Her offspring, they had said. She and Decebel had created a life. She allowed herself to feel the joy of that revelation briefly but squelched it just as fast. How was she going to tell Decebel, the father of their baby, that she had essentially killed their baby? Not male, the Fates had said. A daughter. She had killed their daughter. How could he ever forgive her for that? And how was she going to live after losing the one they had created out of love?

  She felt tears pouring down her cheeks and her body being shaken by someone. A familiar voice broke through the darkness, a voice she was not ready to hear.

  “Jennifer! Wake up, baby. Please wake up.” Decebel’s voice was deep and filled with worry.

  Her eyes reluctantly flicked open and she saw his tightly drawn face through her tears. He pulled her into his lap and held her close as she continued to cry and shake. She wasn’t ready to talk; she just needed to be held. She needed to have this time with the man she loved with every fiber of her being. Because once he found out that she was pregnant and that their daughter was destined to die because of her, he would never want to hold her again.

  After a while, Jen finally began to calm down; that or she was just out of tears. Decebel pulled back so he could look at her face. Jen was not allowing herself to think of what she had learned in her dream. She was burying it deep beneath a lie.

  “Baby, did you have a nightmare? Are you okay?” He asked her gently as he wiped the tears away.

  Jen nodded. “It was a nightmare. I was just dreaming about the worst outcome possible for all of this. I’m worried about Jacque and how we haven’t heard from them. I’m worried about Sally and Costin, and I’m worried about Sorin and Elle. I guess everything caught up with me and it’s just a lot, ya know?” She couldn’t believe the ease with which she told him the lie, but she knew that in that moment she would not be able to handle his disgust if she told him the truth.

  “I’m okay now.” She tried to pull away from him but he wouldn’t relent.

  “Jennifer, you were shaking and crying. At one point you said, 'he’ll never forgive me.' Who were you talking about? Who won’t forgive you?”

  Jen closed her eyes, pulling her mind back from his, and felt his breath hitch at the pain of it.

  “Why?” He growled.

  “I just need a minute, Dec. Please let me collect myself. It was a very realistic dream.” She shifted against him. “Let me go wash my face and then I'll show you what I dreamed, okay?” She tried to keep her voice gentle.

  He nodded and let her pull away from him and stand. She walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Then she turned on the faucet and locked the door. Pushing reality to the back of her mind, she thought up some of the fears that she had regarding the coming days. She thought about the plan that Mona had set in motion, about the possible outcome for her pack, for their future. She splashed water on her face and pulled herself together.

  Jen didn’t know who she could talk to about this. She was so ashamed that her child would pay the price for her selfishness. How do you tell your mate, your best friends, your pack something so horrific? No, she had no idea what she was going to do; she had no idea how she would survive this. She did know that she would do anything it took to save the life of their child. Whatever it took to see what she imagined as the amber eyes and dark, thick locks adorning their daughter's face, she would do.

  Once she'd completely pulled herself together, she opened the bathroom door to find Decebel on the phone. Her stomach dropped when she saw the look on his face. She walked over to his side and sat down and waited.

  When he finally ended the call, he looked at her. He brushed some wisps of hair from her face and let out a long breath.

  “Fane is missing,” he said roughly.

  Jen inhaled sharply. “Jacque?” She asked.

  “Unconscious. She was lured into a pond with magic. Fane went in after her and never resurfaced. Jacque came back up right after Fane was taken under.”

  “He isn’t dead if Jacque is still alive,” she said. Though, even knowing it, she still wasn’t confident in the truth of her words.

  “That is correct,” Decebel agreed.

  “What is Vasile going to do?”

  “Right now, they are waiting for Jacque to wake up. They need to see if she can contact Fane through the bond. We are going to begin heading their direction in the morning.”

  Jen nodded. “Good, I want to be with Jacque and I know Sally will too once she finds out. Should we go tell them?”

  “No, let’s let them have their one night.”

  Jen agreed with that as well, and couldn’t help the heavy weight in her stomach at knowing her nights with Decebel were numbered. She unconsciously rubbed her stomach.

  “Is your stomach upset?” Decebel asked her.

  She jerked her hand back with a small gasp. “Oh, umm, maybe a little.”

  “Lie back and rest, baby. It’s a few hours 'til we have to leave.”

  Jen did as she was told and closed her eyes. Her heart was breaking. She didn’t know how long she could keep this from him. She was more afraid of telling Decebel her fate than of any evil she had faced or would ever face. The thought of seeing his love for her fade and turn to hate was more than she could bear. She fell into a fitful sleep and even when Decebel’s strong arms came around her, peace still eluded her grasp.

  ***

  Mona looked into her scrying bowl and smiled as she watched the wolf prince howl in agony. That was too easy, she thought. Now all she needed was to get the other males out of the picture, which, based on how Fane reacted to his mate being put in danger, wouldn’t be too difficult.

  There was one day left until she met with the warlock King. One day left until she rained down her wrath on a world unworthy of her. She had been surprised at how well Lilly had been taking everything. She expected the human to freak out and go into hysterics, but she had totally kept her cool.

  She might actually make a pretty good witch, she thought. And then with a rueful smile, said out loud, “Nah.”

