Danny had introduced us to Bren years ago when my sisters and I were still new to Tahoe. I didn’t like him at first, but it didn’t take him long to charm his way into my heart and become one of my best friends. He snuggled against me, spooning. “Celia, we’ve been in bed together so many times, when will you come to your senses and bang me?”

My life sucked, my heart was breaking off in chunks, and the lives of those I loved hung by my fingertips, and yet as always, Bren made me laugh. He turned me around and greeted me with his good-humored face and bright blue eyes.

I stroked his soft beard. “What are you doing here?”

“Everyone thinks you’re losing it and they sent me here to gauge your loony meter.” He shrugged. “You look fine to me.” His eyes wandered down my body. “Hmmm, actually you look pretty damn fine. How about a quickie?”

I climbed out of bed. “How about dinner instead?”

Bren rolled on his back and tucked his hands behind his head. “Your sisters want us to eat back at your old place.”

My smile faded. “I’m not going there.”

Bren examined me carefully. “You’re not going to tell me what’s wrong. Are you, kid?”

There was no point in pretending with Bren. “No,” I said simply.

He stood and stretched like he didn’t care, but I knew he did. “How about Café Fiore, then?”

—

We exited the restaurant almost three hours later. I didn’t speak much, and let Bren do most of the talking. The path I’d chosen hadn’t allowed me to spend much time with him over the past year. So I’d sat and listened to my friend’s stories while he worked to get me to smile.

Bren slung his arm around me as we walked out into the brisk dark night. He scratched his beard. “Ceel, I don’t know what’s up. Just know whatever shit’s going down, you’re going to get through it.”

I leaned against him. “I hope so.” He paused before giving my body a little squeeze. My response had worried him. I didn’t need a supernatural nose to realize as much. We crossed into the dimly lit lot several blocks from the restaurant in silence. Bren had managed to take the last spot at the very end. Although it was only eleven, most of the businesses along Ski Run Boulevard had shut down. Springtime didn’t generate many tourists, but come summer, the place would be booming with activity.

The quiet around us grew heavier and our steps overtook any other trace of sound. Bren opened the door to his Mustang for me and offered me a small smile. “No matter what, I’ve got your back, kid.”

I opened my mouth to thank him. Anara’s scent silenced me and hit my nose like a punch. My body trembled violently at the encroaching howl of wolves.

Bren immediately growled, his inner wolf acute to my fear. The aroma of my terror must have overwhelmed the air, because he didn’t immediately detect Anara. I grabbed him and tried to shift us into the sewers, but my ability was obstructed.

Bren clasped my shoulders. “What’s wrong?” His eyes widened and his head snapped toward the increasing call of the wolves. “Oh, shit!”

Anara materialized from the shadows, solidifying from a flimsy apparition to a dark, imposing form. Bren shoved me behind him, his anger surging. He knew what was happening, he recognized the danger, but he didn’t know enough to run. I fastened my hand on his wrist and bolted, using the strength of my beast to zigzag us around the remaining cars.

We might as well have waited where we stood.

Something wrapped around my waist and yanked me backward like the tug of a thick rope. I slammed into the wall of a building. Bren’s body hit next to mine, cracking and disintegrating the brick.

I coughed and wheezed, struggling for breath. My tigress leapt inside me, arching my back but failing to change us. The veins in Bren’s throat strained from his effort to break Anara’s hold. He swore and spat, barely managing to move.

Anara ignored him and strolled toward me with the ease of a man in complete control. “Out having a good time? Even after I gave you a task to accomplish?” He struck me with his power, raking my face and chest. I grunted from the sting of my flesh being sliced.

“Don’t fucking touch her!”

Anara angled his face in Bren’s direction. Bren snapped his teeth and growled.

My heart sank when I caught the glimmer burning in Anara’s sadistic eyes. He was going to make Bren bleed and he was going to enjoy it. “No. Leave him alone. He has nothing to do with this!”

Bren’s screams rattled in my head like the roar of a train as Anara twisted Bren’s limbs from their sockets. My horror catapulted when Bren’s wolf failed to heal him. Jesus, Anara could keep him from mending.

Misha, help me! Help me! Anara had blocked Aric’s link to me. I only hoped he couldn’t block my call to Misha.

Bren fired obscenities at Anara. Anara silenced him by ramming the barrel of a gun through his teeth. Cold sweat tore down my spine. I knew what was coming, and I was helpless to stop it.

I smelled the cursed gold bullets before Anara pulled the trigger.

I heard my screams overshadow the blast.

And I watched as Bren crashed to the ground next to the remains of his skull.

Chapter Seven

Anara released me. But I still couldn’t move. Disbelief and terror held me in place. It was only when his invisible hand smacked me across the cheek that I faced him. He met me with impatience, like I’d somehow inconvenienced him by making him shoot my friend. “You’ve yet to taste the full wrath of my anger, Celia. Break the bond.”

Anara dissolved into the shadows again. The eerie bays of the wolves followed. I pulled Bren’s limp form against me and wept into his chest. Misha found me moments later, huddled against him, trying to keep his cooling body warm.

Misha knelt beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Get me the Elder Martin on the phone,” he commanded. To Ying-Ying he said something in Mandarin. Ying-Ying answered softly, then bent before me. Her dark almond eyes pooled with tears. She stroked my hair once before squeezing her hand between me and Bren and covering his heart. She hummed then, sweetly, as if somehow calling Bren home.

Ying-Ying whispered something to Misha, who in turn spoke to me. “Your wolf is almost dead. His soul partially remains. If he is important to you, I can attempt to save him.” I nodded, unable to speak. He opened his hand. “Give me your wrist.”