Gustavo staggered and fell against a tree, but not even that could hold him up. His knees hit the ground, and sharp pain radiated up his legs, which was nothing compared to the agony that was searing into his abdomen. He pulled up his shirt and surveyed the damage. His skin was unharmed, but he felt in his mind as though he was being burned layer by layer. The pain was excruciating.

“Gustavo?” Adam’s voice barely broke through the haze of pain.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and snarled, whipping his head around to snap at the one who dared to touch him. There was only one whose touch he wanted, and anyone else best keep their distance.

“I don’t think he feels like being coddled.” Gustavo heard a female voice, but he was too far lost in the blinding torment to identify the speaker.

Then all other voices became insignificant when he heard hers. At first, all he heard were her screams, but then he heard words. “You will not break me.”

What. The. Hell. Gustavo was on his feet, the pain in his stomach still there, but he forced it into the background as he heard her voice again.

“You will not break me, and you will not win. You can come at me over and over again, but I will rise back up every time you knock me down. I have too much to live for. I have friends who I care about and care about me. I have a mate I really want to get a chance to know. I have a mom who I need to know better. I have a future that I didn’t know existed, and you will not take it from me.”

What fool had thought it a good idea to harm his mate? Volcan? It had to be Volcan. How on earth did he get his hands on his Anna?

“Annasathia.” Gustavo used every amount of his power to push himself into her mind. Her shields were weak, almost non-existent, most likely due to the pain she was experiencing. “Tell me where you are. Criña, who has you?”

“Gustavo?” Her voice sounded surprised, as if she didn’t think he would be able to feel her or hear her. Then again, she didn’t know much about the mate bond, so she probably hadn’t known.

“Yes, amor, I can feel your pain. I can hear your distress. Please tell me what is going on. Tell me who I need to kill for daring to touch you.” And he would. He would rip Volcan, and any of the fae’s minions that he used to harm his mate, to shreds. He would tear the fae apart systematically, making sure he stayed alive and awake through the entire process.

“Little more graphic than I need right now,” his healer said. It sounded like she was talking through gritted teeth.

Gustavo needed to pull himself together. The last thing she needed in that moment was more violence. “Forgive me, I just cannot stand knowing you are being hurt. Will you tell me?”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Anna.” He growled in warning.

“Sorry, but kind of hard to be afraid of you when I’ve got a vampire branding me.”

“WHAT!” He roared out loud and through their bond. “A vampire has you?”

“Not exactly. We’ve been left in his care by his boss.”

“We?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention Jewel is here?”

“From the beginning, Criña, tell me from the beginning.” He was shaking with emotion. Some he understood, but others he hadn’t realized would be so intense. Just over a week ago his mate had been here, running from him, almost within his grasp. Now she was somewhere completely out of his reach being tortured, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

“Oh, mother of lobster babies,” she whispered into his mind. “You think each time it would get a little less painful, or that you’d be more prepared for the pain. But no, no, it hurts just as bad as the first time.”

“Ann, please, I need to know what is going on.”

“Ann? I kind of like that. You’re the only person who’s ever called me Ann,” she said as though she was grasping for a distraction.

“I’ll call you whatever you want me to. Please tell me where you’ve been and what has happened.” Gustavo was begging. His wolf needed to know exactly what his mate had been up to and who had held her captive. They will all pay, his wolf snarled. Any involved in her pain will pay. The man agreed wholeheartedly with his beast. None would escape his wrath.

“I’m not sure I should tell you anything. From what I understand, un-bonded males who can’t get to their mates are quite dangerous. I don’t want anyone around you in danger. Are you still in the pixie realm? Are you still with the other healers? I don’t want you scaring the girls. I’d have to hurt you if you scared them, and I’d rather not start our relationship beating you with a stick. But I will if I have to.”

Her threats would be humorous is she wasn’t out of his reach and in horrific pain, but as it was, he couldn’t even crack a smile. “I am still in the pixie realm. We are trapped here. I would never harm anyone you care about, nor would I harm any gypsy healers. They are precious to our race, as are all females. You have my word.”

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” she muttered into his mind.

