WHEN ASHES FALL

BENEATH THE BRIARS

BOOK 2

BRENDA K DAVIES

Copyright © 2026 Brenda K. Davies

All rights reserved.

Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work, in whole or part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, is illegal and forbidden, without the written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Characters, settings, names, and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, places or settings, and/or occurrences. Any incidences of resemblance are purely coincidental.

CHAPTER ONE

Briar

Knox kept his hand on my elbow as he led me through the hallways, past the tree of unity with its multicolored leaves, and on toward the front door where Pierce and Lyra waited for him. Dromon’s boots tapped against the floor as he followed us.

Knox moved so fast that I had to jog to keep up with him or risk faceplanting. “Aren’t you going to dress before going out there?” I asked breathlessly.

He glanced down at himself as if just realizing he was still nude, but his steps didn’t slow. Gizzi remained perched on my shoulder, his tail around my neck and his tiny claws digging into my skin as he hung on. His claws were sharp but not painful, and I was glad for his reassuring presence.

Zephyr bobbed up and down as he flew beside me, his blue and gold dragonfly wings buzzing as he went. Paler than normal, his gray eyes kept darting to the side like he was contemplating fleeing, but he remained by my side.

Taking pity on the sprite, I handed my basket out to him and stumbled as the motion caused me to trip over my feet. I managed not to fall when I staggered behind Knox; I was pretty sure if I fell, he’d keep dragging me along.

“Here, take this,” I said to Zephyr.

Zephyr grasped the basket and pulled it away from me to clutch it against his chest.

“Take it to the healer’s room,” I told him. “I’ll see you there in a bit.”

Maybe.

I had no idea how any of this would go, but from what I’d learned in life, it probably wouldn’t work out in my favor. Still, I couldn’t drag Zephyr along for this; there was no reason for us all to suffer.

“You should go with him,” I told Gizzi through my mind.

“I’m staying with you.”

I wasn’t going to argue with the tiny lowleeto. He was small, but he could kill someone with one bite. Zephyr wasn’t quite as lethal, and I worried he’d get hurt if he continued with us.

“Are you sure?” Zephyr asked me, his voice containing the beautiful, lilting accent of the sprites.

“Yes, go on,” I assured him.

He fell back and hovered a few feet behind us. His wings fluttered lazily before he surged forward to fly beside me again.

“I’ll stay with you… for now,” he said, his chin set stubbornly.

I decided not to fight with him. “Knox, you need clothes.”

“The fuck I do,” he snarled.

My eyes widened at this as Bertie and some of the other sprites fluttered down from the rafters to float beside the door. He shouldn’t be out there with my mother while looking like this.

After everything she did to him, does it matter if she sees him naked now?

No, it didn’t, but I’d still prefer that it didn’t happen. Unfortunately, he didn’t agree with me as he continued heedlessly onward.

Lyra opened the door before we reached it, and Knox stormed through. Our feet thudded down the stairs, and I continued jogging to keep pace with him as we crossed the bailey.

“Open the gates!” Knox called as we got closer to them.

I couldn’t see the sprites gathered on top of the castle walls; they’d chosen to be invisible to hide themselves from these new arrivals, but the handles on the pulleys that maneuvered the gates started spinning. The massive doors creaked open to reveal the road and town beyond.

On my shoulder, Gizzi’s claws bit deeper into my skin before he relaxed. Zephyr stayed beside me while Lyra, Dromon, and Pierce flanked Knox.

Through the open gates, an entourage of riders trotted down the road, past the empty houses and rosebushes. The horses’ hooves, and those of the creatures carrying the cyclops, clip-clopped against the red bricks.

The giant beasts the cyclops rode were at the back of the pack. Those creatures stood at least twelve feet tall at the shoulders, had tusks over six feet long, and were the color of the sun that didn’t shine in this kingdom.

I’d never seen a cadern before, but I’d heard tales of the great beasts, their size and strength. They came from Volcania, the cyclops’s kingdom.

The couple of dozen men and women of the riding party were only fifty feet away and closing the distance far faster than I would have liked. The white flags they waved flapped in the breeze and stood out against the slate-colored sky. My mother rode the big, black stallion on the right side of the procession.

I gulped and resisted the impulse to wipe my sweaty palms on my pants. I’d hoped never to see her again, but here she came, and they might force me to leave with her.

The tribunal can’t make you go if you don’t want to.

But I suspected they could and would.

In the distance, the shadow dragon roared. The riders struggled to keep the horses calm as they pranced nervously; some turned to the side as their ears flicked and their nostrils flared.

When they managed to restrain their mounts, the riders glanced up warily, but the flat, gray sky revealed no hint of the beast. “Will it kill them?” I whispered, afraid to speak any louder.

“It won’t expose itself unless it’s necessary,” Knox replied.

While I wouldn’t mind if the shadow dragon killed some of those coming toward us, like my mother, I didn’t want it to kill all of them. If the representatives of the other kingdoms failed to return, they’d blame the shifters, and war would erupt.

The last war the kingdoms endured had destroyed the demigods and turned their kingdom into the desert wasteland of No Man’s Land. With only four shifters remaining, the kingdom of Wildwood wouldn’t stand a chance against the others.

I’d also prefer it if the four remaining shifters didn’t die. Not to mention, I currently resided here too and far preferred life… even if it did enjoy kicking me in the ass.

“Stay here,” Knox commanded.

I didn’t know who he was talking to, but if it was me, I had no intention of obeying him. As much as the idea of seeing my mother again made me want to spew my breakfast all over the bailey, I wouldn’t let him face this contingent alone. They’d come here for me, and I would be involved.

Fifty feet away from the gates, the riders stopped. Other than my mother and sister—I almost groaned aloud at the realization that perfect Rosalie was here too—I recognized none of them. As far as I knew, Knox had no allies out there, and I wouldn’t let him walk into a nest of vipers.

Then my gaze settled on a tall, regal figure sitting atop another horse. A small breath escaped when I recognized Devnair, the elf Knox and I freed from the harem. With him here, Knox might have one ally, but he still couldn’t go out there alone.

Knox walked away from me, confident and undeterred by his nudity. When I started after him, he turned, and the look on his face froze me.

“I told you to stay here,” he growled.

The hair on my arms stood up as his eyes burned into mine, but his words aggravated me. “Stop ordering me around.”

“You’re in my kingdom; you’ll do as I say.”

I ground my teeth together as my hands fisted. “But they’re here because of me.”

“Which is why you’ll stay here.” His gaze went past me to the other shifters. “Don’t let her leave these gates.”

“We won’t,” Lyra, Pierce, and Dromon vowed together.

And they would keep me here, but that didn’t mean they all had to stay. “One of you should go with him,” I suggested.

The three shifters ignored me as their stony gazes remained focused on the riders outside the gates while Knox turned and walked away. His long legs ate up the ground as he strode confidently toward the gates, still completely heedless of his nudity.

All the riders eyed him with interest as he approached… especially the women. Despite my concern for him, jealousy twisted my stomach into knots.

“It’s official,” Gizzi whispered in my head.

“What is?” I inquired.

“He’s crazier than you.”

I had to agree with that assessment. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get him imprisoned or killed.”

CHAPTER TWO

Knox

I studied the riders who had formed a line before me. All members of the tribunal were present; I hadn’t anticipated that, but Marina must have thrown a bigger tantrum than I’d expected.

When my gaze settled on that hateful cunt of a woman, I discovered her eyes roaming ravenously over me before she licked her lips. I let her drink in her fill; what did I care if she saw me naked… been there, done that.

Beside her, on another horse the color of night, Marina’s equally hateful daughter Rosalie sat with her chin high and a small smile on her lips as she studied the tattoo covering my arms and chest. I acquired it after leaving the harem.

The two of them were strikingly beautiful with their brunette hair and perfect features. Still, no warmth shone in their eyes, especially Marina’s icy blue depths. Rosalie’s dark green eyes shone with malice and lust as she lifted a red-tipped finger to her bottom lip.

“He’s improved,” she murmured as her gaze fell to my cock. “Do you think he broke poor little Briar?”

Marina chuckled. “That wouldn’t take much.”

She clearly underestimated the strength and determination of her youngest daughter. While my face remained impassive, my skin crawled as unexpected nausea twisted in my belly. I thought I’d been prepared for their arrival, as well as that of the other casters, but I wasn’t.

Not only had the king of the day casters, Cozameal, come too, but both had brought a small group of other casters with them. I recognized most of their faces and knew far too well what their genitals looked like.

I’d known Marina would come in person, and expected Rosalie to arrive with her, but seeing and hearing them again had created a visceral reaction in me that I hadn’t anticipated.

I’d experienced far too much of them in the harem. Their cries as they fucked the beast haunted my nightmares. Their words of betrayal about my mate had dug their way into my mind and shattered my soul.

The things they did, the toys they used, the agony they unleashed, weren’t as buried as I’d believed and were making their presence known. I was a grown, powerful man, and I suddenly felt stripped back down to the teenager they’d raped and broken countless times.

It created a maelstrom of fury and self-hatred inside me as I battled against ripping them off their mounts and bashing their skulls in until their brains splattered me. It was also taking everything I had not to throw up.

I’d been trapped in that harem for seven years, at this woman’s mercy and the mercy of others, but Marina took special joy in tormenting me, as did Rosalie. I would have given anything to break free of the vines imprisoning me while there. I couldn’t escape until the day I reached full maturity and the beast evolved into something more.

No one else had ever seen that something more, but one day I would unleash it on these two, and they would pay for what they’d done. However, today was not that day.

Get it to-fucking-gether. Don’t you dare let them know they’ve rattled you.

The beast bashed against my insides as it sought to break free. If I unleashed it now, it would kill them.

That would cause the tribunal to attack. And while they wouldn’t survive the beast or shadow dragon, I would bring the wrath of all the kingdoms down on Wildwood.

We couldn’t kill them all. Plus, I had no quarrel with the other kingdoms or any of the others here; it was simply the casters, every single one of them, who I wanted dead.

It’s the tribunal. You’re a member, and they’ve come in peace. You can’t kill them.

Still, my claws elongated and retracted as I stared at the woman who’d twisted me into a monster. Memories slithered forth like a basilisk creeping through its chamber and rising from its cave. Those memories were as poisonous as the basilisk’s bite.

Inhaling deeply through my nostrils, I held my breath while I worked to calm the cascading waves of rage and revulsion. I didn’t know how Devnair managed to ride here with the casters, yet he sat stoically on his mount, unfazed by their presence.

I hoped my turmoil was as well-hidden as his. Releasing my breath, I took another and counted to ten. It wasn’t helping… but I knew something that would.

Unable to stop it, my head swiveled toward where Briar stood with Pierce, Dromon, and Lyra. When I first brought her here, I was convinced she was as treacherous as her mother, but after her Needing, I started questioning the things Marina told me about her.

I still didn’t know if I could trust Briar or not and had no idea how Marina had learned so many details of our plan to run away together, but right now, I drank in the sight of her. I resisted the urge to return to draw her close and protect her from the monster who birthed her.

Terror had filled Briar’s face when Dromon announced the tribunal was here. She’d intended to flee from her mother, from the tribunal, from me, but I stopped her. She may not be able to break the curse on her own, but she could still be the key to freeing Wildwood from the night caster’s magic.

She was still valuable to me, and I’d find a way to use her to help my kingdom. The problem was, I didn’t know if I could hand her over to these monsters when just looking at her soothed the ragged edges of my soul and calmed my murderous impulses.

More beautiful than her mother and sister, she did resemble them with her espresso-brown hair and refined features, but kindness and warmth shone in her eyes, and her face wasn’t as thin or harsh as theirs. Her smile was never cruel, her actions never calculated, and I’d never seen her relish in the suffering of others.

Yes, there were some physical resemblances, but there were far more differences. When she touched me, I didn’t remember them; it was impossible to recall how awful they made me feel when she was around.

Feeling more in control of my conflicting emotions, I turned back to the tribunal. Not only had Marina arrived with friends but so had Cozameal.

While I’d never encountered Cozameal in the harem—he’d gone through his Needing before I arrived there—I did recognize one of the faces in his following. A cruel bastard who’d enjoyed making the women scream.

The day casters aligned themselves with the sun, but they were far from warm and every bit as vicious and insatiable as the night casters. I didn’t know what they did with their more sinister urges once they left the harem, as they never returned.

From the top of his tall, bay steed, Cozameal stared at me. Like the other casters, he also couldn’t hide the hunger in his crystal green eyes as they skimmed me. His black hair flowed freely to his shoulders as his attention shifted from me to Briar. His brow furrowed before clearing.

“How nice of you to dress for us,” Alwin drawled in the refined accent of the elves.

Alwin’s black hair hung over his shoulder in a waist-length braid that revealed his pointed ears. His white shirt highlighted the deep brown of his skin; his black eyes shone with intelligence and amusement as he surveyed me.

The king of the elves had arrived with Devnair and three others. Devnair’s lips twitched toward a smile before he suppressed it. I sensed his uneasiness as his gaze shifted from me to Briar and back again.

Devnair wasn’t stupid; I’d freed him from the vines holding him prisoner in the harem, a feat only I’d ever accomplished. He understood they had to tread carefully here, and he didn’t even know about the shadow dragon. Unless it became necessary, the dragon would lie in wait for a sign it was needed.

“If I’d known you were coming, I would have gladly arrived clothed, but you didn’t give me time to prepare,” I replied.

Cozameal licked his lips, crossed his arms over his pommel, and leaned forward on the saddle. “So, you stroll around nude all the time?”

“How I stroll around is no concern of yours.”

His eyes sparkled with amusement before he released a bark of laughter. “Too true, my shifter friend, too true.”

I bit back the words to tell him that he was no friend of mine, but I wouldn’t let him bait me into a response. He’d purposely used that word to rile me, and I wouldn’t give the prick the response he sought.

“Is there somewhere we can talk, Seth?” Alwin inquired.

I rankled at the name I’d forsaken.

CHAPTER THREE

Knox

“He goes by Knox now,” Devnair said.

“Excuse me?” Alwin inquired.

“He prefers to be called Knox now.”

“Is that true?” Alwin asked me.

“It is,” I confirmed.

“How interesting,” Marina murmured.

“The one who knocks,” Zarmen said in the guttural accent of the cyclops.

“I see you’ve heard of me,” I said to the king of the cyclops.

“I have. I’ve never witnessed it, but I hear you’re quite a draw when you enter the cage, but you only go in for sorcerers and sorceresses. You never leave them alive.”

I smiled grimly as my attention shifted to Marina. “No, I don’t.”

Some of the malicious amusement faded from her eyes as her jaw set and she glanced toward Briar. The beast stirred, and I stopped myself from taking an instinctive step to the side to block Marina’s view of her daughter.

Marina would feed on that response and try to find a new way to destroy us if she believed I still cared for her daughter.

With a flick of her wrist, Marina brushed a curl off her shoulder. The blood-red rose on her wrist flashed when she did so, and my skin prickled as I recalled how her roses burned my flesh.

She’d intertwined more roses throughout her hair. She always wore at least one of the flowers in her hair, but there were at least a dozen there now.

They’re for Briar.

I wasn’t sure if Briar had ever told her mother how much she hated the flower, probably not, but I was sure the queen knew. She’d also worn so many for me and the other shifters, to remind us of the curse she and her friends released on Wildwood.

If mother and daughter hated each other so much, then how did Marina know of our plans to leave the kingdoms behind if Briar didn’t tell her?

That was the sticking point I always came back to. The one that constantly made me question everything I’d ever known about Briar and our relationship, even when I wanted to trust her.

“Knox it is then,” Alwin stated. “Is there somewhere we can all sit and speak?”

“About what?” I inquired.

“About the fact you stole my daughter,” Marina murmured.

“I didn’t steal anyone.”

“You entered one of our sacred places⁠—”

Before she could say anything more, I interrupted her. “You’re the one who first forced me into that sacred place.”

Fire flashed through her eyes before she suppressed it. “You were not a resident of our harem when you took Briar.”

“Not taken. Your daughter left willingly.”

“That’s not what the witnesses say.”

“What witnesses?”

Devnair better not be one of them. If I’d freed the elf for him to turn on us, I’d kill the bastard.

“There were other eternals inside the harem,” Cozameal said.

“One of them is a gorgon,” Petra stated.

The flash of anger in her brown eyes told me that she didn’t approve of this, but she couldn’t do anything about it. The queen of the gorgons couldn’t interfere with the ways of the casters.

If they’d imprisoned a gorgon, it was because that gorgon did something wrong. All the kingdoms took prisoners. If Petra made a big deal about the casters’ captives, then she’d have to look to her own prisons.

“I told them the girl left willingly,” Devnair said with a pointed look at Marina. For a second, his calm façade cracked, and hate flashed through his black eyes. “But the casters insisted on seeing her.”

“It’s something we must discuss,” Alwin stated. “And we will speak with the girl.”

“Whether she left willingly or not doesn’t matter; she is my daughter and will return to Nightshade,” Marina said.

Alwin lifted an eyebrow at her haughty demeanor. “We will see what the girl has to say.” Turning to me, Alwin asked again, “Is there somewhere we can go?”

I would not invite these men and women into my home or the bailey. “There’s a meeting hall down the road a bit.”

When I waved toward the large building back the way they’d come, they twisted on their mounts to view it.

“Very well,” Zarmen said. “We will talk there.”

“We will speak with the girl too, Knox,” Petra said.

I didn’t want Briar anywhere near these fuckers, but if I intended to prevent a lot of death today, then I didn’t have a choice. Turning, I lifted my hand and waved at the others to indicate they should join us.

Uneasiness grew in my stomach as Lyra and Pierce flanked Briar while Dromon led the way. What will Briar tell them?

She’d tried to run when she learned of her mother’s presence here, but that could have been an act. For all I knew, she’d throw me to the wolves the first chance she got.

But then, maybe she’d prefer to stay here for more nefarious reasons. Maybe, by bringing her, I’d brought a poisonous thorn into our midst and this was all part of some plan she’d concocted with her mother to destroy what remained of the shifters.

You’re really grasping for reasons to keep hating her now.

Having Marina and the casters here was twisting all my thoughts and emotions into a knot. It was fucking me up in ways I hadn’t expected, and I loathed that it left me so unstable.

However, it was easier to keep hating her than to open myself up to her again. Even with as messed up as I was right now, I recognized that.

Was there a chance that Briar and Marina could have plotted to have her come here? Yes, but Marina couldn’t have known I’d go for Briar when she entered the harem. She couldn’t have known I’d learn that Briar was entering the harem.

I struggled to maintain the small amount of trust I’d found in Briar again, but it crumbled beneath the weight of Marina’s and Rosalie’s stares. Zephyr remained hovering inside the bailey as Briar and the others strode toward us.

CHAPTER FOUR

Briar

My heart thundered so fast I was sure everyone heard it as they led me into a large building filled with numerous tables and benches. Lanterns hung from the exposed beams running across the ceiling. No flames shone in them, so shadows encompassed most of the building as little light spilled through the oversized windows lining the walls.

When Knox snapped his fingers, flames sprang to life in the lanterns. My eyes widened at this revelation. I’d never seen anyone do it before, but then the sprites were up and buzzing around before I left my room in the morning. I’d always assumed they were the ones who lit the wicks.

There were also matches in a drawer in my room for the lanterns and candles there. I’d been using them to ignite my lights.

Is this something everyone in Wildwood can do or just the alpha? Did the casters or elves implement this for them?

If it were the casters, it happened long before the curse. Knox never would have trusted them to cast a spell such as this in the kingdom.

I marveled at the flames and the warm glow they brought to the room. It did little to ease the chill in my heart, and I had to stop myself from rubbing my arms while my mother sauntered around the room.

I can’t go back with her.

The idea of it had me on the verge of tears, and I glanced over my shoulder toward the door, but Dromon and Pierce blocked my view of it. Their stony faces told me I wouldn’t make it one step before they captured me.

And if I tried to run, it would thoroughly delight my mother. No matter how much I tried to hide it, I was sure my face revealed my distress, but trying to run from her would be the highlight of her day.

Feeling eyes on me, I shifted my attention to Rosalie. My sister’s face was as cold as ice, but disgust shimmered in her green eyes. My mother wanted to reclaim me to punish me; Rosalie would prefer to see me dead.

I was a disgrace to both, and while my mother reveled in making me miserable, Rosalie saw me as a stain to remove from their existence.

Boots thudded against the floor as the leaders of the kingdoms and their small entourages crossed the room to the table closest to the stage. The red curtains framing the stage were pulled back and secured at the sides.

Two wilted, nearly black roses drooped toward the stage floor. A single petal rested beneath one of them.

At one time, before my mother unleashed her vengeance on this land, those roses were shifters. Judging by their size, they’d most likely been children.

My heart ached for them. The rose was my mother’s favorite flower; because of that, I’d always detested them, but these flowers were once vibrant shifters who’d relished in the wild freedom of their kingdom. These children might have been practicing a show for their parents or pretending to be actors when their laughter abruptly ended.

I hoped there was a way to break the curse and save the shifters and hoped even more that they had no idea what had befallen them. The awareness of that was an unfathomable hell.

If I didn’t get returned to Nightshade today, I’d have to send Knox or someone else out here with my potion to ensure these roses didn’t die. The sprites had so much on their plates that these two must have slipped through their care; that would end today.

My hate for roses had turned to love for these, though I’d gladly tear the flowers out of my mother’s hair and off her wrist before shoving them down her throat. I’d love to watch her choke on them.

Overhead, dead plants lined the thick wood beams running across the ceiling; small chandeliers with more candles hung above the scarred, wooden tables. At one time, laughter and conversation had filled this place.

Now, silence hung heavily over the building. While the sprites kept the castle spotless, dust had settled onto every surface here. The passing of the eternals kicked particles into the air, where they swirled before settling again.

My mother’s shoes clicked off the floor as she strode toward the stage. “Oh my, these poor pretties look awful,” my mother purred as she stroked one of the roses.

“Don’t touch them!” I snapped.

My voice rebounded off the white walls, where more dark wood beams created patterns along its surface. It had come out louder than I anticipated. The heads of the other eternals swiveled toward me as my mother smirked.

“Don’t poke the bitch,” Gizzi said.

I shoved my hands into my pockets to hide my fists as I ground my teeth together. Gizzi was right, I should have kept my mouth shut; instead, I’d given her what she sought by reacting to her.

She’d probably anticipated one of the shifters becoming incensed when she dared to touch the creature she’d cursed, but they’d maintained control. I hadn’t.

Knox’s eyes narrowed on me as Dromon, who I suspected was still mad at me for sneaking beyond the wall while under his watch, lowered his head and whispered in my ear.

“Keep your mouth shut.”

I glowered at the shifter, but he was right. I had to stay in control, or I wouldn’t get through this.

And if they decided to send me back with my mother, I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of watching me scream and fight against the injustice of it all. I’d go, but the first chance I got, I’d kill myself.

Escape was impossible; my ten years trapped there had already proven that. Death was a better fate than the one awaiting me at her hands.

When I didn’t speak again, the attention returned to my mother as she continued to fondle the flower while smirking at me. Gods, I hated her, but I kept my lips clamped together.

CHAPTER FIVE

Briar

“Let us all sit,” Alwin said from his seat at the table.

Most of the other leaders had already settled around him, but my mother and Knox remained standing. My mother caressed the rose once more before striding over to join the rest of the tribunal. Knox joined them but remained standing.

With the leaders of the kingdoms settled around the table, those who’d accompanied them to Wildwood took up positions behind them. Devnair stood directly behind Alwin while the other two elves flanked him.

Pierce grasped my arm and led me over to Knox. Pierce positioned me close to the stage and remained beside me while Lyra and Dromon took up positions behind Knox.

The eternals who remained standing wore swords at their sides; many rested their hands on their hilts as they studied the others. For thousands of years before I was born, peace had mostly reigned in the kingdoms.

While some kingdoms engaged in skirmishes over land and power, the tribunal had kept things mostly peaceful since the destruction of Aethelgard, the kingdom of the fallen demigods, thousands of years ago.

Standing in this room, I could feel how tenuous that peace was. The hatred simmering between my mother and Knox was nearly palpable as they stared at each other.

I’d never met most of the men and women at this table, but it was easy enough to figure out who they all were. Petra, the queen of the gorgons, wore a red scarf over her hair. Despite the covering, pale gold strands shimmered in the light, but her snakes remained calm and her features relaxed. In this form, she was absolutely striking, but the gorgons could transform into hideous beasts who stunned and killed their prey.

Alwin, the king of the elves, sat beside her. Zarmen, the cyclops’s king, had carried a bench over from another table and plopped it at the end of the table.

He sat on it by himself, but I questioned its ability to hold him. The cyclops were far larger than the rest of the eternals, with an average height of at least ten feet; Zarmen was bigger than that.

Standing at nearly eleven feet, his shoulders were broader than a draft horse’s. His one blue eye surveyed the room; when he shifted, the wood creaked ominously beneath his considerable weight.

When it held firm, he leaned his spiked mace against the table and clasped his hands before him. His brown hair hung in curls around his handsome features, and a scar sliced his left cheek from his forehead to under his chin.

I assumed the man with the spear and blond hair flowing to his chest was Caspian, the merking. It was rare for the merfolk to get involved in anything; they far preferred to stay at sea or in their kingdom of Nauticus.

Nauticus was the smallest kingdom, as the merfolk spent most of their time in the ocean, but they did emerge from the water to stroll the streets of their land. The homes in Nauticus were communal and often unoccupied. The true home and kingdom of the merfolk was beneath the waves, and no one, outside of the merfolk, knew what it looked like.

The merfolk had gifted the elves with a conch shell that could call them from the sea if necessary. I didn’t know if Alwin used it to draw Caspian here, but the merking intrigued me.

I couldn’t imagine how amazing it would be to live beneath the waves, exploring places few others would ever see and swimming amid the dolphins, whales, and other sea creatures.

Had he ever seen a kraken? Did he know how to find the dragons’ home? How many secrets does he have? How many shipwrecks has he seen? What’s it like to live in a kingdom beneath the sea?

I longed to ask him all these questions, but the one I most wanted to know was whether it was true they could speak the sea creatures’ language. While I’d read the merfolk spoke with the animals in their language and that it was aloud, the books could be wrong. Maybe they could somehow communicate with them telepathically like I could with Gizzi.

Maybe that would make me part mermaid.

But I immediately ruled that out. I’d never sprouted a tail in water, and I’d tried holding my breath in my bath after my Needing. I couldn’t breathe underwater.

Besides, Gizzi and I spoke in the same language. I didn’t know how to talk lowleeto.

They also said the merfolk could control the waves and possessed their own brand of magic. Living under the sea must be magical.

Sensing my attention, Caspian lifted his aqua blue eyes to me. He was a handsome man with a broad face, and while he wore pants, no shirt covered his thickly muscled chest. He bowed his head to me before smiling.

Knox stepped in front of me, blocking Caspian’s view. His bright orange eyes burned as a muscle twitched in his jaw.

I gulped as he scowled at me. He was irate when he caught me in the woods earlier, but now, he was seething as his claws lengthened and retracted before lengthening once more.

I almost stepped away from him, but there was nowhere for me to go as Pierce blocked my retreat. For a moment, neither of us moved as I waited to see what he would do. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to kill me, Caspian, or everyone in this room.

CHAPTER SIX

Briar

I released my trapped breath when his attention shifted to my mother and sister, and the tension in his body amped up. The tattoo across his shoulders came to life as his rippling muscles shifted the vines.

It wasn’t just our fight earlier in the woods that had him so amped up as he resisted transitioning. Their presence had also deeply rattled him.

My apprehension of him dissipated as a sharp ache bloomed in my chest. Seeing my mother again had me on the verge of bolting out of here in tears; I couldn’t imagine what it was like for the shifters and Devnair to be back in her presence… as well as that of the other casters.

My fingers twitched as I started to reach for him before jerking my hand back. If I touched him, he might completely lose it. Seth would never strike me, but I wasn’t so sure Knox could control himself. I might trigger an explosive reaction by touching him.

The memories battering him had to be tearing free barely healed scabs and bearing the raw remnants of all the anguish and degradation he suffered at their hands.

“Is that a lowleeto?”

Petra’s question drew my attention away from Knox as Gizzi lifted his head from my shoulder. I’d managed to convince Zephyr to stay behind, but Gizzi refused.

I didn’t argue much as it was easier to have a small creature on my shoulder than to have a sprite fluttering behind me, but Gizzi came from Gorgonia, the kingdom of the gorgons. I should have anticipated the gorgons would recognize what he was, but what did it matter?

They couldn’t take him from me; I was certain he’d bite anyone who tried.

Petra’s mouth hung ajar as she looked from Gizzi to me. “Do you know what that is?”

I lifted my chin a little. “I found him in the woods.”

“So you adopted him?” she asked incredulously. “That’s one of the most venomous creatures in all the kingdoms.”

“Are you talking about the woman or the animal?” Knox drawled.

I recoiled as if he’d slapped me. Things weren’t exactly great between us, and they certainly weren’t what they were before my mother ruined our love, but I believed we’d made some headway.

Not only did his comment sting, but it also caused my mother to smirk as she tapped her long, red nails against the table. He’d proven to her that he hadn’t come for me in the harem because he still loved me. He’d confirmed she’d succeeded in destroying us, and she loved every second of it.

He’d stepped between Caspian and me, but that didn’t prove anything to her. This was what she’d come to see.

Recovering from my shock over Knox’s words, I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. Besides Gizzi, I was all alone in this place.

I had no one to protect me or stand up for me. No one would try to stop whatever fate these men and women decided for me. None of them gave a shit about what I wanted.

Devnair might try to stand up for me; he did say he owed me for helping to free him from the harem. And he might be as likely not to say a word.

I ignored the yawning pit of hopelessness growing within me as Gizzi rubbed his head against my cheek.

“I’m here,” he whispered into my mind. “And the second you give me permission, I’ll bite him in the dick.”

Despite the despair threatening to overwhelm me, I almost laughed aloud but restrained myself. They’d all think I’d lost my mind if I started laughing now.

Petra’s eyes were the size of saucers while Gizzi’s cool nose nuzzled my cheek. His whiskers tickled as I stroked his soft, gray fur.

“What the fuck?” Petra murmured.

When Knox’s gaze swung back to me, his eyes narrowed. Unwilling to let him see that he’d wounded me, I smiled. It felt more like a grimace as I tried to assume an air of innocence.

I could see the questions swirling through Knox’s eyes as he looked from me to Gizzi and back again. He didn’t voice them, most likely because he wouldn’t give my mother the satisfaction of learning he didn’t know what Gizzi was.

If I stayed here after this, I was sure I’d hear about it from Knox, but at least I didn’t have to deal with his shitty attitude right now.

“We should get this started,” Malakor, the king of the strigoi, said.

The ugly man’s red eyes burned into me. He had a tapered face, thin features, and a build so frail that he looked like a small breeze could blow him over.

Like all male strigoi, he was bald with nearly translucent skin, thin lips, and sharp cheekbones. When he spoke, his fangs were clearly visible. Oddly shriveled, his ears were much smaller than they should have been, and strangely lumpy.

From what I’d heard in snippets from my mother over the years, the other kingdoms despised the strigoi, but because of their ability to drink blood and drain souls from their victims, they were powerful creatures. They also possessed blood magic; I didn’t know how it worked or what exactly happened when they used it, but the powers made others uneasy.

“Yes, let’s start,” Alwin said. “Will you sit, Knox?”

“No.”

The way his mouth pursed told me that Alwin didn’t like Knox’s refusal, but he knew better than to challenge an alpha.

“There’s nothing to start, or any reason for you to be here,” Knox said. “I took the girl from the harem; she is my prisoner as much as I was Marina’s. If she wants her daughter back, she’ll have to break the curse to get her.”

This time, I managed to keep myself from wincing as those words struck deep into my heart. If she agreed to break the curse, he would hand me back to her.

My mother’s fingers stopped drumming on the table as her smirk grew. “It’s impossible to break the curse… unless we get our collective powers back. If that happens, we’ll gladly break the curse and free the shifters.”

“Can they be freed?” Knox asked.

“Of course,” she said with a flick of her blood-red nails.

The room went deathly silent as every eye shot to the woman who was grinning like the cat who’d eaten the canary. I didn’t know if she was telling the truth or not, but I was sure the shifters wanted to believe her.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Knox

No one moved after Marina’s statement, but I’d suspected this was the tack this bitch would take the second I saw her here. After they cursed Wildwood, the rest of the kingdoms united to neuter the dark sorcerers and sorceresses by binding their ability to use their collective magic.

Marina coveted getting their full power back and was dangling the curse as a way to get it and Briar back.

Did the queen of the night casters hope I’d go for Briar when she entered the harem to bring about this meeting? I almost glanced back at Briar but refrained from doing so. Instead, though it sickened me to look Marina in the eye, I held her gaze.

Alwin cleared his throat before speaking. “Your collective powers were stripped from you by all of us—” He waved a hand at all those sitting at the table. “—because you used them so destructively against another kingdom. What guarantee would you give us not to do such a thing again?”

“We’d all have to agree to let them have their powers back,” Zarmen inserted gruffly. “Knox wants to save his kingdom, but Marina and her kind cannot be trusted against us.”

“Of course,” Alwin placated. “We are just examining this scenario. If Knox returns your daughter and we return your collective powers, what guarantee would we have that you wouldn’t use them against another kingdom?”

Unable to stop it, the beast twisted within me as it bellowed against the idea of returning Briar. While I still didn’t trust her completely, the beast craved its mate. I’d vowed to never claim her as such again, but the twisted creature Marina created ran on pure instinct, and it didn’t give a shit about my intentions.

Though I was reluctant to do so, I had to admit I didn’t want to give her back either. I loathed her kind with every fiber of my being, but Briar was different; she’d proven that during her Needing and with her care of the roses.

We were going to talk about the creature on her shoulder and the fact that she’d traipsed into the woods for mushrooms… where she could have gotten killed, but she had helped Wildwood.

She’d help more if she could break the curse by returning to Marina.

I inwardly winced at the truth of this. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to free my family and Wildwood from the curse.

After my time in the harem, I was brutally aware of what it was like to be trapped, helpless, and at the mercy of others. I didn’t know if the shifters were aware of what happened to them, but if they were, they would be going mad… if they weren’t already dead.

I didn’t believe one word that came out of Marina’s mouth. And if Marina could break the curse and I handed Briar back to her, I’d sentence her to a life of misery.

I shouldn’t care about that… but I did.

Unable to resist, I glanced at where Briar stood. She twisted her hands before her as her gaze flitted around the room. She squeezed them until they turned red.

Strands of her espresso brown hair had fallen free to frame her beautiful, oval face. Beneath the dirt streaking her cheeks from her excursion beyond the walls, her skin was far paler than normal. When her terrified, sea green eyes settled on me, her full lips, the color of a red rose, compressed into a flat line.

For a second, I was thrown back to a time before life interfered with us; when we were young, happy, and sickeningly in love. It was all so simple then, or at least it seemed that way. But nothing was ever what it seemed.

I was absolutely convinced of her love for me as we made plans to flee to the sea and find somewhere we could live without any interference from those who would try to tear us apart. Never once had I questioned her love or my ability to protect her.

Then Marina came for us, put me in the harem, and revealed to me plans only Briar could have known. It took years for her to twist my heart against her daughter, but once she did, I started to loathe Briar more than her mother.

While I still wasn’t sure how Marina knew so many details about our plans to leave the kingdoms, I’d started to believe that Briar wasn’t the one who revealed them anymore. However, being back in Marina’s presence made me question everything all over again.

I wanted to get away from that woman and the rest of the casters… including Briar. I required time to think but wouldn’t get it.

I had to keep my shit together while they were all here. This wasn’t the harem. We were in Wildwood, where I reigned, and while it would start a war, I could easily destroy Marina. That knowledge helped to stabilize me a little, but my emotions were still a ricocheting mess within me.

During the years I was in the harem, Marina had battered, tormented, and broken me until the man I was then… Seth… ceased to exist. I wasn’t capable of love anymore and rarely felt compassion, but if Briar hadn’t betrayed me, did she deserve a life of despair simply for loving the man I used to be?

And does your kingdom deserve to suffer because of your love for her?

Fuck!

When I took Briar from the harem, I never expected it would lead to this. I believed it would be easy and great fun to destroy her, but it wasn’t turning out that way.

However, there were thousands upon thousands of cursed shifters in Wildwood who depended on me to save them. And then there was her.

But she’s ours, the beast stated.

I’d vowed never to claim Briar as my mate again, but while I could restrain myself from doing so, I couldn’t deny that I hungered to brand her again. It was easy to recall what it felt like to sink my fangs into the delicate column of her throat as the animal I was supposed to be marked her.

A rush of pleasure and possession swept through me while I lost myself to the ecstasy of claiming what was mine. And Briar would always be mine.

Even if I never claimed her as my mate again, shifters were only given one mate in their lifetime… if they were lucky enough to find them. I was one of the rare few who found my mate as a child.

I didn’t know what the animal that marked her was, and I never would, but it emerged earlier than it should have to claim its mate. Before it could achieve its full form, Marina twisted it into the beast.

And she’d unleashed misery on all the shifters because of me. My attention shifted to Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra. They’d also endured the hell of the harem while their families were transformed into roses. They deserved to have their loved ones back.

Dromon’s brown eyes held mine. After I discovered Briar in the woods with nothing but a sprite and that lowleeto for protection, I’d unleashed my fear for her on him, but there was no hint of resentment in his gaze.

Instead, understanding shone in his eyes. Since leaving the harem, he’d become my closest friend, most trusted confidant, and the beta of our small pack. He’d also hated Briar for what happened here, but over these past weeks, he’d seen her kindness and had his doubts about her too.

“What kind of a guarantee would you like in return for returning our full powers to us?” Marina asked.

“We must discuss that. I’m sure there will be many contingencies,” Alwin said. “But a good start might be the release of all our prisoners from your harem.”

Marina’s jaw tightened as Cozameal huffed out a laugh. “The day casters won’t agree to that.”

“Then we will figure something else out… maybe,” Alwin said. “Do you have any suggestions, Knox?”

Before I could speak, Briar blurted, “It doesn’t matter what you all decide; I’m not going back.”

All eyes flew to her as she stood with her shoulders back and her chin high. She looked regal and determined, but also so small and fragile compared to the powers gathered within.

“There’s nothing to negotiate,” she stated as she glared at her mother. “I will not return to Nightshade.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Briar

“Yes!” Gizzi shouted in my head. “Fuck them all!”

With a sinking sensation, I realized that’s exactly what I might do by refusing to return. “I’m condemning the shifters to their current fate if I refuse to leave with my mother,” I told him.

“You didn’t condemn them to anything; your mother did.”

“But I might be able to help fix it.”

“And why should you be the sacrificial lamb who rights the wrongs of others?”

“None of this would have happened if I hadn’t fallen in love with Seth… I mean Knox.”

“You cannot help who you love.”

“No, but I knew my mother would destroy us if she ever caught us together. And then she did.”

“He knew the consequences of that too, right?”

“Yes,” I reluctantly admitted.

“And he was also willing to face them. He stayed there willingly with you. I know neither of you expected her to destroy the shifters, but you’re not at fault here.”

“She destroyed Seth too.”

“And she also made you suffer. You were both punished for years over something you never should have suffered for. It’s not on you to suffer more by returning to that place. You are not the key to fixing this.”

“Then who is?”

“Your atrocious mother and her cohorts.”

I didn’t argue with him, but I couldn’t help thinking I was condemning all the shifters to a fate worse than death by not returning to Nightshade. Was my one life really worth more than thousands of them?

No, but I couldn’t go back to my kingdom; my mother had punished me before, but this time, I’d beg her to lock me in a tower and shun me again, as I had no doubt she had far worse plans for me.

She might put me in the harem. I had no doubt there was torture in my future, and she might try to make me bind myself to Mond, the moon god.

I hadn’t suffered through my Needing with absolutely no relief to be forced into the harem and bound to a deity now. I would not become a night or day caster.

“Does she really think she has a choice?” Malakor tittered. “Your daughter’s a silly child, Marina.”

I glared at the king of the strigoi. “I’m not a child.”

“He looks as appetizing as shit, but I’ll bite him for you, if you’d like,” Gizzi said.

“Are you trying to start a war between the kingdoms and get us both killed?”

“No, but I don’t like that ugly prick.”

“No one does.”

“I’d hold your tongue, child, unless you want me to rip it out,” Malakor snarled.

When Knox planted one hand on the table, his claws raked the surface. “You make one move against her, and you’ll be wearing your intestines as a necklace.”

My mother’s smirk vanished as she gazed from him to me and back again. His earlier statement about me being poison had made her think… and me as well… that he had little care for me. His defensive position and the ruthless tone of his voice indicated that might not be true after all.

We would never be the old us again. All hope of that was dead, but a little surge of optimism filled me.

Maybe we could be something different. Something more.

“She’s my prisoner, and while she’s here, no one will mistreat her,” Knox stated.

And just like that, my hope burst like a bubble of soap chomped on by a dog. When would I get it through my thick head that I was nothing more than a means to an end for him?

“Do not threaten me, boy,” Malakor hissed.

“Easy, easy,” Alwin encouraged as he held up his hands. “We are all reasonable men and women and will discuss this issue as such.”

Devnair bent and whispered something into the king’s ear. Alwin listened before nodding.

“My brother-in-law has made a suggestion that I think we’ll all agree with,” Alwin said. “He’ll take the young lady for a walk while we talk rationally about this.”

My eyebrows rose at the revelation Devnair was Alwin’s brother-in-law. Such a connection must have granted him a fair amount of power in the elf kingdom of Terra.

While I liked Devnair and didn’t think he meant any harm, I was reluctant to leave. “Since you’re all discussing me, I think I should stay,” I said.

Alwin had maintained an air of calm joviality, but now his eyes glittered like black ice. “I think we can all agree you have no choice in this.”

My teeth ground together as I bit back an angry retort. Outside of Gizzi, Devnair might be my only ally in this room, and I couldn’t risk enraging the elf king by arguing with him. And his stony countenance said he wouldn’t tolerate any more arguments, even if they were about my life.

Warm breath tickled my ear before Lyra spoke. “It’s best if you go willingly and quietly. If you fight this, it could push Knox over the edge.”

I turned my head to meet Lyra’s lime-green eyes; the sympathy in them surprised me as her gaze willed me to go. Reluctantly, I nodded.

If, while I was gone, they decided to return me to Nightshade, I’d let Gizzi bite whoever he wanted. If I got killed in the process, so be it; death was far preferable.

CHAPTER NINE

Briar

“Dromon will go with them,” Knox stated.

At least he’d gotten over his earlier irritation with his friend. That made me feel a little less guilty, since I was the cause of their brief fight.

“That’s not necessary,” Alwin said. “She’ll be quite safe with Devnair.”

Hostility thrummed through the room as Alwin and Knox stared at each other. When Alwin looked away, Knox turned to Dromon. “Don’t let her out of sight.”

The wolf shifter bowed his head. “I won’t.”

Knox’s severe gaze landed on me. “Do not go far.”

I bristled over his command. “Don’t worry, your currency won’t run.”

We glowered at each other until Dromon grasped my arm and steered me around the table. On wooden legs, I walked toward Devnair.

When I was passing my mother, she seized my wrist. Her touch sent an icy blast through me as the rose on her wrist seared my flesh.

I was used to the acidic potion she added to her roses. I’d encountered it countless times over the years. Because of this, I didn’t try to tear my arm away; I wouldn’t let her know her touch sickened me more than it hurt.

“Daughter, all we want is for you to return home.”

She ran her thumb across my flesh as it continued to sizzle. I’d stand there until she burned me to the bone before pulling my arm away.

“Just end this and⁠—”

Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off as Knox’s large, clawed hand snaked across the table. When he grabbed my mother’s wrist, pain and disbelief flickered through her eyes as her mouth parted.

“As I told Malakor,” Knox snarled, “no harm will come to my prisoner.”

My mother gasped and released my wrist. She tried to flex her fingers, but Knox refused to release her.

“Knox,” Alwin warned when the other night casters stepped forward and my sister started to rise.

Knox’s pupils slitted as his nostrils flared, but with a jerk, he tore the rose from my mother’s wrist, tossed it on the table, and smashed it with his fist. When his fingers unfurled, he revealed the blisters and burns marring his palm and fingers.

Before anyone could speak, he grasped my arm and pulled it toward him. With more care than I ever would have believed possible from him, he turned it over to reveal the perfect, rose-shaped burn there. One of the blisters was already popped and oozing.

His fingers caressed the edges of my brutalized flesh, but he showed no sign that his injuries bothered him. My mouth went dry as he stared at the mark with sorrow.

Knox’s fangs were clearly visible when he lifted his head and leveled his gaze on my mother. “Try that again, and I’ll tear your fucking hands off and shove them down your vile throat. Do you understand me?”

His words were deceptively calm, given the message they delivered. My mother’s blood-red lips pursed as my sister rose.

“That is enough!” Alwin said sharply.

A blast of power radiated throughout the room. It knocked me and the casters back a step while Knox swayed briefly.

“Devnair, take the girl for a walk,” Alwin commanded.

I almost told him that I had a name, but there was a time and place for boldness, and this was neither the time nor the place. Things were far too tense in this room; one small move could ignite a flame that burned the whole place down.

With the look of someone about to be eaten by a dragon, Devnair studied Knox as he approached. “We won’t go far,” the elf said.

Knox’s grip briefly constricted before he released me. He didn’t look at me as he retreated to the other side of the table and finally settled in his seat. His gaze remained on Devnair as the elf slid his arm through my unburnt one.

A loud, scratching sound pierced the air, and I turned to discover Knox’s orange eyes watching our every move. With his shoulders hunched forward, his muscles bulged as his claws gouged the table.

Like a panther poised to spring, he looked ready to leap over the table and come after us, but he didn’t move. I held his stare before turning away.

I didn’t look back as I walked out the door with Devnair. Dromon trailed us.

CHAPTER TEN

Briar

We only made it ten feet out the door before Devnair turned to Dromon. “I’d like to speak with her alone.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Dromon replied.

“Then can we at least get some distance?”

Dromon’s penetrating brown eyes shifted to me. When he bowed his head, the dark, wavy blond hair flowing around his shoulders fell forward to shield his face a little.

“If you try to run, I’ll stop you,” he told me.

“So will I,” Devnair said.

“Good.”

I glanced back at the closed door of the lodge, but they wouldn’t let me return. I was as trapped out here as I was in there.

“I’m here if you need me,” Gizzi said reassuringly.

“Thank you.”

Devnair and I set off down the walkway toward the road. Dromon trailed about fifty feet behind us; his gaze bored into the back of my head with every step we took.

“It’s very quiet here,” Devnair said as he studied the gray sky.

“That’s because most of the residents are roses.”

Devnair sighed. “Yes, that’s true. What about all the animals? The birds?”

“You don’t see many of them.”

I was sure the shadow dragon had something to do with that, as well as a lack of sunlight and food opportunities, but I kept that to myself.

“It’s good to see you again, Briar,” Devnair said.

His words, spoken in his melodic tone and with the refined accent of the elves, were somehow calming.

“Is it?” I murmured.

“I wish it were under better circumstances, but yes, it is. How have you been treated since we met?”

“I’ve had more freedom here than I did in Nightshade, so that’s nice.”

“Truly?” he asked.

“Not at first, but recently I have.”

“And why is that?”

“I thought Knox was starting to trust me more….” My gaze wandered away from him as my words trailed off. “I guess I was wrong.”

“Have you gone through your Needing?”

His question surprised me. “What does that matter?”

Amusement danced in his onyx eyes. Like the last time I saw him, he wore his long, pale blond hair in a braid that exposed his pointed ears and accentuated his narrow chin, high cheekbones, and handsome features.

“It doesn’t concern me; I’m merely curious,” he replied.

We strolled down the faded red brick road winding through the hushed town. He steered me effortlessly around any rosebushes sprouting from the lane and passed the small cottages set off the roadway.

Wilted and mostly dead plants filled the gardens that once bloomed in abundance. Here and there, a struggling rosebush would peek out amidst the sea of death.

After today, there was a good chance I wouldn’t remain in this kingdom, but I’d like to help with these plants.

“I did go through it,” I said after a while.

“And have you bound yourself to one of your gods?”

“I will never bind myself to one of their gods.”

“Aren’t they your gods too?”

“No. They never were.”

“So where has that left you?”

“Exactly where I’ve always been… different than them.”

He pondered this as he studied the sky. The black gauntlets on his arms had colorful feathers interwoven through the leather laces binding them. The bright colors were a stark contrast to his brown pants and green shirt; the undone top buttons revealed his bare chest.

“Have you always been different, or did you change after you met Knox?” Devnair asked.

I looked up at him. “He was Seth when we met and completely different.”

“We all were, but did meeting him change you?”

I frowned as I pondered this. “I was nine when I met him, only a child.”

“I’m sure you can remember those days.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth before it faded. “I try not to remember them.”

Devnair steered me around another rosebush. “Me too.”

I rested my free hand over our joined arms and squeezed his. He wasn’t talking about the memories from his childhood, but his time in the harem.

He gripped my hand and turned it over to reveal the burn on my wrist. His touch was as tender as Knox’s, but it didn’t make my skin tingle and butterflies erupt in my stomach the same way.

“I remember how much those roses burned,” he murmured.

“I’m sorry for what she did to you.”

The words were wholly inadequate for what those in the harem experienced, but I had to say something. He lifted his eyes to mine as he continued to stroke my unmarred skin.

“I think that’s enough touching,” Dromon said in a low, menacing voice from behind us.

We both glanced back to where he stood twenty feet behind us, his eyes narrowed and his posture defensive. He glared at Devnair before leveling his stare on me. Devnair released my hand but didn’t unlink our arms as we started walking again.

“It’s rare for a mother to hurt their child in such a way,” he said.

“Maybe for most, but not for me. I’ve worn her burns countless times over the years. For as long as I can remember, my mother hated me, and I was desperate to be free of Nightshade and her. That was why I first went into No Man’s Land. I never expected to find Seth there, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. He was the first and only one ever to love me. That’s gone now,” I whispered.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

“He’s going to return me to her.”

“No, he won’t. You bear his mark.”

My hand instinctively flew to the faded scars on my neck from when Seth claimed me. “He told me he’d never claim me again and has rejected me as his mate.”

“Words and actions are two different things. He may say that, but his actions say something different. He didn’t like your mother hurting you or you leaving the lodge with me.”

“He’s probably afraid you’ll let me go.”

“He’s afraid of losing you.”

I blinked away tears as I shoved aside the small hope his words created. “If it can save his kingdom, he’ll give me back to her, and I understand that. He blames himself and me for what happened here, but mostly he blames himself. He doesn’t trust me, and most of the time, I think he hates me. If I go back there, she’ll destroy me.”

Devnair stopped walking, and when I turned to face him, he grasped my chin.

“No touching,” Dromon warned.

Devnair ignored him as he kept hold of my chin. “I don’t think you’re easily destroyed, Briar. It’s in your name to be strong; you’re the thorn, not the rose. Insects don’t devour you, you don’t require careful pruning and care, and you won’t wilt or perish in a storm. After it finishes blooming, the rose falls away and disappears, but the thorn… the thorn remains ever present and ruthless. Don’t ever forget that.”

I gazed up at him in disbelief and awe as I tried to process his words. Did he really believe I was so strong?

“Why are you being so kind to me?” I whispered. “My mother did appalling things to you too.”

He released my chin, shot an irritated look at Dromon, and tugged my arm to resume walking. “You are not your mother. Knox knows this too.”

“He thinks I betrayed him by telling my mother about our plan to run away. That’s why he thinks he was captured and taken to the harem. That’s why he believes his entire kingdom was cursed.”

“Did you tell her your plans?”

“No.”

“Then why does he believe that?”

“Because she somehow knew all the intricate details of our plan. I don’t know how she found out so much information, but I never told her, or anyone else, any of it. While he was in the harem, she told him that I betrayed him and all our plans. The only way she could have known so much was if I told her. If our roles were reversed, I wouldn’t trust him either.”

Devnair’s forehead furrowed. “How do you think she found out about your plan?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure that out, but I have no idea. If she’d somehow discovered I was sneaking into No Man’s Land and cast a spell over me to learn what I was doing, she wouldn’t have taken the memory from me. She would have ensured I recalled betraying Seth and tormented me with it, but she never did.”

Devnair pondered this as we descended the hill toward the woods. “That’s an interesting conundrum,” he finally said. “If you ever discover the answer to it, you must let me know.”

“I will.”

“That’s far enough!” Dromon called from behind us. “It’s time to turn back.”

When we stopped, I stared longingly at the woods only a few hundred feet away. If I ran into them, there was a chance something might eat me, but I preferred to take my chances with the unknown monsters to the known ones in that lodge.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Briar

“Would you let me run? If Dromon wasn’t here, would you let me go?” I asked breathlessly. “After the harem, you said you owed me a favor.”

This time, it was he who squeezed my hand. “I do owe you a favor, but no, I wouldn’t let you run. My brother-in-law trusts me to keep you safe and to keep the kingdoms from tearing each other apart.

