My chest clenched. I was about to enter full on panic mode, but I couldn’t let that happen. Delpha’s words rang through my head. The codex. Did it have some answers? But how was I even going to find it? I eyed the water on the floor. I couldn’t just leave it there. I ran down the hall, grabbed some towels, and threw them down. Hopefully that would prevent the floor from falling through to the library below. Not that library damage mattered when Delpha had disappeared into thin air.

I pulled out my phone making the scary realization I didn’t even have Pierce’s number. I kissed the guy. Three times. Yet I didn’t have his number. Well, at least I hadn’t slept with him without getting it.

Hopefully someone downstairs could help. I stepped over the displaced door into the hallway before slowly heading down the stairs. The library sounded silent, but that didn’t mean anything. I hoped I wasn’t going to walk into an even bigger mess than I left behind upstairs.

I was glad to be wearing sneakers, anything with a heel would have made my presence way more obvious as I crossed the wood floors.

I saw no one at either the circulation desk or information desk. That wasn’t surprising. The library was empty more often than not. I had no clue where Mr. G spent all the time he was supposed to be working, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to find out for a long time. Everything looked exactly the way it had looked before I went upstairs aside from the folding chair lying in the middle of the floor.

I ignored the chair and headed through the library toward Vicky’s office. The door was wide open, and it was a complete mess. Filing cabinets had been upturned, and there were papers everywhere.

My stomach lurched. This couldn’t be good. I probably should have left. Headed out to my car and left the town far behind, but I couldn’t quite make myself do it. Could I really leave Delpha and Vicky to whatever this was? And what about Pierce? Where was he? He said he’d only be gone a few hours.

I left Vicky’s office and headed back toward the front entrance. From that vantage point I noticed the door to the lower level was ajar. This was one of those moments again. Like pulling over on the side of the road at night, going downstairs was a bad idea. I was pretty much asking to be killed. But what else could I do? The only lead I had was the codex, and if it was anywhere in the library, it had to be in the lower level.

Before I could make a decision the door to the library burst open. I held out my hands in fists in front of me in defense. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but it kind of looked like what Delpha had done.

Ty walked in, and I immediately went on high alert. He shook his head and held out his hands in front of him. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Like you would admit to it even if you were going to hurt me?”

“I promise. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help.”

“Likely story.” I gazed around, looking for a weapon to use to protect myself. I grabbed the biggest book within reach.

“I don’t know what Pierce told you, but right now you and I are on the same side.” He was even taller than I remembered, and the muscles visible in his short sleeve shirt left little doubt how much stronger he was than me.

“Why would you help?” I held out the book. “You don’t like Pierce. Don’t lie.”

“Pierce and I may not be friends, but I’ve known him my own life. If anyone is going to hurt him it’s going to be me.” There was no trace of amusement in Ty’s voice.

“Hurt him?” Was Pierce in trouble too? Were there more guys like the suits, or was it something else? There was so much going on in this town I couldn’t keep up.

“Yes, we need to help him.” Ty glanced over his shoulder at the door and then back to me.

“How can we help him?” I wasn’t going anywhere with Ty until he gave me some answers. My head was spinning, and all I wanted to do was wake up from this nightmare. Sure I’d had some amazing kisses with Pierce, but the rest of my few days in Willow Harbor had been anything but dreamy.

“Where’s Delpha?” He sniffed the air as if he could have smelled her. “I find it odd she’d have left you alone. Isn’t she your body guard now?”

I let the body guard comment go. It was the least of my problems. “She disappeared.” There was no other way to describe how she’d dissipated into thin air.

“Disappeared?” He arched an eyebrow.

“Yes. She was fighting these guys with fangs and disappeared.” I figured it couldn’t hurt to tell him that much.

“What kind of fangs? What were they?” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“How would I know? Big fangs? They weren’t nice. Before yesterday I didn’t even know supernatural creatures were real. The guys were wearing business suits if that helps.”

“Business suits? Fine. I’ll figure that part out myself. I know exactly what we need to do.”

“Ok… care to share?” I loved the enthusiasm, but it did nothing unless I was in on it.

“We need to get the codex to Delpha.”

“And the codex is downstairs, right?”

He nodded.

“Ok, but it can’t be super easy to get. I mean isn’t it an important book?” I wasn’t sure how much Ty knew. It was weird viewing him as a potential ally when Pierce had warned me against him.

