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“Beastkiller indeed,” said the man who’d been manning the sniper rifle.

“Any casualties?” asked Vish on the radio.

“No. We’re fine,” Mr. Galeman answered.

I put a hand across my stomach—and Asher’s met me there. I looked up at him, and he was furious, but he shook his head instead of fighting with me. “I knew what I was getting into when I started dating you.”

He held my necklace up, a question on his face. He had taken it off Celine, which was a little disgusting, but it’d been mine before she’d stolen it—and I wanted it to be mine again. I turned inside his arms and he knotted the chain at the back of my neck.

“Good,” Vish responded. “Keep your wits about you. It isn’t over yet.”

I realized what she meant. Just because Natasha was finished didn’t mean others wouldn’t try. And attacks would be much more likely in daylight, when our trusty team of vampires was asleep—what with us having the added hassle of keeping away from humans who didn’t know what was going on, and the law. Port Cavell was at least two days away, driving straight through—and Anna would be dead for one day after that.

Plenty of time on the road for anyone with a grudge to start a fight. Or a war.

The shorter chain on the necklace made the stone hit at the V of my throat. I had Asher’s strong hands around me still—and now I was strong, too. I knew what I was capable of. I didn’t have to like it, but I was still alive, and so were the people I loved—and hopefully Anna was going to come back to life.

I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything change that.

No matter what.