*Emory*I had been shocked when they told me that I could go back to my room, that there was no reason for me to continue to stay in the infirmary. Nellie and Helga had been there with me to help me make it back to my room. I am feeling a lot better, though my shoulder is still sore.They insisted I would feel better if I took a long soak in the tub, and the two of them drew me up a nice bath.Now, I am sitting here, staring at the little silvery reflection of myself in the faucet, wondering if I will always have scars from where I was bitten, wondering if this blood that is running through my veins but isn’t mine will somehow become part of me, wondering about my sister and Opal and the mess she has caused, and Kane.I am constantly wondering about Kane.Where is he now? What is he doing? Is he busy? Is he in danger?Is he thinking about me?I get a bit of an answer to all of those questions when I think I hear a knock on the door to my bedroom and then suddenly feel his presence on

*Kane*Vampires don’t get fatigued. At least, we don’t usually get fatigued. Not from simple tasks like the one I am doing now, but as I lean over the desk and stare at the map in front of me, my eyes start to blur out of focus, and everything begins to fade slightly.I’ve been looking at this fucking map for far too long, and it’s time to just make a decision.“You could just position them all here,” Rainer says, pointing at the border between my lands and King Peter’s. “If they never cross into our lands then we won’t have to worry about them attacking.”“Yes, but Alpha King Peter is not that stupid,” I remind him. “The chances of him actually sending all of his forces in from that direction is very unlikely. I think there’s a better chance that he’ll send in a diversion from that direction and use a different path to come at us.”I look at our other borders. Our lands share most of our northern border with Scarlett Thunder, Opal’s home pack. To the east, we have several smaller nei

*Kane*Whether or not my brother is lying remains to be seen. Our forces drove out from the castle in large transport vehicles that were designed to get us closer to the launching off point, but then, we would travel by foot through the thick forest, moving in on the enemy, using our speed, dexterity, and stealth to try and get the upper hand on another group of vampires attempting to do the same thing.Lex had been told differently than what we were actually doing, and I’d sent him to a different position than the one we were moving toward. If King Peter moved his main force to our eastern border, then I’d know that Lex had betrayed us. If he continued to go to the locations Lex had told me his insider at the castle had revealed to him, then he was telling me the truth.Either way, we had our bases covered for what would happen wherever Peter came out to meet us. I’d managed to secure alliances with all of our neighbors. It hadn’t been easy because some of them were reliant on Peter’

*Kane*Our initial attack had been a phantom mist that rolled in through the darkness, catching King Peter and his troops completely off-guard. We’d cut between the trees through cover of night and descended upon them before they even knew we were there.I’d personally taken out fifteen of his warriors, rolling down the line, dispatching one right after the next before they could make a sound or use their telepathy to communicate the threat to one another. Now, back at camp, I had time to reflect upon it as the sun had climbed the sky and we had broken away from our enemies for a bit to regroup.The first one had been standing there in an unassuming, bored position, likely awaiting orders. I’d come from behind him, grabbed his head, and twisted until it came off. He’d crumpled to the forest floor, his knees sinking into the dew-covered grass as I tossed his head into a nearby bush and moved to the next.She’d turned to see me just in time, her blue eyes widening as she considered what

*Kane*I was almost there.I had almost made it to where Emory was confronting her father. I could see her in the distance as I sprinted across the grass, not even slowing as I passed the line of my own troops that had been standing back, watching.“What is she doing?” I’d screamed aloud to no one. Why had Rainer allowed her to get so far ahead of him? I see my friend dodging forward now, coming up behind me, but it’s too fucking late!Emory falls backward, the slash of a wolf’s claws ripping through her abdomen as blood sprays across his face.I am there before she hits the ground. I scoop her into my arms as the crowd gasps in shock. I have no idea what Emory had been saying to them, but by their expressions, most of the wolves looked ready to stand down.All but one.Her own fucking father.Blood drips off the claws of Bernard Moonraker as he stands directly in front of me, his fangs showing as he snarls at me… at her.Never before in my life have I wanted to speak to a wolf shifte