Dalton felt as though his legs were going to give out at the sound of her voice. It had only been a couple of weeks since she’d left him, yet it felt like a lifetime.

“Are you okay? Where are you? When are you coming back to me?” The questions flew out of him without censor as more entered his mind. “What have you been doing? How did you get this number? Are you okay?”

“You already asked me that once,” she said with a small, pained laugh.

“You’re hurt,” he said.

“I’ll be okay,” she told him, but she didn’t sound too sure.

“Tell me where you are, Little Dove. I’ll come to you.” Dalton turned and headed for the door, leaving the little pixie, djinn, wolves, and fae behind without a thought. His mind was completely focused on the voice at the other end of the phone.

“I can’t do that, Dalton.”

Hearing her speak his name was heaven, but knowing she was out of his reach was hell. But then, he’d been in hell for a while with only brief glimpses of heaven when she’d been with him.

“I got the number from Anna,” she said. “She and Gustavo are mates, and they’ve been able to communicate through their bond.”

Dalton winced as a wave of unwanted jealousy rolled over him. He desired that connection with his own mate. He wanted to feel her in his mind and know what she was truly feeling. “Gustavo isn’t with me. He’s in the pixie realm.”

“Yes, but so is Crina, and apparently, she has, like, every wolf on speed dial or something.” She laughed again, and still it sounded so full of pain.

“Please tell me what’s going on, Jewel. I need to know that you’re safe. I’m dying here, love.”

“I don’t know that telling you will put you out of your misery or only prolong your death,” she practically whispered. “It’s not good, Dalton. I wish I had something positive to tell you. I wish I could tell you something that would make you so proud, but I can’t.”

“Baby, I don’t care about anything but you. Your health, your safety, your happiness. You. That’s it.” He didn’t know what to say to help her open up to him. Whatever she was facing, he didn’t want her to have to face it alone. He knew what it was like to be alone, facing the darkness and evil, and he didn’t want that for Jewel. He wanted her to know that he was with her.

“Don’t you know that, as your mate, it’s my job to not only fight beside you, but to fight for you when you can’t fight for yourself? You don’t have to bear any burden alone ever again. Let me share it with you,” he pleaded. His wolf wanted to reach through the phone and snatch her from whatever harm she’d found herself in and wrap her up in his safe embrace. It was driving them both crazy to hear the hurt in her voice and not be able to give her any relief.

“My mom is dead,” she said after several minutes of silence. He’d only known she was still there because his wolf’s excellent sense of hearing allowed him to detect her soft breaths.

“Oh, Jewel, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” he told her as he felt his heart break all over again. He ignored the tear that trailed down his cheek. Tears didn’t shame him, not when they fell for the right reasons.

He heard her shaky breaths as she wept. “I just wasn’t expecting her and she was there, and then she was telling me all this stuff and then she was just gone. Just like that. There was no preparation, no time to understand. She was just there one second and gone the next.”

Dalton didn’t say anything. He just listened as she cried. He didn’t understand all of her rambling, but that didn’t matter. The woman he loved was hurting and confused, and she didn’t need his questions. She just need him.

“She loved me so much, Dalton,”

“Of course she did. You’re amazing. She knew that.”

“I got to see myself through her eyes. It was … I don’t know how to explain it. I guess … unexpected.” She chuckled. “I mean, I knew my mom loved me. I guess I just didn’t understand what that looked like, from her side. She thought I was perfect but not perfect. Does that make sense?”

“She saw your flaws as a part of your beauty and what makes you unique,” he said.

“Exactly. How did you know?”

“It’s how I see you.”

“You see my flaws?” There was a smile in her voice.

“I would be a fool, setting us up for failure, if I pretended not to, Little Dove. And I hope you see mine and want me still.”

“That’s pretty beautiful, Dalton.”

“I love it when you say my name,” he admitted. He wanted to add that he hoped she’d be saying it for the rest of their lives but forced his wolf to reel it in. “Can I ask how it happened?”

“She died protecting me,” Jewel admitted. “I can’t give you details because I’m not ready to tell you everything else. Not yet.”

