Then I took two more steps in, far enough to see into the living room.
It was a bloodbath.
Every shifter who had spoken out for me—all the ones who had not left with us to go back to the hospital—were all there. Dead.
I’ve seen blood before. A lot of it.
But not like this.
What happened here was a slaughter, with no reason other than naked ambition.
It left me reeling.
And then I saw Kelly.
It looked like she had tried to jump in front of Janice to protect her. And Kelly had been ripped in half for her trouble.
The wolves have been more careful with Janice. They wanted to make sure she was recognizable, at least her face.
They had planted her head atop a pile of disembodied pieces. Like a small offering laid there, waiting for me.
And this time, I planned to retaliate in kind.
Chapter 35
I WAS ALREADY IN MY serpent form and headed back out the door when Kade’s voice and words finally penetrated. “Lindi, they’re at the hospital. They’re going after the babies now.”
It was enough to convince me to shift back into my human form, wrap my clothes around myself, and make my way to the truck.
For the second time in a row, the hospital was on total lockdown when we arrived.
I shoved through the doors, blowing them so wide open in my rage that one of them shattered.
The sound of my vows beat in time with my pulse.
They killed Janice. They will not kill my babies.
One of the wolves who had been in Janice’s living room when Frank started giving his speech was out in the waiting room with a number of other patients.
I assumed he had been involved in the plan, if not the execution—some demented part of my brain laughed morbidly at the double entendre of execution.
I didn’t stop to consider whether there were human patients in that waiting room or if my actions might have an effect beyond this moment.
I simply reached out with one hand and applied every ounce of my serpent strength to his neck, squeezing the life out of him, like a constrictor preparing to eat prey.
I don’t know if the humans could even tell he was dead—I kept dragging his body with me until we were away from non-shifter eyes, then I dropped it on the floor unceremoniously.
As we got closer, I could see that there were several half-shifted wolves fighting to get into the NICU.
I slammed my way through them even as I shifted, breaking wolfmen and dropping them for as long as I had hands to do it with.
And then I broke down the doors of the NICU. Only the knowledge that there were children inside those rooms kept me from knocking down the walls as I went.
But when I got to Room Five, I discovered that Frank and some of his other wolves had used the back entrance and broken through to the lamia babies.
When I saw that they were there before me, cold despair filled my entire body—it was all I could do to keep from throwing myself down and begging them to trade.
Because they each had one of the incubators. Two werewolves in their half-wolf form, fending off a circle of angry shifter-warriors. Several of the shifters, including the Shields, had taken their animal form.
The babies’ defenders, I noted, included the newcomer who had come through the rift.
I was glad to see he was fighting on our side.
I charged at them, those werewolves who held my babies hostage, only coming up short when I discovered that they had actually taken the infants out of the bassinets. On one side of the room, Shane the herpetologist had picked up an IV stand and was brandishing it threateningly.
There’s no way to get the babies and get out.
In that instant, I knew I had only two options.
One was to let these monsters take the infants that I had already sworn to care for.
The other was to take them myself.
I made eye contact with Kade, hoping he could read my intentions in the look I gave him.
I glanced around one last time, hoping I was doing the right thing.
At the very last instant, Kade’s eyes grew wide as he finally figured out what I was planning. But it was too late for him to stop me.
I charged forward, shifting as I went, so that the two wolves in their wolfman form were prepared for a snake. They weren’t prepared for the giant half-snake, half-woman who towered over them at the last moment, snatching the babies out of their arms and pulling that window between world as wide as it would go.
As I dove through the open air, leaving behind the scent of the hospital and trading it for something absolutely foreign, full of dust and smoke.
I hoped Kade had understood the last thing I yelled.
I love you. Take care of Serena.
I almost heard it echoing away behind me.
WE LANDED HARD ON THE street in some strange world. Both babies, when hit by the magic inside that window, had shifted into serpent forms. I heaved a sigh of relief, certain I wouldn’t have been able to function with two premature human babies in a strange world.
As I glanced up at the shimmering rectangle in the air, I saw two more shapes hurtling toward me, and for just an instant I had the wild thought that maybe Kade had come with me and maybe Eduardo had decided to come as our protector, as well.
But the two men who came tumbling out of the sky were Shane and the man who had traveled through that window to get to our world in the first place.
I focused all my attention on the rift between worlds and shoved it almost completely closed. I hadn’t been sure I would be able to do that.
As the stranger stumbled to his feet, brushed off his pants, and glanced around, he said, “Well, I guess this isn’t my world, either. But it looks like you might be able to use some help anyway.” He stuck out one hand. “My name is Coit Dugger. Looks like you had some pretty serious trouble back there. Maybe you’ll be able to keep it from catching up with you here.”
I stare blankly at Coit’s hand.
“Yeah. I just thought you could maybe use some help with some snakes,” Shane said, grinning at me. “Couldn’t let you do this alone.”
Tears prickled behind my eyelids and I fought to shove them back down.
Because whatever else might be true, I knew that although I had managed to get lost, I wasn’t done with Kade Nevala.
I would find the third infant born this week, and all four of us would go home to Kade.
The wolves would pay for everything they had done. Including Janice’s death, and Kelly’s, and the life of every other shifter they’d slaughtered today.
I’d get payback. And it looked like I was going to have some help to do it.
I knew one thing for sure.
This is not the end.