Bob smiled widely at that, and my stomach plummeted. Roth was bound and determined to get himself killed because of me. He’d sacrificed himself to the pits, come back from that, and then gone against his Boss and saved my life. There was no way I could allow him to stand between me and danger again. “Stop!” I broke free of Zayne’s hold, but Thumper shifted. His tail swung back, stopping not even an inch from my hips.

I could go no further. My panicked gaze darted from Roth to the Alphas. “Whatever problem you have, you have it with me. Not them. So can we—”

Even as I spoke, Bob the Alpha moved toward Roth, lifting the fiery sword, and Thumper didn’t like that. Rearing back, he stretched out his long neck and opened his mouth, revealing fist-size fangs.

The scent of sulfur increased, and then a burst of fire shot out of Thumper ’s mouth.

A pain-filled shriek ended abruptly, and where Bob once stood was just a charred pile of ashes.

Everyone stood perfectly still. No one spoke or even appeared to breathe. And then, “Make that extra- extra-crispy style,” Roth said, studying the mess.

My knees went weak as I lifted my hands helplessly. Thumper spun on the other Alpha. There was a series of sickening crunches, and then the dragon looked over its shoulder, its golden eyes finding mine as it opened its mouth. A shimmery blue liquid stained its teeth as it huffed out a sound that really sounded like a throaty chuckle.

Bambi had eaten a Warden.

Thumper had eaten an Alpha.

These familiars were really low on manners.

More important, I hadn’t known anything could actually kill an Alpha, much less eat one.

“Oh—oh!” Stacey shrieked, and I turned sideways, just in time to see her all but squeeze herself into the two back cushions of the couch. “There’s a dragon in my house! A dragon!” Guess she was still too out of it from fainting to remember there’d been angels in her house, too.

“Thumper,” Roth called. “Return to me.”

The dragon belched out a thick cloud of smoke and turned around. I jumped out of the way of its tail, as did Zayne. The fireplace wasn’t as lucky. That lethal tail smacked into it, knocking a handful of bricks loose. They hit the floor, breaking into pieces. Thumper shifted his heavy weight from side to side.

Zayne frowned. “Is it...stomping its feet?”

Roth rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t get out much.”

“For obvious reasons,” Stacey mumbled.

Thumper lifted his tail and slammed it down, cracking what was left of the floor and earning a sigh from Roth. The dragon shook its head, then shuddered before shrinking back down to its cute, pocket-size form. Thumper finally returned to Roth, settling on the side of his face as a small shadow that quickly raced down his neck and under the collar of his shirt.

I was struck absolutely silent and was barely aware of shifting back into my human state. My thoughts raced from one bad situation to the next. Sam as the Lilin. My feathered wings. Alphas popping in. Thumper—

“Mom is so going to kill me,” Stacey whispered, clutching a beige throw pillow to her chest. She looked up. “How am I going to explain this?”

Roth pursed his lips. “Gas-line explosion?” Stacey repeated the words dimly as he continued. “I can torch the place, make it a little more authentic. Won’t damage the upstairs if you don’t want me to.”

“Had a lot of practice with this, have you?” Zayne asked drily.

“Ah, when Thumper comes off, it’s always good to go with the old gas-line excuse. It’s handy.”

Roth turned to me. “You okay over there?”

Was I okay?

Anger mixed with fear—fear for him. I stared for a moment and then I shot toward him. “What were you thinking?” Hauling back, I smacked his chest. “You threatened an Alpha!” I smacked him again, harder this time, enough to sting.

“Ow.” He rubbed his chest, but his eyes twinkled. He thought this was funny!

Zayne walked over to where the pile of ashes remained. “More than just threatened. He let Thumper eat them.”

“Hey, technically Thumper fried one and ate the other,” Roth corrected, patting his stomach, where Thumper now rested.

“Oh my God!” This time my hand connected with his arm. “You’re going to be in so much trouble, Roth! So much trouble.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Defended myself.”

“Defended myself.” I mimicked him, bopping my head back and forth. “You can’t just go around killing Alphas, Roth!”

“You killed those angels?” Stacey asked, so I guessed she did remember them.

He sent her an innocent grin. “Well, I didn’t, but...”

“Roth!” I shouted, backing away before I started choking the ever-loving life out of him. “This is not a joke. You—”

He was damn fast when he wanted to be. One second he was several feet away from me and the next he was there, clasping the sides of my face. He lowered his head so he was eye level with me. “There are rules, Shortie.”

“But—”

“Rules that even the Alphas have to abide by. They cannot attack me without physical provocation.

If they do, they tick the Boss off, and then the Boss retaliates in a way that makes what the Lilin could do look like child’s play. I’m not just some random demon. I’m the Crown Prince. They took a swing at me, and I defended myself. End of story.”

But he had provoked them—maybe not physically, but he wasn’t an innocent bystander in this. As the shock ebbed, there was a different kind of bitter pill to swallow. What if Roth had gotten his rules wrong? What if more Alphas were even now on the way to avenge their brethren?

“I’m going to be okay.” His eyes held mine as he stepped closer, lining his booted feet up with mine. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise.”

“You can’t make that promise,” I whispered, searching his gaze intently. “None of us can.”

His hands slid back and he curled his fingers in my loose hair. “I can.”

Those two words were like throwing down a gauntlet to the whole universe. I lowered my gaze as he dragged my hair back, tucking both sides behind my ears. It was then, as he slowly withdrew his hands, that I remembered we were not alone.

I jerked back and my gaze collided with Zayne’s. For a moment, I let myself really see Zayne. I hadn’t almost killed him. I had almost done something much, much worse than that. When a Warden lost their soul, they turned into a horrific creature. I knew that for a fact, because I’d seen what had happened to a Warden after their soul had been taken from them. I’d almost done that to Zayne, and he was still here, standing by my side.

A hole opened up in my chest as I saw the keen wariness in his stare. My stomach twisted something awful and I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know what to say. My heart and head were suddenly tearing in two very different directions. Fortunately, I didn’t get the chance to say anything.

“I leave you alone for a few hours, and you let Thumper fry and eat an Alpha.”

Yelping, I spun around as Stacey screamed. Cayman stood in the center of the destroyed living room. He’d come out of nowhere. Poof. There. He wore dark trousers and a white dress shirt he appeared to have gotten bored with when it came to buttoning it up, and his blond hair was loose around his angular face. When it came to the demon pecking order, Roth had once explained that as an Infernal Ruler, Cayman was middle management. He was kind of like the demon-of-all-trades, and I had a feeling he was more than just a...um, coworker of Roth’s. Whether Roth claimed it or not, they were friends.

“That was quick,” Roth commented, folding his arms across his chest.

Cayman shrugged. “It’s a sign of the times, man. It’ll probably be on some Alpha’s Facebook wall within the hour.”

Alphas had Facebook accounts?

Stacey was holding the throw pillow to her mouth now, and all that was visible were her huge, dark brown eyes. When she spoke, her voice was muffled. “Who is that?”