Madoc’s heart was going to explode from his body. First he had the most powerful orgasm of his life, and now Nika was screaming in pain, writhing in his arms.

“Tori!” she yelled, reaching out as if she could actually see her sister.

“Nika, come back to me.” He didn’t know what was happening to Tori, but he knew for sure he didn’t want Nika anywhere near it, whether in body or mind.

She went still, then opened her eyes and looked up at him. Tears leaked from the corners, wetting the pale hair at her temples. “She was here. For just a minute. They’re hurting her.”

Nika still clutched her stomach. Her legs were curled up tight against her body, and Madoc was certain he knew why. “She’s in labor. There’s nothing you can do.”

Nika shoved herself away from him, stumbling from the bed. Her clothes were draped over a chair, and she hurried to put them on. “I have to find her.”

“How? All we know is that she went southeast.”

“She called out for me once. She will again.”

Madoc started to dress, because he knew she’d be tearing out of here at any minute, and he didn’t want to follow her bare-ass naked down the hall and scare all the human children. “And you’ll be incapacitated by the pain again.”

She pulled a shirt over her head. “I don’t care. I’ll be ready for it next time.”

Madoc wanted to force her to stay here. She was too precious to risk. He knew she’d give her life for her sister in a heartbeat and he couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t want Tori to die, but if she did, he didn’t want her to take Nika down with her.

“Just what do you think you’ll have to gain by running off in a panic? We need to go to Joseph and do this the right way.”

“How long do you think that will take? How long do you think Tori has? I can’t wait.”

Madoc grabbed her arm, being careful not to grip her too hard. “What good will it do you to find her if we can’t get her out alive? We have to gather the men.”

“Fine. You talk to Joseph. Gather whoever you like, but we’re leaving now.”

Meghan was on her way out of the office when she came to a rocking halt.

John Hawthorne leaned against the trunk of her car, his thick arms crossed over his chest.

Just the sight of him made something deep inside her loosen up. A familiar pang of arousal shot to her womb and made her knees go weak. She wondered if he’d always have the power to do that to her.

She hadn’t expected to see him ever again. He was just one bright, secret spot in her life she’d hold close and never forget. Seeing him here, in her town, at her work, was completely shocking and completely unacceptable.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, checking over her shoulder to see if any of her coworkers were nearby. Luckily, they weren’t, but that wouldn’t last for long.

“You left. I wasn’t ready for that, so I came to find you.” He said it as if it was the most reasonable thing to travel nearly two thousand miles to finish a conversation.

“You can’t be here.”

“Why not? It’s a free country.”

“If someone sees, they’ll tell my father.”

John lifted a brow. “You’re twenty-eight. I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to date by now.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

Meghan didn’t know how to explain it. Her father had his pride. If he thought caring for him was robbing her of anything, he’d push her away. She wasn’t convinced he was strong enough to live on his own yet. Sure, he was better, but what if he had a relapse?

“We had a great time, John. But you just can’t be here. Please go.”

“Are you married?” he asked, his face darkening with rage.

“Heavens, no. Nothing like that. I just can’t be involved right now. I have too many responsibilities.”

“So do I, but here I am anyway. I thought the two of us had something special.”

“It was special. Can’t we just leave it at that?”

“That’s not enough for me. I have feelings for you, Meghan. I want you to come back with me so we can see where things take us.”

Meghan’s heart squeezed in longing. She wanted so much to give in and throw caution to the wind. Maybe they’d last a week and be at each other’s throats, but maybe there was something real there. She’d certainly never felt like this about another man before.

But what she wanted wasn’t as important as taking care of her father. He had to come first.

“I’m sorry, John. I really am. But this is as far as we go.”

John’s mouth tightened in anger and he swallowed as if shoving it down. “I don’t believe that. And I don’t think you do, either.”

Before she realized what he was doing, he moved in and kissed her.

Meghan’s body responded as it had the countless other times he’d kissed her. Her skin heated, her limbs went liquid, and she flowed into him as if she’d been made to do just that.

He coaxed her lips open, feathering his tongue against her mouth. He tasted like secret dreams—so heady he made her dizzy.

His hand cupped the back of her neck while the other one slid down her spine to her bottom. Streamers of sensation rioted through her bloodstream until she was left breathless, wet, and longing for things she knew could never be hers.

John ended the kiss but didn’t pull away. “Invite me home.”

