Dante burst from the elevator, strode through the lobby, out the main doors, across the sidewalk, and straight out into the street in front of the apartment building. A late night Uber honked its horn as it swerved to miss him, and he slammed his fist into the back end of the car as it passed. Tires squealed as the driver frantically righted the vehicle, then glanced up in the rearview to see what the hell he had hit. Dante bared his fangs at the idiot.

He had to get the fuck out of there. Had to get the fuck away from that woman and the things she made him feel. Taking deep breaths of the cold night air, he backed up a few steps and stood in the middle of the sidewalk, not caring that he made the humans walk around him. There weren’t many out this time of night anyway.

He needed to get rid of her. And he needed to do it five fucking minutes ago. So why hadn’t he?

“Dante?”

He knew that female voice. A moment later, Shea’s concerned green eyes appeared up in his face. “Shea,” he greeted her.

“Oh my gods. You’re back!” She reached out for him, then thought better of it and dropped her arms back to her sides. He took no offense. Shea was unable to touch a male without paralyzing pain. He knew what her deal was, and he had no desire to cause this particular female any suffering. She was a vampire, like him. And he still needed to change his clothes. A fact that he’d completely spaced on after he’d gotten the woman here. All he’d been able to think of was getting her out of sight before anyone saw her, so he could have her all to himself.

“Are you okay?” Shea interrupted his thoughts. “You look a little…not quite right.” She gave him no time to answer. “Where have you been? What the hell happened to you? I came to look for you and Christian, but you were both gone—”

“Where is Christian?” he asked. “Was he taken, too?”

“We all were,” she said. “All three of us. But he’s back now, too. You’re the last one to return. Have you not been upstairs yet?”

He shook his head.

“How long have you been back?” Waving at his clothes, she said, “I would think it was recently, but one can never tell with you.” She smiled.

“Just an hour or so ago,” he told her distractedly.

Her smile faltered before dying altogether. Shea searched his face for so long that he narrowed his eyes at her. “What.”

“Are you all right?” she asked point blank.

He exhaled. “I’m fine. Let’s go upstairs.”

After another searching look, she nodded. “Everyone will be happy to see you. Luukas told us that you were on your way home.” Reaching out to him again, she touched his arm with light fingers for a fraction of a second before yanking her hand away with a hiss. “I’m glad you’re home, Dante. And that you’re okay. And I’m sorry that I got there too late to help you. I failed you, and for that, I sincerely apologize.”

Dante knew the pain that touching him must have cost her, even so briefly. “It’s not your fault, Shea. Shit happens.” Turning away before she got more emotional on him, he headed back into the apartment building. He didn’t wait to see if she would follow, knowing she would. “I have to make a stop in the parking garage first,” he said over his shoulder.

Sure enough, he heard her soft footsteps directly behind him as he headed back to the elevator. Punching in the number for the parking level Laney’s car was on, he didn’t offer up any explanation, just went to get his new friends.

Shea raised an eyebrow when she saw the furry faces in the car window. “So we’re an animal rescue now?”

“Something like that.” The doors were locked. Smashing his fist through the passenger side window, he unlocked the car and handed her the cat’s food and litter while the dog wagged his entire back end with excitement. Dante scooped him up and tucked him under one arm, letting him get in a lick or two before silently telling him to knock it the fuck off. Hanging the cat over the other arm, he kicked the door shut again. Shattered glass fell to the pavement to scatter at his feet.

“Did they come with the car?” Shea asked him. “Where is the driver?” She knew he didn’t drive. “I can smell her on you.”

Guess that would give it away, too. “Not here. And I found the dog before the car. The cat came with it,” he answered.

“The car or the dog?”

“The dog.”

“Huh.” She shrugged and headed back toward the elevator with her bags.

This time he hit the button for the very top floor—Luukas’s penthouse apartment. They didn’t speak the entire ride, and that was one of the things that Dante appreciated about this particular Hunter. She knew when to keep her mouth shut. At least with him.

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out in unison. When they reached Luukas’s apartment, Dante stopped, threw the cat up onto his shoulder, and knocked twice. Fraidy curled around his neck, purring loudly, and hung over the opposite side to get a lick from the dog. Dante caught Shea’s smirk out of the corner of his eye. “What?” he asked.

