His gaze searched mine, then he sighed softly. "You are such a stubborn bitch."

"Learned from the best," I said, with a smile.

He shook his head, then closed the van door and padded quietly over to the trees at the end of the cabin. I followed at his back, listening to the wind, to the sounds underneath it—or rather, the lack thereof—as I scanned the trees and the dappled shadows for any sound or sight of the orsini.

Nothing.

No sound, no movement, no misshapen bear things or any other creature, nasty or not. The bush was a strange and silent place, and the sensation that something was wrong continued to scratch at my nerves.

We circled right around the property and all its building, and came to a stop near our starting point. "You'd better go get some rest."

"Rhoan—"

"Riley, you look dead on your feet. Just let me do what I'm paid to do, without arguing for a change."

I blew out a breath, then nodded. Truth was, I did need to sleep, though I very much doubted I'd be able to when in two hours' time I'd be heading back to a place that had snatched eight days of my life away. But that wasn't the reason I couldn't force my feet toward the cabin. It was the silence. The creeping sensation that something was near.

"Why do you think Kade is being allowed on this mission?" I asked instead, my gaze on the nearby trees.

"Because Jack knows his history and has every confidence he can handle it." Rhoan shrugged. "And we need the extra manpower."

"So you haven't seen his file?"

"No. And no, I'm not going to steal it for you. If you want to uncover his history, ask the man."

"I did. He said he was a builder."

"The horse-shifter is as much a builder as I am straight." Amusement twinkled in his grey eyes "Now, stop delaying. Get inside and rest."

I scanned the trees a final time, finding no hint of danger or anything out of place. There was nothing around, nothing to explain the apprehension crawling across my skin.

It was probably just the fear of returning to the testing grounds—or whatever the hell that place was—that was making me so jumpy. After another hesitation, I turned and headed for the room.

I opened the door of the second cabin and stepped inside. The afternoon light swept in behind me, breaking some of the shadows holding the cabin's interior captive and highlighting the big old bed. From the other room came the sound of voices—Quinn's lilting tones and Kade's deeper resonance. Nice sounds to go to sleep by.

I closed the door and walked over to the bed, stripping off weapons and clothes as I did so.

It wasn't until I tugged back the bed covers and began to climb inside that I realized I wasn't alone in the room.

The moment I paused, the shadows attacked.

Only it wasn't shadows but a creature—as black as night, as invisible as a vampire, and just as fast.

Luckily, so was I.

I rolled off the bed and twisted around, lashing out with a bare foot. The blow connected with solid darkness and the creature grunted, but didn't waver. It flowed over the bed and leapt at me, a flash of deeper black that slashed with wicked-looking barbed claws.

I ducked the blow then dove sideways, over the bed, grabbing at the weapons lying casually on the bedside table. My fingers scrapped across metal, sending the lasers flying even as I grasped the knife.

"Rhoan!"

My shout rang across the silence. The creature hissed, a hushed sound that nevertheless irritated my ears. It came at me, a blur of arms and legs and claws. I backed away fast, ducking and weaving and slashing as hard as I could with the knife. One blow hit flesh, slicing deep and hard, until the shock of hitting bone reverberated up my arm. There was a plop, followed by a gush of stinking blood, then the door was flung open and the room flooded by sunlight, revealing the creature to be humanoid in shape but not proportion.

"Drop," Rhoan said.

I did, hitting the carpet hard. My breath whooshed out as darkness ran past me, chased by a thin beam of red. Glass shattered and footsteps retreated. Rhoan ran past.

I scrambled to my feet and ran after my brother. He shifted shape mid-stride and leapt through the broken window in wolf form. I remained in human form and followed, hitting the glass-covered ground beyond and cutting my back as I rolled to my feet and ran on.

The shadowy creature flicked through the trees, fast and elusive. The still air carried no scent—if it had one at all, it was being smothered by the sharp aroma of eucalyptus and earth.

But it was bleeding, and it was the blood trail that we followed.

We ran on through the trees, dodging and leaping rocks and brush and ferns and logs. Then the air grew suddenly sharper, colder, and I looked ahead. The trees ended abruptly, leaving nothing but sky. I dove forward, grabbing Rhoan by the haunches, dragging him to a halt.

He snarled and snapped at me, his teeth grazing my skin but not actually hurting. I slapped his nose. "There's a cliff ahead, idiot."

He twisted around, looking ahead, then gave a doggy sniff and rolled out of my grip, shifting shape before walking forward I stood but didn't follow Cliff edges and me were not compatible items.

"There's a splattered black shape at the bottom of the canyon," Rhoan said, peering over the edge at an angle that had my nerves twitching.

"It jumped rather than be caught," I said, amazed "Why would it do that?"

"'It' being the operative term," Rhoan said grimly "And it either jumped because it didn't see the cliff in time, or because it thought death was better than capture."

"It'd have to be the first option, wouldn't it?"

He shrugged "Who knows One thing is certain, though I've never seen anything like that before."

"No But I very doubt it was something nature made " I shivered and rubbed my arms.

He looked at me "You okay?"

I nodded "I sensed it just before it attacked, and was able to keep out of its way."

He glanced down at the body one more time, then stepped back and turned me around "Let's get you back inside before you freeze to death."

We walked back to the cabin Quinn was squatting down and examining the ground outside the window, but looked up as we arrived.

His gaze skimmed my nakedness, and the sweet taste of lust briefly stirred the air. But all he said, in a voice as cool as the air, was, "These footprints don't belong to any creature I've ever seen before."

Rhoan squatted beside him and ran a finger over the prints. "Claws," he said, looking up at me. "Just like its fingers."

I nodded. "As I said, I don't think it was nature-made."

"I think you're right." He paused, his gaze skirting the silent trees. "Why don't you go get some sleep? I'll keep watch for any more of these beasties."

He hadn't seen or sensed the first one, and I doubted he'd see or sense any follow-ups. Which begged the question: Why? I might not have sensed the creature until it was almost too late, but I had felt the sense of wrongness. So why hadn't my twin?

I didn't know. And part of me didn't want to know, because I had a vague suspicion it might just stem back to the drugs Talon and Co. had been feeding me.

But at least the creeping sense of wrongness no longer haunted the day. Maybe we'd be free from attack for a while. "I think I'll grab a shower first. I doubt I'll be able to sleep right now."

He nodded. I made my way back inside the cabin. Thankfully, someone had removed the severed arm, and made some attempt to clean up the blood. I wasted some time checking every little corner, then finally relaxed and headed for the bathroom.

But despite my protests, I did sleep, and sleep well.

Quinn was standing near the broken window when I woke, his hands clasped casually behind his back and body relaxed, but I could taste his tension. It stung the air, as sharp as the sudden spike in my pulse rate.