anything good ol’ King Leonidas wants that Casey could provide. And I don’t for a second buy your load of bull.”
Theron didn’t answer.
Nick crossed the room in two long strides and got right up in Theron’s face. They were roughly the same height, close to the same size, and as the man got close, once again Theron had that strange recognition he’d had back in Acacia’s store.
“You’re dangerously close to death, half-breed,” Theron warned in a low voice. “I’d rethink what you’re about to do.”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on here or what you really want with Casey,” Nick said, his face inches from Theron’s, “but I intend to find out. And that means she’s not leaving here with you or anyone else until I’m satisfied with the answer.”
“Nick!” The door to the study burst open and two women spilled into the room, saving Nick from dismemberment.
The first Theron recognized from earlier—Helene, the one who’d taken Acacia to her room. The other was of average height but thick around the middle, with dark hair pulled into a braid at the back of her head. Both looked upset, but the dark-haired one was frantic.
Nick’s gazed snapped to them. “What’s happened?”
“It’s Dana,” Helene said. “No one’s heard from her or seen her since yesterday.”
Nick’s focus shifted to the dark-haired woman. “Leila, when did you talk to your sister last?”
“Yesterday morning.” She ran a nervous hand over her hair, unknowingly pulling strands from her braid. “She called from town. I thought she’d stayed over at her blasted apartment, but now I’m not so sure. Something was wrong. She didn’t sound like herself, was talking about new starts and making changes. She said to call her on her cell if I need her. I’ve been trying all afternoon and can’t get through to her. Nick, something’s happened to her. I feel it.”
Nick moved behind his desk and flipped open a laptop Theron hadn’t noticed earlier. Beneath all this rock, it had to be wired to a satellite somewhere on the surface. Nick’s fingers ran over keys and his eyes scanned the screen as he searched. His brow lowered. “Her phone’s at Casey’s house.”
“Whose house?” Leila asked.
“The woman who came in with Nick today,” Helene volunteered.
Leila’s frantic eyes flicked between Nick and Theron, as if she’d just realized Theron was there. “What is Dana doing there? She knows she has to check in.”
Nick closed the laptop with a snap and jerked his jacket from the desk chair. “I didn’t say she was there. I said her phone was there. I’m heading over to take a look.”
For the first time, Theron noticed the dread darkening Nick’s features. Whoever this Dana woman was, she was out there alone, and if she’d gone to Acacia’s house, odds were good she could have run into daemons.
He grasped Nick’s arm as the half-breed brushed by. “I’ll go with you.”
“I don’t think so.”
His grip tightened. “Don’t be an idiot. You’ll need my help.”
“I fucking doubt it.”
When Theron’s grip didn’t lessen, Nick turned his fiery eyes Theron’s way, and in them Theron saw disgust and a hatred bred for hundreds of years. “I know your kind, Argonaut. And I’ve seen your help.” He pointed toward the door. “Every Misos in this colony has seen the way your kin helped us. They have the scars to prove it.”
The mutilated faces Theron had seen in the colony outside flashed in his mind. Followed by the king’s admission that the half-breeds’ existence had been kept secret because there weren’t enough of them to make a difference.
He looked deep into Nick’s eyes. “I knew nothing of this colony or ones like it until I came here to find Acacia. When I return to Argolea, the Argonauts will look into this matter fully.”
“How do I know you won’t send your kin to kill us all?”
It occurred to Theron then that Nick’s hatred for the Argonauts and Argolea as a whole ran much deeper than what was evident on the surface. Somehow, this Misos was connected to Theron’s world in ways no one in this colony could begin to understand. And Theron intended to find out what that connection was.
But not now.
“You have my word as leader of the Argonauts. No harm will come to you and your people by our hands.”
Nick searched Theron’s face for some sign he was lying. Both women in the room were silent as the seconds ticked by on a clock somewhere on the wall. Theron released Nick’s arm, but he didn’t avert his eyes. And neither did Nick.
“You’ll stay here, hero,” Nick finally said. “But only because I don’t want to have to watch my back with you around.” He pulled on his jacket. “Casey has to willingly go across the portal, and considering everything that happened to her earlier today because of you, I think it’s safe to say she’s not going anywhere with you right now. You sit tight until I get back.” His eyes flared again as he stepped around the women. “And you better fucking believe we’re going to finish this then.”
He glanced toward Leila. “I’ll call when I find her.”
When he was gone, the woman called Leila finally turned her attention Theron’s way. “Are you really…?” Her gaze swept to Helene. “Is he really…an Argonaut?”