The only sound to reach my ears when we went outside was the tapping of the rain against the pavement. In any other circumstance, it would’ve been comforting.

I had always liked the rain. I even liked being on guard duty when it rained, though the others didn’t, and were constantly trying to get me to switch shifts with them whenever the skies opened. Rain washed things clean.

I didn’t like it now. It only added to the sense of disquiet hanging over the motor court.

My brother stood beside me, looking back and forth. “Where did he go? Somebody was walking outside the room.”

“The clerk?”

“Nah. Why would he skulk around?” I asked.

That was when I spotted movement between the Jeep and the SUV. Just the flickering of a shadow, but it was there. I pointed, and both of them grunted softly when they saw what I did.

I also noticed for the first time a low-slung, extremely flashy sports car parked at the far end of the lot. Like the driver was afraid of the motor court’s grime rubbing off on his precious car.

It hadn’t been there when we first arrived—I would’ve noticed it, shining like a beacon, even though the owner had clearly wanted to keep it out of sight. There was no hiding a car like that.

Had she described Bradley as being wealthy? I couldn’t remember. My memories were jumbled up with the strong, almost blinding desire to deliver punishment.

“Only two people could’ve fit in that car, at most,” I murmured, nodding toward the flashy, red machine.

“Hardly an even fight, then.” Gate snorted. “Not like it would be if he brought fifty of his buddies.”

“What are you waiting for?” I called out. “An engraved invitation? Show yourself.”

More movement between our cars, then the sharp clicking of footsteps over falling raindrops. The man who stepped out under one of the lights was almost exactly the way I had imagined him just from Alina’s description of what he did and said: good-looking in a cold, sneering sort of way. He dressed well, as I would expect from somebody who drove a car like his. Tailored clothes. Dress shoes. All dressed up to do what? Kidnap Alina back to the clan?

Or Jasmine?

“You and I have a few things to discuss before I take back what’s mine,” he announced.

“And what would that be?” Pierce asked with a chuckle. “We don’t have anything that belongs to you.”

“You have two things in that room. I only came looking for one, so imagine how excited I am to find them both.” He smiled. “I might have to borrow one of your cars to get them home, though. I don’t know that they could both fit in my car at once.”

“You’re not taking either of them,” I snarled.

Movement from the office stole my attention for a moment, but it stole Bradley’s, too.

The clerk was barely visible behind a fake fern, but he was getting up from his chair and coming to the door.

I scanned the area.

“Back there,” I suggested, pointing to a second building which looked as though it hadn’t been in use in decades.

It was designed exactly the same as the one we stood in front of and sat behind it, even further from the road and out of the clerk’s line of sight. There were no lights on there, and the strip of pavement which ran in front of the doors was cracked and choked with weeds.

I turned to Gate. “Stay here and guard the girls.”

“What if you need help?”

“They would need it more than we would—and what if this is all a trap to get us away from them?”

He clearly saw the sense in this, since he stayed in front of the room while Pierce and I followed Bradley to the abandoned half of the property.

Pierce muttered, “You know how this is going to end, right?”

“Of course.”

“Because he’s not getting his hands on Jasmine.”

“Or Alina,” I confirmed. “Believe me. I haven’t known for more than twenty or thirty minutes what this piece of shit is capable of, but I’ve already come up with at least ten ways to kill him.”

“Only ten?” he chuckled. “You want the honors, then?”

“What do you think?”

He sighed. “I think it’s good there’s a change of clothes in the back of the SUV. You do what you need to do. I’ll back you up.”

My dragon celebrated at the thought of bursting out when Bradley least expected it. To say he was ready to shed blood would be an understatement.

The bastard was waiting for us, standing with his hands tucked into his pockets. He wore a starched white shirt, loosened at the collar. His face was blank, bland, unreadable. He didn’t even appear to be bothered by the rain.

My dragon watched and listened closely, waiting for any sign of what went on in our opponent’s head. We stopped roughly ten yards from him. How did it feel, knowing he was outnumbered? Whatever he was thinking didn’t show.

“How did you find her?” I asked, out of curiosity more than anything else.

“I’ve been following her all day,” he confessed with a shrug. “I have eyes on her at the mansion. She has no idea how deeply entrenched I am in her life—and we’re not even married yet.”

“You never will be.”

“Says you,” he sneered. “I realize you don’t know me, so I can’t hold it against you—but I always get what I want. Always.”