Gustavo didn’t know if it would work, considering they’d never met face to face and they hadn’t done the Blood Rites, but he decided to try. He pictured himself running his fingers over her face and down her neck.

“Are you doing something to me?” she asked, sounding a little breathless. The pain was still there, but it didn’t seem as intense.

“You can feel my fingers on your face?” He asked, his voice sounding as awed as he felt. Cago, he wanted to touch her. Gustavo wanted to feel her in his arms where she belonged. He tried very hard not to allow those thoughts to reach her. He didn’t want to scare her, but his wolf wanted to offer her some comfort. Touch was something his kind thrived on. Touch from a mate was as essential as breathing.

“How are you doing that?”

“Our link mentally allows it. Our minds are very powerful. And the emotions that fuel my desire and need for you impact your brain, allowing those needs to be felt by you—emotionally and physically.”

“Do it again,” she practically begged.

“Promise me you will always tell me when you need me. When you need my words, my touch, my attention, anything. Promise me, Ann, that you will tell me.”

“Are you always this intense?”

“Only when it comes to the things I love and adore.”

After a few heartbeats, she finally answered. “I promise.”

“Thank you,” he said as he pictured himself running his fingers through her hair. She sighed in his mind, and Gustavo closed his eyes, soaking up the sound. “Talk, mí amōr. Tell me.”

“Only if you promise not to stop,” she purred. “It distracts me from the pain.”

“Anything, I will give you anything.”

“It started when Jewel turned me into a witch.”

Before he’d met his mate, Gustavo thought himself incapable of surprise. He’d been on the earth a long time and had seen so much. But Anna had been in his life only briefly, and not even within his reach, and yet she surprised him over and over. “You’re a witch?”

“Does that make you not want me?”

He heard the ache in her voice. She might be frightened by the intensity of their bond, and nervous about what it meant to be mated to a werewolf, but she wanted him. She wanted a chance to see what they could have together. He could feel it.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, could make me not want you. Get it through your skull, Carina, you are stuck with me.”

“Alright then, yes I am a witch. And Volcan’s blood runs in my veins, as well as in Jewel’s. His magic is inside of us. He’s commanded us to make him an army of witches.”

The more she told him, the more Gustavo was sure he was going to go on a killing spree. The darkness that lived inside of him urged him on, as if the violence Anna had been facing was making his own darkness grow. He listened without interrupting until he heard two names. Two male names.

“Pardon, Criña, there are two males with you?”

She paused.

He hadn’t meant for his voice to sound so deadly, but his wolf was holding on by a very, very thin thread.

“Ann,” he warned.

“Not with me, with me. They’re with Jewel and I. Two warlock males. Z and Sly. I’m not sure, ow, damn that hurts. Sorry, I’m not usually one to curse, but lately it just seems necessary. Anyway, I’m not sure why they’re working with Volcan because they don’t give off an evil vibe, and they’ve actually been trying to help us. And really they’ve been good to have around. They’re funny and were very helpful to have in the club. They both acted like our dates which helped keep other guys away from us. They even helped us pick out outfits, which were not my usual digs. I mean, short skirts, tight pants, not really my things, but the guys thought it necessary.”

Gustavo’s fist went into the trunk of the tree before he even realized he was pulling his arm back to punch it. Hearing his mate talk fondly of other males, and about those males picking out clothes for her … to go to a bar, was causing his wolf to get worked up into a right fit of rage. He wanted to listen, needed to hear everything, but at the same time he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. He hated the idea of her being in danger and, thanks to his barbaric nature, he couldn’t stand the thought of her with other males either. They’ve been keeping her safe, he argued with his wolf. Then that will be the only reason we don’t kill them, his wolf growled in response.

“Gustavo?”

The apprehension in her voice drew his attention back from his inner turmoil. “Si, I’m listening.”

“I’m not sure if I can tell you the rest.”

Gustavo could sense her shame and regret, two feelings he never wanted her to feel. “I will not judge you, mí amõr. You can tell me anything.” He could practically feel the moment she gave in.

