"The human race has ruled for far too long. The supernatural races have lived in fear of being discovered for too long. We will unite the races and place the human vermin where they belong— at our feet." ~ Order of the Burning Claw
Alina threw down the dead body. The heart she'd just removed was still in her other hand. She released it and it too fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Her head swung around as she realized that they were no longer being swarmed. There were dead vampires lying everywhere. Her pack mates where breathing hard as they too looked around, as confused as she was.
"They’ve stopped coming?" Cypher asked as he stood up from a crouched fighting stance.
Decebel moved toward the doorway but Vasile placed a hand on his arm to stop him. "We aren't going to pursue."
Decebel frowned and then turned to see what everyone was staring at. In the middle of the room, the only place where no bodies were piled, two jackets lay on the ground covered in blood.
Alina’s eyes shot to her mates. "Jacque and Fane," she gasped.
"Peri, Sally, and Jen must be with them," Vasile said as he looked around the room. "Alston, do you mind getting us out of here. This battle will have to be finished another day."
The high fae held out his arms obligingly and the weary warriors each placed a hand on him.
"Jennifer says they're in the garden room at the Romania pack mansion," Decebel spoke up just before Alston flashed.
Alina felt Vasile’s hand grab hers and squeeze. "Everything is going to be alright, Mina."
"No, my love. I don’t think it is this time."
Jennifer had been through hell many, many times since she’d learned that there were werewolves in the world and that she just happened to be one of them. She’d endured being shoved in a hole, groped by an idiot, actual death, and nearly lost her daughter. But none of those things hurt her as badly as seeing her best friend’s unmoving, unbreathing body. None of those things made her feel as though something inside of her had been ripped and torn and shredded out of her. Jen thought she’d known what grief was, what loss was. She’d been a fool. Not until you hold someone you love with such intensity that their joy is your joy, their pain is your pain, their death is your death, do you truly understand loss.
Each beat of her heart felt like a betrayal to Jacque. Sounds where muffled to her and she couldn't see. The tears in her eyes were like cracks in glass, distorting her view. She was pacing and bouncing the little boy that belonged to her best friend, who couldn't hold him because she wasn't— Jen stopped the thought in its tracks. NO, she growled to herself. Rachel had gotten Fane and Jacque's baby breathing and out of danger. She could fix his parents too. She could. She had to.
She felt her mate’s presence as she turned and looked up. He was covered in blood. His face was hard as stone and expressionless as he met her eyes. His wolf peered back at her.
"Dec," she breathed out as her legs crumbled beneath her. She didn't hit the ground. Her mate had her in his arms, holding her just like she was holding Jacque's baby. He pulled her close and took deep breaths of her scent.
"I've got you," he told her gently.
Jen couldn't speak. There were no words for what she was feeling. So she did what she did best in a moment of crisis. She shut the emotions off and focused on tasks that needed to be done.
"I need a bottle, and formula, or even the breast milk I've got stored in the freezer. Could you set it out to thaw? And then go to the nursery in Jacque and Fane’s room and get some diapers and clothes for him."
"Are you sure you want me to leave you?" he asked as he pulled back to look down at her face.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and clenched her jaw. "I'll be fine. But Jacque will be pissed if she finds out I let her kid starve and freeze."
He set her on her feet and made sure she was steady before he released her. "I'll be right back." Decebel kissed her forehead before leaving to get the things she'd requested.
Jen looked down at the sleeping boy. His hair was auburn, like his moms. But his face was all Fane.
"Can I hold him?" Alina's voice came from behind her.
Jen turned around and met the Alpha female’s eyes. They were haunted, but not hopeless. Jen nodded. "Of course. Say hello to your grandbaby boy." She held up the wrapped baby and let Alina take him from her arms.
Jen felt hollow without the little boy in her arms. But, he was Alina's grandson, and the Alpha needed to look into the face of hope, with so much death surrounding them.
"Decebel has gone to get a bottle, diapers, and clothes for him," she told her.
