Forgotten Sins

Haven 3

Forgotten Sins When Jonas Tracer makes a bargain with a witch to charm his mate into loving him, the plan backfires horribly. Now, Nicholas not only believes another man is his mate, but he’s forgotten his past with Jonas entirely. With time running out, Jonas embarks on a journey to recapture Nicholas’s memories and force him to acknowledge their bond. Nicholas McCarthy has loved Jonas for over two centuries. Claiming the man, though, would prove certain death for the brawny Enforcer. Once the curse is broken and his memories return, he knows he should walk away from Jonas and never look back. But when a ghost from his past returns for vengeance, he has no choice but to seek help from the one man he’s spent years trying to protect. Can Nicholas find the courage to come clean with his mate before it’s too late? Or should some sins remain buried forever? Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves Length: 36,591 words

FORGOTTEN SINS Haven 3

Gabrielle Evans

EVERLASTING CLASSIC MANLOVE

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove

FORGOTTEN SINS Copyright © 2011 by Gabrielle Evans E-book ISBN: 1-61926-092-1 First E-book Publication: November 2011 Cover design by Jinger Heaston All art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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FORGOTTEN SINS Haven 3 GABRIELLE EVANS Copyright © 2011

Chapter One “Just break the spell.” For three days, Jonas had done everything he could to reason with the witch, Natalie. He’d begged, bribed, and negotiated until he was blue in the face, and still she refused to do anything but smile wickedly at him. He’d gone from desperate, to frustrated, back to desperate, and now he was pissed. It had been bad enough when Nicholas refused to accept their mating. With the coven leader now convinced that he belonged to another man, Jonas was going out of his mind. Releasing Natalie in exchange for a spell to make Nicholas want him had been the biggest mistake he’d ever made. She’d tricked him, casting the spell so that Nicholas would become instantly infatuated with the first person he set eyes on. Unfortunately, Jonas had been halfway across the country when his mate had been bewitched. Nicholas’s obsession with Malakai Bruins made Jonas’s gut burn. It wasn’t just relationship issues. He’d caused so many more problems for a whole lot of people with his stupidity. Now, he just wanted to make things right. Even if that meant he could never have the man he loved. “Ask me again.” Natalie purred with an evil glint in her eye. “The forty-second time might just be the charm, and you do beg so nicely.”

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Easing back on the small cot, she made a show of crossing her legs and arched her back seductively. “C’mon, big guy, ask me again.” Jonas’s fangs burst through his gums, and his top lip curled. The one thing Natalie wanted to negotiate, Jonas wasn’t willing to give her. She was pretty as far as women went. Long, blonde corkscrew curls, slim waist, big breasts—she was practically a walking advertisement for sex. Maybe if Jonas didn’t loathe her with every fiber of his being—no, not even then. Glaring at the witch through the iron bars, Jonas growled. “If you want to do this the hard way, we can certainly arrange it.” Then he spun on his heels and stalked down the corridor, his footsteps echoing off the basement walls. He snarled and grumbled all the way up the concrete stairs and through the door that led into the main part of the house on his way to find Stavion. It rankled his pride to have to ask for help, but he’d exhausted all of his other options. With a precursory knock on Stavion’s office door, Jonas pushed it open and marched inside—then stumbled to a stop when he found Elder Winters and the witch they’d rescued from Natalie’s attic. “Jonas,” Stavion greeted with a dip of his head. “You know Elder Winters, of course.” “Please, call me Layke,” the elder interjected with a smile. Stavion nodded again and waved a hand toward the witch. “This is Torren Braddock. He’ll be staying with us for a while.” He didn’t sound very pleased about that, and Jonas couldn’t blame him. Not only was Torren a powerful witch, but he was also the biological father of Raina and Teegan’s babies. When the she-weres agreed to adopt the abandoned pups, no one ever imagined that their father would suddenly pop back into the picture. Though the witch swore he wasn’t here to take back his children, Jonas could only imagine what stress and worry Teegan and Raina were going through. “Did you get anything?” Jonas met Stavion’s eyes and shook his head slowly. “She won’t tell me how to break the curse, where the missing children are, or how

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to find the other witches. I’ve tried compelling her, but she’s blocking me. She’s just not talking.” The office door opened again, and Cassius strolled in with a very small, very loud, squirming bundle in his arms. “Have you guys seen Raven?” “Raven?” Jonas frowned and shook his head. “Why do you need Raven?” “Kendall and Jory took off an hour ago, and Danica has been screaming since her daddy left.” The Enforcer looked exhausted and frazzled as he bounced his daughter in his arms. Stavion perked up at the mention of his mate’s name. “Where’s Jory?” “Raven took them to Cloud Peak to see Willow and Cole.” “Right.” Stavion bobbed his head and scratched at the back of his neck. “I remember that now.” Jonas arched an eyebrow and chuckled. The poor guy didn’t even know which way was up at the moment. “Did you just hear what you said?” Cassius looked confused, and his lips moved inaudibly for several seconds before his frown deepened, and he shook his head. “Well, fish sticks.” Everyone broke into laughter, and Cassius actually stuck his tongue out. “Kendall says we shouldn’t curse around the baby— which goes for all of you as well.” “Have you tried singing to her?” Torren asked from across the room. “I don’t sing.” “Well, you do now.” Jonas waved a hand toward the very unhappy little one. “Give it a try. What do you have to lose?” “May I?” Kieran Delaney stepped into the office behind Cassius and held his arms out, smiling as Cassius passed his daughter over. “Kendall called,” Kieran explained. “He thought you might could use some help.”

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“Well, he’s right. I didn’t get a wink of sleep all day. My head is pounding, my muscles hurt, and I feel like I’m going to drop dead.” He cocked his head to the side, and the saddest look crossed over his face when Danica curled into Kieran’s arms and quieted instantly. “And apparently, my daughter hates me.” “She doesn’t hate you,” Layke cajoled. “You’re tired, hurting, and stressed out. She can sense that. I’ve seen you with her. She doesn’t cry every time you pick her up. She loves her daddy very much.” “Poppy,” Cassius corrected before blowing out a long breath. “Yeah, you’re right. I just need to get some sleep.” “C’mon.” Kieran jerked his head to the doorway behind him. “Let’s grab her bag, and I’ll take her down to the cabin so you can get some rest.” Cassius looked like he would weep in gratitude. “Thank you. It’s so much harder than I thought it would be.” “We’re your friends,” Stavion said quietly, obviously not wanting to disturb the baby. “And there are plenty of us,” Jonas added. He’d never really had a family before, and it was a damn good feeling to know that someone had his back when he was in trouble. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.” He didn’t know a lot about babies, but he’d take his turn walking the floor with the little one if it would help. He wanted to offer the same to Kieran, or at least have the werewolf pass on the offer to his sister and her mate. With Torren in the room, he didn’t want to bring up Raina and the pups, though. They’d all have to settle the parental issue eventually, but for now, it was probably best not to rock that boat. Kieran and Cassius said their good-byes and disappeared down the hallway. Once their footsteps died away, Stavion turned to Jonas with a strange look on his face. Whatever was bothering him, Jonas was sure that he didn’t want to know. “We’re out of time.”

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“People are in an uproar,” Layke added. “Their children are missing, dead, or drained of their powers, and they want justice.” “So, what are you saying? They’re going to execute the witch?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Layke pushed his long, silverblond hair back from his face and sighed. “I only have so much power, and it’s no secret that the other elders would just as soon get rid of me. They’ve agreed to give you until the end of the month to try and break the spell before we have to deliver her to them.” “Won’t the spell be broken when she dies?” Stavion asked. “No.” Torren stepped forward and crossed his arms over his chest. “It doesn’t work that way. Natalie’s spell is absolute. Only she can undo it. If she dies while the bewitchment is still in place, it will be that way forever.” “So, you can’t break her spell?” There went that idea. “I’m sorry.” Torren’s huge muscles rippled as he uncrossed his arms and moved them to link his fingers behind his back. “There might be another way, though.” “What way? What can we do?” Jonas asked eagerly. He just wanted the whole damn mess to be over with and things to go back to normal—even if that meant Nicholas hating him and refusing their mating again. “This is going to sound hokey, but no spell can interfere with true love. If you can make Nicholas McCarthy remember his love for you, it will break the curse.” Jonas’s hopes died a painful death with that. “Only one problem with that. He doesn’t love me. This whole mess started because he refused to accept that we were mates. I’m not saying it’s his fault. I alone am responsible for my actions, but he doesn’t love me. So, there is nothing for him to remember.” “Did he say he doesn’t love you?” “No, but it doesn’t matter. Why else would he deny our mating?” Nicholas might never have said it forthright, but his actions spoke louder than any words.

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“Maybe he did it to protect you,” Stavion offered. “With him being the leader of his own coven, he’s bound to have more than a few enemies. I went through the same thing when I first met Jory, but in the end, I realized the safest place for him was by my side. Maybe McCarthy just didn’t have enough time to realize the same.” Jonas laughed, but it lacked any humor. “I’ve known Nicholas for over two hundred years. Yeah, he was really hurting for time.” “I’m sure there’s a reason,” Layke said kindly, but without much conviction. “I’m sorry, but unfortunately, we don’t have any other options. The Council has deemed Nicholas a threat to our world and the preternaturals in it. If you can’t break the spell, he’ll be executed with Miss Halstead at the end of the month.” Sighing in defeat, Jonas dropped his head and willed his heart not to shatter. It was a stupid plan, and it would never work. Nicholas felt nothing for him beyond friendship. Hell, he may not even feel that much. What other options did he have, though—sit back and watch the man he loved executed? “I’ll try.” Normally, spending time with Nicholas was no hardship, but with the man’s overwhelming obsession with all things Malakai, it was slowly killing a little piece of Jonas every day. “What is today anyway?” “September 17,” Stavion answered immediately. “Two weeks?” Jonas felt sick all over again. How was he supposed to make Nicholas love him in two weeks? “What do I do?” Layke smiled and held his hands out, palms up. “Be unrelenting in your pursuit.” **** This was bullshit of the highest caliber. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why was he locked inside a cabin in the middle of nowhere? Jonas was supposed to be his friend, so why would he do this to him? Why was he keeping Nicholas away from his mate?

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Jealousy. It was the only thing that made sense. Jonas was jealous of what Nicholas and Malakai had. They were all jealous. Nicholas paused in his pacing when the deadbolt slid back and the front door of the cabin opened. “Where is my mate?” He asked the same question every time Jonas returned from wherever he went, and every time he received the same answer. “With his mates where you can’t get to him.” Jonas sounded exasperated as he pushed his dark hair back from his face and sighed. “He belongs to me, though.” Nicholas had lost his anger over the situation, and now he just felt hurt and betrayed. “We have been friends for centuries. Why are you doing this to me?” Jonas closed his eyes and breathed deeply several times before turning to relock the door. “I’m trying to help you, Nicholas.” “Then help me get my mate back. They took him. They took the man I love, and no one will help me get him back.” Jonas was tall, broad in the shoulders, and had muscles to spare. If anyone could help, it was the vampire standing across the room from him. Even the stubborn set of his square jaw said he was a force to be reckoned with. “You don’t love him.” Jonas slid off his jacket and hung it on the hook by the door. “You met him one time. Everything you’re feeling is because of the curse the witch placed on you. We’ve talked about this.” Yes, they’d talked about it, but Nicholas didn’t believe a word of it. They were lying to him—trying to trick him because they wanted Malakai for themselves. “What about my coven? What are they doing without me?” “Elder Cortez is taking responsibility for the Olympia Coven until you are better.” Jonas removed two bags of blood from the fridge, poured them into cups, and placed them in the microwave. “I don’t need to get better. There is nothing wrong with me besides the fact that everyone is trying to keep Malakai away from me.”

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The microwave dinged, and Jonas turned back to remove the cups. “I’m not going to argue with you anymore. Malakai is not your mate. You barely even know him.” Setting the cups down on the kitchen table, Jonas plopped down in one of the seats and sighed. “Do you remember when we used to go skinny-dipping in the summer?” Nicholas frowned at the subject change. Jonas was trying to distract him, but it wouldn’t work. “We never did anything like that.” Jonas mirrored his frown and cocked his head to the side. “What about that time we went to Vegas, and you got so drunk you puked in that woman’s handbag?” “What? Jonas, why are you making these things up?” Rising from his chair, Jonas stalked toward him slowly. “The time I was stabbed with a gold blade? I almost died, and you sat with me the entire time.” Nicholas shook his head. While garlic, holy water, crucifixes, and silver were purely Hollywood fiction of how to kill a vampire, there were other things that proved quite lethal to them. Silver, steel, or whatever—being stabbed hurt like hell, but they could heal from it. Gold, however, was toxic to their systems. A stake through the heart would kill anyone, whether it be human, shifter, or vampire. It didn’t even have to be through the heart. Vampires could bleed to death if the wound didn’t heal quickly enough. Nicholas couldn’t remember Jonas ever being stabbed with gold, though. What kind of game was he playing? “This isn’t funny anymore, Jonas.” “I don’t find it very humorous, either. You said we’re friends, right? Tell me what you remember. We’ve known each other for hundreds of years. Tell me what you remember about us.” “You’re my guard. We’re friends. You want to make me unhappy by keeping me away from my mate.” Nicholas closed his mouth as his eyebrows drew together. “Why did I just say that?” It was true, but that hadn’t been what he’d wanted to say, and it didn’t answer Jonas’s

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question at all. Strangely, he couldn’t remember anything else about Jonas or any time spent with him. “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I remember?” Jonas smiled sadly and shook his head as he fisted his hands on his hips. “I’ve been trying to tell you for months now. That fucking bitch, Natalie Halstead, cast a spell so that you’d become infatuated with the first person you saw. That person was Malakai.” “No.” Nicholas took a step back and waved a hand in front of him. “You’re lying. You’re trying to trick me and make me doubt my feelings for Malakai. She said you would do this.” Jonas arched both eyebrows. “Who said that?” “I…” Nicholas’s brow furrowed as he concentrated. “I don’t know.” “Then let me help you remember.” Jonas sounded almost pleading as he advanced toward Nicholas again. “Let me help you.” Stumbling backward, Nicholas shook his head frantically. “This is wrong. Something’s wrong.” “I know, Nicky,” Jonas cooed. “You don’t have to be scared. We can fix this.” He paused in his steps and held his hand out. “Trust me.” “W–What did you call me?” The name stirred something inside of him and made his heart flutter, though not uncomfortably. No one ever called him anything but Nicholas or Leader McCarthy. So, why did the nickname sound so familiar coming from Jonas? “Please, Nicky.” Jonas took a step closer with his hand still outstretched. “Trust me.” Something tickled at the fringes of his memory, but it disappeared before Nicholas could grasp it. Just a moment ago, he’d been so sure that he knew exactly what was going on, but now he felt confused and…afraid. He didn’t much care for either feeling. “Jonas?” “We’re going to make this right, but I need your help. Don’t make me beg.”

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Tentatively, Nicholas reached out and placed his hand in Jonas’s. What choice did he have? He had questions, and Jonas was the only one who could give him answers. That didn’t mean he implicitly trusted the man, though. That stupid nickname was making him weak. “I’m in.” He squeezed Jonas’s hand before releasing it. “But don’t call me Nicky.”

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Chapter Two “No, absolutely not.” Stavion shook his head in finality as he shuffled through the papers on his desk. “I can’t have you gallivanting Nicholas McCarthy all over the damn country in his condition.” “Gallivanting? Who the hell uses that word?” Jonas threw his hands in the air as he paced the floor of Stavion’s office. “He’s starting to realize that something’s wrong. He doesn’t know exactly what, but there are parts of his memory missing, and he knows it. Stavion, I’ve known that man for most of my life, and he can’t remember a single moment of us being together. He’s scared, not dangerous.” Stavion pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before looking up at Jonas. “I get that, and I’m sorry. He can’t leave Haven.” “How the hell am I supposed to save his goddamn life if you won’t let me do what I need to do? You put this on me, and I’m not just going to sit around with my thumb up my ass and hope he remembers on his own.” Jonas could hear the desperation in his voice. Recreating some of their memories was the only way he could think of to help Nicholas. Haven held none of those memories. To Nicholas, it was just a prison. “You asked to come here because you couldn’t handle him on your own. You needed extra eyes, ears, and hands to keep him from hurting himself or someone else.” Stavion stood from his chair, rested his palms flat on the desktop, and leaned forward. “He’s not leaving.” Before Jonas could explode on the coven leader, the office door opened, and Jory walked in with a big smile on his face. “Hey, guys. Why so growly?”

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Jonas dipped his head, and Stavion gave his mate a curt greeting. “We’re just having a little disagreement. Did you need something?” Jory nodded, still smiling brightly. “I need you to stop being such a dick.” Stavion closed his eyes and groaned before addressing Jory once again. “I’m not being a dick. I’m trying to keep people from getting hurt. Nicholas McCarthy is unstable. I can’t allow him to leave Haven with only Jonas to watch after him.” “Then send someone with them.” Jory shrugged as he glided across the room to stand beside Jonas. “Jonas is doing everything he can to save his mate’s life. I think the least we can do is help.” “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Jonas looked down at Jory and winked. With the little man on his side, he might just win this one, and the knowledge went a long way in lifting his spirits. Jory winked back and bumped their hips together before returning his attention to his grouchy mate. “Send Raven and Demos with them. Raven will love it, and Demos needs to get his unsocial ass out of the house.” Stavion glared at them both for a full minute before sighing and dipping his head. “I’m going to regret this,” he mumbled under his breath. “Okay, fine, I’ll send Raven and one of the shifters. I want someone watching McCarthy day and night.” “He’s a vampire,” Jory said sweetly. “He can’t go out in the day.” Stavion wasn’t appeased, though. “It doesn’t matter. If he wants to badly enough, he’ll find a way, and I want someone able to retrieve him if necessary.” “He’s not a fucking newspaper.” Jonas growled. Then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, reining in his emotions. “Okay. Thank you.” “Don’t fuck this up,” Stavion responded. “Natalie spent some time with the witches in Nevada, so I’m going to send Bannon. I’d rather send Cassius to talk with the covens, but with the new baby and all, it just doesn’t seem fair to ask him to go. Bannon’s the best Tracker I

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know, but he’s also got a silver tongue when it comes to wheedling information from people.” “Thank you,” Jonas repeated as he hurried out of the office before Stavion could change his mind. Maybe trying to recreate some of Nicholas’s past wasn’t the best plan in the world, but it was the only one he had. It probably wouldn’t make Nicholas love him, but again, it was all he had. “Whoa, where’s the fire?” Raven asked as he jumped out of the way to avoid a collision with Jonas. “Pack your bags. We’re going to Vegas.” “Really?” A huge grin spread over Raven’s face. “Not that I care, but why are we going to Nevada?” “I’m going to try to get Nicholas’s memories back, and you’re going to help babysit him.” Raven’s smile slipped a notch. “Well, that doesn’t sound like nearly as much fun. We’re still going to the casinos, right?” Jonas laughed and clapped the Enforcer on the shoulder. “Yes, we’re going to the casinos, and we’re going to have the time of our lives. I just need an extra set of eyes to make sure that Nicholas doesn’t get himself into too much trouble. Well, no trouble that would land his head on the chopping block with The Council, anyway.” “Then count me in. Who else is coming with us and when do we leave?” “Stavion is going to talk to Bannon Murphy, and we leave tomorrow night.” “How long are we going to be gone?” Jonas resisted the urge to growl. Raven’s questions were valid, but Jonas had more important things to do. “I’m not exactly sure. We need to make a detour to Washington before we hit Vegas.” “That’s a hell of a detour, man.” “We’ll be back before the end of the month. That’s all I can tell you.” He probably should have let Stavion in on that little part of the plan, but he’d been too afraid that the leader would refuse him. It was

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going to take more than one night and a couple of drinks to open Nicholas’s eyes to what he’d forgotten, though. Jonas tried to sidestep Raven and continue on his way, but the vampire stopped him again. “Do you think we should take that witch with us?” “Natalie?” Jonas couldn’t hide his growl this time. “I don’t want that bitch anywhere near Nicholas.” “No, not the whore in the basement,” Raven said with amusement. “I meant the new guy. What’s his name?” “You mean Torren? The pups’ father?” Raven bobbed his head. “He might come in handy if Nicholas gets out of control. There is only so much we can do by force without exposing all of us. He’s got that witchy voodoo shit, though.” It actually wasn’t a bad idea. Plus it would give Raina and Teegan a little more time to prepare for the parental showdown. “You talk to Stavion about it. I get the feeling he wants that man as far away from here as possible, so I’m sure he’ll agree to it.” “Right, I’m on it. I’ll meet you at the front gates tomorrow night with the shifter and the witch.” Jonas chuckled and said his good-byes. They were walking parodies of themselves—the shifter, the witch, and the forgetful vampire. All they were missing were a full moon, some wolfsbane, and a wardrobe. **** “I don’t like flying.” Nicholas gripped the armrests of his seat and closed his eyes. He snapped them right back open when the plane dipped and sent his stomach rolling. “I really don’t like flying.” “No,” Jonas said with a chuckle. “You never did. It’s not far, though. We’ll be landing in about ten minutes. Just sit tight.” “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who’s about to embarrass himself by hurling all over the seatback.”