Dalton hated that she was afraid to tell him. He could hear it in her voice, the doubt. “What are you afraid of, Jewel?”

More tears came. Her tears were killing him.

“We’ve already lost the mate bond,” she said. Her voice trembled and ripped a hole in his chest. “I don’t want to lose what we have left.”

“What we have left?” He growled, sudden emotion flooding his veins. “We aren’t broken pieces, Little Dove. We are two halves of a whole, bond be damned. We are not less. You still have all of me. Do I have all of you?”

“What if I can’t give you all of me? Because this is taking me apart piece by piece, and I don’t know how much will be left when it’s all over.”

Dalton wanted to roar in frustration. He hated this. He hated how scared she sounded. He hated that he couldn’t take away her fear and worry. He hated that he couldn’t reach through the bond and soothe her.

“You will give me all of you, even if I have to put you back together piece by piece, Jewel. I am your mate, and I am the one person on this earth who has the right to have all of you, just as you are the one person on this earth who has the right to have all of me. I will compromise on most anything but this. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” she said, and it sounded like maybe there was a small smile involved. “Thank you, Dalton. I’m glad that the mate bond being destroyed didn’t end us. I’m glad that you’re mine.”

He closed his eyes as he let her words soak into him. She claimed him. His wolf was howling in delight.

“Why won’t you tell me where you are?” he asked gently.

“Because I still have things I need to do, and if you’re with me you will distract me, and most likely try to stop me,” she admitted.

“Is it dangerous, whatever it is you have to do?”

“Is anything in our world not dangerous?” she countered.

“Touché.” She was right. They did live in a dangerous world. But, as her mate, he was supposed to be protecting her while they maneuvered the wilds together. Soon. He would be with her soon. All he needed was to get Gustavo out of the pixie realm. The Spanish Alpha would be able to hunt for his mate through their bond, and Dalton would just have to follow where he led.

Dalton was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Jewel gasp and then a man’s cold voice.

“Time for round seven.” The male purred. “I’ll admit, I’m impressed with your stamina.”

The sick, twisted delight in his tone caused Dalton to see red.

“Jewel, who is—”

“I have to go,” she said cutting him off. “I’ll call again, please answer.”

“I’ll always answer, Little Dove, but first tell me.”

“I love you, Dalton,” she said, once again interrupting him. Before he could respond, she was gone and the call was ended.

He fought the urge to throw his cell phone. The only thing that stopped him was her promise that she’d call again. He threw his head back and howled in rage as he thought about what the man had said.

“Are you alright?”

Dillon’s voice broke through the haze of anger that had wrapped itself around his brain. Dalton turned to look at his Alpha.

“If I say yes, will you go away?” Dalton asked dryly.

“Not likely.”

“Then no, I’m not alright.” He barked as the rage returned full force. “That was Jewel.” Dalton held up the phone.

“She called you?”

“Anna gave her my number. Apparently, she got it from Gustavo who got it from Crina.” Dalton said tersely. His wolf didn’t want to explain anything. It wanted to kill something.

“Sounds like a bad teen drama.” Dillon let out a sigh. “Is she alright?”

He shook his head. “No. She’s far from alright, but she won’t tell me where she is. And just before she hung up there was a male voice in the background.” The large wolf’s words came out in a low growl.

“What did this man say?” his Alpha asked.

“He said it was time for round seven and was impressed by her stamina.” The words tasted like ash in his mouth. What they implied made him want to puke. His gut clenched, and he felt his teeth elongate, as fingers morphed into claws. He was losing it.

“Did Jewel tell you anything that could help us find them?” Dillon didn’t address what Dalton had just revealed, and Dalton knew it was because speculation wouldn’t help anything.

“The only thing she told me was that her mother is dead. She died right in front of Jewel, but I don’t know the circumstances. Just that Jewel hadn’t expected her mom to be wherever it was they were.” That sounded about as clear as mud.

“Take comfort in the fact that Jewel is alive,” Dillon said.

Dalton snorted as he whipped around to glare at his Alpha. “You know as well as I do that sometimes death is preferable to simply being alive.”