“If I set you free, Knox and Marina would be irate at the elves, and while the night casters don’t have as much power as they used to, and four shifters aren’t all that terrifying, I won’t sacrifice any of my kind to fulfill my debt to you. It is my debt to pay, not theirs. Besides, what good would it do for me to thank you for saving my life by letting you run into a place filled with monstrous creatures?”

I couldn’t have gotten free with Dromon following us, but I couldn’t stop the crushing disappointment filling my chest.

“I understand,” I murmured.

Devnair looked behind us to where Dromon stood fifty feet away. With their superior hearing, he might still be able to listen to our conversation, but I wasn’t sure.

“Now, if you somehow got free and came to Terra for help, I wouldn’t turn you away.” Devnair cast his voice so low as he spoke that I had to strain to hear him. “Eternals are allowed to seek sanctuary in other kingdoms; it rarely happens as they seldom have friends in those kingdoms to help them, but it does occur, and you do have a friend. My sister is also eternally grateful that you insisted on freeing me, and my brother-in-law loves her dearly.”

I stared at the woods as his words sank in. He’d help me if I got to Terra, and I would have the support of the king and queen of the elves; it was far more than I had seconds ago, yet it was still so very far away and impossible.

“So, all I have to do is escape the shifters, flee into the woods full of monstrous creatures, and somehow find my way to Terra. And that’s only if, and it’s a big if, I’m not taken back to Nightshade and imprisoned again,” I whispered.

He grinned at me. “Be the thorn, Briar, and slash your way through the flesh of those who handle you unkindly.”

“I like this guy,” Gizzi whispered into my mind.

“So do I,” I admitted.

“Dromon is coming,” Devnair said.

I didn’t get a chance to look at the shifter before Devnair turned me and we strolled back toward the hall. Dromon waited for us to pass him; once we did, he fell in behind us again.

“Why did you ask if I was different before I met Seth or not until afterward?” I asked, recalling our earlier conversation.

“I was curious if the casters are all heartless fucks from birth or if they only become such exorbitant pricks after their Needing and binding to their gods. Did finding love as a child change you, or were you born different from them?”

I pondered this before replying. “Most of the children in our kingdom are delightful. Some are cruel, but most are sweet and kind. You may not believe this, but my mother deeply loves my sister. They’re not overly affectionate, but the love is clear between them.

“However, the adults in our kingdom are very different from the children. I don’t know if it’s time that beats them down and changes them, the Needing, or the binding.”

“The Needing didn’t change you.”

“I didn’t go through it like the others. I wasn’t in the harem. Maybe that made the difference.”

“Knox, or the other shifters, didn’t help you through it?”

My mouth dropped. “That’s a little personal, don’t you think?”

His eyes glittered with amusement. “Yes, it is personal, but it’s also a valid question.”

“Knox helped me through it.”

Of course, it wasn’t in the way Devnair assumed, as we didn’t have sex, but he’d been there through it. I trusted the elf, but not with this.

I didn’t know why, but something deep inside told me to keep the truth of my Needing from him. I still had no idea what I’d become, and I was sure Devnair would be shocked enough by my revelation to tell others about it.

“I knew there was still chemistry between you, and he clearly doesn’t like you being alone with another man… even if sometimes you might prefer to kill each other,” he said.

“Not sometimes… most of the time.”

“Anger and chemistry. It’s a potent mix.”

“One that might kill us both.”

He chuckled. “But it might be a lovely way to go… or at least very enjoyable.”

I didn’t share his sentiment about that, but I let it go. “Hmm,” I grunted. “Knox told me the day casters also rape others in the harem. My mother told me they didn’t have sex in there but pleasured themselves. Is that true?”

I regretted asking the question when Devnair stopped walking and his friendly demeanor turned colder. The twinkle faded from his eyes.

“Knox wasn’t lying to you,” he confirmed.

“I didn’t think he was, but had to be sure.”

Dromon prowled closer. He’d sensed a change in Devnair’s demeanor, and Dromon would never let something happen to Knox’s mate… or rejected mate… or… or whatever I was to that confounding man.

Shaking his head, Devnair cleared his mind of his dismal thoughts as his gaze shifted to me again, and warmth returned to his eyes. We resumed walking.

“What about your powers now that you’re unbound to the gods?” he asked.

I hadn’t told anyone about my newfound ability to communicate with Gizzi, or the voice in the woods, and I wasn’t going to tell him about it either.

“I gain more energy from plants and nature than I did before,” I said. “And my potions are stronger, as are the powers I already had, but so far, those are the only differences I’ve detected.”

“So you don’t gain more power from the sun or moon like the night and day casters?”

“No.”

I didn’t remind him that we stood in a kingdom where the sun and moon were rarely visible. Things could change once I exposed myself to them.

“I see,” he murmured.

He stopped outside the hall and stared at the building for a minute before resuming our walk. “It seems they’re still in discussions.”

We strolled over to where they’d tied the horses to a hitching post outside the hall. The caderns that the cyclopes rode were tied to nearby trees.

Devnair led me over to a black-and-white leopard appaloosa with soulful brown eyes. The second the horse spotted Devnair, it nickered and pawed the ground.

Devnair rested his hand on the horse’s nose. “I missed you too, Toric.”

I rubbed the horse’s neck. “He’s beautiful.”

“He is.”

“What is your sister’s name?” I asked.

Devnair’s face lit up with love. “Elora.”

“You’re close.”

“Very. She’s my best friend.”

“How lovely.”

When Toric nudged me with his nose, I smiled and rested my forehead against his as I inhaled the wonderful scents of horse and leather. Oh, how I loved animals.

“How did you manage to make friends with a lowleeto?” Devnair asked while I rubbed the side of Toric’s beautiful face.

“I gave him some food in the woods,” I said. “Gizzi became my friend after that.”

“You named him Gizzi?”

I tried not to react to his question as I realized I’d almost revealed too much. “It’s cute.”

“It’s interesting.”

“It’s a great name,” Gizzi said grumpily.

“It is,” I reassured him and pet his head.

The sound of the door crashing open drew my attention away from Toric as a cyclops turned sideways and ducked through the doorway. I tensed at the realization the meeting had ended.

When my hands fell to my sides, Toric nudged me, and I absently resumed petting him. I wish I could ride you away from here, I thought.

“I’d take you away if I could,” a voice whispered back, but this deep, soulful voice didn’t belong to Gizzi.

When I gawked at Toric, he nudged me again. “Was that you?” I asked.

Toric’s head bobbed up and down. “And that is you.”

My mouth dropped at the confirmation Gizzi wasn’t the only animal I could speak to.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Briar

“He spoke to me! Toric spoke to me!” I shouted at Gizzi.

When Gizzi’s nose twitched, his whiskers tickled my cheek. “Well, isn’t he special.”

I stifled a chuckle at Gizzi’s disgruntled tone and rubbed his head. He leaned into my touch as Toric tilted his head quizzically. The voice I heard in the woods must have been another animal I couldn’t see.

“Can I talk to you both at the same time?” I pondered.

Before I could figure out the answer, Knox stepped onto the porch. The set of his jaw told me he was far from happy.

Every inch of him remained on full display, something the women in the contingent openly enjoyed. I’d gladly tear their ogling eyes from their skulls if I could.

His head instantly swiveled toward me. The shifter’s superior sense of smell had given us away before his eyes latched onto me.

Panic thrummed through me as my eyes darted around. Was I going back to my mother? Or would I be trapped here with a man who didn’t trust me and who would have handed me over to her?

Neither option was exactly ideal, but I’d prefer to stay here, even if Knox hated me.

Devnair rested his hand on the small of my back. “Be the thorn, Briar.”

I didn’t want to be the thorn. I wanted to be the one running down the road, plunging into the woods, and racing toward… anywhere else. I had no control over my life, and I hated it.

The cyclops strode toward their mounts as Caspian and three other merfolk emerged from the building. Knox descended the stairs and stalked toward us. When his gaze landed on Devnair, he bared his fangs.

Devnair lowered his hand and stepped away from me as Knox drew closer. Gizzi tensed like he was about to spring, and for a second, I almost turned and ran.

I had no chance of evading the shifters, but attempting to flee was a far better option than standing here and waiting to meet whatever doomed fate I faced. Judging by the look on his face, I couldn’t tell if I was being handed back to my mother or taken back to the castle.

Over Knox’s shoulder, I saw my mother emerge from the building with her shoulders back and her jaw locked. When her gaze settled on me, hatred hardened her beautiful features. Knox must have seen something on my face as his head turned toward her. He stopped walking to stare at my mother until her loathing-filled gaze shifted to him.

Tension emanated between them, and in that moment, I heard their unspoken vow to destroy each other. I gulped as Gizzi rose onto his hind legs to perch on my shoulder.

“Things are about to get far more interesting,” Devnair murmured.

“I think you mean deadly,” I whispered back.

“Let’s hope not.”

We could hope, but I doubted it would do us any good.

Knox shifted his gaze back to me as Cozameal stepped out of the building and strode forward to stand beside my mother. I couldn’t hear what he said, but she scowled at him before striding down the steps toward us.

My heart lodged in my throat while I waited to hear my fate. I couldn’t look at the others as Knox stopped before me.

I despised myself for it, but I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. Clasping them before me, I squeezed as I tried to maintain some semblance of control.

“Let’s go,” Knox said.

I gulped my heart back down before speaking. “Where?”

“To the castle.”

“I don’t… I don’t have to go with… her?”

The harshness of his features eased a little, and, for a second, I thought he might hug me. “No.”

When he spoke again, his tone was nowhere near as ruthless. While my life in Wildwood was far from free, it was much better than in Nightshade. I didn’t doubt they’d still use me as a pawn between the kingdoms; my future remained uncertain, but at least, for now, I was somewhat safer.

I had to escape this place and take control of my fate, but I would make it to Terra. I didn’t care what I had to do to make it there.

“It was good seeing you again, Briar,” Devnair said.

“It was good seeing you too, Devnair,” I murmured.

If I made it to Terra, he’d take me in. I saw that promise in his black eyes when they met mine, and his mouth curved into a slight smile.

Knox stepped closer to the elf, crowding him with his much larger frame. “Stay the fuck away from her.”

Knox had a good nine inches and a hundred pounds on Devnair, but the elf didn’t back away. “She’s a friend.”

“You don’t even know her.”

“In some ways, I know her better than you.”

The look on Knox’s face made my blood run cold. Seeking to soothe him, I rested my hand on Knox’s chest, even though it might make him explode. When he seized my fingers, I thought he would throw my hand away, but his fingers remained enclosed around mine.

“It’s time for you to leave, elf,” Knox growled. “The shifters will escort you and the others out of Wildwood. If I discover you here again, I’ll make sure you wear your entrails as a necklace.”

“How delightful,” Devnair murmured. “You evoke such imagery with your words, Knox.”

“Get out of here.”

This time, Devnair sensed the danger as he bowed his head, edged backward, and untied his horse’s reins from the hitching post. While the casters hurried to their mounts, my mother and Rosalie stopped to stare at us.

I hated them for what they’d done to Knox far more than they could ever hate me, and I refused to break their gaze. It wasn’t until the other casters joined them that they finally looked away.

Alwin steered his horse over to Knox and stopped a few feet away. “We’ll see you at the tribunal meeting next month in Terra.”

Had it been ten years since the last one already?

The tribunal would gather sooner if necessary, like today, but its big meetings were a spectacle and occurred only once a decade. That’s about as often as they liked seeing each other.

The location of the meetings moved. The last one was in Bloodborne; I was happy when my mother went to it, as it gave me more freedom and time to spend with Seth in No Man’s Land. Our happiness ended shortly afterward.

“I’m aware, and I’ll be there,” Knox bit out through his teeth.

When Alwin nodded and turned his horse away, a gray wolf, far larger than any normal wolf, fell in behind him. As the rest of the tribunal rode away, a black panther and leopard also fell in beside them as Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra ensured the tribunal left Wildwood.

I had no doubt the shadow dragon would also make sure they left, but it wouldn’t let them see it.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Knox

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!

That meeting had gone almost exactly as I’d assumed it would. I’d known Marina wouldn’t break the curse without regaining the night casters’ collective powers.

Since I knew none of the other kingdoms would trust her or the night casters with so much power again, I’d been aware that my chances of getting the curse broken today were slim to none.

And as I’d suspected, the cyclops, merfolk, gorgons, day casters, and strigoi had all voted against returning their collective powers to them. The elves abstained, and I couldn’t vote.

Marina looked ready to kill Cozameal with her bare hands when he voted against her. He’d smirked as Marina’s face turned red and her nails drummed the table. No love was lost between those two.

Though I’d expected things to go this way, I couldn’t control the riot of emotions pinging through me like lightning trapped in a bottle.

I planned to scrub my flesh raw after being in the room with those fucks. From experience, I knew I could never wash away the memories of those assholes on me, touching me, breathing on me.

Marina especially haunted my memories. Her voice, her words, and her repulsive touch haunted my nightmares. The way she would sit and watch as others abused me, her legs crossed and her foot swinging as if she were bored. One day, I’d cut off each of her toes and feed them to her.

I shuddered at the memories as bloodlust thrummed through me. I had to get away from Briar. I couldn’t stand to be around anyone anymore… especially not a caster.

But I also wanted to crush Briar against me and never let her go. That’s the last thing I should crave after being in a room with those soul-destroying pricks again, but seeing her with that elf, and the smugness in Devnair’s eyes, rattled me more than I cared to admit.

He touched her. He’d fucking touched her!

When this was over, I’d rip Devnair’s spine out through his throat and bash him over the head with it. Until then, I’d play nice with Alwin’s brother-in-law and the rest of the kingdoms.

Grasping Briar’s arm, I steered her away from the hall and toward the road.

“What happened in there?” Briar asked.

“What did you and the elf talk about?” I demanded instead of answering her question.

“What does it matter?”

“Because I asked.”

When my bones cracked, she glanced at my feet and rolled her eyes. “Put your massive toe claws away. After what you did to my earth moss with them, they should remain sheathed.”

I glowered at her; she glowered back. It took some effort, but eventually I restrained the beast enough to retract my claws.

“The elf,” I growled. “What did you two talk about?”

She gnawed on her bottom lip and pondered my question before answering. “He asked how you were treating me here.”

“Why would he care about that?”

Irritation flickered across her face. “Probably because I helped free him from the harem.”

“I freed him from the harem.”

“You were content to leave him there until I insisted you set him free.”

“And you think I would do that for you?”

Color rose in her cheeks. “Of course not. I don’t expect you to do anything for me.”

“Watch your tone, Briar; I can make your time here a whole lot worse.”

She jerked on her arm as she tried to tear it free. Like a fly trying to rip itself free of a spider’s web, she had no chance of escaping. She’d learn who was in charge.

“Go ahead!” she snapped. “You can take everything from me, just as my mother did, but you’ll never break me. If my mother couldn’t, then you certainly won’t.”

I stopped walking and drew her to a halt as I turned her to face me. On her shoulder, the small creature rose and sniffed the air. Its small paws curved against its chest as its nearly black eyes bored into me. When its button nose twitched, its whiskers brushed her cheek.

I could smash that thing with one blow, and it looked as lethal as a kitten, but Petra claimed it was one of the deadliest creatures in the kingdoms. While it couldn’t understand our words, it looked ready to attack.

“What if I take him?” I inquired and pointed at the animal.

Briar jerked at her arm again, but when I wouldn’t free her, she stepped back and turned so the creature was further from me. “You leave Gizzi alone.”

That threat rattled her, but instead of feeling satisfaction, guilt lanced my heart. It wasn’t her fault the elf watched her like she was a tasty morsel he planned to devour. It didn’t help that she also clearly liked the elf.

“Gizzi, is it?” I asked.

The animal scampered over to her other shoulder, closer to me. Its big, deep brown eyes burrowed into me as it rose onto its hind legs again. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it really could understand us. And while that was impossible, it clearly sought to protect her.

“That’s the name I gave him,” Briar said through her gritted teeth.

“Did you know that thing was poisonous when you brought it into my home?”

“No, I’d never heard of a lowleeto before, but Zephyr told me what he was while you were gone.”

“And you didn’t think to get rid of it?”

“He’s my friend.”

“Until he bites you.”

“Gizzi would never do that to me! And there are far worse things in this world than his bite.”

Like losing you.

The thought swam up from the depths of my subconscious and hit me with the force of a cyclops’s punch. I didn’t want this woman… but I did.

Anger swelled forth, as well as a sad resignation. I could continue to claim she meant nothing to me, but I knew the truth. I was pretty sure everyone knew the truth.

She did matter, she would always matter, and the beast still recognized her as my mate. I glanced down the road to where the procession of riders had disappeared into the woods. My skin still crawled with memories of Marina and those assholes, but a new hunger was making its way through me.

My cock stirred as I drank in Briar. Somehow, she could make me forget about the casters and their bullshit.

This has got to stop!

She hadn’t noticed that I was semi-erect yet, but she would. When she did, she’d probably run. Not to mention, this riotous sway of emotions wasn’t good for anyone, but especially not her. An out-of-control beast was more lethal than the shadow dragon and the lowleeto; of that, I was certain.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Knox

“He’s a wild creature; you can’t trust him,” I stated.

“So are you,” she retorted.

“I’m far more feral than that creature.”

“I’ve no doubt.”

“And no, Briar, you shouldn’t trust me.”

Not alone; not around you.

“I never said I did,” she replied.

That stung more than I liked, but I ignored the comment as I studied the tiny creature. I should grab its scruff and break its neck. That would be the safest thing for all of us… especially her.

What if it did turn on her? From the way Petra made it sound, I couldn’t save her from its poison, but she truly cared for the thing, and it would devastate her to lose it.

Shit.

I ran a hand over the stubble covering my head. I should have done the right thing and throttled it, but instead I lowered my hand and tugged her along beside me when I resumed walking.

Killing it would be for the best, but I couldn’t do that to her. If it did bite her, I’d wrench it to pieces and hate myself forever for failing to protect her.

She’d hate me if I killed it. While a part of me wanted her to hate me so she’d keep her distance, the beast couldn’t tolerate the idea of it or the anguish that would fill her eyes and face.

This woman weakened me, and I abhorred it.

“What else did the elf ask?” I inquired.

Briar almost jogged to keep up with me as we strode toward the closed castle gates. “He asked about my Needing,” she panted.

My teeth ground together. “What concern is that of his?”

“I think he was curious.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that you helped me through it. I think he took it to mean that you fucked me, and I left him with that conclusion, but I didn’t lie to him.”

She directed those last words at me. They were her way of saying she hadn’t lied about telling her mother about us either… or so she claimed.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Knox

“You didn’t trust him enough to tell the complete truth of it?” I inquired.

“No. I can’t have that getting back to my mother.”

“Why not?”

“She already hates me; if she learns I’m even less like her and the others than she believes, she’ll do everything she can to destroy me. I’m sure she’s already plotting something now.”

“I’m sure she is too,” I murmured.

We’d have to prepare for whatever Marina might try to pull, but without the collective powers of the night casters to back her, there wasn’t much.

“Lyra, Pierce, and Dromon won’t say anything to the tribunal, will they?” she asked.

“No.”

“Can you make sure of that?”

I glanced at her as she peered up at me from under the thick fringe of her lashes. “I can, but they won’t shift back until they return to the castle.”

“And the sprites?”

“The sprites want nothing to do with any eternal outside of this kingdom; you don’t have to worry about them. Besides, I’m sure they’ll do anything you ask of them.”

Probably with more enthusiasm than they would if I asked them.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she murmured. “What happened in that building? What’s to become of me?”

“The other kingdoms won’t agree to giving the night casters their collective power back. I didn’t expect them to.”

“Then why are you so mad?”

I wasn’t about to tell her it was because I’d watched her stroll out of that building with her arm hooked through another man’s and emerged to find them standing close together. They’d been like two conspirators exchanging their deepest intimacies.

I also wasn’t going to tell her that being near her mother again had brought forth a rush of suffering I’d spent years trying to bury. Every nerve ending in my body was raw, but she helped to soothe the worst of it. I wouldn’t tell her that either.

“Because my kingdom remains in ruins,” I stated.

“I’m sorry for that.”

“Are you?”

I didn’t understand why I constantly antagonized her. Because you’re broken and fucked in the head. And you both know it.

“Fuck you, Knox.”

I hadn’t answered about what would happen to her now, but she was too livid to ask me again.

We were almost to the gates when my conscience got the best of me. It was an annoying thing that persisted in claiming a small part of my tattered soul.

“You will remain here,” I told her, “and continue to care for the roses and other plants.”

Briar’s jaw worked back and forth as she fought to keep from speaking; finally, she gave in. “So I’m to remain even if I’m useless to you?”

“You’re not useless to me. The roses are much healthier, and even if she can’t break the curse, your mother still wants you back. Infuriating her by keeping you is a bonus.”

It was clear there was no love between mother and daughter, and I was sure Marina only wanted Briar to destroy her. I’d make sure that didn’t happen.

Despite that, I couldn’t fully trust her again. I’d spent years believing Briar had me imprisoned, raped, and tortured in ways no one should endure. It wasn’t easy to trust again… no matter how badly I wanted to.

Turning her wrist over, I examined the burn there. It already looked better, but the perfect imprint of a rose and blisters lingered on her otherwise pristine skin. I didn’t bother to look at my burn; it was healing, just as the many other burns Marina had left on me did.

I stroked the area around Briar’s raw flesh. I’d dump Marina in a pit of her acidic roses one day and relish that bitch’s screams.

“How often has she burned you?” I asked.

Shame flashed across Briar’s face as she turned her wrist over, hiding the mark from me. “I never bothered to keep count, but at least once a day, if not more. I’m used to it now.”

“No one should be used to this.”

Her eyes flashed to me, and her head tipped to the side. “Careful, Knox, I might think you have some sympathy for me.”

I smiled grimly at her. “We can’t have that.”

“No, we can’t. So, I’m to remain here until you can trade me off or use me in some other way to benefit yourself,” she stated.

Ignore the sorrow in her voice. Ignore it.

“That is the way the kingdoms work,” I said.

“Not for me.”

I frowned at her as she stared at the ground. On her shoulder, I swear the lowleeto glared at me. I scowled back at it.

“That’s the way they work for everyone,” I said more sharply than I intended. “The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry for what you’ve turned into.”

“I’m not.”

“Will I be able to gather more mushrooms?” she asked, determined to change the subject. “Because of your tantrum in the woods, I didn’t collect as many as I would have liked.”

“I didn’t throw a tantrum.”

“Then what would you call it?”

“I’d call it trying to save a stupid girl who wandered into a place that will get her killed.”

“I wasn’t such a stupid girl when you were fucking me!” she snapped.

We were both little more than children back then, innocent and full of reckless dreams. I could barely recall the man I was back then… I was barely grown, little more than eighteen, while she was seventeen.

I’d believed I could keep her safe from all the atrocities of the kingdoms, but I’d been wrong. Now, I could actually keep her safe, but I could never experience such simple love and innocence again.

“That was a lifetime ago,” I told her.

“And a better you.”

That statement rocked me. “Maybe I think this is the better version of me.”

“That only makes it sadder.”

I scowled at her while she stared back at me with forlorn resignation in the beautiful eyes that haunted my dreams every day we were apart. I loathed it.

Tearing my gaze from hers, my attention shifted to the sky as the shadow dragon swooped low over the land. Though the tribunal was gone, it stayed low to remain discreet. All dragons were highly intelligent, but this one understood it had to remain a secret for as long as possible.

Black shadows trailed it as it flicked the large black spike at the end of its tail. Two black horns rose from its head; they were every bit as lethal as the despair this twisted creation unleashed upon those it sought to destroy.

The improper use of magic had consequences. This majestic dragon was either forged as a result of the curse or because a dragon was visiting Wildwood, and my father, when the spell was unleashed. The night caster spell could have twisted a dragon into this creation.

As it soared toward the woods, the creature splintered into hundreds of shadows that raced into the forest. Those shadows would make sure that those who didn’t belong in this land left it.

Briar’s hand flew to her throat. “Oh, Gods. What just happened?”

“It’s a creature of shadows, and it sometimes returns to the shadows.”

She blinked a few times before finally releasing a loud breath. “Does it come back together?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not a dragon… or at least it’s not a dragon that was here when the curse happened. Black magic forged that creature.”

“I don’t care what created it; it protects our land and…” My voice trailed off as I stared at the place where the dragon vanished.

I felt Briar’s eyes on me but didn’t finish my sentence. “It’s your friend.”

Because, despite all the years and different experiences separating us, this woman still knew me well enough to speak the words I couldn’t.

The shadow dragon was my friend, and I had few of those.

“Let’s get you back to the castle so I can check on the others,” I said.

“The mushrooms?”

I grunted at her insistence on this. “I’ll gather them for you.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Briar

I tried to keep my face impassive when he said this, but I was determined to get back into those woods. There was another animal out there that could communicate with me, and I would find it. Not to mention, while I had more freedom here than in Nightshade, I wanted more of it.

Plus, I might, by some miracle, figure out a way to escape this place if I could get beyond the walls again. I refused to spend the rest of my life in a limbo where I could be returned to Nightshade or tossed out of here when I was no longer useful.

I was done with having no control over my life.

Seth was dead; in his place stood a man I didn’t know and barely liked. Holding on to the past would only guarantee me more heartache than I’d already had.

“You have to be careful while harvesting the mushrooms,” I told him. “And handle them with care.”

With his large hands and impatient personality, he might destroy the mushrooms before they ever made it into a basket. He studied me before his attention shifted to a nearby rose, drooping beneath the gray sky.

“Fine, I’ll take you out to gather more of them tomorrow,” he relented.

I hid a smile. “Good. I’ll start a new potion with the mushrooms I have until then.”

We didn’t speak again as we walked to the castle. As we approached, the sprites watching for us started opening the gates.

Once inside the bailey, he shouted at the sprites to close the gates. Two of them fluttered around as they turned the crank, and the gates started closing.

“Get inside the castle and stay there,” Knox ordered brusquely. “If I find out you left the walls again while I’m gone, I’ll return you to the tower.”

“That is where I sleep.”

He had started to turn away from me, but my words caused him to swing back toward me. “Didn’t Dromon tell you that you could choose a different room?”

“He did, but I decided to stay there.”

“I thought you didn’t like the tower.”

“Things change.”

Our gazes remained locked in a war of wills. “Fine, if I find out you left, I’ll take that lowleeto from you and throw it in the woods.”

My heart sank as Gizzi rose on my shoulder and released an incensed, twittering sound. I reached up a hand to soothe him, but he wasn’t in the mood for that.

“Let him try, and I’ll rip his throat out,” Gizzi hissed.

“No one is tearing out anyone’s throat,” I told him. “I can’t get away now anyway.”

“But you’re going to try.”

“I am going to try and succeed.”

Gizzi settled back on my shoulder. “Yes, you will. You deserve better than this asshole.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I told Knox.

He nodded briskly before his jaw started twisting into something more. Razor-sharp teeth erupted in his mouth as his snout elongated. The snout and black nose resembled those of a wolf, as did his forehead and the shape of his eyes.

I winced when his bones cracked. His shoulder blades lifted and went back as they twisted into something different with a loud pop. Sleek orange fur, like a tiger without stripes, spread across his body as claws erupted from his toes and fingers.

A thin, catlike tail emerged as red dragon scales spread across his belly and groin. Golden scales rippled across his chest.

His knees twisted backward until he went to all fours. While his eyes remained the color of fire, his pupils became slitted like those of a dragon or a cat. A monstrous beast stood before me; it was so large its back almost reached my chin.

I’d seen part of the beast emerge in the harem and when he battled the basilisk, but I’d never seen the full transformation. However, I felt as if there was something more… something he was holding back.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was missing, but I also couldn’t shake the certainty that there was.

The memory of the trees crashing in the woods earlier flitted across my mind. Had that only been this morning? It felt like weeks ago, not hours, when I’d stood and watched some strange beast surge toward me.

Then the trees ceased crashing to the ground, and Knox emerged from the forest, irate and trapped between his beast and man forms. Had he been something more before I saw him?

Was he the reason the trees fell like dominoes?

Knox blinked at me before spinning and racing toward the still-closing gates. Shifters could change into either feline, canine, or dragon, but when my mother cursed Knox, she created a monstrous mix of all three.

Despite being so large and strangely misshapen, Knox was far faster than I would have expected. His speed caused him to blur, and his claws clicked against the bricks while he raced through the gates. He was halfway to the woods when the doors shut completely.

I stood for a moment as I tried to process what I’d seen. I wasn’t the only one harboring secrets.

A sinking feeling filled my chest. “I’m not sure I can escape that,” I told Gizzi.

“Neither am I.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Briar

My legs dangled over the limb, biting into my ass as I swung my feet back and forth. The tree of unity’s thick, arching branches stretched toward the hole in the ceiling. When it rained, the water funneled through the beautiful limbs to the roots of the tree in the middle of the castle’s grand entry.

Some branches entwined around the beams running across the ceiling. Their leaves added splashes of color to the room’s dark wood.

It was a beautiful, wild tree with multicolored leaves, kept alive by the sprites with a lot of love and care. My potion helped invigorate it, and velvety, thick flower buds adorned the ends of the branches. I couldn’t wait to see what this beautiful tree would look like when it bloomed.

Engraved stones surrounded the hole in the floor and the dirt from where the tree grew. A feline, canine, or dragon carved many of the stones… they represented the three creatures a shifter could become. Four stones with W’s on them, for Wildwood, were set at the four main compass points.

I didn’t know the story behind the stones, but I understood the rocks and tree represented the unity of the shifters. To keep myself distracted from Knox, I studied the stones while Gizzi slept in a branch over my head.

Zephyr’s blue and gold dragonfly wings buzzed as he fluttered around beneath me, watering the tree. The spiky cut of his black hair emphasized the angles of his narrow face and pointed chin.

Like most sprites, he was only about a foot tall, but he was a powerhouse of ideas, movement, and enthusiasm. Right now, he was plotting which plants to use the new potion on first.

“We’ll treat the most damaged ones first. If this potion is better than your last one, we can do a lot of good with it.”

“Uh-huh,” I muttered, my attention riveted on the door.

I didn’t know how long it had been since Knox and the others went to escort the tribunal out of Wildwood, but the sky was growing darker as night descended. I hadn’t heard the roar of the shadow dragon returning, but I didn’t know if it was a fully formed dragon again, or still out there in separate, silent pieces.

If my mother knew what she’d created with her spell, she’d be irate. She’d tried to destroy Wildwood and, in doing so, created a powerful protector for the kingdom.

The dragon was a byproduct of her magic, but she couldn’t destroy it. Maybe, once the curse broke, the dragon would go with it… or it might remain as a constant reminder of my mother’s destructive nature.

Just as Knox would.

Yet, here I was, sitting in a tree, waiting for that asshole to return. I didn’t like being worried about him, but I was.

“We can take the new potion out through the town and get those rosebushes too. Maybe we can start working on the other plants out there too. Maybe even the whole forest!” Zephyr gushed.

“It’s not a miracle cure,” I told him.

“Oh, no, no, of course not.” He absently waved a hand but didn’t look at me. “But once we get more mushrooms, we can start formulating a plan of attack.”

“Uh-huh,” I murmured.

“And then⁠—”

Zephyr stopped speaking when the doorknob rattled. He stared at the door before flying into the rafters and settling above me; Gizzi’s head poked up.

Dromon was the first to enter the hall; he kept his broad shoulders back, but the hollowness in his eyes wasn’t there before. Completely nude, his strides carried him swiftly across the wooden floor.

Lyra followed him. At five-foot-ten, she was tall for a woman, but most shifters were tall. There was an occasional runt who grew into the shorter member of their packs; I was pretty sure I was wearing some of their clothes, but most of those clothes were too big on me.

Lyra was leaner than most shifters, but every inch of her was honed. Her short, golden blonde hair stood up in spikes around her head, and her lime-green eyes were unrelenting.

Like Dromon, she’d lost all her clothes when she shifted into her black panther form. With her full lips and high cheekbones, she was striking and lethal.

Pierce followed them through the door. At six-foot-three, he was average height for a shifter but more thickly muscled than most.

His brown hair usually hung in a braid to his waist, but it had come undone when he shifted. The shaved sides of his head were barely visible beneath the wavy locks.

He kept his brown eyes focused straight ahead as he moved with an almost awkward gait that he never exhibited. Streaks of dirt marred his dark skin.

Finally, Knox entered. I went still, and my breath froze in my chest as he strode forward with silent steps.

His shoulders were rigid, and the set of his jaw looked almost painful as tension vibrated from him. I didn’t think anything had gone wrong with the tribunal leaving; they wouldn’t be back already if that were the case.

No, he looked as if movement might break him because he’d been in a room with my mother, sister, and the other casters again. He’d faced demons he far preferred to slaughter, and now those demons were haunting him.

An ache bloomed in my chest as I yearned to go to him, hug him, and chase away those demons. If I tried, he might slaughter me in their place, but I hated the suffering radiating from him and longed to ease it.

He’d called me a stupid girl, believed I was helpless, and was far from the man I’d loved with every fiber of my being, but I still desired him. No one should endure what he and everyone else did in the harem. Unfortunately, I could never take that experience from him.

I didn’t make a sound or move as they crossed the hall, and neither did Zephyr or Gizzi, but Knox’s nostrils flared, and his head turned stiffly toward me. He didn’t search the tree for me; he knew exactly where I was as our gazes locked instantly.

Maybe he realized I was perched here, waiting for him to return because I was concerned about him, or maybe he didn’t. Despite him being a giant asshole, I was happy to see him safely return home. When he turned away from me, my fingers bit into the bark as I restrained myself from jumping down and going closer.

No one spoke as they climbed the stairs and went their separate ways. I remained in the tree for a little longer before descending and trudging back toward the healer’s workroom. I’d taken over the space to create my potions.

Zephyr and Gizzi followed, but neither spoke as I set to work. Gizzi was often quiet, but Zephyr was usually a fountain of continuous speech, sometimes inappropriate and often irrelevant. I knew far too much about his sex life, which was extremely active.

I was glad for the peace as I worked on my newest potion.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Knox

I ran my hand over the stubble lining my head as I stalked toward the healer’s workroom. I’d just taken my seventh shower since yesterday, and my skin was still raw from the scrub brush I’d used to scour it.

With the mood I was in, I should stay away from Briar, but I had no idea where she’d gone since yesterday. I worried the elf might have tried to hatch some escape plan with her.

Plus, she was determined to harvest more mushrooms, and I didn’t trust her not to attempt going out there on her own again. The sweet scent of something brewing wafted down the hall before the healer’s workroom came into view.

Metal clattered against metal as fire crackled and smoke drifted through the air. If Briar wasn’t in the workroom, then someone was.

When I stepped into the open doorway, I froze when I spotted Briar standing before the black, marble island, her head bent and her brown hair swept into a knot at her nape. The crackling fire and boiling cauldron made the room almost intolerably hot, but there she was, chopping mushrooms.

An enticing sheen of sweat shimmered on her ivory skin. Her damp clothes clung to her, emphasizing her lush curves.

I’d spent most of the morning trying to bury memories, but a new one emerged of me standing behind her, holding her, as I ran my tongue along her nape. I’d savored the saltiness of her skin while her strawberry and eucalyptus scent entwined its way around me.

My cock was inside her while we lay on our sides, moving together as she bowed her head and issued the most delicious sounds. Her full breasts lay against my arm as her pussy gripped me tight, drawing me deeper.

Her body was a paradise I’d reveled in. She’d made me feel pleasure in ways I’d never dreamed possible. I hadn’t experienced it again since her.

The beast had always come in the harem when the casters forced themselves on him. As much as we hated it, we couldn’t stop the body’s natural response.

However, all those orgasms never felt like they did with her. Instead of feeling right, powerful, perfect, and so fucking good, it left us both unsettled, dirty, and full of self-loathing.

But Briar… Well, Briar had been heaven, and my love for her threw me into hell.

“How much will this make?” Zephyr asked.

When he spoke, I realized he was sitting on a stool on the other side of her. Bent forward, he had his hands on the island. He watched Briar expertly slicing mushrooms with a speed that probably would have taken pieces of my fingers.

The rodent was curled up on the windowsill, its head on its paws while it slept. The fire in the hearth and the flickering lanterns weren’t the only source of illumination. Briar had also set up dozens of candles on the counters; their small flames added a cozy air to the room.

“I’m not sure,” she replied.

Pinching a pile of lavender, she sprinkled it into another black cauldron, which sat on the counter beside her. Steam rose from the cauldron hanging over the fire; the sweet smell came from the bubbling concoction. Despite the heat, the room was inviting.

“When can I use it?” Zephyr asked.

Without looking at him, Briar lifted a glass vial from the counter and handed it to him. “Here, before you drive me crazy about it. Just a few drops at the base of each plant is more than enough. We can’t do too much at once; it could stress them out.”

Zephyr squealed as he snatched the vial from her, jumped up on the stool, and flew toward me. He was only a few feet away when he realized I blocked his exit.

With a startled squeak, Zephyr pulled up abruptly. The flutter of his wings created a breeze as he aimed them at me and hovered in the air.

“Knox!” he blurted.

Briar’s head turned so fast I was sure she’d given herself whiplash as she gazed at me over her shoulder. Instead of moving out of the sprite’s way, I leaned against the door, crossed my legs, and folded my arms over my chest.

“Don’t let me stop you,” I told him.

Zephyr glanced between Briar and me. He’d been so excited to get to work on the plants, but he hesitated to leave her with me.

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “I thought you were going.”

“I was, but… I… maybe I… ah… should wait for Briar so she can teach me how to properly use the potion.”

“Seconds ago, you didn’t have any problems doing it on your own.”

Zephyr paled as he glanced at Briar again. With a sigh, she released her knife; it clattered against the marble. She wiped her hands on her apron before turning to face us.

“It’s okay, Zephyr; I’m sure you’ll have no problems using the potion,” she said.

His head continued to ping between us as he gulped. “Yeah… sure… ah, if you think so.”

Briar smiled as she used her forearm to wipe sweat from her brow. “I have complete confidence in you.”

Zephyr’s shoulders sagged a little. “I won’t be gone long.”

“Take all the time you need,” Briar assured him. “Just remember, only a couple of drops per plant.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be back soon.”

He stared at me before zipping out of the room. When the pattern of his beating wings changed, I turned to discover him in the middle of the hallway, watching me. He turned and zoomed away.

“Do you need something?” Briar asked.

The rodent had gotten up. Its front paws were before it, and its back arched as it stretched and yawned. When it finished, it jumped out of the window and onto the counter, where it sauntered over to sit beside Briar; its eyes never left me.

With her face flushed from the heat, the bright red of her cheeks gave her a healthy glow, and her sea green eyes glimmered with vitality. She’d undone the top three buttons of her shirt; a bead of sweat trickled down her chest before vanishing into the V her breasts created.

Not only did the damp shirt cleave to her slender, curvy body, but her rolled-up pants hugged her thighs. I clearly recalled what it was like to have those thighs locked around me or pressed against my head while I tasted her.

The last time I got a taste of her wasn’t that long ago. I’d vowed never to claim her as my mate again or stick my dick anywhere near her, but I’d relished tongue fucking her in the library.

But not only could I see her looking entirely delectable, but so could others. Jealousy coiled like a poisonous monster through my belly.

“Are you trying to give the sprite a show?” I asked with a waggle of my finger at her open shirt.

In all honesty, she wasn’t showing much skin at all, but my desire for her and my jealousy irritated me. How could I possibly lust for this woman after enduring the presence of her mother and sister yesterday?

But with every beat of my heart, I craved her.

Briar glanced at her open shirt, and her jaw clenched. I couldn’t see the edge of the binding restraining her breasts, but its outline was visible beneath her damp shirt.

“Of course not,” she retorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s hot in here. Not to mention, no part of me is exposed. You’re a dick for thinking such a thing.”

“I thought I was the worst part of the dick,” I threw her words from the forest back at her.

Was that really only yesterday? So much had passed since then that it felt like weeks had gone by.

“Oh, you are,” she said. “Every interaction I have with you reinforces that.”

With that, she undid two more buttons on her shirt, leaned her hip against the counter, and glowered at me. The thin, white binding she’d donned to keep her lush breasts restrained was clearly visible now… as were her dark pink areolas.

It would be so easy to slide a claw down that material and slice it open to reveal the plump breasts beneath. Eager to touch her, the beast rolled within me as saliva filled my mouth and my fangs tingled.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Knox

“You’re not looking at me like I’m a stupid girl,” she said.

“I’m not?” I asked.

“No, you’re looking at me like you’d love to fuck me again.”

My lip twitched toward a sneer; she knew exactly what she was doing to me, but she was right… I would love to fuck her again.

I’d give anything to grasp that knot on her nape, pull her head back, and bury myself in her. I’d fuck her until she pleaded with me to stop, and then I’d fuck her some more. I wouldn’t stop until I finished with her.

I’d make her feel… make her see…

See what? How messed up I am? How badly they damaged me in the harem? What would I make her see? Would I become one of them just to make her understand?

I will never be like one of them.

Running a hand over the stubble lining my jaw, I ground my teeth together as I tore my attention away from her. I’d never be like them, but I couldn’t deny the sick feeling of wanting to make her suffer too.

Things with Briar had always been sweet and loving. Yes, there were rougher moments and times when I lost control, but that wasn’t what I wanted from her now.

I looked at the lowleeto as sickness churned in my gut. As if sensing my thoughts, the creature eyed me with a scowl I wouldn’t have considered possible for its frankly adorable features.

“And that won’t ever happen again.” Briar’s words drew my attention back to her. “You won’t ever claim me as your mate again, remember?”

“I don’t have to claim you as my mate to fuck you. I only claimed you once, but I’ve felt your tight, wet cunt many, many times.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“I am.” When I prowled closer, her shoulders stiffened. “But I’m also honest.”

She threw her arms in the air. “Well, yippee for you! Let’s throw a party! We can get some music and dance all night to celebrate how revoltingly honest you are!”

“And what kind of a party would we throw for you?”

When I stopped a couple of feet away from her, her head tipped back, and her eyes filled with fury.

“We’ll throw the one you want to throw for me,” she grated. “We’ll celebrate what an awful liar I am and how I betrayed you and had you thrown into the harem.”

When I prowled closer, she stepped back and into the counter. With nowhere to retreat to, her breath hitched when I planted my hands beside her on the marble. Fear flickered through her eyes as she realized provoking me probably wasn’t her wisest choice.

“Is that the party I want to throw?” I inquired in a low voice.

“It’s the one you’ve been throwing since you took me from the harem.”

“So I have.”

Without thinking, I lifted my hand to brush back a strand of her hair. She slapped my hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” she snapped.

Unwilling to be told what I could and couldn’t do in my home, I grasped the strand and tugged her closer. Briar’s nostrils flared as she resisted my pull. Her body was as unyielding as stone while her pulse thudded in her neck.

With her hair still in hand, I skimmed my index finger down her jugular, tracing the rapid beat there. “You used to love my touch.”

“That was a different you.”

My mouth curved into a cruel smile. “I didn’t hear you complaining when my tongue was in your pussy a few days ago.”

“That’s because you finally shut up.”

When I gave her hair a small tug, her eyes blazed in response. Nor could she hide her scent; she wasn’t scared… she was angry… and aroused.

I extended a claw and ran it down her chest to the edge of the white binding. I preferred it when she forgot the irritating material, but it was easy enough to remedy that.

Briar’s breath hitched when I slid my claw down her binding, slicing it open as far as she’d unbuttoned her shirt. When the creamy tops of her breasts swelled out of the material, my cock stiffened as the beast roared.

It clamored to sink its fangs into her and brand her as its mate forever. She still bore my first mark on her neck; the scars would never vanish, but that was a different animal, and the beast was very aware of that. It demanded to leave its claim upon her, but I wouldn’t allow it, and that incensed the creature.

Her breasts rose and fell with each of her breaths as I trailed my claw down them to dip it into the valley. She’d always been so enticing, warm, and inviting as she yielded to me, but she remained rigid.

When my eyes met hers again, I stepped into her, letting her feel the rigid evidence of my arousal. Her pupils dilated, and she bit her lip but didn’t relax into me.

I eyed her red, luscious lips as I resisted kissing her. “Your mouth can do such magnificent things,” I murmured.

“I thought it only spewed lies.”

With her hair still entwined around my finger, I pulled her head back a little as I grasped her knot. “Does it spew lies, Briar?”

“I don’t know, Knox, why don’t you tell me?”

Lifting my hand, I retracted my claw to run my finger over her bottom lip. “I remember the way it slid over my dick, taking me deep until it hit the back of your throat.”

The memory caused my testicles to tighten in anticipation.

“And the sounds this mouth made as you called my name and begged for more,” I continued.

Through the winds of time, her voice whispered through my mind. It enveloped me in memories as my balls ached.

Why can’t I resist this woman?

My hand slid away from her lip as I grazed my knuckles down her body and dipped my hand between her thighs. She gasped when I cupped her mound.

“I remember how wet your pussy was and how eager it was to accept my cock.”

Her heart raced faster as her breath became little more than pants.

“I remember everything about you, Briar. I’ve tried to forget, but it’s impossible.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Briar

I didn’t know what to make of his words as Knox towered over me. He was so big, so hot, and so tempting that while my mind screamed to stay away, my body yearned to melt against him. His words not only elicited a deep desire but also set my blood on fire.

When his hand moved against my clit, I couldn’t stop the frisson of ecstasy that spiraled through me.

Push him away.

Instead, my hips swayed toward him as I bit my bottom lip to keep from moaning. This wouldn’t end well.

Closing my eyes, I bit harder on my lip as I tried not to give in to my body’s endless hunger for him. When I opened my eyes, his fiery orange ones filled my vision. His pupils were slitted, but I saw no other signs of the beast.

I focused on him as signs of other things sank in. His raw, red skin smelled of cedar, probably from the soap he’d used to clean himself. It mingled with his natural aroma of woods and fresh air.

The two scars running from the center of his forehead, across the top of his right eye, and through his eyebrow were whiter against his red skin. The way he held his square jaw made the small cleft in his chin more visible.

His broad shoulders blocked my view of the room. My fingers itched to trace the black tattoo of vines with its thick thorns running across his upper chest, down his arms, and around his wrists.

Beneath the vines, a single black rose inked the place directly over his heart. The first time I saw his tattoo, I knew he bore it as a reminder of the thorns that kept him prisoner in the harem. I’d come to realize the black rose was a memento of the curse placed upon this kingdom.

He’d donned pants again, though his feet remained as bare as his chest. His torso was as red and raw-looking as his face.

I suspected he’d recently scrubbed himself until he bled while in the shower. He’d done this to rid himself of the memories of what the other casters did to him, but we both knew they’d never wash away. The idea of all those women and men abusing him in such a way caused bile to surge up my throat.

They’d shattered the proud, kind, loving man he was and left this one in their wake. Yet, he wasn’t truly awful, even if he was the biggest prick to walk the kingdoms.

I understood why he was so broken and completely different than the man he used to be, the one I still loved deeply, but he couldn’t stomp all over me every time the mood struck him.

I wanted him, but not like this. I didn’t know if he was trying to rid himself of the memory of them by using me.

Or is he trying to make me pay for their sins?

Seth would never harm me… I wasn’t so sure about Knox.

“I don’t want this,” I said.

“I bet your pussy begs to differ.”

Oh, it was definitely begging to have him fill it again, but it didn’t matter. “You’re right, but I don’t want it like this.”

He bent his head to my neck, and his breath fanned over the marks he’d left there years ago; I shivered, and my nipples hardened. He knew all the deliciously wicked things he made me feel as he used his finger to rub circles around my clit.

“Like what?” he asked.

His breath feathered my ear before he nipped my lobe. When his lips skimmed my neck, I released the counter to grip his arms. If I didn’t hold him, I’d fall flat on my face.

“I still make your knees go weak,” he murmured.

When he bent his head to my throat, I tried to stop it, but my head fell back and my breasts arched toward him. For ten years, I’d dreamed of being with this man again, and we deserved a distraction from memories and destinies we’d prefer to forget.

What will be the outcome if you do?

I suspected he’d hate me even more… no, not me, he’d hate himself more. He didn’t want to desire me; he just couldn’t help it. He could deny it, but I was his mate.

Gripping his arms, I turned my head away as his finger wrenched an involuntary moan from me. When he smiled against my chest, I clamped my thighs together.

“No,” I said. “Either stop, or you’ll have to force me.”

It took a few seconds for my words to sink in. When they did, his hand stilled as his body stiffened against mine. When he lifted his head, his mouth was only inches from mine; his eyes burned with desire and something else.

“Your body is begging for me to fuck you,” he growled.

“No, this isn’t right.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t make things better for you. This won’t make things better.”

“I don’t want to make things better,” he snarled. “I want to hear you beg for more. I’m so fucking broken, Briar. Be broken with me.”

His words stole my breath as my mouth parted. It took me too long to respond. “I’d rather heal with you.”

When my words registered, he recoiled a little. Unable to resist, I rested my hand on his cheek. He turned away from my touch, shrugging it off.

“I’m broken too, Knox, but I want to heal with you.”

When he abruptly stepped away from me, cold air rushed in to replace his warmth. Wrapping my arms around my belly, I tried to ease the bereft feeling his loss created within me.

What did I just do? I should give in to him.

You’re not a toy to play with and toss around whenever the mood strikes him. You’re already your mother’s punching bag; you won’t be his too.

I lifted my chin and tried to emit a confidence I didn’t feel. For a second, I swore I saw yearning flash through his eyes, and not for sex but for something more. It vanished so fast I couldn’t be certain.

“There’s nothing left of me to heal,” he stated. With that, he turned and stalked toward the door. “After breakfast tomorrow, I’ll take you out to gather more mushrooms.”

With those final, parting words, he left the room.

Unable to stand any longer, my knees gave out and, with my back against the counter, I slid to the floor. I rested my head against the wooden cabinets as I fought the tears burning my eyes.

I had to get out of Wildwood and away from Knox before we destroyed each other further.

A ticking drew my attention to the door as Gizzi poked his head into the room. “When did you leave?” I asked.

“When things started to get a little too hot in here.” He scampered toward me and settled against my leg. “If I’d heard you scream for help, I would have attacked him.”

Despite my misery, I chuckled as I pet Gizzi’s head. Having him with me helped ease some of my melancholy, but my heart still felt like someone had kicked it.

“Are you okay?” Gizzi asked.

“I haven’t been okay in years, but I’ll find my way there again.”

“Yes, you will.”

“He’s going to take me to gather more mushrooms tomorrow.”

“I’m going with you.”

I didn’t say anything while I continued stroking his head. Eventually, I found the strength to stand again and return to work.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Briar

Knox didn’t speak to me the entire time we walked through the castle, outside to the door in the wall, and through the woods. The hostility between us made things awkward and our gaits stiff as we stayed at least five feet away from each other.

I was a little afraid that if we got too close, I might jump on him, lock my legs around his waist, and tell my brain to screw off. I’d spent the night tossing and turning while I swung between regretting my decision to stop him and barring my door so I never had to see him again.

Irritated with my endless flopping, Gizzi muttered his displeasure before retreating to sleep on the chair.

I wished I could abandon myself that easily, but unfortunately, I was trapped in my skin. And my skin felt far too taut for my body.

Around midnight, I got up and took a shower in the hopes it would make me feel better. It didn’t.

I finally fell asleep around dawn, only to wake a few hours later. Now, I was tired and in a really bad mood, considering I was outside the walls again.

Knox’s mood wasn’t any better than mine as he stomped through the woods with little care that the breaking branches might attract a predator… one who could snap trees in half. But then, that predator could be the one stalking along beside me.

My eyes felt gritty as I glared at the offending oaf. His stomping, crashing, and cracking were not helping my headache, and I’d had about enough of it.

I was about to tell him to be quieter, but he stopped walking and waved his arm forward. “Here we are,” he said gruffly.

I blinked at him before rubbing my eyes. We’d already arrived at the mushrooms. I wasn’t entirely sure how we’d gotten here and decided a nap was in my future.

Holding the basket closer to my chest, I walked out to the mushrooms as I strained to hear the voice that spoke to me the last time I was here. Gizzi ran down my shoulder and up a nearby tree, where he perched on a branch to survey the forest.

When Zephyr tried to come with us, Knox ordered him to remain in the castle. The sprite wasn’t pleased with the command, but he didn’t argue it either.

While I harvested the mushrooms, I placed them in my basket as I slowly moved around the clearing. Gizzi kept his attention on the woods while Knox crossed his arms over his chest, leaned against a tree, and stared at me.

I couldn’t tell if the ravenous gleam in his eyes was because he wanted to fuck me… or kill me. Either way, he watched me like a hawk.

After I’d placed a few more mushrooms in my basket, an excited voice shrieked into my mind. “You came back! You came back!”

I lifted my head and looked around but didn’t see anything in the trees or slinking through the forest.

“Can you still hear me?”

I couldn’t talk directly to the voice without alerting Knox to my newfound ability, and I wasn’t about to spill my secret to him. But I had to say something to let it know I could hear it.

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“Hear what?” Knox and Gizzi asked at the same time.

