FAZER LOGINOliviaEvery wolf in the room bowed.Again.I was really beginning to hate that.“Stop doing that.”Nobody moved.“Seriously. Get up.”Ethan, Logan, Jeremy and Thomas had shifted during the exploding-window situation, which meant four enormous wolves were now lowered in front of me while Richard and the other pack wolves did the same. Even Ronan had dipped his head, although apparently ancient Guardian Beasts drew the line at putting a knee on the floor.The black flower opened another petal in front of me.I pointed at it.“And somebody get rid of that.”“No one touches it,” Cassian said.“Fine. Burn it.”“No.”“Flush it?”Jeremy shifted back.Naked.I immediately looked at the ceiling.“For the love of God, can we start keeping emergency pants in every room?”“That’s actually not a bad idea.”“Jeremy.”“Right. Evil flower.”A blanket hit him in the face. Thomas had shifted back and somehow managed to grab one before Jeremy.I didn’t ask.I was learning survival skills.Logan shifted
EthanThe lights went out two seconds after Ronan told us Morgana only had to kill one of us.Perfect fucking timing.Maximus surged so hard beneath my skin that my claws punched through my fingertips. I couldn’t see Olivia, but I could feel her through the bond, and right now that mattered more than anything else.Olivia?I’m here.Her answer came immediately.Then Brutus.Logan.Titan.Thomas.Helios.Jeremy.Four anchors.Still alive.Still connected.I reached blindly until my hand found Olivia’s arm. She jerked, then relaxed when she realized it was me.“It’s me.”“Please tell me this is a normal power outage.”Something crashed in the hallway.“No.”“Of course not.”Gold suddenly flickered beside me.Olivia’s palm began glowing.She stared at it.“Well, that’s convenient.”The light spread enough to reveal Logan on her other side, Thomas and Jeremy moving toward us and Ronan standing exactly where he’d been before the room went dark.Dad had Mom and Lily behind him.Cassian was
LoganOlivia stared at Ronan for so long I started wondering if she’d finally reached the point where her brain simply refused to accept any more information.Then she laughed.Not a normal laugh. More like the sound somebody made right before they snapped.“So Queen Aurelia is my great-grandmother.”“Yes,” Ronan said.“And Morgana is her daughter.”“Yes.”“My grandmother.”“Yes.”“And my mother was Morgana’s daughter.”Ronan nodded.Olivia looked at me. “Do you think if I ask one more question somebody will tell me I’m secretly related to Santa Claus?”Jeremy raised his hand. “At this point, I wouldn’t rule it out.”“Thank you.”Ronan frowned. “Who is Santa Claus?”Jeremy’s entire face lit up.“No.”I grabbed his shoulder.“But—”“Absolutely not.”“You never let me have any fun.”“We’re not explaining Christmas to the ancient murder beast.”Ronan’s eyes narrowed.Olivia snorted.That sound did something to the pressure in my chest. She’d been kidnapped, lied to, threatened, nearly dr
OliviaBy the time we got out of the mine, I had a list.Not an actual list, because I didn’t have paper and my phone was somewhere back at the Hawthorn house, but mentally? There was a list.Ethan was Maximus.Logan was Brutus.Jeremy was Helios.Thomas was Titan.My father had once accidentally helped weaken a magical gate because a psychopath convinced him he could bring my mother back. My grandmother was apparently the psychopath’s even more terrifying boss. Cassian had spent twenty years keeping me hidden, Seraphina had accidentally helped Adrian find my mother, and somewhere in the middle of all that, I’d acquired four boyfriends who had neglected to mention that I had petted two of them.Ethan was never recovering from that one.Then I stepped outside and found Jeremy standing half naked beside a seven-foot-tall stranger covered in glowing silver symbols.I stopped.“No.”Jeremy blinked. “No what?”“Whatever that is.”The stranger’s eyebrows lifted.“I have reached my daily lim
JeremyThe mountain roared.Lily stopped walking.I stopped breathing.We were maybe halfway back to the entrance when the sound rolled through the tunnel behind us, deep enough to vibrate through the stone beneath my boots. Dust drifted from the ceiling, and somewhere inside me, Helios went completely silent.That scared me more than the roar.Helios was never silent.“What was that?” Lily whispered.“No idea.”She looked up at me.I smiled.“Probably underground construction.”Another roar shook the tunnel.Lily’s eyes narrowed.“You’re lying.”“Yeah, I’m getting that a lot lately.”Jeremy.Thomas’s voice slammed into my head.The fear behind it wiped away every joke I had left.Get Lily out. Now.What’s happening?Something else was sealed down there. The seal broke.I looked toward the faint light ahead.We were close.Maybe two minutes from the entrance.What something?A pause.We don’t know.Fantastic.“Come on, Bug.”I picked Lily up.She wrapped her arms around my neck.“Are
ThomasAdrian’s laughter echoed through the mine.I was officially starting to hate caves.Actually, I was starting to hate magic in general, which felt unfair considering Olivia was apparently made of the stuff, but nothing good had happened since glowing gold shit entered our lives.Titan agreed.Magic bad.Mate is magic.A pause.Magic mostly bad.Fair enough.The red symbols spread across the sealed gate like veins, and Cassian stumbled backward. Ethan immediately pulled Olivia with him, putting his body between her and the stone.“Where is Adrian?” Logan demanded.Cassian turned toward the tunnel. “Close.”“That’s helpful,” Jeremy muttered.Lily was still with him near the entrance, wrapped in Ethan’s shirt and looking far too small for any of this. Jeremy had one hand on her shoulder.I looked at my twin.He understood immediately.Get Lily out.His expression hardened.I’m not leaving.Neither is she staying.He looked down at Lily.That ended the argument.Jeremy crouched. “He
Olivia“I still don’t understand why you have to live in that house,” my father said quietly.We sat in our tiny living room, the old television humming softly in the background. Dad was in his recliner while I sat curled up on the couch across from him, explaining everything about my new job.For
OliviaI couldn’t decide whether I wanted to hug Mrs. Hawthorne for giving me the opportunity I desperately needed… or slap her for making me sound like some girl who would throw herself at her sons the second I moved in.In the end, I swallowed my irritation.This job mattered more than my pride r
LoganI woke up to something wet on my chest.Immediately, I grimaced.A blonde was sprawled across me, dead asleep and apparently drooling.Fantastic.What the hell was her name again?Tiffany?Tracy?Something with a T.I stared down at her with growing irritation. Honestly, she wasn’t nearly as
OliviaEarly the next morning, I loaded the last of my things into my car.Thank God Uncle Mike replaced the battery yesterday. There was no way I could drag a suitcase and a storage box across town on a bus while moving into the Hawthorne estate.After packing the trunk, I walked back inside the h