“Volcan has been forcing us to try and make witches. So, at the club, Jewel and I sort of picked a woman. She looked lonely and didn’t seem to have anyone with her. Good grief, I sound like a psycho stalker. So Z went over and flirted with her and got her to come over to us. We took her to a warehouse.”

A warehouse? He was just trying to wrap his head around what she was telling him, and then he heard her tears. These tears weren’t the same as the ones she’d shed when the pain was ripping through her body. These tears were from brokenness.

“We did the same sp-sp-spell—” She gasped through the tears, stuttering as she tried to pull herself together. “But something happened. We started seeing her memories, and there was so much sorrow and pain. It felt so invasive to see the things that had happened in her life. When it was over, she was lying lifeless on the ground, and Jewel and I were in shock. We—” She hiccupped and tried again. “We killed her. We took her life, Gustavo. Her essence, we stole it from her body. But we didn’t know that was going to happen. We thought she would become like us. We thought, we were … I mean … Volcan … we didn’t know.”

“Anna, shhh,” he soothed, trying to help her calm down. “It’s okay. Carina, you have to calm down. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I’ve been holding it together, sort of turning off my emotions,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Like living on autopilot. Jewel has been having such a hard time, and I thought we shouldn’t both fall apart at the same time, and I don’t blame her at all for it. She’s such a gentle spirit, and I wanted to be strong for both of us, but I’m so tired and I won’t let him break me, but I just can’t get over the fact that we killed them.”

“Them?”

More tears and hiccupping. “There was another one. We tried again, and the same damn thing happened! We don’t understand why it’s not working like it did with me. And Z and Sly were insistent that we needed to keep trying because if we didn’t succeed, Volcan would flip his lid and oh my, freaking hell, he did. He flipped.”

Gustavo was no longer aware of what he was doing. His mind was so focused inward on his mate’s voice and emotions that he didn’t really care if he was uprooting trees. He just wanted to get to her, to hold her, and take away every horror she’d been facing, without him.

“He had Jewel’s mom. He was going to make Jewel turn her mom into a witch, but Jewel’s mom is some sort of seer or prophet and obviously has some magic, and she wouldn’t let Jewel try, so she did something and took her own life. Right there, holding Jewel’s hand and mine, she just died. She loved Jewel so much she wasn’t about to let her daughter live her life with the guilt of knowing she’d turned her mother into a witch. It was horribly beautiful. But then Volcan thought Jewel had defied him on purpose, and so he went ballistic. He took us down to a creepy dungeon and passed us off to his minion vampire. The creature is branding us. He’s marking us with a fae blade. I don’t understand the significance of that, but I imagine it must be a pretty freaking big deal. He said it was enchanted and that it would take a while for the blade to leave a permanent mark, so he’d just have to keep doing it over and over. He’s going to do it again. Jewel’s screams broke my heart. I couldn’t help her. We are laid out on these damn slabs and can’t move, and all I can do is listen to her screams. The whole time I’m thinking he isn’t going to break me. I don’t care what he does to me. I will go down defiantly fighting, even if all I can do is curse him to hell in my head. I will not give him that power over me.”

Gustavo was shaking. Never in all his centuries had he ever felt so many emotions at one time. Never had he wanted to maim a man more than Volcan. His mate, still so young, was enduring what most never would in an entire lifetime. Volcan had forced her to kill, had tortured her, had forced his dark magic into her body, and she felt guilty about it.

“My sweet, strong Ann. You bring me to my knees by your bravery and courage. You are innocent, mí amõr. You have been put in an impossible situation, and I am so sorry that I haven’t been able to protect you.” He wanted to give her something, to show her that she could and would survive this. He needed her to know that he only adored her more for how she was handling herself in such an impossible situation. “I’m proud of you and completely in awe of how resilient you are. Keep saying it, Criña. Keep saying that he won’t break you and believe it. Hold on and do what you must to survive until I can get to you. I will find you. I will never stop hunting. Just hold on for me. Can you do that, por favor?”

“I will,” she said simply, but with steel lacing her words. “Thank you, Gustavo, for listening. I just needed to get that out.”

“I will always listen. I won’t always like what I hear, but I will always listen.”

