More lies. What did it matter?

Her phone buzzed from the nightstand where she’d left it plugged in. She knew before looking at it who was calling.

She grabbed it and punched the answer button. “What?”

“No hello? No ‘Hi, Daddy’?”

“Not for you. What do you want?”

“You know what I want. An update.”

She walked to the railing overlooking the living room. Van wasn’t on the couch, and Grom wasn’t around either. Maybe they’d gone to bed. She went into the bathroom and closed the door just to be sure. “I’m working on it.”

“I want specifics.”

“Even if I can get him to agree to fight, he still needs to heal.”

“I understand that. And time will be allotted. But there is no if about getting him to agree to fight. That will be the outcome. Do you understand?”

“I understand I have no choice. Do you understand what a horrible person you are?”

He sighed. “Monalisa, you are never going to get anywhere in this world.”

“Not with you holding me prisoner.” She hated him. Hated what he’d done to her. What he kept doing to her.

“I’m enabling you to fulfill your true purpose.”

“You’re a vile little man with a soul as black as night.” She hung up. Enabling you to fulfill your true purpose. What a crock.

Trembling with anger, she tossed her phone on the bed and walked out onto the balcony in nothing but her bra and underwear. There was no one to see her. She stood there, gulping down the cold night air in an effort to calm herself.

It wasn’t working that well.

She wanted to shift. She needed to shift. So she closed her eyes and gave in.

Van was nearly asleep, dreams of Lisa already leading him into a blissful fog, when a flash of light and Grom’s sharp, sudden bark snapped him awake.

Whatever intoxication he’d felt was gone now. He blinked into the darkness. In a split second, his dragon eyes adjusted. He pushed onto his elbows. Grom was standing tensely, ears at attention, his entire body looking poised for action.

Van sat up. “Ko mne.”

Grom relaxed, walked over, and settled his big head on the bed beside Van, letting out a little woof as if to say, Shouldn’t we go see what that was?

Van stroked the dog’s head, scratching his ears. “Is all right, pup.”

What had that been? A trick of his mind? Like when the sensation of falling sometimes woke him? Was this his mind playing games with him? Instead of falling, would he now be reliving the burst of light that had caused him to lose against Ronan? Maybe it was the venom in his system doing it. A side effect of that poison.

Seemed logical.

Grom whimpered and nudged his head forward.

Van sighed and patted the bed. “All right, you big baby.”

Grom crawled up, turned three times, then flopped down beside Van. Snores fluttered out of him within minutes. Van, on the other hand, couldn’t go back to sleep that easily. And not just because there was a beast of a dog now taking up half the bed.

He slid himself out the other side, wincing as the movement caused fresh pain in his leg. Once he reached the edge of the bed, he put his feet on the floor and reached for his crutches. He kept a pair by the bed for emergencies, because there was no way he could get that brace on quickly.

Hoisting himself up, he went out to have a look around. Maybe the flash had woken Lisa too. At least then he’d know it hadn’t just been in his mind.

But all was quiet and nothing seemed disturbed. He stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to his bedroom that Lisa now occupied. Not a sound. Not even the faintest bit of breathing. That was odd. But maybe the covers were muffling them.

He went to the windows on the side of the house and looked into the dark. Nothing unusual out there either.

Maybe that flash had just been in his head. Seemed like it more and more. He should go back to bed. Sleep was important for healing.

He was halfway through the living room when he heard a sound he recognized. The French doors on the upstairs balcony quietly opening and closing.

His entire body went on alert just like Grom’s had at the flash of light. Could that flash have been related to something sinister? Only a fool would break into this house, but considering what the level beneath Van contained, the temptation existed. As did fools. And if Lisa had left that door unlocked…

The thought of her in danger charged him to act. The stairs would take too long and cause too much pain. But there was another option. One potentially more painful. But it would be quick, and it would give him the element of surprise.

He dropped his crutches onto the couch. Then he braced himself for the pain and jumped.

The burst of movement took him up and over the second-story railing and onto the landing just outside the bedroom.

Lisa shrieked and flattened herself against the French doors, her eyes sparking with the same flash of green he’d seen once before. Her scream set Grom off, filling the house with barking.

She had only underwear on. Two small strips of black lace and silk.

The sight caused Van’s breath to catch in his throat, and the pain in his leg became a memory. At least temporarily. Her skin was luminous in the dark. She was stunning. Like a wild creature. He somehow found his voice. “What are you doing?”

She covered herself with her hands. “I should be asking you that question. Why are you up here?”

“I heard the door.” He gestured to the balcony. Grom was still barking. “I thought someone was breaking in.”