ERICA WATCHED IN horror as pure hell unfolded.

“Grandfather!” Maeva cried as she shifted and raced to Bjark’s side only to be pinned down by one of Bard’s dragons and rendered immobile.

Eluf tried to help her only to hit an unseen wall created by his fellow seers. Whether it was to protect him or hold him back was hard to know, but Erica got the feeling it was the former.

What happened after that was gruesome.

Bjark might be an original dragon but when up against Bard and his five strongest dragons, he quickly became outnumbered. The massive cave grew far too small as he battled them for all he was worth. Maeva roared in rage as they ripped and tore at Bjark until he was a bloody mess.

Bard glared at Einar when he began to go to Bjark’s aid. “My tribe will soon be the strongest and most powerful. If you step any closer to him, I will have every last one of your dragons destroyed. Including your parents and siblings and if I am not mistaken a hidden child or two.”

Fear and anger flashed in Einar’s eyes as they went to Maeva and he took a step back.

“Coward, you were supposed to be my friend!” Maeva roared at Einar. “Do you think he will not destroy your tribe anyway? Go save my grandfather! He’s our only hope!”

Erica felt like her heart was ripping in two and was only vaguely aware of Kodran and her siblings moving closer for support. Eluf roared with rage and tried to use magic to get past his apprentices, but he had trained them well and could not.

Where were the rest of Bjark and Einar’s tribes?

Dragons were mentally connected so how did they not know what was happening?

Thankfully, Einar only hesitated another moment before he, at last, roared in defiant rage and headed Bjark’s way. Bard must have anticipated his next move because more of his dragons landed and they went at Einar until he was a bruised and bloody mess but still alive.

“We will speak later of how you and your tribe will repay me for your insolence, Einar,” Bard said, his voice remarkably calm considering the rage in his eyes.

Maeva released a long, low keen of grief when Bard redirected his attention and at last dealt the final blow to Bjark. In the blink of the eye, he ripped out his throat.

Then he swung his great head and began pacing the invisible barrier the seers had created between him and Eluf. “Whether or not your seers kill you, war begins today.” He inhaled deeply and eyed the head seer with loathing. “Still so viral.” He gave Maeva a dark, predatory look before his slippery gaze returned to Eluf. “Never mind killing you right away. You and your seers use your powers to give me something even more satisfactory. Age. I want Maeva to watch you grow old from afar. I want her to watch you wither and rot before her eyes so that she will never desire you again.”

When Bard’s minion released Maeva, she sat and began trembling as Bard’s lips curled up in a promising snide and he stopped behind her. “If you do not do as I ask, I will make her life unimaginable. Torturous. She will suffer every day for the rest of her existence on Midgard.”

“Oh my God,” Shannon whispered. “This is what I saw in the vision when they were on the cliff, Kodran.”

“Do not do it, my love,” Maeva said to Eluf. She might be terrified, but her heart was in her eyes and her telepathic words unwavering. “I am strong and will survive. Stay young and remain strong too. Fight him for all you are worth for as long as you can.” Her eyes flared with fire. “Avenge my grandfather.”

Fists clenched, infuriated, Eluf’s eyes lingered on Maeva, and he shook his head.

“Yes.” Her dragon stopped trembling and stood up a little taller. “You’re dragon kind’s only hope now, seer.”

Before she could say another word, Bard wrapped his massive tail around her neck, lifted her in the air then slammed her down so hard Erica was shocked every bone in Maeva’s body didn’t shatter. Unbelievably enough, though she knew her former self felt a tremendous amount of physical pain, she had embraced a calm mind for Eluf’s benefit.

She would not let him see her suffer.

“I have waited a long time for you to be mine, little dragon,” Bard murmured as he kept at her. Erica’s siblings cursed under their breath as he continued to brutalize Maeva before he clamped his teeth around her neck, so she was rendered immobile then readied to mount her here and now.

“I will do as you ask, Bard,” Eluf roared. “I will grow old.”

Erica put a shaky hand to her mouth and shook her head.

“No!” Maeva narrowed her eyes at Eluf. “Do it, and I will never forgive you.”

His eyes held hers for a long, tortured moment before he murmured, “I am sorry, my love,” turned to his fellow seers, nodded, flung his arms up and started chanting.

They didn’t question him but joined in the chant as the shields began to shimmer. Erica slipped her hand into Kodran’s as he felt everything Eluf experienced. The strange sensation of letting go of a piece of himself. A part of who he was. The last of his connection to his home world, Vanaheim.

As he did, dragons began to fill the distant horizon.

At long last, Einar and Bjark’s tribes were coming.

But it was too little too late.

Eluf had already done what Bard asked, and the evil dragon had what he came for as he flipped Maeva’s broken body onto his back and took flight. Then everything faded away but the cave and shields.

