“No.” Shade grimaced. “But I have to start somewhere. I’m not so sure Wrath is right about Lucifer being behind this either.”

“Eddie’s very capable.” Rosabella laid a hand on his wrist. “Wouldn’t it be better to wait for her here?”

Dee managed to contain her desire to laugh. Rosabella was so transparent and so obviously barking up the wrong tree. She’d sashayed into the room a few minutes after Shade had come in. Dee had been sitting on Eddie’s bed, breathing in the atmosphere that was so full of Eddie it was comforting. Panic squatted like a hulking toad in her chest. And guilt sat right beside it. It was her fault Eddie was in this position. She should never have left on that cruise with Jean-Claude, never encouraged Eddie to go to hell after Shade, and never left Eddie in charge of the hell gate. In her idiocy, she’d reasoned that the hell gate was stable, had been stable for years. What could go wrong?

Everything and anything, apparently. “If Lucifer is not behind this, then who is?” she asked Shade.

“I don’t know.” Shade sank onto the end of the bed.

Rosabella edged closer and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re so stressed.”

“The thing that keeps nagging at me is when Lucifer helped us get out of hell,” Shade said. “He had no reason to bring his chariot and get us out of there faster. He said it was to piss off Wrath, and he’s certainly made a career out of that over time, but why rescue Eddie?”

Dee had to admit that Shade made an odd kind of sense. “Or why not kidnap her then? You and Wrath were injured, he could have taken her without much resistance.”

“Right.” Shade nodded.

“You’re holding so much tension in your shoulders,” Rosabella simpered.

Dee couldn’t even say for sure that Rosabella had stopped long enough to consider if she even wanted Shade for herself. If Dee had to bet, she’d say it was part Shade didn’t like her, and part Shade liked her daughter better. Neither of which Rosabella could stand.

“I’m thinking about Ashe as well,” Shade said. “He was Lucifer’s right-hand demon, his second, and they were close.” He wrapped his fore and middle fingers together. “Like really close. Lucifer gave Ashe whatever he needed, and Ashe seemed to relish that trust.”

Dee had to snort at that one. “Can you imagine having to work for Lucifer?”

Shade flashed her one of his gorgeous smiles and shrugged Rosabella’s hand off his shoulder. “True that. But when Ashe took Eddie, he was powerful, Dee.” He looked at her with his piercing gray eyes. “I mean, like way more powerful than he should have been, and the power felt…other.”

“Other?” Upper demons were often imbued with the power of their maker. “Other than Lucifer?”

Shade nodded.

“I’m a massage therapist,” Rosabella lisped. “Fifteen minutes with my magic fingers, and your tension will be history.”

“Yeah.” Shade rubbed his palm over his face. “I didn’t recognize the power signature at all.”

It must be a new experience for her daughter to be so thoroughly ignored, and Dee was here for it. “So, what’s your plan?”

“The hounds are very bonded to Eddie,” Shade said. “And they’re demanding I let them track her.”

Cronus and Xerxes had been dragging their furry butts around the theatre like a pair of lost puppies since Eddie’s abduction. “Can they find her?”

“They’ll end themselves trying.” Shade stood and shouldered his bag.

Hell princes and humans together didn’t often end well, but Eddie wasn’t entirely human, and she also wasn’t Rosabella. Still, Dee was a grandmother who adored her granddaughter. “And will you do whatever it takes to find her?”

He looked at her tenderly. “You know the answer to that, Dee.”

And she nodded, because yes, she did. Shade would move heaven and earth—quite literally if he had to—to find Eddie. “Stay in contact.” She patted his shoulder. “What do you need me to do?”

“Stay here,” he said. “And let me know if there’s anything I need to know about.”

“Will do.” A part of Dee wanted to be out there with Shade searching for Eddie, but keeping the candle in the window lit was the best thing she could do. She didn’t command the hounds or have the powers Shade did. She was also on the guardian’s shit list. If Eddie was in heaven or hell, then she had even less chance of finding her than she did on earth. So despite her need to take action, she would stay here and keep the business as usual going. “Good luck, Shade.”

