“Bloody hell.” Jen breathed out as the air whooshed from her lungs. She bent over, resting her hands on her knees, her lungs on fire as if she’d just run a marathon. Jen couldn’t believe what had just happened. It didn’t seem possible. Not because Peri wasn’t capable, but because she just wouldn’t.

  “No,” Anna spoke up, her head shaking. “Peri wouldn’t hurt her.” Her words echoed Jen’s thoughts.

  Jen stood back up and looked around Dec to the high fae in question. She seemed to be ignoring them, her eyes staring off at nothing.

  “You’d be surprised what people are capable of when pushed to the edge of their sanity,” Decebel told the healer. “This one was already dancing too close to the edge as it was.”

  “Okay, enough.” Jen cut her hand through the air. “Let’s just go to the next pack, please. I’d like to get to sleep at our home tonight so I can see Thia.” Jen hoped reminding Peri of their child might keep her from doing … whatever the hell it was that she’d started to do.

  Decebel placed a hand on Peri, but instead of letting Jen just stand next to him, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against his chest. “Touch only the top of her hand, with one finger,” he instructed.

  Jen nearly rolled her eyes, but then she remembered the way it had felt to have her blood freezing inside of her. Okay, so maybe her mate’s concern wasn’t completely unwarranted. Jen glanced at Anna. “I’ll call you,” she mouthed, using her free hand to mimic a phone coming to her ear. The healer nodded, then her eyes moved to Peri. Anna briefly looked like a kicked puppy, but in a split second, the darker version of her that had joined them earlier was back and she glared at Peri. High fae better watch her back. Jen watched the healer put her hands on her hips and narrow her eyes on the back of Peri’s head. Then they were gone, flashing to the next pack headquarters.

  “I can’t believe you threatened Peri,” Jen said to her mate through their bond.

  “Why? She threatened you with her little stunt. She’s lucky she’s an ally. I would have killed her if she wasn’t.”

  Jen’s eyes widened. She’d thought over the years that maybe her mate had mellowed out a bit. Apparently, he was just as protective now as he had been when they met.

  “Jennifer,” he said, drawing her attention.

  Jen opened her eyes, not knowing when she had closed them. She hadn’t even realized they’d reappeared somewhere else. And, of course, Peri was gone.

  “I won’t tolerate anyone trying to hurt you. Never. I don’t care who it is. Perizada is important to us. She has become a friend, not just an ambassador. But she is making the choice to step back from the friend she’s become and only be the ambassador. Whatever her reasons may be, she has made it clear that she only sees us as the charges that the Great Luna gave her. Though she is an ally, she has stepped out of the circle of the family, of the pack.”

  “Dec, no.” Jen shook her head.

  “She tried to hurt you, baby. I’m not Costin or Sally. I don’t give second chances. Not when it comes to YOU.”

  Jen could hear what he was saying, but her mind refused to grasp it. Peri was more than just their friend. She was more than just an ally. She was theirs. Peri had proven herself over and over again. She’d made huge sacrifices for them. They couldn’t just let her go.

  “If it means keeping you and Thia safe, I sure as hell can and will,” Decebel responded to her thoughts.

  “But, she’s our—” Jen began.

  Decebel growled. “She’s Perizada, high fae, powerful ambassador—that is all. She became that when I saw my mate being frozen from the inside out just by her glare. I won’t make the mistake of trusting someone simply because they’ve been loyal to our pack in the past. It takes one action, one poor decision to bring that house of cards to the ground. Just remember what happened with Skender. She’s lucky I didn’t let my wolf loose on her.”

  Jen stood there frozen by her mate’s intense reaction to what Peri had done. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have the right to be angry. Jen would be pissed if someone tried to hurt her mate, especially someone they trusted. But this was Peri. Her mind just couldn’t reconcile the thought of the high fae doing something to hurt any of them.

  “I’m sorry, baby.” Decebel cupped her face. “The Peri we knew, she’s either gone or so far buried beneath her grief that she no longer cares about anything else. It looks like we are simply a job to her now instead of trusted friends.”

