My nerves were shot.

There was no other way to describe it. Between two hard days of Ezra’s speed demon driving, Cahal’s boozing it up in the back seat, Antonio’s private bitching to me about the stench of said booze, and Lynn’s complaints of where we ate and slept, I was a frazzled mess. Add in the fact we were about fifty miles east of Seattle, Washington — the middle of fucking nowhere — and that Ezra was out on his lone hunt/duty for his Prodigy, the die leading us here, then faltering…well, I was debating stealing one of Cahal’s bottles to drown my worries.

But instead I paced in my hotel room with cell phone in hand, waiting to hear from my husband, since he had promised to call every half-hour as I had done with him. He was keeping to his word, calling me diligently while he searched in the Hummer through the rugged terrain of the north-west area. I was at least relieved about that, afraid at first he would go all caveman on me and not respect my wishes…which I had expressed adamantly and specifically. A few times.

Whatever.

It was time for him to call again.

I stopped pacing to stare at my phone, willing it to ring. Surprise, surprise, the damn thing actually did, jolting me so badly I jumped, before I quickly got a hold of myself, answering, “Ezra?”

“I’m alright,” he stated instantly. Okay, I sounded a little breathless. “Sweetheart, why don’t you lie down and take a nap. You barely got any sleep last night worrying about this, and more than likely, you’ve been pacing back and forth all morning.”

Instant. “I haven’t.” I had stopped pacing a few moments ago. “Besides, I’m worried.”

“I know. Over nothing. All I’m doing is driving through a damn forest.” A pause. “And further to that point, what self-respecting Vamp lives in a damn forest? It’s giving me the freaking heebie-jeebies just being out here for the morning. Inside a SUV. These people are crazier than yours.”

I started pacing again. “That’s what is worrying me, unless there’s a whole other King Cave in this area we don’t know about.”

Ezra grunted. “I already called my dad to ask. His response was to laugh his ass off, so I’m taking that as a no, even though he already sounded lit and asked me to pick up some Chinese before I came back, and I don’t think he was talking about General Tso’s Chicken.”

My feet stopped. “Oh, God. He’s thirsty.” Vivian was no longer there to supply blood.

“Yep.” A pause. “It’s funny how when I was growing up he said Coms always tasted the same, from what he remembered before he was mated, but suddenly, he’s got a damn ethnic preference.” He grunted. “Are there even Chinese Coms in this area?”

I blinked…because that sounded like an honest question. “Ezra.”

He hummed.

My God, he was serious. “This is America, land of the free and diversified. I’m sure you can find someone who has an Asian background easily enough.” My eyebrows puckered. “You traveled the damn world, how do you not know about the United States? Your home?”

“You’re forgetting, I was running away from home.” He paused, and then chuckled. “God, speaking of home, this area is right up your alley. I just saw a fox.” Another pause as he continued chuckling. “Hey, you’re not following me are you?”

“Ha, ha, funny man.” I thought about it. “I’m bigger than an actual fox, aren’t I?”

No response.

My wolf growled.

“Oh, sweetheart, you know I think you’re perfect. And your wolf is perfect, too.”

My wolf huffed, loving hearing him say it. “Just call me in another half-hour.”

“I will, but take a damn nap so you’re not worn out tonight for me, alright?”

I glanced at the bed, and it did look inviting. “You sure you’re doing fine out there?”

“It’s only me and the wildlife, sweetheart. Just try to relax for a little while.”

“Fine…I’ll try.” No promises.

“Promise me.”

Damn it. “Fine,” I growled. “I promise.”

He hummed happily. “I love you, wife.”

“And I love your aggravating ass, too, husband.”

“You say the sweetest things.”

I yawned, eyes on the bed. “Just call me, smart ass.”

He chuckled softly. “I’m Ezra Zeller, it’s nice to meet you, Smart Ass.” When I growled, he muttered, “Fine. I’ll call, sweetheart. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I woke to a buzzing sound. Blinking open my eyes, I sat up instantly and scented my surroundings. Quickly, my heart rate decreased as I remembered where the hell I was. Another craphole motel. The setting sun was filtering in through the lone window, and I stretched before grabbing my phone that had been buzzing on the pillow next to mine. Glancing at it as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I saw that I had a message.

And it dawned on me…my eyes shot to the window.

The sun was fucking setting.

I quickly accessed my voicemail, and in a soft and calm voice, Ezra stated, “There’s an issue with my Prodigy. Coms are holding her.” My heart rate kicked into a wild gallop, only to increase when he paused, then said, “A lot of Coms.” He sighed. “There are Vamps in the area, and I’ve asked them to stay in the general vicinity, but they can’t go in with me because the die keeps faltering when they’re near, and I’ve tried Elder Farrar’s and my dad’s phones, but no one’s answering, so I only left messages.” A long pause. “I can’t leave her in there with them. I need to get her.” My heart rate stalled completely as he whispered, “I love you, sweetheart. Just…,” a pause, “just remember that.” The call ended.

