We were winging things as usual.

Dash and I had no plan, no destination in mind—only to outrun the Institute until we figured out the reasoning behind the need for an army of people with unusual gifts.

I couldn’t say I was thrilled to be traipsing around in the woods again. Besides the bugs as big as my hand and the cracked-out animals, Misty Grove could be both magical and fatal. It was as if it couldn’t make up its mind whether to dazzle or kill me.

“So, what part of the Heights are we venturing to?” I asked, stepping over a mound of moss that I was certain housed a nasty little critter I didn’t want to meet.

“Huh?” Dash stared off into the woods, lost in his own little world. I watched as the silver flecks in his eyes came back into focus. “Um, I don’t know yet.”

“Are you okay?” He was more than distracted. I could sense it.

“Yeah. Just thinking,” he muttered.

“About?” I prompted.

“Something is following us.”

“What?” I hissed between my teeth, frantically looking over my shoulder.

Dash shook his head and grabbed my hand. “Keep moving. You would make a horrible spy.”

I scowled. “How long have you known?”

He shrugged, lacing our fingers together, which somehow took the sting out of him not telling me sooner. “Pretty much since we left Hurst.”

“That was hours ago. Why didn’t you say anything?” I could have done something—no clue what, but at least I could have paid attention more.

His eyes darkened, a rigidness moving into his shoulders. “I didn’t want to spook them or tip them off until I figured out their intentions and if they were alone.”

We kept walking, our pace even. I had to fight the instinct to hurry my strides and put as much distance between us and whoever tracked us as I could. “And did you? Are they alone?”

“I don’t think what is following us is a person.”

My head did a double take. “Say again?”

“I’m not sure they are human,” he responded.

“What else could possibly be pursuing us? Do creatures do that in the Heights?”

Dash lowered his lashes, shielding his eyes. “I haven’t come across anything this intelligent. If it was hunting us for food, it would have already made its move. The fact that it keeps its distance, only watching us, makes me nervous.”

I slung my hair up into a quick messy bun in case any action suddenly came our way. “You think it might have something to do with the Institute?”

“Stranger things have happened.”

That I could attest to. “Do we do something?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. Just keep walking and act normal.”

He was funny. There was nothing normal about being stalked, and the only thing I could think to do was create a distraction. “Is there a holding house nearby?”

Dash gave me a droll look. “No, not for miles that I know of.”

“Oh.”

“Why the long face?”

I peeked at him. “I was thinking about your family. They’re still out there.”

“I haven’t given up, if that’s what you’re hinting at. I’m prioritizing. Right now, we need to fly under the radar and avoid the holding houses. I’m not willing to take the chance now that they’ve increased security. We’d be walking right into their trap.”

“I never meant for you to stop searching. It isn’t fair.” I had found my family, however messed up they might be, but Dash was still an orphan in the Heights. Regardless that it was unintentional, I was the reason he couldn’t continue the search. The guilt felt all too real inside me.

His sharp eyes darted toward the treetops. “Neither is living a life on the run.” He had stopped walking and slipped a hand to the small of my back. “You haven’t done anything to deserve their relentless pursuit.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, angling my head to the side. “Just unlucky genes.”

He grinned. “I like your genes,” he murmured, leaning forward and brushing his lips across mine.

It was easy to settle into the kiss, so beautiful and perfect. A feeling of completeness filled me. Dash might not have said he loved me, but every time his lips touched mine, he claimed me as his. This was my kind of distraction, and I completely forgot about the prospective danger … at least for a hot minute.

As I wove my fingers into his silky hair, something rustled in the trees, shaking the leaves over our heads, and Dash stiffened. We broke apart, and my eyes were drawn to a branch that hung eye level to Dash and me. There was no mistaking those golden eyes.

“Blink, what are you doing here?” I groaned. Couldn’t he have waited a few minutes? I wasn’t nearly done kissing Dash.

The bird cocked his head from side to side. “It’s nice to see you too.”

“You know this creature?” Dash asked, giving the large black bird the stink eye.

I nodded, a little taken back he could see the sometimes obxnious bird. “This is the Blinken. He helped me escape the Institute.”

“A bird?” Dash questioned, doubt lacing his tone.

“Don’t give me that look. He isn’t just a bird. Are you?”

“I should think not.” Blink flared the feathers trailing down his neck.

Dash’s brows furrowed. “You weren’t kidding. It talks.”

“You helped save my friend. I don’t know how to thank you. We never would have escaped if it weren’t for your help. I owe you,” I told Blink.

“A debt one day I might need to collect, but not today.”

“Someone is coming.” Dash spun around.

