The men, all of them, closed in.

You’re not alone, the voices repeated.

But I wasn’t listening. I was whirling around, searching for a way out.

The men moved in a flash, pulling me to them. I drove my clawed hands into faces and kicked out with my legs. But my strikes went right through them while their brutal hands raked along my body.

“Celia,” Aric begged. “Please look at me, baby.”

I was huddled in a corner shaking and crying. My chest and stomach were drenched with blood. Aric knelt a few feet away with his hand outstretched. Koda was holding Shayna as she sobbed uncontrollably, blood covering them both. Emme wasn’t crying, but she appeared ill and unusually pale.

“I’m so sorry, Ceel,” Shayna whimpered. There was something in her voice that told me she meant it for more than just stabbing me.

I tried to stand, but my legs fell out from beneath me. Aric clutched me against him, his own chest heaving with rage and frustration as I wept.

Emme inched her way to my side when I finally started to settle. “It was Ray and Joe. W-wasn’t it?” she stammered. “And those men who killed Mom and Dad.”

I nodded, unable to speak. I stared at the wallpaper’s cream and yellow pattern and the edges of the burgundy curtain. The colors mixed in a swirl from the last of my tears. Crying sucked. I hated to cry. And I’d done more than my share in the past year to last a lifetime. I tried to form words, to say something—anything.

Stupid consonants and unrecognizable syllables spilled out of my blubbering lips, but no actual words took shape. I finally gave up and stared at the bland kaleidoscope of color that swam in my vision. It wasn’t until the numbness set in that I was finally able to speak.

“How did you know?” I asked Emme.

Emme’s voice was disturbingly shaky. “I saw them hurting you.” She briefly closed her eyes. “And I saw Mom and Dad. But I also saw you here, in front of me. You wouldn’t wake up even after I healed you. It was only after you looked at Aric that everything stopped.”

I didn’t remember looking at Aric, and I definitely didn’t remember how I ended up in the corner, but then again I couldn’t comprehend anything that was happening. Several of Misha’s vampires clamored in the hallway, working their mojo on everyone passing by on their way to breakfast.

I stole a glance at Aric. “I don’t know what’s happening.”

His eyes were narrow with fury. “I’m taking you back to the Den. It’s the only place I think you might be safe.”

Might be safe?

Tim stormed in along with Agnes, Edith, and Liz. “The master wants Celia with him,” he said.

“Do you think I give a shit?” Aric growled back. “She’s staying with me and that’s all there is to it.”

Growling and hissing erupted. “Stop it,” Emme insisted. “Do you think your bickering is helping?”

I wiped my eyes and stood. Aric helped steady me. “I’ll go to the Den,” I said quietly. My eyes cut to Shayna. “I just hope it will be enough.”

Aric led me to the door, snarling when the vamps blocked our path. “Celia is coming with us. Get out of the way.”

“Tim, move,” I ordered.

He glanced at the Catholic schoolgirls, nodding stiffly to allow us through.

“Damn, Celia. You all look like shit on a cracker,” Agnes hissed.

I scowled at her, but in a way I was grateful. I’d rather be pissed off than scared and helpless. I tightened my hold on Aric when he and Koda growled at her in challenge.

Liz put down the nail file she’d been using on her protruding fingernails and glared at them. “You hairy beasts can growl all you want, but Celia never bled around us.” She thought about what she said. “Well, at least not that much.”

Aric snarled and yanked me closer to him. His protectiveness amplified the warmth stimulated by our bond, immediately easing my remaining distress. He breathed deeply against me; he had felt it, too. “Come on, sweetness. Let’s get you out of here.”

The vamps followed us into the hotel parking lot and tailed us when we pulled out. I cuddled closer to Aric, fighting to stay awake. My body and brain had had their ass kicked and all they wanted was sleep. But I was too afraid to close my eyes and return to that room where the worst of my memories waited.

Aric kissed my head, grateful for the closeness we were sharing. When we crossed into Nevada he questioned Koda. “What happened in your room before we got there?”

Koda took his time answering, likely disturbed about everything that had transpired. For as big and strong as he was, he wasn’t made of stone. It killed him to see those he loved suffer. “Shayna’s scent disappeared when we were sleeping. At first I thought she had left the bed. But when I felt her body in my arms, I knew something was wrong.”

Shayna turned around, her eyes red and swollen. “It was like what Aric said, Ceel. Something pushed me out of my body.” She took a few breaths, trying to control her fragile emotions. “We ordered room service and left the empty tray on the bedside table. I woke up, looming over the bed, and watched my own body reach for the knife on the tray and form it into a sword.” She stared back at Koda. “It knew how to use my power—whatever this thing is, it knew. I forced my way back in somehow, but I couldn’t stop that thing from hurting you.” She started to cry again. “I can’t believe I stabbed you!”

Koda slipped his arm around her. “It wasn’t you, baby,” he said softly.

“Koda was stabbed through the stomach before we arrived,” Aric whispered.

Shayna buried her face in her hands. “It was trying to pierce through his testicles!” she wailed.

Everyone in the car fell stone still. Oh shit.

Koda slipped his arm away from Shayna’s shoulders. He gawked back and forth from Shayna to the road. I supposed she hadn’t mentioned that little tidbit before.

“How did you get rid of it?” I asked as Koda veered onto the gravel road leading up to the Den.

She shook her head. “I didn’t. Aric did. He touched me and I felt it move. It was like he was shoving it out of me.”

I looked up at Aric, who simply nodded despite the fear that riled his beast. He stroked my cheek with his thumb when I pressed my lips to his. “I thought it had killed you,” he admitted when I pulled away. “My wolf went after it while my human side remained with you. It was my beast who remembered how to fight it and knew how to force it from Shayna’s body.”