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John put the basket down at his feet. I’m taking Xhex out tonight.

“Yeah?”

I’m going to show her where I grew up.

Tohr swallowed hard. “You want the keys to my house?”

John recoiled. He’d meant just to include the guy in what was doing with him, kind of a toe-in-the-pool thing to mending shit between them.

I didn’t expect to take her there—

“Go. It would be good for you to check it out. The doggen get over there just once a month, maybe twice.” Tohr shifted and pulled open one of the desk drawers. As he took out a key fob, he cleared his throat. “Here.”

John caught the keys and made a fist around them, shame constricting his chest. He’d been busy shitting on the guy lately and, even still, the Brother manned up and offered what had to be a killer for him?

“I’m glad you and Xhex have found each other. It makes cosmic sense, it truly does.”

John shoved the keys in his pocket to free up his hand. We’re not together.

The smile that briefly showed on the guy’s face seemed ancient. “Yeah, you are. You two are meant to be together.”

Jesus, John thought, guess his bonding scent was obvious. Still, there was no reason to go into all the why-nots that were surrounding the pair of them.

“So, you going to Our Lady?” When John nodded, Tohr reached down to the floor and picked up a Hefty bag. “Take this with you. It’s drug money confiscated from that brownstone. Blay brought it back. Figure they could use it.”

As Tohr got to his feet, he left the loot on the desk and picked up the sandwich, peeling back the Saran Wrap, and taking a bite.

“Good work with the mayo,” he murmured. “Not too much. Not too little. Thanks.”

Tohr headed for the closet.

John whistled softly and the Brother stopped, but didn’t turn around. “It’s okay, John. You don’t have to say anything. Just be safe out there tonight,’kay?”

With that Tohr ducked out of the office, leaving John alone in the wake of a kindness and dignity he could only hope to live up to someday.

As the closet door closed, he thought . . . he wanted to be like Tohr.

Heading out into the corridor, it was funny to have that running through his brain again, and its return kind of righted the world: Ever since he’d first met the guy, whether it was the Brother’s size, or his intelligence, or the way he treated his female, or how he fought, or even the deep sound of his voice . . . John had wanted to be like Tohr.

This was good.

This was . . . right.

As he walked down to the recovery room, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to tonight. After all, the past was oftentimes better left buried . . . especially his, because it stank.

But the thing was, he had a better chance at keeping Xhex from tearing off after Lash this way. She was going to need another night, maybe two, before she was at her full strength. And she should feed again at least one more time.

This way, he would know where she was and keep her by his side for the evening.

No matter what Tohr believed, John wasn’t fooling himself. Sooner or later, she was going to bolt and he wasn’t going to be able to stop her.

On the Far Side, Payne strolled around the Sanctuary, her bare feet tickled by the springy green grass, her nose filled with the scents of honeysuckle and hyacinth.

She hadn’t slept for even an hour since her mother had reanimated her, and though at first that had seemed odd, she didn’t give it much thought anymore. It just was.

More than likely her body had had enough repose to last a lifetime.

As she went by the Primale Temple, she didn’t go inside. Same with the entrance to her mother’s courtyard—it was too early for Wrath to arrive and her sparring with him was the only reason she ever went therein.

When she came to the sequestering temple, however, she did breach the door, although she couldn’t have said what drew her to turn the knob and step o’er the threshold.

The bowls of water the Chosen had long used to stare into and thereby bear witness to the events that transpired on the Other Side