  Mona cackled a laugh into the empty room.

  ***

  Lilly awoke to a gentle knocking on the door of the room she had slept in. She sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes.

  “Come in,” she said in a clear voice.

  The door opened and Cypher stood there, towering in the entrance.

  “How did you sleep?” he asked in his deep voice.

  “Not too bad, considering I’ve been kidnapped by a crazy witch, am being held by a handsome, albeit somewhat scary, warlock King and I don’t have a clue how my daughter is. So, all in all, I slept decent.”

  Cypher flinched at the sarcasm in her words. He couldn’t deny any of her accusations, but he wouldn’t give her up either.

  “I’ve had one of the helpers here prepare breakfast. I would like for you to join me.”

  Lilly swung her legs over the side of the bed, not caring that all she was in were shorts and a tank top.

  “All right, but let me get cleaned up and dressed, please.”

  He gave a formal bow and closed the door behind him.

  Lilly walked over to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

  “What on earth have you gotten yourself in to?”

  She sighed. She was going to have to ask Cypher if there was a phone she could use. Somehow the wicked witch of the west had fried hers, the sneaky bitch. Jacque would have chastised her for that, but frankly the witch was a bitch. And now she was making rhymes. If she kept at it, she could give Dr. Seuss a run for his money.

  She washed her face and combed through her hair, then went ahead and brushed her teeth even though she would be eating. Who likes to walk around with morning breath?

  After she had changed clothes, she once again stood in front of the mirror. She was wearing jeans, a long-sleeved fitted tee, and her New Balance running shoes, not that she ever did any actual running. But seeing as how the last couple of days had gone, she figured she might be taking up the sport of running just to get away from the things that went bump in the night.

  “That’s as good as it’s going to get, kid,” she told the image in the mirror. “Time to face the music, or in this case, the tall and handsome warlock King.” She paused. “I've got to stop calling him that.”

  When Lilly reached the bottom of the stairs, she followed her nose. It smelled of bacon and her stomach growled. Mentally she told her stomach to take a chill pill because she was going to try to get in touch with her daughter before she did anything else.

  When she rounded the corner and found the kitchen, she stopped abruptly. Cypher was standing in front of a large window. The morning light was shining in, caressing his tall form, and his pitch-black hair glistened and shone. He truly was breathtaking. She quickly snapped her mouth shut when he turned to look at her.

  “Good morning, Lilly,” he told her with a quirk of his lips that told her he had caught her drooling over him.

  Lilly decided the best defense was a good offense. “I need to use your phone,” she told him, without acknowledging his smirk.

  His eyes seemed to dance with humor. He knew the effect he was having on her and it was sort of ticking her off.

  “I need to check on my daughter. If you will allow me this I promise to cooperate.”

  Cypher let out a loud laugh.

  “Might I ask what your idea of not cooperating would look like, little one?”

  Lilly ignored the lurch to her heart that the endearment seemed to cause.

  “Let’s just say it’s not pretty.” She gave him her best glare. It usually worked on her employees—not so much on a warlock King.

  Cypher pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and held it out.

  She raised a single eyebrow. “You have a cell phone?” she asked incredulously.

  He chuckled. “Even warlock Kings have to keep up with the times,” he told her with a wink.

  Lilly took the phone from him and dialed Jacque’s phone number. When there was no answer, she told herself not to panic and called Vasile. Long ago she had made sure to memorize Vasile, Alina, and Fane’s cell numbers.

  On the fourth ring the call was answered.

  “Vasile,” his voice came through loud and clear.

  “Vasile, it’s Lilly Pierce.”

  Vasile was quiet for a minute. “Lilly, I do not recognize this number, but I do know it is not an American number. Where are you?”

  Lilly had decided that if Jacque was alright, she wasn’t going to let them know just then what she had gotten herself into.

  “Is Jacque alright?” She asked, skirting around his question.

  Again, he was silent. Blasted man knows how to make someone squirm, she thought to herself.

  “Jacque is fine.”

  Lilly could tell there was something off in his voice, something he didn’t want to tell her.

  “You’re sure, Vasile? She is safe?” She asked, careful not to provoke him.

  “I am sure. My real concern is, are you safe?”

  Lilly could practically see Vasile trying to use his Alpha mojo on her. Thankfully, she was human.

  “I’m great, but I gotta run. I will call to check on Jacque again, alright?”

  “Alright, Lilly. Please know that if you need us, we are here for you. Please call if you are caught in any sort of trouble.”

  Lilly did not miss the play on words. She didn’t want to get them involved if she didn’t have to. Now, she wasn’t sure what Mona the witch had up her sleeve, but Lilly wasn’t stupid. If she had brought her, the mother of a mated female, all the way to Romania, then the wolves were definitely involved. She just needed to figure out how they fit into the puzzle.

  “I hear you loud and clear, Vasile. I can’t talk just now, but I will call again.” Before he could say anything more, she ended the call.

  “Everything alright?” Cypher asked, much closer behind her than he had been when she started the call.

  She turned around to find him less than a foot away from her. Her breath caught and she found herself drowning in his beautiful, warm, yellow eyes.