  Jen felt as if he’d just punched her in the gut. It hurt. She didn’t want to believe what he was saying, but how could she not? Her precious friend had basically attacked her unprovoked. Jen was used to Peri responding to her verbal jabs with smart-ass comments of her own, not fae magic. “Damn,” Jen whispered. The realization that Peri had actually tried to harm her was a knife in the back. And the knife wasn’t just sitting there. Peri’s betrayal felt as if the blade was repeatedly being pulled back and plunged back in. Alina had died a horrible death. Jen had lost her because someone had taken her from their pack. But Peri ... Peri was choosing to leave them. Why did that seem to be even more painful?

  “Do you want to go back to the mansion?” Decebel asked her. Jen didn’t even know where they were. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the ground right in front of her mate’s boots. She was just stuck.

  “No, just…” She took a deep breath. “I just need a moment to wrap my head around it, and then another moment to stuff it into one of the ‘crap I don’t want to deal with’ files in my mind.”

  Decebel didn’t move from where he was standing. His hands rested on her shoulders, and his forehead pressed into the top of her head. She leaned forward without conscious thought and rested her own forehead on her mate’s chest. It took longer than a few minutes, but finally Jen pulled her crap together and pushed Peri’s issues into a box … one that she would deal with eventually. For now, they had important things to do.

  “I’m good.” Jen finally lifted her head. She reached up and pressed a kiss to Decebel’s lips and then took his hand. He stared at her for a minute longer, no doubt looking for any sign that she wasn’t being truthful, then stepped back and turned around to see … a castle?

  The Irish pack headquarters was a legit castle with turrets, ramparts, a moat, and even a freaking drawbridge. “Okay, we live in Romania, home of Dracula, and we don’t even get a damn castle.” Jen watched four people step out of the massive, arched gateway. “Is there a throne? And is it made from the bones of your enemies?” Jen asked as she started toward the strangers. “Please tell me there’s a bone throne.”

  “If there was one, it would not be called a bone throne.” Decebel sighed as he rubbed his hand over his face.

  “B, I am so good. I wasn’t even trying to come up with a dirty title at a completely inappropriate time.” Jen held up her hand to him, but he just stared at it. So she shrugged and high-fived herself. Because, come on, that one was just a happy accident.

  “Yes, baby, your talent knows no bounds.”

  Jen tapped her lip as she stared at the awesome castle and then looked back at the members of the Ireland pack. “How about a dungeon with real torture cells?”

  “I’ve been asking the same questions since I got here,” said the blonde standing next to the Irish mountain, because the dude was ridiculously large. “So far all I’ve been shown is a few secret passageways.”

  “Do they end up anywhere cool? Like in another person’s room so they could be assassinated without anyone knowing how?” Jen’s voice rose with excitement as she momentarily forgot the whole reason they were there.

  “No more historical documentaries for you,” Decebel muttered. Jen ignored him as she waited for the blond to answer.

  “You know, I never thought to ask that. Mainly because every time we went through a secret passageway, Kale got a little amorou—” A large hand suddenly appeared over her mouth and muffled the rest of her words.

  “That’s enough out of ye, lass,” the giant male said in a thick Irish accent.

  “Kale.” Decebel nodded at him, “I assume this is your true mate?”

  “Aye.” Kale answered. “This is my Heather.”

  His mate pried Kale’s hand from her mouth and smiled. “I’m his pain-in-the-ass, but he’s kind enough just to call me Heather. And I’m kind enough to keep the seeing-eye-dog jokes to a minimum.”

  Jen’s eyes lit up when she realized who Heather actually was. “You’re the blind healer who trains seeing eye dogs,” Jen blurted out, because she was so on her game at the moment. Mentally kicking her own butt, she shook her head.

  “I’m the blind healer that used to train seeing eye dogs. Now, this is the only dog I train.” She gave Kale a pat on the arm.

  Jen chuckled. “Forgive me. It seems fighting bad guys, losing people I love, and throwing massive, long-overdue celebrations kills brain cells.” Jen pinched the bridge of her nose. “And my mini-me kills them daily, so I really don’t have much left to work with. Except when I come up with things like ‘bone throne.’ That one is going down in the book.”

