Page 17

“Hello, brother.” Ariel spat out the word as if it were poison. “Long time no see.”

Anson rubbed at his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. “How?” He didn’t know what else to say.

She cocked her head to the side, her auburn hair sliding over her shoulder. “How what?”

He realized he wasn’t sure. As to why she was helping Grimm?

Unfortunately, he’d had a front-row seat to the man’s manipulation tactics.

That made sense. “How did you grow old and then young?” He was stunned, barely able to form sentences.

He tried so hard to rescue her, but was she too far-gone?

He buried the thought, not wanting it to be true.

She narrowed her eyes at him. It wasn’t until then that he noticed he was tapping his wrist again, trying to make the thought not happen.

Ariel didn’t say anything about the motion. Instead, she explained, “My genetic condition.”

“The hormonal imbalance.” That was what they’d been told was the reason she had to spend so much time in the hospital. Why, at times, Ariel was so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open. The doctors said that if her body didn’t learn to regulate itself, she could die. “What of it?”

“Dr. Grimm fixed me. Made me better.”

Nari snorted. Until the sound, Anson had forgotten she was still in the room. “Dr. Grimm doesn’t help anyone. He makes them worse.”

Anson nodded. “Everything he gives comes with a price.”

“My price was worth it.” Though whatever the price was, she didn’t say. “I can shift with special abilities, making my age look whatever I want. I control my hormones and body now. Who would suspect a harmless old lady of kidnapping?”

“You’re helping him get more test subjects!” Anson spat. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Though, after a moment, he could. That was exactly what he did for Grimm in the hopes of getting Ariel back. “What did he promise you?”

“Nothing you would understand.”

Anson was about to pry when shit got real. In one fluid movement, Nari tore off her T-shirt, changing her arms into great eagle wings. After launching herself into the air, she shifted her feet into talons, launching them toward Ariel. Her claws raked across Ariel’s arm, making her drop the taser.

Anson tried to make a move for the weapon, but his feet became tangled up on the legs of the couch.

Anson hit the floor, trying to crawl toward the dropped taser.

His shoulder was on fire, but he moved faster from the adrenaline pumping inside of him.

His fingers were about to wrap around the handle of the taser when Ariel kicked it away between bouts of fighting off Nari.

Nari shifted her wings back into human arms, sparring with Ariel. Nari knocked her back and was about to tackle her when Ariel opened her mouth, brandishing fangs.

“We have venom!” Anson shouted, hoping his warning would make sense to Nari.

Nari tried to spiral out of the way, but it was too late. Ariel sank her teeth into Nari’s shoulder, and Nari let out a blood-curdling scream.

Anson mustered up all the strength he had left. He launched himself toward the taser. He picked it up, rolled over, and shot his sister before she could pounce on him. Her eyes rolled back, and her knees gave out as she hissed, “You bastard.”

Her head hit the floor, unconscious.

This was not the family reunion he was expecting, but there was no time for that.

Anson dropped the taser, crawling toward Nari.

She lay on her side, moaning. He brushed the web of black hair out of her face.

The paralysis venom was working fast on her.

Nari appeared to be struggling to breathe. Hot tears streaked down Anson’s face.

“No,” he whispered. “You can’t leave me.”

Nari moaned some more, but it sounded rhythmic, like she was trying to talk.

“I can’t understand you. I’m sorry.” What was he going to do? Where the hell was the backup they’d sent for? This was all his fault. Nari was helping him to find his sister. If it wasn’t for him, she would have never been in danger. He would never forgive himself if she died.

He pulled her up to his chest, leaning her torso back toward him.

Wrapping his arms around her, he felt her ragged breathing.

He couldn’t believe this was happening. “Nari, I need you. You can’t leave me.

” He stroked her arm, trying to make her comfortable.

He felt so helpless. It was all he could do.

“You’re going to be just fine.” Her breaths were slower, more shallow.

She was slipping away. Where the fuck was FUC?

He heard steps across the floorboards, but when he looked up, he saw no one.

Out of nowhere, a short blond woman appeared.

“Hello, Anson. I’m Agent Talbot from FUCN’A.

” Then she looked down, really talking in the scene.

“Shit. What happened?” As she dropped to kneel down and inspect Nari, black shadows seemed to float off of her limbs.

“Ariel bit her. She’s filled with shrew venom.” Anson sniffled, trying his best to talk through the tears.

“Where’s the bag of medical supplies Agent Sparks and Stone brought yesterday?” Agent Talbot asked, her blue eyes fierce with determination.

Anson pointed to the coffee table. “It’s over there.”

The agent disappeared, seemingly teleporting across the room. She materialized on the other side of the couch, those black shadows wafting off of her like smoke. “We thought this could be a possibility, so they included antivenom.”

“Thank FUC.” He rubbed her head, silently urging Agent Talbot to hurry. The blonde agent appeared in front of him with a wisp of black smoke, or whatever it was that seemed to move around the room with her. It was odorless, so Anson was at a loss.

Agent Talbot stabbed the injectable pen into Nari’s thigh. She looked up to Anson. “I don’t know how fast it works. Other agents are on the way, but I was closest,” she explained.

“Anson,” Nari croaked. Her throat sounded dry.

“Nari!” Anson hugged her tighter.

“Ow. I can barely breathe as it is.” Her voice was a whisper, but she was breathing just fine if she could talk. In Anson’s non-medical opinion, anyway.

“Sorry. I just… I didn’t know you had anti-venom.”

“I didn’t think I had to tell you.” She swallowed, trying to sit up on her own, but leaned back into him. “I trusted you not to bite me if you did have venom.”

Anson laughed. He couldn’t help it. Nari trusted him enough to feel she wasn’t in danger around him. Somehow, that meant everything to him. “How do you feel?”

She grimaced. “I can’t move anything, but I can breathe now.”

“The anti-venom is working, but it will be effective only for a short while,” Agent Talbot explained.

“We’ll need to get you back to the Academy and put under doctor surveillance until they can figure out how serious this venom is.

” Agent Talbot’s black shadows fluttered with the motion before settling around Nari’s shoulder.

Anson wondered if she could feel them. Though how could one feel whisps of smoke?

He scratched his head in puzzlement. It must have been the work of some other evil scientist.

Nari’s pale face relaxed in what Anson assumed was relief. Her body softened into his, letting her guard down after the brief chaos. She looked about to say something when a flood of agents poured into the small cabin.

“I’ll fill them in,” Agent Talbot said, taking her strange shadows with her as she stood, meeting the others near the door.

“You can’t be rid of me that easily,” Nari said with a wink. A soft smile played at the corners of her lips, but she seemed too weary to grin. Or was that the paralysis still working its way out of her system? He figured she’d feel rough for at least a few days.

He hugged Nari, careful not to squeeze too hard in case she’d been injured elsewhere during the fight.

His head was spinning—Ariel, a lackey for Grimm?

—but he tried his best to keep the focus on Nari.

He’d figure out the tangled web involving Grimm later.

“I thought…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

His throat became thick with the onset of tears, grief of what could have been stealing his voice.

That was too close a call. He’d come too close to losing Nari.

“Me too,” she said softly, leaning her head back into his chest.

He snuggled her close, feeling the rise and fall of her ribcage with every breath.

Ignoring the flow of agents around them, Anson stroked Nari’s silky hair, keeping her as comfortable as possible while they waited for the medics to arrive.

For a moment, he even forgot his worry over the possibility of never seeing her again.

She was alive, and that was all that mattered.