“NO!" Raffe grips me as if he can bind my soul to my body. An upside-down view of the doorway shows up in my field of vision. Smoke waft through it. Although the pain obscures Raffe's warmth, I feel the presure of his hug, the rocking of our bodies back and forth as he repeats the word, "No.”

“I stick to Raffe as close as I can manage without having to explain why I'm hugging his back.”

“And my instincts tell me that Raffe is mine. I found him first.”

“My friends call me Wrath,” says Raffe. “My enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What’s your name, soldier boy?”

“I don’t have kind memories of you, Raffe, in case you’d forgotten. After all this time, you show up in my life again with no warning. Making demands. Insulting me by flaunting your human toy in my presence. Why should I do this for you instead of sounding the alarm and letting everybody know you had the nerve to come back?”

“Someone knocks on the door.Laylah's eyes widen in alarm. Josiah looks like he's just been condemned to hell."It's just my dinner," says Raffe.”

“I don’t know which is worse—that Raffe didn’t jump in to defend me, or that he bet that I would lose.”