“I can see that,” Nicholas muttered. His nose twitched.

“You look like a demented bunny,” I told him. “What are you doing?”

“You switched to lemon shampoo.”

I blinked, thought back to my morning shower, which felt like years ago. He was right. His hands were clenched, but his voice was soft and husky. He turned his head away, was close enough that his hair brushed my cheek.

“Smells good.”

CHAPTER 15

Solange

I only woke up because I had a mouthful of mud and a lump of hard dirt as a pillow.

“Ow.” I sat up, blinking blearily. “What the hell, you guys?”

“Shh,” Connor hissed at me, his hand covering my mouth. “We’re not alone.” I could barely hear him, he was speaking so softly. I couldn’t hear heartbeats or frightened porcupines or twigs snapping under combat boots, but I knew the rest of my brothers could. He drew a sun in the dirt at our feet. I could barely make out the shape in the moonlight falling through the branches. Not just vampires then.

Helios-Ra.

The wind was warm, persistent. The crickets had stopped singing, no doubt sensing predators in every corner of the forest. This was our forest, damn it. The Helios-Ra had no business here.

Shadows flitted between the trees, making an unearthly sigh of displaced air. A vampire screamed and turned to dust, billowing between the leaves. A wooden Helios-Ra stake bit the maple tree behind her as she crumbled. Someone screeched.

Connor leaped into the fray before I could stop him. Marcus was fighting, and Quinn, of course, who couldn’t be kept from a good fight no matter the circumstances.

Logan crouched between me and the worst of it, Duncan was farther behind, guarding our back. It was standard formation, one my mother drilled into us along with our ABCs and why we mustn’t tell anyone our parents had fangs and drank blood instead of coffee. For my mother to have been truly proud, we should have had the high ground.

We didn’t.

In fact, we weren’t even all accounted for. “Where’s London?” I asked.

“She took off,” Logan answered grimly. “She ran off down some tunnel while you were napping.”

“And you didn’t go after her?”

“Little busy for a temper tantrum.”

“She probably feels bad about dragging me to court.”

“Too busy for that, too. She’ll be fine,” he added. “And anyway, she mentioned something about doing some recon of her own. The royal guard should have been there to protect you if you were such an honored guest. She wants to know what’s going on.”

“Everything’s a sad- ass mess, is what’s going on,” I muttered. “Doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.”

I didn’t even know how far away from the farm we were, having slept through a good part of the journey. We could be half an hour away or three hours. The stars were faint above us, visible only when there was a particularly violent gust of wind. I studied their patterns, as much as I was able. The moon hung low.

“Nearly dawn,” I muttered at Logan. “We have to get out of here.”

“You think?” he muttered back, using that tone reserved for only the most annoying of little sisters. I rose to my feet, feeling as if I were moving through water. I was that tired, with my eyes burning and my throat clenched against a yawn. Logan glared at me.

“Get back down.”

I shook my head. “We’re outnumbered.”

“Not the first time,” he grunted, ramming a stake into the heart of a vampire Connor flipped toward him. A hiss, a burst of dust.

“I can smell her,” someone interrupted, excitement thrumming through his voice. I had no desire whatsoever to meet the owner of that voice. The moon continued to drop behind the horizon. I dove toward Logan, coming up at his side. I yanked stakes out of his back holster.

“Stay down, damn it.”

“She’s mine.” One of the vampires caught my scent and turned sharply away from where he’d been beating Duncan to a pulp. The vampire looked around, distracted.

“Solange? I’m here for you, my love.”

“If he starts spouting poetry I’m staking him myself,” I promised through my teeth.

Duncan rolled toward us, a deep gash bleeding profusely on his head. Blood matted his hair to the side of his face. Logan’s nostrils flared.

“Cutting it close, aren’t you?” he muttered.

“Bastard’s stronger than he looks,” Duncan muttered back as I propped him up against a tree. I swallowed against the gag reflex when his blood oozed over my fingers.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He wiped his face with his sleeve. “It’s healing already.” The sounds of battle came closer.

Too close.

I heard the snap of a twig. And then Marcus roaring. Not a twig. His arm.

I threw one of my stakes. It didn’t hit the vampire’s heart but she did stumble back, hissing. Marcus hid himself in the bushes, cradling his injured arm. Quinn laughed even though he was fighting off a vampire and a Helios-Ra agent who were also fighting each other. Fists thudded into flesh. Blood splattered through the air. The darkness was fading slowly to the gray light of predawn, glinting off night-vision equipment. I sat back on my heels, stomach clenching.

“Logan,” I said. “There’s too many of them.”

“We’re fine,” he insisted.