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He ate it all. And some fries that were lukewarm, but a godsend nonetheless. Then his head was lifted and he sucked back some slightly watery Coke.

“The nearest Mickey D’s is twenty miles away,” the sunshine said, like it was looking to fill the silence. “That’s why it’s not as hot as it could be.”

The male wanted more.

“Yup, I got you seconds. Open wide.”

Another Big Mac. More fries. More Coke.

“I’ve done the best I can with you, but you need blood,” the sunshine told him, like he was a child. “And you need to go home.”

As the male shook his head, he realized he was lying on his back with a slab of rock for his pillow and a dirt floor as his mattress. He wasn’t in the same cave as before, though. This one smelled different. It smelled like . . . fresh air, fresh spring air.

Although . . . maybe that was the sunshine’s scent?

“Yeah, you need to go home.”

"No . . .”

“Well, then we got a problem, you and me,” the sunshine muttered. There was a shuffling like someone big was sitting down on their haunches. “You’re the favor I need to return.”

The male frowned, dragged in a breath, and croaked, “Nowhere to go. No favor.”

“Not your call, buddy. Or mine.” The sunshine seemed to be shaking its head, because the blurry shadows it created in the cave shifted like waves. “Unfortunately, I gotta deliver your ass back to where you belong.”

“I’m nothing to you.”

“In a perfect world, that would be true. Unfortunately, this ain’t heaven. Not by a long shot.”

The male couldn’t agree more, but the whole going-home thing was bullshit. As the energy from the food seeped into him, he found the strength to sit up, rub his eyes, and—

He stared at the sunshine. “Oh . . . shit.”

The sunshine nodded grimly. “Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel about it. So here’s the deal, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Your pick. Although I would like to point out that if I have to find your place without your help, it’s going to require some effort on my part, and that’s going to crank my shit out.”

“I’m not going back there. Ever.”

The sunshine put a hand through his long blond-and-black hair. Golden rings glinted on his fingers and flashed from his ears and winked from his nose and glittered around his thick neck. Brilliant white, pupil-less eyes flashed with a boatload of pissed off, the bright blue ring around those moonlike irises flashing navy.

“Right. The hard way. Say good night, Gracie.”

As everything went black, the male heard the fallen angel Lassiter say, “Mother. Fucker.”

Chapter Forty

"Did you see the look on Phury’s face?” Blay said.

John glanced across the island in the kitchen and nodded in total agreement. He and his buddies were sucking back relief beers. At a dead run.

He had never seen any male look like that. Ever.

“That was some bonded-male shit, for real,” Qhuinn said as he went over to the refrigerator, opened the door, and took out another three bottles from the queen’s Sam Adams stable.

Blay took the one he was offered, then winced and prodded at his shoulder.

John cracked open his freshie and took a slug. Putting down the bottle, he signed, I’m worried about Cormia.

“He won’t hurt her.” Qhuinn sat down at the table. “Nah, no way. He might have planted us in early graves, but not her.”

John peeked out into the dining room. There were doors shutting. Loudly.

“Well, there are a lot of people in this house. . . .” Qhuinn looked around like he was tackling a bad math problem in his head. “Including the three of us. Go fig.”

John stood up. I have to go check. I won’t . . . you know, interrupt anything. I just want to make sure everything’s cool.

“I’ll go with you,” Qhuinn said as he started to get up again.

No, you’ll stay here. And before you gum-flap, fuck you. This is my home, and I don’t need a shadow all the time.

“Okay, okay, okay.” Qhuinn’s eyes shifted to Blay. “Then we’ll hit the PT suite. Meet us there?”

“Why are we going to the PT suite?” Blay asked without looking at the guy.

“Because you’re still bleeding and you don’t know