Lucien may be safe, but our problems are far from over.
My body is failing. No longer human, not vampire or werewolf. I’m something that no one understands and I’m running out of time. The only thing that might save me is the one thing Lucien is terrified to do: turn me. But now, even if he does, no one knows what I’ll become—or if I’ll live through it at all.
A former friend sits chained in the dungeon, waiting for judgment. The Coven is watching, looking to us for leadership while unrest continues to spread and betrayal comes from places I never expected. And through it all, my control is slipping. Instincts sharpening into something dangerous.
I need Lucien. Not just as my lover, but as my anchor. Because if I lose control, I won’t just destroy myself. I’ll destroy everything we’ve built. Some things are worth dying for.
But what we have is worth sacrificing everything.
Read a Sample…
I sat up in bed and hit the switch on the headboard. Soft light illuminated the bed. It wouldn’t bother Lucien, but it was a sudden shock to my eyes. I’d been staring into darkness for the better part of an hour, my mind restless. A dream had ruined what could have been the most perfect day of sleep in a long while.
Knees to my chest, I leaned against the headboard, one hand on Lucien’s head, thumb moving lightly back and forth over his forehead. He’d had fallen into a deep sleep long before dawn had arrived. He’d fed and then rolled over and crashed, mumbling that he was sorry he was so sleepy.
It was nothing short of a miracle that he was beside me at all. He’d been taken from our bed, impaled on silver-coated spikes in the bed of a coffin, and buried in an unmarked grave. If we’d been hours later in finding him, Lucien would have been dead.
Permanently.
He wasn’t fully recovered yet. His leg still hurt him more than he would admit and he was still somewhat weak from the blood loss and power drain. The best donors available had fed him, and his wounds could no longer be seen on the surface, but what his body needed now was time to heal the damage.
So far, Lucien had been in good spirits. He’d seemed to be dealing with everything okay, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it really sank in that it was Caleb who was the cause of everything that had happened.
Caleb.
The one he’d loved and cherished for so long—the one he’d trusted above all others.
Hell, I still had a hard time wrapping my mind around what Caleb had done. And I’d seen the damned video of him and Cyril together. I knew he’d done it, heard what at least part of his motivation had been, but part of me still couldn’t believe it.
Didn’t want to believe it.
The last time I’d seen Caleb was the night before our last Coven meeting. I’d run into him right outside my bedroom door and he was in a big-ass hurry to get away. I guess now I knew the reason why, but I couldn’t understand why he’d even come back here after everything he’d done.
None of it made sense to me. Only Caleb knew why he’d done what he’d done. I’d always heard that jealousy could make people do stupid things. This was beyond stupidity.
I shook my head and crawled off the bed, wandering over to the closet. I found a pair of jeans and was just slipping them on when I heard the lock on the bedroom door click.
Xander.
As I buttoned my jeans, I poked my head out of the closet. He wore a loose pair of black cotton shorts and his hair was disheveled. He’d been sleeping.
“Hey, Xander.”
“Hey.” His voice was almost a whisper. No doubt because he’d just rolled out of bed. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just couldn’t stare into the dark any longer.”
“You’ve got a lot on your mind. Maybe getting out of here for a little while would help.”
I considered it for a moment, knowing exactly where I’d go if I left this room. Xander stepped into the closet and handed me one of Lucien’s T-shirts. I sighed and took it from him.
“Will you stay with Lucien until I get back?”
“You know that’s why I’m here.”
“I’m sorry I woke you.”
“That’s just us, Peter. Stop apologizing for it.”