“Why is it you only knock on Luuk’s door? I still need to fix the hinges on mine from the last time you came to visit.”

A small smile lifted one side of his mouth. “I only do that for Christian’s benefit.” He offered no apology. Not that she would’ve expected one.

“I know,” she answered with a roll of her eyes.

The door swung open and Dante found himself face to face with the Master Vampire that he had sworn his allegiance to so many years ago. “Hey, Luukas.”

Luukas took in his dusty clothes, the animals he was wearing, Shea behind him holding bags of supplies, and raised one eyebrow. “I hope you’re weren’t planning on leaving those beasts here.”

“I was going to put them in my apartment.”

“Good.” He slapped Dante on the shoulder. “I’m glad you made it back to us,” he told him sincerely. Then he stepped back out of the way to let them enter.

Dante strode inside, only to come up short before he’d even made it out of the foyer. His fangs shot down into his mouth as the familiar scent of sweet human blood blasted him in the face, and for a brief second, he thought Laney had somehow made her way up here in the few minutes he’d been gone. He hissed, his eyes shooting left to right as his thirst hit him full force. The thirst he hadn’t quenched as he had planned, because he was too twisted up by the other things the female had done to him.

And what he hadn’t been able to bring himself to do to her.

Before he realized what he was doing, Dante was standing in the bedroom door. The door that he had just smashed open. A small, dark-haired female was staring at him with wide, hazel eyes. She was wearing nothing but a thin robe that barely concealed her full hips and breasts, her damp raven hair tumbling around her shoulders. At first glance, only her hazel eyes and the pale tint of her skin differentiated her from Laney.

Dante bared his fangs, and she narrowed her eyes in challenge. His thirst raged, the blood lust messing with his head. A growl ripped through the room, and he realized that it had come from him. The female was unmoved. She faced him and smiled.

He took a step toward her, but that was as far as he got before something large and powerful flashed by him, knocking him to the side. Luukas appeared in front of the female, fangs bared and eyes wild. For a moment, Dante was confused, for it seemed that Luukas was threatening him. He dropped the dog, forgotten in his arms, and the cat jumped down after him. They were quick to get out of the way. Copying Luukas’s stance, Dante prepared to fight for his prey.

“The witch is MINE,” Luukas growled in a low voice.

A muscular arm was suddenly around Dante’s throat and a quiet voice with a British accent spoke in his ear. “You’ll want to back off now, commander.”

Dante tried to throw Aiden off, but then Nik’s blue eyes cut off his line of vision to the female. Getting right in his face, Nik told him, “Dude. You really don’t want to go there.”

“Fun as it would be to let Luukas rip your bloody head off, we only just got you back,” Aiden chimed in cheerfully. “Let’s save it for another day, shall we?”

Dante roared his displeasure at being kept from his meal. She smelled faintly of the female he’d left below ground, and he was suddenly dying of thirst. Hauling back his fist, he punched Nikulas in his pretty jaw and threw his head back in an attempt to shove Aiden’s nose up through his skull. Unfortunately, the vampire on his back saw it coming and moved his face out of the way.

“Really, commander? I’m hurt. I really am. I thought I was your favorite.”

With Nik out of the way, he had a clear view of the vampire blocking him from his meal. Luukas’s eyes glowed with a crazy light as he hissed and snarled from his protective stance in front of the female. She, on the other hand, didn’t look the least bit frightened.

“Stop!”

The shout came from his right, and Dante tried to turn his head in that direction, only to find that he couldn’t move a single muscle.

“Hallo, poppet,” Aiden said as he dropped off Dante’s back. “No need to get your knickers in a twist. We had it handled.” As he came into Dante’s line of vision and picked Nik up off the floor, he saw a tiny, prickly head with a black nose pop up out of the hood of Aiden’s ever-present hoodie.

“Is he okay?” the female he couldn’t see asked. “Nikulas! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he grumbled, wiping the blood from his mouth with his arm. “Dammit, man. Why’d you have to hit me in the face? We never go for the face. It’s the rule.”

The familiar scent of his female was stronger now, and Dante ground his jaw in frustration from his frozen position.

“Just keep him right there please, Em, until I can calm Luukas down,” the dark-haired female said.

“Take your time, sis. I’ve got this.”