  Lilly closed her eyes and shook herself, trying to clear her head.

  “Yeah, Jacque is fine,” she said out loud and then thought to herself, That’s one thing off my mind. Now I just need to eat and then find out why you are hell bent on keeping me.

  Cypher continued to look into her eyes. She felt like he was looking into her soul and she was afraid that he would be able to see how he affected her. Come on, Lilly, she told herself, who falls for someone who has abducted them?

  She broke eye contact and let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

  “So, I smell bacon,” she told him as she skirted around him.

  Cypher’s lips quirked up in a crooked smile, as if he knew that she was trying to keep him from seeing her real feelings.

  “Yes, there is bacon and an omelet,” he told her.

  “You make omelets?” She asked him, obviously surprised.

  He sat down on a stool at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

  “Believe it or not, we have internet and know how to use it,” he teased.

  Lilly picked up the plateful of food that he had left on the counter for her and blushed. “Right, internet. I knew that.” She took the stool across from him.

  She took a bite and smiled. “OMG, Cypher this is good. Like really good.”

  Cypher did the whole crooked smile thing again.

  “Internet, Lilly. I even know how to read.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to imply that you aren’t capable of learning new things or, ya know, stuff,” she told him, another blush creeping up her neck.

  They sat in silence as Lilly finished her breakfast. She found it much easier to eat now that she knew that Jacque was safe. Now she just had to get to the bottom of what Cypher and the wicked bitch were up to.

  She wiped her mouth with the napkin he handed her.

  “Thank you. That was really good.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I like feeding you,” he told her with unabashed honesty.

  Lilly decided that she was going to have a permanent blush on her face as long as he kept saying things like that.

  “So how about we get down to business,” she told him boldly.

  “What business would that be?” He asked.

  “What are you and Mona up to? Why did she want me?”

  Cypher looked away from her. She could see that he was battling something inside. He wanted to tell her the truth, but maybe not all of it.

  “My race is dying,” Cypher told her. He still didn't look at her. “The Fae have retreated from the realm and taken the magic with them, thus those of us made primarily of magic are slowly growing weaker. There is one thing that all the supernatural races have in common—the males are stronger with a mate. I’m old, Lilly. I don’t even know my exact age, but I’ve seen more than a millennium, and all of that time I have been without a mate. My race, unlike others, can take a mate that is not of our own kind. We very rarely have contact with humans so I’ve never looked for a human mate. Then I met you.”

  Lilly coughed out a laugh. “You didn’t really meet me, Cypher, you kidnapped me.”

  “A technicality.”

  This time Lilly laughed unencumbered. “A technicality? ‘Nice,’ as my daughter would say. Anyway, what does Mona want from you that she went to all the trouble to find you a mate?”

  This time Cypher actually turned away from her.

  Uh oh, she thought. It must be bad if he can’t even look me in the face.

  “I know you can’t possibly understand the responsibility I have to my people.”

  “Try me,” Lilly shot back.

  His head whipped around at the snap in her voice. His eyes met hers and his lips quirked slightly at the challenge he saw in her eyes.

  “They look to me to take care of them, to make sure we continue on.”

  “I get that. You’re kind of like the Alpha of a wolf pack,” she told him.

  He growled. “Not even close. There is only one of me. There are many packs and many Alphas to care for each. I am the King of my people. There is no one who shares this burden, no one to take care of them if something happens to me.”

  “Look, I may not be the queen of some race, but I’m a mom. I know what it’s like to be responsible for another.”

  Cypher scoffed. “You are a mere human. You cannot possibly know the burden I speak of.”

  Lilly stood up, pushing her stool back so that it nearly toppled over. Cypher moved faster than she had ever seen someone move and caught the stool before it could fall.

  “Who the hell are you to tell me what I understand? A mere human? Please! I’m a single mother. I’ve dealt with crap you can’t even imagine. Have you ever had a daughter go through puberty? Huh? Have you?” Lilly was snarling, she was shaking with anger. How dare he tell her that she couldn’t understand his responsibility? Then it hit her.

  “Wait, are you trying to justify assisting Mona by saying you are saving your people?” She asked him incredulously, her voice cutting through him like a knife. “So, you would rather infect your heart and your people with the taint of evil?”

  Lilly saw him flinch. She had hit home. Before she could say anything else, Cypher stormed out of the kitchen. She heard a door slam and jumped as the walls rattled.

  “Well,” she said into the empty room. “That went well.”

  Chapter 19

  “I keep telling myself that in order for there to be light there has to be darkness. But the darkness that is creeping over us seems impenetrable. I can’t imagine a light bright enough to push through the opaqueness. It crawls across the land, withering everything it touches. What will be left when it’s over? Will it ever be over?” ~Sally

  Sally watched the guys load all their stuff into the van once again, preparing for the long journey to the Carpathian Mountains. Jen had told her about Decebel’s conversation with Vasile the night before. She was mad that Jen hadn’t immediately come and told her, but understood her reasoning. Watching Jen, she could tell that something wasn’t right, but when Sally tried to ask her about it, Jen just spouted off at the mouth in typical Jen fashion.