Embrace the Night

8

“Iwant everything we don’t absolutely need in the morning loaded in the car tonight before Alex heads out.”

Merek growled the command as he picked up Chloe’s biggest suitcase and his own duffel bag.

Alex and Chloe stared at him for a long moment, but then Alex shrugged and went to get his stuff. Chloe plucked a few things from her smal er suitcase and then closed the lid. “I’l keep out the clothes I’m wearing tomorrow. We can just load up the rest.”

“Okay, I’l do the same,” Alex said as he shuffled clothes around, zipped up his backpack, and slung it over his shoulder. Then he fol owed Merek to the car and helped him stow al their gear.

When they were done, the only things left out were the sleeping bags and pil ows, two lanterns, and a few personal items.

Stil , Merek’s shoulders twitched. It was an itch he couldn’t scratch, and it had started just as they were cleaning up after dinner. The feeling had only intensified as the sun sunk toward the horizon. He had no idea what was coming, but he knew something was. He didn’t even know when it was coming. Tonight, tomorrow, next week.

He. Didn’t. Know.

Fuck.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he suppressed the frustration that roared within him. There was nothing he could do about this now. His precognition was unreliable in this situation. He could only be as prepared as he could be. It was ironic that he normal y had to have a stranglehold on his sight, and now that he’d give anything to cal it up, it had abandoned him to the same blind fate that most people dealt with al the time.

“Hey.” Chloe’s softness pressed to his back, her arms wrapping around his waist from behind. “You want to tel me about it?”

He sighed and let his hand drop away from his face. The lake stretched before him, as smooth and unruffled on the surface as he usual y was. The thought didn’t reassure him at al . “There’s nothing to tel . I don’t know anything. I can’t see. ”

“You’re doing the best you can.” She pressed her forehead between his shoulder blades, her fingers moving in soothing circles on his stomach.

He caught her hand in his, flattening it to his bel y. Much more of her stroking and his body would respond with embarrassing enthusiasm. “It might not be enough.”

“I know that.” She slipped around until she leaned against his front. Tipping her head back, she met his gaze. “Alex knows that. There aren’t any guarantees.”

“If anything happened—” He choked off the sentence, unable to finish it, but he forced the words to grate out. “I can’t watch you die, Chloe. I can’t.”

“You won’t have to.” She propped her chin against his chest, cuddling closer. “I know you’l get us through this. We’re going to be fine.”

He snorted to cover the depth of his reaction to her trust in him. He’d wanted it, and now he had it. “Did the voices tel you that?”

She pinched his butt. “No, my precognition isn’t real y strong enough for that. I just know that I trust you, and I have faith that we’l come out of this okay. I have to believe that.”

“Why?”

A sigh flattened his T-shirt against his chest before she dropped her arms and stepped away from him.

“Because you and Alex don’t. So, that’s my job.”

He caught her hand, keeping her close. She gave him a soft smile when he lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Thank you.”

She shook her head. “Thank you. For everything.”

For coming along on this case with her and Alex? For last night? The words hovered on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to know if her gratitude was specific to her, to them, or just for his being a cop. Why he was making that distinction now, when he normal y thought of himself as a cop first and foremost, was beyond him.

He was saved from making a bumbling ass of himself by Alex. “The moon’s going to rise in about ten minutes. You guys need anything from me before I shift? I like to Change before the moon goes up. I don’t know if that makes my chances any better because I can already feel how it pul s at my bones, but . . .”

The kid trailed to a babbling close, his fingers clenching and unclenching, his eyes red-rimmed, his body twitching with al the signs of a junkie just off a bender.

Merek nodded. “Do what you have to do. We’l be here when you get back. I want to head out at first light, so you can crash in the car on the drive.”

“Sounds good.” Alex nodded with the speed and elasticity of one of those wobbly-headed dol s. “I’l be back as soon as the moon starts to set.”

“Take care of yourself.” Chloe stepped forward, lifted up on tiptoe, and popped a kiss on his cheek. “Try not to get in any trouble.”