“Is that what you want?” the other man snarled back. “You want her dead?”

“NO!” Dalton roared. “But I don’t want her suffering at the hands of some sick bastard either!”

“You don’t know what is happening, Dalton. He could have meant it was round seven of some sort of witch training. You can’t jump to conclusions. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”

Dalton closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He passed crazy a few months ago. He was well passed having any form of sanity. But he knew Dillon was right. He couldn’t make guesses at what the man’s words had meant.

“What’s going on inside?” he asked, trying to get his mind on something else.

Dillon shook his head. “The pixie is hell-bent on getting Thad to open the pixie veil.”

“Can he?” Dalton’s snapped up to meet his Alpha’s eyes for just a second before sliding to just over his shoulder.

“I don’t know. She seems convinced that he can.”

“What’s Thad say?”

“He hasn’t said a whole lot, and what he has said, I get the impression, is only said to further infuriate the little pixie. He’s an all-powerful, bored, immortal. At this point I think he’ll do just about anything to entertain himself.”

Dalton started for the door.

“What are you doing?” Dillon asked as he moved to join him.

“I’m going to get the pixie what she wants and what we need, that veil opened.”

* * *

Thad feigned a yawn, and he could see the irritation on Adira’s face.

“Am I boring you, djinn? Do you need a bottle to curl up in until someone needs to make a wish?”

He rolled his eyes. “Now you’re not even trying to come up with good insults,” he said. “You’re being lazy and borrowing things from the human imagination.”

“So you’re even snobbish about how you can be insulted? Holy pixie wings you’re worse than that slime ball of a brother Ainsel has.”

Thad’s eyes narrowed. “I am nothing like that wastet of air,” he said coolly. “He has no honor or respect.”

“And you do?” she challenged.

Thad didn’t dignify her question with a response. He maintained the bored appearance as he stared down at her. She was just about to open her mouth again when the front door flew inward, and Dalton stomped in with Dillon right behind him. He walked right over to Thad and stared him in the eyes.

“I will help you find a mate if you open that veil,” he said to the djinn. Dalton’s eyes glowed with his wolf’s power.

“How?” Thad asked him.

Dalton frowned. “How? How am I supposed to know how to open the veil? You’re the damn djinn with all the magic.”

Thad sighed and waved away the wolf’s words. “No, you imbecile, how will you find me a mate?”

“You want a mate?” Elle asked him before Dalton could answer. “Don’t you have one in your own species?”

Thad turned his eyes on her. Her mate, Sorin, shifted closer to the fae, placing a hand possessively on her back.

“My own species doesn’t mate for life,” he told her.

Elle nodded. “Mine doesn’t often,” she said. “But why would you want something like that?”

“I have been recording the history of all the supernatural races for more decades that I care to admit,” he said as he stood, unfolding his long form. As the most powerful of his race, he was also the largest. At nearly seven feet, he towered over even most of the werewolves. He walked over to the large windows that looked out into the front of Peri’s home. The landscape was picturesque, and yet it didn’t leave him in awe. “I have seen every emotion through the eyes of others. But I have only experienced a handful of those emotions personally,” he continued. “After meeting Sally and her mate, I realized that I didn’t want to experience all of those things secondhand through my recordings. I want them for myself.” He turned to face the room, but his eyes landed on Elle. “I see the way you and your mate look at each other, but I don’t understand it. The longing in your eyes for one another, it’s beyond my grasp of comprehension. It’s like seeing the notes of a beautiful piece of music but not being able to hear the melody. I’m tired of simply reading the music. I want to hear it and feel it.”

The room was silent as Elle wiped a tear from her eye. “Then you should find your mate, because for you to feel like that means you must have one out there.”

Thad’s lips turned up in a small smile. “Thank you, Elle of the fae, mate to Sorin of the Romania pack. I hope that you are correct.”

He turned back to Dalton and straightened his shoulders. “How do you propose you will find me a mate?”

“I don’t know that just yet, but you aren’t going to find her by sitting in Perizada’s home sulking.”

“I wasn’t sulking.”

“You were totally sulking,” Adira taunted.

