But this was my wife.

  Yes, she finally had control of her power, and I’d seen what she could do with it. But she knew no spells, only raw power. And once the wolves knew she was the biggest threat, they’d come right for her. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I turned just enough to look at her. Her chin was lifted. Grief and fury burned in her eyes. Blood and smeared black rot on her face and hands.

  Natalia slid into position at my right, sword read. She didn’t spare Claire a glance. “That is not your place.”

  “My place is with His Grace.”

  I hated how much I loved hearing that. Her place was with me. But we had new responsibilities now.

  “If you stand and fight against orders,” Natalia said with forced calm, “then you risk all our lives. Because His Grace’s attention will be divided. By standing down, you are doing your part.”

  Tyson took my left. “I hate to agree with my cousin, but Natalia is right.”

  Claire’s heart pounded out a too-fast rhythm, and I could feel her fury building behind me. She wasn’t going to move. Every instinct screamed to pick her up and carry her back myself, but it was too late now. The stench of the wolves was everywhere.

  Wet fur and blood and that same stinking rot. Three men stepped into the circle of torchlight, and I realized they weren’t exactly men. They had snouts where faces should’ve been, and fur split through torn skin. The only weapon they had was their claws, which were long and hooked. They weren’t fully transformed werewolves.

  But there was something else wrong with them. Their bodies were speckled with black pock marks, and thick, inky saliva dripped from their jaws. A bit dribbled onto an opalescent necklace.

  I snarled, and they stopped when they saw the number of good swords behind me.

  “They’re living in the tunnels,” Natalia explained. “Which is why Chastity sealed them.”

  “Ah, that would’ve been good to know before we opened the door,” Tyson added unhelpfully.

  “We don’t want no trouble, Lord Vampire,” one of them said in a thick, guttural voice. His long tongue licked over his sharp canines. “We only want those naughty little children, and we’ll be on our way.”

  “We need to capture one of them,” Natalia whispered in Sanguisi.

  Tyson chuckled. “You recruiting new consorts, cousin?”

  “For questioning!” she bit back. Natalia was always three steps ahead of everyone else. “There’s something about those necklaces I don’t like.”

  “They aren’t yours to take!” Claire shouted.

  Every head turned in her direction. The wolves’. My soldiers’. Mine. Frustration clawed up my throat. This was a standoff. Predators assessing one another. My objective, always, was to reduce casualties. And if that meant using my influence as a commander and the threat of violence to get these creatures to back off, then that was my duty.

  The biggest wolf, who appeared to have taken on the role of the pack alpha, scented the air. I didn’t need heightened senses to know what he smelled. Me. All over her. My bite. My blood. My claim. My seed. One breath and he knew she was my heart beating outside my body.

  His attention drifted back to me, and he dragged a long, wolfish tongue over his jowls like he’d just found something interesting to tear apart. “Your mate speaks for you, Lord Vampire?”

  With one sentence, he’d exposed the secret of our relationship to my entire army. Claire was my vulnerability. And now everyone knew it.

  “Uncle,” Natalia breathed beside me. “Say something.” The fear in her voice was unmistakable. And even though something had broken between us, I knew she still bore love for me. The same love I had for her.

  Before I could pull the attention back where it belonged, Claire shoved her wand through the narrow gap between Tyson and me and fired. The spell cracked through the air and struck one of them square in the shoulder, bursting into a spray of black blood.

  The wolf staggered back with a snarl, more surprised than wounded. “You’ll pay for that, witch!”

  Natalia and Tyson closed the space between us, creating a shield between Claire and us. The monster inside me that wanted out banged against my ribs. But I still hoped for diplomacy. Fighting was always the last resort. Always. “Look around you,” I told the wolves. “You are outnumbered.”

  One of the little girls started crying, and the young witch who had killed Devlinn grunted against her bonds. “There’s a village of them down here!”

  The big wolf snapped his jaws. “Shut your mouth.”

  Listening, I sensed more footfalls. More snarls. More grunts. Others were coming. “And you, you’re their leader?” I asked, trying to keep him talking.

