2

Let me try this, for her and for the child,” he said, and I raised a brow. I wasn’t sure why he cared enough to try, but I wasn’t going to question it. I needed the answers he might be able to get more than my next breath. “Do it.” “Cain. You are not strong enough to do the spell needed. Not without the witches’ backing,” Tabby warned. There weren’t many times I had seen her afraid, but she was now, which had me hesitating. “What does that mean?” Cain pushed my hand off his shoulder and shrugged. “It means I’ll get what I can before my magic overwhelms me. “It might be nothing, but it might get us something,” he said, then went to the candles, blowing each one out until only a single flame lit up the altar in the living room. The one with all the ingredients used to make Tabby’s potions. “You won’t die?” I asked, but he snickered. “If it gets her back, do you really care?” he asked, and I pursed my lips. No. The truth was no. I’d swap his life for hers in a heartbeat. He nodded and smiled. “I mated, Kai. Yesterday. If she was in trouble, pregnant, I’d do whatever it took too,” he admitted, and I couldn’t help the shock that rocked me. “Mated? The pack didn’t feel it.” “I know. I want to keep it private for now, if you don’t mind,” Cain said, and I nodded. He was lucky he could stop that from happening. I could stop the link to the pack hearing my thoughts or getting to mine, but I couldn’t stop the feeling that was always there. The pack was always heavy in my mind, always letting me know they were safe or if there was danger. Cain could switch that off, but it meant the pack kept him at arm’s length. “Help me find her, and I’ll keep your secret.” “I already told you I would.” He smiled, then started mixing things like a madman in his little wooden bowl, crushing things together, whispering as he went. Tabby stood back, watching warily. I stepped back with her, my wrist burning even more. I winced and looked down at it. “It’ll get worse the longer you ignore it,” she whispered in the dark, but I said nothing. I knew that. I knew every day I ignored the brand was a day closer to death. It would kill me. Eventually. But I wasn’t giving in to the brand. I would rather give in to the darkness than let fate destroy Lorelai. And it would. Seeing me mate with someone else would break her, especially with a child in her. Our child, all four of ours, one I desperately wanted. “I won’t mate.” “I know, sweetie.” I held the silence, waiting with tense breaths as Cain made whatever concoction he needed. “I need your blood, Kai. For the link,” he said, and I held my hand out. Cain came over with the bowl then sliced over my hand. I squeezed it shut so the drops of my blood fell into the bowl. It sizzled at the contact, then steamed, a floral aroma filling the room, making me a little dizzy. Cain drew it in, then grinned. “I can sense her. I just have to see her,” he said, and I almost fell to my knees at the words. “Do it then,” I demanded, and he nodded, closing his eyes, breathing in the steam again. It fizzled louder, and Cain whispered some words. He frowned, and I watched, waiting, my heart pounding in my ears, my blood rushing as I tried not to get too excited. Cain frowned again, sucking in a breath as he coughed. My eyes narrowed as he grunted and fell to his knees. “Cain…” “I got it, Mom. I’m almost there,” he breathed. If I was a better wolf then maybe I would have told him to stop, but I almost had what I needed, and I wasn’t going to tell him not to go there. Not when Lorelai needed me, not when she was missing. “Where is she?” “I…” Cain coughed again, falling forward, clutching the bowl close to him, his other hand splayed as he trembled. Blood started dripping down his face from his nose, and his breathing grew labored. He whispered some more words, then cleared his throat. “There’s a door. A solid wooden one with an open grate in it. I think she’s behind it, but I can’t see through it. There are no windows, like a tunnel, or—she’s underground. “This place, though. I’ve never seen it before, anywhere. The humans have her for sure. They’re everywhere. They’re easy to sense. “They’ve been busy, Kai, and I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m allowed to see—” He collapsed to the ground. “I can’t see her, but she’s there,” he breathed before he passed out, blood streaming down his nose onto the wooden floors. Tabitha rushed forward, pushing the bowl away before running her hand over his forehead, pushing his hair back. I listened for his heartbeat: it was steady. “He’ll be okay. I have to go,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. I wanted to stay and make sure he was okay, but I wanted Lorelai more. Tabitha nodded her dismissal, whispering over Cain, pulling his head