On the other side of the shimmering portal, Avery could see Merrick crouched over Trudy. Addie was huddled next to them. Avery followed the four men through the opening, hoping the shooter couldn’t see their shadows through the frosted glass in the front door.

While Core was barking a sharp warning to get down, Avery was silently cursing as she launched herself out of the path of the bullet. She hit the wall near the door. The bullet ripped through the door and created a hole in the wall across from her. There was no doubt in her mind that the shooter was a professional. She decided she would go with the more powerful of her two handguns. Pocketing the one she currently held in her hand, she reached behind her and pulled out the second gun as she rolled to crouch next to Trudy.

Merrick’s eyes widened when he saw Avery. He turned and scowled at Core. Avery ignored them as she gently pressed her fingers against Trudy’s forehead and looked down to where the other woman had been shot. Trudy’s skin felt unnaturally cold and clammy, she was shivering, and a glazed look was beginning to cover her eyes. Trudy was going into shock.

“Who is she, and what are Teriff, Derik, and Hendrik doing here?” Merrick quietly grumbled.

“Teriff and Derik came to inform us that the council wants to meet with you tomorrow,” Core snapped out. “Hendrik tagged along, and the female is Cosmos Raines’ Head of Security and my bond mate.”

“I am no one’s mate,” Avery snapped back. “Shit, Trudy. What the fuck are you doing here?”

Trudy turned her head with a moan. “Getting shot, what the hell does it look like?” she answered before her head sank back to the floor. “It hurts. I knew it would, but damn, no one said it would hurt this bad.”

“She needs medical attention. We have to get her out of here,” she said, looking up at Core.

Core held out the silver cylinder he had used to open the Gateway. “Avery, open the portal. Derik, take Avery and Trudy back to Baade,” he instructed.

Derik nodded, moving around Trudy so he could gently lift her in his arms. They would have to move quickly once the Gateway opened. There was no telling where the shooter was and they already knew he could see them through the glass when the portal opened.

Avery hesitated. “Derik can carry Trudy through. I can help you here,” she replied.

Core shook his head. “Go with Derik. He may need your assistance to save Trudy. Teriff has another Gateway device, and we can always notify RITA to send someone from Baade if we need to open another portal between our worlds,” he replied.

Avery reluctantly nodded, knowing her first priority had to be Trudy. She looked over at Addie to see if the other woman was ready to move. Her heart clenched when she saw Merrick brushing the back of his fingers down Addie’s cheek.

“Go with them,” Merrick ordered in a husky tone.

Addie nodded, looking at Merrick with wide, frightened eyes as he moved down the hallway. Core followed Merrick, and Avery touched Addie’s arm to get her attention. Startled, the younger woman jerked her head around to look at her. Avery signaled that Addie should follow her. Addie vigorously nodded.

Avery slid her gun into the pocket of her jacket and held up three fingers. She held the silver cylinder in her other hand. With a nod to Derik, she counted down, then pressed the button to activate the Gateway.

The moment the doorway shimmered into existence, Avery moved through the opening, followed closely by Derik with Trudy in his arms. Avery turned when she noticed that Addie had waited for Derik to go through first. She was motioning for Addie to follow when the cylinder in her hand suddenly shattered and the portal between the two worlds closed.

“Shit!” Avery cursed at the blank wall at the same time as she heard Derik’s curse when Trudy began convulsing in his arms.

Core moved through the darkness parallel to Merrick, then paused and picked up a metallic casing from the ground. He held it up for Merrick to see. His cousin gave a sharp nod and pointed up into the trees.

Core looked up and saw a thick limb approximately fifteen feet above his head. He bent and jumped. His hands wrapped around the branch and he pulled himself up. Like the rest of his clan, he was an exceptional climber, as much at home in the trees as on the ground. In seconds, he had quickly scaled the tall fir tree. A break in the clouds overhead gave him a clear view of the ground below.

