Titus prepared his jet to go out on another investigation. From his glass pad from the breakfast table.

“I wish you didn’t have to leave me alone again today,” she said. “Is there any way I can go with you?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to find,” he said, feeling her need to be with him.

“You can protect me,” she teased.

After everything they’d been through to get to this point in their relationship, he didn’t want to go backward. His desire to please her conflicted with his need to keep her safe. But since he hadn’t found anything particularly threatening so far, he decided it was better to spend the time together than apart.

“Okay, you can come with me,” he relented.

They made their way to the roof and climbed into his waiting jet. The hovercraft rumbled and lifted them off the ground. After a few seconds, he propelled them through the air over the city. They followed the Illinois river toward Chicago, Desdemona making comments about the beautiful landscape all the way. They passed small, abandoned towns that hadn’t recovered since the Dark Sun took out the power grid.

“Are those zombies?” Desdemona asked pointing out her window.

“The zombie-like vampires created by the Surge rarely come out during the day,” Titus assured her.

“I know. But those creatures I just saw looked an awful lot like the ones I’ve seen in California.”

“Maybe they’ve gained further abilities,” Titus commented.

“Let’s hope not,” Desdemona said nervously.

Since the battle in Denver, the Surge had been quiet in most of the United States. There were scrimmages outside of cities like Los Angeles and New York that had been almost completely run over by The Surge. But the allied immortal clans and covens had been able to push them back everywhere else.

The zombie-like vampires that Xander had created with his genetically modified virus still roamed the land. Titus had not heard of them becoming a greater threat than they had been two years ago. People were still taken out by them every day but this was the first time he had heard anything about them being more active in the daytime.

“It looks like the whole town was crawling with them,” Desdemona said. “They do have a particular way of walking.”

“I believe you saw something,” he said. “I just don’t know what.”

“Where are we?” she asked.

Titus ran his finger over the glass pad dashboard and brought up their exact location. “We’ll be arriving in Chicago in a few minutes.”

“I can’t believe how fast these jets are. It boggles the mind.”

“If we could work faster on restoring the power grid, it would be easier to consolidate resources in order to manufacture immortal technologies for everyone. But with the Surge still a problem and the zombies roaming the land, it remains difficult to rebuild.”

“You’ve done as much as anyone could possibly do,” she said.

He looked over at her, his hands on his jet’s controls. Hearing her say that made his heart burst with pride. He’d been waiting since her arrival for her to recognize the work that he had done in his city. His brother Orion had let the clan’s holdings fall into disrepair until he finally gave up his position at the worst possible moment.

Titus had been working diligently since the Dark Sun to bring light to the people of his city. He hadn’t been perfect, but he had done his best. And now his beloved mate was finally acknowledging him.

“It means a great deal to hear you say that.”

“It’s true. The city is amazing. The rooftop gardens, the power grid, the free hover transportation, you’ve done amazing work. The people are happy. You even let Ajax have his football game. I could see on the faces of the fans how much they admire you. It made me admire you too.”

Titus felt his heart burst. She was giving him the recognition he’d always craved from her, and it felt damn good. Desdemona reached over and gripped his arm, smiling up at him.

They arrived in Chicago soon after. Titus slowly moved through the crowded airspace. Jerith Blackrose had done a tremendous job of repairing the city after the Dark Sun. And many said it was prospering more now than it had before. A certain kind of peace had been restored even if the reins of civilization had been broken.

When Jerith returned from Paris, Titus hoped to have a long conversation with him about what he had done for his town. He hoped that the older brother’s hard work would not be undone while looked after by the younger one.

As Titus steered away from Chicago toward Lake Michigan, he reminded himself that he no longer wanted to blame Kyran for his missing shipment or his past mistakes with Desdemona. They were mated now. No man could ever come between them again. Kyran had lost, and Titus had won.

It was good to let bygones be bygones and Titus felt a certain kind of satisfaction as he stared out over the glassy silver waters of the Great Lake. Kyran hadn’t given him many clues, but he had given him something to go on. He was determined to find out what had happened to the generators. Shipping them over land was proving to be costly and inefficient with the current road conditions.

“Where will we start?” Desdemona asked.

“We’ll follow the trade route until we find something,” he said. “It’s too bad you don’t have psychic powers like my brother’s wife, Lucia.”