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Jonas laughed again and squeezed Nicholas’s thigh. “Take deep breaths and relax.” He took deep breaths, but the relaxing part was a lot harder. Luckily, they landed minutes later as Jonas had promised. Nicholas felt shaky as he stepped off the plane, but he pushed his shoulders back and stood tall. He was an important man with an entire coven looking to him for guidance. It wouldn’t do to appear weak in front of them. To his shock and disappointment, no one waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. “Where is everyone? Where are my guards? Where is my coven?” Jonas took his elbow and led him to an SUV with tinted windows waiting for them on the tarmac. “No one knows you’re here, and we’re going to keep it that way. This is still your coven, but it’s best if we keep a low profile until you’re feeling more like yourself again.” “I feel fine,” Nicholas argued. Why did Jonas keep saying that? There was nothing wrong with him besides the fact that everyone kept treating him like a ticking time bomb. Well, that and none of them would let him see Malakai. “Is my mate here?” Jonas sighed as he held the back door open and motioned for Nicholas to get in. “If you mean Malakai, he isn’t your mate. He’s returning to Haven tomorrow with his mates.” “But I was just in Haven! Why did you bring me here if you knew Malakai was coming back?” Nicholas was pissed, but it was nothing compared to the look of rage on Jonas’s face. “Malakai is flying back to Wyoming because you’re here. He doesn’t want you. He’s happy. Just leave him alone.” “You want him for yourself,” Nicholas accused. Jonas growled and shoved Nicholas to get him moving. “Get in the fucking car and shut up. Everything out of your mouth is pissing me off.” With a growl of his own, Nicholas slid into the backseat of the vehicle and looked out the window. Why was he back in Washington

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if not to reclaim leadership of his coven and be reunited with his mate? He’d known he couldn’t trust Jonas. The man had deceived him every step of the way. “You can pout all you want, but this is for your own good. Please, Nicky. I’m trying to help you.” Nicholas felt some of his anger drain away, and his shoulders sagged. Why did the nickname affect him so much? Reaching his ears in Jonas’s deep, smooth voice, it sounded almost like an endearment. That couldn’t be right, though. Jonas was his guard. They were friends. He wanted to make Nicholas unhappy by keeping him away from his mate. The Enforcer would try to trick him. She’d told him this would happen. Nicholas frowned, and his brow wrinkled. Who had told him that, though? It was definitely a feminine voice that repeated the words inside his head. If he and Jonas were friends, why couldn’t he remember anything about the man? “I hate this.” “What’s that?” Jonas asked. “Nothing.” Nicholas glanced toward the front seat, eyeing the two men sitting there. Jonas followed his gaze and frowned. “Where’s Bannon?” “There’s nothing for him to do in Washington,” the man driving answered. “He’s meeting us in Vegas.” “Who are they?” Nicholas jerked his head toward the men up front. The one driving seemed harmless enough, but the other guy made him uneasy. “They’re friends. They’re going to help me keep you safe. The man driving is an Enforcer at Haven. His name is Raven Whitmore. The guy with the black hair and more bulges than a thief’s pockets is Torren Braddock.” Nicholas didn’t appreciate Jonas talking to him as if he was a child, but at least he’d gotten the information he wanted. “That one is a witch. He’s not to be trusted.” He pointed toward the one named

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Torren as his upper lip curled over his fangs. “Get him away from me.” Jonas looked startled for a moment before he went back to his neutral expression. “He’s one of the good guys. He’s here to help. You can trust him.” “No.” Nicholas’s fingers curled into claws, and he tensed, preparing to launch himself at Torren. “He’s here to hurt me.” “Who told you that?” Raven asked, glancing at Nicholas in the rearview mirror as he sped along the service road that led away from the Olympia Coven’s private airstrip. Again, Nicholas didn’t know. It wasn’t really a voice this time but more of a feeling. It was anger but also something close to fear. Torren Braddock was dangerous. “I have to get out of here.” He reached for the door handle, but Jonas was faster, grabbing his wrist and jerking him back. “Nicholas, stop being a whining twit. This isn’t like you. When have you ever backed down from a challenge? You’re acting like this lost little boy, and honestly, it’s making me want to hit you. Snap out of it, damn it!” “I’m scared, Jonas.” “No.” Jonas grabbed him by the face and stared right into his eyes. “You’re built like a brick shit-house. You have one-inch fangs. You rule your own goddamn coven. Never—you have never been afraid of anything!” That wasn’t true, though. He was terrified of the things he couldn’t remember and what they would mean if he did. He didn’t know if it was his own fear or if it was fabricated within him by something he couldn’t name, but it scared the shit out of him nonetheless. It was as though the fear had become encoded in his DNA. He couldn’t remember a time he’d ever been without it. That couldn’t be true, though. How could he lead his people when he couldn’t even control his own emotions? How had he gained power in the first

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place? He couldn’t remember any of it. The only thoughts and emotions that felt real were the ones involving Malakai. Yet, he couldn’t remember any time ever spent with the vampire. “Was I good leader?” Jonas released his face and eased back in his seat, shifting so that he still faced Nicholas. “You are an amazing leader. Your coven adores you and everything you do for them.” “How did I become their leader?” Either he’d been born to the position, or he’d fought and won against the former head. He could picture his parents’ faces, but when he tried to recall more about them, he came up blank and his temples began to pound. “Did I fight someone?” “Yes,” Jonas answered cautiously. “You challenged the former ruler of our coven because he was hurting our people. I guess it was about three years ago.” The corners of Nicholas’s mouth turned down in a confused frown. “Did I kill someone?” Jonas looked at him with pity shining in his eyes. “Yes. It was self-defense, though. You didn’t want to kill him, but he left you no choice.” Nicholas wanted to believe that, but it didn’t take away the fact that his hands were tainted with the blood of one of his own people. That was something he should remember—something he wanted to remember. Whether the death was deserved or not, what kind of man did it make him if he could forget taking a life so easily? “We’re almost there,” Raven called from the driver’s seat. Jonas leaned sideways to look through the windshield and nodded. “Just around this curve up here is the entrance to the estate. The guard can’t know that Nicholas is here.” “Then what the fuck do I tell him? And how do I keep him from looking in the backseat?”

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“I called ahead to tell them that you’d be here to collect a few of Nicholas’s personal belongings that he needs while he’s away. They shouldn’t give you any trouble.” “And if they do?” “Why don’t you want anyone to know I’m here?” Nicholas interrupted their arguing when he started to feel panicky again. “Just trust me. It’s better this way,” Jonas answered vaguely. “Now, scrunch down in the seat and be quiet.” “Jonas?” “What is it?” Jonas wasn’t looking at him, though. He was tense and alert as he stared through the window. The vehicle slowed, and Nicholas could see the huge gates just ahead. Why did Jonas want him to be quiet? Maybe his coven didn’t adore him like Jonas had said. Maybe they hated him. Maybe they were angry because he’d killed their old leader. His brain was a whirlwind of snarled and confusing thoughts. Jonas had sworn to keep him safe, and oddly enough, Nicholas believed him. Still, none of this made sense to him. “If it’s not safe here, why did you bring me back?” “I didn’t say it wasn’t safe. I just said it was better that no one know you’re here just yet.” “Jonas, what’s wrong? Does someone want to hurt me? Did I do something?” Who had he killed? Surely the man’s family would want vengeance for something like that. “Who was the former leader?” Jonas flinched but didn’t speak. “What aren’t you telling me?” “We’re here. I need you to be quiet, okay?” “Jonas, tell me what you’re hiding. Who was the leader of this coven before me?” “Later. Just drop it for now, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know later. Please, Nicky.” Nicholas wasn’t backing down, though. “Tell me!”

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“Phillip McCarthy!” Jonas shouted right back. “Your brother, okay? You challenged and killed your brother to become leader!”

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Chapter Three The guard asked too many questions and seemed a little too curious about the reason for their visit. “Elder Cortez was informed that we’d be here today,” Raven said, not bothering to hide the growl in his voice. “Just let me through the fucking gate.” “In a minute,” the guard replied. “I need to check the backseat, and then you can be on your way.” “Why do you need to check the backseat?” “It’s standard procedure. It’s not a big deal.” “He’s a shifter,” Jonas whispered. Vampires couldn’t compel each other or witches strong enough to block them, but other preters were fair game. “Do something.” Jonas didn’t know what he expected, but Raven grabbing the guard by the collar and hauling him halfway through the window wasn’t it. The guard struggled by instinct, but he went slack almost immediately when Raven began speaking. “You don’t need to check the backseat. You’re going to open the gate and forget you saw us.” “Everything looks good,” the guard mumbled. “I’ll just get the gate for you.” “That’s an excellent idea. Thank you.” Raven released the man and settled back in his seat. A moment later the gate groaned as it slid aside to allow them entrance. “Way to go, Mr. Subtle,” Jonas groused. He hoped like hell that no one had seen the confrontation. Raven shrugged. “It got the job done, didn’t it? So, where are we going?”

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Rolling his eyes, Jonas decided to let it go. “Follow the drive to the main house, and there’ll be a dirt service road just before you get to the circle. Take that as far as it’ll go.” Nicholas bowed his head and pressed his lips together in a thin line. His broad shoulders shook, and his eyes held a vacancy, devoid of any light. He hadn’t spoken a word since Jonas’s outburst. “I’m so sorry, Nicky.” Nicholas squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head while his hands fisted on his knees. Jonas had always looked up to Nicholas, figuratively and literally. Nicholas McCarthy was the bravest, most self-assured person he’d ever met. At six foot four, Nicholas had only three inches on him and a mere twenty pounds, but to Jonas, he’d always been larger than life. Nicholas was definitely an alpha, and even before he became leader of the Olympia Coven, Jonas had deferred to him in all matters. Things had been turned upside down and every which way, though. While Jonas had been head of the guards and led the Enforcers of the coven, it felt strange to be in the more dominant role with Nicholas. It felt wrong. Jonas hadn’t seen this amount of emotion from the man in years. Not even when he’d been forced to slay his own brother. “This is it, chaps,” Raven announced in a poor British accent as he pulled the SUV to a stop beneath a large tree. “This is as far as we go.” “You two wait here.” Jonas looped his fingers around Nicholas’s wrist and tugged. “Let’s go.” It nearly broke his heart when Nicholas slid out of the car without a word and followed behind him like a whipped dog. He kept his head down, his black hair falling around his face and hiding the gorgeous gray eyes that Jonas got lost in every time he looked at his mate. Things weren’t going anything like he’d planned. They were supposed to be having fun and recreating some lighthearted

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memories. All he’d done so far was depress his mate and make him feel like shit. “Where are we going?” Nicholas asked quietly, but without any real interest in his tone. Jonas ducked under a low-hanging tree branch and held it aside for Nicholas to follow. Then he waved a hand toward the moonlit pond and tried to smile at his companion. “I don’t remember this place.” Nicholas shrugged as though completely unconcerned. “Why are we here?” “We used to come here when we were younger.” It was the place where he and Nicholas had shared their first kiss. It was in this little hidden paradise where they’d also shared their bodies for the first and only time. Things had gone downhill quickly after that one blissful night together. “That doesn’t answer why we’re here now.” Instead of answering, Jonas began stripping off his clothes. The cool September wind wasn’t exactly ideal for skinny-dipping. The water would be even colder, but this place held a lot of meaning to him—to them—and he didn’t have time to wait for the summer. “Take ’em off, my friend.” Nicholas’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding? I am not taking my clothes off out here in the open and parading my naked ass for everyone to see.” After kicking his boots off, Jonas pushed his jeans down his hips and stepped out of them. “Stop being a pussy. No one is out here except for us, and I’ve seen your naked ass plenty of times. It’s not that great.” The indignant look that crossed over Nicholas’s face was comical, and Jonas chuckled as he sauntered toward the water. It probably wasn’t nice to taunt Nicholas while he was upset, but he was determined to get the uptight vampire in the pond one way or another. “I have a fantastic ass,” Nicholas grumbled under his breath.

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Jonas smiled when he heard the rustling of clothes, but didn’t turn around to look. Instead, he travelled down the shallow embankment and hissed when the cold water splashed over his feet. Taking a deep breath for courage, he kept going, wading farther out in the pond until the water reached midthigh. His sac tightened, and his balls tried to crawl up inside of his body, but he kept going. When the water lapped just below his collarbone, he finally turned to see if Nicholas was going to join him. Already submerged to his hips, Nicholas looked uncomfortable but trudged on until he stood just a foot from Jonas. “I’m freezing all my best bits off. I hope there’s a point behind this.” Yeah, Jonas hoped so, too, but from the skepticism written on Nicholas’s face, it was starting to look doubtful. “This doesn’t trigger anything for you?” Even if it was just a feeling, a tiny twinge of something, it would be better than nothing. Nicholas shook his head. “Should it? I recognized my house and the grounds, and even the road that led us here, but I don’t remember this pond. I’m sorry, Jonas. I think you’re wrong about this place. It obviously doesn’t hold any emotional value for me.” Well, that hurt. Though he knew he shouldn’t take it personally, Nicholas’s indifference to a place that meant so much to him was a hard pill to swallow and tainted some of the magic he’d always felt there. “I’m sorry, too, Nicky. This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have brought you here.” Instead of creating a wonderful moment for his mate, all he’d done was depress himself and tarnish the few good memories he had of them together. “Why did you?” Nicholas asked quietly. “Why is this place so important to you? Why did you think it would be important to me?” Jonas didn’t want to travel that road yet. “My reasons are my own. It was stupid to think that you’d feel the same way. Let’s just go. It’s a long way to Nevada.” They’d only just begun their journey, and

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already Jonas was willing to give up. He’d do absolutely anything for Nicholas, but he’d been fooling himself by believing he could make the man love him. “Wait.” Nicholas reached out and touched Jonas’s arm before he could move. “I’m not trying to be an asshole. I want to know. Please, tell me why you brought me here. Tell me what I’m supposed to remember.” Shaking his head, Jonas smiled sadly and stepped closer to his mate. “It’s not something I can tell you, Nicky.” Hope blossomed when Nicholas didn’t immediately pull away from him. “You see that tree over there?” Nicholas looked over his shoulder and nodded. “You mean the one that hangs over the water?” “It was under that tree when you kissed me for the first time. I guess we were about eighteen, and I was so nervous, but you knew exactly what to do.” Nicholas licked his lips and swallowed audibly. “The first time? So, it was more than once? Did we…” He trailed off and looked away, unable or unwilling to continue his line of thinking. Jonas had no trouble following along, though. It probably would have given him a lot of satisfaction to answer the unspoken question in the affirmative, but he held his tongue. He didn’t want to put too much strain on Nicholas’s poor, confused brain at once. “We should probably get going.” Gliding forward through the water, Jonas didn’t expect Nicholas to step in front of him and block his way. Nor did he expect the hand that landed on the side of his neck. Nicholas’s thumb smoothed up and down the column of his throat, right over the vein that was jumping with the rapidness of his pulse. “Right here,” Nicholas whispered, pressing his thumb more firmly against Jonas’s neck. “This is where it happened. This is where you were stabbed.”

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**** A glint of gold in the moonlight flashed through his mind, followed by an image of flowing crimson. Nicholas couldn’t see the face of the attacker, but it happened here in this small clearing, just by the edge of the pond. “You were laughing at something I’d said.” He closed his eyes and tried to pull the memory closer. “It was a full moon.” A ghost of a smile twitched at his lips. “You were nude.” Jonas’s breathing accelerated, rushing out to fan over Nicholas’s face. His heart pounded so hard, Nicholas could feel the beat of it in the man’s neck. “I wasn’t the only one naked.” Chuckling under his breath, Nicholas found himself leaning forward, closer to Jonas. “Right. We’d been swimming. It was still warm, but the leaves were beginning to change.” His heartbeat picked up in tempo, galloping inside his chest to match the pace of Jonas’s. Keeping his eyes closed, he watched the memory play out, saw himself smiling as he bent forward and pressed his lips to Jonas’s. “I kissed you.” “Yes,” Jonas confirmed breathlessly. He could almost feel Jonas’s plump lips against his, and his dick twitched in interest at the depictions his mind produced. There was definitely something there—something between him and Jonas that he couldn’t explain. It was like the feeling of a feeling. It didn’t run deep but slowly trickled along the edges of his subconscious. “Fuck!” Nicholas screamed, grabbed his head in both hands, and struggled to stay upright in the water. His head exploded with a pain so intense it robbed him of breath and made his legs tremble. “Nicky?” Jonas’s arm came around him to lend support and keep him upright. “Nicky, what’s wrong?” His eyes watered, his nose burned, and the pressure built inside his head. “Shit! Oh, shit, shit! Raven! Torren!”

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“Help me,” Nicholas rasped. Feeling something warm and wet rolling down the side of his neck, he moved one hand away from his temple to wipe at it as Jonas dragged him toward the shore. “What the hell happened?” Raven demanded, crashing through the trees and stopping just at the edge of the embankment. “Why the hell is he bleeding from his ears?” Nicholas lifted his hand away from his neck and stared at the blood smeared over his palm and fingertips. “What’s happening to me?” More sickening pain exploded behind his eyes and the world went momentarily blank, causing him to stumble just as they stepped out of the pond. “He remembered something,” Torren said casually from beside Raven. “The spell is trying to prevent it.” “Well, what the fuck do we do?” Jonas snarled at him. “I thought that was the point,” Torren countered. “Isn’t that why you brought him? Don’t you want him to remember?” “I want him to remember, but not if it’s going to kill him. His death is exactly what I’m trying to prevent!” Nicholas didn’t know what the hell they were talking about, and just then, he didn’t give a flying fuck. He just wanted everyone to shut up. “I’m gonna puke.” “Okay, you’re going to be okay. Up you go.” Jonas gave him a boost up the slight hill while Raven and Torren grabbed his hands and pulled him up. “Torren, fucking do something.” “And what would you have me do?” “Are you a fucking witch or not?” “Would you two shut the hell up?” Nicholas hadn’t been joking. The pain was so bad he really was going to hurl. “At least I don’t have shoes on.” Raven’s eyebrows drew together, and he glanced down at Nicholas’s bare feet. “Dude, that ain’t all you don’t have on. Where are your clothes? I don’t want you rubbing your cock and balls all over my leather seats.”

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Nicholas’s laugh quickly turned into a groan of misery. “Don’t make me laugh.” He let the two men lead him toward the SUV as he breathed deeply and tried not to lose his dinner all over Raven’s shiny, black boots. “Are my ears still bleeding?” Soft cotton draped over his shoulders, and Nicholas turned his head just far enough to see Jonas out of the corner of his eye. The vampire was rather handsome, even with his hair all wet and mussed. As soon as the thought crossed through his mind, another jolt of lightning sizzled in his head. “Torren, please!” Jonas hurried forward, nudged Raven out of the way, and wrapped his arm around Nicholas’s waist. “Hold on, baby. We’re going to fix you right up.” “Damn, it hurts. Just make it stop.” “I know, Nicky. I know. I’m going to make it stop.” He looked around Nicholas to Torren and bared his fangs. “Do. Something!” “Fucking vampires,” Torren mumbled under his breath. “I’m not some goddamn carnival attraction.” “I never said you were. You’re the only one who can help him, though. Please, Torren.” The witch dropped his head and sighed. “Somno iam.” It was the last thing Nicholas heard before his world went black, and he slumped unconsciously into Jonas’s arms.

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Chapter Four “This was a bad idea.” Jonas sat in the backseat of the SUV in just a pair of jeans with Nicholas’s head in his lap. “I can’t watch him hurt like this.” He combed his fingers through his mate’s damp hair and stared down at his sleeping face. Nicholas looked so peaceful—except for the blood drying along his jaw and down the side of his neck. “I know it’s hard,” Torren offered from the front passenger seat. “No one said love was easy, though.” “How does what happened have anything to do with love?” Jonas wanted to yell and snarl the words, but he kept his inquiry quiet so as not to disturb his slumbering mate. “What happened to him?” “I told you.” Torren turned in his seat so that he could look at Jonas. “He was beginning to remember, and the spell was trying to prevent it.” “I don’t understand. I thought the spell just made him want Malakai. Why can’t he remember shit? And what was that out there in the pond? Torren, I need some answers. What am I missing here?” “You’re not missing anything. Are you very sure that he doesn’t love you?” Jonas stroked the hair back from Nicholas’s face and sighed. “I’m sure. I think this proves it, don’t you? If he loved me, he wouldn’t have forgotten.” “Are you always this melodramatic?” Torren pushed a hand through his ebony hair and rolled his eyes. “He does love you, and that’s the reason he’s remembering. When the spell was cast, and Nicholas became obsessed with Malakai, it pushed away all memories

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of you. The spell can’t manufacture the feeling of love if his heart already belongs to someone else.” That sounded all good in theory, but Jonas wasn’t buying it. “That would make more sense if he hadn’t forgotten a lot more than just me. He doesn’t even remember challenging Phillip, and that was a fairly pivotal point in his life.” “Why did he challenge his brother?” Raven asked as they bumped along toward the main drive. “Phillip was cruel. He killed his own father because he was power hungry. Then he did everything in his ability to destroy this coven. He kept a dozen or so donors in the main house for himself and his inner circle, but he cut off the blood supply to the rest of the coven. Phillip wasn’t directly involved with Cyrus Redway and his slave trade or whatever you want to call it, but he definitely supported the asshole’s efforts.” Torren’s eyebrows drew together. “I’ve heard about the experiments Redway and Alpha Cunningham were doing. From what I understand, the trade ring was huge. Are you sure Phillip wasn’t involved?” “I’m not sure of anything, but I don’t think so.” Phillip had been too selfish for something like that. He didn’t buy, sell, or trade. He took what he wanted, and anyone who crossed him ended up dead. “He mostly kept humans, said their blood was the sweetest. As far as I know, Redway and Cunningham had no use for humans in their scheme.” “What happened to these humans after Nicholas became leader?” Raven dipped his head at the guard as they passed through the gates. “Humans are dangerous, and while we can compel them, it doesn’t always stick. Their minds can’t comprehend what we are, and that leads to mass hysteria and shit like the Salem witch trials.” “Agreed,” Torren said with a grimace. “They’ll do anything to assure their self-proclaimed superiority.”

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Both men spoke as though they knew from experience, and neither seemed to be the biggest fan of humans. Jonas, however, found them intriguing. Humans were fairly low on the evolutionary chain, and yet they were still brave, courageous, and fiercely protective of their beliefs—even if some of those beliefs were asinine or flat-out insane. “Phillip’s guards executed the humans after his death. There was a rebellion of sorts, and a lot of lives were lost before we finally got things under control. It wasn’t pretty.” “And you were there through all of it, fighting by Nicholas’s side.” Jonas tilted his head to the side and studied Torren for a long minute. “So, you’re saying that he didn’t just forget me, but all memories associated with me. Not only is that ridiculous, but it’s wrong. I wasn’t even there when he challenged Phillip.” “Wait,” Torren said as he leaned forward between the seats. “Where were you?” Jonas shrugged. “Dying. I’d been stabbed with a gold blade and was unconscious for three days. When I woke up, Phillip was dead. Nicholas sat with me for another three days after that before Phillip’s guards executed the humans and came looking for him.” Torren arched an eyebrow, and even Raven looked at him in the rearview mirror. “It doesn’t seem suspicious or a little too coincidental that you were stabbed, and then three days later Phillip is dead? Did you ever find out who attacked you?” “No.” Jonas didn’t like where this was going. “You think that Phillip is the one who stabbed me? Why would he have reason to do that?” “I don’t know.” Torren glanced down at Nicholas’s sleeping form and shook his head. “I think it’s more important than ever that Nicholas recovers his memories, though. I think Phillip will play a bigger part in this than you realize.”

