“Why wouldn’t she be made to take the rest of the packs to North America?” I mumbled softly to myself.

India gave a yawn. “Jack says it’s because they are waiting for you.”

I wrapped one arm around her and looked to Erik. “That makes sense.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What are you talking about?”

“The packs are here looking for me, for those who Orion wants to control. He might not want to kill me for the moment, but he’ll try and wipe out the rest of my support. And he fucking well knew we were coming here, where else would we go? The small pox breakout though, that is for something else.”

I recalled all too vividly our discussion about the bubonic plague, how the demons used it to weaken the human’s natural immunity to them. Fuck, that’s what was going on. A new plague to open the world to demon possession. The words spilled out of me as the realization hammered home.

There was no argument Erik or Doran were able to come up with. Erik helped me to my feet. “Go get some rest, Rylee. You need it. We all do. When Liam gets here, we’ll make a plan.”

With India sound asleep in my arms, I headed for the door. “We have to draw the packs to us. You think we can do that?”

Erik nodded, his face grim as he clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I know we can. You see, if you haven’t already figured out, demons love chaos. And you, more so than anyone I’ve every met in my life, have a knack for chaos.”

Doran let out a snort and I glared at him. He did nothing but wink and blow me a kiss. “Your uncle is right. You and chaos….” He smacked his hands together as if he were going to clap for me.

Much as I hated to admit it, they had valid points. Frowning, I headed for my old room, the one I’d shared with Liam. Doran agreed to keep an eye out for Liam, the wolves, Pamela and Berget.

I gave India Pam’s room, and Frank and Kyle went off talking still about some sort of electronic thing that was of no interest to me. There was a bathroom attached to the bedroom and I made good use of it, running the shower as hot as I could. The dirt, sweat, blood, and sea salt washed from me and down the drain. I let the water pour over me, wishing it could wash away the feeling I was going to lose someone very close to me. India’s words echoed in my head.

They are always with you, the ones you love. They never leave you; they fight for you even after they’re gone.

The thing was, I didn’t think I could lose anyone else and not lose myself. Too much had been taken from me already. Another loss and I wouldn’t be strong enough to fight Orion.

Another loss and I wasn’t sure I would care what happened to this world and those in it.

Chapter 18

GETTING OUT OF the castle was one thing. Getting past the big bastard on the outskirts was going to be entirely different. Pamela was out cold, so there was no way he could shift and carry her.

“Alex, don’t move,” Liam said as he took in the giant standing directly in front of the tree line. Sure, the giant was a mile away, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t come after them.

“I is standing still,” Alex whispered out the corner of his mouth.

There were not a lot of options; he couldn’t leave Pamela and he couldn’t do the distracting of the giant himself. “Alex, you think you can tease the giant, make him run away so we can get past him?”

Alex cocked his head to one side and put a claw tip to his muzzle. “Perhaps.”

Liam knew he shouldn’t laugh, but it was just such a classic Alex move. “Perhaps? That’s the best you’ve got?”

Snickering, Alex swaggered out. “I will rescue boss this time. Rylee loves boss, but I will rescue him this time.” With no more than that, Alex set off at full tilt toward the giant. Liam held his breath as the giant took note of the werewolf running toward him.

“Bad dog!” the giant roared out and stumbled toward Alex and it was then Liam saw the giant was hurt. The oversized supernatural tried to take a few steps, but then fell to his knees, and from there, to his belly. A ripple of earth burst out around him. Nothing else after that but heavy breathing and the odd groan of pain escaping his mouth.

Liam took a chance, knowing he held Pamela’s life in his hands, but also knowing if someone could kill a giant, then they were in serious trouble.

Alex was barking and yipping at the giant’s face, trying to get him back up until he saw Liam. “He’s no fun. Pooped out.”

The wounds on the giant were enormous and they weren’t healing. There were great gouges on his thighs and back where chunks of flesh had been stripped away, bruises littered his face and it looked like his nose had been broken. The ground shook around them with a heavy footstep and the giant at their feet rolled his eyes toward them.

“Demon giant coming.”

“Alex, time to go.” He hoisted Pamela in his arms even more and took off at a flat out run, Alex right beside him. They were deep within the forest when a high-pitched scream ripped the air, followed by the gurgle of a creature’s last breath. Liam had no doubt it would be the original giant who breathed his last.

At the far edge of the forest where the road met the tree line, they finally stopped. Not because they were out of breath, but because there was a car parked there, waiting for them.

The door flicked open and Doran leaned across. “Thought you could use a ride.”

Liam slid in. Alex was not content with just getting into the back seat. He climbed over top of him and Pamela, drawing an ‘ooph’ out of her. She sat up, her eyes ringed with dark circles. “Are we out?”

“Yeah, we’re out, you did good.”

She smiled and closed her eyes.

Alex spun in circles in the back seat at rapid speed before flopping down. “Time to sleep.”

Doran put the car in drive. “Rylee made it with everyone except Berget.”

“I saw her. She isn’t well and won’t be coming to London. She said to tell you she loved you.”

A shot of pain slid across Doran’s face. “I knew it was a temporary fix, but I’d hoped it would last a little longer.”

Liam nodded, not needing to say anything, noticing Doran chose not to acknowledge the younger vampire’s affections. A few days was all he had left and he wasn’t going to waste it worrying about Berget’s madness and lack of a love life.

No, he had far bigger things to worry about.