The bird’s feathers ruffled, standing straight out. “Trouble is on its way. Stop eating each other’s faces off and defend yourself, unless you want to die lip locked.”

“You brought them here. Led them straight to us,” Dash hurled at the bird.

Outrage splashed across Blink’s eyes. “As if. Get your head out of your ass and protect her.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing since she woke up?” Dash growled.

“If you ask me, you aren’t living up to your reputation, Slayer. If you were, the Institute never would have gotten her.”

Dash cracked his neck. “Tell me why I can’t kill the bird.”

The last thing I wanted to do right now was argue with Dash—about a bird nonetheless. “Because he led me to you… And he is useful, you can’t dispute that.”

“He’s a bird. Why should I trust him?”

I slipped my fingers into Dash’s and tugged. “Can we just get out of here?”

“Finally, the smartest thing either of you have said all day,” Blink griped.

Dash frowned, and I was concerned he was going to pluck every feather from the bird, but his eyes went over my head, and a second later, an arrow whizzed by, just barely nicking my ear. I opened my mouth to shriek, but Dash acted fast. He tackled me to the ground, flattening his body over mine. His silver eyes pinned me to the dirt as he pressed a finger to my lips. “Don’t move,” he whispered.

“A little warning next time would be nice,” I shot back. I did my best to ignore the tingles radiating within me.

A lazy half smile was on his face. “You liked it. Admit it.”

His warm breath teased my face as he leaned down, bringing our mouths closer, and the tips of our noses brushed.

Now was not exactly the time to be thinking about kissing Dash, but I really, really wanted his lips pressed to mine. I was insane. The Night’s Guard was hunting us and, like Blink said, all I could think about was sucking face with Dash.

He turned his head so our lips aligned without our noses getting in the way. I held my breath in anticipation. Right as our lips were about to touch, Dash reacted.

His body twisted, his arms raised, and he threw a knife that was suddenly in his hand.

Where had that come from?

The blade sunk into a guard’s thigh, and he went down like a paper sack.

“Your timing really sucks.” Dash stood up, his feet eating up the ground to reach the groaning guard. He threw a punch to his nose, knocking the guard out cold. “Don’t you know the bro code? Never interfere when a dude’s about to kiss a pretty girl.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Is he always this impressed with himself?” Blink asked.

“Always,” I replied.

“You’re not done yet, Slayer. When have you ever known the Night’s Guard to send only one soldier?”

Blink was right. A tall and broad man with olive skin covered in tattoos stepped out of the brush. His hair was buzzed so close to his skull that it was hard to distinguish the color. He had no weapon in his hand, but that meant nothing nowadays. Often the ones who didn’t need weapons were deadlier, Dash being the exception. I also noticed he wasn’t wearing the standard blue uniform, instead this guy looked like he had just left a biker bar.

Dash took one look at the guard and crooked his finger at him. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Harley.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Harley growled.

Dash stepped in front of me, becoming a dangerous obstacle. “I can get behind that thought process.”

“Um, I thought the Institute wanted us alive,” I mumbled.

A tight smiled pulled at his lips. “This guy is making it personal.”

Wonderful. My fingers grabbed on to the hilt of my dagger as Harley took the first swing directly at Dash’s face. Dash was wicked fast. He sidestepped Harley’s fist and pivoted, planting his foot into the small of Harley’s back, who stumbled a step or two but recovered quickly.

I decided it was a good time to make what was becoming my signature move. Hurling a bolt of lightning at Harley, I waited for the spear of energy to hit its mark. Imagine my surprise when it pinged off his skin like he was made of rubber.

For the love of—

Harley threw back his head and laughed.

“That was funny?” Dash asked. “Then you’re going to find this hilarious.” He lunged forward, slamming his blade into the guard’s chest.

“You’re right. That was hilarious.” Harley swung out, catching Dash on the side of his face with enough force to send him sailing into the air.

Dash lifted his head, spitting blood on the ground. “Well, that’s never happened before.”

My mouth dropped open.

This was bad in epic proportions.

Dash and the guard wasted no time going at each other. Fists flying. Dodging. Dipping. Kicking the crap out of each other. He deliberately pushed me out of the fight and made certain the guard concentrated solely on him. “Why don’t you take your smug, condescending face back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of?”

“I’ll take you with me first,” the guard promised.

Nothing we did seemed to penetrate this dude’s skin. It was inhuman, as many of the Institute’s lackeys were. Dash was keeping him occupied, but for how long? He was bound to get tired. I thought about giving him a break and drew Harley’s focus to me, regretting it the moment he started stomping straight at me. In a moment of sheer panic, I blanked. All my training at the Institute flew out the window. Dash screamed my name as I caught a glint of something shiny in Harley’s hand. It was Dash’s dagger. He must have dropped it after getting backhanded. “You want a piece of me, doll?”

