Lucy flinched as if I’d punched her. “Did you just call me a hunter?”

“Aren’t you?”

She muttered one of her mantras under her breath. Constantine looked amused. Kieran looked grim.

Lucy exhaled slowly before speaking again. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Look, I’m sorry, but this is no place for you guys right now. Vampires are missing. Everyone’s high-strung.”

“So are humans,” Kieran said grimly.

“Then you get it. I’m trying to keep you safe.” I didn’t know why they couldn’t just leave it at that.

“Mm-hmm.” Lucy sounded just as annoyed as the time Nicholas had hidden her homework back when they picked on each other incessantly.

“Lucy, I’m fine.”

“Okay, well you know what? It’s not just about you anymore, princess.” I knew she was only calling me that to get back at me for calling her a hunter. “It’s also about the two vampires who tried to kill Kieran.”

Now that I didn’t know. Dread soured my stomach. “What? When?”

“Just now, at my mom’s house,” Kieran replied quietly.

“Is she okay?” I asked, wanting to hug him or touch him in some way just to be sure. “Are you okay?”

Constantine arched an eyebrow at him. “You look all right, lad.”

Lucy pinned him with her patented glare. She wasn’t the least bit intimidated. I missed her. “Did you have anything to do with it?”

He just smiled, amused. “Why would I? I’m not the big bad wolf, little girl.”

Lucy shifted her glare to me. “Solange, can we talk alone?”

I couldn’t afford to let her back in.

“I trust Constantine,” I said.

“Good for you. I don’t.” She tugged on my elbow, pulling me into the relative privacy of a spruce canopy. “Sol, you can’t be serious.”

“He saved my life tonight. What’s wrong with everybody?”

“Well, you ran away from home. It’s not like you.”

She doesn’t understand us. Forget about her. She’s weak. Human.

“You’ve been running away from home since you were six.” Usually to our house. “And now you’re at the Helios-Ra high school. And you never even mentioned it to me before you went!”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. If she’d been a vampire they would have gone clear and cold as ice. “I tried to tell you.”

“When?”

“When you compelled my boyfriend to kick me out of your house for talking about Constantine,” she pointed out. “Remember that?”

I bit my lip. “Sort of.”

She blinked, nonplussed. “What do you mean sort of?”

I sighed, wishing Kieran wasn’t standing right there listening. “Look, sometimes things get a little fuzzy when the hunger’s on, okay?”

“Are you blacking out?” Kieran asked sharply.

“No. It’s not like that. It’s just …” I shrugged, unable to find the right words. “I don’t know.” I didn’t mention the female voice, or the things she whispered to me. It was probably stupid not to, but I didn’t want them to think I was insane on top of everything else. Then they’d really insist I couldn’t take care of myself. I’m only here to protect you. You don’t have to be afraid.

“What does your family say?” Lucy asked.

“Uncle Geoffrey wants to run more tests.” I grimaced. “I’m his undead pincushion.”

Lucy half laughed. “I can just imagine. Still. Something big’s going on, Sol. Shouldn’t you stick with your family?”

“And sacrifice someone who saved me?”

“I guess not.” She sounded disgruntled.

“Why’s everyone so determined to think the worst of Constantine? He saved my life. When Kieran saved my life, everyone practically gave him a key to the house. And he’s a hunter. And after Isabeau saved my life, Logan went and fell in love with her. No one even blinked.”

“Are you in love with him?” Kieran asked quietly.

Lucy took a step back and pretended she wasn’t avidly eavesdropping. I honestly didn’t know whose side she was on, and I couldn’t blame her. I squirmed.

“Are you?” Kieran repeated.

“No,” I answered. “Of course not.” I wasn’t in love with him, just … intrigued. And I missed Kieran. I missed that he didn’t play games, that he stood up for what he believed in, even when others tried to knock him down. He was like one of those knights in the medieval stories. And I was the dragon. “We just broke up,” I reminded him. “Are you in love with someone already?”

When the wind shifted, the query became less about retaliation and more of an actual question that needed an answer. Right now.

Because I could smell girls all over him.

And for some reason it made my gums ache around my fangs.

“Sol,” Lucy said. “Your eyes are … weird. Are they usually that red?”

My nose twitched. “I can smell them on you.”

Kieran looked confused. “Who? The vampires?”

“No, girls.”

“Girls? What are you talking about?” He’s lying to us. He can’t be trusted.

A part of me recognized that he was truly mystified by the change of topic and that I was overreacting. But the rage inside me, always looking for a place to land, just didn’t care.