So he didn’t follow her toward the south. He began to walk back to his cabin. The home he’d foolishly made for her.

A home that was empty.

Liam didn’t follow him.

***

She ran frantically through the woods. Twigs snapped at her and scraped across her cheeks. She kept slipping in the dirt and on the roots, and Jane sure hoped that she was heading south.

Then she heard the faint rush of the stream. Yes. She burst from the bushes.

But Ryan wasn’t there.

The moonlight fell on the water, making it shine and glisten, as it tumbled through the rocks.

She looked to the left. To the right. “Ryan?” Jane called out. He should have been there.

She hadn’t heard his voice in her mind again. There was nothing in her mind but silence. Nothing around her but the rush of the stream.

The air was cold. The wind blew harder against her cheeks.

Jane knew she didn’t have much time. Alerac would realize that she wasn’t back at the cabin. He’d come after her.

A twig snapped behind her. Jane spun around.

No one was there.

Hunted.

The instinctive awareness was back.

She bent to the ground and wrapped her fingers around a thick, heavy tree limb that had fallen down.

A growl reached her ears. Her head jerked to the right, and Jane caught the flash of glowing eyes from the thick brush. Her breath rushed out. A wolf. Alerac had sent one of his men after her. So much for not having guards.

She started to lower the branch. “I didn’t realize that—”

The wolf lunged at her. A big, muscled wolf, with golden eyes.

She’d seen those eyes before, only they had been in the face of a man.

Liam?

He hit her with his paws, and Jane fell to the ground. Her head slammed into one of the stones that lined the stream. The limb fell from her fingers.

The wolf put his mouth at her throat.

She heard more growls then. Other wolves were closing in on her. She counted at least three of them.

“S-stop!”

They edged ever closer.

Jane realized that the wolves weren’t there to protect her. No, that wasn’t their intent at all.

Then the wolf above her began to shift. His fur vanished from his body as his bones cracked and snapped. The brutal transformation lasted only for a moment, then Liam’s handsome face was smiling down at her.

“You should have listened to Alerac. The fool truly did want to keep you safe.”

He hadn’t shifted completely. His claws were still at her throat. He brought his mouth close to her ear. His breath blew over her cheek. “He would have protected you. But me? I don’t give a damn about your safety. It’s your blood that I want.”

It was her blood that he was about to take.

“No one’s here to protect you, princess. It’s time for you to bleed.”

His head slid down to her throat. She felt the rasp of his teeth against her skin.

No one’s here to protect you.

Yes, someone was there. “I’m here,” she whispered, and Jane lifted her hands. Her own nails had lengthened, sharpened, and she drove them right at his face. When her claws raked over him, Liam screamed and leapt back.

In the next moment, she was on her feet.

A white wolf lunged at her. She caught his head in her hands. Jerked as hard as she could.

When the bones snapped that time, the wolf stopped howling instantly.

The white wolf’s body fell to the ground. Began to shift.

Her breath sawed from her lungs.

Liam circled around her. Blood poured from the deep scratches on his face. But the crazy SOB was still smiling.

“I guess the lost vampire has some bite after all.” He swiped away the blood that rained down his cheek. “But you’re still on your own. Even a vamp at full power couldn’t take us all out.”

She grabbed for the limb she’d dropped before. “Let’s just see about that.” Her words didn’t tremble. Her knees did.

“Yes,” he whispered as his face hardened. “Let’s see.” Then he motioned with his right hand, and two wolves leapt toward her.

***

Alerac froze when he heard the howl. It died away almost immediately, but the sound seemed to echo in his mind.

He turned to the right. Stared into the night.

Jane.

He’d thought to let her go. But—

He took off at a run, and when he jumped over a fallen tree, his body shifted into the form of a beast.

***

She’d knocked one wolf back, snapping the limb in two when she swung it into the beast’s head. The other wolf struck out with his claws. Those claws sliced their way down her leg.

Screaming, she rushed to the other side of the stream. Where was some damn silver when she needed it? Her fumbling fingers grabbed a heavy rock. She threw it at the charging wolf.

It smashed right into his head.

The wolf hit the ground.

Three down, temporarily anyway.

That just left her and—Liam.

He was laughing. Laughing and walking across that stream. “I forgot,” he murmured as the laughter slowly faded. “You fed on Alerac recently. That would explain the rush of strength.”

He was about to feel her rush of strength. Where the hell was another heavy stone?

Right…there.

She leapt forward and tried to grab it.

But Liam grabbed her first.

He caught her wrist in tight grip. “Your brother broke my arm.” He shook his head. “Consider this payback.” He snapped her wrist.

Pain surged through her. She shoved against him, but he wasn’t letting go. Not this time.

“Alerac got to you first. He found you first in Ireland. Got you to spread your legs and offer your neck. He took the power that should have been mine.”

His left hand fisted in her hair.

“Now I get to taste the blood with all the power. I get the bond that he wanted so very badly.”

She kneed him in the groin. Punched. Twisted. He didn’t let her go.

“I get your power, and then I’llget the pack. They’ll all follow me.”

Her feet kicked against his, and Liam stumbled. They crashed right back down, only this time, they landed in the stream. The water soaked them.

His claws rose. Scraped down her cheek. “It’s a good thing that your kind heals so easily.”

Wait, what—

His claws sliced over her throat. Blood pulsed from her. The water from the stream—such cold water—covered her.