“I feel underdressed now,” Elena said, opening the passenger-side door.

“Would I do that to you, Ellie?” Ashwini passed over a box wrapped in silver paper.

“Smartass.”

“Hey, why have the third eye if I can’t use it to wink now and then?”

Grinning, Elena settled into the seat before she set to ripping open the package. Inside, she found a pair of mirrored sunglasses tinted a deep graduated purple that looked fantastic against the near-white of her hair. Also in the box were a pair of hoop earrings similar to Ash’s, except that hers were a stunning beaten steel.

She touched one earlobe. Yep, as she’d suspected, the chrysalis had “fixed” the piercing hole. Then she saw the hoops were designed to clip on. “Seriously, you’re getting worse in your old age.” Scowling mutter or not, she put on the earrings.

A sharp grin from her friend. “Now we’re ready.”

They roared off.

The car attracted plenty of attention—and so did Elena. When they stopped at a light, the neighboring motorist did a double take, looked behind her, then bit down on his lower lip before leaning out his window and shouting, “Welcome back, Guild Hunter! Anyone who survives the fucking house explosion from hell is a legend in my book!”

Elena gave him a playful salute. She knew the whispers would’ve already begun; speculation about how she’d lost her wings would soon become everyone’s favorite activity. The worst would be among the immortals. Some outside the Tower would cackle in glee at her loss, while others would look on her in suspicion for being neither vampire nor human nor angel.

Did she care? Only if it impacted Raphael.

As they zipped along, the wind playing through their hair, Ashwini updated her on Guild news and other random bits of information. “Ransom’s probably going to be waiting inside Sara’s office,” she said at one point. “Man’s done so many slow drives past the Tower since you woke that Dmitri asked him if he wanted to join Tower security.”

“He and Nyree found a house yet?”

“He won’t talk to me for a month if I blab all his news.”

“Tell me about the Slayer situation then.” Hunters policed their own; the Slayer was their big bad, the hunter tasked with executing those who’d crossed a final line.

“Sara went with the team.” Ashwini took a corner with smooth speed. “All senior active duty hunters take the assignment on rotation, with three of us on call at any one time. I’ve been through the training already, so have Ransom and Demarco, Hilda, Rose, and Kenji. Sara dusted off her active duty skills and put her name on the list.”

“This is my not-surprised face.” Sara was director of the Guild partially because she cared so much for her people—everyone knew that if it all went to shit, Sara would shield them from angry angels or pissed-off vampires until things calmed down. “Any of us going to allow that to happen?”

Ashwini snorted. “As if. She’s too important to risk on a Slayer hunt. Demarco’s in charge of the roster and he keeps ‘forgetting’ to add her name. I think she might be starting to get suspicious.”

Shoulders shaking at the thought of Sara’s toe-tapping irritation pitted against Demarco’s “oh shucks” charm, Elena leaned back farther in her seat. “I’ll do the training, too, once I’m back at full strength.” She might no longer have wings, but she hadn’t lost her hunter-born ability to scent vampires—as if that was so deep a part of her, nothing could erase it.

“Told Sara to save you a spot in the training schedule down the track.”

“Keep going and pretty soon you’ll be whispering portents like Cassandra.”

“Hah!” A huge grin. “I got some other juicy news. Demarco has a girlfriend.”

“What?! And you didn’t lead with that?” Demarco was good-looking, no doubt about it, but he seemed to put out some pheromone that made women see him only as a great guy to have as a buddy. “Is she a good one?”

“Ransom’s Nyree introduced them. You’ll never guess what she does for a living.”

“Another librarian?”

“Nah.” Ashwini took the turn into the Guild HQ parking lot. “Girl’s a hard-ass tattoo artist. Ink all over. Piercing through her upper lip and eyebrow. Boobs straight out of some fantasy comic strip, sleek muscle everywhere else. Taller than Demarco by a couple of inches and you know he’s no shortie, and here’s the kicker—she hauls him to her for a kiss every time she sees him.”

Slipping into a free spot, Ash pulled the parking brake and turned off the engine. “Woman thinks he’s the hottest thing since sliced bread. He looks dumbfounded every single time, like he can’t believe his luck.”

“I like her already.” Elena was still grinning at the idea of meeting Demarco’s girl when she walked into the HQ.

“WELCOME BACK!” boomed the gathered crowd, as golden balloons fell on her head and streamers went off everywhere.

She was engulfed in friendly arms a second later, hugged again and again by her friends and colleagues. Ransom crushed her close and, beard stubble rasping against the side of her face, whispered, “Nyree’s pregnant. Five months.”

