Cora winced. “The weekend.”

Vi puffed out her cheeks. “Three days’ time. Not much time. I better get on it then.” She drained her coffee and pushed back her seat.

“Vi.” I gently took her hand. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Fee. Thank me once I have your amulet.” She left quickly, almost as if she couldn’t wait to get away from us. And boy, I didn’t blame her one bit.

“I’ll speak to Conah and Mal and fill them in,” Cora said. “I’ll tell them you’re sleeping at Deadside, and you’ll be back in the morning. You’re seeing Lara tonight, too, right?”

“Yeah.”

We hadn’t discussed it, but we were all aware that there was a high probability there wouldn’t be an easy solution to our Underealm problem. Telling Lilith that I wasn’t coming wasn’t an option. I’d suggested faking being sick, and apparently, Reapers didn’t get sick, so that was out of the question. The only other option would be to hide me, say I’d defected, and hope Lilith didn’t send her Blade to bring me back. The only option was to fight to keep me alive, and in doing so, save Lilith’s life too. I swear this Eve woman had crafted an air-tight curse. It would be so easy if one of us could just tell Lilith the truth. So, yeah, I needed to say my goodbyes, just in case.

“Babe, I think your car is outside,” Cora said.

I glanced at my comm and noted the time. Excitement mingled with dread in my chest.

Excitement because I had a dinner date with my father, and dread that I’d have to go into Rising Pack territory to see him.

Let’s hope Hunter wasn’t about.

Chapter Two

Eldrick had sent a limo to pick me up and deliver me to the Rising Pack territory in style. The car slid smoothly and soundlessly through the snowy streets, away from South Necro, toward the National History Museum, which was on the edge of the Rising Pack territory.

The buildings changed as we slipped into Eldrick’s territory. Large monumental structures, impressively wide streets, and tall glass buildings. Deadside wasn’t far from here. A short tube ride. To think I’d been this close to Hunter and the Rising Pack all this time.

Hunter.

Why was I thinking about him, and why was my stomach filled with deadly moths?

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the soft leather. Pull it together, Fee, everything is going to be okay.

But what if it wasn’t? The thought of having to leave the guys and go into hiding, to stop being a Dominus, made me sick. Funny how something I hadn’t even wanted was the only thing I was sure of right now, which was why I’d told my reapers I’d be on patrol with them tomorrow night.

Normality was key.

The limo came to a smooth halt outside a fancy building that looked like a hotel for the elite. A man wearing a uniform ran out into the snow holding an umbrella. He pulled open my door and stood back.

“Miss Dawn?”

I climbed out and offered him a smile. He had a weathered, kind face and bright blue eyes.

“Mr. Black is expecting you.”

Black…Eldrick Black. That could have been my name if my mother had married him. But it was Dawn, and I intended to stay that way.

The man led me to the door but didn’t go any farther. There was another guy to open the door and then another at a reception desk.

He smiled up at me. “Please take the executive lift to the penthouse suite, Miss Dawn.” He pointed left where a gold door was pressed into the wall.

“Um…thank you.”

It looked like I was expected.

Penthouse suite, huh? This was a far cry from Regency Pack’s digs, but to be honest, I preferred the cozy, homey feel of the firehouse to the opulence of this building. I hit the huge button for penthouse and ignored the drop in my stomach as we shot up to the sky.

The doors opened smoothly a moment later, and Eldrick met me with a smile. He was dressed casually in jeans and a woolen sweater and…

I stared at the fluffy slippers on his feet.

“I’m all about the comfort,” he replied. “Come on, you must be hungry.”

And despite the cakes I’d scoffed at Lumiers, I was.

The lift opened onto a deceptively small entranceway. Eldrick led me to another door, and once we stepped through that, I lost my mind. Like, what the hell was this place? You could fit two apartments into this open plan penthouse. There were two sets of seating areas, a huge fuck-off kitchen with fancy overhead lights and an island. The fridge was large enough to fit two Loup inside. The floors were marble, covered in fancy rugs, and the view…

I walked across the room to stare out at the city coming to life with lights as the sun set.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It is,” Eldrick said. “I’m glad you came to see me.”

“Me too.”

“Come, let’s eat.”

And that’s when the smell of steak hit me. How had I missed that? Oh yeah, senses overload from all the opulence.

A dining table had been set for two, and two huge plates piled with food waited.

