Seven Days by Shari Richardson

that my weird magnet puts you in danger?"
    "I have my own magnet, sis."
    She shook her head. "I know you love him, Kerry, but if I hadn't needed Elise's tutoring on my aura reading, you might never have met Xavier. If I hadn't wanted Mathias in my life, the panthers would have stayed in East Hampton and not interfered with our lives." She sighed. "You would have been safer if I weren't so selfish."
    "Would you rather take Xavier's love from my life than let my journey be what it is meant to be?" I asked.
    "If it meant you were safe. If it meant you could be a teenaged girl without the worries of vampires and demons and demigods and wereanimals, yes. I'd give almost anything to be able to give you that kind of life."
    "But I don't want that kind of life if it means Xavier isn't in it." I gripped Mairin's hand, pulling at it until she looked up at me. "Have you ever thought that maybe our magnets work the way they do because we need the strength that comes from the pride and the vampires? Have you ever thought that maybe you needed Elise's help when you did because I needed Xavier in my life?"
    "I want to believe that, Kerry," she said. "I want to believe there's a reason for all the danger and all the help that is something deeper than just my propensity to draw the biggest and the baddest monsters into my life, but it's hard for me to do that when I see what my choices have done to you."
    "I'll be fine, Maire. Even if I turn furry once a month."
    "Furry doesn't matter to me, Kerry. It would mean you were safer, stronger. But I can't ever see you lying on the ground with the blood of your life turning black on the pavement beneath you." I heard the catch in her voice and realized my sister, the invincible and incredibly strong woman who loved me almost more than our own mother did, was on the verge of tears.
    "I think I once said something similar to you," I said.
    "You did and I've been as careful as I can be, but I failed tonight in the worst possible way. I let my guard down for one moment and you were nearly taken from me. I can't...I won't let that happen again."
    "Maire, I...." I didn't know what to say. I knew my sister loved me, but she'd never before come so close to saying that she would die to protect me.
    She stood and kissed my forehead. "I love you, Kerry. Nothing else matters."
    She was gone before I could say anything else. I saw her reach into the shadows on the porch and Mathias materialized to hold her. I sighed and groaned again. Whatever pain medication the doctor had given me at the hospital was beginning to wear off and while the lines of stitches in my chest might throb in time to my heartbeat, the pain in my heart was deeper and sharper than any claws would be.
    I knew I had to be the one to tell Xavier who had attacked me. And I knew that at some point he would feel it was his duty to fight the man who had given him life. Tyler Meyers was the father Xavier claimed, but what kind of damage would Xavier do to his soul if he had to kill Lane?
    Xavier returned from the kitchen and I let him pull me into his side on the couch. I turned and carefully twisted until I found a comfortable position and then waited. I glanced toward the kitchen and saw Elise watching me. She nodded ever so slightly, sending a jolt of understanding through my body. She knew who had attacked me, who had attacked Xavier when he'd been seven. She knew what I was going to have to tell Xavier and she knew what it was going to cost us all. And yet she was telling me to do what needed to be done. I wanted to talk to her, to hear Elise's thoughts on how best to tell Xavier that his own flesh and blood had not only changed the course of his own life, but likely that of mine as well. But Elise kept her distance, remaining in the kitchen while the pride members gathered around.
    “Ok, so the first thing we need to do is figure out who this rogue is and then decide how to catch and kill him. He’s broken our laws and the human laws. We