Jaycee whirled, running out. Zander went after her. “Wait—Jaycee—” He stopped at the door to the living room. “Damn it.”

“Addie.” Ivy’s fear was fading, anger rising. “You tell me what’s going on right now. And where have you been? The police came here—they think you’re on the run. I told them you were just trying to calm down and get over what happened at the diner—I had to lie to the police, Addie.”

The kids were watching Addie in bewilderment. Josh at least hadn’t gone for the phone.

“I’m sorry.” Addie’s heart squeezed. “Truly, I am, and soon I’ll sit you down and tell you about my adventures. But right now, I have to go, and I have to ask you not to tell anyone you saw me. All right? I’ll explain when I can. Please, Ivy—trust me.”

Addie looked at her in appeal. Ivy had supported Addie through all her woes—her failed engagement, her need for a place to live, her hope to start working her way through school. In it all, Ivy had kept her big-sister attitude—Poor little Addie needs help again.

Now Addie was asking Ivy to trust her as an equal. Ivy shook her forefinger in Addie’s direction. “It had better be a good explanation.”

“Oh, it will be entertaining, I guarantee. Ben, do you know where Kendrick went?”

Ben nodded. “I know the place.”

“Good. Zander—follow Ben. And maybe could you be a little less speedy on the turns?”

Zander grinned as he herded her out after Ben. “Hey, this is tame. You should see me when I open up my bike on the ice floes. I can really get going then.”

Addie would have shuddered, but her thoughts were all for Kendrick, far away and in danger.

*   *   *

The darkness was absolute. Shifters could see in the dark, but that was because there was usually more light in a space than human eyes could detect. In the absence of all light, Shifters were as sightless as any human.

Kendrick sheathed the sword and shifted to his between-beast, half man, half tiger. He bent all his strength to the door, trying to wrench the steel slab back up into its slot. He heard Tiger on the other side attempting the same thing.

The door didn’t budge. It was a thick piece of metal, and the mechanism that dropped it had locked it in place. Kendrick considered tearing his way through the walls themselves, but this was a vault, built to withstand fire and natural disasters. The walls would be solid concrete reinforced, likely several feet thick.

Tiger would make his way out and bring help. Dylan and Kendrick’s Shifters would get the door open sooner or later.

For now, Kendrick was the mouse in Lachlan’s trap, waiting for it to spring.

“That won’t work.”

Lachlan’s voice came from behind Kendrick, on the other side of the room. Kendrick couldn’t see the man, but he could hear and smell him. He didn’t need sight to attack a target.

He rushed Lachlan, not waiting to ask questions or issue a challenge. At the instant before he should have contacted him, Lachlan leapt aside, and Kendrick smashed into the far wall.

His reflexes had him cushioning the blow, pushing himself away and to his feet even as he hit.

Kendrick grabbed for Lachlan again, and again Lachlan moved at the last minute. The man shouldn’t be able to see any better than Kendrick, and Kendrick didn’t remember Lachlan having superior hearing or scent. If anything, Kendrick, the full-blood Shifter, should have the advantage.

“You’re wearing night-vision goggles,” Kendrick realized, trying to catch his breath. “You see my body heat.”

“You’re like a flame, my old friend,” Lachlan said. “Fire in the darkness.”