“You can still hear me! You really can!” the voice chattered excitedly.

I glanced around the woods before bending to pick another mushroom. “I thought I heard something, but maybe not.”

“Is it that voice again?” Gizzi asked.

“Do you see another animal somewhere?” I asked him.

“No.”

I placed more mushrooms in my basket as I tried to focus on the other voice. “Can you hear me?” I inquired through my mind.

No response, but Gizzi didn’t answer either, which meant I’d successfully shut him out and focused on something else. I was gaining control over my newfound, unheard-of powers… amongst casters.

When something cool brushed my arm, I placed my hand over the spot and turned toward it. The voice squealed. “You felt me again!”

The voice came from someone who was either young or incredibly excited. Is it some kind of insect? An animal so tiny I can’t see it? And why is it so cold?

“Where are you?” I tried to mentally ask again, but I didn’t receive a response.

“I don’t hear anything,” Knox said. “Do you still hear it?”

I’d been so absorbed in trying to figure out the voice I’d forgotten he was standing there. I must look suspicious, standing there with my hand on my arm, staring into nothing.

“No, it must have been my imagination.” I looked pointedly at him as I said my next words. “It can’t be the thing that came after us last time. The trees would be falling if it were.”

My words elicited no reaction from him as he stared unwaveringly back at me. “Must not be.”

We stared at each other for a moment longer, neither of us believing the other was as innocent as we were trying to be. He could keep his secrets because I was definitely going to keep mine.

Bending, I plucked more mushrooms and laid them carefully in the basket. When something cool brushed my arm again, I lifted my basket and turned toward it.

“What’s your name?” the voice asked.

“Briar.”

I still didn’t get a response, which meant I still couldn’t communicate telepathically with the voice like I could with Gizzi. Does that mean it’s not an animal?

Or maybe I had to see it to make an initial connection, as I did with Gizzi and Toric. Taking a deep breath, I lifted my basket and made my way over to the next cluster of mushrooms.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” the voice asked. “I like your voice.”

I glanced at Knox as I gathered more mushrooms. I wanted to reply to the creature; it sounded desperate for a friend, but I didn’t know how to do so without making Knox more suspicious.

“Thank you,” I tried again to connect with the voice.

Cool air brushed against my shoulder, and I turned toward it as the smallest breeze tickled my cheek. “You’re very pretty. My mom was pretty too.”

Those words made my heart constrict. I had to give it some response. “You’re so sweet.”

“What’s sweet?” Knox demanded.

“The mushrooms,” I lied. “They’re sweet for giving themselves to me.”

“You meant me, didn’t you?” the voice asked excitedly. “You don’t want him to know I’m here.”

When I nodded, cold air caressed my other cheek.

“But you can still hear me?”

I nodded again.

“Do you want to talk to me?”

Another nod.

I looked up at where Gizzi sat in the branches, watching me instead of the woods now. “You okay?” I asked to make sure I could still connect with him.

“I’m fine; are you?” he inquired.

“Yes.”

I placed some more mushrooms in my basket and rose to move on to the next grouping. I looked over at where Knox stood, watching me. I tried to act as casual as possible, but though we’d spent a decade apart, he still knew me better than anyone else.

I wasn’t fooling him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Briar

The voice whispered across my mind. “You’re so close to me.”

I froze and looked around again but didn’t see anything other than the trees and mushrooms surrounding me. I picked a couple more of the fungi, placed them in my basket, and stepped to my right.

“Now you’re getting further away.”

I moved to my left, toward another cluster of mushrooms. “Yes, keep going!” the voice excitedly whispered. “Now move forward.”

As I followed the directions, I picked more mushrooms and tried to remain casual. There was a good chance the voice belonged to a monster leading me to my doom, but I slept beside one of the most poisonous creatures in the kingdoms and was at the mercy of one of the strongest, so let it try to kill me.

My life is extremely messed up, I inwardly sighed.

Was it ever normal?

No, but this is still insane.

“Right there! I’m right there! Before you!” the voice squealed.

I froze to search the woods, but nothing stirred. Slowly, my gaze fell to my feet.

“That’s right! I’m right down here!”

Only decaying leaves and dirt lay below me. Mushrooms didn’t even grow in this spot.

How tiny is this creature? I wondered.

Kneeling, I plucked a couple of nearby mushrooms. I had to lean over to get them, but it could look like I was trying not to step on any of the precious fungi.

Setting them in my basket, I ran my fingers over the ground, prepared for something to skitter across my hand or sharp teeth to chomp into it. All I felt was the power of the cool earth.

Tingles ran up my hand, through my arm, and around my shoulders. When they spread down through my chest, my heart warmed, and I swore it swelled.

Before my Needing, I was too young to be bound to either the sun or moon gods, so I gained strength from the earth and plants. Since my Needing, that ability had intensified until I felt their life thrumming within me and filling me with energy.

I closed my eyes as I dug deeper into the ground, and power swelled within me. Still, I didn’t encounter anything.

“What are you doing?” Knox inquired.

I didn’t open my eyes as I replied. “Thriving.”

And that’s exactly what I was doing. Like a tree growing taller and stronger as it stretched toward the sun, I was digging my roots in and thriving off the nourishment of the land.

“Well, that’s… unusual,” Gizzi whispered in my head.

“Not to me; not anymore,” I told him. “Plus, talking to animals is unusual, and you like it.”

“I do indeed.”

I expected Knox to tell me to stop or make some asshole comment, but he remained silent as I dug deeper. I’d buried my fingers nearly an inch into the ground when they connected with something hard.

I felt along the surface, expecting to find the jagged edges of a rock, but encountered only a smooth structure. With reluctance, I pulled my hands out of the earth, brushed aside more debris, and tore out handfuls of dirt.

Boots appeared as Knox came to stand beside me. “What are you doing?”

“There’s something under here,” I muttered.

“It’s me! It’s me!” the voice squealed.

“You’re a rock?” I asked out loud, my astonishment over this revelation causing me to forget about my determination to keep Knox from learning about my newfound powers.

However, the shock of learning I could talk to inanimate objects, as well as animals, could definitely be blamed for my blunder. Anyone would have blurted out that question at this revelation.

“Who’s a rock?” Knox asked.

At the same time, a giggle sounded in my head. “No, silly. I’m under the rock.”

Am I digging up a snake or something? Please don’t tell me it’s a baby basilisk.

Such a possibility should have caused me to hesitate or stop, but I didn’t. The mystery of what lay beneath the rock propelled me onward, and my movements grew frantic as I tore at the earth, ripping it open and flinging away handfuls of debris.

“Who’s a rock?” Knox demanded.

“No one’s a rock,” I muttered, and according to the voice, it wasn’t a lie, but I didn’t know what else it could be. “There’s something under here.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there are rocks in the ground.”

I paused only long enough to glare at him. “Thank you for that bit of information, oh wise one who knows it all.”

He glowered at me. “What’s going on?”

The tone of his voice caused Gizzi to scamper down the tree. Determined to ignore him and all his negativity, I resumed digging. I pulled away more layers of earth and widened the hole. I still couldn’t see what lay beneath, but it was rectangular-shaped.

“I’m curious about what’s under here,” I said.

“What made you decide to dig there?”

I kept my attention focused on my task as I replied. “I wanted to feel the earth; it strengthens me. When I dug deeper, I discovered something, but I don’t think it’s a rock. It’s too smooth.”

Knox knelt, and before I could toss away another handful of dirt and pebbles, he grasped my wrist, ceasing my digging. His eyes burned into mine as he studied me.

“What are you up to?” he demanded.

“I’m not up to anything.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“I don’t know, Knox, why don’t you believe me?”

“I wouldn’t believe any caster.”

I inwardly recoiled a little but managed to continue scowling at him. Maybe one day I’d get used to his cutting words.

“No shit?” I retorted. “I thought you were a fountain of trust and warmth.”

If looks could kill, we’d both be dead. I tugged at my wrist; when he refused to relinquish his hold, I gritted my teeth. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking him to release me.

“Who is this guy?” the voice whispered in my head.

Knox and I remained focused on each other, neither of us willing to bend to the other. I’d rot here before I looked away.

Small scratching noises drew my attention, but I refused to break Knox’s stare. Or at least that was my intention, until Gizzi spoke.

“It’s a grave.”

“It’s a wh...?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Briar

Despite my determination not to let Knox win this battle of wills, the shock of Gizzi’s words jerked my head toward him. He dashed out of the small hole I’d created and perched at the edge of it. His nose twitched as he held his paws before him and stared at the stone.

My attention shifted from him to the hole as I leaned forward to peer at what was down there. After years of neglect, the chiseled words on the small plaque were almost indecipherable. I strained to make out the dates, and my heart sank when I realized the voice was only eight when he died.

Tears pricked my eyes. With my free hand, I traced the faded letters as I tried to decipher what some of them were, but I couldn’t quite make them out.

“Just a child. I wonder what their name was?”

“Archibald Camden,” Knox said.

Forgetting my ire with him, I glanced over at where he knelt beside me, staring at the headstone. “You can make out those letters?”

“Yes.”

A shifter’s senses were far better than those of other eternals, but this still surprised me.

“Archibald,” I murmured.

The name didn’t go with the voice in my head. It was too mature, too stuffy for a boy so young.

“My mother and father called me Archie,” the voice whispered.

The cute nickname fit much better with the voice in my head.

“I wonder what happened,” I said.

“I don’t know, but he died shortly before the war with the demigods,” Knox said.

“A drayton killed me,” Archie said. “This was always my favorite place to play, and I came here every day. I never saw the monster coming until it was on top of me.”

I shuddered at the idea of that hideous beast descending on this innocent little boy. At eight feet tall, the drayton possessed two heads attached to a body more man than beast.

Each of those heads bobbed out of its shoulders, and while they almost looked like an eternal, they had hundreds of sharp teeth, claws at the tips of their fingers, and a tongue that could shoot out six feet.

At the tip of their tongue was a venomous barb that stunned their victims. And once those victims were down, the drayton peeled the flesh from its victim before devouring it. Once they finished with the flesh, they ate the bones.

Eternals had hunted them to the brink of extinction over the years, but rumors persisted that some remained.

“My father killed it before it could eat me, but it was already too late by then,” Archie continued.

The sad whisper of his voice caused tears to spill down my cheeks. Once injected with the drayton’s venom, only an antidote could save the victim; that antidote had to be on hand as the venom acted fast.

The drayton liked its victims to be alive when it started to devour, and it did so with a speed that ensured most of its prey were still alive while flayed. They often died before the vicious creatures started consuming their bones.

“How awful,” I murmured. “Why is he buried out here?”

Knox couldn’t answer my question, but Archie could and did. “My parents laid me to rest in my favorite place. They used to visit me every day; they’d bring flowers and talk to me, and I loved hearing their voices. I felt sorry for them; they were so sad and didn’t know I was listening.

“Sometimes, I’d wish they’d stop coming and move on with their lives. And then, one day, they never returned. That was when I started wishing they would come back. I’ve been so lonely.”

A hitching sob escaped as tears streamed down my face. My heart broke for this little boy who never got a chance to live and who’d been forgotten by those he loved… or maybe they’d died too. Many eternals died in the war with the demigods.

“Maybe we can move him somewhere else,” I said. “You must have a cemetery.”

Knox frowned at me. “You want to disturb the dead.”

“I want to move him to a place where he can be seen and remembered, not left out here and forgotten in the woods.”

“I’d like that,” Archie said. “This was always my favorite spot, but I’m tired of being here. And maybe there are others like me, and I’ll finally have company.”

“Who would visit a boy who’s been dead for thousands of years?” Knox asked.

“I would.” I ran my fingers over the faded lettering. “I’d visit him every day.”

Knox looked like he couldn’t decide if I’d lost my mind or was fucking with him. Even Gizzi’s expression said, What the hell?

Later, I’d tell him about my discovery. He couldn’t tell anyone else that I could apparently talk to the dead.

What is happening to me?

It was yet one more ability I’d never heard of a caster… or anyone else… possessing before. Before panic could swell and make me even more suspicious in Knox’s eyes, I focused on the grave and Archie.

“No one should be forgotten,” I whispered.

Knox stared at me, then the grave, before releasing my wrist and rising. “We’re not digging up the dead. Why did you stick your fingers in the ground here?”

I traced the headstone as I pondered how to answer his question. “I needed to connect with the earth, and there were no mushrooms here.”

Before he could reply, something screamed in the woods, drawing his attention to the trees. My hand stilled on the headstone as the hair on my nape rose. I didn’t know what had made that sound and didn’t want to.

Knox rested his hand on my shoulder. “Gather your basket; it’s time to go.”

I hated the idea of leaving Archie alone in this place, but I didn’t argue. I hated the idea of being some creature’s lunch more.

“Take me with you!” Archie cried as I rose.

Regret pounded through me as more tears spilled down my cheeks. Beneath Knox’s intense scrutiny, I wiped them hastily away.

“I’ll have to come back,” I said to Knox, but I was really speaking to Archie.

I’m talking to the dead.

It seemed so surreal. However, I couldn’t deny the grave or the voice that led me to it.

Casters don’t speak to the dead. It’s not one of our powers.

But it was one of mine.

“Please don’t leave me!” Archie cried.

Archie’s desperate plea pulled me from my thoughts. I rested my hand over my heart as I tried not to sob. I could tell Knox what was happening to me, maybe then he would be more understanding about moving Archie.

But can you trust him with that information?

I couldn’t trust him with anything, and as much as I wanted to help Archie, I couldn’t risk sacrificing myself to do so. He didn’t trust me, at times he barely tolerated me, and he hated my kind; I couldn’t expose my secrets when I had no idea what I was exposing.

“I need more mushrooms,” I persisted as Knox steered me through the trees.

“I’ll bring you back,” he stated.

“Soon.”

Doubt swirled through his eyes as they met mine, but when something released an awful, screeching noise far different than the earlier one, our pace picked up. Whatever was out there, it was better not to encounter it.

Gizzi climbed my leg, dashed up my back, and perched on my shoulder.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Briar

To keep up pretenses, I went straight to the healer’s room when we returned to the castle. Knox didn’t say anything when we parted, but Gizzi hounded me with questions. I was still too busy processing what happened in the woods to fully answer him.

I was halfway through making the newest potion when I felt capable of revealing what happened. I didn’t know why I could talk to Archie; I’d never done anything like it before, and no other casters possessed such an ability.

While I communicated mentally with him, Gizzi didn’t speak; his nose didn’t even twitch.

“He can’t be left out there. I have to get him moved,” I told him.

Gizzi took a few minutes before responding. “How do you plan to do that?”

“I don’t know. Knox can’t know about any of this. He already sees me as something he can use and manipulate; I don’t know what he’d do with this information.”

“Shit,” Gizzi hissed out slowly.

“I have to get to the library.”

“What do you plan to find there?”

“I have no idea, but there must be something on eternals who can communicate with animals and the dead. Some demigods could speak to animals, but they were born with the ability; I wasn’t.”

“Do you think you’re part demigod?”

“I don’t know. I never met my father. My mother said he was a priest, but she could have—and most likely did—lied about that.”

Being part demigod might explain why I got through my Needing without any sexual release and why it didn’t take as long as it did for the other casters. The explanation fit, but I didn’t like it.

I wanted to believe the Needing had been as bad for me as it was for other casters and that I’d gotten through it on sheer will and determination. I wanted to believe I was truly different from the rest of my kind, and not because I was only half caster, but because I chose to be.

It was the only damn choice I’d made in ten years!

“Maybe, if you are only part caster and part demigod, your abilities wouldn’t have manifested since birth,” Gizzi suggested. “Maybe they only came out after you reached maturity.”

“Maybe,” I reluctantly agreed.

“Did you see anything about demigods communicating with the dead?”

“No.”

“Shit.”

“You keep saying exactly what I’m feeling.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page. What do you think is going on?” he asked.

“I have no idea. That’s why I’m hoping the library can help.”

Gizzi sat back on his haunches as Zephyr buzzed into the room.

“Oh goody, more!” Zephyr clapped his hands when he spotted the new potion brewing. “This stuff is working miracles.”

“You can’t give it to the same plants today that you did yesterday.”

He held up one hand and placed the other over his heart as he grinned at me. “I swear I won’t give it to the same plants. I plan on going outside the castle today.”

My heart yearned to go with him, but I knew Knox wouldn’t allow it. “There are some roses inside the meeting lodge that really need help. They’ve been overlooked.”

“I’m on it.” Zephyr floated over to me, grasped my cheeks, and planted a kiss on my forehead. “You’re a genius.”

I chuckled as he released me. “I’m not a genius. I just know how to work with plants and create potions. That’s part of being a caster.”

“I guess that’s true, but you’re sharing your gifts with us, and for that, you’re a genius.”

“I can’t argue with that… or at least I won’t.”

I’d be more of a genius if I could figure out how to escape Wildwood, but I was still coming up with nothing.

“Do you know where the cemetery is?” I asked Zephyr.

He flew over to settle on one of the counters. His crossed legs swung back and forth as he watched me. “Of course I do. Why?”

“We discovered a headstone while I was harvesting mushrooms today. It belongs to a young boy, and I was wondering if his family was in the cemetery.”

“It’s on the far edge of town, near the woods. It’s a beautiful place with a view of the forest and hundreds of flowering trees… or at least they used to flower.”

“They will again one day.”

“Especially if we keep using your potions on them.”

“It won’t be because of my potions; one day, the curse will break.”

He tilted his head to the side as he studied me. “What makes you say that?”

“Knox is determined to make it happen and won’t settle for anything less.”

“I hope you’re right about Sir Dickhead.”

I laughed. “He wouldn’t like hearing you say that.”

“No, he wouldn’t; that’s why we’ll keep it between us.”

“Yes, we will.”

“I saw the look on his face when you called him the worst part of a dick. Are you trying to get your head ripped off?”

“I don’t trust him not to lose his temper with me and do something he’d regret, but he won’t kill me.”

Zephyr raised an eyebrow as Gizzi issued an irritated squeak.

“So, you think he’d hit you instead of killing you?” Zephyr inquired.

I stopped sprinkling the hairs from the earth moss into the cauldron as I pondered Zephyr’s question. Yes, I believed Seth would never hurt me, and I didn’t know what to expect from Knox’s far more volatile personality, but Zephyr’s question made me realize I didn’t believe he’d ever hit me.

Knox was a total asshole, but I couldn’t see him unleashing his anger at me in such a way.

“Because you know, if he did hit you, he’d probably kill you,” Zephyr said. “That man is strong.”

“He’s right,” Gizzi agreed.

I sprinkled more hairs into the cauldron. “He wouldn’t hit me. He’d probably try locking me away again, or find some other way to punish me, but he wouldn’t hit me.”

“You know I think the alpha is a prick, but I agree with you,” Zephyr said. “He’d gladly kill every one of your kind, though.”

“Are they my kind?” I lifted my head to look at him. “I didn’t go through my Needing like them, and I’m not bound to any god; so am I one of them?”

I hadn’t told him about my newfound powers; I trusted Zephyr and believed he was a true friend, but I wasn’t willing to share that secret with anyone who could speak. For now, that truth would stay between Gizzi and me, but I’d like to hear what he’d say about this. The sprites were playful imps, but they were also wise creatures of nature.

“Very true,” Zephyr said. “Plus, the rest of the casters are all cunts, but you’re not.”

“Thanks,” I laughed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Briar

While I continued to work, Zephyr launched into a spiel about the newest sprite he’d set his sights on. I’d come to learn far too much about Zephyr’s escapades since befriending him, so I mostly tuned him out.

I swirled some lavender oil in with the hairs, placed the vile down, recorked it, and lifted a handful of chopped mushrooms. Once I’d tossed them into the cauldron, I carried it over to the fire and set it on the spit to let it simmer to a boil. I made sure the fire wasn’t burning too hotly, but would continue while I was gone, before wiping my hands on my apron.

“I’m going to go to the library and see what I can find to read while the potion brews,” I said.

Zephyr bounced off the counter and flitted around the room. “I promised Bertie I’d help with some cleaning in town, but told her I was coming to check on you first.”

While I enjoyed Zephyr’s company, I was glad he wasn’t following me to the library. He couldn’t see the books I planned to search for… whatever they were.

Before he flew out of the room, Zephyr came to a stop to stare at something on the wall. “Oh wow, that’s an ugly spider.”

I followed his gaze to the eight-legged creature above the door. Its body was no bigger than an acorn, but its too-long, hairy legs protruded from its black torso; they were awkwardly too big for its body. A single red stripe ran down its back, and like its legs, its fangs were too big for its body and protruded awkwardly from its front.

“It’s a silkfang,” I said. “They weave silk and are said to bring good luck.”

Zephyr leaned forward a little as he examined the creature. “Look at those fangs.”

“They’re all for show. They’re not poisonous and don’t bite, but that’s how they got part of their name.”

“I’ve never seen one before.”

“They usually prefer cool, shady places, but they come into Nightshade a lot. They really like the tunnels in No Man’s Land; the first time I explored there, I discovered hundreds of them, as well as many more over the years.”

“Ugh,” Zephyr said.

“I’ve heard there are tunnels of them in Luminaire too. It was probably drawn here by the lack of sunlight in Wildwood, but also by the new growth. It sensed a revival in the land; it’s a good sign it’s here.”

“I beg to differ,” Zephyr muttered. “Is there a lack of sun in Nightshade and Luminaire?”

“No, but the casters lure them in by setting up food for them. They harvest their silk for clothing. Some of the other eternals probably do it too. Don’t worry, they’re ugly, but they’re harmless.”

Zephyr’s nose wrinkled. “It would be more harmless if I squished it.”

“Don’t kill it. They’re very helpful.”

“No spider is helpful.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him; not everyone liked arachnids.

“And why call it a silkfang if it’s good?” Zephyr eyed the spider like he was about to throw a shoe at it… or set the whole place on fire.

“The name suits it perfectly.”

“It was a stupid choice,” he muttered.

“Aren’t sprites supposed to be creatures of nature? Shouldn’t you love spiders?”

Zephyr shuddered. “No one should love spiders.”

I chuckled and decided to change the subject. “The potion will be ready in a few hours if you want to come back for it.”

“I’ll be here.”

He zipped toward the door before pausing in the doorway. “You know, I don’t think he’d rip your head off either, but I don’t want to see you locked away again. Maybe try not to argue with him so much, okay?”

The concern in his voice touched me, but it was impossible not to argue with Knox. “And maybe the seas will stop flowing.”

Zephyr sighed. “He’s the worst part of the dick, but I’m beginning to question if your brains are in your genitals too.” And with that, he flew away.

I gawked after him as I planted my hands on my hips. “What does that mean?”

“He thinks you’re thinking with your vagina,” Gizzi said.

I shot my friend an irritated look. “I am not. I don’t want anything to do with Knox in that way.”

“Neither of us believes that. I don’t think you believe it either.”

He was right, but I wasn’t going to admit it. “You’re both assholes.”

Gizzi climbed up my clothes to perch on my shoulder. He nuzzled my cheek before settling in. “But you still love us.”

“I do. I really do.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Briar

To ensure I didn’t destroy the potion and the ingredients I’d harvested, I kept my eye on the grandfather clock in the corner of the library. The swinging chimes, tucked behind the etched glass at the bottom, made a small clicking noise as they swung back and forth. Otherwise, the room was blessedly silent.

I longed to crawl into the branches of the tree of knowledge in the center of the library, find an easy read, and lose myself for a couple of hours while I absorbed the tree’s energy, but I hadn’t come for that. I was on a mission.

I’d already read about the demigods and knew about the casters’ abilities, but maybe other eternals possessed the ability to talk to the dead. My mother had told me that my father was a night caster priest, but unlike Rosalie, whose father visited her, mine never did.

I’d never met him and had no idea who he was. I wouldn’t put it past my mother to lie to me about his heritage. She’d hated me from the second she learned of my existence, and if she were lying, she’d never tell me the truth. I had no idea how to find out who he was or what I was, unless the answer was here… somewhere.

I hoped to discover a book listing all the abilities of the eternals, but I wasn’t sure one existed. And even though thousands upon thousands of books filled this library, if such a book existed, it might not be here.

Despite all the barriers in my way, nothing would deter me. This was the only hope I had… unless I chose to reveal my secrets to Knox, and I absolutely did not want to do that.

So, I climbed ladders, strolled amongst the tomes on each of the floors, examined the beautiful bindings, basked in the scent of the ancient books, and ran my fingers over the tree branches spreading around the room. Gizzi slept in the tree while I absorbed its energy and tried not to get disheartened.

I didn’t enter any of the reading alcoves discreetly tucked away and hidden throughout the library. I’d save them for last.

I was about to climb to the third floor when a small book with a beautiful yellow binding and red words etched on its spine caught my attention—A History of Abilities.

In smaller print were the words: Both Real and Imagined.

I couldn’t believe my luck as I pulled it from the shelf. It had taken me almost the entire time to find it, but this book seemed too good to be true. I turned it over in my hand to admire the beautiful unicorn, pegasus, and phoenix etched on the cover.

Is it only about animals? I pondered as I opened the book and scanned the first page.

Slightly yellowed and brittle, the title page revealed it was written nearly five hundred years ago. My heart pounded as I ran my finger down the contents, taking in the abilities I knew and the ones I didn’t.

For the most part, I was aware of the listed powers and what eternals possessed them, but there were a few dozen I’d never heard of before. I was about to retreat to the tree, where I could read in peace, but the clock drew my attention again. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to discover the secrets of this book.

I slipped it into my apron pocket, patted it, and descended to the first floor. When I called Gizzi, he lifted his head, yawned, and stretched before scooting down the tree.

He trailed me as I hurried out of the room, down the hall, and back to the healer’s room. Once there, I forgot about the book as I returned to work on the potion.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Knox

I’d been mostly avoiding Briar ever since our encounter in the healer’s room. I’d taken her into the woods to gather her mushrooms but barely spoke to her. I’d spent most of the time desperate to get away, while contemplating fucking her, and being confused by her strange behavior.

I should have pressed her more about the way she was acting in the woods, but when those creatures started screaming, I far preferred to take her back to the castle and forget about her. Unfortunately, she was impossible to forget.

I wanted her gone from here…. The idea of her leaving infuriated me.

I disliked being anywhere near her…. I loathed being apart from her.

The constant back-and-forth—the push-and-pull—was driving me insane.

After leaving her in the castle, I’d spent two days in beast form, hunting invaders in the woods and slaughtering anything that didn’t belong in my kingdom. It had taken half an hour to wash all the blood from me, but all the killing and release of my rage didn’t ease my increasingly consuming need for her.

Eventually, I had to return to the castle. The beast and I both had to see her again.

I prowled the hallways for her, but she wasn’t in the healer’s room, her tower, or the library. Growing irritated, I stalked toward the windows overlooking the earth moss; she wasn’t there either.

Sniffing the air, I tried tracking her through the castle, but her scent permeated everything now. Whenever I caught a stronger trail, it faded before I found her. She was either moving all over the castle or purposely trying to avoid me; either way, I was becoming increasingly irate and tired of chasing her.

I followed another trail out to the bailey and around to the stables, where I finally found her with Zephyr and her ever-present rat. They stood around a cluster of rosebushes that were probably stable boys; the youth had most likely gathered to talk about girls or the coins tossed to them throughout the day.

The stable boys were always scrambling around, trying to stay out of the way, while laughing and talking with each other. I was still young when I last saw them, yet they’d always been deferential to me.

They’d tended to my horse but mostly avoided talking to me like I wasn’t barely older than them. I’d hated it.

My father didn’t accept me, and neither did my siblings. I had no friends, and the boys closest to my age often went out of their way to avoid the alpha’s youngest child. I’d hated them for the laughter they stifled when they saw me, but I’d give anything to hear it again.

Except her. I wouldn’t give her up.

Shit, what is wrong with me? Where did that come from?

Before she came back into my life, everything was simple… revenge, death, and breaking the curse. That was all I lived for, and I was happy with it.

I’d never anticipated how much it would affect me to have her in my life again. I’d expected everything to be straightforward when I entered the harem for her.

She’d betrayed me. I would destroy her.

Except nothing with Briar was straightforward. I shook my head as confusion, doubt, and rage warred with each other. Every time I was certain I believed she hadn’t betrayed me, doubt crept in again.

Why am I so fucked-up?

Because they tore you away from your mate, threw you into a harem, and raped you for seven years. The woman who captured you, your mate’s mother, taunted you with tales of her betrayal throughout those years, never let you forget she knew it all, and claimed her daughter was the reason for your suffering.

And then, when you finally escaped the harem, it was because her mother twisted you into a monster she never could have anticipated. Then you learned your kingdom, your entire family, and everything you knew was devastated by the same woman who stole years of your life. That’s what’s wrong with you.

While I didn’t exactly appreciate my own inner words, they were true. They were also the reason why my head was a disaster. The problem was, I didn’t know how to fix it.

I’d asked Briar to be broken with me, and she’d said she’d rather heal with me, but I didn’t know how to heal. Moving on from the past would be one way to do so, but how could I do that when my kingdom was in ruins, my family trapped in a curse because of me, and my mate was the daughter of the woman I most loathed?

I’d hoped to use Briar to break the curse, but that wasn’t going to happen. I saw the way her mother looked at her, and while they could be plotting with each other to bring me down, I didn’t think they were.

Are you so sure?

That hideous, doubtful voice reared its ugly head again. When I lowered my head into my hands, my claws extended to dig into my skull. Warm blood welled and trickled down my face; it dripped off my chin before splatting onto the ground.

I hated this constant uncertainty surrounding Briar.

Should I set her free? The elf would take care of her.

But the idea of her with Devnair caused my claws to dig deeper. She believed he was a friend, but the elf wanted to fuck her, and I would never let that happen.

I couldn’t turn her loose in the kingdoms; she’d never survive out there. She claimed to have no intention of returning to the casters, but she might not have a choice.

Her mother would destroy her, and the day casters might toss her aside. She was different than them and unbound.

If the day casters did take her in, it would probably be with the condition that she bind herself to Sol. I wouldn’t let that happen either.

She could go live in No Man’s Land; plenty of forgotten, ostracized, and outlaw eternals lived there, and she knew the place better than anyone. She could hide there, but if they found her, those eternals would devour her.

She was so beautiful and, despite her upbringing, still incredibly naïve and innocent. It wouldn’t be long before someone raped her, beat her, or killed her.

It would be far easier to have Briar out of my life, but no matter her heritage, I couldn’t condemn her to that. No matter what she said, she wasn’t strong enough to fend off most eternals.

Yes, she had powers and abilities that would help keep her safe, but their strength and numbers would overwhelm her. And once they did…. A snarl curved my lips as my fingers dug deeper.

I hated the casters for what they’d done to me, but I couldn’t let the same thing happen to her.

I didn’t know how to fix or change any of this. I certainly couldn’t fix myself, and while I didn’t think Briar was the evil bitch I’d believed her to be while in the harem, she deserved better than these fragmented, shattered pieces of me.

That was true, and it was a cruel fate to hand her, but I’d never let another have her.

I was a selfish prick, and I didn’t give a shit. There was no way I could live while knowing another man’s hands were on her, and I certainly wouldn’t allow another dick inside her. I’d tear it off and ram it up his ass before removing his testicles and jamming them down his throat first.

While I was in the harem, there was nothing I could do to stop her from being with another, but it turned out I didn’t have to. Briar was supposed to remain pure until her Needing; I took that from her, and her mother punished her for it, but she remained off-limits to the casters.

I was the only man she’d ever known, and it would stay that way.

However, I had to figure out what to do with her and how to handle my volatile emotions around her. Taking a deep breath, I retracted my claws. When I did, fresh blood pooled and ran free to streak my face.

I didn’t bother to wipe it away. I’d shed my blood many, many times over the years, and I’d shed it far more in the years to come.

Instead, I let it spill as I watched Briar with Zephyr and the rat. That rodent rarely left her side, and while it was on the ground, happily munching on a piece of fruit, I had no doubt it would go on the attack if something threatened her.

I despised the thing, but I was glad it offered her some protection. And Zephyr was absolutely enthralled as he watched her stopper the potion and slip it into her pocket.

She was so beautiful, and if everything she’d told me was true, she was as kind as I’d believed her to be all those years ago.

My eyes traced the delicate curve of her neck and the way strands of hair fell to frame the delicate contours of her profile. There was a time when I’d traced every inch of her, memorized all the details, and reveled in her warmth and beauty. There was a time when I felt free to do so, but that time had come and gone.

“I’d rather heal with you.”

Her words ran through my head again. With them came a longing so intense it stole my breath.

What would it be like to heal with her?

I’d never know the answer to that.

As if sensing my attention, Briar’s head turned toward me. Her mouth gaped when she spotted me in the shadows.

I could only imagine what I looked like, standing there bleeding from the holes I’d dug into my head. I should leave, but she should see the worst of me, see how fucked I was, and maybe she would understand.

When she stepped toward me, I turned and slid around the barn.

“Knox!” she called after me.

I didn’t look back, and by the time her footsteps came around the stable, I was already gone. I’d spent all that time scrubbing the blood from me, and now I’d return to the woods to bathe in it again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Briar

I still couldn’t shake the image of Knox, standing in the shadows with blood streaking his face. What happened to him? Where had he gone?

Once he disappeared around the corner of the stable, I didn’t see him again.

He’d vanished as soundlessly as he’d arrived.

For the first time in a couple of days, I didn’t go to the kitchen to eat with the sprites. Instead, I went to the dining hall with the hope he’d be there and I could reassure myself he was okay, but he wasn’t. Lyra, Pierce, and Dromon weren’t there either.

Bertie, the sprite queen, offered to bring me dinner, but I couldn’t sit in there by myself and have her serve me. Instead, I returned to the kitchen where I ate with her and the other sprites.

They were all abuzz about the tree of unity blooming today. They were the first blooms they’d seen since the curse… that wasn’t a rose.

I’d spent a fair amount of time examining the flowers today, inhaling their scent and grinning like a fool. The outer edges of the flowers were a deep purple hue that grew steadily lighter. The center was so pale a purple it was almost white.

“The bees will come back now,” Bertie said.

“Yum, honey for our tea again,” Zephyr said as he rubbed his belly.

I paused with a spoon halfway to my mouth. “I’ve never seen bees around the roses.”

“They don’t ever go near the roses,” Ridge, Bertie’s husband, said. “They aren’t natural, and the bees sense this.”

“They probably have some residue from the curse they don’t like.” I sipped my soup and returned my spoon to the bowl. “I hope they return for the tree.”

“We could smell the tree all the way in the woods,” Bertie said. “They’ll smell it too. They’ll return from the other kingdoms. They must.”

I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself of this or all of us, but I hoped she was right. The return of the bees would be one more piece of normalcy and one more step toward making Wildwood a better place for those who remained.

I couldn’t break the curse, but I could at least give the remaining residents that.

“Tea?” Bertie asked.

When I nodded, she lifted the pot in the center of the counter we sat around and poured me a cup of the sprites’ tea. The steam wafting from it carried the aromas of cinnamon, chamomile, and something sweet I couldn’t quite place. It was probably some berry from their garden.

Every day was a new adventure when it came to the sprites’ tea. They enjoyed making all kinds for breakfast and dinner, and I enjoyed sampling them.

When dinner ended, I helped dry the dishes while two other sprites washed, and the rest cleaned up. When we finished, Zephyr offered to walk me to my room, but I declined. I was ready for some time alone. I still had Gizzi on my shoulder, but he was sleeping.

I trudged up the stairs, taking my time in the hopes Knox and the others would return, but they didn’t. I wasn’t even sure if he was with them or not.

Finally, though it took me far more time than normal, I made it to my tower room. When I first came here, I opposed Knox placing me in this room, but now I liked it. It was my private little sanctuary in a place where I had nothing.

When I opened the door, Gizzi leapt off my shoulder, scampered to the bed, and curled up on his pillow. I changed into my nightgown, gathered my book on powers, and settled into my chair near the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the dying fields of the kingdom. It was too dark to see them now.

I missed seeing the blood and wolf moons, as well as Karastar, the nearby planet with its red and yellow rings, vast seas, and yellow moon. Instead, only a flat, black sky stretched endlessly across Wildwood.

Tearing my attention away from the windows, I focused on the thick book in my hands. This brown-bound edition was almost a thousand pages long, but like the other books I’d searched through, it hadn’t been of any help to me.

After finding nothing in the pretty yellow book, I’d returned it and stocked up on more tomes. I’d added fantasy and romance books to my pile so no one would spot me carrying only books on powers. I hadn’t touched the fictional books.

I’d also found a book on maps of the kingdoms. I was working to memorize a route from Wildwood to Terra.

The last two books on powers I’d gone through were pretty much a rehash of the first three, and so far, I hadn’t discovered anything to explain me. However, I had learned about hemomancy, a magic focused on manipulating blood inside and outside the body. I suspected that was the blood magic the strigoi possessed, and they were hemomancers.

The books had revealed many different abilities, some of which I knew and some I hadn’t. None of them mentioned the ability to speak to the dead.

Yawning, I flipped the page and lifted the piece of paper I used as a bookmark. I was about to slide it in when the title of the next page caught my attention.

The Forbidden Power

Curiosity piqued, I kept my bookmark in hand as I examined the cramped, wobbly words scrawled into the book. Everything else was nicely typed and in a pretty font.

This passage was handwritten and not glued into the book. Instead, someone had tucked it between the pages on shifting and increased strength.

I pulled the paper free and lifted it closer as I strained to make out the stilted writing. Whoever penned this pushed their quill so deeply into the paper they indented it; in some places, they’d poked holes. It was one paragraph, but it looked as if whoever wrote it had been terrified to do so.

I ran my fingers over the indents and examined the holes. The forbidden power?

Why would any power be forbidden? Who decided it was forbidden? And who enforced that? How did they enforce it?

And why is there only one damn nearly indecipherable paragraph on it?

Squinting, I focused more on the writing as I tried to understand it. Eventually, I started figuring out the different letters and uneven scrawl.

Necromancy

The ability to commune with the dead. The necromancer possesses the ability to speak with phantoms, learn what they’re thinking, and raise the dead. It’s a sinister, lethal, abomination of a power that cannot be allowed to exist.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Briar

My hands shook as I lowered the page to my lap. What did I just read? What did it all mean? And what was a necromancer?

Once, when I was younger, I snuck out of my room and crept down the stairs to the balcony overlooking the ballroom in my mother’s castle. She was throwing a gala for the most powerful and revered night casters in our kingdom.

All the attendees wore masks and costumes that revealed more of their bodies than they hid. Musicians played with little more than tassels and strips of cloth covering their privates.

Servants milled about, carrying trays of food through the crowd. Their sheer black clothes left nothing to the imagination.

Those in masks dined on appetizers, grabbed drinks from passing trays, and laughed as they milled about. When the music suddenly changed, my mother clapped her hands and declared that everyone must leave the dance floor.

As they did so, a group of five men and five women ran out from one of the hallways. Completely nude, they flipped and bounced across the floor.

Entranced by their movements, I gripped the railings while I watched. They used each other to build pyramids, tossed each other in the air, and bent their bodies in ways I’d never known a body could move.

They brought out ropes and threw them across the beams to perform aerial feats that would shatter bones if they hit the ground. Mesmerized, I couldn’t look away as they flipped, twirled, and flew through the air.

When the acrobats finished, the celebrants clapped loudly, and the tumblers mingled with the crowd. A crowd that soon swallowed them as they touched and fawned over the athletes.

Sizzling tension built as the sounds changed. They no longer laughed as hunger palpitated the air, and not all the sounds that came from below were of pleasure as the casters forced the acrobats to contort their bodies in different ways.

Frightened by what was happening, I retreated to my room, but I couldn’t shut out the moans and cries of agony coming from below. I tried to block them out by recalling the way the gymnasts performed such amazing feats; it didn’t work.

Now, those acrobats had taken up residence in my stomach and were flipping wildly about. My heart beat so fast I was sure it bruised my ribs, and my brain couldn’t form a coherent thought as questions pummeled it.

Why couldn’t this power be allowed to exist? Had someone possessed it in the past, or was it a made-up power someone slipped between the pages? But it wasn’t made up if I possessed it. How was it possible I had the ability?

And who wrote this?

They were all very good questions, and unfortunately, I didn’t have answers to any of them.

Gathering myself enough to move, I returned the page to the book, leaving it a little exposed at the top to save my place, before flipping back to the beginning. I searched the book’s opening pages for its publication date, but found nothing.

A date didn’t really matter, as this page was handwritten and placed between two powers that had nothing to do with it. I returned to the paper and the ugly words blazing out at me.

If necromancers shouldn’t exist, then why mention this power? Did whoever write this fear there were others out there? Are there others out there?

After reading this, the possibility both excited and terrified me. I really didn’t want to meet someone who was controlling a bunch of corpses, but I would give anything for some answers!

How did I become a necromancer? Was I a necromancer or something else entirely?

It sure sounded like I was, but maybe I had some variation of it that wasn’t considered forbidden. It wasn’t something casters possessed, but maybe I wasn’t a full-blooded caster.

I still didn’t like the possibility of that, but right now I’d take any explanation. None of this made any sense; instead of gaining answers, all I’d accomplished was a million more questions.

How did I get this ability? I racked my brain for a solution, but couldn’t come up with one.

If my father were a demigod who was also a necromancer, wouldn’t I have had the ability since birth, as all demigods did? Or would it take longer to manifest because I wasn’t a full demigod?

There were rumors that some demigods survived the war and were in hiding. If that was true, and the ability was theirs to begin with, then maybe some of their offspring possessed it.

Does that include me?

I hadn’t found necromancy in any of the books on demigods, but maybe someone removed it. Whoever wrote this had hidden it here, and their shaky letters indicated it scared them to put it to paper. This whole thing was so messed up and confusing.

I needed to talk to my mother, but she was the last eternal in all the kingdoms I wanted to see. Besides, it wouldn’t do me any good to speak with her; she’d never give me the answers I sought.

In fact, she’d enjoy withholding them from me. If she knew anything about this and that I somehow possessed this power, she’d happily eliminate me.

No one can ever know about this.

If they found out, I had no idea what they’d do to me.

My blood ran cold at the idea of Knox having this knowledge. Would he destroy me? Or would he figure out a way to use me to eradicate his enemies?

I planned to destroy the harem and free all the prisoners, but I didn’t want to be a tool for death. This paragraph said necromancers could raise the dead; I had no idea how to do that and didn’t want to learn.

I couldn’t stomach the idea of being surrounded by the dead.

I loved nature, growing things, and bringing them to life. That was where I thrived. So why would I be granted the ability to commune with the dead?

Take it easy, you’re getting ahead of yourself. Maybe you heard Archie because he’s lonely and looking for a friend. Maybe your ability to talk with animals got confused and assumed Archie was one too.

Even I didn’t believe that, but maybe this ability was a fluke. The only way I could learn the answer was to go to the cemetery.

But what if I can hear all the dead in the graveyard? What would I do? What would it mean?

With still trembling hands, I made sure the paper was exactly as I found it, closed the book, and set it aside. I wanted to be as far from it as possible. I contemplated taking it back to the library, but if someone found me skulking through the hallways with only one book in hand, it could raise suspicions.

Tomorrow, I’d put it back exactly where I found it and never touch it again. I should probably try to find out more about necromancers, but I was afraid someone would realize what I was doing and grow suspicious.

First, I’d go to the cemetery. If I didn’t hear anyone else, I wouldn’t have to try to research this ability anymore.

I don’t want to go to the cemetery.

I was whining to myself and sounding like a petulant child, but I really didn’t want to go there. I also didn’t know how I’d get there.

“Shit,” I muttered as I ran my hand through my hair.

It didn’t matter if I wanted to go or not; I didn’t have a choice. And I had to find someone to take me.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Knox

I spent another three days hunting in the forest, with only the shadow dragon as my companion, while I tried to bury the memories that seeing Marina and the casters evoked. Lost in the beast, I also tried to forget about Briar, but that proved impossible.

I certainly couldn’t forget that I’d tried to fuck her to eradicate her mother from my mind. If she hadn’t rebuked me, I wasn’t sure what I would have done to her. Certainly nothing that any woman should endure.

While I tried to forget her, I couldn’t stay away… not completely. I returned often to circle the castle and ensure she was safe.

Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra remained in the castle. They would watch over her, but I still had to be close enough to smell and glimpse her on occasion, even if I couldn’t touch her.

After three days full of slaughter and blood, I finally felt stable enough to be around her without trying to get inside her. I hoped it would last once I saw her again.

When I returned to the castle, and after another very long, hot shower, I found Pierce, Lyra, and Dromon in the dining hall. Outside the windows overlooking the mountains and cliffs, thick gray clouds drifted past. It looked like rain but didn’t smell like it.

My friends resembled those clouds as they picked at their breakfast.

“It’s good to see that you’ve returned,” Pierce said.

There was nothing accusatory in his tone. We’d all been in that harem, all had our scabs torn open and left to bleed after the tribunal arrived. I was sure they were also caught up in their memories and seeking a way to forget them.

“How are you doing?” Dromon inquired.

“Good. I eradicated many of the threats to Wildwood.”

They nodded as they resumed picking at their food.

“I’d like to go hunting today,” Lyra said.

“Go ahead,” I told her. “Where’s Briar?”

“She’s been eating breakfast and all of her meals with the sprites.”

“Since when?”

“Since the arrival of the tribunal and your…”

Lyra was thinking of a way to phrase my disappearance that wouldn’t upset me. My temper hadn’t been the best of late, and unfortunately, my pack had borne the brunt of it.

“Hunting expedition,” Pierce said.

“I see,” I murmured. “How are the three of you?”

“We’re fucking fantastic,” Dromon muttered.

They were the same as me, but healing… gradually. Despite the reopened wounds, there were signs of hope in Wildwood.

“I saw the tree of unity is blooming,” I commented.

Lyra perked up at this. “There were some bees in the great hall yesterday, and silkfangs have found their way into Wildwood.”

I’d almost forgotten all about bees and spiders with everything else going on, but excitement leapt at the mention of their return.

“Amazing,” I murmured.

“The roses are looking much better too,” Pierce said. “Briar asked if she could go into town tomorrow to attend some of the ones there, but I told her not without your permission. The sprites are taking care of them, so it’s not urgent for her to go.”

I should let her check on those plants too. The sprites had managed to keep the roses alive, but they were thriving under Briar’s care.

I had to stop being an idiot and get my shit together if I was going to save my kingdom. Soon enough, I’d see Marina again at the next tribunal meeting; when I did, I couldn’t let her rattle me like this. Otherwise, I’d never destroy her.

A plate of food sat at the head of the table for me, but I didn’t touch it. I was sure Bertie placed it there.

“I’ll take her into town,” I said. “I don’t want her out there alone with everything going on. With an escort, she can go into town.”

“Without you?” Dromon asked.

My teeth ground together as I pondered this. I trusted all of them with my life, but I didn’t want Briar out there without me. However, this wasn’t about me. It was about what was best for the kingdom.

“I will be informed before she leaves,” I said.

The good of my kingdom only went so far when it came to her.

“Fair enough,” Lyra said.

“I’ll find her,” I said.

I turned to leave, but Lyra’s voice stopped me. “We like her, Knox. Not in the beginning, of course, but she’s grown on us. Somehow, she makes it easy to forget who her mother is.”

“That’s part of what worries me about her,” I muttered.

“What does that mean?” Dromon asked.

My head swiveled toward them. “You like her, but do you trust her?”

The three of them exchanged looks. “Probably more than I should,” Lyra admitted.

“I agree,” Pierce said.

Dromon drummed his fingers on the table. “She snuck outside of the wall on me.”

“That she did,” I stated.

“She’s a caster, maybe not a night or day one, but she is a caster. That’s evident with what she’s done around here; she’s brought this place back to life in a way I never dreamed possible while the curse was in effect. Every day, I’m reminded that a caster lives with us by opening my bedroom door and seeing the healthier rosebushes in the hallway.”

“We’re all reminded of that,” Pierce said.

“I know, but for some reason, with her, I don’t mind it. I actually like the reminder. I like the bees and the flowers on the tree of unity, and there are buds on the tree of knowledge now too.”

I hadn’t known that.

“We brought a caster into our home, and she brought hope with her. I shouldn’t trust a damn thing about her, but I do. Do I think she might try to escape if given the chance? Hell yes, but none of us could blame her for that.

“She has more freedom here, but she’s still a prisoner, and we all know how horrible that is. However, I don’t think she’d do anything to harm us, and I know she wouldn’t damage the roses or trees. I trust her completely.”

Dromon was my beta, my brother not by blood but in spirit, and I trusted his opinion. I just didn’t know how to respond.

No one spoke again as I left the room.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Knox

I found Briar in the kitchen, drying dishes before handing them to Zephyr, who flew up to place them in the cabinets. The sprites chattered away, but Briar didn’t speak as she stared out the window over the sink and accepted a plate from Twist, a male sprite with yellow and orange butterfly wings and blond hair.

Merribell, the head chef, hummed as she flew around the kitchen, gathering dishes and taking them to the sink. Bertie and others flittered around, cleaning the counters and clearing the dishes.

When Bertie spotted me, she dropped her rag. She flew over to hover before me as she planted her hands on her hips. “It’s good to see that you’ve finally returned.”

“I was never far from the castle.”

Bertie huffed but didn’t say anything more. She’d been my friend since I was a child, when she’d taken me under her wing, and the wings of the other sprites. They’d provided me a sanctuary in the woods and, in some ways, become more of a family to me than my own, but Bertie was far from happy with me.

“I had to go,” I told her.

My gaze traveled to Briar; that roaring, violent need to be with her didn’t surge back to the forefront, but the beast rolled like a dog exposing its belly for rubs. It was extremely happy to see her.

Fucking asshole.

The beast purred in response. That purring grew louder when Briar looked over her shoulder and spotted us in the doorway.

Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and the pale blue veins in her hands and eyelids were clearly visible beneath skin far paler than the last time I saw her. She looked like she’d lost weight and hadn’t slept in a few days.

“What the fuck?” I muttered.

When the pot Twist gave her slipped from her hand, Zephyr dove to catch it before it hit the ground. With the pot in hand, he frowned at Briar before discovering her attention on me.

His head turned to me, and he glared for a moment before rising to place the pot on the counter. When he said something to Briar that drew her attention away from me, the beast growled.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

“The plants aren’t the only things that require nourishment in this kingdom. Some beings shouldn’t be caged,” Bertie murmured.

I shot her an irritated look. “Why does she look so exhausted?”

“She’s been working hard on the potions⁠—”

“Then that will stop.”

Bertie’s eyes widened, but I didn’t wait to hear her argument as to why that was a bad idea. As I strode toward Briar, Bertie floated out of my way; the thud of my boots drew Briar’s attention back to me.

“Come with me,” I told her.

Despite her exhausted appearance, her shoulders went back and fire flashed through her eyes. “I’m helping the sprites right now.”

“Someone else will take your place.”

“Knox—”

“You’re coming with me, Briar.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

The beast wasn’t at all pleased by this response as the turncoat finally stopped purring. Fuck you, I told it.

“Then I’ll carry you out of here,” I told her.

I’d come back with every intention of not fighting with her anymore and trying to figure out how to move on with her in my life. I couldn’t dump her off somewhere, and the kingdom needed her, which meant I had to learn to live with her.

But she made it so damn difficult to get along with her sometimes. We never used to fight; we’d spent years together playing, laughing, running through the tunnels, and locked in each other’s arms and never once fought.

Now, every time we saw each other, it was a constant battle of wills.

She never fought with Seth, and you’re not Seth anymore.

That stark truth was a dagger to the chest. It pierced through my ribs and straight into my heart, even though I was the one who’d repeatedly told her that.

I wasn’t Seth anymore, I never would be again, and we’d never be the same. Of course we’d fight; we didn’t know each other.

When she remained rigid, I softened a little and extended my hand. “I’m going to take you into town. Pierce said you asked to go.”

She stared warily at my hand before glancing toward Zephyr; then she slid her hand into mine. The knot that had encased my heart eased a little; my next breath was much easier to inhale.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Knox

Her delicate hand was warm in mine. For a second, all I could do was marvel at the small blue veins and the fragile bones in the back of it. And then I closed my hand around hers and met her sea green eyes.

“Are we really going into town?” she asked.

“Yes.” I looked around as I realized she was missing her companion. “Where’s your rodent?”

Her mouth pursed. “Gizzi is not a rodent.”

“Fine, where is your shoulder friend?”

Briar looked around before shrugging. “He’s probably in the pantry scrounging fruit from the sprites. They like feeding him.”

“We love animals,” Twist said with a pointed look at me. Apparently, he didn’t approve of my rodent comment.

I glowered at the sprite who grinned in return. Had everyone in this castle fallen in love with her while I was gone?

Briar whistled, and a second later, the lowleeto poked his head out from the pantry. His front paws held the doorframe as he stood on his hind legs. Food stuffed his puffed-out cheeks.

His eyes narrowed when he spotted me before going to all fours. His claws clicked against the floor as he scampered across it.

He didn’t hesitate before leaping onto Briar’s pants and climbing to her shoulder. Once there, its nearly black eyes remained on me as it settled against her. Unlike Briar, it was clearly fatter than when I last saw it.

