I was all for Kane’s plan to go on a press tour, until he told me I’d go with him to do the interviews. I didn’t want to do it. I lack his charm and confidence, but much more concerning -- I don’t have his tact and way with words. While Sally does her interview, I quietly listen to him and watch in awe as he slowly charms the hate right out of the woman. She barely pays attention to me, so when she suddenly turns to me towards the end of the interview, she catches me completely off-guard . “Missus Madden, Willow…you told me during the last commercial break that you had to send your son away for his own safety.” I did no such thing, but I just decide to go with it. Television was all staged bullshit anyway. Kane and our P.R. team made sure that I knew nothing that happens today would be real. “Yes,” I whisper, and glance at Kane who is looking at me with a small frown of fake concern. “Since The Temp—soldiers started attacking our children…I’m just a mother...I want my baby to be safe

Kane's POV I don’t have time to check on Arlene. A minute after she screams, Glenn calls out in my head. “Humans! Thousands of them.” Fuck. I just sent my army away. “Gather the warriors.” But I still have thousands of warriors of my own that didn’t leave with the packs. Maybe, if we're lucky, we can take them out. Zael shoots into the air to gather the vampires and the little supernatural army he brought with him a month ago. I spin around and sprint from the apartment, Willow let’s go of Arlene who is lying in a little bundle on the floor, mewling like an injured kitten, hugging her knees to her chest. “What happened?” I ask Willow mid-run. “She says they’re all dead.” Son of a motherfucking bitch. “Willow. I want you to go to the panic room. Stay there until I come to get you.” “Think again.” “If something happens to both of us…who will raise Adare?” “Who’s raising him now? I’d rather die fighting by your side than alone in the panic room.” I don’t have time to argue with

‘You will lose one you love.’ Jackson. So that was it. That was Silke’s prophecy that finally came to fruition today. The one I loved like my father died today. The long and difficult battle with the humans that very nearly obliterated our home. I stare at Arlene’s body. She’s cold. She must have died soon after we left. All alone. Crying for her dead children. “Willow,” Patrick says softly. “Go wash. I’ll take care of her.” I kneel next to my guard and friend. My heart doesn’t exist anymore. It’s just a jumbled-up box of broken and missing pieces that I’ll never be able to put back together again. I don’t notice when Patrick gets up and leaves, returning a few minutes later with Remi and Julia. They wrap Arlene in a white burial cloth and take her away. “Willow?” Patrick asks somewhat hesitantly. He doesn’t know what to do either. I crash to the floor, sitting next to the spot where Arlene died, trailing my fingers over the place where her body lay, as if I could connect with he

Kane's POV Glenn wakes me just after midnight. “Kane,” he says through our mind link. “They want you.” “Who?” I ask, still half-asleep and slightly confused. “The wolves. The funerals?” I wake with a rude bang, Glenn's words pulling me back to reality. Shit. War. Death. Destruction. “Right," I say. "I’m on my way.” I stumble out of bed and pull on a pair of jeans and a sweater. There’s a nip in the air. With any luck, winter would come early this year. It would give us time to regroup and recover. Before I leave, I lean over the bed and brush my lips across Willow’s brow. I don’t wake her – no one will blame her if she’s not there. Tomorrow, it will be a year since she walked into my life for the first time. It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago. So much has changed since that day. Remi and Julia are standing right outside the door, looking exhausted. "Do you have anyone that can take over?" I ask as I close the bedroom door behind me. "In an hour Mario and Demi will

Kane's POV I wait in my office until I’m sure Willow’s gone before I go to our bedroom. Letting her go like that, forcing her to leave, was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do since I sent Adare away. It’s not until I’ve showered and dressed that I see the parcel on my pillow. I pull the note out of the ribbon. It reads: * Don’t worry about me. Stay alive until I’m back. Happy Birthday. Sorry I won’t be there. Love you. * I smile and unwrap the gift. It’s a magical charm of some kind. Clear quartz cut into the shape of a tetragon, dangling from a golden chain. I can feel the powerful protection spell emanating from it. Something inside the crystal, maybe an imperfection of some kind, catches my eye. Frowning I turn it up to the light and swallow past the sudden knot in my throat. Somehow, she magicked some of hers and Adare’s hair into the crystal, intertwining the two different coloured locks into a complicated braid that looped and twirled into a triquetra. I take off the o