She was quiet and seemed to be thinking about something. “Oh, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. We have phones. Volcan didn’t think to take them. As soon as we aren’t attached to a slab, I need to get a number where Jewel can get in touch with Dalton. She needs him desperately.”

“That is a brilliant idea. I’m sure he needs her just as desperately. Ann, can you allow me a little more access to your mind when you are awake? It’s so hard to feel you but not know if you’re okay.”

“I don’t even realize I’m doing it, Gustavo. I think maybe it happens because I don’t want you to know what horrible things we’ve had to do.”

“I don’t want you enduring this without me. Let me be with you, even if it’s just through our bond. Don’t shut me out. Si?”

“Alright, I can do that.”

Gustavo let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. They were making progress with their bond, but the circumstances forcing that progress were excruciating. He didn’t want their relationship to be built upon a crisis. He didn’t want to scare her with his violent reactions to her in pain and danger, and it would take strength he only hoped he had to keep her from seeing him lose control of his wolf.

Gustavo felt her weariness wash over him. He pictured her face in his mind and imagined himself pressing his lips to her forehead. He heard her sigh through their bond and felt a small amount of relief permeate the pain.

“You are so tired. Can you rest? Can you try and sleep?” Rest would give her strength, and she needed all she could get. If she bore his mark and they’d completed the Blood Rites, he would be able to share his own strength with her. Instead, he’d have to content himself with the fact that their bond was indeed strong despite not having completed the ceremony. He shouldn’t be able to communicate with her at all, but by the grace of the Great Luna, he could. For that, he would be forever grateful.

“You won’t go away? I mean, I’ll still be able to—”

“I’m not going anywhere, Criña. My mind will remain completely open. I’m yours. I’ll be here waiting when you wake up.” He wanted to meet her in her dream, but he also wanted her to get rest. He could feel the minute sleep took her.

Gustavo allowed his senses to take in his surroundings after having been so in tune to her that he’d completely blocked everything else out. He turned around and lifted his head to find everyone, except Heather, staring at him with wide eyes. Adam had positioned himself in front of the females and had knives in both hands. Gustavo knew that fae knives were enchanted to never miss their target. Had he lost control to the extent that Adam had felt he’d have to restrain him?

“We weren’t sure if you were going to stop with the trees,” Adam said and motioned with a nod of his head to the area behind him.

Gustavo looked over his shoulder, and he understood why Adam had been ready to defend the females. Every tree surrounding the clearing on the opposite side of the group had claw marks slashed deep into the bark, and some had been uprooted. He hadn’t even realized he’d been moving.

He turned back around and met the eyes of each of them. “I apologize for my lack of control.”

“Is Anna okay?” Stella asked.

“I am not sure how to answer that,” he admitted. “She is alive. As is Jewel. But they are not in a good situation.” That was a gross understatement, but he didn’t want the healers to know just how bad it was for their counterparts. It would only upset and worry them more. “They are both being very brave,” he added.

Adam’s eyes filled with understanding. Only another mated male could know what Gustavo was feeling—helpless, wrapped in rage and worry. None of it was a good combination.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked.

What he was really asking was, ”Are you safe,” “Are the females safe being around you?”, but Adam didn’t want to alarm the girls any more than Gustavo did.

“I will not harm the females,” he said, knowing it was true. “I cannot say the same about you in complete confidence. But I will try to make sure my wolf understands that you are not to be collateral damage.”

Adam’s brow rose. He hadn’t been expecting that answer. “Uh, that would be appreciated,” the male fae said, sounding skeptical.

Gustavo gave him a small bow—an old-world gesture of respect—and then turned around. “I’m going to go on a run,” he said over his shoulder. “My wolf is feeling a tad frustrated.”

Gustavo was a good way from the clearing but still he heard their voices.

“Did he say his wolf was a tad frustrated? Because I’m pretty sure that his furry butt had passed frustrated ten trees ago.”

Gustavo agreed. His wolf didn’t give a damn. He wanted his mate. That was all. He just wanted his mate with him, home, in their den away from the rest of the world. He wouldn’t be content until he made that happen. His wolf was stubborn and determined and ruthless when it came to those he considered his pack. Anna surpassed everything and everyone in his life. Ruthless was going to look like child’s play when he let his beast loose on the hunt. Our mate, ours to protect. Yes, the man agreed. We will get her and tether her to our side, Gustavo thought. His wolf liked the sound of that.

