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“I sent you to protect her, not to turn her so she could protect herself!”

“Brother, listen, Teresa found us. She was in Michigan.”

I took a few seconds for his words to make a connection to my brain. “How? I want to know exactly what happened.” I demanded, directing all my vitriol at Harlen. My voice was lower and more controlled now. “Every detail. Now.”

Harlen wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. His split lip had already healed.

“Teresa was in Michigan. She was waiting for us at the condo. Somehow, she knew where we were going.”

“The bitch must have followed us.” Morgan added, and the casual profanity was strange in her unfamiliar voice. “I went up to the condo, and she was already there. Harlen was parking the car.”

“As soon as I got inside, I saw Teresa holding Morgan over the edge of the balcony.” Harlen continued. “Your condo is twenty stories up.”

“She pushed me.” Morgan finished for him. Her hand moved unconsciously to her throat where Teresa must have held her. “I remember falling.” She paused, swallowing hard. “Then I woke up... different.”

Chanel let out another sob. Her fingers pressed against her lips as if holding back more tears.

“She died on impact.” Harlen says flatly. The words hit the room like physical blows. “I got to her as fast as I could, but it was too late. Every bone in her body was broken. Her skull was fractured. There was blood—” He stopped after noticing Chanel’s horrified expression. “She was gone. She was dead, Zand. Teresa killed her.”

“So, you turned her.” I stated. “Without calling me. Without asking anyone what you should do. You made a decision, that decision, without a conversation.”

“I was there. I saw it happen. What was I supposed to do?” Harlen demanded. “Let her stay dead? Call you and say, ‘Hey, brother, Teresa just murdered Morgan, sorry about that’? Sorry I failed to protect her. I had to decide right then and there. You know we only have so much time before we can’t bring them back.”

“Three days of silence, Harlen. Three fucking days while we were going out of our minds with worry.”

“I was busy.” He snapped. “Did you forget what the first few days of a new vampire are like?”

Of course I remembered. The uncontrollable thirst in the first twenty-four hours. The disorientation, the headaches, and the newfound strength that could accidentally kill someone if not carefully managed.

“I had to get her somewhere private and safe.” Harlen continued. “I had to feed her and teach her the basics.”

“You should have brought her back immediately,” I told Harlen. “As soon as she was stable enough to travel.”

“She wasn’t stable until late yesterday.” Harlen argued. “And I couldn’t risk bringing her back into the city until I was sure she could handle it. Teresa got away.” Harlen added, and my attention snapped back to him. “I wasn’t going to leave Morgan on the pavement to go after her.”

“If she gets the chance, she’ll go after Chanel next.”

“We can’t give her anymore chances.” Harlen chanted.

And just like that, the final piece clicked into place. The worst had happened. Teresa found them. And somehow, it ended with Morgan dead—and then reborn.

“Was it that bad?” Chanel asked Morgan now that her tears had dried.

Morgan hesitated. “Yes, and no. The first day was bad. It was like having the flu, bad cramps, and a migraine. I was asking myself every damn hour ‘Ho, is you cool’? It’s like every day that passes, I feel just a little bit more comfortable in this body.”

Donté stepped forward, looking between all of us before he focused solely on Morgan. “It’s going to get better. Being a vamp takes time to get used to.”

The five of us stood there amid the wreckage of the loft—broken furniture, shattered glass, scattered books. The physical destruction around us mirrored the emotional upheaval within all of us. Morgan was a vampire now. Whatever future she might have had as a human was gone forever. And Chanel had lost the human version of her best friend even while she stood right beside her.

“What happens now?” Morgan asked. Her new vampire eyes moved from me to Harlen and back again.

None of us had an answer ready. The rules of the game had changed drastically. We were all struggling to catch up. Teresa killed Morgan to hurt us, but Harlen turned that death into something else entirely. I just didn’t know yet if it was a victoryor another kind of loss. I’m sure Morgan and Chanel thought it was a loss.

CHAPTER FIVE

MORGAN

Iclosed the door to the guest room and leaned against it. I was grateful for the alone time. Adjusting to this dramatic change in my life didn’t need a 24/7 audience. My entire body felt wrong, too light, too heavy, too strong, and too weak. The light from the bedside lamp burned into my retinas despite being dimmer than I would have preferred as a human.