“Maybe there’s something I can do anyway.”

“For now, we’ll use technology. I have a scanner that can pick up different types of materials and life forms. Maybe we can get some insights from the scanned data.”

Titus turned on the scanner and began to watch as the information scrolled across to screen.

“Have you found anything?” Desdemona asked several minutes later, leaning toward the dashboard of the jet to get a closer look.

“Not yet,” he said, but a second later his scanner rolled over an area of beach on the east side of the lake. He examined the data and then tilted the wheel of the jet toward the shore.

“I think I found something,” he said, coming in for a landing on the beach.

“This is exciting. Now we get to solve the mystery together.”

The climbed out of the jet and onto the cold damp sand of the shore. The waters of Lake Michigan looked cold and silver-gray in the distance. Titus glanced around, trying to find the materials his scanner had found. The scanner had detected rare minerals that were used in the processing of zero-point energy devices. It was the best clue he had had so far, but as he stood on the beach staring into the scraggly stand of bare willow trees with the cold air blowing in his face, he doubted that he would find anything here.

“I don’t see anything,” he said, walking up the beach toward a small rise.

“Why did you land here?”

“My scanner detected rare minerals used in the processing of our devices. But that could mean anything.”

The willow tree stood up in the earthen rise. All the leaves had fallen from the branches onto the ground below. Desdemona looked confused, hugging herself around the waist from the cold.

“I have an extra coat in the jet if you’re cold,” he said, moving back toward his vehicle to retrieve the jacket.

He slid it around her shoulders and she looked up at him with a smile.

“I’m beginning to think there’s nothing here,” he said.

“Let me see if I can help,” she said.

Desdemona closed her eyes and reached out her arms, her palms open over the ground with her fingers spread wide. Titus watched and listened as Desdemona parted her lips. A long, smooth note emanated from Desdemona’s throat and pierced the cold winter air. Titus’s eyes grew wide as he watched her magic. Since he’d brought her to his city, he had yet to see her use any magic. Perhaps it had been an oversight on his part, perhaps it had been part of his own self involvement, but now that he saw her casting her spell and felt the crackle of her magic in the air, he had a newfound respect for the girl he had taken from the temple.

The notes she sang gained in intensity until she changed her tone and accelerated her magic. The effect was slow at first but soon gained momentum. The willow leaves that had fallen on the ground began to rise as if blown by the air. But instead of flying in a natural pattern from the wind, they began to dance and twirl.

Soon Desdemona had all of the leaves on the shore rising into the air into an ecstatic dance that dazzled the eye and moved the soul. Titus couldn’t speak for long moments. He watched her intently as she cast her magic, not sure if he should speak or move. But then he glanced up the shore again and saw what her magic had revealed. He found one of his zero-point energy devices rusted on the shore.

He growled and walked toward the device, kneeling on the damp sand to examine it. The sound of Titus’s growl caused Desdemona to break from her trance. The leaves slowly fell to the ground as she let her voice subside into silence. She walked toward him and knelt beside him on the beach.

“Is that one of your devices?”

“It is. I can’t tell how it got here, but it looks as if it was thrown overboard somehow.”

“Why would someone throw the devices overboard? I thought they were valuable.”

“I don’t think it was purposefully thrown overboard. I think there was possibly a violent takeover of the ship. But by whom?

“Who would want to steal your devices?”

“All of this time I have blamed Kyran and the Blackrose coven when I should have been focused on other things.”

“What do you know now for sure?”

“I know that the shipment left the Chicago port headed north in Lake Michigan. I also now know that this device washed ashore. By the leaf cover, we can assume that that happened quite some time ago. Probably when the shipment first went missing.”

“What should we do now?”

“Take the device back home to have it examined.”

Titus lifted the device, which would have been too heavy for the average human male to lift alone. He carried it to the jet and placed it inside.

“Let’s get you back to town,” he said

They hurried back to the jet and climbed inside. The heat thawed their chilled bones, but Desdemona’s rosy face only got rosier. He had to get her back to her rooms. These were not the conditions he wanted his bride to experience. Not now, not ever. She was his priestess, his mate, his wife and soon to be the mother of his child. He would protect her with every fiber of his being, and that included her comfort and contentment. It meant everything to him. It always had.