“I accept,” I said, lifting my chin.

More gasps and sounds of surprise echoed through the crowd. Chloe laughed as though she couldn’t hold in her excitement any longer. She wouldn’t be laughing for long.

* * * *

“I swear you have a death wish,” Elle said. “First, you almost hand yourself over to the Leaders when they accuse you of Eve’s murders. Then, you jumped out of my car to go fight Eve. Just an hour ago you said you were going to give yourself to the vampires, and now this?” She worked her long red hair into a sloppy ponytail as she paced the kitchen floor. When she stopped, she placed her hands on her hips and stared at me.

“Do you realize what you just agreed to, Anna?”

“Yes, but—”

“Pinning you for the allotted time is not going to satisfy her, Anna. She’s not going to stop until your heart does.”

“Anna, you don’t have to do this,” Adam said. He sat at the table with me, along with Wade and Sawyer. No matter whose face I met, their eyes showed the same thing—worry. I didn’t know what was worse, being challenged, or no one having any faith in me.

“I can do it,” I said, not for the first time.

“I can have her killed in a half an hour,” Wade said. “I know people. No Chloe, no challenge.” He shrugged as though he was discussing the weather instead of having someone murdered. Even if that someone was Chloe.

I propped my elbows on the table and rested my head in my hands. Closing my eyes, I tried to drown out their constant babbling about how stupid I was, or the many ways I could get out of the challenge. Right before I exploded on them, a voice saved me.

“I can’t believe you guys.” I lifted my head to find Anthony leaning against the doorframe. He shook his head as his eyes circled around the room.

“Instead of encouraging, Anna, you’re all scaring the hell out of her. You all treat her like a helpless child instead of the brave woman she is. When Adam was shot at the ceremony, it was Anna who leapt from the stage to hunt the attacker down, and when the vampires attacked in the forest, it was Anna who saved Wade.” Anthony snorted and walked farther into the room. “If you weren’t all flapping your gums, you’d see just how freaked out and pissed Anna really is. She doesn’t need you all breathing down her back.” He paused for a moment, meeting Adam’s eyes. “If she were any other wolf in your pack, you would not belittle her. You would be lifting her up with words of encouragement, getting her pumped for the fight. Did you ever stop to think how embarrassing it might be for Anna not to have your support, brother?” His eyes met mine, and for a few lingering moments we just stared at each other.

“You have my support,” he said to me. “I have no doubt you’re going to kill that bitch.”

Despite how tense the room was, I smiled. It felt good to have someone in my corner, even if that someone was Anthony Everwood.

“We weren’t belittling her,” Adam said, standing up and blocking Anthony’s view of me. “We just care about her and don’t want anything to happen. We are looking out for her.”

I stood up and slammed my hands on the table so loud, the wolves in the living room stood up on alert.

“I’m not made out of glass, Adam. I don’t need you protecting me all the time, and Anthony is right, it was embarrassing when you stood up for me out there. The last thing I need is for everyone to know how little you believe in me.”

“Anna, I—”

I held up my hand. “Don’t,” I said and moved around the table. I stopped by the door and turned to face my friends. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys.” Then I left through the front door. I didn’t know where I was going, but I couldn’t be in that house for another minute, around all those concerned eyes.

I headed down the dirt drive, no destination in mind. I had been walking for fifteen minutes when I heard footsteps behind me.

“I’m not in the mood to talk, Ad—” I spun on my heel and swallowed my words when I saw Anthony walking toward me. I grimaced, hating the smile on his face, but most of all, I hated that his presence didn’t elicit my normal response I had for him. You never knew who was going to stand in your corner until your back was to the wall. I sure as hell didn’t expect Anthony to come to my rescue.

“What do you want?” I turned back around and started walking again. Anthony walked beside me, keeping a good two feet away from me. I thought that was strange, but decided not to comment on it.

“Adam made it pretty clear I should leave the house,” he said. “So I did.”

I looked up at him. “I don’t think this is what he meant.”

Anthony smiled down at me. “Then he should be clearer next time.” He punctuated the sentence with a wink.

We walked a long time in silence. I always loved nighttime in the mountains. The inky blackness of the sky was so dark the stars resembled diamonds. It was peaceful with the sounds of the surrounding animals scurrying through the forest. A soft breeze blew through the tree limbs, rattling leaves. I focused on the crunching of our footsteps, instead of the awkwardness growing between Anthony and me. When had things become awkward between us? Before, his presence annoyed me, but now … now, I was hyperaware that he was right next to me.

