Luna paced the floor of the hotel room, occasionally chewing on her thumbnail. Anticipation was slowly eating away at her sanity, even if she wasn’t sure exactly what she was waiting for.

Silver had called to let her know that all was well. Ripper had been taken into custody by the Dragons’ Guild, and Kirith was unharmed, as was he.

She hadn’t asked Silver how much he’d spoken to Kirith, or if the Dragon shifter had inquired after her. All that mattered was that the two men she cared about were out of harm’s way.

But if Kirith was free, it meant he was free to come see her. No doubt Silver would divulge her location if the Dragon shifter asked. But she tried not to hope, not to expect anything. Kirith had come to London to take Ripper down, and his task was finished, so there was no reason for him to stay, was there?

Nope. No reason to think he would waste another minute on the likes of her.

But when the knock sounded at the door around nine p.m., her heart leapt in her chest just the same.

She leapt towards the door, her mildly throbbing head reminding her of her injury. She was grateful at the quick healing of shifters, though; what had been a massive trauma hours earlier amounted to little more than a regular headache now.

Silver stood in the hallway smiling as she pulled the door open. A real smile, relaxed, happy, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. For the first time in years, he was standing up straight with his chest thrust forward.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Luna said as she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed. She felt like she was hugging someone she hadn’t seen in over a decade. Her brother was back, and she could only hope that whatever had been plaguing him for so long was locked away with Ripper now.

“You should be lying down,” he said reproachfully when they’d pulled apart, but he was still grinning.

Luna reached for her head and rapped her knuckles against it. “I’m fine,” she said. “See?”

“You don’t look or sound fine,” Silver said, his expression souring. “Not at all.”

Okay, he’d read her emotions. No doubt he could tell that her mind was heavy with sadness. “I’m sorry about that,” she replied, turning to stride back to the bed. She threw herself down, clenching a pillow between her hands. “I thought that maybe…”

“You thought that maybe it would be Kirith who came knocking at the door.” Silver sat down next to her, pressing his upper arm into her shoulder. It was the most affectionate thing he’d done in eons, and Luna couldn’t help but offer him a tiny smile in return.

“I’m happy to see you,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you’re all right.”

“I’m fine. Your Dragon man saw to it that no one managed to sink their teeth into me. He’s quite something, you know.”

“I know. But he’s not my Dragon man,” she said. He never was. “I’m right pissed at you for going to the club and risking your life. But tell me, how did everything go?” It killed her that she hadn’t been there, fighting Ripper alongside her two amazing men. Killed her to have been locked away in a bleeding hotel room when she should have been helping.

“Better than I could ever have hoped, actually.” Silver told her about the brief fight, about the Guild showing up and restoring order.

“I assume that Kirith left with the other Dragons,” Luna said. “He must have wanted to see to it that Ripper was locked away securely.”

“Actually,” Silver began, “he said he was leaving London for good.”

Luna’s heart sank. She’d known the words were coming, but it didn’t make them hurt any less.

“I’m sorry, Loon. I know you care for him. He’s a good man, you know. He let them take him prisoner to protect you. Even after that, he could have shifted—could have brought the whole club down around him and killed everyone in it.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No,” said Silver, shaking his head, “he didn’t. I think that was because of you, too. He didn’t want to hurt anyone you cared about.”

“Unlike Ripper.” She turned to look at her brother. He looked so much taller now, as though he’d come back to life like a wilted flower that’s finally been watered. The old Silver really had really returned. “I won’t see him again,” she said, “will I?”

“I don’t know.” Silver was looking at her with so much sympathy that she wanted to weep. Her brother, who’d been in pain for so long, still managed to summon enough emotion to hurt for his pathetic, heartbroken sister.

“It’s all right,” she replied, though of course it wasn’t. It would never be. All her life she’d felt tied to Kirith. All her life she’d felt drawn, pulled towards him. Surely this couldn’t be all there was meant to be between them. This passing, strange, dysfunctional relationship of theirs that had come and gone without so much as one real kiss.

“He did say to thank you,” Silver added, “for what you did.”

“Really?” she smirked. “I’m sort of surprised he’d be so polite. Anyhow, it doesn’t matter. I know rationally that I’m better off with someone less…volatile.” She let out a little chuckle. “Trouble is, I was pretty deeply in love with the volatile man. I suppose I’d been in love with him for a very long time.”

