All at once, Mae smelled night air—that carried a hint of oil and trash. They were downtown somewhere.

“I can dematerialize,” she said roughly. Clearing her throat, she spoke louder. “I can do it.”

“Let’s get you checked out first.”

Sahvage jumped down to the pavement, and as he started running again, she realized they were heading to a huge RV . . . where a man in a white coat—a human?—was standing by what looked to be an operating room.

“No, it’s not safe,” Mae said as she pushed against Sahvage’s shoulder. “I have to go back to my house. She’s coming here any minute—”

“Mae—”

“No!” She shoved herself out of his arms and had to catch herself on the vehicle’s brake lights. “She’s coming!” Mae looked at all the males in a panic. “You don’t understand what she is—”

“No,” the stockier one countered. “We know exactly what she is. If you have a safe place, get to it now. We’ll catch up with you.”

Sahvage opened his mouth as if he were going to argue, but the Brother grabbed his shoulder. “Let her go where she needs to be, we’ll bring the medicine to her. You got her out once, but I will guarantee you that whatever loophole you found? That demon is going to plug it up the moment she returns. We have seconds now, let’s use them.”

Mae stepped forward and put both her hands on Sahvage’s face. “Meet me at my parents’. Tell them where to go.”

And then, even though she was still woozy, and in spite of her pounding head and the pain in her body, she squeezed her eyes shut.

You can do this, she told herself sternly. More than that, you have to.

Or her life, and the lives of Sahvage and the two other males, were over.

He couldn’t believe Mae was able to do it.

In all Sahvage’s years of combat back in the Old Country, and even throughout his human fight club experiences lately, he’d never seen such an act of will. Even though the female could barely hold herself upright, she somehow managed to gather the focus and presence of mind to dematerialize back to her house.

Not only that, she made it into the garage. All the way up the door.

He’d followed her the whole time, staying right behind her. So that as she finally collapsed, he re-formed just in time and caught her.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured as he took the keys he’d grabbed from her car ignition out of his leather jacket.

Thank fuck he’d thought to snag them. The copper lock would have been trouble.

Rushing inside, he left the door unlocked for the Brothers and headed directly for the basement with her. He did not want those other males checking out the rest of the house and finding her brother in the tub. There were too many complications already to volunteer for those kinds of questions.

“The bedroom I’m using is down there,” Mae mumbled.

Fortunately, there were lights left on so it was easy to get to the modest room with simple furnishings. And as he laid her on the bed, she let out a ragged sigh—

Up above, heavy footfalls announced the arrival of the Brothers, and as Mae closed her eyes and breathed roughly, the other fighters came down to the cellar.

“Manny’s ETA is about ten minutes,” Tohr said.

The protective male in Sahvage wanted to tell both of them to get out of Mae’s private space, but he shut that shit up quick. This was a more-the-merrier kind of situation, especially given that the merriers came with all kinds of extra guns and ammo.

As time ticked by, everyone stayed quiet as Sahvage sat on the edge of the mattress and held Mae’s hand. She was so still that had she not been drawing breaths, he would have worried she had passed—

“Hello?” came a voice from up above.

“Down here, doc,” Tohr called out.

The human in the white coat jogged a descent, a black duffle rustling at his side. “Hey,” he said as he addressed Sahvage. “I’m Dr. Manello. We weren’t introduced.”

As the guy approached the foot of the bed, Sahvage looked him up and down. Handsome man. Big shoulders for a human. Seemed competent.

But Sahvage did not fucking move from Mae’s side. And as the silence stretched out, the Brothers cleared their throats.

“I promise,” the doc said, “this is strictly medical. I need to examine her, though. She’s got obvious head trauma, okay?”

With a wave of aggression surging in his body, Sahvage wanted to tell the guy that she was just fucking fine—except he didn’t really know that. Which was the point. She’d been in a car accident, gotten abducted, and then nearly been lost forever thanks to that goddamn brunette. A “strictly medical” exam was called for, especially given the fact that Mae was lying back against those pillows like maybe she needed a crash cart, her beautiful face painfully pale, her body too motionless, her chest rising and falling in a shallow way.

There was just one little problem.

Sahvage kind of wanted to take the handsome, dark-haired human . . . and put the guy’s face through a plate glass window. And then maybe nail his arms and legs to a wall. And hit him with a spray of accelerant, followed by a—

“Match,” Sahvage said out loud.

“What?” the human asked.

“Never mind. And you’re not taking any of her clothes off.”

On that happy little announcement, he glanced around Mae’s bedroom for no good reason. There was a bureau, a bed stand, and a queen-sized bed with a simple duvet and a couple of pillows. Short of some books and an alarm, there was no clutter whatsoever. Functional. Non-fussy.

Barren.

And that made him sad.

“Look, I’m happily mated, my guy,” Manello said. “So I know how you’re feeling right now. But how am I going to examine her properly if I can’t remove her tops?”

Before Sahvage had a proper thought, his dagger hand shot forward and grabbed the front of the doctor’s scrubs. Pulling the human right up close, he bared his fangs.

But instead of screeching, calling for help, or shoving back, the guy just rolled his eyes. “Jesus, you people need to fucking chill. Relax, dickhead. And spare me the ‘if you touch her, Ima kill you.’ I’ve heard it a million times, and not once has anything that’s six seven and clocking in at three hundred pounds had to put my face through a plate glass window.”

Sahvage’s eyebrows popped. “I didn’t think humans could read minds.”

“Wow, you went there with the glass? Really?” Dr. Manello punched Sahvage’s chest and got himself free. “Out. Now. If you care about this female at all, you’ll let me do my job. I’m not fucking around with your bonding anymore—”

“Oh, no, no—you got it all wrong.” Sahvage put his palms up. “I haven’t bonded with her.”

“So I’m smelling cologne you just decided to put on in the middle of a crisis?” The doctor tapped the side of his nose. “Niffer, niffer, dumbass. In case you’ve missed it.”

On that note, the human planted a fairly good-sized set of payback palms on Sahvage’s torso and gave things a big old push.

As Sahvage tap-danced out into the sitting area, the Brothers went with him and the bedroom door was shut.