Alina looked up from the baby to Jen. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Thank you, Jennifer. You are a worthy Alpha. But more importantly, you are a worthy friend."
Jen tried to smile, but her face had forgotten how. So she just nodded instead. Feeling like she was intruding on Alina’s moment, Jen stepped away and looked around the room for the first time. Rachel and Peri were both bending over the prone forms of Jacque and Fane. They'd laid them in a shallow pool of water, less than an inch deep. Rachel had begun explaining things but Jen couldn’t hear above the roar of blood in her ears.
She looked away from them to see Cypher staring at his mate’s daughter in horror. The warlock king looked broken. Alston was standing off to the side discussing something intently with Vasile who kept shooting worried looks between his mate and the place where his son lay. Jen turned in a circle, looking for the final person who’d been on their mission. She knew where Drake was, she knew where Costin, Cyn, and Nissa were, but where the hell was Sally?
Decebel came hurrying back into the room and she pointed to Alina. "Give her the bottle and set the other stuff down on that bench. Then, we need to talk."
Decebel walked over to where Jen had taken refuge between two very large trees. "What is it Jennifer?"
"Where is Sally?" she asked softly.
Decebel growled. "I thought she was with you."
Jen shook her head. "She didn't flash with us. She was left with you all. Things were crazy when Rachel and Peri started working on—" She pointed towards her friend and her mate. "I couldn't ask Peri to go back. She's holding Fane and Jacque here, like literally using her immortality to keep them alive."
Decebel blinked several times as his hand pressed against his forehead. "When everything cleared and the vamps quit coming, the only thing left were some bloody clothes. Sally was not there."
Jen closed her eyes. This couldn't be happening. She could not lose both her best friends at the same time. "We have to find her."
Decebel looked around and pointed to Alston. "He can take us to Costin. There's nothing we can do here right now."
Jen agreed, though part of her didn't want leave the room—as though her presence was keeping her best friend from slipping away.
Decebel took her hand and lead her to where the high fae stood. Vasile had left him and was now holding his grandson with Alina sitting next to him.
"Can you please take us to the Serbia mansion?" Decebel asked curtly.
Alston didn't ask why. He simply held out his arm. They placed their hands on it and disappeared with the fae.
Alston left them in the foyer of the Serbia mansion with a nod and nothing else.
"This is," Jen started, but stopped when she heard pounding footsteps headed straight for them. She looked behind her and saw Costin. His eyes were wild with the wolf and he looked like he was in excruciating pain.
"Where is she? Where's my mate?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," Jen said, watching him closely.
Costin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She's not there. She's just gone. I can’t feel her through the bond. I can’t hear her or talk to her. It’s like she never existed."
"What?" Decebel’s eyes narrowed and began to glow.
"I can't sense her at all. I am alone—in here" —he tapped his head— "and here." Then he tapped his chest.
Jen didn't know what to do so she told Costin everything that had happened from the moment they entered the coven following Drake.
"Decebel said when the fighting ended, she wasn't there. He thought she was with me but she didn't flash with us."
Jen paused and shot a quick look past Costin, then placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. “Where is Titus?”
He seemed to have to think about it but then said, “He’s asleep. He wore himself out playing. I haven’t let him know that anything is wrong. I don’t know what I’m going to tell him.” His breathing started to quicken as Jen saw that Costin was realizing that it wasn’t just him he had to worry about anymore. He now had a child who would want to know where his new mommy was.
“We will help you,” Jen told him, allowing a little of the power endowed to her as Alpha to seep into her words. “Titus will be okay, Costin. He’s resilient, and he’s got one of the best dads a kid could ask for.” She didn’t know if her words helped, but she’d just keep reminding him and hoping that maybe if she said it enough it would somehow ease some worry.
Costin was at a loss. He didn't have anyone to kill, he didn't have any idea where to begin looking for her and it was his fault for not being there to protect her. And he had a three year old who needed them. Not just him, he needed Sally as well.
