“No…” Jade moaned as her blood pulsed into the Lamai’s mouth. The fingers of Raven’s left hand circled around and caressed Jade’s cheek then slowly wound around the soft brown curls of her hair.

It had been years since Raven had fed from a human. The emotions of the blood throbbed through her body. Jade arched against her sister and she shuddered from the ecstasy of it. Raven knew that intense ecstasy.

The joining of one being to another.

The sensations of flesh against flesh.

The scent of her sister filled her being.

Life experiences of her younger sibling flashed before her inner mind. Raven felt the impact of their mother’s death on Jade. Her years as a little girl and what it was like for her living with Frank Dubois’s sister, and then Laroque.

What was Laroque like? What had drawn her mother to him-and why? All these thoughts ran through Raven’s mind, lost in the auspices of the blood.

At once, Raven pulled away.

Her face flushed. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. She reached for a cloth that rested on a nearby sink and wiped her lips.

Laroque was coming for her.

Ingesting Jade’s blood gave her psychic antennae a boost and a direct link to Laroque. He was too close.

Jade grabbed her arm in fear.

Raven psychically observed as both the auras of her father and Laroque intertwined. Moments passed before she collected her wits. Then she realized what she had done and what she now had to do.

There was little time to think. With locks, charms and spells, she sealed the door to Jade’s room. Raul, a member of Bo’s tribe and a Jaguar shape shifter guarded the door.

Raven headed to Bo’s room.

A voice echoed down the hall. “Raven!”

She spun around to face Tobias.

He was livid. “What is going on? Do you want to die?”

“I’m trying to save Bo.” She tried to pass her father, but his energy was too forceful.

“By bringing Laroque here? You know he’ll come for her.” His eyes flashed, full of rage.

“If he loves her, he’ll leave her right where she is. She’ll need a blood transfusion. If he doesn’t give me the antidote, he’ll have to deal with the consequences.” As an afterthought, she added, “And I don’t care what the Counsel has to say.”

Tobias lowered his head. “That’s the least of your troubles right now, Raven. You need to get to Bo’s room-now.”

Raven raced through the halls and into the ICU. Ian had added something to Bo’s IV. She couldn’t see what it was.

Tracy paced the floor.

Raven tilted her head toward her friend. “Trace, please give our friend a pint of O negative.”

Tracy dropped her gaze to the floor and walked out quietly.

“What’s that, Ian?” Raven asked as she approached Bo’s bedside. He looked so vulnerable, so weak-not like the strong warrior with the heart of a wolf that she knew him to be.

“Ian?” Raven asked again.

“Human antibodies.”

She knew they’d reached at the end of the line as far as treatment options were concerned. “Ian, I want you to take blood from me. We’ve fed from each other. Maybe I have some antibodies that could help him.”

Ian Odin shook his head. “Raven, he may bleed out. We don’t know how this will affect him.”

“Ian, please, try,” Raven begged. She was a doctor, and in her mind there had to be an answer to this medical puzzle. Ian Odin was a Master Wizard and a doctor. Together there was no way-no excuse-for them to lose Bo.

Ian nodded in agreement.

The nurse on duty set up a gurney for Raven and prepared the needle.

“We’re going to give him some of Mordred’s antibodies and see if that has a positive effect. I’m afraid the virus has mutated again,” Ian reported to his crestfallen co-worker.

Raven closed her eyes as the needle went into her arm. She was weak and worn out. The past few hours were taking their toll on her.

“What about Tobias? If he turned Bo to a Lamai? My father’s blood is powerful…” A knot formed in her throat when she heard the desperation in her voice. Mat, Bo’s grandfather, got up and walked over to Raven. He took her hand in his. She felt enormous strength from the elder.

He was soft-spoken and kind. “That would surely kill him, dear one. It is the wolf-magick in his blood that the virus is attacking. The spirits have warned me that Bo needs his human side to stay strong-to fight. You must pray to your mother’s spirit and to Hekate to help Bo. That your mother’s blood, which courses through your veins, strengthens him.”

For the first time all day, Raven smiled. Everything happens for a reason, she mused, and Jade being at the hospital might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Laroque knew his daughter was near. She was weak, but alive. His senses remained open as he targeted her location. Before he could rescue her, though, he had work to do. He needed just a few more victims to help spread his virus, and then he would get Jade and take her home.

He wandered the streets looking for leftover partiers and found a sleeping Lamai sprawled on a park bench. With the trick of a practiced bokur, Laroque stuck the young man with a needle full of the deadly virus. Laroque deftly sprinkled the white powder under the man’s nose. The enchanted crystalline powder entranced his fledgling, giving Laroque complete control.

“Go and feed, my friend,” Laroque whispered. “Feed as much as you can tonight. You need your strength.”

The fledgling abruptly awoke and stared at Laroque. Although he looked confused, he obeyed Laroque and began searching for his own victims. In spite of it being close to dawn, there were still plenty of people around to feast on. The bokur watched as the new recruit disappeared into the crowds.

Before the sun rose, Laroque had his minion infect a dozen islanders, including two more shape shifters.

Jade felt the needle enter her vein and she jolted, forgetting about the heavy leather restraints that held down her arms. They dug into her tender flesh.

Tracy looked at the young woman lying in the hospital bed.

“I’m administering blood. Your sister ordered this. Contrary to what you must think, she is not a monster. Your sister is a woman in love, trying everything she knows to save the life of the man she cannot live without. The man your father is trying to kill.” Jade watched the woman finger a pendant that hung around her neck.

Jade was too weak to answer. She silently watched the older woman exit the room. Her eyes closed as sleep took over.

In an instant, she was on a beach looking at her own reflection, only older.

“Maman.”

She was back in New Orleans.

Her mother held her close as a cool breeze passed around them, bringing the scents of honeysuckle and orange blossom. “Jade, my sweet, beautiful Jade. You will be fine. Your sister would never kill you. She is just hurting so badly,” Nicolette said.

“Am I dead?”

Nicolette hugged her tighter. “No, you’re dreaming.”

Jade held on, unyielding. She frowned. “You haven’t come to me in my dreams in so long, Maman. I miss you. What’s happening?”

Nicolette took her daughter’s hand in hers. “Your father has done a terrible thing. He is trying to hurt your sister and all those she loves.”

Jade’s astral form stood, feeling the sand between her toes. It was all so real, being here with her mother.

But that couldn’t be.

Her mother was dead. Jade’s analytical mind fought with her psychic side. She pushed those questions from her mind. Focus on getting answers, she thought.

“Listen to me, chéri, there’s not a lot of time. You know how in your dreams you always ask why I haven’t explained things to you? I wanted to wait. Honestly, I never wanted to tell you at all, but things have gotten out of control. You need to know the truth, and not your father’s version of it.”