“You wanted Jasmine, and you didn’t get her,” Pierce reminded him.

Bradley scoffed. “I didn’t want Jasmine. I never wanted Jasmine. I wanted power. I don’t care if I get it because I’m married to her or her sister. Or both of them, for all I care. As long as the end result is the same, which it will be.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“I don’t have to tell myself that,” he replied, just as smoothly as if we were two men discussing a business deal.

Like there weren’t life-or-death stakes in the air. Maybe it wasn’t life-or-death for him. He thought he was going to take what was owed to him and drive home as though nothing had happened.

“There are three of us and one of you. What makes you think you’ll be able to walk away with the girls?” I asked. My dragon urged me to kill him.

“I have to admit, I didn’t expect to find that Alina had company. But I’m a fast thinker.” He cracked a wide, knowing smile. “And, of course, I have a special talent which comes in handy in situations such as this one.”

“We know you’re one of the fae,” Pierce muttered. “So you won’t surprise us much.”

To my surprise, Bradley winked. “Won’t I?”

Just like that, his skin began to shimmer before running from his body like tallow. I had seen just about everything there was to see over the many centuries of my existence, but I had never seen one of the fae throw away their glamour and reveal their true self.

Pierce made a strangled noise, somewhere between surprise and revulsion.

The clothes, the human-looking flesh, it all puddled at Bradley’s feet as he doubled in size. Without the tricks and glamours of his kin, he was nothing more than a troll.

A huge, nasty, dead-eyed monstrosity whose skin reminded me of rotting meat and whose stench rivaled anything I’d ever smelled. He opened his mouth to reveal double rows of razor-sharp fangs on top and bottom.

“I want what is mine.” His voice was the rumble of a truck. “Bring them to me.”

We stood our ground, impressed, perhaps, but not swayed.

“Is that the best you can do?” I asked, shaking my head. “You were better off before this. At least you could’ve died with a little dignity.”

“I will not die. You will die.” He took one step toward us, then another.

The ground shook slightly each time one of his feet touched down.

“I don’t think so.” My dragon roared its approval as I finally let go and allowed it to come forward, out of my consciousness and into the light. The familiar sound of shredding denim and cotton, the sensation of growing, expanding, filling more of the space around me. I fell forward, on all fours, and growled as softly as I could. We might have been in pitch darkness, but there was still a chance of being seen.

The creature blinked, confused, staggering away from me. “You’re…”

“A dragon,” Pierce confirmed for me.

I let my appearance speak for itself.

The being who was once Bradley turned and fled into the thick cover of trees beyond the motor court, hoping to outrun me.

My dragon thrilled at the chance to play cat-and-mouse with the brute. The dragon’s sharp eyes helped me see my way through the darkness while the troll stumbled and crashed into trees, confused and shocked and too beside itself to think clearly.

How does it feel? I wanted to ask as I followed him around. What does it feel like when somebody bigger and stronger than you has you pinned down and there’s nowhere for you to go? Do you like being the prey this time? Do you like being the smaller one, the one hiding from me?

He breathed heavily, almost panicking, probably from the knowledge that his time was near. As far as I was concerned, it didn’t have to ever end. I would’ve followed him to the ends of the earth if it meant extending his torment. For not only Alina, but all women he’d victimized—because an attacker didn’t leave bruises like the ones he’d left when it was their first time throwing their power around. The thought only added fuel to my raging inner fire, and I growled menacingly.

Bradley let out a cry of fear as he fell. A fallen limb tripped him up and ensnared him in its branches. He was cut and bleeding in a dozen places, at least, shallow cuts. For a moment, the thought of pouring my blood in his wounds occurred to me. I remembered with my human consciousness the way Jasmine had suffered before Alina healed her. The way her body had begun to rot from the inside out. She’d gone through a hell I wouldn’t have wished on anybody, but that was before I met Bradley.

No, it would take too long, and I wanted to get Alina out of this place. The dragon approved. He wanted her safe and warm and in our bed as soon as possible. So I advanced on my prey, then, wings tucked up at my sides, walking on all fours. Breathing hard and heavy, blowing hot air on him which made him shiver pathetically.

“Please… please… let me live…” he whimpered, though coming from him it sounded even more pathetic. “Let me live, and I will leave them alone. Nobody has to know who you are or where you are. Just leave me alive. Please.”