“I should head back,” I said more to myself than to Anthony. When I spun around, Anthony gripped my wrist to stop me. When I looked at his fingers and then up at him, he released me.

“I wasn’t lying, you know. I do believe you can take down Chloe.”

I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks for that.”

Anthony studied me for a long moment. So much so, that I almost started to fidget under his gaze. What was wrong with me?

“I know what it feels like,” he said, “for no one to believe in you. My family always labeled me the screw up of the family. After a while, they just stopped noticing me altogether.”

“I don’t think they meant anything by it,” I said. “Adam is just really overprotective, and Elle is my best friend. They don’t want anything to happen to me.”

Anthony tipped his head to the side. “If you believe that, then why were you so upset?”

I shook my head, my answer dangling on my lips. With a serious look, I rolled my tongue over my lips and sucked in a breath through my nose.

“I do believe that. It just … gets old after a while. I thought after Adam pledged himself to me, he would start seeing me as an equal, but…”

Anthony snorted. “Adam has white-knight syndrome. It’s only one of his disgusting qualities I hate.”

Anger rose in me. “Just because he wants to protect those he loves is not disgusting. It’s brave that he puts himself in harm’s way for others. I bet you’d never do that.” His words that night he confessed to wanting to protect me flitted through my mind, but I decided not to bring that up. Things in my life were complicated enough.

“I’d do it for you,” Anthony said. “Just not to the degree he does. I don’t know how he doesn’t see that spark in you. I see it every time I look at you. You’re just as brave as he is. Having a female like that …”

“Is that why you liked Eve?” I asked. “Because she was tough?”

Anthony’s eyes hardened. “She wasn’t always like that, and no, that’s not why I liked her.”

I don’t know why, but I felt guilty for asking him about his dead girlfriend. “Sorry,” I said.

Silence settled between us again. We stood in the middle of the road, avoiding each other’s eyes. At the whooshing of air, I looked up just in time to see another arrow sailing through the air toward me.

Chapter Twenty-One

Anthony shoved me out of the way, and I landed with a hard thump on my behind. The arrow made a thwacking sound as it buried itself in a tree. I pulled myself to my feet, my eyes scanning the forest in front of me.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are, bloodsuckers,” I cooed.

Anthony gave me a look that said he thought I was losing it, and maybe I was. How much drama could one girl live through?

“Go back to the house and tell them I surrendered to the vamps,” I told Anthony.

“What?”

“Olly, olly oxen free. I surrender,” I called out to the darkness.”

“Anna, what are you doing? You’re not going with them.”

I smiled, bringing my eyes back to Anthony. “Who’s being protective now?”

“I’m not being protective,” he said. “I’m being smart. You don’t just walk off with a bunch of vampires.”

He didn’t know about my earlier vision and that innocent lives were in my hands until the vampires got what they wanted. The woman from my vision, and the other night, stepped out of the forest. She had a crossbow aimed at me as two more vampires stepped out behind her.

“Get our message, did you?” she said with a smile.

“I did,” I said. “A simple email or phone call would have sufficed.”

“I’ve always thought visual displays were more effective,” she said with a shrug. Her eyes darted from me to Anthony, and then to the forest behind us. “Only you two then?”

I nodded and quirked an eyebrow at her. “Since I’m surrendering and all, maybe you could tell me who hired you. It’s obviously someone who knows what I can do, otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to leave me that macabre message.”

She shook her head. “How about this, I’ll tell you when I’m burying a silver knife in your heart.”

I noticed Anthony bristle next to me, but I kept my face wiped of all emotion. A thought occurred to me then, and I smiled. The vampire’s head wrinkled as she looked at me.

“I’m guessing you don’t know how my power works. I’ll know the answer as soon as I touch you, and then all I have to do is send a telepathic message back to my pack and your boss … history. No boss, no paycheck, Veronica.” Okay, so maybe I was fibbing a little. My visions didn’t work that easily or clearly. I hadn’t been sure her name was Veronica until I spoke it. Her eyes widened in surprise at her name rolling off my tongue. I hope that it was proof enough that I could get whatever information I wanted from my sight.