"Does Peri know she's missing?" he asked, his voice was rough with emotion.
"She's got enough on her plate for the moment trying to keep Fane and Jacque alive," Jen said. He could tell she was trying not to sound uncaring.
"So we literally have no idea where to even begin looking for her." His heart felt as though it just might stop beating at any moment.
"Not right now," Jen agreed. "But we will find her." She grabbed his hand and met his eyes. "We will find her."
Titus opened his eyes and saw that he was in the pretty garden that he’d been in once before. It was a dream, but it felt so real, so safe.
“Little one,” a sweet, soft voice spoke from behind him.
He turned and smiled up at the woman who’d visited him the last time he’d been in the same garden. She’d been the angel who told him that his new mommy and daddy were going to be coming to get him.
“Hi, angel,” he said. “You were right. My mommy and daddy did come.”
The angel knelt down in front of him. Her eyes were kind and her smile was real, like she wanted him to be just as happy as she was. It wasn’t one of those fake smiles that big people sometimes tried to do.
“They are precious to me, Titus, just as you are. You have been so very brave in all that you have endured.”
“What’s endured?” he asked.
“It means you have gotten through something difficult.” She reached out a hand and he took it without hesitation. “The world my children live in is one that has much darkness in it.”
Titus knew what darkness she was talking about. He’d seen darkness, felt it, and as the angel had said, he’d endured it.
“Unfortunately there will be more darkness to contend with.” She pulled him to her and then stood and led him to a bench. The angel picked him up and set him on the bench before sitting down next to him. “Your mommy and daddy are going to have trials to endure. Your daddy is a strong man. He is kind and loving and he is going to need you.”
“Me?” Titus couldn’t imagine how his new daddy could possibly need him. He was just a little kid.
She nodded. “You, little one, are the light in his life. Just like Sally is.”
“So why does he need me to be a light if he has mommy?”
“He needs you because your mommy is fighting the darkness now, as we speak.”
Titus frowned. “Why? She’s so good. Why does she have to endure?” He didn’t want to be angry at the angel, but he didn’t understand.
The angel wrapped an arm around him and he felt safe. “She has to endure because she can and she will. And when someone walks through the fire and comes out okay on the other side, they then can help others who will face the same thing.” When he just continued to look at her she spoke again. “For instance, you have fallen and scraped your knee before.”
He nodded.
“So you know how much it hurts. If your daddy fell and scraped his knee you would be able to understand how he was feeling and let him know that though it hurt right then, it would get better because yours got better.”
“So my mommy is going to help other people fight darkness because she will fight it and be okay?”
The angel nodded. “Yes, little one, she will fight it and she will be okay. But like a scraped knee is painful for a time, it will be painful for your daddy and you while she is gone. But I want you to hear me now. I am always here. All you have to do is say my name, and I will hear you. You will not endure this alone, Titus. You are loved. You are precious.”
“What if I’m scared?” Titus was trying to be brave.
“It’s okay to be scared. You can tell your daddy, or you can tell me. And there are others you will get to know who will become very special people to you and you can even tell them.” The angel pulled him closer in a tight hug. “I am so very glad to know you, Titus and I love you so very much.”
Titus could feel her love. It was like drinking hot chocolate, it warmed him up everywhere inside of him. “Sleep well, little one,” the angel told him and then the garden slipped away and he fell into a deep sleep.
"Will she have any memories of her old life?" Skender asked the man who was standing over Sally's sleeping form.
"No. I'm giving her a completely new life. There will be nothing left that could trigger any past memories."
"So she's just going to think she's someone else?"
"Her name will remain the same because the name is attached to the soul. Changing it would alert her on a subconscious level that something was wrong. But everything else—all of her childhood memories, who her parents were, how they died— will be fabricated. I am literally giving her a new life, one in which she is unaware of the supernatural world. Nor will she have any idea what she herself is."
"How long do we wait until introducing her back into it? Skender asked.
