“They argue about it all the time,” the pixie huffed. “She’s constantly griping at him for not completing it, and he tells her she’s young and doesn’t need to rush something so permanent. Whoo-wee,” the pixie cackled. “She doesn't like it when he tells her that. When their arguments get to that point, she comes out here and runs. At first, he would come out with her and try to follow her, but that only made her more angry. She’s quite a feisty thing. Eventually, she convinced him to let her have this time to herself to cool off. Of course, the dumb wolf doesn’t realize that she never really calms down. She’s simply getting herself ready for their next argument.” The small supernatural shook his head. “She mutters the whole time she runs, as if he’s there and she’s griping at him. Humans are so silly.”

  “You could have simply said they argue about their bond,” Cain said dryly. “We didn’t need the whole soap opera about their relationship woes.”

  “How long is she usually out here?” Ludcarab asked.

  “Depends on how bad their argument is,” the pixie answered. “Today was a particularly bad one. It got loud, and their alpha actually stepped in. I’m not sure they’re really true mates. The males of their race are not known for their patience when it comes to completing the bond.”

  “We’ll know as soon as he realizes she’s gone,” Alston said, a small smile on his lips. He couldn’t help but feel satisfaction in knowing that he’d be dealing the wolves a blow, again, and the fallout would send them reeling. The resulting emotions would cause them to make mistakes.

  “Can we get this over with?” the vampire king asked, sounding bored.

  “Not enough death and carnage for you?” Alston said.

  “Standing and watching a human female run in circles is not my idea of a good time, unless I’m chasing her and then get to sink my teeth in her once I’ve caught her.”

  Alston frowned. “You will not touch her.”

  Cain shrugged. “Plenty of fish in the sea and all that.”

  The door to the mansion opened, and a large man stepped out. Alston’s eyes snapped to the pixie. “How long has she been running?”

  “Fifteen minutes or so.” The little man took a step back as if Alston might hit him if he gave the wrong answer, which Alston was still considering. The fae had been hoping there would be no interference.

  “Is that her mate?” Ludcarab asked, motioning toward the male.

  The pixie shook his head. “That’s the alpha.”

  Alston narrowed his eyes and looked closer. The male was wearing a hat, but when he turned his head, Alston recognized him.”

  “Give it just a moment,” Ludcarab said. “Maybe he will go back inside. If he doesn’t, we’ll put plan B in effect.”

  “I still don’t understand why plan B isn’t just blowing up the damn place,” Cain muttered. “The only good wolf is a dead one.”

  “We’ve already put ourselves in a precarious position with the number of human prisoners we’ve taken,” Alston reminded the vampire. “I told you not to take so many from this part of the world, so close to our location. But you didn’t listen. Now, we’ve got your new vamps going out all the time to hunt, and some have been spotted by the human authorities, or have you forgotten that debacle?” Alston wanted to smack the smug smile off the vampire king’s face.

  Cain chuckled. “You have to admit it is kind of funny. We’ve convinced them that these missing prisoners have a deadly disease. Finding those few in the general population had them running around like the scared sheep they are.”

  “It might have been a little humorous if it hadn’t happened in the damn city where we have our base,” Alston pointed out. “We don’t need humans looking too closely at things that could lead them to us before we are ready.”

  “They would never figure it out,” Cain said.

  Ludcarab shook his head. “The biggest mistake a general makes in a war is underestimating his opponent. Humans are inferior to us, but like every race, they have exceptions. There are some very intelligent humans that work for their government, not to mention the humans who actually believe in the supernatural. To others of their kind they may be considered crazy, but you never know when someone will start taking them seriously. We don’t want to become known until we decide.”

  They stood in silence, the pixie shifting restlessly beside Alston while they waited. The male still stood on the porch, his arms folded and his eyes trained on the jogging female. After a minute, another male joined him. They leaned in close, their lips moving as they spoke, but their eyes remained focused on their charge.

  “Looks like it’s plan B,” Cain said, rubbing his hands together.

  Alston held up his hand. “Not yet. Patience. It would be best if we could keep suspicion off of us, initially.”

