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I couldn’t help worrying. He didn’t have air. He hadn’t had food or water, or any of the things a human needed. And he was human. He was a Beta, my Beta.

“Where are the tears Frol collected?” I demanded as Skadi turned to face me. His harsh features always softened when he looked at me now, his head tilting as if he didn’t understand how he’d ended up here with me. With us.

I felt the same. If Lex were here, it would all be perfect.

“The ones he didn’t eat?” Skadi grumbled. Apparently, Frol had found some of Skadi’s tears on the beach not long after the Omegas had fled, dropped from the lining of my old cloak, maybe. He’d eaten them, though we hadn’t figured that out until some of the newest ones had fallen out of my trouser pocket while we were gathering vegetables for a meal last month.

Frol had picked them up for me, but he hadn’t returned them. Instead, he’d stuffed them in his mouth, swallowed them, and smiled.

And then glowed. Literally glowed, with an odd blue fire that matched Serak’s eyes. From that moment on, he’d stayed as close to Serak as he could. “Priest,” he’d explained, pointing to himself and then Serak. “Only priest.”

It embarrassed Serak, but he’d welcomed Frol and the two of them had worked together to help build a structure. Well, Serak had melted the rock into house shapes, using Edan’s powers without any of the destruction. But Frol had made charming bamboo and wooden furniture for the rooms.

He was an enigma to all of us, but he was the only priest left alive who’d served Edan. Serak and Skadi had flown over Pict every day for the past two months to be absolutely certain.

I hadn’t left the side of the coffin that held my best friend, not for longer than it took to use the privy or bathe. My heat had returned in one-day surges on both the full moons, and I’d insisted on making love to all of my mates next to Lex’s prison.

We’d tried everything we could to release the magic. A week ago, I’d joked that now I knew how my mates felt when the Goddess kept them out of my lady bits, though none of my mates had laughed.

It was the sort of rude move She would make, if She was angry that I wanted to add Her priest to my harem. Which I did. The instant he was out of that shell, the second he said yes, I would claim him, if he wanted me.

If he wasn’t dead. But how could he still be alive?

“Your Beta is not dead,” Skadi murmured, coming up beside me, and dropping a cold kiss on my forehead.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do so. I’m a god.” He leaned down and began pressing kisses along my brow, then down my cheek to my jaw, and to my neck, blowing his icy breath around me. It cooled my face, but did nothing for the heat welling up in my core. I squeezed my thighs together as his tail wrapped around me and slid up under the loose shirt I was wearing.

“Only a quarter of a god,” I managed to say without squeaking.

“More than god enough to keep you happy, little enemy,” he growled and dropped his mouth to my breast, his tail wrapping around me to hold me in place while he ravished me up to the point of aching, then let me go.

“Asshole,” I snarled.

“Ass god,” he corrected, reaching under his arm and pulling a handful of tears from somewhere. I wasn’t sure where he hid all my potions and the other things he’d stolen, since nothing ever bulged on his form… well, except for the things that were meant to bulge. His glossy, blue-tinged muscles, and the massive double-knotted⁠—

“The scent of your arousal is delectable, little spy. Let me tend to your need while your lesser mates attempt to release the Beta.” His tail circled me again, wrapping around my thigh this time, but Serak cleared his throat.

“I believe she asked for your tears, not your tail.”

Skadi curled his lip and handed me the tears, his tail staying right where it was. Still connected, we walked to the others, slipping past Lachlan, who was rubbing his pelt on the surface while Lusca hummed some song that had all the hairs on my arms standing up.

“I want to try something.” I held one of the tears in between my fingers and scratched at the spot Serak and Goran had said was where Lex’s face had been. I pulled on my mates’ strength to use it like a tiny, diamond-and-magic knife.

It crumbled against the surface.

“Only one left,” I murmured, wiping the diamond dust away on my shirt. Well, Lachlan’s shirt. He had a thing about me wearing his clothing. Lusca had privately informed me that Lachlan might be going into heat again soon.

I couldn’t wait, though I didn’t want it to happen on Pict. And not while Lex was trapped. Not dead. Trapped.

“I know where you can get more,” Lachlan said with a raised eyebrow at the tail around me. “All you need to do is tell Skadi he’s not your favorite god again.”

Skadi hissed. “I will always be her favorite.”

Lachlan grinned. “I don’t know. Serak’s got more juice than you now.”

“Shut the hells up, Lachlan,” Serak groaned just before Skadi “accidentally” smacked him with his tail.