"A month or two. Let her live in her new life for a little while. Let it settle into her. Then we can begin to woo the healer to our cause, slowly, of course."
"And if her mate somehow finds her? What then?"
"He won’t. But if he does, we will deal with him." The man stood and stepped away. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Skender. "That's her address. Take her to her home. Put her in her bed. And when she wakes up, Sally's new life begins."
Lilly's hands shook as she picked up the phone and dialed Cypher’s cell. The dream, the vision, whatever it had been, was fading fast and she needed to tell her mate what she'd seen.
"Lilly," his voice came through the phone.
"Is she alive?" she asked without preamble.
"Peri and Rachel are doing their best," he said quietly.
Lilly took deep breaths through her nose, trying to keep herself under control. "I had a vision. I don’t know what it means."
"Tell me."
"I saw each race of supernaturals. I saw fire burning everything. I saw Sally lying with her eyes open, blood, and across her chest was a claw mark."
"Did you recognize anyone else?" he asked her, his voice was tight with anger.
"No. Do you know what it means?"
"I'm not entirely sure but I have an idea. I'll need to discuss it with Peri and Vasile. If I'm right, things are going to get complicated."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Pray that I am, Little One. I'll see if one of the fae can come get you so you can be here with Jacque. And I imagine you want to meet your grandson."
A tear trailed down Lilly's cheek. She'd seen her grandson in a vision. She'd seen other things in that same vision, but she would not think of those things. Just because she'd seen it, didn't mean it would necessarily happen.
"Yes, I would very much like to be near my daughter and meet my grandson."
Peri stood with her feet in the water where Jacque and Fane lay. Rachel had been infusing the water with healing herbs. She also thought that if they needed it, the water would be a good conduit to help the flow of their magic. As soon as Peri had flashed them into the garden, the five fae stones had appeared at her feet. She didn’t question it; she simply took the stones and spread them out in the water, and began pulling on their power to enhance her own.
Peri had a hand on each of her patient’s chests and she was pulsing electric shocks of power into them to keep their hearts moving. The power that she was drawing on was more than just her fae powers; it was her own immortality, the well of endless life that she’d been blessed with. It was not something she’d ever done before, and didn’t know exactly how she was doing it. She’d just simply decided that these two weren’t going to die and she was going to do whatever it took to keep them here with their new child. If it sucked her dry and left her with nothing, she would gladly make that sacrifice.
Rachel had explained that Jacque needed blood. She’d lost too much and her body couldn’t make red blood cells fast enough to replenish what she’d lost, despite being half werewolf. So the race was on to find some blood, and a method in which to get it into her body. They still had some of Cynthia’s medical things and Peri had requested Gavril make himself useful and search Cynthia’s old lab. Rachel had used her cell phone, which she only owned because three American girls had said it was high time for Rachel to step into the 21st century. Those were their words. Rachel had used the cell phone to find pictures of the things Gavril should be looking for.
Then they’d recruited Wadim to get the blood. First order of business, Rachel had said, was to see if anyone in the pack had type O blood. Type O, apparently, could be given to anybody. Peri had immediately decided that the reason they called it type O was because if they needed that type of blood it must be because they were in an “O-shit” emergency, which of course they were.
So there she was, holding on to two people who she cared for deeply and who would be missed beyond measure if she and Rachel were unable to save them. No pressure.
Peri felt a sudden rush of power and then reassuring love flow through the mate bond. Her wolf, ever mindful of her and her needs.
“It is not your job to save every person every time,” Lucian’s voice filled her mind. He wasn’t being unkind and she knew that. He was being his usual, straight forward, un-emotional self.
“Maybe not, but it is my job to save these two. They are mine, Lucian. They have been mine since the first time Jacque smarted off to me. The only way I will let them go is if the Great Luna herself takes them from my hands. And even then I might argue.”
“Might?”
