“Staying in one spot too long isn’t a good thing. We are too large a group to—” Rick grew quiet when he heard twigs snapping in the woods that bordered the road they were pulled over on.

  Everyone turned.

  As he stood there, Rick could scent dry leaves and earth. It was so strong that he nearly choked on the scent. The smell wafted up to him, reared back, and punched him in the gut. Never before had he smelled vampire this strongly.

  There had to be—Rick watched in utter disbelief as a horde of the undead began to emerge from the woods. They were coming at the shifters in droves. It was a massacre waiting to happen.

  Rick took a step back, for the first time in his life fearing the undead. There were just too damn many. He couldn’t even muster up the confidence to know he was going to win this fight. The reality finally settled into Rick, and his werewolf burst forward. He threw his head back and let a long, deep howl rip from his chest.

  Everyone around him began to shift as the horde moved closer.

  When the first vampire reached him, Rick grabbed the undead by his face with massive claws and ripped skin from bone as he sank his teeth into flesh and tore it apart.

  His mate was by his side, in his werewolf form, fighting just as hard as Rick. He hated that Dorian was a part of this. His mate shouldn’t have to go through any of this shit. All Rick wanted was to go home, settle down with the man, and live a quiet existence.

  But these bastards had other plans.

  Rick saw bears, werewolves, and even a leopard engaging in battle. But it seemed no matter how many they killed, more were coming.

  They weren’t going to win.

  Two bears already lay on the ground dead.

  Rick feared one of them was Clyde.

  “Fall back!” Rick shouted over the rioting noise of the battle. He grabbed Dorian and took off across the road, heading into the large cornfield. He had never run from a fight before, but Rick knew when to cut his losses and get ghost.

  But he was too tall and the corn wasn’t high enough to conceal him. His head stuck out like a target. Rick could hear the sound of the husks being trampled as the vampires entered the field. He held tighter to Dorian’s hand as he put on a burst of speed.

  With this many, somebody had to be controlling them. There was no way they were this organized, not after being in hiding for so long.

  But Rick knew without a doubt that Salvador, Omar, and Freedman were up in Canada tracking Kraven down.

  There was no way the master vampire had a mental reach that extended this far…could he? Since starting this journey, Rick had seen some pretty bizarre shit. He wouldn’t toss out the possibility that Kraven wasn’t somewhere orchestrating this.

  As Rick reached close to the other side of the field, he was worried they wouldn’t get— what was that? Glancing up, Rick saw a large shadow swoosh across the top of the corn. He didn’t know what to make of it. Not until two red eyes appeared.

  The Shadow.

  Having run into the Shadow on a few occasions, Rick wasn’t real acquainted with the thing. He could be helping the vampires or helping the Rebellions. He wasn’t sure.

  “Is that the Shadow?” Dorian asked as he ran, his head tilted back and staring up toward the sky.

  “It is, but I’m not sure if he—” Rick skidded to a halt when the Shadow’s form began to grow, filling the night sky like a wayward dark cloud, growing, spinning, and making the corn begin to bend as the wind picked up.

  “What’s he doing?” Dorian shouted.

  Rick hadn’t a damn clue. He had never seen anything like it before. The dark cloud set against the night sky was ominous in appearance. It was thick, like rolling black smoke in an inferno, still growing.

  And then it was as if a sonic wave blew out across the field. Rick and Dorian were knocked on their asses. The corn was lying flat, like a very large hand had come down and smashed the maze.

  Rick glanced up after knocking wayward corn off of him and saw the Shadow standing in front of him. He was whole again, and his eerie eyes were flickering over the field. Looking behind him, Rick could see the changelings moving around, as if coming out of a daze, but the vampires were nowhere to be seen.

  “Thanks,” Rick said as he pushed himself to his feet.

  “The closer you get to your goal, the harder the road will be to travel,” the Shadow said before evaporating into thin air.

  “Cryptic,” Dorian said as he got to his feet.

