The weight of that implication bears down heavy in the small office. This is the angle Hernandez and I have been working since he recovered me in the mansion library.

“The locals won’t talk to men in black suits,” Rana adds, her gaze landing on Hernandez. “They don’t trust the feds or outsiders. So…” She trails off, waving her hand. “Find a way to get them to talk before any more of them lawyer up.”

Hernandez speaks up again. “Demanding to see their heads would connect the antler dots for who’s involved real quick.”

“I think the perpetrator is more hidden,” I say. “They won’t have such extreme body modifications. They have to be the one people trust, who can go undetected.” I shake my head, my thoughts delving deeper. “Tabitha likely doesn’t know much. She served her purpose. While there are probably others like her around this town, I’m not sure what that means.” I glance at Kallum, waiting for him to provide insight on the society angle.

He raises his chin with a hint of stubborn assertion. He’s not just trying to be unhelpful, he’s purposely being obstructive.

I exhale a lengthy breath. “But we’ll look into it.”

Rana nods slowly. “I’m working the inside perp angle with a special sub team. I suspect when we start to close in on this person, it could get volatile.”

I hold her gaze, feeling the abysmal truth of her words, before she dismisses us.

Once we move into the hallway, Hernandez looks my way. “You got to remain on the case.”

I drop my voice as we pass a group of officers. “And you know why that is, Gael.”

He grunts his acknowledgment. “They’re using you as bait.”

“Precisely.”

As the three of us exit through the doors of the HRPD building, the cool night air douses some of the fire still simmering beneath my skin, but only until I reach the back of the SUV and turn toward Kallum.

Noticing the sudden, unstable shift, Hernandez pointedly looks over his suit. “I’ll change into civilian clothing first,” he says before heading off in the direction of the hotel, leaving Kallum and me in the darkening parking lot.

Satisfied, Kallum gifts me a smoldering smile. “You’re conveniently already dressed for the occasion.” His gaze drops and lingers on my skirt, a sly smile twisting his mouth.

“You were cock-blocking the case.” I grip my bag strap tighter, my body tense with the accusation.

He leans forward and plants both hands on the windshield to cage me against the vehicle. “When I’m doing anything with my cock, little Halen, you’ll know.”

I place my hand to his chest, keeping enough distance between us where I can breathe, can think. “Stop deflecting. I know what you’re up to. Your behavior in Rana’s office was obvious.”

“Good.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and his fingers sensually graze my jaw. He pushes aside my collar to expose the bruises along my neck. “Because I’m not trying to hide, and neither should you.”

I curl my fingers into his dress shirt. The unbuttoned collar is parted open, offering an enticing view of the tendrils inked along the lower part of his neck. I let my gaze roam over his striking features as I try to unmask what’s making him so vulnerable, and in turn, defensive.

“We haven’t really talked.” My fingertips brush against the mark I can feel beneath the fabric, the sigil I cut into his chest.

“We’ll talk,” he says, his jaw tight at the slight pain my touch brings. “We’ll talk until our breath gives out and our bodies have to take over, but right now, all I care about is that you’re safe. You’re mine.” He grasps my neck possessively. “And the sinful plans I have for this skirt.”

A smile slips free, his charm never ceasing to sway me. “And the case,” I say, adamant. “The case matters.”

He wets his lips, a hard edge bracketing his features. “Your obsession with this case is delving to dangerous depths,” he says, his deep tone no longer suggestive.

“But you know why I’m doing this, who I’m trying to protect.” I position my palm over the sigil to convey my point to him, feeling the heat of the wound. “And you’re making it difficult to do that.”

Conviction lights the flinty shadows of his eyes. “That’s because I’m the one who protects you, sweetness.”

Hernandez appears in my periphery at a distance, and I expel an agitated breath.

Kallum places his hand over mine on his chest and leans in close. “To be continued,” he whispers, sealing his promise with the soft scrape of his teeth along the shell of my ear.

As he pushes away, my palm blazes with the lingering impression of the sigil, my impossible desire scored just as deeply into me.

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4

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STELLARUM LAPSUS

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KALLUM

Before one delves into the practice of chaos magick and sigils, one must first delegate their own personal banishing ritual.

Such a ritual empowers the chaoist to resist obsession should sigils start to become conscious.

A desire can only be obtained once the sigil is charged and forgotten. I’ve explained the basic concept of this to Halen once, but to truly comprehend the power of the subconscious, our will only realized once the sigil is lost, the magician must never think of their desire.

There are three main aspects needed to banish a sigil.

A magical weapon: an instrument used to reinforce the barrier of the mind.

A barrier: a symbol drawn with that weapon. Such as eight points of the chaos star, or three points in succession.

Then the ritual itself, the purposeful use of the object in expelling the obsessive thought from the mind.

I spin the silver ring around my thumb three times, my thoughts cast outward.

There’s a danger in sigils becoming conscious, when our most coveted desires preoccupy our every thought. It’s maddening, the constant craving, the endless yearning, as the intrusive want consumes, devouring us like a rampant brushfire.

As Halen walks ahead of me, I let my hungry gaze absorb every delectable inch of her. How her low ponytail sways back and forth with each determined step toward the gothic house. The way she wears flats instead of heels. The way she can’t hide her sinful body beneath all those layers.

How could I ever banish her from my thoughts?

She is my only obsession.

And now that there’s nothing preventing us from being together, the impatience to be rid of this case and this whole damn town is a taxing demand furiously pounding at my temples.

Weary of the ritual, I flex my fingers as Hernandez rings the doorbell of the Lipton home. The heavy thump of bass from within rattles the windowpanes, accelerating my heart rate.

When do we know the moment the danger is no longer a threat and insanity has consumed us?

Was I driven mad while I was locked inside a mental hospital for six months restlessly waiting? Or was it when Halen sat across from me at the visitation table, so close, but still so far away?

Was I already insane when I beat Alister into a literal bloody pulp and strung his corpse up before I flayed the flesh from his skull? To break the seal of her mind and harness the energy of a blood sacrifice, I delved to the darkest depths of the black arts.

Desperation for a woman can resort any man to his basest monster.

And if that base act is what ultimately brought her back to me, then I’d kill him a hundred times over. I’d flay his flesh while his heart still beat just for the way she looked at me at the scene. For how she’s looking at me now.

I run my tongue over the ridge of my teeth and meet her eyes in challenge, dangerously close to doing something just as hazardous, like ramming Hernandez’s head against the house so I can get little Halen alone.