“Didn’t expect you to be home,” Tase greeted as I trotted down the stairs after showering. “Date didn’t go so well?”

“What are you doing here?” I headed for the bar cart in the sunken living room of the home we grew up in.

It was a large, two-story log cabin, built and added on to over the years by our father, once he had money, made with illicit business dealings. The walls showed off the natural logs, and Mom had always favored dark colors, so the interior felt a lot like a cave—a cave in a tree trunk. Maybe someday, when my sisters were older, Alina or Aurora could have the house and update the décor to brighten up the place. Well, Aurora might. Alina would likely paint everything black, to match her heart.

Tase stretched out on one of the leather sofas. “This is our home, bro.”

I poured a glass of scotch. “You have your own place.”

“So do you.”

I snorted. I’d moved back here the day after our parents died and rented my place out. “We have a sister and brother still in high school. Someone has to be the adult around here.”

He cocked his head. “Do you even know where they are?”

Pausing, I took a sip of my drink and listened for Andrei’s and Aurora’s heartbeats. “Yeah. They’re in their rooms. Right where they’re supposed to be. Even Alina is.”

Only Adrian was out of the house, but he was twenty-two and always stayed at the condo he bought in Havenstone.

“What a good dad you are,” Tase taunted as he slow clapped.

“Fuck off.”

He pretended to be offended. “Is that any way to talk to your older brother?”

“What do you want?”

“I have to make a run to Montrose. Wanna ride with me?”

In Tase-speak, a run meant dropping off or picking up something probably illegal, or dropping off or picking up payment for something probably illegal. As a family, the Rocas had several business interests, a couple on the right side of the law, such as the metal works company I ran. Then we each had something of our own. Besides the ski resort he bought a few years ago, Tase’s side interests tended to fall on the wrong side of the law. He, as well as our other siblings, liked to follow in our father’s not-so-good footsteps.

Tase often made runs to Montrose. Located sixty miles away from Havenwood Falls on twisty mountain roads, it was the closest town with a population over a few thousand and a crossroads that led to Grand Junction and the closest interstate. I used to make the runs with him on occasion. Not my thing anymore.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Three hours in the car with you? Nah. I think I’ll pass.”

He leaned forward and peered up at me. We had the same dark hair and olive skin, and strangers often mistook us for twins. That was a little ridiculous, but there was no mistaking we were brothers. His eyes were now a little greener than mine, though. If he turned full-on strigoi, they’d glow a lime green. The Luna Coven High Council predicted he had about a year, eighteen months if their magic held. Perhaps enough time for Addie to find or create a counter-curse.

Perhaps not.

“What the hell’s gotten into you, bro?” Tase asked. “You and I were a team.”

“A team?” I scoffed. He was a distraction when Michaela was gone. Now he was trouble. “We haven’t been a team since the moment you sold out to someone else and turned Michaela behind my back. You made me your unwilling sidekick. Someone to keep you company.”

“Yeah, well, keep me company now. What else are you going to do? Sit in your room pining for Michaela and jerking off? That’s not like you.” He paused and glanced upward, as though he could see the upstairs bedrooms. “If you don’t go, I’ll ask Alina or Andrei. I know they’d love to come.”

I growled. The last thing I needed was any of our younger siblings getting involved in his business, especially those who were still human and therefore a lot more breakable. If I had any say, Tase himself wouldn’t be involved in his own business. Not this kind, anyway. He needed to focus on his legit shit, like the ski resort.

“You suck,” I said, before throwing back the rest of the scotch and savoring the burn. “You know that’s not happening.”

“So you’re going with me?”

“Will it get us arrested? Or in trouble with the Court? Because that’s not an option.” For a few different reasons.

Tase smirked. “Not if we don’t get caught.”

Against my better judgment, I acquiesced and went to my room to throw on jeans and a T-shirt. Ten minutes later, Tase’s late-model Camaro SS turned onto Main Street toward the only highway out of town. As we passed the inn, I couldn’t help but notice which lights were on in the cottage and the inn. Michaela was still up. I wasn’t surprised. We were nocturnal creatures.

At one time, those lights would have been all the invitation I needed. At one time, she would have been happy to see me show up at her door unexpectedly. At one time, I knew exactly how she felt and how she’d react.

Now, though, I felt like I knew nothing.

And I didn’t want to assume. Michaela had changed while she was gone, off in the big city on the far side of the country. Hell, I’d changed, and I hadn’t gone anywhere. We were supposed to have grown and changed together, but that hadn’t happened. Choices had been made for us, with no consideration for what we wanted. Especially for her. After everything she’d been through, I didn’t want to push her into anything that I couldn’t be sure she wanted.

