“It’s time.” Sally’s voice came from behind her.

  Jacque turned and looked at her. Costin, as always, stood at the healer’s side, close enough to touch. Fane would be at Jacque's side if not for his responsibilities to the pack. Those burdens could not be set aside any longer. She mentally stowed those worries away. It was simply too much to be concerned with the threat of vampire/werewolf hybrids when she had a child, a friend, and a mate that needed her. Though Fane needed her as his equal in leading the pack, at the moment, he needed her more as a mate. He needed her gentle, reassuring touch, her care, and her listening ear. He simply needed to voice all that was going on inside of his head. So, for now, her focus was not on what was to come. It was on the family right in front of her.

  Sally nodded at her and gave Jacque’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then walked past her. When the healer reached the bed, she leaned over far enough that she could lay a hand on both Jen and Decebel. Costin held onto Sally’s waist as if he was afraid she might topple forward, but her baby bump wasn’t that large just yet.

  Light illuminated in Sally’s hands, and she closed her eyes. Her lips moved, though Jacque couldn’t hear what Sally said. Then the healer lifted her hands and stepped back. “Their sleep is natural now, so they will wake up on their own. I didn’t want to force them awake. It might be too much of a shock to her system.” She motioned to Jen.

  Sally walked over to stand next to Jacque and clasped one of her hands, wrapping her fingers tightly around it. Jacque could feel her gentle friend’s emotions through the unique bond that had happened between them when Jacque had become the alpha of their pack.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Jacque whispered.

  “I know. But what happened… What she experienced and saw… I tried to knock her out, Jacque. I tried to—” Sally choked on her words. Jacque knew that Sally always kept her tears from falling, but now they escaped her eyes. “I just didn’t want her to see.”

  Jacque’s stomach twisted. The vision of what she had seen in Jen and Dec’s room came back to her, and she almost vomited. She understood completely why Sally had tried to protect their friend from that.

  The male sprite spoke, his voice soft. “If it’s any consolation”—Jacque looked at him and saw compassion in his eyes— “at least it wasn’t yet a formed youngling. It was mostly blood and tissue.”

  Air rushed out of Jacque as if someone had punched her in the gut. But before she could berate the foolish male, Decebel exploded from the bed. His wolf hadn’t fully phased, but what had managed to change was terrifying. Costin immediately placed his body in front of Sally and Jacque and forced them to move back.

  Decebel held the terror-stricken sprite against the wall. The beta’s massive hand was wrapped around the male’s throat, and his sharp canines centimeters away from the sprite’s face. Decebel pulled back his arm and slammed the sprite into the wall so hard that the shelves hanging on it fell, their contents smashing on the ground.

  “You just signed your death warrant.” Decebel snarled, his voice a mixture of the man and the wolf. “I will rip your intestines from your gut and strangle you with them and then feed your half-alive carcass to the wolves.”

  “I… I…” The male tried to speak but squeaked instead. Decebel must have tightened his hold. The sprite was turning a dangerous shade of purple.

  “Fane.” Jacque mentally called out to her mate. “We have a situation. Get here now.” She looked at Peri and mouthed “Fane.” The high fae nodded and flashed from the room. Two seconds later, she reappeared with Fane beside her.

  Jacque quickly brought Fane up to speed through their bond. Fane focused on his beta as he spoke. “Decebel, release the male.” It wasn’t an alpha command—yet.

  “No.” There was no hesitation in his response to his alpha. He didn’t even look Fane’s way.

  “You cannot kill him, no matter how badly you want to.” Fane stepped closer, his movement controlled and smooth as he approached the enraged beast that was Decebel.

  “You didn’t hear what he said,” Decebel rumbled.

  “Jacque told me. But stupidity and ignorance do not justify a death sentence.” Fane’s voice sounded more like his wolf.

  “If it insults and hurts my mate, then it does.”

  Blood ran down the male’s neck, and Jacque realized Decebel’s claws were sinking into his flesh.

