to preserve our clothes we have to take them off before we shift. Mine fell down a hole. A really deep hole. So I’m wearing Dante’s shirt.”
That was who he was, Keira thought. Dante MacMillan, a police detective with the city. Well, probably not anymore, since she could sense he was a werewolf.
“And she knocked our shoes down the hole, too,” Dante offered. His lips curved into a grin but even through the filter of pain Keira saw his sharp gaze didn’t miss a thing.
Finn gave a slight roll of his eyes and muttered something about werewolves and idiots. “And why are you here?” he asked.
“I thought we might need their help,” Tobias said. He had one hand wrapped around Caladh’s upper arm.
Nix stood nearby, her eyes stormy yellow. If Caladh made a move, Keira knew the female vampire-demon hybrid would be on him in a flash.
Tori moved away from Dante and went down on one knee beside Stefan. She reached out and lightly touched his cheek. “Damn you, Natchook,” she whispered. A tear slipped from her eye to trail down her face. “Damn you.”
Dante helped her up and slid his arm around her waist, hugging her to his side.
Tobias said, “Dante and Tori studied the smaller rift device and the schematics that go along with it. They might be able to figure out how to disable the larger machine.”
“Can’t we just turn it off?” Keira asked. She bit the inside of her cheek to help take the focus off the pain radiating from her shoulder. She couldn’t let them take her anywhere until that infernal rift contraption was destroyed. “It is a machine, after all. They have power switches.”
Tobias shot her a look.
Finn chuckled. “She has a point.” He paused and sobered. “We can’t stay here, though.” He looked down at Keira. “I’m going to pick you up now, sweetheart. And it’s going to hurt. Ready?”
She bit her lip then shook her head even as she whispered, “Yes.”
He sent her a tight smile. “All right, then. Here we go.” Finn carefully slid his arms beneath her.
She knew he was doing his best not to jostle her, but, gods above, it hurt. She trapped cries of pain in her throat, but as he stood and got her settled in his arms she couldn’t contain a low moan.
“God, baby, I’m so sorry.” She saw him look at Tobias. “It’s a damned two-mile hike to get from the entrance of the mine back to the trailhead. She’ll never make it.”
“We’ll figure it out, Finn. I promise you,” the vampire said. He glanced at the others. “We’ll take care of the machine on the way out.” His gaze hardened on Caladh. “Move it.”
As they walked, the selkie yammered on about his plans for the rift. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” he said. “Think about it. No more subverting our darkest desires, no more kowtowing to humans and their laws.”
“Watch it,” Dante muttered. “Some of us were human not all that long ago.”
“And some of us like humans,” Tori added.
“Then you’re stupid.”
Keira followed the conversation with numb fascination, appreciating the distraction from the flames burning her insides.
“Boy, you are a piece of work, you know that?” Nix shot Caladh a scowl. “You acted all benevolent and kind on the council, while all the while you were plotting behind their backs. Behind Deoul’s back.”
“Oh, don’t talk to me about Deoul,” Caladh snapped. “You couldn’t stand him.”
“No, I couldn’t. And I don’t feel bad that he’s dead,” Nix admitted. They turned into the main shaft. “But I wouldn’t have killed him, despite how much I might have wanted to sometimes.”
“Hear, hear,” Tori muttered.
They entered the larger portion of the shaft where the machine was. Keira knew Finn did his best to keep her as steady as possible, but each step he took was pure torture for her. When they were a few feet from the machine, he stopped and went down on one knee. “We’ll rest here for awhile,” he murmured. His voice was hoarse and his eyes held self-recrimination.
“This isn’t your fault,” she managed to tell him again through a throat tight with pain. She was vaguely aware of the others gathered nearby, talking in low voices. Nix, however, stood a short distance away with a gun in her hand, standing guard over the defeated and now silent Caladh.
Keira wondered for a moment where the female vampire had gotten a gun, but then remembered that Caladh had brought one. It must be his.
“I didn’t