Chapter 11 · Mom's Last Stop

The front door shook under another knock.

Not a polite one. Not a neighbor asking if we had power either.

Three hard hits. Wood groaned. Somewhere below us, a wolf howled so close my teeth clicked together.

Dorian stood between me and the door with one hand pressed against his side. Blood had soaked through his black shirt again. In the dark, he looked bigger somehow. Meaner. His eyes caught the thin blue light from the city outside.

"Stay behind me," he said.

"That's your whole plan?"

"Tonight? Yes."

The lights flickered once over the kitchen island, then died again.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

Unknown number.

I stared at it.

Dorian turned his head. "Don't answer that."

Another buzz.

Then a text appeared.

BELL STREET. NOW. BEFORE HE LOCKS YOU IN.

My stomach dropped.

The contract was still on the marble counter where we'd signed it. My blood had dried in a dark little smear near my name. The address my mother had somehow left on the paper glowed faintly through the blackout.

47 Bell Street.

Dorian saw me looking.

"Mara." His voice went flat. "Step away from that."

"You know the place."

"I know enough."

"Cute answer.