  Everyone in the room held their breath and waited to see if Fane would force his beta’s compliance.

  “Dec.” The silence was broken by the soft, trembling sound of a female voice. Jacque’s head whipped over to look at Jen, and she forced her feet to stay still even though she wanted to run to her friend and wrap her in her arms. Jen’s eyes were on Decebel’s back. Her eyes were bloodshot with tears, and her face swollen from the hours she’d doubtlessly cried before Sally put her to sleep. The blanket still covered her front, but her shoulders and back were bare.

  “Dec,” she said again.

  He immediately dropped the sprite. It was the only thing, short of an alpha command, that could have saved the male’s life. Though there was no guarantee that Decebel wouldn’t finish the job later.

  “OUT,” Decebel bellowed. He wrapped the blanket around his mate until she was completely covered.

  Peri whipped out a hand, and the fallen shelves and debris were back up on the wall in an instant. Then she grabbed the sprite laying on the ground who was attempting to breathe. “Imbecile,” the high fae snapped before she flashed him and Lucian from the room.

  The remaining two healer sprites rushed out the door. Costin pulled Sally behind him and followed them out. Finally, Fane took Jacque’s hand and led her out of the room.

  As soon as the door closed behind them, the air whooshed out of Jacque’s lungs, and a sob broke free. Fane immediately swept her up into his arms, and she tucked herself against him, eyes closed, tears dampening his shirt. She let herself mourn the pain her best friend was enduring, the loss Jen experienced, that they all experienced.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, beloved,” Fane answered gently. “I don’t know why.”

  Jen heard the words of the male sprite over and over in her mind, like a broken record. And every time it repeated, a knife stabbed her in her heart. She wondered how the beleaguered muscle could even still beat.

  She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. Decebel picked her up as he sat down and placed her body sideways in his lap so her shoulder rested against his chest.

  “What can I do?” Decebel’s voice was rough, as if he’d screamed for hours on end. Jen knew it was simply because of the emotions roiling within him. He was practically choking on the torment he could feel coming from her. But there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  “He’s right. It could have been worse.”

  “NO!” Decebel snarled, his teeth snapping together. “We lost our child, Jennifer. I don’t care that you hadn’t been pregnant for that long. A child is a child, and ours is gone.” His body shook as he spoke. “From the minute we found out we were expecting, I imagined the life we would give him or her. I envisioned Thia teaching her younger sibling all the offensive language she knows so well. I felt your joy at carrying our second baby. I experienced the emotions that have been flooding you from the moment Jacque told you why you were feeling so crazy. And now, I am feeling your loss. Our loss.”

  “I don’t feel like I have a right to be this upset,” Jen said. “Other women lose babies and they… They have to actually go through the delivery process, or have the child cut from their bodies. They have a tiny body to bury. I cannot imagine.” She sucked in a deep breath. “But I’m still sad because I have nothing. There is nothing in my arms to hold, and yet I feel the emptiness as if I’d clutched our baby to my chest. I haven’t been cut open, and yet I feel gutted.” Jen covered her mouth with her hand and tried to hold back the sobs. “There was so much blood, Dec. So much. And it hurt so bad.” She closed her eyes and tried to will away the images that would forever live in her mind. Sally had tried to keep her from looking, but Jen hadn’t listened. As soon as her stomach had cramped, Jen knew something was seriously wrong. She’d collapsed to the ground and felt a warmth between her legs that shouldn’t have been there. “Sally begged me not to look,” she said. “She pleaded with me. But I had to see. I had to know for sure what was happening.”

  Decebel held her tighter, and his tears fell onto her shoulders. “I am so sorry you endured that without me. I should never have let us be separated.”

  Jen shook her head. “No. It’s not your fault. My foolish pride and pigheaded will is why I’ve lost our child. I just had to go, instead of staying here with our daughter and keeping our unborn child safe. I will never forgive myself. Never. If I hadn’t been in that forest with Alston, he wouldn’t have hit me in the stomach. And our baby would still be safely tucked away inside of me. “

  Decebel grabbed her face and tilted it up until she had no choice but to look at him. She knew he wouldn’t release her until she did.