Core watched Merrick pause as the wind shifted. A faint scent on the breeze drifted up to him. One of their attackers had made the mistake of applying a flowery scent to his skin.

A movement forty yards to his right caught his attention. He uttered a short, musical whistle to alert Merrick. The whistle would be too high for the human to hear. Core narrowed his eyes when he saw two other humans. They had spread out.

He whistled again to warn Merrick. From his position in the tree, he could see one of the figures rise up and throw something toward the house before the man sank back down into the tall ferns. Core looked toward the second human as the man stood and began to move forward, some kind of gun in his hands.

Core silently dropped down to a lower branch as Merrick closed in on the first man. His teeth lengthened, and he crouched with one hand on the limb. Out of his peripheral vision he saw Merrick burst out of the darkness toward the human near him. Core released a terrifying growl of rage and jumped from the tree.

He landed on the ground behind the second man, grabbed the human by the back of his shirt, and lifted the slender man off his feet. He ripped the gun out of the man’s hands, letting it fall to the ground as he pulled his knife from its sheath and drove it through the human’s clothing into the tree trunk. Core left him hanging there. At least one of them would be alive to question at the end of this. He turned his attention to the third man.

Core almost laughed when the human’s eyes widened in terror, and the man uttered a loud, terrified scream. He grinned, watching as the human stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Stepping forward, he ground his booted heel into the human’s weapon. The gun snapped under his weight.

“Please…. Don’t hur… hurt us,” the human whimpered.

“You’re nothing but a boy,” Core growled as he got a good look at him.

He turned his head to look at the other boy helplessly hanging on the tree. The boy had wet himself in his fright. Reaching out, he jerked the knife out of the tree. The boy crumpled to the ground and rolled into a shivering ball.

“We didn’t mean anything!” the boy that Merrick had tackled cried out. “Please, it was just a joke! We were just joking!”

Core reached down and grabbed the two boys he had captured by the scruff of their necks, pulling them both to their feet. He pushed them toward Merrick. They fell to the ground in front of the tree.

Merrick released a low, menacing growl and crouched down in front of the crying boy. The other two were trying to curl up as small as they could get. Merrick rose to his feet and picked up one of their guns. It was nothing but a metal and plastic toy.

Merrick looked down at them as he demanded, “Who sent you?”

The crying boy wiped at his dirty face with one hand and held his right leg with his other. After so stupidly letting themselves be decoys, they should feel lucky they only had minor injuries.

Core scanned the area, looking for signs of anyone else. Teriff and Hendrick should be making their way back unless they had discovered something. He stared at a spot near the edge of the woods by the road, stiffening as he saw movement, but his warning died on his lips when he saw the shape more clearly as the large bird took flight.

“Some… guy… He was at the gas station. He said he had a friend staying here and wanted to play a trick on him. All… All we were supposed to do is fire some paintballs at the house. He gave us a hundred bucks and told us there was another hundred after we got done,” the boy mumbled, his voice filled with tears.

Core turned back to Merrick when his cousin uttered a frustrated growl, lifted the toy guns in his hands, and broke them in two. He raised an eyebrow in warning when his cousin’s teeth elongated. With a shrug, he turned his own sharp-toothed grin to the boys.

“Holy shit! We’re gonna die,” the boy who had wet his pants breathed in terror.

“You will if you remain here. Run home,” Core warned in a low, harsh tone.

He and Merrick watched as the boys nodded at the same time. The two who were standing helped the third one up off the ground. In a hurried, clumsy gait, they stumbled through the ferns down to the road. Core turned and looked at Merrick with a frown.

“Why would the human killers use children?” he asked.

“Addie—they wanted a distraction to get to Addie,” Merrick murmured, turning to give him a grim look.

Core looked back at the house. “She is safe,” he said.

“Yes, but they don’t know that,” Merrick replied, turning toward the house. “Get Teriff and Hendrik, and meet me at the house.”

Core nodded and turned on his heel. He took off across the grounds, keeping to the shadows. The hunt was not over.