Oscar meowed to get my attention and I pushed up out of the chair. My gaze fell on a cardboard box on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. There was nothing special about the box other than the fact that my name was written on the top in Nate’s handwriting. Strange. I was sure I’d had all my things shipped to Westhorne last fall.

I picked up the box, which didn’t weigh much, and laid it on the coffee table. Lifting the cover I peered at the contents. There were a few books, a photo album, some small framed pictures, ornaments, and a thin bundle of letters. None of it belonged to me. So why had Nate written my name on the box?

The answer came when I lifted the photo album, opened it to the first page, and saw the sepia photography of a little blond girl and a smiling blond man I knew well. Tristan. Which meant the girl was... Madeline. These were Madeline’s things, the ones Nate had mentioned to me before Thanksgiving.

I let the photo album fall back into the box and replaced the lid. I wanted nothing of Madeline’s, but Tristan might like to have her things. She was his daughter after all, even if she had hurt him by leaving the way she had. But then that was her M.O., wasn’t it?

I was halfway across the room when I stopped and looked back at the box. As much as I disliked anything to do with Madeline, I was curious about what was in the box. Not because I wanted to get to know her, but because the more I learned about her, the more I’d understand her. In the game of hide and seek we were playing I needed every advantage to catch her.

Grabbing the box under one arm, I bent and picked up Oscar with the other. “I’m ready.”

* * *

I sat cross-legged on my bed, staring so hard at the photograph in my hand that I was surprised I didn’t burn holes through it. It was a picture of two smiling young women with long blond hair, sitting in a powder blue convertible. Based on their clothes and the peace signs they were flashing at the camera, the picture was taken sometime in the seventies. But that wasn’t what had grabbed my attention, nor was it the fact that Madeline was one of the women. I was more interested in the identity of the other woman in the picture.

I knew that damn succubus was lying her ass off. Adele had told me she’d met Madeline a few years ago, but according to this photo, they were friends long before Madeline had met my dad. And from the looks on their faces, the two women had been close.

“What else did you lie about, Adele?”

Oscar meowed and jumped up on the bed, making a beeline for my lap. He had settled in surprisingly fast since we’d gotten back three hours ago. It turned out that dwarves had a soft spot for animals, and Heb had immediately gone about getting supplies and food, and spoiling my cat. After everything the poor little guy had been through lately, he deserved a bit of coddling.

I scratched his head as I studied the three other photographs of Madeline and Adele. I couldn’t tell where they’d been taken, just that it was summer and there was an ocean in the background of one. It struck me how happy and carefree and normal the two women looked. They could have been two human friends enjoying a summer day. I couldn’t help but wonder why Madeline had turned her back on her family and her people, and then befriended a succubus of all people.

I felt Nikolas’s presence a few seconds before a knock came at my door. I was surprised he was here. For the last week, he’d been spending more and more time next door, and I usually got to see him at training or if I went to the command center. When he was here, he rarely came to my bedroom. Since the morning he had returned from Vancouver, he hadn’t paid me any nighttime visits either. Jordan said he was probably trying not to rush me with everything else that was going on around us. I wanted to believe her, but the more time that passed, the more I questioned his feelings for me.

He entered the room and smiled at me sitting on the bed surrounded by books and papers. “Do you want to come next door with me instead of spending the evening here alone? Raoul is ordering from that Italian place you like.”

“That sounds awesome.” This morning Jordan had gone on her first warrior mission. It wasn’t a dangerous one, just a recon job in San Francisco with Chris, but they weren’t due back until tomorrow. I didn’t relish the idea of spending the whole night here alone.

Oscar meowed in protest when I went to move him, and Nikolas’s eyes went to the cat curled up in my lap. A frown creased his brow as he approached the bed. “Is that the cat you had back in Maine?”

“Yes, his name is Oscar.”

Nikolas stopped at the foot of my bed. “How did your cat get here?”

I rubbed Oscar’s head, and he kneaded my leg with his front paws. “Eldeorin took me to the apartment today and I brought Oscar back with me.”

I probably should have thought about what I was saying before I spoke. Nikolas’s face hardened and his eyes darkened to a steel gray. “He did what?”

I rushed to reassure him. “It was safe, Nikolas. Eldeorin was with me and I didn’t go outside.”

He was not appeased, and his next words came out almost as a growl. “What the hell is wrong with him? He knows New Hastings is not safe for you.”

“Is any place safe for me?” I slid off the bed but didn’t approach him. “Other than here where I’m surrounded by Faerie wards, is there any place I can go and be safe? It’s a dangerous world for everyone now, not just me.”

“Everyone else’s safety is not my concern.”

“And everyone else doesn’t have built-in vampire radar or power like mine.” I took a slow breath. Since our talk the morning he’d gotten back from Vancouver, he’d tried not to be as overbearing, but he was as protective as ever. All I wanted was for him to see me as someone who could fight at his side and not hide behind him. “I’m not defenseless, Nikolas, far from it. I’ve killed more vampires than most trainees do before they become warriors.” Tell him. Do it now. “I’m not saying I’m invincible, just that I’m a lot stronger than you think I am.”