  “That might be possible,” the pixie spoke up suddenly, as if he remembered something. “Tonight, when they fought, she threatened to leave and go stay with one of the other packs. She mentioned a couple of them, but she didn’t settle on a specific one.”

  Alston’s lips turned up slightly. “Did she now?”

  “Then we would be wise to take her without the distraction,” Ludcarab said, exactly what Alston was thinking. “If she simply disappears, he will think she made good on her threat. A distraction, and then her disappearance would be an obvious abduction.”

  Cain folded his arms in front of his chest and growled. “Waiting is so overrated.”

  “Zaire has gone to make sure that Alston, Ludcarab, and Cain have left,” Skender told Tenia softly. Torion sat cross-legged on the bed, a pad of paper in his lap and a pencil in his hand moving furiously across the page. His little face was scrunched up in concentration as he bit his bottom lip.

  “How did you figure this out? When did you figure this out?” The questions rushed out of her through their bond.

  “I told you I wanted to speak with you about something I’ve been working on with Torion,” he responded.

  Tenia turned to look at him. The sound of his voice was hesitant, but she saw burning conviction in his eyes that what he’d been doing with Torion was good and right. She waited for him to continue.

  “Zaire, Owan, and I have been working with Torion on his fighting skills and magic.” Skender paused and seemed to be waiting to see if she was going to interrupt, but she simply stared at him.

  “I wanted to give him some sort of advantage, no matter how small, to fight back if ever he needed to.”

  Tenia nodded and swallowed hard. The emotions inside of her were a torrential storm after her conversation with Alston, the knowledge that her son is a seer, and now learning that her mate had cared enough to want to teach her child to protect himself. Something she should have done but hadn’t had time to.

  He took a breath and let it out slowly before continuing. “Today, after our practice, Torion started his drawings, and he mentioned that they were more vivid. He was drawing faster, and he said they somehow felt different. Zaire said that could be his power growing and evolving since they were teaching him to use it.”

  “That is common,” Tenia acknowledged.

  “The last three drawings he’s done have come to pass. They were simple.” Skender glanced at Torion and back to her. “He drew me dropping the tray of food he had at lunch. We laughed because my face was so surprised in the picture, and then that drawing came to life on the page, like a cartoon on a television. Later, when Zaire brought the lunch tray, it happened. I dropped it just as his drawing had shown.”

  Tenia’s pulse quickened. Her stomach churned at the knowledge that her son had such a valuable gift, and that gift would make him a target for evil people like those in the Order.

  “I asked him to draw another picture, whatever popped into his mind,” Skender said. “He drew a picture of you having a conversation with Alston. The very conversation that you had with him earlier. When he’d drawn it, the encounter hadn’t yet happened. What I saw through the bond, the facial expressions exhibited by Alston, were identical to the ones that Torion’s drawings depicted when they came to life. There were no words, just his mouth moving as if he was talking.

  “And the third one was Cain and Ludcarab talking. I believe it was the conversation you happened upon. Since that drawing, he has been sitting there”—Skender pointed at her son—“working on his next picture. I’ve tried to interrupt him, but he just shakes his head and keeps drawing. When the page gets full, he flips it and starts on the next one.”

  Tenia swallowed hard and looked at Torion. He suddenly stopped and dropped his pencil. The boy took the pictures he’d drawn and laid them out side by side on the bed. Slowly, the pictures on the pages began to move. Tenia quickly shifted so her body blocked the camera, and Skender stepped beside her, helping her keep the pages out of sight.

  One by one, Torion turned the drawings so they were facing Tenia and Skender. Then he looked up, his eyes full of expectancy and fear. She snapped her eyes down to the pictures and began to pay attention to what was happening on the pages. She realized first that they were a sequential order of events. Where one image ended on a page, it picked up on the next. She stepped closer and began to recognize the people in the pictures.

