“No hard feelings.” The female attacker grinned, jumping nimbly out of range of his return blow and kicking out at the same time. “But you’re going to make us a fortune.”

“Bite me, you vulture.” Quinn sprawled on the tiles, groaning. An older man in a pinstripe suit grabbed Quinn’s ponytail, yanking him up.

“Hey!” I yelled, leap frogging Duncan and the girl and elbowing another vampire, who reared up at my passing. “Get off my brother!” I wasn’t fast enough or strong enough, not like they were, but I was angry and scared and they’d underestimated me. I broke Quinn’s attacker’s kneecap and staked him before the others could react.

Quinn jumped to his feet, grinning.

“Thanks, little sister.”

I grinned back, wiping my hands clean.

“Duck!” he added.

I ducked.

Vampire dust drifted over me like pollen. I sneezed.

One of the vampires, newly turned by the look of him, smiled at me as if we were on a date. “Fancy a shag?” He sniffed the air and licked his lips. “Come on, love.” He sauntered over, or would have if he hadn’t tripped over Logan’s foot.

“Might I suggest you get the hell out of here?” Logan said, yanking on my arm.

“Run, you bloody lunatic.”

I ran a few steps, stopped when no one followed me. “I’m not leaving you guys here!”

“Just go!”

“No!”

“Solange!” All five of my brothers hollered my name.

“No!” I hollered back. “Come on!” I knew it didn’t sit well with them not to finish off the last two vampires, and Mom certainly wouldn’t approve either. But I just didn’t want any more deaths on my hands. In the movies when a vampire dies, there’s a puff of dust and everyone cheers because the bad guy’s dead. In my world, the vampire might well be one of my brothers. And technically, though the bounty hunters did want me dead, I wasn’t sure if they were the bad guys yet. I mean, they were following orders, right? Did they even know that I didn’t want anything to do with Lady Natasha or her stupid crown? There were rules to this sort of thing, even if nobody else wanted to play by them. I also had no qualms about using guilt to my advantage.

“Who knows how many others might be out there? You want me to go alone?” They made a collective chorus of annoyed grunts, knowing full well what I was doing, but they reluctantly came with me, which was all I’d wanted. We tore down the hall, skidding slightly on the tiles. My breath was ragged and hot in my lungs, tearing at my throat. Connor scooped me up over his shoulder, barely pausing to adjust my flailing limbs, and kept running. He was so quick, as were the rest of them, that they seemed more like washes of color around me. My stomach bounced painfully on Connor’s shoulder, but we didn’t stop until we’d reached a rusty door. It swung open to the moonlight trickling between the trees down onto the forest floor. Connor tossed me to my feet. I rubbed my bruised stomach.

Quinn eased ahead, peering into the undergrowth. Ferns waved their green fingers all around us. We moved quietly behind him. I might not have vampire speed or scent-tracking, but I did have Drake training and I knew how to move without being heard or seen. And I knew the forest as well as anyone, certainly better than Logan, who preferred the city streets to mud on his expensive boots. The heady scent of pine needles and earth was soothing, cooling my throat. There wasn’t a single bird or rabbit or deer. They all knew the smell of a predator, animal or otherwise. The wind tickled the oak trees. Quinn halted, held up a hand. I strained to hear what he was hearing, but all I could make out were ordinary forest sounds: the wind, the river, an owl.

“We’re not alone,” Logan mouthed to me.

I froze, trying not to breathe, hoping my heart wasn’t pulsing like a beacon in the center of the dark woods. I might know how to step so I didn’t snap twigs or crush acorns underfoot, but silencing my heartbeat was a trick I wasn’t all that keen on learning. We could be as silent as we wanted, but if the vampires were near enough, they’d hear me. Frustration hummed through me. Something rustled, like bat wings.

“Get down,” Logan snapped, but I was already hitting the ground. It was so dark and the vampires were so fast, it was as if shadows had collided around me, hissing.

Bones shattered and mended; blood sprinkled like rain. Someone grunted. I couldn’t see very well—not only was it dark, but I was half sprawled in a thicket of ferns. I scrambled up into a crouch. Logan hurtled past, cursing. The moon silvered the gleam of fangs and eyes. Another vampire rolled past me, landed on his feet.

“I smell her.” He looked nearly drunk. “She’s here. She’s mine.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” I muttered grimly, reaching for a branch and breaking off the end so it was sharp and splintered. I hadn’t been raised to sit around wringing my hands. We’d all known this was coming, even if I was only now truly realizing the scope and magnitude of my bloodchange. Everyone basically thought of me as a vampire broodmare, meant to give birth to lots of little royal vampire babies.

No amount of red roses sent to my door was going to make that okay.

I slammed my heel into the back of his knee as he whirled to attack Marcus. He stumbled, turned. His angry hiss shifted into a grin.

“Solange.” He took a step forward. “I’m Pierre.”

I lifted the branch threateningly. “Look, this is just a pheromone thing. Get over it already.”