Jade sat back down next to her mother. “Go on…”

“First of all, when I knew your father, he was a good man, no matter what people say about him now. It was my fault that all this happened. I don’t want you to ever believe that it was your fault in any way.” Nicolette gently stroked her daughter’s cheek.

“Père always blamed Tobias,” Jade explained.

“I know. And Tobias blamed Philippe, but it was me. I’d been angry at Tobias for always leaving us, your sister and me. Your father had been a good friend until he fell in love with me. I did love him, in my own way.” Nicolette stood and turned away from Jade.

“One day at Mardi Gras, I gave in toPhilippe, and you were conceived. I was so confused and very angry for being left alone all those times. I thought I was falling out of love with Tobias and in love with Philippe. It is all so clear now. But back then I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“Your father had enlisted the help of a fae. A fledgling with a reputation in casting love spells. That was the real reason I gave in so easily, though your father is quite charming when he wishes to be. I wasn’t falling out of love with Tobias, I was enchanted by the fae’s magick. I know that now. I didn’t know it at the time.

“As soon as I saw Tobias and realized what I’d done, I knew I loved him still. He was my husband, and I had deceived him. The man I’ve loved for lifetimes. Your Uncle Frank convinced me to tell Tobias that Philippe raped me.”

“Uncle Frank?”

Nicolette turned to her daughter once more. “It was wrong to say such a thing about your father, but Frank was so convincing that this was the best way to handle the situation. He told me Tobias would never forgive me if he knew the truth, and I was naïve and so wracked with guilt. I didn’t know where to turn, chéri. When the heart is involved, people do things they wouldn’t normally.”

“Like Raven.”

Nicolette smiled. “Yes, and like me-and your father. To Tobias’s credit, he did not kill Philippe, though he wanted to. Believe me, I would have told him the truth if it had come to that. Remember, there will always be people ready to take advantage of others. I hope my daughters inherited their fathers’ sense of guile, and not my naïveté.”

Jade’s eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t love me enough to live?”

Nicolette was silent for a long while. She seemed perplexed as to what she should reveal to her daughter and what secrets were best kept hidden.

“I did-I do love you, ma bébé-always. Don’t ever think that I didn’t…that I don’t love you. I love you more than you’ll ever know. But Jade, you must try to convince your father to stop this. I have tried to reach him, but he won’t listen.” Nicolette looked like there was more to tell, but she told her daughter as much as Jade was prepared to hear.

Jade begged. “Why? Père knows what really happened between you.”

“I don’t have much more time with you here. Just know that I have to make right what I messed up so miserably. Somehow, I have to fix this. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I love you with all my heart.”

“I love you, too, Maman.” Jade grasped her mother’s hand, not wanting to let go.

Jade’s surroundings took on a pixilated quality.

Images faded in and out.

“I don’t want you and your sister to be enemies. I never wanted that.” Tears filled the older woman’s eyes.

The two women stood and embraced. Nicolette stood back and looked deeply into the green eyes whose shade was identical to her own.

“You are so beautiful. I’m so sorry, ma petite. I have to go.”

Raul watched as Tracy left Jade’s room. She had brought him a sandwich earlier, and now that her task of administering blood was underway, Tracy headed back to the lab. There was a discernible ripple in the energy of the hall where Raul sat, but he could not put his finger on it. By the time he realized what was happening, the needle was plunged into his arm, while white powder flew in his face.

Laroque used a torsion wrench to unlock the door to his daughter’s room. The bag of blood that replenished her body was empty. Carefully, he removed the IV, his anger flaring while he unhooked the leather restraints. Gathering Jade into his arms, he whispered a charm to create a diversion, making it possible for them to exit the hospital without notice. He rushed to the parking lot carrying his daughter, whispering words of reassurance to her.

“Maman…”

“Il est moi, papa.”

“Père…I’m so sleepy. I saw maman,” Jade muttered as he placed her in the backseat of the borrowed sedan. The shape shifter he had just infected would not need his vehicle for a long time, if ever.

“Rest, Jade. We will be home in a little while.”

“Don’t say it! Please, don’t say it!” Raven cried to her father.

“You are lucky he came solely for Jade and not to get revenge, although he’ll be back,” Tobias countered.

Raven slumped against the wall outside of Bo’s room. Her whole world was crumbling around her. She was terrified that she’d taken too much blood from Jade. Everything she tried to improve became worse. She was grateful to her father. Though angry, he kept the depth of his rage at bay.

Nothing turned out like she had imagined.

Laroque was supposed to return and beg for his daughter’s safe return. The way it played out in Raven’s mind, he should be handing over the vaccines. Then she would unlock the door to where she had Jade hidden.

“How’s Raul?” she asked.

“Missing. I think it’s time Laroque and I have a meeting,” Tobias said. “I have kept this inside long enough. He is a monster. The things he did to my sweet Nicolette-to your mother. He’s the worst kind of animal, and I let Frank convince me for your sake to let it go. I will not let it go any longer.”

Raven grabbed her father’s arm. “No! You’re more vulnerable than any of us. This virus is mutating, and if Bo’s grandfather is correct, it is the magickal aspect of our make-up that makes us susceptible. There has to be another way.”

Both daughters of Nicolette were fearful of losing the only parent they had left, and both would do anything to protect them. Their loyalty to family was unwavering, and they were more alike than Raven realized.

“Raven, I am going to see him, no matter what you say. Bo is not getting better. We have to do something. I will finally have my revenge.”

Raven clenched her jaw in frustration. “And what if you can’t get him to give you the antidote? What if he infects you? You’re going to have another child. Think of Emmie! You cannot go, and you can’t kill him. Then we’ll really be screwed.”

Tobias flashed his lethal fangs as he swore at his daughter. At a time like this, when Tobias was enraged, he appeared massive. “I’ll get the answers we need from him. I have had many years to plan a slow and painful torture for Courtier de Sang.”

Joe Menendez came barreling down the hall with Bianca on his heels. “Raven, you’ve got another siren washed up on the shore and two more people with bite marks in the ER, and…”

“What, Joe?”

Bianca answered. “An Empusa is dead and there’s word of a Lykan’s death. Nat is doing the autopsy on the Empusa with Davis. The Lykan, as I’m sure you know, evaporated to dust upon death. This is becoming some kind of a mystical-being murder spree.”

“A Lykan? I didn’t know they came to the island,” Raven said.

“Seems some Lykans and shifters have mated. There aren’t many around. Joe, how do you know for certain it was a Lykan?” Tobias asked.

“Solaris saw him, the Lykan. Tracy is running some tests on the…remains.” Joe looked helplessly at Raven, then at Tobias. “And they’re bringing in Emerald as we speak. She passed out in the hospital parking lot. They think she’s infected.”