  “That’s Myanin,” she whispered as she pointed to the djinn. Her drawn form moved, walking into the main compound building. She was on the second level, her eyes darting around the room as if she was looking for someone. As usual there was sparring going on, people milling about. The place was full of supernaturals. In the next picture, Myanin suddenly disappeared from the spot. Perizada appeared in the middle of the bottom floor of the same building. The high fae’s robes whipped around her, and despite being drawn in pencil, she appeared to emit a glow from her body. Her eyes were filled with rage, and Tenia could practically feel Peri’s emotions coming from the page.

  Her eyes moved to the next picture. Peri was in the same spot, but everyone in the room was lying on the ground. The fae’s arms were raised, and her head was thrown back while her lips moved. Light shot from her hand. The paper that Tenia stared at illuminated with the high fae’s power. The pages began to vibrate. Tenia continued on to the next drawing. The moving picture showed the building shaking and the strewn-about bodies being lifted from the floor as if an invisible rope had been tied to each one and was being hoisted upward. As Tenia moved closer, she realized she was feeling heat. She reached out her hand and held it inches from the picture. Magic pulsed from the page. Warmth flowed from it, but then a burst of icy coldness hit Tenia’s hand, causing her to gasp and snap it back. At the same moment, a massive torrent of light flowed out of Peri, and the next page came to life. The building around the high fae began to crash down, and soon they could see the outside of the compound. Buildings everywhere were collapsing and burning. At the same time, every person was dropping to the ground like swatted flies. Some were too close to the burning buildings and caught on fire themselves. They ran around flailing in a vain attempt to put out the flames. Tenia swore she could hear their screams. She recognized a few of the faces, but then one in particular stood out.

  “Zaire.” The fae’s name whooshed from her lips. She watched him stumble and then hit the ground. He rolled onto his back and grabbed at his chest. His mouth moved as if he was trying to get air but couldn’t. Zaire’s eyes widened with something that looked like recognition as his head turned toward the main building which was now a giant pile of rubble. Standing in the middle of the carnage was Perizada. Her head was still tilted back, eyes open with light bursting from them. Her body was covered in flames, but they weren’t orange and red. That was when Tenia realized she was seeing this picture in color, not the pencil in which it had been drawn. The magic had evolved with the drawing or the power it evoked. The flames that wrapped angrily around Peri were blue, interspersed with white. Cold fire. Tenia stared at the high fae in horror.

  “What is cold fire?” Skender asked, his voice rough and tense through their bond.

  “A type of power that only a high fae is capable of,” she answered. “I’m not sure how to describe it.” She considered her words as she tried to figure out the best way to explain the magic Peri was using. “The power a high fae has inside of them is different from the power of a less powerful fae. And because it’s so powerful, it can only be used in selfless ways. It’s blood magic but not exactly.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Skender said. “Blood magic is dark magic.”

  “Not this blood magic. The cost isn’t someone else’s blood. It’s her own. She’s using her blood to power the spell, but it’s not being used for evil. Yes, usually blood magic is only dark magic. But it can be used for a righteous purpose by a high fae. Though the power comes at a great price.” Tenia stared in horror as the blue flames exploded from Peri, completely engulfing the page. Her eyes moved to the last drawing as it came to life. Everything that had been in existence in the previous pages was gone, wiped out as if they’d never been. The compound was empty of buildings, people, trees, bushes, cars, fences. It was a wasteland.

  Tenia’s hand covered her mouth, and her eyes widened. Her breath shuttered out of her, and her heart beat painfully in her chest. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears as she watched the barren ground sink in on itself, revealing tunnels beneath the compound’s surface. A vast, twisting labyrinth was exposed, and inside of passages, bodies writhed as a blue flame rushed in. It looked as though the fire was a sentient being, moving through the maze, around corners, into rooms, and back out into the corridor. The power of it incinerated each being it touched, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.

  The entire thing lasted less than a minute, then everything was still. The blue flame evaporated, revealing, once again, nothing but empty earth left in its wake. Not even the remains of the burned bodies were left.

  “Where is Perizada?” Skender asked.

