Gabe kept a death-grip on my hand as he lay in the hospital bed, his brown eyes wide and full of fear. His whole body trembled, shaking my arm that he refused to release.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered repeatedly, the only words he seemed capable of saying.

Bruises had already started to bloom over his face and arms, and his skin was swollen around the numerous cuts covering his body. He was lucky, especially since he hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. My own injuries had healed almost immediately. Aurelia, on the other hand, had been rushed to emergency surgery within the first ten minutes of our arrival at the hospital in Vail.

“I’m so sorry,” Gabe muttered again.

“I know, buddy. I know.” I didn’t know what else to say. I just wanted them both to be better, so I soothed him as best as I could.

I’d been so close to giving them my blood at the scene of the accident, my wrist held to my fangs, but thankfully the ambulance arrived, stopping me. I hated to see them in so much pain, but it was temporary. Triggering their moroi gene was not. The damage it could cause at their ages was unknown and would last forever. If only Sindi had been with us at the time. She was a different kind of vampire, and her blood could heal them without triggering their genes.

But we’d still been hours from Denver, never making it to the hotel where my friend and former—soon to be current—roommate from Atlanta had been waiting for us. As a vampire, she couldn’t have left her hotel until after sunset anyway, or she’d have burst into flames.

“Aurelia,” Gabe whispered.

Well, at least he’d found a new word. “She’s still in surgery.”

“My fault.” Intense guilt filled his tone.

I sat on the side of his bed and pushed his sweaty hair off his forehead. “What happened, Gabe?”

“I . . .” He rocked his head back and forth on the pillow, tears seeping out of the corners of his eyes and down his temples. “I don’t know.”

Neither did I. After packing up Mom’s SUV, we’d left home around two this afternoon and four hours later, we’d just passed Vail on I-70, headed for Denver. One minute we were cruising through the mountains, music blaring, Aurelia singing along in the front passenger seat while Gabe sat in the back, keeping himself occupied. The next minute, Gabe launched himself between the front seats, arms flailing and teeth gnashing. He behaved like a rabid animal, and if he were any other kid from Havenwood Falls, I would have suspected he was shifting for the first time.

Whether he meant to or because his hand latched on to whatever it touched first, he grabbed the steering wheel and whipped it out of my grip. We careened across the highway, narrowly missing several cars, before plowing through the guardrail and slamming into a tree . . . only feet from plunging down a ravine. If we’d gone the other way, we would have smashed head-on into the rock wall of the mountainside.

“I wasn’t . . . me,” Gabe added, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“Michaela.” The deep voice came from the door behind me, and my whole body froze.

Then I jumped off the bed and turned to face Xandru, his large body filling the doorway. “What are you doing here? How—”

Addie’s head bobbed over his shoulder. “You didn’t really think I wouldn’t tell him?”

Xandru crossed the room in three strides, and as soon as his arms opened, I fell into them. His warm, muscular body wrapped around me, his scent cocooning me in familiar comfort. I leaned my head against his chest, and my breathing became hitched as I held back the first tears that had threatened since the accident.

I peeked over his arm to see Addie standing by Gabe’s bed, her hand caressing the side of his face. She soothed him, I assumed with a touch of magic, because for the first time, his body stopped trembling, and he finally relaxed. Addie nodded toward the door.

The three of us exited the room and found a small waiting area with coffee and vending machines—and too many people. Addie led us through double swinging doors that exited to the ambulance bay, which was currently empty. Beyond the portico, the western sky showed the tiniest hint of light, a glow behind the mountains left from the sunset barely more than an hour ago. My brain felt like it should be midnight. How was this day not over yet?

“Has Gabe or Aurelia been exposed to anything recently?” Addie asked me as soon as the door closed.

“What do you mean? It’s summertime. I don’t think any of their friends have been ill.”

“I sense . . . something,” she said. “It’s kind of like dark magic, but not really. It’s such a minute trace . . .” She shrugged. “Maybe it’s nothing.”

“Could it have made him lose his mind?” I explained to them what had caused the accident.

When I was done, Addie shook her head. “I don’t know. There’s not enough there for me to even know what it is. So I doubt it.”

