His knees buckled and he went down.

Some of the guards rushed to him. The others cocked their weapons, ready to retaliate. I was shoved into a car as shots rang out, Cole using his body as a shelter.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Couldn’t resist.”

“Don’t be sorry. Ali, I don’t know what I would have done... I couldn’t stand...” His arms tightened around me, squeezing me. “You have to tell me what happened in there.”

“Not now,” I said, even the thought threatening to immobilize me. “Please.”

“Okay. All right. But soon.”

“Soon,” I promised.

* * *

The first two days back at Mr. Ankh’s, I slept, my body doing its best to recover from the abuse it had suffered—but its best wasn’t quite good enough. My strength continued to diminish. I was vaguely aware of Nana coming to see me and clutching my hand, Emma pacing beside my bed and Mr. Ankh checking my vitals.

Where was Cole?

It wasn’t until the third day that I discovered he’d been sleeping in a chair in the corner of my room the entire time. I woke up crying and couldn’t stop. I cried until my tear ducts dried from overuse, and he rushed over, gathering me in his arms, whispering the sweetest words into my ear.

I missed you so much.

I tore the world apart looking for you. I wasn’t going to stop until I had you back.

You are so special to me. I need you.

I clung to him as if he were my only lifeline.

Just then, he was.

He told me Kat and Reeve were on the mend. That he knew Reeve had been the unwitting spy, and because of her, Ethan. He’d told the slayers everything that had been going on; they were eager to see me, he said.

“How is Jaclyn?” I asked.

“She’s at home with Justin, and he says she’s healing physically but not mentally. She refuses to leave the house.”

“They were terrible to her,” I said with a shudder.

“The were terrible to you, too. To all of you. Will you tell me now?”

“Tomorrow,” I whispered, not wanting the taint of dark memories to intrude upon this moment.

Then tomorrow came. My fourth day back. Mr. Ankh and Mr. Holland strode into the room, asked for details, and I told them everything I’d learned...and suffered. Cole held me then, too, and I was glad. Though he stiffened and cursed, he remained tender with me, sifting his fingers through my hair, whispering how brave I was when I thought I’d have another breakdown, telling me how sorry he was.

The adults were pale by the time I finished.

“Well,” Mr. Ankh said, then cleared his throat. Were his eyes gleaming with tears? “I’m sorry for everything you endured, Miss Bell.”

I nodded to let him know I’d heard him.

“But I’m afraid you’re not in the clear yet,” he added. “The antizombie toxin in your blood is higher than ever. We gave you more antidote, and it helped...for a while. You burned through it so quickly I believe you’re already developing an immunity to it. You’ll be able to use it another few weeks, is my guess, but not much more than that.”

So little time.

I gulped.

When the adults left the room, Cole parted my hair and held on to the pigtails he’d created, peering into my eyes. “Kelly isn’t going to get away with this. You have my word.”

He was so beautiful. So fierce. “Cole.”

“No, don’t say anything. You’re still recovering, and I want you focused on that. I just... I want to show you something.” He rolled to his back, leaving me on my side, and lifted the hem of his T-shirt to reveal the entire expanse of his muscled chest.

His tattoos were—oh, glory.

In big, bold letters, my name had been added among his plethora of tattoos.

ALI BELL arched from one nipple to the other, the pierced one, taking up far more real estate than any other.

“Cole,” I repeated with a tremor.

“I wanted to give you more than words. I wanted to show you that you’re it for me, that there is no one else, that there will never be anyone else. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care what the visions tell us. I just want you.”

No boy had ever made such a finite gesture for me. No boy had ever looked at me like this one did, as if I were the most important part of his life. As if he couldn’t not look at me. “I love you,” I whispered, my heavy eyelids drifting closed and my mind falling into a pool of black.

I think I was smiling.

My fifth day back, Cole moved me into Reeve’s suite. With both Mr. Ankh’s and Mr. Parker’s permission, Kat had moved in as well, and the two girls had been asking for me—needing me. An unbreakable bond had formed inside that cell, one that would last as long as we lived.

The men in our lives weren’t willing to upset us, so, regardless of the danger I still presented, three twin beds now dominated the sleeping area.

But...

On the sixth day, I began to feel Z.A. stirring. She was angry. Hungry. Determined. I fought her with all that I was, doing my best to keep her on a tight leash, and it cost me. What little strength I’d won, I lost again, confining me to the bed.

Reeve recovered from the trauma first, and that was when her father pounced.

He strode into the room, sat at her bedside and held her hand. Uncaring about his audience, he said, “I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen without saying a word until I’m done.” He waited for her to nod before he continued. “I want to send you abroad. I never wanted you to know what was going on here, didn’t want you to live your life in fear and danger—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she interjected. “And are you trying to tell me the zombie problem is isolated to this area?”

“No, it’s not,” he gritted out. “But I don’t want you around the people who fight in the war. They’re targets. Magnets. If you’re here, you’ll cave and hang out with them. Then, as you see the injuries they receive, you’ll start to fear and stop living your life.”

“I’ve seen the injuries, and I’m not afraid. I’m ready and willing to help. Those guys carry a huge burden, and I need to step up and take on my share.”

I lay on my side, and Kat, who had the middle bed, lay on hers. We peered at each other, remaining quiet, listening to the conversation over the beeps and hums of medical equipment.

“What can you do?” Mr. Ankh demanded. “You can’t see the monsters.”

“Neither can you, and yet you manage just fine.”

“I’m a doctor.”

“And I’m a healthy girl with two arms and two legs, capable of taking orders to assist the doctor tending to the slayers.”

He shook his head. “The zombies could bite you.”

“And I could be given the antidote,” she sniped. “Look, Dad. I’m going to help the cause whether I do it here or somewhere else. That’s not something you can stop. I caused the mess we’re currently in. Me. And I want to make amends. I need to make amends.”

“No, you—”

“Dad,” she insisted. “We both know the truth. I’ve been spying on everyone, trying to figure out what’s going on and why the people I love, the people who profess to love me, kept lying to me. In my quest for answers, Ethan was able to encourage me and teach me how to be a better spy. I told him everything I learned. I caused this.”

His shoulders drooped, and he scrubbed a hand down his face.

I yawned, my eyelids growing heavy.

“If you want to stay, stay,” he said softly. “If you want to help, help. But you will not go near that boy.” There at the end, his tone had hardened. “Do you understand me?”

Reeve scowled at him. “He has a name.”

“Bronx,” the doctor gritted. “You’ll not go near him.”

“Why? Why do you hate him so much?”

“I don’t hate him. I just hate the thought of you with him. He’s too...rough for you, honey. You haven’t read his file, and you don’t know his past or the trouble he’s been in, the things he’s done or the things he’ll do.”