So, instead of sitting on the couch with her, watching a movie or doing much more interesting things, here I was, making a run with my brother, smuggling only he knew what, because I wasn’t about to ask. Some things were better left unknown.

When we pulled into a parking lot in front of a row of warehouses in Montrose and I smelled human blood, it became clear that it was a good thing I’d come.

As vampires, we craved blood. It sustained our bodies. Human blood tasted best—like heaven, actually—but animal blood served our needs just as well. As moroi vamps, we could still consume—and quite enjoy—regular food and drink, too. We were mortal, born human with a gene that made us prone to vampirism. When our gene was triggered, we turned. Although it was difficult to kill us, it wasn’t impossible.

Human blood called to us louder than sirens called to their victims, and just one drop could send us into a frenzy. But unlike other vamps, we couldn’t indulge in our true nature. Because each time we killed a human, the need for human flesh and blood escalated until it’d eventually drive us mad and turn us into strigoi. Strigoi were immortal predators. Nearly impossible to kill, they murdered for the thrill of it. Strigoi were true monsters.

The rulers of Havenwood Falls didn’t tolerate strigoi. Any signs of a moroi becoming one meant death by execution.

This was why Tase had a death sentence hanging over his head. When he triggered Michaela’s gene against her will, he caused a curse that had been on her family to jump to ours. The Luna Coven had managed to extricate the curse from the rest of us and instill it only in Tase—a curse meant to drive him to become strigoi. They also spelled him to suppress the urges, but that was a stop-gap, to buy time until they found a way to break the curse completely. If they didn’t find one soon, though, it was only a matter of time before he lost all control.

We all grew up knowing about our heritage. Triggering our moroi gene was a ritual the Roca kids looked forward to for years, until we graduated high school and were finally old enough. Unlike the Petrans. While Michaela and her siblings knew what their parents were, the Petrans had always acted like their kids were too good to become vampires. Now we knew the curse on them was the reason, but my father had always mocked how they tried to deny what they were by drinking in secret. We grew up exposed to blood, all different kinds, human and animal. Even before I’d turned, I could smell the faintest traces on the air.

As soon as Tase parked the car in front of the warehouse in Montrose, the sweet scent slammed into me, making my mouth water.

He smelled it, too. A growl rumbled in his chest.

“I don’t think you should go in,” I said before he could open the door.

“I have to make the pickup.”

“Just let me run in and grab it. Stay in the car.”

“No!” he nearly shouted. “It has to be me. Just cover me, okay?”

Pausing, I gripped the door handle. “Who are these people? Do they know about you and the curse? Is this a game they’re playing?”

His jaw muscle popped as he stared at the door, his leg bouncing up and down. “If it is, they lose.”

“Tase—”

“Xandru, I smell a human female in there, bleeding out. And I’m this fucking close to finishing her off.” He turned to look at me, his eyes glowing a brighter green than I’d seen them yet, his finger and thumb nearly touching. “You got my back or not?”

Then, in a blur, he was out of the car and throwing open the metal door with a flick of his hand before he’d even reached it. I shot out of the car and blurred inside, but I was still barely in time. A girl in her early twenties sat tied to a chair in the middle of the empty warehouse, blood pooled around her feet and Tase already at her throat, gulping like an animal.

“No!” I flew at him and yanked him off of her, throwing him several yards away. He landed in a crouch, glaring at me with those bright green eyes. “Control yourself, damn it!”

His nostrils flared, but he appeared to be holding his breath, the only way he’d be able to overcome the bloodlust. He had to overcome the bloodlust. If he gave in and killed her, it’d be that much easier to do it again the next time. And then the next, and then he’d be fast on his way to becoming strigoi and an unstoppable killing machine. The Court would be forced to kill him.

When I thought he’d regained some semblance of control, I let my fangs out and bit into my wrist, then fed the girl my blood, my eyes never leaving Tase, and his never leaving her throat.

I inhaled as I listened to our surroundings. Besides the girl, we were alone in the warehouse, but a faint scent of someone not human lingered on the air. They’d left only in the last few minutes.

“Find them,” I ground out through a clenched jaw, needing Tase to leave before the blood he’d just drank gave him more strength than I could fend off. “Someone set you up, and you’re letting them get away with it.”

He glared at me for another moment, then nodded before becoming a blur as he ran outside. At least if he found them and killed them, it wouldn’t affect the curse, since they weren’t human.

When the girl had enough of my blood for her wounds to start healing, I untied her and carried her out to the car. Tase was nowhere to be seen, and I didn’t want to stray too far from the girl, who might have been our only witness. Fifteen minutes later, there was still no sign of Tase, but the girl began to stir.