“Okay, I’d definitely argue. The point is, you should understand why I do this. You have seen all my lives, the millennia that I spent on my own. It has taken three thousand years for me to find my family, but I finally have and I’m not ready to lose any of them.”
She heard his sigh and knew that he just wanted to fix things for her. “Then don’t lose them. I will give you anything you need. But remember something, Perizada, they may be yours, but you are mine. It is my job to care for you. Please be mindful of that when you are putting yourself through hell.”
“You didn’t really think I’d make being my mate easy, did you?”
This made him laugh and she loved the sound of his laughter, it brought her hope. “I would be disappointed if you made it easy, female.”
“Good to know. Put on your big girl panties, wolf, because it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“The darker the night only means that the dawn will be that much more beautiful.”
“I’m ready for the dawn, dammit.”
“As am I, beloved. As am I.”
Decebel pulled Jen tighter against him and he felt her shiver. She was exhausted. He’d finally convinced her to get some sleep when she’d been holding Thia and had fallen asleep sitting up. Her heart was broken and he had no idea what to do to help her keep the pieces together until it could be mended. Jacque and Fane could not die. He wouldn’t allow it. If they died, it would destroy his mate. There would be a part of her that would forever be lost and he wouldn’t be able to fix it.
Jennifer was strong. She was a force to be reckoned with, but she was not impervious to anguish or loss. She was someone who loved so deeply, so completely, and without ever expecting anything in return. He knew that if she could put her life in place of Jacque’s she would, without thought. She would simply do it because she loved her friend.
She rolled over, still sound asleep, and buried her face in his neck. Decebel tucked her closer, offering her his love, shelter, and warmth. In that moment, it was all that he could give her. His mate was a woman who he would move mountains for, destroy nations for, or even build dog houses for even though they didn’t have a dog. And yet, despite his willingness to do those things, the only thing he could give her now was love and nothing more. It would be so much easier to destroy an enemy for her than to sit and see her wrestle with something that he couldn’t fight.
As his own exhaustion began to catch up with him and he felt his eyes beginning to close, he sent out a prayer to the Great Luna. “Please do not take them, not yet. They are still needed here and can still be of great service. I know, regardless of anything we do, it is ultimately you who holds your children’s lives in your hands. Spare them. Spare their child the loss of his parents. Spare my mate the loss of a sister. Spare one of my dearest friends the loss of his son. Please hear me. Please. Hear me.”
Jennifer stirred and then sat up.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, watching her face closely.
“With all the crap going on, I totally forgot about Bethany and Drake. Peri was supposed to have taken them to our pack mansion, but she said she was going to lock Drake up. Crap, I wonder if Bethany is okay.” She started to get up but Decebel pulled her back down.
“I will call and have someone check on them.”
She looked like she might argue but then surprised him. “Fine. But tell them to take them food and water and blankets and pillows. Oh and tell them not to get near Bethany or the cage for that matter. Drake is feral, or he was when he found his mate bleeding, locked in a cell in the vampires’ coven. I don’t know if he’s going to be able to control himself, even with Bethany with him.” She let out a deep breath and nodded. “I think that’s it. Oh, also tell them to tell Bethany where a bathroom is. She probably hasn’t gotten to shower or pee alone in a very long time.”
Decebel stared at her. “You never cease to amaze me,” he said as he reached for his cell phone on the nightstand. “Here you are hurting and worried about your two best friends and yet you’re also continuing to lead your pack. I couldn’t have asked for a better mate or Alpha female.”
She took his compliments in stride by shrugging and saying, “Bossing people around makes me feel useful. I hate feeling helpless, B. It will drive me crazy.”
“Then I will make sure you have as many people possible to boss around for as long as you need them.”
She smiled at him, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I love you, Dec.”
“And I’m a better man for it,” he said as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you, Jennifer.” He dialed the number to his fourth and gave the orders his mate had given him.
Before he could end the call Jen grabbed the phone. “And don’t scare her or I’ll rip your leg off and beat you with it.” She ended the call, tossed the phone to the side and then curled up back where she’d been sleeping. “And that is how you do it,” she mumbled against his skin.
