Shayna turned around in her seat and leaned her chin against her palm. “Ceel, I’m not saying this to upset you, but even when Koda is worn out, his beast always gives him an extra boost of energy. I don’t remember him ever being too tired. If anything Puppy gets his second wind when he sees me, you know?”

“Aric used to be the same way.” I glanced out the window again. “Now he’s questioning whether he’s truly my mate.”

“You’re kidding,” Taran said.

That awful sense of abandonment I felt at his words reclaimed me. My sisters didn’t move, waiting for me to respond. “That’s what he said. And apparently what he believes. He felt he owed it to me to tell me.”

“Shit,” Taran said.

“Yeah,” I added quietly. “Pretty much.”

I rubbed at the center of my chest. The ache there was starting to get worse. I must have sprained something during my encounter with Dilip. If it didn’t improve, I’d ask Emme to heal me. I sighed. Then again, it could’ve just been the hurt Aric caused.

Shayna tried to smile. “Aric loves you, Ceel,” she said. “That I’m absolutely sure of. You didn’t see him the whole time you were separated. Koda and I did. Your wolf was positively miserable without his little kitty.”

“I believe you,” I told her. “What I can’t understand is why he doesn’t believe that I love him, too. Or how lost I was without him.” I rubbed my chest again. “I can’t help thinking all his anger stems from his deepest insecurities….”

Taran shook me hard. “Celia. Celia, what’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

My sisters exchanged glances, but it was Taran who spoke up. “You were talking and then it was like you checked out. You okay?”

A strange haze seemed to dull my senses and dim my thoughts. I shook my head, trying to clear it. “I’m fine…just tired, I guess.” For the life of me, I couldn’t even remember what we were talking about. But I didn’t want to admit it, especially seeing how worried my sisters suddenly seemed.

“I’m fine,” I repeated, trying to put more force behind my words. “Really. We just need to focus on finding Shah.” That much I meant. We were anything but focused.

My hand reached to rub the center of my chest again, but then I caught myself and stopped. The pain I’d felt was suddenly gone.

Taran frowned, looking past me to Emme. “Em…is that a hickey on your neck?”

Emme slapped her hand over her neck. “No. It’s just a bruise. I fell. Last night.”

“On your neck?” Taran asked, smiling.

Shayna whirled around, pointing to her other side. “Oh! She’s got one right there, too.”

“No shit?” Taran laughed. “Tell me you hooked up with some hot Malaysian guy.”

Emme’s cheeks flushed and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before any words came out. “I can honestly say I didn’t hook up with a hot Malaysian guy.”

“Then who did you hook up with?” Taran demanded.

Emme shut her mouth abruptly when she caught mine hanging open. The only males I’d seen her with who weren’t trying to kill her had been Bren and Tye. And she wouldn’t—I mean, they couldn’t possibly. He and she—Did he and she…Come to think of it, which he and she?

The radio crackled and Agnes’s voice blasted over the speaker. “Listen up, freaks. We have three potential spots where Shah might be. One’s a hotel on the east side of town close to the club we hit last night. A team is searching it now. One vamp’s been blown to bits, but it was kind of an accident so we think it’s a dead end. I’m with the team searching the underground lair beneath Dilip’s compound. We think Shah might be here, given how many have been eaten.”

Emme gasped. “Eaten?”

Agnes huffed. “Yeah. Can you believe it? So far we’ve lost two vamps and a rogue witch to something with tentacles—”

A shrill scream cut Agnes off.

“Make that three vamps,” she continued. “So if you see any tentacles when you get to your location, run like hell. I don’t know what this thing is, but damn, it’s hungry.”

None of us moved, but Taran had plenty to say. “That’s your advice to us? Run like hell?”

“Unless you prefer to be eaten,” Agnes sang.

Yeah. So not a fan of Agnes.

Emme leaned forward and wiped her paling face. “Good Lord,” she muttered.

The pilot tilted the plane down, beginning our descent. I caught sight of an old cinder block house with a tin roof surrounded by what appeared to be tall white grass. That must be the place. I hadn’t seen anything else for miles.

The pilot veered the plane, angling it toward a clearing on the opposite side of a small patch of jungle. We’d have to cross through the dense stand of trees. But from what I could make out, it didn’t appear to be rough terrain.

Shayna adjusted her ponytail just when Emme groaned again. “Don’t worry, Emme,” she told her. “The way I figure, if anything ever needed tentacles to guard it, it’s Shah. If so, sounds like the vamps have the right place. Let’s just check this lead out, give it the all clear, and go home.” She grinned my way. “Celia and I have some wolves to make up with.”

She was starting to feel better about her and Koda. I didn’t share the same hope for Aric and me. What was wrong with my wolf?

The pilot landed in the field near an old farm. The scent of manure made me gag when the pilot opened the door for us. The moment we climbed out, he tried to climb back in. I grabbed his arm. “You’re not coming with us?”

He smirked, allowing his fangs to lengthen past his lips. “Nope. Like it or not, you need me to fly your asses out of here. Can’t do that if I’m eaten.”

Most beings couldn’t argue with that logic, but I wasn’t like most. “Fine. But just so you’re aware, if you leave us behind, Misha will know.” I smiled. “We’re besties. You’re not. He’ll find you, rip off your arms, then feed you to something scarier than that creature with tentacles.” I released him when his fangs retracted. “Toodles.”

I headed in the direction of the jungle. Shayna skipped to catch up, twirling the machete she carried to loosen her wrists. “Want me to take up the rear?”