Crimson Wind by Diana Pharaoh Francis

me out. She does not want me any more than I want her.”
    “Your loyalty to her is underwhelming.”
    “Is that it? You want me to be more loyal to her? Despite all she has done to me?” He crossed his arms, looking down at her, his gaze hard and unrelenting. “This is not about me at all, is it? It is about Max. You have tortured her for thirty years, and you fear she will turn on you. After all, if I turned on Selange, who treated me reasonably well by comparison, then what might Max do?” He shook his head. “You are stupid if you think she would betray Horngate. She is not capable, no matter what you deserve.”
    Giselle’s lips pulled tight. The corner of Alexander’s mouth quirked up with malicious humor. He had hit close to the heart of the matter.
    “You want to protect her from me, but who protects her from you? ” he asked softly.
    “Careful. Remember who you are talking to,” Giselle said, her cheeks spotting red.
    He grinned, feeling his Prime pushing for escape. “Or what? You will kill me? You could have done so any time in the last four weeks. You want me here. You want me serving Horngate. With the Guardians attacking all over the world, you need all the warriors you can find. I am an asset.”
    “You are,” Giselle agreed. “But only if you don’t challenge Max. You are a Prime. How could you be content serving when you could lead?”
    “Before long, Niko, Tyler, and Thor will step up to Prime level. What will you do then?”
    “None of them could win a challenge against Max,” Giselle said with a dismissive wave of her fingers.
    “But I could.”
    “Very possibly.”
    “I do not want to. I am content to follow her.”
    “I’d like to believe that.”
    “How do I prove it to you?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know. Figure something out. Bringing her back from California alive is a start.”
    Something in the way she said it made his skin go cold. “You are hiding something. What?”
    She stared at him a long moment and then gave a little nod. “My visions refuse to show me how things will turn out. They have never been so disjointed. What I do get are fragments. I don’t know when anything will happen or what the pieces mean, except that you and Max are together and you are fighting someone or something.” She licked her lips. “One vision in particular bothers me. It involves a living void.”
    “A living void?” Alexander repeated, frowning. “What do you mean?”
    She folded her arms, rubbing her skin as if cold. “It is the opposite of life. A feeling of sterility—of complete annihilation. I think—” She broke off, looking at him warily. She came to a decision. “I think the Guardians have let loose something they didn’t intend to. They wanted to bring back the balance of magic to the world, but I think they brought back something else, too. Or it’s coming. I can’t tell. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous. Worse than that. You’re going to run into it.”
    “And?” There was more. He could tell. “You did not tell Max this.”
    Giselle gave a jerking shake of her head. “I think she gets killed. You have to prevent it.”
    Alexander felt like she had punched him in the gut. His Prime exploded, driving out anything but the need to hunt and kill. It was a wild, primitive feeling. Max could not  die. The thought of it was so full of pain it nearly dropped him to his knees. What the hell?
    He had no time to consider the burst of feeling. He carefully stepped back from Giselle as Xaphan filled the doorway. The angel could kill him easily, and he would if he thought Alexander was threatening Giselle.
    “Are your visions always true? Like Magpie’s?” he demanded hoarsely.
    The witch shook her head. “Sometimes. I can usually tell if an event is fixed or if it can be changed. Not this time.” She stared at him, her eyes cold. “Stop it. Or don’t come back.”
    She hesitated. “One more thing. I don’t like blackmail.” Then, with a movement