“Evelyn?” Pax whispered, his jaw dropping.

Grisham gripped his hand, his blood streaming freely all over the floor. “The transfusion,” he ground out, his knuckles as white as his face.

Bones crunched as Evelyn’s saber tore Regina’s head from her shoulders, tossing her crushed skull across the room with a crash. Pax scrambled to clamp the IV lines, stemming the blood from her father’s veins.

The cat sat on the headless corpse, cleaning her paws, and Pax took a step closer, letting go of the IV pole beside her crushed hospital bed.

“Evie?” he said, lifting a tentative hand, trying not to slip on Grisham’s blood mingled with Regina’s on the floor.

“She’s not insane, boy. She’s just in her animal form. It’s been augmented by my mutated blood, but it’s still her. Evie was always able to call an inner saber. It happened when she first shifted. Her aunts told me.” He exhaled a ragged breath. “Lord, I wish I could have been there for her first transformation. I bet she was magnificent.”

The immense predator turned her tawny head, massive canines yawning as she roared.

Grisham eyes misted as he looked at his daughter. “Holler and bellyache all you want, Sweet Pea. I deserve it. I’m a disgrace as a father.”

Evie swung her head toward Pax and lowered it, rubbing her crown on his hand, almost as if marking him with her scent.

“That’s right, honey. Mark him solid. He’s yours and he’s a good catch, too. Come on back from the animal kingdom, love. We need to talk.”

Pax shot the man a look. “I think you need to shut up, Grisham. Evelyn is the one who saved both our asses tonight. She doesn’t owe you a thing.”

The cat stretched and bones popped beneath the golden fur, muscles rippling as every sinew tensed and shook. With a roar, Evelyn shifted back to human, naked and blood-smeared.

She looked from her father to Pax and then down at what was left of the wannabe mafia queen. She wiped a hand across her lips and then spat. “Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth.”

With a single stride, Pax gathered her in his arms. “Evie! Thank God.”

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she tucked her head onto his shoulder. “Not exactly the way I imagined our first physical encounter would go. Naked, yeah. But covered in blood? Not a chance.”

He laughed. “I think we both qualify for a major do over, don’tcha think?” Grabbing a sheet from her bent bedframe, he wrapped the clean cloth around her shoulders, helping her to a chair away from the mess.

Evie’s head shot up. “What about Craig?”

Pax looked at the mess and the blood and exhaled, moving to squat beside the headless corpse to reach into her pocket for the antiserum, praying they were intact. “If she was telling the truth, then he’ll be okay. He’ll have a massive headache, but okay, nonetheless.” Grinning, he held up two unbroken vials, his eyes finding Evelyn. “And he’ll be thrilled to get these cooking. It looks like you’re going to be right as rain, baby.”

“Evie—” Grisham began.

“Dad, no.” She shook her head. “I’m glad that crazy bitch didn’t kill you, but there are oceans of time between us and I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a way to bridge that. I’m grateful you stepped up and finally thought of someone else other than yourself, but going forward,” she shrugged, “I need time to process everything.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

Pax straightened and fished his cellphone from his pocket.

“Who are you calling?” Grisham asked, fear in his eyes for the first time.

“My pack,” he said, walking back to Evie’s side. “We’re going to need help cleaning up this mess. Wolves stick to together, Senator.”

Evie slid her hand into his. “Good. If there’s even a drop of wolf in the blood my father gave me, then that’s the only other species I want to keep.”

Pax chuckled. “We’ll see about that. Right now, I just want to see about Craig, get this place sanitized and you to a room where you can finish recovering.”

She slid her eyes to her father. “What about him?”

He shrugged. “That’s for the police to decide.”

Evie looked away, but he didn’t miss her wipe one eye with her free hand. “Or not. To be honest, it’s your call, honey.”

She squeezed his hand. “Let’s see what Craig can come up with. Maybe he and his team can find a cure for Asshole as well as his mutations.”

Paxton laughed, bringing her hand to his lips. “And what about us?”

She bit his finger. “We have a date by the lake waiting to claim us, remember?”

Despite all the blood, gore, and worry, just thinking about Evie and her lush curves and willing body in the woods made his cock thicken. “How could I forget?”