The next day, Jules and I are in the library again, going through more books, when suddenly my eyes start to water. Normally, that leads to a memory resurfacing. However, no forgotten images appear. I rub my eyes and continue reading until the words on the pages begin to blur.

Lifting my gaze from the book, I press the heels of my hands against my eyes.

“Everything okay?” Jules asks, sprawled out on the floor beside my feet with a short wall of books surrounding him.

Nodding, I lower my hands to my lap. “My eyes are just a bit watery, and it’s making my vision blurry.”

He sets the book aside and kneels in front of me. “Maybe you need a break.”

I shake my head, collecting the book off my lap. “No, I’m fine. I swear.” He meticulously observes me as I flip to the next page. “Jules, I swear I’m fine. Stop worrying.”

“It’s my job to worry about you.” But he lies back down on the floor amongst the stacks of books. “Let me know if they start bothering you again.”

“Yes, boss, sir.”

“You know what? I think you should start calling me that all the time.”

I poke him in the side with my toe, but he only laughs.

Shaking my head, I redirect my concentration back to the book.

Pages later, my stubbornness pays off when I pick up a thin journal.

My heart literally stops as I reread the page that snagged my attention.

A page written by his mother.

Jules and Liberty,

If you found this, then it means that I’m either a shadow or faded away completely. I’m hoping, if you find this, that it’s not too late. That your father hasn’t achieved his final goal.

I’m not sure if you’ll understand what I’m talking about, so let me explain.

A couple decades ago, your father started becoming obsessed with immortality. He spent every hour he possibly could searching for a way to live forever. And not just in the way that the undead can live forever. He wanted to be indestructible, where no weapon, no potion, or no creature could kill him.

After almost a decade, he found a way to make this happen. A magical seed he attained. From where, I don’t know. But he planted the seed and waited for the vines to grow.

He couldn’t do it alone. He had to get at least one creature from each realm—even the human realm—to connect with him, to want to achieve the same kind of everlasting immortality. Eventually, he found the creatures he desired, creatures who are as cruel as him, if not more so. They all planted a seed in their realm, and like your father, they waited.

The plan was that the seeds would grow into indestructible vines, and eventually, those vines would take over the land, and with that, their immorality would come to life and strengthen.

In the beginning, the vines lay dormant, along with the creatures’ desired immortality. After chasing down countless creatures and looking for answers as to why the vines wouldn’t flourish, your father found a higher mountain witch who knew the secrets of the deadly vines. She told your father that, in order for the vines to flourish, first he needed to feed the seeds. And the main food source of the vines is magical creatures.

I rub my hand against my aching chest. Oh, my wolves, I can’t believe what I’m reading. Or maybe I can. I don’t really know …

A memory sparkles in my mind, whispering that I do.

Breathing deeply, I continue reading.

The second thing that needed to happen in order for the seeds to turn into vines is that the area where the seed was planted needed to be rid of any nature energy creatures, creatures who could kill off the vines. If he got rid of these creatures in his kingdom, the vines would sprout from the seeds. The witch also told him that, if he could get the vines to grow enough to interweave with the vines in the other realms, him and the other creatures he was working with would be immortal forever. Nothing could kill them.

There was a loophole—there always is. If someone found a nature energy creature from each of the realms and bound their magic together, they could kill the vines. But this must happen before the vines from the other realms connect. Because, once they do, nothing can destroy them. And if your father and the other creatures aren’t stopped, they will feed the vines lives until nothing is left of the realms.

I’ve tried to stop your father many times, but he’s more powerful than me and has spelled me to secrecy. Writing this down is the only way I’ve found around the spell. But I can’t give this journal to you. It has to be stumbled upon. So, I hope it finds you, and I hope, for the sake of the realms, that you’re able to find the nature energy creatures who can stop the vines.

The page ends there. I can tell she was afraid by her jostled handwriting.

My heart is an erratic mess in my chest.

I am the cure. I am part of what can save, not just this realm, but all the realms.

For a selfish moment, I contemplate tucking the book away and not telling Jules. But the moment quickly passes as guilt crushes my soul.

“Jules, I think you need to read this.” I numbly hand him the journal.

He sits up and takes the journal from me with his brows knit.

I lean back in the chair and shut my eyes as he silently reads, only our rushed breaths filling up the silence. The clock dings, announcing the next hour.

He should’ve been done reading by now.

I open my eyes and find him staring at me, no violet glow, no smile.

“We need to find these other nature creatures,” I mumble, staring at the clock. It’s easier than looking at his expressionless face.

“Yeah, we do,” he agrees.

Tears pool in my eyes. I feel like such a coward.

