When he found himself sitting in his living room the following morning at ten, Phair told himself that he should have been thinking about the plan that he and Cad had been slowly hatching. About how they would take down a powerful man like Barton tomorrow. Quietly, surreptitiously, even as the bastard was playing poker in the same building, completely oblivious to what they were up to.

He should have been thinking about the fact that they no longer had Roth and the Pack on their side, that they’d alienated the Alpha when they’d let themselves fall for Mir.

He should have been working on getting more shifters on board—maybe some of the Grizzlies who were beginning to come around on the idea of an alliance.

Yes, he should definitely have been pondering all of this. Problem solving. Figuring out how to complete the task that had been assigned to them, how to get back on track, to become an honourable member of the Pack once again.

But the truth was, all he could think about was the fact that he and Cad were going to see Mir again in a few hours. He couldn’t bring his mind to concern itself with Barton’s awfulness, or with Roth’s displeasure. Couldn’t find a way to care about anything but the woman who now owned his heart.

His mind swirled with memories of her scent, her taste, her body writhing under their touch in the underground tunnel. A sweet disease was consuming him from within, terrible and wonderful at once. It seemed as though nothing could alleviate his brain-fog except for more time with her. So there were only two questions to ask.

One: how much time could they have together tonight?

Two: Would she even want them anymore, after the near-disaster last night? It was entirely possible that she’d realized they were irresponsible idiots, unworthy of her affection. They had, after all, nearly caused her sister to suffer a devastating injury.

“You look like you’re a thousand miles away,” Cad said as he wandered into the living room in a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt, mussing his hair with one hand as he grasped a coffee mug in the other. He’d spent the night in Phair’s guest bed, and he looked as though he’d slept like a baby. “I don’t suppose I need to ask why, do I?”

“No,” Phair replied, turning to his partner in crime and lust, his mind clearing for a moment. “You know as well as I do what’s going through my mind. You know what I want, what I need. But I suspect that you also know what I’m afraid of.”

Cad nodded. “Tonight,” he said. “The Ritual has to take place tonight. Tomorrow all hell may break loose. This is our one chance to be with her before that happens.”

Phair nodded. “True. Unless, you know, she’s changed her mind.”

Cad sat down on the armchair by the flat’s large front window. “She hasn’t,” he said, taking a sip of coffee. “I know it. I’m sure you do, too. She’s ours, Phair. Just as we’re hers.”

Phair’s eyes narrowed, not so much in doubt as in focus. “Correction,” he said. “She was ours. We nearly cost her sister a hand last night, remember. It’s possible that Mir has realized by now that we’re not the most desirable blokes to take on as mates. As much as it pains me to say it, she may well have come to her senses by now, even if she does have strong feelings for us both.”

Cad smirked. “Well, I can’t be selfish enough to make that my prime concern. All I can say is that after tomorrow, I hope she and Bryanne will never have to worry again about being in danger. Whether she still wants us or not, we’ll get them out of Barton’s place. We’ll see to it that their parents are safe, too.” He leaned forward, set the mug down on the coffee table, and stared Phair in the eye. “You have my word on it. We will help them, and the other women in that place, too. I don’t care that Roth and Lumen are displeased with us for veering away from our original task. I don’t care about any of it. What matters is that we help Mir, that we help everyone tangled up in Barton’s snare.”

“So let’s say we set them free, and maybe we find a way to help Mir’s family,” said Phair. “What then? I want her to have a life, and Bry too. I want them to be happy. They’ve been through a lot.”

“Yes, I know,” said Cad, leaning back. A slow smile slipped over his lips. “I want that too.”

“You look like you’re vaguely pleased about something. You shouldn’t be pleased about any of this,” Phair chastised. “It’s serious. They’ll need help on the outside. I want more than anything to be able to provide it. Especially for Bry—Mir has us, but her sister’s all alone.”

“If I look pleased, it’s only because I talked to Bertie last night, after we got back here.”

Phair raised an eyebrow and leaned forward in his seat. “Oh?” he asked. This was…interesting. “What about?”

Cad chuckled. “Well, you know Bert. First came the requisite pandering to my muscles and brawn. But after she’d satisfied her urge to glorify me as a deity, I told her I wanted to know if she had any open positions at the Syndicate for two very capable and intelligent women. I did mention that one of would very likely be empowered with the blood of a Béorn and a Dire Wolf shifter, in case that helped Mir’s cause at all.”

Now Phair allowed himself a hint of a smile. “That sounds…actually, that sounds amazing, Cad. But I repeat: Oh? What was the outcome?”