“Are we going?” Briar asked, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.

Was Bertie right? Was the reason she looked so exhausted and more fragile because she’d been trapped here, or was something else going on?

I should have come back sooner, but then I would have only been a danger to her and everyone else. I should have told Dromon he could take her outside the castle and into town before I left, but that’s something I never could have let happen.

I hadn’t been stable enough to let her go without me there. Hopefully, some fresh air and time away from the castle would put color back into her cheeks.

“Yes,” I said.

Her grin lit her face, and her eyes sparkled. The beast exposed its belly again, desperate for rubs.

This woman had me wrapped around her finger, and I loathed it as much as I loved it.

She tried to tug her hand free of mine, but I retained it as I turned us toward the door. We were halfway across the kitchen when a sprite flew overhead, spraying water over us.

The others giggled as Zephyr darted out the door with a watering can in hand. My teeth clamped together as Briar laughed and wiped the droplets from her face.

Her reaction was so different than mine. I wanted to grab Zephyr by his feet and smash him into the ground for being an irritating prick, but she looked delighted.

There was a time when I would have been delighted too. When I was younger, I rejoiced in the pranks the sprites pulled and often tried to get them back, but that childish whimsy had ceased to exist.

As she stared at me, Briar’s smile slipped away and the twinkle faded from her eyes. I tried to let my ire go and bask in the laughter of the sprites, but now I was mad at myself for my reaction, the world, and everything taken from me.

Briar still experienced joy, but if she stayed here, would I take that from her?

I should set her free.

And send her where?

Nowhere would guarantee her safety, and I couldn’t set her free. Whether or not she deserved better than me, she was mine.

Tearing my gaze away from her, I led her across the kitchen. When she waved to the sprites, they all waved excitedly back.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Knox

When I finished saddling Magnazius, I led the large, bay stallion out of the stable. Briar stood by the cluster of roses that I assumed were stable boys. When she touched the deep red petals, they leaned toward her like they were seeking some energy she emitted.

“I used to hate roses,” she murmured.

“I remember. You don’t anymore?”

She caressed one last petal before lifting her head to look at me. “It’s impossible to hate them when you know what they are. I’d still gladly burn all my mother’s roses down, though.”

“And one day I will burn them and Marina down.”

She didn’t flinch or get upset about my promise to annihilate her mother. Instead, she focused her attention on the flowers again.

“They respond to you,” I said.

“There’s life in all plants. They respond to everyone who treats them with kindness and respect.”

I didn’t know how to treat the roses. I’d left it mostly up to the sprites, who kept the roses alive during my imprisonment in the harem, but I could never do for these roses what the sprites and Briar did.

I was a destroyer, not a nurturer.

“It’s good to see them looking so healthy,” I said. “You’ve done well.”

Briar blinked at me. “Was that… could it be… a compliment… for me?”

Her hand went to her chest as her lashes fluttered and a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“It was an observation,” I stated, but I couldn’t help being amused by her teasing. Was I actually smiling in return?

“It was a kind observation. Be careful, Knox, I might start to think you have some decency in you after all.”

“Don’t get carried away.”

She chuckled as she shifted her attention to Magnazius. “Which horse will I ride?”

“You’ll ride with me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid. I have no chance of fleeing from you on horseback. You’d hunt me down in no time. You can trust me to ride on my own.”

“I know, but if we encounter any danger, you’ll be with me.”

If any of the other shifters tried to ride with her, I’d kill them, and it would be easy enough to protect her if she rode a different horse, but I wanted her with me for more than that reason. Despite being determined to hate her as we rode to Wildwood from the harem, I couldn’t deny I enjoyed feeling her body against mine.

The beast purred as blood flowed into my shaft. It would be best if I saddled Lyra’s horse for her, but if I were going to spend the day with Briar, then I would enjoy it too.

Briar walked over to Magnazius and placed her hand on his forehead. She brushed back his forelock as she rubbed up by his ears. His head lowered, and his ears twitched as he leaned in to her touch.

Then his head pulled back a little, and he examined her as she studied him. Magnazius was the most intelligent horse I’d ever owned, and it shone from his eyes as his ears flicked back and forth like he was listening to her speak to him.

Then he snorted and she kissed his head.

“He’s a beautiful animal,” she murmured.

I was certain something had passed between them, but I didn’t know what it could be. “He is.”

She gasped as I grasped her waist, plucked her off the ground, and placed her on the saddle. I gripped the pommel and swung myself up to settle behind her.

She didn’t say a word as her back pressed against my chest and I gathered the reins, but the rodent turned to stare at me. If his cheeks weren’t still full of food, he might look a little intimidating.

“Does the rodent have to come with us?” I asked.

“He hasn’t been outside the walls in a while either; he’s as excited as I am about it.”

I had no idea how she could tell this, especially since he didn’t look at all excited. Instead, I believed he was contemplating ripping off my face.

Right back at you, rat.

When I nudged Magnazius, he started walking before breaking into a trot around the stable. His shoes clip-clopped against the bricks as we headed toward the gates, which started opening as we approached.

Briar remained rigid against me, but once we rode outside the castle, she relaxed a little. She’d probably doubted my intention to take her outside the walls.

I ignored the twinge of sadness such a realization caused me. I had every right not to trust this woman and hate her… in the beginning. The time for that had passed, and I had to let the past go.

We rode through the town and down the side roads, checking on the roses the sprites had been tending. If Briar felt some of them required a little extra attention, she asked me to stop and dismounted from the saddle. She made sure to stop at the hall to check on the roses there; they were looking better, but she still spent some time with them.

She informed me that she hadn’t brought the potion with the mushrooms; it would be too much for the roses after the sprites gave it to them. She’d brought the potion without the mushrooms and only sprinkled a few drops on those that required more attention.

Every time she dismounted, I missed the heat and smell of her. When we separated after being together in No Man’s Land, it would feel like I’d carved a piece of myself out and given it to her while I watched her walk away.

I’d never forgotten that hollow feeling, and it tugged at me now. Not with the same insistence or terror that used to accompany it, but it was there.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Knox

Resting my arms on the pommel, I leaned forward as Briar tended to a rose growing out of the chair on Old Mac’s front porch. While I wasn’t one of the kids who’d gathered around that rocking chair to listen to the shifter’s tales, I’d watched them sit in a circle around a man who appeared no older than my father but was rumored to be over two thousand years old.

He’d regale the children with tales of battles, dragons, mysterious creatures, and sometimes love. One day, I slipped into the shadows beside his house and listened while he told a story about a gorgon he’d battled in No Man’s Land. He slapped his knee as his booming voice carried on the breeze; though it was a story about battling to the death, he told it with a grin… most likely because he survived.

I’d contemplated joining the children so I could hear more, but I knew what would happen if I tried. The stories would stop, and they’d all stare at me before retreating like the children in the palace did… just as the stable boys did.

I was the unfavored child, the misfit, the one who was too soft, even softer than his sisters, and too much like his mother. I was the outcast, but I was also the alpha’s son.

Instead of joining them, I waited until the end of the story before sneaking away to the woods. And then I met Briar and never contemplated going to listen to a story again.

Despite not really having known Old Mac, it filled me with sorrow to see him like this. He must have been sitting in his rocker, waiting for the children to arrive, or perhaps they’d already left for the day when the curse occurred. Otherwise, there would be more roses all around him.

When Briar finished, she ran a rose petal gently between her fingers before returning to me. The rat emerged from under a bush near the porch; his cheeks were much less full now that he’d buried some of his stash.

Briar slipped the potion into her pocket as the rat ran up to her shoulder. Once settled there, he removed a piece of red fruit from his mouth and nibbled on it.

The shadows under her eyes had faded a little, and the fresh air had restored color to her cheeks. Her eyes glowed with fresh vitality. Bringing her out here really had made a big difference.

“Do you know who this house belongs to?” Briar asked as I leapt down.

I grasped her waist and set her on the saddle before swinging up to sit behind her again. That sensation of emptiness faded when my arms encircled her; I gathered the reins as she settled perfectly against me.

“Old Mac. He was said to be over two thousand years old.”

“How interesting. Is he the eldest shifter?”

“No, there were a few older than him, but he was the most well-known.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because every morning a group of children would gather on his porch, and he’d regale them with his stories. Almost every child in the kingdom grew up knowing his tales.”

“I’m sure he had the most fascinating stories.”

“I only heard one of them.”

She didn’t speak for long enough that I stopped expecting a follow-up question as Magnazius plodded down the road. When we turned down a side street and headed toward the lake, she spoke again.

“How come?” she asked.

“I wasn’t welcome.”

She twisted her head to look at me. “He wouldn’t let you sit and listen to his tales?”

“Not him, the children wouldn’t have liked it if I joined them.”

“Oh,” she said sadly. “I understand that. The children didn’t like me much either. I was Marina’s daughter, but more than that, she never hid her disappointment and hatred of me. Everyone feared incurring her wrath if they showed me any kindness.”

“While my father never would have abused anyone for being kind to me, everyone knew I was the disappointing offspring. Many shifters didn’t want to be associated with that.”

Anger sparked in her eyes. “That’s awful.”

I shrugged.

“You’re not a disappointment,” she stated.

“You’re not disappointed that I’m not the same man I used to be?”

“I never expected you to be the same man after everything you endured.”

“But you never expected this either.”

“No,” she reluctantly admitted. “But you’re still not a disappointment, and you certainly weren’t one then either.”

I didn’t know how to take that, so I remained silent as she turned around in the saddle.

“Did any of your siblings go to listen to his tales?” she asked.

“No. They had no interest in such things; it’s one of the reasons my father favored them. They preferred to be training, hunting, and preparing for battle.”

“But you always enjoyed a story and getting lost.”

“I did.”

She leaned her head against my chest as the rat stared at me while continuing to nibble on his fruit.

“You know what I’ve wondered?” she asked.

“What?” I murmured as I resisted the impulse to bury my face in her hair and lose myself in its crisp, eucalyptus scent.

“Why didn’t one of the other kingdoms try to take over Wildwood after the curse? You weren’t here to defend it; it would have been easy pickings.”

“Why would they invade a kingdom frozen in time and encased in gray skies? The sprites would have gone into hiding instead of helping them, so everything here would have died, and nothing new would have grown. Not to mention the shadow dragon. I’m sure it kept many at bay before we returned.”

“No one knows of its existence.”

“That’s because it doesn’t leave any survivors. I’m sure some of the other kingdoms sent out scouting missions to see what happened here and how the lack of shifters could benefit them. And I’m just as sure none of them returned.

“The strigoi still attempt to claim some of Wildwood as their own. They would love to live under permanently gray skies, but if they were ever to launch a full attack against us, the other kingdoms would punish them for it.”

“Maybe not the casters,” she murmured.

“Maybe not the night casters, but I have a feeling Cozameal would gladly go against Marina. They don’t like each other very much.”

“My mother doesn’t like anybody other than my sister and a few chosen favorites. Those chosen ones often change as she’s pretty fickle and loves to torture others.”

“That she does,” I murmured.

I expected the reminder of Briar’s mother to unleash a surge of rage, but it didn’t. With Briar in my arms, the fury remained at bay as she soothed the beast and chased away the pain.

“If she tried something against us again, the other kingdoms would go against her… except for maybe the strigoi. No kingdom wants its only alliance to be the strigoi,” I said.

“They are rather… gross. I hate to say that about another kingdom, but they give me the creeps.”

“They give everyone the creeps.”

“I’ve heard they have a kind of blood magic; I don’t know what it is or how it works, do you?”

“They possess hemomancy. If they gain control of you, they can manipulate your blood. It’s said they can explode a heart in the chest of an eternal, if given enough time.”

Her mouth parted as she gazed at me in horror. “How does someone stop them from doing that?”

“Don’t look in their eyes for too long, and don’t let them bite you. Either of those things can allow them to seize control over you. Once they have it, you’re theirs.”

She gaped at me. “I’m never looking at one of them again.”

“You can look for short periods of time without concern.”

“That’s okay; I’m not missing much by keeping my eyes to myself with them anyway.”

I chuckled as we came to the edge of the lake. The thickening gray clouds shimmered in its reflective surface as the breeze created ripples across the water.

On the other side of the lake, gravestones peppered the landscape and the tops of the trees swayed in the wind. When a strand of Briar’s hair tickled my nose, I grasped it to push it down, but somehow it remained clasped in my hand instead. She didn’t notice when I ran the silken strands through my fingers.

When I was younger, the feeling of her head on my chest with her hair spilling across me had always been one of complete bliss. Now, it was a mixture of need and sorrow that created a deep ache in my chest.

Reluctantly, I released her hair to gather the reins. “We should head back.”

“Can we go to the cemetery first? There might be some roses there I could help with.”

I glanced at the darkening clouds but still didn’t scent rain, and there were some rosebushes over there. However… “Is this about that Archibald boy?”

“Maybe a little. I’d like to find his parents, but if there are roses there, they might need help.”

I still had no intention of digging up a child’s grave, but it couldn’t hurt to check on the roses over there. I wasn’t above admitting I also wanted to spend more time with her away from the castle and in her natural environment… out with the wildlife, where she belonged.

Kicking Magnazius in the side, I steered him around the lake and guided him to the headstones sloping down a hill toward the woods. When Briar’s breath sucked in, I knew she understood how improbable it would be for her to find Archibald’s parents amid the countless graves laid out across the rolling hills leading down to the woods.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Briar

My heart sank when I saw the hundreds, no thousands, of tombstones. Had I expected anything less?

The shifters were an ancient species. Of course, there would be more graves than I could count, never mind examine.

“Is this the only graveyard?” I asked.

“Yes. It doesn’t hold all the shifters from the dawn of time. Some prefer to be burned after death, that’s what I want, but others choose to come here.”

“So, the Camdens might not be here.”

“Correct.”

The weight around my heart felt a thousand pounds heavier, but trying to find Archie’s parents wasn’t the only reason I was here. When Knox dismounted, he seized my waist and lifted me from the saddle.

I tried not to marvel at his strength or let the way he moved with such grace rattle me, but I couldn’t keep my hands from curving around the thick muscles of his forearms. A thrill ran through me when my breasts grazed his chest. Little electrical pulses raced across my nerve endings as my breath hitched.

He can hear your heart.

The reminder didn’t help me get my pulse under control. Instead, I focused on the graveyard; it was a mood killer, but it didn’t completely pull me away from Knox. He was solid and real while everything else was so… intangible.

With a sigh, I released him. We were still twenty feet away from the cemetery, but curiosity and dread had me torn between running through the graves and fleeing them.

Once I entered that testament to the dead, everything could change… or it could all stay the same.

I reluctantly stepped away from Knox. When my fingers itched to grab him again, I dug them into my palms.

Gizzi’s claws bit into my shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze before he dashed down my back and into the cemetery. He darted in and out of the headstones before stopping; a second later, he sat on his back legs to nibble the acorn he’d found.

The wind tugged at my hair and blew through the maroon shirt and brown pants I’d donned. Ominous, dark gray clouds blanketed the sky.

When I spotted a drooping rose a few feet away from the first headstone, I strode over to it. As I bent to tend it, a voice drifted to me.

My hand wobbled as I removed the potion from my pocket, uncorked the stopper, and sprinkled a couple of drops on the rose’s roots. The sprites had been tending to this rose, but it could use a little more care.

As the voice continued, the wind snatched the words away from me, but I was sure another voice had mingled with the first. Trying to remain casual, I glanced at where Knox stood at the edge of the cemetery, scanning the headstones.

He wasn’t the one speaking, and he didn’t give any indication he’d heard the voices. It took me a few tries to get the cork back into the bottle before I slipped it into my pocket. Taking a deep breath, I wiped my hands on my pants and rose.

The wind was picking up, but Knox hadn’t suggested leaving, and I wasn’t in a rush to go back to the castle. I loved it there with the sprites and all the plants, but it felt amazing to be outside the walls, free, and… with him.

I kept waiting for his mood to change abruptly. His moods were like the weather, unpredictable and ever-changing, but it was good to be with him.

And incredibly dangerous to my heart.

Taking a deep breath, I plunged my hands into my pockets to keep their shaking from him. When I was sure I could handle this, I strode further into the cemetery.

I didn’t make it past the first row of headstones before the low murmur of more voices filled my ears. As I walked deeper into the graveyard, the voices grew louder. They weren’t shouting or excited; they discussed the two newcomers with the indifference of one discussing the weather.

No one had any idea who we were… including Knox. They discussed the way he moved with such sleek, stalking grace and questioned whether he was the alpha and where the last alpha had gone.

That conversation led to one about where all their loved ones were. No one had come to visit them in so long, and some had turned into roses while they were here. They didn’t question how this came to be, and I wondered if they somehow knew what happened.

I gulped as I kept my jittery hands in my pockets while trying to steady my nerves. If Knox couldn’t see my heart thumping in my veins, then surely he could hear it battering my ribs like a hammer against a nail.

It was a mistake to have come here with him, but I didn’t know how else to get here, and I had to know if Archie was a fluke or if I could hear other dead eternals too. Now that I had the answer, I wanted to flee from it as far and as fast as possible.

If I started running, Knox would take me down, and I’d either have to confess the truth or keep my secret and be locked away again. I didn’t fool myself into thinking I had complete freedom here, but at least I had some and I was safe.

I was trapped amongst the dead and with an old love who could easily transition into an enemy. The complications of my life made my head throb.

I couldn’t see the dead, but their relentless chatter surrounded me. When I stopped next to another rose beside a grave marked Henrietta, I removed my potion.

Though the day was warm, chilly air caressed my nape, and I imagined a phantom leaning over my shoulder to better see what I was doing. If it had breath, I’d feel its ice against my nape… or perhaps that was the phantom’s breath against my skin.

The possibility made the hair on my arms stand on end. Could a phantom be breathing down my neck right now?

With Archie, I imagined it was his arm or chest or some other body part brushing me when I felt the chill of him. Maybe it had been his breath… or the phantom equivalent of it. They were dead; they didn’t require air, but I also shouldn’t hear them.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Briar

“What are you doing to my daughter?” Henrietta demanded in a high-pitched squeal as I rubbed the rose’s petals between my fingers.

The question was so urgent that I almost instinctively replied to it, but I bit my lip in time to keep from doing so. I wanted to let the woman know I was trying to help her child, but couldn’t respond without alerting Knox.

Instead, I carefully removed the potion from my pocket and sprinkled some beneath the rose. The cool air increased against my neck.

“That’s what the sprites use,” Henrietta said. “I saw them with it when they came to tend Betsy before.”

“She’s not a sprite,” another irritated voice retorted.

“She’s not a shifter either. She’s too puny,” a man with a deep voice declared.

I was far from puny, but I wasn’t going to argue with the phantoms.

“A caster perhaps,” someone else said.

“In Wildwood?”

There were so many speaking at once that I couldn’t differentiate one from another anymore.

“Why would any shifter let a caster into Wildwood to tend to ours?”

“According to the sprites, they’re the reason Betsy turned into a rose.”

Henrietta’s voice broke through the confusion. The sprites must have discussed the curse at least once when they came here, so these apparitions knew what happened to their loved ones.

“I’d like to kill her,” another declared.

This was getting ugly fast as a chorus of agreement ran through the cemetery until the furthest voices were shouting their desire to tear me apart. I had to figure out this necromancy thing soon because, if I accidentally raised these dead, I’d be one of them.

“She’s probably poisoning Betsy!” a woman screeched.

“Get away from my daughter!” Henrietta screamed in my ear.

It was so loud, I instinctively winced away from it. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath to steady my jangled nerves, but it was too late… Henrietta had noticed my reaction to her.

“I think she heard me!” Henrietta shrieked.

“That’s not possible, Hetty. You’re a phantom, but you’re not daft.”

“Fuck you, Marshall. I know what I saw. She flinched away from me!” The cold against my neck increased as ice crept up to my earlobe. “You heard me, didn’t you?”

I was fairly certain Henrietta was screaming directly in my ear as ice encased it and my eardrum vibrated, but this time I managed to restrain myself from reacting. Instead, I stoppered the bottle, stood, and turned to Knox.

“I’m going to search for the Camdens’ graves,” I told him.

His head tilted to the side as he frowned at me. “Why are you shouting?”

I stopped myself from gulping as a stone settled in my stomach. I hadn’t realized I’d shouted over the phantoms he couldn’t hear.

“The wind,” I lied, and not well. “I wasn’t sure you’d hear me.”

Thankfully, the wind had picked up. Knox didn’t look convinced by my words, but what other reason was there for me to shout at him?

“You come back here,” Henrietta commanded as I strolled through the tombstones.

I examined the names as I moved and diligently ignored the icy patches of air that I strode through. Am I walking through phantoms?

The idea of it unnerved me, but I couldn’t think of any other explanation for those spots of freezing air.

The voices buzzed around me as Henrietta occasionally let out banshee screams in my ear. I somehow managed to keep myself together every time she tried to startle me by destroying my eardrum, but she refused to give up.

If I could raise the dead, I might bring Henrietta back so I could punch her in the face… if she still had a face.

I didn’t know how that would work. Would they rise as bones? Would they crawl out of their graves as their former selves? Or would they emerge somewhere in between both and come out as rotting corpses with their flesh falling off?

All those things sounded ghastly, but that last option was the worst. The idea of zombies wandering around the kingdom unnerved me. I hugged myself to ward off the goose bumps covering my arms; it was useless.

I wasn’t an eighth of the way through the cemetery when the wind shifted. Knox, who had paralleled me through the headstones, stopped a few feet away and tipped his head back. His nostrils flared as he scented the air.

“There’s a storm coming,” he said. “We have to return to the castle.”

The sky had been darkening all day, but now, over the tops of the trees, night was replacing the day as rolling black clouds hovered in the distance. I’d hoped to find Archie’s parents, but I was eager to leave this place that had started to feel more like January instead of late April. I was ready to be warm again.

I studied the graveyard as I tried to remember my exact location so I didn’t search the same headstones the next time I came. I’d stopped near an old oak tree with a crack racing up its trunk. I could find it again.

Excited to flee the cemetery, I turned and walked back toward Magnazius. Before I made it more than a few steps, Knox shouted something, but the howling wind tore his words away.

I was turning back to him when something hit me in the side with the impact of a runaway horse. When I hit the ground, I grunted as the air burst from my lungs. The unyielding soil pressed against my chest as its earthy aroma filled my nose.

Knox had locked his arms around me, and his solid weight bore down on my back. I had no idea why he’d tackled me and didn’t have a chance to ask before he pushed himself off me and leapt to his feet.

“Stay down!” he barked.

I wiped my wind-tossed hair out of my eyes and the dirt from my nose as I rolled over, but he was already gone. I stared at the dreary sky before pushing myself onto my elbows.

My irritation with him vanished when something soared out of the trees. It was so big that at first I assumed it was the shadow dragon, but then, to my horror, I saw it was a colossal eagle flying toward us.

The beast was easily the size of a horse with a fifteen-foot wingspan and talons bigger than my leg. It released a screech louder than Henrietta’s screams as its black, beady eyes focused on us.

Its arrival had at least caused the phantoms to stop shouting; their attention was probably as riveted on the eagle as mine and Knox’s. I didn’t get a chance to ask how we’d evade this monstrosity before Knox sprinted away from me.

He raced through the cemetery and around tombstones as he ran toward the creature. It screeched again as it bore down on him.

“No!” I cried, but the wind tore the word away.

Knox and the eagle were only feet away from each other when Knox leapt onto a headstone, propelled himself off it, and shifted into the beast. Shredded clothes fell away to litter the ground as his claws smashed into the eagle’s open beak, knocking the creature’s head to the side. The eagle screamed again as another one erupted from the trees.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Briar

“Oh no,” I whispered.

I had to help Knox against these things. Leaping to my feet, I planted them against the ground while I created an energy spell that swelled in my palm as the power of the earth fueled me.

The dark green color of the spell startled me. I’d never created one that color before; they’d always been white, but I didn’t have time to ponder this new development as the eagle swiveled toward me and Knox landed gracefully on all fours.

He glanced over his shoulder at me as the second eagle swooped down on him. When the first eagle came at me with its talons extended, I threw the spell. The fiery green light caught the creature in the neck and knocked it to the side a little.

When it banked to the right, its wing caught the top of a tombstone; the impact sprayed rocks everywhere as it shattered. I threw up my arms to protect myself from the debris as the phantoms shouted, “She is a caster!”

I had no idea why they were so annoyed by that when two giant birds were trying to eat us, but their indignation briefly drowned out the eagle’s screams and the howling wind. I couldn’t handle their incessant clamor as the first eagle turned back toward me while the other homed in on Knox.

In complete beast form, Knox raced through the gravestones as the second eagle dove at him again. Instead of punching it, Knox seized one of its talons as the second talon gripped his head.

“No,” I breathed, but as the word slipped from me, Knox swung up with his massive toe claws and buried them in the eagle’s belly.

The creature screamed, and the first, which had been coming back toward me, twisted its head to look back at its friend. Tipping to the side, the bird shifted its path and swung back toward Knox with a grace I would have believed impossible for the gigantic beast.

As Knox sliced down with his toe claws, blood and guts spilled out of the eagle. The bird screamed so loudly and with such distress, I felt a twinge of sadness for the creature; it was following its instincts and trying to feed, but I’d far prefer to see it die than us.

The first eagle screeched with what sounded like sorrow as the second one flapped and twisted to dislodge Knox. He didn’t let go as he sliced further down the eagle’s belly.

“No!” I screamed when the first eagle bore down on them.

Before it could also attack Knox, a roar filled the air and the shadow dragon swooped overhead. With its mouth wide, the dragon released a wave of black before crashing into the bird and knocking it off course.

The second eagle hit the ground and tried to rise before flopping down again and going still. Its wings moved as the beast climbed out from under it. When the beast shook itself off, blood sprayed everywhere as the first drops of rain fell.

The first eagle hit the ground shortly after. As its large body bounced through the cemetery, it knocked over headstones as it went. It started to rise, then let out an awful, keening noise. Slapping my hands over my ears, I tried to shut out the sound, but it was impossible as it flopped on its back, kicked its talons in the air, and flapped its wings.

No matter how hard it tried, it didn’t rise. That awful sound continued until its talons abruptly shot up and its wings fell open at its sides.

The shadow dragon landed beside it and used its beak to tear flesh from the bird’s belly.

“It eats,” I breathed.

I was so focused on the dragon that I didn’t notice Knox approaching until he shifted back into a man. The blood coating him ran in pink rivulets down his chest as it mixed with the rain. His muscles vibrated, his claws remained elongated, and his pupils slitted.

While the eagles didn’t cause panic to grip my belly, seeing him like this, on the verge of losing control, terrified me. When his hand wrapped around my upper arm, his claws clicked together as he ushered me through the cemetery to where Magnazius remained, watching the scene unfold.

I had the absurd realization he was a very well-trained horse, considering he’d stayed through all of that. Then the loud chatter of the dead filled my ears again.

“What did he shift into? What was that?”

“Who is this man?”

“He’s like no shifter I’ve ever seen before.”

“What is he?”

“And what did the dragon release on the eagle?”

I’d like to know the answer to that too.

“Wha… what…” I swallowed to moisten my dry throat before speaking again. “What did the shadow dragon unleash on it?”

“Despair.”

Knox’s voice was more guttural and distorted than usual. His fangs remained extended even though they weren’t visible.

I jogged to keep up with his brisk pace. “What?”

“Despair. The sorrow of this land created him, and that is his weapon.”

“That’s… That’s…” I craned my head to look back at where the shadow dragon was devouring its prey. This creature was truly something that never existed in the kingdoms before my mother created it. “That’s unheard of.”

“Maybe at one time, but not anymore.”

His clipped words drew my attention back to him as we stopped beside Magnazius. Gizzi scurried up my leg to perch on my shoulder.

Knox’s claws bit into my waist, but I didn’t complain as the rain came down harder, washing away more of the blood covering him. When he lifted me off the ground and plopped me on the saddle, I recalled he’d lost all his clothes when he shifted just before he swung up behind me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Briar

When he settled behind me, his breath sucked in. “You’re freezing.”

So, it wasn’t just my imagination about the phantoms being icy; they really did make me colder. Though I was sure the attack from the eagles, rain, and wind didn’t help at all.

“The wind got a little chilly,” I said.

“Why didn’t you say something?” he demanded.

His voice sounded more like it normally did, but that didn’t fool me into thinking he was calming down. His body remained rigid against mine, and tension hummed through him. Fur lined the back of his clawed hands as he gripped the reins before me.

I huddled into myself and regretted it when Knox snarled. “Fucking eagles. I almost scented them too late.”

“You… you scented them?” I asked through my chattering teeth.

“They almost killed you,” he spat, seeming not to have heard me.

The veins and muscles in his forearms bulged when they tightened around me. His hands cracked as they started shifting toward a paw before he regained control… but not all of it.

“…lost you.”

The wind tore most of his words away as it ripped the last of my hair free from its knot. I didn’t know what he’d said, but fur spread up his arms before rippling away again.

I didn’t dare move; it might cause the beast to unleash.

“We should have left sooner,” he growled. “You should have told me you were cold; we wouldn’t have been there still if you had.”

“This isn’t my fault!” I cried over the wind. “I wanted to see if there were more roses and maybe Archie’s parents.”

“Who’s Archie?”

I realized my mistake as soon as the nickname left my mouth, but this time I was better at covering it up. “Archibald is too formal for an eight-year-old boy. I like to think of him as Archie.”

“Have you thought of him often?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “It saddens me that he’s out there all alone in the woods.”

When another howling blast of wind cut across us, I shivered as I huddled deeper, and Knox pulled me closer to his chest. His warmth helped ease some of the cold, but I couldn’t avoid the wind and rain.

Thankfully, the cold had calmed some of the tension in him; he wasn’t as wound up as before. His claws remained extended, but the fur had vanished beneath the thick bands of muscle once more.

“He’s just a corpse,” Knox said when the wind died down.

“At one time, he was much more to someone.”

He was much more than that to me, but I couldn’t say that to Knox. Instead, I let my words settle between us as he steered Magnazius toward the road at a trot.

Absently, I lifted my hand to wipe the rain away as it plastered my hair to my face, but stopped. It didn’t matter as a deluge poured over us.

My teeth chattered as I hugged myself to try to defrost my bones while I nestled closer to Knox. I should be maintaining my distance from him, especially after everything I was discovering about myself, but I was cold and exhausted.

At one point, he would have been the only one I told about any of this, but now I feared he’d find out. That single paragraph about the forbidden power was in the shifter library after all and was most likely written by a shifter.

Lifting my head, I studied the sky as I searched for any more giant monsters looking to eat us, but I couldn’t see anything through the torrential rain. It sounded like rocks as it pounded against the bricks and hammered the roofs of the nearby homes—homes that were impossible to see through the storm.

It cascaded off the road in a rushing river sweeping toward us. My clothes clung to me, and the chattering of my teeth intensified.

Gizzi burrowed against my neck as he sought some shelter, but there was no hiding from this. I was certain he looked like the drowned rat Knox always accused him of being.

When Magnazius’s hooves slipped on the wet bricks, Knox jerked up the horse’s head.. The howling wind shifted, blasting rain into our faces. Needles of ice pierced my skin as the water pelted me.

All I wanted was to get to the castle and escape this maelstrom before it swallowed us within it, but I had no idea where the castle was anymore or where we were in Wildwood. Thunder boomed so loudly it quaked the ground and my bones. A streak of lightning arced across the sky.

When Knox steered Magnazius off the road, I was shivering too much to ask where we were going. One second, only rain lay ahead of us, and the next, we were only feet from a porch railing.

The conditions were too treacherous to continue, but I didn’t want to stay in anyone else’s house… especially if there were roses in there.

Knox leapt from the saddle and pulled me down.

“Get inside!” he yelled over the deluge.

“What about you?” I shouted back.

“I’m going to find somewhere for Magnazius to shelter. Get inside.”

I didn’t argue with him. He had to get the horse to safety, and I’d prefer not to die out here.

I scrambled up the porch steps as another boom of thunder rattled the windows. Beneath the shelter of the porch roof, I finally had a break from the rain, but water continued to pour off my soaked hair and clothes. Gizzi shivered on my shoulder.

It wasn’t until my hand fell on the knob that I considered the possibility of a locked door. When I turned it, the door swung silently open to reveal the shadowed interior beyond.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Briar

Shadows encompassed the home, making it almost impossible to see anything within. Lifting my hand, I attempted to snap my fingers, but they were too frozen to cooperate. It took three tries before I finally made enough sound for the flames to leap to life in the lanterns lining the walls.

I marveled over this fantastic power the shifters had incorporated into their kingdom. In the castle, the sprites usually lit the candles; it was something they enjoyed doing because they loved to fly. Every room I’d entered was already lit, until the meeting with the tribunal. I was glad I’d seen Knox perform this neat trick.

The home was a tidy, small cabin with an open floor plan, revealing the kitchen, sitting area, and bed in the main living space. Two chairs sat before the fireplace; a basket of yarn and knitting needles sat on a table beside one, and a book lay open on the arm of the other. Neatly stacked wood waited beside the empty fireplace.

A layer of dust covered the furniture, but the shifters who once lived here had taken pride in their home. I was sure that if they were still here, there wouldn’t be any dust.

Thankfully, I didn’t see any roses. It was crazy, but I felt like they’d be judging me if they were here.

Water plopped onto the hardwood floor, pooling beneath my boots. I had to find a towel to clean up, but I was afraid to drag more water across the floor.

Gizzi scampered down from my shoulder and onto the floor. His wet fur plastered onto his face, nearly obscured his eyes; he looked like a sad little hairball as he huddled there before shaking himself off.

I almost chided him for sending water everywhere, but he had to get dry. Bending, I tried to ignore the freezing clothes clinging to me in the most uncomfortable of ways as I untied my boots and set them beside the door.

A board creaked beneath my feet as I approached one of the two closed doors in the home. I opened it to reveal the bathroom beyond.

I almost clapped and jumped for joy when I spotted the tub; a hot shower would be better than heaven. My bubble of happiness popped when I recalled I had nothing to change into. It would be worse to get all warm and toasty only to put my wet, frozen clothes back on.

With a sigh, I entered the bathroom and discovered the linen closet inside. I opened the drawers until I found some towels and pulled them free. I wrapped one around my hair and the other around my chest before carrying a couple back out to dry off the floor. The towels did little to warm me, but they were better than nothing.

I paused to kneel beside Gizzi. With a smaller towel, I dried him off. He nuzzled against my hand and the towel as I worked my way around him. When I finished, his hair stood up as if he’d been electrocuted; I bit back a laugh I knew he wouldn’t appreciate and handed him another smaller, dry towel.

He dragged the towel over and set it beneath one of the chairs before burrowing into it. His head poked back out from the white linen, but the rest of him remained nestled warmly inside.

“I’ll stay off the bed until I’m fully dry,” he told me.

I rose and walked over to the puddle by the door. “Good idea.”

“You heard the voices in the graveyard too, didn’t you?”

I knew he was talking about the phantom. “I did.”

“You can’t let him know.”

I knew he was talking about Knox. “I know,” I assured him.

Gizzi stared at me for a minute before lowering his head. He yawned and closed his eyes.

I took the other towels over to the door to clean up the puddle there. Once I finished, I placed the towels near the door so Knox could step on them when he entered.

Returning to the bathroom, I grabbed another towel for Knox to use when he returned. A black coat hung from a hook next to the door, and I placed the towel beside it before turning to examine the home again.

There was only one more space to explore. I crossed through the small kitchen with its light wood cabinets and icebox. A yellow dish towel hung on the white farmhouse sink, and the remnants of wilted flowers hung from the yellow vase beside the sink.

The remaining closed door was in the back of the kitchen, next to the icebox. I opened the door to discover a small pantry, loaded with canned and neatly labeled fruits, vegetables, jellies, pickles, and other assorted foods.

My stomach rumbled in response, but I couldn’t take food from this place. It felt too morbid and too much like stealing.

More dust covered the tops of the jars, but I suspected the sprites spent some time cleaning the homes in town. Otherwise, this place would be a lot dirtier, and there would be rotten food. They couldn’t tend to them often, but they did the best they could.

Retreating to the kitchen, I opened the icebox and discovered it was empty. The sprites wouldn’t take the time to gather ice; they simply didn’t have it. I’d have to make sure I told Bertie and the others how wonderful it was they took such care of the shifters’ homes.

I was shutting the chest when the door swung open and Knox stomped inside. His fiery orange eyes instantly latched onto me. Rain ran down his face in rivulets that emphasized every dip and hollow of his thick muscles.

The man was a specimen of strength and vitality. Power emanated from him, and my mouth went dry as I recalled how he’d taken down the colossal eagle. He’d done it with such grace and confidence and without any hesitation.

I could only stand and stare at him as my pussy clenched and a deep ache sprang to life within me. I’d been so focused on getting everything taken care of inside the cabin that I hadn’t considered what it would be like to be trapped in this place with him.

The rain hammered against the roof as the wind howled down the chimney, creating a whistling sound within the bricks. It was a typical spring storm for the kingdoms, but I normally wasn’t trapped in a cabin with a hulking beast of a man when they occurred.

I had to get out of here before I jumped on him… except I had nowhere to go, which was the constant conundrum of my life.

CHAPTER FORTY

Briar

Finally gathering my wits enough to stop standing there and gawking like an idiot, I pointed at the hooks near his head. “I put a towel next to the door for you.”

“Why are you still wearing those soaking wet, cold clothes?” he demanded instead of reaching for it.

“I have nothing else to wear.”

Knox scowled at me. “You have towels, and there’s a dresser, probably full of clothes, right there.” He pointed at the wooden dresser against the wall on the right side of the bed. A matching armoire was on the other side of the bed.

“I can’t wear someone else’s clothes,” I said. “It’s bad enough we’re invading their house.”

“So you’re willing to freeze to death?”

“I won’t freeze⁠—”

“I can hear your teeth chattering from here. Get those fucking clothes off.”

“This guy’s a real peach,” Gizzi muttered into my head. “What did you ever see in him?”

“He wasn’t always like this,” I told him. “He used to be very different.”

“I should hope so, because he’s a real asshole now.”

I agreed with that, but he was an asshole who made my heart race and my palms sweaty.

“Are there any roses in here?” Knox asked.

“No.”

“Then we’re not invading their house. I’m sure, if we ever break the curse, they won’t mind that we took shelter here. Get undressed.”

His cock swung between his legs when he strode toward the fireplace. The urge to bite his taut ass hit me, and I had to look away as heat flared through my cheeks.

“I’m out of here,” Gizzi said. “I’m tired of seeing his naked ass.”

“I’m not.”

Those words resonated through my mind before I registered that I was going to respond to him. The burn in my cheeks increased until I was sure my face was on fire.

“Gross,” Gizzi griped as he dragged his towel toward the pantry. “Don’t forget I’m in here before you leave.”

“You don’t have to go.”

“If I keep seeing his swinging dick, I’ll bite it.”

I choked on the laughter that nearly erupted from me, but managed to stifle it as Gizzi released his towel, jumped onto the counter, and hopped over to the pantry door. Landing on the handle, he pushed down before falling to the floor.

The door creaked open as Gizzi reclaimed his towel and dragged it into the shadowed interior. “I can get it open from the inside too. Scream if you need me, and I’ll gladly help you.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him.

I hope, but I didn’t add that last part to Gizzi. He wouldn’t leave if I did, and as much as I dreaded being alone with Knox, I also craved it.

Gizzi grunted as the door shut again with a click. Knox glanced toward it as he stacked logs in the fireplace.

“Did the rat just go in there?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Knox draped an arm over his bent knee as he frowned at the closed door before looking to me. Thankfully, some of the red from my face had faded by then. He didn’t say anything before placing another log in the fireplace.

Rising, he opened a box on the mantle and removed some matches. He shoved some kindling between the logs and lit it.

It took a bit before the logs started smoking and flames enveloped them. I was too far away to feel the heat yet, but Knox held his hands over the fire before turning to me.

“Get out of those clothes,” he said gruffly. “Or I’ll rip them off you.”

I clutched the towel against my chest as I looked toward the dresser. He would strip them from me. There was no way I could walk around naked with him; it would be the worst idea ever, and one that would surely have me on my back with my legs in the air in no time.

That sounds amazing.

No! That would be bad. VERY, VERY BAD!

The sane, logical part of me was right, but I ached to be touched and fucked and held by him again. Get it together, Briar, and MOVE.

I despised the idea of rummaging through someone else’s things, but it was either their clothes or no clothes. Dragging my feet across the floor, I trudged to the dresser and reluctantly opened the drawers.

“Do you know who lived here?” I asked as I pulled out a heavy yellow sweater and a pair of fluffy, gray wool pants.

“No.”

If it weren’t for the cemetery and the rain, the clothes would be much too warm for the spring, but the chill had seeped into my bones and wouldn’t let go. I found a pair of oversized wool socks and closed the drawers.

“Do you want me to find something for you to wear?” I asked.

“No.”

I almost asked him what he had against clothes, but bit my tongue. He was a shifter; even when they weren’t in animal form, they were still one at heart.

And his animal was the most twisted, wild one ever to exist.

Without another word, I slipped into the bathroom, turned on the faucets, and sighed as steam filled the air.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Knox

The cabin was much warmer by the time Briar finally emerged from the bathroom. A cloud of steam followed her out the door before dispersing.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her as her damp hair cascaded in dark waves around her shoulders before tumbling down her back. The clothes were much too big on her; she’d rolled the sleeves up to her wrists and the bottom of the pants up to her ankles, but she couldn’t fix the baggy fit hiding her lush body.

I’d managed to mostly get the beast back under control after the eagle attack, but now it surged back to life as it panted within me. I could never fully cage the monster while around her, as both it and the man wanted nothing more than to fuck her until she couldn’t walk.

My shaft stirred at the idea of stripping her clothes and burying myself inside her. She’d be as tight and wet as I remembered.

I shook my head to clear it of memories before studying her more carefully. The hot water had brought some color back to her face, and the shadows under her eyes were gone, but she couldn’t hide her lost weight. I’d felt the prominence of her spine and ribs while riding with her.

She hugged herself as she gazed around the room, unwilling to meet my eyes. She’s keeping something from me.

While I didn’t think it was that she’d indeed revealed our plans to her mother, my instincts said she was hiding something. I tossed another log on the fire before rising.

My movement drew her attention, and her eyes flicked to my erection before darting away. When her tongue wet her lips, my balls clenched and the beast growled. How badly we both wanted that delicate, pink tongue lapping the head of my cock.

I’d vowed never to stick my dick in her again, but I’d gladly skull fuck her. Oh, who was I kidding? I’d fuck her anyway I could get her.

The beast purred in response.

I ground my teeth together as she huddled deeper into herself. She was keeping something from me, and all I could think about was entangling her hair around my wrist and pumping into her until she was begging for release.

I’ll fuck her until she cries, and then I’ll fuck her some more.

I inwardly recoiled a little as that idea rose unbidden from the deepest recesses of my mind. I didn’t want to make her cry. Scream my name, yes, but not her tears.

Why did I think that?

Because you’re completely fucked in the head.

And that was the entire truth of it. I had to get images of screwing her out of my mind and figure out what she was hiding.

“Come sit by the fire,” I commanded gruffly.

Briar hesitated before approaching with the wariness of one advancing on a dragon. I didn’t blame her for that.

With care, she perched on the edge of a chair. Her back remained ramrod straight as she held her hands out to the fire.

I settled into the other chair and leaned back as I stretched out my legs and crossed them at the ankles. While I relaxed into my seat, she remained rigid.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like some clothes?” she asked.

I grunted out a laugh. “I’ve literally been inside you, Briar. There’s no room for modesty here.”

Her head turned stiffly toward me. “Do you always have to be so crude?”

I clasped my hands and rested them on my belly. However, I couldn’t hide the stress building within me. Did she always have to smell so good?

“I’m simply being honest,” I told her.

“You can be honest without being an asshole.”

“Maybe, but why bother? Do you not like reminders of our past?”

“It’s you who doesn’t like reminders of our past… or at least of the man you used to be.”

I shrugged, but her words had struck a nerve. “I’m fine with who I am.”

She stared at me before shifting her eyes to the fire. She fiddled with the sleeves of her shirt, rolling one side down and then up again.

“Are you fine with who you’ve become?” I asked.

“I don’t think I’m much different than the girl you knew.”

Oh, she was very different. Not as much as me, but she didn’t smile as often. And when she looked at me, it was with a newfound suspicion in her eyes, yet there was also a yearning that spoke more words than she ever could.

Her body had also ripened into something more womanly. Something I wanted to get my hands on so I could trace every one of her curves.

“I think you’re different,” I said.

“You think I’m a liar.”

“No, I don’t.”

Briar’s head swiveled toward me. Her lips parted on a breath, but she didn’t say anything.

“I believe your mother did find out about us some other way; I don’t know how, but I don’t think it was you,” I told her.

She blinked at me as if she were trying to make sure I wasn’t a hallucination. “Why do you believe me now?”

I pondered how to answer this. When I settled into this chair, I hadn’t expected the conversation to take this turn. A part of me wanted to doubt her because that’s what I’d done for years, but if I were honest with myself, I believed her.

“I watched you go through your Needing; you’re not like the other casters,” I said.

“I already told you that.”

“And I could tell you the many horrific things your mother and the other casters told me… about you… while they had me imprisoned, raped, and tortured. I’m sure you can understand it took some time for me to move past that.”

She winced and squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again. “I can,” she whispered.

“I won’t tell you those things; they’re better left in the past.”

I stared into the fire as my claws dug into my hands. Blood welled in my palms as rain and wind battered the cabin.

“She put you there because of me,” she whispered.

“My choices put me there; we both knew what we were doing could destroy us.”

“I thought about you every day. I spent countless hours plotting a way to save you and then imagining that once I did, we’d run away together as we’d planned. It was the only thing that got me through all those years.”

“I spent countless hours plotting how to ruin you.”

She winced again and pulled her hands away from the fire. I didn’t like that she looked much smaller and more fragile than I’d ever seen her before.

“I bet you spent a fair amount of time wishing you never met me,” she said.

“I did,” I admitted. “But not now.”

“I’m still the reason you lost everyone and everything you knew. I’m the reason your kingdom is cursed.”

“And that is also because of my choices. Were we reckless and foolish when we were younger? Yes. But we were in it together.”

And if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change anything.

I kept that astonishing realization to myself. My kingdom was in ruins, and I’d spent seven years as a plaything for the casters. I should want everything to be different, but I didn’t.

Before the harem, I’d experienced the only true happiness I’d ever had in my life… with her. I’d loved and been loved in return. We’d healed each other, made each other stronger, and given more to each other than we took.

Because of Briar, I knew what it was like to feel true joy, and while things had gotten completely fucked-up, I could still recall what that felt like.

If I could change anything, I would have taken her away sooner, so none of this would have happened. And Marina still would have cursed Wildwood.

Once she and my father realized we were missing, they would have put the pieces together and turned on each other like rabid dogs. And then they would have hunted us to the ends of the kingdoms… wherever that was.

I would have kept her safe from them and gone so far away that none of this would have mattered. Those plans were selfish, especially since many would have died in the fallout from our actions, but we’d both been too young, too in love, and too foolish to consider the consequences. We’d only been focused on us and our freedom.

“My mother did awful things to you.”

“You’re not your mother,” I told her.

“I know.” Her haunted eyes met mine. “She’s going to come for me.”

“Without their collective power to back them up, the casters won’t go against the tribunal.”

“You underestimate how much my mother hates me and wants to see me suffer. My mother placing you in the harem had more to do with me than her catching us together. She knew she sliced me to pieces by doing that to you. You were caught up in her wrath.”

“Why does she hate you so much?”

Briar shrugged. “I don’t know; she always has. She tried to abort me, but for some reason, she couldn’t.”

I frowned at this revelation. Everyone knew the night casters could work that kind of magic, and they were the ones to go to if the need should arise.

“How is that possible?” I inquired.

“How do I know? I was nothing more than an embryo, and then a baby she hoisted off on every wet nurse and nanny she could find. She told them not to treat me kindly, and they didn’t.

“I don’t know why she didn’t throw me out in the woods to let me die there; maybe she was afraid I’d somehow make my way back to her, or maybe she believed the gods were the reason she couldn’t abort me and was scared of incurring their wrath. She never told me why she didn’t kill me outright; although, there were many times when she told me that she wished she had.”

Her mother was an evil bitch; I’d never doubted that, but I couldn’t imagine inflicting such cruelty upon a child. My father never hid his disappointment in me, but he was never purposely vicious in such a way.

“And you never knew your father?” I asked.

She’d told me that years ago, but it could have changed while we were apart.

“She said he was a priest, but I never truly believed her. If he were a priest, he would have come to visit, as Rosalie’s father did. And she would have told me if he’d died.”

“Does she know who he is?”

“I believe so.”

“And no one else from Nightshade told you anything about him?”

“I doubt she told anyone the truth about my heritage.”

“Hmm,” I murmured.

I retracted my claws and wiped the blood staining my hands on the towel Briar had hung by the door for me. I pondered her father… the missing entity in her life that Marina preferred to keep a secret.

Why?

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Knox

I looked at the closed pantry door as I recalled the way that rodent followed her everywhere. Not to mention her strange behavior in the woods before she uncovered the grave and the way she’d acted in the cemetery earlier.

“You and the rat are very close,” I said.

The abrupt change in conversation caught her off guard, and it took a few seconds for her to reply. “He’s not a rat, and he deserves respect. He’s my friend.”

My eyebrows rose at the vehemence of her words. “He’s your friend?”

“Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot on the ground. “I was there when the basilisk tried to eat him. I gave him food, and he returned to stay with me. He helped me through my loneliness and fear while I was locked in your tower.”

“A tower you refuse to leave.”

“I will not be broken by my mother or you.”

“Believe me, Briar, if I intended to break you, I would.”

“No, you wouldn’t. I survived her, and I’ll survive you. I can get through whatever comes my way.”

I admired her strength and determination, but I could snap her like a toothpick, yet I wouldn’t, and she knew this.

I could do worse to her by caging her completely, but not even I was that heartless… at least not when it came to her.

She represented a large chink in my armor, and I hated it. If she ever betrayed me, I’d tear her wings off and smash them into the ground.

“You don’t want to test me, Briar.”

“Maybe it’s me you don’t want to test, Knox.”

I chuckled as I drummed my fingers on the wooden armchair. “What are you hiding?”

She recoiled a little before she quickly recovered. It was already too late by then. I’d clearly hit a nerve.

“I’m not hiding anything from you!”

The sound of her heart cut through the beat of the rain as I held her gaze. “You’re lying,” I stated.

“So we’re back to that again,” she spat. “It’s funny, you say I’m lying now, but you also accused me of lying before. Is that your favorite thing to do when it comes to me?”

I’d been so convinced she was the reason I’d suffered and my kingdom was cursed that I hadn’t wanted to believe her before and didn’t study her reaction to my words. I did now, and she was scared.

“You’re determined to believe I’m a liar,” she said. “Have you ever stopped to think maybe you’re someone I don’t trust?”

Those words were like a dagger straight to my heart. We could never go back to the way we were, but I hadn’t expected her not to trust me.

Why would she? You’ve never given her a reason to since taking her from the harem.

“So you admit you are hiding something from me,” I stated. “And I’d think hard before replying. Lying will get you nowhere.”

“Neither will telling you the truth,” she retorted. “You didn’t believe the last truth I told you… until now.”

“Briar,” I said in a warning tone.

“Knox,” she shot back in a mocking one.

The beast snarled within me; it didn’t like being taunted in such a way, but I understood… even if I wanted to choke her for it.

“Something changed after your Needing,” I stated.

She didn’t respond as she kept her chin high and stared into the fire.

“You developed…” I trailed off as I pondered what I’d seen from her since her Needing. “Your powers are stronger; that’s evident in your potions.”

“How would you know?” she asked. “You’ve never seen my potions at work before I came to Wildwood.”

I ignored her words while I continued trying to work everything out for myself. “You’re not bound to the sun or moon gods, and while you’ve always taken energy from the earth, it’s clear you’re absorbing more from it now.”

“Again, you knew this.”

“Your eyes glowed when you touched the tree of knowledge after your Needing.”

Her mouth pursed.

“I haven’t seen it happen since,” I told her. “But I didn’t imagine it.”

“I didn’t know that happened.”

“It’s not like you can see your own eyes.”

“What’s your point, Knox?”

“My point is that more changed within you after your Needing than I realized.”

I looked pointedly at the closed pantry door. “The rat⁠—”

“His name is Gizzi, and he’s my friend. Please stop calling him that.”

The alpha part of me and the beast both snarled at her tone and words. “I don’t take commands.”

“I didn’t give you a command; I asked you to please stop disrespecting my friend.”

We glared at each other before Briar stood and stalked over to the window. She peered out, but there was nothing to see beyond the curtain of rain.

“The rodent,” I said pointedly. “Never leaves your side.”

She spun toward me. “Well, look at you using those super honed shifter senses to state the obvious.” She gave a long, slow clap while she continued talking. “Bravo, Knox, bravo.”

I launched from my chair and stalked toward her. She didn’t move or try to run; there was nowhere for her to go, but her eyes darted around the room.

