Blackness descended so absolutely that I wasn’t sure there was light left anywhere in the world, water rushing somewhere in the distance. Or was that just the blood in my ears? I didn’t know. All I knew was pain and that nothing, not even Maddox’s warnings, could’ve prepared me for this.

My limbs felt like they were being pulled apart, stretched, while at the same time the blackness was caging me in, sitting so heavy on my chest that it was hard to breathe. Something wrapped around my ankle, but I couldn’t move my head, couldn’t open my eyes.

I tried screaming, but there was no sound. Was I in hell? I supposed that it was entirely possible, and yet somehow I knew that I wasn’t. Trying to picture Maddox's face, to remember his words, all I could see was his soulful, sad eyes as he crooned soft words of comfort.

I was changing. Or dying. There was no way of knowing. Suddenly, whatever was around my ankle started creeping up. A vision flashed before my eyes as Maddox’s face flickered and then disappeared. Seaweed. I was stuck in grasping, sucking masses of seaweed. When I opened my mouth to try and scream again, the air I was breathing turned to a greenish, thick liquid and I sucked my lungs full of stuff, choking…choking.

I tried thrashing, but I couldn’t move. My limbs were stuck in place, tentacles winding themselves around and around my legs. Like a newborn stuck in its umbilical cord.

My skin was on fire, so were my insides, and yet somehow I was submerged and drowning all at the same time.

The sensation of something cold on my forehead grounded me for a moment, and through the fog of pain and terror, I heard low, male voices. Straining my ears, I made out snippets of conversation, but the voices still sounded like I was listening to them from underwater.

“How much longer will this go on?”

Cooper.

In my panic, I clung to the sound of his voice like a lifeline in a raging sea. I wasn’t alone. I could get through this.

Someone sighed. “I don’t know. Jesus, fuck, I hope I didn’t make a terrible mistake.”

Maddox.

“She’s strong, Maddox. You did the right thing,” Beckham said.

If only he knew how terrified I was in that moment, how hard I was trying not to succumb to the darkness, the water, he wouldn’t be telling anyone how strong I was.

The voices faded as the sound of water rushing became louder and my body felt like it was stuck under a waterfall from being crushed by something. I flailed and writhed, the agony too much to bear, when another voice broke through the haze of pain.

“What the fuck have you done?” Jaeger bellowed. “This can’t be happening. I said no, goddamn it! Did you not understand me?”

Even in my misery, I wanted to comfort him. To reach out and soothe him, tell him it was my decision and not to blame himself or anyone else.

It was my sister’s voice that came through next. “Don’t, Jaeger. Maddox told me she asked him to do it and, knowing my sister, I believe him.”

“She asked me, too. And guess what? I fucking said no. How can you watch this? How could you have done this?” Jaeger ranted, his voice low and with a dangerous edge to it. “If she doesn’t make it, I will kill you all with my bare hands.”

More voices chimed in but I lost track of what the others were saying as the blackness started creeping closer again. Hearing Jaeger’s voice had reminded me of what he’d had to endure all those years ago. I couldn’t let the darkness take me from him, too. Not from any of them. I had to survive this.

But then white-hot pain licked at the underside of my soles and the crushing feeling was back. So heavy that it felt like my bones were about to snap. And it just kept growing, as did the heat. Like I was being dragged down a hundred miles through boiling water.

I didn’t know how much time passed like that. It might’ve been only a couple of minutes, maybe hours, or days. The fire raged on, flaying me and ripping me apart while the crushing was so bad I was sure I was going to emerge from this as nothing but a charred lump of coal.

If you emerge from this.

I shut the ominous voice down. I had to. They were waiting for me. The fight was waiting for me. I was going to be in that fight, I was going to be part of protecting myself, my sister and my guys.

Clinging to that thought, I started fighting against the dark depths that were pulling me under, suddenly aware that there was a light just beyond reach. Kicking and clawing, I fought to get to the light.

With a last push, I gave it everything I had and pushed up toward the light, reaching for it with a soundless roar.

Drenched in sweat, I sat bolt upright and the heat extinguished like the fire brigade had come to douse it. The first thing I saw were a pair of electric blue eyes, dark with worry, popping open when I sat up.

“Maddox?” I croaked.

He was sitting beside my bed, wearing the same wrinkled clothes he’d worn when he’d led me to those chairs that morning. He was on the bed and pulling me into his arms in a flash.

“Starling. Thank fuck. How are you feeling?”

Stroking my hair and holding me close to his chest, I breathed him in and he smelled as delicious as he always had, but the scent was richer now. Deeper. All-consuming.