“Yes, it’s an important book. It’s locked, and Vicky has the only key.” He looked in the direction of Vicky’s office.

“Vicky isn’t here.”

“I know that.” He glanced over his shoulder again as if expecting someone to walk through the doors at any moment.

“Then how are we going to get the codex?” It was an obvious question, but one he wasn’t addressing.

“But you might be able to open it anyway…”

“Um…” And he’d lost me.

“Follow me.”

“Wait.” I shook my head. “You also said we have to get the book to Delpha. Where is she? She just disappeared.” Was she even in Willow Harbor anymore? Anything was possible as far as I was concerned.

“She’ll be where she feels strongest.”

Ok, another weird answer. But it was decision time. Did I follow the guy who Pierce had warned me to stay away from? What other choice did I have? I couldn’t run into the street screaming for help. I wouldn’t even know who to trust. Pierce had made it seem like I couldn’t trust anyone but him and Delpha. “I really hope you aren’t lying.”

“I’m not. Let’s hope we’re not too late.” He hurried down the stairs, and I followed not sure what I was most afraid of. I had no idea who those guys in the suits were, and I didn’t necessarily want to know. I also didn’t want to meet any of their friends.

“Damn.” Ty stepped back into me when we reached the bottom of the stairs.

I didn’t mind once I realized why he had the reaction. There was broken glass everywhere, books ripped apart and all over the floor. “Someone was here looking for something.”

“And they may have found it.” Ty pointed to a door toward the back of the main room that was wide open. “Let me go first.”

Considering the condition the rest of the place was in, I had no problem letting him take the lead on this.

He approached the room cautiously and stepped inside. “This room is just as much of a mess.”

I peeked in, and he wasn’t kidding. There were books everywhere. “What are we looking for with the codex? How will I know if it’s the right book?” I picked up a huge volume covered in dust. “They all look old.” And the covers were either blank or had strange designs.

“You just know.”

“Excuse me?” I set down the heavy book. “How do you just know? There are no titles on any of these.” I moved through a few more afraid to even open them.

“My first advice would be to do more than look at the cover.” He picked up a book, blew off some dust, and flipped through it.

“I can’t get hurt by opening them?”

He snorted. “A librarian afraid to read books?”

“These are supernatural books. They could be dangerous.”

“They aren’t dangerous. The really dangerous books are locked in another room.” He set the book aside and grabbed another.

“Oh. That’s reassuring. What if one of the really dangerous ones was thrown in here?”

“Look.” Ty knelt down in front of me. He was huge and intimidating.

“What am I looking at?”

“Finding this book is important. If we don’t find it, you will be in grave danger anyway. So stop worrying about a book eating you and flip through them. You are looking for any mention of shapeshifters.”

“I never said the books were going to eat me,” I muttered, but he was already back to searching through books.

I returned to the huge one I’d picked up first. I coughed as a huge billow of dust hit my face.

“You all right over there?” Ty called. His voice echoed off the walls of the small room.

“Fine.” I coughed again.

I read the title page. A Dictionary of Shifters. “We aren’t looking for a dictionary, correct?”

“No. It wouldn’t be labeled as a dictionary.”

“Ok.” I moved onto a small red book, maybe we were looking for something small. The title page had been ripped out, so I looked at the first chapter heading. Preparing a Young Bear For His First Mating. I closed that book fast.

I flipped through a few more: A Guide to Inter-Shifter Genetics, Once Upon a Werewolf, and Magic and Fur. “Are all the books in here about shifters?”

“Yes.” Ty called over. “Any luck?”

“No. Nothing so far.”

“Me neither. I think it’s gone.” Ty’s voice hit me like a ten-ton weight.

“What do you mean it’s gone?” I rose to my feet, brushing dust off me in the process. “Maybe Vicky took it and hid it?” The door hadn’t been broken down. “Whoever got into this room used a key, which is weird, right? Why break everything else?”

“Maybe they were searching for something else out there. Who knows? And those glass cases weren’t locked, just sealed.” Ty frowned. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.”

That made two of us. “What do we do if we can’t find the book?” We needed to move on to plan B.

“We have to find it. It’s the only idea I have. We need to get the codex to Delpha.” Then Ty froze. “Get behind me, Mattie.”

I heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, but I made no motion to move. “No. I am done getting behind people.”