When my hand crashed into the wall beside her head, she jumped a little but didn’t cower. “I am the alpha of this kingdom, and you will treat me with respect.”

Her head tipped back as she scowled at me while I towered over her. Determined to make her back down, I crowded closer.

While I’d anticipated her backing away from me, she didn’t. Her breasts brushed my chest with every breath she took, but she didn’t retreat.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Knox

“My respect has to be earned; it’s not freely given because you’re bigger and stronger than me,” she declared, though her voice trembled.

“You have no idea what you’re fucking with right now.”

“I have every idea what I’m fucking with,” she retorted. “I’m not afraid of you. What more can you do to me? I’ve already lost everything… everything, including the man I loved. I have no one and nowhere to go.

“Your kingdom is in ruins, but you still have a place to call your own, a pack, the sprites, and a home. I don’t care what you do to me because I have nothing for you to take.”

I didn’t remind her that I could take the rat, as her words had knocked some of my growing fury out of me. Even the beast retreated a little.

Her shoulders heaved with every breath she took, and my gaze fell to the ripe swell of her breasts against her sweater. I longed to slice that sweater open, push her to her knees, and thrust my cock between her tits while she tongued the head of it.

The image was so consuming that I rested my hand on her shoulder before realizing what I was about to do. She was lost and wounded, and I was on the verge of forcing myself on her.

I was many things… including a monster… but I wasn’t that. The casters had completely changed me, but they would never turn me into one of them.

Jerking my hand away, I retreated a few steps. I had to get away from her if I was to regain control of myself.

When I felt stable enough to talk again, I stared out one of the windows as I ran my hand over the stubble on my head. “I think you underestimate how much the sprites enjoy having you here.”

I should also tell her that my pack liked her too, but I couldn’t. Words were too difficult as I remained rattled by the impulse.

“That still doesn’t make Wildwood my home,” she said. “You’ve made it very clear I’m a way for you to get back at my mother, a pawn, and something for you to use.”

Taking a deep breath, I felt steady enough to look at her again. “You can’t be a pawn if you’re no good to me against your mother, and you can’t break the curse.”

“So I’m just a prisoner.”

“You just said you have nowhere else to go.”

“I don’t, but I also don’t have complete freedom here.”

“And you never will. Wildwood is too dangerous for you to be outside the castle walls alone. You will always have someone to protect you; I’ve instructed my pack to allow you outside the walls if you request it, but one of them will go with you. That will never change.”

Hope bloomed in her eyes as she took a small step toward me. Unwilling to let her get any closer, I retreated a little further.

“You have?” she asked.

“Yes. You have use to us.”

She recoiled a little as hurt replaced the hope. “I have use,” she muttered.

“And you will tell me what you’re hiding from me.”

Briar crossed her arms over her chest. “You can command me all you want, but I’m not telling you anything.”

“Then you admit there’s something more going on since your Needing and that you lied to me before?”

“You love twisting everything I say back to me being a liar. Yes, there is something more going on. No, I didn’t tell you the truth because I have no intention of telling you anything. I’m of use to you, but you’ve done nothing to earn my respect and trust. Maybe, if you ever do, I’ll reveal my truth to you, but until then, you’ll have to accept that you won’t know.”

“You just love pushing me,” I growled.

I stepped toward Briar but didn’t go any closer. I didn’t trust myself near her; every part of me wanted to grab her and bend her to my will, to show her I was the dominant one. But I was frightened of what I’d unleash to do so.

“No, you wanted the truth, and I’m giving it to you. It’s not my fault you don’t like it,” she replied.

I dug my claws into my palms as my fangs extended. The beast swelled within me, and orange fur spread across my arms. When Briar’s eyes fell to my arms, she edged away.

“You should fear me,” I told her. “I’m not one to fuck with.”

She wisely refrained from saying anything more. My gaze fell to her breasts again as the beast rolled within me, seeking to break free and claim what belonged to us.

When my cock swelled, Briar gulped and edged farther away as she eyed it like a poisonous snake.

“I’m not willing,” she whispered.

“Neither was I.”

“Knox—”

Before she could say anything more, I was on her. She gasped as my hand encircled her throat.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Briar

I didn’t see him move and didn’t know he was before me until his claws pricked my skin. They didn’t pierce it, but they pressed deep enough that I was aware he could tear my throat out before I blinked.

I didn’t dare move. Any movement might trigger an explosive response from the beast… or the man.

I’d pushed him too far; it was something I never did with Seth, but we’d never argued. Now all I did was fight with this looming, overpowering, overbearing asshole of a man.

A part of me hated him for having replaced Seth, but I couldn’t deny that another part craved him. I could tell him, and myself, I wasn’t willing, but his touch, while bordering on lethal, also set fire to my blood.

Knox’s orange eyes burned as they filled my vision. I missed the Caribbean blue color they used to be, but this fiery orange was also beautiful, even if it was a constant reminder of everything I’d lost and everything he’d never be again.

His face, only mere inches from mine, was different than the boy I’d loved. Age had matured it into that of a cold, unrelenting man. The black stubble covering his head and jaw only added to his aura of dangerousness.

When his gaze fell to my breasts, hunger prickled along my skin as quick, small breaths caused my chest to rise and fall. His nearness, his scent, and the power emanating from him hardened my nipples. My breasts begged for his touch.

“Do you know what I want to do to you?” he growled.

As he leaned closer, his erection made that clear as it prodded my belly. My stomach fell at the same time as a fierce ache spread between my thighs.

Even if I could speak, I wouldn’t. The movement of my throat might cause his claws to pierce my flesh if I tried.

“Do you know how badly I want to see that pretty, defiant mouth wrapped around my dick, taking it deeper and deeper until you choke on it.”

A fire already burned within me, but those words turned it into an inferno—one that only he could quench.

“You were always so good with that tongue of yours,” he continued. “The way you could suck and lick and fuck.”

He groaned the last word.

“I much prefer it when your mouth is occupied instead of running,” he said.

Despite the need clawing at me, his words ignited my ire again.

“Maybe if you weren’t always such a prick,” I said quietly and from between my teeth, so my throat didn’t move too much, “I’d taste you again, but every time you open your mouth, I want to shove my fist into it.”

A cruel smile curved his lips. “I can smell your arousal, Briar. No matter the words you spew, I know the truth.”

“My body reacts to you. I’ll never deny that, and it probably always will, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means everything. You know”—he lifted his free hand to run a claw down the front of my sweater, cutting it open as he went—“my body wouldn’t react in the harem. I believed they’d kill me for it, but knowing that they weren’t you kept me from getting hard. So, to save us both, the beast emerged whenever they came for us. He satisfied their twisted desires.”

I sucked in a small breath at this revelation as cool air caressed my chest. I hadn’t bothered with a binding; what was the point? Now, I would have given anything for that extra barrier between us as he drank me in.

“You can deny everything, but if you truly didn’t want me, your pussy wouldn’t be dripping right now. I bet you’re throbbing with your need for me.”

By the time he said the last word, there was something far more animal than man about him. He was feral and spiraling, and I was the thing he wanted to devour.

His claw grazed the sensitive flesh of my belly before slicing the sweater the rest of the way open.

“The man never desired any of those casters, and neither did the beast.” His claw slid leisurely up my chest. The teasing caress left me weak-kneed and aching for more while my mind spun at his revelations. “Determined to survive, the beast did what was necessary.”

His eyes met mine as his claw circled my nipple. His other hand remained locked around my throat. “I was never a man when they fucked me.”

What he’d endured and what my kind did to him was so heartbreaking that it brought tears to my eyes.

He frowned at me. “Are you crying for yourself or me?”

“For you,” I whispered. “For me and for everything we’ve lost, but mostly for you.”

“Hmm,” he murmured as he watched his claw circling my nipple. “It’s not your tears I crave, Briar. They won’t satisfy me.”

When his hand on my throat constricted, I gulped. My head tipped back to try to keep my air supply open, but he didn’t cut it off.

“You’re more beautiful than I remember,” he said.

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t speak while he continued to study me.

“You’ve turned into a woman,” he said. “Who’s begging to be fucked.”

His clawed hand dipped down to the edge of my pants. He gripped the button.

“How wet are you?” he inquired. “If I were to slide my hand between your legs, would I find your pussy also weeping for me?”

He would, but I wouldn’t utter those words.

“Is it begging for my tongue or my cock?” he asked as his face moved closer to mine. “Answer me.”

I gulped as his fingers stopped moving and his claws pricked my flesh again. “Both,” I admitted.

I couldn’t lie when we both knew the truth.

That cruel smile curved his mouth again as his eyes gleamed. With a small tug, he pulled the button free; it clattered as it bounced across the floor.

“I remember how good you felt and how deep you took me. And now here I am, bathed in the musky aroma of your arousal, the rapid beat of your heart, and your eyes as you watch me.”

When he retracted his claws to slip his hand inside my pants, I gasped as his finger slid through my wetness before circling my clit. The ache within me became a physical pain; I didn’t know if I wanted him to stop or continue.

If he stopped, I might die. If he continued, I might lose myself completely.

“I thought you were never going to claim me as your mate again,” I managed to bite out.

He chuckled. “I don’t have to claim you to fuck you. I did that countless times before I marked you.”

Sadness swelled within me. He was right about that, but at least I’d known there was love between us all those other times.

When we first started sleeping together, he was too young to mark me. Somehow, the animal he was meant to be broke free during our last time together and claimed me as his. That animal ceased to exist when the beast took its place.

Although I wanted to cry from the sheer ecstasy of what he was doing to me, I somehow found the strength to grasp his wrist. His eyes narrowed on me.

“Stop,” I whispered.

“You want me.”

“I do, but you’ll hate yourself and me afterward.”

He released a harsh bark of laughter. “I stopped hating myself years ago, my prickly little thorn. Fucking you again is the least of my many evils.”

“Knox—”

Whatever I was about to say ended abruptly when his mouth crashed down on mine.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Briar

At first, I was too stunned by the brutality and suddenness of his fierce kiss to react, but then I tasted blood.

Whether it was him or me who was bleeding, I didn’t know, but it slid down my throat as his tongue invaded my mouth. The coppery taste wasn’t unpleasant as I swallowed more.

His hand briefly tightened on my neck before easing; his claws remained a sharp reminder of how easily he could kill me. When his tongue found mine, I tried to resist, but found it impossible to do so.

He wasn’t the man I’d loved, but I’d missed him. While his kiss was far more punishing than ever before, it was also familiar and right in some strange way.

He was all around me, filling every space. I could no more deny him than the tides could deny the moon… or maybe it was me I couldn’t deny.

I wanted to hate him. He was such an arrogant prick, but even with as much as he pissed me off, I also missed him when he wasn’t around.

When his finger found my clit again, the bones went limp in my legs. I leaned into him to keep from falling over as the spiraling pleasure building within me climbed ever higher.

He’d said he’d never claim me again, but his kiss and touch burned deep into my soul. They branded the most intimate parts of me almost as much as his bite.

Whether he was Knox or Seth, my body was his and always would be. I wasn’t so sure about my heart, as there were plenty of times when I didn’t like him. I also wasn’t sure he was capable of love anymore, but I knew no one else could bring my body to life the way he did.

My arms slid around his neck, and my fingers bit into his nape as his body eased against me. His rigid muscles softened, and the bruising intensity of his kiss eased as his tongue leisurely traced the contours of my lips.

Blood no longer spilled into my mouth. He tasted like fresh air, freedom, and familiarity. He tasted of love, or the memory of it at least, as his hand slid out of my pants and he plucked me off the ground.

His other hand left my throat as he swept me up in his arms and carried me across the room. I didn’t know where we were going until he settled into a chair and broke the kiss.

Our gazes locked, and as they did, sanity started to return. Somehow sensing this, Knox wrapped his hand around the back of my head and pulled me down to reclaim my mouth.

I should stop this—I still had enough sanity left to know that—but I didn’t want it to stop. For ten endless years, I’d yearned for him. While he wasn’t the man I remembered, I still saw glimpses of his kind heart, and there was no denying he retained a very possessive nature when it came to me.

Even if we never grew to love each other again, I wanted what could be my last time with this man.

It was I who turned the kiss savage and demanding again. When his erection rubbed between my legs, I ground against it. I couldn’t give him everything, and neither could he, but we could give each other this.

Knox tugged at my pants, pushing them down my hips. Wiggling on his lap, we managed to get them off before he stripped the remnants of my sweater.

The crackling fire was warm against my back, but it had nothing on the heat he created within me. Breaking the kiss, Knox’s eyes met mine; his pupils were slitted as he wrestled to restrain the beast.

“Get on your knees,” he commanded.

Unsure of where this was going and reluctant to leave his lap, I didn’t move. He twirled a strand of my hair around his finger while watching me.

He lifted a claw and traced my bottom lip with it. “You’re going to wrap that pretty little mouth around my cock and take it deep, even if you choke on it.”

Something in me rebelled against his command while something else reveled in it as his eyes burned into me. Was he daring me? Trying to see if I would do it or back away?

“You’ll do as I say, Briar.”

And then I understood. For years, he had no control over what happened to him; he demanded that control now.

Refusing to break his gaze, I climbed off his lap and went slowly to my knees. He kept my hair twined around his finger as I knelt before him.

His shaft stood proudly from his body. Like the man himself, it was larger than I remembered, thicker and longer.

It took me some time to adjust to his size when I was younger, it would do so again now, but I also couldn’t wait to have it inside me again. I ran a finger up his dick, tracing the thick vein pulsing there.

He didn’t move, and while I couldn’t see his eyes, I felt them burning into me as I ran my thumb around his head, spreading my wetness and his precum around it. Lifting my eyes, I held his gaze as I lowered my head and ran my tongue around the head of his cock.

A slight stiffening of his muscles was the only response he gave as I licked away the salty taste of him. Slowly, I took him deeper into my mouth, licking and teasing as I hollowed my cheeks and sucked along his thick length.

When he released my hair, his claws clicked against the chair arms as he gripped them and his legs spread further. I’d missed his taste and the strength of his rigid cock as my hand stroked his shaft and my mouth ran down the length of him. I managed to suppress my gag reflex when his erection hit the back of my throat.

I couldn’t take him all the way in, but when I sucked on him, his hips lifted toward me. He used to like it when I played with his balls while doing this, and I did so now.

He inhaled sharply, and one of his hands rested on the back of my head as he guided me down. “That’s it, take me deeper.” The last word came out as a groan when I nearly went to the base of his shaft. “Fuck, Briar, you feel so good. I’d almost forgotten…”

His words trailed off as his hips bucked toward me. Unable to stop myself, my eyes lifted to the big, beautiful man before me. With his head tipped back, the corded muscles in his neck stood starkly out, his biceps and forearms bulged as he gripped the chair and the back of my head.

He craved being the one in control, but I held him in the palm of my hand, literally and figuratively. I reveled in it as his hips rose and fell, and my eyes closed while he guided the back of my head faster.

When wood cracked, my eyes flew back open. Orange fur raced up his arms, and his jaw cracked as it started to shift. Keeping hold of his cock, I pulled it free of my mouth when it started to swell impossibly larger.

“No, not the beast. Only the man,” I said.

I was taking a huge risk by denying him; he was on the verge of giving himself over to the beast, but I would not be with the beast. Knox’s slitted pupils met mine as his jaw stopped lengthening.

“Only the man,” I whispered.

Before I could say or do anything more, he lunged forward and grasped my waist. I gasped when he pulled me onto his lap. My ass connected with his rigid shaft; it nestled against my cheeks as he locked his arm around my waist.

“Only the man,” he breathed in my ear as he trailed his hand down my spine. “But the man is more dangerous than the beast.”

“I know he is.”

The man was far more lethal to my heart.

He leaned back as his hand ran over my ass before he gave it a light slap. I squeaked in surprise as he chuckled and gave me another slap.

“You are exquisite,” he said. “Every inch of you is made for bedding.”

I shivered when he ran a hand around to my hip before slipping it between my thighs. He pulled me firmly against him.

“I could spend hours looking at you, touching you, fucking you.”

My breasts became heavier at his words as he dipped a finger into me.

“And so wet,” he murmured. “So ripe and ready for me.”

He shifted me so his cock nestled between my thighs. He guided it partially into me while continuing to rub my clit; my muscles clenched around him, drawing him deeper.

Unable to resist, I rolled my hips until he slid in further. “That’s it, little thorn. Get me inside you.”

I gasped at the familiar sensation of him stretching and filling me. It had been so long since we’d been together, and while his size was a little uncomfortable, it was also right.

His fingers biting into my skin as he gripped my hips, Knox guided me further, but he didn’t shove me down or drive upward. He wanted to; I could sense that in the rigidity of his muscles, but he restrained himself.

There was that glimmer of his old, kinder heart, but it would vanish soon. It never lasted. That didn’t matter as all I cared about now was having him fuck me into oblivion.

As he slipped deeper inside me, an overwhelming feeling of completeness robbed my breath. I bit my lip at the increasing discomfort as his finger circled my clit again.

“Knox,” I breathed. “More. Give me more.”

His hand clasped my throat again, pulling me back while he lifted his hips and buried himself completely within me. The discomfort of having him inside me eased as he continued to tease my clit while remaining still.

“Fuck, Briar. I could come just from looking at you.”

Claws grazed down my breasts before he rolled a nipple between his fingers. I moaned as my head tipped back and little tendrils of electricity rippled across my skin.

When I was certain it wouldn’t cause any discomfort, I circled my hips and groaned as his cock hit a spot deep inside me—one that I’d forgotten existed without him in my life.

Things were so different from what they were before, but some things remained the same. No matter how much we changed, we still fit perfectly together.

His arm locked around me, pulling my back against his chest and holding me as I rode him. Claws pricked my flesh, but they didn’t sink in as he struggled to retain his control.

When he rubbed small circles around my clit, I bucked against him, demanding more as my breath came in small pants. It was almost too much to bear as the pleasure and pain mingled together.

His teeth clamped down on my neck, and my whole body jolted as a startled cry escaped me. It wasn’t a shifter claiming bite; there were no fangs, and he didn’t pierce my flesh, but he kept me pinned against him as he thrust within me, hitting that spot again and again.

With his finger working my clit, the pressure growing inside me built toward exquisite torment. When he growled against me, my loud cry drowned out the storm as I came apart.

My body bowed against him as waves of ecstasy cascaded through me. It was so overwhelming that pieces of me fragmented like glass from a dropped mirror. They scattered to the far reaches of the kingdoms.

I wasn’t sure I could ever put those pieces back together, and I didn’t care as tremors wracked my body. He bit harder, but still didn’t break my skin before releasing his bite. I was still quivering when he stood and carried me to the bed.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Knox

The beast roared within me as it bashed itself against its cage and clamored to be set free. Its shrieks were like those of a wild hyena caught in a trap.

For years, it was the only one who fucked. While the beast handled it far better than I ever could, it also loathed having to fuck those who sought to dominate and humiliate it.

It loathed the casters but not her. It desired her in every possible way, and I wouldn’t let it play.

Since the beast was a favorite amongst the casters, they thoroughly enjoyed tormenting it. However, they sometimes suffered the consequences of their actions. It wasn’t often the beast managed to sink its teeth into someone, but when it did, it shredded whatever flesh it could.

Even when the beast pleased them, they still lashed me with those brutal thorns… the ones I’d had tattooed on me to always remind me of those monsters and my mission.

Often, I was the one who emerged to take the beating from the casters. It was my chance to give the beast a break from its torture.

Those thorns had sliced across my flesh, torn it open, and left me bleeding on the bed. But those beatings were nothing compared to what the beast endured when he took over with the casters.

And now he saw her as his reward for all he’d done by finally getting the chance to be with his mate. However, Briar didn’t want the beast, and I couldn’t have it touching her.

I kept my claws under control; my fangs lengthened and retracted, but he couldn’t have her. What he’d do to her should never be done to the woman who felt so right in my arms. Not to the one whose cunt fit perfectly around me and was as close to heaven as I’d ever get.

But then, she might be safer with the beast than the man. The man wanted to fuck her until I couldn’t think, pound into her until nothing separated us. I also hungered to dominate and make her understand she would forever bend to my will.

My hand closed around her throat as I put her on the bed and came down on top of her. Her eyes, still dazed with passion, widened on me.

When she tipped her chin up, her gaze was somehow defiant yet yielding. No one would ever control me or have that kind of power over me again… but Briar possessed the ability to rattle me completely.

She could undo me in ways no other could. Briar was my weakness and my strength, and most terrifying of all… she was the one who could ruin me.

She hadn’t done it on purpose, but I was broken without her. I could never let her back into my heart like that again, yet I couldn’t deny my incessant lust for this woman and the ecstasy her body provided.

I hated that a part of me resented her for things beyond her control. I was the one who brought her to Wildwood, I was the one who kissed her first tonight, and I was the one buried deep inside her as her heels dug into my ass, and her small breaths whispered across the perfect lips that could so artfully suck my dick.

Reining in the beast, I pulled slowly out before driving back into her. The lingering contractions from her previous orgasm eased, but her pussy remained tight around me.

It was as if she were designed for me; she fit perfectly around me, beneath me, and above me. Unlike a shifter, she was far smaller than me, though average height for a caster. Yet, despite our differences in size, her body melded to mine in all the right places.

With my hand still on her throat, I drove into her. I needed to touch the very core of her as my orgasm sought to break free, but, like the beast, I kept it restrained.

I didn’t want this to end. Once this ended, I’d have to part from her again.

The beast bellowed within me as it surged forward. My knuckles cracked as my hands shifted; when I slammed my palm on the bed, my claws tore into the blankets and mattress.

Deep inside Briar, my shaft swelled. My other hand remained on her throat; she shook her head as she rested her palm against my face.

“Not the beast,” she whispered. “I don’t want what they had. I only want the man.”

Unable to stop it, my head fell back as a roar tore from my throat. Enraged at being denied, the beast resisted being caged again, but the man continued to leave his mark upon her body.

Fear shimmered in Briar’s eyes as I released her throat, grasped her wrists, and jerked them above her head. Pinning her arms to the bed, I leaned over until my lips brushed hers.

“Then you shall have the man,” I snarled.

When I reclaimed her mouth, it was with a savagery I’d never unleashed on her before. Instead of shrinking from my ferocity, she arched beneath me, dug her heels into my ass, and drew blood when she bit my lip.

Our blood mingled, but I detected the sweeter, more honeyed taste of hers. My mind flashed back to the day I marked her as my mate—the taste of her blood and the rush of claiming her as mine.

When my bones cracked, Briar bit harder. “Not the beast,” she murmured as her tongue swirled over my lips, tasting my blood.

My hands constricted on her wrists, and she let out a little cry as she broke the kiss and her head fell back. My blood dripping onto her neck created scarlet rivulets that spilled onto her breasts and stained the bed.

I’d caused her to bleed the first time we were together, and the last time. And I bled for her now… but she was also bleeding for me as blood trailed from her lip.

I hurt her.

Despite knowing that, I couldn’t stop myself from driving into her, taking her, and bending her to me. Or was she bending me to her?

I didn’t know, and I didn’t care anymore as my body owned hers. I was aware of what the beast experienced in the harem. I’d tried to hide from it, but it was impossible to shield myself completely.

I didn’t have to hide anything now, and it had been years since I’d experienced this level of pure ecstasy.

Switching her wrists into one hand, I pressed them into the bed while I glided my hand down her belly to her clit. The delicious sounds she made swirled in my ears as her tongue entangled with mine.

I rubbed her clit before giving the sensitive nub a small pinch. Her heels dug into my ass, and her fingers curled into mine, her nails biting into my flesh.

She arched into my touch, demanding more of it. “Knox,” she moaned.

That’s who I was now, but it still felt weird to hear her cry out that name in such a throaty voice. I’d loathed hearing her say Seth while we were together in the library, but I’d never heard another name spill from her lips before.

My claws shredded more of the blankets and mattress as I stroked her clit once more before rolling it between my fingers. Her breasts lifted toward me, my name spilling from her lips in a delicious chant.

Her pussy clenched around me, and her continuous moan replaced my name. A tingle started at the base of my spine as her muscles gripped me, pulling me deeper.

I wanted to hold out so I could fuck her until neither of us moved, but it felt too good. With a shout, I drove forward once more, and my shaft pulsed within her.

I came so hard my vision blurred and colors danced before me. It had been years since anything felt this good while my orgasm continued to roll through me.

When it finally stopped, I nearly collapsed on top of her, but caught myself in time to wrap my arms around her and roll to the side. Briar nestled against me, and her lips nuzzled my skin as her breath warmed me.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Knox

A feeling of contentment stole through me, and for a second, I let myself bask in it before reality returned. Contentment wasn’t something for me anymore.

My kingdom and my family were all suffering because of me. Because I chose her. I didn’t deserve any happiness.

I glanced down at where she lay against my chest, her eyes closed and her sweeping lashes curling against her cheeks. Her pale fingers contrasted beautifully against the darker hue of my skin; that was something I recalled from our time together years ago.

While her breath feathered my chest, I realized her skin wasn’t so pristine around her wrists. Purple and black bruises marred her flesh, and not just one or two, as each bruise was the perfect imprint of my fingers.

My stomach churned with sickness as I gazed at those awful marks on her. And not only did she have bruises, but she also had dozens of small red punctures where my claws bit into her flesh.

They were ugly reminders of my loss of control when it came to her. They hadn’t bled, but they’d left a stain on her beauty.

And the worst part was, I didn’t mind seeing them. If anyone else left these marks on her, I’d tear off their heads and let the beast devour them. But knowing that I’d left this mark on her, even though I hadn’t claimed her as my mate again, sated some sadistic part of me.

In a way, those bruises had darkened her a little more; she resembled my soul and black heart, far more when she wasn’t so pristine.

A possessive thrill ran through me as I studied my bruises. I’d never hit her, and I’d never do anything she didn’t allow, but she let me do this. She hadn’t stopped me; in fact, she’d reveled in my touch and kiss as her body and words demanded more.

Things hadn’t been like this between us before, but life had greatly changed us. Yet, she’d somehow retained her beautiful spirit while mine had withered like the plants in Wildwood before Briar arrived.

With my thumb, I traced one of the bruises as a sick feeling twisted in my stomach. I shouldn’t like that I’d marked her by being too rough with her.

That was something the casters would enjoy, but not me… or at least not the old me. Is this the new me? Is this how I get off now?

I was going to vomit. I’d wounded her when I claimed her as my mate, but that was natural. This was… this was something I was twisted into.

My gaze traveled to her mouth when she let out a small sigh. She was sound asleep.

Gently setting her wrist down, I traced her split, swollen lip. She shied away from my touch against her tender flesh, but she didn’t wake.

I hurt her.

This time, I didn’t feel any gratification at the realization; I experienced only disgust at myself. I’d been through a lot of shit in the harem and afterward, when I returned to discover Wildwood in ruins, but that was no excuse for this.

She hurt you too.

My tongue darted across my swollen, broken bottom lip, and my cock swelled when I recalled how she’d bitten me before tasting my blood. She’d eagerly met every punishing thrust and kissed me back with equal ferocity.

She was far weaker physically than I was, yet she hadn’t shown any alarm when the beast started emerging. With the touch of her hand and some words, she’d held the creature at bay.

And for the first time in ten years, I got to experience the pleasures of the flesh. I was also the one who damaged her… not the beast.

Self-hatred warred with pride in a tidal wave that hammered against me. I shouldn’t have brought her to Wildwood. But if I hadn’t, the plants would still be far sicker than they were now, and I wouldn’t know the truth of her.

I should have anticipated that Briar would affect me as much as she did. Even if I denied her, she was my mate, but I truly expected to continue despising her. If I’d been able to do that, then I wouldn’t give a shit about these bruises.

Not hating her was causing more chaos and confusion than loathing her did.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the beams running across the ceiling. I had to get out of this cabin so I could hunt, kill, and unleash the beast sulking within me. It couldn’t have fun with her, but it could play in the woods.

Yet, I couldn’t leave her alone. My claws dug into the blankets, shredding them further before I released them. I rolled back to Briar and carefully extricated my arm from beneath her.

I couldn’t hunt in the woods while she remained here, but I couldn’t stay either. Despite hating what I’d done, I wanted to do it again, and again, and again. I wanted to climb on top and wake her up by slipping between her thighs and fucking her until she screamed her throat raw.

I will not be like the other casters. I will not let them make me into one of them.

Red stained the mattress beneath her head from where my blood and hers had mingled together. Rising, I stepped back to survey the damage we’d… mostly me… had unleashed.

Feathers covered the bed from the torn-open mattress and downy blanket. Blood stained the white comforter from our busted lips, and more bruises marked Briar’s thighs.

She hadn’t tried to stop my roughness with her, but I hadn’t sustained anywhere near the damage she had. In the harem, I always emerged to find myself covered in bruises and often bloody before the beatings began. The casters were careful to avoid the beast’s mouth, but they invaded the other hole in its body.

Briar wasn’t in nearly as bad of shape as I was then, but I’d still done things to her that I never should have. She looked far more like I did upon waking in the harem than she did when we were in the tunnels together.

I did this to her. I marked her as the casters marked me. And I liked it… like they did.

The realization sent me reeling. Emotions cascaded and bounced around my chest so fiercely that I couldn’t breathe as I staggered back before catching myself.

I had to get away from her, this place, and myself. I couldn’t think right now. I didn’t want to think; I only wanted to feel… and what I wanted to feel most was her.

If I stayed here, the beast might take control, and I’d never stop it from crawling onto the bed and taking what it desired, especially since the mingled scents of our sex and blood filled the air. The animal within me craved more, and so did the man.

When Briar shifted a little, she revealed one of her breasts; bruises and red marks also marred it. She murmured something before curling into a ball and shivering.

I glanced toward the windows and the pounding rain before striding back over to her. Since she was sleeping on it, I grasped the bottom of the ruined blanket and pulled it over her, then folded the sides in until she was nestled in the comforter.

I didn’t look back as I left the cabin and plunged into the storm.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Briar

I tried to ignore the pull of waking by burrowing further under the blanket, but my eyes fluttered open before I closed them again. It was probably morning, but I wasn’t going to poke my head out to check.

Why am I so sore?

As the question flitted across my mind, memories of last night battered my brain. I bit back a whimper at what I’d done, what he’d done… what we’d done.

Unwilling to move and hoping to pretend sleep, I remained in the fetal position while I assessed my aching muscles. Every part of me was sore, but especially between my legs. I felt like I did after our first time together, but it had been a decade, and Knox was bigger. It would take time to adjust to him again.

What? NO! NO adjusting. No doing this again!

Oh, that little inner voice was right; this shouldn’t happen again, but even with the soreness, I ached for more. I’d never get enough of him.

Which is why this can’t happen again! You have to get out of this kingdom!

That was also very true, but I didn’t like it. Unable to stay completely still, I shifted a little; sharp points jabbed me when I did.

What is that?

To answer my question, I’d have to move, but I wasn’t ready to face the day and Knox. However, I couldn’t hide here forever; he’d realize I was awake and being a coward about facing him.

I refused to be a coward.

Gritting my teeth, I resolved to face him as I pushed the blanket off my head and sat up. I’d fallen asleep in the middle of the bed, away from the pillows and amid the torn mattress, sheets, and comforter. The annoying things poking me were the small quills of the feathers scattered across the bed.

I surveyed the wreckage with a heavy heart. The cabin was in pristine condition when we entered, and the bed was a scattered mess around me. Not only that, but blood stained the blanket and mattress.

I surveyed the room, expecting to discover Knox in one of the chairs or at a window. I didn’t see him anywhere.

The bathroom door was open, and while I couldn’t see into the shadowed interior, I knew he wasn’t there. I didn’t have to get up to see more of the kitchen and pantry either; he was gone.

I didn’t know when he left, but the cold feeling enveloping the cabin made me suspect it was hours ago. The ache in my body was nothing compared to the hand that tore into my chest and squeezed my heart.

I hadn’t been foolish enough to think last night would change things between us, but I hadn’t… hadn’t…

What? I asked myself. Hadn’t expected to be abandoned the next day?

He wouldn’t abandon me; he’d be too afraid I’d take off if he did.

Maybe he just wanted to get away from you.

I’m the one who wants to get away from him.

Or maybe he’s taking care of Magnazius.

That was a possibility, but I knew it wasn’t right. He’d been gone for a while. The bed where he’d been was cold, and the empty feeling of the cabin wasn’t new.

I didn’t miss that I was sitting there, amid the wreckage of us, arguing with myself, but I really didn’t know what else to do.

Get up, clean this mess, and get out of here. You don’t need him.

I didn’t need him, but I wanted him. I hated that truth.

Move!

I threw the blanket aside, clambered out of bed, and strode over to one of the windows. The sky was back to its usual flat gray color, and the rain had stopped. Puddles pooled on the grass and roadway, and rain still beaded on the railing and porch chairs.

Nothing stirred, but I’d already known I wouldn’t find Knox there. Hugging myself, I tried to ignore the grief welling within me. It made me forget about my sore body.

Did you expect to wake up nestled in his arms, all warm and happy? Did you expect to discover Seth had somehow miraculously returned?

Did you think you have a magic pussy that would restore everything to the way it was?

I scowled at that question. I didn’t think I had anything magic between my legs or that a miracle would somehow occur, but I hadn’t expected to wake up alone.

He was out there, somewhere; I was certain of it. He’d make sure I didn’t try to escape, but he didn’t want to be anywhere near me.

I knew he’d hate himself and me if we had sex again, and I was right.

Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to shed them. I would not cry over this. I would not shed another tear over Knox-fucking-North.

Turning away from the window, I stalked into the bathroom where I scrubbed myself raw in the shower. As I worked, a festering resentment built within me at the asshole who was keeping me here.

When I finished, I climbed out of the tub and studied my reflection in the mirror. I’d seen the bruises on my arms, breasts, and hips while in the shower, but I should have anticipated the bruises and red marks on my throat. Instead, the clear imprint of Knox’s fingers and claws surprised me.

Last night had been so different than anything I’d experienced with him before, yet I couldn’t deny I’d liked it. I’d been thrilled in the way he dominated my body, took possession of me, and consumed all doubts.

While things with Seth had always been amazing, this was different. This was a man on the verge of unraveling and a woman who could help him maintain his restraint—a woman who could give him what he needed without fear.

I’d relished the mingling of pain and pleasure. Somehow, it made me feel more alive and more connected to the broken parts of him.

I was more than a little crazy to have enjoyed the fact he’d left me bruised and sore in ways I’d never been before, but every mark on me was one he left. While I hated this morning, I’d allowed myself to love him for a little bit last night.

For a little while, I let myself believe there might be hope for us. That was gone.

I fisted my hand but restrained myself from driving it into the mirror. I’d prefer not to look at myself, but I couldn’t look away.

With trembling fingers, I traced my swollen bottom lip. A red mark still revealed where it had been split open and bled, but the cut had healed. My fingers fell to the bruises on my neck. While there was some discomfort when he’d squeezed, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

I’d felt his unraveling and desperation to retain control of the beast as he asserted his dominance. He had to be the one in control, and I was more than happy to relinquish it to him.

But what would have happened if he had lost control?

That doesn’t matter because he didn’t, and I’m never putting myself in this situation again.

After drying off, I put on my still-wet clothes from yesterday’s rain. The material clung annoyingly to me and iced my skin, but I couldn’t bring myself to take anything else from the shifters who once resided here. At least my shirt hid most of the bruises, though a couple on my throat remained visible.

When I left the bathroom, Knox hadn’t returned, but Gizzi sat on one of the chairs. His puffy hair had calmed a lot since yesterday, though tufts still stuck up on the top of his head and back.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

His nose twitched, and I could feel his desire to say more, but he didn’t. While Gizzi watched, I cleaned the cabin the best I could. There was no salvaging the comforter, and if the owners of this place ever returned, they’d need a new mattress. However, at least they wouldn’t discover the blood as I tossed the blanket onto the still-smoldering logs.

When it caught fire, flames burst outward, flinging feathers around the room; some of those feathers were on fire. Thick, black smoke coiled up the chimney as I stomped on the burning feathers before removing a broom from the linen closet and sweeping them into a dustpan.

Once I finished, I removed the ruined sheets from the bed and tossed them onto the dwindling flames. The warmth of the cabin intensified as I burned everything we’d ruined, but no matter how much I tried to eradicate the evidence of last night, the memories lingered.

While I worked, the soreness in my muscles and between my legs eased, but every twinge was a reminder that I’d been weak enough to give myself to him. I’d managed to withstand the overwhelming lust of my Needing, but I couldn’t refuse that asshole even though I’d known it was a big mistake.

When I finished cleaning, I gathered the ruined clothes and added them to the fire too. I felt bad burning the woman’s things, but it felt worse to leave the destroyed garments on their ruined bed.

I stood by the flames as they burned down to smoldering coals again. Satisfied that the remaining fire wouldn’t burn down the cabin, and unable to tolerate the stifling heat anymore, I opened the front door and stepped onto the porch.

Gizzi’s claws scraped the wood as he scampered after me. While I was burning things, Knox had saddled and bridled Magnazius before tying him to a nearby hitching post.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Briar

I concentrated on the stallion. “Where is he?”

“The barn,” the horse replied.

My eyelid twitched at this revelation. Had he spent the whole night there? He probably preferred to sleep on straw and animal shit, rather than next to me.

And that was fine by me.

Yesterday, Wildwood seemed like a place of freedom. Today, it was as much of a cage as Nightshade. I wanted to be free of it all.

I didn’t fit in anywhere and had no control over my life. And I was done with it. I’d become complacent in this land of sprites and roses, but no more.

I didn’t care what it took; I would be free.

Gizzi climbed my pants and shirt before settling on my shoulder. “I can smell him nearby,” Gizzi told me.

“Magnazius said he’s in the barn.”

“Oh, is that what Magnaaaazius said?” Gizzi muttered as he drew out the horse’s name.

I scratched his head. “You’ll always be my first and my favorite.”

Gizzi huffed, but he didn’t complain further. I descended the stairs as Knox emerged from around the corner of the cabin. He still hadn’t bothered to find clothes.

He froze when he spotted me, and his gaze fell to my neck. Only a couple of his bruises remained visible, but did remorse flash through his eyes when he spotted them?

That arrogant prick doesn’t know how to feel remorse, I reminded myself.

And while that was true, I was sure I saw some guilt in those orange depths before he bowed his head. Then he lifted his head and jerked his chin toward the roof.

“Why is there so much smoke?” he demanded.

My teeth ground back and forth as I glared at him. “I cleaned up the mess you made.”

When his eyes shot back to me, whatever guilt might have been there was gone. A steely coldness had replaced it.

“It’s time to return to the castle,” he stated. “You’ll ride Magnazius while I follow.”

So not only had he probably damn near broken his neck to get away from me last night, but now he wouldn’t even sit behind me on the horse. “He’s your steed; you should ride him. I prefer to walk anyway.”

“That’s not an option.”

I contemplated flying across the distance separating us, launching myself onto him, and clawing out his eyes. Once I ripped them free, I’d shove them down his throat so he could choke on them and hopefully never talk again.

I smiled grimly at the image, lifted my chin, and descended the stairs with a regal bearing I didn’t feel. Instead of walking toward Magnazius, I strode toward the castle. If he intended to chase me down and throw me on the back of the horse, then so be it, but I did have options, and defiance was one of them.

I didn’t make it thirty feet before the clip-clop of Magnazius’s hooves sounded against the brick roadway. Before he reached me, I veered into the grass to cross the front yards.

The pounding hooves grew louder as Magnazius bore down on me, but I didn’t turn to look at them; if Knox decided to run me over, so be it. Magnazius would shy away from trampling me. The horse was nowhere near as big a prick as his owner.

I was stepping around a small garden fence when Knox’s arm hooked around my waist and he plucked me off the ground. A scream of rage and frustration built in my throat, but I managed not to embarrass myself by releasing it.

He tossed me across his lap, so I lay facing the ground with my ass in the air. Gizzi’s claws dug into my shoulder as he scrambled to keep his grip on my shirt. My head bobbed up and down with the rhythm of the horse, my stomach rolled, and my hair fell forward to block my view of the ground.

“Can I bite him now?” Gizzi demanded.

I contemplated this as I braced my hands against Magnazius’s side and lifted myself enough to ease the pressure on my stomach. “Will one bite really kill him?”

“Yes.”

“Can you give him a half bite or something to make him really sick but not kill him?”

“It’s all or nothing.”

While I’d really like to tear out Knox’s heart, I wanted to be the one who killed him, not Gizzi. “No. No biting today.”

“But you’re saying there’s a possibility in the future?”

“I never rule anything out.”

“Yay!” Gizzi cheered.

CHAPTER FIFTY

Briar

I didn’t demand that Knox release me as I pushed myself higher to right myself on the saddle.

“When are you going to learn, little thorn, that I’m the one in charge?” Knox growled.

Do not humiliate yourself. Do not humiliate yourself.

I told myself this over and over again, but his words festered like a splinter trapped beneath the skin. The only way to remove it was with a knife.

“When are you going to learn, dickhead shifter, that I don’t care about your delusion of being in charge of me?”

Knox laughed before his hand came down on my ass. It wasn’t a blow, but it stung, and I almost yelped before white-hot fury blazed through me.

How dare he!

Without thinking, I sank my teeth into his thigh, right near his balls. If I could have bitten his balls, I would have, but my angle didn’t allow for that. Instead, I clamped down hard enough to tear through his skin. Hot blood rushed into my mouth as I gnawed on his flesh like a rodent on wood.

“Fuck!” he shouted as his hands tangled in my hair.

I waited for him to rip me up, punish me, and make me hurt as I’d made him, especially when his claws scraped my scalp. But he didn’t strike or tear; instead, he pulled back on Magnazius’s reins, bringing the stallion to a skidding halt.

Once the jarring motion of the horse stopped, I released my bite and squirmed to get off his lap. He released his grip on my hair so abruptly that I staggered back when my feet hit the ground and nearly fell on my ass.

I was regaining my footing when Knox came down in front of me. The breadth of his massive chest and his tattoo filled my vision as his hands swallowed my upper arms. He lifted me off the ground as he hauled me toward him.

“You want to bite?” he snarled.

I didn’t know how to respond as my head tipped back and his ferocious face swam before me. “I’m going to bite him!” Gizzi screamed in my head.

“No!” I yelled back; the word also tore from my throat as I screamed it at Knox. “I don’t want to bite! I want to be treated fairly and with respect! I don’t understand why that’s so difficult for you and my mother!”

“Are you comparing me to your mother?”

“Why not? You’re as brutal, unforgiving, callous, calculating, and indifferent to me as she is!”

“Indifferent to you…” His words trailed off as he unexpectedly released my arms; it was so abrupt I stumbled back a couple of steps when I hit the ground. “Get on that horse, Briar, before I throw you on him.”

Fire blazed in his orange eyes, and the guttural tone of his voice raised the hairs on my nape. He sounded like a monster trying to transform and break free; I’d seen what that monster could do and didn’t want it turned on me.

I opened my mouth to tell him to shove his command up his ass, but sanity prevailed and my lips closed. Keeping my shoulders back, I stepped around Knox and strode toward Magnazius, who watched us curiously.

I was on the wrong side of the horse for mounting, but I managed to get my foot into the stirrup and swing myself onto him. As I gathered the reins, I contemplated turning the stallion and bolting toward the woods.

If I believed we’d have any chance of outrunning the beast, I would, but Knox would stop us in seconds. And once he caught us, it would be bad, very, very bad.

His forehead and jaw remained elongated, his shoulders hunched forward, and his hands twisted into the paws of the beast. I was tired of being pushed around by him, but I couldn’t push back too much.

As the man, he retained some control of himself. As the beast, I feared he wouldn’t have any.

I didn’t speak again as I nudged Magnazius into a trot. Popping, cracking sounds accompanied my movement. When I glanced down, the beast ran alongside us.

The disconcerting sight of the creature moving so effortlessly beside us caused me to gulp. If I tried anything, he might take Magnazius down to get at me.

“We have to get away from him,” Gizzi said.

“You think?”

“He’s not very stable.”

“He’s been through a lot.”

“Are you making excuses for him?”

“I’m stating facts. I remember who he used to be.”

“That man is gone; in his place is an asshole.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Nor could I argue that we’d both be far safer away from Knox; I just had to figure out how to pull that off.

As we neared the gates, sprites hovered above the wall before fluttering away. A second later, the gate started swinging toward us, and we rode into the bailey.

Once we were inside, I looked up to discover a dozen sprites flying over the wall with buckets in their hands. Whatever those buckets contained, they didn’t let it fall as they eyed the beast.

Instead, the mischievous creatures returned the containers to the parapets and flew away. Some of them became invisible as they went.

They’d made the wise choice not to unleash their newest prank on the beast, but I missed the sound of their laughter, especially after everything that happened last night and this morning. Everything felt devoid of merriment right now.

As I brought Magnazius to a halt near the stables, Knox transformed again. He did it so rapidly that I was still sliding from the horse when he took the reins.

“Get inside the castle,” he commanded. “I’ll take care of Magnazius.”

I didn’t like following his orders, but it was foolish to argue over this—it might be a good way to get someone or something killed. He’d resumed his male form, but his slitted pupils revealed the beast lurking below the surface.

I didn’t say a word as I turned and stalked toward the castle.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Knox

I calmed further as I bathed Magnazius with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water. Just being around the stallion had a soothing effect as he occasionally nuzzled me before resuming grazing.

A warm trickle of blood still ran down my inner thigh, but I ignored it. The wound throbbed, but I couldn’t say I didn’t deserve it.

I’d been disgusted with myself after the way I treated her last night, but at least then she’d been eager and receptive. Today, I’d been determined to get her back to the castle and safely away from me, but that all went up in smoke the second she defied me… again.

So instead of getting her to safety, I’d humiliated her like they’d done to me so many times in the harem. I couldn’t keep my shit together around her, and that was as infuriating as the woman herself.

Fuck.

I dropped the sponge into the bucket and ran a hand over the stubble covering my head. When it came to her, I was more of a monster than the beast could ever be.

I’d tear the limbs from anyone who dared to mistreat her, and I’d rip the jugular from anyone who humiliated her as I had. Yet I couldn’t stop myself from exerting my dominance over her, but then, she was the only one who so often and openly challenged my authority.

It didn’t help that she was my mate, unclaimed, and no longer mine to have. Not claiming her was tearing me apart.

Lifting my head, I stared at the cluster of roses I was sure were the stable boys. How could I claim my mate and find any happiness with her while my kingdom remained a desolate, broken place?

You’re assuming she’d be willing to be claimed by you after everything you’ve put her through.

And that was a very good point. I’d seen the fury and sadness in her eyes when she emerged on the porch this morning. I felt it again when she latched her teeth onto my thigh.

She’d always been feisty, but now she was a fiery, beautiful woman with a spirit I was scared I’d crush. And if I was honest with myself, a part of me wanted to crush it, bend her to my will, and make her as broken as me.

I was a mess, and it was all because of her… yet I wouldn’t change anything. I wouldn’t allow her to be anywhere else. I might annihilate us both before this curse ended, but I didn’t care. It would be worth it to keep her.

The beast howled within me. I hadn’t allowed it to hunt and kill after I refused to let it have access to Briar, but as much as I’d hungered to slaughter something, I couldn’t leave her unprotected in the cabin.

I could hunt now, though.

My gaze drifted to the castle; Briar was in there, angry and hurting. I should find her and apologize, but I didn’t know how to do that… not anymore.

And I was afraid that if I got too close right now, I’d take her again. I couldn’t do that.

She’d tried to hide her bruises beneath her clothes, but I’d seen the ones on her neck. Her hair covered them last night; it didn’t this morning.

A shadow fell across the land as the shadow dragon soared overhead. It swept over the castle before turning and banking back toward me. Closing its wings, dirt puffed up around it as it settled on the ground only twenty feet away.

Magnazius shied away from the creature as it prowled a little closer. He was used to the dragon, but he still didn’t like it. Undoing his tie, I released Magnazius and left him free to enjoy some grass before returning to his stall.

When I stretched my hand out to the dragon, it snorted and pressed its snout to my palm before lifting its head. Pure black eyes held mine as it snorted again. I didn’t have to speak with it to know it needed something from me.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Knox

Climbing onto the dragon’s back, I recalled Briar’s words about the curse being the reason the dragon existed. I hoped that breaking the curse wouldn’t make it dissipate.

I grasped its two black horns and flattened myself against its head as the dragon unfurled its wings and pushed off the ground. Wind battered me as the dragon flew across the castle and out over the open farmland.

That brown land was nowhere near as fertile as it was before the curse, but the sprites had kept some of it lush enough to keep the remaining livestock alive. I was sure Briar’s potions were helping with that now too.

I closed my eyes against musings of Briar as I breathed deeply, relishing the chill air against my skin. It helped scrub away some of the confusion and doubts plaguing me since Briar entered Wildwood… and especially since last night.

Up here, I was free of it all and one with a beast that was just like me in so many ways. I didn’t know if the dragon had come to the castle because it sensed my turbulent emotions or if something was wrong in the kingdom. Still, I was glad for this reprieve from everything except it, the frigid wind, and freedom.

Together, we moved in perfect harmony as my body responded to every subtle shift of the dragon’s. I knew he was going to turn before he did and smiled as he dove low before soaring high and spinning through the air.

He hadn’t come because there was danger. He’d come for me.

The dragon plunged through the clouds, past mountains with snow still on their peaks, and into a valley. Laid out beneath us like a vibrant blue ribbon, a river cut its way through the towering mountains. Clouds obscured the mountain peaks, but I knew their craggy formations well; I’d spent a lot of time soaring over this land with this dragon.

Somehow, though I was nowhere near Wildwood when the curse occurred, this dragon and I had become entwined with each other. Not only was it in tune with my emotions, but I sensed its joy as its wings tilted and it banked to the right. Its bottom wing skimmed the surface of the water, flinging droplets through the air before it rolled again.

It needed to be free right now, flying over the earth, and so did I as it dipped and spun. I could do this too, if I fully unleashed the beast, but that creature was an ally I planned to keep hidden for as long as possible. And I preferred being with the shadow dragon; it was where we both belonged.

The dragon soared for at least an hour before descending toward the earth. It settled on the shores of a lake we’d visited often. The crystalline blue water allowed me to see all the way to the bottom of the lake.

A colorful assortment of rocks lined much of the bottom, but some areas were a sandy basin. The water, trickling down from the mountains, was cold even in the summer. The warmer spring days had melted much of the lake’s ice, but chunks of it still floated on the water, creating tiny islands wherever they roamed.

Striding toward the water, I didn’t hesitate before I splashed into it and dove beneath the surface. The chill gripping my muscles tried to seize them and drag me under, but I kicked through it as I refused to let it best me.

My fingers grazed pale blue rocks as I propelled myself to the bottom. My lungs burned, and I kept my lips shut while the urge to breathe grew with every passing second.

I remained beneath the water, gazing into the blue abyss as colorful fish swam past. Some came so close, they skimmed against me before darting away.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I planted my feet against the rocks and shoved myself to the surface. I broke free and gasped for breath before throwing my head back and bellowing.

I didn’t know who I was angrier at: Briar for her constant defiance, the casters for everything they’d done, or myself for allowing them to twist me in such a way that I’d enjoyed the pain I unleashed on my mate.

And I wanted more of it… for her and me.

Briar hadn’t betrayed me, which meant she was as pure-hearted and kind as she’d always been. She’d shown that with her tenderness toward Wildwood; she’d brought my kingdom back to life even more so than the sprites and asked nothing in return except for some freedom… something she had a right to.

If I kept her as mine, I’d stain her soul, and while I shouldn’t crave that, I did. Even now, with the icy water biting into my muscles and freezing my fingers and toes, my cock stirred at the memory of fucking her harder than I ever had before.

I could have killed her if I lost control… no, I would have stopped myself from that. At least I was certain of that. No matter how much I wanted to unleash some of my suffering on Briar, I’d never kill her.

But I could do something far worse. I could snap and take her against her will. I wasn’t so sure I could stop that; not if the beast broke free, and maybe not even if the man remained in control. When it came to her, I had no certainty about myself anymore.

If I forced myself on her, I’d be more like the casters than she was, and their blood ran through her veins.

That decided it for me… I hated myself the most. There was no competition.

I couldn’t be like those monsters; I wouldn’t allow it, but being near Briar would gradually destroy me, which brought me back to the same dilemma of having nowhere for her to go.

I’d never send her back to Nightshade, even I wasn’t that much of an asshole. And I didn’t trust the elves, especially Devnair. I knew what he wanted from her, and while she was better off away from me, I’d never let another man touch her.

I was an asshole for denying her the chance at a better life with a better man, and I didn’t care. While I lived, I’d kill any man who touched her, and even if I died, I’d find a way to stop another from having her.

But casters didn’t have mates. Until Briar, I wasn’t sure the fuckers could even love, but she was truly capable of it, and the others were too, although they loved themselves the most.

That meant Briar would stay here. It was the only safe place for her… mostly. I was proving to be a bigger threat than I’d anticipated.

