“He’s a gnarly shade of red,” Emily states flatly. “None of this matters. Edmond is brazen enough to provoke all of you, unafraid of a death that can’t come, and lacks any remaining sentimental attachments. He’s untouchable.”

“Untouchable,” Edmond scoffs, jaw ticking. “I learned at least that much from Idun. He returns his full attention to us. “I loved one woman. That woman was tortured mercilessly for Idun’s own vendetta, all because I loved Caroline in a way I never could love Idun.”

I bristle in my seat, immediately hating the direction this conversation is going.

“I could barely get the woman to spare my favorite betas during that time,” I remind him. “And then she stopped sparing them at all. One fit, and she’d take it out on whoever I cared about the most. She’d have only been worse to Caroline if she’d caught me intervening. Don’t be a fool, Edmond. We helped the girl as much as we could by distracting Idun as often as possible.”

“You four made the world tremble in fear. You made them fear the woman who feeds on fear and lightning, and you made her unstoppable!” Edmond harps, as if we don’t already know that was a huge mistake.

“We loved her and was trying to protect her,” Emit grinds out.

“She was an unkillable monster!” Edmond fires back. “She didn’t need protection!”

“We’re well aware of our mistakes now,” I state in a much calmer tone, smiling tightly over at Edmond. “You’ve made as many mistakes in your very long life as we’ve made in ours.”

“We didn’t realize the power of fear, because we only ever saw the hatred. How were we to know it held so much power when we were men too young and prideful to admit fear?” Emit fires back.

“I feel lots of fear, if we’re going to discuss the topic,” Emily cuts in with a prim tone, plucking another chocolate from my box. “Arion’s never taken a stand against Idun before. I’ve never seen anyone take a stand against her and be left with any measurable amount of dignity.”

“We don’t take a stand against Idun. Damien, don’t be stupid and think you’ll do more than piss her off with some vain attempt of breaking into her mind while you’re on a measly power trip. We negotiate. We compromise,” comes Arion’s voice, as he strolls in, hands leisurely resting in his pockets.

Edmond sneers in his direction, because Edmond does love sneering.

Often.

A lot.

He’s doing it again already.

I give zero fucks about what the vampire is saying, because my mind’s made up. I’m a Head Alpha too. No one is going to tell me what I can or can’t do.

“If I challenge her, there will be no legal recourse for action. If I die, Violet will need some extra attention for twenty-eight years. If I live, it’ll be because I won and damaged Idun’s ferocious reputation. At last. It could be the solution to all our problems if the wheel turns again,” I point out.

They act as though I haven’t thought this through. The worst thing that could happen is that I die…and they have to deal with her cranky tantrums I’ll have stirred.

Edmond outright laughs.

“I have a well thought-out masterful plan, using all my knowledge against her, since we’re all feeling in the mood to share. That’s all I have to say on the matter in the presence of certain company,” Arion tells me and only me, while deliberately using his head to gesture at Edmond. “It’ll take a few centuries, but it will work if we follow it step-by-step.”

“How elaborate is this plan of yours?” I ask on a tired breath, pre-exhausted with the Vampyre’s diabolical, overcomplicated mind. “Do we need a daily itinerary just to keep up with whatever centuries-long charade you have cooked up? Will all our commentaries be strategically scripted?”

Fucking vampires. Their head games have head games.

“Maybe we should hear Arion out,” Emit tells me.

Emit keeps being wishy washy on the matter. One minute he has faith in me, and the next…not so much.

I’m just waiting on midnight.

Twenty more minutes now.

“It is elaborate, and it will require a great deal more effort than you typically assert, but it will be effective if you’re willing to do so,” Arion fires back. “It’s okay to not always be sitting alone in the dark with your mirrors.”

“I’m past those days,” I remind him, eager to return to my Flame.

After I obliterate Idun’s mind.

Violet will definitely have worse trust issues with me if I go and get myself killed after just eternally binding her to me.

But, if all goes well, it’ll be a lovely wedding gift.

A grin curves my lips, until…Anna is suddenly in my lap, gaze colliding with mine.

“Violet needs you. Now. In the library. It’s sort of an emergency,” she says with zero emotion in her tone.

She grins, but I’m already passing through her, so I barely catch a glimpse of it.

The sound of a heavy stampede on my heels assures me that at least Emit has followed.

I turn, stumbling into a room that I see Anna disappear into, and…my eyes widen in my head.

The noblest, humblest, most likable, good-guy knight Vance has ever held as a beta, Avery, is mid-way through hammering Leiza from behind, while fisting a handful of her hair and really anchoring her to him. Just…not what I was expecting to see. At all.

I’m so full to the brim on sexual energy, that the potent pheromones are almost nauseating.

Avery jerks to a stop, eyes widening in horror on us, as Leiza keeps her head lowered, struggling to keep a straight face.

“I-I-Is there something you needed?” Avery asks in as formal of a tone as he can muster while he’s balls-deep.

“Are you planning to turn wolf?” Emit asks too hopefully, shouldering by me.

Avery looks as though he could positively die. He’s a rather conservative fellow, despite his age. I imagine this is rather mortifying.

I grin, but then remember Violet fucking needs us.

Darting away, I start rushing back down the hall, spotting Anna turning into another room.

This place is really a lot bigger when you’re in a hurry.

I charge into that room, and Emit damn near boulders into my back when I attempt to stop abruptly. I’m forced forward a couple of steps, wanting to die a little, when I see Zuela Van Helsing with his dick out while his body remains too rigid.

His cock, however, is fortunately not rigid.

His pants are pushed down to his ankles, his hand is on his stomach, and—

“Portocale curse,” Emit says, his tone confused, which only mildly distracted me from the mind-numbing sight.

“Did he fall asleep after he rubbed one out without even bothering to tuck that tragic thing away?” I ask, genuinely disturbed.

“Damien, he’s under the Portocale curse. Why didn’t I go down first?” Emit asks, once again slicing through my distraction.

I turn, my brow furrowing, as a derisive snort comes from behind the wolf.

I glance behind him to find Edmond rocking the sneer once more, propped against the wall behind us.

“Turn the blind eye all you want, as you do with all the pretty girls you love, but the girl mates the wolf, and he’s magically exempt from the curse,” Edmond says, eyes narrowing on Emit. “I’ll be damned if that’s natural. Nothing about her is natural. Pandora is involved. The world is shifting on a dime the moment she throws her weight around in subtle, yet pressing ways, that boast her young arrogance. And you’re letting her, because she’s your fucking girlfriend? Bloody jesting with this.”