“You don’t think he could have been bitten by a shifter at home, do you?” I asked.

Both she and Xandru reacted with surprise. If they’d seen Gabe at the time, they would have understood.

“We can test his blood, if you think we need to,” Addie said, realizing I was serious. “We’ll talk about it later, after we get out of here.”

I nodded. “Hey, how did you two get here so fast?”

She tilted her head toward Xandru. “He refused to take the time to make the drive, so I made a portal. I told him we’d need a vehicle to get home.”

“We’ll rent one,” Xandru said curtly.

“How’s Aurelia?”

I sighed. “Still in surgery, as far as I know.”

“Actually, she’s out. They came looking for you.” The familiar female voice called from the double doors. Standing in the spotlight over the doors, a tall, thin, twenty-something woman with dark red hair and porcelain white skin lifted her hand in a brief wave.

“Sindi!” I rushed over to her and wrapped her in a hug. She hated hugs, but I didn’t care. I’d had a bad day. “You made it. And so soon.”

“You know I have mad driving skills.” Before pushing me away, she whispered in my ear, “I took care of Gabe for you.”

I pulled back to look into her face. Her plump red lips tilted in a small smile. “Thank you.”

Her voice rose as we stepped away from each other. “I went to the room number you told me, but you weren’t there. Then a nurse came looking for you.”

We hurried inside to the nurse’s station.

“She’s in recovery. Only you can go in, dear,” the middle-aged woman said to me.

“I’ll meet you back in Gabe’s room,” I told the others before turning toward a bank of elevators.

“I’ll go with you,” Xandru insisted, still not releasing my hand, both his voice and his grip tight. He was mad, likely at me. Once we were on the elevator, we stood facing the doors, not even slightly angled toward each other, tension growing thick. “You didn’t want Addie to tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

“You didn’t want me to come.”

I didn’t reply to that. I didn’t know how. Was his being here his answer to my note? Did he feel coming was an obligation?

He sighed heavily when I remained silent. “You were in a bad accident, Kales.”

“And I’m fine. You should have known I would be.”

“Physically, yes, but emotionally? And your brother and sister are not fine. They’re like my family, too.”

I snorted. “You have your own brothers and sisters to worry about.”

“Kales—”

“Not now, Xandru. Please.”

We had so much to talk about, but I just didn’t have the brain or heart capacity at the moment.

The elevator dinged before the doors slid open.

“I understand,” he said, following me out. “But we do need to talk.”

No. Shit. I’d been telling him that for weeks, and he’d been avoiding the issue. Now he wanted to talk? Figured. Men.

“Just tell me what I can do for you now,” he said as we stopped in front of the doors to the ICU recovery room, giving my hand a squeeze.

I glared at the doors as though I could see through them to check on my sister, but since that wasn’t possible, I looked up at Xandru. “Honestly, we need our things. Whatever’s left, anyway. Mom’s car is surely totaled, but our stuff is in it. We have no clothes, nothing. Wherever they took it is probably closed by now, but . . .”

I let my voice trail off. Nodding his understanding, he brushed a finger over my cheek. The touch was gentle, but his jaw muscle ticked. He was still mad. “I’ll take care of it. You go take care of your sister.”

I gave him an appreciative nod, then pushed through the doors to find Aurelia on a hospital bed in a large room with several other beds, all of them surrounded by beeping machines. She looked so tiny, her thin body barely noticeable under the layers of covers draped over her. Tubes and wires were attached to her head and face and snaked under her hospital gown. Approaching her bed, I realized she was still asleep. I took her hand and stood by her side for an unknown amount of time, willing her awake.

“She should recover nicely,” said a warm voice at the foot of the bed. The short, stout man in a white coat held out a hand. “I’m Dr. Pepper, Aurelia’s surgeon.”

In any other situation, I would have been suppressing a chuckle. Good thing Addie wasn’t here, or we both would have been joking and laughing inappropriately.

Dr. Pepper went over everything with me, although I tuned out most of it. As soon as Sindi could see Aurelia, none of it would matter anyway. I was just sorry my poor sister had to go through as much as she already had.