  “We’re Shayla’s chosen.” He slapped his furry hand against the opalescent gem. “She knows who is loyal.”

  “Where is Chastity?” I asked Natalia, keeping my features schooled in neutrality. “Tell me her witches are on the way.”

  Natalia shook her head. “She let us through her wards, but didn’t follow.”

  More wolves appeared out of the dark. Creatures caught somewhere between man and beast. But none of the others wore the same stones that these three did.

  I had a feeling this wasn’t going to end with negotiations.

  “Go stand with Sir Gavin,” I told Claire, not taking my eyes off the dark. “Do not make me repeat myself.”

  “No. I can fight.”

  “If you’re carrying my child, then your job is to protect him. Mine is to protect you.”

  It would take a week for her pheromones to change, and weeks longer before I’d be able to sense a heartbeat inside her. Which meant from this moment forward, I wasn’t allowed to fail. If something happened to her, to them, this fragile hope that we were building brick by brick on very unstable ground and without a plan, I wouldn’t just become the reaper. I’d break this whole world.

  I’d agreed to create a baby, and now I was responsible.

  Finally, she conceded, taking one step, then another, watching me until she reached Sir Gavin’s line. Even when she was behind ten of the best swords, it didn’t feel like enough.

  The alpha whispered something to the beta beside him. I caught the words with my vampiric hearing.

  “Whatever you do, keep the girl alive. I want her.”

  A switch flipped inside my head. The negotiations were over. I lunged. Natalia and Tyson moved with me. My ability to slide into their minds assisted the fight. “Right. Back. On your left.”

  But my gifts had other uses too. I could worm my way into the enemy’s mind, saying things that I would never repeat aloud. It was one of the things that made me such a deadly commander. I could control what everyone else was thinking, except my own.

  My mind was divided between Claire and the battle. I kept stealing glances at her, ensuring she was still safely behind good swords that I trusted. Since she couldn’t join the fight, she sent her wolves, who turned out to be just as fierce. They worked in tandem against the weres. The brown one bit legs and groins while the white one tore out throats.

  I glanced back at Claire, watching her tend to one of the small children, and the big beta barreled past me. I chased after it. Before I caught it, the were broke through Sir Gavin’s sword line and shoved her backward against the wall so hard that her head snapped against the stone. As soon as I caught the scent of her blood, I lost all control.

  I grabbed it around the neck, threw it to the ground, and shoved a sword in its neck. Snarling and growling into its face.

  The whoosh of flames filled the cavern with light, and one of the werewolves caught fire. The scent of burning fur, thick in the air. I cursed under my breath. Claire. Another wolf charged at her, and I lunged in front of it and put my sword through its belly. More flames came from the tip of her wand. More wolves, recognizing the threat, approached.

  “Stop!” I shouted. “You’re drawing them right to you!”

  My sword flashed as I cut through more bodies, each strike fueled by my rage and feral need to protect her. My vision tunneled; every detail sharpened—the wet snap of bone, the copper tang of blood, the desperate gasps of my soldiers. Blinded with battle rage, I became my weapon. Slice. Cut. Slice. Cut. When I took a hit, I felt nothing. I just kept swinging.

  Flames illuminated the carnage in bursts. Smoke filled the space until men were coughing. Then the flames suddenly stopped, and mid-swing, I turned to find my wife limp in Sir Gavin’s arms. Tansy at her side. The wound on her head. The spells. The fire. She’d overextended herself.

  Because of my distraction, I took a claw to the jaw, then another to the ribs. The were’s foul breath in my face. The pain was inconsequential. I slashed back. Again and again. Leaving a trail of black blood in my wake. The stench of death was everywhere. Children were crying. Charred bodies smoldered.

  Until at last, there was only one wolf left—the alpha.

  I spun my sword in my hand. Blood dripped down my face from one of many wounds that I did not feel. “This one is mine,” I told my fellow vampires.

  The beast’s lips quirked at the challenge.

