“If he doesn’t let me see it, I can’t convince it to turn off.” Zoey took a step back.

“It’s fine.” Noah slowly pushed Jonas’s hand down by his side. “It won’t hurt you if Zoey touches it.

See?” He reached out to touch the collar himself.

Even collared, Jonas was incredibly strong. A single swipe of his arm took Noah off his feet and sent him crashing into the utility shelves.

“She knows!” Jonas went bounding in the opposite direction and wedged himself between a broken chest freezer and the far wall. “She will know! No touching!”

As soon as he was sure Jonas wasn’t going to attack anyone else, Lindsay ran over to Noah. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Noah struggled to his feet, glaring at Jonas. “He’s probably right, in his own fucking batshit way. She may be able to track things through those collars. I wrecked everything I could, but...we really need to get them off, or turned off.”

“So, can we all agree I get to go first?” Dane snorted with annoyance.

Lindsay didn’t like it, but there was no way they were going to take Jonas’s collar off right now, not while the man was huddled in the corner, muttering to himself.

“Be careful.” He stepped out of the way as Zoey turned toward Dane.

She seemed more nervous now than she’d been before, but Jonas’s tantrum might have had something to do with that. Dane had to bend so she could see his collar clearly, and she started whispering to it, sweet, soft words that Lindsay couldn’t quite make out.

In spite of his trip across the basement, as soon as Noah was back on his feet, he made his way over to Jonas and started to calm him down and coax him out. He had some kind of natural charm to him; maybe it was his looks, but Lindsay wasn’t sure those worked on Jonas. Whatever it was, it convinced Jonas to wriggle out from behind the freezer. That thought was so surreal, Lindsay felt like the entire universe had tilted in the last few days.

Zoey seemed to be getting somewhere with Dane’s collar. The LEDs that dotted the circumference of it were flickering to life, one at a time. Lindsay hoped that didn’t mean the thing was about to explode.

As the last few lights came on, Lindsay tensed, ready to...something. He didn’t know what.

Once the final light turned red, though, the whole thing simply went dark. It fell from Dane’s neck with a clatter. Gone. Just like that. Cyrus had been right about Zoey’s value. They were in this because of her, but Lindsay could almost convince himself that she had been worth it.

He rushed over, eager to make sure Dane was all right. He touched Dane’s throat where the collar had been and leaned up on his toes to brush a kiss over Dane’s lips. He hadn’t realized how much seeing that collar on Dane had hurt until now, for everything it was and for how helpless he had been to stop it.

“I’m fine.” Dane wrapped Lindsay up in his arms and held him so tight that Lindsay could barely breathe, nuzzling in his hair and the curve of his neck, the way he used to when he was making sure Lindsay was well—well and his. “Okay. Go on, help your boy with the dog.” He kissed Lindsay on the temple, and let him go.

Reluctantly, Lindsay stepped back. “We’ll be finished soon.”

If Zoey’s progress with Dane’s collar was any indication, the only real trouble with Jonas’s collar would be Jonas himself.

With one last look at Dane to make sure he was really and truly safe, Lindsay went to help Noah with Jonas. Jonas was still protesting the whole idea, but Noah had managed to capture both his hands and hang on to them. After his outburst, Jonas seemed significantly calmer.

“We won’t take it off,” Noah assured him. “Zoey is going to make sure no one can find us. You want to stay with us, yes?” Jonas nodded slowly. Lindsay could see the mental struggle going on behind his eyes.

“We’ll make sure no one can find you. If she finds you, she will take you away.”

“It stays on.” Jonas narrowed his eyes and glared at Lindsay, who was apparently to blame for any unhappiness. That was remarkably unfair, since Moore had only been able to collar Jonas because Noah had nearly destroyed him. Then again, fair had never been Jonas’s strong suit. “And I stay here.”

“That’s right.” Zoey seemed a little emboldened by Noah’s mastery of the situation. “You can keep it on. I can do that.”

“If she finds me,” Jonas said with painful lucidity, “she uses me. I told her not to use me. Now, I go in the cage. Make it be quiet so it doesn’t tell her where I am.” He sagged against the wall behind him, resigned to his fate.

“I will.” Zoey put her hands on the collar, watching Jonas warily. “I’ll ask nicely.” This time, it didn’t take long. A green light and a white light flashed, and went dark. The collar remained intact. “I got it,” she said, backing away slowly. “The tracking and data systems are all offline. I didn’t touch the rest. I think he would feel if I gave him back his magic. Maybe we should take care of the rest later?”

Lindsay hated the idea of someone being stuck in one of those things, but... “It’s up to Noah.”

Jonas trusted Noah, for whatever reason, and Noah had taken responsibility for him. Lindsay wouldn’t interfere with that.

“It’s not hurting him, and he’s docile. I’m not sure he knows why he wants it on, but I’m not going to betray him.” Noah straightened up and patted Jonas on the head. “I’m starting to believe he’s really this damaged. I don’t want to do anything that would encourage him to leave.” He looked down to where Jonas had a grip on his jeans. “Trust me. I’d love to get his brain in one piece.”

Lindsay nodded. He could accept that. “You can talk to him about it later, if you feel like it won’t scare him, but for now, it stays.” He turned to Zoey and touched her arm. “Thank you. You should get some rest, I know none of this has been easy for you.”

She glanced at Noah and Jonas, then back to Lindsay. “Thanks, yeah. I’m pretty wiped out.”

“I’ll send Ylli to look in on you later. If you need anything, let him know.” As Zoey headed up the stairs, Lindsay realized that Dane was gone, and he sighed. “It hasn’t been easy for any of us,” he murmured, turning back to Noah.

“He needs some time.” Noah gently detached Jonas from his leg and leaned over to talk to him. “Are you coming upstairs?”

Jonas shook his head vigorously. “No, I like downstairs.” He was obviously starting to make a real effort to talk like a normal human. “No one is looking down here.”

“Okay.” Noah crouched down to be at eye level with Jonas. “We’re taking a big chance, letting you stay here, because of everything you did before. If you’re lying, if you try to hurt anyone here, I will kill you. Clear?” His voice was calm and gentle, but the words and the intent were effective.

“Dane doesn’t get to kill me now.” Jonas nodded at Noah. “You do. That is over.”

“Fair enough. I’ll bring you food later.” Noah straightened up with a sigh. “Let’s go upstairs,” he said to Lindsay. “I’ll make you some tea.”

Lindsay headed up, checking over his shoulder to make sure Noah was following. “Are you all right?”

he asked as they reached the top of the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

“I will be.”

Noah pulled aside the neck of his T-shirt to show the bloody bandage that covered where the IV port had been. Back in the parking lot of the store where they’d stocked up, Kristan had cut the thing out and done a decent job of patching him up. Lindsay’s appreciation for her was well-established now.

“Apparently, my skin attracts scars,” he said dryly. “As for the rest... What can I do? If there had been any choice, we’d have done it differently. I’d like a drink, or ten or twenty, but I need to keep an eye on Jonas. He won’t be like this forever; he’s going to come around. I’d rather have him on our side when he does.”