“I’m… alive. Did you change your cologne?”

A deep sigh rang through his chest. “You’re definitely alright then, I take it. Jesus, I was so worried. We all were. I was sure we’d lost you there for a while, nearly went out of my fucking mind.”

Him and me both, but he was already wracked with guilt. I wasn’t about to tell him just how terrifying it had been. It was over now and I was thankful to be alive.

“I’m okay. There was a light… When I finally saw it, I swam with everything I had in me. Cologne?”

“Swam? Those damn fever dreams,” he muttered, then pulled back to look into my eyes. “And no, I didn’t. Your senses will all be keener now, they’ll keep sharpening for the next couple of hours or so.”

“I was dreaming?” I asked him. It’d felt so real. Though, logically, I guess I’d known, it wasn’t like they would’ve gone and dumped me in a lake or something. The pain had simply wiped away any kind of logical reasoning process.

“Yes, love. They’re all dreams. Everyone has different ones. Mine were of kaleidoscopic color and fire ants.” He shuddered at the memory. Then he let out a growl and dropped his lips to mine. The relief in his kiss washed over me with such intensity that I nearly burst out in tears, feeling exactly how close he’d come to losing his mind.

He kissed me until we were rudely interrupted by my stomach grumbling.

Full lips curving into a smile, Maddox pulled back. “You must be famished.”

As soon as he said it, hunger overwhelmed me, a sharp pain in my stomach that was quickly turning into nausea. “I am. Why am I so hungry? How long was I out for?”

“Just over a day and a half. Sun’s setting now.”

I was drowning for nearly two days? “It’s no wonder I’m starving then.”

Maddox nodded, holding me close as he raised his wrist to my mouth for the second time in as many days. After what happened the last time he’d done that, I pulled away a little.

“You have to drink, love. I promise the fever won’t come back.”

I couldn’t imagine wanting to drink blood. Much less the amount that it would likely take to fill me up given how hungry I was.

“I kind of just want a burger.”

“Unless it’s completely rare, it’s not going to do much to satisfy you anymore, babe. It takes a little while to adjust to human food and drink again. It definitely won’t be enough sustenance for you for now.”

He brought his wrist to his lips and there were drops of blood welling from two tiny puncture marks when he held it out to me. The second I smelled it, a low groan ripped from my throat and I wrapped my hands around his forearm and latched on.

Relief thundered through me. Not only was I not flung back into the fire, but it was delicious. The more of it I took, the more energized I became. When I opened my eyes to meet Maddox’s, he nodded encouragingly and pushed his wrist closer to my lips.

I realized when I looked up at him that I could see things more clearly now. His eyes, for example, while I’d previously only seen clear blue eyes with a dark ring around them, I could now see that what made them so electric was actually a variety of flecks of darker and lighter blues that formed tiny diamond shapes in his iris. The dark ring that sat at the outer edge of his iris was the exact same shade of the darkest flecks.

And I’d thought they were mesmerizing before… I never wanted to look away from them again.

Then a different scent wafted in and met my nostrils and I could smell the food someone was cooking as surely as if I was right next to them in a cramped kitchen. I could even hear soft humming.

Melanie?

I dropped Maddox's wrist to ask him and as soon as I thought about going to check it out myself, I was on my feet, swaying. Maddox reached out to steady me, though I instinctively knew that I wouldn’t have fallen over. “Whoa, love. You’re going to want to take it slow at first.”

“Is that Melanie cooking?”

He nodded and took my hand in his. “It is. Speaking of whom, we should probably go tell the others you’re awake. Do you want to take a shower first and freshen up while I go tell them?”

Looking down at my drenched pajamas and feeling my hair damp when I dragged my hand through it to push it off my forehead, I nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”

“Okay. You do that, I’ll go tell them. When you’re ready, we’ll be waiting,” he told me, placing a sweet kiss on my cheek. “I’m so fucking happy you’re okay. And back with us.”

“Me, too,” I agreed, then paused when I remembered how angry Jaeger had sounded when I’d heard his voice. “Is Jaeger okay?”

Maddox stilled, caught my eyes, and shook his head. “He will be. He hasn’t stopped pacing since you, uh, went under.”

“You’d better go tell him I’m okay, then. I’ll make the shower a quick one.”

I couldn’t imagine what Jaeger had been going through while I’d been out. It would be nothing less than cruel to make him wait any longer than necessary. If I didn’t feel like a sewer rat, I would’ve gone right out there. At least Maddox could tell him I was awake and okay.

“Take your time. We’re all big boys, we can wait. Besides, we’ve all been where you are, obviously.”