“Mattie,” Ty hissed.

I stood my ground, but then almost fell over when I saw a tall figure step into the room.

“Hello, Mattie.” My ex-boss, Professor Longhorn, walked in clutching a worn book in his hands. “Lovely to see you again.”

“What are you doing here?” I stepped away from him, my eyes on the book rather than his eyes. That was the codex. I knew it without knowing what it said inside.

“By here do you mean this town?” he asked. “I’m here to see you. And to get something that belongs to me. Well, to get two things that belong to me. You included.”

“I don’t belong to anyone.” I shivered. Professor Longhorn had been pushy, but he’d never used words like ‘belong to him.’ How did he even know I was here?

“You do belong to me, Mattie. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” His blue eyes were cold.

“Leave me alone.” My hands balled into fists at my side. “I don’t work for you anymore, so you can’t tell me what to do.”

He laughed. “As if working for me has anything to do with this.” He moved the book under his arm. “You have such a flair for the dramatic.”

“Get out of here.” I gritted my teeth.

“No. That’s not going to happen.”

“You don’t get to make all the rules. I work here, and I’m telling you to leave the library now. And give me that book.”

He laughed again. “So much attitude. What happened to the meek little girl? You spend a few days here, and you think you’re strong. You aren’t.”

“Leave.” I gritted my teeth.

The professor’s eyes darkened. “Wolf, leave us alone, please.”

Ty growled— like an animal. I glanced over to where a giant grey wolf stood next to me. I mean giant as in he stood on all fours above my waist. The very fact that I wasn’t passed out could be attributed to having seen Pierce transform before, but my lightheadedness made it clear it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

“You are powerless to do anything. This isn’t your problem. Leave.” Professor Longhorn appeared completely nonplused at seeing Ty’s form, which made me even more concerned with what he was.

Ty gnashed his teeth.

The professor laughed. “If you insist on playing, I suppose I can play too.” He pulled off his shirt, revealing a torso covered in deep scars.

I searched around for a weapon. There had to be a way out of there. I wasn’t going to die in a tiny room in the basement level of an old library.

“Don’t go anywhere, Mattie.” He reached out and roughly grabbed my arm.

Ty pounced on Professor Longhorn.

He dropped my arm as the air shimmered, and he became an even bigger wolf than Ty. His fur was black. A wolf. Professor Longhorn was a wolf? I stepped away quietly, grabbing the book he’d dropped and ran for the stairs.

The two wolves fought viciously, gnashing teeth at each other’s necks. I couldn’t stay to watch. Maybe I should have tried to help Ty, but at the moment I only had one thought. Get the book and myself far away.

Ty had told me to find Delpha, but how was I going to do that? Where would Delpha be? As I ran through the lobby of the library and out into the streets, it hit me all at once. Delpha had said the Oceanid side of her was even stronger. Did that mean the water was where she was strongest?

In my gut I knew I was right, and that was enough for me. I ran as fast as I could down the street and back around toward the beach. I found the first beach access I saw and headed down toward the water. I didn’t see Delpha, so I kept running. Where was she? Was I totally wrong?

I ran for over a mile, too afraid to look over my shoulder. I strained my eyes for her blonde hair, something. I saw no one on the sand, but I noticed a boat floating a few miles out. It was the only boat out on the choppy water.

I kept running. The public beach disappeared as the lighthouse came into view.

And then I heard my name. It was like a whisper in the wind, but I heard it and knew it wasn’t my imagination. I stopped and looked around. I heard it again and realized it was coming from the water.

Come. Mattie, come.

Once again I was faced with a crazy decision. Did I walk into the water, fully dressed? And what about the book? I couldn’t put that down.

The sea churned beneath me, the waves slamming against the shore as the storm worsened above. I heard the voice again calling my name, urging me to step closer to the water. It whipped around me, like a physical manifestation of the words.

Logic told me to stay away, but logic didn’t rule in Willow Harbor. Fate did.

I stepped into the water, clutching the book against my chest, and giving myself over wholly and fully to fate.

A wave crashed down on me, pulling me, still clutching the book, under water.

I choked, struggling to breath as the current pulled me from shore.

I forced my eyes open and saw Delpha, only she wasn’t Delpha. She was clear somehow, like a hologram or something. She took the book from my arms, and the image of her disappeared.

Another wave washed over me, and everything went black.