A sob escaped me as I lowered my lips to his and kissed him like I hadn’t seen him in decades. “Do you feel okay?”
He slowly rose to a seated position and rubbed his hands over his face. “Good enough to get the hell out of here.”
We searched the ruins of the house and the surrounding grounds. We found no other vampires, shifters, or humans so we headed back to Liam’s place. Isaac wasn’t thrilled about it, but I wasn’t letting him out of my sight any time soon.
Philip had been waiting outside for us. He hadn’t let go of Stella, even in the car on the way home. When we got back to Liam’s house, he disappeared with her and hadn’t returned to us for over half an hour.
“Is she alive?” I asked him after we had all settled on the back porch.
“Sort of.” His features were stiff. “You will allow me to help her through the transition?”
I wasn’t sure if he was asking me or Liam, but I let Liam answer him. “Yes. Though, if she proves to be uncontrollable—”
“I will put her down,” Philip said solemnly.
“Put her down?” I asked.
Philip turned to me. “Some turns don’t go well. Some are mad and cannot be tamed. They must be killed, or they will kill people as often as they can.”
“Great,” I said. Stella had been halfway to mad as a shifter, so I wasn’t too hopeful she’d wake up a sane tribreed. “Are we sure we shouldn’t kill her anyway? The things she’s done…”
“No,” Philip replied.
I glared at him. “She hurt innocent shifters to turn a profit.”
“I know, but before that she was your friend. Cybil did this to her. I have no doubt.”
I snorted. “You think Cybil like what? Put a spell on her to make her do what she did?”
Philip sneered at me. “In a manner of speaking, yes. I believe Stella had as fucked a life as she claims, and I believe she enjoys certain sexual proclivities, but I don’t believe she would have hurt anyone who didn’t want it. Cybil did this to her. Elder vampires have powers unlike anything you could imagine.”
I glanced at Liam. “What do you think?”
“Philip wouldn’t say it if he didn’t believe it.”
“Fine. I’ll give her another chance,” I said, my voice weak from exhaustion and heartbreak.
Stella had been like a sister to me, and if I was honest with myself, I still loved her. So, I would give her a chance to prove it had been Cybil, and that she wouldn’t have done any of it without the vampire’s influence.
I turned to Liam to see he was checking his phone. “Any news on the zoos? Stella said she had others.”
“My guys are searching her house, Roland’s house, and a few other places for information on locations and any more of her super-shifters. Stella will tell us more when she wakes up.”
I studied him. He was so sure Stella would tell us what we wanted to know, and I knew unless I stopped him, he’d do whatever it took to get her to talk. Even knowing that, he still felt like a mystery. I hadn’t forgotten Cybil’s comment about him hiding things from me. I’d give him some more time to heal, maybe take his wolf out for a hunt, and then he was going to tell me everything.
When we all fell silent for a while, I sent Liam and Philip off to shower while I showed Isaac to my former room. “I’ll grab some of Liam’s clothes for you while you’re in the shower.”
“Uh-huh,” he grunted.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I placed my hands on his arms as I studied him for any signs of weakness.
He slid out of my hold so he could take my hands in his, and I looked up at him. We stared at each other for a long while, and I didn’t pull away when he lowered his lips to mine.
A noise had me pulling out of the kiss. I turned to see Liam standing in the doorway. His eyes were on me, and his jaw was tight. I jumped back from Isaac like he was on fire.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Which one of us are you apologizing to?” Liam asked.