I could be the one to leave. The shadow dragon kept invaders away while I was in the harem, but if the night casters learned I’d left, they’d see it as a chance to come for Briar. Her mother would do everything in her power to reclaim her.

Turning onto my back, I stared at the gray sky while floating on the lake. Fish bumped against me, and some rubbed their backs against my fingertips, but I ignored them.

Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra would protect her, as would the shadow dragon. Even that rat was a weapon. The sprites would fight for her too; they were little but mighty.

But if I left, the not knowing where she was, what was going on with her, and with Wildwood would drive me as mad as losing her. I didn’t kid myself into thinking I could stay away.

So I couldn’t leave, which meant I’d have to keep my hands to myself when it came to her.

I issued a small bark of laughter. Even I knew that wouldn’t be possible. Now that I’d been inside Briar again and felt the ecstasy of her cunt gripping me while she came, I wasn’t going to give it up.

She was the only woman I’d willingly been with in ten years, and the first one as a man again; she would be the last.

I had to figure out a way to better control myself around her. I could do it.

The beast grumbled as it rolled over inside me, sulking about my determination to keep myself restrained. That meant it couldn’t come out to play, but it would have to get used to it.

I also had to figure out a way to gain her trust. I would have access to her secrets.

Maybe you should start by not being such an asshole to her.

That little inner voice was correct, but I wasn’t sure I knew how to be anything other than an abrasive asshole anymore. I hated this shit.

Maybe I could get to know her again and do things with her that didn’t end in sex or a fight. I wasn’t sure if either was possible, but I was willing to give it a try.

I could take her for a walk; she’d love to see the waterfall near the castle. It was a beautiful spot and within walking distance. Afterward, I’d take her back to the castle and say goodbye. I wouldn’t kiss her or lose my temper… hopefully.

A loud caw broke the tranquility as two ravens flew overhead. Their wings flapped before they glided across the sky.

Birds were rare in Wildwood now. While they were once an abundant species, and some still had things to feed on, they, like so many other creatures, basked in the sun and went to the other kingdoms to find it.

Like the bees, they might be returning to the kingdom… because of Briar.

She’d strengthened the roses and some of the trees, and she attracted the bees and possibly the birds. How could I let that go?

Turning over in the water, I treaded for a minute before diving down to skim my fingers over the rocks again. I emerged at the edge of the lake and walked out to stand beside the dragon as he bent his head to drink.

I rested my hand against its neck to rub over the scales covering it. The dragon consisted of shadows, and I shouldn’t be able to feel them, but his scales were smooth beneath my palm. Edges marked the start and end of one from another.

I didn’t know this creature for the first seven years of its existence, but we were both forged on the same day. The animal I never met was twisted into a beast that only this dragon had seen. I’d revealed my secret to it, and it would keep it forever.

I suspected the reason we shared this strange bond was because we were both created by the night casters. Neither of us was supposed to exist, yet we did.

Retreating from the edge of the lake, I settled on the rocky shoreline to let the warmer, spring air melt the ice from my veins. Briar’s bite had stopped bleeding and throbbing, but the perfect imprint of her teeth remained.

I couldn’t help but smile as I ran my fingers over it. The woman’s insolence drove me nuts, but I admired her strength, determination, and courage. No one else would have dared to bite me. She was feisty, and I enjoyed it as much as I hated it.

The dragon lay beside me and rested his head against my thigh. More birds flew overhead while I rubbed the shadow dragon’s muzzle.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Briar

Once my fury at Knox ebbed, reality returned. And with that reality came the reminder Knox suspected I was keeping something from him. While he couldn’t quite figure it out, if he decided to go into the library and start researching powers, he might also stumble across the page on necromancers.

He’d sensed something off in the cemetery; it wouldn’t take him long to put two and two together. He was most definitely the hairiest part of a dick, but he wasn’t stupid.

I had to retrieve that page and destroy it. And then I had to hope there wasn’t more in any of the other thousands of books.

None of this was stressful at all.

When I returned to the castle, I took another shower and donned a pair of too-long black pants and a mustard yellow shirt. I hated the shirt color, but I could button it all the way up to under my chin. It was as comfortable as it was pretty, but it hid all my bruises.

Gizzi came with me as I slipped out of my room and descended to the library. I kept an eye out for the shifters as I went, but my senses were nowhere near as honed as theirs.

They could probably smell me from the kitchen, but I wouldn’t detect their aroma until they were only a few feet away. One could be watching me now. I tried to appear casual while I strolled the halls, even if a trapped bird fluttered around my rib cage and clawed at my insides while it sought to break free.

I somehow made it to the library without incident, encountering only a few sprites who called out cheery greetings before zipping away. Gizzi clambered down and dashed into the tree of knowledge. He squeaked excitedly as he hopped from one branch to another.

“Let me know if someone’s coming,” I told Gizzi.

“I’ll keep an eye out.”

I wasn’t so sure about that as he leapt ten feet through the air toward a higher branch. He released a shrill cry when his claws wrapped around the branch and he spun around it to land on his feet.

Nowhere near as enthusiastic as Gizzi, I trudged up the stairs and passed the countless rows of books calling my name. The tree’s branches twined over my head; I had to duck to go under one before continuing.

Like the tree of unity, the tree of knowledge was doing much better now that it had my potion. Its multicolored leaves had taken on a brighter hue, and small flower buds decorated its limbs.

Normally, I’d stop to touch and relish its growing strength, but I was on a mission and didn’t have time for that. I scanned the library for any sign someone else was here; aside from Gizzi’s joyous jumping, the room was silent. Someone could be in one of the reading alcoves, but I didn’t have time to search all of them.

I’d hoped never to see the page on necromancers again, but fate had other plans for me. Apparently, fate had decided I was its new favorite chew toy as it kept trying to grind me up and spit me out.

I grabbed a ladder and pulled it over to the book’s shelf. With dread creating a lead ball in my belly, I rapidly ascended the ladder to where the book sat nestled on the shelf.

I didn’t bother to climb down after I pulled it free. Hooking my arm through a rung, I balanced myself as I flipped through the pages to where I’d tucked the paper securely back in place.

Glancing around, I made sure I remained alone while Gizzi let out a noise that sounded a lot like “whee.”

If I weren’t so nervous, I would have rolled my eyes and told him that he was about as good at keeping watch as a dresser, but I kept my snarky remarks to myself. He was having too much fun, even if he might get me caught.

Removing the page from the book, I folded it in half, then shoved it into my pocket and returned the book to the shelf. I quickly descended the ladder and browsed some shelves as I strolled back to the stairs.

It took everything I had not to rush out of here to destroy the evidence, but it would look strange if someone saw me emerging from here without any books. I pulled down a few tomes without bothering to read the titles before returning to the first floor.

I read the titles as I strode toward the doorway; behind me, Gizzi’s claws scraped the tree bark as he followed me. When Gizzi continued making happy sounds, I looked back to discover him with his ass in the air. His back legs danced back and forth as he hopped to and fro.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Practicing my battle stance. Do I look scary?”

He looked more cute than scary as he hopped back and forth with his tail over his head. I couldn’t break his heart by telling him that.

“You’re terrifying,” I assured him.

“I knew it!”

He bared his fangs. That was a little better, but not much.

Forcing myself not to run, I headed for my workroom. I acted casual as the page felt like it was burning a hole through my pocket. The longer it remained there, the better chance I had of getting caught with it.

I had no idea where Knox was, but if he came across us, I was sure he’d see the guilt all over my face. When we finally reached my workroom with all its familiar scents, bottles, herbs, spices, cauldrons, and other assorted tools, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Gizzi stopped being terrifying and scrambled up to perch on one of the black marble counters. His nose twitched as he watched me.

“What are you going to do with it?” he asked.

“Burn it.”

“Have you considered that Knox already knew it was there, or one of the other shifters? They might become suspicious if they discover it’s gone?”

My fingers clenched on the paper. No, I hadn’t considered that.

Frozen with indecision, I stood before the dwindling fire burning in the hearth. Knox used to love to read, and he still might; he might have already discovered the book and the page tucked inside. He might have forgotten about it… or he might not have.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it,” Gizzi said. “I think you’re better off getting rid of it, but you should be aware of the possibility.”

He was right. I was better off getting rid of it, even if Knox knew of its existence. If he discovered it and didn’t know anything about necromancers, he’d learn about the forbidden power.

If he already knew of its existence and had forgotten about it, but suddenly remembered, I’d be in the same position I was now. I’d rather get rid of it.

Without any more hesitation, I removed the paper from my pocket and threw it on the fire. The knot of foreboding in my chest eased as the edges of the paper browned before the flames devoured it.

I’d either just freed myself… or condemned myself.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Briar

I tossed the last of my mushrooms into the cauldron and stirred it as Zephyr flew back and forth, his wings buzzing while he did the sprites’ equivalent of pacing through the air. I’d have to ask Knox to take me out to harvest more mushrooms soon, but I wasn’t in a rush to be anywhere alone with him.

Throughout the day and my work on the potions, I’d decided to hate him. Never again would I give in to him; I was determined to make sure of that, but my traitorous body burned for his touch.

No matter how different last night was between us, he’d awakened the part of me that had gone dormant without him. It was rearing its ugly head in demand for more.

But my body would have to catch up with my mind. It would learn that it wasn’t allowed to have sex with an overbearing, inconsiderate asshole.

“Can you believe he said that to me?” Zephyr demanded.

“Hmm, what?” I asked as I stirred the potion.

He stopped fluttering back and forth, turned to face me, and planted his hands on his hips. “Haven’t you been listening to me?”

“I’m sorry, but no,” I admitted.

“You’re lucky,” Gizzi muttered.

“Atlas! Can you believe he said that to me?”

Now I felt really bad, because I had no idea who Atlas was. “Who’s Atlas?”

Zephyr threw his hands in the air. “He’s a sprite!”

“Well, there are a lot of you. I haven’t learned all your names yet.”

“There’s no one else in this kingdom except for us, the four shifters, and you.”

I wished I’d kept pretending to listen instead of asking. “You’re right, I should have realized Atlas was a sprite.”

Zephyr hmphed loudly but resumed fly pacing.

“What did Atlas say to you?” I asked.

When Gizzi groaned in my head, I realized it was a question that might have been better kept to myself.

“He said I don’t know what to do with an asshole,” Zephyr said.

I had no idea what to make of that declaration. “What?”

“He said⁠—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard that part.” I waved my hand to ward off a further tirade. “What did he mean you don’t know what to do with an asshole? Does he expect you to fight them or… or…?” I had no idea what else could be there.

Gizzi groaned again as Zephyr’s jaw nearly unhinged. “I should hope not! That wouldn’t be enjoyable at all.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Nobody wants their asshole punched, Briar.”

Now I was really confused, but Zephyr stopped flying as his expression became pensive. He planted one hand on his hip and tipped his head to the side. “Or maybe Atlas does. Maybe that’s why he said I didn’t know what I was doing with his asshole.”

“Wait… what?” My brain spun as I tried to keep up with this preposterous conversation. “Oh,” I said when reality dawned.

“Welcome to my hell,” Gizzi said.

Red crept up my cheeks as I focused on stirring. I honestly had no idea what to say to Zephyr after that announcement.

“Well, anyway, I’ll find out if that’s what he wants.” Zephyr resumed flying. “But I still can’t believe he had the nerve to say that to me.” He rested his hand over his heart. “Me. I have centuries of experience and have never received a complaint from either a male or a female. Centuries!”

“Ahh, okay.”

“I told him that too.”

“Well, good for you. What did he say to that?”

“Why are you engaging in this?” Gizzi grumbled.

“Because he’s clearly upset, and he’s a friend.”

“Friends shouldn’t learn about other friends’ assholes… or anyone’s asshole for that matter.”

I suppressed a smile. While I agreed with Gizzi, Zephyr was eager to have someone listen to his tale.

“He told me that none of… can you imagine this… that none… of… them knew what they were doing either. Or… and I cannot believe he said this… or they just didn’t tell me because they were afraid of hurting my feelings,” Zephyr fumed.

I had no idea how to salvage his pride and calm him down. “I can’t imagine that’s true,” I assured him.

“Of course it’s not true!” Zephyr blurted. “Hundreds of years of experience, Briar! Hundreds! He’s not even fifty yet!”

“Maybe it would be better if you stayed away from Atlas,” I suggested.

“Hell no! I’m determined to make him eat his words… and maybe my asshole while he’s at it.”

My jaw dropped as I blinked at him. “Uh-huh.”

“Do me a favor,” I said to Gizzi when I’d recovered enough from my shock at Zephyr’s words. “If you find another lowleeto and have sex, I’d really prefer not to hear about it.”

“Why not? I had to hear yours.”

I was pretty sure flames burst from my face as I ducked my head over the steaming pot and bit back a groan. “Please don’t talk to me for a little while.”

“Gladly.” Gizzi rose, stretched, and turned in a circle before settling with his back to Zephyr and me. It did nothing to ease my humiliation.

“How about you?” Zephyr asked, apparently having calmed enough to stop talking about assholes. “How was your trip into town?”

The abrupt change in topic threw me off, and it took me a few seconds to recover. I wiped away the sweat dotting my brow as I tried to get my flaming cheeks under control; I failed miserably. I hoped Zephyr believed my flush was from the warmth of the room.

“It was good to be free of the castle,” I said.

“And…?” he prompted.

“And what?”

“And the two of you stayed out all night.” He flew over to the counter, lay down on it, propped his chin on his hands, and kicked his feet in the air over his back. “What did you do?”

I didn’t know how he could look so cherubic while questioning me about my sex life. “We got caught in the rainstorm.”

“And?”

“And we took shelter in a cabin.”

“ANNNND?”

I rolled my eyes at the sprite before removing my potion from the fire and carrying it to the counter. “And we started a fire to dry off.”

“You’re not going to give me any details?” he asked petulantly.

“No.”

He sighed and, fluttering his wings, lifted himself off the counter. “You’re no fun.”

“My life isn’t as exciting as yours.”

“Liar.” But he smiled as he said it.

With the newest potion cooling, I turned my attention to the cauldron on the counter; no steam rose from it. It had cooled enough to start putting it into vials.

“Can I help you with it?” Zephyr asked.

“You made it, so of course you can.”

I’d decided to teach him how to make the potion with and without the mushrooms. I’d told him it was because someone else should have the knowledge, but the truth was, if I ever got the chance to escape, I’d take it. I’d feel better leaving if I knew someone here could make them.

This was the first batch he’d made entirely on his own. Together, we poured the potion into the glass containers and put the stoppers in place. When we finished, Zephyr put two vials in his pockets, kissed me on the cheek, and flew out of the room.

For the hundredth time, I walked over to the fire to ensure all evidence of the paper had vanished. I used the poker to push aside the glowing logs while I searched for any remnants; they’d all vanished, but I knew I’d check again.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Briar

“What are you doing?” I asked.

I placed a finger in my book to keep my place as the sprites flew around, tying string onto the rafters. A few of them looked at me while others carried boots up to their friends. They giggled as they worked to tie the bootlaces onto the strings.

Gizzi darted up to where I sat on a tree branch with my feet propped up and my back against the trunk. This branch, in the tree of unity, was a perfect place to read.

Plus, I got to absorb the energy pulsating through the beautiful tree while inhaling its freshly blooming flowers’ fragrance. Pleasant little tingles ran across my skin from soaking up the tree’s strength.

While I read, they’d faded into the background, but I became aware of them again as Zephyr flew into the room. He had a pair of Knox’s boots tucked under his arm.

With a squeak, Gizzi dashed through the tree and into the limbs stretching toward the open roof above. The buzz of the bees mingled with the sprites’ giggles and the scrape of Gizzi’s claws.

“Oops,” Zephyr said.

He dropped one of Knox’s boots onto the floor. He picked it up to peer down at something before releasing the boot again.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It accidentally fell on one of those spiders.”

“They’re good for us and good luck,” I reminded him.

“Well, that one’s good luck ran out.”

Zephyr grinned at me before zooming away. He left the boot behind but took the other with him.

I returned to my book. It was best if I didn’t know what the mischievous creatures were up to.

A few minutes later, a loud curse drew my attention, and I looked up as Knox swatted aside a swinging boot. At the end of one of the strings, it spun around him as the sprites giggled, slapped hands, and buzzed around the rafters.

“Little assholes,” Knox muttered as he slapped the boot aside again.

When Dromon entered behind him, the sprites released another boot. It arced toward Dromon’s head as it swung through the air. The shifter must have heard it coming as he dodged out of the way and smacked the boot aside before it hit him in the head.

When he hit it, color erupted from the boot as it flipped upside down and spun in circles. It threw a rainbow of sand everywhere. The sprites squealed with laughter as sand settled around the shifters’ shoulders, sparkled in their hair, and turned them into colorful, scowling behemoths.

I couldn’t stop chuckling as Gizzi’s laughter echoed in my head. Dromon and Knox looked as happy as a dragon poked with a spear, but they didn’t lash out at the sprites or start cursing.

When Knox’s eyes landed on me, his scowl deepened at the sight of me belly laughing in the tree. My stomach hurt from laughing, and tears formed as he shook some of the sparkly rainbow off his head.

I’d spent the past few days avoiding him, but I was glad to be here for this. I smirked at him as I leaned against the trunk.

I opened my book again, but didn’t look at the story about a princess falling in love with a kind prince. The prince worshipped the ground she walked on and treated her like a queen.

It was bullshit.

I had no idea why I was reading this garbage. When I chose it, I was looking for a diversion from Knox, but I hated this story… especially since my prince had turned into an overbearing ogre.

Closing the book, I sat up on the branch and slid down to the next one. I was about to climb out of the tree and retreat to my workroom when a hand extended to me.

I’d recognize that hand anywhere, but why was Knox offering to help me from the tree? Was he going to drop me on my face or command me to do something?

My eyes met Knox’s as I waited to see what was coming. He stared expectantly back at me. He’d shaken most of the sand off, but colored flecks still stuck to his black shirt and pants. At least he was finally wearing clothes.

I hesitated before sliding my hand into his. Clasping it, he placed a hand on my waist and helped me from the tree.

“Is that a comfortable place to read?” he asked.

“You haven’t tried it before?”

“No. My father never would have approved of me lounging in a tree and reading books. Since my return…” His words trailed off as he shrugged. “Who has time for reading?”

He could probably make time, but I was sure he’d punish himself for indulging in something while his kingdom remained in ruins. A pang of sympathy stabbed my heart. Why did he make it so difficult to keep hating him as I sanely should?

“It’s a very comfortable spot,” I told him. “I like being surrounded by the flowers and bees. They make me happy.”

He looked past me toward the tree and… no… it couldn’t be… was that a smile tugging at his lips? Maybe miracles did happen after all.

“I do enjoy both of those things,” he said.

I almost asked if he’d hit his head or if the sprites had slipped something into his food, but I bit the questions back. It might chase away his good mood.

“Do you know what the stones stand for around the tree?” he inquired.

“I assumed they represented the three different shifter species—feline, canine, and dragon.”

When he tucked my arm into his, I almost pulled it back. The last time we had any real interaction, we’d clashed—of course—and I bit his thigh. I couldn’t quite place how that led to this.

But nothing was domineering about the way he clasped my arm against his side. His touch was tender as he turned me to face the different stones circling the tree.

Carved onto each stone was a different animal representing a different species. There was a wolf, lion, dragon, fox, panther, another dragon, and then a W, which I assumed stood for Wildwood. The pattern continued around the tree; there were four W’s in total.

“You’re correct; the stones are a representation of the different shifter species, with the W’s representing Wildwood. Each W is placed at one of the main compass points.” He pointed to the one in front of us. “That’s north.”

I followed the W toward the hallway leading to the main dining room.

“There was a time when the three different species of shifters battled each other for control of the kingdom,” he continued. “They burned this castle many times over the years of shifting power and infighting before the great alpha Acor seized control. He knew that if the fighting continued, the shifters would soon destroy each other because by then our numbers had plummeted.

“The other eternals, having stood by while the shifters destroyed themselves, were starting to eye Wildwood as an easy kingdom to gain control over. They wanted the lush land of Wildwood for themselves. If the shifters didn’t join to keep Wildwood, they’d either destroy each other or the other eternals would conquer them.”

I loved the way his face relaxed as he spoke proudly of his heritage. His thumb caressed my arm; I wasn’t sure if he was aware of it or not.

“Amongst the different species, various groups had different leaders, and they all attacked each other. The panthers battled the tigers and the tigers and jaguars ganged up on the lions while the wolves fought the jackals and so on and so on. Even the dragons split into groups, each following a different leader who sought to rule all.”

“It must have been horrible,” I murmured.

“I’m sure it was. It’s written as a time of great distress and much death as the shifters nearly eradicated themselves. Acor gathered the leaders of the various factions and suggested only one should rule all the shifters and that we should all unite.

“At first, as I’m sure you can imagine, there was a lot of disagreement about his suggestion, but when the cyclops nearly succeeded in taking Wildwood from us, the shifters banded together to keep them out.

“It was the first time they’d united in centuries, and not only did it make them stronger, but they realized if they didn’t merge, they would all fall. So they returned to Acor and agreed with his idea of having only one rule all. It took some time to decide how they would choose the first king, but they came up with a plan for the deathmatch.”

“The what?” I blurted.

There was that small, sweet smile again. It relaxed his face and lessened the severity of the scars slicing across his right eye.

“The deathmatch,” he said. “Each separate species could send anyone into the fray, but whoever entered was aware it could result in their death. That first deathmatch was the biggest, as each alpha believed they were strong enough to rule the kingdom. Thirteen entered, and only one exited.”

“Acor,” I said.

“Acor.”

“And does the alpha rule until they die?”

“Every ten years, there’s a new deathmatch to ensure the ruling alpha remains the strongest in the land. My father has been uncontested for twenty years, but before then, he fought a few battles against those foolish enough to oppose him.”

“Does the dragon always rule Wildwood?” Knox’s father was the last dragon shifter.

“No, they’re not always the strongest. There have been many different ruling species throughout our history. Acor was a wolf.”

“How interesting,” I murmured. “And brutal.”

Knox chuckled. “That is our way.”

“Did Acor plant this tree?”

“He did. After establishing his rule, Acor planted this tree. It was only a seed at the time, but he knew it would grow stronger with every passing year, just as Wildwood would. He had the stones carved and placed around the tree as a reminder we’re far stronger together than we are apart.”

“How lovely. Was he killed during a death matches?”

“He was, but we still consider him our greatest alpha.”

“So every alpha knows that the only way out is death?”

“No, they can resign if they choose, but throughout our history, only two have ever done so.”

“Wow.”

I felt his eyes on me, but my attention remained on the stones.

“Would you like to take a walk with me, Briar?”

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Briar

I gawked at him. “You want to walk with me?”

This time, his smile was sad as he caressed my arm with his thumb. “I think it’s time for us to get to know each other again.”

“Oh,” I breathed as a shining hope bloomed so brightly in my chest that I was scared it might burst out and blind everyone.

Things had been so awful between us that this was the last thing I’d expected. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to get to know him again until he suggested it. It was easier to be mad at him than to love him.

“So would you like to?” he asked.

The hope in his voice and the look in his eyes reminded me of the first time we met. He’d looked so astonished to see me as he gazed at me across the broken stones and aqueducts of No Man’s Land.

“Would you like to play?” I’d asked, feeling hopeful and vulnerable.

I had no other friends, and the thin boy—with unruly black hair and eyes the most beautiful, clear blue I’d ever seen—looked as vulnerable as I felt. I’d yearned for him to say yes, and when he did, it changed everything.

And now, he was the one asking me. While I remained angry that he’d fucked me and walked out before tossing me over his saddle like a sack of potatoes, I couldn’t say no. All those years ago, he’d taken a chance on saying yes; I would take this one with him.

However, I still expected an apology from him, but I’d already gotten a half smile; I couldn’t ask for two miracles today. If this went well, I’d make my expectations clear. If it didn’t, then we’d most likely be choking each other by the end of the day.

Smiling, I squeezed his arm. “I’d like that very much.”

When a grin lit his face and brightened his eyes, my heart somersaulted all the way down to my stomach. Even if I did end up choking him, it would be worth it to have seen that smile.

You might end up with a broken heart by the end of this day, a little voice warned.

It’s already been broken. There’s not much more he can do to it.

But there was, even I could admit that. His smile had just proven that, as it brought forth more emotion than I would have believed possible a few short minutes ago.

“There’s a waterfall I think you’d like and a river. Do you enjoy fishing?”

“I’ve never done it before.”

“Then we’ll remedy that.”

I felt like I was floating as I grinned like an idiot back up at him. You’re going to end up heartbroken again.

It was a very real possibility, but I chose to believe this was a step in the right direction. It wouldn’t be easy, but we could do this. If we’d survived my mother, then we could fix what she’d broken.

“Want me to come with you?” Gizzi asked. “In case he turns into a dick again.”

“No, I can handle him. You stay here and play in the trees.”

“Yay!”

Gizzi’s excited jittering filled the air. Dromon remained standing by the doorway as the sprites watched us with slack jaws. They scattered when Knox’s attention shifted from me to the room.

They flew into the rafters, where they’d set more boots on the wooden beams, probably to hit Lyra and Pierce with them. They tried to pretend they were focused on their prank, but they couldn’t hide their whispers or stares as we walked across the entry to Dromon.

I expected Knox to tell them to put everything away and to clean up, but he didn’t. Maybe he really was changing.

I tried to stifle the bubble of hope in my chest. I couldn’t get too ahead of myself with this, but it was almost impossible not to get overexcited. I was tempted to throw my arms around his neck and squeal with happiness.

Don’t do that, I told myself.

It would look absolutely pathetic if I did, and I would take this slow. If he expected sex today, then he was going to be sorely disappointed.

“Keep an eye on things while we’re gone,” Knox said to Dromon. “I’m going to take her to the waterfall.”

Dromon bowed his head. “I’ll be here.”

We were almost through the door when a sprite with flaming orange hair and matching butterfly wings threw open the front door. He’d flung it so hard it crashed against the wall; the loud bang reverberated through the room.

The sprite’s clear green eyes were wild, and strangled cries erupted from his throat as he fluttered wildly with his hands.

“Oh, Atlas, calm down!” one of the sprites called from the rafters.

“He loves the drama,” Zephyr said with a roll of his eyes.

I refrained from telling him that was the pot calling the kettle black.

“The roses!” Atlas blurted. “The roses are dying!”

My hope burst as an invisible punch launched into my gut. For a long moment, nobody moved, and then I felt Knox’s eyes boring into me.

I didn’t have to look to know he wasn’t smiling anymore.

We weren’t going for that walk.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Knox

“I don’t understand what happened. This can’t be possible. It just can’t be,” Briar muttered.

She knelt before a drooping rose that was almost entirely black. Yesterday, it was a much healthier shade of red. When she touched it, a single petal fell off, and she recoiled as if it burned her.

“Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she whispered.

A tear streaked her face as she moved the petal back toward the rose like she could somehow reattach it. She hesitated only centimeters away from the flower. She couldn’t stick the petal on again, and if she touched it, more would probably fall off.

“What happened?” I growled.

Lyra, Pierce, Dromon, and the sprites had all joined us in the courtyard. This rose was near the blacksmith’s shop, but others were wilting and blackening as well.

“What the fuck happened?” I barked when Briar didn’t answer me.

She jumped a little and pulled the petal away from the rose, clutching it against her chest. “I don’t know. This shouldn’t be possible. The potion wouldn’t do this.”

“Has anyone put anything else on these roses?” I demanded as I looked at all those gathered round.

The sprites and shifters shook their heads. On Briar’s shoulder, the rodent eyed me like it was waiting for me to attack her, but she wouldn’t do this, would she?

She was the only one giving them anything other than the natural healing ability of the sprites. It was her potions feeding these plants, but she wouldn’t kill them. Her grief looked genuine as her tears dripped onto the ground.

“Could this… could this be from the potion I created?” Zephyr asked, his eyes on Briar.

“No—”

Before she could say anything more, I grabbed her arm and lifted her. She staggered a little as I set her on her feet and recoiled a little. When I thrust my face into hers, the rodent’s tail went up; it hissed as it coiled to spring, but didn’t attack. Which was the smart choice, because I wouldn’t hesitate to snap its neck.

“You let someone else make a potion for them?” I snarled.

The beast rolled within me, both seeking to protect her and raging against this revelation.

“I…” Briar opened and closed her mouth a few times before gulping. “I showed him how to make it, but I watched him every step of the way. His potion was perfect! It wouldn’t have done this.” She looked past me to Zephyr. “You didn’t do this.”

“Why did you let someone else make the potion?” I demanded.

Briar’s eyes flew back to mine. “Because I shouldn’t be the only one who can!”

She jerked on her arm as some of the fire returned to her eyes. I was too incensed to release her. “And why not?”

“If something ever happens to me⁠—”

“Do you think I can’t protect you?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Or are you planning to try and escape?”

And that was the reason the beast was so frantic within me. Even if she’d done something to these roses, the idea of her leaving had sent me into a spiral I couldn’t stop.

“Of course not!” she blurted, but the smallest flicker in her eyes told me she lied.

“Do you really think you can run from me?” I demanded. “Do you really think you can escape me?”

She jerked on her arm again, but when I refused to relinquish it, she stopped to scowl at me.

“If you try to run, I will hunt you wherever you go. I’ll be your worst fucking nightmare, so you better get any idea of leaving this place out of your head right now.”

Her lips clamped together as her nostrils flared. When her hands fisted, I knew she was contemplating punching me, but she wasn’t stupid enough for that.

“What did you do to the roses?” I inquired.

I didn’t want to believe she’d done something to them, but if she was plotting to run, then who knew what else she was doing behind my back.

“I didn’t do anything to them!” she shouted. “The potion wouldn’t do this. There’s something else going on here.”

“What about Zephyr’s potion? Could he have messed something up?”

“Like I said, his potion was perfect,” she said through her teeth. “I was there every step of the way; he didn’t make a single mistake. Even if he did, there’s nothing in the potion that would cause this. It might make them wither a little if they received too much of it, but it wouldn’t make them die!”

“Is it dead?” I demanded.

It sure looked dead, but I didn’t want to believe that. My mind flashed to the throne room and the two roses sitting on the thrones there. If my parents were dead…

I shut the possibility down as red filled my vision. If I found out she was lying and she really did do something to them, I couldn’t kill my mate, but I’d make her beg for death.

“Is it dead?” I barked when she didn’t answer me.

Briar squeezed her eyes closed before opening them and focusing on the rose again. “It could still be alive, but if it is, it’s very weak.”

“Did you do this?”

Her eyes shot up to me. “Why are you always so determined to believe the worst of me? Why can’t you trust and believe me? I didn’t do this. Zephyr didn’t do this. Something else is going on here!”

“And what is that?”

“I don’t know!” She tried to throw up both her hands, but my grip on her elbow stopped her. “If I knew, don’t you think I’d tell you?”

She jerked at her arm again, and this time, when I refused to release it, she huffed out an angry breath and swung at me. I was so astounded that Briar, a woman whom I’d never seen unleash violence before, threw a punch at me that I didn’t catch it until it was only inches from my head.

Her fist thudded against my palm as I encased it in my hand. As I leaned toward her, she kicked.

“Fuck you!” she shouted as her boot connected squarely with my shin.

I didn’t so much as flinch. “Do you think that hurt me, mea perfidas eveto?”

“I don’t care if it hurt or not!” she spat.

Her eyes told a different story as they burned with rage.

“I’m not sure what you’d tell me and what you wouldn’t,” I told her. “These roses were fine until you started pouring your potion on them.”

“They were thriving yesterday! If my potion did this, they would have died weeks ago.”

“Maybe that was part of your plan. Maybe you were determined to reel us into letting you work with all the roses before you poisoned them.”

Her ire died as anguish bloomed in her eyes and her face fell. The look on her face made me feel like the biggest piece of shit, but I shook it off. I couldn’t see Briar doing this to the flowers, but what did I know anymore?

The fight left her as she went limp in my hold. “You’re right, this was all part of my master plan. I can’t fool you, Knox. I never could. You’re just too smart and powerful for me.”

My eyes narrowed at her sarcasm. “So you admit it then.”

“Yep. It was all me. Lock me up, kill me, do whatever, but I’m done with you.”

A sneer curved my lip as I pushed her toward Dromon and Pierce. “Take her to her room. I can’t look at her anymore. And make sure she doesn’t have any access to anything that can make a potion.”

Briar didn’t say a word as she strode away with her chin held high. I couldn’t read the look Dromon gave me, but it certainly wasn’t happy.

I turned my back on them to focus on the dying rose. “Bertie!” I shouted.

The queen of the sprites flew over to hover at my side. Her orange butterfly wings created a small thump in the air.

“She didn’t do this, Knox,” Bertie said.

“You can’t know that.”

Bertie didn’t speak for a while before she whispered, “But you can.”

Every instinct I had told me Bertie was right, but I was too pissed about Briar teaching Zephyr the potion to care about my instincts. She’s planning to run.

I was absolutely convinced of that, even more so than I was that she didn’t do this.

“What happened to the roses?” I demanded.

“I don’t know, but Briar didn’t poison them.”

“So you’ve said, but if you’re going to prove it, then you’d better figure out what happened to them.”

“We could use her help. She knows these plants. She has a true, special affinity to them, and they respond to her.”

I lifted my head to glare at her. “If you’re so determined to see her name cleared, then I’d get to work on doing so.”

Bertie folded her arms over her chest and scowled at me. “You know you’re wrong on this.”

I didn’t say anything as I knelt to examine the rose more carefully. I wasn’t beyond admitting most of my wrath came from realizing she planned to run. She’d never get away from me, but she could get herself killed in the process.

Why would she want to stay with you? You’ve done nothing but terrorize her.

I lowered my hand and sat back as another petal fell. It floated back and forth as it rode the air currents while falling silently to the ground.

If they died, would the shifters die too?

It seemed impossible for the shifters to survive if the roses didn’t. “How do we stop this?”

“I don’t know,” Bertie admitted. “We’ll try everything we can to save them.”

“I have to check on my parents. Do the best you can.”

Rising, I strode away from her and on toward the throne room. If they were dying too, I didn’t know what I’d do.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Briar

I paced the small confines of my room, seething with every step I took. How dare he! How dare he!

My hands fisted as I restrained myself from battering the walls. How had this day gone so wrong?

I’d thought things were finally getting better between us, that he was finally starting to trust me and maybe we wouldn’t spend the rest of our lives fighting each other. And then BAM, everything went back weeks.

It had all been an illusion because, in the end, he wanted to believe the worst in me. It didn’t matter what I did, how much time passed, or how different I was from the other casters; he’d never move on from my heritage.

I hated him for it, and I hated myself for getting my hopes up.

“What do you think happened to the roses?” Gizzi asked.

“I don’t know, and he won’t give me the chance to find out.”

“He might, once he calms down.”

“I don’t care about him calming down. I’m so sick of him constantly jumping to the wrong conclusion about me. I hate him.”

Gizzi settled at the end of the bed to watch me. I didn’t bother to try the door; Dromon hadn’t locked it after leaving me here. I wasn’t sure if that was on purpose, but even if I could get free, I had nowhere to go. I’d never make it out of this castle without Knox catching me.

My pacing continued until a soft knock brought it to an end. That couldn’t be Knox; he wouldn’t bother to knock. He’d storm in like the overbearing ogre he was.

“What?” I demanded.

“It’s Lyra; can I come in?”

I almost told her to go away, but bit my tongue. The lone female shifter had never come to my room before, and we’d never had a conversation, so I had no idea why she was here.

Curious as to what brought her, I opened the door. Lyra stood on the other side with her hands clasped before her. Her short, golden blonde hair stood up in spikes around her beautiful face.

Like most female shifters, she was tall, but she was leaner than most other shifters. Her lime-green eyes met mine before flicking into the room.

“Can we talk?” she asked.

“Are you here to kill me?”

Her mouth twitched toward a smile. “No.”

“Are you here to accuse me of killing the roses?”

“Are they dead?”

“I’m not sure.”

She inhaled a deep breath as sorrow flashed through her eyes. Her parents were roses in town.

Some of my defensiveness dissipated. “Have your parents been affected?”

“No.” She swallowed before closing her eyes. “Not yet anyway.”

I heard the dread in her voice. They might not be affected now, but until we learned what happened, they were in peril.

“Can I come in?” she asked again.

I stepped aside to let her enter. Once Lyra was inside, I closed the door. It probably wasn’t the best idea to be alone in here with her when I had no idea what she was thinking, but unless Knox ordered my death, she wouldn’t kill me.

And he wouldn’t order my death; he’d carry out the sentence himself.

“I didn’t poison the roses,” I said.

She prowled the room, every bit the black panther she shifted into. She stopped near one of the three walls full of windows. She clasped her hands behind her back while gazing at the browned grass and dead crops.

“I know you didn’t,” Lyra said.

“You… know?”

Shock made it come out as more of a question. How could she know that?

“Did you poison them?” I accused.

A small smile played across her lips. “Do you really believe I’d do that?”

“No. The idea never crossed my mind… until now. How else would you know I didn’t do it?”

“We don’t talk much, but that’s not because of you. When we first met, it was you, and if Knox had allowed it, I would have ripped out your intestines and choked you with them.”

“How lovely,” I muttered.

Her smile widened. “You have to understand that our hatred of the casters will never fade.”

“I know I didn’t experience what the four of you did, and all the other souls trapped there, but I can understand what they did. It would have completely changed me too.”

“That’s true, but what you don’t understand is Knox.”

I emitted a bitter laugh. “Not even a little bit. I’m not sure anyone does or ever will.”

“Hmm,” she murmured as she turned back to the window. “You’re right about that. I understand the twisting, the humiliation, and the hatred that comes from being in the harem. I also understand the loss of our loved ones, our kingdom, and ourselves, but I don’t understand the mate bond.

“I’ve never experienced that, so I don’t know how awful it was for him to endure the harem while loving and being bonded to another. I don’t have a mate, but the desire for one is very alive within me… as it is with all unmated shifters.”

She wanted a mate; that was something I never saw coming from Lyra. She was so fierce and independent.

“I hope I never find him,” she whispered.

“Why?” I blurted.

She rocked from her heels to her toes as she surveyed the land. It took her so long to respond that I began to wonder whether she heard me.

“We’re all so broken,” she said. “And nothing can ever put us back together. I don’t want my mate to deal with that. Neither does Knox, but he doesn’t have a choice; he’s already found you.”

I decided to ignore that last part. “If your mate is a shifter, then they’ll also feel the draw of the mate bond. I don’t think it will matter to them if you’re broken or not.”

“Does that make it any better? They say mates are the two halves of one soul. Why would I choose to hoist my broken half on a man who doesn’t have a choice in the matter?”

“I’m not a shifter. I have choices.”

She looked at me over her shoulder again. “And that’s what makes it so scary for Knox.”

I hadn’t been expecting that at all. “What?”

“Shifters have no choice; they can never walk away from their mate, but you can walk away from yours. If it becomes too tough, if things aren’t working out the way you expect, or⁠—”

“Or if the shifter who claims you as their mate is a complete asshole ninety-nine percent of the time?”

When she lifted an eyebrow in amusement, I smiled back at her. “You think Knox isn’t an asshole one percent of the time? You give him more credit than I do.”

I chuckled, but her words gave me pause. “Once the curse is broken, will you choose another alpha to follow?”

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Briar

“I could, but I never would. Knox is an asshole, and he’s as broken as me, but he’s also the fiercest fighter and strongest shifter I’ve ever seen… including his father.”

I wondered what would happen with his father if Knox succeeded in breaking the curse. How would he feel about his least-favored son becoming stronger than him?

“I follow strength, as do Dromon and Pierce, but more than that, we’ll follow the man who would die for us, freed us from the harem, and gave us back our lives… even if those lives are far different than the ones we left. I would follow Knox into the depths of Hell and back again if he asked me to, because he wouldn’t hesitate to do it for me.”

I gulped at her words and the hoarse emotion in her voice. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you have to understand that learning his mate plans to run scared him far more than the dying roses.”

“He told me that he has no intention of claiming me as his mate again.”

Lyra sighed. “He’s such an idiot. Knox may have told you that he would never claim you as his mate again, but you are his mate, and he will always see you as such.”

“He never asked me if I planned to run; he just accused me of it.”

“When he learned you taught Zephyr how to make the potion, he knew you were planning to run away. We all did. I don’t blame you; I’d try to run too if I were you. This place is a prison for you… just as the harem was for us. When I was finally free of that place, I vowed never to be caged again; I don’t blame anyone for feeling the same way.”

I didn’t deny her words. I couldn’t lie to her when she was being so truthful with me. “He doesn’t make it easy to want to stay.”

“No, he doesn’t, but you must know that if you run, he’ll hunt you until he has you again. It won’t matter where you go.”

“I know.”

But that wasn’t going to stop me, especially not after today. He could hunt me, but if he couldn’t get to me, then I wouldn’t come back.

“Do you still love him?” Lyra asked.

“I don’t know him anymore. I will always love the man he was, but the one he is now is… infuriating. He’s always so quick to believe the worst of me because I’m a caster, but I’m not like the others. I believed he realized that when we were children, but I think he always doubted me, even then.”

“I don’t,” Lyra said. “I think he has complete faith in you, but he’s broken, and you’re not. You can run from him; he can’t run from you.”

“So that excuses his behavior?”

“Absolutely not, but it makes it more understandable… for me, at least. He’s scared.”

“Knox isn’t scared of anything.”

“Except for you. You terrify him.”

“That doesn’t mean I should have to put up with the way he treats me and talks to me.”

“Of course not. If he’d done to me what he did to you today, I’d wear his balls as a necklace.”

I grinned at the imagery. “Believe me, if I were stronger, I would have bounced his balls off his head.”

Lyra laughed. “You know, I never considered it possible to be near a caster without trying to bash their brains in, let alone liking one, but I like you. I see you.”

“What do you mean?”

She kept her hands behind her back as she turned to face me. “We all see you. Knox is choosing to remain blind, but the rest of us see what you’re doing, including Dromon and Pierce. And believe me when I tell you they can be obtuse.”

I was more confused by her words. “I don’t understand. You see me do what?”

“You love the plants and roses. When you’re with them, you light up. You shine. It’s as if they’re a part of your soul. You’d never harm them; you wouldn’t do such a thing.”

My mouth went dry at her words. She did see me. She really did.

The plants were a part of my soul, a part that was still weeping for the destruction wrought on them.

I rubbed my fingers together as I recalled the misery emanating from the rose when I touched it. It was so weak, all I felt was its faint, dull agony as the petal fell off in my fingers. The rose knew it was dying, and so did I.

I tried to rid myself of the memory but couldn’t. It would haunt me forever.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” I whispered. “I don’t understand why they’re so sick.”

“What do you think might have happened?”

Tears burned my eyes. “I have no idea. Even if Zephyr made the potion completely wrong, which I know he didn’t, it still wouldn’t have caused this kind of destruction. There’s nothing any of us could have done to cause that, short of pouring poison on them, and who would do that?”

Lyra pondered this before shaking her head. “No one in this castle.”

“And there’s no way for anyone else to get in?”

“No.”

She sounded so confident, I didn’t push her on it. “My mother would do it, but she can’t get in here.”

“She’d be dead if she did.”

“What about the shadow dragon’s despair? Could that have polluted them somehow?”

“It never has before, and the dragon has never unleashed his ability on the roses. Besides, I’ve seen his despair hit trees and other plants before; it didn’t affect them.”

I bit my lip as I pondered her words. “I have no other ideas.”

Lyra rocked back and forth again as she stared out the window. “Could it be their time? They’ve been trapped like this for ten years, maybe that’s all the casters gave them.”

“Are all the roses in the kingdom dying?”

“No, my parents are fine… so far. The king and queen are still good too, but I’m not sure if that will last.”

“Neither am I, but I’m guessing it’s not their time if they’re not all dying at once.”

“Do you think you could figure it out?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen or experienced anything like this before. Maybe there’s something in one of the books, but I’d have to go to the library to search for it.”

“He’s not going to let you out of here again any time soon.”

“Will he ever let me out again?”

“Yes, but until then, I’ll get you some books. Tell me what to bring you.”

I perked up a little at her offer; at least I wouldn’t have to be trapped here and useless. “Bring me anything you can find on plants and potions. Maybe, because they’re not real roses and are cursed, the potion could have done something to them, but I don’t think that’s possible. They wouldn’t have thrived before suddenly dying off if that were true.”

“I agree. Okay, let’s get started. I’ll get the books.”

When she started walking toward the door, my question stopped her, and she turned back to me. “Do you really believe I didn’t poison the roses?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I thought you did. Knox would have had to send me away to keep me from killing you.”

I gulped; it was something she could easily do. “Why did you tell me that stuff about Knox?”

Lyra shifted to fully face me again. “In the hopes it would help you understand and keep you from trying to escape.”

“Understand what?”

“How truly shattered we are and how scared he is of losing you.”

“Locking me away won’t help him keep me.”

“But he’s not thinking with his head. When it comes to you, he’s letting his heart and the beast rule him.”

“He’ll be mad if he learns you came up here and are going to help me with this.”

“He never ordered us to stay away from you; if he had, I wouldn’t be here. We just won’t tell him I’m here, or about the things we discussed. Right?”

I smiled at her. “Right.”

CHAPTER SIXTY

Briar

Lyra strode the rest of the way to the door, and her hand rested on the knob, but she didn’t open it. She stood there, eyes on the wood before her, then bowed her head and pivoted to face me again.

“You know, I used to have the most beautiful long blonde hair. I was so proud of it, so vain about it, but it truly was spectacular. It flowed in thick waves past my ass, and when it rained or got wet, it would get these perfect corkscrew curls in it.

“When I was little, my mother spent hours combing and working the tangles from it because, oh, how it would tangle, but we both loved my hair so much that neither of us complained. It was also our special time together; we’d sit and talk while my brothers roughhoused outside. Years after I was old enough to take care of it on my own, my mother and I would sit together while she tended to it. It never got frizzy under her care; it always did under mine.”

A sad smile tugged at her lips as her lime-green eyes focused on a different, happier time. “I never told her that I purposely made my hair a disaster to spend more time with her, but I think she knew. And even better, I think it made her happy.”

A lump formed in my throat, and I blinked away the tears burning my eyes. Lyra wouldn’t want me shedding them for her.

“Then, one day, I rode too far into day caster land, and they captured me. I should have been paying attention, but it was a beautiful day, and I was chasing butterflies like the foolish, dreamy-headed girl I was. They placed me in the harem.”

I hid my shock over this revelation. They’d put her in the harem simply for riding on their land? I couldn’t imagine a punishment that fit the crime less than that one.

“I entered shortly before Knox and recognized him when they brought him in. I’d never spoken with the alpha’s youngest son, but everyone knew who he was. He was still screaming as he fought the monsters imprisoning him. Those screams…” Lyra shuddered. “Those were the screams of a shifter who lost their mate. I’d never heard them before, but I recognized them instantly.”

A pang stabbed my heart. Every time I started to hate Knox, something happened to soften my heart toward him again. Damn him, this place, my mother, and everything else.

“When I first saw him, I thought this is it, we’ll get free now. The alpha didn’t much care for his youngest, but he’d never let the casters get one over on him by imprisoning his son. Of course, the alpha never came; the curse prevented that. So we remained trapped in hell as time inched past at an excruciating pace.

“One night caster was especially cruel to me, and for some reason, I was a favorite of his. One day, after an especially degrading session, he lay beside me, playing with my hair. He told me how much he loved it.

“The casters had woven layers of magic over that place to keep us from shifting or using our powers. Knox was the only one who could transform in there. For some reason, they couldn’t stop him from doing so, which only shows how powerful he is.

“After that asshole caster left me, I sat on my bed, running my fingers through my tangled hair. I didn’t bother taking care of it anymore, but he still liked it.”

Anger clouded her face and turned her words venomous.

“I went into the bathroom and found the small razor they’d given me. They expected us to remain groomed for them at all times, and they punished us when we weren’t. I tried to rebel once and refused to shave. They peeled the flesh from my legs.”

My hand flew to my mouth to stifle my gasp. She didn’t pay any attention to me as she continued talking.

“The razor was useless as a weapon, and I couldn’t use it to kill myself, but I could use it on hair. I stood in front of the mirror as I sawed it off. I didn’t cry as it fell in the sink, but my mother would have wept endlessly.

“When I finished, I gathered all my hair up and shoved it in a garbage can. When that caster returned and saw what I’d done, he was irate. I paid dearly for ruining my hair, and he ordered me to grow it back, but I didn’t care what he did to me, I didn’t grow it back, and I never will.”

I was too stunned and saddened by this revelation to respond. But Lyra didn’t expect a response as she opened the door and left.

“We’re all so broken,” she’d said. “And nothing can ever put us back together.”

She didn’t believe any of them would heal, and I was beginning to think she was right.

When I sank onto the mattress, Gizzi came over to settle in my lap. I stroked his fur as I stared out the windows and tried to absorb everything Lyra had revealed.

“I can’t stay here,” I whispered.

Gizzi didn’t respond as he nudged my hand.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Briar

Over the next two days, Lyra brought me books, and we searched through them together. We didn’t find any answers. It was as frustrating as trying to learn about my newfound abilities to communicate with the dead and animals.

When I ran out of books on potions and plants, I had her bring me ones on curses, but there wasn’t much on them in the shifters’ library. The casters and elves would keep information about their magical abilities close to their hearts. They wouldn’t put their secrets into books the other kingdoms could use.

The information we found on curses focused more on what they could do than on how they were created or broken. I hadn’t hoped for much from that avenue anyway, but it was still disappointing.

Because of Lyra’s frequent visits and time spent with me, I suspected Knox knew what she was doing. I didn’t ask, and she didn’t say. We spent much of our time working in silence, but sometimes we shared stories from our childhood.

I learned she was the youngest of seven and had six older brothers, who were entirely crazy and loved to pester her. They’d also beat up anyone who looked at her cross-eyed.

She learned about how Knox and I would play together in No Man’s Land. I didn’t tell her much about Nightshade; there were no happy memories there, and we’d settled into telling only things that brought smiles and laughter.

There was enough sadness in this castle without us adding to it. I enjoyed her company and was glad to have her faith and support.

On the third day, she looked entirely defeated when she arrived at my door. Her shoulders were slumped, and her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.

“It’s getting worse,” she said. “Knox wants you to come with me.”

I rankled at this command. “Where is our mighty leader?”

“In the solar with Dromon and Pierce, as well as some of the sprites.”

“What’s happening?”

“Come with me.”

Gizzi raced up to my shoulder before I left the room. I followed Lyra down the stairs and passed wilting rosebushes in the hallway. Some only had one or two petals clinging to them. Others were just starting to die as the sickness spread.

I was so focused on the roses that I didn’t notice the tree of unity until we reached the first floor. My hand flew to my throat as horror filled me.

The beautiful, multicolored leaves all drooped; their ends had shriveled and browned. Some of them broke free and drifted to the ground; they settled around the stones where more of them lay. The flower petals littered the ground; almost all had fallen, and the entry was silent as the bees had left.

“Oh!” I cried as I raced toward the tree. “Oh no. Please, please, no!”

I didn’t know who I was pleading to, as all the gods seemed to have abandoned this place and I was unbound. I stumbled over the stones and fell at the base of the tree. My knees smacked off the dirt as my hand collided with the trunk.

The second I touched the tree, grief erupted within me. Before I could stop it, a wail of anguish tore from my throat and rebounded around the room, but it was full of more than my misery; it was also the tree’s.

Just days ago, its power strengthened me, but now its dying filled my veins. I didn’t realize I was weeping until wetness flowed over my hands to soak through my pants.

“What happened?” I breathed, wishing the tree could talk to me like Gizzi, but all it gave me was its agony.

“I’m going to stop this,” I choked out. “I will find a way to stop this.”

I had no idea how, but there had to be a way. Knox wouldn’t allow me to make another potion, and I didn’t dare put anything else on these plants without knowing what was happening.

“It’s spreading amongst the roses too,” Lyra said from behind me.

With tears streaming down my face, I turned to look at her. I hadn’t realized Knox, Dromon, Pierce, Bertie, Zephyr, and some of the other sprites had entered the room. They stood and floated near the doorway, watching me.

Bertie and the sprites at least looked sympathetic, but the shifters’ faces were all expressionless. I didn’t know why Knox had let me out to see this. Maybe he wanted to witness my reaction, or maybe he hoped there was some way I could still help, but his eyes were flat and cold when they met mine.

The sprites all looked drained. Their wings weren’t as vibrant, and their skin was paler. They thrived on nature, but much of the plants’ vitality was taken from this realm by the curse. With no way to help the dying plants, the sprites were fading.

There had to be some way to stop this before I lost them.

I wiped the snot from my nose before focusing on Lyra. “Your parents?”

When she bowed her head, I knew the answer to my question. Pulling my hand away from the tree, I shuddered when my connection to it broke. I was free of it, but its anguish continued to batter my heart.

I would never be free of its misery… unless I could somehow save it.

“Everything is dying,” Knox stated.

I gulped; I really didn’t want to ask my next question, but I had to. “Even the king and queen?”

“Everything,” Knox growled.

My heart sank into my toes. If they died, he might kill me.

