Liam acted fast and recklessly. He probably broke at least five API protocols in providing emergency treatment in the middle of the street before he was certain that jostling Stephanie wouldn’t make matters worse. His own wounds were agonizing, but not as much as the pain in his heart. He couldn’t lose her again. His soul mate had almost been killed and he hadn’t been able to stop any of it even with his presence.

She would have questions, questions that he wouldn’t be able to explain away. He would tell her the truth, the whole truth. She deserved it, especially now. He hadn’t been fast enough, Liam growled to himself as he pushed his power into Stephanie. Her right wrist had been shattered when that Shard crushed it in its grip. Luckily that wound was relatively easy to heal, but the damage done to her neck was barely healing even as he poured his power into Stephanie so fast that his vision was blurring. He knew he should stop, but he couldn’t risk losing his soul mate again, losing Stephanie.

Liam ignored the darkness creeping into the corners of his vision. He ignored the numbness crawling up his limbs. All that mattered was Stephanie. He couldn’t keep this up for long, but he had to. Stephanie was pale and limp. Worst of all, she was barely breathing. He needed to fix this, but his abilities were barely doing anything. Aiden, Liam frowned. Aiden was better at shaping his power for healing. Liam pulled his cell from his pocket. He needed to protect Stephanie, and tonight had revealed that he couldn’t do it alone. That monster had known what she was capable of at a glance. It had recognized her for who she was. That shard would come back for her, and he couldn’t protect her like this. His hands were trembling as he dialed the number. The phone rang once, twice, and then a third time.

He was about to give up when he heard someone answer. “Who is this?” he heard Detective Hale Simmons answer. Crap. He had forgotten that Aiden was staying with Stephanie’s partner.

“It’s Liam. Is Aiden available?” he had to try to keep the detective out of this. The Stephanie he knew wouldn’t want him involved, wouldn’t want anybody involved. Stephanie hadn’t wanted him involved, had hesitated to acknowledge their bond at first because of it.

“He is in the shower at the moment,” Hale said slowly. “You sound weird. Is everything all right?”

“Just give Aiden the damned phone,” he growled. He didn’t have time for this. Stephanie wasn’t improving. In fact, he wasn’t sure if she would last long if he passed out before backup arrived. He needed help.

“Fine,” Hale’s voice was angry. Crap, what had he been thinking? Hale had to know that he was with Stephanie. He might not be able to stay out of this if he found out what kind of danger Stephanie was in, might not even want to.

“What’s going on?” Aiden asked. He sounded exhausted. “And what happened to not antagonizing the detective?”

“I don’t have time for niceties. Stephanie was attacked. The shard got ahold of her. It didn’t manage to cause much damage but the Nachtkrapp hurt her bad. The injuries aren’t responding to my abilities. I don’t have much left in me. I can’t let her die. I can’t lose her again,” he could hear the desperation in his voice. He needed Aiden’s abilities to help with this mess. Stephanie would die if he couldn’t stop the bleeding. The bleeding had slowed some since he had brought her inside, but not nearly enough for her to survive if this lasted much longer.

Aiden cursed under his breath before replying, “I’ll be right there.”

The phone went dead, and Liam tried to continue with his pathetic attempts at healing Stephanie’s wounds. “Don’t you dare die on me, Stephanie.”

He didn’t know how long he continued before he heard a knock at the door. Liam stiffened momentarily, afraid that the monster had returned. He reached out with his senses but didn’t feel the darkness of the shard. Liam rushed the door. He threw the door open and was startled to see Hale standing next to his friend.

By the look on his face, he was startled by what he saw. That’s when he remembered his own injuries. Crap. If he would have known that the detective would come to the door with Aiden, he would have made his illusions hide the blood as well. Aiden looked a bit taken aback as well. “You didn’t tell me you were injured as well,” Aiden’s voice was low, almost angry.

“Where is Stephanie?” Detective Simmons looked like he was about to explode.

Liam didn’t know what compelled him to step aside, but the moment he did it was too late to take the action back. The detective charged inside and gasped when he saw Stephanie on the couch. Liam almost groaned aloud when Aiden gave him a warning look. They would have to initiate the detective now, and that could be problematic. Aiden shut and locked the door behind him and walked towards Stephanie. He barely held back the growl in the back of his throat at his friend’s approach. Liam wanted to shake himself. He had been the one to call him over, but his protective instincts were getting the best of him. “Liam, just how badly was she hurt before you called?”

“Broken wrist and the Nachtkrapp tore into her neck pretty badly, cut her face a little too,” Liam managed.

“Right. You took care of her wrist, and the cut on her face is almost gone. You do realize that the old beasts can lay curses on their victims?”

Liam froze at that. No. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Stephanie died because of his inability to protect her. He should have called sooner. He felt his legs buckle at the words. He couldn’t lose her, not now, not after he finally found her again.

“Okay, would somebody care to explain?” the detective sounded alarmed. He had his cell phone in his hand, likely about to call for an ambulance, but if Aiden was right, then even he might not be able to save her.

“Liam, explain. I’ll do my best to handle this,” Aiden grumbled. Liam watched his best friend for a moment. The detective must have seen the light that poured from his hands as he began to heal Stephanie.

“Who are you people? What are you? What is going on? Who hurt Stephanie?” Hale looked angry but worried.

“I haven’t lied about anything,” Liam managed. “We’re just different, that’s all. We work for a government agency called the API. It stands for the Agency for the Protection of Irregulars. They deal with situations involving monsters and criminal irregulars.”

