Damn, they stung.

The moon peered down at him through wispy clouds. All the usual nocturnal culprits moved about in the darkness below and beyond his line of sight.

Laughter erupted in David’s home. How easy it sounded. How free.

Zach tried to remember if he had ever laughed like that and couldn’t.

The back door opened and closed. Footsteps crossed the deck, tapped down the stairs and swished through the dormant grasses on the side of the house. Metal clanked, a hollow sound.

Zach looked to his right.

The top of an aluminum ladder swung into view and gently came to rest against the edge of the sloping roof.

He sighed. What new hell was this?

No one should know he was up here. Even Seth didn’t seem to have registered his presence. That poor bastard had so much on his plate Zach didn’t know why he didn’t throw in the towel and join Zach and the others out of sheer exhaustion.

Feet scaled the ladder’s treads. Hands slid up the sides.

He released his wings, preparing to leave, and lost his breath. Pain cut through him like buckshot. He curled his hands into fists, waited for it to ease.

Are you okay?

The voice was female. Soft, low, and such a shock it actually helped him weather the storm.

Zach looked toward the ladder.

A head full of fiery orange curls popped into view as bright green eyes peered at him over the edge of the roof.

Zach stared at her. It was the woman Seth and David had rescued from the mercenaries two or three years ago.

The woman from another planet.

When he made no move to leave, she must have taken it as an invitation, because she finished scaling the ladder and clambered up onto the roof.

Zach braced himself to dive after her if she should lose her footing. Seth would blame him if she fell, and Zach really wasn’t up for whatever Seth would want to dish out in retribution.

She was amazingly sure-footed for a mortal, her small, sneaker-clad feet carrying her up the rise with ease, then across the peak to his side.

I like your wings.

So she was telepathic. Thank you?

She smiled and seated herself next to him. May I join you?

He noticed she didn’t ask until she had already done so. It almost made him smile. Perhaps if he hadn’t been in so much pain . . . Okay.

Do you mind if we talk like this instead of out loud? I get the feeling you don’t want the others to know you’re here and they’ll come running—well, Marcus and Seth will at least—if they hear us talking.

I would rather not have company, so this will do.

Good.

How did you know I was here?

I felt your pain. Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?

Damn. No wonder Seth and everyone else adored her. She didn’t even know him and was up here offering to help him.

I’m all right.

Why don’t you ask Seth or David to heal you?

He shook his head. That would blow the whole I’m not really here thing.

She nodded.

Don’t you fear me? With her history, he would’ve thought she would be terrified of him. He was, after all, aware of the anxiety that struck her whenever she encountered strangers.

And he was as strange a stranger as she would meet.

No.

Why?

She shrugged. You remind me of Seth.

Well, hell.

I suppose I should ask . . . Are you friend or foe?

That was a head-scratcher. Neither?

If you’re not one, you’re the other.

If only things were that simple.

She shivered. The cold must be creeping in through her jacket.

Gritting his teeth, he spread his wings, then drew them in close to form a shield that insulated her from the wintery wind.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. I knew you were a friend.

He swore silently, then apologized when he remembered she could hear it.

She grinned. Opening up the front of her jacket, she reached inside.

Was she going for a weapon? Immortals and their Seconds did lean toward violence.

Plastic rattled.

When she withdrew her hand, she clutched two lollipops.

He drew in a breath. One was blueberry. One was strawberry.

Which do you prefer? Strawberryyyyyy? She waved the pink candy under his nose. Or blueberry? Strawberryyyyyyyy? Again she waved it just beneath his nose. Or blueberry?

Hmmm. Let me think. Strawberry?

Perfect! She handed him the pink one.

He smiled. It felt . . . peculiar . . . almost as if he were trying out a foreign language for the first time.

She unwrapped her blueberry lollipop and slipped it between her lips.

Zach unwrapped the strawberry lollipop and stuck it in his mouth. Sweet strawberry flavor flooded his taste buds.

She smiled. They’re good, right?

He nodded and smoothed his tongue over the tasty candy.

Quiet enfolded them. Night creatures occasionally broke it, as did the various conversations and sparring sounds from the house, though he supposed Ami couldn’t hear those.