I paused, still toying with him, and the way his eyes widened told me he hoped I was thinking it over. It was almost too easy. I wished I could draw it out a little further.

Instead, I ended it. I opened my mouth to show him he wasn’t the only one with sharp teeth before using them to tear his head from his shoulders.

I dropped it immediately, not wanting the taste of him on my tongue any longer than necessary. Blood poured from his neck and over his body. With any luck, the animals in the woods would be attracted to the smell and come out to see what I had left for them.

The dragon wanted to roar its approval.

I held it back. Once we got home, he could celebrate all he wanted. I shifted before he could give us away and walked back to where I had left Pierce.

He was waiting there with clothes, which I hurried into. “I thought you were going to back me up,” I grumbled as I dressed.

“You know, you could thank me for having the foresight to get the clothes for you,” he reminded me. “Otherwise, you’d be walking around with your dick hanging out and good luck if you think I’d bail you out when somebody called the cops on you.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I let it go. Not that I needed his help—if anything, I would’ve refused if he had offered it. My dragon wanted the sole responsibility for putting an end to Bradley’s life. We were Alina’s protectors.

She was waiting with Jasmine when we returned to the room and fell into my open arms. Nothing had ever felt so sweet, so perfect. The dragon was pleased. He had his mate.

“He’s gone?” she asked, clutching me.

“He’s gone,” I had the pleasure of reporting. “He’ll never hurt you or anybody else, ever again.”

“And you’re all right?” She searched my face for damage—of course, there was none.

“He didn’t get the chance to touch me,” I promised, kissing the tips of her fingers.

A glance over her shoulder showed Pierce and Jasmine looking at us. Jasmine beamed happily, which wasn’t a surprise. She was right about everything she’d said in the Jeep, and she knew it.

Pierce looked less-than-pleased, but that wasn’t a surprise, either. I might have gotten rid of Bradley, but there was a still a fight to be waged once we got home.

“We should get out of here, just to be on the safe side,” Gate suggested. “Even if we don’t drive back tonight, we can get a few rooms someplace else.”

The fact that we still had to discuss bringing both girls back went unsaid. He was trying to be diplomatic about it.

I was through being diplomatic. “I don’t think so. I think we can settle this right here and now, and very quickly.”

“How so?” Pierce looked amused.

“Bradley’s dead now. I killed him. If her uncle wants her back—I can’t think of any other reason except principle at this point—he’ll find a way to get her. Bradley did. What if he was checking in with George throughout the day? What if someone’s on their way here right now? And they find her? Read her memories? Find out everything there is to know about us? Including that I killed an important member of their species?”

She shuddered at my description.

I pulled her close to me but never stopped staring at my brother.

“Let’s face it. Sending her back was a matter of self-preservation. That’s exactly what’s at stake now, when we bring her home with us.”

“I promise, I’ll never be any trouble for you,” she whispered.

He sighed and exchanged a long look with Gate, who shrugged. “It makes sense to me,” he admitted.

“You’re the one who wanted to rip my head off when I brought Jasmine to the cave,” Pierce reminded him.

“I know. But now that we’ve already been breached, it doesn’t seem like such a big problem for one more outsider to join us. And Smoke’s right; there’s more danger to her, and us, in the outside world. It seems like this is the best course of action for everybody.”

I wanted to shake his hand for that, but settled for nodding in acknowledgment.

Pierce looked at Jasmine, as though she would be on his side. He should’ve known better.

Her smile was wider than ever. “Yes, please. If you want to make me really happy, you’ll go along with this.”

“What about the others? Miles, Fence, Cash. They all get a say in this, too,” he reminded us.

“They’ll see reason, too,” Gate assured him. “Now, come on. We have to get out of here. I feel like we’re already overstaying our welcome.” Jasmine’s things were already packed, and I took her backpack from the bed while using my other hand to hold one of hers. I wasn’t about to let her go again.

“What about his car?” Gate asked when we stepped outside.

“I guess we leave it here,” I thought after weighing the options. “Even if he left the keys in it, there’s a chance of George knowing Bradley tracked her. We steal the car, we give them even more reason to hunt us down.”

“That’s a shame,” Gate sighed, taking one more look at it before turning away. “I hate to think of something that gorgeous being left out here.”

I held Alina’s hand tighter than ever as we walked to the Jeep.

I had the only gorgeous thing I would ever need. I was just fine.