“Could it be the rat?” Knox asked. “He’s venomous.”

“No!” I shouted as I recoiled from him. “His bite is venomous, and he’s not running around biting the plants and trees.”

“Of course I’m not,” Gizzi said angrily. “This guy’s an idiot.”

“Lowleetos don’t work that way,” Bertie said.

“Besides, he’s been here the whole time, and the plants were all getting better.”

“If I find out you, or him, had anything⁠—”

“I didn’t do this!” I shouted at him. “For once, stop believing the worst in me! I would never do this!”

“You’d better hope not.”

Despite my lingering sorrow for the tree, I glowered at him. “Take me to the worst of the roses.”

“I’ll show you,” Bertie said as she flew closer. “This way.”

Rising, I didn’t look at Knox as I followed Bertie from the room. Zephyr flew on the other side of me as Gizzi turned on my shoulder to keep his eyes on Knox.

All the other plants in the room and the ivy encircling the banisters were also dying. Many of their leaves littered the ground.

When I first stepped into this room, it was like entering an indoor forest. Now, it was like entering a tomb.

I was surprised to discover the colored sand still scattered across the ground. The sprites had been too distracted and busy to clean up after their prank, and everything remained untouched. Time froze the second Atlas burst in to tell us about the dying roses.

Bertie led the way to the courtyard off the long hallway. The insidious sensation of impending doom crept up my neck as we walked.

She stopped near a rose with no petals left. It drooped over as its stem gradually crumbled beneath the weight of what remained. A single leaf clung to it, but all the thorns remained.

I didn’t want to touch it, but I had to. Bracing myself, I knelt beside the rose and reached for the decaying stem.

As soon as I touched it, what remained of the flower crumpled beneath my fingers. I recoiled as the ashy remnants scattered across the ground.

Unable to move, I stared at the rose in horror. It took a few moments before I hesitatingly stretched my trembling fingers toward it. I dipped the tips of them into the remains; they were silken against my skin, but no emotions radiated from them.

I rubbed the black ashes between my fingers as I examined them. There were no bony remnants, but it was as if someone had cremated the shifters. A sick feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I lowered my fingers.

Am I somehow doing this? Is there some way I’m killing them without realizing it?

I recalled sitting in the tree while its life flowed through its limbs and into me. I’d strengthened myself by absorbing its energy.

Did I take too much? Is my ability to connect with dead things leaking into the world and poisoning it so that I was also killing things?

Are they dying because of me?

The possibility turned my blood to ice and sent my brain screeching in a hundred different directions. I strained to deny the possibility while also trying to find some other reason this was happening.

But I had nothing. Absolutely nothing other than death and decay.

I couldn’t bring myself to wipe the ashes off on my pants, but I couldn’t stand having it on my fingers anymore either. This was a living, breathing shifter at one time, and then my mother came along, and now I had.

If I could talk to the dead, could I also talk to the shifter who once resided in this flower? I struggled to form a question that wouldn’t make the others suspicious and could get this dead shifter to talk to me.

“Are there others like this?” I asked.

When no one answered me, I turned to discover them all staring at the fallen rose with a mixture of shock and sorrow.

Bertie flew down to stand on the ground; she was impossibly drained of more color and life. “There are a few this bad throughout the castle.”

“Do you think they’re dead?” I asked.

It was clear to me they were, but I waited to hear something from someone else… someone no longer on this plane. Silence from beyond met my question, but Bertie answered me.

“Don’t you?”

“Yes,” I reluctantly admitted.

I rested my fingers on the ground before rising. More dying roses speckled the courtyard, but I didn’t dare approach them. If I were the one raining death down on them, then I couldn’t get any closer.

Is it me?

I dug my fingers into my palms, grinding some of the ashes into my skin. It felt like the full weight of the dead shifter rested on my shoulders instead of just these scant remnants on my hand.

Did I do this?

Bile burned my throat, and I couldn’t hold it back. Rushing to a corner of the courtyard, I didn’t quite make it before vomit surged out of my mouth and sprayed the ground.

My throat burned, more tears fell, and my stomach knotted as I heaved again, nearly throwing out my back as I purged all my insides. When there was nothing left to come out, dry heaves continued to wrack me until they finally subsided too.

Legs trembling, I staggered back a few steps before falling to my knees. I was a complete mess, but I couldn’t kneel in my own throw-up.

What was I supposed to do now? How did I proceed?

My gaze fell on a rose with only three petals left. The sands of the hourglass were running out fast on its time, and if I didn’t figure something out, nothing would remain of the shifters… that’s if I wasn’t the cause.

Oh, gods, I couldn’t be the reason for all of this. I’d never be able to live with myself if I were the one destroying the shifters.

If it is me, will anything be able to live around me? Is one of my new abilities complete and utter destruction? Will I ever be able to touch plants again?

If there had been anything left in my stomach, I would have spewed it everywhere at the idea of never being able to fully immerse myself in nature again. I loved everything about nature; it was a part of my soul, and I would die without it.

Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I stared at the wall before pushing myself to my feet. I turned to face the others; they all stared back with wary expressions. If I were the cause of this, they’d hate me.

But whether that was true or not, I had to figure out what was happening.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Briar

I sat outside the stones surrounding the tree of unity. I didn’t dare get too close, in case I was the one unwittingly causing this. Plus, I couldn’t stand the idea of going any nearer; it was too depressing. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave it either. It was dying and shouldn’t be left alone.

When a shriveled leaf fell on my book, I brushed it aside. It crinkled against my fingers before sliding off the page. Remnants of the leaf remained; unlike the rose, these didn’t cling and didn’t crumble into ashes.

That’s because the roses were once shifters. The tree was always just a tree.

But it was still a living—for now—breathing thing that deserved saving. My gaze fell on the stones binding this kingdom together. At one time, the shifters had almost destroyed each other… and now something else was destroying them.

Gizzi sat on one of the stones, staring at the tree. He didn’t climb into the branches; he was afraid of hurting it.

I flipped through the pages of the book, searching for an answer within the tome, but coming up with nothing… as I’d known I would. I slammed the book shut and brushed another leaf aside when it landed on my face.

A flutter of wings alerted me that a sprite had arrived; I looked up to discover Zephyr hovering at my side. His mouth was pinched as he gazed anxiously at me.

“Is this because of me?” he asked.

I frowned at him. “Why would you say that?”

“Did I mess up the potion?”

“No.” I rested my hand on his arm. “I already told you that you didn’t do this. I wouldn’t lie to spare your feelings, especially when that would have been an easy fix. You could have made the potion completely wrong, and it still wouldn’t have done this.”

“What about…” He glanced behind him. “What about the spider? You said they were good luck. Did I bring bad luck down on us by killing it?”

“No, Zephyr. You didn’t do this.”

“Then what did?”

I’m beginning to think I did.

“I don’t know,” I said.

And I was beginning to fear I wouldn’t figure it out before it was too late.

“Are you okay?” Zephyr asked. “You look tired.”

“We all do.”

“Yeah, we do.”

Zephyr’s wings continued to beat the air while I stared at the tree. There had to be answers somewhere.

“If you need any help, I’m here,” he said as he rested a hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you.”

He squeezed my shoulder as Gizzi turned to study us. When Zephyr flew away, Gizzi resumed staring at the tree. I rubbed my temples and then my neck to ease the tension there, but nothing helped.

A dull throb was starting behind my eyes, and I swore it pulsed in rhythm with my heart. Swishing sounds came from behind me, and I turned to discover Zephyr sweeping up the sand.

Time had started moving again, but the noise didn’t help the pounding in my head. With nothing else to do, I flipped the book open again and scanned the pages.

“Ah… Briar.” I was so focused on reading a passage on pruning roses that Zephyr’s words didn’t infiltrate at first. “Briar!”

I jumped and spun toward him when he yelled; the pounding in my head intensified. “What?” I demanded.

Zephyr didn’t notice the harsh tone of my voice. He had Knox’s boot in one hand as he stared at the floor with his brow furrowed.

“Are they… do they… are those spiders supposed to do this?” he asked.

I set the book down and rose. “Do what?”

Zephyr didn’t answer me as he gazed at the floor. Confusion and horror marred his face.

“Is it because I killed it? Did I unleash bad luck on us?” he muttered.

“I already told you that’s not possible,” I assured him as I approached.

“But… but…” Zephyr stammered, yet no other words came out.

The distress on his face caused the hair on my nape to rise. I’d accidentally killed a silkfang before; I hadn’t seen it and stepped on it in Nightshade.

The resulting crunch was stomach-churning, but I certainly hadn’t gazed at it with the abject revulsion on Zephyr’s face. I had to scrape it off the bottom of my boot, which made things worse, but Zephyr didn’t look revolted; he looked like someone had walked over his grave… or as if he could hear the dead.

I doubted the dead were talking to him, but anything could be possible. Everything had become topsy-turvy since coming here.

When I stopped beside Zephyr, I understood his confusion when I spotted the charred hole in the floor. It was the perfect shape of a silkfang’s body with its legs sprawled out. When Zephyr crushed the spider, some of those legs folded awkwardly beneath it.

The spider’s remnants had sunk a good inch into the wooden floor. The surrounding space looked like something had set it ablaze, leaving the surface charred. When Zephyr turned the boot over in his hand, my mouth parted when he revealed the spider-shaped hole in the sole.

“What in the name of the gods,” I breathed.

“Is this normal?” Zephyr asked.

“This is as far from normal as it gets,” I whispered.

Tilting my head back, I studied the rafters as an unsettling feeling grew in my stomach. “Have you seen any more of them around?” I whispered. “And keep your voice low.”

I wasn’t sure that mattered; if they were watching, they already knew of Zephyr’s discovery and that one of their brethren was dead. Had they all skittered away into hiding when one of them fell?

“I’ve seen a couple, but not many,” Zephyr whispered back.

As I turned to survey the room, I wondered how many sets of eyes were staring back at me, assessing the situation and calculating their next move. I had to find a silkfang before they left the kingdom… or perhaps they didn’t plan to leave at all.

“What’s going on?” Gizzi whispered.

I had no idea why he was being so quiet when the spiders couldn’t hear him. “I have to find a living silkfang as soon as possible.”

“Zephyr, can you fly into the rafters to see if you can spot any. If you find one, bring it to me, but make sure it’s alive.”

“Can I bash myself into the wall instead?” he inquired.

“Right after you bring it to me.”

“Do I really have to touch it?”

I worried that if he touched one, it might cause some venom, or whatever the spiders contained, to secrete on him. “If you can get a jar and get it into the jar without touching it, that would be preferred.”

“I can do that.”

He turned and flew away. I continued searching the rafters as Gizzi leapt onto the tree and scrambled up through its branches.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Looking. There’s not much more venomous than me.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re immune to venoms.”

He stopped and turned to me. “My skin’s a lot thicker than it looks. It takes a lot to get through it.”

“Just be careful.”

“You don’t need to be careful when you’re as good as me.”

I rolled my eyes as Zephyr buzzed back into the room. He shot into the rafters with a jar and spoon in hand.

He searched the shadows as he flew across the beams while Gizzi continued through the tree. Gizzi’s movements caused more leaves to fall, and the last of the flowers settled on the ground, but I didn’t stop him. This was more important.

I glanced back at the hole in the floor and the silkfang embedded in it. No, not a silkfang… something designed to resemble it. Which meant it was also designed to appear beneficial while sowing an insidious poison throughout the kingdom.

How did I miss this?

How could you have known?

That inner voice was completely right, but I couldn’t shake the guilt enveloping me. There was no way I could have known the spiders hid a deceptive secret, but I should have looked more closely at them when things started going wrong around here.

Why? You haven’t seen one in weeks, and in the history of the kingdoms, silkfangs have always been good.

Again, that little inner voice was as reasonable as ever, but the guilt remained.

That’s because you know the truth. If the spiders are the reason the roses and the tree are dying, it’s because your mother sent them here.

And there it was. While I couldn’t blame myself for not suspecting the silkfangs, and I wasn’t responsible for her actions, it was my mother who’d somehow done this. I did not doubt it.

“I’ve got one,” Gizzi said. “It’s trying to run.”

“Be careful,” I cautioned.

He was at the very top of the tree. The spider must have settled there in the hopes of going undetected, but it couldn’t know Zephyr wasn’t the only one looking for it.

Gizzi scampered across the branch and disappeared into the tree. For a second, I could only stand there and blink as I tried to figure out how he’d vanished. Then I realized he hadn’t disappeared; he’d darted into a small hole in the tree.

“Gizzi!” I called when he screeched within the hollow. Panic gripped me when he didn’t respond. “GIZZI!”

“I don’t see anything up here!” Zephyr called down.

I didn’t acknowledge him as my attention remained on the tree. Muffled scratching came from within as Gizzi’s claws raked the bark.

My heart hammered as I stepped forward. I couldn’t lose my friend.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Briar

“GIZZI!” I screamed at him.

A second later, he burst out of the hole with something in his mouth. He dashed through the limbs of the tree, rapidly descending until he leapt from one of the lower branches and dashed over to me.

“Zephyr, come back down. Gizzi’s found one!” I called.

Zephyr joined us as Gizzi dropped the spider at my feet. The second it hit the ground, the creature tried to scamper away, but I took the jar and spoon from Zephyr and scooped it up.

The spider’s legs clinked against the glass as it sought to break free, but it couldn’t get any purchase on the smooth surface, and its legs weren’t strong enough to shatter its container. I lifted the jar to examine it more carefully.

The back of the spider looked exactly like a silkfang; all its markings were the same, as were its size, fangs, and the eight eyes on its head. But when it rose to click against the glass, it exposed its belly… and that is where the truth lay.

“What is that?” Zephyr asked as he hovered over my shoulder.

“A snake beneath a full moon,” I replied. “It’s the mark of the night casters; they bear it on their right hand and have a pentagram on the back of their left hand. The day casters have a pentagram on the back of their left hand and a sun on their right. They materialize after the casters bind themselves to the moon or sun gods. Since I’ve never gone through the binding ritual, I’m not entirely sure how it works.”

“So, this thing is… or belongs to… the night casters?”

I jiggled the jar, hoping to irritate the spider. I succeeded in doing so when it flipped onto its back; its legs kicked in the air, and something secreted from its belly.

“It does,” I confirmed.

When the spider righted itself, smoke came from the bottom of the glass as whatever it secreted started to eat through the jar.

“I don’t think it’s a poison,” I murmured. “It’s more of an acid.”

“Did you get any of this on you?” I asked Gizzi.

Rising onto his hind legs, Gizzi opened his mouth to reveal dozens of bleeding blisters inside. “Oh gods,” I blurted before switching back to speaking with him telepathically. “We have to get your mouth cleaned out, right now! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Gizzi whimpered in response.

“Oh, the poor thing,” Zephyr said. “How do we help him?”

“I need you to go to the healer’s room and gather some lavender, helichrysum, rosemary, peppermint, and chamomile right away. Also, bring a container to put it in.”

“What about that thing?” Zephyr asked, pointing at the spider; the glass continued to melt.

“I’ll take care of it. But I need those oils right now.”

Gizzi whimpered again.

“It’s okay,” I assured him. “I’ll have you cleaned out and feeling better soon.”

As I said this, the spider hit the ground. Before it could run away, I snatched it up and shoved it in my pocket. Almost immediately, my leg started burning. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the discomfort as Zephyr flew out of the room.

He returned far faster than I’d anticipated with a small pot filled with the vials of oils I’d requested. As Zephyr set it on the ground, the spider freed itself from the hole it had created in my pants.

My leg burned, and my skin sizzled as I focused on making a cleansing potion for Gizzi. Knox had barred me from making any potions when the roses started dying, but I didn’t care about his orders right now.

Before it could get away, I snatched the spider up and put it in my other pocket.

“You’re hurting yourself!” Zephyr exclaimed.

“I’m fine. I’ll put a poultice on it later.”

“I’ll get another container for it,” Zephyr said and flew away again.

My hand trembled, and my skin sizzled as I poured the oils into the container before stirring them with my finger. When the healing properties of the oils caressed my flesh, I poured some of my energy into them to strengthen them.

When I finished, the soothing properties of the oils clung to my finger as I removed it from the pot. The spider broke free again when I set the mixture before Gizzi.

“Can you get some of this in your mouth? Don’t swallow it; just let it sit there so it can help heal the blisters.”

“I can try.”

The pained tone of his voice was more intolerable than my burning legs. Still, I scooped the spider off the ground as Gizzi stuck his head in the pot and opened his mouth.

“That’s good,” I said as I rubbed his fur. “Thank you for catching the spider, but you should have released it the second it started burning you.”

“I did it for you.”

“I know, and I love you for it, but you shouldn’t have done that to yourself.”

“You would have done it for me.”

“Oh, Gizzi.”

The spider struggled in my fingers. When it released more acid, my thumb sizzled and burned, but I didn’t let it go. Its wretched poison or acid or whatever it was could burn me to the bone, and I wouldn’t let it go.

When Zephyr returned with a metal container, I placed the spider inside. He slid the lid closed, blocking my view of the creature. Its legs ticked and scratched against the metal container as it sought to break free, but so far, the container was holding.

“Is this what’s killing the plants?” Zephyr asked.

“Yes, and I suspect there’s a lot more than one.”

“You said silkfangs were good.”

“This isn’t a silkfang. It’s a gorman.”

“What is a gorman?” Zephyr asked.

Gizzi gasped when he came up for air. He gripped the side of the bowl and blinked up at me before ducking his head again.

“Casters create gorman to do their bidding. They can look like anything, but they’re usually so small they mostly go unnoticed. They can contain the poison or acid of the spell used to create it, but most often, they’re used to spy on others.

“The gorman has a connection to the caster who creates it; they can relay what they hear in real time to their creator. So if the casters are listening, they know what’s going on and that we’ve discovered their secret.”

“Oh,” Zephyr breathed. “That’s creepy.”

And then, as my words sank in, it hit me like a hammer between the eyes. Unable to stop myself, I fell on my ass from where I was kneeling beside Gizzi. Sitting there, I stared at the metal container as I recalled the silkfangs in the tunnels of No Man’s Land.

No one would ever suspect the coveted spiders of being the enemy. They were good, and this was an environment conducive to their reproduction and growth… and so was No Man’s Land.

That’s why I hadn’t questioned their appearance in Wildwood, and they’d already made thousands of webs in the tunnels of No Man’s Land before I arrived. But if gorman mixed in with the silkfang already in the tunnels, I never would have noticed.

They could have been listening and reporting to my mother and other casters every detail of Seth’s and my plan. And there might have only been one gorman there… hers.

“This is how she knew,” I breathed.

“Knew what?” Gizzi picked his head up again; oils dripped from his face and into the bowl.

“This is how she knew all my plans about running away with Seth,” I whispered. “She had a gorman spying on me.”

“Holy shit,” Zephyr breathed.

“Where’s Knox?” I scooped the metal box off the ground before shoving myself up. “I have to see him now.”

“He’s in the dining hall with the other shifters, Bertie, Ridge, and some sprites. They’re still trying to figure out how to save the roses.”

“I know how to save them.” I tucked the metal container under my arm. “We have to kill every last gorman in Wildwood.”

“I’m coming with you!” Gizzi cried.

It would be a waste of time to argue with him. Instead, I scooped up the bowl of healing potion and carried it with me as Zephyr flew ahead.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Briar

As I stalked toward the dining room, my anger grew with every step. Knox never believed me when I told him that I’d never betrayed him. He claimed to believe me now, but he still doubted me. He’d proven it by turning on me the second the roses started dying.

Maybe it was his fear of me trying to escape that drove him to be a rash asshole, but that was no excuse for blaming me or my potions. He wanted to be angry at me. It was easier for him to feel that emotion because I was a reminder of a better time he wished to forget.

He couldn’t have known how my mother learned of our plans; I hadn’t until now, but I was his mate and the one who loved him, even if I was a caster. His years in the harem broke him, and my mother fucked with his head; I understood that, but at one time, he’d loved me and I’d loved him.

He should have had more faith in us.

No one noticed when I stepped into the dining hall. Knox sat at the far end of the table; the others were all gathered around him. Their heads were bent close as they tried to formulate a plan.

When I stormed toward them, Knox looked up, and his scowl deepened. He sat back in the chair, and the others all looked at me as I stopped beside the table.

“Can we help you?” Knox inquired.

The frigid tone of his voice only served to enflame my wrath. When I set the metal container on the table, Gizzi scrambled up to sit beside it.

I set the bowl down for him, but he didn’t dunk his head again. He still had to be sore, but his attention remained solely on Knox as Zephyr hovered nervously over my shoulder.

“I know what’s killing the plants,” I stated.

A murmur ran through the group as Knox lifted an eyebrow. “So, now you know what’s causing it?”

Gods, how I yearned to punch him in his too arrogant face.

“Yes, now I know,” I bit out. “And I also know how to stop it.”

Knox stretched his long legs before him and clasped his hands on his stomach. He didn’t believe me; I saw it in his eyes. “Well, don’t leave us in suspense. Please, enlighten us.”

“When I show you what’s in this container, I expect an apology… for everything. I expect you to say sorry for believing I was the one who told my mother everything, for locking me in the tower, for the way you’ve been these past few days, and for being an all-around giant prick all the time. You will apologize for all of it.”

I didn’t add that I also expected a lot of groveling, but I did. He’d treated me like shit, and I wouldn’t easily forgive that. We might never be able to fix what was wrong with us, but an apology was a good start.

Knox’s casual posture vanished, and he sat forward in his chair. “Do you have a miracle in that fucking box?”

“I have the answer.”

I slid the top open and pulled out the spider. Holding it by the abdomen, I avoided its burning secretion as I set it on the table.

They all leaned closer to examine it before confusion marred their faces. They looked from the spider to me.

“What does a silkfang have to do with any of this?” Dromon asked.

“They can’t hurt anything,” Lyra said.

When the spider tried to scamper away, I captured it again. Its overlong legs continued to paw the air as it kept trying to run, but it wasn’t going anywhere.

“You know what a silkfang looks like,” I said to Knox.

“I do.”

“You know every marking on them.”

“Yes. They were all over the tunnels in No Man’s Land.”

“I remember, but did you learn their markings?”

His head tilted to the side as he stared suspiciously at me. “I did. I was curious about them as a child. They’re a fascinating species.”

“They are a very interesting species,” I agreed. “They do a lot of good in the kingdoms; much of our clothing comes from the material they create.”

“What’s your point?”

I held the spider out to him, keeping its abdomen hidden. “Does this look like a silkfang to you?”

Knox stared at me before shifting his attention to the spider. He sat back again. “It’s a silkfang.”

“Is it?” I murmured as I lifted the spider to reveal its abdomen. “What about now? Does it still look the same as a silkfang?”

Again, Knox held my eyes before looking at the arachnid again. He looked bored until his eyes settled on the snake and moon etched onto its stomach. A gorman always bore the marks of whichever caster created it, day or night; it was impossible to miss this one.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

Briar

Knox sat forward. “What is that?”

Instead of answering him, I kept the spider before me as I turned it toward the others, moving it across their field of vision. While I showed them, I also explained the mark and how it came to exist on the gorman.

“Whoever created this gorman is most likely listening to every word we say,” I revealed.

Horror crept over their features as they exchanged worried looks. “Is it your mother?” Lyra asked.

“It could be, but it could also be one of many other casters. I’m sure that if it’s not my mother, then they’ve told her about our discovery.”

I focused on Knox again as I set the spider on the table but didn’t release it. “There were so many silkfangs in the tunnels of No Man’s Land.”

Knox stared at the spider before his jaw clenched and a vein throbbed in his temple. Slowly, his orange eyes lifted to mine, and I saw that he understood this was how my mother knew our plans.

As we stared at each other, I waited for some softening along with his understanding, but it never came.

“How is it killing the plants?” he asked.

I tried not to feel deflated that he’d yet to apologize; I should have known this arrogant prick wouldn’t admit he was wrong. He wouldn’t even give me this.

My resolve to escape this place hardened further as I released the spider. Its legs scratched the wood as it tried to flee, but before it could go more than a few inches, I lifted my hand and smashed it down on the arachnid.

The resulting crunch made the others grimace, but Knox didn’t react at all. Searing pain shot through my palm as its acid devoured my flesh.

“Don’t!” Gizzi shouted into my head.

I didn’t lift my palm; this pain was nothing compared to the battering my heart had taken over the years.

“Eww,” one of the sprites groused as Zephyr gagged.

“That was… disgusting,” Lyra muttered.

When I lifted my hand, a sticky goo clung to it, as did the acid. Turning my palm over, I revealed the blisters forming there and the deepening hole as my skin sizzled and popped.

Knox seized my hand, jerking it toward him as the spider’s remains started eating through the table.

“Why would you do that?” Knox demanded.

With surprising tenderness, he brushed aside the sticky goo clinging to my palm. He didn’t notice when his own skin started sizzling.

I jerked at my hand, but he refused to release it. “I did it to show you how they’re killing the plants. They can release their acid at any time.”

“Get me something to clean her hand,” Knox barked at one of the sprites.

“There’s a mixture right here,” I informed the sprite and waved at the potion. “Gizzi needs it too.”

I tried not to notice the warmth and strength of Knox’s hand as he worked, but as much as I’d prefer to kick him in the nuts, I couldn’t deny the hunger his touch awakened. I shoved aside the warmth growing in my belly while his blistered fingers removed more of the gunk.

“Holy shit,” Dromon said as he half rose from his chair. “It’s eating through the wood.”

“They do that,” Zephyr told him.

“How do we stop them?” Bertie asked. “How do we save the plants?”

“We’ll create a barrier around the roses and plants to keep the silkfangs away from them while we hunt and destroy them,” I said. “There’s probably a nest somewhere in Wildwood. While gormans have a mission to carry out and are tied to their creators, they also retain many characteristics of the creature whose image they’ve assumed. For the spell to work, the casters use actual silkfangs.”

“Okay, so we hunt these spiders and destroy them. Will that save the plants?” Lyra asked, and I knew she was thinking of her parents.

“If they’re not too far gone and if we can get some potion to them again, we should be able to save them.”

Knox’s fingers stilled on mine, and his hand gently squeezed. I didn’t know if he was aware of it as he gazed at me with hope. Until now, he’d believed every rose in Wildwood would die, that he’d failed every shifter in the land.

That still didn’t excuse him for being an asshole, but it did make my heart hurt.

“Can I make potions again?” I asked pointedly.

He watched as Gizzi dunked his head in the healing concoction again. The little guy couldn’t take the soreness in his mouth anymore. I understood as the acid ate through to my muscle and fire lanced through my veins.

“It seems you already have,” Knox said.

“I had to help Gizzi. The spider burned his mouth when he caught it.”

“How did he know to do that?”

“He’s far smarter than you ever gave him credit for.”

A muscle twitched in Knox’s cheek as his attention shifted back to me. I could tell he didn’t like the clipped tone of my voice, but there was little I liked about him anymore.

“Can I have my hand back so I can wash off the acid?”

Knox released my hand, and I dunked it in the potion next to Gizzi. My legs still burned, but I could care for them later.

“You might want to do the same,” I told Knox.

“I’m fine.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him over it. I was tired of fighting with him; all his flesh could burn off for all I cared.

“Can you keep the spiders away from the plants?” he asked.

“Yes, but we’ll still find and destroy their nest. We have to kill as many of them as possible,” I told him.

“Oh, I intend to hunt down and destroy them all.” Knox rested his fingers on the table as he rose. “What do you need from us?”

“A lot more earth moss hairs and as many willowcap mushrooms as possible.”

“You heard her, Bertie. Have the sprites gather the supplies.”

“I will,” she said.

“Wait!” I called before she could leave the room. “Be careful about everything you say. If there’s a gorman in the room, then your words will get back to the casters.” I stared at Knox as I uttered my next words. “They learn all your plans that way.”

To his credit, he didn’t break my stare, but he didn’t appear contrite either, and I still hadn’t gotten an apology.

“We’ll be careful,” Bertie promised.

The rest of the sprites followed her from the room. Gizzi lifted his head from the pot and shook the oils from his fur before dunking his face again. The solution was already easing the sting of my hand, but it would never soothe the anguish filling my heart as Knox turned and walked away.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

Briar

Knox and the shifters found the nest of gorman in a shadowy corner of the cellar. Zephyr said the things screamed when Knox lit the nest on fire. I shuddered at his description of the shrieking, burning gorman trying to run away, only for all those present to stomp on them.

I listened to his tale while stirring one of the many potions I’d brewed. Sprites flew in and out of the workroom, carrying the protective barrier potion with them. Others grabbed the growth potion of earth moss and willowcaps and carried it to the plants.

By the third day of endless potions, we were all exhausted. The only sleep I’d gotten was when I passed out while filling some of the vials. I’d woken to find my face in a puddle of potion, and probably some drool, on the countertop.

I hadn’t changed or showered in three days. My eyes were grimy from lack of sleep, but my determination to save the plants fueled me as I mixed one potion after another.

Knox, Dromon, and Pierce had ridden out on the second day with containers full of the protective spell. They were going to spread it all around the borders of Wildwood.

I’d empowered the mixture with a spell to reinforce its effects before sending it off with the shifters. It would keep gorman from ever entering Wildwood again.

Because there could still be some remaining spiders, the sprites were placing a protective barrier around every plant in the castle and town. They were also busy searching for any remaining spiders.

They couldn’t protect all the trees in the forest; that would take far more of a supply than we could ever produce, especially considering how difficult it was to grow anything in Wildwood. Besides, most of the gorman were destroyed with the nest, and everyone had been working to take out any stragglers.

I was sure the shifters were also locating more of them in the forest and destroying them as they went. There might be a few stragglers left, but I was fairly confident we’d gotten a lot of them, and thankfully, gorman couldn’t reproduce.

Lyra had remained behind to guard me, but she spent most of the time helping the sprites. With everyone flying in and out of the healer’s room and the numerous potions I had boiling in here, the library, the music room, the kitchen, and a few other rooms, no one noticed when I started a different potion.

Guilt tugged at me as I placed it over one of the flames. I was taking up a much-needed space for the protective and growing potions, but I had to do this for me. It was time.

Thankfully, the sleeping potion was odorless and tasteless; it had to be to do its job properly. Brewing in the kitchen, with many of the other potions, no one noticed its lack of aroma.

I’d waited for Knox to leave before starting it and felt bad for doing this while Lyra guarded me, but she’d said she understood my desire to be free. She never would have let me do this to Knox and would prefer me to stay… for him.

I hoped she’d forgive me for this.

By the end of the fourth day, I could barely keep my eyes open, but I’d created a vast supply of the growing and protective potions for them to use after I left. Zephyr could make more when my supply ran out.

I’d stored the sleeping draught with the extra supplies, but I could tell the difference between the potions, even if the sleeping and healing ones were nearly identical. A small fraction of the sprites had worked tirelessly to harvest the willowcaps and earth moss hairs for me.

They’d brought in a steady stream of supplies until both were overflowing. When I was sure we had more than enough, I asked them to gather more herbs to replace the ones I’d used for the potions. Zephyr would require them after I left.

I’d replenished and drained the herbs multiple times already, but the sprites had been busy, and the containers for them were all full again. Every plant had been protected and fed. We were as done as we could be.

Gizzi trudged tiredly into the room with a mouthful of lavender. He jumped onto the counter and set it before me. With a yawn, he fell next to the herb and passed out.

I chuckled as I rubbed his back. “I feel you.”

He’d labored to help us, and exhaustion had finally won out. I stifled a yawn as Lyra sauntered into the room.

Her normally spiky hair had fallen flat against her skull and, like mine, was damp with sweat. My clothes were far wetter than hers as they cleaved to me.

She’d busted her ass to get this done, but I was the one standing over the fires. Although, some of the sprites helped with stirring the mixtures because I couldn’t be everywhere at once.

Lyra plopped onto the chair in the corner, and her head fell back as she groaned. “That’s it. We’re done.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We’ve marked every plant with both a red and blue ribbon.”

The red ribbon indicated which plants received the protective potion, and the blue ribbon indicated which received the growing potion.

“Everything in the town is marked, and the trees closest to the village are too. I scoured every inch of this castle multiple times, as well as the homes in town, and haven’t found any more gorman.”

I resisted the urge to sink to the floor and sleep. “That’s great.”

“Do you think there could be more out there still?”

“I’ll never doubt the possibility. However, their lifespan is only a couple of weeks before the spell disintegrates, and a new gorman has to replace them. They can’t breed, and once the protective barrier is encircling Wildwood, they won’t be able to enter again.”

She lifted her head and cracked open a bloodshot eye. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Can they use something else to attack us in such a sneaky way?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that over the past four days, but I can’t think of anything else they could do to attack Wildwood… without coming here themselves, and they’ll never do that.”

“They’re not stupid enough for that. Does that mean we can sleep?”

“I think so.”

Lyra dropped her head back again. “Good.”

“Are the others back?”

“Not yet. I’m expecting them either later today or tomorrow.”

I nodded as I stared at the wall over Lyra’s shoulder. And when they came back, I’d be leaving.

I stroked Gizzi’s back; he didn’t know my plan yet, but he soon would. Aside from the clothes on my back and a horse, he was all I’d take with me.

“You must be exhausted,” Lyra said.

“We all are.”

“It’s time to get some rest.” Lyra slapped her hands off the ends of the chair and rose. “I also stink.”

I chuckled; she was very right about that. I’d noticed my stench on the second day of brewing, and occasionally, I’d catch a whiff of me and cringe.

“Let’s go to bed,” Lyra declared.

I glanced around to make sure everything was all set before scooping Gizzi up and cradling him against my chest. He squeaked before settling into sleep again.

Lyra studied him as I walked toward her. “He really is very smart,” she said. “He even knew how to help out.”

“He watches and learns.”

Lyra shifted her attention to me. Keen interest shimmered in her bloodshot eyes before she turned away. Together, we left the healer’s room and returned to the great hall.

The tree of unity had lost most of its leaves and all its flowers, but the leaves still clinging to its branches were perking up a little. It wouldn’t bloom again until next year, but it would survive.

“How many roses did we lose?” I asked Lyra.

I was too scared to voice the question before, but I had to know.

“Fifteen,” Lyra said sadly.

“Your parents?”

“They’re looking better already.” She rested her hand on my shoulder. “Thanks to you.”

A small smile tugged at my lips as she squeezed my shoulder. Her loyalty would always lie with Knox, but I considered her a friend. She’d probably hate me after I left here, but I hoped she remembered we shared a camaraderie before I betrayed them.

“I should have figured it out sooner,” I said.

“You couldn’t have known, and what matters is you figured it out before we lost everything.”

“I guess,” I muttered.

Without another word, we trudged up the stairs and on toward our separate rooms.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

Knox

The castle was eerily quiet when I returned. No sprites buzzed around, nothing fell on my head, and a spray of water or some other concoction didn’t hit me in the face.

The floral and sweet scent of Briar’s potions permeated the castle, but I still detected her underlying aroma of strawberries and eucalyptus intermingling with her concoctions. That scent was like coming home, and it eased some of the stress the dying plants and time away from her had created.

It had been three endless days since I’d been home, but the plants in the great hall were greener, the remaining leaves on the tree of unity had perked up, and color was returning to the roses. Everything still looked far weaker than it had before the gorman arrived, but life was returning.

Thanks to Briar.

Closing my eyes, I rubbed my temples as guilt tugged at me. I’d fucked up so bad that I didn’t know how to start fixing it.

Everything had unraveled so fast, and we’d been so busy hunting for gorman and spreading the protective barrier around the kingdom that I didn’t have time to process one very important fact… Briar never told her mother anything.

She never betrayed me.

Since taking her from the harem, she’d told me this repeatedly, but I’d refused to listen. I’d treated her terribly, locked her in the tower, and called her a liar.

Instead of believing my mate, I’d let the woman who separated us twist my mind against her. Was it because I’d wanted to believe Briar was as monstrous as I’d become?

That was a good possibility, because otherwise it meant I was broken while she was… who she’d always been. Thankfully, we didn’t sustain the same level of abuse for years on end, but her mother still treated her horribly… as did I. Yet she’d somehow retained the best parts of herself while I lost all of mine.

Shit.

I’d stopped hating myself years ago, but I didn’t like what I’d done to her. And I had no idea how to make it any better.

I did know there was no way I’d let my mate go again. That was the one thing I’d decided while traveling the kingdom. It didn’t matter if I shouldn’t have happiness or a life while the curse continued because of me; I would have her.

The beast purred in agreement as I strode across the entry hall. The ivy draped over the balcony railings had shed most of its leaves, but the ones it retained already looked healthier.

My boots thudded against the wooden floor as I strode toward the healer’s room. I wanted to see her and make it very clear she wouldn’t be leaving Wildwood.

She’d given Zephyr the recipe for her potion because she was planning something. It could have been to help her make the mixture, but we all knew the truth… she’d done it in preparation of not being here to do it herself.

And that was not a possibility.

When I reached the healer’s room, Briar wasn’t there. I stood there for a minute, debating my next move. If she wasn’t here, then she was probably sleeping. She’d worked her ass off to help save the plants; no matter how badly I needed to see her, I had to let her rest.

The beast protested my decision as I climbed a back set of stairs to my floor and went to my apartment. It wasn’t happy with having to deal with constant disappointment when it came to her.

While I showered off the filth and stink, the beast rolled within me, its claws digging into my intestines as it demanded to see its mate. Since deciding to claim her again, it had been tougher to keep the monster caged.

More than a few times, it had attempted to take control while we were spreading the protective barrier by trying to transform so it could return to the castle. It was an animal that didn’t care about duties; it ran on instinct.

I’d managed to keep it caged outside of these walls, but her scent had sent it into a tailspin. It wouldn’t settle until it saw her.

Hot water pounded onto my back as I gripped both sides of my head and struggled to keep the beast restrained. My claws dug into my scalp until blood mixed with water.

Even the beast knew I’d really screwed up when it came to her, but it had to realize that going to her as a monster would only make things worse. It didn’t care.

The coldness in her eyes as she stared at me after killing the gorman had haunted me while away. She hadn’t flinched when the acid burned her hands.

The way I’d treated Briar since taking her from the harem had hurt her far more than her mother’s poison ever could. She’d truly loved Seth and possessed a giant heart. If things had been different…

What? Do you really think she could ever love you after what you’ve become?

Maybe, if things had been different, she could have grown to love the man I was now. She still desired me; that might not equate to love, but it was a start, and one I could have worked with.

I wasn’t sure there was anything left to work with.

Do you even want to be loved?

That question gave me pause as I succeeded in retracting my claws from my skull. My skin throbbed and blood still flowed, but it would heal.

Not long ago, the answer to that question would have been a resounding no. I didn’t want or need anyone’s love; I demanded respect and had the loyalty of my pack. That was enough… until Briar entered my life again, the truth of our history came out, and everything changed.

And if she did somehow love you again, could you ever love her like she deserves to be loved?

That was a question I did know the answer to. The day I accepted Marina’s lies as the truth, my soul splintered into thousands of jagged pieces that I could never put back together. Knox hadn’t fully risen that day, but Seth ceased to exist.

Loving her meant I would have to open my heart completely to her again, and deep down I knew the truth… I wasn’t capable of such a thing. Not anymore.

I didn’t want her to hate me, but I didn’t want love either. I would claim my mate because she was mine, and I would have her; nothing would stop me. Even if we could never be what we once were, we could have a pleasant enough relationship.

She deserved better, but I was what she’d have. If I were a better man, I’d set her free to find happiness elsewhere, but I wasn’t, and I was fine with that.

Turning off the water, I emerged from the shower, dried myself off, and examined the already healing wounds in my skull. They’d stopped bleeding, and only faint red marks remained as the beast continued to wail its misery.

I wrapped a towel around my waist before emerging into my bedroom. I froze when Briar’s scent assailed me; the door to my bedroom was ajar, and through it I could see her standing in the doorway of my sitting room.

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

Knox

Dark shadows still rimmed her eyes, but she had more color in her cheeks than the last time I saw her. Her crisp, clean aroma permeated the air; she’d piled her still-damp and freshly washed hair on her head.

She’d rolled her too-long, black pants at the bottom, and bunched the sleeves of her red shirt up. It slid down to expose the creamy curve of her delicate shoulder. The beast roared when my gaze fastened on the scars from the bite I’d left on her.

That wasn’t the beast’s mark, and it was determined to brand her as its own. It screeched like a wild animal in a cage while battering my insides.

I worked to maintain my control over it as I drank her in. If she saw how frantic and hungry the beast was for her, she’d run… and I’d hunt her.

She was achingly beautiful, but the flatness in her eyes was a stark reminder of my failures with her. Even when she was mad at me, there was still some warmth in her gaze; there was none now.

“I’m sorry to have entered your apartment without permission,” she said. “When I knocked on the door, it swung open.”

In my exhausted haze, I must have forgotten to shut it.

“You’re welcome to enter at any time,” I assured her.

Her mouth pursed. “Am I now?”

I would have preferred hostility rather than the cool indifference of her tone, but I could also play that game.

“What can I do for you, Briar?” I inquired, matching my tone to hers.

This wasn’t the way I’d planned for our reunion to go, but I’d fucking burn before I begged anyone for forgiveness.

“I saw you ride into the castle and wanted to know how everything went,” she stated.

“It went well.”

I released my towel and strode over to my bed. I’d done it to unsettle her and succeeded as she tilted her head to gaze at the ceiling while I sat on my mattress.

“We spread your potion all around Wildwood,” I said.

“You kept it in a continuous circle with no breaks at all?”

“We did.”

“Good. It will keep any more gorman from entering the kingdom.”

I stretched my legs out before me and leaned back to place my hands on the bed. “Has everything been taken care of here?”

“Yes. We’ve tended to all the plants and hunted most of the gorman. There might be a few stragglers, but they won’t live much longer. Once they die, Wildwood will be safe from them. We’ve replenished most of the herbs we harvested and found some more willowcaps and earth moss to harvest so we don’t run out. The plants we’ve used for this will have a chance to regrow.”

Her gaze drifted past me to the night pressing against the windows. Some of my annoyance with her subsided. “You’ve done a lot.”

“I wasn’t able to save them all,” she murmured.

“You figured it out in time to save most of them; that’s what matters.”

“You can thank Zephyr for that. He’s the one who hated spiders enough to squish a silkfang… impersonator. I never would have known otherwise.”

The mention of the sprite caused me to stiffen. “And he’s also the one you trust enough to give your potion to.”

Our gazes clashed, but she didn’t speak.

“You won’t escape me, Briar. It’s impossible. If you try, I’ll hunt you down before you can ever get free of Wildwood. And if, by some miracle, you do get away from me, I will find you.”

Her face remained stony and her eyes emotionless. The beast smashed against the sides of its cage as it howled; she wouldn’t lie to me, which meant she wouldn’t deny that she’d been planning to run.

“Whatever your plans were, they’re over now,” I told her. “Do you understand?”

Her jaw clenched before relaxing enough for her to speak. “Yes.”

The beast calmed a little, but it wouldn’t settle down. Once it marked her, once she completely understood she’d never be free of us, it would finally be satisfied.

“Did you find any more gorman in the woods?” she inquired.

“A few. We destroyed them.”

“Good. Will you tell the tribunal about this?”

“Probably not.”

“Why not? She unleashed another attack on Wildwood.”

“Yes, but can you prove it was her? Could it have been another group of night casters or day casters who did it?”

She opened her mouth before snapping it closed again. Her lips flattened into a thin line. “It was my mother and a group of casters that she organized.”

“I know that, but can we prove it was her doing?”

“No,” she reluctantly admitted.

“I’ll talk with Alwin and Petra about it separately, but I think they’ll agree with me.”

“Damn it,” she muttered. “Okay then, have a good night.”

When she turned to leave, I stopped her. “Briar.”

As she shifted back to me, her gaze flashed over my body before she looked away again. Despite her determination to remain indifferent, faint color worked its way up her neck to her cheeks, and her heart beat a faster rhythm in my ears.

She could loathe me, but she’d always desire me.

“What?” she asked in a clipped tone.

“Come here.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

Knox

Wariness flashed over her delicate features. “Why?”

“I want to make sure your hand has healed.”

She glanced at her palm. “It’s perfectly fine.”

“I’d still like to see for myself.”

“Why?” she asked more sharply.

“Because I gave you a command, and you will obey it.”

Her lips thinned into a flat line as her eyes narrowed. I grinned when fire lit her striking eyes.

“I expect you to stop being an arrogant, overbearing cocksucker; it looks like neither of us will ever get our way.”

I chuckled as my fingers flexed into the bedding. “Just by looking at you, I can tell you’d like to suck my cock. You may not want to desire me, but you do.”

Shock widened her eyes as she stepped back. “I’d prefer to bite it off.”

“Is that a challenge?”

She knew better than to challenge a shifter, especially an alpha, but she resented having to back down.

My stubborn little thorn.

“No, it’s a promise,” she stated.

“Is it now?”

When I rose, Briar stepped toward the hallway. The open door half obscured her.

“Shifters love a chase,” I reminded her before she could run.

I would gladly hunt her down; the possibility excited the beast so much it salivated. Rage simmered in her eyes when Briar resumed her previous position, and a glowing spell formed in her palm.

I glanced nonchalantly at the spell she’d created; I’d been hit with one before and could withstand it, but she wouldn’t unleash it on me. She wanted to, I had no doubt, but she’d never purposely harm me.

I’d hurt her over and over again; she wouldn’t do the same. We were very different in that way.

When I prowled out of my bedroom and into the sitting room with its red leather couches, gold table, and bookshelves filled with tomes, she backed toward the door. She lifted her hand, and the green spell danced across her fingers.

I’d never seen a spell that color from a caster before; they were normally black or a deep, violent shade of purple, but Briar wasn’t like the others. Unfortunately, it had taken me far too much time to fully accept that.

It was her connection to nature, her love of all things living, that made the spell a pretty shade of emerald. When we were younger, her spells were white in color; that must have changed after her Needing, when she gained more power.

“Stay back,” she cautioned.

“Would you really hurt me, Briar?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You already think I’m a monster.”

“Opinions can change.”

“You do realize it’s my fault you were in the harem, right?”

“How is that?” I asked as I stopped in front of her.

“My mother must have found out I was sneaking away. She saw me leaving, or someone else did, and that was why she had a gorman follow me into No Man’s Land. That was how she learned about our plan to leave the kingdoms.”

When I rested my hand on the doorway beside her head, her breasts rose as she took a deep breath and her heart sped up. She didn’t back away, and when her fingers fisted, the spell she’d created vanished.

“That is how she learned our plan,” I agreed. “But we both knew the risks we were taking to see each other, and I missed the gorman arrival too… back then and now.”

“Did you even know about gorman until recently?”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, I did. It should have occurred to me sooner what she’d done.”

“Even if it had occurred to you sooner, she still would have captured me. She already knew everything.”

“Maybe so, but I’m still the monster who got you locked away.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. “But you’re my monster.”

“I’m not your anything.”

A small ringlet of hair had fallen free to straggle around her shoulders. Grasping it, I twirled it around my finger while I marveled at its silken texture and crisp, eucalyptus scent.

“You are my mate,” I told her.

“No, I’m not. You’ve made it clear you’ll never claim me as such again, and I agree.”

My finger tightened on her hair. I had said that, but things had changed, and she wouldn’t deny what was meant to be.

I’d never be the same, I’d always be broken, and I wasn’t the man she deserved, but I didn’t give a fuck anymore. All I cared about was taking what was mine.

Tugging gently on her hair, I tried to pull her toward me, but her feet remained firmly planted. “You are my mate.”

Her chin rose. “No, I’m not. I don’t know what animal you were supposed to be, but it wasn’t the beast you are now. That animal claimed me, not the beast. I’m no one’s mate.”

My fangs extended as the beast became a hurricane within me. Its snarl rumbled through my chest and up my throat. Wariness flashed across Briar’s features before she covered it.

“I did a lot of thinking while I was out there spreading your potion,” I told her.

She twisted her head to try pulling her hair free, but I refused to relinquish it. With a huff, she gave up trying to break away. “I hope all that thinking didn’t hurt you.”

“You’re funny, mea eveto,” I murmured.

“Don’t call me that.”

“And why not?” I asked with a deceptively calm tone, considering the turmoil within me.

“Because I’m not your mea eveto. I’m your mea perfidious eveto, remember?”

“I remember.” Instead of tugging her closer, I caressed her cheek with the finger I’d entwined her hair around. “I remember everything about you.”

“No, you chose to forget everything about me when you chose to believe the lies my mother told about me.”

The cool indifference of her words broke as sorrow filled her voice. I’d meant to shatter her hardened exterior, but I didn’t want this.

“You don’t know what it was like in the harem,” I told her.

She tried to slap my hand away from her cheek, but I flattened my palm against her skin. Her hit did as much damage as a gnat fighting a basilisk. When she failed to dislodge me, her hands fisted at her sides.

“I know that!” she cried. “I can imagine what you went through and understand the horror, torment, and degradation you all endured, but I can never know. You’ve made that very clear.”

“That’s right,” I growled as I stepped closer. “You’ll never understand the desperation we felt to retain our true selves while trying to remember the good times. You have no idea how long I clung to the memories of sunshine on my face, the smell of the forest, the way the leaves sound when the wind blows, or the taste of you.

“I’ll make sure you never learn what it’s like to have the memories of good things slip away because your entire existence is nothing but degradation. Or how awful it feels when you start wanting to forget those things because it’s too painful to remember and all hope of breaking free fades.

“You can’t understand what it’s like to have women you loathe crawling all over you while telling you the worst things you could ever imagine. And not just the women, but the men also abusing you in the most degrading ways possible.

“You’ll never understand what it’s like to have your body respond to them, even if it was as the beast. How humiliating that was.”

Her mouth parted as her eyes widened. “You couldn’t help that.”

I held her gaze as I twirled her hair around my finger before unwinding it again. “Maybe not. Maybe I couldn’t control the beast, but I could have controlled the worst of it, and I didn’t.”

“What was the worst of it?”

I stared at the beautiful color of her hair as memories threatened to overwhelm me. “As hope fades, the whispers of betrayal continue to fill your ears.” When I stepped closer, she didn’t move away but tipped her head back. “And those whispers only serve to confirm what you’ve started to believe.”

“What’s that?”

“That there is nothing good left in this world.”

Her mouth parted on a small “Oh” of sadness.

“Your mother wasn’t the only one who told me about your betrayal; so many other casters did too. And somewhere along the way, in that insufferable place, the insidious whispers of your betrayal became the truth. It was easier to let it all go and let the hate consume me because I liked the way it made me feel. That hate and my determination to make you pay gave me a purpose again.”

She closed her eyes before opening them again. When she did, sadness radiated from their beautiful depths. “That hate still consumes you.”

I couldn’t deny it. “Yes.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY

Knox

“That hate will destroy you one day,” she whispered.

“No, it will destroy my enemies.”

“Knox…”

I tugged on her hair to draw her closer, but she turned her head to the side as she tried to break free.

“You’re my mate, Briar.”

“No, I’m not. I won’t let you mark me again. I loved the man who marked me; I have no idea who you are.”

“I may not be that man anymore, and I never will be again, but you are my mate,” I snarled. “I will claim you again, and you will remain in Wildwood.”

“What if that’s not what I want? Don’t I get a say in this?”

“What would you say, Briar?”

“I won’t be claimed by someone who won’t apologize for everything you’ve said and done since taking me from the harem! You don’t get to treat me like shit and expect me to be fine with it because you’ve decided that, hey, I am your mate after all! Are you insane?”

The beast’s roar tore from me before I could stop it. Briar recoiled even as I drew her closer, pinning her against my chest. When I lifted her off the ground, her feet battered my shins, and she slapped at my arms as my bellow rebounded down the hallway.

Before anyone could come running, I kicked the door shut. The echoing bang did nothing to drown out the beast’s fury as it battered my skull while my jaw cracked and the beast started to emerge.

I released the tendril of hair and pinned her arms to her chest when she started punching me. She swung her head back, seeking to break my nose, but I dodged it in time.

The blow skimmed my elongating jaw, but I felt it as much as I did her kicks… which was not at all. Her words had enraged the beast too much, and I couldn’t deny they’d infuriated me too.

She plans to leave us! the beast thundered. She plans to keep us shut out!

And while a very small, rational part of the man remained to understand her reaction was exactly as it should be, given everything she’d been through, it wasn’t enough to calm the beast or me.

Briar kicked and squirmed enough to free her arms. When she planted her hands on my chest, a spell flared to life at her fingertips.

My distorted paw landed over top of her hand, pressing it firmly into my chest as her spell crackled against my flesh; it didn’t hurt. I didn’t know if that was because she wasn’t unleashing it… yet… or if I couldn’t feel anything other than the blood rushing through my ears and the pulsing need to mark what was mine.

I refused to let her deny me this. Wildwood remained cursed, the shifters had all nearly died because of her mother and the casters, and while I should bear the denial of my mate as a punishment for my mistakes, I wouldn’t do so any longer.

If, once we broke the curse, the shifters barred her from Wildwood, then so be it. I’d leave here with her. But until that day came, I would have my mate.

I wasn’t a good man; I hadn’t been a good man in years, and I didn’t intend to become one again… not even for her.

