“Fuck you,” I flung back. My head was splitting. My stomach sloshed. I felt like I’d been put together sideways.

“I told you to fucking stay with Perry.”

He was right. And he was furious.

“Si-si-si-civilian!” I managed to get the word out.

“She’s okay. She’s with Avery. Just settle down, Jill. Come on.”

I went limp. Lay with my breath whistling in my throat. Thank you, God. Thank you.

He stroked my hair back from my damp forehead. “I told you to stay with Perry.” But this time, less anger. He sounded worried.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Found I could speak. “I couldn’t.” My voice cracked.

“Guess not. What’d he do to you?”

How could I answer that? He suddenly found his way in, Saul. He got to me. “The usual m-mindfucks.” I dragged in a deep breath, let it out. “Saul.” It was so hard to think through the dragging pain in my head.

“Right here.” His fingers threaded through mine. “You want more backlash brew?”

Oh, God, no. “Shit no. What’d you find out?”

“Interesting stuff. Just rest, okay?” His hand was warm, and he leaned in, his lips meeting my cheek. “I’ll kick your ass later.”

“Promises, p-promises…” But I passed out again.

When I surfaced, I felt better, the brew had done its work and my head no longer felt like something monstrous was trying to birth itself from the center of my brain. Late afternoon sunlight fell in through the window; I was in my bed. Plenty of space all around, so nothing could sneak up on me.

Saul was a warm weight on the other side of the bed. His dark head rested on his arm, because as usual he’d thrown off the covers and ditched his pillow. Unlike usual, however, he was clothed, boxers and a T-shirt. He smelled of Were and sweat and musk, and the charms in his red-black hair gleamed under the light.

I sat up slowly. My head felt tender and my body was a little sore, but other than that, I felt surprisingly good. It was the first time I’d used the staff since striking my bargain with Perry, and I didn’t feel like I’d been run over by a truck.

I stretched, yawning. First order of business is to get that goddamn doctor and throttle him until he squeals. And then a quick visit to Jimmy Rocadero, and—

Saul’s hand closed over my wrist. One of his eyes had slid open a bit, and he yawned. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Hey, baby.” I didn’t have to work to sound relieved to see him. “How are you?”

“Pissed as hell,” was his languid reply. “How you feelin’, kitten?”

The tension in my chest eased at his calm tone. “Okay. Not going to be running a marathon anytime soon, but I can work. Saul—”

“Goddammit, Kiss. I told you to stay with Perry.” He opened his eyes and curled up to a sitting position, shoving blankets aside.

How a man in boxers and a Santa Luz Wheelwrights T-shirt could look so delicious was one of the wonders of the world. I swallowed hard and wrenched my mind away from that. It’s just the survival thing. You know that. Chemical cascades and psychological necessity to prove you’re still fucking alive after a dicey situation. No time for that now. “I couldn’t.” The words stuck in my throat. Christ, Saul. I couldn’t stay there. Not around that mindfucking bastard.

“What did he do to you? Huh? What did he do to you?” The charms in his hair tinkled, moving against each other; his fingers sank into my arm. I took another deep, lung-stretching breath. A shiver of pleasure went through me. Even though he was holding me hard enough to bruise, I liked it. The thought that he was touching me was enough to make me catch my breath, threatened to make me melt.

What didn’t he do? “Nothing. Just… nothing. Mindfuck. Like usual. There’s a reason why I don’t want to stay there when he’s finished with me. Last night it was bad.”

“Two nights ago. Perry’s been putting the house back together. Avery has the girl. There are three more bodies. I’ve got files.”

Lovely. Great. Wonderful. I’ll read ’em in the car. “I got things to do. We have to get that doctor. And Jimmy Rocadero—”

“Rocadero?” Saul snorted. “He’s one of the bodies, kitten. And I want to make it abundantly clear to you how fucking unhappy I am with the chain of events that ended up with you, here, facing that thing alone with no fucking backup. Very, very fucking clear.” His eyes glowed with a Were’s peculiar lambent orange tint.

“Rocadero’s dead?” Holy shit, that’s news.

“Straight-up dead. But he’s still got his internal organs—they’re just spread all over his goddamn house. I also found out a few things in the barrio.”

I stretched. My entire body ached. God, I hate using that thing. But I’m alive. Alive. And Cecilia is too. “What did you find out?”

His fingers flicked, and the length of cluttered leather braid and obsidian arrowhead dangled. A venomous dart of blue light splintered from the arrowhead. “I found out what this is.”

“Well?” I stretched, loosely. My skin twitched and rippled with soreness. The headache was returning, circling like a shark, though with less of its former virulence. “You’re killing me here, baby.”

“Don’t fucking say that.” His fingers flicked again, the arrowhead vanished. Neatest trick of the week. “Want to wash up, then we’ll talk?”

“Okay.” But I reached out to grab his arm as he turned away, his skin warm and hard under my fingers, under the T-shirt’s sleeve. “Saul?”

“Don’t ever do that again.” He stared at the window, his profile suddenly clean and classic. His mouth turned down bitterly at the corners. “I dropped by here to pick up fresh clothes and ammo for you so we could track down the leads I found straight from the barrio. Imagine my surprise at finding Perry and that goddamn thing here before me.”

“Perry was here?” What the hell was he doing here so late? Protecting his investment?

“He’d just arrived, I saw him coming down the street. That thing was tearing up the inside of the house. We came in and saw you beating the shit out of it. You looked…”

I winced. With the staff in my hands, I probably looked feral, my hair standing on end as I moved in ways a human body shouldn’t. And the laugh, the chilling crystal laugh, bruising the vocal cords as it ripped free. “Horrible,” I said flatly.

“Deadly. Beautiful.” His eyes dropped. “Jesus Christ, Jillian. You could have died.”

I know that. “I had to.”

“For one of Diamond Ricky’s girls?”

Just a whore, right? Just another teenage hooker on the cold street. I swallowed the words. Saul wasn’t like that; I was just… edgy. Too willing to think the worst, no matter what anyone said. “A civilian. She asked for my help.”

He made a short, vicious growling sound. “And those are the magic words, aren’t they? Well, I need your goddamn help too.”

Please, baby. Don’t do this now. “Saul.”

He turned his head, his eyes trapping mine. “You listen to me. You end up dead and you know what happens to me? Do you?”

A Were dies when his mate does, but I’m not Were. I’m human. Fucked-up with hellbreed, but still human. “Saul—”

“I put up with Perry. I put up with you throwing yourself into every goddamn mess in this city. But god-dammit, Jillian, I do not want to lose you!”

“Saul.”

“I want you to meet my people,” he said softly. “I want you under the Moon with me.”

Holy Christ. My mouth dried up. “That’s serious.” Then I kicked myself. Couldn’t I come up with something less stupid to say?

“Very serious.” He removed my fingers from his arm gently. His hand was warm. “As serious as it can get. Need a shower?”

For a moment, I thought the stone in my throat would stop me from speaking. “You offering to seduce me?”

His teeth flashed in a white grin before he levered himself off the bed. “I’d love to, but duty calls. Hurry up.”