“Thank you, doctor,” I said when he finished, unable to say his name with a straight face. “When will she get her own room?”

“We’ll have to see how she is when she wakes,” he said. “She may need to stay in the ICU for a night or two.”

That wasn’t happening. “How long until she wakes?”

He walked up to the side of her bed and checked on the machines and her vitals. “It could be a while. She’s heavily sedated. If you want to go back to your brother, I’ll have the nurses let you know when she starts to wake.” He glanced at his phone. “I have another patient to see.”

I nodded. “Of course. Thank you. Again.”

Once he left, I leaned over Aurelia and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t worry, baby girl, there’s no way I’m making you suffer that long. I just need you to wake up, so we can get you out from under their eyes.”

It took longer than I expected, and I was about to go check on Gabe when Aurelia’s lids began to flutter.

“Oh, thank god,” I muttered, giving her hand a squeeze.

Her eyes opened, looking foggy and distant. It took a few moments for them to clear, then the brown orbs found me. She tried to talk, but she had too many tubes coming out of her.

“Shh,” I soothed. “You’re okay. You’re in the hospital.”

Her eyes popped wide open.

“You don’t remember what happened?”

She gave her head a small shake, cringing at the movement.

“Don’t move. Just blink. Twice for yes, once for no.”

She blinked once.

I nodded, figuring as much. “We were in an accident. They rushed you off to surgery before I could do anything, but we’re all going to be okay. My friend Sindi is here, and she’ll get you all fixed up.”

She blinked twice, indicating she understood. I’d already told Aurelia and Gabe all about Sindi, considering we’d be spending a lot more time with her now. They were quite intrigued about how her vampirism differed from the moroi’s.

“I’m going to let them know you’re awake now. Cooperate and do whatever you can to convince them to move you to a private room. Can you do that?”

She blinked twice again.

I caught the first nurse I found, grabbed his shoulders, and locked our gazes. When I felt our energies connect, I compelled him. “Aurelia Petran is awake. Her vitals are clear. She needs to be moved to her own room.”

He nodded and walked off. I heard him repeat my orders to the other nurses.

It took another thirty minutes before they finally cleared her to leave the ICU, although it would still be a while before they transferred her. “I’m going to check on Gabe, and then Sindi and I will meet you in your room.”

She blinked twice, then closed her eyes to rest.

Back in the emergency area, I found Addie and Sindi leaning against the wall outside Gabe’s room, chatting it up.

“Hey, Kales,” Addie said, pushing herself off the wall. “Gabe’s sleeping.”

“Aurelia’s awake. She should be in her own room soon. Then we can get out of here.” I opened Gabe’s door, surprised to find him looking only a little better than when I’d left him.

Addie pushed me inside, Sindi following and closing the door behind us.

“I had to glamour him,” Addie explained. “He was healing too quickly, and it’d be suspicious. I was hoping we’d be out of here by now.”

“We’ll have to sneak them both out tonight,” I said. “They’re watching Aurelia too closely, and we can’t possibly compel them all, the way they come and go. Someone will slip through. I’m sure they’ll want to take more blood samples and do all kinds of tests in the morning, so we’ll need to be on our way long before then.”

“Sindi and I were making a plan,” Addie said. “We’re waiting on Xandru and a car.”

“Sorry,” Sindi said. “I only rented a little economy. I thought we’d be making the trip in yours.”

“Yeah, you and me both.” Exhaling, I rubbed my forehead. “I guess we’ll be going back to Havenwood Falls sooner than we expected.”

“They should be good as new tonight,” Addie said. “You can still go on with your plans.”

Sindi and I looked at each other, and she shrugged. “It’s up to you, Kaekae. I’m all yours now.”

“Ugh. Don’t call me that.” I bumped her shoulder with mine, then glanced over at my little brother. “I’m not sure what to do. How do I know that what happened won’t happen again? It was so weird.”

Addie returned to his bedside and appeared to be doing another reading. Shaking her head, she walked back over to us, not wanting to wake him. “Whatever I sensed before . . . it’s completely gone now.”

