Mickey Mouse stared up at Silas from the bottom of his favorite cereal bowl. Technically, it was a small mixing bowl. The thing held half a box of Cocoa Krispies, which was necessary when you had a werewolf’s metabolism. It was empty now aside from a smear of milk residue. He had no memory of eating the cereal. His mind was too busy replaying Meredith’s naked body striding toward his house on an endless loop.

“I am royally fucked,” he said to Maggie. She panted up at him and wagged her tail.

It wasn’t only that Meredith was beautiful. She was also smart, funny, brave as fuck, and compassionate. She was possibly the perfect woman. And he had made her watch his ex-girlfriend fuck a demon and then thrown up on himself. And to top it all off, he’d told her he never wanted to have sex with her.

He leaned back in his kitchen chair and stared at the ceiling. He should call in sick today. He’d never taken a mental health day before. Maybe it was time.

The piercing ringtone of his phone made him grab his throbbing head. Jason. He tapped the screen. “Are you back in town, bro?”

“Back and already at the hospital with Laina. You better get down here. Grateful is preparing to wake her up.”

* * *

Meredith filled her For Fox Sake coffee mug with the tepid bean water the humans drank at the station. Damn. When was Silas getting in? After the night they’d had, he seriously needed to rectify the caffeine situation.

“Yo, Meredith,” the captain called from his office. “Can you come in here for a minute?”

“What’s up?” She joined him, closing the door behind her for privacy.

He handed her a folder. “I need you to check out a potential shifter disturbance at the city zoo. Seems an extra bear has appeared in the exhibit and the zookeepers are flipping out. Go make sure the guy finds his way home and tell him to get his jollies with his own kind.”

“Sure. Uh, should I take Silas with me?”

“Didn’t he tell you? He called in.”

She frowned. “Sick?”

“No. Something with his sister. The family is meeting at the hospital today.” The captain’s face contorted with sympathy. “Between you and me, I think they’re preparing themselves for the worst.”

“I’ve gotta go,” she said. She waved the folder. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Go get ’em, tiger.”

She walked out the door, breaking into a run once she was safely out of his sight.

* * *

After the welcome home hugs and the small talk, Silas stood at the end of Laina’s hospital bed with Jason, Selene, and Kyle by his side. Jason had his arm protectively around Selene, Kyle cradled Laina’s hand in both of his, and Silas… he crossed his arms and prayed to the goddess this would be over quickly. Sometimes it was hard being single in a family of doubles.

Grateful waddled into the room a moment later, carrying a Victoria’s Secret bag complete with pink tissue paper. She locked the door behind her.

“Are you saving my sister with sexy underwear?” Silas looked pointedly at the bag.

She shrugged. “It was the right size, and I thought the paper would hide what was inside.”

“Whatever works,” Kyle said. “Thanks for doing this.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Thank me when your wife recovers.” Grateful pulled the stethoscope from her neck and pressed it to Laina’s chest.

“Is there a chance it won’t work?” Jason asked, exchanging glances with Selene.

“I’ve never worked with sulfralite before.” Grateful returned her stethoscope to her neck and tucked her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, her belly stretching her scrubs underneath. “I promise, I’ll do everything I can.”

A knock came on the door. Everyone froze. Grateful narrowed her eyes. The knock came again. “I’m in the middle of a procedure,” she called. “What do you need?”

“It’s Meredith. Is Silas in there?”

Grateful raised an eyebrow in Silas’s direction. He sighed and crossed the room to open the door. An unexpected swell of warmth filled his chest at Meredith’s smile on the other side.

“When you didn’t show up at the station, I started to worry. Manahan said you’d be here. I thought you might… need someone.” She searched his face. A slight blush colored her cheeks and didn’t that make him feel like the king of the world? She stepped in closer. “What’s going on with Laina?”

“Who are you?” Grateful interrupted.

“Meredith.” She glanced at the other faces in the room and then at Silas. He should introduce her. He cleared his throat to speak, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. “I’m Silas’s new partner,” Meredith said for him.

He didn’t correct her. What was the point? “This is a family occasion, Meredith. And it’s not safe.”

“I want to stay with you.” She locked eyes with him, rubbing her palms together in tiny nervous circles. “I thought you could use some moral support.”

Goddess she was beautiful, and it was kind of her to come. Thoughtful.

“Silas?” Grateful asked.

Inevitably, it came down to him. He should tell her to leave. They hadn’t known each other long, and she didn’t owe him anything. But when he looked at her, he couldn’t find the strength. If she was willing to stay, he needed her. He ushered her deeper into the room and pulled her back against his chest. The full body contact made his stomach flip and his pulse pound. “Give Grateful room,” he whispered in her ear.