My stomach roared, and Eldrick chuckled.

“How’s the metabolism treating you?” he asked.

“It’s killing me. My mouth is fed up of chewing.”

He let out a bark of laughter. “It’ll settle in a few weeks, even though you’ll always need more calories than your reaper friends.”

“Family.” I smiled at him to soften the correction. “They’re my family.”

“That they are.” He pulled a seat out for me. “Sit. Eat. We can talk after.”

I was more than happy with that.

The food was delicious, and afterward we got comfy on the sofa with coffee, and I filled him on what had happened with the hooded figure we’d interrogated.

“And he just disintegrated?” Eldrick shook his head with a frown. “A sacrifice…Why you, though?”

“I have no idea, but we’re looking into it.”

Which was a lie. The hooded figures had taken a backseat while we searched for a way to get me safely through Conah’s wedding to Kiara.

Conah…

No. He was about to be married to someone else.

“Have you seen Grayson or the Regency Pack since the Culling?” Eldrick asked.

Huh? Oh, shit, focus, Fee. “No.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about my decision to mate with Grayson to avoid Hunter, but then I’d have to tell him about being in heat and the whole fated mate thing, and my gut warned me not to.

“I’m actually headed to the Underealm for a wedding at the weekend. Should be fun.”

If I made it out alive.

There was a soft series of beeps, and then a voice filled the room.

“Mr. Black, your seven-thirty is here.”

“Shit.” Eldrick frowned. “I was supposed to cancel that meeting.”

Disappointment gripped me, but I plastered a smile on my face and made to stand. “No worries. I should get going anyway.”

“No.” He pressed me back into my seat. “I’ll get rid of them and be right back.”

He left the room, and I took my coffee and wandered over to the windows. Aunt Lara wasn’t expecting me until later, and I would be sleeping in my house by the Voralex to recharge tonight, so I had time. Time before I had to face Conah and Mal and see my despair echoed in their eyes.

The hairs on my nape pricked, and awareness bloomed across my back in a wave of heat.

Hunter.

I froze, tension gripping every muscle in my body. “Eldrick isn’t here.”

“I know.”

Oh fuck, that voice was like fingers threading through my hair. I closed my eyes and inhaled to steady myself. Bad idea. His scent filtered into my lungs, suffused my mind, and woke the beast inside. No. I was in control. Not it. I was in fucking control.

I turned slowly to face him and took a deliberate sip of my coffee. But the coffee that had been flavorsome a moment ago now tasted of nothing, because all the flavor in the world was standing in front of me dressed in a designer shirt, open at the neck, sleeves rolled up to expose strong, tanned forearms. Tailored pants finished off the look. Hunter’s dark hair was swept back off his forehead, and his fathomless eyes were drinking me in like I was an oasis in a desert.

I didn’t like him. I actively despised him, and yes, there was a part of me that feared him, but there was no denying the fizz and zing of attraction between us or the throb between my legs. Men in suits had never been my thing, but Hunter in a suit was pure sex.

“What do you want, Hunter?” My voice came out husky and totally telling. I cleared my throat. “Why are you here?”

His smirk told me that was a stupid question.

“I’m not changing my mind.”

He padded closer, and I resisted the urge to back up. Instead, I locked gazes with him and held my ground. He stopped a meter away, but it was still too close. His presence was claustrophobic. He was like a furnace that threw off sexual magnetism. He was like a magnet messing with my charge. Urgh. Shut up, brain.

“Maybe if you got to know me?” He canted his head. “Maybe if you gave me a chance.”

I expected a seduction or some alpha male bullshit, so this threw me. There was an almost vulnerable quality to his words that tugged at the empath in me, drawing me to him in an involuntary step. His eyes flared with triumph, and I could have kicked myself. This was Hunter. Cold, conniving Hunter who ordered a fourteen-year-old teenager to be bred. There was nothing vulnerable about him.

The liquid heat that had started to trickle through my limbs froze. “I don’t want to get to know you, Hunter. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“You’d be dead if not for me,” he said.

Nice one. Reminding me that he’d saved my life when the mouths had attacked the Culling. Real classy move.

“You know, every time you bring that up and throw it in my face it becomes a little less heroic.”

“It doesn’t change the facts, Seraphina.” He took a step closer, and the heat was back in my veins, simmering, waiting, anticipating. “I would die for you.”