Complete. Chaos.

As the beast broke out of Rhage’s body, triggered by Bitty’s suffering, Mary covered the little girl on the exam table with her own body—although not from any fear that the dragon would hurt her.

Parts of the ceiling were raining down, chunks of plaster falling from where the great dragon’s head had slammed into the panels. And then that barbed tail was slashing back and forth, splintering cabinets and scattering equipment, smashing into the sink and springing the pipes.

As a spray of hot water golf-sprinklered all around and lights flickered, Havers and his staff had the exact wrong idea. Instead of freezing, they made themselves targets by bolting around, trying to get to an exit that was blocked by something that might eat them.

But come on. Like any of them had dealt with this before?

“Stop! Don’t move!” Mary barked.

And that was when the beast roared.

Mary turned her head to try to get one of her ears protected, but she wasn’t going to use her hands. Bitty was so exposed—

Behind the dragon, the door to the exam room broke open, Zsadist, V, and Lassiter crowding in.

“Close the door!” Mary yelled. “And stay out!”

Her best shot for this not turning into complete carnage was to make contact with the dragon, soothe it, and keep the thing trained on her and Bitty. As long as she could get and keep its attention, no one was going to get hurt—

The dragon’s jaw snapped closed. And then the beast seemed to shudder as its reptilian eyes swung around and focused on Bitty. Chuffing noises came out of its throat, and it took a step forward, the clawed foot landing heavy as construction equipment.

Mary slowly straightened, letting Rhage’s alter ego see the child. “She’s okay. Come on, investigate for yourself.”

The massive head of the monster lowered slowly, as if it didn’t want to spook the little girl, and as Mary backed off, the muzzle snuffled over Bitty. Worried sounds of inquiry came out, part nervous purr, part aching chest rattle.

Bitty lifted her hand up and stroked the purple-scaled cheek. “I’m okay.…”

Her voice was surprisingly strong, and then she smiled, as if the room wasn’t a wreck, and people weren’t scared to death, and she hadn’t been through torture.

Mary put her palm on the bulging neck of the beast, feeling the muscle and the power. “It’s all right … shh … that’s right, snuffle over her.…”

Without moving her head or even eyes, she whispered to Havers, “Tell me you got the bone reset.”

In her peripheral vision, she saw the male straighten his hornrimmed glasses, which had gone cockeyed and a half. “I’m s-s-sorry—what?”

“The bone,” Mary repeated in the same quiet, even tone. “Did you do what you needed to?”

“Y-y-yes, I believe … yes. I n-n-n-need an X-ray to confirm.”

“Okay, let’s not try to do that now.”

The nurses clutched together even tighter, as if they were afraid of their boss challenging that.

“I … no,” he said, “I agree it would not be advisable the now. Permit me to inquire—how long … ah, how long does he …?”

“It all depends. But we’re going nowhere until Rhage comes back.”

Bitty and the beast were still communicating with touch and sound, and as far as Mary was concerned, considering the distress that the girl had been in, the two of them could spend the next six hours together and the rest of the adults in the room were just going to have to suck it up.

On that note, Mary glanced around and winced. This was going to run into some money, she thought, as she checked out the ruined floor, the battered ceiling, the debris field of glass-front cabinets. But then she looked back at her hellren and her little girl. The beast was a big part of their non-linear, freaky family, and deserved to be counted—

The door opened a crack, and then Lassiter, in his game gear, stepped inside the room. As he held something out, Mary couldn’t see what it was—

Wait a minute, was that a Snickers bar?

“What are you doing?” she blurted as he cautiously approached.

The beast snapped to attention, its jowls curling up in a snarl at the angel. But Lassiter was undaunted—so not a shocker.

“Here,” he said. “Have a Snickers. You’re not yourself when you’re hangry.”

There was a heartbeat of a pause. And then she couldn’t help it.

She had to start laughing. “Really. Really?”

And it was funny, as Lassiter looked over at her, his expression behind the open grille of the hockey mask was goofy—yet his eyes were anything but. That pupil-less, glowing stare was dead serious, offering her a kind of lifeline through the painful reality that she loved a child who had been horribly mistreated and that was something she was going to have to deal with for the rest of her days.

“Thank you,” she whispered to the angel as the beast reached out and sniffed at the brown wrapper.

“G’head,” Lassiter said to the dragon. “Take it.”

And what do you know, with a precision that was impressive given the dagger-size of those chompers, Rhage’s alter ego took the tiny little candy bar between its front teeth and munched it down.

A split second later, there was a poof! and Rhage was naked and shivering on the floor.

“Am I good or what!” Lassiter proclaimed. “Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.”

Rhage came back from the far side of Beast World blind, freezing cold, and in an absolute panic. As he flailed around on a floor that seemed slippery, he was petrified there was blood everywhere—but no, he didn’t scent any carnage. What he did smell was electrical burning, plaster, and astringent, and he was dimly aware that he wasn’t nauseous, which was another good indicator that he hadn’t eaten anyone—

Wait, why did he taste peanut and chocolate? And something plastic-y?

“Mary …!” he called out into the darkness. “Bitty—”

“Everyone’s okay.” Mary’s voice was close to him and utterly calm. “Everything’s all right.…”

As her hand smoothed over his forehead and brushed through his hair, he mumbled, “Bitty?”

“I’m right here, Father. The beast just wanted to make sure I was sorted.…”

Rhage exhaled—and then realized he was lying on a bunch of debris. And there was rain hitting his face?

