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herself.
    Liam gritted his teeth and held tighter to her body. Anger and fear warred within him. “I think we need to bring one of the shamans along with us. It seems we’re always needing them to patch her up, or give us a hand anyway.”
    You would never convince them to leave their territories. They are not the kind that wander far from their homes. Blaz tipped his head to look back with one eye. But perhaps we could convince a druid to stay close. It is something to consider.
    That would mean bringing Deanna, most likely, which would mean Will. And Will wanted to make Rylee his mate. A growl slipped out of him just thinking about the cocky panther shifter, then slowly faded. There would come a day when he wouldn’t be there for her. Will could be the one who looked after her. The thought clutched hard at his gut, digging in with nails of truth he wished he didn’t have to know.
    Be easy, she loves no one but you. I do not think her heart has it in it to love anyone but you. She is not like other women I have known. She gives her heart freely to her friends and those she would protect, but you… you hold the keys to her deepest pieces, and she loves you beyond her own life. I do believe she would die for you, without a question, without a thought.
    Liam stared down at her face, soft with unconsciousness. She was his world, and she kept coming so close to dying that he knew at some point fate would catch up to her and that would be it.
    He could only hope he was there in that moment and could trade his life for hers.
    A prayer slipped from his lips. “Let it be done that way, or not at all.”

    The flight was smooth, mostly because I recalled none of it. With seemingly no transition, we were on the ground and I was packed into an adobe house I distantly recognized, but I couldn’t remember who owned the house. Someone, I knew the person. Maybe. Did it belong to a Daywalker?
    Vampire. He was a vampire now.
    Hands hovered over my face. How did I get on my back? Fingers snapped and the fog shrouding me cleared. I jerked up to a sitting position, gasping and choking as if I’d been running a fucking marathon.
    “Oh, well, welcome back, Tracker. Nice of you to join us.”
    Doran sat across from me, knees apart, elbows resting on them. Berget stood to one side of him, her eyes on me. Louisa was behind them both.
    “All your favors are used up, Rylee. There will be no more freebies,” Louisa said and then walked out. No goodbye, no see you later. But then, that was a typical shaman for you.
    Doran, on the other hand, was not so typical. In any way. He leaned forward, eyes intense. “How are you feeling?”
    I ran a hand over my face, closed my eyes for a brief second. “Fine. I think. What the hell happened?”
    Footsteps, the sound of lowered voices, then Erik stepped into the room with a more-than-agitated Liam right on his heels. “I told you she’d be fine, ease down, wolf man.”
    “It’s not about her being fine, I never doubted that. You knew going in, and you let her do something stupid without—”
    Erik rounded on him. “I did try to stop her, but if you haven’t noticed, she’s faster than a human, faster than she should be even as a Tracker or a demon hunter. I won’t make that mistake again. Trust me on that, there will be no more demon hunts until she’s had at least the rudiments of training.”
    “That ain’t going to fucking well happen. We have to get Milly and Pamela out. I can’t leave them there.” I pushed myself to my feet and was pleased to see I wasn’t unsteady in the least. “Why the hell did you bring me all the way here if I wasn’t in trouble?”
    Blaz reached out to me. Erik is lying; your spirit was being bound. You were alive and wouldn’t have died, but who you are was being eaten. Your bond to me staved it off long enough for Doran and Louisa to break the bond between you and the soul sucker demon.
    My eyes darted to Doran of their own volition. “Thanks. Seems you