A sick grin spread across Keller’s face and he took a step forward. “Caith, I’ve been waiting for you to come.”

Under any other circumstances I would have replied with some snark at his double-entendre, but my head was so clouded and my stomach churned wildly, I would have fallen over if I didn’t have the tree to hold me up.

Keller took another step and Reggie moved in front of me. He bared his massive fangs, acidic ichor dripping from his mouth and burning the grass at his feet. He snarled, his threat clear.

Keller hesitated. Even a werewolf-warlock like him wouldn’t want to mess with a hellhound.

“Keller,” I drew my ex’s attention. “What are you doing here?” I fought to shuffle my thoughts into some semblance of order, but nothing made sense. Keller couldn’t be here. He was supposed to be missing. But even if I found him, it was so he could heal me. He wasn’t the one controlling these things. He was a healer—a batshit evil healer, but still a healer. I had to be hallucinating. Again.

“Waiting for you.” He held out a hand. “Now that you’re here, we can join. With our powers combined, we will be unstoppable.”

Right there, that “powers combined” thing? I really wanted to bust out with the Captain Planet theme song. Dammit, why didn’t I feel better? That would have made this conversation so much more fun.

I shuffled back a step and grabbed a low-hanging branch. “I’m not joining you. We haven’t been together for a long time.”

“We both made mistakes in the past, but things have changed.”

“Yeah,” I snorted. “I’ll say. Now you’re a madman who raises the undead. What the hell, Keller? You used to be a healer.”

He lowered his hand and his smile vanished. “Fighting to keep mortals alive is a waste. I spent centuries extending their meager lives, but in the end, it’s all the same. People die. Their spirits go to On High or Hell. I finally decided that prolonging their misery was a waste of energy.”

“A waste?” I spat. “Their eternal afterlives are a waste? You think it’s better to just steal their manna, the essence of their souls, for yourself?”

He extended his arms to either side and tilted his head back to look at the sky. “The more life force I cull from the cattle in the tween, the stronger I become. Don’t you see it?” He looked at me. “Why do you think your uncle is so powerful? Because he draws on the souls of the damned. He uses them to make himself stronger. Now I have that power. Together we can have so much more.”

“Together?” I shook my head and put more distance between us. I touched my throbbing wound. “Is that what this is about?”

He shrugged. “I doubted you’d join me of your own free will, but once the transformation is complete, you’ll have no choice. You’ll be at my side—my queen.” His lips curled into a dark smile, blackened teeth hidden behind his lips. The dude really needed a dentist. “We’ll be together again as we were always meant to be. We’ll recover the sigil and become gods among men.”

And women. I’m all for equal opportunity and all that. Not that I’d go along with his plan but if I was gonna rule, I was gonna rule them all.

“The sigil?”

He frowned and propped his hands on his hips. “Don’t play the fool, Caith. It doesn’t suit you.”

I wasn’t playing the fool. I’d never been into the whole dumb blonde thing. I didn’t look good as a blonde anyway.

But really, I had no idea what he was talking about and I sure as Hell and On High wasn’t going to help him. “Go to Hell.”

“That’s the idea.” He grinned even wider. I bet his breath smelled like dirty vaj. He straightened his arms, hands uncurled, and auras of sickly blue light swirled around his palms.

I couldn’t run. My race across the city and hellfire-infused fight had stolen my energy. I couldn’t fight. Not in my condition, and not against someone as powerful as Keller. He had his dark mojo plus the raw, feral strength of his wolf. Oh, and he was juiced up on the spiritual energy he’d drained from humans and tweeners alike. Like magical steroids.

Yeah, this wasn’t going to end well.

Keller advanced and I retreated, stumbling back until I reached another tree.

Reggie rushed forward and leapt at the warlock, snarling with the creature’s hellfueled rage. There was a flash of light, a lance of energy from Keller that struck Reggie’s flank like a spear. A gout of steaming blood flowed from the wound but it wasn’t enough to put the hellhound down.

Reggie slammed into Keller, his massive bulk throwing the warlock to the ground. He snapped his jaws at Keller’s throat, the massive fangs inching closer and closer to the warlock’s vulnerable neck. Keller struggled with the hound, his hands gradually shifting to claws. His face elongated and sharp fangs grew while fur sprouted all over his body.

Keller dug his claws into Reggie’s hide and hurled the hellhound away. Reggie landed hard, twisting and struggling to all fours once more. He raised one paw off the ground, unable to put any weight on the leg.

The motherfucker hurt my puppy.

Keller rose to his feet and shifted into the hulking hybrid form of one furious werewolf.

I pulled the dagger from my belt, wishing I’d brought my swords. Not that I had the strength to swing the things, but their presence would make me feel better.

While Keller rushed at Reggie, I stumbled forward and hoped he’d be distracted long enough for me to stab him in the back.

Before I reached them, Keller grabbed Reggie and lifted the hellhound over his head. My ex was far stronger than I’d remembered. Even a werewolf should have struggled in a fight against a hellhound, but Keller wasn’t an ordinary werewolf any longer, was he? The energy he’d drawn on had turned him into something else.