  “Yeah, but we’re alive.” Rick just prayed they stayed that way. He understood the message perfectly. The closer to Washington he came, the more obstacles he was going to face.

  Remus paced the bedroom they were in as the doctor examined Marco. “Who did this to him?”

  “One of your kind,” Seymour said.

  “Male?” the doctor asked. “Or a doctor?”

  Remus grabbed Seymour when the leopard went after the smartass man. The tension was high in the room. If a fight started now, the doc wouldn’t survive.

  “Actually, the other guy you have to look at is…or was, studying to be a doctor. Too bad his blood made him too much of an animal to dedicate his life to helping others,” Remus said bitterly. He couldn’t help it. It sickened him to know people were persecuted just because they were different. From what Rick had told him, Bryson had risked his life many times to help those injured and bleeding. The guy didn’t even react to blood the way most changelings did.

  And he was keeping his eye on Seymour and his pals. If one of them tried shifting because of Marco and Bryson’s wounds, Remus was going to flat-out kill them. There would be no reasoning with the men. He knew this. He accepted this.

  He just wasn’t sure he could take all three of them down while protecting the unconscious and the human. He couldn’t shift anymore.

  That made the three changelings in the room that he barely knew very dangerous.

  It seemed the human picked up on Remus’s unease, because he stopped with his bedside humor and started working on Marco. As he unwrapped Remus’s best friend from the blanket, the extent of his injuries were revealed. Remus felt the bile rise to the back of his throat. The serrated scalpel Jayson used on Marco had done its job with proficient accuracy. He was cut everywhere, and the gashes weren’t minor.

  “So far I don’t see any muscle or major artery damage,” the doctor said. “It would help if I could get him to the hospital where I would—”

  “No dice.” Remus cut the man off. “He’s not human.”

  The human seemed irritated, but Remus wasn’t sure why.

  “I became a doctor to save lives. I don’t give a shit about this war.”

  Too bad not everyone could say that. If Marco was taken to the hospital as the doctor wanted, then his best friend would be killed.

  Remus had no doubt the local police would shoot Marco on the spot, along with Remus and anyone else they found to be changeling.

  It wasn’t an option.

  Remus watched as the doctor finished his exam and then began to stitch Marco back together, like he was Humpty Dumpty. He had to admit, the doc was good. The lines were clean and the stitching tight.

  But there were still going to be scars. If Marco could only shift, then he could heal on his own, leaving no marks to blemish his fine skin. Taking a seat at the head of the bed, Remus ran his fingers through Marco’s hair. The guy was unconscious, but he needed the reassurance more than the wereleopard. Remus was a bundle of nerves. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the doctor to tell him Marco was going to die.

  How the man had survived, Remus wasn’t sure. He now believed in miracles though. That was the only thing that had saved his best friend.

  The doctor gave Remus a quick glance as he continued to work.

  “Is he your lover?”

  The tender way Remus was petting Marco would be misinterpreted by a human. They knew nothing about changelings and their need for reassurance. “I’m hoping he will be,” Remus answered honestly. He wanted to correct the man and say mate, but the less the doc knew the better.

  “I’ll take real good care of him,” the man said in an even tone, never looking back up. Remus appreciated the guy’s attitude. He didn’t know Marco or Remus, yet the man held sympathy in his eyes.

  It was good to know not all humans were assholes—besides the sympathizers. They didn’t count in the asshole group.

  Chapter Eight

  Marco groaned, feeling as if he had been through a meat grinder.

  He hurt everywhere. Even his dang eyeballs hurt. His face felt tight and his body was screwed up. He could feel it. So why hadn’t he shifted?

  “Take it easy.”

  Marco melted inside when he heard Remus’s deep tone. Either he had died and his angel was the man he had loved since forever, or he was alive and the man he had loved since forever was right next to him.

  Either choice suited him just fine. “What happened?”

  “You had a fight with a scalpel and lost.”

  Remus’s words brought the nightmare back. Marco remembered his face being sliced open, and then he had passed out after that. He reached up and felt bandages on both sides of his face.