“She said she can find a place for them both, if not as Hunters, then as investigators. I’m sure that her employees would be happy to show them the ropes. We’ll need all hands on deck in the coming months if we’re to find our way to a lasting peace with the human population. The more humans we have on our side in the meantime, the better. It’s a win-win for Mir and Bry. It’s a win for shifters, too.”

Phair’s smile broadened. “Well, thank you for that,” he said. “I mean it.” He exhaled a deep breath. “You know, you’ve really put me to shame, Cad. I’ve said it before, but I’m very glad I had you pegged all wrong.”

“It’s nothing,” Cad replied. “Neither you nor I recognized the good in one another at first. I’d say it was a relatively honest mistake.”

“Fair enough.” After a moment Phair pulled his gaze towards the window and stared out at the cloudy sky that hovered low over the treetops. “Still, I’ve been unfair to you all this time. I judged you harshly from the first. I never thought I’d find good in you.”

“Yes, you did judge me,” Cad replied. “Very harshly. But maybe I deserved it. I’ll admit that I can be a cocky bastard at times. I can’t exactly blame you for noticing my shortcomings.”

Phair let out a low chuckle. “Well, anyhow, I’m sorry for assuming that you were a cocky bastard at all times. I thought you should know that, given that we’re about to embark on something that could last all our lives.”

“I’m not worried. But for the record, all our lives might wind up being rather a short timeline. It’s entirely possible that one or both of us will die tomorrow, you realize. We’re about to infiltrate the computer system of the head of a major criminal enterprise. That’s not exactly something one does without expecting to be assassinated promptly.”

Phair glared at him. “You’re spoiling my apology, you sod.”

Cad shrugged. “I’m just saying you might get off easy. If I die horribly, you can breathe a sigh of relief for being rid of me.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, given how I felt about you just a few days ago, Cadman. But if you die horribly…”

“Yes?”

“I’ll be rather sad.”

* * *

At seven p.m. as usual, the two shifters strode into Club Bacchus. Phair was wary, his senses on high alert for anything out of the ordinary. But he’d already reminded himself more than once that Mir had a mobile now; if there was a problem she could have dialled the number Cad had mentioned.

They hadn’t heard a peep, so he could only assume that everything was all right.

When they didn’t see Mir or Barton in the main room, he and Cad made their way towards the Blue Room. Gunner stepped out in front of them just as they reached the corridor and put a hand up to stop them. He looked nervous, sweat beading on his forehead.

“I trust that you’re not intending to take her anywhere tonight,” he said quietly, his voice trembling enough to let the shifters know he hadn’t forgotten how terrified Phair had made him last night.

“Of course not,” Cad replied with a grin. “If we did, we might get back late, discover that you’re about to hurt someone she cares about and have to shred you into bite-sized pieces. We wouldn’t want that, would we?” With that, he tapped Gunner on the cheek with his hand.

“Just checking,” Barton’s employee said, attempting a chuckle but failing miserably. The sound came out more like a suppressed sob. “The boss wasn’t happy last night,” he said, looking around and leaning in. “With any of us.”

“The boss needs to learn to untwist his knickers,” Phair replied, patting him so hard on the shoulder that he nearly collapsed under the blows. Well, torturing the fucker was certainly proving quite fun.

“Agreed,” groaned the thuggish man, backing away as soon as he could get away from Phair’s reach. “He probably does. Have a good night, then.”

“Oh, I think we will. We’ll be with Mir for some time. Don’t interrupt us.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Phair and Cad exchanged a satisfied look as they made their way towards the Blue Room’s door. Quietly, Cad tapped three times.

“Yes?” sang the familiar voice they’d both come to adore.

“Special delivery for a very special lady,” Cad replied.

“I hope it comes in two packages,” she replied, letting out a laugh that sounded like pure joy. Phair smiled. Apparently Mir hadn’t changed her mind after all. “Come in,” she chimed.

Phair pushed the door open, and once he and Cad had made their way in, closed and locked it behind them. When he turned back to the room, a vision of splendour met his gaze.

Mir, it seemed, had gone all out for tonight’s intimate evening in. Candles flickered on every possible surface, granting the space an ethereal, magical glow that reminded him of the secret tunnels under the city.

Mir was a vision, standing in the middle of the room. She was dressed differently from her usual fare: she wore a long dress of translucent white layers. Something in its design made her look like a Greek goddess, its fabric flowing towards the floor in a stream of airy lightness.

No—it’s not that she looks like a Greek goddess, thought Phair.

It’s that she looks like a bride.

Without a single word, Mir had confirmed his hopes. She was, without a doubt, going to give herself to them tonight.