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Jonas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Phillip is dead. Even if he’s the one who attacked me that night, it has no relevance now. Nor does it have anything to do with why Nicholas won’t accept our mating.” Though he bobbed his head, Torren looked concerned as he turned and settled back in his seat. “Let’s hope you’re right.” **** “You hate me,” Nicholas mumbled as his stomach rolled and sweat poured from his face. “What did I do to make you hate me so much?” Jonas chuckled and bumped their shoulders together. “Suck it up, ya hotdog.” Nicholas wasn’t certain, but he thought Jonas might have just called him a weenie. Maybe the Enforcer was right. Nicholas felt exhausted. His stomach cramped, his temples ached, and he’d have been happy to just curl up and sleep for the next week. “Thank you, by the way.” “What are you thanking me for?” Jonas turned the page of the book he was reading and didn’t look up at Nicholas. “Thank you for taking care of me earlier. I appreciate it.” Jonas still didn’t look up from his book, but his hands started to tremble, and his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed hard. Then he cleared his throat and squirmed in his seat. “It wasn’t a big deal.” Nicholas bobbed his head to avoid a confrontation, but it was a big deal. He didn’t know if the deflection of gratitude was typical behavior for the vampire or not, but it made sense. It was a pretty common trait in alpha males like Jonas. Nicholas thought back over the past few months, but nothing really stuck out in his mind besides Malakai. While his feelings for the smaller man were still intense, Nicholas no longer trusted them. He’d remembered something out in that cold water. It wasn’t a lot,

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and he hadn’t been able to follow it to its completion, but it had given him proof of what Jonas had been trying to tell him from the beginning. “Jonas?” “Hmm?” Some of the tension seemed to have faded from Jonas while Nicholas had been thinking. “What is it?” “Malakai isn’t my mate, is he?” Very slowly, Jonas closed his book and settled it in his lap as he looked up to meet Nicholas’s eyes. “No, Nicky, and I’m sorry. I know this has to be so confusing for you, but he’s not. Whatever you feel for him isn’t real.” Nicholas nodded once. “He really doesn’t want me, right?” Taking Nicholas’s hand, Jonas squeezed it in comfort. “He’s already mated, and he doesn’t know you. It’s not like he hates you, though, if that’s what you’re asking. Everyone is just worried.” It wasn’t really funny, but Nicholas couldn’t stop the snort that escaped him. Somehow, he doubted that Malakai’s mates were all that worried about him. They were probably cheering for his death. Not that he could blame them. He wanted them out of the picture just as much. Malakai belonged to him! Nicholas shook his head and groaned. Logically, he knew that wasn’t right, so why couldn’t he shake those feelings? Maybe he just wanted it to be true. He’d walked the earth for over two hundred years, and as far as he could recall, he’d never found his missing half. Had he? “Do I have a mate? Is there someone out there waiting for me?” Jonas went still again and retracted his hand. “You’ve never claimed a mate.” The words and tone sounded true enough, but Nicholas got the sense there was more to the story. He was so tired of asking questions and getting only partial answers. So much was missing, replaced by things he didn’t understand, and he didn’t even know who he was anymore.

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According to Jonas, he wasn’t behaving like himself, as though some crucial part of his personality had been altered. That brought him back to logic and rationalization. Logically, there was no way he could have defeated his adversary and gained possession of his coven as he was now. That man he had been was lost to him, and the person he was now couldn’t lead a dog on a leash. The fasten seatbelt light blinked on with a ding, and the pilot came over the speakers to announce that they were beginning their final approach. Nicholas hated flying, but he hated landing so much more. Digging his fingers into the padded armrests, he closed his eyes and breathed through his nose while he reminded himself that they wouldn’t just fall out of the sky. “Nicky, open your eyes.” Jonas had a smile in his voice as he spoke—the bastard. “Everything is worse in the dark.” “We exist in the dark. Bite me.” “Ooh, kinky.” Nicholas jerked around to stare open-mouthed at Jonas. “You’re making fun of me.” “Yep.” Jonas folded his hands in his lap, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. “Though, I will bite you if you’re into that kind of thing. I live to please.” A clear picture of Jonas sinking his fangs into his neck settled into Nicholas’s mind. His cock began to swell, his stomach fluttered, his neck tingled, and a shiver raced up his spine. Then just as quickly as it came, the thought disappeared, replaced by a blurry image of Malakai’s face and a stabbing pain in his temples. The world around him started to spin, and his stomach flopped over, threatening to send bile up his esophagus. Nicholas fell forward and almost smashed his face on the seat in front of him, but Jonas grabbed him and pulled him back just in time. “Whoa, man. We’ll be on the ground in a few minutes. Just try to relax and hang in there.”

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“Not that,” Nicholas gasped before grabbing his head and groaning in pain. “Shit! What did you remember?” Jonas reached out for him and the minute Nicholas felt the hand touch his shoulder, blinding, white-hot pain exploded in the center of his forehead. He screamed like he was dying, because really, that’s how it felt. At the same time, he felt like he was just on the brink of something, and if he could power through the pain, he’d be able to grasp it. “Torren!” Jonas yelled while he fumbled with his seatbelt. “No.” Nicholas grinded his teeth together and shook his head. The last thing he needed was another witch pilfering around inside his head. “Stop being a stubborn asshole,” Jonas chastised with a growl. First he was a whining wimp, and now he was a stubborn asshole. Some middle ground would have been nice. “Torren, get your ass over here!” Jonas started frantically poking Nicholas in the eyes, cheeks, and nose. Well, that wasn’t his intention. He was most likely trying to wipe away the blood gushing from Nicholas’s nose, but his shaking hands weren’t proving very successful at the task. “Just stop.” The pain was beginning to subside, and Nicholas felt the insane urge to laugh at Jonas’s near hysteria. “It’s just blood.” “It’s more than that, and you know it.” “Well, can you at least stop trying to poke my eye out?” Jonas huffed and flopped down in his seat, looking very put out. “I guess this means you’re feeling better.” “I’m fine, though you make a shitty nurse.” “Oh, I don’t know. You’re not dead, and you didn’t throw up. What more do you want?” “It would be nice if my head didn’t explode every time my dick got hard. That could make for a pretty awkward social life.”

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Jonas eyed him keenly. “You were hard? What were you thinking about?” Nicholas let his eyes travel down Jonas’s body while his mind supplied images of the two of them naked and writhing together. His dick twitched, pain blasted him between the eyes, and then everything went black. **** This was such a bad idea. After Nicholas had passed out yet again, Jonas had done everything he could think of besides tie the man to his seat to keep him on the plane. The stubborn asshole wasn’t having any of it, though. “Relax,” Nicholas said with a crooked grin. “This was your idea, remember? I was perfectly happy back in Wyoming.” “Get the man a drink and stop being such a killjoy,” Raven added, slapping Jonas on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble a few steps. The Enforcer looked like a kid in a candy store as he tried to take in everything at once around the casino. Jonas just wanted to leave. Nothing was working out the way he planned it. Every time Nicholas came within reaching distance of remembering something, he’d start bleeding and black out. God, Jonas was a craptacular mate. Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, but when he turned to investigate further, nothing seemed to be amiss. He didn’t think he imagined it, though. With the multitude of people milling around, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise to feel like he was being watched. It made him edgy, though, and he didn’t like it. “Drink this and try to lighten up,” Torren said in his ear, shoving a drink into his hand. “We’re supposed to be having fun.” Jonas tossed back the drink, wincing when it burned his throat. Jack and Coke was definitely not his drink of choice. That didn’t stop

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him from pushing the glass back at Torren and signaling for another one, however. “Now, it’s a party!” Torren laughed, pounded him on the back, and disappeared toward one of the bars again. Nicholas should have been the one complaining and wanting to leave, but he had the same shit-eating grin on his face as Raven. The two had their heads bent together, discussing which game they should lose at first and laughing like a pair of hyena. “Roulette, definitely roulette,” Raven was saying. “Nah, let’s head over to the craps table.” “Blackjack?” “Poker?” Bannon Murphy asked, sidling up beside them. He’d been fairly quiet since picking them up at the airstrip, but he looked in high spirits now. Jonas groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling if he let them, they’d stand there and go through every casino game ever invented. “How about a drink to get started?” he suggested, thankful when they all perked up and nodded eagerly. Well, at least Nicholas was smiling and seemed to be having a good time. That was kind of the purpose, in a half-ass, roundabout way. Jonas didn’t know how it was going to help his memory at all. He really should have thought this one through a little better. It wasn’t like he could recreate the man tossing his cookies in some lady’s purse. Then again, it was Vegas. Stranger things had been known to happen in Sin City. As the night dragged on, Jonas grew more depressed. Nicholas was having the time of his life, but it wasn’t doing anything to help him regain his memories. Hell, he’d inquired about Malakai twice since they’d arrived. When it was time for them to leave, he and Bannon had to practically carry Nicholas to the car while Raven and Torren stumbled along behind them. The ride back to the plane was filled with lots of

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laughter and excited shouting, but Jonas sat quietly in the front seat and stared out the window. Why had he ever thought he could do this? The SUV pulled to a stop beside the plane, and Jonas hurried around to help his mate out of the backseat before he attempted it alone and ended up on his face. Supporting most of Nicholas’s weight, Jonas walked him up the steps and leaned him against the wall while Bannon hurried past them to readjust the seats so that they formed a small, cot-like bed. Jonas wanted to be gentle, but Nicholas was just too big, and he ended up more or less dropping his mate on the cot. Nicholas just laughed and closed his eyes while Jonas worked to remove the man’s boots. “Sing me a lullaby.” Jonas snorted and rolled his eyes. “You’re drunk. Go to sleep before you embarrass yourself.” “You’re kind of cute, even if you are a little blurry.” Nicholas chuckled again and rolled to his side. “Why are you so nice to me?” Because he couldn’t stop himself, and he doubted Nicholas would remember when he woke up anyway, Jonas bent and kissed his mate on the temple. “Because I love you,” he whispered. “You used to sing,” Nicholas mumbled. “Why don’t you sing anymore?” Jonas tilted his head to the side and frowned. He hadn’t sung to Nicholas since they were teenagers. “You remember that?” “You had on a white shirt with blue buttons.” Nicholas squeezed his eyes closed and groaned. “You…you said you wrote that song just for m—” His mate’s body went rigid, and he began to scream. It lasted only seconds, but to Jonas it felt like forever. Blood dripped from his nose, and a small trickle ran from his ear and down the side of his neck. Then he went silent, slumped back to the mattress, and didn’t move again.

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Chapter Five “Would you sit your ass down? We’re not going anywhere tonight.” “Jonas, I’m fine.” Nicholas huffed, obviously exasperated. “I took a power nap, and now I feel great.” “A nap? You took a fucking nap? You passed out! You screamed like I was cutting your balls off, and then you fainted! You’ve been asleep for almost twenty-four hours!” “I did not faint.” Jonas waved his hands around like a crazy person as he stomped about the plane. “You know, you picked a hell of a time to show that McCarthy stubbornness. I need you to listen to me, Nicky.” He stopped right in front of his mate, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him. “This is dangerous. It’s not normal to bleed from various cranial orifices.” Nicholas lifted both eyebrows, crossed his arms over his chest, and smirked. “If you’re finished insulting me, I feel like a drink.” “You stubborn, mule-headed, obstinate son of a bit—” “Now you’re just being redundant.” “Nicholas!” “Call me Nicky.” Nicholas winked at him and sauntered toward the front of the plane. It was a complete one-eighty from the frightened and withdrawn man Jonas had started the trip with, and it had only been three days. Granted, a lot of things had happened in that short amount of time, and Jonas felt like he was still playing catch-up while Nicholas was strutting around like he was two steps ahead of the game.

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“Is there something that you’re not telling me?” “There’s a lot you’re not telling me. I just figured I’d return the favor.” With that parting line, Nicholas gave him a sardonic nod and stepped out of the plane. Jonas growled and flopped down in the seat closest to him. Nicholas wouldn’t get far. Torren and Raven were waiting just down the steps for Bannon to return from a food run. Jonas hadn’t had a chance to talk with the shifter yet, but he was interested to find out what Bannon had learned—if anything—from the local witch covens. The sun would be up in less than four hours, and they’d need to spend the day on the plane since none of the hotels offered the type of protection they needed from the sun. So, of course, Nicholas wanted to go to the casinos again. While the idea behind the trip was to recreate some of their more…adventurous endeavors, Jonas wasn’t about to go traipsing through the urban desert so close to sunrise. And what the hell was Nicholas keeping from him? He’d obviously remembered something, and the fact that he wasn’t letting Jonas in on the secret was driving him bat-shit crazy. “To hell with it.” Jonas pushed up from his seat and stomped toward the front of the plane, intent on finding his mate and either kissing the breath out of him or socking him in the eye. Both sounded tempting, though neither would accomplish anything useful. “It would make me feel a lot fucking better,” he mumbled under his breath as he reached the exit and descended the steps. He had to admit that Nicholas’s status as leader, and the contacts he’d made over the years, did come in handy at times. The airstrip they were currently sitting on belonged to a shifter pack just outside of Las Vegas. Jonas couldn’t remember the name of the pack or even what they shifted into, and he didn’t really care. It was Nicholas’s job to be the diplomat and use his fancy words to create alliances and extend the proverbial olive branch. Jonas just kicked the shit out of stuff or blasted it back to the Stone Age. It was a dirty job, and a damn sight more fun than using his grown-up words.

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“Jonas, we have a problem.” “No.” He shook his head as he stepped out onto the asphalt. “We do not have a problem. We have a whole truckload of problems.” He pointed his finger in Nicholas’s face and growled. “Do not tell me that something else is wrong.” Nicholas eyed him for a few seconds before nodding slowly. “Very well. How about I tell you the good news instead?” “That would be great and highly appreciated.” Jonas scrubbed at his face with both hands. He’d underestimated how long they had before sunrise. It was coming toward them swiftly if his achy muscles and itchy eyes were any indication. He felt exhausted and weary right down to his bones. “The good news is that…” he trailed off and looked down at his shoes for a long time before he finally met Jonas’s eyes again. “Okay, here’s the thing. There is no good news. The three musketeers and the pilot are MIA, and we have no vehicle.” “No.” Jonas shook his head firmly. “That is unacceptable.” Nicholas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “That doesn’t change the fact that we have four missing people, and we’re trapped here.” “How do you know Bannon is missing? Maybe he just hasn’t returned from getting food yet.” Jonas was grasping at straws, but the alternative was too bleak to even entertain. “I guess you could be right, but it seems unlikely. I’ll call the Trinity Pack. Hopefully, they can spare some Enforcers or at the very least get us off this airstrip. You call Stavion and give him the details.” Nicholas patted his pockets and frowned. “Where’s my cell phone?” Jonas narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to his mate. He still couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but something had changed about Nicholas. This take-charge attitude he was currently sporting looked good on him and reminded Jonas of the old Nicholas before he’d been cursed.

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“You should probably call Malakai and let him know that you’ll be home soon,” he baited. “We wouldn’t want him to worry about you.” Nicholas continued to pat his pockets absently as though his phone would just magically appear. “Who?” he asked distractedly. “Your mate.” Jonas continued to prod, anxious for the response he’d receive from Nicholas. “Malakai isn’t my mate.” Nicholas spun in a circle as his eyes darted back and forth. “Jo, we really don’t have time for this. Now, give me my damn phone so we can get the hell out of here. I don’t know who took the others or why they left us, but I think it’s fair to say that they’ll be back. I don’t want to be here when that happens.” “How many times have I told you not to call me that ridiculous name?” Jonas huffed and poked Nicholas in the chest. Nicholas smirked and leaned closer, causing Jonas’s finger to press more firmly into his sternum. “I’d guess as many times as I’ve told you not to call me Nicky.” Then he did the most amazing thing. He dipped his head and pressed their lips together. It was short and chaste, but Jonas’s heart kicked hard against his ribs, and his frame vibrated in a full-body shiver. He grabbed Nicholas’s face in both hands, preventing the vampire’s escape, and stared into his eyes, searching for that special Nicky spark. “You’re back.” One side of Nicholas’s mouth arched up in a half-smile. “Yeah, I’m back.” “How? I don’t understand. I’ve been telling you the same shit for months now. It wasn’t supposed to be this easy.” He was babbling, but he couldn’t stop. He’d done it. He didn’t know how the hell he’d done it, but all that mattered was that Nicholas wouldn’t be facing the firing squad. “Are you complaining?” Nicholas pecked him on the nose and chuckled before pulling away. “Yes, you have been telling me, but you never showed me. Up until the other day, you just kept telling me

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how I was wrong, but you never gave me a reason to believe it. By forcing me to realize that whole parts of my life were missing, you planted a seed of doubt.” For the last few months, Jonas had spent all of his time feeling sorry for himself because Nicholas didn’t want him, being pissed off because the witch had tricked him, or trying to control his jealousy over his mate’s obsession with another man. So, basically, he’d been a selfish asshole, making it all about him and doing very little to force Nicholas to see the truth. Over and over, he’d yelled, growled, and demanded that Nicholas snap the hell out of it. Never once had he given the man any reason to believe him or trust him. He hadn’t asked questions. He hadn’t probed any further than to realize that Nicholas didn’t want him. That had been the same merry-go-round for years, so it had never occurred to him that his mate honestly didn’t remember him at all beyond his guard and casual acquaintance. That still didn’t excuse him from not manning up and trying to find answers sooner, though. Jonas couldn’t stop himself from grabbing Nicholas and crushing the man to him. Oh, the leader was definitely back. No one could talk like Nicky or make him feel like such an ass with a few well-chosen words. The man could describe the crushing of a bug and make it sound like poetry. It was just one of the many things he loved about the guy. Love. If Nicholas had regained his memory, that meant… Jonas jerked away but kept a hold on Nicholas’s upper arms. Did he dare ask? Maybe he should just celebrate the return of his mate and worry about the catalyst later. He couldn’t do it, though. For hundreds of years he’d agonized over what Nicholas found lacking in him. He needed answers. “You love me.” Okay, that wasn’t a question, and probably not the best way to coax Nicholas into the conversation. He was tired of subtleties and avoidance. For too long he’d put their relationship on the back burner, too afraid of the answer to push the subject.

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Well, he wasn’t afraid any longer. He was pissed. This was proof of Nicholas’s love for him, and one way or another, he would force the truth from his mate. “Tell me, Nicky. Say it.” Nicholas sighed as though he found Jonas completely exasperating. “Of course I love you, jackass.” That wasn’t the answer Jonas had been expecting. Nicholas wouldn’t lie to him, but he’d expected avoidance or possibly redirection. The straightforwardness left him fumbling for what to say next. So, he asked the burning question he’d been dying to ask for years. “Why?” “Jonas, listen to me.” Nicholas stepped closer, shook off Jonas’s hold on his arms, and cradled his face in both palms. “There are things that you don’t know about me. Things I never wanted you to know. It’s too dangerous to keep you in the dark now, though. I’m going to need your help, which means I’ll explain everything to you.” He released Jonas’s face and glanced around, searching the night. “Then tell me!” What secret could be so important that Nicholas would keep it from him for over two hundred years? “We need to get out of here.” Nicholas returned his attention to Jonas and his eyes begged for understanding. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. Can that be enough for now?” It was the same song and dance they’d been doing for years. Jonas couldn’t deny his mate anything. Digging in his pocket, he extracted Nicholas’s cell phone and passed it over. “Make the call. I’ll get in touch with Stavion.” “Thank you.” Nicholas took his phone, but before he could dial, his head snapped up, his nostrils flared, and he began walking backward. “Jonas, get away from the plane.” Jonas didn’t hesitate. He might not know everything, and Nicholas was definitely keeping secrets from him, but he still trusted the man with his life. Judging by the look on Nicholas’s face, that’s exactly what was in jeopardy if he didn’t move his ass.

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Tamping down his emotions, he flipped the switch into full Enforcer mode. The night was eerily silent around them. Even the breeze seemed hushed. Walking purposefully behind Nicholas, he searched for any sound, any smell that seemed out of place. Nicholas grabbed his wrist and jerked as he began sprinting across the tarmac away from the plane. “Run!” he shouted. “Ardeat et dissipandum. Flamma vindictae,” a voice whispered on the wind. The force of the explosion hit Jonas in the back like a locomotive, sending him hurdling through the air to land on top of a fallen Nicholas. Burning debris rained from the sky, and the heat from the flames scorched his skin. “Nicky!” Jonas scrambled off his mate and got them both to their feet. “Fuck, are you okay?” “Go!” Nicholas yelled in answer. He shoved at Jonas while he pointed to the hangar with his other hand. “There! Run and don’t look back.” Jonas ran several feet before he realized that Nicholas wasn’t following him. In fact, the man was sprinting in the opposite direction. Sliding to a stop, he turned around and began chasing after the asshole. “Nicky! Get back here, damn it!” Over the roar of the fire, he could hear Nicholas yelling words in a language he didn’t understand. The words held no meaning to him, but as he continued to run toward his mate, the flames engulfing the aircraft grew smaller until there was only a smoldering pile of burnt metal. Jonas stopped in his tracks and gaped in awe and confusion. With that little stunt, he got the distinct impression that Nicholas’s secrets were bigger and more dangerous than he’d ever imagined. It was magic, pure and simple. Well, he didn’t know how pure it was, but it seemed simple enough to guess what had extinguished the inferno. Nicholas couldn’t be a witch, though. It wasn’t possible. He

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knew everything about the man, inside and out, and this definitely wasn’t on the inventory. Footsteps pounded across the asphalt as Nicholas rushed up to him, sweaty and panting. “We have to get out of here.” “What the fuck just happened?” Jonas pointed unnecessarily toward the wreckage. “What did that? How did you do that?” “Jonas, please! I’ll explain everything as soon as you’re safe. We need to go now.” Jonas had spent the last several months caring for Nicholas and keeping him out of harm’s way. While he much preferred Nicholas in all his courageous and confident glory, he was having trouble switching roles. He’d been head of the man’s guards since Nicholas had taken over the coven. He protected his mate, not the other way around. “I’m going to get us out of here, and then you’re going to explain every last fucking detail of this shit. If I get even the hint that you’re lying or keeping something from me, I’m going to kick your ass. Then, I’ll leave, and I swear to everything holy that you’ll never see me again. Are we clear?” “I’m sorry.” Jonas held his hands up and shook his head. “I don’t want your apologies. I want answers, and I want the truth. Right now, just shut the hell up and let me think.” The first thing he needed to do was figure out how to get them off the airstrip and out of the open. If their enemy was using magic against them, the aircraft hangar no longer seemed like a viable option. Hell, nowhere was safe enough for Jonas’s liking. “Can you do a protection spell?” The words tasted bitter on his tongue, but he was more concerned with keeping them alive than feeling hurt and betrayed over the mystery and lies surrounding Nicholas. “I can,” Nicholas murmured, looking anywhere but at him. “It won’t be very strong, though, and I can only hold it for so long.”