“Right, and what is an irregular,” the detective didn’t sound like he believed him.

“Paranormals and humans with abilities are considered irregulars,” Liam dropped his illusions, hoping the sight would make the detective believe, but not drive him to pull his gun. He didn’t think he could move fast enough to dodge right now.

Detective Simmons narrowed his eyes. “Were you even telling the truth about dating Stephanie before her disappearance?”

“Of course, though it was more than that to me. She’s my soul mate. It had barely been a couple months before her disappearance that she agreed to acknowledge the bond. I don’t know why I didn’t consider that her disappearance was not voluntary,” Liam hated himself for that. He had been so desperate for answers but had never thought that she might have been taken from him by someone who meant her harm. He didn’t know what happened during the year she was missing, but he intended to find out. He would kill them all for what they did to his Stephanie.

“Okay, and what are these monsters,” the detective nodded, his mood darkening.

“There are a lot of different kinds. This one is particularly nasty. We call them shards. They are pure evil. They kill irregulars for the sport of it, harvest their abilities to get stronger. Sometimes they even go after regulars if they are bored or just particularly bloodthirsty. To make matters worse this one has somehow tamed a Nachtkrapp, probably an eyeless one considering its fascination with eyes.”

“Why was Stephanie targeted?” he looked even more upset.

“I,” Liam didn’t know how to explain it. “Before Stephanie disappeared, she worked for the API, not voluntarily. Her abilities are unique, especially for a human. If she could remember how to control it, or even remember what she was capable of, then she would probably be a threat to the shard here.”

“But she doesn’t remember anything from before she appeared in the woods around here,” Hale said with finality. “Why haven’t you called in other agents to help you if this is such a dangerous situation?”

Liam’s eyes widened at the suggestion, “No!”

“No?” Hale growled. “Why the hell not? This monster is targeting Stephanie. You obviously can’t protect her.”

“I can’t. The API-,” Liam started.

“What? The API what? Why aren’t you doing something to make sure Stephanie is safe?”

“The API was responsible for her safety before she vanished. That’s why I thought her disappearance was voluntary. And now that I’ve been on a few missions myself, I know just how dangerous API missions can be. I’ve seen agents killed in the field because the API didn’t have enough information about a situation and only sent a few people in. The moment I realized she didn’t even recognize me, I knew that the API must have failed to protect her in the first place, and I have no idea why they didn’t tell me. They knew that I only joined because I thought I might find her again when I was sent on missions. They send us all over the country, sometimes even to foreign countries. They know she has abilities, whether she realizes it or not. They could force her into a mission without any knowledge of how to use her abilities. I won’t let them get her killed.”

The detective paled at his words. “The API keeps a database of their employees,” his voice was low, as if he was upset about something.

“Of course,” Liam grumbled.

“Then they probably knew where Stephanie was from the get-go. The only reason we know Stephanie’s real name is the fact that she was holding a driver’s permit when we found her. Isiah ran a nationwide search, in all of the databases, including the police database that you people used to track the murders.”

Liam felt all the blood leave his face. They knew where she was. They knew and didn’t tell him anything. He could have come for her years ago. He could have been with her so much sooner. Why would they hide this? Why would they risk this, leave her unprotected? “That can’t be,” Liam felt his throat closing up. “They wouldn’t do that.”

“Yeah, they would,” Aiden grumbled. “You are pretty good at fighting monsters yourself Liam. They knew if they told you that they already knew where Stephanie was, you wouldn’t have joined. You would have rushed here immediately.”

“They know how important soul mates are. They wouldn’t dare keep her whereabouts from me,” Liam felt rage creep in. He could have protected her from several of the dangers she had suffered if he had known where she was.

“Calm down,” Aiden growled. “We can figure this out later. Let’s just focus on dealing with the Nachtkrapp and shard.”

“How is Stephanie?” he managed.

“Well, the bleeding stopped, and it doesn’t look like the Nachtkrapp managed to place a curse on her. I’m going to take care of your injuries before you bleed out on the floor and then take care of the rest of the damage,” Aiden grumbled.

“I’m fine,” Liam snapped.

“Yeah,” Liam could tell that Aiden wasn’t buying it. “No, you aren’t. You are bleeding all over the place and,” Aiden froze, “Are those bullet wounds?”

Liam looked down and winced. “Yeah, Stephanie shot at the shard when it had a hold of her. It deflected them back towards her. I barely got there in time.”

“Shit,” Aiden groaned. “That’s going to be a painful heal for you.”

“I’ll live, just focus on Stephanie,” Liam grumbled.

“Yeah, how about no. You need to be healed now,” Aiden scolded him. “How are you going to handle the shard if it comes back and you are still injured like that?”

Liam paled at that, “Fine, just be quick about it. Stephanie needs help more than I do.”

“Okay,” Aiden nodded as he strode over to him.

Liam grit his teeth as Aiden’s healing pushed the bullets out of his body. It hurt, but not as much as his chest did at the thought of Stephanie being targeted by that shard again. He needed to protect her better next time. He didn’t delude himself into thinking the shard would give up. He couldn’t give himself false hope. Stephanie was more special than the API knew. He had no intention of telling them and having them force her into even more dangerous situations. He needed to protect his soul mate.

After five minutes Aiden returned to healing Stephanie. Liam tried to figure out what he would say to her. He would need to tell her the truth, but where should he start? Would she think him a monster this time? It would probably break his heart if she did. She hadn’t before, and she didn’t seem all that different in personality, but that didn’t change the fact that she didn’t have the memories and experiences from her life before her arrival in Gavinmire.