  “Hostage, remember!” Natalia shouted. “He’s more valuable alive.”

  I tried to pull the bloodthirsty thing inside me back, but he was too far gone. I charged, sword raised high. We met claw and sword. Blow by blow. The thick gray fur covering his arms and legs was like armor, and my blade bounced off it. This was no normal beast.

  But neither was I.

  “When you’re dead,” the were told me, “I’m coming for your girl.”

  I roared, baring my fangs. “Never!”

  The beast slammed into me, his arms wrapping around my waist as he tackled me to the ground. Claws dug into my chest, and a feral growl escaped my throat. That, I felt. I pushed against the cold ground, fighting for breath as the alpha bared its teeth.

  “Should’ve sat this one out and let your mate fight for you, Lord Vampire,” the beast said. “Guess I’ll have to keep her company now.”

  A line of slobber dripped from the beast’s jowls. I reached for the dagger that had skittered out of my chest rig when I fell, my fingertips inching closer.

  When the growl of a vampire broke through the chaos. In a flash, Tyson was there, even though I told him to stand down, dagger raised high. He twirled his blade with an exaggerated flourish. “Bad puppy.”

  Tyson drove his weapon into the alpha’s side. The sickening sound of steel on bone was followed by a strangled cry. I blinked in astonishment. My whelp of a nephew, whom I often doubted, had just saved my life.

  I heard the wolf’s heart beating, and I knew he hadn’t delivered a death blow. But I would fix that quickly enough. He had threatened Claire.

  I rolled him over, snatched up my dagger, and pinned him as he’d pinned me. A low growl left my throat as its eyes flashed.

  “You can kill me, but it won’t change a thing. Shayla will come for you.”

  “Uncle!” Natalia shouted. “We need answers!”

  But I was already seeing red. I plunged my dagger into the alpha’s heart.

  Chapter 24

  Veille

  CLAIRE

  Itried to sit up, but my body refused to obey. Even opening my eyes was impossible; my lids were heavy and limp as lead. With nothing else left, I strained to listen to the muffled voices around me, but it was like my head was submerged underwater.

  I groaned, my head throbbing.

  “I know you’re a girl,” a familiar gruff voice said, “but you’ve got some balls on you. Don’t ya?”

  Even half-conscious, I knew that voice. Gorrath.

  I couldn’t see him, but I sensed him the way you feel someone standing too close behind you—the prickling at your neck, the weight of their breath. It was the same uneasy feeling I’d had that night alone in our room, the night I discovered what the horn could do. And again in the circle. I squeezed my eyes tighter, mortified. The horn. Bastien’s hands. The way the demon had⁠—

  “If you keep disobeying Bastien’s orders and firing spells at werewolves twice your size, I’m going to start liking you. And that was not part of the plan.”

  Despite everything, despite my throbbing head and the fact that I couldn’t lift my own hands, I huffed out, “Sorry to ruin your plans.”

  The demon laughed. “I can see why he likes you. You’ve got spunk.”

  I ignored him. Around me, the real world grew a little more real. Hands slid under my back, and my body tilted like someone was carrying me. The slow, swaying sensation of being carried made my stomach roll. I tried to force my eyes open and say Bastien’s name.

  “Easy,” Gorrath urged. “Stop fighting it.”

  “Have to—” My tongue felt too big for my mouth. “Bastien⁠—”

  The demon laughed, loud and crass. “Hate to break it to you, love. But you’re not waking up for a while.”

  I frowned. Even thinking hurt. “Am I unconscious? Is that what’s happened?”

  “Yes and no.”

  Sighing inwardly, I asked, “Are you going to tell me more? Or are you sticking with vague responses?”

  A pause. “I don’t know. Can you stop blushing every time you think about my horn?”

  A fresh wave of embarrassment washed over me. “Never mind. Just let me be unconscious in peace.”

  “You have nothing to be ashamed of,” he went on. “When my magick chose you in that graveyard, a piece of me bonded with your soul. After what we did in that circle, you can’t get rid of me. I’m part of you now. So playing with my horn is basically playing with yourself.”

