Demon Bound

“What?”
    “The ‘I hope you think well of me’ part.” His hands slid into his pockets, his shoulders hunched in that very tall way. He was, she thought, laughing to himself. “I’m thinking that’s pretty close to you saying you love me.”
    “I suppose it is.” She sighed, and threw her knife to the floor.
    His brows rose. “Your hammerspace is full?”
    “There are times when it is just so much more satisfying to throw.”
    “I bet. Especially when you think you’re going to do what’s best for me, again , and—”
    “I love you,” she said crossly.
    Jake drew in a breath and appeared in front of her, cupping her face in his hands. “Yeah?”
    Her tone softened. “Yes.”
    “I know.”
    “How irritating you are.”
    He grinned. “And now I’m looking forward to when you say it without screwing your face up like you’ve been sucking—”
    “Do not say lemons.”
    “I wasn’t going to.” His grin faded. “So, some Guardians aren’t going to like what you decide. I’ll deal with it. No sweat.”
    Alice closed her eyes, nodding. “I don’t doubt you can deal with it. But I did not want to be the reason for it.”
    “I get that.” With his thumbs, he smoothed her hair back from her temples. “So what’s the plan?”
    “For you to hold me while I try to think.”
    He pressed his lips to her brow. “I can do that.”

    Jake held her until she rose to her feet, began pacing through her rooms. The movements of her legs and arms were jerkier than usual, her eyes unfocused. Completely lost in thought, he realized.
    He sat up and she shrieked, hopping back with her hand covering her mouth. He tensed, but her expression faded into a laugh. Just startled, then.
    “I guess that you aren’t trying to think anymore.”
    She nodded, resumed her pacing. “Yes, but I have not completely determined how it will be done.”
    “How?” There wasn’t much to it, was there? She only had to decide whether to release Anaria or not. “Are you going to release her?”
    “Yes,” she said, and his gut twisted into a knot.
    He dreaded what might happen with Anaria out—but more than that, how much Alice would blame herself if anyone died because she’d been released.
    But there was no real choice; given her options, she’d chosen the best one.
    And maybe after two thousand years in a sarcophagus, Anaria wouldn’t be a psychopath.
    Yeah. He could keep telling himself that.
    “Will you need anything?”
    She paused. “Do you still have the box?”
    “I dumped it into the sea. Off the Boreas edge.”
    Amusement rolled through her psychic scent. “I will need it.”
    And so he was going swimming.

    It took five jumps before Jake saw it, and only a second to pull the giant cube back into his hammerspace.
    So she was freeing someone from one box and taking along another. He floated in the water, considering that, and the sick knot in his stomach slowly unwound.
    It wasn’t just a decision she was making, then—it was also a plan of attack. Hot damn.
    And releasing Anaria meant that she’d need Michael in the temple—which also meant Jake had a trip to Hell coming up.

    Jake found Drifter walking with Irena not far from Odin’s Courtyard. Maybe they’d both go; Alice couldn’t scream at him for two backups.
    On the other hand, he liked her screams—and judging by the vicious anticipation glittering in Irena’s eyes, he thought either she or Khavi wouldn’t be coming out of the encounter alive.
    “Jake.” Drifter nodded, his jaw tight. “We were just coming looking for you.”
    Yeah. This was not good, whatever it was. He’d fought alongside Drifter enough to know when the man was out for blood. The question was, whose?
    “Funny,” Jake said. “I was just looking for you. You need a ride somewhere?”
    “Egypt.”
    His blood cooled. He knew what was coming up. God damn, he should have seen it coming. “Oh, yeah?”
    “I’m thinking we need to have ourselves a little talk with Teqon.”
    “And would that talk involve knives, swords, thumbscrews?”
    Irena tilted her head, studying him. “You want to join us?”
    “Maybe I would if I could see the point.”
    Drifter frowned. “The point is, it ain’t Anaria that’s our problem. She’s doing just fine where she is. But Teqon’s given Alice no choice but to let her go.”
    “And Alice does not have the stomach for what must be done.”
    No question that Irena did. Jake looked to Drifter. “And you do?”
    “I’ve