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Nyra’s gaze doesn’t waver. ‘Nothing.’

‘Nothing?’ she echoes.

‘I didn’t come here with an ulterior motive,’ she says. ‘I came back to you because you’re my children, and you deserve to know the truth about me, and about your history. I would love to be involved in your lives, but I also understand if that’s not what any of you want.’

I look at my sisters. At the tired confusion on Raya’s face, and the guarded disbelief on Cora’s. I don’t know if I trust Nyra, but I want to believe her. What she said matches what Velistra said.

I have no idea what to believe and find it hard to wrap my head around anything that has happened these past few weeks. This all still feels like a dramatic TV show I’ve somehow been dropped into, and I have no idea what the script is.

At least the worst of it is over now, and it’s time to start my new life.

28

THEO

The Captive

I lean against the balcony railing, letting the night breeze slip over me.

The gardens below are dark, except for the faint glow of fairy lights that Cora strung up around the back, which completely contrast the cold elegance of the house.

I thought being back here in Red Thorne would be fun, like how it used to be, but last night was a reminder that it’s a never-ending cycle of supernatural bullshit. I don’t think we will ever know a moment of peace being here. There’s always someone out hunting someone else, and countless lives are lost. I used to find those kinds of adventures fun, but now I’m tired of them. I want more from life. Everything has shifted for me since I met Tara. Things that used to matter simply don’t anymore.

After we reported everything back to Kian, he began planning moves against these groups. He and Cora certainly have their hands full, but since he has such a big team around him, I’m confident he will handle everything with brutal precision, as usual. If anyone can handle this, it’s them.

There’s a low murmur of conversation trickling through the window. All three sisters, Nyra, and Maree, the girls’ aunt, are all in the loungeroom. It’s scarily uncanny seeing them all in one room together. You can easily tell which one is the human – she doesn’t have the same air about her as the others do – but you can certainly see the similarities among them all.

Soft laughter filters through the door and I smile. It’s nice that they are together and have each other now. I turn away from the balcony and follow the sound. The voices guide me to the loungeroom. They’re sitting around, relaxing on the lounge, glasses of bloodied wine in their hands. The fire crackles in the corner of the room.

I stand in the doorway, unnoticed, enjoying seeing Tara looking so calm and relaxed. This is what I never thought she’d get: Family. Safety. Belonging. She deserves all of it. Same with Raya and Cora. It seems that things are finally shifting into more peaceful territory for all of them.

Tara turns, catching me in her periphery. Her smile softens, fading into something gentler. She rises slowly and crosses the room toward me. The others keep talking and laughing with each other, like this is just a normal night. Tara steps out into the hallway and closes the door behind her. For a second, she just looks at me.

‘Hey,’ she says softly.

‘Hey.’

‘You okay?’ she asks. ‘I feel like we haven’t had a moment to breathe in weeks.’

I offer her a crooked smile. ‘Yeah. Feels that way. I want to show you something, when you’re not busy.’

‘Sure. Let’s go now.’

‘It doesn’t have to be right now,’ I quickly say, but she brushes past me, flicking her hair over her shoulders.

Stepping out into the night air, the moonlight falls over us and it rekindles something inside me. Being underneath the moon does something to a vampire that I can’t quite explain.

‘Follow me.’ I grin, taking off toward the woods.

This is the first time I run with her – really run, like a vampire – when there is no one chasing us, or no one we are chasing. No hunters, no humans, no other vampires, just the trees, the darkness of the night, and Tara keeping pace with me like we were made to move together.

We tear through the trees, our bodies nothing but a blur as the wind stings our faces. Branches snap beneath our feet and leaves whip past us, the smell of pine and wet earth sharp in the air.

She pushes ahead, just slightly, her hair streaming behind her like wildfire. I let her take the lead for a second, admiring the way she moves, before I surge forward, catching her at the crest of the ridge. I spin, grabbing her wrist and pulling her with me as we leap down the incline together, a jumble of limbs as we crash down the edge.

‘Are you always this dramatic?’ she breathes through her laughter, brushing dirt and leaves from her clothes.

‘Only when I’m trying to impress someone.’