The breeze from my shattered picture window beckoned me toward it. I peered over the damaged wood of the sill to find Aric on the front lawn seizing violently, his body illuminated by the light streaming from the living room window.

I leapt from the bedroom window onto the thick grass just as Koda’s and Gemini’s screeching cars pulled up to the sidewalk. Koda and Gem raced out growling with all the ferociousness of hell itself. Their eyes wandered to me as they scrambled to Aric’s side. “What happened?” Koda asked. His tone was low, vicious, deadly—making it clear he was seconds from slaughtering.

I couldn’t answer. Shayna had sprinted to my side as I watched Aric convulse. Nothing made sense, nothing was right. Jesus Christ, what was happening?

My quickening breaths burned my chest. “Ceel?” Shayna shook my shoulders, her voice shrill. “Celia, what happened to Aric?”

I took in her familiar aroma, trying to gather comfort from it to speak. Koda and Gemini spoke in a rush, either to me or to Aric, I wasn’t sure who. It took all I had to concentrate on Shayna’s quaking voice. “Oh God, Ceel. What happened to you?” She tried to close my robe, but I wouldn’t allow it and wrenched away from her.

There was another screech of tires and the quick footsteps of others running toward me. Emme and Taran were suddenly there, muffling their screams. Strong arms fell upon my shoulders; I yelped and jumped away, crying into my hands.

“Celia,” Gemini’s normally calm voice rang out ferociously. “You need to tell us what’s happening so we can help Aric.” He took a step toward me at the same time I took another step back. “Celia,” he said more insistently. “Who attacked you?”

I buried my face further into my hands and released several choked sobs. Shayna wrapped an arm around me. “She’s going into shock!” she yelled.

It was true; I was losing it. Just like I had the time we thought he was dead. I couldn’t allow myself to fall back into that darkness. Aric, or whatever was left of him, was in danger.

“Celia, tell us who attacked you,” Gemini growled.

While I couldn’t speak through my sobs, I did manage to point…at Aric.

All eyes that had been watching me turned to Aric in time to see him arch his spine with enough force to crack it. Every vein in his body rushed violently to the surface of his skin as if trying to rip through it. Black fluid pulsed along each branch. Whatever had infected Aric was forcing its way through his system.

I completely fell apart. Aric’s body was being ravaged and there was nothing any of us could do. Koda was yelling something to Gem when what sounded like every bone in Aric’s back crunched. He collapsed, his head falling limply to the side. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t breathing, he was…

I scrambled to his side, where Koda had remained. My knees sunk into the mud, the grass beneath and around him torn up by his violent thrashing. I wanted so badly to touch him, but being so close to him brought all my fright back in one nauseating rush. I couldn’t stop shaking; I was going to be sick.

“Aric. Aric. Wake up! Breathe, damnit. Breathe!” Koda said, shaking him.

Behind me, I could hear Emme crying softly. Gemini was on the phone with Martin, speaking fast. “Don’t let either one of them out of your sight,” Martin’s deep baritone ordered. “I’m coming.”

Aric’s face turned from blue to gray as the sickly black fluid shoved its way through even the smallest capillaries of his face. My cries strengthened, and I began to scream. “Wake up, baby. Please, wake up!”

Aric’s eyes remained closed and his chest failed to rise. He was dying while I watched, and it ripped my soul apart. I forced my hand to touch his chest. I barely brushed his skin when a cloud of smoke in a silhouette of his body rose above his still form. The image was Aric’s perfect double in shades of black and dark gray—every hair, every muscle, every feature, outlined to reflect his unmoving twin below. I watched it with wide eyes until it disintegrated into the night.

Like a strong gust of wind, Aric’s clean aroma filled the night air. He let out a pained roar and his eyes flew open, latching onto me. The intensity of his stare cemented me in place. No one moved, but then Aric lurched forward, reaching for me.

I stumbled away before he could touch me. The wolves hauled him back, sensing my fear.

Deep remorse and sorrow etched lines into his face. “Sweetness,” he pleaded. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to hold you.”

Anguished tears dripped from my eyes. He was back. My Aric was back. I tried to step forward only to fall and land in Taran’s arms. “You son of bitch!” she screamed at him. “What did you do to her?”

Emme tried to close the front of my robe, like Shayna had before. I looked down, confused as to why until I saw what they saw—what everyone saw. Oh God.

My breath caught in my throat. I should have realized I was completely exposed, but I was blind to anything but Aric’s suffering. Bruises shaped like long fingers painted my breasts, revealing the marks from the assault. What was worse was the angry red handprint over my thick scars.

Horror fell upon me like a landslide of boulders until numbness forced its way forward, claiming me. My panties were torn, the thin lace barely enough to keep the sides together.

I folded the sides of my silk robe closed and crossed my arms, hugging my body. Everyone knew I had almost been raped. And everyone believed it was at the hands of the man who told me he loved me.

Thick tears fell down my face, mixing with the blood that continued to seep out of my neck. Emme said something about needing to heal me, but my gaze had returned to Aric.

He tried forcing his way to me, yet the wolves held strong. “Celia,” he begged. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me, sweetness.”

“Aric,” Gemini warned, his tone tight. “Leave her alone. You’re scaring her.”

Aric stared back at me with eyes that implored me to tell them all that I wasn’t afraid of him. But at that moment, I still was, despite knowing he wasn’t technically the being who attacked me.

Taran didn’t seem to care. Every whisper of hair along my arms stood on end as she gathered her magic. A crowd of concerned neighbors, including Mrs. Mancuso, had arrived to investigate the cause of the commotion. Taran was trying to alter their memories. Yet I suspected she wasn’t far from turning her power on Aric.