She ran to the elevator where she had last seen him. He came out holding a gun. She immediately put her hands up. “Don’t do this, Dad.”

He pointed the gun down at the floor and shrugged. “I could never hurt you, Ryenne.”

Anger welled in her as the adrenaline from the fight subsided. “So, making sure your henchmen turned me into a shifter doesn’t count as hurting me?”

A puzzled expression crossed his face. “Of course not. I wanted you to experience what I did. I love being a shifter. I thought you would, too. I thought you’d be able to understand my experience better and it would bring us closer together.”

“And make it more likely I would join you?”

“Maybe,” he said. “I guess it didn’t work.”

“No.”

“Ryenne,” Lucien called out, running from the lobby. He saw the gun in Dad’s hand and slowed to a walk. “If you shoot her, I will kill you.”

Dad gave a sad smile. “You found a good one, princess. Don’t let him go. Don’t make the same mistake I did.” He dropped the gun and sank to his knees, bringing his hands behind his head.

Confusion, anger, and disgust filled Ryenne’s throat until she thought she would choke. She glanced around, searching for his people. Was this a trap?

Sensing no one hiding nearby, she and Lucien each took one of Dad’s arms and helped him to stand. “You won’t be able to hurt Mom anymore from prison,” she said.

“Oh, princess, I’d never hurt your mother, or you. I killed everyone who tried. No matter how you both feel about me now, I’ll never stop loving you and protecting you.”

Ryenne remembered the dead Fangs, Juan Gonzalez and Brian Carpenter, and the other unsolved cases of dead shifters. Dad had taken care of them, just as he had killed Joseph O’Brien. It made a sick sort of sense.

Scotty approached then, jingling handcuffs and looking a question at Ryenne.

“Go ahead.” She felt like she was floating above the scene. As a thirteen-year-old girl, she never would’ve imagined her father as a criminal, and now she watched Scotty handcuff the father she’d thought was dead until a few hours ago.

“What are you and Nick doing here?” she asked Scotty.

“When reports of an elephant in Midtown came in,” Scotty began, “it got transferred to the Shifter Crimes Taskforce, so here we are.”

They walked her father to the group of other Fangs. Cops swarmed the lobby now, escorting prisoners outside into the dark night.

Martin, now back in his human form and wrapped in a blanket, sat next to his friend Reid in the debris of the lobby.

“Merci,” she said to him simply.

He nodded.

A tap on her shoulder had Ryenne whirling around, still on high alert after the battle. There were so many scents swirling in the room, mixed with the smells of blood and sweat, that it was hard to pinpoint any one thing.

But it was just Gavin, holding hands with Nakamura.

“Thank you,” she said to him. “Your actions in the elevator may have saved our lives.”

He shrugged and grinned. “Aw, shucks.”

“Thanks for coming to save—” She stopped. She’d been going to say, me and Mom, but after the way she had treated everyone, maybe they had all only come to save Mom. In fact, how did they even know she was here?

As if reading her mind because Gavin had always known her better than anyone else, he said, “We came for both of you. Lucien saw Willow being put in a van by the big dude you took out, and he overheard them say they were taking her to you. That’s how we knew you were both in trouble and would be together.”

She sucked on her lip. She shouldn’t have doubted her best friend.

“What were you doing here?” he asked. “Did they snatch you?”

She hung her head. “No, I came willingly.”

“What?” His voice rose and Scotty, across the lobby, looked up.

“I thought I could take them down from the inside,” she said.

Gavin nodded, his brow furrowed.

“I was at a pretty low point,” she admitted. “And my brain told me it was a good idea. It kind of worked. Didn’t it?”

Nakamura squeezed Gavin’s hand and she took a deep breath.

“Nak... Taylor, thank you for coming, too,” she said. “Clearly, I was wrong about you. I’m very happy that a good guy like you is in Gavin’s life. He deserves the best.”

“Yes, he does,” Taylor said.

Gavin gave a shy smile. “Aw, shucks,” he said again, this time with much less sarcasm.

“Oh, Mom!” Ryenne ran toward the doorway where she’d left her mother, Lucien coming from out of the crowd to follow close behind.

She swung open the door. “Mom?”

The lack of response made fear and guilt war for dominance. Why had she left her mother unprotected? Had a Fang escaped the mêlée and taken her mother?

“Ry?” her mother’s voice came from above.

“Mom? Where are you?” Ryenne ran into the stairwell and put her foot on the first tread.

Her mom appeared at the top of the flight of stairs. “I’m here. I thought I’d be safer away from the door.”

“That was smart,” Ryenne said. “Really smart.” She rushed up to the landing and threw her arms around her mother. “It’s over.”

“And your father?”

“He’s alive. He’s been arrested.”

Mom sighed in relief. “I’m glad he’s alive.”

“Mom? Do you still have feelings for him?” Ryenne asked, a smile tugging at one corner of her lips.

Her mother shrugged. “I don’t know, but at least now I can get over him knowing the truth about him and about these past fifteen years.”

Ryenne nodded as she and Mom walked toward the lobby.

Lucien stopped her. “Can we talk a minute?”

The ball of negative emotions in her throat dropped into her belly. It was thick and heavy and she thought she might throw up.

Nick appeared in front of them then and offered a hand to Mom. “Glad you’re okay, Mrs. C. Can I get you anything?”

Mom shook her head and they walked toward the doors.

Ryenne turned to Lucien. “Before you say anything, I have to apologize once again for my behavior. I never meant to disrespect you. I never meant to hurt you.”

He nodded. “I know and I knew what you were going through. I understood it. I just couldn’t watch it happening in front of me.”

She fought back the tears burning her eyes and swiped angrily at her face. “I put you through so much. I am so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course.” He touched her shoulder where a little blood trickled from a gash she didn’t remember getting. “I have forgiven you. Can you forgive me for abandoning you when you needed me most?”

She looked into his eyes, surprised and relieved. “We both made mistakes. I’ll forgive you, if you forgive me.”

“Done. Maman would be so angry at me for leaving you during your adjustment period. And Dany and Emma...”

She laughed. “I can imagine them all ganging up on you. But don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“You will?” His eyebrows rose in a sexy way.

“If you’ll let me,” she said in a quiet voice. She stepped toward him.

He opened his arms to her and she melted into his embrace.

“Can I kiss you?” she whispered.

“Always.”