“So you think it was a fluke?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s like moroi puberty or something?”

“I don’t remember losing my mind like that,” I hissed.

“But you don’t remember everything,” she reminded me. Then she added, “But I don’t remember you doing anything like that, either. Maybe it’s a boy thing. We can ask Xandru.”

“Ask me what?” Xandru slipped through the door right at that perfect moment. Addie shared her theory. He shrugged. “Adelaide Beaumont and Michaela Petran, I grew up as a Roca. A Roca. We lose our shit all the time. How would I know if it was a puberty thing?”

Addie wagged a finger at him. “Good point.”

With no clear answers, I didn’t know what to do. Our first mission was to extract my sister and brother from the watchful eyes of human medical personnel. Maybe once I knew they were both completely healed, I could better focus on making a decision about what to do next—continue our plans with Sindi or return to Havenwood Falls.

“You want me to go check on Aurelia?” Addie asked.

“You can try, but I don’t know if they’ll tell you anything.”

“Why wouldn’t they? I’m her aunt, as far as they need to know.” She left the room with a mischievous grin.

“I didn’t know how long we’d have to wait, so I brought Gabe’s backpack in,” Xandru said, slinging it off his shoulder. “In case he got bored.”

“Thank you!” Gabe’s voice came loud and clear, not a trace of pain or even sleep in it. He smiled at me sheepishly. “Yeah, I might have been faking it. You women are so boring to listen to. Kaekae.”

I gave him the evil eye, and then Sindi, since he’d apparently heard her use the nickname. She gave me a wicked smile in return.

Xandru tossed the backpack on the bed, and Gabe immediately grabbed for it. “I hope it’s all here.”

Apparently pleased with what he found inside, he let out a grunt that was more of a squeak in his ever-fluctuating voice.

Relief that he’d be okay washed through me, followed by a wave of sudden thirst shuddering through my body. And not thirst for water or coffee.

I was in the last place a vampire losing control should ever be in.

“Let’s go outside.” Xandru grabbed my hand and briskly led me out into the night before I could even respond. The need for blood must have been written all over my face, and looking at his, I swore he felt the same need. “I don’t suppose you brought any blood on this trip of yours?”

“No, and it’s probably a good thing, since the cops cleaned up the mess. That would have raised a lot of questions.”

He took me to a rented black SUV, not unlike the one we’d wrecked. Peeking through the glare of the parking lot lights on the darkly tinted windows, I saw the back was filled with our belongings retrieved from Mom’s car. He opened the door to the backseat. I gave him a questioning look.

“Trust me.”

I climbed in and scooted over when I realized he was coming in after me. As soon as the door shut, he let his fangs out and bit into his wrist before holding it up to my mouth. I hesitated, not sure if this was the best thing to do, all things considered. Drinking blood from another moroi was . . . well, intimate.

“After what you’ve been through, you need to drink, Kales. Hell, I need it, too, and I haven’t had nearly the day you have.”

The wave of thirst had already passed, leaving only a slight ache in the back of my throat, but he was probably right. No human food or drink would provide what blood could. I latched onto his wrist.

We both moaned in pleasure—me because his blood was a salve to my burning throat, and him for the sensuality another moroi’s mouth brought.

“I need some, too,” Xandru said huskily.

I lifted my wrist to his mouth. His fangs sunk into my skin, and my pelvis thrusted in response. The next thing I knew, I was straddling him, my fangs at his throat and his on my shoulder. My hips rocked against his as I slid my core along the erection held hostage in his jeans. We moaned and sighed as we drank, me riding him, his hips rising up in rhythm to mine. Our shirts came off at some point I didn’t even remember, and I was just reaching back to unclasp my bra, already on the verge of an orgasm, when Xandru suddenly pulled away.

“Not here. Not now,” he growled, pushing me off his lap.

I collapsed into the leather seat. He opened the door and jumped out, grabbing his shirt as he did. Crap. He must have still been really mad at me, to be able to stop like that.

After catching my breath, I pulled my T-shirt back on and climbed out. Xandru paced behind the car, his hands on his hips, swearing up a storm.

