Screams breached the void, ripping Ava from the blackness that tugged her deeper. She clawed at the sounds that echoed through her skull and opened her eyes to the white ceiling, across which shadows rollicked.

Two figures tumbled and swung at one another, while other shadows danced around them. With a frown, Ava lifted her head, and the film that coated her eyes stretched the scene to a blur, before sharpening into the view of Calix and Logan fighting.

Gavin stood locked between them, as he attempted to block Logan’s swings. The redhead from downstairs stood with her hands lodged in her hair, shouting at the males. Calix pushed against his eldest brother’s back, before coming around to pop Logan in the jaw. The veins in his neck pulsed a rhythm of rage, and his snarls and growls gave him all the features of a wild animal that’d been unleashed.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” he yelled, taking his brother to the floor, and scrambled over top of him, hammering his fist into Logan’s face. “You’re dead!”

Beside Ava, the chain of Diablis steel that Logan had wrapped around her throat earlier, called to her. If she could get it around Logan, she might immobilize him—if she could get it around him without being pummeled to the ground first.

In spite of the weakness begging her limbs to stay put, Ava flopped onto her elbows, and the moment her bones smacked against the marble floor, she army-crawled toward the chain and, once she’d retrieved it, continued on toward the two brawling brothers.

“Calix.” Her voice arrived as a rasp, failing to overpower their shouts. “Calix!”

“Logan!” A second voice thundered inside the room, and Ava looked up to see the familiar blonde standing in the doorway, clutching her belly. “Stop, this instant!”

At her command, the male paused mid-punch and took a hard blow to the cheek, the crack rippling down Ava’s spine as Calix socked his brother in the face. At that, Logan growled and volleyed another punch, throwing Calix to the floor.

The bigger demon scrambled over top of him, but was thrown back by his scruff when Gavin nabbed hold of his shirt. A shirt that lasted about two seconds before it tore from Logan’s body, leaving Gavin to clutch nothing but threads.

“Logan! It’s time!” The blonde screamed once more, and everybody, including Calix, paused like mannequins. With heaving breaths and a hunched back, the blonde seemed to be struggling to stay upright as her knees made a slow bend toward the floor. In the next second, she collapsed, her eyes closed.

The room broke into a commotion.

“Calla! Calla!” Logan scrambled toward her, his hands trembling as they danced around her face like the demon wanted to touch her, but couldn’t.

The redhead fell to her knees beside him, setting her head to the blonde’s chest.

Slipping his hands beneath her arms, Logan lifted her upper half with little effort. “I have to get her to the bed!”

Gavin grabbed hold of her legs, and as both males lifted her off the floor, Calix lodged his fingers into his hair and paced. He paused for a moment to stop and examine the female, before his gaze swung to Ava.

“Calix’s bed!” The redhead backed away, allowing the males to carry the fallen female across the room. “Call Drechler! Her heartbeat is faint!”

With a nod, Gavin helped Logan set the female onto Calix’s bed, and tugged a phone from his pocket on his way toward the hallway.

Beside the bed, Logan knelt, clutching the female’s hand to his lips. All that strength. Virility. The steel that made Logan such a formidable demon withered under the weight of his obvious worry. Within seconds, he’d become broken. So broken, Ava could hardly believe she was staring at the same demon who’d held her pinned against the wall.

Sabelle carefully slipped a pillow beneath the female’s head, then one under her knees.

The housekeeper that Ava had come to know as Anna shuffled into the room. “Oh, dear!” She hobbled toward the bed, setting a gentle hand on Logan’s shoulder, as the demon’s body shook with a sob.

“Calla, baby. Come on. Wake up, baby. Don’t do this.” His hand trembled over her stomach, before he hesitated, drawing it back, still clutching her hand.

“I’ll get some fresh washcloths.”

“Are you okay?” Ava hardly registered Calix’s question beside her, and she lifted her gaze to the male standing over her.

“I-I-yes. I’m fine. How can I help?” She nodded toward the bodies scrambling around the blonde who lay motionless on the bed.

“I suspect if you go anywhere near her, Logan will …” Calix huffed and reached out a hand. “C’mon, we’ll wait downstairs. Sabelle’s a zshula. She’s pretty good with this stuff.”

“Sabelle?” Ava asked, pushing herself to a stand.

“Gavin’s mate. Redhead.” Fingers entwined, Calix led her out of the room, passing Gavin in the hallway.

Tucking his phone back into his pocket, he patted Calix on the shoulder. “Drechler’s on his way now.”