Luukas shifted his weight from side to side, ready to pounce at the slightest threat. The dark-haired female moved to stand in front of him. “Calm down, vampire. No one is hurting me.”

Luukas’s crazy eyes stayed rock steady on Dante’s face, fangs bared in warning. But as the female put her hands on him and spoke in soft tones, he eventually stopped snarling, and his eyes lost their glow of crazy, though his fangs stayed distended.

“What the fuck is going on?” Dante gritted out from the haze of his blood lust.

Aiden spoke from where he leaned casually against the wall. “Just that you’re threatening to eat the fated mate of our fearless leader.”

Fated mate? The words bounced around his head, but he couldn’t pin down their meaning. “What?” Fighting to get his own sanity back, he managed to gain enough control over his thirst that the burning in his throat was little more than a strong simmer.

“Keira is Luukas’s mate.” Nik sounded like he had a mouth full of cotton. “And her stunning sister over here that’s keeping you from getting killed is her sister, and my mate, Emma.”

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Shea spoke up from behind him. “I was going to let you feed on her.”

“Whatever.” Keira smiled over her shoulder, but stayed where Luukas could touch her. “You love me.”

Shea appeared on Dante’s right side to stand next to him, but he noticed she’d walked in a big circle around what he assumed was the girl he couldn’t see. Crossing her arms, she shrugged. “You’re all right. For a witch.”

“Keira, why don’t you hang out here with Luukas for a few?” Nik suggested. “We’ll take Dante out to feed and bring him back for a proper introduction when he’s not being all crazy and shit.”

By this time, Luukas had straightened up and had Keira folded in protectively against his chest. His eyes shifted over to his brother. “You don’t have to talk about me as if I’m not here. But yes, get him the fuck out of here until he can keep it under control.”

“I got this,” Aiden said. “Set him loose, poppet,” he told Emma. “I think he can control himself now. All right, commander?”

“Don’t fucking call me that,” Dante ordered.

Aiden smiled. “See? He’s fine.”

“Nik?” Emma asked.

“Go ahead,” he told her, getting into position in front of Dante with his arms outstretched. “On three.”

Dante narrowed his eyes at him, wondering what he was about.

Behind Nikulas, he saw Luukas shove the female behind him.

“One, two…now!” Nik shouted.

Dante caught a flash of bright hair and a green shirt out of the corner of his eyes as he was tackled by Nikulas and forcibly taken out of the bedroom. He landed with an oof flat on his back with Nik on top of him. Aiden and Shea followed them out, and Aiden pulled the door shut behind them.

“All right, let’s go,” Nik said.

Three pairs of arms lifted him up and had him out in the hall before he could wiggle himself free between curses. “Put me the fuck down!”

They got him into the stairwell and dropped him. Dante burst back up onto his feet with a snarl, trying to decide which one of them to end first.

“Don’t kill them,” Shea said. “It really was necessary. You were about to commit suicide in there.”

“You ain’t kidding,” Nik chimed in. “You should know, my brother isn’t quite…adjusted yet. When Emma and I found him, he was alive, but his mind was nearly completely fucking gone. Keira is the only thing that keeps him semi-sane, I think. And he’s a bit over-protective of her.”

“Pfft. Like you don’t howl at me every time I say ‘hallo’ to Emma,” Aiden said.

Nikulas turned incredulous eyes his way. “She was naked the last time you said ‘hallo’ to her, and you do it just to fuck with me.”

“I needed to speak with you. How was I supposed to know she would be naked?” Aiden asked innocently.

“Seriously?” Nik said, louder now. “We were in the fucking shower!”

Dante listened to their familiar banter, part amused, part wound up, and part pissed off. Without a word, he turned away and stomped down the first flight of stairs.

“Hey, where are you going?” Nikulas asked.

“To feed,” he ground out. “I just got home. Tell Luukas I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

“I’ll come with you,” Shea offered.

But he spun around and put out his hand. “No.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him in action before. They all had at one time or another, but Dante wasn’t going after some random homeless degenerate this time, or some mouthy asshole that deserved everything he did to him.

Well, she did tend to be mouthy. But he still didn’t want an audience, for numerous reasons. “I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

Kicking it into vamp speed, he descended the rest of the way without giving any of them a chance to say anything else.