LOGINLilith POVThree days.It had been three days since Lilith woke up in Nicholas's bed with a partial mark on her throat and holes in her memory and the overwhelming knowledge that she was not what she thought she was.Three days of sleeping and waking and sleeping again, her body exhausted in a way that went deeper than physical tiredness. Three days of Agnes bringing her food and sitting with her while she picked at it, not pushing her to talk but just being there. Three days of Nicholas checking on her with careful eyes and Lucian hovering in doorways without coming in and Sebastian....Sebastian stayed away.Not entirely. She could feel him through the incomplete bond, could sense when he was close even when she could not see him. The bond pulled at her constantly, an ache in her chest that never quite went away, and she knew without asking that he was suffering too.But he did not come to her room. Did not push her. Did not ask her to make a decision she was not ready to make.And
Nicholas nodded slowly. "Yes.""And the strange things that have been happening to me lately? The lights flickering? Things moving when I get upset?""Yes," Nicholas said quietly. "We suspect it's all connected."Something inside Lilith broke."Then why did you LIE to me?!" The words came out louder than she intended and tears were already forming in her eyes. "I came to you, Nicholas. I told you in several occasions that I suspected something was happening to me.But you told me it was stress. You told me I was tired. You told me it was nothing."Her voice was rising now and the tears were falling and she could not stop them."Now you're telling me I'm some kind of supernatural thing that you don't even understand?! You lied to me! You kept this from me and you lied!"She was gasping for air now, her chest heaving, and Sebastian was immediately there, his hand on her back rubbing gentle circles."Breathe, Lilith," he said quietly. "Breathe. You're okay. Just breathe."She tried to fo
Lilith POVLilith woke up slowly, dragged out of darkness by something pulling at her chest. Not pain exactly. More like an ache. A hook lodged beneath her ribs tugging insistently, demanding her attention.Her eyes felt heavy and her mouth was dry and everything hurt in a distant fuzzy way that told her she had been unconscious for a long time. She blinked against the light filtering through the curtains and tried to remember where she was.Nicholas's room. She was in Nicholas's bed.But why?She tried to sit up and immediately a hand was there, warm and careful on her shoulder."Easy. Don't move too fast."Sebastian.Lilith turned her head and found him sitting in the chair beside the bed, still holding her other hand like he had been there for hours. He looked exhausted...dark circles under his eyes, his hair disheveled, his shirt wrinkled. But when he met her gaze his whole face transformed with relief."You're awake," he breathed. "Thank god you're awake.""What..." Her voice cam
"Then the woods. God, the woods." His voice dropped lower. "Watching you run from me. Chasing you. Catching you. Having you beneath me in the dirt and knowing....knowing that you were mine and I still could not mark you. Could not complete what Rhen was screaming for. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, pulling back from you. Leaving that mark incomplete."He reached up and touched the partial bond mark on her throat again, felt it pulse under his fingers."And now I have done it again. Left you with half a bond. Half a claim. And you might hate me for it when you wake up."The fear of that was almost worse than the incomplete bond."I need you to wake up," Sebastian whispered. "I need you to look at me and tell me you understand why I did it. I need you to choose me. Choose us. Because I do not know how to survive if you do not."The silence stretched, Lilith didn't answer and Sebastian felt something break inside his chest.An hour passed. Maybe two. Sebastian didn't move fro
Sebastian left without another word and the door closed behind him with a soft click.Nicholas looked at Lucian and found his youngest brother staring at the floor with his jaw tight and his whole body vibrating with tension."Are you okay?" Nicholas asked.Lucian looked up and his eyes were gold. "Do I have a choice?""No," Nicholas said honestly. "None of us do."Lucian laughed again, sharp and humorless. "Seven weeks. Two incomplete bonds. And something out there powerful enough to steal our mate from right under our noses." He met Nicholas's eyes. "We're fucked, aren't we?""Probably.""And there's nothing we can do about it except wait for her to wake up and hope she still wants us after everything.""Yes."Lucian nodded slowly and then turned and walked out of the office without another word, leaving Nicholas alone with his maps and his notes and the crushing weight of everything they stood to lose.Nicholas sat down at his desk and stared at the map on the wall where he had mar
Lucian stopped pacing and turned to look at Sebastian. "How long can you handle it?""I don't know." Sebastian dropped his hand from his chest and clenched it into a fist at his side. "Days maybe. But not weeks. Not with the curse still active and the bond incomplete and her lying unconscious down the hall."Nicholas felt the weight of that settle over all of them. Seven weeks until their twenty-sixth birthday. Two incomplete bonds, one of them now half-finished and aching. And whatever had taken Lilith tonight was still out there."We need to talk about what happened," Nicholas said, straightening. "How she ended up six miles into the forest in the middle of the night.""Victoria," Lucian said immediately. "It has to be Victoria. Who else could compel her like that?""Maybe." Nicholas walked around his desk and leaned against the front of it, crossing his arms. "The magic signature in that clearing was old. Powerful. Morvaine magic, certainly. But...""But what?" Sebastian asked."If
His pace increased.She stopped trying to be quiet.Her sounds filled the room.....broken and desperate and completely uncontrolled....and Sebastian's hands gripped her hips and he started pounding. Really pounding. The headboard slammed. The sheets tore from the corners of the mattress. She was be
The she-wolf beneath him pushed her hips back to meet his thrust, seeking more friction, more attention.Lucian gave her what she was asking for. Quickened his pace. Gripped her waist. Brought himself back to it.Her sounds climbed back immediately.Lucian stared at the wall over her head."She was
The billing department was on the ground floor.Lilith had been here so many times in the last three months that she knew the route without thinking. Left at the main desk. Down the corridor past the chapel. Third door on the right. The woman behind the counter....Carol, always Carol....looked up w
Nicholas was standing at the window when the car pulled around.He hadn't meant to be. He'd come into his sitting room with the full intention of reviewing the files his beta had left on his desk....documents that actually mattered, that required his attention, that were relevant to the things curr







