“Don’t know. Never actually fought another guardian before,” Coyote said, a grimace working its way across his face as he took a deep breath.

“What about the other guardians, the ones who are on the fence?”

Coyote twisted his head and looked up at Liam, his eyes narrowing. “Not many of those. And the few who have gone rogue, they aren’t really bad. They just don’t like to be tied to shamans.”

Liam’s eyebrows rose. “You look at me like I’m one of them.”

“In a way, you are. Wolf comes when the world is in trouble and binds himself to a single person, someone who can make changes, rarely a shaman. It depends on that person how Wolf turns out—good or bad.” He put a hand to the floor and rolled slowly to his belly. “Give me a minute, I’m going to try and shift. That should speed things up.” Coyote didn’t actually make a move to shift, though, he just lay on the floor breathing hard.

Moving back, Liam gave him some room, but began to doubt Coyote’s strength to make the change.

So being tied to Rylee had dictated whether he would have been good or bad? Thinking back, there had been times of utter darkness, especially with Milly, where he wasn’t sure he was even himself.

Yet since he’d been with Rylee, when she’d gone after him, those dark spots in him had disappeared. Gone.

He shook his head. Didn’t matter now, not really. At that moment he wanted only to find a place for Rylee that was safe. Where Orion couldn’t find her.

“Coyote, do you know much about demons?”

Coyote turned his head toward Liam again. “Why?”

“If there was a place that could be clear of demons, where would it be?”

The guardian groaned and pushed himself to his hands and knees. “Some sort of holy ground, something untainted by the modern world and the revelry in it. I’d say a place with a guardian, but I don’t know anymore after this shit fest if we are as good at protection as we once were.” He shook his head and Liam helped him to his feet.

“I thought you wanted to shift?”

“Can’t. And since you want to talk, this works better anyway.” With his arm over Liam’s shoulder they left the house. The remainder of the pack, only six werewolves—and of course, Beauty was one of them—immediately surrounded them. Injured and still bleeding, the werewolves didn’t hesitate.

“Sometimes I wish coyotes were as loyal. Your pack saved us both.”

“I know.” Liam shifted his arm so he could take more of Coyote’s weight. “Tell me more about a place apart from the world, somewhere safe.”

“You going to run off and leave the world on its own?”

“No. But I need to find a place for my mate to be safe. She’s going to need it.”

Coyote gave him a funny look, but he spoke freely about where he thought would be best, the attributes that would keep demons away.

The final refuge for those seeking sanctuary from evil.

Liam could only hope he was right, and could convince Rylee to go.

Chapter 15

“BERGET, ARE THERE any zombies still fucking about?” I yelled loud enough that she could hear me. She responded in kind.

“No, they all went down the same time the witches did. Same time Pam did.”

I didn’t want to face anything in the water, but I doubted it was going to let me get back to the stairs without some sort of confrontation. Let’s just call it previous experience.

Reaching for one of the short knives I kept tucked away for just such an emergency, I gripped the handle in my right hand, whip in my left and braced myself for another fight. The water was over my knees and steadily climbing; the spray floating around me disturbed the surface and made it hard to see what was under it clearly. Something I really wanted to know.

The thing in the water started toward me again, slower this time, its body sliding along, the flip of an iridescent fin catching the light before going under again.

I kept walking backward, slowly, feeling my way with my feet and hoping to hell I didn’t stumble over anything. As the water rose and the creature circled, the bodies of those killed floated to the surface, bobbing up like some creepy carnival game of whack a mole.

One of the bodies floated close and I pushed it away, toward the creature that was following me. A hand shot out of the water and—shit—a mermaid popped her head out to stare at me. Long purple hair was braided back from her face, but then the braid ended at her shoulders leaving the length of her hair to float freely. Her eyes were a paler color than her hair and they fixed a stare on me that made me bring up my blade.

“You think to kill me?” She slurred her words, sounding like she was still under water.

“Only if you start something.” Mermaids were not known for their kindness. They were more known for the shit they would pull when you weren’t looking, and their temperamental love lives. If eating your mate after he knocked you up could be called temperamental.

She grinned at me. “Whoever broke the hull broke it just enough for us to get in.”

Us. Oh, that did not sound good. “And why would you want in?”

She spread her hands and rested her face on the floating body I’d pushed her way. “A banquet awaits; a feast of proportions we rarely see. The flesh of supernaturals the elementals haven’t yet put away, that is something we don’t often get.”

“Fine, eat away, but leave me the hell out of it.”

“Or you’ll do what exactly?”

There was a splash behind me and a voice I’d been waiting for whispered, “She’ll have her little sister drain your body of every last drop of your sea ridden blood.”

The mermaid hissed and dove under the water. I turned to see Berget, her skirts swirling on top of the water, her eyes narrowed.

“I told you to go.”

“I’m not leaving you here, Rylee, any more than you’d leave me.”

“India and Kyle?”

“Alex is taking them to Erik and Amelia.”

Unspoken words flowed between us. She didn’t call Amelia ‘mom’ or ‘mother’. I didn’t ask her why. Nor did I ask why she didn’t help our mom.

I sloshed to her and she put an arm around my waist. She pushed off with her legs and we shot up three levels to where Frank and Pamela sat. Frank’s arm was around Pamela’s shoulders, helping her sit up, but he nearly dropped her when we appeared at the edge of the railing.