“Annika.” Overwhelmed, he buried his face in the curve of her neck. “I need you.”

His words shimmered through her. She knew poetry, and song and story. But no words she knew had ever moved her so deeply. To be needed by him lifted her heart, sent it soaring. Even as tears blurred her eyes, she laid her hands on his cheeks, lifted his face so she could look at him.

“I would give you all you need. Be one with me, before the sun comes. Before the sun,” she said again, and arched up in welcome.

And if she wept as they moved together, she could tell herself it was only from joy, only from beauty. Only from knowing he needed her.

She took the joy with her, through the push-ups and lunges, through breakfast.

She kept it clutched tight when Sawyer brought the recorder out to the table.

“It may not sit well after a meal, but everybody should hear this.”

“Another meet?”

“In a way,” he told Riley. “From the bedroom recorder, just after midnight.”

“If we have to hear Malmon getting it on with some unfortunate working girl—”

“It’s Nerezza.”

Sawyer waited a beat, pressed playback.

For a moment, there was a kind of living silence, like a throaty hum. Then what seemed to Annika like a crack in the air. Malmon’s voice trembled, but Annika couldn’t be certain if it came from excitement or fear.

I’ve waited.

When Nerezza spoke, it was somehow cloying, like honey dripping from a nest of bees. And all is as I wish?

All is as you wish.

No, my pet, all is not as I wish until the stars are mine, and those who keep them from me are screaming.

All is in place so all will be as you wish. Please, my queen. I’ve waited.

The laugh made Annika shudder. Will you not offer me refreshment first?

Your cup.

But not yet sweetened. A moment later, Malmon hissed. Ah, perfect. The pain only adds to the potency, and the flavor.

“Blood,” Bran murmured. “It would be his blood, freely given.”

Your room here is pleasing. I will stay here an hour with you.

An hour? But . . . You won’t live with me here while I find the star for you?

In this place? One for mortals, for humans? I make my own.

The disgust in her voice rang clear, then turned to amusement.

Do not sulk, my pet. I’ll give you paradise for an hour. Take off your clothes so I can see the progress of your transformation. And then you and I will sate our appetites.

“Transformation.” Riley nodded at Sasha. “You said he wouldn’t be what he was.”

“But I don’t know, yet, what he’s becoming.”

Ah, yes. You, too, are pleasing. Is there pain?

It comes sharply, then passes.

But you like the pain. It tells you you’re becoming.

I’m stronger.

And will be stronger still.

I’ll be invincible. Immortal. And together we’ll rule all the worlds.

Of course.

“She lies,” Annika whispered. “Can’t he hear the lie?”

There was a sound, like a whistle of wind, a low growl.

Thudding, harsh grunting, hungry sucking, animal pants, and twice an agonized cry cut off as if sliced with a blade. Slaps sharp and ringing, moans like the damned begging.

Under the table Annika clasped her hands together. “This is not what we do. This isn’t sex. It’s . . . like the sharks. This is only feeding, without beauty or kindness. Or . . . heart.”

“Sex isn’t always kind, but yeah, this?” Riley shifted in her seat. “Be grateful we don’t have video.”

More! There was a guttural sound to Malmon’s voice, something not completely human. An hour. You said an hour.

Did I? After a laugh, Nerezza said, Sleep now. Yes, yes, sleep and dream, before you bore me. Soon, my pet, you’ll bring me all I want, all that’s mine. Fail, and your blood will more than sweeten my wine.

Again, there was a kind of crack, then silence.

“That’s it,” Sawyer told them.

“More than enough.” After grabbing her water glass, Sasha drank deep. “She wanted to see him, so there has to be something physically transforming.”

“Don’t look at me,” Riley said when Sasha did. “I’m a hereditary, three-nights-a-month girl.”

“But you said there’s pain, when you change.”

“Some. It’s just part of it. She’s not making him a lycan. That change is rapid, and the moon’s not full. My money’s on demon.”

“And I agree,” Bran said.

“So we’ll be fighting a god, a small army, and a demon.” Rising, Sawyer picked up the recorder. “Awesome. I’ll put this back.”

Though the recording had shaken her, Annika reached back for the joy of dawn. She held it close through talk of battle—for Sasha felt certain there would be a battle that day—and instead, slipped over the side of the boat to find what Sawyer called a tracker so Bran could send it far away.

She watched Sawyer strap on the special gun for in the water.

“Okay, this location officially takes us more than halfway around the island.” After zipping her wet suit, Riley picked up her gun. “The gods can’t accuse us of not being thorough or freaking tenacious.”

“I wish I could tell you I felt something, like I did the day we found the Fire Star.”

“It’s not all on you.” Riley slapped Sasha’s arm. “Six of us in this. I forgot, with the triple-X Malmon audio, I think I’ve picked up something on the Bay of Sighs. Need to dig more when we get back, but I think I’m digging in the right spot. So if we don’t hit today, maybe I’ll come up with something that helps. Meanwhile? Ready to rock and roll?”