  “Try not to touch,” Remus said as the bed dipped. “You need to heal.”

  “Why can’t I shift?” Marco asked. He could still feel his wereleopard, but it wouldn’t come forth.

  “I think Jayson screwed us both up,” Remus said as fingers began to brush through Marco’s hair. He didn’t read into the affection. All changelings—except the leap he and Remus belonged to—touched for reassurance. It didn’t mean Remus cared about him. Not in the way Marco had prayed since he discovered he liked boys instead of girls.

  “How?”

  “He gave us an injection to suppress our leopards.”

  Marco was grateful that Remus wasn’t trying to lie to him or avoid the truth. But Remus had always been like that. The man told Marco how it was, even when Marco didn’t want to hear it at times.

  That was what best friends did for each other. “Forever?” Marco asked.

  He heard a disgusted noise in the back of Remus’s throat. “That’s what Jayson said.”

  “Oh,” Marco replied. He wasn’t sure what to say. What could he say to having his leopard caged inside of him? But he felt as if his beast had died. If he couldn’t shift, Marco wasn’t sure what he would do. He loved being a leopard.

  “We’ll figure this out.”

  Slowly, Marco opened his eyes. The room he was in was dimly lit, one small lamp turned on. But it was enough for him to take in Remus’s handsome features. He had the prettiest green eyes Marco had ever seen. His hair was a mixture of blond and brown, his eyebrows thick. He was also unshaven. Marco loved when Remus looked unkempt. It made him look more rebellious.

  Simply put, the man was stunning.

  Too bad they had just remained friends for twenty years. It would have been nice to become the man’s mate.

  “Hey,” Remus said as he slid his finger down Marco’s nose. “Don’t look so down. You are alive, and that’s all that matters.”

  “Did you kill him?” Marco asked. “This Jayson guy? Is he dead?”

  Remus’s jaw tightened, anger lines outlining his mouth. “No, he got away.”

  This didn’t set well with Marco. What if the man came back to finish what he started? What if he managed to kill Marco this time?

  “Are you going back to the fight?” he asked. Marco couldn’t imagine going through this nightmare without Remus. It was hard enough when he left the first time. Remus had been gone for over a year. It was the worst time in Marco’s life. He had never been separated from the man before.

  He didn’t want to be separated from him again.

  Remus shook his head. “Rick has enough changelings rallying to meet him in Washington. Besides, I’m not going to fight if I can’t shift. I’ll only hinder them.”

  Marco could hear the bitterness in Remus’s tone. He wasn’t sure if it was from the fact that Remus couldn’t fight, or because he couldn’t shift. It might be both. Reaching up, Marco pulled Remus’s hand in his, giving the man’s knuckles a soft kiss. “Thanks for saving me.”

  He was tired of hiding his feelings for Remus, and at the same time, scared the man would reject him. Over their lifetime, Remus had never given any indication that he wanted Marco as anything other than a friend.

  He would be heartbroken if Remus only wanted friendship.

  Remus pulled his hand free. “I didn’t save you. I let you die. It was a human doctor who kept you alive.”

  This stunned Marco. He had died? When? He felt pretty damn alive. What doctor? Just what in the hell had happened to him? He flipped the covers back to go to Remus and try to reassure the man when he noticed his body was covered in gauze.

  Marco swallowed hard. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he stared at each and every one of the white bandages.

  “Don’t,” Remus said as he moved closer, grabbing the covers from Marco’s hands, and covering him back up. “You don’t need to worry about that right now. I just need you to get better.”

  “So we can go rescue someone else?” He had said it teasingly, trying to get the stress lines from Remus’s face, but the man only frowned deeper.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”

  God, he was the one covered in multiple bandages and it was Remus with the despondent look on his face. What was he going to have to do to make the man smile, dance a jig? He was messed up. He could see that. But Marco wasn’t going to let that get him down. As Remus had said, he had lived.

  When Remus tried to stop him from getting up again, Marco batted at his hands. “Will you stop it?”