Bethany felt weak. She was hungry and the blood Sincaro had taken had been a lot more than usual.
“Are you cold?” Drake asked her, his voice gentle.
“A little. Do you think she forgot about us?” she asked him, speaking about the woman called Peri, who had left them in the room with nothing but a cage and some sweatpants.
“I think that something has happened that has kept her from returning.”
Bethany could tell he was trying not to sound worried, but she could feel it through the bond thing between them.
“What are,” Bethany started to speak when the only door in the room flew open. She heard Drake move behind her but didn’t become alarmed until she heard snarling. Bethany turned away from the man who’d just entered the room and her eyes widened at the sight of the huge wolf. She started to back away from the cage but froze when she heard his voice.
“Move to the other side, by the shelves with the clothes,” Drake sounded calm, but she felt as though it was deceiving as to what he was really feeling.
She turned her back to the wall so that she was facing the newcomer as she backed away. Drake was snarling and growling with such ferocity that she worried that perhaps the man standing there looking startled was dangerous to her.
“Decebel and Jen sent me,” the man said as he attempted to look anywhere but directly at the wolf snarling at him. When he turned to look at her, Drake lunged, crashing into the cage. The man backed up. “Okay, okay, I won’t look at her. I’m supposed to show her where the bathroom is, and I brought food, water, blankets and pillows.”
Bethany just stood there unsure of what she should do. After several minutes of nothing but Drake snarling and the man standing there looking at the ground, she decided she’d better say something.
“If you will just leave the stuff there outside the door, I can grab it once you’re gone. I don’t think he will like it if I come over there while you are in here.” Drake growled louder as if needing to punctuate her words.
“What about the bathroom? Jen, she’s the Alpha female of our pack, thought you would like to clean up, take a shower, and brush your teeth.”
Bethany did not like the idea of being naked in a house full of people she didn’t know.
“I can wait on the shower,” she paused and turned to look at Drake. “Or, if you let him out he could go with me and guard the door. I would feel safer with that than going on my own.”
“Do not let me out of the cage, Bethany.” His statement and the anguish that filled his voice surprised her.
The man started toward the cage. “Wait! Stop!” she yelled. The man jumped back when Drake lunged again. “Okay, bad idea. Drake said not to let him out of the cage.”
The man’s eyes widened. “You’re his mate?”
Bethany shrugged. “Looks that way.”
“But he’s not in control. How can you be his mate and him still be like that?” He pointed at the wolf who was practically foaming at the mouth.
“I don’t really know what he’s supposed to be like. I’m new to the whole werewolf, mate thing.”
After several more minutes of tense silence, the guy turned to go. “I’ll just leave this stuff here like you asked.”
He closed the door behind himself and Bethany let out the breath she’d been holding. She turned to look at Drake who had already phased back to his human form. He held out a hand, silently requesting another pair of sweats. She tossed them to him, too distracted by what the guy had said to notice his nudity or be embarrassed by it.
“What did he mean, Drake? He acted like you should somehow be acting differently because of me.”
Drake pulled the pants on and then stepped over to the right side of the cage. He wrapped his hands around the bars and leaned his head against them with his eyes closed. “He means I shouldn’t be feral.”
“Feral? What does that mean?”
“It means my wolf has lost control. The darkness has seeped too deep inside and when my wolf takes over, I can’t control him. Usually a male who finds their true mate has more control over his wolf. Most males don’t like their mates to touch other males, but being in the same room with another male, especially a pack mate, doesn’t usually bring on violence. My wolf doesn’t want any males near you. If I hadn’t been in this cage, I would have killed him.” She knew he was talking about the man who’d just been there. But he didn’t say his name, almost as if saying his name would make him too much of a person, and not an enemy.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “So, what will happen?”
Drake’s scarred back was tense as he answered. “My Alpha will have to kill me.”