Free Lost in Prophecy: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Ascension Series) (Volume 5) by S M Reine Page A

him.
    And then he heard a very distinctive click , like the hammer on a gun being cocked.
    Exactly like the hammer on a gun, actually.
    Abel froze.
    The smell of silver followed that sound a moment later. Its distinctively sour stench burned in his sinuses. Whoever had come up behind him was prepared.
    “Turn around,” said a man. “Slowly.”
    Abel twisted, tension coiled in his muscles. It was Seth’s former best friend, Yasir. He was a tough-looking guy with scarred skin and thick eyebrows. He’d only gotten tougher in the last few years. That said a lot, considering the former Marine hadn’t ever been marshmallowy soft.
    Stephanie Whyte stood beyond him with a disapproving frown, arms folded. It pissed Abel off to realize she wasn’t even armed. Couldn’t do the dirty work herself.
    “We have these fences up for a reason,” Stephanie said.
    He tried to say, “Can’t imagine why.” All that came out was a growl. He was pulling a Rylie, on the verge of shapeshifting.
    “Yes, fascinating, thank you,” Stephanie said. “I take it you didn’t come here to open discussions as Levi requested.” He couldn’t manage an articulate response, and he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of growling again. She arched an eyebrow. “Well, best to make lemonade. Darling, could you please bring the Alpha into the cathedral? It’s obviously time that he and I had a talk.”

    The Apple’s stench was all over St. Philomene’s Cathedral, with all their guns and body armor and rubber and artifice. Abel couldn’t help but curl his lip at it.
    He was in the belly of the enemy. Even if it looked like a pretty nice church.
    Until occupation by the Apple, St. Philomene’s had been used by the Scions as a home base, so it had been filled with equipment to the rafters. Now it had been converted into a home. There were couches and a coffee table in the nave. The pillows had Bekah Riese written all over them—Levi’s sister loved things all bright and fluffy. It was a little rustic, very mismatched, and not exactly what Abel would have expected from an evil cult.
    Stephanie sat on one of the couches, moving gingerly, as though in pain. “Can I get you anything?” she asked Abel, gesturing to the opposite couch to indicate that he should sit.
    He didn’t move. “You can have your husband get the gun out of my back.”
    “Yasir, if you don’t mind,” Stephanie said. The man lowered his gun, but didn’t holster it. “Now, would you please sit?”
    “Awfully nice of you to ask, considering you’ve got me kidnapped,” Abel said.
    Amusement touched her eyes. “Kidnapped?”
    “Uh, yeah. Held at gunpoint.”
    “Don’t be dramatic, Abel. You’re not being held captive. If you don’t want to be here, then go. We won’t stop you.”
    “Fine,” he said. “Maybe I will.”
    He walked out the front door of the cathedral, moving briskly, shoulders and neck tense. He expected Yasir to fire on him at any moment.
    There was no gunshot. No attempt to stop him at all.
    Abel was all the way down the stairs and two steps from the road by the time he realized Stephanie and Yasir really weren’t going to follow. He turned back to the cathedral, gaping at the front door. Rain collected in the gutters and drizzled off the corners of the roof.
    “What the hell?” he asked the front of the building.
    That wasn’t how the Apple worked. They weren’t friendly. They didn’t let people just leave .
    He hesitated.
    Then he climbed the stairs, pushed open the door, and went back inside.
    Stephanie and Yasir hadn’t moved. Damn the woman—she still looked like she was quietly laughing at him.
    Stiffly, Abel stood beside the other couch.
    “You want clothes?” Yasir asked. “I’ve got a couple things that might fit you.” There was kindness in the way he spoke. Gun aside, this was the guy who had been best man at Seth’s doomed wedding.
    Abel glanced down at himself. He’d forgotten that he was still naked. It was