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Jonas dipped his head curtly while he punched in Stavion’s number on his phone. “Get to it.” “Jonas?” Stavion answered on the third ring. “What happened?” “Raven, Bannon, Torren, and the pilot, Carlos, are missing. The plane is a pile of cinder, and we’re being hunted by witches.” He didn’t miss the irony in his last statement. The term witch hunt had taken on a whole new meaning. “We need help.” “Where are you?” “Trinity Pack airstrip just outside of Vegas. Stavion, we’re fucked. Walking is the only way out, and we’re too exposed for that.” “Sit tight,” Stavion ordered. “I’m on it.” “Custodes tuere nos. Keep nobis tutus. Eicere nos malum, et qui voluerit nocere. Custodes tuere nos. Ligate circuli, ita non intrabit. Guardians protect us. Bind the circle so it shall not enter. Guardians protect us.” Nicholas’s witchy shit was freaking him the fuck out. How could he have never known? What other secrets was Nicholas hiding? Who had attacked them in the first place? “You’ve gotta give me something.” Nicholas stopped moving, dropped his head, and sighed. When he looked up, there was a fear in his eyes that made the hair on the back of Jonas’s neck stand on end. “Phillip isn’t dead.”

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Chapter Six Holding the circle took a lot of energy, and, with the sunrise so close, Nicholas was drained. If help didn’t arrive soon, they were sitting ducks. “I can’t hold it much longer.” Jonas glared at him before turning his back and crossing his arms over his chest. They’d been playing the silent game for more than an hour. Nicholas understood why Jonas was angry with him, but it wasn’t helping their situation. If they were going to stay alive, they needed to trust each other and work together. After all the lies he’d told and things he’d neglected to inform his mate of, it was a pretty tall order to ask Jonas to trust him. “Jonas, I’m sorry. It wasn’t safe for me to tell you.” “Don’t.” Jonas spun around and snarled. “Just don’t. Not now, Nicholas.” While Nicholas bitched and moaned about Jonas calling him Nicky, he secretly loved the nickname spoken from his mate. Jonas only ever called him Nicholas when they were in public or he was pissed. Well, they were alone now, so that meant Jonas was gearing up for battle. “You wanted answers,” he reasoned. “Yes. I wanted answers, not fucking excuses! I’ve been with you through everything. I’ve never hidden anything from you. Every dark shadow, every skeleton in the closet, every condemning act I’ve committed—you know it all. How could you keep something like this from me?” “I didn’t have a choice.” Maybe it hadn’t been the valiant and noble thing to do, but Nicholas would do it again in a heartbeat if it

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meant keeping his mate protected from his brother. “You were marked. Phillip would have destroyed you.” “That wasn’t your choice to make!” Jonas showed no signs of backing down from his stance any time soon. “Why is Phillip alive? You told me you killed him.” He tilted his head to the side and frowned. “Why did you challenge him anyway?” “He needed to be stopped, and I was the only one who could do it.” The statement was vague though truthful. It was as much as Nicholas could divulge, however. He’d promised to tell Jonas everything, and he would, but not until they were safe. Jonas looked like he’d start shouting again, but the sound of tires screeching against the pavement had them both spinning around just in time to see headlights whip around the corner and come barreling straight toward them. “Don’t move,” Nicholas ordered. “Don’t leave the circle.” “Are you fucking nuts? They’re going to make roadkill out of us.” Jonas grabbed Nicholas around the elbow and tried to tug him to the side, but Nicholas stood firm. “Don’t move,” he repeated. “The circle will hold.” “Are you listening to yourself?” Jonas waved his arms around frantically. “The only thing separating us and that car is thin air!” “Trust me.” Luckily, they didn’t need to put that trust to the test. A dark SUV fishtailed to a stop just feet from them, and two men flew out of the passenger doors. “Enforcer Tracer and Leader McCarthy?” one of them asked. “Who are you?” Jonas countered with distrust dripping from his voice. “Enforcer Lance Renshaw from the Trinity Pack.” He pointed to the mountain of a man beside him. “This is Enforcer Callum Fielding. You’re to come with us.” Nicholas stood perfectly still, and he was pleased to note that the only move Jonas made was to reach into his pocket and extract his

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cell phone. He dialed quickly and held the phone to his ear, his eyes never leaving the two shifters in front of them. “Yeah, Stavion? Do you know two Enforcers by the names of Fielding and Renshaw from the Trinity Pack?” Pausing to listen to Stavion’s answer, Jonas bobbed his head a few times before thanking the coven leader and disconnecting the call. “They’re straight,” he said to Nicholas as he stepped forward out of the protective circle. “Not even close,” Fielding said with a chuckle. “We are here to help, though.” Nicholas jerked his head toward the vehicle. “Then let’s move.” “We have orders to take you to the alpha compound until your coven can send someone for you. We can’t force you, though.” Renshaw began walking backward toward the car. “If you have any objections, you need to speak up now.” Nicholas shared a look with Jonas, and some silent communication passed between them. Neither of them fully trusted the two Enforcers, but they didn’t have any other options. The sun would be up soon, and they needed shelter from its rays. “If they wanted us dead, we’d already be bleeding out on the ground,” Jonas offered with a grim attempt at a smile. “We’re neckdeep in this shit, so I guess we have to trust somebody.” Yes, it was true. With a sigh and a prayer, Nicholas stepped out of the circle and marched to the back door of the SUV. He hoped like hell that he hadn’t just signed their death warrants. “Who is your alpha?” Jonas asked as he slid into the third-row seat beside Nicholas. “Alpha Ridley Thatcher,” a deep voice answered from the front passenger seat. He shifted around to face them and dipped his head courteously. “Nicholas.” Nicholas took his first real breath since the plane had exploded and nearly killed them. “Ridley, you son of a bitch. Who the hell decided it was a good idea to let you be in charge of anything?”

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“I’m saving your skinny ass, aren’t I?” The alpha chuckled and motioned toward the other men in the vehicle. “You’ve met Lance and Callum.” He patted his driver on the shoulder. “This is my beta, Blair Cutler.” “You know him?” Jonas asked loud enough for the entire car to hear him. “How the hell do you know him?” Jealousy was sexy as sin on his mate, and Nicholas had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. “We go way back,” he teased. “Just how far back? I’ve known you since we were fourteen. I’ve never heard of him.” Nicholas leaned over and kissed Jonas on the lips. “You know him. Look closer.” Jonas didn’t so much look but glared at the alpha. The tense set of his jaw, the way his hands fisted on his thighs, and the flaring of his nostrils said he wasn’t recognizing or liking what he saw. “I don’t know him.” “Jonas, shut up and quit being a va-jay-jay.” Ridley snorted and shook his head. “Did he just call me a vagina?” Jonas’s upper lip curled, and he leaned forward in his seat. Then, just as quickly as the rage had flared, it died away, and Nicholas could practically see the light switch on in Jonas’s head. “You shot me.” “Dude, that was over a decade ago. I can’t believe you’re still pissed about it.” “You shot me in the thigh with an arrow—four inches from my fucking balls!” Jonas turned to Nicholas, obviously looking for backup. Nicholas shrugged. “It was a damn good shot for a kid.” Ridley hadn’t been more than twenty-two or so the summer he’d stayed at the estate as part of his training to become a Hunter. “So, you gave up on chasing demons?”

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“I did it for a while. Then the demons started chasing me, and I figured it was time for a career change. I was next in line to be alpha of the Trinity Pack after my cousin died, so here I am.” That was a brush-off if he’d ever heard one, but Nicholas let it go. It wasn’t really any of his business what the man did with his life. He’d spent four months with Ridley, taught him all he knew about fighting demons, and hadn’t seen him again until he showed up minutes before like some dark knight in a black SUV. “We put cots in the basement cells. You’re not prisoners, but I’m afraid we don’t have anywhere else for you to sleep where you won’t be burned crispy like fatback bacon.” “Charming,” Jonas muttered with a sneer. “Ten years wasn’t long enough. I still don’t like him.” “Did Stavion say when reinforcements would be here?” Nicholas tried to steer the conversation to more neutral topics before Jonas blew a gasket. The man was strung tight and losing his slippery grip on self-control. “Kieran and the Murphy brothers are on their way now. Varik and Demos will be here after sunset.” Nicholas’s eyebrows drew together in a shallow V. “All of the Murphy brothers are coming? Why so many?” Jonas shrugged. “Bannon is their brother. You mess with one of them, and the rest cut your balls off and feed them to you with a spoon.” “I’m sorry I got us into this.” It was inadequate, but it was all he had to offer. If he’d been honest and straightforward with Jonas from the beginning, most of their troubles could have been avoided. “Is someone going to tell us exactly what this is?” Blair asked as he sped along the highway. “You’ve brought this to our doorstep, so I think we have a right to know what we’re facing.” “Ask his Imperial Highness,” Jonas said with a mocking bow. “Good luck getting any answers, though. Apparently, we lesser beings don’t rank on the need-to-know scale.”

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Jonas’s shitty attitude was beginning to grate on Nicholas’s nerves. “You’re pissing me off,” he warned. “Yeah? Well, good. You lie to me for two hundred goddamn years, and I’m just supposed to forgive you because you say you’re sorry and you love me? That is not love, Nicholas. That is…is…” Jonas sighed as he closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the seat. “Just forget it.” “Not to interfere with your little lovers’ spat, but I need to know what the hell is going on,” Blair said with a slight growl. “Ridley thinks we should help you, but I’m not convinced. You’re bringing trouble to our pack that we don’t need.” The beta was absolutely right. This wasn’t their fight, and there was no way they could win against what was coming. “How long until sunrise?” “Hour and a half or so,” Lance answered. “Take me to Vegas.” “What?” Jonas sat up straight. “What the fuck are you talking about? We need to go to ground. I’m not going to let you get us killed.” “You’re going to stay with the pack. You’ll be safe there. Blair is right, though, and this is my fight. I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me.” “We can handle whatever is coming,” Ridley said with confidence. “You’re coming to my estate, and that’s the end of it.” “You can’t fight this and hope to win,” Nicholas argued. “I’ll be fine inside one of the casinos. Just make sure Jonas gets back to Wyoming.” “I’m not going anywhere.” Jonas settled back in his seat casually. “I might be pissed at you, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you do this alone.” “Nicholas, we need to know what we’re up against,” Ridley said quietly. “Give me something, man.”

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Realizing he was outnumbered, Nicholas sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Dark magic. That’s what’s coming for me. Our mother was a witch, so Phillip and I inherited the gene. My magic isn’t powerful, and it takes a lot of energy to perform the most basic spells.” “Why do I get the sense that there’s a ‘but’ coming?” Callum asked as he turned in his seat to look at Nicholas. “Phillip was very powerful.” “That’s your brother, right?” Ridley scratched at the back of his neck. “I thought I’d heard that you challenged him for leadership of your coven.” “You heard right,” Jonas said before Nicholas could answer. “Well, maybe I’m missing something, but what does Phillip have to do with all of this?” “That’s what I’d like to know.” Jonas arched an eyebrow at him. “I don’t even know what to believe anymore. Can you give me just one thing that’s true? You told me Phillip was dead.” Nicholas closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “He was.”

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Chapter Seven “You need to get some sleep.” Jonas didn’t even spare a glance for his mate as he paced the concrete floor of the basement. The sun had long since risen, and he could feel the headache building in his temples. His muscles ached, his throat burned, and eyes itched. Nicholas was right that he needed rest, but he couldn’t sit still or turn his brain off long enough to sleep. “Making yourself sick isn’t going to accomplish anything,” Nicholas tried again in his smooth, coaxing voice. “Stop. Just…” Jonas held a hand up for Nicholas to be quiet and resumed his pacing. Nicholas was still his mate. Nothing that happened would change that, and he didn’t want it to change. He wasn’t ready to forgive him yet, though. Two centuries of lies had been dumped on him in the span of a couple of hours. It was going to take more than sleep and some cajoling words to erase the hurt and resentment he felt. “Why didn’t you tell me?” It was the fourth time he’d asked the question since discovering Nicholas’s secret. He’d still yet to receive an answer that appeased him. “You kept me at arm’s length all this time. I was never allowed to get closer, but you made sure I was just within reach so that I couldn’t move on, either. Why, Nicholas? Why would you do that?” “I’ve told you,” Nicholas responded wearily. “It wasn’t safe for you to know, nor for us to be together.” “Then let me go!” Jonas stopped pacing, pressed his back to the wall, and slid to the floor. “Why didn’t you just let me go?” “You are my mate.”

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“And what has that gotten me? What has being your mate ever fucking done for me? I’ve been alone my entire life—all because of you.” “You weren’t alone. Even if we weren’t mated, we were still together.” Nicholas just wasn’t getting it. Why should he, though? He hadn’t lived a lifetime of pain and desire for something he could never have. “I was more alone with you than I would have been without.” Jonas closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. “Just leave me alone.” “I do love you, Jonas. I’ve always loved you.” Jonas was on his feet and snarling before he registered the intention to do so. “No! You do not get to say that shit to me. You don’t toy with someone’s emotions and then spout off at the mouth about love.” After slowly gaining his feet, Nicholas shuffled a few steps closer to Jonas. “You weren’t the only one who suffered.” “Fuck you.” Not very eloquent, but it summed up his feelings at the moment. “I’ve watched the men come and go from your bedroom. I’ve sat back and wondered what was so wrong with me that you would choose to be with some stranger and not your own mate. So don’t talk to me about suffering.” “Jonas…” “Did you know that you’re the only person I’ve ever been with? In two hundred and thirty-one years, you are the only man I’ve ever taken to my bed.” Jonas laughed harshly. “And I wasn’t even good enough for a real bed. I got some murky pond water in the dead of night so that no one could see us. That’s what I meant to you.” “Jonas, stop and listen to me.” “Why? So you can lie to me some more?” Jonas had committed everything he was and everything he had to offer to the man in front of him. Even when Nicholas rejected him, he never wavered in his

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devotion. Now, just looking at his mate was shredding his heart. “I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.” “Can’t do what?” “I can’t let you be my everything when I mean absolutely nothing to you.” Jonas refused to show an ounce of weakness in front of Nicholas. Not one tear would he shed for the faithless and lying bastard—even if he felt like he was dying inside. “You can’t honestly believe that.” Nicholas didn’t sound scornful or condemning, though. He sounded almost pleading. “Everything I’ve sacrificed—Oh, I’ve sacrificed,” he added when Jonas snorted derisively, “has been for you.” “Yes, I’m sure your life has been so tragic.” “You were my first and last,” Nicholas said solemnly. “Those men you saw coming and going from my room were donors, nothing more. I didn’t kiss them. I didn’t fuck them. You have to believe me.” “Why should I? Why should I believe a word out of your mouth?” “Because I need you to,” Nicholas answered simply. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry that I withheld this from you. My secrecy has kept you alive this long, though, so I can’t say that I would have done anything differently.” Jonas absorbed the words and shook his head sadly. “If you had a good reason—and I’m not saying you did or do—you tell me that reason and let me decide for myself if it’s worth the risk.” It was pointless. He could say the same thing in twenty different ways, and Nicholas would never get it. With heavy footsteps and a heavier heart, Jonas turned and walked toward the open door of the small cell. Maybe he’d just keep walking right up the stairs and through the front door. Burning alive in the sun had to hurt less than what he was feeling because of someone who professed to love him. “Where are you going?” “I don’t know,” Jonas answered honestly. “I just know that I can’t be here anymore.”

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“You can’t leave. Jonas, don’t leave me.” Jonas spun around and threw his hands in the air. “Then give me one good reason why I should stay. Just one, Nicky. That’s all I’m asking for is one goddamn reason!” “Because I love you.” A few months ago, that would have been all the answer or reason he needed, but not now. “Not good enough. I’m sorry, but I won’t stick around to be your dirty little secret anymore. I’m tired of being alone. I need more, and you obviously can’t give that to me.” “If we mate, you’ll die.” “Right. Uh-huh.” Jonas fisted his hands on his hips and stared down at his shoes. Even now, Nicholas was lying to him—and not well at that. Nicholas sighed and tugged at the ends of his dark hair. “Phillip wasn’t always the cruel asshole you knew. We were close, and I worshiped the ground he walked on.” The heartache in Nicholas’s voice broke through some of Jonas’s anger, and he found himself moving closer to the man. “I’m listening. Go on.” “The February before you moved to Olympia, something happened. It was stupid. The temperatures were warmer than usual that year, and I should have known better than to go out on the pond. I had just turned fourteen and thought I was invincible as most teenagers do, though.” “The ice broke,” Jonas surmised. He was close enough to touch Nicholas now, and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and taking his mate’s pale hand. Nicholas nodded slowly, and his broad shoulders began to shake. “You know Phillip is nine years older than me.” He waited for Jonas’s nod of confirmation before continuing. “He met his mate when he was sixteen, so he and Andre had been together for a little over seven years. God, he loved that man so much.”

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“Come here.” Jonas tugged on Nicholas’s hand and pulled the coven leader into his arms. He was probably going to regret it, but he couldn’t stand to see the look of anguish on his mate’s face. For better or worse, he loved the man, much the same as Nicholas described the love between Phillip and Andre. “What happened?” “I got trapped under the ice.” Nicholas wrapped his arms around Jonas’s waist and held him tightly. “It was just by chance that Phillip and Andre were walking near the pond and heard me yell that day. Andre didn’t even hesitate when he dived in to save me.” “I don’t understand. That’s a good thing. He saved your life, Nicky.” Nicholas squeezed him tighter and buried his face in the side of Jonas’s neck. “He pushed me to the surface, and Phillip hauled me out of the water. Andre never came up, though.” Jonas closed his eyes and sighed while he smoothed his hand up and down his mate’s spine in comfort. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid.” “Phillip was never the same after that,” Nicholas continued as though Jonas hadn’t spoken. “He stopped eating, wouldn’t come out of his room, and he barely slept. The day after the funeral, I finally got up enough courage to try to talk to him. I don’t even know what I was going to say. I mean, how do you apologize for killing your brother’s mate?” “Stop it. You didn’t kill anyone. It was an accident.” He eased Nicholas away from him and cupped his cheek in his hand. “What happened when you went to talk to your brother?” “He said it should have been me.” Nicholas shuddered as he closed his eyes and nuzzled his face into Jonas’s palm. “Grief does terrible things to people, Nicky. I’m sure he didn’t mean that.” “Phillip blamed me. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have lost Andre. He cursed me so that I’d always be alone, and if I ever claimed a mate, it would kill him or her. Then I’d know how it felt to

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lose someone I love. You’re right about the grief, though. He never got over losing Andre, and it drove him mad.” Jonas swallowed around the lump in his throat as he watched his mate relive the pain of his past. Nicholas had lost someone he loved that day. It just wasn’t his mate. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Opening his eyes, Nicholas lifted his head away from Jonas’s hand and arched an eyebrow. “What would you have done?” He would have gone after Phillip. He doubted he would have tried to reason with him, either. “I’d have beat that idiot until he lifted the spell.” “You would have tried. He’s stronger than you, Jonas. I couldn’t risk losing you.” The pounding in his temples grew worse as he tried to sort through this new development. “We could have been together without you claiming me.” Nicholas smiled sadly and shook his head. “It would have never been enough for you. Besides, I couldn’t let anyone know about us. Phillip suspected you were my mate, and he tried to kill you with a gold dagger. I was too careless with you. That never should have happened.” “That’s why you killed him,” Jonas whispered. Torren had said as much, but Jonas had refused to believe it. “He knew you wouldn’t claim me, so he had to find another way to make sure you suffered.” “I knew what he was doing to our coven. I should have put a stop to it long before I did, but he was my brother. I didn’t want to hurt him.” Jonas dropped his chin to his chest and groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me after he was dead?” “The spell isn’t broken with a witch’s death. It’s absolute until they remove it. By that point, I’d lied for so long. What good would have come from me telling you? I still couldn’t claim you.” “Well, I wouldn’t have bargained with that bitch Natalie and got your ass cursed again, for one.” He still had so many damn questions,

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but he could barely stand, and his head felt like someone was playing the bass drum inside his skull. “I get that you think you were protecting me, but you still should have told me.” “Get some rest, Jonas. You’re about to fall over.” “I don’t want to be alone anymore.” “Then come to bed with me.” Nicholas took his hands and led him toward one of the cots. “You can still hate me when you wake up, but right now, I just want to hold you. Come to bed with me, baby.” It wasn’t fair that a simple, softly murmured endearment could have him forgetting why he was trying so hard to resist the man. “Okay, but will you still respect me in the morning?” Nicholas smiled crookedly and kissed him full on the lips. “It’s well past morning, and I’ve always respected you. I don’t know how to make up for the things I’ve done, but I promise I’ll find a way.” Jonas eased down on the cot and scooted back to the wall to make room for Nicholas. He sighed when he felt his mate’s warm body press up against his chest. “You’re an asshole, but I love you.” Soft lips whispered down the side of his neck. “I know, and I love you, too. Give me a chance to prove it.” “I’ll think about it,” Jonas answered around a yawn before resting his head on Nicholas’s shoulder and falling asleep.

