I need to wash my mouth out with soap and water when I get home, she thought as she forced her feet to slow, not wanting to look like she was in too much of a hurry. And say a prayer or two for daring to have even one romantic thought about a monster.

But Commander Wolfgang didn’t look like a monster, and that was part of the problem. She couldn’t believe that a man who looked like him could ever be part of the massacre she’d seen the day before; so maybe Peter would be all right after all.

“Where’s Peter?”

Adelaide stood at the foot of the stairs, backing away as Harry started to descend. His hair was sticking up and his eyes were still bloodshot, but he looked a lot better for the long sleep he’d had.

She moved toward the kitchen as he reached ground level, and she could see how agitated he was starting to become as he scanned the room.

“Where is he?” Harry asked, spinning around. “Where’s Peter?”

Addy lifted her head as her heart started to pound, her face burning hot as she met his stare. “I couldn’t stop him,” she finally said, trying not to stammer. “You said it yourself, it’s not so easy to restrain a grown man.”

“What the hell do you mean, you couldn’t stop him?” Harry bellowed. “Where is Peter?”

The door opened and shut with a bang and Elise came storming in, a paper bag in one hand, her face like thunder.

“Quiet!” she hissed. “You don’t raise your voice like that in this house, not if you don’t want to be found.”

Addy cowered as Harry stalked closer to her, his face inches from hers.

“What have you done?” he asked. “Where is Peter?”

“Get away from her!” Elise smacked the barrel of her rifle into Harry’s shoulder, her paper bag of food discarded on the floor. “Back up,” she ordered. “Now.”

Harry skulked backward, and Elise slowly lowered the gun as he held up his hands.

“What’s actually going on here?” Elise asked. “I leave for a few hours and I come home to an argument?”

“Ask your sister,” Harry muttered.

“Adelaide?”

Adelaide gulped as tears started to spill down her cheeks. It had seemed so right at the time, what she’d done, what she’d chosen to do when she’d seen Peter in so much agony.

“Where’s Peter?” Elise asked, her eyes widening as she stared at her and then around the room. “Where the hell is he, Addy? What’s happened while I’ve been gone?”

“He was so insistent,” she whispered, her back pressed against the wall now, her fingers frantically clawing the wallpaper. “I couldn’t let him suffer like that, Elise, I just couldn’t do it.”