“Go ahead. Run. We like the hunt.” She cackled like a cartoon movie villain, then leapt behind a tree, her laughter echoing in a haunting way that sent chills down my spine. Red lightning flashed left and right.

Thunder rumbled in the distance from all around us. It sounded like a stampede of elephants charging right for us without slowing down, yet when I looked, I saw nothing. No one. And then the oak trees above me moved.

“RUN!” Bentley yelled.

We charged forward, keeping Hunter and Cooper in the middle of our group to protect Savannah and Devon. But with every step that stampede moved closer. The ground vibrated beneath my feet, making my bones buzz and rattle. The world shook. Something was coming. Something Libby said was hunting us. I pulled my sais from their holsters on my thighs, my gaze swinging left and right and back again.

“Stop, Francelina.”

I shook my head. That wasn’t Everest. That was only the forest sirens using their magic to sound like his voice.

“Francelina, you need to stop.”

My pulse skipped beats. It was torture to try and ignore my own soulmate’s voice, but I had to. That wasn’t really him. Everest never called me Frankie—Wait. He didn’t say Frankie just now. He said Francelina. My eyes widened. Did he say stop?

“FRANCELINA, STOP NOW!”

I cursed and slammed on my breaks, my feet gouged crevices in the dirt. “Wait, stop.”

Tegan stopped immediately, her pale-green eyes narrowing on the trees around us. “Everest told you to stop?” her voice whispered through my head.

I nodded.

“Fuck. That means there’s a trap up ahead. Go with me here.” Her voice was strong and steady. She whipped her head back and forth. “Frankie, that’s just the magic here. We have to keep moving.”

Bentley rushed over to us, his eyes wide, but there was a devious sparkle to it that I recognized in Tegan. He nodded to me. “We have to keep moving. The archway is just around that bend⁠—”

Cold air swept through the trees, causing the branches to freeze. Snowflakes fell from the sky. A wall of snow rolled toward us—No. Wait. That’s not snow. I cursed and then yelled, “Sentinels!”

But it was too late. Dozens of Sweyn’s vampire guard broke through the trees dressed in their all-white gear with long swords glistening in the silvery light of the fog. My pulse quickened. We circled up with our backs to each other so we saw every angle, but we were outrageously outnumbered. There were only nine of us who could fight here and there had to be four dozen of them. Tenn wasn’t here to do his non-human thing and Tegan had to be careful how much magic she used or we could lose her.