“Oh, wow, you’re a friendly fell—oh my goddess!” My cheerful greeting died on a shriek when the bird’s wings cracked, fanning out in an unnatural angle. I quickly dropped to my knees, wanting to see if I could somehow help the poor creature even if I didn’t know the first thing about bird anatomy. The raven fluttered awkwardly a few times, and then its chest bulged outward, fragile bones breaking with loud snaps in a flurry of feathers. Raw flesh expanded rapidly up and out, and I fell back on my ass with a squeak from the burst of energy. When I looked up again, mouth open in shock, Dennis stood in front of me. Stark naked.
“Oh, what the fuck?!” I gasped as my former boss worked his shoulders with a grimace. “What the actual fuck?!”
“You shouldn’t have come back, Liv,” he said, voice grim. “It’s not safe.”
“I don’t… what?” I struggled to get a hold of my scattered mental capabilities, because what I was seeing just couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be. “You do not get to explode out of a fucking raven right in front of me, and then that not be the first topic at hand! Tell me I’m fucking hallucinating—tell me you’re not a goddamn skinwalker!”
“Of course I am,” he growled. “Why do you think you weren’t killed the second you stepped foot in the slaughterhouse? I kept you safe. I told them you weren’t her. And now here you are, back in Chicago. Do you want to die, Liv? Do you want to sacrifice yourself for that… thing?”
“I’m not who?” As much as I tried to keep my eyes on his face, it was impossible not to notice that he’d changed while I’d been gone. He seemed thinner, and there were dark hollows under his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Dennis drew in a deep breath, trying to fight back his apparent anger at my presence. “Eight hundred years ago, my coven was tasked with watching over the vampire Lord you have spent so many nights with. Through generations, through countless rebirths, we have fulfilled our duty. I was beginning to think it was just another stupid legend. I thought him harmless. And yet…” His gaze swept over me, odd possessiveness flaming in its depths. “And yet there was you. Do you know who my coven thinks you are? Do you know what your little infatuation with the undead Ancient has caused?”
“Dennis, you’re not making any sense,” I told him. I wanted to get to my feet, so I wasn’t in such a vulnerable position in front of him, but he seemed so unhinged, I didn’t dare to make any sudden movements.
“They think you’re her, Liv! His soulmate, reincarnated to finally heal his black soul! When he claimed you for everyone to see, as his little blood whore, they were so sure. But I proved them wrong… I got you to leave. You were safe—so why the fuck are you back?”
Eight hundred years ago. His soulmate. My mind fogged, and something… something clawed at my mind, as if there was something I was supposed to remember.
“Thea?” I whispered. “Thea was his… his soulmate?”
Dennis’ eyes widened. “How do you know that name?”
I shook my head, trying to clear it. There were other, more pressing matters to focus on. “You sent me away? You sent me that letter? But… but why? And how did you know I… that I’m… a witch?”
“To protect you!” he snarled. “To prove that you are no threat! And then I get a fucking text from Kevin, saying you’re back. Don’t you get it, Liv? He knows you’re back now! He knows you came back for your precious vamper!”
“Who, Kevin?” I asked, blinking at him. “Why the hell does it matter if Kevin knows I’m back?”
“My master,” Dennis hissed, “will gut you like a fish before he will see the Night Lord bonded with his soulmate. Is that what you want, Liv? To die?”
“N-no,” I croaked. Dennis looked absolutely deranged in his fury. He glowered down at me, and the shadows seemed to draw around him, blotting out the sky.
“Then I am your only hope,” he hissed. And then he launched himself at me.
I tried to scramble backward and away, but I wasn’t fast enough. Dennis landed on top of me, pinning me down, and though he was thin, he was freakishly strong.
“Get off me! What are you doing?!” I shrieked. “Help!”
“No one can hear you,” he rasped. “It’s just me and you, Liv. I’ll save you from my master. I’ll make you my mate. He’ll see you don’t belong to the vampire once you carry my mark!”
“Are you insane? I don’t want to be your damn mate! Get your goddamn hands off me!” The last bit I screamed as he put a hand between my legs, feeling for the outline of my sex through my pants.
“You don’t have to want it,” Dennis gritted. His questing hand pulled up higher, ripping at my zipper. “You just have to take it.”
The snap of my jeans breaking sounded like a gunshot in my ears. Unwanted fingers reached inside my pants, touching me—and in a horrible, thick fog of panic, I was transported back into the body of a child. My body. My bed, when my stepdad came for me those late nights.
But I wasn’t helpless. Not anymore.
“No!” I roared, and grabbed at the well of power flooding up from deep within. This time, I recognized the green light as I pulled on its strength and let it explode out of my body in a wave of energy.
Dennis flew off me with a shocked cry, his body flipping through the air until it was smacked hard against the trash containers with a painful-sounding crack.
Gasping, I scrambled to my feet just as Dennis groaned and rolled over. His nose looked like it’d been broken, blood spurting from his wrecked face.
I remembered the wolves, and how little time it’d taken them to renew their attacks.
I ran.
I didn’t pause to look back as I crossed the parking lot, instincts telling me to find a place with lots of people. He wouldn’t be able to attack me again in public without attracting attention from the human population, and psychotic as he might be, I doubted he’d want that. But I couldn’t get into a cab. One lone taxi driver would be too easy for him to dispose of. I glanced frantically at the sky and cussed. The sun hadn’t set—Warin would still be asleep, trapped in his hiding place. Unable to help me.
But Roy wouldn’t be.
I frantically rummaged through my purse until I managed to pull out my old phone. Thank the goddess I’d had the urge to put it in my bag the day after I’d called Warin from Kentucky.
I turned it on and scrolled through to find Roy’s number as I power-walked down the crowded pavement, away from Dark Dreams.
The line rang five times, each buzz in my ear ramping up my anxiety. Come on, Roy, pick up! Please, pick up!
“Yeah?” The gruff voice in my ear might have well belonged to an angel. My heart skipped a beat form pure relief.
“Roy! Roy, it’s me! Liv. Please, I need your help!”
“Liv? Calm down. What’s goin’ on?”
“I’m being chased by an asshole skinwalker and I need you to come pick me up. Please, can you come get me?” I ignored the look that sentence got me from the passersby. I guess I did look pretty insane, with my clothes in wild disarray while talking about skinwalkers.
“Shit. Yeah, just stay ahead of him, ya hear? Where are you?”
“Downtown,“ I said. “Southside.”
“All right. Can you make it to the Union Stock Yard Gate? I’ll be there in fifteen, tops.”
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
He hung up without saying goodbye, but right then, I appreciated speed over manners. Doing my best to breathe evenly, I crossed the street and headed for the agreed upon pickup point.