“Who are you?” she asked with wide brown eyes as she tried to sit up, her dark brown hair blood-crusted and matted to her face. Her gaze flitted around the cramped backseat and out the windows. “Where am I?”

I rushed over and squatted in between the door and the seats. “We’re at the railroad warehouses in Montrose.”

“Who the hell are you?” The smell of fear came off her in waves. She rubbed at her bloody neck, then looked at her hands and screamed.

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay,” I tried to soothe. “I found you. You’re okay now. It’s not your blood,” I lied to calm her down.

She blinked at me as her pulse quickened. Her eyes darted around, and then she tried to push past me and out the door, but I blocked her way.

“Please let me go,” she cried. “Please don’t hurt me again.”

I placed my hands on her shoulders and held her in place. “I won’t hurt you. I promise I didn’t do this to you. But I have a few questions so I can find out who did.”

Her eyes were wild as she looked around again, and then she swallowed, her gaze returning to me. Her whole body trembled under my grasp.

“Do you know who brought you here?” I asked. She shook her head. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Her brows came together, as if she struggled to recall. “I went hiking, and my foot slipped . . . I remember waking up in my motel, then going to Black Canyon. I started down the trailhead . . .” She paused. “But nothing after that.”

“Were you alone?”

She frowned. “Yeah. My boyfriend doesn’t like the outdoors. It’s my sanctuary, though.”

Not much of a sanctuary today. “Did you see anyone on the trail?”

She gave it more thought, then shook her head again. “No. Nobody.”

“Isn’t that odd? It’s a busy time of season.”

“Yeah. It is, isn’t it? So tell me what happened.” Her voice went from dazed and confused to angry and accusatory.

I held up my hands. “I didn’t do anything. Remember? I found you. I saved you.”

“From who? Or what?”

“That’s what I’d like to find out.” I leaned in closer and stared into her eyes, searching out the connection to compel her. When I felt it click in my mind, I asked her again, “What happened to you? Who did this?”

She stared at me with a vacant look. I probed harder through our connection. “I don’t know. I went hiking and my foot slipped . . . I remember waking up in my motel . . .”

Fuck. She’d already been compelled. A magical blockade in her mind prevented her from remembering anything else. I just couldn’t tell if it was done by another vampire or something else, such as a fae or a witch.

Footsteps sounded on concrete behind me, and I jumped and spun. Tase sauntered toward us.

“Did you find who did this?” I gestured toward the girl.

“Nah. No trace,” he said. “No footprints. No scent to follow. Did she say what happened?”

I shook my head. “She’s been compelled or glamoured.”

Tase stopped in front of me and pushed a hand through his hair, his gaze bouncing around the darkened parking lot and warehouse. When he finally spoke, his voice came out low. “Does she know what I did?”

“No. She remembers nothing.”

“Then let’s make sure of that and get out of here.”

I lifted a brow. “We’re not going to leave her here. She has no idea where she is.”

He blew out a harsh breath. “Damn it. Fine. What do we do with her then?”

The girl snorted. “Uh . . . hello? I’m right here, and I’m not some piece of trash you found on the side of the road.”

Tase growled.

I dipped my head. “Is there somewhere we can take you?”

She started to get out. “I think I’ll walk, thanks.”

“Sounds good,” Tase said, heading for the driver’s side.

I grabbed his upper arm, stopping him. “You really think it’s a good idea to just let her walk off?” I asked with sarcasm.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

“We’re not leaving you here,” I told the girl, pushing the front seat back, blocking her in. I slid into it as Tase went around to the driver’s side.

We found her motel and parked in front of her door, then Tase slid out and waited impatiently as she climbed out from behind his seat. He leaned down until they were eye to eye, and he compelled her, changing her memory of everything that had happened.

“You were sick today, so you stayed in all day. You’ll go hiking tomorrow. You just really want a shower and sleep, then everything will be okay in the morning,” he told her. “And throw away those clothes. You never liked them anyway.”

Hunching her shoulders and crossing her arms over her stomach, she went into her room, convinced that she didn’t feel well.

We drove for miles in silence.

“This had to have been a set-up,” I finally said, once we were well out of town and headed home. “Someone wants you to go strigoi.”

“No shit,” Tase agreed.

“Who?”

He shrugged. “I have enemies.”

I turned to glare at him. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“Not at all. I’ve made a few enemies in my business dealings.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” I gestured at him. “I mean this attitude. Like you don’t give a fuck. This is serious shit, brother.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

“How I would love to stop,” I muttered. “It’d make my life so much easier.”