With a nod, Calix kept on, tugging Ava behind him, until they reached a smaller room lined with bookshelves and an array of books. He gestured for her to take a seat at the table that had books sat stacked at one end.

Calix shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I get it. Y’know? He’s … with Calla … it’s just that.” Setting both hands on his hips, he sniffed and brushed a thumb across his nose. “I saw his hands on you, and I snapped.”

“He thought I’d come for her.”

“All this time, he knew I was searching for you. He knew you’d end up back here eventually. He’s been waiting to get his hands on you.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Ava slouched in her chair, setting her gaze on the swirling patterns of wood that made up the smooth tabletop. “I betrayed all of you. Especially you, Calix. I made you question your love for me.”

“Why? Why did you do it?”

Fuck it. He deserved to know. Hell, they all deserved an explanation.

“If I hadn’t, I’d be in Stygius alongside my brother.” She drew in a breath, encouraged when he remained quiet, her mind searching for the right words with the opportunity to finally explain. “Years back, he cursed me. He died, I died. With as many stupid fucking things as he’s done over the years, I feared for my life every damn day. Then Calla came along. He wanted her more than anything. More than me. So, to save myself, I handed her over to him. It was selfish. Weak.” Ava lowered her gaze further and shook her head. “I’d have rather burned in Stygius than sit here wondering if you still love me. If you can ever forgive me. If you can ever trust me again. And I don’t want you to answer me, because in all honesty, your forgiveness hurts worse. It only serves to remind me how much of a piece of shit I am.”

“He wanted to take you under with him.”

“I was his painful reminder of who he used to be. Before he became bitter and hateful.” The tear blurring her vision slipped down Ava’s cheek and she quickly wiped it away. “I’m sorry, Calix. I’ve never been more sorry in my life.”

The quiet that followed seemed to last for an eternity, until Calix snorted, prompting her to lift her gaze.

“You have, once.” A hint of amusement broke through his voice, completely misplaced in what Ava deemed one of the most emotional moments of her life.

“What?”

“Two years ago. Demon’s Bluff in Obsidius. You dared me to dive off. Remember?”

She couldn’t forget. They’d gone there for a romantic lunch, sitting on the infamous rock that extended out over the rough Meridian waters. Ava didn’t think he’d take her up on the challenge, but when he’d dived head-first, he’d seized her galloping heart with him. It’d taken her an hour to climb back down the mountain to the water’s edge, where Calix had washed ashore. “Let’s not make fun of the fact that I thought you were dead.” She fought the smile that lifted the corner of her mouth.

“Oh, God, Calix!” He fluttered his hands like a true asshole, impersonating her panic. “I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry! Please be okay! I’ll bond with you. I’ll have your babies. Whatever you want, just please be okay!”

Ava rolled her shoulders at the embarrassing memory of her spilling her goddamned soul to the demon after months of him pining after her to bond with him—a proposal she’d have taken in a heartbeat, if not for her bastard brother who’d have destroyed every ounce of happiness. No doubt the prick would’ve taken his own life just to ensure that Calix never claimed her. “Again. Kinda thought you were dead. Let’s not poke fun at one of the most devastating days of my life.”

“What you felt that day is exactly what I’ve felt every day that you’ve been gone.” The tone in his voice had suddenly turned serious, the smile from before slipping from behind his eyes. “Do you remember what I said to you that day?”

Another mist of tears covered her eyes as she allowed her gaze to fall from his. “You said …” She sniffed and slid her fingers across her cheek as the fallen tear brought her sight back into focus. “Not even death.”

It was the exact moment Ava had come to realize her love for the male was deeper than she could’ve fathomed. That she’d understood the gravity of his words and not even death would change what he’d come to mean for her. For her, there would never be another.

“Should I have perished in Stygius?” she asked. “Because I would have, if I had to do it over again.”

“No.” Calix casually strolled around the table and knelt before her, taking her hand to his lips, where he planted a kiss to the back of her palm. “I forgive your betrayal, Ava, but I could never have forgiven myself if I’d let you leave me eternally.” Leaning forward, he gripped either side of her face, but hesitated, his eyes shifting between hers, as though asking for permission.

And then he took her to his lips.

Ava sucked in a gasp only a second before Calix closed his mouth over hers, his tongue exploring, his fingers digging into her jaw.

“I’ve missed your taste.”

Another kiss stole her breath, as he dipped his tongue past her teeth, toying with hers. Urgency beat deep inside Ava’s womb, and she slid from the chair onto his lap, threading her fingers into his hair.