He climbs onto the sofa beside me, cups my chin, and forces me to look at him. “I will not sacrifice you, Lake. I promise you that. But we need to find these creatures, and then find this witch.”

I inhale, sucking back the tears, pretending to be tougher than I am. “Why do we need to find the witch?”

He scoops up the journal from off the floor and hands it to me, tapping a page. I was so overwhelmed with emotions while I was reading the journal entry that I didn’t bother looking through the rest of the pages. If I had, I’d have realized his mom scribbled a few more words that could help us.

Start with finding the higher mountain witch your father spoke to. She can give you more information about the vines: how to get rid of them, and how to get them to stop taking lives. She is the key to this, so go to the Sun Moon Realm and find her. Her name is Star. She lives on the highest mountain in the realm. That’s all I know as of now. If I find out more, I’ll write it down.

I fan through the pages, but there are no more entries.

“We need to find this witch,” Jules says. “Then we’ll start looking for these other nature realm creatures. But first, I need to find out how to get rid of these vines without losing you. Because I won’t lose you, Lake.” He traps my face between his hands. “I refuse to.”

“How do we find the witch?” I wonder. “Werewolves are banned from the Sun Moon Realm.”

“We’ll might be able to find a witch who can get us into the realm. Definitely not Ava, though. Not when she’s bound to my father. Or we could find another creature we can trust and send them in to find Star.”

“We could always ask Legend.” When he starts to shake his head, I stress a valid point. “He’s the most trustworthy creature I know, besides you, and he’s known about my abilities and hasn’t told a single creature. We can trust him. I know we can.”

He considers what I said for a lengthy amount of time. “You think he’d do it? Because, it could be complicated and risky. Not to mention he couldn’t tell any other creature what he was doing.”

“I know he’d want to help, especially if it means helping me.”

More silence and then, “If you say we can trust him, then I do, too. We’ll ask him to do this, but we need to make sure he fully understands what he’s getting into. And no one else can know about this yet.”

“How are we supposed to find all these nature energy creatures without help? We’re going to need more creatures than just you, me, and Legend.”

“I know. After we talk to Legend and see if he’s in, we’ll figure out what wolves to bring in on this. They’ll have to be trustworthy. Shade, Rune, Liberty, and Kylan for sure. And my guards.”

“Are all your guards trustworthy?” I regret the question, but I don’t know his guards like I know Shade, Rune, Liberty, and even Kylan.

He nods. “I trust them with my life, and I know they’d pick me over my father.”

Tears well in my eyes at the mention of his father. “Jules, do you think …? Do you think my parents’ death and my disappearance had to do with this?” What I don’t dare say aloud is: do you think your father killed my parents?

“Maybe,” he whispers, his eyes wide and glossy. “I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what else to say.” Remorse shines clearly through his violet gaze; an internal sorrow he always carries even more evident.

“It’s not your fault it happened.” I slowly reach for him, testing my feelings, seeing if what I feel for him has changed. When my fingers sweep across his cheek, my chest glows with warmth. So does my soul. “I don’t want you to feel guilty about it.” I know he will. Just like he felt guilty about what happened to me all those years ago.

Unsure how else to reassure him, I allow my wolf to take over. What she does next is irreversible, but I might love her for it, for still wanting him like I do.

Without warning, I slant forward, lower my lips to his neck and sink my teeth into his skin. He gasps a protest, but then he melts into me, fisting a handful of my hair and pulling me closer. As my teeth delve in even deeper, he lets out a roaring moan loud enough to shake the house.

When I pull away, breathless and wired, he draws my mouth to his lips and kisses me until my lips are swollen, until I’m so dizzy on his scent I can scarcely breathe.

“I’m going to fix this,” he murmurs against my lips. “One day, you’ll be able to live a normal life without worry or fear.”

“My life might not be normal right now, but I’m not as afraid as I used to be.” I kiss him again, because his lips are right there. So are the bite marks on his neck. Bite marks I put there.

He’s only bitten me in my dreams, and when I wake up, the marks are always gone. Seeing the indents in his neck makes me crave to have markings of my own.

As if sensing my desires, he urges me to angle my head to the side then gently bites the speck of flesh right below my ear. I whimper, my fingernails clawing into his shoulders as my eyes roll into the back of my head.

I want nothing more than to tear his clothes off, but after sucking and grazing his teeth along the sensitive skin one more time, he pulls back.

“You know, the more we do that, the more linked we become,” he warns. “I know I want it, but I want—need—to make sure you do, too. I don’t ever want you to feel forced into being with me.”

Instead of using words to answer him, I lean forward and bite him once again.