She smiled up at him over her shoulder, those warm brown eyes wrinkling at the corners. “Sure. Okay.” She didn’t pull away.

“You all might want to stand back for this,” Grateful said.

Everyone but Kyle took a step away from Laina’s bed. When Grateful gave Kyle a questioning look, he shook his head. “If she can survive it, I can too.”

With an acquiescent nod, Grateful reached into her bag and retrieved a mass of bones and feathers held together with wooden rings and decorated with rough-hewn stone beads. Silas had never seen anything like it.

“What is that?” Selene asked, shivering in Jason’s arms. Silas felt it too, a cold rush coming off the thing.

“It’s a juju—a magical charm. I’ve jerry-rigged this one to draw out the substance emitting negative energy in Laina. Angel feathers, that’s the key.” She placed the juju on Laina’s chest, where it rested like a spread hand.

“Angel feathers? Like from an actual angel?” Meredith’s eyes popped.

“All we have to do is activate it, and this thing is going to become the world’s strongest sulfralite magnet.” Reaching behind her head, Grateful retrieved Nightshade from under her lab coat. The sheath on her back was enchanted to conceal the blade, and Silas enjoyed the feeling of Meredith pressing against him at the sight of its purple glow. Grateful lowered the tip of the sword to the juju, energy writhing off the thing like an awakened serpent.

“Trezitae locul de muncati. Trezitae locul de muncieti.”

The energy flowed into the grisly mass on Laina’s chest. Silas gasped in time with Meredith as the juju rose up on bony legs, becoming a wicked-looking spider. It scampered across Laina’s chest, its faceless head sniffing her torso. The thing stopped near her belly button, the site of one of her stab wounds. It lowered its feathered belly to her skin.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, a faint vibration rattled the bones. The juju glowed pink, then red. Laina’s body quivered.

“What’s happening to her?” Kyle asked.

Grateful didn’t answer.

The shaking grew more violent. “I don’t like this,” Kyle protested. “She’s seizing.”

Before the witch could say anything, Selene doubled over, groaning and holding her stomach. “What’s wrong?” Jason gripped her shoulders.

“It hurts,” Selene cried. “Stop it! Someone stop it!”

“Turn it off,” Jason yelled to Grateful.

The witch shook her head, her eyes narrowing on Selene. “I couldn’t, even if I wanted to.”

With a growl, Jason grabbed for the juju, but its power blew him backward, his body slamming into the radiator. Silas rushed to his side.

Selene moaned, gripping her stomach. Without being asked, Meredith hurried to her, rubbing her back and whispering comforting words to her.

The juju turned from red to purple and Laina’s body torqued off the bed. She parted her lips and a fountain of black sprayed from her mouth. Grateful was ready with a deep plastic bag, which she pressed to Laina’s mouth to catch the emission. Selene gave one last scream and then black poured out of her mouth as well. Powdery and copious, it fogged around her when it hit the floor.

“Don’t breathe it in,” Grateful commanded. Silas held his breath. With a flick of Nightshade’s blade, she muttered a series of unintelligible syllables and a bubble of magic floated toward the black powder, consuming and containing it. Selene continued to purge whatever the black stuff was from her body.

Meredith whispered to Selene, “It’s going to be okay. Breathe.”

The sickness seemed to go on for a day and a half. Silas helped Jason back to Selene’s side, huddling next to Meredith. Until finally, the juju turned black. The bones and feathers toppled over and became inanimate once more. Selene and Laina stopped retching, their previously tense, twitching bodies, calming. Jason pulled Selene into his arms.

Silas rose and helped Meredith from the floor. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. As he met her dark brown gaze, tension bled from his shoulders. Without a word, he took her hand in his, threading his fingers with hers. When she didn’t protest, he pulled her to his side.

“Why was that inside me?” Selene asked, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She searched every face in the room, but no one had any answers, not even Grateful.

In bed, Laina sputtered, her eyes fluttering open. Kyle gathered her into his arms. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.” He brushed her hair back from her face.

Her mouth worked.

“Water. She needs water,” Kyle said.

Grateful obliged, bringing a straw to Laina’s lips. She drank greedily. Jason got the hint and pulled a half-empty bottle of water from Selene’s purse, opening it and offering it to his fiancée.

Laina’s gaze left Kyle and sought out Silas, her hand twitching by her side. “Si… las,” she rasped.

“She wants you!” Kyle said, glancing at Silas.

He left Meredith’s side and crossed to Laina, taking her opposite hand in his.

Laina pulled him closer, her arm shaking with the effort. When her lips were near his ear, she rasped one word, “Dragon.”

“What did she say?” Kyle asked. Laina collapsed in his arms, the machine she was attached to going haywire. “Laina? Laina?” Kyle shook her gently.