“Can you at least tell me what I did wrong?” I asked, rubbing my arms against the chill of the night and wishing I could change out of my T-shirt and shorts. Or at least grab a hoodie from my suitcase.

Before I could move, Xandru spun, his face livid. He jerked something out of his back pocket and then waved a familiar envelope at me.

“You fucking took off, leaving me a god damn letter, Michaela. A god. Damn. Motherfucking. Letter!” He shouted the last word.

I flinched and stepped back, folding my arms over my chest. “Maybe if you weren’t so hard-headed and would have talked when I said we needed to, I wouldn’t have had to leave a god damn motherfucking letter!”

“Something like this—” He shook the envelope again. “This isn’t us, Kales. We don’t do this!”

“Oh, really? I wasn’t sure, because I don’t know what us is anymore.” I inhaled slowly, counting cars across the way, trying to calm down. How did we get into a yelling match in the middle of the night in a hospital parking lot? “You’ve avoided me for nearly two weeks. I had no choice.”

“I didn’t know you were leaving! I just needed more time. Another chance—”

“Are you kidding me? How many chances do I need to give you, Xandru?” I had to catch myself, before my emotions blew up again and I said something I’d regret. I lifted my hands in the air and dropped my voice. “I can’t do this right now.”

The anger slid off his face, and his eyes filled with desperation. “One more. Just one more chance. That’s all I’m asking. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, here. In a parking lot of a hospital where my brother and sister are inside. I need to go in.” I turned away.

“Will you talk to me?”

“I said not now.” I strode toward the door.

He followed. “But later?”

I spun, and he almost crashed into me, catching himself only inches away. I flicked my finger against the envelope in his hand, the thick paper making a popping sound. “Did you even read that?”

“No. I won’t do it that way. Talk to me, Kales. Not now, but promise me you will later.”

“Read the damn note, Xandru.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Pulling it out, I turned back for the entrance, reading Sindi’s text as I walked. “Something’s wrong. We gotta go.”

I rushed inside and down the hall into Gabe’s room, Xandru on my heels. I found Sindi at the foot of Gabe’s bed with her hands in the air, as though in surrender. Gabe crouched on his bed, hands out, his fingers crooked like claws, like a bear about to attack.

“What the hell?”

Gabe’s head snapped toward the sound of my voice so quickly, I was shocked his neck didn’t break. Growling, he sprang off his bed and flew at me. I caught him easily, his tween boy body no match for my vampire one—so easily that I didn’t notice his aim at first. His human teeth dug into my shoulder, in the same spot Xandru had bitten me five minutes ago. As soon as the skin re-broke, Gabe started sucking. I pushed at him while Xandru grabbed his shoulders, but Gabe was latched on harder than we realized. Xandru tugged, and I screamed as Gabe’s mouth finally broke free, taking some of my flesh with him.

He passed out in Xandru’s arms just before a nurse ran into the room.

“What’s going on in here?” Her eyes grew wide, her gaze locked on Gabe’s unconscious frame in Xandru’s arms, blood covering his mouth and dripping down his chin. Her gaze flew to me, and I quickly clamped my hand over my shoulder, covering the healing wound. “What happened to you? Where’d all the blood come from?”

“I got this,” Sindi said, grabbing the woman and clamping a hand over her mouth. “Get Gabe out of here.”

“Aurelia—” I started.

“Addie’s with her. I’ll find them when I’m done with this one. We’ll take care of Aurelia.” She held the woman firmly as she tried to squirm free.

Nodding, I grabbed Gabe’s backpack. “Okay. We’ll meet you out at the car.”

Xandru scooped his arm under Gabe’s legs and lifted him like he was a feather.

“I don’t think so,” Sindi said. “Aurelia’s human. Addie’s human enough. When I found you after your gene was triggered, you nearly killed the first human you saw.”

“Gene . . . triggered?” I echoed softly. “Oh my god!”

I spun toward Gabe, his body looking so small in Xandru’s big arms, the hospital gown five sizes too large for his body and his face so young and innocent.

Well, except for the blood smeared on his lips and chin.

Fuck. My baby brother was now a vampire.