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Her arms were wrapped tightly around her body, her entire frame racked with shivers. “I don’t care,” she said stubbornly. “She’s an Infernarus; she’s my sister.”

My nostrils flared. “You want me to just walk away? That’s nowthree demonsI’ve walked away from that I could have killed. What kind of lousy demon hunter do you take me for?”

She reached up and touched my cheek, and I felt just how hot her skin was. “You’re not a demon hunter, Jame Asher. You’re a faithful mate and a loyal father who’s lost the ones he loves... and I forgive you, too.”

At her words, my heart stilled. I’d seen as much in her eyes earlier, but hearing it voiced...

The person she took me for clashed with what I’d done, the violence I’d committed... the monster I’d become. I barely remembered who I was before demons had taken my family. But for a moment, lost in Lana’s deep, soulful eyes, I remembered.

She swayed forward, her eyelids fluttering, and for an instant I thought she was going to kiss me. And God help me, even sober I was okay with that.

Instead Lana collapsed into my arms, shaking uncontrollably.

Fuck, fuck,fuck.

She was still dying.

I scooped her up and carried her back to my Hummer, leaving Aecora forgotten behind us.

Lana shivered in my arms. She pressed her cheek against my chest, her teeth chattering. Like strands of fiber optics, her hair swirled around her in a protective cocoon, weeping blues and greens in a vivid rainbow. But that wasn’t what got me.

What got me was her dainty fist clinging to my shirt.

A lump formed in my throat.

I couldn’t save my wife. Couldn’t save my daughter.

But maybe I could save Lana.

“Come on,” I murmured, brushing the kiss I couldn’t claim earlier against the crown of her head, “let’s get you to a pharmacy.”

Lana

This human houseof medicine smelled like evil spirits. Spirits like the one that still slunk through my veins.

I was cradled in Asher’s arms, content to just stay here till the end.

A day ago I was a powerful Infernarus. Now I was little more than a defenseless child.

I leaned into Asher, breathing in his scent as he stalked through the pharmacy.

Perhaps it was wearing his body or perhaps it was being sick and vulnerable, but I felt comfortable with him.

No, more than that.

In my delirium, I trusted him, completely. I didn’t fear death right here in his arms. And how death sang dirges in my ears.

Distantly, I heard Asher speaking, his words controlled. “Infection... antibiotics... dying.”

My eyes had drifted closed, and I listened to thethump-thump-thumpof Asher’s heart. It was beating fast for a human, and especially fast for the unshakeable Asher.

An icy hand pressed against my forehead. I flinched at the touch, trying to turn my head away.

Not Asher’s. This one smelled like chemicals.

“It’s okay, Lana,” Asher soothed, “he just wants to help.”

The human medicine man spoke then, his voice alarmed, and the language... I didn’t understand this one.