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I didn’t know where to go. The last time I went to my parents’ graves, Dante found me. His thigh had brushed against mine. We’d spoken like we were partners. Like we were friends.

Even though I’d been driving for an hour and had told him to leave, the house was too much of a risk, given Dante’s spiel about “protecting me” and the general intensity of his energy. And I couldn’t be sure that Colton wouldn’t come barreling in and tear the house apart in his werewolf form. He’d done it once, over thirteen years ago, hadn’t he? I idly wondered what was going on with him and the pack.

Would they be hunting together? Did they have a hive mind? Could they understand each other’s growls and grunts?

I thought of Colton, who had so purely believed in black and white and the world as he saw it in front of him. His entire reality had changed in an instant, betrayed by his parents, his fiancée, and the memories of what he was.

Fuck that. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. I had enough of my own shit to worry about instead of thinking of Colton.

My own reality had just changed before my fucking eyes too. Dante was my secret protector. I was some kind of freak mutant angel that demons evidently wanted. I shot light from my hands that killed demons. Killed. Not exorcised or sent back to hell. Killed.

I wasn’t human.

And that meant that my parents, who I’d grieved, who I’d been hell-bent on avenging, weren’t my parents at all.

The urge to drive from that town and never look back was overwhelming. I could do it. Pretend none of this ever happened. Go back to hunting things. Run from Dante if he caught up with me, kill him if he didn’t go away.

But even thinking of that made my hands heat, making the steering wheel of my car start smoking.

“You have to learn to control it, you’ll exhaust yourself.”

Dante’s words danced through my head, and though I was angry enough to disembowel him right then, I had to admit he was right.

My body felt different. Bigger, smaller. Deeper. Like there was an endless well of something inside me that scared the shit out of me. Every emotion I had was more intense, more destructive, making my skin warm.

“Fuck!” I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel then wrenched the car around, wheels skidding as I did.

I couldn’t run.

Where could I go, then?

“Good to see you’re not dead,” I told Gerald as I settled myself into the chair beside his hospital bed.

Luckily, I had an old pair of boots and a rudimentary toiletry kit in my car. I’d sprayed half a can of dry shampoo onto my hair—which still smelled of hell itself. I didn’t have an extra pair of pants, though. I was still in Dante’s soft, pleasant-smelling shirt. No bra either. Luckily, Dante’s tee was big enough to pass for a dress, and the hospital at this hour was sparsely populated. Not that I gave a fresh fuck about people’s opinions on my clothing.

Gerald didn’t look overly offended. The man likely had other things on his mind.

He propped himself up, looking different in his flannel PJs, reading glasses on. He still looked pale, smaller, but not quite as close to death’s door as he had last time.

He placed his reading glasses and book on the side table. “Could say the same of you.”

I hadn’t seen a mirror, but I’d tumbled with some hellhounds, a demon, and had my insides ripped out. I’d probably looked better.

“A demon prince and his mutts tried their best.” I winked. “Not before Shay Finkley.” I pulled my flask from my jacket, reaching over to the plastic hospital cups and filling them both.

“Sharon told you that was the witch who cursed Colton, almost killed you, and generally caused a bunch of havoc?” I handed him one of the cups.

He took it with a heavy sigh. “She mentioned it but was in too big of a rush to get into specifics.” He took a long drink, as if preparing himself. “Colton?” He asked the question as if he were afraid of the answer.

“Alive.” I didn’t add that he was the last time I saw him, and I was an unreliable narrator.

He visibly relaxed.

“Pretty confused, angry, all the things.” I downed my drink. “Don’t know if his engagement is going to survive.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

Gerald’s lip twitched. “Can’t say I’m too cut up about that.” He held his cup for a refill I happily gave him.

“He’s off running with the pack right now, I assume. Or in some kind of brawl with them all.” I shrugged. “I’m gonna guess it’ll be a process for him.”