“I’m sorry for attacking your friend.”

She was suspicious. “Is this the part where you think we’re gonna kiss and make up?” Not happening, buddy.

One brow rose. “That sounds like a good option.”

She shoved against his chest. “Think again. You used me.” She was on her feet. Her first step was a bit wobbly, but by her third, she was in charge of her knees again. “I’m not going to forget that. You knew I trusted you, and you used that trust against me. You—”

“You’re the only person who has truly trusted me in centuries.” Dante had risen to his feet, too. “I didn’t realize . . . what it would be like when your trust was gone.”

“Yes, well, realize it now.” Her heart was doing a double-time beat then. “I have to work, okay, Dante? We almost lost Trace last night because you attacked him. He’s stuck now in worse shape than he was before, and I have to figure out a way to heal him.”

Dante stared at her. Then he gave a grim nod. “You had your samples taken.”

“Yes.” She needed to analyze them and—

“Now take mine. Learn all my secrets.” He walked closer to her. “I offer them to you.”

Wait—now he was all about helping?

“Take my blood, my DNA, whatever you need. Take it.” He shook his head. “The others experimented on me for years, and they could not replicate my cure. If you cannot succeed in helping the werewolf—”

She couldn’t think about failing. Couldn’t.

“Then I will help you to . . . ease his suffering.”

Cassie stabbed her finger into his chest. “You are not killing Trace!” Why was everyone else so fast on the trigger when it came to killing? There were actually other options in the world.

“Sometimes killing is the kinder thing to do.”

“No! Give me time, dammit! Give. Me. Time.” Her breath huffed out of her chilled lungs. “I can do this.” She had to do this.

He headed toward the exam table. Sat on it as he had the night before. But he seemed different. “Run your tests,” he ordered. “Do whatever you have to do.”

He was . . . helping?

“And in the end, if you need me to do what I must, I will.”

Kill Trace.

“We’re not at that point yet,” she whispered . . . and prayed that they never would be.

Evansville, Louisiana, was a speck on the map. If you blinked, you’d miss it.

That was why Charles loved the place. No crowds. No fast pace. Just the spot to vanish for a while.

He slowly drove down the old highway that led to his grandfather’s farm. All of his family members were gone now, but the memories waited there for him and—

The farm was burning. He could see the thick, black smoke drifting in the air.

No!

Charles shoved the accelerator down to the floorboard and gunned the car. The little vehicle jumped and bumped its way down the old road until he brought it to a screeching stop before the farmhouse.

Or what was left of the place.

He climbed from the car and stared at the twisting flames. They’d gutted the farmhouse, and were reaching up for the sky, stretching and destroying everything.

The only link he’d still had to his family. To Kerri.

Gone.

With shaking hands, Charles yanked out his cell phone. He had to get the fire department. Had to get some help—

“Well, well . . .”

The voice came from right behind him and had Charles stiffening. He hadn’t heard any approaching footsteps. Just the crackle of those flames.

“I had hoped to find you inside, Charles, but when you weren’t home, I got a little angry.”

He knew that voice. Carefully, Charles turned to face the man he’d once worked for.

Lieutenant Colonel Jon Abrams.

“What have you done, Jon?”

The man looked different. His smile was cold and hard and—

Charles crept toward him, then froze when he got a good look at Jon’s eyes. There was a fire burning in Jon’s eyes. The gaze of a phoenix.

“You were always so tight like dear Cassie. Such good friends.” Jon took a long, stalking step toward him. “That friendship used to piss me off, just so you know.” He drove his fist into Charles’s stomach, and Charles howled at the burning pain—and he burned. His shirt burned away and blisters sprang up on his stomach.

Charles staggered away. “J-Jon? What the hell?”

“Did Cassie know about your work with the female phoenix? Did you tell her about our little experiments?”