  “That is not how that works,” I muttered. “You’re not just inside me. You have your own body.”

  “Stop disagreeing with me,” he shot back, clearly amused. “I’m starting to like it.”

  I tried to roll away from him out of pure spite and remembered I couldn’t even feel my own legs. Nor could I escape a creature who was literally inside my head.

  Scoffing, I asked, “How did Bastien stand you? You’re disgusting.”

  “It’s part of my charm.”

  I said nothing, wondering if five hundred years ago he was less annoying. Thankfully, Gorrath fell quiet, and in the silence, warmth began to spread through my chest. A gentle heat that made me relax into whoever was carrying me. Bastien, I hoped.

  The demon, unable to stand a little peace and quiet, started talking again. “As your new demon, it’s my job to teach you the rules of being a living relic. The most important one, which you have learned the hard way, is that you can only hold so much of my power at one time.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because if you had endless power, you wouldn’t be a witch. You’d be a demon. And trust me, you don’t want the paperwork that comes with that.”

  Despite myself, I smiled. “So I used all of it?”

  “You burned through every drop like a drunk sailor with a purse full of coin.”

  “And now?”

  “You recharge.”

  Embers of heat spread from my chest, down my legs, and into my toes. It tickled like pins and needles after you’ve slept on your hand too long. It was my magick, coming back to me.

  “Is that you?” I asked quietly. “Are you doing that?”

  He chuckled. “Look at you. Smart and reckless. I’m liking you more by the second.”

  Quiet settled over us again as he worked. I was grateful his horn wasn’t needed for this. Or his hands. He seemed to be able to send me power through our connection.

  In the space that the quiet provided, I thought of all that had happened. Of Mellie, the girl with the hollow eyes that reminded me of myself, and the man that she’d killed.

  Tears pricked in my eyes. “Why couldn’t I save Devlinn?” I asked the demon.

  He didn’t say anything right away, and I wondered if that meant he’d gone. But I could still sense his presence. Finally, he replied, “There are some spells that even my magick can’t fix. Like death spells.”

  My throat tightened, and I went to reach for the lace choker around my neck even though I knew I couldn’t make my hand move. “It can’t stop death spells?”

  “No,” he continued. “Including the spell on your choker.”

  I said nothing, accustomed to keeping my mouth shut about Mama’s curse. “I live inside you, Claire. Of course, I know about your curse.”

  I’d wanted these powers so that I could save myself. To stop Imogen’s prophecy from coming true. But he was telling me I couldn’t do it. A sob caught in my throat. And even though warmth was pushing into every corner of my body, I started involuntarily shivering.

  “Sleep,” Gorrath said. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

  I awoke before my body was fully mine again, floating in that strange in-between place, aware but useless. So I didn’t fight it, as the demon advised. I just waited. Listening to the sounds in the background as they became louder and louder.

  But truthfully, the only person I was listening for was Bastien. Instinct told me he was close by, but that wasn’t enough. I needed to see his face, hear his voice, touch him.

  Time stretched on, whether it was minutes or hours; I wasn’t sure. Until finally, after trying to move my hand for what felt like forever, my fingers twitched.

  It was the smallest victory in the world. I was coming back to myself. Recharged and ready. But my body was still catching up.

  Slowly, clumsily, I dragged my hand across scratchy wool blankets. The effort was exhausting and made my head swim, but I didn’t stop trying to reach him. My fingertips brushed smooth cotton, then the cool curve of a button.

  Bastien.

  I followed it upward, mapping by touch alone. Button. Seam. The edge of a collar. Then cold fingers found mine, threading carefully through them. Twining us together. I tried to say his name, but found my voice blocked by the warm press of tears. I was so unbelievably happy and relieved to feel him again.

  After everything that happened in the tunnel. And in that circle. I just needed him.

  Bastien lifted the inside of my wrist to his lips, and my heart stuttered. “Chérie,” he whispered against my skin. “Have you come back to me? Or is this another dream?”