  Tenia blinked as tears filled her eyes. The page became blurry, and she began to shake her head as if that would change what she had seen. “Cold fire requires a high fae’s blood, but she doesn’t have to shed her blood. She has to give up the magic that lives inside it. Like human DNA. Her magic is a part of her. It flows in her veins. And if those veins were opened and all of her blood spilled out she would die. The same is true of her magic. If her blood is stripped of her magic, she will die. The cold fire requires her blood magic. Not just a little. It requires all of it. It is the debt that must be paid for the innocent lives taken alongside the condemned.”

  “Lucian? Her mate. He will be an innocent taken as well.” Skender’s words were a whisper in her mind.

  Tenia snapped herself out of her shock and straightened her spine. “No. Regardless of what a seer foretells, the future's not set in stone. Choices can be made, circumstances changed in a blink of an eye.” She began to gather up the pages and then reached for Torion’s chin. Her son had been staring at the drawings in silence. “We’ve seen what is to come. We can change it.”

  Tears tracked down Torion’s cheeks, and his bottom lip trembled. She saw not only fear in his precious eyes but despair as well. “What is it, love?” she asked.

  “Some things can’t be changed.” His small voice quivered. “Some things are just meant to be.”

  Tenia shook her head. “Not this. Not Perizada or all the innocent ones. There are other ways to take down the Order.” She took his hand and pulled him from the bed. “I have to try and stop this.”

  “You aren’t—” Skender began but Tenia held up her hand.

  “How long from the time Torion drew his previous…” Tenia paused, unsure what to call the prophetic pictures, “...tellings ... until they came to pass?” she interrupted him.

  Skender’s jaw clenched as his gaze bore into hers. “A half hour, maybe a little longer.”

  Tenia pulled out her phone. It had been ten minutes since she’d returned and Torion had finished the pictures. That did not leave them much time. Tenia folded the papers up and pushed them into one of the many pockets on her pants. She wrapped an arm around Torion and headed for the door. She knew Skender would follow her, regardless of the fact that she could feel his disapproval radiating through their bond.

  She hurried down the winding halls until she found an exit. When they emerged outside, darkness had already fallen, and the sky was lit up with tiny stars and a full, bright moon. Tenia wondered how something so horrible could be about to happen with such a beautiful moon looking down on them. Horrible things shouldn’t happen in beautiful moments.

  As soon as they were clear of the spell that stifled the fae flashing magic, she grabbed Skender’s arm and flashed the three of them away. They appeared in a forest. The warlock mountain loomed over them, less than a mile away.

  Tenia immediately dropped to her knees and took Torion’s face in her hands. “I’m going to fix this. I’m going to change it.”

  “I’ve drawn it, Mom,” he said softly. “It’s going to happen because I’ve drawn it.”

  She heard the self-incrimination in his voice, and the words were a dagger through her heart.

  “If I hadn’t drawn it, then maybe it wouldn’t happen..” He continued, “Maybe,”

  Tenia shook her head and pressed a finger to his lips. “Things don’t come to pass because you willed them to be, Torion. They come to pass because of the Great Luna’s will or because of the free will we’ve been given and the choices we make. Do not mistake your ability to see the future as being able to create the future. You’ve done nothing wrong, and you are not responsible for what happens.”

  Another tear rolled down his cheek, and he hastily wiped it away. “Why won’t you let me and Skender help you? You don’t have to do this alone.”

  Tenia dropped her eyes and pressed her lips tightly together, trying to keep her emotions under control. “It’s too dangerous. I won’t risk you. And Skender can’t flash, so it has to be me. He can protect you, and that’s what matters most to me.” She wrapped him in her arms and pulled him tightly against her. She was probably hugging him too hard, but she couldn’t help it. Torion was the brightest light in her life—a life that had been dark for too long. She was constantly worried that she wouldn’t be enough to protect her son, but then another star appeared in her darkness: Skender. She wasn’t alone anymore. If something happened to her, Torion would be safe. That thought made her relax, and she pulled back and smiled at her boy. Her precious, funny, amazing son. “I love you, Torion,” she said quietly. “I loved you from the moment I realized the Great Luna had blessed me with a child. And I have loved you more every day since.”