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Chapter Eight It was the perfect dream. While he’d had the same fantasy a million times over the years, this one seemed much more real. He could feel strong hands kneading the muscles of his chest, the warmth of breath against his neck, and plump lips that ghosted up and down the column of his throat. “Want you, Nicky.” Nicholas’s eyes popped open, and he scrambled back until he fell off the narrow cot and right onto the concrete floor. “It’s not a dream.” Leaning over the edge of their makeshift bed, Jonas smirked down at him. “Come back up here.” The one time he’d been weak and let his desires overrule common sense, it had spelled tragedy for his mate. For so long he’d resisted the temptation that Jonas presented. Years of deprivation and clawing hunger for the gorgeous man had led him down a path that would seal Jonas’s fate. Making love to Jonas had been simultaneously the best night of his life and the stupidest decision he’d ever made. As though picking the thought straight from his frantic brain, Jonas reached out to him, offering his hand and another smile. “Phillip isn’t here, and he can’t hurt us anymore. I did a lot of thinking while you slept.” “What did you think about?” And more importantly, what had been the outcome of Jonas’s musings? “All the times you lied to me. I thought about all the secrets you kept from me.” Jonas crawled off the bed and right up to Nicholas,

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forcing him to recline on his elbows or bump heads with the vampire. “I thought about all the times you hurt me, and all the ways I’d pay you back for it.” Swallowing hard, Nicholas opened his mouth to apologize again but pressed his lips together when he realized he had nothing to say that would erase the damage he’d done. Jonas’s hard body settled over his, covering him from chest to groin and pressing him back into the floor. “Then I thought about what I would have done if our positions were reversed.” He dipped his head and licked a slow path up the side of Nicholas’s neck. “You know what I realized, Nicky?” “No.” Nicholas panted as he did a full-body shudder. His heart raced, his stomach fluttered, and his cock swelled painfully in the span of seconds. He wasn’t sure if he was answering Jonas’s question or verbally denying how much he wanted the things his mate was doing to him. The last time he’d let his dick do the thinking, he’d almost claimed Jonas, and that could never happen. Jonas nipped at Nicholas’s bottom lip and then swirled his tongue over it to soothe the sting. “I realized that I’d do whatever it took to keep you safe—even if that meant lying to you. Oh, I tried to deny it. I told myself that I would never purposely deceive someone I love.” He pressed their mouths together and tickled the seam of Nicholas’s lips with his tongue. “The truth, however, is that I would. If it meant never having to live without you, even if we were just friends, I would tell you every story in the book except for the one you wanted to hear.” “Jonas, stop. I can’t do this.” Nicholas tried to squirm out from beneath his mate, but Jonas held him pinned in place. “Please. We can’t do this.” “Nicky, I know all of your secrets now. I know what I’m getting into, and I know you can never claim me. It’s not ideal, but I can live with that. You are everything I want, and if that means this is all we can have, I’ll be the happiest man alive.”

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“Listen to me.” Nicholas freed his arms and stretched them up to grab Jonas’s face in both hands. “I can’t.” “Yes, you can. Phillip isn’t going to hurt me. Why are you so afraid?” “The one time I let my guard down, I almost claimed you. The need is always there, but it’s so much stronger when we’re connected like this.” To his surprise, Jonas smiled, turned his head, and placed a soft kiss in the center of Nicholas’s palm. “Then let me be in charge. Let me take care of you, Nicky.” Then he claimed Nicholas’s lips in a passion-fueled kiss before he had a chance to argue. The wet tongue that stroked in and out of his mouth made his head spin and his cock throb. Jonas tasted like heaven—warm, moist, slippery heaven. His gums tingled where his fangs threatened to elongate, and a fire blazed inside his belly. A needy moan escaped him before he could cut it off, but Nicholas was too far gone to care. It had been years since he’d had a taste of his mate, but it was even better than he remembered. “Mine!” Instinct took over, and his fangs burst through his gums. Nicholas fisted his hands in Jonas’s hair and jerked him down so that the fragrant skin of his throat pressed against his lips. Skimming his nose along the jumping vein in his mate’s neck, Nicholas groaned at the glorious scent. His mouth watered, his cock pulsed, and all reason fled his lust-filled brain. “Nicky.” Jonas said his name breathlessly as he rocked his hips and humped their denim-clad erections together. He didn’t know if it was a plea or a warning, but his name sounded so sweet on Jonas’s lips. “Say it again.” One hand released Jonas’s hair and traveled down his back to cup his firm ass. “Say it again.” “Nicky,” Jonas breathed, barely more than a whisper. “That’s it,” Nicholas cooed. Insinuating a hand between them, he fumbled with Jonas’s fly until he was able to part the fabric and

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extract his lover’s leaking prick. They both groaned when Nicholas wrapped his fingers around the thick, hard flesh and dipped his thumb into the weeping slit. Jonas jerked and shuddered in his arms, a needy, desperate mewling pouring from his parted lips. Nicholas scraped his incisors down the damp skin of his mate’s neck, hard enough to make Jonas moan, but not enough to break the skin. “No biting.” There was no need for the reminder, though. While his body, heart, and mind all yearned to cement the bond between them, the tiny voice of reason at the back of his head pitched a fit at doing anything to endanger the well-being of his mate. “Carne nudo revelabis,” he murmured, smiling when their clothes vanished and Jonas gasped in surprise. “Is my witchy hoodoo still too much for you?” “If you can magick us up some slick, I’ll never say another word against it.” Jonas squirmed on top of him, molding their nude, heated bodies together as his hands roamed over every inch of flesh he could reach. “Hurry, Nicky.” Nicholas could do better than produce a bottle of lube, though. “Cedite mihi. Relevare modo. Oblita doloris. Tantum delectatio manet.” “Oh, my God!” Jonas humped against him harder as his eyes rolled back in his head and the cords in his neck strained. “What are you doing to me?” “Do you like it?” “It feels amazing. It’s like I can feel you inside me. I can definitely get into this magic thing.” His fingers dug into Nicholas’s shoulders, and he rocked his body, creating a mind-numbing, delicious friction between their pulsing cocks. “I won’t always use magic,” Nicholas assured his lover. “I want to take my time with you.” His head dropped back and he growled when Jonas gave a hard swivel of his hips. “Next time.”

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“I’ve wanted you for too long, Nicky. Fuck the foreplay and get to the good stuff.” “You’re playing with fire, babe. When I get inside you, it’s going to be hard and fast.” Nicholas didn’t wait for an answer before flipping them over and pressing Jonas into the floor beneath him. “This is your last chance to say no.” “Fuck me, damn it!” Well, it wasn’t poetry, but it was all the affirmation that Nicholas needed. Pushing Jonas’s knees toward his chest, Nicholas skimmed two fingers along his lover’s crease, right to the slick and loosened star he sought. Claiming his mate’s mouth in a heated duel of tongues, lips, and teeth, he inserted both fingers and pumped in and out of Jonas’s silky channel. If he practiced a bit more, he could get good at this magic thing. Jonas’s hole was well stretched and slippery with lubrication, allowing his digits a smooth glide without resistance. Confident that he wouldn’t hurt his partner, Nicholas took both of Jonas’s arms and stretched them over the Enforcer’s head, pinning his wrists with one hand. “Don’t move,” he ordered in a low, feral growl. Lining up the engorged crown of his cock with Jonas’s hole, he teased the muscles with minute nudges, loving the way they relaxed and opened to allow him entrance. “Stop teasing me.” Jonas groaned and arched his back, pulling against the hold Nicholas had on his wrists. His dick flexed and jerked, bouncing against his lower abdomen and coating it in clear drops of pre-cum. It wasn’t candlelight and slow music. It wasn’t rose petals on silk sheets. Hell, they didn’t even have a bed. Still, as he impaled Jonas on his hard length, encasing himself to the root inside his mate’s velvetlined tunnel, the moment was perfect simply because of the man beneath him. Jonas threw his head back and cried out as his inner walls constricted around Nicholas’s cock like a vise. The heat, the snug

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hold, the sweat that glistened over Jonas’s hard, muscled body—the sights, the smells, the erotic sounds—it finally existed outside of Nicholas’s dreams. The hard concrete floor of the holding cell wasn’t a room at the Ritz, nor was it a fumbled and hurried encounter in the dark of night by a muddy pond. Pulling out until only the crown remained to stretch Jonas’s entrance around the flared ridge, Nicholas waited for his lover to meet his eyes before surging back in hard and fast. A clawing, aching, and overwhelming need burned inside of him, driving his hips in lightning-fast strokes as he plunged into Jonas’s welcoming body over and over. He could see his mate—touch him, truly feel him—without the fear of being caught and punished. Instead of keeping half of his attention focused on the world around them and any signs of encroaching danger, he was free to focus solely on the flex of Jonas’s muscles, the way his hips jerked up to meet each one of Nicholas’s demanding thrusts, and the sweet sounds of his mate’s pleasure. Looping one arm under Jonas’s knee, Nicholas lifted his leg, opening his mate to deeper penetration. It still wasn’t enough, though. His cock swelled and pulsed inside Jonas’s hold. His sac tightened, his balls ached, and a deep rumble began in his chest as electricity shot through his body and pooled in his belly. “Close,” Jonas grunted. He tried to free his hands, but Nicholas held them firmly in his grip. “Please. Touch me. Fuck!” “Look at me,” Nicholas demanded, leaning over his lover until their noses almost touched. “Open your eyes and look at me, Jonas.” Those soft blue eyes peered up at him, and Nicholas knew he was lost forever. “Come for me.” The words seemed to flip a switch for Jonas. His loud roar echoed off the walls as he bucked upward and tensed. Hot ropes of pearly cum erupted from his cock, filling the space between them and splashing against Nicholas’s chest and abs. “I love you,” he gasped, the words barely audible.

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That was the true magic. Not the silly parlor tricks Nicholas could do, but those three little words. Burying his cock to the hilt, he pressed his face against the side of Jonas’s neck and stilled, groaning as his balls emptied and cum filled his mate’s depths. “Datum gratis. Duo corda sicut unum. Obligo me ad vos. Offer totum, quod sum et pignus amoris mei aeterna.” He whispered the words against his lover’s skin, not sure where he’d heard them, or how he knew them. “I love you, Jonas.” “Did you claim me?” Nicholas jerked up and stared down into Jonas’s wide eyes. “I didn’t bite you.” “I feel different, though. I can feel you like I feel myself. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s there. What did you say just now?” Nicholas frowned as he repeated the words, and then spoke them once again in English. “Given freely. Two hearts as one. I bind myself to you. Offer all that I am and the pledge of my eternal love.” “Is that…” Jonas trailed off and mirrored his frown. “It’s beautiful, but what is it?” Nicholas wanted to weep as he slowly eased out of Jonas’s hole and knelt on the floor between his splayed thighs. “It’s the claiming invocation of a witch.” He dropped his head and closed his eyes in anguish. “I’m so sorry.”

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Chapter Nine “Well, this is a damn mess you’ve gotten us into.” Varik scrubbed at his face and groaned. “We’ve got four missing members of our coven, a psychopathic brother who has apparently come back from the dead, and now you’re telling me that Jonas is going to die because you claimed him with some witch’s spell. Does that about sum it up?” Jonas took his mate’s hand and squeezed gently. “Ease up, Varik. It’s not his fault. Yes, however, that’s a pretty accurate description.” Nicholas said nothing in his defense. In fact, he’d said barely more than a handful of words since he’d claimed Jonas in the basement. Jonas felt fine, though. He certainly didn’t feel like he was dying. “Maybe you were wrong. Maybe he didn’t really curse you. Or maybe it was only your vampire half.” “That’s a lot of maybes,” Ridley said as he came into the sitting room and plopped down in one of the armchairs. “If Phillip is alive, I say we hunt his ass down, make him reverse the spell, then kill his ass again.” “How does someone come back from the dead anyway?” Demos asked from beside Varik. All eyes turned to Nicholas. Sitting up a little straighter, he squeezed Jonas’s hand and brought it to his lips to kiss the knuckles. “I’m going to find a way to fix this. I won’t let you die because I fucked up.” “You definitely fucked something,” Ridley mumbled under his breath as he made a show of sniffing at the air. Jonas growled and leaned forward on the sofa, but Nicholas’s hand on his arm stopped him from launching himself at the alpha. “I

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just want to bite him once, just one little bite, Nicky. It won’t hurt…much.” “Bring it on, bloodsucker.” Ridley smirked and held his arms out wide. “Shut up!” Demos shouted. It was such a shock to hear the normally quiet and reserved Enforcer yelling that Jonas shut off his caustic reply immediately. When everyone was quiet, Demos nodded and turned his attention to Nicholas. “How is your brother back among the living?” “The Relegatis,” Nicholas answered without hesitation. “He found it.” “The rega-whoseits?” Jonas cast a look around the room, unsurprised to find everyone frowning in confusion. “Nicky, what is that?” “The Relegatis. It’s a Book of Shadows.” Nicholas waved his free hand around airily. “The Relegatis is a spell book.” “Yeah, yeah,” Varik agreed. “I’ve heard of it. I thought it was just a legend, though. It’s supposed to be a Book of the Banished, or something like that.” Jonas’s head was starting to pound again. There had been an overload of information in the last twenty-four hours. “Can you please explain this to me in plain English? I’m not following here.” Turning to him, Nicholas took both of Jonas’s hands and gave him his full attention. “Varik is right. It’s a Book of the Banished. It contains the darkest spells of the Magiks. After Andre’s death, Phillip became obsessed with finding it.” “I’m guess it wasn’t for recreational reading or sentimental value, either.” “He wants to bring Andre back.” “He can do that?” Nicholas arched an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment on his outburst. It took Jonas just seconds to realize how stupid his question had been. “If Phillip is really back, then I guess he can.”

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Nicholas brushed the hair back from Jonas’s face and smiled tenderly. “I know it’s a lot. I don’t want to dump all of this on you, but I don’t want to keep anything from you anymore.” No, Jonas didn’t want that, either. He was a vampire—the epitome of myth and legend and things that went bump in the night. Surely he could get his shit together and accept the fact that something so fantastical might really exist. The world was filled with magic and things beyond their comprehension. Why not this? “Wait,” Ridley interjected. “I have a question.” He waited until he had everyone’s attention before continuing. “How the hell did he bring himself back?” No one spoke as they all pondered the new mystery. Jonas tried to remember if Phillip had any friends, but the man had been so hated by the time he was old enough to know what was going on. He couldn’t picture the sadistic asshole being close enough to anyone to trust them with that kind of power. Jonas knew absolutely nothing about spells, incantations, or witches in general. Being mated to Nicholas, he’d learn it over time. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a large surplus of time at the moment. “We need to get back to Wyoming,” Varik said, breaking the silence. “I’ll be honest. I don’t know how the fuck to deal with this. We need help, and I don’t even know who to ask.” Jonas was onboard with that plan, considering it was the only plan they had. Nicholas was staring off into space, obviously lost in his own thoughts, though. “It could have been a binding spell.” “You mean like the way you claimed me?” That didn’t make any sense to Jonas, but what the hell did he know? Nicholas blinked a few times as he came out of his stupor. “No, no, I don’t mean that kind of binding. The only way he could have done it was if he already had the Relegatis before he died. A witch can bind him or herself to another living creature so that as long as one lives, the other can’t be killed.”

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“Does it have to be a person?” Demos asked. “Could he have bound himself to an animal?” “A person would be better, but yes, he could have chosen an animal.” “Moonstar.” Nicholas’s eyes rounded, but everyone else looked at Jonas as though he’d grown a second head. “It’s this white wolf that lives on the property near Nicholas’s estate. She’s solid white except for this one patch of black right on her forehead in the shape of a star.” Nicholas pushed up from the sofa and started pacing. “She’s got to be at least twenty years old now. No one could understand how she was still alive.” “So, what do we do now?” Ridley stood as well and crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t even try to talk me out of this, either. You can use all the help you can get.” Jonas had no intentions of turning down willing allies. Nicholas looked like he would argue, of course, but one look at Jonas, and he quickly pressed his lips together and nodded curtly. “We have to find Phillip.” “No,” Varik said with a shake of his head. “Kieran, Devlin, and the rest of the Murphys are going to find Raven and the others. I’ve got orders to get you two back to Haven.” “They’re just going to end up getting themselves killed,” Nicholas said vehemently. “If we find Phillip, we find your friends.” Rising slowly from his seat, Jonas crossed the room to stand in front of his mate and took Nicholas’s face in both hands. For better or worse, they were in this together. He’d dedicated his life as an Enforcer, a guard, a friend, and a lover to protecting Nicholas no matter the risk to his own life. He wasn’t about to back down when the man needed him the most. “How do we find him?” “Go home, Jonas. This isn’t your fight.”

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“You’re my mate, and I love you.” Jonas dropped his hands and squared his shoulders. “As the head of your personal guard, it’s my duty to make sure that you don’t do something stupid to get yourself killed. There’s also the little fact that you’ve been entrusted into my care by The Council until we can find a way to break the spell placed on you.” Nicholas rolled his eyes and huffed. “The spell is broken, Jonas. You’re free of your obligations.” “The Council doesn’t know that yet,” Jonas answered readily. “You wouldn’t want me to end up in a cell because you slipped away from me in the middle of the night, would you?” They stared at each other for a long time, neither saying a word. Nicholas was the first to crack, smiling crookedly, even as he groaned and pushed a hand through his ebony hair. “You’re such a manipulative little shit.” “I go where you go. I haven’t waited all this time for you to finally see me just so you can push me away again. Whether you like it or not, we’re mates, you claimed me—kind of—and you’re stuck with me. Get used to it.” Without warning, Nicholas grabbed him by the front of his shirt and jerked him forward into a scorching kiss that curled Jonas’s toes. When they finally broke away to gasp for air, Nicholas rested their foreheads together and closed his eyes. “You’re a crazy son of a bitch, and I don’t deserve how much you love me.” “I know. So, what do we do now?” Taking a step back, Nicholas looked around the room, meeting each man’s eyes before moving on to the next. “I’m going to try a summoning charm. It will be better if we can bring Phillip to us.” “I don’t like this.” Varik growled and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m sorry, man, but I get the sense that this whole magic thing isn’t really your forte.” “Who are you calling?” Jonas asked, watching the vampire lift the phone to his ear.

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“We need backup.” Varik held a hand up for silence. “Stavion? I need a witch.” There was a long pause before he spoke again. “No, not the tramp in the basement. I need some powerful hocus-pocus shit, and by the way, you owe me big for this. Do you have any idea what’s going on here?” “Where are they going to find witches willing to help?” Ridley asked quietly, moving to stand closer to Nicholas and Jonas. “There are two covens close by, but they wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire.” If there was one thing Jonas had learned during his time at Haven, it was that Stavion Shogard could accomplish just about anything. “I have no doubt that we’ll have half a dozen witches here before the night is over.” Demos drifted over to stand with them while Varik continued growling and snarling into his cell phone. “What do we know about Torren Braddock?” “You think he’s involved?” Granted, Jonas didn’t know the man very well, but it seemed unlikely. “You don’t trust him.” “I don’t know him well enough to trust him,” Demos said with a shrug. “It just seems a little too convenient, though. He shows up out of nowhere, doesn’t put up a fuss about following you—a virtual stranger—across the country to protect someone else he’d never even met.” Demos paused, still staring across the room at Varik. “Did you know he’s from Nevada?” “And he just happens to go missing, along with three other men, when you get here,” Ridley said, picking up Demos’s train of thought. “Then minutes later, Jonas and Nicholas almost get blown to bits.” “He’s a witch,” Nicholas added, speaking slowly as though working out something in his head. “Does he have any family?” Jonas lifted both eyebrows and held his hands out to his sides. “You’re asking me? I don’t know any more about him than you do. What does it matter?”

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“It could be possible for him to get a message to a member of his family through etheric projection.” Okay, now they weren’t even speaking the same language. Jonas was so tired of this crap. He much preferred bad guys who fought with daggers, swords, teeth, and claws. No matter how strong they were, it was something physical that Jonas could fight against. How was he supposed to fight something that he couldn’t see? “It’s like an out-of-body experience,” Nicholas began to explain, apparently interpreting Jonas’s confusion. “It’s controlled, rather than a spontaneous act, however. Also, instead of traveling to a higher or spiritual realm, a person’s etheric body can travel among the physical world.” Jonas threw his hands up. “I quit. This is insane, and it doesn’t make a bit of sense. If he could do that, why didn’t he send this ghost body of his when he was being held by Natalie?” “She was drugging him.” “So, you think Phillip is just letting him run rampant?” Jonas growled in frustration. “Right, I see that happening.” “Why did he take them in the first place?” Demos asked. “Why didn’t he just blow the plane while everyone was there?” “A lot of dark magic requires sacrifice.” Jonas felt his eyes widen as he gaped at Nicholas. “You mean a life for a life?” “What?” Varik yelled into the phone. “You’re kidding!” His eyebrows drew together as he listened to whatever Stavion was telling him. Then he sighed heavily and rubbed at his face. “Okay, okay, we’re on it. I’ll call Kieran.” They all started yelling the minute he hung up the phone. “What?” “What happened?” “Who’s kidding? Why are you calling Kieran?” Varik shook his head, looking tired and agitated. “Aslan and Galen know where they are.”

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Well, that brought Jonas up short. How the hell did the little squirts know anything about what was going on, let alone where the missing men were? “How?” “Well, I guess Galen had some kind of dream. Aslan was in his room screaming like someone was trying to rip him apart and going on about a strange, glowing man in his bedroom. From the description, it sounds like Torren.” Jonas didn’t blame Aslan for screaming. He’d seen a lot of things in his long life, but a ghost in his bedroom would have freaked him out as well. “Is this that projectile vomiting of spiritual beings or whatever?” Nicholas wasn’t amused by his description. “Etheric projection, and yes. That’s what it sounds like,” he said with glare and a growl. “Why those two?” Glancing over his shoulder at Demos, Jonas decided that was a reasonable question. As far as he knew, neither of them had ever met Torren. “What was Galen’s dream about?’ “He was a little hysterical, but Cassius was able to calm him down enough to get that he was dreaming about Bannon.” When Varik didn’t continue, Jonas wanted to jump across the room and shake the hell out of him. “Well?” “They’re here in Vegas.” “Why Aslan and Galen?” Demos repeated his earlier question. “What do they have to do with any of this? They can’t both be psychic.” He stopped and grimaced down at the floor. “It doesn’t make any sense.” Once again, everyone looked to Nicholas for answers. “I’ve never met either of them. I’d guess the one who saw Torren—” “Aslan.” Jonas interrupted to supply the name. “Right, well my guess is Aslan is Torren’s mate. A witch’s mate has the strongest connection to him or her, even stronger than family.”

