LOGINThe words hit Nicholas like a physical blow. Victoria was gathering forces. Which meant she was preparing for war.Which meant the deadline was not just a threat anymore.It was a promise."Come on," Nicholas said to Sebastian and Elena. "We need to move. Now."They followed Maria back through the pristine hallways and out into the night. Elena walked between them, silent and tense, clutching her bag like a lifeline.Nicholas pulled out his phone and checked the time.They had been gone from the estate for eight hours.They had twenty-six hours left before Victoria's deadline expired.And they were about to spend the next four hours driving a terrified witch to a safe house instead of getting the information they desperately needed.Through the bond, Nicholas could feel Lilith, awake and anxious back at the estate. Could feel Sebastian's frustration bleeding through his connection. Could feel the countdown ticking in his head like a bomb waiting to explode.They were running out of ti
"Name your price," Nicholas said immediately.Silas's smile widened. "Ah, but that's where things get interesting, isn't it? You see, the witch you're looking for, the one who gave your father that prophecy, she's not just hiding. She's been actively avoiding being found. By anyone. For seven years.""Why?" Sebastian demanded."Because the last time she gave a prophecy to someone as powerful as your family, things went rather badly for everyone involved." Silas stood and walked to the windows, his hands clasped behind his back. "She's paranoid. Careful. And she's built protections around herself that make her nearly impossible to locate through conventional means.""Nearly impossible," Nicholas repeated. "But not completely.""Correct." Silas turned to face them. "I can tell you where she is. I can even tell you how to get past her wards. But my services do not come cheap, gentlemen.""We already said we'll pay whatever you ask," Sebastian said."Will you?" Silas walked back to his de
Six hours later - Nicholas POVThe sun had set by the time they reached Ravenspire.Nicholas shifted back to human form at the edge of the city and pulled on the clothes they had stashed in a bag tied around Kael's neck. Sebastian did the same, both of them dressing quickly in the shadows of an alley that smelled like garbage and old magic.Ravenspire was not like other cities.It sprawled across the eastern edge of the territories like a wound that had never quite healed, all dark stone buildings and narrow twisting streets lit by lanterns that burned with green-tinged flames. The supernatural population here outnumbered humans ten to one, and the humans who did live here knew better than to ask questions about the things they saw in the shadows.It was exactly the kind of place a supernatural broker would call home."Where's Silas's office?" Sebastian asked, shaking out his shoulders as the last of the shift aches faded.Nicholas pulled out the address Mara had given them, a piece o
Lilith's breath caught and he felt tears on her cheeks even though she did not make a sound."Don't make promises you can't keep," she said quietly."I never do."He pulled back and looked at her one more time, memorizing her face, the way the afternoon light caught in her hair, the bond marks on her throat that marked her as theirs, and then he forced himself to step away."I have to go," he said. "Nicholas is waiting."Lilith nodded but did not say anything.Sebastian walked to the door and paused with his hand on the handle. "Lilith?""Yes?""Stay safe. Please. Don't do anything stupid while we're gone.""I'll try."It was not the promise he wanted but it was all she was willing to give.Sebastian left before he could change his mind about going.***Nicholas POVNicholas was waiting in the main hall when Sebastian came down the stairs looking like he had just torn his own heart out and left it bleeding on the floor."How is she?" Nicholas asked."Angry. Scared. Stubborn." Sebastia
Sebastian POVSebastian stood outside Lilith's bedroom door and tried to make himself knock.His hand was raised. His knuckles were inches from the wood. But he could not make himself complete the motion because the moment he knocked, the moment she opened that door, he would have to look at her face and see the anger and hurt still written there.And then he would have to leave.Six hours to Ravenspire. However long it took to find the witch. Six hours back. He would be gone for at least a full day, maybe longer, and the thought of leaving her here....angry, scared, carrying a death curse inside her, made Rhen claw at him from the inside.Just knock, Rhen growled. We need to see her before we go.Sebastian raised his hand and knocked.Silence from the other side of the door.He knocked again. "Lilith. It's me."More silence. Then her voice, muffled and cold: "Go away.""I need to talk to you.""We have nothing to talk about.""Five minutes," Sebastian said. "That's all I'm asking for
Even if it meant losing everything.She was worth it.She had always been worth it."Nicholas."He looked up to find Sebastian watching him with an expression that said he knew exactly where Nicholas's thoughts had gone."We'll find her," Sebastian said quietly. "The witch. Mara will remember something. Callum will track her down. And we'll get the answers we need.""And if the answers are the same as what Victoria said?" Nicholas asked. "If there is no loophole? No other way?"Sebastian's jaw tightened. "Then we make a choice. But we make it together. All three of us. And we make it knowing we did everything we could."Lucian spoke from the window without turning around. "I already know what choice I'm making.""So do I," Sebastian said.Nicholas looked between his brothers and saw the same determination in both their faces. The same absolute certainty.They would choose Lilith.All three of them.Even if it destroyed them."Then we're agreed," Nicholas said. "If there's no other way
Set her own pace....slow at first, feeling him, feeling the stretch and the fullness....and then faster as the heat surged back and demanded she stop experimenting and start taking. His hands came to her hips. Not controlling.Just gripping. Holding on.She rode him hard.The chair scraped against
Lilith's POVShe couldn't sleep.This was becoming a pattern.Not the bad kind of sleeplessness....not the three-am-staring-at-bills kind she'd lived with for years in the apartment. This was different. Restless. Her body too warm underneath the blankets, her mind turning over and over without lan
"Ours," Nicholas said. Simple. Final. "Not a transaction. Not a contract. Ours.""That's not an arrangement. That's a.....""We know what it is," Sebastian said. Something moved in his dark eyes. "We're not pretending otherwise."She looked at her hands. At the towel wrapped around her. At the room
Something moved in his expression. Relief and want and something that wasn't either. He pulled her down and started pounding harder chasing his own release, he thrusted once, twice and spilled inside her. Nicholas followed seconds later with a sound that came out not sounding like his at all.She l







