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Zayne lets out a snort as I slowly stand up to my full height—which honestly isn’t impressive. Killian clearly doesn’t have a very high opinion of me despite my sword. Or maybe, from the way he looks at me, he likes me a lot, just not as a useful asset.

But I need to find out what’s going on. I want to know what a portal is and what bad things are coming through. And if I disappear now, I don’t think they’ll wait for me. I give Killian my sweetest pretty-girl smile—actually it’s not very sweet—and Zayne snorts again. “Josh will be fine with Jack,” I say. “He’s a big boy, aren’t you, Josh?” I ruffle his hair again and he gives a slow nod. He isn’t happy, but he’s not worried either. Jack gives off a friendly vibe. I kiss the top of Josh’s head and watch as he and Jack walk hand in hand to the house. Then I turn back to Killian. “So, you were saying about these really bad things…?”

Now I’m here, I’m impatient to know what’s going on. Then I’m hoping that tomorrow, we can travel to Valandria and I’ll find Khaosti waiting there for me. There’s a mirror not too far from here, I think. My mother left the locations of various mirrors implanted in my memories.

“Just who is she?” one of the women asks. She’s tall, at least six inches taller than I am. Maybe she thinks that gives her the right to look down her nose at me—well, I suppose it does, literally. I’m not inclined to make any effort to change the way she views me. I used to care way too much about what people thought. Now—not so much. All the same, I can be polite. I step forward and hold out my hand to her.

“I’m Amber,” I say. “I’m Zayne’s sister.”

“Among other things,” Zayne mutters. I send him a warning glance. I might have told him who I really was, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to share the whole Lucifer’s daughter thing with the general population. That is definitely on a need-to-know basis.

The woman stares at my hand for a few seconds, then gives a shrug and takes it. I get that shifter shiver again. And so does she. She pulls away and her eyes narrow, but before she can say anything, one of the others steps forward and takes my hand. “Daniel.”

They all follow suit and yup, they’re all shifters. The last is a girl who appears to be not much older than me, and who’s been casting Zayne longing looks since we got here. Her name is Laura, and she seems sweet, apart from her deplorable taste in men.

Finally, introductions over, I turn back to Killian. “So…?”

He looks at me, and for a moment, I think he’s not going to answer. Then, he shrugs and says, “The first one came through two weeks ago. We didn’t know what it was, but we tracked it and killed it. Then, nothing for a week. But after that, they’vebeen coming every night. Luckily only one at a time—I’m not sure we could take on more.”

That doesn’t sound good. “But what came through? And came through where?” I ask.

Killian raises a brow. “Best if you see for yourself,” he states.

Ugh. I hate cryptic stuff. I open my mouth to press the matter, but at that moment, Killian’s phone rings. He listens, everyone watching him attentively, and there’s a new tension in the air—something is happening.

I share a glance with Zayne. He shrugs; he has no more clue than me as to what’s going on.

Finally, Killian ends the call. “We’re in business,” he says. “Come on, let’s go.” Without another word, they all turn as one and move away from the house, leaving me and Zayne standing together.

At the edge of the tree line, Killian turns. “Are you coming, Princess?” he says, in more of a taunt than a question, but I follow, Zayne beside me. The trail leads through the woods, and it’s warm and damp, smelling of dead and living things. Beneath the trees it’s dark, but I get a comforting feeling—there’s no danger. Yet.

But as we move further into the woods, I sense a change in the air. The thrill of something—maybe magic—prickles over my skin. But the flavor is different from my own magic. It’s like nothing I felt before.

Finally, we leave the trees and enter a clearing. The moon is bright and it’s easy to make out our surroundings. We’re walking through some sort of ravine, with steep walls of rock on either side. It makes me feel a little uneasy. Then in front of us, the others come to a halt. I catch up and peer around them, trying to sense the source of that strange frisson in the air.

It isn’t hard to find. Up ahead, the ravine widens to what almost looks like an amphitheater. A flat circular area with novegetation. And at the far side is a rock face, which right now is shimmering with a very unnatural blue-white light.

“What is it?” I ask Killian.

He turns to look at me as if I’m an idiot. “It’s a portal, of course.”

There’s no “of course” about it. How the hell would I know there’s a portal? I didn’t even know portals existed. Other than the mirrors, of course. “What’s a portal?” I ask.

“It’s how the shadowguard get here. It’s a door between worlds,” Killian replies, as though that’s the most natural thing in the world to say. Maybe it is—in his world.

“Not a mirror?” I ask.

His brows draw together. “Why would it be a mirror?”

The fact that Killian clearly doesn’t know everything cheers me up a little. But explanations will have to wait until later, because something is happening. There’s a crack in the rock face, and the blue light shimmers brighter. Then, something comes through.

I step closer to Zayne as a great black form leaps from the fissure. I stare at it, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. It seems similarly confused, standing unmoving for a moment. Then, it throws back its head and roars. Is it some sort of big cat?

In some ways, it reminds me of the shadowguard. Wraith-like and insubstantial, as though it’s stretched too thin. With glowing crimson eyes. But the shadowguard were once human—or half human anyway—whereas this is clearly an animal.

Killian says, “Go.”

I realize he’s speaking to the others. I sense a shimmer in the air, and I turn to watch. I’ve seen it before, but it never ceases to impress me. There’s an effortless flow from one form to another, and seconds later, five wolves stand before me. They’re huge, ranging in color from white to a deep dark brown.