All Erica could do was stare at where Eluf had stood and whisper, “Why did he do it when he knew what a monster Bard was?” She shook her head. “That it wouldn’t make a difference anyway.”

“Because he loved you,” Kodran said softly as he wrapped a supportive arm around her lower back and helped her sit on a nearby rock. “Because I loved you.”

She still felt so connected to the experience. All the pain Maeva had just felt. When her eyes met Kodran’s, she knew he felt the same. “He really did.” Fresh anguish cut through her as she remembered all she had suffered at Bard’s hands before Eluf created the doppelgänger. It was time to let go of her Trojan horse theory. “Why did I ever think after knowing Hallstein in multiple lives that I might be able to trick him?”

“You weren’t totally off, Sis,” Kage said as he stood nearby and eyed the shields. “The asshole can be tricked it’s just all in how you go about it.”

Kodran frowned at him. “Do you know what your sister wants to do, then?”

“We all do,” Cybil said as she sat on the other side of Erica. “And there is no way we’re going to let that happen.”

Erica’s eyes met Cybil’s, and for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel anger. Sadness, yes. Regret. But the rage she had felt for so long wasn’t there anymore. And she knew it had everything to do with Kodran’s words before. Then what she just witnessed here. She had yet again been reminded that everything could be ripped away in an instant.

Happiness. Dreams. Love. Most especially, family.

She didn’t say anything but squeezed Cybil’s hand and nodded. They were by no means one hundred percent okay, but it was time Erica began forgiving as readily as her sisters had once they knew the truth.

Kodran moved and let Shannon sit on Erica’s other side. Sam, Lauren, and Kage came close, comforting her not just as humans but dragons. Sam kissed the top of her head then crawled up on the rock, sat behind her and rested her chin on Erica’s shoulder. Kage ruffled her hair and nodded that he was there for her. Lauren crouched in front of her and rested her hand on Erica’s knee. It was the first time she and her sisters had bonded since their mother was diagnosed with cancer. And even then, Kage wasn’t there.

So it was an intense moment.

The first of its kind.

Erica couldn’t stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Bjark might have died a brutal death, but his blood had lived on inside her and her siblings. And they were strong.

Erica met Kage’s eyes. “I know you and I tricked Hallstein for a long time. So what devious plan is going through your mind now, Brother?”

A grin crept onto his face. “Well, it seems to me everyone keeps overlooking something that’s gotta be a game changer in all this. And it’s got to be the same thing that’s allowed each and every one of us to outsmart and deceive Hallstein one way or another since the very beginning.”

The dragon flared in Lauren’s eyes as she stood and nodded. “Our bloodline.”

“That’s right,” Kage said. “Half Bjark’s and half Bard’s.”

Erica met Kodran’s eyes and tried to keep emotion at bay. Now that they had a better understanding of who they had been and what Eluf and Maeva went through, it was harder than ever knowing that Bard had impregnated Maeva in the end.

Speaking of Maeva, or at least the bad version of her, she had not made an appearance in Erica’s mind since she and Kodran had sex. So just maybe...

“She will return,” came a soft voice as Eydis appeared and evidently followed Erica’s thoughts. “Once you leave this century, your battle with her will only intensify.”

Her siblings said nothing because they had likely followed some of her thoughts as well.

“So how do I fight her?” Erica said. “My guess based on your timely reappearance is it has to do with what Kage said. Our blood connection to Bard.”

A small, knowing smile came to Eydis’ lips. “That is right.” Her eyes swept over all of them except Kodran. “In your own way, you six share more blood with Bard than Hallstein does.”

Kodran’s brows shot up. “How do you know who Hallstein is?”

“Did you not hear what I am when Eluf introduced us?” she asked. “I am seer and demi-god.”

So it stands to reason she should have known who Mema Angie was.

“Right,” Erica said. “And which gods do you descend from again?”

“Norse and Celtic gods,” Cybil said softly as she eyed Eydis. “Which makes me wonder why I only have Celtic god in me.” Her eyes narrowed. “That I know of.” She eyed their brother. “And I’m sure you’ve got a little godliness in you as well.”

Kage, a demi-god? She would have never seen that coming. But it might explain why he was so damn good at deceiving Hallstein.

Something flickered in Eydis’ eyes that looked an awful lot like the secretive mirth that often lit Mema Angie’s gaze. “Life is full of mystery, is it not?”

“You know what I find a little hard to wrap my mind around,” Erica said, more than curious. “Why am I considered the most powerful of my family when I have a brother and sister who are not only dragon but seer and demi-god. Because all of us are reincarnates. All of us lived previous lives with our mates.”

