The feel of his lips disappeared before it even registered.
The sound of shouting—human, wolf, and something I didn’t have a name for—filled my ears. I was almost too scared to open my eyes.
The smell was my second tip off. Sulfur so strong my nostrils burned.
Demons. The other sound was demons. The scuttling of nails. Hissing. And a deep, guttural roar.
My mouth went dry as gunshots rang out, nearly deafening me… But not quite. I could still hear the shouts as people cried out in pain. Something made an awful gurgling sound next to me and I gagged as the scent of blood filled the air.
This. This was what I didn’t want to see. This was what had me waking up in sweats. Crying my eyes out.
I said a little prayer and opened my eyes. Instantly, I wished I were anywhere else.
I stood in an old, decrepit church. It had cream-colored adobe walls with exposed beams. Pews were torn apart and thrown everywhere. Moonlight shone through shattered stained glass windows. Flares were lit randomly along the ground. They gave off a smoky red light, casting a hue of evil over the room.
But what caught my attention were the humans fighting alongside the wolves. They were dressed in riot gear—policemen.
God. They didn’t belong here. They weren’t strong enough to fight this.
Silver flashed at the corner of my eye. I spun and spotted Cosette fighting back to back with a guy I’d never seen before. His long, white hair was clipped back in a low ponytail. Both of them glowed like moonlight, and every time they swung their swords, demons cried out.
I’d thought the Weres were graceful. But no. The fey. They were the definition of grace as they moved as one.
An explosion rocked the floor. Luciana stood at the front of the church. The ragged, yawning hole at her feet took up the space where the altar used to be.
Demons crawled out of it.
Big ones. Little ones. Some looked human, but their eyes glowed red. Definitely not human. The rest were the stuff of nightmares. Their gray faces, pointed teeth, and noseless faces would haunt me from this moment on.
I stood there, horrified by the scuttling bodies that kept climbing up from the hole.
Something was wrong. More wrong than just this.
And then it hit me.
Where was Dastien?
My skin chilled.
I turned in a full circle—scanning the people pressing against the horde of demons. Searching for Dastien in wolf or human form. But I couldn’t find him.
Meredith and Donovan fought as wolves. A demon tore through Donovan’s leg, and they both howled. Three more demons lunged at them, and I saw them both fall before I lost them in the pile.
No. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t happening.
Dastien! I screamed through our bond, but I wasn’t really here.
Where was Dastien? Why wasn’t he by my side?
Finally, I spotted him. Not far away. Just out of sight. I sprang over the few remaining pews and found him in the chaos. He stood alone, fighting three demons at once and holding his own.
But he couldn’t see what I saw.
There was another. A fourth demon. It was crawling from the hole, nails scratching along the stone floor. Heading for him.
A jolt of adrenaline hit me, and I started running.
“Dastien!” I screamed so violently my throated ached. I was going to be too late. There wasn’t enough time. Nothing was going to stop the demon. Not my Were powers. Not my magic.