Keller hurled Reggie away and the hound slammed into a tree. He hit with enough force to shatter the trunk and Reggie yelped and then whimpered piteously. The tree toppled sending birds into the air to escape the battle.

I thrust my dagger, but Keller was too fast. He swung one hulking arm and knocked me back. I flew ten feet and landed on my back. I slid across the dirt and grass, losing my grip on the dagger while the air whooshed out of my lungs. Keller stalked forward, flexing his mighty claws. I called on my own wolf, urging it to come forward so I could shift and fight him, but I couldn’t focus.

Keller leapt, maw wide and claws extended, and the air between us shimmered. A tall, muscular figure stepped out of nowhere, swinging a glowing blade at the werewolf.

I knew that body. I knew that sword.

“Sam,” I gasped, and an immense wave of relief crashed over me.

Sam’s blade dug into Keller’s flesh and the werewolf fell back, bleeding from the deep wound. He growled and snarled at Sam as he backed away—threatening. As if a mere wolf could scare a gel.

Sam stood before me, his divine blade raised and ready to draw more blood. There was no fear, only righteous fury in every line of my mate’s body.

Keller glared at me and growled. Then he pushed words through his perverted mouth. “We aren’t finished, Caith. Soon, the magic in your blood will turn you into my slave.”

I’d cut my own throat first.

He dove for the fountain, sailing through the portal hidden beneath the waters. Sam rushed after him, but there was a flash of light and a plume of smoke as the portal closed and the heat from the spell dried up the fountain’s water. It left nothing behind but a scorched pentagram burnt into the white marble.

Sam returned to me and knelt by my side, his hands gently touching my wound. Pale, golden light streamed from his palms as he suffused me with his healing energy. Most of the pain faded, although the wound still ached and pulsed with blue energy. Even an angel’s power couldn’t cure me. At least it gave me enough strength to stand.

I leaned against Sam and clung to his arm. “I thought you were out of town on your mission.”

Sam smirked. “I couldn’t stay any longer. I convinced Rush to switch shifts with me.”

“Is that allowed?” I arched an eyebrow. I was glad Sam was with me, but I knew On High was big on da rulez.

“Don’t worry about it.”

I narrowed my eyes and frowned at my mate’s half-answer. He looked away, unable to meet my eyes. Sam couldn’t lie—literally, as a gel, he was incapable—but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t spout half-truths. I worried about what he wasn’t saying, but for now, I had to let it go.

Sam used his healing touch on Reggie and it rejuvenated the pup just enough so he could walk again. I lowered myself to the fountain’s edge and stared at the symbols now etched into the bottom. I had no idea where the portal led and had no way to follow. Not that I was in any condition to hunt my ex—physically or, fuck me sideways, mentally.

I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Keller had gone off the deep end like this. We hadn’t parted on the best of terms but we’d at least been civil the last time I’d seen him.

And I thought I held a grudge. I had nothing on him. Though I guess I could see it as a spark of affection? I mean, he wanted to make me his “queen.”

Other than all the killing and enslavement parts, I wouldn’t mind a crown.

“Are you all right?” Sam squatted in front of me.

I nodded. “As good as I can be, I guess. I’ve been poisoned by dark magic, and now I’m lost, confused, and feeling betrayed by someone I thought I knew.”

Sam cupped my cheek, his warm palm a sharp contrast to the coldness that’d settled into my flesh. “Caith…”

I shook my head. “Don’t. I don’t want to talk about it.”

I placed my hand over his and held him in place. The touch of his skin was like a balm after such a long time apart. Especially with everything that had been happening lately.

I told Sam what he’d missed during my conversation with Keller and he listened, a frown gradually taking up residence on his face. “We should get you back to Sorsha’s.”

“No.” I pulled his hand away and pushed to my feet.

“Caith.”

“Can it, Sam.” I shook my head. “Shit just got real. Well, more real. Jezze has Keller’s journal. We thought it might lead to a cure, but now that I know he’s behind this, it’s an even more important piece of the puzzle. It might tell us how he’s controlling the ghouls. Or even the spell he’s using to drain people’s life forces. Either way, instead of a cure, it might be the key to stopping him.”

“Jezze can keep working to—“

“No.” I put a hand on his chest. “I’m sick. I know that. But lying around in bed isn’t going to help me get better. It just delays the inevitable. I need to work.”

He clenched his jaw. I knew he didn’t like what I was saying, but he also knew me well enough to recognize that arguing was pointless. “What if you collapse because you’re pushing too hard?”

I smirked. “Then it’s a good thing I have you to keep an eye on me, right?”

He sighed and let his head hang low.

I patted him on the chest. “Good. Let’s get to work.”

“Where do we start?” He grumbled, voice filled with resignation.

“We need information.” I turned and headed out of the park, Sam at my side and Reggie on our heels. “I think it’s time to check in with my cousin.”