  “Why are you being impossible?”

  “Why are acting like your puppy died?” Marco managed to sit up, although it was pretty damn painful to do so. The back of his legs felt like they were on fire. Maybe getting up wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

  “Because you died!” Remus said vehemently. “You fucking died right in front of my eyes.”

  “Then how in the hell am I sitting here arguing with you?” God, the man was stubborn. He was damned and determined to lash himself on the back for this.

  “Never mind,” Remus said as he walked from the room.

  Well, that went rather well. Marco could literally feel the flames scorching between them.

  Not.

  He wanted Remus to notice him, not argue with him. Marco was dying for the man to touch him in a lover’s sort of way. He ate up the reassurance Remus was giving him, but damn it, he wanted more.

  He had almost died. That should at least earn him a kiss.

  Stubborn bastard.

  Marco wasn’t sure what to do now. He wasn’t worldly when it came to relationships. If he was, Remus would have mated him by now. Instead, he sat in this unfamiliar room, staring at a closed door.

  When said door opened, Marco thought Remus was coming back in. Instead, a stranger walked in. Marco could scent right away that he was human. Pushing away from the man, his back hit the wall. Marco grabbed the covers and tried to shield himself, although he knew that would do him no good. “Remus!”

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” the man said as he held up his hands. “I just want to check on you.”

  “Remus!” Marco shouted again. Remus came barreling through the door, his muscled body filling the frame as his eyes darted around.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know him.” Marco pointed at the stranger. “He’s human.

  He’s a bad guy.”

  Remus’s features relaxed. “He’s the doctor we kidnapped to fix you.”

  “Fix me?” Just what in the hell was wrong with him? Did Remus just say he kidnapped someone? “Why?”

  Remus’s pretty green eyes darted to the doctor, as if he was asking the damn stranger to explain things to him. He could feel the strain in his and Remus’s friendship. Marco wasn’t really sure what had happened to him from the time he passed out until he woke up, but whatever it was, it had broken Remus somehow.

  He wanted answers.

  “You were cut up pretty badly,” the doctor said. “You have over three hundred stitches.”

  “Three hundred?” Holy smokes!

  “I need you to lie down so I can check your wounds.”

  Marco’s eyes darted over to his best friend. “Only if Remus stays.”

  “He’s too damn busy feeling sorry for himself,” the doctor replied. “He’s wallowing in guilt.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Remus snapped.

  “See,” the doctor whispered. “He blames himself for what happened to you.”

  “I said shut up,” Remus bellowed again.

  “Or what?” the doctor asked. “Are you going to hurt me? I highly doubt that. If you hurt me, how can I tend to my patients?”

  “Patients?” Marco asked, totally and utterly confused. He wished someone, anyone, would tell him the entire story. He was getting a damn headache.

  “Yes,” the doctor said. “A fellow doctor was critically wounded.”

  “Then why would you bring him here?”

  “It’s the guy we went in to rescue,” Remus answered. “Now lie down and let him have a look at you.”

  “You can stop snapping at me, asshole,” Marco finally muttered.

  He was sick of Remus’s funky attitude. He wasn’t used to it.

  Normally, Remus was a really nice guy. His grumpy attitude was getting on Marco’s last nerve. He was five seconds away from smacking Remus.

  He didn’t know what the leopard had to feel guilty about, but whatever it was, he needed to get over it. Shit happened in a war. No one knew that better than Marco. He had lost his parents and sister. If anyone had a reason to be dismal, it was him.

  But was he moping around?

  No.

  “Marco.”

  “Don’t ‘Marco’ me. Just get over here and make sure the human doesn’t do anything diabolical to me. I don’t need an extra head.”

  This got a smile out of the man.

  It also got a scowl from the doctor.

  Marco ignored the doctor. The only thing he could see was the slight upturn of Remus’s beautiful, kissable, lickable lips. For once in his life, Marco didn’t tamp down his arousal. He steeled his spine and let the aroma fill the room.