Ryan was looking at them, amused and vaguely impressed. “Okay, that was pretty cool. I almost feel bad I have to kill you now. But—” He raised the prod and turned it on, the crackling ringing through the air. “Don’t worry, legends never really die.”

His head suddenly snapped to the side and he stumbled over, revealing Alice standing behind, still half transformed, barely able to stand. Ryan was already getting up, face twisted in rage, gripping his prod as he turned toward her.

“Bend!” Cooper shouted, throwing himself up and backward at the same time Park bent over at the waist without question.

Cooper landed on Park’s back, using the momentum to swing his legs up a bit and then kicked out as hard as he could at Ryan’s back, sending him stumbling toward the howdy door, where Eli shoved his narrow, thumbless hand through a fence hole and stabbed Ryan in the shoulder with his claws.

Ryan screamed, ripping off of Eli with a sick squelch, but still managed to hold on to the prod. He raised it over his head, bellowing, and Cooper tensed as he ran toward a wobbly-looking Alice as if he were about to beat her to death rather than electrocute her.

A gunshot rang out and Ryan froze. Arms still in the air, face twisted in shock, there was a horrible clicking sound from deep inside his open throat, and a thin dribble of blood suddenly ran down his chin.

Ryan collapsed to his knees, prod falling to the ground beside him. His eyes spun wildly, as if confused, and his gaze landed on the small window over their heads. For just one moment, as he stared, his pupils were obscured by the reflection of the full moon. Then Ryan collapsed forward with a thump.

Niko Hirano walked toward them, out of the shadows of the long hall, gun still raised. Cooper immediately looked to Alice, who was still bent over unnaturally, face nowhere near human-passing.

“Don’t hurt her,” Cooper said quickly. “Please, I can explain—”

He cut off as Hirano hurried into the cage with them and gathered Alice in her arms just as she began to collapse.

“Shhh, shhh, shhh,” Hirano murmured as Alice let out a low gurgling howl. “I’ve got you, I’ve got you now. It’s okay.”

“Do try to close your mouth, Cooper,” Eli said, still entangled with the fence but somehow making it look like a chic ’90s photo shoot and not the aftermath of a horrific near-death experience. “You’re losing heroic appeal at a speed heretofore unknown to man, and I’m not in the mood for any more long-winded explanations.”

Chapter Thirteen