Caterina Kai walks me back to the edge of the woods and we put on the clothes left before the ritual. “I’ve found out a lot of things while visiting the realm of the dead, including who the real traitor is,” Kai says while he slips on his jeans. I frown as I get into my sundress and heels. "Real traitor? I thought the twins were behind everything?” Kai shakes his head and buckles his belt. “No, they played a minor role in this. The real culprit has been hiding in plain sight, feeding our secrets to Andretti.” He says, then slips his hand into mine. “I’ll let my brothers know to meet us back home.” We walk the rest of the way to the car in silence, odd since we literally just had a life or death experience together. Everything feels a bit anticlimactic - we just went through Hell and now we’re waltzing hand in hand back to the penthouse like nothing happened. Like Kai didn’t have his heart ripped out by an old god.

Caterina Kai doesn’t even look at me but glares at his brother. “You said ten minutes,” he growls, to which Konstantin shrugs. “Lost track of time, brother,” he says, putting the liquor away, but Kai stops him. “Leave that out; Nikolai and Dimitri are here.” As soon as Kai says this, the brothers silently appear behind him. How the heck do they do that? I didn’t even hear them enter the club! Also, did Konstantin tell Kai we would be here over their private link? This pisses me off somehow, but I let it go. The brothers walk over to Konstantin, who puts tumblers in front of them and fills them with the same amber liquid. “Since Kon likes to waste time, I thought we could just come here.” He says, downing the drink without so much as a jump to his eyebrow. Ah, so this answers my earlier question, then. “When I died, I met mother and Viktor in the realm of the dead; they had a lot to tell me.” He says. A rumble echoes th

Caterina Could I truly face Carlotta after all this time and keep my cool? She has constantly humiliated me in the worst ways and coveted what I had. I am filled with anger and hatred towards her and what they all put me through in the past. My family loathed me and made me a rogue after I left, knowing full well that it would hurt me. Did Carlotta know that I was not a true member of the family after all? It would explain why she has always hated me. I suppose that I would never truly know her reasons for hating me, and to be honest, I didn’t care anymore. Dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and boots, I head down to join Kai again and prepare for the day ahead. I am pretty surprised at the fact that I do not feel nervous at the thought of facing my family again. I loved them, even while living under their constant abuse and humiliation. Does that make me weak? I can’t help but think of Xamnir’s words while he held me aloft: “Sometimes love

Kai Someone has taken her, someone who has no scent and left my brother for dead. I will tear this entire fucking town to shreds if it means finding her. They took something that belongs to me, and they will fucking pay with their bloodline. No one touches what is mine and lives - no one. “Kai, we need to regroup and catch her scent before it completely disappears,” Kon says as we put Dimitri into his truck. “Who the fuck knew we were coming here?” He asks, but we both already know the answer to that. We've been planning to get the asshole for days now. “Dominik, who else?” I answer, walking to my car with nothing but murder on my mind. He will pay, and I don’t give a shit if he’s my uncle or not. “I’m coming, Caterina,” I say through the link, hoping it gets through to her, but it remains silent. This has just become personal - real fucking personal. Kon tries to get my attention through the link, but I drown

Konstantin I’ve felt Fenriz’s eyes on me this entire time; does he know something that I don’t? Ever since he arrived a few hours ago, he’s been shooting me death glares, and I still don’t know why. Well, I think I understand why. Word got to him that I claimed his sister as my second in command, so perhaps he wants to ask me about her. Fuck, I hope he doesn’t because I haven’t exactly told him that she left my side almost three months ago. “Konstantin,” his gruff voice cuts through my thoughts as he walks over to me, shifted back to his human form. “I believe Lilith has been under your care this entire time. How is my little sister?” The question I have been dreading has come, and when I look at him, it is with feigned boredom. “I wish I knew; she left a few months ago after she found her mate-” Fenriz has me pinned against the wall before I can even finish my sentence, and when he looks at me, it is with double crimson Lycan