Divinity grunted, then looked away. The rocker moved faster, the runners creaking in a soothing rhythm against the hardwood. After a moment, she asked, "What brought up de memory now?"

"Baron Samedi. At the grave, he told me he smelled dogs and loups-garous."

"I wonder if dat's why Nicolas and Lucia divorced," Divinity mused, lifting her eyes to Kallie's. "I only met Nicolas a few times. Beaucoup earthy, dat man, wild and strong. Good-looking in a rugged way. Quiet and watchful. But de man loved to laugh. And he loved my sister, him." After a moment, she murmured, "Loup-garou. Coulda been, I suppose. Never met one."

Kallie stared at her aunt, caught off guard. She'd been positive that Divinity had been hiding the truth about Jackson the same way she'd hidden the truth from Kallie about her own past.

"... a big wrong's been done to you."

Kallie had expected Divinity to flap an annoyed hand at her and snipe something along the lines of Of course yo' cousin's a werewolf. What's de matter wit' you? You need to pay mo' attention to t'ings, girl.

"Seriously? You didn't know?"

"Nope. Like I said, I only met Nicolas a few times."

"So it's possible Jackson told me the honest-to-God truth that night."

"What does yo' gut tell you?"

Kallie trailed a hand through her drying hair. Thought of two little kids lying in the grass on a sultry summer night, sharing secrets. "That he was telling the truth."

Which created an even greater mystery. Why had he never mentioned it again? And though Kallie was deeply grateful that they had, how had the loups-garous found and rescued him?

Another thought occurred to her, a dark and disconcerting possibility.

What if she was making a huge-ass mistake in assuming the loups-garous meant Jackson well?

"I need to find him," Kallie said, curling her hands into fists, stretching the skin taut over her knuckles. "I need to get back out there." But she kept other words unvoiced for fear that speaking them aloud would make them come true: Before it's too late.

Divinity sighed and rose to her feet. "I know. I keep t'inking of de boy too. I keep wondering what dis blowdown will trigger in him if we don't fix de wards before Evelyn reaches us."

"I've been thinking of that too," Kallie admitted softly.

Divinity went to her worktable. Grabbed the teakettle. "You want some tea? Me, I need a cup."

"Sure," Kallie lied, figuring refusal would only make her aunt resort to less obvious methods of sleep-trickery. "How come you only met Nonc Nicolas a few times? My folks used to take me to their place in Houma all the time, and Jackson and his sisters used to visit us all the time too. Until we moved to goddamned Shreveport."

And less than a year later, two gunshots and a whispered apology changed Kallie's life forever. And ended her father's.

Divinity filled the kettle in silence, then set it on one of the burners of the two-burner cooktop beside the table. She turned around to face Kallie, her back against the table, her arms crossed loosely over her chest. The dim lighting and cobwebby shadows made her face unreadable.

"Y'know," Kallie said, "I didn't even know I had another aunt until you arrived at the hospital in Shreveport to take me home. That was the first time I'd heard of you."

"I know. I planned it dat way."

"I hope to hell you don't think that statement alone is going to cut it."

A smile quirked at the corners of Divinity's mouth. "I don't."

"Do I have to pull the info out of you word by goddamned word?" Kallie growled. "What did you mean by that?"

"I had a falling-out a long time ago with my sisters, and no, de reason for dat ain't none o' yo' business. Suffice it to say dat your mama and Tante Lucia weren't talking to me no more. Course, to my mind, I wasn't talking to dem. But even so, I kept up with what was going on in deir lives. And yours-you kids, dat is. And dat's when I learned what yo' mama had done."

"How did you find out?"

Divinity shook her head, a familiar stubborn glint in her eyes-eyes that were more green than hazel in the dim light. "Dat be a story for anudder day, girl."

A muscle twitched in Kallie's jaw as she glared at her aunt. Pick your battles. This one can wait. "Fine," she grated. "Then what?"

Divinity shrugged. "Den I stole Gabrielle's identity and made a new life for myself because I knew de day would be coming when you would need me-a mysterious stranger with a false name who could hide you from dem dat would finish what yo' mama started."

A chill traced the length of Kallie's spine. "You saying Mama didn't act alone?"

"Mm-hmm. Dat's what I be saying."

"But who-"

"Now, dat I don't know, hun. I never did find out who Sophie had been working with, but I know for true dat she had help. I just wish I knew who. And why."

"So you think they're still looking for me-Mama's partners?"