I wouldn’t relinquish the small bit of happiness she’d brought to my bleak existence. She may not want me to brand her again, but she did desire me.

As she kicked and her power crackled against me, the scent of her arousal filled the air. My dick was so hard it ached.

“Knox!” Dromon shouted as he banged on the door. “Is everything okay?”

“Fuck off!”

Briar’s head swiveled toward the door, and her mouth opened before she clamped it shut. She knew better than to call for him. I was in the mood for either fucking or murder, and I could hold off on fucking long enough to kill.

“A yes would have sufficed!” Dromon shouted back.

I didn’t hear the retreat of his steps over the crackle of her power, the riotous beat of her heart, or the blood pulsing through my ears, but I knew he’d gone. He wouldn’t disobey me… unlike the heathen in my arms.

When Briar’s head twisted back to me, my mutated face reflected in her eyes, but she didn’t recoil from me. Instead, she glowered at me.

“Put me down!” she ordered.

“You dare to command me? Oh, little thorn, you’d better be careful, because I can inflict far more pain than you.”

“You already have!”

I grasped the knot on the back of her head and pulled her head back to further expose the delicate column of her throat. My previous brand stood out starkly against her otherwise pristine skin.

But those marks weren’t the beast’s. The monster vibrated with excitement at the idea of branding her as her struggles rubbed her silken skin against my cock.

Don’t do this, a small, rational voice whispered to me. Don’t force this on her.

That small voice was right, but the beast wanted nothing to do with what was right as its fangs rested against her skin. All I had to do was bite down, and she’d bear the beast’s mark for the rest of her existence, but I didn’t move.

Briar went still against me; her breath came in rapid pants. Her nipples pressed against my chest.

When my fangs grazed her neck, she jerked against me as blood welled from the scratches. The beast purred as I licked away her sweet blood, but I still couldn’t bring myself to bite.

I knew the awful feeling of being confined, helpless, and abused. Many nights, I still woke sweating and with my heart racing from the persistent nightmares of the harem.

Sometimes it took as long as an hour for my heart to return to normal and my brain to accept that I was safe in my room. While I could never feel completely safe as long as the casters lived, they couldn’t get me in Wildwood. They could send awful, spell-bound creatures, but they couldn’t capture or kill me.

Am I really going to force this on her?

YES! the beast yelled.

If given the choice, it would force sex and the bond on her, but I couldn’t. Even I wasn’t that fucked-up… yet. Who knew what the future held?

Taking a breath, I reined the beast in, but it wouldn’t allow me to cage it completely. My jaw cracked as it transitioned back to normal. My fangs wouldn’t fully retract, but my paws returned to hands, and the tips of my claws remained extended.

Pain twisted in my intestines and spread through my veins as the beast howled in dismay. “Oh, fuck,” I breathed.

When my forehead fell to Briar’s shoulder, I shuddered as my fingers dug into her back. I should let her go. I couldn’t.

While she didn’t relax into me, some of the rigidity left her body.

“You are my mate, and I will claim you again as such,” I grated against her silken skin.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

Briar

I didn’t say anything. I was too frightened that if I denied him again, he’d mark me. And while his mark wouldn’t bind me to him in the same way it bound him to me, I didn’t want it on me.

Knox was awful. He was cold, rude, distrusting, and an all-around hairy-balled dick.

He still hadn’t apologized for any of the things he’d done. Yet, I felt the anguish in his body and the desperation in his fingers biting into my back. I was his mate; he was determined to claim me as such, and I suspected the beast was tearing him apart after having been denied.

I’d tried to hate him, but my heart ached for him and everything he’d endured. He was once the best man I ever knew, and the casters tore that away from him. He didn’t deserve any of what happened, but neither did I.

His harsh breaths warmed my shoulder as he shuddered again. The tormented sound he emitted created an echoing one in my chest.

Everything about him was so rigid against me, including the erection prodding my belly. He’d denied himself the chance to mark me, but he still wanted to fuck me. And Gods help me, I wanted it too.

Tipping my head back, I stared at the ceiling as I took a deep breath while trying to ignore the growing ache between my thighs. I hated this man, yet I still desired him, and I hated myself for it.

My desire made me weak. He made me weak.

But as he clung to me like I was his lifeline, I realized I made him weak too. The loss of a mate could cripple a shifter… if it didn’t kill them.

I couldn’t remain in Wildwood. I refused to stay with this man whose emotions swung back and forth faster and more often than a pendulum. He wanted to claim me today; tomorrow, he might decide to throw me out on my ass or lock me in the tower again.

He’d been so quick to believe the worst in me when the roses were dying and to send me back to my room. I’d lived my entire life without any certainty for my safety; leaving Wildwood wouldn’t guarantee my welfare, but I’d at least have control over my life for the first time.

Now that I had an escape plan, I wasn’t going to change my mind, but I hungered for him. I should go; I couldn’t move.

“You’re my mate.”

His words were a knife to my chest. This man was an asshole, but he was also, at one time, the greatest love of my life. The only love of my life.

“I’ve done a lot of things wrong in this world, but bringing you here wasn’t one of them,” he said.

I didn’t dare speak for fear of setting off the beast, but I yearned to ask him if he said that because I’d saved the roses and trees from the gorman. Although, he had to realize bringing me here was also what brought the gorman to Wildwood.

My mother didn’t succeed in taking me from Wildwood, so she decided to destroy what remained of the cursed kingdom instead. Yet, he didn’t blame me, but I was sure he blamed himself.

“I need you,” he rasped.

Knox wasn’t a good man anymore, but he wasn’t evil either. He was just… lost and had the giant burden of saving Wildwood on his shoulders.

And while that didn’t excuse any of what he’d done or his lack of apology, I understood him more because of it.

I shouldn’t have come here tonight. However, I couldn’t leave without seeing him one last time. In truth, I’d known what I was coming here for tonight… a final goodbye, even if he didn’t know that’s what it was.

I’d loved him for years, I’d love him forever, and after this, he’d finally have a reason to distrust me. My stomach flip-flopped at the reminder of what I was going to do; if he found out, he’d lock me away for good.

More than that, I was going to hurt him. He’d deny it and would never admit it, but I would hurt him when I left, and the knowledge hurt me.

“I don’t want to be claimed,” I told him. “Not now. Maybe with time. Give me time.”

“Time,” he murmured into my hair.

“Time.”

When he brushed back some of my hair, his fingers lingered over the scars from his bite.

“Knox…”

My words trailed off as his lips found my shoulder. The heat of his mouth seared all the way down to my toes, and I couldn’t deny the firestorm his kiss created within me.

In the cabin, our joining was far from tender, but here, the gentleness of his kiss unnerved me far more than having him nearly mark me against my will. When he nipped my shoulder before soothing away the discomfort with his tongue, my eyes closed and a small sound of bliss escaped.

His fingers bit deeper into my back as he tried to pull me closer, but it was impossible to get closer… unless he was inside me. My core constricted at the memory of what he felt like as he filled me.

His lips found the curve of my jaw before moving across my throat to the other side. I didn’t know when the spell I’d brought to life faded from my fingers, but it was gone when I slid my arms around his back.

I relished the way his thick, corded muscles bunched beneath my hands. He was so powerful and everything to me. He always had been, he always would be… even when I hated him.

Tears burned my eyes. One final goodbye, that’s what this was. I wouldn’t let my heart get involved, but his well-known scent dug into my soul, pulling forth memories of love and a time when I was cherished and safe.

The familiar feeling of his body and arms enveloped me in a shroud of security. He was far larger than when we were kids running through No Man’s Land, but it was still him.

His smooth skin was surprisingly supple for a man who’d endured so many battles, and I savored the feel of it. When I trailed my nails down his spine, he shivered against me and groaned my name before our lips met.

Electricity sizzled through me as his kiss became a drug wrapping me within its dark embrace and dragging me into the depths of ecstasy… and Hell. I should have fought its pull; I didn’t.

One day, this man might destroy me, as I feared the only way our story would end was in mutual devastation. But right now, I welcomed everything about the oblivion he offered. After tomorrow, he’d have good reason to hate me; tonight, we had each other.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

Briar

When he moved, I didn’t realize where he was going until the mattress sank beneath me. Knox planted his hands beside me and his thigh between my legs as he pressed me back into the bed.

I gasped at the astonishing sensation of his heavy body encompassing mine. He was all I could see and feel, all I could breathe, as he filled my senses.

He made my body come alive in ways only he could as his fingers glided down my belly before unbuttoning my pants. With a quick jerk, he tugged them down. I lifted my hips to make pulling them off easier. Without breaking the kiss, we worked them off together.

As they hit the ground, he grasped my shirt, tearing away the buttons as he pulled it open. Cool air caressed my skin. I hadn’t bothered with a binding before coming here; I’d told myself it was only because I didn’t have time for one and would soon return to my room, but deep down, I’d known the truth.

I hadn’t bothered with a binding because this was exactly where I wanted to be. If I ever saw him again, things would be completely different between us. And there was a chance this was the last time I’d see him.

When sorrow threatened to overwhelm me, I focused my attention on him as his fingers grazed my aching breasts. The head of his cock glided between my legs, spreading my wetness, but he didn’t enter me.

Instead, his hand slid down my belly and between my legs. When his fingers found my swollen clit, he rubbed in a leisurely, torturous circle before pinching the throbbing nub.

Pain and pleasure rolled into an enticing aphrodisiac that had me begging for him to end this overwhelming, delicious torment. I hovered on the edge and lifted my hips, demanding more. My entreaties fell on deaf ears as his fingers slid away from my clit.

He dipped first one finger and then another into my pussy, stretching me further. My back arched off the bed when he rubbed his palm against my clit.

“So fucking wet and tight,” he groaned as he shoved into me again.

I ground against his hand as the coiling tension in my belly spread throughout my limbs.

“I’m close. So close,” I breathed.

I was teetering on the edge of bliss when he moved away again. Groaning in disappointment, I grabbed at his back, but instead of giving me what I wanted, his weight eased off me.

As he moved, he left a trail of searing kisses down my chest and belly before settling between my legs. My heart raced as our eyes locked and his mouth settled over my core.

With long, deliberate movements, he licked my entrance before nipping my clit. I bucked against him when his teeth scraped the bud before he drew it into his mouth. When he bit it again, my body shuddered in response before he eased the sting with his tongue.

“Oh gods,” I breathed as our eyes remained locked while he tongue fucked me.

He lifted his head as his fingers plunged into me, wrenching a startled cry from my lips.

“There’s only one god for you, Briar. Me.” My eyes widened at his harsh tone as he plunged into me again. “I’m the only one you’ll ever pray to again. The only one whose name will fall from your lips. If you cry out to anyone, you’ll either say Knox or God, because from now on, I am your god.”

My breath left me, but before I could truly absorb his words, his tongue settled back over my clit, and all reasonable thought vanished when he took control of my body. My breaths became pants as I grasped his ears, drawing him closer.

When his hands gripped my hips, he pulled me snug against his mouth. My head fell back, and my fingers bunched in the comforter as I arched off the bed.

“So close,” I panted. “I’m so close.”

And then he was tearing his mouth away as he lifted his head, rose, and settled over top of me again. The orange of his eyes burned so brightly that I was certain the fires of Hell lit them, and from what I knew of him, they just might.

While the sight should unsettle me, it sent a thrill of excitement down my spine. I sensed a growing unraveling within him, a loss of control that I never believed I’d crave, but I did. I didn’t want to have sex with the beast, yet I craved this wild side of Knox.

When his pupils slitted, self-preservation surged to the forefront. I almost rolled over to run, but his heavy weight had settled firmly over me, and if I tried to flee, I’d unleash the beast.

He’d have me back on this bed before I made it more than two feet toward the door, and then he’d be inside me, fucking me… claiming me. My heart thumped a little faster—in alarm and excitement.

Are you eager to die or be claimed?

I wasn’t eager for either of those things, but he’d worked my body into a near frenzy that only he could ease.

The muscles in Knox’s arms bulged when he planted his hands on either side of my head. His barely leashed control was as enticing as the man himself; I skimmed my fingers down the hard planes of his chest, admiring the tattoo and the way his abs rippled beneath my touch. Every inch of him was chiseled perfection.

If I didn’t know better, I might think he truly was a god. How can I leave him?

Because you must.

But I wasn’t so sure about that now. Maybe we could work through all of this and become something more.

We could never be what we were before. I wasn’t ready to be claimed by him. I might never be, but maybe we could be something new, possibly something better with time, trust, and understanding.

When I grasped his cock, my hand couldn’t completely encircle his thick shaft. I traced the large vein running down its side before circling the precum around the head.

His eyes didn’t leave mine while I worked him up and down. I admired the way the shadows played over his powerful body and ruthless contours of his exquisite face.

Those slitted pupils and the fangs pushing against his closed mouth were a little unnerving, but I saw no other signs of the beast as his hips moved with my strokes. The scent of woods, musk, and man engulfed me.

Knox grasped my hand, pulling it away from his dick. He was so close to coming, but he’d be inside me before doing so.

He guided his cock to my entrance, and I breathed out, “Oh,” when he pushed inside me.

No matter how wet I was, I didn’t think I’d ever get used to his size. I trembled beneath him and shifted my hips to draw him deeper.

When Knox didn’t move, I frowned at him, uncertain as to why he held back. I ached to have him fully buried within me, and the taut muscles of his neck and jaw revealed how difficult it was for him to maintain his restraint.

“Say it, Briar.”

“What?” I whispered, uncertain about what he wanted me to say.

His hand encircled my throat as he lowered his face mere inches from mine. “Say it,” he growled.

And then it dawned on me what he sought from me. “Knox.”

He didn’t blink as his eyes burned into me. “And what else do you call me and only me?”

I licked my lips. I felt like I was giving something away, but didn’t know what.

Control. You’re giving him control.

And while I had so little control over my life and craved more, I understood that here, in this bed, with us joined, he needed it far more than me, and I was happy to give it to him. He was far different, far more demanding, controlling, and savage than Seth ever was, but he’d been through Hell, and I would give him this bit of paradise.

“God,” I whispered.

When he bared his fangs, I gulped. I’d told him not to mark me, to give me time, and I expected him to respect my wishes, but those fangs unnerved me.

“Whose god?” he demanded.

“Mine.”

“That’s fucking right. I am your god. There will never be another for you or for me.”

With that, he thrust forward, burying himself to the hilt within me. I cried out at the unexpected sensation of him filling me. He was too big, it was too much, yet it wasn’t enough.

He kept his hand around my throat when he bent to kiss me. His touch wasn’t as bruising this time, and his claws didn’t prick my neck, but he was making it clear I’d never escape him.

And despite everything he’d put me through, I didn’t want to. I may hate his overbearing demeanor and complete lack of empathy and trust, but I loved the way he made me feel when he moved within me.

Maybe tonight wasn’t goodbye after all. Maybe it was the start of something new.

“And you are my goddess.” He pulled back a little before driving forward again. He rocked me back, and the headboard banged against the wall. “My beautiful goddess who was made just for me. No other will ever know the ecstasy of your cunt.”

When he thrust forward again, I wrapped my legs around his waist and grasped his taut ass. He was steel and power all rolled into one truly magnificent man.

We fit so perfectly together that I wondered whether they were wrong and casters did have mates after all. I’d never heard of such a thing before, but he was the missing piece of me; I was sure of that.

When he used his thumb to stroke my clit, my eyes rolled back in my head. I begged for more while the tension within me spiraled higher and higher.

He released my throat and rested his mouth on my ear. “Don’t you dare come until I tell you to.”

I shivered at his words, both because of how hoarse they were and how commanding. This was the domineering man who’d taken me in the cabin, the one who demanded absolute control of my body and my complete submission.

He played my body expertly, and everything in me pleaded for release, but his words held me back. When will he tell me to come? When will he let me?

“Please,” I whispered as his thumb continued its leisurely circles around my aching nub.

“Please, what?” he demanded.

“Please, Knox, let me come.”

Instead of giving me what I’d begged for, he enfolded me in his arms and rolled so I was on top. He didn’t let me set the rhythm as his hands gripped my hips and he guided me. I rubbed my clit against him as my head tipped back and a low moan issued from me.

He pinched my nipple, rolling it between his fingers and pulling my focus back to him. “Don’t you dare come.”

“Knox, please.”

Too lost in my own bliss and impending release, I barely felt it when he pinched my nipple again. With a growl, he rolled me over again and pinned me beneath him. His face was harsh, his sweat-slicked body deliciously heavy against mine.

“I told you not to come yet, but I do love to hear you beg,” he said.

His hand skimmed down my belly to my clit once more. He circled it again before stopping and resting his finger against it. I lifted my hips, trying to get him to move, but he remained as still as stone.

“Now, mea eveto, ask me if you can come,” he commanded.

I could barely breathe, let alone form words, but somehow I managed to gasp, “Can I come, Knox? Please, can I come?”

“Yes, you can.”

When he started moving again, he didn’t have to wait, as my body fractured and a low, continuous moan issued from me. My toes curled and my fingers dug into his back as the most intense orgasm I’d ever experienced rocked me.

I could only cling to him as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through me while his body continued its relentless assault on mine. My fingers dug into his skin as my moan became an endless cry of his name.

I’d had countless orgasms with this man, but never one this extensive. It felt as if it would never end as he buried his head in my shoulder. Pain seared through me; I had no idea where it came from and didn’t care.

With a muffled shout against my shoulder, Knox thrust forward one more time. Inside me, his shaft thickened as it pulsed, and his whole body shuddered against mine. The throb of his cock continued as his seed filled me.

Thankfully, my mother gave me a potion to keep me from becoming pregnant before my Needing. It would last for six months; otherwise, I would probably be in big trouble.

Before, when we were together, I hadn’t gone through my Needing yet and couldn’t get pregnant, but I could now, and I was far from ready for a baby, especially with this man. This was the only thing the two of us did extremely well together; that wasn’t enough for a child.

When I had a baby, I planned to shower them with all the love my mother had never given me. I wanted them to have the best life ever; Knox and I couldn’t provide that.

Maybe one day, a hopeful little voice whispered.

Maybe, I had to agree. But it was going to take a lot of work.

Lingering tremors caused my muscles to constrict around his shaft. As I started drifting down from my high, I felt a warm, tickling sensation sliding down my back.

It wasn’t until Knox lifted his head from my shoulder that I realized what he’d done….

He’d left his new mark upon my flesh.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

Briar

I lay unmoving, too stunned to react as Knox wrapped his arms around me, rolled to the side, and held me securely against him. I wanted to relax into him and savor this moment, but I couldn’t.

His breathing slowed; he was content to ignore that he’d branded me when I’d told him not to.

“You… you bit me,” I whispered.

Knox stirred and lifted his head. His breath warmed my shoulder as he gazed down at me. “So I did,” he murmured as if he hadn’t realized it.

“I told you not to. I told you to give me time.”

His shrug set my teeth on edge, and it took everything I had not to knee him in the nuts. There was no remorse in his eyes as they locked onto my shoulder. His lips twitched toward a smile while he examined his fresh marks on me.

That stupid idea of maybe having things change one day went up in smoke as my sex-fueled high gave way to reality. There was no maybe one day with this man; like my mother, he had no respect for me.

“My instincts took over.”

He said this as if it were a perfectly reasonable explanation. His flippant tone incensed me more than the fact he’d gone against my wishes.

“They didn’t take over the last time we were together!” I snapped.

“Didn’t they?” When he lifted my hand, I snatched it away from him. His jaw clenched as he grasped my wrist and turned it over. “I left bruises all over you, but there are none now. I was too rough with you last time because that was what the beast wanted. It was what I wanted too.”

“And this time, you violated my trust! I’d rather have you be too rough with me. I actually enjoy that!”

Something dark shimmered in his eyes. He licked my blood from his lips as his cock stirred against my hip. There was no way I was having sex with him again.

When I went to pull my wrist away, his arm locked around me and he kept me clasped against his chest. I stiffened, but I had to proceed very carefully here. Denying the beast could cause it to unleash, and I couldn’t risk that.

How had things gone from so amazing to so awful in the blink of an eye? Had I really contemplated staying here to see how things played out with him?

I was an idiot! He was never going to be Seth, and he would never respect me in the same way he once did. Knox was too damaged for that.

“You’re supposed to be gaining my trust, not betraying it,” I whispered.

“You already trust me to keep you safe. You know I’ll kill anyone who lays a hand on you.”

But who will protect me from you?

“That’s not… that’s not what building trust is about,” I told him.

“But it’s a start. You’ll grow to trust me more as time passes.”

I didn’t say anything as his fingers brushed the hair back from my shoulder. I winced when they grazed the wounds there. Despite my distress over his actions, satisfaction gleamed in his eyes.

How could I ever grow to trust him when all he ever did was what he wanted? He didn’t care about my feelings. If I stayed, he’d constantly trample them beneath his overbearing demeanor, and I couldn’t have that.

“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

He disentangled his arms from me before rising. With long strides, he stalked into the bathroom; the water ran for a couple of seconds before shutting off. Knox emerged with a wet towel and sat beside me on the bed.

“Sit up,” he said.

I didn’t have the energy to resist him. I felt too deflated. He was one more eternal in my life who didn’t give a shit about me. I was his mate, but he saw me more as his property… just like my mother.

The comparisons between them weren’t fair; she was far worse than he could ever be, but his regard for me as an individual was the same as hers. It was devastating.

Bracing my arms beneath me, I pushed myself up to sit beside him on the bed. When I did, he brushed back my hair and used the towel to gently clean the punctures.

“They’ll heal fast,” he said.

“I know.” I kept my head bowed as I stared at the floor. “I remember from last time.”

“Briar.” When I didn’t look at him, he grasped my chin and turned it toward him. “It was instinct.”

“I don’t believe you, and it doesn’t matter; you got what you wanted.”

Knox

Her words cut deeper than I’d anticipated as her gaze returned to the floor. When fresh blood welled from the punctures in her neck and shoulder, I pressed the towel against them.

She had every reason to doubt me; I wasn’t sure I believed me, but I hated the melancholy in her eyes. I had the beast under control… until I didn’t.

I didn’t recall biting her, but I’d never forget the rush of rightness I felt once my teeth pierced her flesh. She was mine, and every eternal would know she belonged to a shifter. They’d know to keep their hands off her, or I’d tear those hands from them.

But had I let the beast take control on purpose because we both wanted to brand her, or had it broken free?

It was silent within me, content to sleep now that I’d left my mark on her again. But I knew the answer without it telling me.

I’d claimed her because I wanted to. I’d kept the beast restrained while with her last time, and mostly restrained this time, but I let it mark her because it was what I craved too.

She’d told me no, and I’d promised her time and hadn’t given it to her. I should feel guilty about it; I didn’t. She was mine.

You truly are a selfish prick.

And I’d never deny it.

From now on, I would work to earn her trust and repair our relationship, but branding her again had brought me a sense of calm I hadn’t experienced in years. I wouldn’t change any of it. I knew Briar hadn’t betrayed me, and I’d claimed her as my mate again; those were two things I’d spent years believing would never happen.

It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

My father had told me that once. I hadn’t understood it at the time, but I did now. Things would be better, and I’d be more controlled now that this had happened. The rest would come with time.

I wiped away the blood a few more times before the bleeding ceased. The four red punctures of my new mark stood out starkly against her fair skin. The color would fade as they healed, but the scars would always remain.

My fingers grazed the old scars before coming to a stop beside the new ones. She winced, and when her head bowed, her hair fell forward to shield her beautiful features.

She turned her head away, refusing to look at me. Despite the angry set of her shoulders, sadness radiated from her as well.

I fucked up.

She’ll get over it. It’s Briar; somehow, despite everything her mother and I have done to her, she still possesses a kind soul. She’ll forgive me. She has to.

“I should return to my room,” she said.

When she started to rise from the bed, I grasped her wrist. “No.”

“Knox—”

“Stay with me.”

“You want me to stay with you when you wouldn’t stay with me?”

Those words drove another dagger into my heart, but they didn’t evoke my anger. I was too content for that.

“I left to protect you after leaving those bruises on you,” I told her.

“You know, you really should stop assuming things and exerting your will over me. Those bruises didn’t bother me. You didn’t go any further than I willingly let you go.”

“And now I know that.”

And now, maybe we can play a little bit more.

Briar stared at me before her shoulders slumped and she crawled onto the bed. She curled onto her side and propped her hands beneath her head. Her rigid body told me she’d prefer to be anywhere else, but when I lay down behind her, she closed her eyes and nestled into me.

She fit so perfectly against me. She may not like it, but her body couldn’t resist mine.

“I’ll always keep you safe,” I told her as I brushed the hair back from her face. “I’m never letting you go again.”

Her lashes fluttered, and she didn’t speak. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach as her eyes closed once more. She’d forgive me; she had to… but for the first time, I wasn’t so certain she would.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

Briar

I’d taken to spending a lot of time in the castle’s kitchen, so no one questioned me when I arrived to help the sprites prepare breakfast. I set a cauldron full of growing potion on a spit to boil, which was something they’d also gotten used to me doing since discovering the gorman.

Despite Zephyr’s knowledge of how to make the potion, I would ensure they had plenty of it after I left. The cabinets were already overflowing with vials, but guilt was chewing at my insides, and I couldn’t leave without making one final batch for them.

And I was leaving… today.

Last night had only solidified my determination to escape this place. Not only had Knox done exactly what I’d told him not to, but he hadn’t bothered to apologize for it or any of the other numerous things he’d done since taking me from the harem.

I was tired of being his toy, tired of being pushed around, and sick of having my feelings completely disregarded. If I stayed here, he would forever run all over me, and I refused to let him push me around anymore.

Knox and the beast could fuck off as far as I was concerned.

While I helped prepare the meal, it was easy enough to slip the sleeping potion into the tea and coffee the sprites brewed. They were in two separate cauldrons, both near the one containing my potion. I helped the sprites by stirring both pots while they gathered ingredients.

I’d fallen into the easy flow of their mornings as they bustled around the kitchen and halls. I was one more set of trusted, helping hands. That didn’t ease my guilt.

When Merribell asked me to add water to her pancake batter, I poured more sleeping potion into it instead. No one said no to Merribell’s pancakes.

I forced a smile and laughter as I moved about the kitchen; it was what the sprites expected from me—before the plants started dying—but a growing ball of dread was forming in my stomach. The sprites were my friends, and I was about to put them all to sleep. I hoped they could forgive me one day.

But that wasn’t my only cause for concern. My gaze drifted to the cuckoo clock on the wall. It was nearly breakfast time, but there’d been no sign of Knox.

He was sound asleep when I crept from his bed this morning. I was certain I’d wake him while I dressed, but he’d remained lying on his back with his arm draped over his head and his face turned toward me.

In sleep, he looked peaceful in a way I had never seen when he was awake. His carved features were relaxed, his full mouth slightly parted on his breaths as his chest rose and fell steadily. Black stubble lined his carved jaw, and for a second, I itched to crawl back into that bed with him, kiss him awake, and lose myself to him again, but I’d never leave if I did.

And if I didn’t leave Wildwood, he’d destroy me. He’d beat down my spirit beneath his domineering soul until nothing of me remained.

With a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat, I’d tiptoed from his bedroom and across his large sitting room. The maroon curtains on the windows were all open, revealing the gray sky beyond the balcony overlooking the land.

A grandfather clock steadily ticked away the seconds as I crept across the room. I kept waiting for Knox to wake up and stop me, but he didn’t. I doubted he’d slept the entire time he was gone; he was making up for that now.

But if he stays asleep now, he won’t be here to eat breakfast, and if he wakes to find everyone asleep…

I gulped at the possibility. That would be so BAD.

If Knox didn’t wake soon, I’d find a way to spill the coffee and tea all over the pancakes before they left this room.

That shouldn’t be too difficult, I thought with a sigh.

And I didn’t know where the other shifters were either. Dromon and Pierce were probably exhausted too; were they all still sleeping?

I should have waited until tomorrow for this, but I was petrified that if I stayed another day, I’d never leave. I’d lose my nerve, be discovered, or give in to Knox and accept my fate.

A fate with a man who doesn’t respect you? And what if he learns about you being a necromancer? What will he do?

He’d never harm his mate.

That was true, but he’d completely broken my trust in him. If he learned the truth about me, he might decide to lock me away… again.

And I would not be locked away again. I had no idea what I was or what I was becoming, but I was far stronger than anyone knew or gave me credit for, and I wouldn’t be destroyed or caged, by my mother or Knox.

It would take me some time to figure everything out, but I would do it. And I would do it far from here.

The sprites were busy getting all the plates ready, and I was ready to pour coffee into the pancake batter, when Knox arrived. The hair on my nape rose as I sensed him before I saw him.

With a lump in my throat, I turned to discover him leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded over his chest and his feet crossed at his ankles. A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth, and an amused twinkle filled his eyes while he studied me.

Despite the betrayal he inflicted on me, my heart somersaulted as I drank him in. I had to get away from him, but oh, how he could make my legs weak and my heart race. I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my apron.

He was gorgeous. Just absolutely, mouthwateringly gorgeous… and I was his mate, the one he would cherish for eternity.

What am I doing? He looks so relaxed and happy.

He looks like this because he forced something on you that you didn’t want! You’re saving yourself, Briar.

Be. The. Thorn.

Be the thorn. Yes, I would be the thorn. The thorn survives; the rose dies.

With my resolve firmly in place, I smiled in return and stirred the tea as Merribell fluttered over to shoo me away. “Go on now, we’ll bring your breakfast soon.”

I’d been eating with the sprites for most meals, but apparently they’d decided it was time to play matchmaker with Knox and me. I’d chosen a forest green shirt that hid my marks and would blend in better with the woods, but they must have sensed something different about us.

They probably saw that Knox was smiling. Him being happy about anything was a dead giveaway that something had changed.

“I can still help,” I offered.

“We’re fine, child,” Merribell assured me. “Hurry on, now.”

“I’ll stay here and let you know when they fall asleep,” Gizzi told me from where he sat in the doorway of the pantry; his cheeks were full of food.

“Thank you.”

I reluctantly took off my apron and set it on the counter. Once I left this room, I couldn’t turn back. There would be no stopping what I’d put in motion.

My steps faltered a little before I lifted my chin and strode toward Knox. The sudden hush of wings alerted me that every sprite had stopped to watch us. And they were all here since they prepared the meals and ate them together every day.

When Knox held out his arm to me, a collective inhalation went through the room. As I slid my arm through his, they all exhaled in relief.

They have no idea what’s coming.

I smiled as I tried to hide my growing nervousness. I did have a backup plan if the shifters weren’t in the dining room, where they usually ate breakfast together. Still, it would be so much easier if this went the way I needed it to go.

As my fingers curved around Knox’s bare forearm, my skin tingled with awareness, and I was sure the air around us became charged. No one would ever make me feel as good as Knox did, and after today, if he ever got his hands on me again, his touch wouldn’t be so kind.

I have to make sure that doesn’t happen.

I didn’t know if Devnair could protect me from Knox and my mother or if his brother-in-law would allow me to stay in Terra, but hopefully he could at least help me get on my feet. Knox would go to Terra first in search of me; I had no doubt about that, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.

I studied the black tattoo on his tanned arm while we walked. His white, short-sleeved shirt emphasized the bulge of his muscles, the golden color of his skin, and the tattooed thorns that forever reminded him of the harem.

Everything about him electrified and scared me.

He was strong, powerful, ruthless… and a ticking time bomb.

“You were gone when I woke this morning,” he said as he led me through the hallway of glass windows and past the garden where the plants were steadily returning to full health.

“I enjoy helping in the kitchen,” I told him.

“I know.”

“And you needed your rest. Did you sleep at all while you were gone?”

“No.”

I waited for him to ask me how I felt about last night or if I was okay with what happened, but he didn’t. I wasn’t sure if that was because it would never occur to him to do so or if he was scared of my answer.

Instead, his thumb stroked my hand, and I shuddered as I recalled the way it felt circling my clit last night. I had to get out of here before I ended up back in his bed.

We didn’t say anything more, but I felt his gaze on my neck as he searched for the marks I’d covered. My heart thumped so fast that I knew he could hear it; I hoped he believed it was because of what passed between us last night, and not my coming treachery.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

Briar

When we arrived in the dining hall, my knees almost gave out as relief swept through me. Lyra, Dromon, and Pierce were already seated at the table.

Knox escorted me to the chair beside his and pulled it out for me. “Thank you,” I murmured as I sat.

Taking some time to gather my composure, I opened my napkin and placed it on my lap before lifting my head. Across the table, my eyes locked on Lyra’s. She stared at me before her gaze fell to my neck.

I knew she couldn’t see the fresh marks, but when her brow furrowed, I wondered if she somehow sensed Knox’s brand on me. Plus, even after taking a shower this morning, I was sure they could still smell Knox all over me.

Five sprites flew in as Dromon and Pierce finished sharpening their knives and slid them back into their sheaths. They grinned at the plates full of pancakes as the sprites buzzed around, dropping off maple syrup and filling mugs with steaming coffee.

I tried to act nonchalant and as normal as possible, but sweat coated my palms and my pulse thundered in my ears. I lifted my mug and pretended to sip coffee before cutting up the pancakes. Instead of eating them, I took a bite of sausage and chewed what tasted like wood.

The sprites cleared out of the room, retreating to the kitchen, where they would eat their breakfast. It wouldn’t take long for the sleeping potion to work on the sprites. Their diminutive size would only require a small amount before they fell asleep. I didn’t expect to see any of them return to the dining room. If they did, then something had gone horribly wrong.

I pretended to drink more coffee as I pushed the pancakes around on my plate and ate the food I could. None of it tasted good, but I required energy to get through the rest of this day.

The shifters devoured their pancakes and poured themselves more coffee from the decanter while they discussed their plans for the day. When Knox asked what I intended to do, I chimed in with my plan to replenish more of the herbs.

“I can help you with that… if you’d like?”

The hope in his voice and the yearning in his eyes were almost more than I could stand. I shouldn’t have done this. I never should have put this plan into motion, but it was too late to turn back now.

And it’s the only way to save yourself.

That was the simple truth. He’d keep running all over me if I didn’t break free.

I managed to smile and nod. He grinned at me in return; his beautiful smile lit his face and sparkled in his eyes. I was going to tear that away from him.

I almost vomited all over the table.

Reclaiming his utensils, he cut up more pancakes as he spoke. “The tribunal meeting is next week.”

Oh, gods, and it was going to be in Terra. I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and steadied the tremble in my hands. I’d forgotten about that when I plotted my escape.

Shit!

It’s too late to change anything. Stick with the plan; if Devnair can help, then you could be out of Terra before Knox and your mother arrive.

I hoped so. Otherwise, I was jumping from the frying pan and straight into the fires of Hell.

“How long will you be gone?” Dromon asked.

“I don’t know,” Knox replied. “There’s usually a ball afterward, but I might be able to slip away before that starts.”

“A ball?” Lyra inquired, her mouth twisted in distaste at the possibility.

“Yes, each kingdom likes to flaunt their wealth and possessions when they host the tribunal.”

“I’d prefer if they just killed me,” Pierce said, and the shifters laughed.

I was too nervous to laugh at anything and had given up any pretense of eating to squeeze my hands in my lap.

“Are we going with you?” Dromon asked.

“No. You’ll stay here with Briar,” Knox said.

Everyone stopped eating to stare at him. “You can’t go alone,” Pierce said.

“Briar will need as much protection as possible while I’m gone.”

I didn’t like the idea of him going alone either, but it wouldn’t be a problem soon. Lyra yawned before refilling her coffee.

“The shadow dragon will help keep her safe, but at least one of us should go too. You shouldn’t be alone,” Dromon said.

“They won’t do anything to me,” Knox stated.

They continued to discuss the tribunal meeting, but my attention was pulled away by Gizzi’s claws scraping the floor as he darted into the room. He ran over to me, leapt onto my lap, and scrambled up to my shoulder.

“The sprites are all sleeping,” he told me.

My hands shook so badly I was afraid they’d start bouncing off the bottom of the table. If one of the shifters got up to see why the sprites weren’t returning, or to start their day, they could sound the alarm.

Knox set his third cup of coffee down and pushed it away as he stifled a yawn. Dromon yawned and stretched in his chair.

“I don’t think this coffee is working,” Pierce muttered as he stared into his mug with one eye squinted shut.

Unknotting my hands, I slid one into my pocket to reassure myself the capsules were still there. The sleeping potion in the food would be enough to knock everyone else out, but it wouldn’t take out Knox. If he’d managed to break free of the harem and all the caster magic there, that potion alone wouldn’t be enough.

“Me either,” Lyra said as she yawned again and slumped in her chair. A second later, her eyes closed.

Knox stared at his plate, blinking as if he were trying to bring it into focus. Then he lifted his head to stare at me.

When our gazes met, his head swayed a little before his eyes narrowed. Understanding dawned as Dromon’s head thumped off the table. I winced; that would leave a mark.

Knox planted his palms on the table and started to rise as Pierce released a loud snore. He’d fallen asleep with his head tipped back and his mouth open.

“Wha… what did you do?” Knox asked in a slurred voice.

Lifting my napkin, I wiped the corners of my mouth with a calm I didn’t feel. I couldn’t let him know how shaken I was by all of this, but beneath my fear and guilt, anger burned. He’d betrayed my trust… and now I was betraying his.

When his claws raked the table, his jaw cracked, and orange fur broke out on the backs of his hands, I tossed the napkin on the table. If he managed to shift, the potion wouldn’t hold, and I’d be trapped here forever.

He’d never forgive me, and my punishment would be awful.

Removing the glass capsules from my pocket, I rose and slapped them against the table. A steaming mist erupted from them; it billowed into Knox’s face before he could recoil from it. The potent odors of vinegar and wormwood filled the air, but beneath their aroma lay the faint traces of lavender and nettle.

The sleeping potion had slowed Knox; this one would stop him from shifting… I hoped. If he were at full strength, it probably wouldn’t do anything, but I’d weakened him with the sleeping brew, and he couldn’t evade the mist.

He coughed as he inhaled it, and in doing so, he picked one of his hands off the table. The fur and claws were gone, but his orange eyes burned through the mist as he glowered at me.

When he lunged at me, his knees buckled and he hit the ground. I tried not to feel anything as I stared down at him, but guilt, regret, and sorrow filled me over what I’d done, what we’d lost, and everything we’d never have.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I set a letter by his outstretched hand. “But I can’t stay. You’ll destroy me.”

When Knox grunted in response, I realized he wasn’t asleep yet. I removed more capsules from my other pocket; they were a mix of shift suppressants and sleeping mist. I dropped them on the ground next to his face and stepped over him as their mist filled the air.

I placed another letter in Lyra’s lap and walked on to the kitchens, where I discovered the sprites sprawled around the room and sleeping soundly. I placed a third letter with Zephyr and my final one on the island near Bertie; it was for all the sprites.

Once finished, I gathered the small sword and dagger I’d discovered in a study. They were more decorative but sharp enough to kill someone if necessary.

I’d hidden them under my clothes before stashing them inside the grand piano in the music room, along with a green cloak that would help me blend in with the woods. No one ever played the instrument.

I strapped the weapons to my side, tied the cloak around my neck, and walked out of the castle with Gizzi on my shoulder. In the inside pocket of the cloak, I’d hidden a vial of another potion. Before leaving, I reassured myself it remained there.

Once outside, I went to the stable to saddle Magnazius. Stealing Knox’s horse only added insult to injury, but I’d formed a bond with him and trusted him to get me to Terra.

“I need to go to Terra,” I told Magnazius as I mounted him and pulled the hood up on my cloak. “I have the map memorized.”

“I know how to get there.”

That was better than I could have imagined. “Then let’s go.”

As he walked, I pulled out the other vial, uncapped it, and sprinkled some over myself, Gizzi, and Magnazius. I was sure that Knox would know I’d gone to Terra, but this potion would change our scents and make it harder for him to track us.

If necessary, I could also cast a glamour to change my appearance, but I didn’t want to arrive in Terra as someone else. The last thing they needed was that much of a reminder that I was a caster.

I didn’t look back as I steered Magnazius around the back of the castle and to the door in the wall that I exited through when harvesting the willowcap mushrooms. Careful to keep Magnazius off the earth moss, I opened the door and led the horse outside before closing it behind me.

I glanced at the sky in search of the shadow dragon, but didn’t see him anywhere. That didn’t mean anything; he could split into hundreds of shadows, be all around me, and I’d never know it.

If he did come for me, I hoped Knox’s brand would offer me some protection from the dragon, but there were no guarantees. Maybe he’d recognize me from the cemetery. But it didn’t matter if he did or not; I wasn’t turning back.

Unwilling to put Wildwood at risk, I’d only given a low dose of the sleeping potion, which meant I only had two, maybe three hours before the shifters woke and Knox started hunting me. Given the depths of Knox’s power, it could be less time before he woke.

I didn’t look back at the castle as Magnazius trotted into the forest. Wildwood, Knox, and this place were all a part of my past. My future lay ahead, though I had no idea where it would lead me.

There was still somewhere I had to go first. I steered Magnazius through the trees and on toward Archie’s grave. I didn’t have much time, but I had to say goodbye to the boy.

“You’re back!” Archie squealed into my head.

“I’m back,” I said. “But I can’t stay. I have to leave. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

Cool air brushed against my arm. “Are you coming back?”

The sad hope in his voice caused tears to prick my eyes. “No. I can’t stay anymore. I have to go, but I’ll carry you with me in my heart. I know that’s not much, but it’s all I can do.”

“Oh.” The cold air drifted away. “Be safe.”

“I’m sorry, Archie, I truly am.”

He didn’t reply. A tear slid down my face as I nudged Magnazius, and he plodded into the woods before breaking into a trot.

I wiped the tear away as I lifted my chin. I couldn’t stay, and I couldn’t save everyone. I wasn’t sure I could save myself, but I was going to try.

It’s time to be the thorn, Briar, I reminded myself.

And that’s exactly what I’d become.

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SNEAK PEEK

WHEN SOULS BLEED, BENEATH THE BRIARS BOOK 3

Briar

A sense of urgency drove me as Magnazius trotted through the forest. I wanted him to go faster, to get us to Terra now, but it was too dangerous to do more than a slow trot amongst the thick trees.

It didn’t help that some branches grew into the ground to create occasional walls that hindered our progress. They also obscured any threats lurking nearby, making our journey even more dangerous.

Every creak of a branch sent a shot of adrenaline through me, and the shadows dancing across the ground caused the hair on my nape to stand on end. I kept waiting for something to reach out, grasp the back of my cloak, and rip me from the horse.

I resisted the incessant urge to look behind me. Though it wasn’t possible, I was sure I heard giant paws churning up the earth, loud breaths billowing toward me, and the radiating fury of the beast as it hunted me.

My sleeping potion, and the one to keep Knox from changing, wouldn’t keep him down for as long as it would a normal shifter. His fury would also fuel his adrenaline and pump the potions out of his system faster, but even he couldn’t be awake yet. He just couldn’t.

I still have time.

I told myself this, but I didn’t know if it was true. And if it was, that time was rapidly slipping away.

If we didn’t get out of these woods soon, the sounds of Knox’s approach wouldn’t be imaginary. And when he came for me, he’d be on my ass in no time.

Gizzi, perched on my shoulder, watched my back. He’d alert me the second he heard or saw something coming for us, but if it were Knox, it would already be too late for me to do anything to stop him from overtaking us.

Gizzi’s bushy tail flicked against my face. I itched to push it away but didn’t dare take my sweaty hands off the reins.

Not only did every noise have me jumping in expectation of Knox’s arrival, but also of some monstrous thing emerging from the forest to eat us. There were countless flesh-eating beasts amid these trees, and all of them would love to devour us.

I couldn’t stay in Wildwood, but my decision to leave might get us all killed. We had to get to Terra soon, and hopefully Devnair would still offer us protection. Otherwise, I’d done all of this for nothing.

“How much longer will it take us to get there?” I asked Magnazius.

When I was memorizing the map from Wildwood to Terra, I couldn’t tell how much time it would take to arrive. It turned out I didn’t need the map as Magnazius knew the way.

“We’re about halfway there,” the horse replied.

I glanced toward the flat gray sky of Wildwood; even without thick, healthy leaves filling the trees, the entangled branches blocked much of the sky. Here, in this section of woods, away from the healthier plants the sprites tended, I felt the weaker energy of the forest in my soul.

The squeak of a squirrel snapped my head to the right. Perched on a branch, it yelled angrily as we rode beneath it.

The wind tugged strands of my hair free of its braid as desiccated leaves skittered across the ground. In the distance, a strange echoing, laughing rent the air.

Everything inside me went still, and an icy chill shivered down my spine. Whatever created that noise was something I didn’t want to encounter.

I shouldn’t have done this.

You didn’t have a choice. You couldn’t stay with him.

That was true. If I’d stayed in Wildwood, Knox would have trampled all over my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs until he destroyed me. He’d proven he didn’t care about what I wanted when he’d marked me again after I’d told him not to.

The memory of that night brought my hand instinctively to the fresh bite on my neck and shoulder. The scars from the one he left years ago was still visible beneath this new marking, but this bite was larger and more prominent.

The other difference was that I’d willingly and happily accepted his first marking. I hadn’t accepted this one.

However, though Knox’s actions were what drove me from the castle, mine were the ones that could have propelled us to possible death. Magnazius moved a little faster as, from somewhere closer in the woods, another creature answered the first one.

I couldn’t tell if they were closing in on us or simply going about their day. Gizzi’s claws bit into my flesh as he shifted and Magnazius moved with surprising quiet given his size; the horse knew well the danger of these woods.

“Only about a mile more to go,” Magnazius said.

That should have brought me some relief, but one mile felt as far away as the sun. When a branch snapped behind us, I jumped and somehow stifled a squeak.

Briar

Gizzi rose on my shoulder and arched his back like a cat stretching, but he didn’t fool me; tension vibrated through his tiny body. He probably weighed five pounds soaking wet, but he was one of the most venomous creatures in the kingdoms.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Something’s coming. I’m going to see what it is.”

“Don’t you dare run into those woods.”

“I was on my own before I met you and survived just fine.”

“But there’s a reason you stay with me.”

“Yeah, I like pillows.”

Despite the adrenaline coursing through me and my ever-growing certainty we were being stalked, my lips twitched in amusement.

“Do you think it’s Knox?” I asked him.

I didn’t know if that would be worse than some flesh-eating monster or better. Worse, definitely worse. At least I had a chance of escaping a monster; I had no shot of evading Knox.

When Gizzi’s nose twitched, his whiskers tickled my cheek. “I don’t smell him.”

I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but the snapping of another branch caused my breath to catch.

“What do you smell?” I asked him.

“Something foul, but it’s not a basilisk; they smell mustier than this.”

“Do you smell anything?” I asked Magnazius.

“Yes; coyenas.”

“Coyenas,” I breathed aloud.

Gizzi’s head turned toward me as a sound, almost like laughter, issued from the shadows. Coyenas usually preferred the arid climate of No Man’s Land, but were said to also live in Bloodborne.

Since I’d never been to the strigoi kingdom, and hoped to never set foot in it, I didn’t know if the coyenas lived amongst the strigoi or not. I had no idea what these creatures were doing in Wildwood, perhaps just passing through to No Man’s Land, or they’d spread out to hunt in other kingdoms, but I didn’t want to be anywhere near them.

During all the time I’d spent in No Man’s Land, I’d only ever seen them from a distance. They’d loped across the sand, howling or laughing in that maniacal way they had. I’d never been close enough to smell one, but their feral, coppery aroma filled the air now.

Blood. They smell of blood and death.

A low laughing sound came from the shadows only five feet away. Fallen trees had created a wall of rotting wood between us and the creature stalking us.

Claws scraped against bark, and a second later, a head materialized at the top of pile of trees. Its gaping mouth revealed the dozens of sharp teeth tucked within. The bits of flesh still stuck to some of those teeth fluttered with every breath it took.

A streak of hair ran down its dog-like head to its back. Black spots speckled its brown coat and lanky legs. It laughed again as it stared down at us; a strand of drool dangled from its lower jaw before plopping onto the trees.

I almost kicked Magnazius into a gallop, but that would only incite them into chasing us, and probably plunge us head-on into a tree. If the crash didn’t kill us all, it would leave us as dinner for these ugly bastards.

Instead, I slowed Magnazius before halting him. He was well trained, but he shifted uneasily beneath me as all sound ceased from the coyenas.

Their abrupt silence was far more unnerving than their eerie howls and laughter. Stopping was allowing them to creep closer, but we didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t outrun them; they were far smaller and more agile than the stallion, and we had a better chance of fighting them off if we weren’t moving anymore.

Gizzi’s tail brushed my cheek again as he turned in a small circle, surveying the woods. His small body thrummed as his claws bit into my shoulder.

“I shouldn’t have brought either of you into this,” I whispered.

“You couldn’t stay with Mr. Loves to Swing His Dick Around, and I made the decision to join you,” Gizzi replied.

“I could have remained behind,” Magnazius said.

I was grateful for their support; I hoped it didn’t get them killed. Gripping Magnazius tighter with my thighs, I released the reins.

If he bolted, hopefully I’d maintain my grip and wouldn’t fall on my ass. He’d stood firm when the colossal eagle attacked though and I had faith he’d stand firm now, but he’d also kick and I wasn’t the most adept rider.

Thanks for that, Mother.

It was just one more thing she’d denied me. One more thing meant to keep me down while others thrived, but I was free of her, and she’d never keep me down again.

Lifting my hands, I brought a spell to life in my palms. The green light of those spells still amazed me. Before my Needing, my spells were white. After my Needing, they should have been black or a deep shade of purple… like all other casters, but mine were this beautiful shade of green.

Despite its odd color, my spells were just as destructive as any other casters', and I wouldn’t hesitate to unleash them. Holding up my palms, I watched the coyena on the wall of trees while I waited for something to attack from either the left or the right.

Instead, it came from in front of us.

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ALSO FROM THE AUTHOR

Books written under the pen name

Brenda K. Davies

The Vampire Awakenings Series

Awakened (Book 1)

Destined (Book 2)

Untamed (Book 3)

Enraptured (Book 4)

Undone (Book 5)

Fractured (Book 6)

Ravaged (Book 7)

Consumed (Book 8)

Unforeseen (Book 9)

Forsaken (Book 10)

Relentless (Book 11)

Legacy (Book 12)

The Alliance Series

Eternally Bound (Book 1)

Bound by Vengeance (Book 2)

Bound by Darkness (Book 3)

Bound by Passion (Book 4)

Bound by Torment (Book 5)

Bound by Danger (Book 6)

Bound by Deception (Book 7)

Bound by Fate (Book 8)

Bound by Blood (Book 9)

Bound by Love (Book 10)

The Road to Hell Series

Good Intentions (Book 1)

Carved (Book 2)

The Road (Book 3)

Into Hell (Book 4)

Hell on Earth (Book 5)

Into the Abyss (Book 6)

Kiss of Death (Book 7)

Edge of the Darkness (Book 8)

The Shadow Realms

Shadows of Fire (Book 1)

Shadows of Discovery (Book 2)

Shadows of Betrayal (Book 3)

Shadows of Fury (Book 4)

Shadows of Destiny (Book 5)

Shadows of Light (Book 6)

Wicked Curses (Book 7)

Sinful Curses (Book 8)

Gilded Curses (Book 9)

Whispers of Ruin (Book 10)

Secrets of Ruin (Book 11)

Tempest of Shadows

A Tempest of Shadows (Book 1)

A Tempest of Thieves (Book 2)

A Tempest of Revelations (Book 3)

A Tempest of Intrigue (Book 4)

A Tempest of Chaos (Book 5)

A Tempest of Monsters (Book 6)

A Tempest of Wrath (Book 7)

A Tempest of Reckoning (Book 8)

Beneath the Briars

When Roses Burn (Book 1)

When Ashes Fall (Book 2)

When Souls Bleed (Book 3)

Historical Romance

A Stolen Heart

Books written under the pen name

Erica Stevens

The Coven Series

Nightmares (Book 1)

The Maze (Book 2)

Dream Walker (Book 3)

The Captive Series

Captured (Book 1)

Renegade (Book 2)

Refugee (Book 3)

Salvation (Book 4)

Redemption (Book 5)

Vengeance (Book 6)

Unbound (Book 7)

Broken (Book 8 - Prequel)

The Kindred Series

Kindred (Book 1)

Ashes (Book 2)

Kindled (Book 3)

Inferno (Book 4)

Phoenix Rising (Book 5)

The Fire & Ice Series

Frost Burn (Book 1)

Arctic Fire (Book 2)

Scorched Ice (Book 3)

The Ravening Series

The Ravening (Book 1)

Taken Over (Book 2)

Reclamation (Book 3)

The Survivor Chronicles

The Upheaval (Book 1)

The Divide (Book 2)

The Forsaken (Book 3)

The Risen (Book 4)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brenda K. Davies is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Vampire Awakening Series, Alliance Series, Road to Hell Series, Hell on Earth Series, The Shadow Realms Series, A Tempest of Shadows Series, Beneath the Briars series, and historical romantic fiction. She also writes under the pen name, Erica Stevens. When not out with friends and family, she can be found at home with her husband, son, and pets.