Liam frowned. “What are you talking about?’

“YOU aren’t a vampire. You never were. You were just inhabiting my body.” Faris gave a rueful smile and shook his head. “Which means when the sunlight hit us, I was fried. But you got to keep on living. So I’ll tell you this now, you’d better stick it out with Rylee, because I think she’s got a thing for that body you’re in.”

“You died for her.”

The vampire snorted and spoke over his shoulder as he walked away, heading into a fog that swam up between them. “Yeah, I guess I did. Maybe you and I aren’t so different after all, Wolf.”

“Wait.” The word slipped out of him as he tried to open his closed eyes. He made himself open them, but it was like prying apart two pieces of paper glued together. There was no answer to his request, not even a snotty reply.

Faris was gone, and for the first time in months, Liam was alone in his head.

“What the hell,” he murmured, sitting up, pushing the heavy curtain off his body before he thought better of it.

The sunlight spilled over his face and he drew in a slow, even breath. His heart beat, almost frantically, and a distant urge to run and hide from the bright light bit at him. Leftover muscle memory from hundreds of years living in the darkness. He looked down at his body.

His body.

Not Faris’s any longer. He shoved the curtain the rest of the way off and stood. The slab was bare. Rylee’s body and Orion’s were gone.

Fear clutched at his heart with icy fingers, and despite the warm sun, he was cold all the way to his core. He ran forward searching for a sign of what had happened. So much blood . . . .

“She’s in the barn.”

He spun to see Lark standing behind him. How the hell had she snuck up on him? Why didn’t he hear her? Or smell her for that matter?

The realization hit him like a hammer between the eyes.

He was human again. That was the only answer.

“Is she . . . alive?”

Lark smiled, though it was tired and full of sorrow. “In a manner of speaking. And you aren’t human, Wolf. You never were. Let your body catch up to the soul that it now contains; your senses will come back.”

A barking laugh rolled toward them and Griffin strolled up behind Lark, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “Listen to her, yeah? She’s a smart girl.”

Liam stared at the older man. “Am I still a guardian?”

Griffin shrugged. “As much as you ever were. The wolf is a part of you. Don’t matter what your body looks like, yeah? And that wee girl of yours . . . she’s going to be walking in your footsteps soon enough, so don’t forget the training that old coot Peter gave you.”

He nodded. Peter . . . the old werewolf deep in the wilds of Russia had given him insight into what he was capable of . . . and he’d bound Rylee’s soul to him.

Griffin turned away, and Liam couldn’t help but grab his arm. “You’re leaving already?”

Grunting, Griffin swatted his hand away. “You remember Catya? She needs me more than you do, yeah?”

Catya, the littlest werewolf Liam had ever met with a heart of pure gold. “I’m sorry.”

With a wink, Griffin shifted into his wolf form and loped away.

Lark waved at him. “We can talk later. Go to her; she thinks you’re lost to her.”

Liam nodded and jogged to where the barn, remarkably enough, still stood. Pushing the door open, the flood of smells assaulted his nose. Hay and mold, sweating bodies, and . . . take out Chinese. Lark wasn’t kidding about his senses coming back; they felt even keener than before. He sniffed loudly. “Any of that left?”

Absolute silence met his words and he looked right at her. Her eyes . . . they were the first thing he noticed. No longer tri-colored, but a perfect hazel with flecks of green and a slight rim of gold around the edge. No swirling of her emotions showed in their depths as she stood and stumbled toward him.

“Adamson, please tell me you don’t plan on saving the world again anytime soon.”

A sob spilled out of her and he caught her up, crushing her to his chest. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” Her grip tightened on him to the point that his ribs creaked. “Ease up, beautiful.”

She loosened her hold and stared up at him. He bent his head, kissing her hard, his tongue darting into her mouth and brushing against . . . he jerked his head back unable to stop himself. “What happened?”

Her eyes narrowed and he braced himself for an onslaught from her.

He was right to be wary. Even without the telltale swirling of colors in her eyes, he knew he’d pushed a sore spot, right off the bat.

For a moment, he thought Faris would give him shit for screwing up already. Of course, the vampire was gone. Which mean Liam was on his own.

CHAPTER 56

RYLEE

“WHAT DO YOU mean, what happened? Were you not there?” I couldn’t help the snap to my tone. I was scared. What if he didn’t want me now that I was no longer a Tracker? Now that I was something different.

He cupped my face. “I was there, but apparently, I missed the finale. Doran, you want to explain since I can smell you on her lips?”

I jerked away from him. “How about I explain?”

His lips twitched and I realized we’d both changed so much in the last months . . . but I would never stop loving him. I only hoped he felt the same.

“Spit it out, Adamson,” he growled, but there was a teasing light in his eyes and on his lips.