Aimee looked up from her book as she heard a sharp knock on her door. Closing her eyes, she saw her brother Alain in the hallway with a tray of tea and biscuits. Unlike the majority of her brothers, he had short blond hair and a face that reminded her of a cherub. His blue eyes were always bright and warm, and he kept a small, well-trimmed goatee.
She was warmed at his thoughtfulness. "Come in."
He opened the door slowly-he was always wary of entering a female bear's territory without proper invitation. His mate, Tanya, had taught him well. "It's me. You want some tea?"
"Absolutely." She set her book on the bed and went to hold the door while he came in and put his tray down on her dresser.
Closing the door behind him, she moved back to her bed.
Alain poured them both a cup of vanilla Rooibos tea and brought her the porcelain snack plate that was piled high with sugary biscuits.
She couldn't help smiling. "You haven't done this for me in years."
He drizzled honey into his cup . . . a lot of honey-they were bears after all. He held the plastic bear container toward her.
Aimee took it from him and duplicated the gesture as he licked the sweetness from his fingers. "I feel like a cub, waiting for Maman or Papa to come in and yell at us for breaking curfew-you were always so good at getting me into trouble with late-night tea fests."
Alain laughed. "Maman was never the one who scared me as a cub . . . only as an adult do I fear her."
Aimee hesitated at the odd note in his voice. "Why would you say that?"
"For the same reason you would. I love Maman, you know that. But there are times when I sense something about her that makes me nervous."
Aimee agreed as she set the honey aside. "She doesn't like the others staying here with us. I think she's afraid of them discovering our secret . . . or worse, of them turning on us like Josef did." He was the one who'd led the party that had ultimately killed her brothers.
Like Wren, Josef had been taken into their den as a wounded pubescent cub instead of being left out to die as Maman had wanted. As soon as Josef had healed, he'd turned on them for no reason at all. It was almost as if he'd hated and resented them for having a family when he didn't. And for that alone, he'd tried to destroy them.
His betrayal had scarred all of them-one moment of compassion that had turned into a lifetime of regret-but Maman was haunted more than the others. She blamed herself for not being more suspicious of him. Blamed herself for the deaths of Bastien and Gilbert.
That was why Maman was so hard on everyone now. She kept expecting others to turn on her for no reason too.
Alain stirred his tea with a small demi-spoon. "There are many secrets in this house, chere. Sometimes I think too many."
Aimee arched a brow at that. "What are you hiding?"
He paused to look down at his palm where the intricate scroll-work lay that declared him mated. It was a mark that was identical to the one on Tanya's palm. "You know my secret."
Her heart clenched at the reminder. Though he was mated to a good bear, his heart belonged to another. It always had.
"I'm sorry, Alain."
He shrugged. "I have nothing to complain about. Tanya's loyal to me. She's kind and we have two beautiful sons. How could I be upset by that?"
"Do you still think about Rachel?"
Ignoring her question, he looked down at his cup as he continued to stir the honey through the dark liquid. "I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure."
He tapped the spoon twice before placing it on his plate. "Have you noticed anything with Kyle?" Kyle was their youngest brother. A little odd at times, he was basically good-natured and sweet even if he did keep to himself more than the others did.
"Such as?"
He hesitated before he spoke. "That he's an Aristos."
Aimee froze in disbelief at those words. "What?"
"He's an Aristos," Alain repeated, his gaze burning into hers. "I'm sure of it."
Aristi were the most powerful sorcerers in their world. Stronger than Sentinels, they were the one thing every Arcadian prayed to be and the one being that made the blood of all Katagaria run cold. "How do you know?"
"We were playing around yesterday, practicing holds, and he took me down with an ease of strength no one at his age should possess. And when he pinned me, I saw it in his eyes."
Aimee felt sick at the news. Aristi were the ones who'd murdered her brothers and they were the one thing their mother couldn't stand. It was also another secret Aimee kept from everyone. She was one too. "Maman will kill him if it is so."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"Have you discussed this with Kyle?"
Alain shook his head, his eyes horrified by the mere suggestion. "Absolutely not. You're the only one I trust to keep this between us. I would never do anything to cause him harm and I know you feel the same."
Aimee heard the underlying current. There was more to this than what he was telling her. "But?"
"He needs to be trained. Those kind of powers, if left un-checked . . ."
Could kill him. He didn't finish the sentence because Aimee knew that as well as he did. An Aristos required a tutor, especially the males. While a female could adapt better and learn to control those powers on her own, a male couldn't. It was what had saved her, but she couldn't train Kyle without exposing them both. "What should we do?"
"I was hoping you'd have some ideas."