  “I agree. That one is awesome. We’ll have to share notes.” Heather started forward, a smile on her pretty face. Jen wanted to reach out for her, worried she would fall, but her mate was right beside her. He wasn’t holding on to her, but his body subtly touched hers and wordlessly guided the girl until she stood right in front of Jen and Decebel.

  “I am Heather,” she confirmed. “And you are the fierce she-wolf that Sally spoke so much about. I have to be honest. I have a secret girl crush on you.”

  Jen grinned. “You’ll have to get in line. I’ve got many admirers, including the mailman.”

  Decebel growled and gave an exasperated sigh. “I’m going to kill that damn mailman.”

  “I feel like that’s a story I’m going to need to hear later.” Heather grinned.

  “If you ladies are done?” Another male voice spoke up from behind Kale. His voice was just a tad deeper than Decebel’s and had the same thick accent of Kale’s. Jen could feel the alpha power radiating from him.

  “Angus,” Decebel said, tilting his head down slightly, but not exposing his throat in any way.

  “I take it Fane is still dealing with challenges if you have been sent in his stead,” Angus said.

  “Apparently the list of rogues with a death wish is endless,” her mate replied. He shifted restlessly beside her. Jen glanced at Decebel and felt something rush through their bond. She’d known he was uneasy about leaving the pack while Fane was fighting, but that had been the only emotion she’d picked up from him. Now, Jen felt more than just worry from him.

  “What’s wrong, B?"

  “After what happened at the Blood Moon ceremony,” Angus said, “I can’t believe any of them would even dare.”

  Decebel grunted his agreement even as he responded to her. “I just have a bad feeling," he spoke into her mind. “Angus, can I have a word with you?” Jen watched as her mate and the Ireland alpha stepped off to the side of their group. Their heads bent close together as they spoke. Heather’s voice drew Jen back to the audience in front of her.

  “I didn’t see what all went on at the ceremony, because of the”—Heather pointed to her eyes—“well, the lack of vision.”

  “Gah, I love this one, too. We have to keep her.” Jen groaned.

  “They’re not strays, Jennifer,” Decebel called out over his shoulder.

  “Um, but they kind of are. And we can give them their new fur-ever home. See what I did there? Fur-ever?” She looked at each of them as they each shook their heads at her. “What? Nothing? Nobody? Hello, is this thing on?” She mimed tapping an invisible mic.

  Heather’s head moved slightly and tilted at her. “Sally wasn’t wrong. You’re totally weird as hell in a weird-can’t-help-but-like-you kind of way.”

  Jen shrugged. “It’s my cross to bear.”

  “What were you saying about the ceremony, lass?” Kale asked his mate, obviously trying to get the conversation that she and Jen had hijacked back on the right track.

  Heather’s lips bunched up. She shifted them left and right as she seemed to think about what it was she’d been going to say. Then she snapped her fingers. “Right. Blind.” She pointed to herself.

  “We got that the first time around,” Angus called out.

  “Glad to know you’re sharp as ever, Alpha,” Heather said.

  “And that you two keep an ear to the ground despite having your own private conversation,” Jen said.

  “Anyways,” Heather continued, “As the resident blind chick, I obviously use my other senses more. And I’ve found there are times that I can pick up on things that even Kale’s wolf doesn’t. In that field, during the ceremony, the amount of power that was flowing through there was like ten of the strongest hurricanes combined all in one location at the same time.”

  “The Great Luna’s power,” Jen began, but Heather shook her head.

  “No, this wasn’t the kind of power that a pure goddess wields,” Heather said. “I’ve felt the Great Luna’s power before.” She folded her arm across her chest and then rested her elbow on top of it while she tapped her cheek. “This was combined power, a mixed power, all with different intentions. It’s hard to explain.” Her lips pursed as she seemed to try to come up with the words. “Like when you have a dish with different seasonings all competing to be the strongest flavor, and yet you can’t really pick out just one.”

  “But what does that mean?” Jen asked. “Were there more supernatural beings present that we don’t know about?”

  Heather nodded. “I’ve been around a few alphas and felt their power. This felt like alpha power but on a whole new scale. It would take a hundred or more to create the kind of power I felt in that field.”