“Aw, Lunatic.” Silver put his arm around her, and she let her head rest on his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”

We’re going to be okay.

“I know.”

“Listen, though—there’s something we need to talk about.”

“What?” she asked, pulling herself away to look him in the eye.

“It’s time I let you in on everything,” he told her.

“You mean about Ripper and Kirith’s family? Silver, I don’t want to talk about that right now. I know what happened. It was horrible, and honestly, I’m not angry with you for keeping it…”

Silver shook his head. “I’m not talking about that. I need to explain to you why I’ve been Ripper’s whipping boy for years. I need to tell you what happened after the Pack left Warkshire Forest.”

For the four-hundredth time since their arrival in London, Luna’s heart tried to pound its way through her breastplate. She drew her hands into her lap and knitted her fingers together, trying to breathe deep. She’d absorbed so much in the last few days that she couldn’t imagine suffering another blow.

Silver reached over and dragged a stray pillow onto his lap, pulling his eyes away from her to stare at a print of a pine forest on the opposite wall.

“Tell me, then,” she said, trying not to let apprehension take over her voice. She didn’t want him to know why she was terrified about what he might say. That, as angry as she’d been about Kirith’s family, if someone had done something to her brother, her rage might drive her to madness.

“It was shortly after we left Warkshire,” he said slowly. “When we were settling into our new homes in Bonham. I overheard Ripper talking to Rutger one night, when you were off hunting with a few other Pack members.”

“Okay,” said Luna, trying her best not to urge him to get to the point, even though the anticipation was torture.

“I shouldn’t have heard the conversation,” he said. “I wasn’t meant to.”

“Heard what?”

“About what Ripper really is. About what he’s capable of.”

“Silver, I know what he’s capable of…”

“No,” he said, shaking his head again. His expression had gone blank as it so often did when he was pushing away some cruel emotion, and for a moment Luna was afraid she’d lost him again. “You don’t understand,” he said. “Not fully. Because I’ve protected you from it all these years, Luna.” Something caught in his throat, and she felt it immediately invade her own, like a contagion in the form of sorrow. “Oh, I know you must have thought I turned weak,” her brother said. “I have been, truth be told. But I had no other choice.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Please, Silver, explain this to me.”

“You know that our father had high hopes for me. He wanted me to challenge Ripper one day for the Alpha position. He never liked him, and wanted someone more rational leading the Pack.”

“Yes, of course I remember,” Luna said. She’d forgotten many things about their parents, but she couldn’t forget how her father used to glare at Ripper when he would come near her or Silver.

“He was training me. Teaching me how to fight. Dad’s Wolf was a great brawler in his day.”

“I remember that too,” said Luna. “He and Mum were both encouraging you.”

“In most Packs, it’s par for the course that younger Wolves rise up in the ranks and challenge the Alpha at some point. But Ripper isn’t most Wolf shifters. He learned that our father was conspiring against him, and took his words as treason.” He turned his head and looked at her, tears lining his eyes. “Our parents died shortly after Ripper accused him,” he said.

“They died in a car crash,” Luna said.

Silver shook his head. “No. It was only made to look that way. The car was wrecked. Everything added up. But that’s not what happened. I know, because I heard it with my own ears. I heard everything.”

Nausea snaked its way through Luna’s belly. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” he said, turning to stare at the painting again.

“Oh my God,” she said, “he had them murdered.”

Silver nodded. “When I found out, I was so angry, Loon. So fucking enraged that I shifted and I charged into the house where he and Rutger were talking. I was going to tear his limbs off, rip his throat out, I didn’t care about the consequences. I just wanted Ripper dead. But he saw me coming; he and Rutger both, and they shifted in time to take me down.” Silver swallowed hard, fighting back the howl that his Wolf no doubt wanted to push out through his chest. “But oh, they didn’t kill me. They thought me too useful for that. So instead, they just forced me to submit.”

Forced him. Yes, of course they did. Luna knew that Silver would never have given in to demands easily; he’d been too strong for that. Whatever they did to him must have been awful.

“Silver?” The thought of it was too much, but she had to know. There was no turning back now. “What did they do?”

Without looking at her he reached for her hand and squeezed hard. Luna watched a tear slip down his cheek, falling onto his thigh. But he kept talking.