He flashed a quick grin, which bared his long, curved fangs. “I never do.”

“I know.” She stepped back while he paced in a restless circle. “You’re an awesome kid. Young man.

Whatever.”

“Thanks.” That wild smile shone again, then a shudder rippled through him as the last rays of the sun began to fade from the horizon. “Gotta go.”

Spinning, he al but flowed into the tepee, his body so primed to Change it’d probably taken al his control to stay in human form as long as he had.

Merek tensed as he heard the kid shifting, and held his breath, waiting to see if Alex made it over or if they lost him right there. Chloe reached back for his hand blindly. He took her hand, hauled her to his side, and felt her flinch at each sound of a bone breaking. Sweat popped out on his forehead, trickling down his temple and sticking his shirt to his back. His gut churned as the silence stretched on for long, long moments and there was no sign of Alex.

Somehow, this hadn’t occurred to him as a possibility, that they might lose the contained young wolf just because he was a wolf. Merek’s jaw clenched. He should have seen it coming. The boy’s mother had died the same way, Chloe had told him so. He let go of her hand, met her haunted gaze for a fleeting moment, and then strode toward the tepee. “I’l check on him.”

Check and see if he’d made it through, but the eerie silence was damning. Every footfal rang too loudly in his ears. He didn’t want to go in, didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know. His heart pounded in slow, painful thuds. Sucking in a deep breath, he braced himself as he reached the tepee’s opening.

I’m here. Alex’s telepathic voice sounded in Merek’s mind, and relief hit him with the subtle force of a freight train. The wolf stepped outside, but ugly memories lurked in the pale eyes as they met Merek’s. It’s always . . . harder at first at full moon. And then it’s way too easy.

“I understand.” He laid a hand on the wolf’s back, one of the few times he’d deliberately touched the wary boy. The muscles twitched beneath his hand.

Do you? The question was sharp edged, brittle.

“I have my own powers that are a bitch to control. They don’t threaten my life, but I can relate to some of what you go through.” Leaving his hand where it was, he sent a wave of soothing calm to the vibrating young wolf. Ful moon fever wasn’t easy for a wolf to fight, and with his pack in Seattle, Alex wouldn’t have had to work as hard, would have had older wolves to help and guide him. He’d have had the protection and freedom of running on pack land.

The muzzle dipped in a nod. Maybe you do get it.

He kept up the stream of discipline and control that flowed from his hand to the wolf, knew from the way Alex quivered that he felt the magic, but didn’t try to escape it. Good. Anything Merek could do to help, he would, and he wanted the werewolf to know it. “Chloe and I can never understand exactly what you go through, but we’re here if and when you need us. Believe that, if nothing else.”

The wolf’s eyes closed, and he final y leaped sideways and shook. I believe you, but I have to go. Now.

The need to run is ripping me up inside.

“Go. We’l be here.”

Alex shot forward, passed Chloe, and slid to a stop at the lake’s shore to fling back his head and bay at the moon.

The lonesome sound ended in a howl of agony when the lupine body jerked sideways as though struck by an invisible sledgehammer. The report of a rifle came a split second later, fol owed by the reverberating gut-punch of Merek’s warding spel being breached, and then time assumed the elastic quality of battle.

Merek launched himself forward, knocking Chloe to the ground in the same motion as he pul ed his weapon from his concealed holster and fired into the stand of trees north of their campsite, just beyond the stretch of his warding spel s.

“Fuck,” he snarled. How many of Smith’s men were there? He stretched his senses, found four distinct energies lurking beyond the line of trees. Not good.

“Alex!” Chloe screamed; terror and rage rang clear in her voice. Wel , at least she wasn’t going hysterical on him. Then again, it was Chloe.

She tried to crawl out from under him, and he shoved her back to the ground. Bul ets slapped into the dirt around them, made it spray in their faces. “Stay down, damn it!”

“Alex was shot, damn it,” she retorted, flinching as he returned fire on the terrorists.