Gods, she’d missed him. Missed the sensation of his hands on her, his delicious scent, and the low growl he always made at the back of his throat while kissing her. In seconds, his erection pressed through his jeans against her core, and she closed her eyes, the world tilting on its axis. When she opened them again, she lay on her back, beneath him, Calix’s strong arms planted at either side of her.

He stared down at her, and Ava wanted to drown in him, immerse herself in that cerulean sea and never come up for air.

A roar of agony echoed down the hall, and Calix’s gaze shot toward the door.

Pushing off her, he scrambled to his feet, and Ava rolled to the side after him. Together, they darted out of the library and up the stairs to Calix’s room.

Inside, an older man sat beside the bed, while Calla still lay unmoving, her skin much paler than before. To the right of him, Gavin held Logan back, as the male clawed the air as if desperate for purchase. The two males stumbled, the eldest brother’s grip unrelenting. Another roar bounced off the walls, forcing Ava to cover her ears, until the sound faded into quiet sobs. Logan collapsed, his brother’s body over top of him, holding him, in spite of the male’s resistance.

“She’s gone, Logan. Gods, she’s gone.”

Calix’s grip tightened around Ava’s hand.

The older man slid a stethoscope down his neck and shook his head. “I’ll need to perform a bedside C-section. The baby’s heart is slowing. There’s little chance to save it, but we have to hurry.”

“Gods,” Calix whispered. “Oh, Gods in Obsidius, what have you done?”

Ava’s heart thumped in her chest. The tension in the room, thick with gloom and sadness, twisted her stomach. “What’s going on? What happened?”

“Soul-binder.” The voice arrived from the right, and the tall blond she recognized as Calix’s brother, Zeke, shook his head. “Baby wasn’t doing good. Probably won’t survive.”

“The baby has a soul-binder?” she asked.

“Calla,” Calix answered beside her. “Ryke put it on her.”

“My brother?” The rush of fury pulsed through Ava’s veins. That her bastard brother would endanger an unborn baby had officially piqued her level of disgust.

Ava lurched forward into the room, but the squeeze of her wrist halted her steps.

“Ava, you can’t. Logan’s not right. It’s best we get you out of here. I don’t know what he’ll do.”

Squirming out of his grip, she clenched her jaw. “I can save her, Calix. But I don’t have much time.”

She could feel Logan’s eyes on her as she made her way toward the bed.

“Get her the fuck away! I’ll fucking kill her!”

The redhead stepped in front of her and gripped her shoulder. “I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but if you think I’m letting you go near her, you’re wrong.”

“She has a soul-binder.” Ava nodded toward the lifeless female. “My brother put it on her, yes?”

“As far as I know.”

“We’re blood.” Ava raised a brow, watching as understanding dawned on the female’s face.

“Blood takes, and only blood can return.” Red released her grip and allowed Ava to pass.

Logan’s roar slammed against the walls, and if not for Gavin holding the male down to the floor, Ava was pretty sure she’d be torn into tiny pieces.

The older man who’d sat beside Calla stepped aside, allowing Ava’s approach. “We’ve very little time before that child is lost. I pray, for your sake, that you know what you’re doing.”

“I do.” Ava slid her finger across the skinny bands of human skin used to bind the soul. She hated the feel of the thing, could swear they pulsed beneath her fingertips with the lives taken to make the bands. “Do you have a scalpel?”

Without taking her eyes off Calla, Ava held out her palm, allowing the man to set a silver scalpel there.

“She’ll kill her! She’s going to fucking kill her!”

“Logan,” the redhead said softly, “she’s the only one who can save her.”

Ava sliced into her finger, noticing the golden flecks mixed with the crimson drops leaking from the cut. Her blood had changed with all of the injections, but regardless, it was still her blood. The burn disappeared as quickly as it arrived, while the wound healed itself, but the bulbous dot of blood sat atop her finger.

The second her blood touched the band, it softened into the sickening smoothness of supple human skin, and she slipped her finger between the female’s neck and the bands. Had it been anyone else’s blood, the bands wouldn’t have relented their grip—only that of the one who’d placed the collar could remove it.

As the blood coated the inner part of the threads, the bands separated from Calla’s skin, leaving a deep ligature that marked the tight constriction. Ava closed her eyes and spoke the ancient chant she’d memorized when Ryke had released her. Had she known what it was, she could’ve saved herself without having to betray Calix, but no doubt her brother would have taken those words to the grave if she hadn’t delivered on her promise.

As she moved her finger back and forth, the bands loosened. More and more, they relinquished their death grip, until at last, they fell away, fizzling to dust across the blonde’s chest.

Ava spoke the chant twice more.

