Nobody touches Joshua. Nobody. Breathing hard, the hilt of the knife firmly in his clenched fist, he stared at his attacker.

Who stared back out of the weirdest eyes Michael had ever seen. Each one was half-brown and half-blue. Mesmerized, Michael froze.

Then jumped when a hand shot out to grip his wrist, and that fast the knife was gone, taken from his hand. But it had been done gently, he realized.

And the man was signing to him. Fluently. “Easy. Just breathe. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Deacon Novak.” His fingers spelled the name with quick dexterity. “We met yesterday.”

Deacon Novak. Michael fell onto his ass, trembling, his brain waking up in a rush. Deacon was Dr. Dani’s brother. But yesterday he’d worn sunglasses. Now his eyes were uncovered. Whoa. She’d told him that her brother’s eyes were stranger than hers. Damn, was she right.

Deacon was still signing. “Are you all right?”

Michael realized that he’d pressed his palm to his still-racing heart. He nodded. “What’s wrong? Where’s Dani? And Coach?” He whipped around, his heart nearly stopping when he saw the bed was empty. “Joshua!” he shouted, not caring how stupid he sounded when he voiced.

Deacon’s hand was on his shoulder. Still gentle. “He’s okay,” the man said calmly. “He’s with my wife. Faith. She’s the redhead.”

“Zeus and Goliath,” Michael signed, his hands shaking. “Her dogs.”

“Yes.” Deacon’s mouth quirked up. “Goliath chews shoes, so be careful.”

Michael smiled slightly, his body coming down from the adrenaline rush. But only a little, because something was still wrong. He could see the worry in the man’s weird eyes. “Where are Dani and Coach?”

“They’re helping one of our friends. Delores’s boyfriend, Stone.”

“Wolfhound. Angel,” Michael signed, his tension rising again. “What happened to her boyfriend?”

“He was shot by the man who killed your stepfather.”

Michael sagged against the side of the bed. “He’s here? Looking for me? You have to get Joshua away from here. Keep him safe.”

“We’re going to keep both of you safe,” Deacon signed firmly. “Now I need you to pay attention. I need you to be calm. Can you do that for me?”

Michael closed his eyes for a brief moment and nodded. When he opened them, he saw that Deacon had extended his hand to help him up. “Come with me. I’ll explain as much as I can. But we need to hurry.”

Michael followed the man into the hallway, and Deacon shut the door. “I wanted you away from windows. You’re safe here.”

“Where is Joshua?” Michael demanded.

“In the basement, eating cookies with my wife. He thinks they’re camping. He has no idea that anything’s wrong and we don’t want to scare him, okay? Can you fake not being scared?”