“Because you are the reincarnate of a very special woman,” Eydis said. “Born of one powerful dragon lineage, loved by another and the obsession of the third so tied in one way or another with all dragon souls. Then before that, you were born of another world and soul mates with a powerful seer. And then most importantly, you are the reincarnate of she who started the lineage that led to you and your siblings being reborn.”

“Now that you say it like that,” Erica murmured and tried not to roll her eyes. Though she knew it to be true, it all seemed like a bit much.

Clearly sensing her emotions, Kodran spoke to Eydis. “So let’s get back to them having Bard’s bloodline. What does that mean? How will it help?”

“Well, I would think ‘tis fairly obvious,” came an all-too-familiar Scottish brogue.

Her siblings’ eyes rounded on the young Highlander who stood grinning nearby. Erica caught them up with a quick telepathic explanation.

“The infamous Adlin MacLomain? As a teenager?” Cybil murmured. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Right,” Erica said. “That’s what I thought too.”

After introductions had been made, Kodran urged Adlin to continue his explanation. “So what is fairly obvious?”

“Like we wizards, you dragons share a strong telepathic connection with kin, aye?” Adlin said.

“We do,” Shannon acknowledged as the answer seemed to occur to her first. But then they were talking to a ghost, and they were more her strongpoint than Erica’s in the long run. “Which means we should be able to hear Hallstein’s thoughts.”

“Which also means he could hear ours,” Sam pointed out.

“But he hasn’t yet,” Kage said. “Or I would’ve never made it this far.”

“Me either,” Erica agreed. 

“True,” Adlin said. “But consider this. What is it that ultimately opens our minds to one another?”

Kodran narrowed his eyes and referred to the act of sex when he said, “Are we back to solving mysteries again?”

Adlin gave him a wide grin for evidently catching on so fast. “It makes sense, aye?”

“So what are you getting at, Adlin?” Erica said. “Because I think it’s safe to say that none of us want to screw Hallstein.”

“Want to, no,” Adlin agreed. A bit of sadness flickered through his typically happy eyes. “Have to...sometimes.”

Silence settled over everyone as they took his meaning and purposefully didn’t look at Erica. Instead, they almost seemed to gather closer to her in protection. They knew what the other Maeva had done at the expense of Erica’s body.

“Erica’s not going near that fucking monster again,” Kage growled.

“I could not agree more,” Kodran bit out.

“And I wouldnae expect it,” Adlin said in shock. “But I would expect you all to use the bright minds Odin gave you to see what’s staring you in the face.” His eyes met Erica’s. “Something even Hallstein and the other Maeva have not figured out yet.”

When Erica frowned, Kodran seemed to suddenly understand because he murmured, “How did I never see it?”

“See what?” Erica and a few others said simultaneously.

“You’ve always avoided the other half of you and with good reason,” Kodran said as his eyes found hers. “But it doesn’t dispel the fact that you have mated with Hallstein which means all of us do have direct access to his thoughts.”

“Thoughts that we’ve only caught on a subconscious level,” Cybil murmured. Her eyes widened as she caught on too. “All along, we’ve been able to track him but because of...”

When she trailed off, Erica finished her statement for her. “Because of what Eluf did for me creating another Maeva. When I’m with Hallstein, we’ve all had access, but when she’s with him, we haven’t.”

“’Tis that easy,” Adlin said.

“Which means my Trojan horse idea was a damn good one. At least part of it,” Erica said softly. “I embrace the other Maeva, allow all of you access to Hallstein’s mind, then you can pounce on him before he can attack you. The only difference is I won’t be harnessing some great Eluf power from this century.”

“Och, nay, lass.” Adlin shook his head. “Dinnae think dark all the time, aye?” His brows perked in amusement. “You’re on the right path, but you’re just looking at it on too small of a scale. Not to mention that you’re under the impression that only you can be this Trojan horse you speak of.”

“Well, yeah,” she said. “I am the one with split personalities.”

“True!” Adlin’s eyes grew merry. “So would it not be safe to say that if your kin and mate are connected with you now than they are also connected to your other half?”

“I hope to hell not,” she muttered.

“But it makes sense,” Kodran said.

“It certainly does,” Lauren agreed. “And we should use that.”

“They are catching on, yes?” Eydis smiled warmly at Adlin.

He matched her warm smile. “So it seems, lass.”

“Sonofabitch,” Kage muttered as he crouched, stared at nothing and spoke his thoughts. “I’ve been Hallstein’s lackey for years so it wouldn’t have happened while you were in Virginia with me, Erica.” His eyes met hers. “It had to happen when you reunited with all your kin. When you let down your magical walls and let us all in.”

Erica frowned and shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

“Now that we’re connected with the other Maeva too, you won’t be alone in that Trojan horse,” he explained. “We’ll find a way to be there with you when you infiltrate the enemy.”

“How are we going to manage that?” she said.