There were no other messages, the call having come in fifteen minutes ago.

Jumping from the bed, I quickly called his number.

No answer.

I called again.

No answer.

Breath faltering, I placed a bracing hand on the wall before searching for Antonio’s number.

A knock sounded at my door. It was more of a banging.

I ran to it, hitting Antonio’s number as I threw the door open. It was Antonio, and he wore that expression. The one he had worn outside the cave before we had left on this journey. I shut my phone before it fell through my suddenly limp fingers.

He walked inside, shutting the door behind him. “I can’t find Cahal anywhere. I think he went hunting.” He bent, grabbed my boots, and threw them at me. “I can tell by your face you know Ezra’s in trouble. Get your shoes on.”

I dropped, shoving my boots on, lacing them up, my heart pounding so hard I could barely hear, but in a shaking voice, I asked, “How bad, Antonio?”

He stopped in his tracks, staring at the wall. “Now you ask?”

“Yes.” It was so soft, I was surprised he heard me.

“If it’s what I think it is…it’s bad,” he muttered, sidestepping Bonnie — who growled at him as he dug through my bag — grabbing my red fur coat and tossing it to me. “I’m going to try to find Cahal again, and possibly Merrick and Jacobs after I drop you off.”

My fingers shook as I stood, throwing the robe over my bra and underwear I had on, only managing to button the top one before I gave up on the others. “Is he going to live?”

He ignored me, opening the case of my gifted Cizanos. “You’re going to need these.”

I yanked them out but dropped them on the bed, quickly strapping my gun to my thigh before grabbing them again. “Antonio…”

His lips thinned. “There’s no more time for questions, Lil.” Antonio reached out a hand, touching my hair and returning it to neon red, and he pointed to Bonnie, who returned to appearing like a lion cub. “Grab her.” As I did as told, he ordered, “No matter what, do not release me or try to pull away. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Antonio slapped a hand on my shoulder. “This might take a few minutes.”

I rested against him and had to shut my eyes, he glowed so bright. Sound ceased to exist as we went to a…well, what could only be perceived as a void. It was a golden open space, Antonio the only thing I could see. Bonnie growled in the circle of my arms but didn’t move, behaving.

After what felt like five minutes, I asked into the nothing, “How much longer?”

No response.

After what seemed like another five minutes, I asked, “Antonio?”

He squeezed my shoulder, but there was no verbal response.

I waited, staying perfectly still. He was carting not just himself, but two other living beings through this void, while searching for Ezra. I supposed that had to take some concentration. I focused on my breathing and closed my eyes, figuring that darkness was better than opening them and expecting to see something. It was fucking claustrophobic, screwing with my Shifter senses.

After another five minutes, I began to feel a breeze. I sighed, sucking in the scent of fresh pine and grass. And blood. I froze. Lots of fucking blood.

My eyes slammed open, but there still wasn’t anything to see. Sounds came next. Screams and cries of pain began breaking through the silence in intervals. I stayed silent, not knowing where he would set us down from this void, uncertain of what we were stepping into. Ezra had only said there were a lot of Coms, not the layout of the location. And then we were in a forest, the wind whipping around us, blowing my robe and hair about.

Antonio let go of my shoulder. “He’s straight ahead. Follow the sounds of the pain.”

Abruptly, he disappeared.

I sat Bonnie high on a branch and ordered her to stay, before my head fell back and I howled my demand. I could hear there were too many Coms ahead. I needed reinforcements. The type with sharp, deadly teeth, and this was a damn forest.

They came.

Even more came.

Within a minute, I had over one hundred wolves of all shapes, sizes, and colors standing before me. I didn’t fear them. Not one bit. Every single one of their heads lowered in submission as my eyes glowed, and I growled, sending my will into them.

Kill, by means of anger and protection.

They all growled, peering past me. I didn’t worry for Ezra. He could run fast enough to escape them.

But the Coms couldn’t.

I grinned and turned, running full force toward the music of warfare, the wolves following behind. Coming out into a clearing, I saw what looked like a tiny town. The kind with only one street for its downtown, maybe four buildings long on each side, each two stories high, and a gravel road at the end leading through the thick tree growth. There were no houses surrounding the area, just the stone buildings. At the edge of the street, toward the gravel road in a large clearing where a picnic table sat, were at least two hundred Coms. Way too many for this little town with probably a population of fifty.

