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Nemesis and Nike responded to my request for just one tiny burst of magical energy, and it was me who shoved Scott halfway across the room. Stacia’s rush of speed got her where she wanted to go faster than I could ever have moved—and it impaled her on the silver length of Scott’s hybrid wep so forcefully that I only had to stand there. Sound broke through my daze at last. The blade sizzled as it greedily devoured the arcane blood now washing over it. Stacia’s breath rushed out in a soft cry of surprised pain, and then the life went out of her eyes as she fell in a crumpled ball at my feet, this time locked in the shape that suited her insanity best—that of the Harpy traitor, Penelope.

The moment the last breath passed her lips, the sharp magical zing that heralded the fulfillment of a Mandate pulsed along my skin. And only then did I realize that 11w divine assignment I’d been handed had been for so much
more than merely ferreting out the truth behind Vanessa’s disappearance. ‘The gods had chosen as their tool for divine retribution the Fury who had once been the traitor’s appren tice.

Poetic justice indeed.

My eyes fell on my mother’s completely motionless body, and the overwhelming sense of purpose that had filled me evaporated. Rage faded, too, with pain roaring in to take its place, chasing me into the unwelcome but blissful realm of unconsciousness.

CLAWED MY WAY OUT OF THE DARKNESS,
gasping and shaking as the memory of unbearable pain chased me toward the light. My hands flew to my injured knee and felt comforting cotton tied tightly around my leg. A slight echo of pain still nagged, but
this
I could handle.

“Careful, baby.” Scott’s warm hands settled on my shoulder. I glanced over at him, my brain feverishly trying to make sense of what was going on. Things had seemed hopeless just moments before. I’d been on the point of sacrificing myself to save the others when. . . my mother had taken my place.

“Oh gods, Mom!”

His grip tightened and he nudged my head in the opposite direction. Mac and Ellie knelt alongside my mother’s still body, both trying to rouse her to consciousness. Her Amphisbaena seemed sluggish, but at least they moved. Which meant—

“She’s still alive!” The Fates had decided to toss me another bone.

Scott relaxed his hold. “Yes, she’s still alive. And now that you’re back with us we’ll get you both to the Oracle.”

He made good his word, supporting me with the help of Trinity while Charlie swept my mother up with gentle hands as if she weighed nothing. Mac and Ellie stayed to convince Sense the coast was clear.

Walking back through the compound’s echoing hallways was unpleasant indeed. Both friends and foes littered the floor, most covered with gruesome, fatal wounds, although here and there pitiful moans indicated the presence of survivors. I averted my gaze, knowing I was no help to anyone in my current state. Besides, several of our arcanes scurried through the corridors, helping ally and enemy alike.

Considering that Mom had taken out the vast majority of the surviving guards when she worked her mojo, there weren’t too many of the latter to deal with.

The next thing I knew we were stepping off the elevator into the cool evening air. ,Dre’s semi sat only a dozen feet away from the front entrance.

Gianna appeared at the rear of the truck,’ her hands covered in blood and a harried expression on her face. She sized up Mom and me in a moment and chivied Charlie inside the infirmary. Scott and Trinity assisted me up the ramp. One of her apprentices bustled over and I spent the next few minutes being lectured on the fact that I had crippled myself for life, blah, blah, blah.

Once assured I was fine—as fine as possible, considering the circumstances—Scott and Trinity excused themselves to oversee the chaos sweeping through the compound. The Oracle scurried over when the first of the captive Sidhe were brought in. I reached a hand out to stop her. She arched a brow imperiously.

My throat was dry as I nodded toward the cot where she’d laid my mother. “The other Fury?” I licked my lips. “She’s my mother.”

Her expression softened minutely. “She is dehydrated and disoriented, and her inner reserves are drained. But she’s going to be fine.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Th-thank you.”

She nodded, glared at my bandage-wrapped knee as if it offended her (which it probably did), and continued on toward the new arrivals. The sudden bounce to her step let me know she found the Sidhe much more interesting patients. Then again, how could Furies stack up to a species that had been extinct for the past fifty years?

“Aunt Riss!”

At first I thought I was hallucinating, that I’d called’ up Cori’s voice from my mind. But seconds later her solid body slammed into mine. I winced as my knee buckled slightly, but I ignored the pain and hugged her close, eyes drinking in the sight of her father and mother over her shoulder. Kiara stood a step behind them, cradling her right arm in the crook of her left.

I met David’s shell-shocked eyes and frowned. “What happened? You guys are supposed to be in Boston.”

Jessica clutched David’s arm, shivering from what looked more like fear than discomfort. “I—we—I don’t know.”

David shook his head as if to clear it, then said slowly, “Neither do I.”

Cori hugged me harder. Her voice seemed much smaller than usual when she spoke. “One minute we were on our way to Boston, the next more of those Sidhe were shoving us out of the car just down the road.”

Kiara broke in, amber eyes wide and horror-stricken. “Oh gods, they took Sean. I don’t remember
how
the hell we got from there to. . . here. Wherever here is.”

