My anticipation warped into grief. I wrapped my arms around her hunched shoulders and pulled her body against mine. “Nothing I wouldn’t have done had I been dating a shifter.” Truth was, if I’d been human and wanted to spend my life with someone who wasn’t, I probably would’ve tried to change my genetic makeup. “Your skin is ice, Bea.”
I pressed away from her and looked around the small cell until my eyes alighted on a blanket balled in a corner. I picked it up, then draped it around her shoulders and led her to the bare pallet nailed to the concrete wall so we could sit.
“How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve had a stomach flu for an entire month.” Her muscles had all melted away, along with any fat. “I look horrible.”
“Nothing a few meals at my house won’t fix.”
“I don’t think I’ll get another meal at your house.” More tears glossed her cheeks. “At least, not the type you eat.”
“The full moon’s coming. We’re hoping it might change you back. For good.”
Her long throat bobbed with a swallow. “That’d be nice.”
“You have an entire pack of shifters looking for a solution. Someone’s bound to find you one.”
Her lashes fanned her full cheeks, the only part of her body which hadn’t been whittled by her transformation. “I heard Darren say the synthetic blood was your idea.”
“It’s not really synthetic.”
“I meant lab-made.”
“Yeah.”
She stuck out one bony hand from the blanket and squeezed mine. “I’m glad Lori no longer needs to pay for my mistake. She and I may never have been friends, but I don’t want her to suffer on my account.”
This time, I was the one to swallow.
“How’s Miles? Nate swore he was okay, but—”
“He thinks you’re pregnant and trying to hide it.”
“If only.” A forlorn smile drifted across her face as she touched her concave abdomen. “Does Nate hate me?”
My head jerked back. “No. Absolutely not.”
She leaned her head back against the dusty gray wall and closed her eyes. “Nikki, can you make sure that, if there is no solution, he’s not present when . . . when they end my life?”
My throat stung. My nose, too. I tried to form words but couldn’t speak any of them.
Her eyes opened and traveled over my haggard expression. “Sweetie, it’s okay. I’ve made my peace. I know there’s not enough supply of that drug.”
“Sillin isn’t—can’t be—the only solution. There must be another.”
She sighed. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand to live like this. A half-human half-monster who drinks blood.”
“You’re not a monster,” I croaked.
“I’m worse than a monster in that other form. I attackedyou. I’ve attackedNate.”
A loud sob leaked from the cell in which the coroner was embracing his wife.
Bea shuddered. “I can’t believeIdid this to them. To that poor hiker. Nate should’ve shot me the minute I shifted into that . . .thing.” She dropped her face into her palms. “What have I done? What have I done?” She murmured this over and over, rocking back and forth.
Suddenly, she went still.
Very,verystill.