I sucked air, seeing a long line of bodies littering the main road. About fifty. Peering side-to-side, I took off behind the building on the left with the wolves following, my direction bypassing the carnage they might stop and snack on. I ran at the mass, knowing that Ezra was still in there as Coms screamed and gunshots fired.

There were two Vamps on the left of the circled clusterfuck, fighting the Coms, but I saw two others that lay dead, those bodies at their feet. They glanced my way, hearing me and the herd of wolves advancing. Even though my adrenaline and heart rate were too high from fear and fury, I could still appreciate the looks of shock that graced their features.

But they hadn’t stayed alive this long from stupidity. They shut their gaping jaws and went back to slaughtering. I, on the other hand, took off, speeding up for a few ticks before launching into the air. I stared down at the masses, scanning the crowd as quickly as I could.

I saw Ezra.

He was smack in the center, covered in blood, with a pile of bodies growing around him, Clyde darting in and out of Coms next to him and swiping at their ankles. And Ezra was hampered. He had only one arm to use because the other was holding a tiny Vampire girl, her face stuffed against his neck. Feeling gravity take hold, I tucked and flipped as I began to fall, automatically throwing my arms out, short swords extended, and began slicing into the Coms as I landed in a crouch to keep from breaking my bones, my training automatic.

Ezra was only a few feet away now, taller than the rest, so I focused on getting to him as I diced Coms, going for the direct kill by slicing their heads clean off. I didn’t call out to him and risk him being distracted, but I knew that he heard the screams of the Coms from the far end of the mass. The wolves had attacked.

He didn’t notice my prey fall.

No screams.

They fell silent.

Dead.

Breathing with the motion, I kept my ears open and pivoted anytime I heard a gun clicking over, my senses allowing me to be fast enough that the firing weapon would hit someone else. By the scent, they were all silver bullets. I sliced at an angle, my blades no longer shining but slinging blood and flesh.

I twirled and landed at my husband’s side.

He was starting to throw a Com male into the mass and glanced at me, fangs bared, but blinked and finished tossing the man, causing a line of them to stumble back. “Sweetheart?” His confusion was evident.

“Shut up and fight,” I muttered, jumping and spinning, slicing off four heads in a row before landing. “I’ll explain later.”

“Any back-up?”

I ducked as he threw a dead Com. “Wolves.”

He nodded then blurred, taking down five more before coming back to my side. “I’m loving your battle attire, although, it would be more erotic if your lingerie didn’t have dancing penguins on it.”

I grunted, kicking a fucker that got too close, making him crumple and not get back up since his back was now bent in half. “Dammit, I like this set. It’ll be ruined now.”

“Shame, that,” Ezra chuckled before blurring again.

I twirled, slicing at three others.

Ezra and I quit yapping when they all advanced at once, seeing two of us. Ezra and I aimed for the road, pushing them to move while trying to find a break in their numbers, but they seemed to understand our plan, continually rotating in a circle so that when a portion went down more took their place.

That’s when Ezra grunted. He paused, standing still for too long, staring down at a silver arrow imbedded through his stomach, protruding all the way out through the small of his back.

I blinked.

Mine.

I reacted on pure instinct and sliced down onto the thick shaft, cutting off the head. He sucked in harshly at the motion, and I spun in front of him, on full protection mode, and carved into the vultures that were coming in for the kill. Even as their beheaded bodies were crumpling, I turned and grabbed the silver shaft at his stomach, shuddering at the touch, but yanked it out quickly. Ezra lurched, blood pouring from his stomach, but he moved back into motion, his blurring only slightly slower than before. The whole incident taking maybe five seconds.

While fighting, I began glancing into the trees, searching their depths for whoever had made that shot. That was when I grunted, a slicing pain screaming in my thigh. I stumbled, almost falling, and saw a duplicate silver arrow sticking out of my flesh. Ezra blurred back to my side and grabbed one of my swords from my hands, cutting the head off as I had his. Healed from his injury, he yanked the silver shaft out of the front of my leg.

Tossing it aside, he jerked, falling forward. “Fuck.” Blood blossomed on the back of the shirt I had designed for him right above the wolf’s head.

I caught him, stumbling with the motion when my leg wouldn’t support me. Someone had fucking shot what was mine. He jerked against me, cursing. Another blotch of blood appeared on his right shoulder. He arched back, a different stain of crimson blooming too close to his heart.

When he only stood as a target of blood loss, shock, and pain, I threw him and the girl to the blood-soaked grass beneath our feet, quickly throwing Com corpses over them and commanding the girl with my Shifter will to stay hidden when she peered up at me.

Grabbing my other sword from where it had fallen from Ezra’s fingers, I turned my attention to the mother-fuckers who had shot him. My fucking man. I growled in fury. I had never felt like this before. My mind was hazy, misting as I began carving my swords into the approaching Coms, floating into a black shroud of protection and ferocity.