“I’d like for him to be the only one, so stay where you are.” He felt the bul ets exploding through his shields, then the hot slicing blade of the Magickals combining their abilities to rupture the warding spel entirely. They were powerful; he could feel the strength that only came with age.

Sweat filmed his skin, made his clothes cling to his flesh. He ignored it, shoved the discomfort away. That didn’t matter now. Only Chloe and Alex mattered. He could see the kid convulsing on the beach, his lupine body jerking spasmodical y in the flickering firelight. Fear coated Merek’s tongue, but then he locked any emotion away until there was nothing left but the heightened senses and intensified magic of battle fever.

The overwhelming silence pounded against his ears. Gunfire had ceased, but he knew they were moving, separating. He waited, every muscle tense, and he leaned more heavily on Chloe, silently tel ing her to be stil . Alex’s harsh groans made her quiver, but exposing themselves on the beach would be suicide. Merek prayed harder than he ever had in his life to any deity who would listen that the kid hung on until Merek could get to him.

A twig snapped, far too close for Merek’s comfort. He threw out his free hand, and a bal of flames exploded outward. It hit a man, highlighting him and the deadly rifle he carried. This was the one who’d shot Alex. Cold rage coalesced inside Merek, and he blasted another stream of fire into the Magickal. The scent of cooking meat made his stomach jolt, but the flaming corpse hit the ground before the guttural scream finished echoing against the surrounding mountains.

Something moved between Merek and the fire, a shadow almost too fast to be anything but another flicker of dancing firelight. It was an enemy, he could feel the magic, taste it in his mouth. Vampire. Half-shifted, so it had enormous bat wings stretching from its back. Meaning they didn’t give a shit that a Normal might catch a glimpse. Anyone that careless was especial y dangerous. Even most Magickal criminals obeyed the laws against Normal interactions because if you fucked that law in a big enough way, it carried an automatic death sentence.

They needed to get out of here. Now.

The vampire swished through the air above them, dropping something large on the far side of the fire.

Another terrorist? He couldn’t tel . The bloodsucker came back, sweeping forward to hover right over them, and Merek knew they were caught. He flipped over, weapon extended, aiming for the wings. A few shots hit, the explosive ammunition designed for Magickals lighting up the night. Blood rained down on him in hot torrents, drenching his clothes. Shock showed in the red eyes that gleamed like embers in a pale face. The vampire screeched, its broken wing contorting so he dropped to flop like a great wounded bird on the ground.

Snapping a fresh clip into his gun, Merek rol ed into a crouch. He wrapped an arm around Chloe’s waist and hauled her up next to him. He scuttled to the far side of the tepee, dragging her in his wake. The cover was pretty fucking feeble, but vampires could see in the dark, and he couldn’t. He kept his senses open as wide as possible, trying to pinpoint the other terrorists.

Fishing in his pocket, he jerked out his keys. He shoved them into Chloe’s hand and leaned close to breathe in her ear. “Get to the car, and I’l get Alex.”

He could hear her swal ow, feel her turn her head away from the fire and toward the pitch blackness that swal owed up the SUV. Tension screamed through her, and he waited for her to master her terror, knowing that she would. “I—I don’t . . .” She shuddered. “Okay.”

“That’s my girl.” He squeezed her hand, curling her fingers over the keys. “If we’re not there in five minutes, I want you to get out of here. Contact Luca and Mil ie.”

“No.” She jerked her head around to stare up at him, her pupils huge. “I won’t do that.”

His fingers clenched over hers. “Chloe—”

“I won’t leave you alone in the dark.” Another shudder went through her, but she dropped his hand and moved away. Toward the SUV, as he’d told her. “I can’t. Don’t even ask it.”

He knew that was the best he would get, so he didn’t say anything else. Not al owing himself a last look at her, he forced himself to focus on getting to Alex. He could only hope the kid was as stubborn a survivor as Merek had always taken him for. Tonight, it would mean the difference between living or dying.

Merek could feel his power flowing hot and wild through his body, and he tried to rein it in, bury it until he needed to use it. Find the balance between awareness of other Magickals, and hiding his own presence from their awareness. Too bad he sucked at invisibility spel s.