* * *

Adira paced in front of the veil that led to the realm of the draheim. The dragon-like beasts kept to themselves, and there wasn’t a whole lot known about their species. She’d been debating on seeking their assistance in reopening the veil to the pixie realm so she could get home. She was sure they wouldn’t give, but she was getting desperate. It had been over a week since Anna had disappeared with the other gypsy healer named Jewel, and since then, she’d been locked out of her own realm. She’d tried her own magic, and it had been useless, and considering her kind was the most powerful among the pixies, that was saying something. She’d been racking her brain for almost two weeks on what could open the veil, and she’d finally narrowed it down to two things. The draheim were her first resort, mainly because the second resort was, well, to put it lightly, going to be a pain in her tiny rear end to deal with.

Finally, she sucked in a deep breath and walked forward, expecting to pass right through. Instead, she bounced off an invisible wall. She rubbed her forehead and stared at the offending empty space.

“Well, I’ll be brighter than a pixie’s butt. Another realm blocked?” She grumbled as she stood up and brushed off her clothes. Adira held her hand out and stepped gingerly forward. She nearly jerked it back when she felt the malice pouring from the closed veil. Without thought, she began to pace again, her eyes continually travelling back to the location of the invisible veil wall, feeling more and more certain that she knew what was causing the malice to flow through it.

“Where is Perizada when I need her?” She huffed as she attempted to figure out what she should do next. Did she go and find Peri, or did she go back to her home and talk to Peri’s wolf mate? Or maybe she should just throw her hands up and say to pixie hell with it and make a new home in some remote location of some far-off realm. But darkness would spread there eventually, too. No, she couldn’t turn her back on her friends. And she liked Anna. She wouldn’t walk away when her new gypsy-healer friend was in trouble.

“So,” she said, tapping her chin. “Peri or her mate? Or…” Her brow rose as she considered her third option. It was hit or miss. He might help, or he might flick her away like a pesky bug. It depended on his mood. But, she supposed if ever there was a situation to ask for his help, this was it. Now she just had to figure out a way to approach him. She’d need to be tactful, respectful, and, most of all, humble. That would be difficult.

Adira reached her hand out, touched one of the large trees, and closed her eyes. Her particular race of pixies was the only who could travel in such a way, and that fact was a closely guarded secret. Mainly because the other, less powerful pixies would pitch fits if they knew about it. The magic was very similar to the way in which the fae could flash, only Adira traveled through space and time using the energy from nature. The currents that flowed from living thing to living thing were what powered her ability to leave one location and appear in another.

That is how she wound up in Peri’s home, standing on a solid wood table looking at a room full of wolves, a fae, and one bored djinn. She turned to fully face Thad and placed her small hands on her small hips and glared at the old being.

“You claim to be all-powerful, and yet all you do is sit around on your pompous arse spouting off about how bored you are,” she huffed. “Well, I, for one, am sick of hearing about the all-powerful djinn but never seeing what they’re capable of.”

Thad’s face remained passive, betraying nothing of his thoughts.

“Adira, of the pixies.” His voice rumbled as he spoke. “Pray tell, who it is that continually boasts of my all-powerfulness?”

“And perhaps, just a thought, considering his all-powerfulness,” Elle spoke up, “be a tad less hostile.”

Adira frowned at her. “Was I hostile? I was going for tactful and respectful … oh, and humble.”

“Might need to work on your delivery,” Elle suggested.

Adira shrugged. “If you say so.” She turned back to the djinn. “It’s neither here nor there who is spreading rumors about your power. I’m saying maybe it’s time you prove your superiority.”

“Why?” he asked, sounding as bored as ever.

“Why?” she sputtered. “Why? Because isn’t that what all-powerful beings do? Go around showing off their mojo.”

His head tilted ever so slightly to the side, and his eyes narrowed. “What is mojo?”