He glared down at the small creature. She simply smiled up at him in a patronizing sort of way. “Fine. I might have had a moment of irritation over my circumstances. In my defense, it’s rather irritating watching so many happy couples.”

The whole room broke into grumbles as everyone glared at Elle and Sorin. “What?” Elle asked. “Oh, come on. Sorin and I are the least lovey dovey of all of us.”

Thad shrugged. “Regardless. I want a mate. I am not completely versed in interaction with the opposite sex.”

“And you’re asking Dalton for help?” Dillon asked, sounding amused.

“At the time I asked him, he seemed as if he needed a distraction.”

“There is nothing on earth that can distract a male when his mate is in danger,” Kale said. More grumbles of agreement.

“Look.” Dillon took a step forward. “We can all appreciate that you want a mate. We are brought into this world knowing that we have a true mate out there, someone who will complete us, and we have no idea where she is. If anyone can sympathize with you, it’s a Canis lupus male. We will all help you. Can you, in return, help us get our people out of the pixie realm?”

Thad met the Alpha’s gaze. “Do you miss your mate?”

Dillon’s eyes glowed briefly. “With every breath,” he admitted. “I’ve been able to have one of the fae take me to see her a few times, but yes, I miss her. Our bond helps, but it is not the same as being able to hold her, or see her face to face.”

Thad knew Dillon’s history, just as he knew the history of each of them in the room. Dillon bore the weight of more than one love. He had loved another before his true mate. Though the love he felt for Lilly Pierce was real, it did not hold the same intensity found in the love for his true mate. Thad had seen in his mind’s eye the day that Dillon had walked away from Lilly and the unborn child he knew nothing about. It had broken a piece of him, even as he embraced the she-wolf destined to be his. Thad hadn’t fully understood the Alpha’s choice, but he felt his pain and had respected the fact that he’d been honest with Lilly. She’d known that she might one day lose him. He was a man of honor.

“I will open the veil,” Thad said finally. “It is against the rules.” He turned back to Adira. “As a being of such power, and a historian, I am supposed to remain neutral in the affairs of other supernaturals.”

“There is no such thing as neutral,” Adira said as she glared daggers at him. “Those who refuse to stand against evil, claiming that they take no side, are fools. The minute you don’t stand for good, for justice, and for truth, then you have fallen for the lies evil decorates as apathetic tolerance.”

“Humans call that a burn,” Elle said as she grinned and winked at him.

“From up here, it felt more like steam from warm bath water.” Thad straightened the cuffs of his shirt and made sure his collar was straight on his dress shirt as he walked to the door. It wouldn’t do to begin his search for a mate with rumpled clothes. He stopped and turned back to Elle. “Is what I’m wearing presentable for my mate?”

Elle’s eyes widened. “Thad, it could take a while to find the right female. You do realize that, right? We won’t find one just as soon as you walk out that door.”

He stood straighter and pulled his shoulders back. “Of course, I knew that. I just need to know if my usual attire is generally acceptable or if I should acquire different garments.”

“I think if you have to change the way you dress for her then you’ve got the wrong female,” Elle responded.

Thad looked at her and then to Sorin. “Is she really your mate?”

“Yes,” Sorin answered.

“Would you fight for her?”

“Yes.”

“And if you die, she dies?”

“Yes.”

“Thad, I’m not the female for you,” Elle said holding in her laughter at him and her irritated mate.

He shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to be sure.” He opened the door and stepped out. “Maybe one of the healers in the pixie realm will be to my liking.”

“Oh, snap,” Elle huffed as she grabbed Thad’s arm. He heard snarls and growls but then was suddenly in darkness, only to reappear in the quiet of the forest.

He looked behind him and found Sorin and Elle standing there staring at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What?” Thad asked.

“Did you seriously just imply that you wanted one of the females in the pixie realm?” Sorin growled.

“I haven’t met them yet. I don’t know if I will want one of them or not,” Thad answered.

“They’re all taken, you fool,” the wolf snarled back.

“No,” Thad shook his head. “None of them are mated.”