The wispy clouds parted. Moonlight glinted off the solar panels below them. Fog hovered above David’s tidy lawn, shifting and swirling with the breeze.

So? she said at length. You know what I am.

Yes. Curiosity drove him to ask, Do you know what I am?

She tilted her head to one side and studied him. I suspect I do.

Interesting. How much had Seth confided in her?

Minutes passed while they whittled down their lollipops. When both were left with only sticks, she drew out two more.

Which one do I prefer this time? he asked.

She grinned. Orange mango.

He held out his hand and accepted the yellow/orange lollipop. She unwrapped a pink one that carried a delicious watermelon scent for herself.

It took him until the end of the second candy to realize that some of his pain had ebbed. He heard Marcus asking someone below if they had seen Ami.

Your husband is looking for you.

She rose and made her way over to the ladder.

Zach watched her carefully until she planted her feet on a rung. What will you tell him?

She descended a few rungs until only her eyes and fiery hair were visible. The truth. That I needed some fresh air.

Thank you.

Her eyes smiled. You’re welcome.

He listened to her descent. The ladder swung away from the house and disappeared. Her small feet swished through the grass again, then scaled the few steps to the deck. The back door opened, then closed.

Various immortals and mortals called greetings to her as she walked through the house and down the basement stairs.

“Hi, sweetie.”

“Hi, babe. Hey, you’re cold. Have you been outside?”

“Yes. I needed some fresh air.”

He heard them share a quick kiss. “Mmm. You taste like blueberries and watermelon.”

“I stole some of your lollipops.”

“Really. Well, if you’re in the mood to lick something . . .”

She laughed.

“We can hear you,” Seth called.

“So?” Marcus countered and kissed his wife again.

“So she’s like a daughter to me, jackass.”

“Yeah,” David seconded. “There’s a reason I poured thousands of dollars into soundproofing your bedroom.”

“Hmm.” Marcus sounded thoughtful. “I do believe your family is trying to tell me I should take you to bed.”

“That isn’t what I—oh screw it,” Seth muttered.

Marcus laughed. “Let’s go warm you up.”

Ami chuckled.

A moment later a door closed.

Zach’s feathers fluttered in the biting wind.

He looked down at the short white sticks he twirled between his fingers, all that remained of the two lollipops.

They were the only gifts he had ever received in his long existence.

Conversations started and stopped, overlapped and interrupted, down in the house.

Zach rose stiffly. Again, he was forced to hold his breath until the agony the movement had spawned eased. His fingers continued to toy with the white sticks.

Shaking his head at himself, he tucked them into one of the pockets of his leather pants.

Utterly pathetic.

Gritting his teeth, he bent his knees, leapt up, swept his powerful wings down, and lost himself amid the night sky.

Chapter 16

Dappled sunlight tumbled down, dodging the barren branches of deciduous trees and bouncing off the leaves of evergreens until it could fall in clumsy polka dot patterns on the two men below.

Quieter than mice, the tall, dark figures made their way through the brush.

“This isn’t right,” David announced.

Seth eyed David’s grim countenance. “I know. But it’s necessary.”

“We promised her we wouldn’t deny her vengeance.”

“Actually we didn’t. You said we couldn’t deny her vengeance, not that we wouldn’t.”

“You’re splitting hairs.”

“I would rather Ami be pissed at me than risk losing her, physically or mentally, if something should go awry that allowed Emrys to get his hands on her.”

They had told no one of their intentions. David’s house had been quiet, save the sounds of slumber, when they had teleported away without a word.

No words spoken aloud, that is.

We’re getting close, David told him.

Seth knew David saw the wisdom of their handling this alone. That battle at network headquarters had been too close. Humans had died. Dr. Lipton had been forced to transform. At least one of the vampires had been captured by the mercenaries and was now most likely suffering the same torture Ami had.

Seth wasn’t willing to risk that happening again.

They were going to meet Emrys on his home turf. The fire- and manpower the mercenaries had brought to the network would likely be nothing compared to what they possessed at their base. But Seth and David had breeched Emrys’s compound in Texas. Had, in fact, burned it to the ground.

They would do the same today.

Just the two of them.

No Seconds or immortals would be killed. Ami would remain safe, tucked in the protective arms of her husband. And the threat the Immortal Guardians faced from the human world would be destroyed.