Adira stomped her foot. This whole encounter had gone very differently in her mind. Then again, in her mind, she hadn’t said he was a pompous arse. Maybe that’s where things had gone downhill. Or had they ever been uphill to begin with?

“Okay, forget mojo.” She waved her hands in the air. “Stupid teenage humans and their stupid made-up words,” she muttered under her breath. “Just say yes, okay?”

“Yes,” he said, only the word sounded like a question. She ignored that fact.

“Great!” Adira clapped her hands together. “If you’ll just come with me, we will be off to open some veils and kick evil in its man parts.”

She reached out to lay a small hand on Thad’s knee, intending to whisk him back to the veil to the pixie realm. But nothing happened when she tried to carry them from Peri’s home.

“Whoa, hold on a second,” Elle said, holding out her hand.

Blasted fae magic, Adira thought to herself as she looked up at the female fae.

“What do you mean open some Veils?” Elle asked.

Adira’s eyes widened. She glanced around to the other confused faces and then looked back at Elle. “Thad’s a djinn,” she said.

“Yes,” Elle said, dragging the word out. “He’s a historian for the supernatural races. We know what a djinn is.”

Adira shook her head and then glanced over at Thad who simply watched. “Yes, he’s a historian. Give him a sprinkle of pixie dust and a medal. But he’s a bit more than that. Didn’t you know? He’s the leader of his kind, the most powerful supernatural race to exist. He can make Perizada look like a human street magician doing parlor tricks.”

Elle’s lips twitched as though she wanted to smile. “Please let me be around when you tell her that. Regardless of his power, djinn refuse to involve themselves in our matters. They simply record. They have rules.”

Adira wanted to smack herself in the forehead. What was with these stinking people and their rules? Okay, so no one had said anything about rules up until that point, but once was enough to get on her nerves. They didn’t have time to be chit-chatting about rules and what exactly Thad’s job description and list of qualifications were. They needed to get moving.

“I’m going to say this once and only once,” she began.

“I dinna know that Perizada was giving lessons to the wee ones,” a thick Irish accent lilted.

Adira turned her gaze to the wolf. “And you are?”

“Kale.” He bowed. “Beta, of the Ireland pack.”

“I’d say I was happy to meet you, but that would imply that I like you, and at the moment, I do not.” She turned back to Thad. She just wanted to move things along. Time was ticking, and these people were wasting it as if it just grew on trees. “Would you please tell these daft beings exactly what you’re capable of?”

Thad’s entire face was still as he stared back at her. It was as if he were a statue carved of stone. Adira supposed it was easy to learn to sit so still when all you did was store information in your big magic brain. Regardless, her inability to read what he was thinking only frustrated her more.

Finally, the djinn spoke. “Why?”

That’s it, she thought. The king’s brother wasn’t going to be the last male she graced with a male part on his face. It was kind of sad, too. Thad really was something to behold in all his aristocratic, handsome glory. “Shame.” She breathed out a sigh. Okay, so she didn’t really have the power to mar Thad’s glorious face, but thinking about it did give her some measure of comfort, though only for a second.

“Why, why, why, why,” she parroted. “How about because the veil to my home is closed. The veil to the draheim realm is, you guessed it, closed. I need to get back to my realm and they”—she motioned to the wolves—“have people in my realm that they want to get out.”

“And the draheim realm?” the wolf sitting beside Elle asked. “Why do we need to worry about it being closed?”

“Hmm…” She tapped her lips with her finger. “How do I put this tactfully?”

“Tact doesn’t seem to be your strong suit, wee one,” Kale said sounding amused. “Best ya keep it to simple honesty.”

“Fine,” Adira snapped. “There’s some nasty evil flowing off the veil to the draheim realm. Evil that feels a lot like fae magic, only much, much darker.”

All the males in the room perked up, and she imagined if they’d been in their wolf forms, their ears would have pricked and their hackles risen.

“Volcan,” Kale rumbled.

The room was silent until a cell phone rang. Adira turned to look at the large man who stood and pulled the phone from his pocket. He frowned at the screen and started to put it back. Then he appeared to change his mind and growled in frustration before answering the call.

“What,” he snarled into the phone. Then his enraged face went slack as his eyes filled with relief. “Jewel.”