“She’ll be okay. These things are meant for humans,” Grateful said, her fingers finding Laina’s pulse. “But she needs rest. Don’t push her.” She silenced the alarm and whispered to Laina to try to relax.

“She said dragon.” Silas looked at his brother.

Jason, who had helped Selene into a chair, looked up in alarm. “Dragon? Did you say dragon?”

Silas nodded.

“She’s free.” Selene fisted Jason’s shirt. “Ryker must have returned Nickelova’s heart.”

Jason shook his head. “He would never have given up that heart.”

“Then how did I get the toxin inside of me?” Selene pointed to the black dust swirling inside Grateful’s containment spell.

Silas rested his hands on his hips. “You two have been out of the country. It seems unlikely that the same person who infected Laina infected you.”

“Unless she was already infected,” Meredith said. “Who knows how long that was inside her?”

Grateful slid on a pair of rubber gloves and scooped the juju into a toxic waste bag. “Meredith is right. Laina was stabbed. It’s possible that a different mode of infection would have a different reaction in the host. When you were Nickelova’s prisoner, did she give you anything to eat or drink?”

“Yes,” Selene answered. “Not much. Water and an awful tasting cake.”

“My guess is she infected you then,” Grateful said. “It’s possible Nickelova simply didn’t have a chance to use the power the sulfralite had over you.”

Jason stroked back the hair from Selene’s face, whispering to her, comforting her.

“What power is that? What does sulfralite do?” Meredith asked. Silas frowned. He should have explained to her what had truly happened to Laina.

“Sulfralite is a rare mineral that can give the user mind control over any supernatural. It’s only found in the underworld, which means—”

“It was brought here by a demon.” Meredith turned her face toward Silas. “Do you think that’s what was used to make that vampire stake himself?”

Silas nodded. “Yes.”

“Can I speak to you alone?” Meredith asked. She gestured with her head toward the door.

“I’ll be right back,” Silas announced. Every eye stared at him in various levels of shock as he followed Meredith from the room. Down the hall, she ducked inside a small visitors’ room with couches and vending machines. Thankfully, there was no one else in it.

Meredith whirled on him as soon as the door closed. “Do you think the demon Soleil was with last night had something to do with Laina’s injuries? How else would Alex get sulfralite?”

“Anything is possible.”

“You have to talk to Soleil. You have to find out who this demon is. What if he had a hand in this?”

Silas paused. “You’re right. I’ll confront her and find out the truth.”

She nodded. “Can you tell if she’s lying? What if she’s in on it?”

“Soleil is a lot of things, but she’s not a killer. Plus, I’ll know if she’s hiding something from me. It will be awkward to interrogate her, but it has to be done.”

“It’s the only way.” Meredith nodded a few times, then licked her lips and rubbed her palms together. For a moment, he took her in, her warm brown eyes, her fox-red hair, the way the shape of her face reminded him of Wonder Woman, strong and kind.

“Thank you for taking care of me last night,” he said.

“I didn’t mind.”

“I should have kept it together.”

“It was a traumatic night. I don’t blame you for going a little crazy.”

He stepped in closer, close enough that he brushed the front of her blouse. She didn’t back away. “Thanks for coming today. I needed someone, and you were there for me.”

“Anytime,” her voice was thready. He could hear her pulse pick up its pace. Her lips parted on a deep inhale as if she intended to say something. But then she turned like she might leave.

He raised a hand to block her shoulders gently. She looked up at him, her eyes wide, her expression open, expectant.

“You came here for me,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Her cheeks reddened and she shrugged. “I’m your partner. Isn’t that what partners do?”

“You’re not my partner.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because the thing about partners…” He licked his lips. “Partners aren’t supposed to do this.” He kissed her then. The kind of kiss you remember, not because of its carnal dexterity but because it percolates deep inside your soul long after it ends. He dug one hand into her hair and swept her against the wall, his other working under the hem of her blouse and feasting on the warmth of her skin.

Meredith stiffened at first, either shocked or confused by the passion behind his kiss. But soon, her nails dug into the back of his shirt, and she pulled him tighter against her, widening her stance to bring him even closer. She opened for him, and his tongue explored her mouth, his hips grinding into her lower belly. The move elicited a soft moan. A hard aching need overcame him, his wolf begging him for more.

He recoiled when the door opened abruptly, trying his best to look casual and hide the raging hard-on he had for her. Exchanging awkward glances with Meredith, he waited as one of the doctors used a vending machine and then left as quickly as he’d come.

She exhaled deeply when the door closed again. “I guess I’m not your partner, then.”

“I think we better take this non-partnership somewhere more private. Go out with me tonight?”

“Valentine’s again?”

“Six thirty?”

She tipped her face up to give him an exaggerated wink. “I better say yes. Goddess knows you need a designated driver.”