  “This is not your fault, and you will not carry this like a weight around your neck. Things happen, Jennifer. Things that are beyond our control. It sucks—no, not sucks. It is fucking horrific.”

  Jen gasped at his words. Her mate rarely cussed and never used that word.

  “I don’t know why it happened,” he continued. “I don’t understand the point of it. But I know there’s nothing we could have done to change it.”

  “How do you know that?” Desperation filled her body. She needed an answer, something that would make sense.

  “Because the Great Luna’s will is not ours. Her ways are not our ways.” Decebel cupped her cheek and ran a thumb across her lips. “Everything she does is for our good. Even when all we feel is sorrow and pain, there is a reason. Right now, I have to grasp onto that like a life raft in the middle of a hurricane, because if I don’t, I will fall into the abyss of bitterness. I will latch onto the anger that is threatening to eat me alive. Resentment would be my guide. And that, my mate, would be a dangerous thing for the world to experience.”

  “I’m not there yet. I don’t want a life raft. I want to sink to the bottom of the ocean and allow the quiet darkness of the sea to embrace me.” She pressed her forehead to his sternum and bit her lip until she tasted blood. “I want my baby, Decebel. I don’t care if it was just blood and tissue. To me, it was the promise of a life—a life I was entrusted with. It was half of you and half of me and another hellion to drive us insane, but the best kind of insane. I want that.” She grabbed onto his shoulders and held him with all her strength because she needed him to keep her in the here and now. “I don’t care about Alston, or Cain, or that damn Order. I just don’t care.”

  Decebel locked down every ounce of anger growing inside of him as his mate poured out her heart to him. Through their bond, he’d experienced every second of what had happened from the moment she’d seen Alston in the clearing until Sally forced her to sleep. Decebel’s wolf was on the verge of forcing him to phase, but there was no enemy to fight. However, there was the idiot sprite who’d opened his mouth and uttered the shittiest thing a person could say to someone who’d lost a child. Decebel wanted to kill him. His wolf liked that idea.

  He held his mate as she cried. Her fist pounded against his chest, and she pressed her face into him and screamed out her despair. And through it all, Decebel simply held her. She didn’t need his words. She just needed him to be there for her while she let go of every ounce of emotion that threatened to ruin her. He wouldn’t let that happen, but for now, he would let her grieve in whatever way that was.

  He did not know how much time passed until she finally slumped against him, exhausted and spent. She slipped into sleep, and Decebel was thankful for it. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and sent a text. A few minutes later, Jacque and Sally came into the room, both their eyes red with tears.

  “Stay with her.” He eased her onto the bed.

  “Of course.” Jacque hurried over. “Where are you going?”

  Decebel looked at Jennifer and ran a hand down her blonde locks. “I need a minute.”

  Sally climbed into the bed and wrapped an arm around Jen while Jacque took the other side. They enveloped his mate, holding her tightly to them, and he knew they would care for her while he dealt with his wolf’s emotions. He was dangerous at the moment, and if he was going to be available the way his mate needed him to be, then he had to get his beast under control.

  The beta strode from the room and took a deep breath. He found the scent he was looking for and followed it, his mouth salivating as his wolf took over the hunt. Sprite was on the menu.

  When he reached the large great hall, his wolf’s vision zeroed in on the male who’d so foolishly spewed reckless words about his child. There were only a few people in the room. It was late, and Decebel assumed everyone else was asleep. Good for him, but bad for the sprite.

  The male sat at a table at the far end of the room. Decebel shoved chairs and table away as he walked toward the sprite. He didn’t pay attention to how hard he was pushing them. He heard crashing but didn’t turn his head to see what damage he might have done. Decebel only had eyes for the male who had hurt his mate.