“Ripper dragged me down the hall. I was alone with the two of them. A little afraid too, to be honest. But I was strong,” he said, the left side of his mouth trying to settle into a wistful smirk. “I was really bloody strong. I thought I could take them if they tried anything too serious. They brought me into a room and sat me down, as if they wanted to chat. Rutger came at me with something made of iron—a fire poker, I think. He smashed me on the side of the head, and everything went blurry for a minute. That was when I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight my way out of it.”

Luna wrapped her free arm around him and pressed her head into his shoulder, and Silver continued. “I thought, whatever they do, it’ll be all right. They’re not going to kill me. They’ll let me go. I’ll go find Luna, and we’ll leave together and never look back. I was so sure we could do it, too. I was still young and stupid. Still confident that the world wasn’t such a bad place.”

“So why didn’t you find me? Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

Silver reached a hand around and cupped her cheek. “Because that was the night when they broke me. Rutger tied me to a chair. A big, heavy wooden thing. Tied my wrists and ankles so that even if I shifted, I wasn’t going anywhere. He beat me about the stomach, the chest. Tortured me, just as Ripper had done to Denn when he’d tried to run away. Our fucking Alpha told me that he knew what I’d heard. He told me that he’d let me live, but if I had any thoughts of revenge, he’d…”

Luna jerked back to look at him. “He’d what?” she asked.

Silver’s eyes flashed bright and narrowed, his Wolf making his feral presence known. Luna hadn’t seen her brother’s déor in some time; it was as if he, too, had been cowering in the shadows. But she could feel him in the room with them now, pacing invisibly across the floor, as enraged as Silver’s human half.

“Tell me. What did he say?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“He said he’d give you to the men of the Pack and let them have their way with you. He’d let them do anything they wanted, and he’d…he’d fucking make me watch.” Those were the words that finally shattered his voice. Luna could feel his rage, his sorrow, his torment, all spinning through the air around them. All the emotion that he’d held in for so long was finally releasing into the atmosphere, freed from his soul at last. “I told him I’d do whatever he wanted, as long as he didn’t hurt you. Even if it meant selling my soul.”

“Oh God, Silver…” Luna choked. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”

“He said if I—or we—tried to escape, he’d find us and kill us slowly. That if we somehow managed to get away, if we went off and had families—he’d kill them too. Just like he’d done to the Dragon, he said. You see, I’ve known for a long time that your Dragon—your Kirith—isn’t a bad man. My fear wasn’t that he would hurt you. It was that our own fucking Alpha would. The shifter who should be watching over us, who should have watched over our parents—he’s the one who turned out to be the bad guy. He’s the monster that Kirith never was.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I know it all too well. I’m just so sorry for what you’ve had to endure for so long. I know you did it for me. I understand everything at last.” She draped her arms around his neck and held him tight. Never again would anyone come between them. Never. “If only I’d known…”

“None of it is your fault, do you understand me?” He pulled away and cupped her chin in his hand. “I didn’t want to submit to Ripper, but I couldn’t let them hurt you,” he said. “After what they did to our parents, I knew he was capable of anything.”

“I understand why you couldn’t tell me, but I wish you’d found a way. I wish I’d known.”

“Well, I know you. If you’d found out, you’d have tried to get away. Or worse, you would have tried to kill him.”

“Yes,” she said. “I would have…but I don’t want to think about that just now. I’m just glad to have my brother back after all these years.”

“I’m glad to be back.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Silver rose to his feet and turned to face her. “Listen, I hate to leave you alone, but there’s something I need to do, okay?”

Luna sighed. “Now? Really?” She studied him, trying to read his mood. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Better than I’ve been in a long time, actually. The question is, will you be all right if I take off?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m angry, of course. But that’s nothing new. Well, if you’re taking off, can I at least go home, now that Ripper’s been taken into custody?”

Her brother shook his head. “You should stay here tonight; it’s getting late. Get some good rest and let your head heal. In the morning, check out and head to the flat. I’ll meet you there, I promise.”

Luna cocked her head and smiled at him. “Why do I get the impression that you’re up to something?”

“I don’t know. I suppose it might be…because I’m up to something?”

“Fine, Mr. Sly. I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

When he’d left, Luna threw herself down on the bed and shut her eyes. Once again her head was spinning. She wanted to rage, to punch a hole in the wall, to scream, to howl in response to what Ripper had done to their parents and to Silver.

But she also wanted to cry. With everything that Silver had told her, she’d pushed another loss to the back of her mind.

Kirith was gone, and he’d probably never come back.

She wasn’t sure how she’d ever find a way to feel happiness again.