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Neri shook her head, dismissing his apology. “Even after four years, everything logical flees. I panic and run although part of me knows there isn’t any danger. The weird thing is, adrenaline floods my body because of danger, but my thoughts seize and I can’t push rational thoughts to the forefront.”

Hunter chucked. “You’re fucking fast, too. I’ve never seen another immortal move that fast. If you hadn’t stopped when you did, I wouldn’t have caught you.”

“It’s the one thing Icando.”

“No!”

Hunter’s declaration had her looking into his eyes for an explanation.

“Just like every human is different, so is every immortal. Because you can’t shift, or whatever bullshit Dr. Stevens filled your head with, doesn’t come into play. He experimented on you for money and prestige, and trust me, he didn’t care whether you shifted. And when I catch up to him, I will rip his limbs off one by one until he dies.”

Neri smiled. She burrowed deeper into Hunter’s chest, sighing as his arms wrapped around her.

“How were you able to get into my memory?”

“I don’t understand it, but I’m sure you pulled me in. It’s new and none of the others had ever heard of it, but it’s because we’re mates.”

“You said before, but what does that mean?”

“The simple explanation is that we belong together. You are essential to my life.”

Something about his words rang true and did a lot to reassure her she’d made the right decision to trust him.

“I’m will not pressure you into a relationship, but I want to learn everything I can about you and tell you about me, so you can make up your own mind.”

Although his words rang as truthful, Neri noticed he still had the same look he did when he first looked her in the eyes. Confusion, yet tenderness.

“Why do you sound unsure? You look like you want to run away from me but touch me at the same time.”

“Shifters and vampires, or at least from the legends we rely on, can’t become mates.”

Neri’s brow drew down. She was a shifter. Although she never shifted before. She also never craved blood, she ate regular food, and never survived without coffee, so she didn’t understand his belief she was a vampire.

“I’m not sure I am. I don’t drink blood, I don’t even crave a rare steak.”

Instead of answering her, he looked behind his shoulder and Neri remembered their audience she’d forgotten about the moment Hunter came into focus.

“Kai, Liv, Thomas, Isaac, Kane, Seth, and Aubrey, can you step forward?”

Neri sensed movement, but Hunter spoke. She fixed her attention on him.

“Liv is an immunologist. I spoke to her while you slept in the lab and we’ve concluded you are the first shifter vampire hybrid in existence.”

“How?”

“Dr. Stevens and Dr. Ames created a bioweapon based on Liv’s cancer research. She based her research on cell manipulation. That bioweapon, the milky substance in the syringe, caused rage in another immortal. Which explains why he restrained you when he administered it. But it was the vampire venom I worried about. From what we all understood, once vampire venom enters a shifter’s bloodstream, and vice versa, the venom should have been deadly.”

Neri grew more confused at his words. He expected her to die, although he’d been in her memory, and she hadn’t. And the way the others looked, they didn’t understand why she hadn’t either.

“I watched as the transformation as it took place and it looked almost as painful as regular transitions between mates.

“It surprised me because the venom looked as though it mixed with the bioweapon in a way that froze your blood and allowed the venom to make its way into your body and somehow mutated your cells enough it accepted the intrusion.”

Neri remembered every moment. “Burning is all I remember. I wasn’t cold, it was as if my blood was on fire.”

“That’s what it was like for me, but I was burning up.” A beautiful brunette who stood with her back against a massive man said.

“That’s Ara. She’s a wolf shifter along with her mate, Reaper.”