I jumped up and promptly started to fall because my legs refused to hold me. Bones caught me before I landed in the pile of books he’d laid me on.

“Why didn’t you stop her?” I moaned. “You could have frozen her in place with your power!”

His grip tightened, the light from his gaze brightening until it shaded everything around us green.

“That blade landed directly in your heart,” he replied through gritted teeth. “I concentrated all of my power on immobilizing it and the tissues around it so you wouldn’t die right in front of me.”

His aura cracked as he spoke, blasting my emotions with a geyser of rage, relief, and fear. Maybe it was good that he hadn’t used his power on Katie. If he’d touched her with it while he was this upset, he might have accidentally killed her.

I gripped his jacket, both to steady myself and to pull him closer.

“She doesn’t know any better, Bones. It’s up to us to teach her.”

“Not if she keeps trying to kill you,” was his instant reply.

Our first parenting fight. Figures it would be over something life-threatening instead of how late she could stay up to watch TV.

“I should have known better than to zoom up to her when she didn’t know who I was or if I was there to hurt her. It won’t happen again.”

Then I rested my head against his chest, letting out a snort.

“As if we didn’t already know, this proves she’s my daughter. I used to stab vampires first and introduce myself afterward, too.”

A dark sound escaped him, but some of the rage eased from his aura.

“I recall it well, Kitten.”

Crashing noises below had me spinning out of his arms. I only made it a few feet before it felt like I had run right into an invisible wall.

“You just promised to be more careful,” Bones said in an exasperated voice. “Dashing off with a barely healed tear in your heart is the opposite of careful, Kitten!”

Right. It might take days for me to be back to full strength, and Katie was faster and more skilled than I’d realized. If only the logical part of my brain weren’t three steps behind my newly awakened maternal instincts, I’d act with much more prudence.

“You go first,” I said. See? Very cautious.

Bones gave me a short, fierce kiss, then stalked past me, cracking his knuckles as if in anticipation.

“Remember, no punishment for what she did,” I warned him. “She’s just a little girl.”

His predatory smile didn’t ease my concern.

“You only learned the hard way, luv. If she’s demonstrating your tendencies, then there’s only one way to handle her.”