We'd spent the next day preparing, setting traps, positioning ourselves, going over every possible scenario. Now, as midnight approached, I stood in the master suite dressed in bloodied bandages that told of how injured I was.

"They're here," Avalon's voice came through the mate bond.

"Wait, I can sense twenty of them?" I said aloud, tension coiling in my stomach. "Did they bring an army?"

"They are scared," Zane's voice replied through the bond. "They should be."

I positioned myself on the bed, arranging my body to look weak and vulnerable. The claw marks on my back had healed enough to move, but they still hurt like hell.

I heard...