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An hour later.

The crack of a palm against a face.

Riven's head turned to the side. A handprint rose on his cheek.

He turned back. He looked at her — shaking, tears running.

He quietly held her hand.

"Does it hurt?"

She was already crying.

"You lied to me," she said. Her voice fell apart. "Why would you do that—"

His eyes were red too. He still held her hand.

"I know I was wrong. But I was scared to tell you. I was scared you'd remember. Scared you'd want to go back. Scared you'd—"

"Get out."

She pointed at the door.

She meant it. He could see it.

The door closed.

Riven leaned against the corridor wall and didn't move.

Then footsteps.

Cade appeared at the far end of the hallway. Cigarette butts on the floor where he'd been standing.

They looked at each other.

Cade crossed the distance in three steps and swung.

Riven didn't move. He took it. Then he threw one back.

They hit the wall. They rolled onto the floor.

"You hid her from me," Cade said. His fist was in it. "You made her forget—"

"She's better off forgetting," Riven said. He hit back, eyes wet. "Look at what you did to her. You think you deserve to be remembered?"

"She's my mate—"

"And you almost killed her."

They were tangled together on the floor, neither letting go.

Then a voice from behind them.

"You both can go to hell."

Cade and Riven both turned at the same time.

Vivienne was standing at the far end of the corridor.

The woman in the patient gown was skin and bone, her hair hacked uneven, nothing left of who she used to be.

But the fuel canister in her hand was already leaking, gasoline spreading across the floor in a dark slick.

"Vivienne!" Cade's pupils shrank. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Lost my mind?"

She let out a laugh that turned into tears running down her face.

"Yes. You drove me to it."

She kicked the canister forward. It rolled and hit their feet. Gasoline splashed across the floor.

"Look at me, Cade. Look at what I am now." Her voice was sharp and ugly. "You locked me in the dungeons. You had them beat me, torture me. You wouldn't let me see my son. He was barely born."

Her voice rose like something tearing.

"And I suffered through all of it — because of that fake death message about Mara. Broken to pieces for nothing. And she's alive. She's alive and she's back."

"You never saw this coming, did you? That I'd get out."

She pointed at Mara's door, her eyes full of something rotten.

"Why does she get to live? She faked her death and put me through hell. So today — she can die for real. And you two can go with her."

She raised her other hand.

A lighter.

"All of you. Die."

She let go.

The lighter dropped.

The boom came instantly. Fire erupted and swallowed the corridor whole.

A wave of heat slammed into Cade and Riven and shoved them back. Werewolves had a primal terror of fire, and it hit them both like a wall — every instinct screaming to run.

Mara heard the blast from her room. She pulled the door open and walked straight into the heat. Two bodies tackled her to the ground in the same second.

A tongue of fire shot through the exact spot where she'd been standing.

Riven shielded her with his body, rolling them toward the window. Fire licked across his back. He made a sound low in his throat but kept moving, pulling her all the way to the windowsill.

Smoke burned her eyes. She pushed up. "Riven—"

"Don't talk."

His voice was hoarse. His hands were steady on her.

"Window. Go. Now."

Before the words were done the curtains went up in flames behind them.

"Run! You can't run from me!"

Thick smoke, climbing heat, the air going thin.

Cade snatched up a chair and drove it through the glass.

"Get out!"

Riven looked down at the two-floor drop, set his jaw, and jumped. He hit the grass, rolled, came up on his feet.

He turned immediately and held up his arms.

Mara was still inside, staring.

Cade grabbed her arm and hauled her to the window.

"You first. Go."

She hesitated. She looked back.

Cade's face was black with smoke. His eyes were bloodshot.

The fire had eaten half the room behind him.

"What about you—"

"Go!"

He pushed her through. Riven caught her from below and dragged her clear.

Then a crack overhead.

All three looked up.

The beam holding the window frame had been burning through. It was coming loose.

"Move!"