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“And shifters can communicate with their mates through telepathy,” Ridley added. “If this Galen guy was sleeping, it would make sense that his mate’s communication would manifest itself as a dream.” “Look, I don’t think it matters how they got the information.” Varik looked in danger of bursting a blood vessel. “I’m calling Kieran.” Jonas couldn’t stop from asking the next question. “Then what?” Varik glanced at Nicholas before meeting Jonas’s eyes again. “We’re going hunting for zombie witches.”

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Chapter Ten Pressing both palms flat against the tiles, Nicholas dropped his head and groaned as the hot water cascaded over his shoulders and down his back. Kieran and the Murphy brothers had come running when Varik called. They arrived at the Trinity Pack with a million questions—all aimed at Nicholas. It wouldn’t be so bad if he had answers for them. His knowledge of magic was limited, and that of the darker side of the art almost nonexistent. Phillip had to be stopped before he unleashed something he couldn’t control. Nicholas just wished he wasn’t the one who had to do it. Killing his brother once had been hard enough, not only physically but emotionally. Phillip was strong, and the magic in him powerful. He wouldn’t be an easy opponent to defeat. After their last battle, Phillip knew all of Nicholas’s weaknesses and would no doubt use those faults against him. The shower door slid open then closed, and a warm, solid body molded around his back. “I’m sorry,” Jonas whispered around the back of his neck. “I know it’s hard. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, but we can’t do this without you.” Nicholas dropped his head farther and groaned pathetically. “I wish I could just go back to forgetting.” A sharp smack landed on the outside of his thigh, and Nicholas jumped at the sting. Against his will, his cock perked up to take notice as well, filling and swelling between his thighs. “What the fuck, Jonas?”

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“You want to go back to forgetting? You want to forget me again? I’m not going to let that happen.” Nicholas tried to turn to face his mate, but Jonas held him by the hips, preventing the movement. “You could die because of me. Don’t you get that?” How could something that made him so happy also rip his heart out? All he’d ever wanted was to be with Jonas. His coven, his leadership, the status and prestige handed down to him—none of it mattered. His heart had been alive and his spirit free when he’d recited the words that would bind them together. It had taken only seconds for his world to come crashing down when he’d realized what he’d done, though. How could he have been so stupid, so selfish? “Well, I’m not dead yet,” Jonas said offhandedly. “There’s a good chance that we will all be dead within the next twenty-four hours. I’ve lived a long life, Nicky. I’ve seen a lot of things and met some interesting people.” His lips stretched into a grin against Nicholas’s neck. “I finally got you to admit how you feel about me. I’m not afraid of dying.” Nicholas squeezed his eyes closed and swallowed down the lump in his throat. “I’m not going to let you die.” “Well, I don’t want to die, but it’s not the end of the world.” Jonas chuckled, but Nicholas found nothing humorous about the situation. “It would be the end of mine.” “Stop it,” Jonas chastised. “I’m always going to be with you. I meant what I said. I won’t let you forget me, not ever.” His soft lips whispered up the side of Nicholas’s neck, and he sucked the sensitive skin into his mouth before scraping his teeth over it. “Actually, I’d be okay if you forget everything except me…at least for now.” Strong hands stroked down his back and over his hips, pulling a deep groan and involuntary shiver from Nicholas. He’d be happy to go on forgetting everything but Jonas for the rest of his days. Their problems wouldn’t simply disappear just because he refused to think about them, though.

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“Let go,” Jonas whispered into his ear. “It’s okay, Nicky. I’m not going to let you fall. Let go, and I’ll catch you.” Thick arms wrapped around his waist and held him tight as Jonas nuzzled his cheek against the back of his neck. His lover’s hard cock nestled along the crease of his ass, and those long fingers began pinching and tugging at his nipples. Once the pebbled buds were tortured and throbbing, Jonas glided one hand down Nicholas’s chest, over his tightening abs, and palmed his straining erection. From tip to base, Jonas stroked him slowly, contracting and relaxing his grip in rhythmic waves along Nicholas’s pulsing cock. “Jonas.” It was the most he could get out before the moan rose up in his throat and spilled from his panting lips. Rocking back and forth, he pumped his hard length through his mate’s grasp as the water beat down over them. Jonas’s other hand slid up his throat and cupped his chin, turning his head roughly to the side. Their mouths crashed together, and Nicholas’s growl echoed off the tiled walls of the shower stall. Reaching over his head, he wound his arm around the back of Jonas’s neck and held him in place as he attacked his mouth with a burning hunger. His lust-hazed brain vaguely registered the release of his jaw and snick of a bottle cap. Too lost in the feel of Jonas’s tongue sliding against his, and the hand wrapped around his aching cock, Nicholas didn’t have enough brain cells left over to feel nervous. When Jonas’s digits pushed between his ass cheeks and began rubbing slow circles around his hole, instead of tensing and moving away, Nicholas arched his hips and pushed back against Jonas’s hand. They continued to duel in a battle of lips and tongues, and the line that separated them began to blur until Nicholas didn’t know where he ended and Jonas began. When his lover’s finger breached his opening, pushing in slowly and gently, the small pinch of pain only heightened his pleasure and desire.

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Jerking out of the kiss, he dropped his head back to Jonas’s shoulder and panted, praying that his wobbly legs would hold him up for just a bit longer. That long finger pumped in and out of his hole, stroking him from the inside out and making his world tilt on its axis. “Mmm, you like that,” Jonas murmured to him, his voice sexy and confident. “You’re going to love this.” A second finger pushed in beside the first, clear to the second knuckle, and then… “Oh, my, God!” Nicholas bucked and shuddered as lights exploded behind his closed eyes. “Do that again.” Jonas chuckled breathlessly before nipping at Nicholas’s jaw. “One more,” he rasped a moment later when a third finger joined the others. “One more, and then I’ll send you around the world.” Nicholas would go anywhere Jonas wanted to lead him. Humping back and forth between the fingers pumping into his hole and the tight grip on his cock, Nicholas’s belly clenched, and electric currents sizzled up his spine. Though the alpha in him rebelled at such a submissive act, Nicholas couldn’t deny the need any longer. Tilting his head to the side, he bared his throat and bowed his back, lifting his ass higher in offering. “Fuck me, Jonas. Fuck me and claim me.” **** The words were music to his ears. Before he knew what was happening, his fangs exploded through his gums, throbbing painfully as his mouth watered and his eyes locked onto the pulsing vein in Nicholas’s neck. A primal snarl burst from his lips while he gloried in the passionate sounds coming from his mate. Extracting his fingers from their warm sheath, Jonas kept one hand around Nicholas’s swollen dick while his own cock jerked and throbbed, weeping freely from the slit. Snatching up the waterproof lube from the corner shelf, Jonas had

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to admit the little gift went a long way in changing his feelings toward Ridley. Snapping open the lid one-handed, he flipped the bottle up and poured a generous amount into his palm. Then he tossed the lube over his shoulder, slicked his cock, and lined up the engorged head with Nicholas’s fluttering entrance. “Deep breath, baby. Just relax and let me take care of you.” He waited for his mate to suck in air and let it out before he flexed his hips and pushed forward. Winding his arms around his lover, Jonas held tight and buried his face in Nicholas’s neck at the first feel of the tight, blazing heat surrounding his cock. “Damn, you’re fucking tight. I’m not hurting you, am I?” A rumbling in Nicholas’s chest, somewhere between a growl and a moan, was his only answer. Taking it as a good sign, Jonas eased forward, slowly burying himself in Nicholas’s convulsing channel until his balls brushed against the man’s perfectly shaped ass. Holding completely still to give Nicholas a moment to adjust to the invasion, Jonas kissed and sucked at his mate’s shoulders and nape while his hands mapped out the contours of Nicholas’s muscled body. The man had the sexiest abs on the planet—a corrugated eightpack with deep rivets over, under, and between each brick of tensing muscles. Sharp and defined, his hipbones outlined his pelvis to exquisite perfection like two parts of an arrow pointing the way to the thick, veiny cock jutting from his groin. “Move,” Nicholas demanded as he thrust his hips back, impaling himself farther on Jonas’s hard length. Taking him at his word, Jonas pulled out slowly, then drove forward hard and fast to fill Nicholas’s depths and stretch his inner walls to capacity. One taste of what making love to his mate could be like, and Jonas knew he’d be addicted for life. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Neither the adrenaline of battle nor the thrill of victory compared to the overwhelming pleasure coursing through his body.

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“Harder,” Nicholas practically whimpered as he began to move, fucking himself on Jonas’s dick. The perilous hold on his control snapped, and Jonas gripped his lover’s hips in both hands, encouraging Nicholas to increase his pace as he slammed into him again and again. “That’s it, Nicky. Ride my cock. Take what you want.” He panted the words between gasps for air as the intensity built to a crescendo and finally exploded, sending them both tumbling over the edge of bliss. Nicholas was the first to find his release, roaring loud enough to shake the glass in the shower door as his inner walls constricted in a firm hold around Jonas’s cock. Grinding his pelvis against Nicholas’s rounded cheeks, Jonas fisted his hand in his mate’s hair and forced his head to the side. Without kissing, licking, or any other preliminaries, he struck, sinking his canines into the yielding flesh at the apex of Nicholas’s shoulder and neck. The taste of Nicholas’s blood as it rushed into his mouth was indescribable. It bathed his tongue and trickled down his throat, igniting his body into a raging wildfire of lust and desire. Squeezing his eyes closed, Jonas groaned, the sound muffled by the skin in his mouth, as he reached his own climax. Cum jetted from his cock, splashing against Nicholas’s inner walls and filling his depths to the brim. When his senses returned to him, Jonas gently extracted his fangs from Nicholas’s neck and placed a tender kiss over the puncture marks. “There,” he said quietly, nuzzling his nose just under his lover’s jaw. “Now, you’re mine. I dare you to try and get rid of me.” Nicholas’s chuckle was tired, but the smile on his face lit up the entire room. “Oh, I’m definitely keeping you around. I have big plans for you later.” He paused and his smile slipped a degree. “Right after I figure out how to save your life.”

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“None of that,” Jonas admonished around a yawn. “The sun will be up soon. We need to get clean and get our asses down to the basement.” “So we don’t shrivel up like bacon?” Nicholas teased. Jonas groaned and rubbed at his stomach. “Bacon sounds really good. I wonder what kind of food they have in this joint.” “Don’t die on me, and I’ll buy you as much bacon as you want. Hell, I’ll buy you a whole damn pig farm.” Jonas shook his head and wrinkled his nose. “Uh, no thanks on the whole piggy thing.” He wasn’t a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, but he had no desire to see where his chosen meals came from. Meat looked nice and pretty all packaged up in the supermarket. Putting a face on his dinner just seemed in poor taste. Nicholas just rolled his eyes and handed Jonas the shampoo. “I’m exhausted, and we have a lot of work to do tomorrow night. Move your ass, babe.” “I’ll make you a deal.” Jonas lathered the shampoo in his hair as he spoke. “Don’t call me babe anymore, and I’ll move my ass however you like.” His mate pretended to think it over for a minute and shrugged. After washing and rinsing quickly, Nicholas slid the shower door open and stepped out onto the fuzzy bathmat. Then he glanced at Jonas over his shoulder with a mischievous smirk. “Hurry that sweet ass up, sugarplum. I plan to molest you again before the sun comes up.” Ignoring the ridiculous endearment, Jonas focused solely on the molesting part. “Promise?” Nicholas bent over seductively as he reached for his towel. “Maybe twice, if you’re lucky.”

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Chapter Eleven Coming awake the next evening, Jonas immediately knew something was wrong. They’d shared the basement with two other vampires during the day, yet the place was deathly silent. He heard no snores or movement, not even the deep, even breathing that accompanied the truly exhausted once they found sleep. The absence of the long, lean body he’d fallen asleep against had him scrambling into a sitting position while he blinked several times to clear the blurriness from his eyes. The cell was completely deserted, leaving him alone in the dim light that drifted in from the outside corridor. Running his hand over the blanket near his hip, he encountered a small bouquet of flowers. Curling his fingers around the stems, he lifted the flowers to eye level and studied them. He couldn’t help but smile, even as panic and anger warred for dominance inside his heart and mind. Clutched in his fist were several freshly bloomed forgetme-nots. While the gesture was sweet, and the chosen blossom relevant, Jonas would have much rather awoken to his mate. After all the talk of trust and sticking together, he couldn’t believe that Nicholas would leave him behind while he went off to fight a battle that could kill him. He was going to beat the asshole stupid when he finally got his hands on him. Growling angrily, he slammed his fist down on his thigh then shoved off the bed with a new determination. He didn’t know where the others had gone or how to find them, but he wasn’t staying behind while the man he loved risked his life. He hadn’t waited his whole

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goddamn life to get everything he wanted just to sit idly by and watch it ripped away from him. After yanking a shirt over his head and tugging his jeans up his legs, he shoved his feet into his boots, laced them quickly, and marched out of the basement. It was bad enough that Nicholas had ditched him, but the man loved him and, in his mind, was trying to protect him. What excuse did the others have, though? Surely they realized they needed all the help they could get. Jonas might not know a lot about magic, but he was another capable body, willing and able to wield a blade to defend what was important to him. Storming through the door that led into the main part of the house, he almost barreled right over Ridley Thatcher. Ridley might be the alpha, but he wasn’t Jonas’s, so he didn’t feel too bad about snarling at the guy. “Where are they?” “Oh, aren’t you just a bucket of sunshine this evening?” Ridley grinned widely, either unaffected or unwilling to act on his anger over Jonas’s disrespect. Judging by what Jonas knew about the alpha and after observing some of his laid-back behavior, Jonas was willing to bet he hadn’t fazed the man at all. “Ridley, I’m not fucking around here. Tell me where they are.” “How about some breakfast?” Jonas growled and lunged for the younger man, but Ridley was ready for him. Dodging his advance, Ridley spun into him, dropped his shoulder into Jonas’s midsection, and swept his legs out from under him. The move was so fast Jonas didn’t see it coming until he was face down on the floor with his right hand wrenched up between his shoulder blades and a knee pressing into the small of his back. “You’re getting slow,” Ridley taunted him. “Maybe it’s time to quit the game, old man.” It wasn’t until then that Jonas realized he wasn’t feeling up to top form. His muscles ached, his head throbbed, and he felt tired and weak. His throat burned and his stomach cramped as though it had been weeks rather than hours since he’d ingested any blood.

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Holding his free hand up in front of him, he was horrified by what he saw. His usually smooth, pale skin was now gray and wrinkled, almost transparent in its thinness. Instead of the strong fingers he was accustomed to seeing, his digits were now little more than boney claws. “What happened to me?” Ridley sighed and released him. Then he pushed up to his feet and held a hand out to help Jonas up as well. Panic bubbled inside his chest when Jonas realized he needed the help. He’d felt fine when he’d woken up. Right? Thinking back over the previous minutes since he’d arisen to find himself alone in the basement, Jonas couldn’t find anything amiss. “I don’t know.” Ridley pushed both hands through his short hair, causing it to stand up in disarray. He studied Jonas’s face for a long time, looking him over carefully before shaking his head. “I just don’t know. You looked tired but otherwise fine when you came up the stairs.” “Where’s Nicholas?” “Where do you think he went?” Ridley growled and began pacing the floor. “He’s gone after Phillip. Don’t get all butt hurt about being left behind, either. He’s doing what he thinks is best to keep you safe.” Unfortunately, that sounded like his Nicky. The man always shouldered the burden and never asked for help. While some may consider it noble or brave, Jonas found it to be one of his mate’s less than endearing qualities. “And you have no idea where they are?” “I do, but I think it would be better if you stayed here.” Ridley held up his hand to cut off Jonas’s protest. “Man, you can barely stand up, and no offense, but you’re looking worse by the minute.” Jonas was feeling worse by the minute. He didn’t care if he had to crawl the entire way, though. Nothing was going to keep him away from his mate when Nicholas needed him. “Tell me where they are.” “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

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“News flash, I’m already dying.” He could feel his strength deteriorating and his body weakening, preparing to shut down for good. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather do it by my mate’s side in battle rather than whimpering and moaning in this house.” “You are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.” Jonas chuckled and shook his head. “You have met Nicholas, right?” Ridley hesitated for a moment before joining in his laughter. “Point taken.” Then he became serious again. “Are you sure you want to do this?” “Yes.” Jonas had never been good with words. Short, sweet, and to the point was how he rolled. “Fine.” Ridley nodded curtly, as though he’d been having an argument with himself and one side had finally come out victorious. “I’m going with you.” If it meant tipping the scales in their favor, Jonas was all for it. “Grab what you need, and let’s go.” “I don’t see daggers and guns being much use against magic.” Ridley pressed his lips together and winced. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t repeat the part about the guns. I know The Council forbids its Enforcers to carry firearms, but this is the twenty-first century, and I’m not letting my men die because of the elders’ refusal to evolve.” “I agree, and we’re not the only ones. Leader Shogard is planning to petition I.C.P.J. about the issue.” “Good luck,” Ridley scoffed. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spoken with the elders about it since I became alpha.” “Well, it’s something to worry about later. Like you said, guns aren’t going to be much use against magic anyway.” There was also the little problem of finding a way to defeat Phillip. If Nicholas was right about the binding spell, they’d also need to kill the wolf, Moonstar, if they planned for Phillip to stay dead this time.

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“Where do you think he’s been for the last three years?” Ridley asked as he grabbed his leather jacket off the back of the sofa and pulled it on. “Why has he waited so long?” “Maybe he didn’t have the book.” Jonas shrugged. It didn’t matter to him how or why the man was back. All he cared about was seeing Phillip underground again. He took a step forward to follow Ridley to the door and stumbled, nearly losing his balance and taking a header right into the coffee table. Righting himself at the last minute, he shook his head and growled. Weakness was not an option. He couldn’t afford for his body to start falling apart on him now. Looking up to find Ridley watching him, Jonas didn’t like the concern he saw in the alpha’s eyes. How horrible did he look? Was it really that bad? Ridley held the door open and motioned him through. “We need to hurry.” Yeah, it was that bad. **** It was a smack in the face when Varik drove them right back to the airstrip. At the time, Nicholas had been reeling from recovering his memories. Once he discovered that the others were missing, his only thought had been to keep Jonas safe and get them the fuck out of there. Now that he looked back on it, there really hadn’t been enough time for Phillip to abduct four men and carry them away without either Nicholas or Jonas noticing. Part of him damned himself for an idiot, but a larger part was just grateful that they’d never made it inside the hangar like Jonas had originally planned. “We’re sure this is the place?” Kieran asked from the front passenger seat.

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“This is the place Galen dreamed about,” Varik answered. “He even described the remains of the plane.” He pointed through the windshield and out toward the charred wreckage. They’d divided into three SUVs, and Nicholas currently rode with Varik, Kieran, and Demos. The Murphys were in the vehicle behind them with four of the Trinity Pack Enforcers bringing up the rear. Nicholas had wanted to kiss the beta, Blair, when he insisted that Ridley stay behind and deter Jonas from following them. It wouldn’t spell good tidings for their relationship, but Nicholas couldn’t stand the thought of purposely dragging his mate to what was sure to be his death. If they survived this, he had a lot of groveling do, and he could only hope that Jonas would forgive him for his deception. Varik drove past the plane and turned off the asphalt, driving them out through the high grass as they bumped along the uneven ground. “Where are we going?” Nicholas looked over his shoulder toward the aircraft hangar and frowned. “I thought they were back there.” “Aslan and Galen both mentioned something about a cemetery,” Varik answered casually as though this sort of thing happened every day. “Ridley said there was a graveyard about a mile west of the airstrip. It’s for pack only so there’s no actual road to it. Usually they walk the caskets from the landing strip.” “An entire mile?” Kieran asked with some shock in his voice. Varik shrugged. “He says it’s a way to honor the dead, especially those who have died defending the pack. I’m not saying I get it, but to each their own.” Nicholas shrugged it off as well. He’d always found shifters a bit strange, but some of their traditions were nice in a way. The mention of a cemetery sent a chill down his spine, though. Not only could nothing good come from this, but having his brother in a cemetery with the Book of the Banished could prove to be downright catastrophic.

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He really needed to shake himself out of his funk of thinking they were all going to perish. Nothing was ever accomplished without a positive attitude—or some shit like that. All he really knew was that he was walking into the unknown, and now there was a virtual valley of the dead involved. They rolled along in silence for another few minutes before Varik pulled up beside an old wooden fence and killed the engine. “Well, this is it.” Moonbeams illuminated the graveyard, shining on tombstones of all shapes and sizes as they stood guard over the deceased like eternal sentinels. To complete the utterly creepy cliché, thick clouds rolled across the night sky and a thin fog settled over the ground near the base of the headstones. Headlights flared behind them, and two more vehicles came into view, stopping just behind them. Easing his door open and trying to make as little noise as possible, Nicholas slid out of the backseat and stared out over the cemetery. The quiet pressed in on him like a palpable force. “It’s too quiet.” “Listen.” Demos held his hand up, silencing the others as they shuffled over to gather around them. “Do you hear that?” Nicholas cocked his head to the side and lifted his ear to the sky. He didn’t hear anything at first, but then the wind picked up, carrying a muffled voice with it. The longer he listened, the louder and more distinct it became until it seemed to be all around them, swirling with the fog and surrounding them. “Spiritus mortuorum ego advoca te. Return to consorti mea lux. Spiritus mortuorum ego advoca te.” The chanted words made his blood run cold, especially spoken in a voice he hadn’t heard in more than three years. “What’s he saying?” Kieran whispered in Nicholas’s ear. “He’s summoning the spirits of the dead to return his mate.” The fog began to thicken as it rolled over the ground, concealing everything below Nicholas’s knees.

