Jason’s back slammed against the nearest tree, Silas holding him there with a stiff forearm to his neck.

“No. Stop!” Selene cried.

Silas ignored her. “You fucking asshole. Taking advantage of an acolyte! I should beat you senseless for this.”

Jason tried to speak but his windpipe failed under Silas’s crushing weight.

Selene shoved against Silas’s massive chest as she wedged her waifish body between the two men. “Stop! It wasn’t Jason. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

Silas looked at her in confusion.

“It was me! I’m in love with your brother.”

Jason shoved Silas away from Selene, his newly increased size translating into a more powerful thrust than he’d intended. Silas stumbled backward, growling and baring his teeth.

“This isn’t what you think,” Jason said. “Just forget you saw anything. It will work itself out soon enough.”

Selene held up her hands, a look of panic on her face. Jason longed to wipe the tears from her eyes, hated that his feelings for her were ripping her apart. He wished he could make it easier for her, but no one could turn back time. He couldn’t unlove her and he wouldn’t turn her away if she loved him back.

“Please. Please don’t tell anyone. I’m not ready,” she said to Silas. “I will tell Artemis. Give me a chance to tell her myself.”

With a shake of his head, Silas seemed to contemplate her words, pacing and cursing to himself. “This… this isn’t going to go over well with the pack. How could this happen?”

“Please, Silas.” Selene folded her arms over her stomach.

After more grumbling, Silas placed his hands on his hips and let out a deep breath. “You two can’t walk back together. People will talk. You”—he pointed at Jason—“go back the long way. Selene, wait five minutes and take the direct route. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ll give you the next two days to get your heads on straight. After that, I’ll expect action and answers.”

Jason glanced at Selene who seemed amicable to the arrangement. “Fair,” he said.

When he reached out for her to say good-bye, Silas thrust a hand between them and shook his head. “I’m not the only one out here.”

With one last look at Selene, Jason obeyed his brother and jogged toward Rivergate Manor.

* * *

Alone among the trees, Selene waited, hugging herself against the cool spring air. She’d have to tell Artemis, move out of the monastery, try to find a job and a temporary place to live. She was fairly confident that Jason would help her. He was wealthy after all. She wouldn’t ask him for money, but he might have connections. Perhaps there was a werewolf family in need of a nanny. She’d always been good with children.

As she paced, a high-pitched keening met her ears, the bleat of a dying animal. She wandered toward the sound, peering through a thick web of tree branches. A deer. Mauled by a wolf, by the looks of it. She frowned. It was odd for her kind to kill what it did not eat. Unless… it might have been her or Jason who’d done it, perhaps becoming distracted with each other and not finishing their meal. Well, she couldn’t just leave it to suffer. She pushed through the thick line of trees and strode toward the doe, intending to break its neck. But when she reached it, the strangest thing happened. The doe changed. She’d seen it move, watched its throat constrict with its screams. But now it was dead. For some time, by the looks of it. An old, rotting kill. She shook her head. Was she hallucinating from the stress?

“He doesn’t mean it,” came a woman’s voice from behind her.

Selene whirled to face a svelte woman with a platinum blond bob. Her skin was smooth as marble and her features as sharp as if they were chiseled from the same. She was wearing a red wrap dress that showed off a curvy figure. But it was the talisman around her neck that gave her away: a twisting dragon with a red stone eye. It looked to be made of pewter but she knew better. It was dragon scale.

“Nickelova.” Selene eyed the line of trees behind the woman in horror. She’d been so caught up thinking about Jason, she unwittingly crossed the border, moved beyond the protective enchantment of Rivergate Manor. She hugged herself harder, suddenly feeling more naked than a moment before.

“He’s a dog,” Nickelova said. “He uses women and throws them away. He used me. Then, when I asked him for help, he dropped me like a hot stone.”

“Jason didn’t drop you. You tried to kill him and his siblings,” Selene said, hoping her words were enough of a distraction that she could make it to the safety of Rivergate. She inched in that direction.

“Did he tell you that? It’s refreshing to know he speaks of me at all. But it appears I am at a disadvantage. I didn’t know about you until today.” She frowned. “My curse should have brought Jason to my door by now. When the full moon rose again and he still didn’t come to me, I realized there was a problem. No way could he go this long without sex. Not Jason. Imagine my surprise to track him here only to see him, to feel him”—she ran a finger along her bottom lip—“with you. Such a tender moment. That sort of thing should have triggered my curse. It seems someone has interfered with my magic. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Her eyebrows knit.

Selene said nothing.

“Did you think I wouldn’t suspect anything? Did he think I wouldn’t check on him when he didn’t follow my instructions?” Her face contorted, rage turning her elegant features ugly.

Selene darted for the border, running as fast as she could in a wide arc around Nickelova. But one pulse of the dragon fae amulet and her muscles locked in place as rigid as if she’d been turned to stone from the neck down. She cursed.

“What’s your name, wolf?”

“Go to hell,” Selene said.

The dragon amulet flashed again and Selene’s throat constricted. The force at her neck lifted her onto her tiptoes. “Say your name.”

“Se… lene…” she rasped, clawing at her throat. The tightening eased and she dropped to her feet again, pitching forward to take deep gasping breaths.

“Selene, I think once you get to know me, we are going to be great friends.”

“I don’t plan to get to know you,” Selene said between pants.

“You don’t have a choice. I want Jason’s help, and I have a feeling that all he needs to see things my way is a little motivation. Judging by what just went on between you two, I think you are exactly what I’m looking for.”

Selene screamed as her body lurched with another pulse of Nickelova’s amulet. All the air was sucked from her lungs as a rush of darkness overtook her. A moment later, she landed somewhere hard and cold and totally alone.

* * *

Jason had just fastened the last button on his dress shirt when he heard Selene’s scream. He ignored the questioning murmurs around him and broke into a dead run, taking the short way back to the place where they’d been, the direction of the scream. But when he reached the tightly grouped trees, she was gone.

“Selene! Selene!”

“She went this way,” Silas said, arriving behind him and sniffing the air. The two brothers walked to the tree-lined border of the property and stopped. “She passed beyond the protective boundary.”

“Why? Why would she do that?”

“There’s a kill.” Silas pointed at a dead doe. He approached the carcass, carefully picking his way through the tight web of branches that signified the border. “Do you smell that?”

Jason caught a whiff of someone other than Selene, a dangerous scent he hadn’t smelled in weeks. “Dragon magic.” A hard lump formed in his throat.

“Fuck.” Silas dug his fingers into his wild hair.

Jason’s phone rang. He slid it from his pocket, glancing at Silas when he saw who was calling. He tapped the screen and raised it to his ear.

“Jason?” said the familiar, dark voice, edged in gravel. “Ryker from Lost Things.”

“This isn’t a good time.”

“Something just arrived in my store for you.”

“What? What are you talking about? Arrived? Did someone bring something in?”

“No, Mr. Flynn. This item appeared where before there was nothing. I think you’d better take a look. I’m sending a picture now.”

Jason heard the chirp of a text coming in. One look and he doubled over. “No. No. No.”

“It smells of dragon,” Ryker said.

“What is it?” Silas asked. “Show me.”

Jason held up his phone, his hand trembling so hard he was surprised his brother could make out the picture. But the item was unmistakable. A ponytail of caramel-colored hair lay across the counter at Lost Things, labeled with a simple note. For Jason Flynn.