She covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry, Sharrim. I’m so sorry.”

I saw it in his eyes. This was one straw too many.

“Get the kids into the car,” he said.

“I can . . .”

The expression on his face stopped me cold.

“Get into the car.”

I packed Adora into the Jeep. Curran picked up Julie and carried her in.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m tired,” she whispered. “So tired.”

Roman picked himself up and got into the car. Derek limped his way to the Jeep. Curran held the front passenger door open for him. The werewolf crawled into the vehicle. Curran shut the door.

“Go home.”

“Curran . . .”

“Go home,” he repeated, his face iced over.

I started the engine, backed the Jeep up, and turned it around. In the rearview mirror the bridge behind me was empty.

“Is he coming back?” Julie whispered.

“Of course he’s coming back,” I told her. I had no doubt about it. Curran wouldn’t leave me, especially not without talking to me first. “He just needs to cool down.”

“I’m sorry,” Adora whispered.

“It’s okay,” I told Adora. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault.”

It was mine.

•   •   •

I TOOK EVERYONE home. That was all I could do.

The kids had been moving Adora to my old apartment when they were jumped. Derek wanted to fight, but Julie had made a double blood ward to keep him in. Making one took a wallop of power. Making two wiped her out, but her wards had held out against everything Roland’s people were able to throw at them. The werehyena sahanu had run their mouths. Julie was the intended target. They had tracked her to our neighborhood but saw too many of Mahon’s bears. I would have to thank him. So rather than go in, they left a scout and caught up with her, Adora, and Derek on the bridge.

I had taken Saiman back and ripped Adora away from my father. He retaliated by trying to take Julie away from me. There was no going back after this.

Erra wanted a full report. I told her Julie would explain. I didn’t feel like talking.

Derek’s injuries were minor. He bled a lot, but healed quickly. Mine weren’t much either. I’d called Nellie and promised her the sun and the sky if she came to patch everyone up. She did. She also issued Adora and me a sedative. I didn’t take mine.

Nellie left. I’d called in some cavalry and now I sat on the porch, waiting.

Four people emerged from the night and came onto the porch. I’d called the bears Mahon assigned to guard our street. Raoul, short but so broad-shouldered that he looked almost square, stopped by me. “No worries. We’ll sit on them for the night.”