Cole crouched beside Frosty and tried to tug him to his feet. The injured Frosty batted his hands away and crawled to Kat. My Kat, who still stared at nothing. He gently lifted her into his arms and settled her on his lap.

He croaked, “Kitten. Talk to me.” He kissed her forehead, his tears dripping onto her face. If this had been a fairy tale, she would have healed then and there, true love awakening her. But it wasn’t, and she didn’t. She didn’t smile, and she didn’t tease us about acting like babies.

And...she wasn’t going to, was she?

I could feel something else. Rage, sorrow and fury. So much fury.

“Tell me you’re okay,” Frosty demanded.

She couldn’t. She was...gone. She was gone, and I was a liar. I’d never gotten her to the hospital, and she wasn’t going to be all right.

Hot, stinging tears flooded my cheeks. I raised my face to the sky and screamed. Screamed so piercingly I could have shattered glass. But the sound, no matter how loud, could not drown out Frosty’s weeping. He was a male in pain, his greatest love stolen from him.

I had to leave. I had to leave now.

A strange calm washed over me. I stood to shaky legs and wrapped my arms around myself. I stumbled forward. There was Cole. Maybe he’d been shot. He was on his knees, his arms resting on his thighs. His head was bowed, his chest soaked with blood.

The pose struck me as familiar. The vision had come true at last. I didn’t care, wouldn’t stop.

Cole faced me. “I tried.” His lids squeezed tight, his lashes fusing. Tears welled between the strands. “I tried so hard to get them before they reached Frosty and Kat.”

I kept trudging forward, no destination in mind. Anywhere was better than here. At the back of my mind, I knew I’d come to some sort of mental crossroads; I had a decision to make. Give myself time to heal, if that was even possible, or let Anima have me so the madness would end.

I knew what I needed to do, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

I reached the street. A car was parked in the distance, two men standing outside it, holding remote controls. They spotted me and stilled, as if shocked to find their prey had come directly to them—and wasn’t bolting.

I could have shouted. Cole and Frosty might have come running. I could have raced away and hid. But I did neither of those things. Anima wanted me. Fine. They could have me.

Decision made.

They’d won. They’d taken another piece of my heart. One of the best. They could have their prize, shirtless as it was.

The rage burned up everything else. I would destroy them—even if I had to destroy myself in the process.

I headed straight for them...was almost within reach. “I’ll go without a fight, but you have to stop. Now.”

One of them grabbed me. The other shoved a black sack over my head. My hands were tied behind my back, and I was patted down for weapons. For once, I didn’t have any.

I was picked up and thrown into the car.

Chapter 29

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

As the car motored down the road, my mom whispered, “I’m so sorry, Ali. I heard Juliana talking to someone on her cell. She said she’d have you outside in five minutes, for the troops to wait in back. I hoped to lead them away from the house, didn’t know zombies were coming...or that bombs would go off and you’d be trapped inside. I’m so sorry.”

It was nice, knowing she was with me.

“Emma’s frantic, trying to get here to see you, but I’ve made friends throughout the years and asked them to stop her. Gently.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t want my little sis to see me like this.

“Quiet,” one of the Hazmats snapped.

“I would appear to Cole,” Helen continued, “and tell him where you are, what’s happening and where you end up, but he wouldn’t believe me.”

No. He wouldn’t.

And maybe that was for the best. I didn’t want to be found.

“I’ll think of something. Just...remember what I told you,” Helen said, and then I think she left me.

Remember...what?

I didn’t have to ponder long before the answer hit me. The fingerprint ID. How she had died protecting me. How she had made arrangements for my future. I couldn’t let her down.

Like I’d let Kat down.

I’m not sure how far we traveled. Finally, the car stopped and I was hauled outside. The men dragged me inside a warm building, only to release me and push me inside...a cage, most likely. That was Anima’s usual M.O. I stumbled, my shoulder brushing against a cold metal bar. Yep. A cage.

Footsteps. Angry muttering.

I sat. Something pulled at the ties around my wrists, and suddenly I was free. I removed the hood and blinked into focus. The cage was a four-by-four with bars on every side. The floor was made up of dirt and more dirt. I had a cot and a toilet, nothing more. Been here, done that. Anima needed new material.

The only piece of furniture outside the cage was a long metal table. Papers were scattered across the surface. A pen.

Weapon.

Fingers snapped at my ear.

At least there were no men in lab coats milling around, pretending not to scrutinize my every move.

The fingers snapped again. “Ali.”

Slowly I turned my head, blinked when I realized Justin occupied the cage next to mine. Well, well. I’d finally found him. In the proof-of-life video, he’d worn only underwear. Today he was fully clothed.

He pulled off his shirt and handed it to me. I pulled the material over my head as he gripped the bars between us. The swelling in his eyes had gone down, revealing the desperation swirling inside.