Tears pricked at my eyelids. I refused to let them fall. I deliberately removed both of his large hands and took a step back, working hard to calm myself. I hit a hard wall of warmth, and for a second I sank into the comfort that was Braxton. My shock and pain had been so great I hadn’t even realized he’d been standing behind us.

I tore myself from the dragon shifter. “I have to go. I need some air.”

“Jess…” Maximus’ voice was hoarse now. He held out a hand toward me. “Please, don’t go, we need to talk.”

I shook my head. I needed to grieve and come to terms with everything I’d lost. And I needed to do it alone.

“Don’t follow me.”

I issued the last warning before I ran out of the room, and using every facet of my shifter speed dashed across the apartment and out the front door. I was in the elevator when three Compasses burst out the door – Maximus ripping his pants on, the doors sliding closed between us.

“Jess, it’s not safe for you to be on your own,” I heard the vampire say desperately, right before the metal sealed them away from me.

Silence descended. I sank against the cold steel wall, my heartbeat erratic. Damn, I was hurting, a pain that was soul deep. I knew I would eventually be happy for Maximus. I wanted my boys to have love and a mate. I wanted to be the aunt to their kids, but I’d thought that was a long way in the future. Not today. Not when there was so much shit happening in our world. I wanted to climb into bed between my dragon shifter and vampire, have my fey and wizard there also, just like we’d done so many times over the years.

But it would never again be like that.

Instead of crying, I channeled the crap-ton of emotions churning inside into anger, my weapon right now, and exited the building on a wave of self-righteous rage. I stormed along the streets, aimlessly wandering and yet still finding myself in that main street of food.

What can I say, food and I have a bond which I’ll probably never replicate with any male.

I stopped near a colorful falafel store, though I wasn’t really reading the menu in the window. I was actually paying attention to the small group which had been trailing me for some time—not the Compasses—and I was starting to get the feeling they had more than fun on their minds.

Since I was in a shit of a mood, I decided to get off the main path and have a little stress-relieving entertainment. If I couldn’t have sex, maybe some fighting would help.