He slid from behind the tepee, ghosting into the few trees near their campsite to try to avoid casting shadows for them to see. The underbrush to his left moved, the noise created by something far too big to be an animal. His heartbeat slowed to a dul thud in his chest, and he lifted his weapon as he slid forward to look.

Whatever was moving through the bushes wasn’t trying to be quiet. He could hear the breath whistling out of a pair of lungs. The scent of blood came to him, but the energy was that of neither of the Magickals he’d dealt with so far. It seemed familiar somehow, but he didn’t know why.

Then he knew. His pistol was trained on the elf who’d rented the campsite to them the day before. And the man was dying, slow and bloody, just as Merek had seen in his vision the moment he’d looked at the elf.

Shit. He sighed softly and knelt beside the pathetic specimen crawling forward on his bel y. A single glance, even in the semidarkness, told Merek the other man wasn’t going to make it.

“I’m sorry,” the man choked. He met Merek’s gaze, reaching out to fist his fingers in the leg of Merek’s pants. “Reward . . . for people matching your description. I cal ed last night. Sorry. Didn’t know.”

His grip went slack as he began coughing up dark liquid. Merek shook off his hand and stood, knowing there was nothing he could do for the elf now. Part of him was glad he didn’t have to. The man had turned them over for money, and Merek had little pity for the fate that had befal en him.

“He broke so easily.” The dispassionate, almost regretful, voice sounded from his left, but whoever was there already had him. “But his blood was sweet. We brought him along as a snack for later. Pity.”

Merek turned only his head to see what he was dealing with. Vampire, from the fangs and the blood-tasting comment—different from the one he’d shot from the sky. A wolf would have had to shift at ful moon, so only one fanged race was in human form tonight. One look at his face, and a fresh explosion of adrenaline raced through Merek’s veins. He knew this man, whose red hair gleamed like a copper penny.

“Gregor.”

“Good to see you again, Kingston.” His tone was pleasant, bland enough to be discussing the weather.

Then again, murder was everyday business for the vampire, so this might be just that boring for him. This was no recruit for Smith’s cause, but a mercenary who whored his deadly skil s out to the highest bidder.

Merek shrugged, easing one hand off the butt of his weapon to try to angle his fingers in the bloodsucker’s direction. “I wish I could say the same, but my day is never good when I run into you.”

Gregor laughed easily. “I’m flattered, Detective, I real y am. Now, are you going to try to use that hand to cast or are you going to be reasonable?”

As usual, the vampire carried no weapons. He didn’t need them. Merek didn’t want to think about what he’d do to Chloe or Alex if he got his hands on them.

That wouldn’t happen. Merek wouldn’t let it. Playing in his favor was the fact that Gregor couldn’t know Merek’s best weapon—his precognition—was toast in this situation. He’d take any advantage he could get, even one based on a false assumption.

He let a knife-thin smile curve his lips. “When have I ever been reasonable?”

The vampire grinned, anticipation flashing in his gaze. His eyes burned red around the edges. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Instead of moving his hands as Gregor expected, Merek slammed his toe into the ribs of the dying elf at his feet. The shriek that ripped through the air made the vampire flinch, but before Merek could launch a spel at him, Gregor had used his superhuman speed to disappear. The underbrush didn’t even rustle with his passing.

A wolf’s howl roared from the lakeshore, the sound of a cornered, angry animal.

Alex.

Pivoting on his heel, Merek bolted out of the trees and toward the beach. His pistol was up and ready, but he kept one hand free for casting. The vampire with the broken wing hunched over Alex, the tip of one wing dragging in the sand behind him. His talons were bared, arching with deadly purpose toward the young wolf’s throat.

He couldn’t get a shot off. The vampire was too close to Alex. Flicking his fingers, he fired a percussive boom into the air. The vampire slammed his hands over his sensitive ears, crying out hoarsely. Alex writhed on the ground, one half-Changed arm covering his head to block the noise. Gregor’s enraged bel ow sounded in the distance behind Merek.

