“Remember me?” he whispered. “I remember you, Rachelle, and exactly what you thought of me. Except now I’m not just some big, ugly brute. I’m a big, ugly, werewolf brute. Which means I’m even stronger—and more dangerous—than you thought. A lot more pissed off, too, because you betrayed Chloe, and that’s worse than anything you did to me. The harder you struggle, the more I’m going to remember what you did to her. Understood?”

She still gave a few token kicks and squirms. He tightened his grip until she gasped. Then, she went still.

“Now we’re going to take you someplace where we can talk, and you can tell us why you tried to lure Chloe—”

His head shot up, and I knew he’d heard something I couldn’t. His gaze swung toward the street. I hurried down the alley and peeked out. A dark shape moved along the buildings across the road. Another followed. Two figures. Both dressed in black.

“We have to move,” I whispered.

He nodded, hefted Rae over his shoulder and started down the alley. I went ahead and scouted. A couple walked along the road. As always, I took a closer look in case they were ghosts. That had become second nature now—assessing clothing and actions, checking for some sign that I wasn’t seeing living people. These two were dressed in modern outfits. The woman circled past a pop can in her path. Living people, then. Just an ordinary couple out for…

The woman lifted a two-way radio to her lips. Okay, not so ordinary. Damn.

I backed up fast, bumping into Derek.

“We’re surrounded,” I said. “We’ll have to—”

“Chloe!” a voice called from the street behind us.

I turned that way. The voice came again. “Hey, Chloe! You out here?”

It was Daniel. And there was no way in hell he was actually walking down a deserted street yelling for me. I took out my cell phone. Derek and I had silenced them so we wouldn’t blow our cover. I had a string of texts from Maya.

9:15. Maya: Hey, guys. If u r just ‘busy,’ let me know. Concerned.

9:20. Maya: OK, not in the bldg, grabbing D.

9:23. Maya: D’s picking up 1/2 demon. Not M. Guessing u know that. We’re out & about.

Daniel was a benandanti—an Italian witch hunter with supernatural powers, including the ability to sense half-demons, because their demon blood tripped his “bad-mojo” sensor.

“Chloe? You out here?” Daniel called. “Oh, hey, you there! I’m looking for my friend.”

I peered out to see Daniel hailing one of the guys in black. The guy had decided to play it straight and had come out of hiding, his hands in his pockets, just a random dude out for a stroll.

“My friend wandered off,” Daniel said. “We’re not local, so I’m worried she got lost. She’s about this tall. Blond hair. Ponytail.”