As Naomi stared into Alaric’s eyes, for a brief shining moment she forgot all about the Stone, the Order, Elisabetta, or last night’s disastrous induction ceremony.

“Yes,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “God, Alaric. Of course. Yes.”

There was no other answer. She’d never thought Alaric would propose the traditional, human way; they already shared a Blood Bond, the most profound way you could be connected amongst vampires. But there was a part of her that had fantasized about marrying Alaric; she’d lived in the human world for most of her life, where marriage was the norm.

Alaric beamed, and she glimpsed a sheen of blood tears in his eyes as he crawled onto the bed and enveloped her into his arms. His lips met hers in a searing kiss. Love and desire swirled through her, and he only released her when she was breathless.

She leaned forward to rest her forehead against his, filled with elation. But a flicker of doubt crept into her thoughts. She leaned back, studying him.

“Why now?” she asked.

Something shifted in Alaric’s gaze, and his smile faltered. Naomi’s heart sank. He was hiding something.

“Is this about Elisabetta?” she asked stiffly, extricating herself from his grasp to stand. “Are you just trying to prove—“

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I love you and want us to be bonded in every way we can.”

“But . . . with everything that’s happening,” she said, shaking her head. Her momentary bliss had faded; reality was settling in. “Another Stone, a possible traitor in the Alliance, the Order . . .”

“The war with the Order could last for years. It’s already lasted for decades,” Alaric said, standing, eyes blazing. “I’m not going to wait to marry the love of my life while we fight them.”

The love of my life. Joy exploded in her chest at his words; she had to blink back another wave of tears. Why couldn’t they have found each other under different circumstances? She’d been in constant danger from the Order since the moment they’d met.

But she hadn’t let the events of the past few weeks stop her from falling in love with him. Why put their future on hold?

“You’re right,” she said, her shoulders relaxing. “I want to marry you, Alaric Donatien.”

She rarely used his last name; the name from his human years. She was showing him that she wanted to marry all of him. The man he had been; the vampire he was. It was something they’d struggled with during the early days of their relationship, Alaric holding himself back from her. It was only when they’d committed to each other that he shared his full history with her.

Alaric seemed to recognize this, and the tension in his body vanished. He smiled, that beautiful smile that made him incandescent. He stepped forward, reaching up to cup the sides of her face with his cool hands.

“I’ve lived a long time, but I’ve never been married before,” he confessed.

“I’m glad,” Naomi said, with a playful grin. “I’d use a Hexing spell on anyone you married before me. I was tempted to use one one Elisabetta last night.”

“I wouldn’t have stopped you,” Alaric said, before his expression turned serious. “You need to know something, Naomi. Because we live longer, supernatural creatures take bonding vows more seriously than humans. We have many lovers, but our chosen mates are permanent.”

“If you’re asking me if I have any doubts, you already know the answer,” Naomi said, narrowing her eyes. “I know what it means to be bonded to you—“

“It means forever, Naomi,” Alaric interrupted. “It means there’s no going back.”

“I want more than forever,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his face. “You know that. I nearly created an earthquake when I thought you died. Or have you already forgotten?”

“No. I just wanted you to be aware—“

“You have my answer. Now, if you’re done asking me questions you already know the answer to, how about we celebrate our engagement properly?”

Grinning, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Alaric’s eyes glittered, and in a quick flash of movement, he lowered her to the bed.

“This,” he murmured, peppering kisses along the bare flesh of her abdomen, “is a very important part of celebrating engagements in the supernatural world.”

“Well, then,” Naomi said, her breath hitching in her throat, “you should teach me to properly—“

But she didn’t finish her sentence, her words spiraling into a moan of pleasure.

* * *

“Congratulations,” Elias said, grinning. “For the record, I called this the moment Alaric brought you back from Athens.”

When they’d finally emerged from their room, Naomi and Alaric found Madalena and Elias in the study, where they told them their news.

Alaric flushed at Elias’s words. Beaming, Naomi turned to face Madalena, who remained oddly silent; there was something she couldn’t identify lurking in her gaze.

“Congratulations,” Madalena said, but the word seemed forced. She stepped forward to embrace her. Naomi frowned. As far as she knew, Madalena approved of their relationship. Did she have some misgiving about their engagement?

