An alarm screeched to sudden life. I stilled, glanced around.

A paling Rebecca barked orders at the guards. “You, get the Witness into the cage I prepared. You, lock Ali in the safe room.”

Ali, again. Why?

“And you,” she said to Ethan. “If you want to leave this building alive, you’ll shut your mouth and come with me. I’ll expect you to watch my back—or I’ll put a bullet in yours.”

Wait. “Don’t leave me!” I called.

But they’d already marched out of the room. One of the suited men took the collar-bound Witness through another set of doors while the other freed me from the chair. I made to stand on my own, but he grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me through the same doors the other suited man had used.

A computerized voice announced, “Intruders, first floor. Intruders, second floor. Intruders, third floor. Fire, fourth floor.” On and on, the litany continued.

My heart raced, but not with fear, I didn’t think. Was that...excitement? Anticipation? But why?

“What’s going on?” I asked.

He jerked off the mask. “Shut up and walk.”

I gritted my teeth, contemplated tripping him—and the impulse baffled me. We were on the same side.

Down a hall we raced, around a corner. We came to a group of teenage boys fighting guards and zombies at the same time and drew up short.

I watched, enthralled. Throb, throb, throb. I’m not sure I’d ever seen a more awesome sight. The tallest and most muscled of the boys had black hair—and were those violet eyes? Good glory. He was fearsome. A minicrossbow in one hand, a dagger in the other. He pushed his spirit from his body, took down a zombie, then turned in a circle, stepped back into his body and shot a guard with an arrow. His motions were fluid, a ripple of wind, as natural as breathing.

His gaze shifted—yes! violet!—and landed on me. He stopped. Just stopped—

—the world around me crumbled, and suddenly I was on a bed, flat on my back. The dark-haired boy was on top of me, pinning me down. He didn’t mean me any harm. His hands gently framed my cheeks as I smiled up at him. He lowered his head with every intention of kissing me. I—

—lost sight of him and yelped. Hazmat-suit man must have decided it would be unwise to aid his friends, because he yanked my arm, tugging me away from the action. I turned back, needing to see the violet-eyed boy again.

“They’re slayers,” Hazmat said.

That meant... Oh, crap. They had come back to finish the job—to finish me.

Hazmat tripped and fell, taking me with him. Impact hurt. As I crawled to my hands and knees, I realized he hadn’t tripped on his own. He’d had help. Courtesy of an arrow through the back of his neck. Blood pooled around him. But the violence of the action...didn’t shock me.

Heart pounding, I scrambled up to face the violet-eyed boy now stomping toward me. Every cell in my body sizzled. In fear. Had to be fear.

“Don’t hurt me,” I gasped out. Warning bells sounded in my head. Or maybe that was the still-blasting alarm. I backed away, came up against a wall. “I’ll fight you. And I’ll injure you. I will. I hear I’m quite good at combat.”

He stopped a few inches away from me. Those gorgeous eyes danced with relief, happiness and confusion. He took another step toward me.

I held up my hands to ward him off. “Don’t come near me!”

The confusion overshadowed the other emotions. “Do you know who I am?”

“Of course. You’re a slayer. I’ve taken down your people, and you now want revenge. Well, it’s not going to be easy.” I raised my fists. I might not remember how to fight, but I wasn’t going down easily.

Two boys came up beside him. One flashed me a toothy grin. The other, a blond with tragic navy eyes, never lost his scowl.

“Go,” Violet told them. “I’ll take care of her.”

Off they went, and all too soon, I heard the pop of gunfire behind me.

“Listen to me,” Violet said, drawing my attention.

I gasped. He’d closed more distance. I could feel the heat of him now, smell the soap and strawberries of his scent. I swear my heart skipped a beat.

“My name is Cole, and I’m here for you. To take you away. I’m not going to hurt you. Would never hurt you.”

I wanted to believe him, but Rebecca’s warning blasted through my mind. I spat, “Liar!”

“Ali-gator,” he said, his tone gentle. “Ali.”

That name again... I frowned. It struck me with the same force as one of his arrows, my chest throbbing, throbbing so intently. “I’m Samantha.” Wasn’t I?

“You were captured, brought here. Took us a while, but we finally found you. I don’t know what they did to you, but I can assure you they aren’t your friends. We are. None of us would ever hurt you.”

I edged around the corner, backing away from him.

“A lot of people are worried about you.” As he spoke, he inched toward me. “Nana, my dad. Reeve. Do you remember Reeve?”

I racked my brain, came up empty and shook my head. Chest...throbbing harder...

“Emma, your little sister, has been helping us look for you. But Anima used pulses to surround the perimeter, so she wasn’t able to get inside until after we’d disabled them. Then I wouldn’t let her in the building. I knew you would be upset if anything happened to her.”

Emma...Emma... The name made the throbbing far, far worse.