Not even pausing in his movements, Merek launched himself forward to catch the vampire around the waist and rol him away from the wolf. Fleshy wings tangled around them, and Merek tore at the skin trying to get loose. The vampire screeched, slashing his talons down Merek’s bicep, and Merek lost his weapon as his arm spasmed.

Pain.

It exploded into his body, reverberated through his skul until he thought it would split. Black spots spun in front of his eyes, and the need to vomit cut through the adrenaline pumping through his system.

The vampire hissed, and only the thought of those talons biting into him again cleared his head enough to react. He swung blindly, slamming his fist into the vampire’s mouth. The fangs ripped through his knuckles.

Hard bones from the top of one massive wing clipped him in the jaw. He swayed, caught the top of the wing near the shoulder and blasted through the flesh, bone, and cartilage with a firebal . When the vampire shrieked and bucked under him, Merek was ready, rol ing toward the severed wing to escape being entangled again.

Staggering to his feet, he opened his hand. “Gun,” he ordered, and the universe obeyed. His weapon whooshed through the air and smacked into his palm.

The amount of magic he was using began to drag at him, his energy sapping. And they weren’t out of the woods yet. His body shook from the strain, but he moved toward Alex, dropping to his knees beside the boy. Alex had regressed to a half-shift, the monstrous form worthy of any Hol ywood depiction of werewolves, twice the height and breadth of any human. Three times as heavy, too.

Alex’s hand was pressed tightly over the bul et hole in his side, but blood stil flowed between his fingers.

Merek grabbed Alex’s free arm, hoisted him up, and hauled both of them to their feet. “Keep pressure on that wound.”

Will do. The voice was a bare whisper in his mind. Stil , it meant the boy was conscious and aware of his surroundings. That helped. Marginal y.

I’m bleeding pretty badly. You’re slashed up. The vampires can track the scent of our blood.

“They can?” Merek didn’t bother swearing. Gregor was stil out there, and that thought alone sent ice flowing through his veins.

Luca said so. It’s how he tracked me down the day my dad disappeared and Smith’s men were hunting me.

Shit. He wished that was a skil Luca possessed personal y and not a purview of the entire vampire race, but he couldn’t take the chance of assuming these vampires couldn’t track them the same way. This sounded like just the kind of thing the Vampire Conclave would want kept secret from other Magickal races.

Alex staggered with every step, his legs giving out from under him as his bones broke and reformed over and over again, transitioning between the half-shift and human forms and back again. Spittle-laced gurgles of agony spil ed from the boy’s mouth.

He tensed against Merek, trying to pul away, but not strong enough to do so. Get Chloe out of here!

“Not leaving you,” Merek grunted.

Shaking his head, Alex again tried unsuccessful y to escape Merek’s hold. She can’t die because . . . of me. Not . . . another one.

He didn’t know what that meant, and at the moment, he didn’t give a flying rat’s ass.

“Sorry, son. Not happening. I won’t do it.” He paused to fire at the sound of movement behind them. A vampiric hiss answered him. “She wouldn’t leave without you, anyway.”

Fuck! The wolfish face snapped its jaw, fangs dripping as he bared them. Then the facial bones broke, the muzzle retracting, and Alex’s human face surfaced. He choked on a breath, sagging against Merek’s side.

“Concentrate on getting to the car.”

“I’m with you,” he rasped. Pushing forward one unsteady step at a time, he took as much of his weight off of Merek as possible while keeping hold of him for balance. The boy’s jaw clenched on a groan of pain, his face set in grim lines, but he kept moving.

Merek’s respect for the kid doubled, but he focused on keeping them moving. Blood dripped steadily down his arm, the wound weakening the muscles and making them burn with a ferocity that made him want to howl. The adrenaline rush wasn’t enough to overcome the pain of it, but he gritted his teeth and rocked Alex and himself forward.

He hitched the boy higher, trying not to lose his grip. A low snarl of warning vibrated from the boy’s chest.

