And everything in him stilled. All the anger, all the frustration, all awareness of anyone around him. His mind even took a break from the mental replaying of Haziel bleeding and broken in his arms. Eddie had called him Dad, and nothing else existed in that moment. His child had acknowledged their blood bond, and tears burned behind his eyelids.

“Dad,” Eddie said it a second time. “Look, I know you wanted to keep this between you, Shade, and Sophia. But I can help. I’m Nephilim, and after what those fuckers did to me, I want to see them. I want to look my enemy in the eye and be part of bringing them down.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Shade had made it back from his dumpster dive. “There will be no bringing down tonight, Eddie. We go, we observe, and we gain information. Then we leave and do the burger and beer thing.”

Wrath barely heard him. All he saw was those aqua eyes of his little girl staring up at him, begging him to understand. How the fuck did human fathers ever deny their daughters anything? If she’d asked him to rip the moon from the skies and give it to her as a night light, he would have done it. If she’d asked him to wrap her in the entrails of her enemies—one entrails comforter coming right up. “I don’t want you to get hurt again.” Not like Haziel. Yes, Ramiel had sent her there alone, but Wrath had ridden in the car beside her. Been right there when the horsemen’s power had latched onto her and refused to release her. The need to touch Eddie overcame him and he cupped her cheek. “I can’t let you get hurt.”

“I know.” Eddie held his hand against her cheek. “And I appreciate that. But who’s going to hurt me with you and Shade there to keep me safe? Is there even a being in this universe who could?” Her eyes beseeched him. “I have to do this. I have to not be their blind victim anymore.”

She made an excellent point this being of his blood and heart. “Okay.” His voice was gruff with the emotions he could not put into words. “But you stay by me or Shade the entire time. No going off on your own. No heroics and don’t speak to anyone.”

“We’ve already been through this.” Shade gave Eddie a loaded glance. “She sticks by me, or you, and she keeps her head down.”

At least the fucker was good for helping him try to keep his daughter safe.

“Oy!” Sophia jabbed a thumb at her chest. “One archangel, standing right here and not at all incapable of taking care of Eddie.”

“Sorry, Sophia.” Eddie took her hand. “I know you’re just as kickass as these two.” She looked at him and Shade. “And Sophia has been teaching me how to control my power and to fight.”

He turned, in perfect unison with Shade, and glared at Sophia.

“What?” She shrugged. “You like to forget that we female beings have as much power and an equal ability to leverage it. Eddie deserves to know what she can do.”

She had him there, and the glance Shade shot him confirmed as much.

Shade nodded to Sophia. “Sorry.”

Wrath knew he’d lost the battle against Eddie and turned to Dee and Daniel. “What about them?”

“We’re nonnegotiable,” Daniel said and slung an arm over Dee’s shoulder. “We come or we blow the whistle on this entire operation.”

Wrath did not appreciate being threatened by a mortal, and he got right into Daniel’s space. “I can make it so you are incapable of doing so.”

“Dad?”

Ah, fuck it! There she went again. Hell! Let his enemies never discover the size of this particular chink in his armor. Still, he could hold out on this at least. “What?”

“We’re in this together.” She waved her hand to encompass the entire party. “And nobody tells Dee what to do. Also, Daniel can report what he sees to the guardians.”

“They won’t even know we’re there.” Daniel dug in his pocket and produced two glowing vials of pale pink liquid. “I had a local coven do us up a little something to help us blend in.”

It was no wonder demons were running rampant with as much control as hell princes exerted. He could not even control his small party in this shadowy parking lot. He had for damn sure not been able to protect his female.

“What local coven?” Eddie glared at Daniel.

Shade raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing the same local coven that has been summoning hell princes.”

Eddie turned to Dee. “Dee?”

“Never mind that, Eddie-girl.” Dee patted her cheek. “Let’s get this done first, and then we can talk.”

“But we are talking.” Eddie folded her arms and fixed her grandmother with a glare. “I am getting fucking tired of people not telling me shit around here.”

“I’ll stick with Dee and Daniel,” Sophia said, using the soothing tone she normally reserved for Shade on a rampage. “You two keep Eddie safe.”

Wrath felt his sigh down to his boots. “Okay, but we might need a glamour for Eddie. We can’t take the chance that one of those fuckers tonight recognizes her.”

Eddie grinned at him. “Did I not say Sophia had been teaching me a trick or two?” She snapped her fingers, the surge of her accessing her power tingled through him, and in the place of Eddie stood a demoness who looked a lot like Vexia.

Worry and pride warred inside him for a moment, and then he bowed to the inevitable and shifted his shape.

Shade chose an incubus shape and Sophia, rather unimaginatively in his opinion, went with succubus. He couldn’t stop himself from wondering what shape Haziel would have chosen. Hells! Ramiel had better be taking good care of her. Better than good care.

And the gang was all there and ready to go. All they needed was their guide.

Wrath put some strong compulsion out there and the imp appeared like he’d been yanked out of the ether—which he had, so no surprise there.

Yesterday gaped at their party. “All of you are coming?”

“Problem?” Wrath channeled all his impotent frustration over their increased party size into one word as he glowered at the imp.

“No, lord.” Yesterday almost smacked his forehead on the pavement as he bowed. “No problem, lord. Follow me.”

At least one being knew their place. Even if it was a lying imp. Wrath was taking the win.

Because of the humans, they were forced to drive to their destination. Dee loaded them all in her mom wagon, and three hours—and twice as many arguments about directions—later, parked on a quiet suburban street outside of central Ottawa.

Wrath spared a moment’s thought for all the residents of this nice neighborhood, going about their lives with no idea that all hell was literally breaking loose on their doorstep.

“Why here?” Eddie clambered out the back of the SUV.

Daniel joined her on the sidewalk. “Proximity to several hell gates and also, who would suspect Ottawa of harboring anything like this?”

The power signatures of many gathered demons hung in the night air like tar. Wrath identified signatures from his demesne, Shade’s, Levi’s, Belle’s, and Lucifer’s.

“Ugh!” Sophia winced, her archangel sensibilities particularly fine-tuned to demon activity. “This is quite the get-together.”

“Told you.” Yesterday puffed up his chest. “Demons have been chittering about this loud enough for a clever and industrious imp to hear.”

That bothered Wrath. On principle, he cuffed the imp for his impudence, but it niggled at him that Yesterday had been able to pick up chatter about this particular meeting. For however long these demon hordes had been congregating, not one of the hell princes had picked up a thing. Were they growing brazen or was this a trap? He moved closer to Eddie.

She glanced up at him. “What’s wrong?”

In demon form, she would be more susceptible to his emotions. Especially since she’d chosen a demon form from his demesne. “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t it seem a bit convenient that we’ve been able to discover this meeting now, when we weren’t even getting a hint of this before?”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Shade narrowed his eyes as he stared down the empty street.