I saw no one but my enemy. Heard nothing but Ezra’s heart as it began to slow. Scented only his blood as he continued to bleed out. Felt only the leather under my hands as I moved in a continual circle. Tasted single-minded vengeance as I slaughtered.

I screamed as I progressed, never having moved like this: with absolute focus zeroed in on the next Com that came into view. My arms, wrists, and hands worked in concert with my swords, which had become natural extensions. My thigh stopped bleeding, and my actions only became that much faster. That much more deadly. With each Com I took down, it still wasn’t enough, as Ezra’s heartbeat slowed even further.

Time flew by in splatters of blood and in the screams of the fallen.

I let one sword drop and drew my gun, shooting across the circle as I took care of the other side with my sword. As I began to weaken, tiring, my eyes glowed sharply and my wolf pressed to take over my strength. My mind.

I let her, my wolf in agreement with the woman as my fury’s voice became hoarse. And I still screamed. The black haze enveloped me as my wolf peered out through my eyes.

Protect Ezra.

Kill any other mother-fucker who neared.

Protect.

Kill.

Protect.

Kill.

Time seemed to pause as I snarled, my head darting back and forth. My nostrils flared in the odd silence. Scanning the area as the wolves began to circle me, I saw two people left standing, both with black and red hair. They stood staring at me. I snarled at them, raising my gun. And suddenly, they were gone.

Protect.

My hand moved, putting my gun away, and I jogged to my dropped sword, picking it up as I continually scanned the area. I scented no other prey close by, although those two who had disappeared were still near, and I growled in the direction I smelled them before running to Ezra. My wolves circled us, protecting, watching for any enemy.

Brushing aside a lion cub, I threw the dead Coms from Ezra’s body, and a little girl stared up at me. I paused, sniffing her. No threat. I ignored the mute girl. Ripping Ezra’s shirt down the front, I probed his wounds. None of the bullets had left his body. There were three still inside. My head dropped back and I howled in sorrow, my wolves joining me even as their feet never stopped moving, doing as ordered.

I sliced into my wrist and held it to Ezra’s mouth. With the silver in the sword the wound stayed open longer. I snarled when he didn’t latch on. Smacking his face only produced a grunt, his eyes never opening. I sliced my wrist again, shoving it against his mouth. Some of it had to be going down. Resting my forehead against his, I kept up this process even as my wolf grew tired, the woman long past exhaustion.

Protect.

I felt wetness coat my cheeks and fall to his as I blinked blurrily at his closed eyes. He was getting cold. He was never cold. I whimpered, nuzzling his cheek with mine after cutting into my wrist again. He needed warmth.

I lay down beside him, covering him with my coat as much as possible, keeping one wrist to his mouth. My head fell against his shoulder when my wrist closed again, and I listened to his heartbeat slowly thump, my movements sluggish and my mind working at a slower pace. But I still heard sounds behind me. The wolves began growling, their tails twitching as they kept their rotating circle moving.

Voices. The sounds were voices.

I growled, fumbling for my gun. My fingers wouldn’t release it from its clasp, so I grabbed a sword from the ground, which was much heavier than before. Pushing up and stumbling to my feet, I pointed it at the newcomers. I swayed as I took them in.

It was the two I had seen before, now with four others and a lion cub leading the group. They ran in our direction, moving between the fallen enemies. I snarled at the two that had run away earlier and they stopped. The other four kept approaching. One of brown and blond hair, one of brown, one of yellow, and the other of black hair.

Protect.

Kill.

Placing a foot over Ezra’s unconscious form with the little girl cowering behind me and peering around my leg, I got a better grip on my sword. Cocking my head, I pressed my will onto the wolves to kill. They snarled and began creeping forward.

The four men and cub stopped.

The black-haired one held a hand out to the others, stepping forward to crouch. His eyes glowed navy, and he growled back at the wolves. I felt his own will pressing, and I pushed back, releasing mine to the maximum strength of what I was able. His eyes met mine and he growled loudly even as I wobbled, shaking my head to stay conscious.

I felt when he gently broke through my control. His will overran my order, and the wolves broke apart, lowering to the ground just as I fell under his control. Lying over Ezra’s body, I was barely able to lift my head as I snarled at the black-haired man, holding my sword out in his direction. He was moving forward slowly, the others following behind him even as the brown-haired man shouted, the brown- and blond-haired one holding him back.

The black-haired man held a hand out to me as if he meant no harm, but he growled low in his throat, telling me he was an alpha. I snarled back, placing my free arm under Ezra’s head and holding his face close to my neck.

Protect.

He watched, his head cocking.

I felt the press of his will.

Then nothing. Darkness.