Merek was already swinging his weapon around, squeezing the trigger when Gregor and a woman who moved with the competence of a trained operative came within range.

His bul ets hit, but though the vampire staggered, he kept coming. The woman dove for the ground, rol ing away while she fired off shots with both her weapon and her magic. Both missed, but the percussive force of her spel sent Merek and Alex staggering backward. The smile on Gregor’s face as he advanced had that same anticipation he’d worn before; this time the eyes flashed ful red. Merek squeezed the trigger again.

The distinctive click of an empty weapon sounded from his pistol. He dropped it, lifting his hand to send a blast into the bloodsucker that he knew wouldn’t have enough effect. Merek moved in front of Alex, spreading his fingers and feeling his exhausted power gather more slowly than the vampire could move.

The whine of a car accelerating cut through Merek’s mind, and then the SUV plowed into Gregor and sent him flying. Brakes squealed as Chloe pul ed up beside them. The doors whipped open, and her eyes were wide and wild. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and Ophelia hunched on the dashboard, hissing.

Merek stuffed Alex in the backseat, then shoved Chloe over in the front seat, slammed both doors shut with what was left of his own magic, and hit the accelerator. “Everyone stay down!”

His words were al but lost as the rear window shattered from a flying bul et.

“Chloe, wil you keep your head down?”

“No! I’m going to help Alex.” She flipped down the console between the front seats and squirmed through the narrow opening, maneuvering onto her knees on the floorboard behind the passenger seat.

“Ophelia, get off the damn dashboard,” Merek barked. Chloe heard a smal thump and assumed her familiar had obeyed.

She flinched as another spray of bul ets hit the car. The dul slap of metal hitting metal made her insides freeze with terror. Gods, don’t let them hit anything important. She rocked sideways, slamming her chin into the door as Merek swerved hard. The tires squealed, spinning for purchase before they raced down a bumpy road.

Alex lay sprawled across the backseat, one hand pressed to his side while the other held tight to the back of the bench seat. The werewolf, at least, was strong enough to hold himself in place as the SUV swung around tight turns and switchbacks in the road. His eyes were pinched closed, a muscle ticked in his clenched jaw, and his normal y tanned face was ashen.

There was blood everywhere.

Al over the floor, Alex’s naked body, pooling on the leather seat. Seeping into her jeans. Chloe felt the color leech out of her face. This was why she’d gone into pharmaceutical research rather than into practicing medicine. The stench of blood, the blank eyes of hurt, dying people. It reminded her too much of her mother.

A shudder ripped through her, but she shook herself, forced those memories into the deepest, darkest corner of her soul and locked them in tight. Alex needed her now. Her fears from that day would not be al owed to take someone else from her.

“Let me see, Alex.” She tugged his hand away from his side to get a better look at what she was dealing with.

“It’s silver,” he gasped, his body twitching and writhing. “Gods, it burns. It’s like my insides are on fire.

Help me, Chloe. Please, help me.” The pleading in those green eyes gripped her insides tight. Memories of him rushed at her: a gap-toothed little boy, a stringy adolescent, and as he was now, almost ful -grown, but just as beloved.

Silver. Oh, gods. The bul et hadn’t hit a vital organ or he’d be dead already, but the wound didn’t look good. The flesh around the entry was charred and beginning to fester. The speed of werewolf healing meant the al ergic reaction to silver also intensified. She tried to keep her voice reassuring as she spoke to her godson. “I’l help you, honey. Just hang in there.”

“You’re going to have to take the bul et out before it dissolves into his bloodstream,” Merek boomed from the front seat, meeting her gaze briefly in the rearview mirror.

“I know,” she shouted back over the wind. “I’m getting the first aid kit.” And a lantern for some light. She pressed Alex’s hand back over the wound, and he choked on a groan.

