Page 87 of Eternal Devotion

“He’s in here somewhere,” one of them said. I recognized Lou from the ambush. “Jeep’s parked outside, so he didn’t leave.”

“Do you think he’s one of them?”

“I don’t know. Possible. Be alert.”

A meeker voice. “Can I suggest we come back in the morning? If that fucker has backup, we don’t want to be here when the sun goes down. We need a proper plan.”

“He’s got a point, Lou.” The husky tone belonged to the man with the buzzed head and thick neck. The one who’d thrown blessed water in my face.

“Hello?” Lou shouted. “We saw you come inside, fucker. Where are you?”

“Oh shit,” Ensley squeaked.

I snagged his hand and dragged him to a corner, knowing he was blind in the basement without a light. “Quiet.”

“I heard him in the woods,” he hissed. “I thought it was an animal.”

“Stay here.”

“No. Where are you going?”

“To get rid of them.”

“Them? There’s more than one?”

Of course, all he’d heard was Lou calling out. Otherwise, they had kept their voices down, likely forgetting my advanced abilities.

“Three.”

“Shit.”

From above, loud enough for Ensley’s human ears, the third man, whom I had yet to identify, exclaimed, “Whoa, guys. Come here. Look at this.”

He was in the kitchen.

Ensley clung to my shirt, and when I tried to peel him off, he refused to let go. “You can’t go up there.”

“I have to distract them.” The fact they hadn’t retreated and assumed Ensley was like me suggested they were properly armed for a fight, and I wasn’t in a state for confrontation.

“Are you out of your mind? If they’re the guys who messed up your face—”

“Ensley, let go of me. I’ll be fine. I won’t even show myself.”

He blindly blinked in my direction, his hands fisted around my shirt.

I stroked his cheek, pushing gently against his mind and hating myself for it since I’d promised not to do it again. “Be calm, love. You’re safe with me. I won’t let any harm come to you.”

The wild expression eased. Ensley released the death grip he held on my shirt. “Be careful.”

“I’ll be but a moment. Stay here and stay quiet.”

I aimed for the stairs but didn’t ascend. Reaching out to the more vulnerable-sounding third party who had come into the kitchen, I softly implanted a suggestion that he convince his friends to leave by any means possible. Nothing drastic enough to alert them to my manipulation. A nudge in the right direction. Something within his character.

The man immediately spoke in a harsh whisper. “Guys, we gotta split. Maybe we can take one, but not two at the same time. If he’s got backup, then they’re planning something. Can’t you feel it? They’re going to ambush us, and we’ll be fucked.”

“Would you relax.” Levelheaded Lou. “What is this?” A rustling of paper.

“A map. Look at the markings. They’ve been looking for him. We need to go. I’m serious.”