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“Don’t be shy, brother!” Phillip called to him from somewhere amongst the mass of headstones. “I’ve been waiting for you!”

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Chapter Twelve Pulling up behind the last SUV parked alongside the old wooden fence, Jonas had his door open before Ridley had even come to a complete stop. His energy was draining swiftly, so he didn’t dare trying to jump out of the vehicle like he normally would. Though his body felt frail and useless, a fire burned inside him, propelling him forward to stand by his mate. The fog lapped at his calves and around his knees, billowing up around him with each step he took. As he and Ridley approached, a dozen sets of eyes turned in their direction, but Jonas searched for only one. Nicholas stood a couple of steps ahead of the rest with his chest almost touching the fence. When their eyes met, Nicholas let out a sharp gasp that Jonas could hear, even over the roar of the wind. The closer he traveled toward his mate, the harder and more ferocious the wind blew around him, fighting him as though desperate to keep him from Nicholas. “Why?” Nicholas shouted. “We’re in this together,” Jonas croaked in answer. Even his voice sounded feeble, but he pushed on, battling the wind as he trudged toward his mate. All at once, everything stilled and became eerily quiet. Jonas paused in his forward trek and craned his neck, looking for any signs of trouble. Ridley caressed his arm and gave him a sad smile as he slipped past him to join the others. “And now you’re both here,” came a deep, husky voice. Jonas snapped his attention toward his mate and cried out when it felt as though he’d shattered his spine. Standing just on the other side

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of the fence was the one person he’d never thought to see again if he lived forever. Phillip looked no different than he had the last time Jonas had laid eyes on him. The moonlight glinted off his dark hair, giving it a bluish tinge that only made him appear more handsome. They weren’t twins, but no one could deny the familial ties between Phillip and Nicholas. “What are you doing to him?” Nicholas snarled at his brother but made no attempt to touch him. “Stop this!” “A life for a life, brother,” Phillip answered easily. “Your mate for mine.” Jonas shuffled forward, each step sending electric shocks of pain coursing through his body. He didn’t stop until he stood beside Nicholas, though. When he was close enough to touch his mate, he reached out and took Nicholas’s hand, squeezing it with as much strength as he could. “Do you still love me now that I’m all old and disgusting?” He’d meant it as a joke, but tears welled up in Nicholas’s eyes, shining in the moonlight that caressed his face. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered. “I will always love you.” “Oh, gag me,” Phillip interrupted with a sneer. “I’ve waited a long, long time for this.” He looked over Nicholas’s shoulder toward the group at his back and waved his hand in their direction. “Manere.” There were loud growls and roars as the twelve men were flung backward and pinned by some invisible force to the sides of the SUVs. Phillip smirked evilly and turned to walk back through the fog. “Come.” Jonas started forward, but Nicholas stopped him with a gentle tug. “Stay here.” He caressed the side of Jonas’s face and gulped audibly. “Please, don’t do this.” “We’re in this together,” Jonas repeated. “I’m not letting you go alone.” He wasn’t fooling himself. He knew he couldn’t fight Phillip and win. Hell, at the rate his body was shutting down, he probably

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couldn’t fight a kitten and win. For better or worse, he’d be by Nicholas’s side until the end, though. “I’ll be honest and tell you that I feel like shit, so do you think we can argue about this later?” As he stared up into Nicholas’s glistening eyes, he knew that Nicholas understood as well as he did that there wouldn’t be a later. He wasn’t going to walk away from this, but at least he’d chosen an appropriate venue to die. Cutting out the middle man, so to speak. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Nicholas grabbed the top of the fence and launched himself over it before turning to help Jonas over as well. Then a strong arm wrapped around his waist, and Nicholas held him up as they walked amongst the gravestones in the direction Phillip had disappeared. It seemed to take an extraordinary amount of time, but eventually Nicholas stopped and pulled Jonas to a halt beside him. “Let them go,” he demanded, jerking his head to the side. Jonas followed Nicholas’s gaze. His low growl turned to a violent coughing fit, and by the time it ended, he found himself kneeling on the ground with his mate crouched in front of him. “I’m fine,” he assured his lover before returning his attention to the four men tied to individual headstones. Their heads lolled on their shoulders, and they were obviously unconscious. Studying them carefully, Jonas noticed a few cuts and bruises, but nothing of immediate concern. “I think they’re okay.” “They’re completely fine,” Phillip agreed, “for now. I needed bait. Now that they’ve served their purpose, I don’t really have any use for them.” He closed his eyes and lifted his arms toward the sky as he began chanting words that Jonas couldn’t comprehend. “Spiritus mortuorum ego advoca te. Return to consorti mea lux. Spiritus mortuorum ego advoca te.” Over and over he recited the words, and though Jonas didn’t know what they meant, he could feel the life slipping out of him. “Vita vitae. Mors mortis. Revertetur quod abiit. Spiritus mortuorum ego advoca te.”

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When the pain started, Jonas clenched his withered hands into fists and doubled over, crying out in agony. His insides boiled, his bones bent and creaked, and his muscles spasmed until he thought his entire body would break apart into a million pieces. “Life of life. Death of death. Return what is mine. Spirits of the dead, I summon thee!” Phillip grew louder with each repetition, alternately switching between English and the language Jonas didn’t understand. “I guess he doesn’t want me to be confused,” Jonas choked out as another blast of pain gripped his body. Slumping over to his side, he curled into a fetal position and panted heavily as the fog licked at his clammy skin. “Stop this!” Nicholas shouted from beside Jonas. He caressed Jonas’s face and stroked his lank and lifeless hair. “You’re killing him. Please, Phillip! I love him.” “And I loved Andre!” Phillip shouted vehemently. “You took him from me. It should have been you that died in that pond!” As his heart rate slowed, the pain began to subside, leaving only exhaustion. “It’s not so bad,” he whispered hoarsely to his mate. “Death isn’t scary, Nicholas.” His eyelids grew heavy, and he struggled to make his lips form the words he wanted to say. “I love you, and I’ll always be with you. Don’t forget me.” With his last bit of energy, he slid his hand across the dew-covered grass and placed it over Nicholas’s. “Jonas, don’t do this. Open your eyes.” Nicholas shook him roughly and his breath hitched twice. “Don’t fucking leave me. Phillip, stop this!” “Don’t forget me,” Jonas repeated in a tired whisper. He sucked in a shuddering breath and let it out on a slow exhale as everything vanished, and he floated away into a peaceful, endless sleep. ****

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As Nicholas watched his mate take his last breath on this earth, an all-consuming rage enveloped him. There was nothing he could do for Jonas now, and there would be plenty of time to grieve for the man he loved—an eternity of it. Just then, however, the only thing in his heart was hate, and the only thought drifting through the red haze of his mind was inflicting as much pain on his brother as possible. Phillip’s death would not be quick or painless. Nicholas would make sure he suffered, drawing out the torture until the resurrected vampire begged for death. “You can’t beat me,” Phillip said cockily. “It’s over. I will have my Andre back, and you will lament in agony as I have for the last two centuries.” Rising slowly, Nicholas turned to face his brother head on and squared his shoulders. “You can’t bring him back, Phillip. Andre is gone, and he’s not coming back.” Phillip laughed harshly before he began chanting again. “The spell isn’t meant for those who have moved on. You can’t recall someone from the other side.” “Shut up! You’re lying!” Some of Nicholas’s rage melted away, replaced by pity for the brother he’d idolized for years. “Only the souls trapped in Purgatory, those with unsettled debts, can be called back.” He took a step closer to Phillip and spoke softly. “Andre isn’t coming back.” “Silence!” Phillip roared, and Nicholas felt his lips clamp together as though someone had slapped a hand over his mouth. Faster and with a slight growl in his voice, Phillip began chanting again. “Revertetur quod abiit. Return what is mine!” That was wrong, though. Phillip wasn’t asking for the return of something that belonged to him. He was calling back all things that had passed. Once Nicholas figured that much out, it didn’t take long for him to realize that all hell was about to break loose. The wind whipped and howled, blowing Nicholas’s hair around his face. The clouds over his head darkened and churned, coming

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together to blot out the moon, while a loud, terrifying wail ripped through the night, closely followed by several other distinctly different, murmuring voices. Nicholas might not be able to speak, but Phillip hadn’t frozen him in place as he’d done the others. Taking several running steps, he launched himself at his brother, tackling him to the ground hard enough that Nicholas’s teeth clacked together upon impact. Phillip growled and tried to shove him off, and his break in concentration lifted Nicholas’s curse of silence. “Stop this! You’re going to kill us all, you idiot! You have no idea what you’re doing.” Even as he spoke the words, Nicholas knew it was too late. The wind battered against them brutally, and the temperature dropped to bone-numbing cold in the span of seconds. The ground began to tremble, and the wails and murmurs increased in volume as the fog churned around them. “What’s happening?” Phillip whispered, his eyes darting about them frantically. “This isn’t right. This isn’t what’s supposed to happen.” He grabbed at Nicholas’s shoulder, looking less like the maniac of moments before and more like a scared little boy. “Do something.” Nicholas rolled to the side to sit on the grass beside his brother and shook his head. “I don’t know how.” When the first grisly specter appeared just feet in front of him, he really wished he’d had a better answer. Huddling closer to Phillip, Nicholas stared in wide-eyed shock as several more gruesome spirits appeared out of thin air, each more horrible than the last. Looking past the angry ghosts, Nicholas stared at Jonas’s unmoving and lifeless body where it was still crumpled on the ground. His fierce defender was now nothing more than a shattered memory of the man he’d once been. Grief and sadness welled up in his heart, and tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. He had no guarantee of what would happen after he died, but he hoped he’d be reunited with the man he loved. Jonas

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said death was nothing to fear, and in that moment, staring at his broken warrior, Nicholas welcomed an end to the pain ripping at his heart. He couldn’t fight what was coming. There was no way out of the mess Phillip had created for them. Heartache over losing the man he loved had driven his brother mad, and for the first time, Nicholas understood the unrelenting anguish Phillip must have felt. “I forgive you,” he whispered to Phillip as he closed his eyes and waited for the end. “Light of the righteous, vanquish the darkness. Reclaim your lost souls and deliver them unto the night.” Opening his eyes, Nicholas looked over his shoulder to find Torren struggling against the ropes binding him to the headstone as he chanted the words. How he could have forgotten that they had a powerful witch on their side, he’d never know. Scrambling across the ground on his hands and knees, he unsheathed his dagger and began sawing at the thick ropes wrapped around Torren’s torso. Once he’d finished with those, he set to work on the ropes around the witch’s ankles and wrists. When Torren was free, he jumped up from the ground and rushed forward to stand beside Phillip. “Get up and join hands,” he ordered, never taking his eyes away from the angry and advancing spirits. Nicholas didn’t waste any time as he hurried to join him. Grabbing his brother under the arms, he jerked Phillip to his feet and dragged him several feet back before shaking him roughly. “Join hands!” Nodding dazedly, Phillip took Nicholas’s hand in one of his and Torren’s in the other. “Light of the righteous, vanquish the darkness. Reclaim your lost souls and deliver them unto the night.” Over and over, faster and faster, they chanted the words as the souls of the banished moved ever closer.

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Thundering footsteps raced over the ground but stuttered to a halt just outside their circle as their friends and allies stopped and gaped at them. “Join in!” Torren shouted at them, releasing Nicholas’s hand and reaching for Kieran. “We’re not witches!” Ridley argued, yelling to be heard over the vicious wind. “It doesn’t matter,” Phillip responded, finally coming out of his stupor. “Join in the circle, damn it!” Every man gave one look at the gruesome and grisly horde closing in on them and shuddered before moving quickly to join hands. Once the circle was closed, Nicholas immediately began chanting again, giving his friends a hard stare to get them chanting as well. Then he closed his eyes and focused all the energy inside of him. “Light of the righteous, vanquish the darkness. Reclaim your lost souls and deliver them unto the night,” they all shouted in unison again and again. The wind quieted, slowing diminishing in its strength, and the temperature began to rise. Nicholas’s palms heated where they met with Torren’s and Phillip’s. Without warning, a blast of wind exploded from the center of their circle, barreling into them with enough force to knock them all off their feet. Landing on his back with a grunt, Nicholas rolled to his side and panted for breath as he searched the night for their enemies. Everything was quiet, though. No ghosts, no howling wind, no dark, foreboding clouds—even the fog began to roll away. The only evidence that they’d just fought for their lives and won was the presence of a brother he’d thought was dead, and a mate who really was.

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Chapter Thirteen “Do something!” Nicholas begged as he scrambled across the ground to his fallen mate. “Jonas, wake up.” Holding the tears back by sheer willpower, he cradled his mate’s head in his lap and stroked his hair back from his face. “No, no, no. Jonas, no.” The danger had passed, the rage at his brother had faded, and all that was left was the debilitating pain that gripped his heart and squeezed until it bled. “Phillip, fix this!” he screamed. “You did this. Fucking fix it!” The tears streamed down Phillip’s cheeks, and he shook his head as he eased to the ground beside Nicholas. “I’m sorry, Nicky. I can’t fix this.” “Bullshit! You can. Do you really hate me so much?” “I did,” Phillip whispered. “I never meant any of that shit, Nicky. It just hurt so much when Andre died, and I let the grief control me and pollute my brain. I didn’t just hate you. I hated everyone.” “Fuck you,” Nicholas whispered. “I don’t want your fucking excuses or apologies! I want you to bring him back, goddamn it!” “Nicky…” “No!” Nicholas roared. “What happened with Andre was an accident. You…You took Jonas from me. It wasn’t enough that you kept us apart for all those years with your stupid curse, or tried to kill him with that gold dagger? No, you couldn’t let it go until you ripped us apart. Well, you can take your remorse and shove it up your ass.” All he wanted was for Phillip to disappear again. Do not pass go. Do not collect two-hundred dollars. Just go straight to hell. Was that really too much to ask for?

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Phillip started chuckling, quietly at first, but it grew louder and more maniacal with each passing second. “I can’t believe you were able to stay away from him for so long. I had to do something when you wouldn’t claim him, so I followed you two down to the pond. How else was I supposed to get my Andre back?” “You’re crazy.” His brother had completely snapped. Running one finger along the side of Jonas’s face, Phillip grinned sadistically. “I wonder how long it will take you to lose your mind. How long do you think you’ll last, Nicky? Was it worth it? Was his blood sweet when you sank your fangs through his neck and claimed him?” “Would someone please fucking arrest him already?” Ridley huffed and waved a hand at Phillip. Varik, Demos, and Devlin stepped forward and dragged Phillip to his feet none too gently. “Hands behind your back, asshole,” Varik snarled at him. “Ha!” Phillip laughed. “Or what? Are you going to kill me? Haven’t you heard? I can’t die!” Cian Murphy pushed through the crowd and marched right up to Phillip. Then he hauled off and decked him in the mouth. Phillip’s head snapped back on his shoulders, and Cian took the opportunity to jab a needle into his neck and depress the syringe. Seconds later, Phillip was out cold. “Maybe he can’t die, but that should be keepin’ him quiet.” “What was that?” Varik asked, though he seemed unconcerned about the answer. “Inhibitor,” Cian answered with a shrug. “It’ll keep the shifters from changin’, but wouldn’t ya know, it’ll knock anyone else on their arse, ya see.” Nicholas vaguely registered the conversation in some corner of his mind, but most of his attention was focused on the man in his arms. He’d never see Jonas smile at him again. They’d never make love in

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the shower or sit down to dinner together again. He’d never hear Jonas tell him he loved him, or call him Nicky. Life as he knew it had ceased to exist, yet the world still continued to spin. “I need that book.” “No,” Kieran answered firmly. Then he sighed and scrubbed at his face. “I’m sorry. I am, but he’s gone. It’s not right to try to bring him back because you can’t bear to let him go.” “C’mon, Nicky.” Torren tried to pull Jonas from his arms, but Nicholas bared his fangs and growled viciously at the witch. “Don’t touch him, and don’t call me that!” Torren held his hands up in surrender and spoke quietly and soothingly. “It’s time to let him go. I know it hurts. It’s always going to hurt, but it will get easier over time. Don’t make the same mistakes as your brother.” The men surrounded him, forming a tight circle. Even Raven, Bannon, and the pilot, Carlos, were there, each being held up by one of their friends. “Let him go,” Varik whispered. “No!” Nicholas clutched Jonas to him tighter and rocked him back and forth. “I swore I wouldn’t. I promised him!” Didn’t any of them understand? He’d broken so many promises and told so many lies. Not this time, though. “I bound us together and told him I’d never forget him again.” “You don’t have to forget him,” Demos said gently. “That’s not what we’re saying.” Torren, on the other hand, zeroed in on another part of Nicholas’s statement. “What do you mean? How did you bind him to you?” “I claimed him,” Nicholas whispered, shame filling him as he remembered the exact moment that he’d damned his mate to this fate. Then he repeated the words he’d spoken in that moment of passion. To his shock and disgust, Torren smiled from ear to ear then fell back on his butt and started chuckling. “This is funny to you?” Torren shook his head but continued to laugh. “I’m just relieved.”

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Okay, that made no sense to Nicholas and only served to piss him off more. “Is it my imagination, or is he looking a little less…dead?” Kieran asked, pointing down at Jonas and cocking an eyebrow. Nicholas followed his gaze and gasped. Before his eyes, Jonas’s body had begun to fill out, regain its muscular definition, and take on a healthier look. His skin didn’t appear as gray and ashy, and the wrinkles were gone, restoring it to its previous smooth perfection. Please, please, please. Oh, God, please don’t let me lose him. Nicholas made all sorts of vows to any deity he could think of that might be out there in the universe and sympathetic to his plight. The weight resting on his thighs increased, and Jonas’s hair took on a sleek shine, the strands turning silky beneath Nicholas’s palm. “That’s it, Jonas. Open your eyes, baby. Come back to me. I’m not the only one who made promises. We’re going to be together forever, remember?” When Jonas jerked in his arms and sucked in a huge, gasping breath, Nicholas couldn’t keep the tears at bay any longer. He didn’t exactly fall apart, but a few drops escaped out of the corners of his eyes as he squeezed them closed and shivered in relief. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he repeated as he rained kisses over the top of his mate’s head and down the side of his face. “Nicky,” Jonas breathed against Nicholas’s neck. Shifting to his side, his long arms wrapped around Nicholas’s waist and crushed him in his embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Nicholas chuckled wetly and rested his chin on the top of Jonas’s head. “You’re the one who dies, and you’re still worried about me.” “I’ll always worry about you.” “I know, baby. I know. I love you.” “I love you, too.” Jonas kissed the side of his neck and eased away. “Don’t call me baby.” “Not that I’m not thrilled, but would someone mind explaining how he’s alive?” Varik closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his

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nose. “This is insane. I’m going back to Wyoming, and I swear to fuck, I’m never leaving again.” “Agreed,” Jonas said with a solemn nod of his head. “He’s got a point, though. How am I alive?” Torren was still grinning from ear to ear when he stood and reached out to help Jonas and Nicholas up as well. “When a witch claims a mate, they’re bound together, much like shifters.” He dipped his head toward the shifters of the group, who all nodded their understanding agreement. “If a shifter dies after claiming a mate, their mate’s life is forfeit as well. It’s a pretty big deal, if you ask me.” “You have no idea,” Ridley muttered under his breath. “When a witch claims a mate, it’s the opposite. Your life forces become one, but you can’t die unless your mate dies as well.” “Like the binding spell Phillip cast on Moonstar,” Nicholas whispered, mostly to himself. “Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but yes, like a binding spell, though permanent.” “Wait.” Nicholas exchanged a look with Jonas then turned back to Torren. “So, unless a binding spell is between mates, it can fade away?” Torren shrugged. “Well, yeah. The spell has to be renewed every year at the exact time on the exact day. Even magic has laws and limitations.” “So, Phillip could die now?” Jonas asked bluntly, and he actually took a step forward as though he intended to dole out the sentence himself. Nicholas grabbed his elbow and pulled him back, though. “Phillip will be punished, but I won’t have his blood on your hands.” His mate didn’t look very happy about it, but he nodded and leaned into Nicholas’s side. “Can you at least take his magic?” he asked Torren “I could, but I don’t want it. What resides inside Phillip is dark and dangerous. Let The Council deal with him.”