into her lap. I ran. I left the house without a look back, my heart thundering in my chest as I leapt over the banister, bursting into my wolf form and taking off toward the city. “She’s with the humans. Underground. A locked wooden door with a grate on it. There are lots of tunnels there.” “We know exactly where there are humans hanging out where they shouldn’t be,” I growled in my mind, knowing Derik and Brax would do what they needed on their end and with the pack. I wasn’t stopping. My paws hit the ground heavily, the swamp and forest a blur as I ran with all the strength and muscle I had toward the men’s village in my area. Those fuckers had been lying for too long, getting away with their bullshit because more humans meant more magic to draw on, but not anymore, not after this. My mouth drooled, my snout sneering in the wind that whistled around me. I was hungry. I wanted blood. They had taken her and expected to win. I wasn’t going to let them go, and I was not going to hold back. They took the only thing I had, the only thing I had ever craved with every fiber of my being, and in doing so, had signed their own death warrants. I’d squash their little bodies with a single paw and laugh while I did just to see her again, and I swore to the witches’ power that if she was hurt, nothing, not even begging, would save them. 2. The Damsel LORELAI I hugged the bucket in my cell, my gut tightening, retching as it tried to bring something up, but there was nothing in there. I hadn’t eaten proper food in days. I had barely slept, my skin was clammy with a fever, my mouth dry. I was covered in dirt and scrapes from trying to dig, kick, and scream my way out, but nothing had worked. I was fading. For all my winter born powers, I couldn’t escape a simple human cell, and it was getting to me. I wanted to push out, use my shadows that swirled around me, but I knew they had the most important job of all—keeping my baby alive. I clutched my stomach, tears stinging in my eyes as it ached. I needed to stay alive, I needed to for my baby, and yet each day got harder and harder to do so. My shadows hugged my stomach, pumping a life force into it that I didn’t get the luxury of using, but it was getting harder for them too. I had no sustenance, so they were running on empty. I had no idea how much longer I could keep us alive. Especially when the humans were not being humane about any part of my capture. I was a traitor to them. I had picked werewolves over my kind, and apparently that made me worse than them. They didn’t care if my child survived, and if I didn’t have immense power writhing beneath my veins, I doubted they would have kept me barely alive for so long. But I had hope. Hope that I would somehow get out, that my alphas would find me. I hated relying on that. I hated facing the fact that I was a damsel in distress, a role I had never wanted to be in, but the humans were so damn good at making me feel helpless. They’d get what was coming to them. I knew my alphas wouldn’t stop hunting until they found me, and if I was dead the humans were going to regret every decision that had led them to this point. They thought the wolves were savages, beasts, and yet they gave us to them every year to take our virginity? Risked their anger by taking me from them? They hadn’t seen savage yet, they hadn’t seen the true beasts that hid beneath the skin, but they were going to. They had just given the wolves every excuse to unleash it. I hoped they did. Assholes. All my life, humans had treated me like shit because of when I was born, and they wanted loyalty? Fuck that and fuck them. I pushed the bucket away and hauled myself up, my knees shaking as I used the stone wall as leverage. My head spun, and I grimaced. Even a few sips of that potion would be really nice right about now. My stomach turned in agreement, and I winced at the pain that filled my abdomen. I tightened my hold on the stone wall and cleared my throat, coughing up spatters of blood that had been coming out the last day or so. It was hard to keep track of the days in my cell, but I was pretty sure it had been at least three. It felt like a year. I shuffled closer to the tiny blanket in the corner, intent on trying to get more than a couple of hours sleep, when a rush of power filled me. I gasped, my eyes going wide as I clutched my stomach. It was adrenaline, power, love all in one, and I knew in an instant what it was. Kai. I latched on to the feeling, chasing it, trying to catch more of it. The link in my mind wavered. My head pulsed, aching, but I didn’t care, I wanted to feel it again. I clenched my eyes shut to stop the dizziness, my heart racing as I forced my brain to feel the link deeper, connect with the strand of power it had found. I passed out.