“Eee!” Elena squeezed him back. “I’m going to get the baby a miniature leather jacket. Don’t you dare let anyone else do it.”

Then there she was: her best friend. Sara held her for a long time before they drew apart. Champagne corks popped and music thundered, but all she saw were her friend’s deep brown eyes. Sara had grown out her bangs and wore her hair swept back in a neat but soft bun, her fitted dress a knee-length orange sheath that flattered her sleek body, her dark skin glowing with life.

Her voice was rough when she said, “Welcome back, Ellie.”

Nothing more needed to be said, not here, not now.

“Ellie.” A tumble-haired Demarco thrust a glass of champagne in her hand, then did the same for Sara. “Come on you two, it’s party time!”

When Elena mentioned she had to call Beth first, Sara shook her head. “I already told her you’d be late. She loved the idea of the party, said it gave her more time to bake. You’d better be ready to eat.”

As it was, Elena turned up to her sister’s home with Sara, Ransom, Ashwini, and Demarco in tow. Her hunter friends hung back near the cars, while Elena went ahead.

Beth, small and curvy, cried and ran into her arms. Holding her sobbing little sister, Elena wished she could turn back the clock, erase Beth’s pain. “I’m sorry, Bethie,” she said when Beth’s tears came to a hiccupping halt.

“You came back.” Beth wiped at her face with hands that had flecks of flour on them. “And you didn’t choose to go away.”

Unlike Marguerite.

“I’ll never choose it.” Never make her sister believe she didn’t matter enough for Elena to fight to live. “Now, where’s my favorite niece?”

Wiping away the last remnants of her tears, Beth smiled and ran her hand down her full-skirted white dress patterned with red hearts. “Tell Sara and the others to come in. Maggie’s out back. She’ll be so excited.”

Once inside the house, Elena’s fellow hunters headed straight for the table piled high with baked goods. Beth beamed before taking Elena’s hand and leading her to the kitchen. “There she is.” Beth pointed through the kitchen window into the backyard, her smile softer, her heart right out in the open.

It wasn’t only Maggie playing on the back lawn. Jean-Baptiste was all hair of gilt and sun-kissed skin, while Majda’s skin was a darker gold, her hair holding a little more color than Elena’s. Elena’s grandfather was a warrior, tall and muscled, her grandmother petite, with hearth and home her core.

The love between them shone.

Today, the two were blowing bubbles with their energetic and laughing great-granddaughter. Marguerite’s baby’s baby. Elena went motionless at seeing the translucent and rainbow-hued bubbles float up into the air, against the dark green of the trees. “How was Majda after I . . . after what happened?” Their grandmother had survived a nightmare, only to return to a world in which her cherished daughter was dead.

Jean-Baptiste had warned Elena that Majda’s heart couldn’t bear another such loss.

“Not good, but I kept her busy with Maggie.” Beth, so frivolous to those who couldn’t see beneath her pretty dresses and feminine makeup, and so loving to her people, patted Elena’s arm. “She’s saved all of us. And she hasn’t forgotten her Auntie Ellie—asks all the time about you.”

Elena made herself smile through the pain in her heart. Maggie would have the childhood she and Beth hadn’t—she would get to enjoy the bubbles and the backyard, secure in the love of a mom who’d never ever choose to leave her.

Her niece shrieked when Elena appeared in the doorway.

Abandoning her bubble-making apparatus, she made a beeline for Elena, yelling, “Auntie Ellie! Auntie Ellie!” Her arms came up partway and Elena strode over the grass to pick her up and twirl her around.

Her arms were strong enough for this, for love.

“Auntie Ellie!” Maggie kissed her cheeks when she stopped the swirl. “Where did your wings go?”

“I don’t know,” Elena said through a rough throat. “I’m going to be an auntie without wings now. Do you mind?”

A hard shake of Maggie’s head. “You’re my favorite!” Her dark eyes sparkled, her silky black hair sticking to her cheeks, one small barrette already halfway falling off, the other precarious but holding. “Wanna blow bubbles?”

“Yeah.” It was time to make new memories of backyards and bubbles in the sun.

Elena carried her niece to where her grandparents stood waiting. Majda watched her come in poignant silence, her beauty worn and tired in a way that had nothing to do with food or rest. “Elena.” A soft whisper of welcome as she cupped Elena’s cheeks and kissed her on the forehead; her fingers trembled, the clear turquoise of her eyes shimmering oceans.