“I’m sure we can figure it out,” he said. “We’ve got two dragons that can slow down time, two that can cross in and out of Helheim, several demi-gods, seers, Gateway Seers, a prophet.” His brows shot up. “Should I go on?”

Kodran frowned and shook his head. “It still sounds risky.”

“But not a quarter of how risky it sounded before,” Cybil said.

“And she wouldn’t be going into this alone.” Kage’s eyes met Kodran’s. “We’d be right there.”

Kodran held his eyes for a long moment before he sighed and looked at Adlin. “So if mating with me wasn’t the key for Erica, why did we travel to ancient Scandinavia? Why not have this family reunion in the tenth-century?”

“Because, as a wise man named Grant once told me, it’s always less about the outcome and more about the journey that got you there.” A twinkle lit Adlin’s eyes. “Or mayhap it was me who told him. I cannae recall anymore.” He tapped his temple. “Old age in a young mind. ‘Tis a bloody odd thing.”

“I would imagine,” Eydis agreed.

Adlin nodded, grateful for her sympathy before he perked up. “Speaking of old age.” His eyes went to Kodran. “It seems Eluf will soon head down that path, aye?”

“Yes, we all know he will,” Cybil said, her voice firm. “But before we get to whatever you say next and we’re distracted, we need you to elaborate on what you said before.” She cocked her head in question. “While I like the sound of your idea, I can’t help but wonder if the enemy won’t enjoy the same pleasure and be inside every one of our minds too. And if he is, that means we really have no element of surprise, right?”

“Aye, see,” Adlin said with approval to Eydis as he gestured at Cybil. “That right there is why she’s a queen.”

Eydis nodded with approval.

“Please answer her question,” Sam said. “Because I’m a queen too and this sounds shady as hell.”

Eydis looked from Samantha to Adlin in question and murmured, “Is she really? She seems a bit...”

Lauren’s chuckle interrupted Eydis. “Yes, I tend to think it was a stretch making her Viking royalty.” She winked at Sam. “But she and King Bjorn were recently married, and outside of her vulgar language she seems to be loved by her people.”

Erica’s eyes rounded on Sam. “You’re married?”

“And pregnant.” Samantha rested her hand on her stomach and smiled. “Though the two are unrelated.”

“Well, shit, how did I not know either of those things?”

“I do have a little bit of my own power, Sis and can keep secrets too.” Sam squeezed her hand. “Besides, you’ve had more than enough to deal with, wouldn’t you say?”

“I wish I hadn’t.” Erica fought emotions. “I wish all of this could have been more normal. You sharing the biggest news of your life when you got pregnant...and married.” Her eyes went from sister to sister. “When each of you met your dragon mates and all the firsts I know you’ve experienced since then. Hell...” She shook her head. “What I wouldn’t have done to be there when each of you embraced your dragons for the first time.”

“But you are now, Erica.” Cybil’s eyes met hers. “Can’t you see us in your mind’s eye?”

Erica’s eyes widened as their thoughts became clearer to her. As she saw each of her sisters shift for the first time, then even Kage. They had all been intense moments. Life-changing moments.

And now she was part of it.

Her eyes went to each of them again, and she smiled. “It’s nice to...” She choked back emotion. “It’s good to finally reconnect.”

“Yes, it is,” Shannon whispered before they all gave her a group hug. Even Kage, tough guy that he was.

Yet when they pulled away, her eyes went to Kodran. He might not be immediate kin, but he should always be part of a family group hug. He was part of her.

“I’ll always be close to you, Erica,” he said into her mind. “Never worry about that.”

She wasn’t...was she? But it occurred to her as their eyes held, that deep down she must be. She had been a loner for a long time, and now she wasn’t anymore. And while some of that had to do with her family, a great deal more had to do with him.

Not just her dragon mate but her seer soul mate.

“I’d like to refocus on what Cybil was concerned about,” Kage said. “If we’re in Hallstein’s mind when we return to the tenth century, shouldn’t we expect trouble right away?”

“Now that...” Adlin gave Kodran a look. “Might just be where you and Erica mating comes in handy after all.”

Kodran frowned. “Might?”

“Aye.” Adlin nodded. “Your journey here isnae quite over. You’ve more to discover.”

“And there is someone who might be able to offer more help,” Eydis said softly. “But he is caught now...until he is freed.”

“What does that mean?” Cybil said. “Who?”

“Aye, how cryptic,” Adlin said with a grin before he promptly started to fade.

All frowned with dismay when he vanished.

“Of whom do you speak, Eydis?” Lauren continued. “Because I get the feeling he is someone important.”

“Yes,” she agreed as her eyes met Erica’s. “You knew him as your grandfather, Bjark.” Her eyes returned to the others. “But all of you now know him as someone caught in an unnatural slumber. Your former king, Naðr Véurr Sigdir.”