Divinity snorted. "Course dey be looking for you. Dey go to all dat trouble to yank out yo' soul and stuff a loa inside? What you t'ink, girl?" She glanced at the kettle.

"Ah, de water's hot."

Kallie waited while Divinity busied herself with pouring the hot water into mugs and steeping the tea. This newest bit of information stunned her. She'd always believed her mother had acted alone for reasons beyond her understanding. To learn that everything-her father's murder, her being shot, the soul-loa transfer-had been coolly planned and deliberate and a group effort left her feeling gutted, a fish twisting on a hook of brutal and inexplicable truth.

Dread coiled ever tighter in Kallie's chest as she listened to the rain thrumming against the roof in a hard, steady patter, heard gusts of wind hitting the windows.

The goddamned clock is counting down.

Divinity returned to the bed and handed Kallie a warm mug fragrant with strong black tea flavored with blueberries and what smelled like bergamot. "Drink all o' dat," she commanded.

"Thanks," Kallie said. She waited until her aunt had settled into the rocker, her own mug in hand, then widened her eyes and said, "Shit! I don't think I locked the back door when I came down. I'll go and-"

"No you won't, you," Divinity interrupted. "I'll take care of it. You just drink yo' tea." Setting her own mug on the bedside table beside the pads of gauze, Divinity rose to her feet, then strode from the room.

Kallie stood and quickly switched mugs, replacing her aunt's with her own. Another nap wouldn't hurt her, she thought, easing back down onto the bed and lifting the mug to her lips just as Divinity returned. Kallie sipped at the tea, feeling its warmth flow from her belly and into her bloodstream.

"De door was locked," Divinity said, settling into the rocker once more. "Yo' mind might be sleep-deprived, but yo' instincts still be working at least." She picked up her mug and took a swallow of tea.

"I was thinking I might try to talk to the loa," Kallie said, looking at her aunt from over the rim of her mug. "See if I can reason with her. I honestly have nothing to lose by trying."

Divinity stared at her, mug frozen in the air. "Her?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I've seen her in my mind's eye." And reflected in the Baron's sunglasses, but Kallie decided to keep that to herself. "Long cinnamon curls and cafe-au-lait skin, wearing a veve that shows a heart bound in chains made of pale bones and surrounded by black X's."

Divinity lowered her mug. "You sure, girl?"

"Positive. I saw her when I died. I think she was a horse then, a talking horse, an obnoxious one, actually, but that's all fuzzy and ..." Suddenly light-headed, Kallie's words slowed to a stop as she lost her train of thought. Drowsiness swept over her in a heavy tide, weighing down her eyelids and blurring her thoughts.

"Goddammit," she whispered, struggling to focus on her aunt. "You tricked me."

"You tricked yo'self, child." Divinity was standing in front of her. She gently plucked the mug from Kallie's fingers and placed it on the bedside table. "You coulda kept de mug I gave you, but I knew you wouldn't. Headstrong, dat's you."

"I can't sleep ... Jackson ..."

"Dere's nothing you can do for him right now. Not with de shape you be in. You need rest and strength for what lies ahead. We both do. So curl up against yo' nomad and close yo' eyes."

"Goddammit," Kallie repeated. Hands guided her head down to the pillow. Lifted her legs onto the bed. "No ..."

"Hush now and sleep."

As if by instinct, Kallie rolled over and pressed herself against Layne's warm body, drew herself in tight against his lean-muscled length. She tried to keep her eyes open, but failed, her eyelids heavy as steel. Her eyes closed.

As she slid into a velvet-soft darkness full of fireflies, she heard the wind rattling like a bad thief at the windows. Heard her aunt whispering, "Rest, chere. I'm gonna see you and Jackson tru dis nightmare. I ain't giving up on either of you. Family never does."

Sleep enfolded Kallie, and she surrendered.

TWENTY-EIGHT.

BOUND TO ONE FORM.

Slipping an arm behind the half blood's neck-no, not just a half blood, this was Jackson, her long-lost nephew-Angelique lifted his head. Heat radiated from his body in intense waves, a dangerous, Change-wrought heat that she knew would eventually result in either transformation or death.

But with First Change coming so late, the odds favored death.

"Fight," Angelique wished her nephew, then she repeated the words Rene had whispered earlier, "Lache pas."

She lifted the uncorked blue glass bottle containing the pain potion from the table's edge. The bitter scent of vervain prickled against her nostrils as she tipped the bottle against Jackson's lips. "Here, drink," she coaxed. "C'mon, Jackson."

