Page 138 of Blood and Trouble

“Then he stopped being patient.” Mill sneered and bared his fangs. “He took Maeve outright, and she killed him.”

“When she took his head off, she didn’t break the curse. She took out half of the anchor.” Bridge grimaced. “Whatever the two of them had been splitting for twenty years, Evelyn’s been carrying all of it since. Alone. That’s what you saw in Europe. That’s a vampire running out of time.”

“Good,” Serpent said, adjusting his hips before bringing a cigarette to his lips. “Let the fucking bitch rot.”

“So, we kill Evelyn, and it’s over?” I asked.

“She’s the last anchor. Kill the anchor, and the spell has nothing left to hold on to.” Bridge made a face. “Getting close enough to do it will be the biggest problem. She’ll be back before you get the chance. Angrier. More desperate.”

“And Priscilla?” I asked. “If she’s still alive out there, what happens to her once we kill the anchor?”

Bridge was quiet a beat too long. “I don’t know. This is uncharted territory.”

“None of this explains why they did it in the first place,” Ren said. “Why would two vampires care if a rancher’s children turned furry on the full moon? He and Uther were allies.”

“Evelyn said they were paid to do it,” I explained. “The question is, by who?”

“That’s what you all need to find out,” Bridge said. “We can work backward from there.”

“Thank you, Bridge. The Bastards owe you and the Harlots. We won’t forget this.” Kodiak gave her a nod, which she returned, before she and her warrior left the meeting room so we could continue.

“Zion’s moving closer,” Mill said. “He’s teasing our borders now.”

“We should have dealt with his ass ages ago,” Orion cut in, his dark eyes shifting to Kodiak.

“What do you want to do?” Moose asked. “Send scouts? A hit squad?”

Kodiak rubbed a finger over his lips, his eyes focused on the table, his body still as he half listened, half ruminated.

“We don’t know what he’s doing,” Ruby said.

“It’s pretty obvious what he’s doing,” Talon said. “The question is…do we nip it in the bud now or do we wait until he’s a bigger threat?”

“Technically, he hasn’t done anything illegal yet,” Ren added.

“Except abandon his brothers and start a new pack of his own,” Orion continued. “That alone is punishable by death.”

The others debated the right steps to take with Zion, but my focus landed on Kodiak, who still hadn’t said anything. He pursed his lips and narrowed his gaze, but he wasn’t actually seeing anything. His thoughts were far away, and a small chill reverberated through the pack bond, coming from him.

“Kodiak?” Orion asked, putting a hand on the alpha’s shoulder.

“If Evelyn is going after unmated Kennedy females to finish this curse, then there’s only one more left,” Kodiak said.

Fuck.

It hit me like a sledgehammer, and the rest of the room went silent. Ava was mated. Sol and Maeve were mated. That left…

“Guin,” Kodiak said.

The one who swore she’d never be mated. The one who had stood on her own her entire life. The one who lived to bring our alpha to his knees.

“Seventeen years,” Mill said. “She shifted right before I left Vanderbilt Ranch, and she’s been unmated this whole time. Right out in the open.” He looked down the table at Kodiak. “So why didn’t they come for her first?”

No one had an answer.

Epilogue

TWO YEARS LATER