Beside her, the elder leaned forward, his stethoscope dancing across the female’s belly, and shook his head. “I’m not getting a heartbeat. Nothing.”

In spite of his hopeless words. In spite of Logan’s threats to send her to Stygius himself. In spite of the redhead asking what she was doing beside her. Ava continued to chant.

Minutes passed.

Warm hands gripped her arms at either side. “Ava, we need to go.” Calix tugged her back toward him. “Leave her now.”

“No. This is my chance to make things right. I have to make things right.”

An elbow knocked her from the side, and the elder swiped the blade from her fingers.

“I need towels. Warm water. I’m going to cut the baby out of her.” He lifted his gaze toward the redhead. “I need you to grab the mortar and pestle out of my bag and grind some Sanitatum plant. Green jar.”

Red gave a sharp nod and caught the bag he tossed to her.

“No!” Ava pushed him back. She leaned forward to the female’s ear, whispering the chant. Over and over. As fast as she could.

It had to work. It’d worked for her. Why didn’t it work for this female?

Please. Gods. I need to make it right. Help me make this right.

A force from behind threw her backward, the burn skidding along her skin as she slid across the floor and crashed into the wall. Bullets of pain shot up her spine, and she set a hand to her lower back, trying to catch her breath.

Logan lurched toward her, his big, looming shadow a threat of hurt and misery as he inched closer.

He vanished behind a hulking figure that stepped between them. Calix pushed against his brother’s chest, sending the larger demon two steps back. “Killing her won’t make it go away!”

Their muscles shook as Calix fought to keep him away, and Logan pushed to get to her.

Ava should’ve been scared. Logan had fully intended to tear her to pieces, from the way his red eyes glowed with hatred and fury. And he should’ve. All she could summon were thoughts of failure. Of the unrelenting guilt, knowing that her own blood had ended not one life, but two. Whatever Oliver had done to her had changed her very bloodline.

“Logan?”

The soft voice cut through the room, and the incensed red in Logan’s eyes faded to the warm brown from before. His face morphed from fury to the vulnerable expression of a humble man, brows upturned as if that sound alone could destroy him right there.

“Calla?” He swung around, giving Ava a moment’s breath to tip her head toward the blonde who sat up against the pillows, clutching her belly.

“Ah, God, Logan! He’s coming!” She screamed, and her head shot back, slamming into the pillow behind her.

The elder had already positioned himself at the parting of her thighs.

“Oh, God! Please! Save him!”

Ava covered her ears and closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to face the next few minutes. Or hours. However long the torment would last. She’d released the female of her binds, but may have put the baby in peril. The seconds it took for the chant to reach her may have determined the baby’s fate.

She could never live with herself. She could never face Logan. Or Calla. Or even Calix, for that matter. Ava would be better off in Stygius. She’d welcome Logan’s wrath, would let it cast her into the place she belonged, rotting away alongside her brother and all the other reprehensible souls there.

Her mother had once told her that her father would one day be sent to Stygius for all the unspeakable things he’d done throughout the years. Ava often wondered what her mother would’ve thought of her, had she stuck around. Would she have thought her bound for the same fate? Would she have thought her redeemable? Her mother’s faith dictated that she and Ryke were born creatures of the unholy, but somehow the woman still believed in the good of people. Had she stayed and not abandoned them, perhaps Ryke would’ve been a different being. Perhaps Ava wouldn’t be curled up on the floor, begging forgiveness for sins she couldn’t change, and praying to gods that she was certain no longer heard her.

Pressure hit her arms, attempting to pry them away from her ears, but she shook her head, clamped her eyes shut and bowed her head. “No. Please. I don’t want to.”

Against her resistance, her hands were tugged from her head, and she lifted her gaze to Calix, who knelt in front of her, a cross between sadness and a smile on his face. “Listen.”

Over the low commotion of others talking, one distinct sound reached her, forcing her to a stand.

The full-blown cry of a baby.

Ava covered her mouth, the tears slipping down her cheeks as she tried to hold back the hysterical burst of laughter that beat from her chest.

“He’s okay?”

“She,” Calix clarified. “She’s okay. Both of them are okay.” Holding her wrists together, he pulled her into him. “Because of you.”

Ava shook her head and watched from across the room as the redhead passed the tiny naked body to her mother. Even through the dimness of the room, Ava could make out the smile on Logan’s face. The tears in his eyes as he kissed the small crown of his baby girl. She could damn near feel the joy and relief that the male exuded in waves, as if the sun had shone for the first time in days. He leaned in and kissed the blonde, then kissed the baby once more.

With a sigh of contentment, Ava allowed Calix to lead her out of the room.