Ru pulled her bedspread up around her shoulders, careful not to disturb Cutter, who was sound asleep next to her, his arm still flung across her waist. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he’d actually left his body, but he was still there with her, just worn out completely. A smile spread across her face as she relished the feel of him. When she’d initially invited him upstairs, she thought they might just play around a bit, as they had earlier in the dark room. But things took a serious turn quite quickly, and by the time she’d completely surrendered herself to him, Ru realized what they shared was something far more powerful than she had ever imagined possible. Snuggling into his arms, inhaling his masculine scent, she felt the pull of their bond and knew this is where she belonged. With her head next to his chest, Ru could hear the rhythmic beat of Cutter’s heart. Steady, unwavering, strong. Just like him. Her eyelids grew heavy, and Ru found solace in his embrace

Cutter was shocked when Sky told him she would actually be on the field herself. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken part in something like this, but once they reached Turkey, he was glad she was there. While he didn’t mind coordinating his small group, having twenty of her Keepers alongside his own team would make things more difficult if she wasn’t there to give instructions. It was eerily quiet when he first arrived. However, the serenity didn’t last. A wave of Creepers crawled out of the nearby buildings, and he knew that would just be the advanced troops, the scouts, the expendable pawns. As soon as they’d handled them, which didn’t take much, there was a pregnant pause and then all Hell broke loose. Kayakoy may have been abandoned for almost a hundred years, but thousands of structures still stood, and it seemed a Reaper or demon emerged from almost all of them. “Holy hell,” Cutter muttered, raising his eyebrows at Sky. In the darkness, it was diffic

Ru expected to awake back in her body, in her own bed, as Cutter had imagined they all would. But when her eyes opened, she was lying on an ancient, intricately designed motif floor, little pieces of green and maroon tiles covered in thick, white dirt. She sat up and looked around. The ringing in her ears was more than a little disturbing, and the colors were off again. She snapped her fingers, believing that would cause the sound to stop, and was relieved when it did. The right side of her body ached, that is, the area that would’ve been her body if she were in it. A glance at her arm revealed the first signs of what was sure to be some pretty serious bruising above her elbow. Her leg felt like it would be the same, particularly her hip. She was still in Kayakoy, of that she was certain, and the design she’d taken to be a floor was actually a street. She was outside; a few cypress trees waved in the off-color sunlight, stirred by a light breeze. Standing, she saw th

Flying to Wyoming for the second time wasn’t nearly as daunting as it had been the first time Ru came out, which seemed like a lot longer ago than just a couple of weeks. Sky and the rest of her team had decided it would be best to completely regroup and go into the forest in Japan with as strong a game plan as possible. Ru would play very little part in the planning, which was fine with her. So long as she could get to the portal and close it before anything catastrophic could happen, she’d leave it to those with more experience and a keener understanding of the other side to coordinate the actual invasion and attack. Ru would be staying at her grandmother’s house this time, which was probably for the best for a number of reasons. First of all, it would give her a chance to see her family and get to know them a little better, and secondly, it would make it easier for her and Cutter not to do anything that might make his parents uncomfortable. Even though they were both adul

A week had passed, and Ru still hadn’t mentioned the incident with Nat to Cutter, though it was difficult not to because she wanted to tell him everything. The more time they spent together, the more she realized just how lucky she was. After twenty-five years of one travesty after another, her entire life finally seemed to be coming together all at once. If it wasn’t for the legion of demons and Reapers who wanted to kill her, everything would be perfect. “This is a list of all of the incubi,” Windy explained, handing Ru another packet full of information. They were sitting at the dining room table at Cutter’s parents’ house, mid-afternoon sunlight streaming in through the nearby window. Each name in the packet had a description and a picture, and Ru only glanced down the length of the first page before she set it on top of the stack of other documents Windy had assembled for her. It was day three of her demon identification training, and Ru still didn’t get the point. Wind