“There are pack members that feel the mate bond. Blood Rites or not, those females aren’t free for you to put designs on.”

Thad let out a tired sigh. “I forget sometimes how sensitive you wolves are about your females.”

“I truly hope you find yourself a mate, Thad,” Sorin said slyly. “It will be worth putting up with you if I get to see you be sensitive, as you call it, about the woman you would die to protect and live to serve.”

* * *

Nick would have laughed if Kara wasn’t in the pixie realm and one of the females the djinn had implied might be to his liking. Instead, he, Kale, and Ciro lunged at the completely oblivious supernatural. If Elle hadn’t flashed the djinn away from them, they’d all be picking themselves up off the floor after Thad had recovered from the brief moment of surprise their combined attack would have caused. Thad would have wiped the floor with all of them as if he were swatting away a fly. But he was also completely clueless when it came to interaction with other people, regardless of their race or species, so he’d had no idea his words were going to cause offense.

“We need to go.” Kale snarled, and his Irish accent was thick with his anger. “I don’t want him opening that veil without us there.”

“He isn’t going to take any of your females.” Lucian spoke up for the first time since the whole mess had started. He’d been silently watching the exchange between Thad, Adira, and Elle. Nick had noticed how contemplative the older wolf had seemed and wondered what it was that Lucian saw which no one else detected.

Kale growled again, but Lucian held up a hand. “Enough. Thad has been recording our history before you were even a fertilized egg. He knows how we feel about our mates. He won’t attempt to take one of your females.”

Elle suddenly appeared. She held up her hands as if to ward off the wolves. “You have to calm down if you expect me to take you anywhere near him.” She looked at Lucian. “Are they going to be cool?”

Lucian nodded. “They won’t touch him.”

Ciro put a hand on Kale’s and Nick’s shoulders, pulling them back. “Please,” Ciro said. “We will not harm him.”

Kale shot him a glare, and Nick couldn’t stop the growl that rumbled in his throat. Lucian let out a sigh.

“Elle, I can take one of them with me, if you can handle the others,” Adira said, stepping forward.

“Myself, Kale, Ciro, and Nick,” Lucian said as he pointed to each of them, “will go.”

“I’m going,” Dalton said, stepping up next to the others.”

Lucian looked at Dillon who simply shrugged.

“Fine,” Lucian said. “But the unmated males will stay here.” He glanced around at Drayden, Bannan, Antonia, and Aimo. The four unmated males were often off hunting in their wolf forms or working on combat. Nick had noticed that even his own Alpha avoided being around the males that had found their true mates. Nick could understand. If he had been one who hadn’t found his mate, he wouldn’t want to be around the others either. it would be too painful.

“We will hold down the fort,” Drayden confirmed.

“Thank you,” Lucian said with a respectful nod.

Nick was watching his Alpha for any sign that he was irritated at being told he couldn’t come, but he didn’t see anything other than acceptance. Drayden looked at him. “Remember the punishment that Lucian justly gave,” he told him. “Don’t flip your lid when you can’t react to her the way your wolf wants to.”

“Bloody hell,” Nick muttered. He’d forgotten about the spell Lucian had put on them. Judging by the sounds of cursing the other two were making, they’d forgotten, too.

Elle looked at Lucian and then at the cursing wolves. “Do I want to know?”

Lucian smiled. “It will be more fun to simply watch.”

Elle laughed. “The Great Luna knew what she was doing when she paired you with Perizada.”

Nick bit his tongue to keep from snarling at them to hurry the hell up. It wasn’t like him to lose his patience, but the idea that he would possibly be seeing Kara in a matter of minutes was messing with his head. When Elle held her arms out, Nick muttered, “Finally.”

Lucian turned to him. “So eager to stand before your mate like a toddler who can’t reach the cookie jar?”

He had a point, Nick thought, but then just seeing her would be enough. “I just want to see with my own eyes that she is okay.”

Lucian nodded. “I can understand the need to be near her, but remember she is human. Do not scare her with your intensity. Currently, you look a bit like a deranged, biker-gang member.”

“So reign in the creepy,” Nick said giving Lucian a thumbs up. “Got it.”

