My stomach turns. I can’t imagine my brothers being so cruel.
Leah groans and puts her hands on her hips, glaring at her mate. Kade’s smile softens.
“I could have lost you, Leah.”
Kade points at her own temple. “That lives with me every day. The idea of losing you.”
I look up at Aaron. My lion presses against me and I can feel her remembering—Aaron’s voice last night, raw and cracked,I thought I was going to lose you. The feral edge in his eyes when Tiana reached for me. I didn’t understand it then, but I do now.
Kade carries that same weight. It’s in the set of her shoulders, in the way her arms tighten around Leah even when she’s smiling.
I don’t tell him. I just hold his hand tighter and let my tail brush against him.
“I saved them both,” Kade says, “even after I begged Leah not to trust Ellie. I could tell she was up to something.” She shakes her head. “And Ellie still did more stupid shit after that. When we learned she and Leah were powerful witches from an old bloodline—damn near close to the Blackwoods—Ellie lost her mind. She wanted Leah’s power for herself.” Kade’s bright blue eyes go cold. “She tried to kidnap her own sister.”
Aaron starts to grin. “She didn’t.” Aaron’s finding Kade’s frustration amusing. My ears perk up. Or maybe he justunderstands why she’s upset about it. He knows what it feels like to have that fear living inside your head.
“Oh, she did.” Kade snaps back. Leah huffs and that makes me giggle.
“She turned to dark magic.” Kade’s voice goes flat. “And Leah agreed that we couldn’t save her.”
Leah throws her hands up. “Yes. My sister is not happy about the loss of dark magic.”
“Why are they so tied to it?” I ask.
“Dark magic is like a drug to them,” Kade says. “It’s healthy in small doses. The problem is that witches and warlocks cling to it. You stop aging, you gain more power.” She pauses. “But it costs you. Your soul starts to rot and the magic gets harder to let go of. After the cleansing, all of that was stripped from them.”
I think about the warlocks at the Glen last night. The rage in their faces, the desperation. They weren’t just angry—they were going through withdrawal.
Kade turns to Leah. “Eternal youth is unnatural and unbalanced. Even for vampires.”
My ears perk forward. “Ohhh.”
“The curse forced supernaturals into immortality, but it was never the natural order of things.” Kade leans forward. “Shifters like to pass on, to create new generations and build on the earth. But the witches and warlocks stuck in that Glen”—she points toward the cottage—“they were comfortable. They don’t want the natural order. They want what they lost.”
I stiffen. “My parents are going to pass on.”
My lion whimpers.
“Yes.” Kade meets my eyes. “It’s only a matter of time before Mother Fate starts calling on the shifters, witches, warlocks, and other supernaturals that shouldn’t be here. Even vampires.” Her voice softens. “Vampires have the ability to live forever, butthat doesn’t mean we can’t die. We’ve already died. We’re just existing until Mother Fate calls on us.”
My parents. I never once considered a world where they wouldn’t be.
Aaron pulls me close and I sink into him. My tail wraps around his waist and he looks down at me, smiling, but his eyes are already somewhere else.
“I have to find Eric,” he says.
“And that’s fine, Aaron,” Kade tells him. “But the problem is you can’t keep trying to do this alone.” She holds his gaze. “You have family here, Blackwood. All of Wintermoon. So stop being stubborn and use them.”
My ears lift. I’ve been saying the same thing for days and he sealed me in our suite for it.
He looks down at my tail around him and something in his face eases. The tension in his shoulders drops just enough for me to notice. “Alright.” He glances back at the cottage. “I just wanted to check and see how the new seal was holding up.”
Kade raises an eyebrow at the chains. “You Blackwoods are powerful as hell. I’m sure it’ll hold as long as it needs to.”
“What about the Academy?” Aaron asks. “Should we put in extra security?”
Kade shrugs. “Already done. Your mother is on it.” She tilts her head. “And she’s also very pissed off at you. Did you hit your sister? Because you know that’s against the law here in Wintermoon. We don’t tolerate the abuse of women. Doesn’t matter if Tiana is your sister.”