She wanted to. She wanted to fall into bed with him and never get out. “I can’t. My father—”

“Take me to meet him. Maybe we’ll hit it off. You won’t know until you try.”

Her resistance was crumbling, no match for the pleasure she knew John could give her. “If he meets you, he’ll know how I feel.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“No. He needs me right now. I can’t abandon him.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“You don’t understand. He’ll push me away. He’ll think he’s robbing me of my future.”

“He is.”

“It’s my choice.”

John pulled away, regret lining his face. “I understand,” he said, then turned and walked away.

Meghan watched him go, feeling like he was taking something vital with him—something she’d never be able to survive without.

Torr couldn’t believe how fast he was recovering. It was like a switch had been flipped, and the feeling in his limbs was coming back to him all at once.

Only two hours ago, he hadn’t been able to lift his own head, and now he was sitting on the edge of his bed. Granted, he was still wobbly, but even that seemed to be fading fast.

There was some kind of commotion going on inside Dabyr. He could hear tense voices and hurried footsteps outside his door. The woman who had brought him food earlier hadn’t known what was going on.

Torr had hid from her how much he’d improved. He didn’t want anyone spoiling the surprise for Grace. He wanted to see the look on her face when she saw him.

There was no longer any question in his mind that he could greet her on his feet. In fact, if all went well, he was going to be able to do more than just greet her. He’d be able to make love to her the way he hadn’t allowed himself to think about except in the deepest reaches of his dreams.

He was sure as hell thinking about it now. If she didn’t come back soon, he was going to have to do something about his nearly constant erection. Clearly, his body was making up for lost time.

Using the bed for support, Torr pushed himself to his feet.

He almost crumpled under the weight of his own body, but managed to stay standing. After a few seconds, he’d gained his balance and reached out for a nearby chair to steady himself. He took a step, then two, before his legs could take no more and he had to slide down into the chair.

Elation made him feel light and his jaw ached from grinning so much.

Grace was going to be so surprised. Finally, her tears would be ones of joy.

He thought about calling her and asking her to come home, but she deserved her break. She’d spent way too much time keeping his sorry ass clean and fed. She needed a little time to herself.

Instead,he dialed her seventeen-year-old half brother, hoping he’d know when she was getting back.

Blake Norman answered the phone with a distracted, “Hello.” In the background, Torr could hear the sound of laser guns being fired and the excited shouts of other boys in the room.

“You have company?” asked Torr.

“Yep. Playin’ games. Whatcha need?”

“Do you know when Grace is coming back?”

“What do you mean? She’s with you, isn’t she?”

“She couldn’t travel dragging me around with her.”

“Travel? She’d never leave this place, not after what happened to us.”

Torr was struck silent for a moment. “She didn’t go on a trip?”

Blake made a bunch of shushing sounds until the room he was in went quiet. “She said you were getting worse and that she was going to be staying in your suite for a few days. She’s not with you?”

A bad feeling began creeping up Torr’s spine. “She’s not with me.”

“Then where the hell is she?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

Torr dialed security, hoping to get Nicholas, but instead he got one of the Gerai who helped when Nicholas wasn’t available.

“Hey, Nate,” said Torr. “I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

“Sure.”

“Can you find out if Grace has left the compound recently?”

“Hold on a sec.” There was some clicking of keys; then Nate said, “She didn’t check out a car and her security card hasn’t been used at the gate. She could have gone with someone else, I suppose.”

“Do you keep track of when she uses her key card?”

“Yeah, all that stuff is logged.”

“Can you see when the last time she used hers was?”

“Around noon yesterday.”

“Who has left since then?”

Nate read off a list of names. It was short.

“Can you check to see if the cameras showed her in any of their cars?”

“What’s going on here, Torr? Is she in some kind of trouble?”

“I don’t know. She told me she left town. She told her brother she was staying with me. I have no idea where she is.”

“Okay. Give me a few minutes and I’ll go through the security footage. Our face-recognition software will find her and tell me the last place she was seen. Call you in a few. Will you have someone there who can pick up the phone?”

“Yeah,” he said, feeling cold and more afraid than he had in a long, long time.

Now that he thought about it, she had been acting a little odd the last time he saw her. He’d chalked it up to stress, but maybe she’d been trying to tell him she was in some kind of trouble. Maybe the toll of taking care of him had worn her out and she’d had some kind of breakdown.