But Naomi didn’t have time to ponder this; Casimir entered the room.

“Casimir, we have good—“ Naomi began, but stopped when she saw his troubled expression.

“What’s wrong?” Alaric asked.

“I took your advice about singling out individual members of the Order to track down,” he said, “and it worked. I found a group of five known Order members who’ve been traveling together for the past few weeks. They’re here. In London.”

A tense silence filled the room. Naomi’s joy vanished; her heart picked up its pace.

“We need to go after them,” she said.

“No,” Alaric protested, glaring at her. “If they’re here in London, they’re after you. We need to get you out of here.”

“This isn’t like last time,” Naomi said, “I’m not in hiding, I’m officially a part of the Alliance now. If they’re here, this is our chance to find the second Stone.”

“She’s right,” Madalena said, “we need to tell the Alliance and—“

“There’s no time,” Casimir interrupted. “They move to a different location every twenty-four hours—they must know how closely we’re monitoring them. Right now, they’re in an old warehouse in East London. The time it would take to meet and plan with the other members—“

“Then let’s go now,” Naomi said, ignoring the anxiety and fear that pierced the base of her spine. She hadn’t forgotten how fiercely the Order members had fought in Greece.

“We need to proceed with caution,” Madalena said. “I’ll alert the leaders once we get there for backup.”

Naomi glanced over at Alaric. He looked away from her, his jaw tight, but he remained silent. She stifled an exasperated sigh. He needed to accept that she was a part of this now; their engagement changed nothing in terms of her involvement.

They left minutes later, taking the car the Alliance had provided them to the outskirts of the bustling East London streets. Adrenaline coursed through her as she sat in the backseat between Alaric and Madalena; she couldn’t believe that only moments earlier she’d been celebrating her engagement. This is what you’ve chosen, she reminded herself. As a member of the Alliance, she’d constantly walk on a tightrope of danger, a tightrope she’d walked on ever since fleeing Athens with Alaric.

She cleared her nervous thoughts by the time they arrived, parking on a quiet side street. They found an empty alley, from which they apparated into the warehouse.

Naomi braced herself, ready to perform an array of defensive and offensive spells, but the warehouse was empty.

Why would the Order members meet here? she wondered. Rubble was scattered over the dirty floors, graffiti decorated the concrete walls, and a foul smell permeated the entire space.

“Goddamn it,” Elias cursed, “Casimir, are you sure they were here?”

“Yes,” Casimir said, looking frustrated, “we probably just missed them.”

Naomi went still, listening. She heard something in her mind; a faint whisper.

“No,” Naomi said, “I don’t think we did.”

The faint whispers increased. They were unintelligible, but she instinctively knew they weren’t coming from the Stone. Instead, the whispers were similar to what she’d heard in Regent’s Park. They were coming from another witch. And the witch was close.

“Someone’s still here,” she said, scanning the warehouse.

“Everyone spread out and search,” Madalena said, moving past them.

Naomi turned towards a door at the rear of the warehouse. Someone was there.

She darted towards it as the whispers in her mind rose.

“Naomi!” Alaric shouted.

But she ignored his cry, yanking open the door and scrambling into the alley. The door swung shut behind her, propelled by an invisible force. She heard Alaric on the other side struggling to open it, but it held despite his considerable strength.

Shaking, she turned to face the far end of the alley . . . and froze. A woman stood there. She had black wavy hair shot through with strands of grey, and cat-like silver eyes that flashed with hostility. Though she appeared youthful, Naomi suspected the witch was much older. And she was certain she’d never seen her before, but there was something familiar about her.

“Who are you?” Naomi demanded. “What are you—“

Her words were cut off as a force of wind lifted her off the ground, and slammed her against the wall. In a flash, the witch stood before her, her hand tight around her throat.

“Why do you betray your own kind?” the witch hissed. “Lying with a Blood Beast? Fighting against our cause?”

The witch’s face contorted with fury, her hand constricting, robbing Naomi of air.

Naomi pushed past her panic to conjure a Repelling spell, and the witch released her as the spell sent her hurling across the alley.

Naomi took in gasps of air, stumbling to her feet. She turned to dart towards the witch, but as Alaric and the others broke down the door and charged into the alley, the witch vanished.