She tried to run to him, but Nikki held her fast, struggling to drag her back into the safety of the cottage. Kate fought Nikki like a madwoman, punching her arms, kicking at her legs, and jerking her head back to smash her sister-in-law’s face. Her husband was going to die, and she wanted to die with him.

“You can’t! You can’t! You can’t!” Nikki bleated like a mantra, unsuccessful in her attempts to gain control over Kate.

What Nikki couldn’t know was that when there was nothing left to lose, there was no reason to hold back. Kate didn’t need to save her strength to see another day. A miracle cure could wipe away all of her pain and afflictions, and she would still be as good as dead. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop the beast, but it owed her a quick death beside her husband. It had robbed them of their dreams, but maybe she could use it to deliver herself to the oblivion she belonged to, because living in this broken body without her true love was a hell unfit for even the worst of humanity.

Buttons cowered behind them, whining pitiably. She couldn’t tell if he was scared of the creature or already mourning the loss of one of his masters.

“Let me go!”

She writhed within Nikki’s surprisingly strong arms, feeling and hearing a loud crunch when Kate’s flailing elbow clipped her nose.

Suddenly, she was free.

Nikki had fallen to her knees, both hands cupping her nose, blood trickling between her fingers.

Kate wanted to say she was sorry, to console her, to help her, but she had to face the creature before it did its terrible deed and disappeared. Her foot touched the first step, her heart racing, Andrew and the monster frozen in a stare-down, when she was yanked off her feet.

“No way, sis.”

Ryker looked like a cadaver risen from the autopsy table. His skin was chalky and gray, the damaged and dead flesh within the stitches puffing up like poison mushrooms. How he was conscious, much less had the fortitude to lift her up, was beyond comprehension.

“Stay with Nikki.”

Her sister-in-law reached up and snatched her hand, though her grip wasn’t quite as strong as it had been moments before. In that touch, Kate felt her begging not to go – to let Ryker, who would most likely not see the end of the day, at least have a final moment of heroism.

Kate broke apart.

All of the pain and despair she fought against every minute of every day came rushing to the fore.

Buttons howled, as if giving voice to the wellspring of emotions that had broken free. His tail was tucked under him, snout pointed at the sky, whimpering to the heavens.