my way downtown through throngs of inebriated mortals around the Port Authority bus terminal, glancing behind, expecting Gaius’s dogs already tracking me. There was no doubt in my mind Gaius would call for my head and Kurt would be the one dispatched to bring me to Brovik for questioning. Maybe we could run away together. Sell the diamonds. Go somewhere— maybe Leisha could help us.

When I finally returned home, Brovik’s watchdogs were parked outside my building. I walked by them with a little wave. “Happy New Year, fellahs.”

The car drew alongside me as the window rolled down. “Where you been, missy?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

The dog stuck his face out of the window. A network of old knife scars seamed it like a baseball. Brovik sure didn’t choose ‘em for looks. “Don’t get fresh. You know— when the boyfriend is too busy to get away— old Cash could keep you company.”

“Behave yourself, or I’ll tell him you’ve been fresh with me.”

Cash licked his thin lips, tossing long, pale hair back from his face. “We don’t work for that arrogant little prick, and the Northman’s going to want to fucking know where you been for six hours. Sweet dreams, doll.” He laughed as the car pulled away.

Shit.

I went inside and pulled up a floorboard and hid the evidence inside. I was in deep trouble now.

Two nights later Kurt was dispatched in Brovik’s private jet to fetch me. He appeared unexpectedly at my door, no rose in hand this time. He stripped off his jacket and gloves, tossing them on top of his laptop. “Mia, what happened? Tell me the truth! This is very serious!” He took me by the shoulders with less than his accustomed tenderness. “Don’t lie to me! Gaius is out for your blood. Did you do this?”

“Do what?” I broke away to hang up his butter-soft brown calfskin jacket.

Kurt grabbed me by the arm and spun me around to face him. “Don’t play with me! Someone set fire to The Wolf’s compound in the Hamptons. Dirk’s bones were found in the wreckage. Three dogs were murdered as well. Cash says you went missing for six hours on New Year’s Eve. A girl matching your description got into the car with Dirk outside of the St. Regis.”

I couldn’t lie to Kurt. “He dragged me into a car, bled and drugged me, chained me to a bed. He threatened me with a scalpel, said he’d cut you into little pieces if I didn’t spy for them.”

Kurt’s ivory face went alabaster. “Oh Mia, he didn’t! How did you manage it?”

“Fucking idiot was high. I played along until I got my hands on the knife, cut the bastard’s throat and hacked off his head, shot the dogs then set the place on fire.”

“You killed him to protect me?” He gripped my shoulders harder. “You must swear you never saw him. Mortal witnesses saw a girl with short dark hair outside the hotel. It could have been any girl, perhaps a call girl he’d engaged. You understand? They’ll put you to torture. Trial by ordeal.”

“I’ve been bled before.”

He winced. “Not like this. It can go on for hours. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Gaius is suspicious of his Alphas as well. They all despised Dirk, but they have more convincing alibis.”

I clung to Kurt, needing his calm logic so badly at this moment. “I had to do it!”

“I don’t blame you, I’d often wished to do so myself.” Kurt held me tighter. “Find the courage, Mia. Stare them down and you’ll live. I’ll do all I can. Ultimately, it’s you they must believe.”

“Fat chance of lying to the Wolf and getting away with it.”

“They have no real proof.”

“If it wasn’t for you, I’d say why not just end it?

He held me very close to him. “Don’t say that. Not now when we’re so close. Mia, we’re on the very brink. The organism is isolated!”

“Organism?”

“A symbiotic life form that inhabits our blood stream and invades our cells, mutating them. All we need to know is how this agent works.”

A chord sounded deep within. If my suspicions were correct, those discs I stole held an answer. “Where’s your laptop? You need to see something. When I wasted Dirk, he had this briefcase with discs inside, marked confidential. Something there is important enough to bring him here on New Year’s Eve in the middle of all this millennium bullshit.”

I retrieved the disks from under the floor. Kurt popped the first disk into his hard