But, lost to fever dreams and pain, eyes closed, he turned his face away from the bottle's cool touch and the temporary relief it would give him.

"Hold on, hun." Merlin cupped Jackson's burning face between his large hands and gently centered it again. Then he pushed his thumb against the young man's chin to open his mouth. "I'd just upend the bottle if I was you," he said.

Liking her husband's advice, Angelique did just that. Tilting the bottle, she carefully poured the honey-sweetened liquid down her nephew's throat.

Jackson coughed, then swallowed convulsively, taking the potion. Angelique lowered his head back down onto the table, then eased her arm free as her husband cleaned dribbled potion from Jackson's face with a practiced swipe of his washrag.

Having managed to wrestle off Jackson's wet and muddy jeans-leaving him in navy blue boxer-briefs-Merlin resumed cleaning the dozens of cuts sliced into her nephew's limbs and torso, applying an antiseptic tincture containing cinnamon bark, clove oil, sweet clover, and myrrh, the pungent spicy-sweet odor filling the room.

"What the hell is taking Rene so long?"

"My guess would be that Jan and Ambrose went hunting or Outside to restock supplies, and he's waiting for them to get back," Angelique replied with a shrug. "They'll get here when they get here."

"It's a shame that the mind-to-mind thing y'all have doesn't work long-distance."

"A damned shame," Angelique agreed. She studied Jackson's still face, the bright roses of fever blooming on his cheeks, the muscles twitching and rippling beneath his skin. A heaviness settled like ash in her heart as she remembered the honey-eyed little boy so excited about his new duties as a big brother.

Why did Lucia bind her son to only one form? And why did that binding fail now ?

"Why don't you let me finish up here while you go check on the twins and Moss?" Angelique asked.

Merlin never even looked up from his work. "You go, woman. Ain't nothing here I can't handle."

Feeling uneasy, Angelique shook her head. "You're wrong," she said softly. "You've never dealt with a First Change before, let alone a half blood's First Change, and one so late to boot. You've got no idea how careful you need to be."

Merlin looked at her then, indignation in his bicolored brown and blue eyes. "I'm always careful with my patients. And you know that I've treated loups-garous before, so-"

Angelique leaned across the examination table and pressed her fingers against her husband's lips, effectively closing them. "Of him, cher. You need to be careful of him so that he doesn't hurt you."

Merlin's gaze dropped to the unconscious young man lying between them, then returned to Angelique, comprehension lighting his eyes. His warm lips moved against her fingers. "Oh."

Angelique felt a smile quirk up one corner of her mouth. "Yup. Oh." Sliding her fingers away from her husband's lips, she turned her palm up and nodded at the washrag he held. "Let me do this, and you tend to the munchkins, you. Make sure that Moss has survived."

Merlin snorted. "Trust me, Moss is egging them on. He's nothing but an overgrown cub, that one."

"For true." Angelique inclined her head at her waiting palm. Arched an eyebrow.

With a sigh, Merlin shook his head, a few of the beads at the ends of his short, thick braids clicking together with the movement, then reluctantly piled the washcloth in her hand. "You be careful too, hear?"

"I will," she promised him.

With a wink, Merlin turned and walked out of the room. As he headed into the kitchen, Angelique heard him calling, "Where's my babies? Where's my chubby little road riders? I don't see them. Did you gobble them up with the scrambled eggs, Moss?"

"Yup," Moss replied cheerfully. "And they was tasty, them."

"Here, Papa, here!" Ember and Chance shrieked happily in unison. "Papa!"

Smiling, Angelique bent to her task. By the time she'd finished cleaning Jackson's many wounds, a deep anger burned in her gut. Whoever had done this to him had intended, had planned, for him to suffer, long and slow and hard, his blood seeping into the earth.

And that blood loss worried her. Jackson would need every ounce of strength if he was to have any chance of surviving what she soon would no longer be able to stop with potions and drugs.

With the twins cleaned up and herded, giggling and shouting, into the playroom where Moss was keeping them company, Merlin strode into the room, a bowl of breakfast leftovers in one hand, a bowl of water in the other, and placed them in front of the watchful Siberian husky who lay at the examination table's head, her muzzle resting on her paws. Her nose twitched as she breathed in the tasty odors.

"Eat up," Merlin encouraged. "I have a feeling you've earned this and more."

The dog vaulted to her feet, but it wasn't the food that held her attention. A low warning growl rumbled from her throat-an unnecessary warning, since Angelique had heard too.

Rene and the Alphas had finally arrived.