The sun and the moon continued their hide and seek game, as if everything was all right with the world. It was hard to believe that over a month had passed since Thea, Luana, Thomas, and I had fled Castle DuMoir. It was hard to believe I had met Thea only two months ago—and that everything had changed since then.

“Here, my prince.” Thomas handed me a glass full of blood.

My gaze still outside, on the darkening sky, I took the glass from him. “How many times do I have to say it? You don’t need to call me prince anymore. I lost that title when the castle went-down.” Thea had brought the castle down with her magic, but it had been my idea. I went back and forth about how smart that had been, but I couldn’t change that now. “And you don’t need to serve me things or tend to me. You’re not my blood slave anymore. You’re my friend.”

“I know, I know,” Thomas said. “It’s just force of habit, I guess.”

“You’re good at becoming material, though.” I glanced at him. His form was still a whitish mass in the shape of his old body, but now it was less transparent. He was also able to stay in that shape for longer. “You’ve been practicing.”

“It’s still a work in progress,” Thomas admitted. “Just this morning, I dropped a glass bowl in the kitchen. Luana was not happy about that.”

The corner of my lips curled up. “I bet.” Luana was temperamental, and she got upset and angry easily. Besides, being stuck in bed for the most part of the last month hadn’t helped her mood. “We have to cut her some slack, though. She has been through a lot.”

“We all have,” Thomas muttered.

We all had been through too much.

Thomas had been killed and was now a ghost, stuck in this world. Luana had been betrayed by her pack and left for dead. Thea had found out she was the witch queen, but she had lost her coven’s heart to Princess Morda, who seemed intent on killing Thea.

As for me, I had killed Alex, the bastard who had ruined the DuMoir coven, but now the castle was gone and the vampires were either dead or scattered.

We had fled out of necessity, but we were gearing up to fight back.

“How’s Thea?”

I sighed. “She woke up better this afternoon.”

“Still no idea what she has?”

I shook my head. Since we came to this house almost five weeks ago, Thea had been feeling sick. She was weak and dizzy and sleeping a lot. “I’d bet all my fortune that Princess Morda put a curse on her before we fled the castle.” That had to be it. Thea had already cast every spell she could think of. There was no sign of a curse or internal injury. There was nothing visibly wrong with her. But if Princess Morda had cursed Thea, that could have gone unnoticed. “I’m hoping this person Luana knows will be able to tell us more about it. And fix whatever is wrong.”

“So Thea is coming?”

“She wants to.” I hoped she would still feel well when it was time to leave.

Thomas’s shape flickered. “I’m just so tired of waiting.”

“I know, but there was nothing we could do until now.” We would have met Luana’s friend sooner, if we could, but Luana had been badly injured when we fled the castle. Even with her werewolf healing and Thea’s healing spells, it had taken her a month to recover—and she wasn’t fully healed yet.

But like us, she was tired of waiting.

The sun dipped, and the orange sky was transitioning to blue. Sometimes, the world outside seemed like a foreign country, a distant planet, a fantasy movie we weren’t a part of.

I had thought about giving everything up many times. I knew Thea had thought about it too. But it wasn’t that simple, not anymore.

“I can’t wait to get this over with,” Thomas said in a low voice. “Once we win this fight, this war, I can focus on my own problem.” He glanced down at his hands. “I can find out who killed my parents and be free.”

My gut twisted.

I could end his misery right now. I could give him peace right this instant. But every time I opened my mouth to tell him, the words wouldn’t come out. I had practically raised him. I knew he cared for me as if I were his older brother. What would happen if I told him I had killed his parents? Would he find peace? Would he leave this world? If he did, it would be with anger in his heart.

I cleared my throat. “We still have a lot to do before that.”

“I know.” He let out a long sigh. “The sun is almost down. I’m gonna check on Luana.”

With that, he disappeared through the wall.

I kept staring at the darkening sky, sure this was some kind of punishment. For what? For being a vampire? For having killed innocent lives? For not telling Thomas the truth since the beginning?

I exhaled deeply. I had done so many bad things in my long life, I didn’t even like to remember them. I regretted most of them, though I knew there were times when I didn’t have a choice—doing the bad deed had been my only option.

Her soft footsteps echoed in my ears. No matter how sneaky she tried to be, I always heard her coming.

I glanced over my shoulder as she pushed the door open and stepped inside my study. She saw me standing in front of the window and smiled at me. And, like magic, all the regret, the guilt, and the sadness left me. Thea had that effect on me. Whenever she looked at me with so much pride and love in those bright gray eyes, I forgot all the bad, all the dark, all the ugly. Together, we had big plans for a bright future—not just for the two of us, but for all supernaturals.

“Damn it,” she whispered, closing the door behind her. “And here I thought I would get you this time.”

One corner of my lips curled up. “You’ll never be able to sneak up on me.”

Walking toward me, she shrugged. “It won’t hurt to try.”

“No, it won’t.” I could also tell her that besides her footsteps, her sweet scent always gave her away. I could smell her even if she was over three hundred feet from me. Vampires had an increased sense of smell, but I believed it was more than that. It was like the pull I felt toward her and she felt toward me. I was sure the fact that her scent was so strong and alluring to me was because of whatever bond we shared.

When Thea was in reaching distance, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to me. I wrapped my arms around her waist and leaned my head on her shoulder, taking in more of her addicting scent.

She wound her arms around my neck. “Hello to you too,” she whispered, her tone husky. Desire coursed through me. My fangs elongated, and I grazed their sharp tips over her skin. She inhaled sharply. “What are you trying to do?”

“Just enjoying my love.” I forced my fangs to retreat. Even though Thea kept offering her blood to me, I tried taking only a little sip here and there because she had been so weak. It was a relief to hear the stable beat of her heart and see her so strong. I pulled back and looked at her, at her beautiful eyes, at her rosy cheeks, her small nose, her pink lips. She seemed healthy right now. “Glad to see you feeling better.”

“It’s good to feel better.” She stood on tiptoes and brushed her lips on mine. A jolt rushed through my core. “If we weren’t leaving soon, I would invite you to go back to our bedroom.”

A growl rose from my chest. “Well, we can be a few minutes late.”

She chuckled. That happy sound hit me hard. Hell, how I loved seeing her happy. I closed my hand around her nape and crushed my mouth on hers. She didn’t resist. She never did. Instead, she opened her mouth to me and let me take all I wanted and more.

Without breaking the kiss, I pushed her back until her legs hit the desk. Taking my time, I slid my hands down her shoulders and her back, grabbed her waist, and pulled her up the desk. She sat down on top of the desk and wrapped her legs around my waist. And I stepped into her, pressing my body into hers even more.

I leaned down, determined to have her right here, right now.

I was about to rush to the door to lock it, when I heard a new set of footsteps approaching.

Breathing heavily, I broke the kiss and rested my forehead on Thea’s. “Hell.”

“What happened?” she asked, sounding as out of breath as I was.

“We have company.”

I took a large step back and inhaled a lungful of fresh air to calm myself down before our company burst into the room. But Thea’s scent was everywhere, and it was hard to calm down when she was staring at me with puppy eyes.

I groaned.

A knock came from the door, two second before it was pushed open.

Luana stuck her head inside. She offered us a sly grin. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

She had werewolf hearing. She damn well knew she was interrupting something. “What do you want?” I barked.

Thea frowned. “Drake!”

Luana jerked her chin to the window. “The sun is down. It’s time to go.”