With another deep kiss and another hug that he pulled away from very reluctantly, Maddox left me to my shower.

Despite his assurances that they could wait, I rushed through my shower and was out and dressed not fifteen minutes after he’d left. Moving was going to take some getting used to, my limbs felt lithe and reacted to thoughts that hadn’t even been fully formed yet.

My clumsy days were definitely long gone, that was for sure. If there was someone with me, I would’ve kissed them for that. And it was with that in mind that I skipped out of the bathroom, ready to face my boys, the hunters, and whatever else this new life would hold.

Jaeger was leaning against the door to my bedroom, scowling and eyes flashing with anger. Then he saw me and I was in his arms before I knew it. He held me so tightly it was almost uncomfortable. If I could ever be uncomfortable in their arms, that would’ve been the closest I’d come.

But it wasn’t uncomfortable, it made me feel cherished. Treasured. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I squeezed him back and a low sound, almost like a sob, escaped from the back of his throat.

“Why did you do it, Starling?” he hissed, banked anger warring with relief, stark on his handsome face. “I could’ve protected you. I would’ve done anything to protect you. You didn’t have to do this.”

Crushing me even tighter to his chest, my voice was muffled when I spoke. “I know you would’ve. I didn’t do it because I didn’t believe in you, I did it because I believed in me.”

I breathed him in and found, like I had with Maddox, that my sense of smell was so much sharper than before. Like scent in HD. Or maybe even 4k. Jaeger had always had a spicy, woodsy scent, but now it was like I was walking through the forest after a rainstorm to smell him. Intoxicating.

He released me and I reluctantly let him go. Strong arms wrapped around me from behind and a quick look down at the ink told me they belonged to Cooper. I leaned my head back on his shoulder and melted into his chest, turning to look into his blue-brown eyes.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” He smiled, then his lips crashed to mine and he kissed me senseless.

After a few minutes, someone cleared their throat and I pulled back from Cooper to find Beckham watching us, dark eyes blazing. I went to him like a moth drawn to a flame and he opened his arms for me to step into, his deep voice relieved. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks.” I hugged him tight, feeling the hard planes of his muscles under my hands. It was almost like I could feel every fiber in them, it was amazing. If hugging felt like this, what would… No. Nope. Fight first.

Leaning down to plant a soft kiss to my lips, he smiled when a soft whimper fell from mine. “Maddox tells me you went swimming. Guessing you’ll be staying out of the water for a while.”

A shiver ran down my spine. “A long while.”

“Come, love,” Maddox said, leaning on the doorjamb. “Melanie’s anxious to see you, too. We asked her to give us a minute, but I wouldn’t push it.”

“Let’s go.” Picking up Beckham’s hand with one of mine and Cooper’s with the other, we followed as Maddox led us to the living room with Jaeger in tow. “How’s she doing with all of this?”

“She’s--” Beckham started, but was interrupted by my sister’s screech. She bounded toward me and threw her arms around my shoulders, ripping me away from the guys.

“You scared the ever-loving shit out of me!” she admonished.

I returned her hug with equal fervor and buried my head in her soft blonde locks.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just needed to get it done before I lost my nerve and I was afraid that if I spoke to you about it, you wouldn’t support my decision. I don’t know that I would’ve gone through with it if you didn’t.”

“I’ve got your back, Star. I always have,” she whispered and I nodded, because it was true. I should’ve at least given her a heads up. “But, uh, sis, you’re kind of crushing me.”

I released her immediately and stepped back, seeing that her cheeks were flushed and she was gulping air into her lungs. “Shit. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

Waving me off, she put her hands on her knees and caught her breath. “I’ll be fine.”

Maddox and Cooper chuckled while Beckham and Jaeger glared at them. Jaeger put a large palm to the small of my back and guided me to a couch. My skin pebbled under his touch, but my eyes stayed on my sister’s.

“Are you angry with me?”

Melanie’s eyes flew wide open and she shook her head frantically. “No. I’m just glad you’ll be able to protect yourself against this crazy fucking hunter dude now.”

“I’ll be able to protect you, too.”

Melanie’s lips curved into a wide, victorious smile and she nodded. “I know. You’re gonna kick his ass.”

I certainly felt like I would. Looking around the room, I met each of the guys’ eyes. “So, what do you say? Can I be bait now?”

They exchanged a quick look and then Jaeger sighed and flicked his eyes to mine, a stern expression on his features. “We’re not calling you that,” he shot back. “But if we get to plan things and one of us is in the house with you at all times, then, yes. You can.”

“Well, gather round boys, it’s time to make a plan.”