  When he reached the table, the sprite stood up so quickly his chair fell over backward. He held his hands up, and his eyes widened. “I swear to you, I didn’t mean to be careless with my words, Beta. I misspoke, and I am so sorry. I will apologize to your mate. I will—”

  “You will die.” Decebel’s wolf growled. “That will settle the debt you now owe.”

  Decebel started forward again, but before he could even take a step, his head snapped back as a fist connected with his face. He stumbled back from the force of the punch. He whipped back around and snarled, crouching down, ready to kill who had dared to get between him and his prey, but froze when his eyes met the ice-blue orbs of his alpha.

  Power emanated from Fane. He stood tall, his wolf’s eyes glowing as they met Decebel’s. The beta tried to hold his gaze, but after a minute, Decebel looked over Fane’s shoulder.

  “I know you’re angry,” Fane said, his voice rough with his beast. “I know you’re hurting for your mate and for the loss of your young. But this is not the answer. Killing a man who made a careless comment will not undo what has happened.”

  Decebel lunged forward, but Fane pulled back his hand and punched him in the face again, this time so hard that the beta stumbled backward several feet. His alpha stormed after him. Fane’s body seemed to grow in size as he advanced on Decebel. “I am your alpha.” Fane growled. “If you need to fight, then you come to me. I am your brother. If you need to let your beast loose, then you come to me. I am your friend. If you need someone to stand by you and assure you that you will not bear this pain on your own, then you bloody well come to me. I am whatever you need me to be, Decebel.” He slammed his fist against his chest, emphasizing his words as he stalked closer to his beta. Then he pushed forward with both arms, shoving Decebel back. Fane moved so quickly that Decebel didn’t even have a chance to flinch before he felt a fist in his stomach, then one in his kidney, and another under his jaw.

  “Fight me.” Fane roared. “You need to destroy something so badly, then destroy me.”

  The beta dropped his shoulders and ran straight at Fane. He hit the alpha in the abdomen, driving him back until Fane slammed into the wall. The beta curled his hands into fists and pummeled his alpha’s stomach with punches hard enough to kill a human male. Fane didn’t make a sound, and Decebel let his wolf loose. He lost all sense of time as he attacked Vasile’s son—Vasile, whom Decebel considered a father. Fane simply took it. He absorbed every blow and seemed to embrace each hit. Regardless of who was actually standing in front of him, all Decebel saw was his mate’s anguish. He saw Alston hit her in the stomach. He saw her collapse to the ground and Sally catch her before Jennifer’s head could hit the floor. Decebel saw the blood between his mate’s legs and the horror on her face as she clutched her stomach and screamed, begging Sally to fix it. He heard her call his name over and over while she watched herself lose their child. He saw all the things he couldn’t change and yet would give anything to fix. His wolf howled inside of him as they released their fury.

  Finally, Decebel collapsed, his legs giving way. His knees hit the stone floor, and a sharp pain reverberated up his thighs. He fell forward, but his face didn’t slam into the floor as he expected. Fane caught him. His alpha protected him, even after the brutal attack he’d just unleashed. Fane knelt to the ground and pulled Decebel’s head down until his forehead rested on his shoulder. He felt Fane’s hand on the back of his head as the alpha held him fiercely. Decebel couldn’t contain it any longer. He howled. All of his agony, his mate’s brokenness, his child’s life gone before it began, his helplessness, and his sorrow came out in that howl, filling the great hall. And Decebel didn’t care who witnessed it.

  “I’ve got you, Decebel,” Fane said sternly. “I will always be here for you, whether it’s to stop you from doing something you can’t undo, or as a foe to fight when there isn’t one to defeat. I will fight for you until my last breath. Do you understand?”

  Decebel nodded. Arms came around him, and his wolf picked up on the scents. Costin, Sorin, Adam, Wadim, Drake, Gavril, and Lucian surrounded him. Their strength rushed into him through the pack bond, and he took a deep breath. For the first time in what felt like days, Decebel could breathe.