Merek seemed to have found them a straight road to speed down, but trying to remove a silver bul et from a werewolf was tricky even under ideal conditions. These were not ideal conditions.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Shoving herself up on shaky legs that weren’t helped at al by the moving vehicle, she tried to ease over Alex and into the back of the packed SUV. The various crates and bags were a tumbled mess littered with shattered glass. She tried to remember which ones held which items. After a few minutes of frantic searching, she came up with the smal lantern Merek had given her to sleep with.

Where was the fucking first aid kit? Chloe wanted to snarl, but knew it wouldn’t help. Wind rushed through the broken window, the cold air chil ing her to the bone. Her fingers felt stiff with it as she fumbled through another crate of camping equipment, but she ignored the slight discomfort. It was nothing compared to what Alex was going through.

There. Relief washed through her as she spotted the large white box with a red cross on it. Wrapping her hand around the handle, she yanked it out from under the ice chest. Maneuvering back over the seat with her treasures was a complete bitch. Her leg slipped out from under her when she was halfway, and she crashed on to Alex’s legs.

He jackknifed upright, his eyes wild and fangs bared in a grimace of pain. Fuck!

His voice roared so loudly in her mind she wanted to whimper and slap her hands over her ears, but knew that wouldn’t do a damn thing. “Lie back down, Alex.”

The feral gleam in his eyes didn’t fade, but he obeyed jerkily. Flipping the lantern on high, she wedged it between his chest and the seat. It cast a bright light over the area she had to work with. Not great, but much better than trying to pul out a bul et in the dark.

Running over everything she remembered from med school about werewolves and silver as wel as bul et extractions, she straddled her godson’s thighs and tried to keep her balance as Merek wheeled the SUV up what had to be a highway on-ramp. It didn’t matter. Their safety was his job, helping Alex was hers.

She cracked open the first aid kit and rifled through the contents. Antiseptic, bandages of al sizes, a few vials of herbal infusions. The most useful thing in there for pul ing the bul et out was a pair of tweezers that she knew wouldn’t be useful at al .

Okay. She could do this with magic. She’d never tried it herself, but she knew it could be done. Her heart gave a sickening lurch. If she messed it up, missed even a single sliver of silver and it got into his bloodstream, he’d be dead by morning. No pressure. She wiped her sweaty palms on her shirt and noticed Alex’s pain-fil ed eyes latched on her every movement. She didn’t even bother with a reassuring smile.

Gods, please. She closed her eyes for a moment and sent up a silent, fervent prayer.

Sucking in a deep breath almost made her gag on the sickly sweet scent of blood. She gritted her teeth and placed her hand over his wound, seeking the metal with her magic. She’d never even watched anyone do this before, even in her rotation in the ER. She didn’t know a spel to do what she wanted to do, but she focused as hard as she could, working every single fragment of the silver back up through the hole it had left behind while Alex’s claws shredded the rental SUV’s upholstery.

His skin smoked and sizzled as each silver piece oozed out. Blood so dark it was black flowed in a thick, sluggish stream from the wound. His muscles spasmed and sweat poured down his face, mixing with tears as he sobbed in agony.

Moonlight shown in the window, slicing across Alex’s face. His eyes went wolfish, fangs extending as he gurgled on a growl. She swal owed at the sight. “How are you even in human form right now?”

“Silver,” he choked out. “Leave . . . some of it in, so I can . . . stay human. Rampaging right now would be .

. . a bad idea.”

“No. It could kil you.” She recal ed vividly the bronze searing into her wrists, and that was an external application of the metal witches were al ergic to.

“Better than me trying to rip you and Merek apart so I can go bite and Change some Normals.” Another sob heaved from his chest, and he turned his face away from her. “So they can live through this every month.”

She scanned the wound with her magic, closing her eyes to focus better. “Al the silver is gone already.”

Shit. The word was no more than a weary whisper in her head.

“I wouldn’t have done it anyway.” Drawing on al the magic she had within her, she began to heal the putrid flesh the bul et had left behind. Bringing new, healthy tissue to the surface, sealing the wound. When it was done, she placed a bandage over the area and let the animal magic flowing through the boy’s veins do the rest of the healing for her. Now that there was no contact with silver, he should be better within a few hours.

