“What’s wrong, Ceel?” Bren asked.

I shifted Tura deep before answering, hoping that if Aric was right, Tahoe would soon swallow the remains. “Tura didn’t feel like anything.”

Aric closed in. “What do you mean?”

“He lacked evil—the poison I sensed in the female—it didn’t seep from Tura’s remains like hers did.”

Everyone focused on me like they couldn’t understand. I did my best to explain. “I could sense remnants of the other shifters—their darkness, even after they died. It’s like some kind of nasty infestation. That’s why I asked if it could infect me.”

Aric turned his head in the direction of the coven. “But it can’t, right?”

The coven collectively muttered among themselves. Everyone waited on edge for a definite answer. Aric gathered me to him. He wasn’t happy. And neither was I. This was the day he proposed. This was supposed to be special. Instead I became a damn horse, we almost died—again, and now I could potentially have shifter cooties? Hells to the no.

Delilah stepped forward. “I’ve never heard of anything like it, but we’ve also never heard of anything like you, girl. If I had to guess, I’d suspect you’re sensitive to dark ones.”

Aric lowered his eyelids and took a breath before looking Delilah square in the face. “How certain are you?”

Betty Sue edged closer, speaking for her. “The world is changing, Aric. With your kind decimated, earth no longer has guardians to protect it from evil. And with our kind taken to breed demon lords, nature is running out of witches to care for and harvest its magic. The balance has been disrupted. The world’s fighting to even the scales.” She motioned to me. “Spreading the evil that caused it to suffer would be counterproductive.”

Aric sighed. “So Celia’s safe.”

Betty Sue grimaced. “As safe as she can be considering how many evil creatures she’s pissed off.”

Yeah, well, they started it.

Aric loosened his hold so he could meet my face. “What did you feel when you touched Tura?”

I shrugged. “He didn’t feel like anything besides loose skin and bones.” My stomach twisted following my last comment. Shifter human forms were oddly thin and practically skeletal.

Danny stepped forward. “I didn’t sense anything in them at all after they died. Maybe Delilah’s right in that your tigress is more sentient than the rest of us.”

Yet another thing to add to the “what makes Celia Wird weird” list. “If that’s so, how come I didn’t feel it within Tura?” I shuddered. “I can still sense this female’s iniquity just like I did in the other female I killed a few months back.”

Danny considered it. “Female witches traditionally have to make more blood sacrifices than males in order to be granted shape-shifting power by their deity. They tend to be more vicious and the strength of hell within them more consuming. Perhaps their darkness lingers longer as a result.” He looked to Betty Sue and Delilah. “What do you think?”

Both witches nodded as did their small coven behind them. “That sounds about right,” Delilah agreed.

Although the witches agreed that I was safe for the time being, Aric pulled me away from where I’d buried the bodies. “Tura’s also been dead longer,” he added. “Tahoe could have started breaking down his power from the moment of his death.”

His reasoning concurred with the others’, yet his hold on me grew more shielding. I clutched his arm against mine. I didn’t want him to worry. He’d done enough of that.

Delilah motioned to the sand now clear of blood. “We did a nice job of cleanup and camouflaging, if I do say so myself. Maybe that’s another reason why you’re not feelin’ him, darlin’.”

“I guess.” The painful spasms from my brutalized womb started to build again. I’d been doing my best to hide them from Aric, but my energy was expelled from the fight and from my abrupt healing. I had to work not to clutch my belly. “Can we go home?” I asked him quietly. “I need to rest.”

Understanding flickered in Aric’s eyes. “Gem, take over.” He nodded to the group of weres and witches. “The Pack is indebted to you.”

He knew something was wrong and lifted me back into his arms, carrying me swiftly away from the group. I was hoping Aric would be more discreet, but he’d witnessed me suffer far too many times, and after losing our baby…

I huddled against him. It was something I knew I’d never truly heal from. Anara hadn’t wanted me to taint Aric’s sacred pureblood bloodline, and he’d succeeded.

One of Gemini’s wolves tore out of his human back and raced after us along the sand. Bren, Danny, and Heidi followed in their wolf forms. Bren sped ahead of us, Heidi and Danny flanked our sides. Gemini slowed to guard from behind.

Our leisurely stroll along the beach hadn’t taken us far. Within minutes, we were back to the section of beach closest to the trail that led into our neighborhood. More runners jogged toward us from further down the beach. “Will the camouflaging spell carry this far?”

Aric sensed my nervousness. “No, love. But we’re almost home and Bren is scouting for humans ahead.”

Bren tore across the street, disappearing into the path. We followed. At the speed Aric ran it didn’t take long to reach where the path ended and opened into our development. Aric ran behind the backyards. Our neighbors were few and mostly young professionals who worked late hours. With the exception of our crotchety old neighbor, Mrs. Mancuso, no one would be home at this early hour.

Aric hopped up the steps of our rear deck. The wolves stopped short by the door and sat in line. They weren’t leaving. “Aric, wait,” I said when he reached the door. “Please put me down.”

He lowered me carefully, his eyes scanning my face. The painful spasms had receded enough that I could at least pretend that there was nothing wrong with me. I clutched the quilt against me and bent to speak to Gemini’s wolf. I didn’t have to bend far. At more than four hundred pounds, the wolves had almost fifty pounds on my tigress and their heads almost reached my shoulder. “We’re okay, Gemini,” I said, knowing that his other human half could hear me. “The wards should be enough to guard us. Go back to Taran.”