“Take care, Dee.” He kissed her forehead, and she got a waft of the pure sex appeal that was the being who embodied lust. Her Eddie might one day be a very lucky girl…being… no girl. Eddie was her Eddie-girl, and she always would be.

“What a jerk.” Rosabella threw herself back on Eddie’s bed. “He just ignored me.”

“He doesn’t like you,” Dee took an unmotherly delight in telling her. She could remonstrate with Rosabella about the inappropriateness and sheer shittyness of hitting on a being who was involved with her daughter, but Rosabella would shrug that off as inconsequential. All was fair in love and war as far as Rosabella was concerned. And only where she was concerned. Rosabella got to do what the hell she liked, and the rest of humanity was merely a supporting cast in the play of her life.

Rosabella rolled to her stomach and rested her head on her folded hands. “Don’t be a bitch, Mom. You’re just pissed at me.”

Was she? Dee studied her daughter. She might have gone beyond pissed into numb several years ago. “What are you doing here, Bella?”

Rosabella yawned and closed her eyes. “I told you,” she mumbled. “I’m here because you managed to lose my daughter.”

Wrath couldn’t say he disliked Haziel. She seemed a decent enough sort for an angel, and the honesty thing was funny as fuck, but he didn’t want her as his watchdog. He didn’t want any watchdog.

He stormed down to the greenroom where he sensed Ramiel was still squatting.

Ramiel looked up when he strode into the room. “Wrath.”

“Call off your watchdog.” Wrath really didn’t like this archangel. He was a pompous, bigoted motherfucker who thought the sun shone out his ass. He didn’t see why a decent angel like Haziel was wasting her energy on such a pile of crap.

Ramiel studied him thoughtfully for a long moment. “I’m not going do that, Wrath. You’re out of control. Your seal is weakening, and your get is missing. Along with your powers. You are a loose cannon, and we cannot allow that.”

“Allow?” Wrath breathed deep as rage rose inside him. What his fellow supernaturals didn’t understand was that for every time he exploded, there were another two hundred he kept a lid on it. The word allow was like a red rag to a bull. Angels were so fucking sanctimonious. Over the millennia, they’d begun to believe the bullshit humans spouted about them. “You don’t get to allow or disallow me anything.”

“Not this again.” Ramiel rolled his eyes. “You’re not a single entity occupying a closed system, Wrath. You’re part of an alliance, and that means you are answerable to that alliance.”

Fair enough, the fucker had him on a technicality there. “But you’re not heading that alliance, and you don’t get to control me.” He’d like to see Ramiel try. Actually, he’d love to see Ramiel try. He’d relish the opportunity to beat the fuck out of him. Especially in his current mood. Which reminded him. “You refer to Eddie as my get again, and I’m going to rearrange your pretty face. Then I’ll rip your pussy white wings off your back and shove them up your ass.

“Really, Wrath.” Ramiel grimaced. “Must you make threats you can’t execute?” Power crackled around Ramiel, setting his skin aglow and making his muscles swell.

In a fight between him and Ramiel, there would be no winner, but Wrath would enjoy the getting to stalemate. “Wanna give that a try?”

Ramiel sighed, an angel with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I’m not going to indulge your desire for violence, Satanus.”

“Oooh, my real name. I’m really scared now.” Wrath added a little muscle flex to that one. He might not have his powers, but he could still toss some hurt around. “What’s next, Mum? Will you send me to bed without any dinner?”

“Haziel is there for your protection as much as anything else,” Ramiel said.

That right there made Wrath want to pound his pretty fucking face into the linoleum. “I don’t need protection from some low-grade, half-powered, feathered lightweight.”

Ramiel laughed. “I would hardly call Haziel a lightweight.” He cocked his head, those pond slime greens glimmering with amusement. “Tell me, Satanus, how did it work out for you the last time you miscalculated a lesser being’s power?” He tapped a finger against his chin. “Oh right, silly me, you lost your daughter the last time you were arrogant enough to underestimate an underling.”

Again, fucker had him on a technicality, so Wrath switched tacks. “Let’s talk about sweet Haziel.”