Sooner, if he hadn’t lost so much blood. She hoped. The moon might stil be ful and in the sky when he was healed, which was a worry. “We’l deal with it if you somehow manage to get up the energy to rampage, but I couldn’t risk your life by leaving silver inside you.”

He sagged against the seat, every muscle going limp. Tear tracks made clean furrows in the grime on his face. Pain stil dug grooves beside his eyes and mouth, but the flesh no longer pul ed taut across his cheekbones. He flinched and slammed his eyes closed when a moonbeam hit him in the face.

She smoothed his hair away from his forehead. “You won’t have to be like this forever, Alex. I will find a way to stop this.”

His pale eyes cracked open and met hers, his expression too serious and adult. “If these assholes don’t get there first. They’d have wolves on their knees trying to get some of the drug. Any of us would do anything to not have to fight ful moon fever. I would give anything.”

“I know.” Leaning to the side, she dug into the rear of the SUV until she came up with a mylar space blanket. “Luca won’t let Smith win. We just have to stay alive long enough for me to finish my research.”

Alex snorted. “I’m good with that.”

She tucked the blanket around him to help him conserve as much body heat as possible. She hoped the al ergic reaction to silver didn’t mean they’d be facing an infection. If it came to that, she was making Merek take them to a hospital with a Magickal ward. He’d do it, too. Merek always took care of them, even if it meant bul ets and dark spel s were flying.

She swung her leg off Alex so she could stand on the floor, but had to bend so she didn’t hit her head on the roof. She hung on to the back of Merek’s seat when they bounced over a pothole. “We’l make it through this, Alex.”

“Okay.” There wasn’t a single ounce of conviction in the wolf’s voice, and he was clearly humoring her.

She sighed. He didn’t believe her, but what could she say to convince him? She didn’t know that everything would be al right. Squirming along the seat so she could sit with Alex’s head in her lap, she tried to ignore the drying blood al over her clothes.

“It might be better if you sat in the front seat. Away from me.” He closed his eyes, but the claws of one hand stil sank deep into the backseat every time the moonlight touched him. His fangs clenched tight, his jaw flexing.

It wasn’t that he was worried about turning her into a werewolf. None of the Magickal races could combine, and she was already a witch. Even if an elf married a wolf, they could have a wolf child or an elf child, or some of each, but a hybrid was a Magickal impossibility. If Alex’s rampage made him bite Chloe, it could kil her the way any traumatic injury could, but she wouldn’t turn wolf.

She stroked her hand down his sweat-soaked hair. “You would never hurt me, Alex. No matter how bad it got. Not even the ful moon could change that.”

His green eyes fixed on her face, as if he was trying to absorb some of her certainty, and her heart broke at the expression on his face. He let go of the front seat, reaching up for her hand. She grabbed his hand, squeezed it tight, and ignored the sharp talons that tipped each finger. His throat moved as he swal owed. “I love you, Chloe.”

“I love you, too, kiddo.” She let go of his hand, set it on his chest, and tucked the blanket tighter around him. “Try to sleep.”

“Thanks. For everything.” His voice slurred, and his thick lashes made dark crescents on his cheeks. “You too, Merek.”

She had no idea how he heard, but it almost sounded like Merek was speaking softly in their ears. “No problem. That’s my job.”

Leaning back in her seat, she suddenly realized she was exhausted. Sweat and other people’s blood made her clothes sticky, and her muscles began shaking with reaction. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to stop from shivering. Her heavy use of unfamiliar magic had drained what was left of her energy.

Even the cold didn’t seem to be slapping her awake. She met Merek’s gaze in the rearview mirror, her heart turning over at the concern in his gaze. She offered a tired smile. “We need to get Alex cleaned up.”

“We al need to clean up.” His deep voice was as steady and sure as always, stil a comforting murmur in her ear. What spel he was using to do that, she didn’t know, but she liked it. She let her chin drop to her chest and her eyelids droop. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’l handle it. Get some rest.”

As if that was al the permission she needed, she fel headlong into oblivion.