Page 111 of Roguefinder

She nodded frantically. “The others, when they turned, they lost everything. But Ulfrik—” She coughed. “The master said he was still in there, underneath. He was stronger than before.”

“Because of the blood?”

Another nod. “He could think. He could move.”

And he’d traveled. Somehow, he’d gone from Italy to New York.

And he’d found me.

More screams. Flames covered the walls and spread over the ceiling. Mirrors crashed to the floor. Heat pressed us from every side, walls of it closing in. Sweat poured down my back. Across the foyer, a chandelier swung wildly, its crystals trembling.

“Jesse…” I said, eyeing the flames licking over the ceiling above us.

He stayed locked on Alessia. “What did Dun want? He wanted Ulfrik?”

She gasped. “Serv….” Her eyes rolled back. “Servizio.”

“Service?” Frustration crossed his features. “What does that mean? Answer me!”

She roused, her head lolling. “The experiment—” She coughed hard. “The master sold some.”

“He sold Ulfrik’s blood?”

The fire roared above us. “Jesse…” I said.

Alessia nodded. “Dun wanted to see what the blood would do to a human. Whether it would make something he could use.” She coughed again, wheezing, then licked her cracked lips. “It didn’t work. The human just transformed like usual. No gift, but powerful. He became a problem.”

Cold shot through me in spite of the heat. “Pyotr Zarins,” I said.

Jesse kept a tight grip on Alessia. “Carlo couldn’t find him,” he said. “The blood left no trail.”

Damn, my man was smart. Carlo had said that about his “product” not leaving a trail, and I’d already forgotten it. But Jesse hadn’t. Even drowning in silver and bolted to a dungeon wall, he’d absorbed everything Carlo had thrown at him.

Carlo’s bottled rogue blood hadn’t left a trail—until it did. With Ulfrik’s blood.

Alessia nodded. “The master said to let you search. That your bond to the boy would lead you to the human.”

Jesse’s jaw tightened, and I knew his thoughts matched mine. Carlo had used him. The whole time we’d run around Rome, chasing Ulfrik’s scent, Carlo had sat in his opera house and let it happen. Jesse hadn’t been wolfseeking.

He’d been cleaning up Carlo’s mess.

The swinging chandelier crashed to the ground. Crystals sprayed across the foyer. The ceiling bubbled. Dust rained down. A groan filled the air like the whole building was complaining.

I glanced at the doors. “Jesse, we have to get out of here.” Supernatural healing had its limits, and I was pretty sure “collapsing building engulfed in flames” made the list.

Alessia swung her wild eyes to me. “Dun will want you.”

“Me?” Oh, hell no.

“The master said you were an accident, but Dun said you were the proof he’d been waiting for. He said—” She gagged, doubling over.

“What did he say?” Jesse pressed.

The ceiling crashed down beside us. Jesse grabbed me, and the foyer lurched. Suddenly, we stood near the doors, twenty feet gone in a second. Sparks stung my arms.

Smoke rolled around us. Then it parted. Across the foyer, Alessia raced toward the flames.

“No!” I shouted.