“I’m not a f**king China doll!”

He shook me, hard enough that my teeth snapped together. “That is a Guardian; you might be able to hurt it, but we can’t kill it.”

The vampire let me jerk out of his hands so I could see the battle raging behind us. Alex had stepped up, working with O’Shea to keep the Beast at bay, yanking its legs out from under it repeatedly. Again, though, the Beast wasn’t fighting them.

His silver eyes met mine, and I could see that this was not what he wanted. This was not his choice.

He was bound by oaths and a spell that even Deanna didn’t know how to break.

Your blood is a catalyst, Jack’s words floated through my brain. My blood, taken from my body, would break the spell that held the Beast. Maybe.

“Faris. If I’m wrong, please save Jack. Pamela needs someone.”

Faris grabbed my wrist. “What are you talking about?”

“Let me go. I know what I’m doing.”

“Then why would I have to save Jack?” The vampire’s eyes snared me, and I looked away, toward the battle. The Beast was still fighting to get to me, essentially allowing O’Shea and Alex to pummel him.

“This could stop him, you have to trust me.”

There it was, that word again between the two of us. Faris let me go, his fingers sliding from my wrist. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

I didn’t answer him, just ran toward the Beast, knowing that Faris was fast enough to stop me, but he didn’t. He didn’t try to interfere. I drew close enough that the Beast couldn’t help but catch me up with his remaining paw. O’Shea snarled and leapt onto the Beast’s back, Alex howled, his head thrown back. Confusion in his eyes, the Beast bit down into my side. My leather jacket was no protection from his four canines, which slid through the coat like it was just another layer of skin. I couldn’t help the scream that passed my lips; the pain of four enormous daggers being driven into my body at the same time was more than even I could handle.

My blood spilled out of the wounds, spread along his lips. The confusion in his eyes faded. We stared at one another, and I knew that even if I died from the wounds, I’d done the right thing. Pamela would be proud. Berget would be proud. Maybe I’d done it because I wanted to die, but even so, it was still the right thing.

Tears slipped from my eyes as the Beast lowered me to the ground. Alex and O’Shea stumbled away from him, uncertainty written all over their faces as the Beast took great care to lay me down gently.

“Are you going to kill Daniels?” I whispered, struggling to breathe around the wounds, but I needed to know that my death wasn’t in vain.

The Beast shifted, his man form crouching at my side. Blood trickled from his lips, my blood, but his blood also trickled from his back. Great gouge marks where O’Shea had lit into him. How was that possible? Guardians didn’t bleed … .

“Yes, Daniels will die. Then I will go back to being nothing more than a ghost on the moors. Thank you, Tracker. Your wolf, he will be a Guardian of a sort, a Great Wolf, but there is very little left of the man he was. Do not hope too much for what cannot be.” He looked over his shoulder at O’Shea, who stood there, seemingly confused by the Beast’s sudden shift into human form, and his suddenly gentle manner with me.

His words barely registered, but I managed to ask. “Is that why he could hurt you?”

The Beast nodded. “Yes.”

He touched the spot over my heart, then his fingers drifted across to the demon mark I carried on my chest, the black snowflake that had almost killed me.

“You have the heart that will save us all. When you have need of me, I will stand with you against the darkness.”

He touched my throat, and then bent and kissed me softly. Standing, he turned and walked into the forest, disappearing as the old werewolf had done, as if he’d never even been there.

I wished in that moment that I could see the look on Daniels’ face when he showed up for her. The thought made me smile despite the pain.

O’Shea lay down beside me and I reached over, slid my hand over his face. It didn’t feel the same as when he’d been human, yet it was still him, my fingers still recognized him. My heart was slowing down; the sluggish thump was that of a mortal wound leaking my life out. The Beast hadn’t pierced my heart, but his fangs had gone through my lungs and, by the black blood creeping out of the lower wound, my liver. That was the bad one, all the toxins floating through my system and shit like that.

A pair of blue eyes hovered over me. “Rylee, you need to be healed. I can think of only one person strong enough to do so, but you must trust me as I trusted you.”

I groaned, knowing exactly who he meant. “I don’t want her help; she’s a horrible person. Bitch, I hate her.”

“But she can save you.” He was scooping me up in his arms and I couldn’t stop him.

“No, I’d rather die.”

Faris snorted. “Stop being a child. She’ll heal you, probably for some small favor.”