“It’s easy. Stop caring.”

If only. “Unfortunately, you’re my brother. Family. It’s not so easy. Maybe for you, but not for me.”

He didn’t respond for a while. “Yeah, it’s not easy, is it?”

We rode in silence again for a good thirty minutes.

“It has to be someone familiar with the curse,” I said. “Who knows besides the Court and the family?”

“The Petrans.”

“Michaela wouldn’t do this.”

“You sure about that, bro? She’s pretty pissed.”

“She has a right to be. You fucked everyone up. Killed her parents. Killed our parents. She’s just as mad at you for that as she is for her own family.”

He let out a sigh. “You’re right. She has every right to be pissed,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know what would happen, though. Otherwise, I would have never turned . . .”

“And she knows that. Which is why she wouldn’t be setting you up. She’s pissed, but she’s not out for murder. So who else? What about the witch who paid you to turn her? The one who so conveniently disappeared shortly after the Court found out about your arrangement?”

“Magda?” Tase’s jaw popped. “She’s not a problem. Trust me.”

“She’d want you dead, especially if she wanted to come back to Havenwood Falls. Your word against hers, and with you gone . . .”

“I said she’s not a problem.”

Something in his tone pricked my ears. “Tase, man, don’t tell me. You didn’t kill her, did you?”

“No.” He answered too quickly, though, and I could smell a lie on him.

“Fuck, bro.”

“I didn’t kill her,” he insisted. “But she won’t be a problem anymore. Just leave it at that.”

“Well, if not her, then who?”

“I’m not worried about it. It won’t happen again. I’ll change some things up. I’d never met that contact before. I never will. I’ll drop the whole line of connection, just in case.”

Lies, lies, lies.

“I have an idea. Why don’t you just drop the whole damn business? Get our family businesses back on the legal side of the line?”

Tase laughed. “Don’t be stupid. You know as well as I do that most of Dad’s businesses strayed far from that line. I’m just carrying on his legacy.”

I scowled. For a long time, before Michaela left, I’d wanted to believe the Roca reputation was undeserved. Dad had always sworn it was when we were younger. He’d claimed the Old Families, and especially the Petrans, had been out to get us from the beginning. They’d let go of Mom, Dad, and our aunt and uncle as their servants, but according to Dad, they wanted to make sure we could never become equals, so they made up whatever lies they could to keep us down. That was also how he justified both families’ behavior toward my and Michaela’s relationship.

While she was gone, though, I’d become more involved in our family dealings and learned that our family really was as bad as everyone said. I just couldn’t bring myself to care, though. Not after they sent her away. Now, I had a reason to care again. Sadly, the rest of the family didn’t. Not even Tase, whose very life was at stake.

As we pulled into town, my phone went off with several missed text messages. All from Michaela.

Are you busy? I wouldn’t mind some company.

Hey, did you get my last text? Do you want to come over?

I guess that’s a no?

You could at least answer

Well, you’re either busy or sleeping. I’ll see you whenever I see you

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered under my breath.

“Something wrong?” Tase asked as we turned onto our cul-de-sac.

I blew out a breath. “Nah. Just do what you said you’d do. Don’t let this happen again.”

I couldn’t be mad at him or myself for going. If I hadn’t, that girl would probably be dead and Tase would be one step closer to becoming strigoi . . . which meant one step closer to being put down by the Court.

As we walked up the drive toward the house, Tase snatched my phone out of my hand.

“Fuck, dude,” he said after reading the texts. “Cock-blocked again. Sorry, man.”

“The night was doomed from the start.” I told him about the skinwalker and Gabe’s fall through the wall.

Tase’s eyes sparked when I told him about the worthless bracelet Gabe had discovered in the wall. I couldn’t tell if he was amused . . . or something else. I would have almost said nostalgic, if I thought Tase had a nostalgic bone in his body.

“I’ll make up for it,” he said, handing my phone back to me, all humor gone. “Consider it taken care of.”

Once inside, I followed him up the stairs to our rooms and watched as he paused to look in on our younger siblings. Before Mom and Dad died, Alina, Aurora, and I were the only ones Tase could tolerate—Aurora because she was the baby and he’d had a soft spot for her since before she was born, Alina because she was a girl, and me because we’d basically been best friends growing up. But something had changed since our parents’ deaths. Since the curse. I was no empath, but my vampire senses picked up something new from my older brother. He hid so much of his life, but I realized for the first time what he’d been hiding the most—his feelings. Regret. Shame. Depression. I could practically smell them in his blood.

Who knew Atanase Roca, asshole extraordinaire, actually might have had a heart?