Epilogue

“Mom. Mom,” Cade whispered.

Eva rolled over and opened her eyes, her heart stopping when she saw her son standing at the side of the bed, his face close to hers.

“Mom. Grandpa told me it was time.” Cade whispered more likely. “Now Lucas has made Daddy a member of the Council, you can get the Dragon’s Tear.”

“Grandpa.” Eva put her hand to her temple, the room seemed to spin around as she asked, “You heard Grandpa talking?”

“In a dream,” Cade answered, lisping through his missing teeth. They had fallen out a couple of weeks ago, and the new ones were only half grown. “He told me to tell you that you can’t ignore him forever.”

Eva sat up and cast a glance across to where Jack lay asleep, who stirred, and turned over, but didn’t wake. Once Jack had settled, Eva took Cade’s hand, led him from her room, and back to his own room. “Into bed, sweetheart.”

“Do you know what Grandpa meant?” Cade asked. “Or do you want me to ask him?”

“Have you dreamt about Grandpa before?” Eva asked.

“A couple of times. But those were fun dreams. He told me this one was important.”

“Well, you tell Grandpa I understand, and I’ll get to it when the time is right,” Eva said, kissing Cade’s forehead.

“That’s what he said you would say,” Cade answered sleepily.

“Did he?” Eva smiled sadly. “OK, tell him I understand.”

“And you’ll talk to Daddy about it?” Cade snuggled down, his eyes closing.

A sadness crept into Eva’s heart, but she nodded, and said, “I’ll tell Daddy about it.”

She got up, walked to the door, and stood watching for a while, as her son drifted off to sleep. The pressure inside her head, she identified as her father trying to speak to her, increased. He wanted her to get the Dragon’s Tear from where it had been interred, so that it could be returned to the last dragon. But she was afraid. She didn’t want to lose Jack, not when their second child was so close to being born.

Eva rubbed her hand over her stomach, and felt a strong kick. Is it wrong to want your mate to see his child born? she asked her father.

No, he answered sadly. It’s not. But Jack won’t be the one going on this mission.

Are you sure? Eva asked.

You have a couple more children that have to be born, that is not going to happen if Jack isn’t here.

Sophia told me… That Jack would leave, Eva said.

This is Liam’s fate. It’s his destiny to take the Dragon’s Tear. Things have to be set in motion.

Set in motion, that doesn’t sound good. But her father had gone.

Eva went back to bed, wanting to feel relieved that Jack was not the one who was going to take on this quest. But she loved Liam, she loved everyone in the squad, and hated the thought of change. She was happy, part of a family. And she wanted it to stay that way.

Yet the shadow of the Templars reached further each day. And one day, they would find a way to get hold of the Dragon’s Tear. It had to go home. It had to be returned to where it belonged.

She would miss Liam terribly, and so would Jack. Eva turned over and lay with her body pressed against her mate’s. Tomorrow, she promised her father.

***

“A Night Hunter and a Council member walked into a tomb…” Jack said, trying to lighten the mood, but it sat heavy around them. Dark and foreboding.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t have told Lucas?” Liam asked. “He made you a member of the Council, he trusted you.”

“No. It’s best no one else knows. They won’t even know,” Jack nodded at Eva. “You have the spell?”

“Here. My father visits the Grimmwold.” She cocked her head. “Brings a whole new meaning to head hunting.”

“Good. It’s a useful trick, being able to get into people’s heads and get information, even when the person is bound.” Jack grimaced. “But not mine. Your father is forbidden, he knows that, right?”

“He knows,” Eva said. “Although I’m not sure why it’s all right for him to be in everyone else’s head, but not yours. Are you hiding something?”

“No.” Jack shook his head. “Are you ready? And he said we can do this without Helena either?”

“Yes,” Eva said. Lately Helena had become a stranger. Different. There was something odd about her, and none of them knew what it was.

“I hate that we don’t trust her,” Liam said.

“I do trust her. With our lives. Just not with something this big. It stays between the three of us.”

“And how are you going to explain me leaving?” Liam asked.

“I’m going to say you’ve gone to see Mom and Dad. No one will know any different.”

“And where exactly am I going?” Liam asked.

They had asked him to pack a backpack, and told him he was going to take the Dragon’s Tear back to the last dragon. He’d agreed. Liam had a thing about dragons. What they hadn’t told him was where he was going. It was on a need-to-know basis, and her father had said he would tell Liam when he had the Dragon’s Tear in his hand.

Eva tried not to feel untrustworthy. Her father would only tell Liam. She was going to have to blank her mind off for a few seconds while the information was passed over. Henry insisted the secrecy was necessary. Jack had not been pleased, but he had agreed. The growing strength of the Templars worried him and if his dead father-in-law said this was the way things had to be, Jack would go along with it.

Eva closed her eyes, and then flicked the lit match into the bowl in her hand, which contained the ingredients of the spell. The ingredients snapped and sizzled, burning bright, before dying down to ashes. Smoke filled the tomb, a gray plume that danced in the air, before it moved, snake like, spiraling toward the east wall. Then it went into the wall, and a small opening appeared.

“There.” Jack took her hand, they had to do this together. A Council member and a Night Hunter.

“Do you feel it?” Eva asked. Their fingers closed around the stone at the same time, and she felt the warmth of it, and knew it was real. Knew that this was real. Liam would leave. And one day so would Jack.

The child inside here moved, as if trying to comfort her. Would there be any comfort when her mate left her life? And then the burning questioned erupted in her head, the one she had wrestled with for years.

If Jack left her, would he ever return?