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“What about decapitation?” Raven asked out of the blue. Everyone turned to stare at him in confusion, but he just waved a hand around as though they were all the crazy ones. “I mean if one mate gets his head chopped off, would he still come back to life if the other mate was still alive?” Torren snorted and rolled his eyes. “Nice visual, and the answer is no. Like I said before, even magic has its limitations.” Raven bobbed his head slowly. “We should inform The Council about all of this before they attempt to execute Natalie Halstead.” “I completely forgot about her.” Nicholas shook his head. “Do we have time to make it back to Wyoming before sunrise?” Varik glanced down at his watch and shook his head. “We would be able to just barely make it, but we don’t have a plane.” “I can fly you.” Blair, the Trinity Pack beta, stepped forward and offered his hand to Jonas. “Glad you’re not dead,” he said by way of greeting as they shook. “So, how about it? Who wants to go home?” Not surprisingly, the vote was unanimous. Ridley insisted on accompanying them, along with Kieran. Devlin and his brothers said they’d drive back and deliver Phillip to The Council on the way. There was only one thing left for Nicholas to do. Grabbing Jonas by his shirt collar, he yanked the man to him and covered his lips in a searing kiss that rivaled the heat of the desert. Not caring who watched, he poured every ounce of emotion he’d felt in the last two hundred years into the mating of their lips. Several whistles and catcalls went up around the group, and some even clapped their hands and cheered like the jackasses they were. Nicholas didn’t care. They were alive, and he never had to give up his mate. He definitely had a lot to celebrate. ****

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For someone who’d died, he felt great. Jonas stretched his legs out in front of him, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. “Have you thought about what you want to do now?” he asked casually. “What do you mean?” Nicholas took his hand and held it on the armrest between them, squeezing it firmly. “I really hate fucking flying.” Jonas chuckled and pushed up a little straighter in his seat as he shifted around to get a better look at his mate. Nicholas certainly looked a little green around the gills. Poor baby. Jonas wouldn’t ever utter those words aloud. He rather enjoyed his balls right where they were, thank you very much. “Now that everything is as back to normal as it’s going to be for a while, I was just wondering if we would be going back to Olympia.” Rolling his head to the side, Nicholas cracked one eye open to look at Jonas. “Olympia is our home, and I have an obligation to our coven. I’m their leader, Jonas. I can’t just walk away from my responsibilities.” Jonas bobbed his head. “Yeah, I know.” “Why?” Nicholas readjusted so that he was sitting on his side, facing Jonas. “Do you not want to go back? Did you want to stay in Haven?” Jonas could understand Nicholas’s aversion to remaining in Wyoming. He’d been cursed during his stay in Haven, and even his memories of Jonas at the time weren’t happy ones. Jonas, however, had made a few friends and finally felt like part of a family. They’d taken him in, helped him protect the one person most important to him, and though they’d heard the stories of how he’d released Natalie, no one ever judged him. Olympia had been his home for a long time, but other than the pond, he had only a handful of memories worth keeping. Being head of the guard, and an Enforcer to boot, didn’t exactly endear him to the leery and skeptical vampires of the Olympia Coven. Again, not that he could blame them. Phillip had instilled that fear and distrust of

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authority with centuries of mistreatment. It wouldn’t all simply fade away overnight. “Whatever you want,” he finally answered. Wherever Nicholas went, Jonas would follow. It was as simple as that. Besides, he didn’t think it was fair for him to ask his mate to step down from a position that was his natural birthright. Nicholas groaned and rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I asked. Yes, I think my coven needs me. I have a responsibility to them, and I haven’t always been the best leader.” “That’s not true,” Jonas interrupted. “You’re an amazing leader.” “Thank you, though I think you might be a bit biased.” He lifted their clasped hands and brushed a kiss over Jonas’s knuckles. “Either way, the point is that I can be better. Raven tells me that there were several members brought before The Council for kidnapping and trading children to the witches.” “Yes, but that isn’t your fault.” If anything it was Jonas’s for getting his mate bewitched in the first place. “They were scared because of what happened to you and went to extreme measures to protect themselves. Now that Elder Cortez is there, I hear things have settled down again.” Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. “We have a few days to discuss it and decide what’s best for both of us. We need to appear before The Council to show that I’m no longer cursed, and I’d like to be there for Natalie’s trial.” “I don’t think there will be a trial. Elder Winters only said that she was to be executed on the first of the month.” Nicholas waved him away. “I just meant that we need to share what information we have with them. You know, the Magiks really should have some kind of representation on The Council.” It wasn’t the first time Jonas had heard that in the last few months, and he doubted it would be the last. “Yes, well, good luck finding a witch willing, not to mention fighting the elders to accept something like that.” According to Stavion, it had been nearly impossible to get

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Cortez on The Council, and Stavion had been ordered to find a replacement for the vampire seat. “Do we really need The Council?” Jonas looked around quickly to make sure no one was eavesdropping as he hushed his lover. “Nicky, have you lost your mind? That’s treason.” “I’m just saying,” Nicholas continued, not bothering to lower his voice. “Why can’t the different classes rule themselves? The vampires could have a council, the shifters, the weres, and so on. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that a shifter should decide the fate of a vampire?” “And why can’t we have guns?” Kieran asked as he turned to look over the seatback at them. “Do you know how many times I’ve been shot at? Hell, they don’t even have to be real guns. Maybe we can carry tranquilizer guns or Taser guns.” “Am I the only person who thinks this whole registry thing is bogus, and it’s just a way to control us?” Raven chimed in from the seat across the aisle. “The Council is outdated,” Demos added. “I’m not saying we should do away with it completely, but it needs a complete overhaul.” Jonas agreed with everything they were saying, he just didn’t know how to do anything about it. “Layke has been hanging around Haven a lot, right?” “Who’s Layke?” Nicholas asked with his brow furrowed. “Elder Winters,” Jonas answered, distracted, while he looked at the others for their answer. “Yeah, he’s a good guy,” Varik answered. “I don’t think he has a lot of pull with the other elders, though. The way he tells it, they’ve been trying to get him off The Council for years.” They hadn’t accomplished anything—didn’t have any answers— but their debate had done the trick in distracting Nicholas from his fear of flying. That is, until the pilot announced they’d be landing in approximately ten minutes. Then he went stiff and paled again.

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Leaning over the armrest, Jonas tilted his mate’s face to him and claimed his lips in slow, sweet kiss. “There, that’s better,” he whispered a minute later when they pulled away. “Are you going to continue kissing me until the plane is on the ground?” Nicholas teased. Jonas smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s the plan.”

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Chapter Fourteen “Leader McCarthy, it’s good to see you back to yourself,” Elder Layke Winters said from his place on the dais beside the other elders. “I understand you’ve had quite the adventure while trying to recover your memories.” Nicholas stood in front of The Council with Jonas by his side and nodded. “Yes, Elder Winters.” He wasn’t there to discuss how they’d gone about breaking the spell, though. He was there to assure that the elders followed through on their deal and cleared Jonas of all charges. They weren’t alone, either. Ridley, Blair, and three of his Enforcers had flown in from Nevada for the hearing. Stavion and almost every Enforcer from Haven were seated in the crowd behind them. Torren was there to lend his support and expertise on the Magiks if necessary. Even Malakai and his mates were in attendance. Nicholas hoped he had a chance to apologize to all three of them before he and Jonas left for Washington. “The bewitchment is lifted, Natalie Halstead has been apprehended and is currently awaiting her sentence, and I believe that means Enforcer Tracer is free to go.” Elder Winters nodded at Jonas and threw a quick wink to Nicholas. Elder Macintosh cleared his throat and shuffled some papers around on his desk. “There is still the matter of an Enforcer Becker.” He looked down at his notes again. “It says he was brought to The Council because he’d also been cursed by Natalie Halstead. As of yet, we haven’t been able to make that determination. It is still possible that he was acting of his own accord.”

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Nicholas wanted to roll his eyes. Elder Macintosh was a shifter, and if the rumors were true, he was a bird shifter at that—not a hawk, eagle, or some other bird of prey, but a fucking finch of all things. The man liked throwing his weight around and letting everyone know just how much he liked being in charge. He was a thorn in the side and a pompous, pretentious asshole as far as Nicholas was concerned. “I’m sorry, Elder,” he said amicably. “I don’t see how that relates to Enforcer Tracer.” “Seeing how he bargained with a captive and released her, he is thereby indirectly responsible for the bewitchment placed on Hollis Becker.” Nicholas growled and bared his fangs at Macintosh. “You just said you weren’t sure if there was a spell. Try again, Elder.” Nicholas still remembered when Samuel Macintosh was a pissant, freckly teenager with bad acne and zero self-esteem. The fact that Nicholas was over a hundred and fifty years older than the asshole but still had to follow his orders was a hard pill to swallow, especially when the man was wrong nine times out of ten. “Nicky, let it go,” Jonas whispered out of the side of his mouth. “He’s got nothing, and he’s grasping at straws.” “Why doesn’t he like you?” Nicholas asked, barely moving his lips. Jonas shrugged almost imperceptibly while he continued staring at the elders with only vague curiosity on his face. “Elder, if I may,” Torren said, rising to his feet and straightening his tie. “You are?” Elder Means asked. As weres went, the man was an okay guy. Technically, he was a lycan, and he certainly wasn’t in a league with Kieran or his siblings, but Nicholas liked him well enough just the same. “Torren Braddock.” Nicholas didn’t think it was his imagination that Elder Macintosh looked a little paler as he pressed his wrinkled lips together and sat up

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a bit straighter. “Torren Braddock,” he repeated. “Would your father be the late Riley Braddock?” Torren dipped his head. “The very same,” he answered with a crooked smirk. “You already knew that, though, didn’t you? How could you not, seeing as how you’re the one who ordered his execution.” Quiet gasps and murmurs went around the room, and Elder Macintosh looked in danger of stroking out right there in his seat. “I– I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.” “As the eldest of the Braddock children, the Magik seat on the council is mine.” Torren chuckled darkly under his breath as he walked forward to join Nicholas and Jonas. “The seat you so adamantly fight against filling, the one you insist doesn’t exist? It belongs to me.” “Samuel?” Elder Means tilted his head to the side as he studied the man next to him. “Is this true? You’ve claimed that there are no living Braddocks for years now.” He turned back to Torren and frowned. “How is this possible? You don’t exist in our registry.” Torren looked right at Macintosh, the sardonic smirk never leaving his visage. “Why don’t you ask your colleague? I’m sure he has a plausible excuse for tampering with The Council Registry.” “What about the fae?” a vampire asked as he also stood to his feet. He looked over his shoulder and held a hand down to his mate, helping the small blond to his feet. “Who is that?” Nicholas asked his mate. “Enforcer Cassius Reynolds and his mate, Kendall,” Jonas answered in a hushed voice. “Kendall is a pixie.” Nicholas’s eyes widened, and his attention darted back to the small, dainty looking man on Cassius’s arm. He’d heard legends of the pixies, but he’d never actually seen one in the flesh before. “Are the faeries, pixies, nymphs, and sprites not entitled to representation as well?”

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“What about the demons?” Stavion asked, rising beside Cassius and motioning for his mate to stand beside him. “That’s Stavion’s mate, Jory,” Jonas whispered before Nicholas could ask. He’d spent months in Haven, and yet he knew hardly anyone. “Jory is an Aíma demon.” “Demons?” Macintosh scoffed. “They’d rather shred us than honor and uphold any of our laws.” “Not all demons are created equal,” Stavion argued. “There are those who only want to live peaceably among us. Do they not warrant a voice on The Council?” “Now see here!” Elder Macintosh was losing control of the hearing, and judging by the brilliant purple his face was turning, he wasn’t very happy about it, either. “And shouldn’t Elder Cortez be here?” Jonas asked, loud enough for the entire room to hear him. “You wish to convict me as a vampire, yet I have no representation. Or was that the idea all along, Elder?” “Elder Cortez is busy watching over Leader McCarthy’s coven. He was unable to get away.” “On the contrary,” a loud booming voice echoed from the back of the room. A giant of a man rose to his feet and strode forward, his skin almost tan for a vampire. “I guess I must have missed your notice about the trial. Luckily, Elder Winters was kind enough to call and remind me of it last night.” “Elder Cortez,” Nicholas informed Jonas, pleased that he finally knew something that his mate didn’t. “Sloan,” Macintosh bit out through gritted teeth. “I’m glad you could join us.” “Elder Samuel Macintosh,” Cortez announced with a sly grin, “I hereby relieve you of your Council seat and order that Enforcer Whitmore and Enforcer Delaney take you into custody until which time we may set a date for your trial.” Cortez waved a hand behind him for Raven and Kieran to come forward. “You can go quietly,

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Samuel, or I can tell this entire courtroom how I witnessed you deceive this Council time and again.” Macintosh dipped his head jerkily, and Nicholas had to bite the inside of cheek to keep from laughing. He’d only come to make sure Jonas was cleared of any wrongdoing. He’d never dreamed things would become so entertaining. Elder Winters rose to his feet and folded his hands together in front of him. “As established by The Council, Enforcer Jonas Tracer has fulfilled the terms of his obligations and is cleared of all charges.” He turned and looked directly at Macintosh. “As is his right, Torren Braddock will be instated as Elder Council Member for the Magiks. Once he can be located, I propose that Camdin Maywater be instated as Elder of the fae.” “I second that,” Elder Cortez said in his deep, rumbling voice. Elder Means simply nodded dazedly. “As for The Council seat dedicated to the representation of demons, I nominate Jory Lahman.” “Me?” Jory squeaked from Stavion’s side. He looked up at his mate with wide, rounded eyes. “I’m only nineteen,” he hissed. “I can’t even take care of myself. I can’t do this, Stavion. Tell them no.” “Seconded,” Cortez said, flashing his pearly whites in Jory’s direction. “Leader McCarthy.” Nicholas snapped his attention to Elder Winters, nervous about what would come next. “The Olympia Coven is hereby returned to your leadership, and you are free to leave when you wish.” “Thank you, Elder.” “Call me Layke.” He waved a hand toward Macintosh, who hadn’t uttered a word or moved a muscle during the entire ordeal. “Enforcers, if you would escort Mr. Macintosh to his cell, please.” Nicholas didn’t miss that Layke had already stripped Samuel Macintosh of his title of Elder. Maybe good changes really were on the horizon for the future of their world.

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“Braddock,” Layke addressed the witch. “You will be sworn in immediately, and your first act of duty will be determining if Enforcer Becker has been bewitched and still remains under Miss Halstead’s spell.” “Yes, sir. Do you have a theory? It might be helpful if I have a starting point.” “I believe Becker is part witch himself. As to whether or not he was charmed, I can’t say.” “Understood.” Torren bobbed his head, his eyebrows drawing together as though he was deep in thought. “I think that covers everything. Elder Cortez, do you have anything to add?” Cortez turned to face the crowd and smiled. “There has been some complaint about The Council Registry and the right of the Enforcers to carry guns to better protect their packs, circles, covens, et cetera. If those against the registry and in favor of carry firearms wish to argue their case, I think we should hold a meeting next month to hear you out.” Loud cheers of agreement went up around the room, and Cortez set the date of the meeting for the following month. He chose Halloween as the date and proposed a party on Council lands to follow the meeting—which earned him several more cheers. Nicholas was beyond shocked at the turn the night had taken, but he couldn’t have been happier. They would return for the meeting, but he was ready to be back in Washington. He just had one more question. “What will happen to Phillip?” Layke sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. His crimes are too great to allow him to go free. The Council will convene at a later date to determine his punishment. For now, he’ll be kept tranquilized in one of the holding cells.” “We need that book.” Maybe it made him the lowest scum on the planet, but Nicholas could care less if they executed his brother before

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daybreak—not after he attempted to murder Jonas. They really needed to find out what Phillip had done with the Book of the Banished before that happened, though. Layke nodded slowly. “I see what you’re saying.” He looked over Nicholas’s shoulder to Torren. “Do whatever you have to do to get the information from him. We can’t let that spell book fall into the wrong hands, and by that, I mean anyone other than us.” “Absolutely,” Torren agreed. “As an elder, I have the right to choose my own guards and council, correct?” Smiling as though they were sharing some inside joke, Layke conceded. “Correct. I look forward to seeing your brothers again.” Nicholas didn’t know what was so funny, or who Torren’s brothers were, and he didn’t care. Turning to Jonas, he took his mate’s hand and squeezed. “Are you ready to go home?” Jonas looked at him and smiled. “I wanted to stay in Haven because it felt like I finally had a family for the first time in my life. In the last week, I realized that you are my family, and home is wherever we are together.” He whispered his lips over Nicholas’s cheek and then nuzzled it with his nose. “So, yes, take me home, Nicky.” **** “How long is the drive to Wyoming?” Jonas rolled his eyes as they trudged in through the front door of Nicholas’s house. “Almost seventeen hours. We’re not driving to the meeting on Halloween. You can suck it up and fly one more time.” “Two,” Nicholas corrected. “I’ll have to get back.” Jonas dropped his bag beside the door and turned to face his lover. “You’ll survive. I know you don’t like flying, but a man of your position can’t really avoid it.” He sauntered closer and wrapped an arm around Nicholas’s waist, tugging him closer. “Maybe I can distract you the next time.”

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Nicholas grinded against him and fisted one hand in the hair at the nape of Jonas’s neck. “Just what did you have in mind?” “How about a demonstration?” They’d made love before leaving Wyoming, but Jonas had almost two hundred years of sexual deprivation to make up for. “I have a better idea.” Nicholas pecked his lips and stepped away, backing out through the still-open door. “Come with me, Jonas.” Frowning in confusion, Jonas reached for his mate. He’d always been an instant-gratification kind of guy, and he wanted Nicholas naked and panting, not to go traipsing through the night. “Stop playing games, Nicky.” “Trust me.” Oh, that so wasn’t fair. With a heavy sigh, Jonas stepped out onto the porch and eased the door closed behind him. “Okay, where are we going?” “You’ll see,” Nicholas answered cryptically. “Am I going to get sex out of this?” Not that sex was all he cared about in their relationship, but he was primed and ready to go. It had been all he could think about during the flight home. They’d had sex on the floor, the sofa, the shower, and just about every other available surface besides a bed. Jonas really wanted to make love to his mate in a real, honest to goodness bed—preferably the one they’d be sharing for the rest of eternity. “Trust me,” Nicholas repeated, taking Jonas’s hand and leading him down the front steps. They walked along in silence, just holding hands in the moonlight. It wasn’t long before Jonas realized where Nicholas was taking him. The pond held a lot of good memories for him, and he hoped they’d be able to create many more, but he couldn’t help feeling a little hurt that Nicholas was still treating him like a secret. “Nicky.” “Don’t say anything yet,” Nicholas instructed. “Just wait.”

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Pressing his lips together, Jonas followed along, depressed that the night was not going in the direction he’d hoped it would. It had been easy for Nicholas to play the concerned and devoted mate while they were in the company of strangers who wouldn’t judge him. It probably hadn’t hurt that Jonas had almost died, either. Now that they were home amongst their own people, would Nicholas go back to ignoring him? Or worse, would their relationship be relegated to the shadows and clandestine encounters far away from curious eyes? As they crested the hill and the pond came into view, Jonas’s mouth dropped open, and he swallowed quickly, trying to push the lump down in his throat. “Nicky,” he whispered. “Being the leader of the coven does have its perks.” Hundreds of candles surrounded the pond, some even floating on the surface, flickering softly in the gentle October breeze. Near the north bank, beneath the tree where they’d shared their first kiss, was a four-poster bed, adorned with white silk sheets and an array of fluffy pillows and blankets. “You did this?” Nicholas led him through the multitude of candles and right up to the bed before he stopped and faced him. “You deserve nothing less. You deserve the world, Jonas. I might not be able to gift wrap the moon and stars for you, but I wanted to give you something to prove just how much I love you.” The kiss they shared was slow, sensual, and filled with promises. There was no rush or urgency in their movements as they undressed one another. Jonas took his time, caressing and stroking every inch of skin he revealed before moving on to the next article of clothing. Finally nude, they didn’t immediately move to the bed but simply held each other close and swayed together to the symphony of the night. Jonas savored every touch, every kiss, and every contented sigh from Nicholas’s swollen lips. He wanted to remember every detail of this night.

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“I’m sorry for all the things I’ve done to hurt you,” Nicholas murmured sadly as he rubbed their cheeks together. “I know this doesn’t make up for it, but I hope it’s a start. I’m never going to take you for granted again.” “None of that matters anymore.” Jonas spoke the truth, and more importantly, he spoke the words from his heart. “We’re together now, I love you, and the rest of it is just forgotten sins.” “Don’t you mean forgiven sins?” Nicholas asked, and Jonas was pleased to note the smile in his lover’s voice. “No.” Easing away, he took both of Nicholas’s hands and pulled him toward the bed. Then he crawled in under the downy, soft blankets and held up one corner for Nicholas to join him. Once the man was settled against his chest, Jonas pushed the hair back from his mate’s handsome face and smiled. “We’re starting over, Nicky. A fresh, clean slate, so there is nothing to forgive. It’s all been forgotten.” “I love you so very much.” “And I love you.” After that, there was nothing left to say. They kissed and touched, the intensity building until neither of them could wait a second longer. Somehow, Jonas ended up on top of his lover with Nicholas pressing a small bottle of lube into his hand. With shaky hands, Jonas used the oil to slick his shaft, and then coated his fingers liberally. Gently, he breached Nicholas’s hole with one finger and pumped lazily while he continued to attack the man’s mouth with passionate kisses. Adding a second and then a third finger, he stretched his mate quickly but carefully. “Now,” Nicholas begged. “Please, Jonas.” Burying his face in the side of Nicholas’s throat, Jonas whimpered as he sank into the tight heat of his lover’s ass. Nicholas’s arms and legs wound around his back, and they clung to each other’s sweatslicked bodies as Jonas began a languid, sensual rhythm.

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Each surge into Nicholas’s body brought Jonas a little closer to heaven. As the tempo increased, the intensity spiked, and Jonas imagined he’d explode into a shower of dust when he reached his climax. “Close,” Nicholas warned with a strangled grunt. “Then come with me.” Two hard, quick jabs, and Nicholas did just that. Long, creamy ropes of cum erupted from the tip of his pulsing cock, splashing against his chest and abs. Jonas’s head was jerked to the side, exposing his neck for Nicholas’s slippery tongue to trace the vein there. “Mine,” his mate whispered before sinking his canines through the yielding flesh. White-hot pleasure ricocheted throughout Jonas’s body as his cock swelled and pulsed inside Nicholas’s ass. As the final link snapped into place, he encased himself to the root and roared when his orgasm slammed into him like a locomotive. When he finally came down to earth, Jonas found himself on his back with Nicholas hovering over him and petting his hair. “You were wrong, you know.” Jonas could barely remember his name, let alone figure out what the hell Nicholas meant. He’d been wrong about a lot of things in his life. Which offense was his mate referring to? “Wrong about what?” he mumbled sleepily as he turned and snuggled into Nicholas’s warm chest. It was too cold to sleep outside, but Jonas would sure as hell give it a try if it meant he didn’t have to move. “When you said that you mean nothing to me,” Nicholas whispered, still gliding his fingers through Jonas’s hair. “You are my everything, baby.” Jonas sighed in contentment, and his lips stretched into a goofy grin against the damp skin of Nicholas’s shoulder. “That’s all I ever wanted.” He curled his arm over Nicholas’s hip and pinched his pert ass. “And don’t call me baby.”

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THE END WWW.GABRIELLEEVANS.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gabrielle Evans grew up in a small town in southern Oklahoma. We are talking one red light that may or may not work depending on the day of the week. She married her high school sweetheart, and the rest is pretty much history. They have two very active boys and one high-strung wiener dog that keeps her constantly on the go. For now, she parks her car in central Indiana, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. Gabrielle believes in love at first sight, falling hard and fast, taking chances, and grabbing your happy-ever-after with both hands. Most importantly, she believes that a great cup of coffee can cure anything.

Also by Gabrielle Evans Everlasting Classic ManLove: Haven 1: Caution: Contents Under Pressure Everlasting Classic ManLove: Haven 2: Faith, Trust, and Stardust

For all other titles, please visit www.bookstrand.com/gabrielle-evans

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