“She wants me to be the godmother to her demon spawn.”

The vampire held me tight against his chest. I could see his mouth moving, could sense something happening, but then there was nothing. Nothing but blessedly sweet darkness.

No, that wasn’t true. There was something else, a soft voice I recalled, a sweet girl I’d held in my arms when she’d had bad dreams, a child I’d pushed on the swings and had loved more than any other.

“Rylee, what are you doing here?” Berget was there, but it wasn’t the little girl I remembered. She was all grown up, her long blonde hair flowing around her face on a breeze I couldn’t feel. Blue eyes sparkling as she saw me, reached for me. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, long limbed and softly curved. Her face had thinned, the baby fat gone and the lines of her cheekbones highlighted her eyes.

I pulled her to me; she felt so real and it occurred to me that perhaps it was because I was dead too, like her.

“Fuck, Berget, I’m so sorry, I should have come for you. I should have been there …”

She pushed me away gently, her face a like that of the one I remembered, only now there was a sculpted perfection to it caused by the loss of her childhood.

“This is as it’s meant to be. Rylee, you are not to blame. Everything happens for a reason. You know that. I know you do.”

Gods, how could one so young be so wise?

“You don’t blame me for not saving you?”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Rylee, you are my sister, and you will save me yet. Of that, I have no doubt. Do not grieve me, for death is never the end, not with us. I know you will save me; you will save us all. Things are not as they seem, not in our world. Do not believe your eyes, believe your heart.”

I held her hands, stared at her as if I could somehow soak her in. Keep her with me and take back her death.

“You must go now, the wolf calls to you; I can feel his ties to you as strongly as if they were ropes tangled around your limbs. He will save you, I think. Save you with his love, as you will save him with yours.” She squeezed my hands and then let go, fading into the darkness.

Voices swirled around me. “Rylee, you have to pull back your Immunity. I can’t heal you if you don’t.”

Milly’s voice. Fuck, if that wasn’t the worst way to come to.

But she was right, and she knew all my tricks. I pulled my Immunity off my hands, exposing myself to her. Her fingers were warm as they circled around mine, her magic rushing through me. I’d been healed once before and this was the same. Not painless, but a reversal of the damage as my body stitched itself back together, fueled by magic.

I groaned, my innards writhing as they came together, became whole again. And just like the last time I’d been healed, I lay there on the floor, drained of anything but the desire to sleep.

“Rylee.” Milly’s voice again. I kept my eyes closed. Maybe she’d go away. I wanted to kill her, f**k and she’d just saved my life. I settled for hurting her.

“You know that it’s your fault Giselle is dead?” I bit the words out, slowly opening my eyes to see her face pale.

“Giselle? No, I thought she was at home—”

“We went after you, you stupid bitch, and your friends put a truth spell on her. To make sure we were telling the truth about your crazy ass. It drained what was left of her life.”

She covered her face with her hands, sobs shaking her shoulders. “I didn’t know. I didn’t ever want her to be hurt. I didn’t, you have to believe me. I only ever did what I did to keep you two safe as best I could.”

With great difficulty, I pulled myself to my feet and reached for my swords, but my hands found nothing.

“I took your weapons off you,” Faris said from behind me. I turned to glare at him and he shrugged. “Her only request.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t still kill her.” I glared at her, crouched on the floor. In my head I did the math; she was about four months along and her belly was just starting to show. She saw where my gaze landed and she cradled her stomach. I snorted and turned away. Even I wasn’t so cold as to run her through when she was pregnant.

I looked around, wobbled, and Faris reached out to balance me. “Why didn’t you just fix me up?”

An exasperated sigh slipped out of him. “You had already lost a great deal of blood, and if I’d taken more in order to make the bond between us work—for the limited time it does with you—you would have died. As it was, we barely made it here.”

“Where is here?” I couldn’t make sense of the place. I could hear water, I could smell flowers as if it was spring and not November, and it was warm. Quite warm, actually.

“You don’t need to know that. Now, I’ve done my part.” Milly slowly stood, brushing off the loose flowing skirt that swirled around her legs. Green and browns, the dress was cut to flatter her changing figure while still giving her the trademark sexy girl look that she had perfected over the years. Her deep brown hair was tousled and her make-up was flawless. Next to her, I had no doubt I looked like a complete wreck, not that that was anything new with the two of us. Already, she had put aside her tears for Giselle, showing me once again just how f**king cold she really was.