I rubbed the side of my face, where I’d slammed it into the back of Tamhas. I’d never run into a brick wall before, but I imagined it feeling similar.

Oh, terrific. The woman whose jaw I’d kicked was standing there, smirking, looking at the two of us. We were so close to escaping, too.

She noticed the way I rubbed my cheek. “Hmm. How does it feel?”

I shot her the filthiest look I could manage. And I could manage a lot.

“What are you two doing out here?” Tamhas asked.

The man with her—I hadn’t seen him before then—spoke up. “Waiting for you. Ainsley was certain you would try to flee.”

“And he owes me fifty dollars now,” she reminded him, jabbing an elbow into his side.

He winced, then winked at her.

“Ainsley. Klaus. Don’t do this. Please.” Tamhas held up his hands, palms facing out. “Please. I don’t want to fight you, but I will.”

Ainsley’s eyes shifted from Tamhas to me. “She means that much to you?” she asked.

“What do you think?” He took my hand.

“Listen.” Klaus stepped between Ainsley and the two of us. “Nobody needs to fight right now. We’re on your side.”

“Are you, now?” Tamhas laughed. “That’s rich. Did Alan put you up to this?”

“Since when are you so paranoid?” Ainsley asked.

“He’s your brother. Why would you betray his confidence?”

Her face worked, like she was trying to find the words. “For one, I would do the same if it were Klaus in that cell. And for another, we’re not here to help you get away.”

“You’re not? You’re here to take us back?” he snarled.

The energy coming from him was intense enough to almost scare me. Not that he’d hurt me—I knew instinctively that he never would—but that he might hurt Ainsley for my sake.

As irritating as she was, I didn’t want him to bring that sort of heat down on his head. Not on my account.

“We’re not trying to help you escape,” Klaus informed him before glancing at me. “My apologies, but that isn’t why we were waiting. We were merely hoping to keep you from doing something terribly foolish.”

I glared at Ainsley. “Foolish? Leaving before you had the chance to kill me is foolish? How so?” I wished I’d had the chance to finish her off earlier. Maybe I’d get lucky and get a second chance.

“If he went with you, deliberately kept you away from the clan, things would be much worse,” she informed me. “You’d have the entire clan at your heels. You would never have a moment’s peace.”

“You paint a rather bleak picture,” Tamhas observed.

“And a rather realistic one,” Klaus replied. “She’s right. What we had intended to do, instead, was to ask Mary about the presence of the Blood Moon Priestesses. Do they still exist? Do they practice their craft?”

I couldn’t help but ask. “What does that mean to me? Any of it?” And who was Mary? Another dragon I had never met? Whoever she was, she sounded important.

“If the Blood Moon Priestesses are no longer in existence as a coven, it stands to reason that you aren’t here because of your association with them.” Ainsley’s voice was gentler than before. Much kinder, too. “We’re hoping she’ll find nothing, in other words.”

“And if they’re still in existence?” Tamhas asked. “What will happen then?

Klaus and Ainsley looked at each other, then back at him. Neither of them wanted to say it. They didn’t have to. I squeezed his hand and forced the most natural smile as I could.

“We’ll have to take that chance,” I decided.

“What?” He turned to me, eyes wide. “What are you saying? You’re willing to take a chance like this?”

“Yes. I won’t let you make this sort of sacrifice for me. It’s too dangerous, and you’d be turning your back on your entire clan.” I glanced at Ainsley and Klaus with an apologetic smile. “He didn’t give me a chance to argue with him.”

“He wouldn’t, would he?” Ainsley asked.

“Keira. You can’t mean this. Please.” Tamhas touched my face. “Please. Don’t ask me to sit back and accept what Alan wants to do to you.”

“There’s no guarantee that he will,” I reminded him. “I can promise you I have nothing to do with any covens or priestesses. My mother might have, or her great-great-great-great grandmother or somebody, but not me. Do you believe me?”

“Of course.”

“Well, then. I won’t let you separate yourself from your clan on my account. Don’t argue me on this.”

He shook his head, closing his eyes as he did. “I cannot handle this. I simply can’t.”

“I couldn’t bear knowing I was the reason you broke off with the clan. One of us has to be the strong one. I guess it’ll have to be you.”

Klaus stepped up. “I’ll take the key to the cells, please.”

“Don’t do this, Klaus,” Tamhas murmured.

“It’s for the best. This way, none of the others can even accuse you of trying to break her out. It isn’t that I don’t trust you. It’s that there are so many others who like to whisper and question and fear.”

