Like the first time they were together, the sensation wrapped Briar into a cocoon of protectiveness, one which was impenetrable to anything bad or scary. In those moments, they were only two people, falling in love. All of her reservations, the thoughts that Alec saw her as anything more than a lover went out the window, melted away by each of his burning kisses.

Briar’s fingers laced into his thick mane of hair, his tongue trailing along the lines of her stomach to tease the skin. Her body was on fire, matching the tone of his flesh to hers, and they twined together like they were fruits of the same vine. She moaned softly, calling out his name as her pants fell away, her calves looping around his muscular shoulders. Suddenly, the shadows spread around the room were no longer as threatening as they had appeared before.

It’s just us. Just us. We can handle anything that comes at us.

“I’ve waited so long for you,” Alec rasped, his breath hot against her inner thigh, his words punctuated by kisses. The stubble of his beard sent shivers through her body in tidal waves, one after the other.

“Where have you been?” Briar murmured, knowing she had waited just as long for him. Her pleasure mounted as he buried his handsome face between her legs and the tremors began almost instantly, Alec finding her sweetest spots effortlessly. Upward her body bucked, her moans becoming cries that echoed through the tiny cabin, her hands closing to grip onto something in fists, and rolling waves of passion swept through her until she could stand no more.

Briar barely managed to sit up, guiding his face toward her, ankles locking over his broad back to work him inside her, where she had wanted him all along. Alec fit like a glove, filling her like she’d never known, the sweat of his brow dripping down to catch on her own damp cheeks. They fell into a frenzied rhythm, their eyes locking, and Briar felt as though they had traded places, like she was inside him and vice versa.

“I love you,” Alec growled, the tone sending gooseflesh all over her already prickled skin. “I’ve always loved you.”

Briar cried out, her climax bringing her to speechlessness, and she arched upward, feeling him tense above her. Together, they released against one another, their passion perfectly matched until there was no movement, nothing but their labored breathing.

Alec laid atop her, his breath hot on her neck, and Briar wanted the moment to last forever. If he moved, it meant they were forced to face reality again, and she didn’t want that.

“I could stay here forever,” Alec said. Not for the first time, Briar wondered if he was reading her mind.

“Why can’t we?” she asked plaintively. Alec propped himself up to look at her.

“Everything is being taken care of,” he told her softly. “You don’t need to worry about anything.” Inexplicably, Briar felt herself getting mad.

“Saying it doesn’t make it so,” she snapped, wriggling out from under him. “How can you be so sure?”

Alec released a long sigh, and he, too, sat up. “Briar, I know these past few days have been hell for you, but I need you to know I’ve been doing everything I can to ensure that it’s handled properly for everyone.”

There was something peculiar about the way he said the sentence that sat uneasily with Briar.

“What does that even mean?” she asked slowly. “Everyone who?” Her face abruptly registered shock. “What did you do? Did you turn my brother in?” Instantly, Briar knew her hunch was right, and she yelped. “Why?” she cried. “Oh, my God, Alec, why would you do that?”

“Listen to me,” Alec told her firmly, grabbing her arms. “Look at me.”

She was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Raven is going to kill my brother. He doesn’t even know she’s coming. I have to warn him! She silently prayed she wasn’t too late.

“Briar, you need to listen to me. There is much more going on here than you understand. So much more.”

Briar was barely listening to him as she looked about for her clothes. I’ll steal Alec’s car if he won’t take me. I need to get in touch with Colton!

“Briar!”

“I need to find my brother.” She barely recognized her own voice, and the look she gave Alec was void of any emotion. “Take me to my brother. Give me a phone and take me back to Miami.”

“I can’t do that.” She spun and snatched her shirt off the ground, her finger sliding through the hole where the bullet had gone through. “Briar, stop!” Alec ordered her. “You need to stop and listen to me.”

But she wasn’t listening, not at all. Her only thoughts were on the woman with the cold blue eyes and her husband with the gun. I can heal myself. Colton can’t… can he?

“Briar, why do you think you’re not dead right now?”

She turned her head to stare at Alec blankly. “I need to find my brother.”

“Briar, do you and your brother share the same father?”

The question was so out in left field, Briar scoffed. “Really? That’s the question you want to ask me right now?”

“I need to know if you and your brother share the same genetic make-up.” Hazily, Alec’s words started to come through, even though they didn’t immediately make sense.