Oh, God, how in the hell had the beast fit into the exam room? It wasn’t like the damn thing could ratchet down on its size.

Talking. Footsteps. A light weight being drawn over his lower body. A loud scraping noise like some big piece of a wall or the ceiling or part of a tall cabinet was being moved out of the way. Meanwhile, all he could do was lie there like a planker, drowning in a pool of aches and frustration.

It fucking sucked.

Vishous’s voice came up close. “My brother, we’re going to put you on a stretcher, okay? Then get you out of here. Fritz is coming in the Mercedes because we can’t fit you in the GTO as easy.”

Fuck me, Rhage thought. He was so fucking tired of this shit.

Bitty had needed him, and what had he offered her? A fucking mess. What the fuck had made him feel like he could be a father? He couldn’t—

“I want to go with him,” Bitty said.

Doc Jane spoke up. “We need to set your limbs, sweetheart.”

“I’ll wait!” Rhage barked. “I want to wait!”

Bitty’s voice grew strident. “Put the casts on and we’ll go. But we want to be together.”

Rhage closed his lids even though it didn’t change how much he couldn’t see. The last thing the girl needed to worry about was him—

“You got it, Bit,” Vishous affirmed. “That’s why I asked for Fritz to come.”

“I have to take care of my father.”

“Of course you do.” Vishous was talking in as gentle a way as he ever did. “And you got it right, kid. He’ll do better with you.”

No, Rhage thought. He was supposed to support Bitty.

This was a total fucking nightmare.

But at least things moved fairly quickly after that. Havers cleared a path and rolled in a portable X-ray machine, and the image confirmed the thighbone was where it needed to be. Then there was a flour-and-water kind of smell as fiberglass casts were put on both of Bit’s legs and her arms. Rhage refused to leave her, staying on the hard wet floor until everything was dealt with.

And then they were off.

Bit had a wheelchair. He was a slab of meat on a gurney. And the grim entourage of Z, V, and Lassiter fell in step behind Mary.

Talk about the halt and the lame.

“Hey, Rhage?” Lassiter said softly.

“What?” he mumbled.

“If your career as a trained killer doesn’t work out? Don’t go into interior design. You don’t have a knack for it.”

Rhage had to laugh. “You are such a fucker.”

“Yeah, and you’re a good male. Even if you just caused about two hundred grand of damage back there. Don’t worry, I think we can write it off your taxes. You know, as a demolition deduction.”

There was a squeeze of his shoulder and then Rhage sensed the angel fade back. Taking a deep breath, it was a case of holding it together until he and Mary could get some privacy.

Then he’d fall apart.

Onto an elevator. Slow rise. Slight jerk as they came up to the surface.

The cold, dry air of the night was fantastic in his lungs, but it did nothing to relieve the ache in his chest. And he and Bit both moaned and groaned as they were moved, by other people, into the back of Fritz’s S600 4Matic.

Which was brutal for Rhage and not just because every joint and straightaway of his body was killing him.

He wanted to be the one lifting Bitty up and settling her in the back bucket seat. He should have been folding up the wheelchair and putting it in the trunk. He needed to offer support to her as they bumped their way over to the paved road.

It was he who should be carrying her up to her room when they got to the mansion.

“Rhage?”

As Mary said his name, he looked in the direction of the front of the sedan. “Yeah?”

“You ready?”

“Yeah.”

Or at least those were the words they spoke. What they had actually communicated was:

Rhage, I know you’re not doing well. Can you make it home so we can talk about it then? I’m really worried about you and I’d go into it here and now, but I’m aware that you don’t want to do that kind of thing in public.

Oh, God, Mary, this was horrible. I feel awful. Will you still love me even if I’m the worst father on the face of the earth and I never, ever get any better at it?

You are not the worst father. We all have limitations, and we all have things that we wish might have gone better. But please remember. Being a dad is a lifelong commitment and you’re just starting out. Don’t generalize, okay?

As the car started to move, Rhage took a deep breath and—

Bitty reached across the seat and took his hand. “Thanks for coming with me.”

He turned his head. “What?”

“It meant a lot to me that you came—and that you were in the room with me.”

Rhage recoiled. “Bitty … no offense, but I made everything worse. I mean, I trashed the place.”

“I never could have done that last one without you.” Her voice was both shy and lovely. “You know … my birth sire? He never did anything like that for me. He never … he didn’t even want me to go to the clinic. You know, even though I was hurt.…” She cleared her throat. “So thank you. You’re the best father ever.”

And then her head went down on his shoulder.

Tears welled into his eyes, stinging them, and making him blink in the midst of his blindness.

“Bitty?”

“Yes?”

He squeezed her little hand and cleared his throat. “You want ice cream when we get home?”

“Yes, please. Mint chocolate chip? We can all have some. We’ll get three spoons.”

Closing his eyes, he couldn’t believe how powerful Bitty’s forgiveness was. He felt positively resurrected, while at the same time, he couldn’t fathom the generosity. How could this little girl accept him even though he hadn’t been the Gibraltar he’d intended on being?

He’d been far closer to Godzilla.

From up in front, he could sense Mary staring at them both. And then his female murmured, because she always said the right thing at the right time, “Isn’t it wonderful not to have to be perfect to be loved?”

“Yes,” Rhage replied roughly. “And three spoons sounds like heaven to me.”