had taught her. Marcus Killian, her grandfather, was the leader of a secret organization called the Black Rose. Two thousand years ago, a powerful being known simply as Cadeyrn, had created the organization as a sort of supernatural police force.
Intuition told her help existed somewhere for the boy. He couldn’t be one of the nightmares from the stories her grandfather had told her of the creatures out there. Bastian was a sweet and thoughtful boy. At fourteen, he was more considerate than most adults she knew. Even so, he couldn’t help his overly aggressive reaction to violence toward someone Bastian perceived as an innocent. With eerie predictability, monstrous headaches assailed him after a fight. The administrators of the school wouldn’t—couldn’t—understand. Bastian never fought without being provoked.
She’d had no time to find out what triggered him, but it was usually because another boy had a heinous plan for one of the girls in Bastian’s class. While she understood those boys were more than likely only saying the crude words that boys sometimes said, the power growing inside of Bastian hadn’t gotten the memo. She was running out of options for his education. This was the third school in as many months from which he’d been expelled.
An archaic organization run by her grandfather hunting her didn’t help anything. She was supposed to have married her grandfather’s choice in heir. Leadership of the Black Rose would go to her husband. According to her upbringing, an arranged marriage wouldn’t be an issue if the supplied groom was someone she could respect and trust. The darkly terrifying Mason was neither. He could make the ground shake. The monster of a man claimed he was Bastian’s uncle. Mason claimed his rough treatment of Bastian was his duty. Haven didn’t believe either.
When she watched Mason strike Bastian for dropping a pencil, she’d known her existence as a pampered granddaughter of a rich man was over. That same night Haven had cleaned out her personal accounts. She and Bastian had fled the mansion Grandfather used as both a home and headquarters to his global organization that fought against the nastier creatures of the world. Three years of hopping from town to town, school to school, she’d somehow ended up back in Chicago.
The person she needed to help Bastian was rumored to live here. Every clue and every utterance of a shadowy, massive power had led to this city. He masqueraded as a real-estate mogul and entertainment entrepreneur. No matter what she had to do, she would find this Quinn Donovan. There must be a way to make him help Bastian. Bastian couldn’t end up like the dark monster, Mason.
A light knock at the door disrupted her thoughts. A cracking voice asked, “Ms. Killian?”
She jerked her head around. “Dr. Livingston. Have you been able to find out anything else?”
The middle aged, balding doctor came into the room. He pulled the door closed, sat down on a rolling stool, and clasped his hands together. “I understand you’ve declined blood work and any kind of scan. I might be able to help with his headaches, but I am going to be bluntly honest. Sudden behavior changes. Sudden unexplained pain. Those are pointing at a tumor. I can’t do any more for him if you won’t allow me.”
“We can’t afford those tests.” She didn’t lie, but money was not the reason she refused to have them done. Bastian would become a scientist’s next experiment if a doctor looked inside of him. “Is there anything else you can do for him without running some kind of scan?”
Doctor Livingston pulled off his glasses, then rubbed at his temples before putting them back on. “I can put you in contact with an organization that gives donations to many families like yours. It’s possible to get all of his medical expenses paid for, but you have to fill out the paper work.”
Haven closed her eyes and dragged breath into her lungs. “All right,” she lied. This emergency room could never be used again. “If you could get me the forms, I’ll fill them out.”
The doctor smiled as he stood. “We’ll find a way to take care of him, Ms. Killian.”
She smiled as she nodded. Once he was gone, she pulled on a coat so old it no longer battled the cold and slung her tattered purse over her shoulder. She grabbed Bastian’s coat and leaned close to his ear. “You have to wake him up so we can get out of here, but don’t hurt him.” She rarely talked to the strange power she could feel growing inside of him, but it was sometimes useful when they needed to run.
Bastian groaned, and when his eyes opened, they were flashing molten mercury. Bastian shook his head several times and ground his teeth together. “What’s going on?”
“They want to run more tests,” she whispered. “We have to go.”
Bastian swung his long legs over the edge of the bed. He was already over six feet tall. Even at seven inches shorter than him, she moved close to help him walk while he was still groggy. He staggered a few steps. His eyes glowed, but when he blinked, everything was normal. Haven poked her head out into the hall and then acted as if she was helping Bastian get to the restroom just outside the exam room. A nurse smiled at them before going into another patient’s room.
Bastian hunched over as they slipped down the hall and out the door where ambulances brought people in. They ran around the side of the building and waited while Bastian put his coat on. When no one followed them after five minutes, Haven let out a breath.
The snow was falling again.
Bastian put a hand to his stomach. “Can we get something to eat?”
Haven gave him a look, because it seemed all the boy ever did was eat. Bastian ate more than four grown men could eat together, but he didn’t seem to gain any weight. She moved in closer to Bastian as frigid winds picked up. The air was ugly cold, even for February. Bastian could go without a coat if she’d let him. She opened her purse. There was just enough money inside that they could stop at a diner on the way back to the shoddy motel they were staying in. “But only one meal, okay?”
Bastian hugged her tight. “Sounds good. What did the doctor say?”
She wrinkled her nose as they headed for the main road that led them to a string of buildings with various stages of failing businesses. “Testing.”
“What harm could it do?” He hooked his arm around her, helping to ward off the cold seeping into her bones.
“They could find out you’re not human,” she whispered. “I have an interview at Fantasia tomorrow. I’ll get the job and—”
“What reason would he have to help us,” Bastian said with a growl.
“Because he just has to,” she said, knowing the answer wasn’t good, but she didn’t have another one. Running from one thing to the next and eluding creatures who seemed to be able to pick up her scent like a bloodhound wasn’t getting easier. “That woman said he would help if we offered him payment.”
“And what if his expected payment is baby’s blood?” Bastian pressed as they turned onto the sidewalk on the main drag.
“Nothing eats baby’s blood.” She shuddered with the heebie-jeebies. “That’s just wrong.”
“I get stronger every day,” Bastian said with confidence. “Soon I’ll be able to protect you from Mason.”
Haven hugged him tight but didn’t say anything. Bastian’s power was like a cup of water to Lake Michigan when compared to Mason. She encouraged Bastian’s protective side to keep him from walking down a darker path. She didn’t have the knowledge to teach Bastian how to control the power. The Black Rose was closer to finding them. If every grand and pompous claim Grandfather had made about the new creatures was true, she could not figure out why he wanted Mason to lead. There was a streak of evil in him wide enough to make the devil run for cover.
“There,” she said when they got closer to the diner. “We’ll get dinner and then get back to the motel.”
“Right,” he said. “And Haven?”
She looked up at him. “Yeah?”
His jaw went tight as he turned his gaze from her.