“What if we do?”

“Then there’s a good chance that he can heal, too.”

Briar’s mouth parted and she gaped at him. “You…”

“What?”

“How do you know that? Do you know why I can heal?”

“I have my suspicions,” he sighed. “Would you like to hear them?”

“What if you’re wrong? What if Colton can’t heal?”

“Has your brother ever had a broken bone? Been sick?” Alec asked quietly. “Ever?”

Consternation almost drowned Briar. “I don’t know! Alec, I need to find my brother. I can’t believe you—”

“Your brother will be safe as long as he does the right thing,” Alec said. “You need to trust—”

“Trust you?” Briar roared. “You sold out my brother!”

“Your brother is a criminal!” Alec barked back. “One who put a bounty on your head, and you’re blaming me? How much more are you going to defend him?”

Briar’s mouth parted, but no words came out. An image of James, the super, saying almost the same thing to her flooded into his mind. But this could kill him. This was different. She couldn’t let anything happen to Colton.

“Nothing is going to happen to your brother if he does what he’s supposed to do,” Alec told her again, stepping toward her, but Briar wrenched her arm away.

“No! No, I don’t believe anything you say now,” she snapped. “I need to get to my brother.”

Alec sat at the foot of the bed and folded his arms across his still-bare chest. “I’m not taking you back to the city. This is the safest place for you to be.”

“I’m going anyway,” Briar retorted. “And you can’t stop me.” She rushed toward the front room, her hands trembling as she fought to button her shirt.

“Briar, you’re not mortal.” At first, she thought she had misheard Alec, and she turned slightly to look at him, her hands still working at the buttons.

“What?”

“You possess blood inside you that makes you… special.”

“Are you on medication?” Briar demanded. Instantly, she was ashamed of herself for saying something so tasteless, but she was too upset to apologize.

“It’s why you heal, why that bullet didn’t kill you.”

“Are you out of your mind? Seriously? What are you saying? I’m a zombie?”

Alec snorted. “No, nothing like that,” he chuckled without any mirth in it. “You belong to a group of us called the Enchanted. Five millennia ago, a very powerful sorcerer and demon, named Alaric Aldwin, cast a spell on the earth, creating a species which we call the Enchanted.”

He really believes this. “A group of us?” she echoed, cautiously backing away from him. “You’re one of these Enchanted beings, too?”

“I’m a dragon, Briar. You were barely conscious, but you remember that I carried you to the hospital after I found you on that road.”

Briar shook her head, a lightness overtaking her mind. “No… I was delusional. I lost too much blood—”

“After you took a bullet through the heart, Briar. People don’t survive a bullet to the heart without medical treatment. Bullets don’t just pop out on their own. You were in two life-threatening situations, and you literally don’t have a scratch on you.” Alec gestured toward her as his proof. Briar found herself looking down at herself, his words beginning to stick, even though they made no sense.

“So… I’m a dragon?” she sputtered. “A demon?”

“No,” Alec sighed. “I’m a dragon, and Raven is a demon. I don’t think you’re anything fully. I think you have traits of something, but you’re not a full-fledged anything.”

Briar wanted to laugh, but she dared not. It wasn’t funny, no matter how she looked at it. If Alec wasn’t telling her the truth, she had put her trust into a maniac. If he was… She shuddered.

He’s nuts. I trusted the wrong man. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“This is insane,” she sighed. “There’s no way.”

“I know it’s a lot to digest,” Alec said. “But you have to understand that if Raven finds out you’re alive, she’ll figure out the same thing I have, and that’s going to make matters so much worse. Killing one of our own is much, much worse than killing a mortal. You need to lay low until your brother takes the blame.”

“No!” Briar howled. “This is crazy. I’m going back to Miami.” She whirled toward the door but stopped dead in her tracks as a figure stood, blocking her way.

“The only way you’re going back to Miami, honey, is in a body bag,” Raven announced, snapping on her black driving gloves. “But this time, you will die. Isn’t that right, babe?” She turned toward the door, where Drake appeared. He no longer looked like the attractive man who had put a bullet through her chest. His face was charred, red with singed black edges, his teeth yellow and razor-like.

“That’s right, babe,” he replied, his voice a guttural growl. “Let’s get this done. I’m starved.”

Briar screamed.