[Gideon] "ENOUGH!" I shout. Both men gape, their eyes staring. I hardly ever raise my voice and here I am, standing between these two big men, scolding them in the way Rosie often had to do to keep the peace. "Don't you see what you are doing? What he is making you do to one another? You are falling right into Vincent's trap. This is how he works. He messes with your mind first before he tears you apart in other ways. He wants us all at each other's throats so that we aren't focused on finding him and getting our Rosie back." The other two men paused, looking at one another as if trying to decide whether it was worth it. Does it matter if you are correct in an argument if it is at the expense of everyone you love? After a few more moments, they drop their arms to their sides. Exhaling deeply, I take a step back and watch them as they consider my words. This isn’t the first time they’ve been at each other’s throats, and it ended in Rosie getting hurt or worse. Axel and Evander’s

[Rosalynd] “This is not my home,” I manage to find enough strength to speak above a whisper. My voice echoes off the walls, sounding louder than I intended. “But if you could return me there, I’d be grateful. I’m sure my husbands are looking for me.” He laughs before putting goggles on and shaking his head. There is a body on a gurney in front of me. She has large white and blue wings and very pale skin. She looks a bit like a butterfly, a cabbage white, but in humanoid form. A pixie. They rarely venture out of Tara, but when they do, they tend to stay in remote or abandoned places. “I’m sure they are,” he agrees with me as he holds up a clean bone saw, dangling it above the body, moving it up and down as he talks as if he were holding a book or some other random object and not something designed to cut through layers of flesh and bone. “What happened to her,” I ask as we get close enough for me to see the holes in her wings and her still chest. She is either dead or in her y

[Axel] “I’m sorry, My King, but your reasoning is dangerous, for all of us,” the tall man wheezed as he coughed into a handkerchief. His long, reedy fingers looked like a spider’s legs as he wrapped them around the edges of the long oak table. "You have been in Los Angeles for two weeks and yet none of your witches or leprechauns or wolves have been able to find her exact location. How many more of our people are going to die to bring your Queen home?" Gideon, Evander, and I are all standing at the head of the table as the leaders of the Southern California Fae Council gather to discuss the latest developments in the search for our Rosie. Evander is trying his hardest, but these damn fae won't listen to reason. I am so sick and tired of being the one who is standing up for Rosie. Seb Sanchez, the local alpha, had given us a solid lead. But by the time we got there, all we found was an empty warehouse. The next lead took us in the opposite direction and we ended up wandering lost

[Gideon] I am back in our room when Evander rushes in and kisses me, pushing me against the wall with more passion than I’ve felt from him since Rosie disappeared. I let myself fall into it, savoring the feel of his hands on my arms as he traps them above my head, pinning me in place as he devours my lips. “Evander,” I whimper. “What is it? Why are you...?” “Less talking,” he insists, removing my glasses and setting them on the nightstand next to us. "Just let me have this. Let me love you." He begins to push me down onto the bed and I stop him, placing a hand on his chest. As much as I want this man, as much as he has always driven all of my senses insane, something doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t feel like him. “Evander what are you doing?" I am trembling with passion, my hand shaking as I reach up to touch his beautifully sculpted cheeks. "I want you, I want you so badly, but not like this. Not until you tell me what is going on. Is it Rosie? Did she...” “You could say

[Rosalynd]“My Groom?” I look at him strangely. “What do you mean? I thought you said..”“I mean his vessel,” Vincent clarifies. “He is already madly in love with you and has the right mix of powers to hold the dark lord himself, especially since he has recently discovered his witch powers.”Evander isn’t part witch. Gideon is all witch. The only man that leaves is…“Axel!” I stand up suddenly and almost fall forward. Slone reaches forward to catch me.“Strap her in this time!” Vincent roars. “Take her to the operating suite. It’s time we make her body ready for him.” He then turns to me, his grin stretched from ear to ear. “Don’t worry daughter, I’ll go collect your groom now. Once he’s ready, you’ll be reunited.”Slone pulls the straps down tightly, so tight that my fingertips turn white with blood loss. As I fight against the bindings, the arms of the wheelchair dig into my skin.A hard slap across my temple has me bent in half screaming.“Stop struggling,” Slone advises, her tone