“Do I ever.” No one hit the guy I was in love with. I didn’t care how thick his skin was. Everyone had a weakness, and I was determined to find his. Thrusting out my leg a second before he had a chance to swipe at me with the knife, I hit him in the stomach. The guard exhaled roughly but stayed on his feet.

Damn.

The bastard moved fast for someone so big. Lifting his hand into the air, he arched the knife straight at me. Oh my God. He was going to kill me.

Dash was suddenly in front of me, throwing himself into the line of fire. I blinked, wondering what trick he had up his sleeve, but as the blade plunged straight into his gut, it became clear his ploy wasn’t to stop the guard but to take the hit for me.

No! No! No!

Shock shot through his silver eyes, and a cold, hard reality settled inside me. Dash was injured.

My brain clicked off. The sight of his blood caused something inside me to snap. The air pressure drastically changed. The wind picked up to frightening speeds. A series of lightning spears crackled across the sky one after another, building the electrical current surrounding me. The pressure caused my hair to float up, swirling around my face as the air reached uncomfortable levels of heat.

Harley took a wise step back, but he was a fool if he thought I would let him get away, not after what he had just done. The energy inside me expanded to a point where I might burst, and in a way, I did.

A sudden flash of brightness erupted from my fingers as bright as the sun—a solar flare. I’d done some pretty remarkable things with my new abilities, but this took the cake. The flare hit the guard, burning him alive within seconds. The sounds of his screams echoed in my ears, and I felt no remorse.

Harley was toast. Literally. His skin was charred, and the smell in the air made my stomach churn. I had done that. I had barbequed a man.

That was one very wicked geomagnetic storm.

“God, that was hot. Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Dash groaned, clutching his wound. His back hit a tree trunk as he leaned on it for support.

I rushed to him. “Don’t you dare die on me! Do you hear me?”

“The whole forest can hear you. You’re yelling.”

I took one look at the blood pooling on his shirt and the waterworks came flooding. Tears streamed like a river down my face. What was I supposed to do? I had to save him, but how? I didn’t have healing powers. We were hours from Hurst—the only town I knew in the area—and while I bawled like a baby, Dash was bleeding all over the ground.

In the distance, a shrilling squawk sounded. Blink dove down from the sky, wings spread, as he flew to the ground beside me. “The world must be going to shit if the Slayer has fallen.”

“Blink,” I sobbed. “What do I do?”

“Why are you looking at me? I’m just a freaking bird.”

We both knew Blink was anything but just a bird, and now was not the time for him to take an attitude with me. “He can’t die.”

Blink sighed. “Suffering a little wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Blink! If you can help, you must.”

The bird’s feet pranced over the ground. “Fine, but you might be surprised by what I am capable of.”

“So you can save him?” I demanded as my hopes soared.

“Why you want to, I’m not sure, but I guess we’ll find out.” A fine shimmer of gold dust completely covered the bird’s body—wings and all. He angled his head left and then right as the cloud of dust expanded, thickening and swirling so fast it began to blur the bird’s image.

Panic rose up inside me until …

The black bird disappeared, and in its place stood a man with midnight hair and golden eyes identical to Blink’s.

I was knee deep in stunned city.

Holy crap. Am I really seeing this? Blink is a man?

Absolutely insane. And he wasn’t just any man. He was Ryker.

The Night’s Guard stood where the bird had hovered—fully grown without feathers or a beak and utterly naked.

“Oh, my God. What the hell is going on? Where are your clothes?” I forced my eyes to stay above his shoulders, but damn…

“I might be an exceptionally large bird at times, but there really isn’t a place under my feathers to keep a change of clothes. And shifting pretty much destroys them, so I didn’t see the point in wearing any.”

Way too much information. “Check Dash’s pack. He might have something you can throw on, because I can’t have you running around in all your glory.”

“You think I’m glorious?”

“Ryker! I need your help, not your inflated ego.”

He riled through Dash’s bag and I heard him wrestling on some clothes. Striding forward, Ryker knelt down beside me. I was completely freaked out and scared for Dash’s life, but my mind still remembered who Ryker worked for. “Don’t you dare touch him!” Power flooded my veins, shimmering in the air surrounding Dash and me.

“Charlotte, calm down. I’m not going to hurt him … or you for that matter.” His brows slammed together as he came in contact with my invisible barrier. “Look, I get that you have no reason to trust me, but if we don’t get him help now, he is going to bleed out.”

And that was the very last thing in this world I wanted. If saving Dash meant the Institute got what it desired, what choice did I have? I couldn’t live without him.