  “And why didn’t you feel the need to pass on this information?” Angus asked, as he and Decebel rejoined them. The alpha’s voice wasn’t harsh. He sounded more put out, as though dealing with an errant child.

  “I’m thinking it had something to do with the whole beloved alphas moving on, new alphas coming into power, the whole supernatural world being turned upside down and then knocked on their asses situation.” Heather shrugged. “You know, just ‘everyday, life changing, what-the-ever-loving-crap are we going to do now’ reason.”

  Angus sighed. “I had to ask.”

  “Aye,” Kale murmured. “That one was totally on you, Alpha.”

  “The point is, Fane’s going to be dealing with a lot more than we realized,” Jen said. “Which means we need to get our stuff done so we can get back and be there if he needs us.” She turned to Heather. “I’d totally take you with me if I didn’t think your mountain of a mate wouldn’t flip his beast feast.”

  “That makes no sense whatsoever, and I love you for it,” Heather interjected.

  Jen kept right on talking. She was schooled in the art of not being frazzled by an interruption. “And right now, I don’t feel like watching him and my brute of a mate duke it out simply because I want to collect a tribe of healers … although … to be fair, watching them fight, especially if they’re shirtless, might be worth the drama.”

  “Wouldn’t do much for me as I’m blind as a bat, but carry on.” Heather motioned with her hand.

  “For now, I guess I will have to leave you here and plan to abduct you at a later date.” Jen sighed. It really was a shame she couldn’t just take each of the healers with her. So far, the three she’d met were complete girl-crush material.

  “I look forward to our future abduction and wish you safe travels.” Heather smiled.

  “I feel like this is dialogue from a really bad sci-fi novel,” Decebel grumbled.

  Jen glanced at him. “Since when do you read sci-fi?”

  “Since you started rationing my stress-relief-bedroom-time.”

  “What the—” Kale choked out at the same time Heather clapped.

  “Oh snap, this I gotta hear,” the healer said. “Feel free to hold the sharing stick and bare your soul about this stress-relief-bedroom-time. I’m your captive audience. Quite literally, if you abduct me.”

  Kale tucked his giddy mate closer to his side and shook his head. “Ye’ll not be discussing anything related to bedroom time with another male present, lass. Put it out of that wee mind of yours.”

  Jen leaned forward and whispered, “It will be one of our ABCs.”

  Heather grinned. “Sweet! What are ABCs?”

  “Bloody hell.” Decebel sighed and pulled out his phone, no doubt to get in touch with their grumpy-ass travel companion.

  Jen ignored her moody mate and answered, “Abduction Bonding Conversations.”

  Peri suddenly appeared, looking just as perky as she had the last three times she’d flashed to them, which was to say she looked ready to stab someone with a spoon and laugh as she did so.

  “Perizada,” Kale’s voice rumbled.

  “Peri!” Heather exclaimed. She tried to move forward, but her mate held her fast to his body. His eyes were narrowed on the high fae, and Jen knew he could see the change in Peri.

  “Helen,” Peri said, her voice flat. “It is good to see you’re still blind as ever. Change is not something I welcome these days.”

  “Well that wasn’t a bitchy thing to say at all,” Jen said dryly as she crossed her arms in front of her.

  “She insists on calling me Helen after the woman who was blind and deaf,” Heather explained. “She hopes that it will offend me. But it takes a little more than bad jokes to offend this Texas girl.”

  Jen’s foot tapped while she stared at the high fae. “Hang out in her presence for about two minutes. Your tolerance of offense will diminish greatly.”

  Heather’s face lost its playfulness. Her lips straightened, and her cheeks dropped from the loss of her smile. She managed to push herself away from her mate and walked unerringly straight to where Peri stood. The high fae stared at the blonde healer as if the girl was a pest that needed to be swatted away. Jen’s spine stiffened as she watched Heather reach out her hand and gently place it on Peri’s arm. Decebel took a step forward as did Kale. But they needn’t have worried. Heather’s touch lasted less than a second. As soon as her hand made contact with Peri’s skin, the healer gasped and backed away several steps. “Perizada.” Heather’s voice was soft as her sightless eyes bore down on the fae. “What have you done?”