Ainsley stepped up next to him. “That’s what it’s all about. Fear. Not mistrust. They’re just afraid. Like all of us, really.” She looked at me. “Did he tell you what happened? The reason he was away for so long?”

“I didn’t,” Tamhas replied in a tight voice.

“I’m sure he will,” she continued, still looking at me. “And I think you’ll understand.”

“In the meantime,” Klaus said, extending an arm in the direction of the tunnel. “We really should get back before the alarm sounds. Things will only get worse from there.”

“I won’t leave her in there. In a cell, all alone. She’s not a prisoner, not a far as I’m concerned.”

“What do you intend to do?” Klaus sighed. He was beyond exasperation by then. I wondered how he ended up with the scars down the side of his face. He obviously wasn’t human—a human man wouldn’t stand up to a dragon the way Klaus had, and he was much bigger than any human male I’d ever known.

“I’ll be in there with her.”

“Come on,” Ainsley muttered, folding her arms and looking away. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I won’t leave her alone in there. If she has to stay with us and she has to stay in the cell—”

“I won’t leave you in a cell,” Alan said as he walked toward us from inside the cave.

I froze. Damn, damn, we waited too long. I was as good as done for. He’d kill me for trying to escape, and he might even kill Tamhas.

“I’ll do what I feel is right,” Tamhas muttered. He didn’t miss a beat, like seeing Alan standing there didn’t bother him one bit. Like he had expected us to be followed.

I felt more and more like I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone every fricking minute.

“It wouldn’t be right for you to live in a cell, like some sort of prisoner.” He stood in front of us with his arms folded. They were so thick. They could squeeze the life out of a person without hardly trying. The men I trained with would’ve killed for half his strength.

He could make a mint if he made training videos. Nobody needed to know he didn’t come across his build naturally.

“I won’t leave her in there like she’s a prisoner. Some sort of criminal. She didn’t come here with any ill will toward us. She didn’t know what she was getting into at all.”

Alan sighed. “I wish I knew that was the truth. But the fact is, regardless, I can’t have her running around the place freely. She found us. She’s a danger to us, no matter the reason why she’s here. Besides, if she could find us, anyone can.”

“Not quite, no offense,” I added when his eyes narrowed. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but just keep in mind that I’m not the one who found you. Only people with a serious lot of skills would be able to.”

“And that was before we tightened security,” Tamhas pointed out.

“We used an email from before you all went away,” I said.

“See? Things weren’t the same then as they are now.”

“Plus, it took time and a lot of work. You were already set up pretty well. Proxy servers rerouting to different countries and all that. I didn’t understand half of what she was talking about.”

“Even so. Your friend managed it. Other people could, as well.”

“I still don’t see what that has to do with whether I’m locked up here or not. I’m not going to tell anyone about you. It would mean telling them about…” I looked at Tamhas. “Telling them about you. I would never do that.”

“How do I know?” Alan demanded.

“She wouldn’t,” Ainsley murmured.

“What?” Alan and I both said at once.

That was a twist I wasn’t expecting. Of all people to stick up for me, it was her?

She shook her head at her brother. “She wouldn’t. I’m sure of it now.” Man, they looked alike. I hadn’t noticed it until that moment. “She had the chance to escape, and she didn’t take it. I trust her.”

“So do I,” Klaus agreed as he slid an arm around her waist. “She could’ve run. She could’ve taken Tamhas with her in spite of what it meant for him, knowing he would have to leave the clan as a result, that he could never come back. She put him ahead of herself and agreed to stay.”

“Even when she knew Mary might not be able to prove the Blood Moon Priestesses aren’t in existence any longer. She knew there was a chance she couldn’t prove there was no current connection to them.” Tamhas moved slightly until he was just in front of me. “She cared more about me, and the clan, than she did about her own safety. I think that says a lot for her.”

He took a step closer to Alan, who was looking less sure of himself every minute. “Alan, you know how it is when we know something. Something true, something absolutely factual. We simply… know.”

“Aye.”

“I know.”

They looked at each other for a long time. What felt like forever, really, seeing as how my future hung in the balance. No big deal or anything.

“All right,” Alan sighed. “No cell. But I want eyes on her whenever possible.”

I had the feeling that was as close to a kind word as I was going to get from him. I was grateful for it.

“Come on, then,” Ainsley said, and her voice was much brighter than before. “Let’s get some sleep. I’m exhausted. All this waiting around out here.”