I kept my voice soft and soothing. “Outside the underground bunker where they took the captive ancanes, who we managed to free.” Kiara’s sides heaved and she seemed close to hysteria.

Cori, bless her heart, slipped her hand into Kiana’s and said, “Don’t Worry, they said they’d let him go unharmed once he drove them where they needed to go.”

I blinked, eyes zeroing in on Con. Interesting, that she was the only one out of the four of them to have a halfway decent memory of their close encounter of the Sidhe kind. Wonder if that meant. . . Nah, time enough to worry about that later.

“I know this is hard, Kiara, but try not to worry about Sean. Scott and I can head out to search for him as soon as we get things settled here. If they said outright they would let him go unharmed, they will.”

The one and only good thing about Sidhe was they always kept their word.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. “Are we late for the family reunion?” Scott drawled, coming up alongside David and Jessica. Several others, including Trinity, Charlie, and Harper, trailed behind him.

Charlie’s incredible strength had been put to good use again; he supported most of the weight of a battered-looking woman. I couldn’t help but smile when I recognized who it was. Amaya. And, this time,
not
Fake Amaya. Scott could barely keep his eyes off his sister and looked like he’d bite the hand of anyone who tried to take her out of his sight.

Cori chose that moment to push me toward Scott. I went willingly, especially when I saw the squirming bundle his hands. “Olivia!”

He thrust her into my arms and I held her even more tightly than Cori,, drinking in the smell of baby powder and savoring the feel of her silky-soft skin against my cheek. I could have stayed like that fbi hours.

Jessica sounded more hesitant than I’d ever heard her when she spoke. “Is that—can I—”

My eyes met hers and recognized the helpless wonder written across her face. Part of me deeply resented her butting in, especially since she’d spent so long focusing on her grief at Nessa’s loss while completely denying my own. But when push came to shove, I couldn’t do that, not to someone who I knew loved Vanessa as much as I did.

“Of course. She’s your niece, after all.” Olivia stared up at her aunt raptly when I passed her over, hazel eyes wide and solemn for such a young infant. David and Con crowded in, the three of them cooing and fussing over the baby so much they seemed more like mother, father, and sisters than.

Heartache stirred as realization stabbed sharply. I’d been entertaining the idea of raising Olivia as my own. I was her aunt by marriage, her mother’s best friend, and a Fury. Surely that made me the perfect choice. But reality reared its ugly head. I worked shitty hours, put my life in constant danger, and lived alone. Taking Olivia away from the family now surrounding her would be selfish in the extreme. But oh, how admitting that hurl.

“You can visit her whenever you want, you know.” Scott
nuzzled my ear, pitching his voice so only I could hear.

I closed my eyes briefly. “Yeah, I know.”

“And you can take her as your apprentice when she’s old enough.”

My eyes flashed open and a grin spread across my lips. The mentor-apprentice relationship among Furies was sacred, almost as special as the bond between mother and daughter—one reason Stacia’s betrayal had cut so deeply. And
when,
not if
Olivia became my apprentice, that was something nobody could ever take away.

“Of course. Can’t trust the first Fury-Sidhe-Warhound hybrid to just
anyone,
you know.”

Scott tipped my chin upward so he could look into my eyes. “So you’re going to tell the Conclave about Olivia?”

“I have to. The truth needs to come out. Besides, what’s to stop mortals from trying this again? And we don’t know how many of their brainwashed zombies escaped. What better to fight them with than others of their kind?”

His head nodded slowly as he glanced back at Olivia. Tenderness touched his features, making them even more achingly gorgeous than usual. He looked so wistful.

I had to take a deep breath and screw up my courage before voicing my next thought aloud. “You want one of your own, don’t you?”

He smiled, tenderness shifting to amusement. “One? Riss, I’m a Hound.”

“Oh gods. You want a
litter?”
My voice squeaked out the last two syllables. Thinking about having one child of my own was bizarre enough. Trying to wrap my brain around the concept of a dozen mini Scotts running around my town house like they ran rampant over Hounds of Anubis. . . I shuddered.

He leaned down and brushed his lips over mine. “Stop freaking out, Riss. We can take things slow. I know how much you like it that way.” His voice tickled my ears suggestively as he nuzzled his way along my neck.

And he was right. Taking things slow was a damned good idea. We may both have confessed that we had loved each other during our first go-round, but nothing said we’d reach that same level now. And he might have called me his mate—might even have actually meant it—but nothing was set in stone until we took formal vows of commitment to each other. Once we did that, there’d be no turning back.

For now, I could close and savor the sights and sounds of my loved ones celebrating, secure in the knowledge we’d pulled off the rescue of the century and prevented certain war. I’d tracked down Vanessa like I’d sworn I would, and saved her daughter from a lifetime of brainwashed slavery. The man I loved had forgiven me for breaking his heart and was, at least for the moment, all mine. So Kiara’s bandages weren’t working quite as well on my knee, and Scott’s brother might have become a psychotic stalker. I had enough strength of self and force of will to continue kicking ass in a big, bad way.

After all, I
-was
one red-hot Fury.