I gasped. “I burned the trees?”

“You touched them with the red flames, and the leaves instantly withered.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and they stung, as if they had been fermenting, ready to spring for weeks, but I hadn’t let them. “Did I do anything to you?” Was I responsible for any of the damage?

He fingered the gash in his cheek. “Something’s going on with you, Ali,” he said, ignoring my question.

I had. I’d hurt him.

“Yes,” I whispered. I couldn’t keep quiet anymore, whatever the consequences were for speaking out. I’d known I was a danger but hadn’t taken enough precautions to protect my friends. “Mr. Ankh told me my blood work was fine, but, Cole, that can’t be true. I’m filled with zombie toxin. It’s there, inside me, and it’s alive. A part of me. A new part. I’ve seen her—heard her.”

I waited for hatred to gleam in his eyes.

I waited for a savage rage to be unleashed.

He had to kill me now. I was the enemy.

“What else?” he asked.

I blinked, confused. “Urges come, dark urges, and I find myself giving in. I never would have believed it unless—”

“What the hell happened?” Gavin demanded, cutting me off with his arrival.

I looked over in time to see him and Veronica stalk past the trees I’d burned. Z.A. might have done it, but she’d used my hands. The realization still flayed me.

The pair was as battle-wounded and dirty as Cole.

Cole reached out, squeezed my wrist. “I don’t want you to say another word about this,” he whispered.

He didn’t plan to tell the others? Why? To protect me? Maybe. What would happen if the slayers learned what I’d done to him? I’d be thrown out, no question. And they’d be smart to do it.

He lumbered to his feet, dragging me with him. “Let’s get back to the barn,” he said.

“Cole!” Veronica rushed to his side and cradled his battered face, tilting his head from one side to the other to study his injuries. “Sugar, you look like you’ve been mauled by a bear. Are you okay?”

Sugar.

“I’m fine.” Clearly uncomfortable, he set Veronica away from him.

I was too wrung out to feel jealousy just then. Or anguish. Or longing. Yeah. Way too wrung out.

I swiped at the sting in my eyes with the back of my hand.

She tossed me a glare meant to slay me on the spot. “I thought you had special powers or something like that. You should have protected him.”

“Yes,” I said sadly, “I should have.”

Gavin wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a surprising show of support, and I leaned against him. I was getting more and more comfortable with contact with him—and I wouldn’t let myself think about what that meant. It wasn’t romantic, I told myself, and that was all that mattered. “Catfight round two can wait. Cole’s right. We need to get back to the barn.”

Cole stepped toward us, the menace I’d expected earlier now radiating from him. His gaze moved from Gavin to me, then to Gavin again. He looked 100 percent capable of murder. Then he stopped himself and spun away.

So badly I wanted to follow him, to catch up to him. It was utter anguish denying myself—fine, I was feeling it—but I couldn’t risk another fight with him. Besides, I had a spy to catch.

He led the way through the forest, Veronica staying close to his heels. Along the way, we met up with Frosty and Justin, and I did some mental measuring. They were both about the size of the spy I’d seen. But then, so was Lucas. And Gavin.

Gavin also wore a bandanna.

The spy had to be someone close to our circle. I mean, the guy had known the location of Cole’s barn and that we would be on patrol tonight. But...I didn’t want to accuse any of the slayers. I might not be able to trust myself right now, but I did trust my friends. Even, surprisingly enough, Gavin.

In a lot of ways, he was like Cole. He got in your face with his with beliefs and opinions. He was fearless, cared nothing about consequences. But he was fierce when it came to the safety of his friends.

I had a lot to think about.

“What I’m about to say is true, so I’m not simply making it true in your life by speaking it, if you know what I mean, but she’s a terrible enemy to have,” Gavin said softly.

“Who? Veronica?”

He nodded.

I shrugged. I’d had enemies before, and I would make many more, I was sure. “What do guys see in her anyway? I mean, she’s beautiful, but that’s all she’s got going for her.” I think what I was really asking was—what did Cole see in her?

Gavin looked straight ahead. “She’s actually a very nice person, but envy has turned you both into raving— Well. Never mind. I want to keep my balls. As I was saying, she’s smart, and she’s funny, and the best part is, she puts out.”

Was sex always on his mind? “Your words are like poetry.”

He chuckled, saying, “I admit I’d like to take her to bed, have since the day I met her, and she’d let me, I think, if she weren’t so determined to win back Cole, but unlike your Mr. Holland, I’ve never hooked up with another slayer. I like to keep business separate from pleasure. A cliché, I know, but there are far less complications that way. As I’m sure Cole is learning.”

“I’m a slayer,” I pointed out, “and yet you keep asking me out.”

“You’re also not my type. Or you weren’t. I’m not sure what my type is anymore. You resist, and it drives me wild.”

“That’s sad.”

“That’s life.”

I rolled my eyes, a common occurrence in his presence. “You might be the weirdest person I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t think that was a compliment.”

“Agree to disagree,” he said.

We entered the barn, and my spirit jerked from Gavin’s grip, flying forward as if tugged by an invisible cord. I skidded across the room and...boom!

Gasping, I pried open my eyes. I was sitting in the chair, spirit and body joined.

Mr. Ankh knelt in front of Cole, already patching up his injuries. Just as I’d suspected, he was covered in blood.

New to-do list: Find a way to disable the zombie inside me. Kill the zombie inside me. Still do whatever proves necessary.

He blinked open his eyes and grimaced.

Mr. Ankh said, “You need stitches, son,” and began digging in his bag of supplies.

A lump grew in my throat as Cole’s gaze met mine. Violet against blue. A cold mask against sorrow.

I’m sorry, I mouthed.

He nodded, looked away.

Would he cut me from his life now that he knew about Z.A.?

It was better than death, and yet almost as painful.

“Where’s Kat?” Frosty demanded. Like Cole, he was covered in blood.

Without looking up from his task, Mr. Ankh replied, “When you started bleeding, she started screaming, and I insisted she go home.”

I bet he’d had to threaten to ban her from the building forever to actually get her to go.

Frosty raced out.

“Everyone’s been injected with the antidote?” Mr. Holland asked.

I hadn’t, but then, I hadn’t been bitten. Still, I requested a dose and received it a few minutes later. The cool stream came with a measure of strength, stopping my trembling.

“Zombies were everywhere, man,” Gavin said, standing. “We couldn’t contain them all.”

“Yeah, and they seemed to know exactly where we’d be,” Lucas threw at Justin.

Justin shot to his feet. “I didn’t tell anyone about tonight. I didn’t know I’d be meeting with everyone until fifteen minutes ago, when Cole came and got me.”

“Ever heard of a phone? Texting?”

“Cole watched me the entire time. And do you really think a zombie is capable of taking my calls?”

“You were in the locker room alone for several minutes. You could have gotten a message to someone at Anima,” Trina spat. “They could have arranged this.”

“You think I’m wearing a wire, too?” He ripped his shirt over his head, revealing a hard, cut physique I hadn’t known he had.