One by one, the three males put a hand on Elle’s arms while Lucian took Adira’s small hand. Nick didn’t particularly like traveling by flashing. He was a wolf, and he liked his paws planted firmly on the ground.

Without any warning, darkness enveloped him for a few seconds, and then they were surrounded by forest, their feet once again touching the earth. Nick let out the breath he’d been holding and turned to find Thad standing with his arms in the air and his palms pressed flat against an invisible wall.

“He used very dark magic,” Thad said.

“Don’t you know what happened?” Elle asked. “Isn’t it recorded somewhere in that massive brain?”

“I do know what happened,” he answered. “But I cannot always feel what is currently happening. I simply see it, and sometimes I do not even recognize it. It just depends on how much information is being recorded at once.”

Kale shook his head. “I dunna understand how you can possibly store that much information.”

Thad looked over his shoulder and grinned, though it looked very predatory. “Magic,” he crooned. “Now, I need you all to be quiet while I work. Babbling is distracting.”

Rumbles from the wolves at his sharp tone caused the djinn to tsk his tongue at them. “Growling is equally as distracting.”

Nick walked over to a tree closer to where Thad was working his magic and leaned up against it. He folded his arms across his chest and tried to keep from growling at the djinn to hurry up. He’d already had his butt handed to him by the supernatural historian. he didn’t need an encore of the performance any time soon.

He’d only been standing there a few minutes when he felt her. The fear that stabbed him was sharp, causing him to hiss through his teeth. Kale and Ciro were both standing at attention, having moved at the same time Nick had.

“Did you feel that?” Nick asked them.

They both nodded.

“They are very afraid of something,” Ciro said calmly.

Nick tried reaching for her mind, but it was just out of his reach, probably because she wasn’t eighteen and their bond shouldn’t even be connected at all. For some reason, it was. “Are either of you able to enter their minds?”

Both males’ heads snapped over to look at him. What he asked was a very personal question. Anything regarding the bond between true mates was personal, and un-bonded males who were in the process of solidifying that bond were especially touchy about it. Nick understood why. Such an inquiry could be likened to questioning the legitimacy of the bond, which to a male Canis lupus meant you were challenging their claim.

Nick held up his hands. “I only ask because I can’t connect that way with Kara, at least not yet. I can only feel some emotions from her, and not all the time.”

“I get glimpses, but I’ve yet to be able to speak with her,” Kale admitted.

“I am the same,” Ciro said.

Nick felt the fear again and tried to decipher its origin. Kara didn’t seem to be in any pain, but something was causing her to be frightened. What could possibly scare her in the pixie realm? The deadliest things there were Adam, Crina, and Gustavo.

He froze. Gustavo. An un-bonded male with a mate who was most likely in Volcan’s grasp. It was a recipe for disaster. “Thad, you’ve got to get the veil open,” Nick commanded, uncaring if his words offended. If Gustavo was not in control of his wolf, he could and would become feral. Feral wolves were dangerous to everyone, save their mate.

Thad continued to mutter under his breath as his hands moved over the invisible surface. Nick felt helpless as he watched, and his wolf wanted to bite the djinn to see if it would make him move faster. Nick kept his beast in check. Going around biting people wouldn’t get him to Kara any faster.

It felt like forever, but finally Thad’s hands began to emit a bright light. The trees around them began to sway, and the ground began to shake. Thad’s chanting grew louder in a language Nick had never before heard. He looked up as dark clouds gathered overhead, and thunder rolled through the sky. Lightning flashed, striking a tree close enough that they could see it split in half.

“Looks like Volcan pulled out all the stops when he blocked this veil,” Adira said as she stood staring at the awesome display of power.

“Is he going to be able to open it?” Nick asked her.

“Yes, but it’s just going to take all his awesomeness to do it. Volcan has grown stronger. Having Jewel and Anna by his side with his blood intermingled with theirs is empowering him. With every witch made, he will only continue to gain more power.”

The storm continued to rage around them as Thad worked. Everyone else was doing the same thing as Nick, standing and staring, no doubt wondering if their hopes had been in vain.