I chuckled. “Oracles don’t do time, remember, Maggie?” I edged toward the circle, resigned to yet another try. “But just for you, I’ll let your mom blast me one more time. How does that sound?” As I walked by her, I patted her on the head.

“Kitty be mad.”

She’d been calling Rourke “Kitty” ever since we arrived and it made me smile every single time she uttered that word. We had no idea how she knew what he was, other than she was an oracle and probably knew everything, but he’d indulged her the entire time, never correcting her. She’d even spent a few meals perched on his lap. The size difference between them was comical; he was the giant to her Tinker Bell. Witnessing him being so careful and patient with her was nothing short of heart-melting. He’d admitted to me later that he’d never held a child before. But it didn’t matter. He was clearly cut out for parent duty. My wolf made a sound that sent chills racing up my spine. I had to shake it off quickly or I’d leave right now and go search for him.

Instead of having fun time with Rourke, I sighed as I entered the circle for what felt like the hundredth time. I turned around and faced the bystanders, Tally, Naomi, Ray, and Maggie, who all stood on the outside, certainly hoping I would finally succeed and we could move on with business. “Kitty’s not very happy with me today, is he?” I asked Maggie as I readied myself for the assault.

The child shook her head solemnly.

After he had witnessed me repeatedly ejected from the circle, receiving constant contusions and broken bones, and engaging in intense hand-to-hand combat training, it was decided Rourke was no longer allowed in the Circle of Fun room. His snarls and threats were making it hard for everyone to concentrate, including me.

Incapacitating a demon had been much tougher than I’d ever expected, because their true nature was serpentine and they had extremely hard skeletons. The demon dummies the witches had built were made of some sort of spelled metal and they were a bitch to destroy. I was always left bleeding and exhausted at the end of the day.

It didn’t help that Rourke was still grappling with the fact that he couldn’t accompany me to the Underworld.

It consumed our daily conversation, and truth be told, he had begun to wear me down. I was on the verge of allowing him accompany me, even though the demons would know his signature the moment he crossed over. I couldn’t deny that he was my strongest ally and undoubtedly the best man for the job. And, ultimately, I wanted my brother back, and having Rourke with me in the Underworld would give us the greatest odds of achieving that goal.

The door to the circle room opened with a loud groan and I glanced over, half expecting to see Rourke barging in. I knew he was close because my blood rang with his tension. Once the door was open I could scent him, but it wasn’t him.

“Hiya,” Marcy called as she shut the door behind her, using her backside. “How goes the training?”

“It sucks, as usual,” I replied wryly, readying my stance to take the magic Tally was about to launch at me. “Your aunt is a wicked taskmaster and she thinks I can channel hybrid demon magic, but it turns out I can’t. It’s too strong and it keeps blowing me out of the circle.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s not too strong.” Marcy’s tone was decisive as she strode forward. “You’re just a wimp.” She smiled as she bent over and swept Maggie into her arms. “Hi, Cherub. Fancy meeting you here.” She planted a kiss on the child’s cheek.

One of Maggie’s arms snaked behind Marcy’s neck. “Kitty be mad,” she told Marcy in an earnest voice. “He be mad at me.” She placed a chubby finger on her own chest.

Marcy raised an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged.

“No way, Big Kitty loves you. He’d never be mad at you,” Marcy crooned. “Besides, cats don’t get mad at people, they just get annoyed, and then all you have to do to fix it is feed them and they’re totally over it. We’ll get Big Kitty a nice sucker and he’ll be good as new. How’s that?”

Maggie didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway.

“Are you ready this time?” Tally asked me pointedly, bringing us all back to task. “It’s my daughter’s naptime and I’d like to wrap this up if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, she’s ready.” Marcy smirked. “Look at her face. That’s her determined look. See the way her lip is quirking up at that odd angle and her head is tilted slightly to the right? That’s her game face, and it’s on.”

“You pain me. Right here.” I pointed to my backside, keeping it clean for Maggie. I knew Marcy would appreciate the gesture. “And it makes me want to use this.” I pointed to the bent knuckle on my middle finger. “And if I’m so wimpy, why don’t you come in here and give this a try, huh? We’ll see how long you can stay in the circle with demon magic up in your grill.”

“I can’t do that. You see, it’s a sliding wimp scale.” She readjusted Maggie on her hip while trying not to laugh too hard. “And my wimp runs strong. One blast of that demon juice and I’d be a goner. And once I was dead, you’d have one angry werewolf up in your grill and you’d wish you were already in the Underworld.” She chortled. “The demons would be delightful compared to the wrath of my guy. He’d rip this place apart trying to avenge my dead, broken body.”

James and Marcy were mated in every sense.

And she was right. If something were to happen to her it would shatter him. Angry would not be an apt term. Ballistic would be closer to the truth. The two of them had come back unified from their ordeal with the sorcerers, but the only information I’d managed to pull out of her so far was hazy, involving “near death” and “best sex ever.” It was typical of Marcy to keep it light and not delve too deeply into the trauma, and because she hadn’t ventured into the nitty-gritty on her own, I hadn’t pressed her. More than likely, being kidnapped had shaken her to the core and she wasn’t ready to discuss the details yet.

On the flip side, along with terrifying her, it had also brought out a magic streak I’d known she had inside her all along.

No more tentative Marcy. This was kick-ass Marcy with new, twitchy fingers. The Coven was already in discussions to finally vote her in after she’d schooled a few of her old nemeses once she’d arrived—including Awful Angie, whom Rourke and I had the misfortune of encountering the last time we’d been here. Rourke was determined to strap Angie onto the ancient Vespa she’d forced us to use when we were running for our lives and send her into the lake as payback. But so far our paths hadn’t crossed. It was likely Tally had sent her away on purpose, which had been a smart move.