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Richard stared down at me, and there was a world in his eyes of things unsaid, things undone. I opened my mouth, closed it. “Do you have this much control over every body part?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

I was so scared I couldn’t speak. I’d made my last joke. The only thing left was truth. I raised up, putting my hands on his legs for support and kissed the back of his hand. The skin was still as soft, still smelled and tasted like Richard, the bones underneath felt like someone else.

“Don’t get killed.”

He smiled. There was a sadness in his eyes that was bottomless. Even if he won this fight, it would cost him dearly. Murder, that’s how he would see it. No matter how justified. Moral high ground is dandy, but it’ll get you killed.

Raina kissed Marcus good-bye, pressing her body so tightly against him, it was like she was trying to walk through him, part him like a curtain and slip inside.

She pushed him away with a rich, throaty laugh. It was the kind of laughter that made you turn your head in bars. A joyous, slightly wicked sound. Raina stared across the clearing at me, the laughter still sparkling in her eyes, on her face. One look was enough. She was going to kill me if she could.

Since I was pretty much thinking the same thing about her, I gave her a little nod and a salute. We’d see who was dead come morning. It might be me, but somewhere on the lists of the dead would be Raina. That I could almost promise.

Marcus raised his clawed hands over his head. He turned in a slow circle. “Two alphas fight for you here tonight. One of us will leave this circle alive. One of us will feed you tonight. Drink of our blood, eat of our flesh. We are pack. We are lukoi. We are one.”

Jason threw his head back and howled, so close to me that I jumped. Furred throats echoed him, human throats joining the chorus. I stood alone among the pack and did not join in. When the last echo faded off in the rolling, wooded hills, Marcus said, “Death between us then, Richard.”

“I offered you life, Marcus. You chose death.”

Marcus smiled. “I suppose I did.”

Marcus jumped straight at him, no feinting, no practice, just a blur of speed. Richard rolled to the ground, up and away, coming to his feet. Three thin lines bled across his belly. Marcus didn’t give him a chance to recover. He covered the distance between them like a bad dream. I couldn’t even keep track of it with my eyes. I’d seen lycanthropes move before, and I’d thought they were fast, but Marcus was breathtaking.

He slashed Richard, forcing him back towards the edge of the clearing where Raina stood. Richard wasn’t being hurt, but the flurry of attacks forced him backwards, kept him from attacking. I needed to ask a question. I looked down at Jason. He turned pale wolf eyes to me.

“If anyone else helps Marcus, it’s cheating, right?” It felt vaguely stupid talking to something that looked like an animal, but the look in those eyes wasn’t animal. I wasn’t sure it was human, but it wasn’t animal.

The wolf nodded its head. Awkwardly.

Richard’s back was almost within Raina’s reach. Jamil, the black werewolf from two nights ago, had joined her. Sebastian was already at her side. Shit.

“If they cheat, can I shoot them?”

“Yes,” Cassandra joined us, walking up through the pack like a warm, prickling wind. I got the first real brush of her power and knew she could have been lupa if she wanted to be.

I pulled the Browning out, and it felt odd in my hands, as if I didn’t need it. I was channeling more of the pack than I knew if I didn’t want my gun. A dangerous amount more. I wrapped my fingers around the butt of the Browning, digging my hand around it, remembering the feel of it. The sensory memory brought it back to me, pushed some of the glow of power away.

I didn’t see a weapon, but Richard’s back was to Raina and Sebastian. I raised the Browning, not aiming, not yet. I yelled, “Behind you.”

I saw Richard’s back spasm. He collapsed to his knees. Everything slowed down, carved in crystal. Sebastian’s hand moved with a flash of