"Not really. I don't even know of an Aristos." That wasn't entirely true, but she wasn't about to share that with Alain. "They're too rare."
He nodded. "I know . . . think about it. Let me know if you come up with something. I don't want to leave him alone in this."
Neither did she. Kyle would be as scared by his powers as she was by hers. "You want me to talk to him?"
"I hate to dump it on you, but you're the one he's closest to. He might open up to you. At least more than he ever would me."
Aimee smiled at him. He was right. Kyle kept his brothers in the dark, but for some reason he saw her as another mother. "I'll talk to him tomorrow. See if he knows what's happening to him."
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "You're the best."
She snorted. "Go ahead, Etienne, and tell me I'm the best sister you have." Etienne was another of her brothers who was a scoundrel and a charmer. He was forever telling whatever lie he needed to get his way.
Alain laughed again at her insult. "He's such a shit, isn't he?"
"Yes, yes he is. And speaking of excrement, have we heard anything more from the wolves and their threats?"
"You mean Eli's group?"
She nodded.
"Not a word. I think Dev put the fear of Zeus into them when he refused to back down."
"That I doubt. They're pretty stupid."
"Yeah, but even Eli has a smidgeon of self-preservation. He should know by now to leave us alone."
She hoped that was true, but doubted it too. Eli was such a narcissist that the idea of someone actually besting him just didn't seem to be in his scope of reality. "I wouldn't be so sure. They don't call it blind hatred without a reason. I think he's at the point with us that he will cross any boundary regardless of consequence."
He narrowed his gaze on her. "You have one of your precogs, don't you?"
"Yeah, but I can't put a finger on it exactly. I just know he's going to do something we're not expecting. I only wish I knew exactly what and when."
"Then I'll spread the word for everyone to keep their eyes peeled."
"Thanks."
Vane sat off to the side of camp in human form while he listened to the idle conversations around him. Half the pack was in human form while the others were wolves.
Many of the men were restless. There was a disturbing scent in the air. One that denoted trouble, but no one could get a handle on it. Not even he was sure what was causing it.
But he was as edgy as the rest of them. One wrong word or action and he was just as likely to take a life as a Daimon. More so, in fact.
And maybe that was the source of his unease. Ever since he and Fang had helped Acheron and Talon, he'd had a sense of foreboding that he couldn't shake.
Fang walked up to him and offered him a cold beer. "You want to go patrolling and see if we can find out what's going on?"
Vane popped the lid and tilted his head so that he could see around Fang's body where Stefan and the others were gathering. He shook his head.
If he went out with Stefan in the mood he was in, one of them would end up dead.
"Whatever it is, it's coming this way. I think we should hang close to the women."
Fang laughed at that. "I love the way you think, adelphos. Hanging close to women is what I do best."
He smiled at Fang's words. "Yeah, but I haven't seen you doing that lately."
Fang glanced over to Petra who was sitting in wolf form with several other wolfswans. "I've been preoccupied."
"With what?"
"Stuff."
Vane didn't press him. His brother, for all his never-ending stream of sarcasm and live-for-the-moment arrogance, could be extremely moody sometimes. Even secretive.
It was a space and freedom that Vane willingly gave him.
"Vane!"
Vane choked on the beer as he heard his sister's frantic, scared voice in his head.
"What?" he sent back silently.
"The pups are coming. I need you."
"Did you hear that?" he asked Fang.
"I'm on it."
His beer forgotten, Vane shot to his feet and ran for her. He found her to the side of the camp, near a small outlet of water where she must have gone to get something to drink.
"I've got you, babe," he said gently as he knelt down by her side to help her.
She licked his chin, then whined as more labor pain hit her.
Fang joined them a few seconds later with blankets. "Should I get Markus?"
Vane shook his head. "We can handle it."
As he reached to pet Anya, his cell phone rang. Vane started not to answer it, but the ID showed Acheron, who wouldn't be calling unless it was important. Pissed at the timing, he flipped it open. "I'm busy, Dark-Hunter. This isn't a good-"
"I know, but there's a massive number of Daimons converging around Miller's Well. They're coming for your pack, Vane."
Vane went cold at the news as he looked to Fang to see if his brother had heard the words as clearly as he had. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. Looks like they want a supercharge before the Mardi Gras festivities with us so you guys have got to get out of there. Pronto."
How he wished it were that simple. "Anya's in labor. We can't move her. But I'll make sure the others get out."
"All right," Ash said. "Sit tight and I'll have some reinforcements to you ASAP."
The implication insulted every animal part of Vane. "I don't need your help, Dark-Hunter. We can take care of our own."
"Yeah, just the same, we'll be there shortly."
The phone went dead.
Snarling, Vane returned the phone to his pocket. He met his brother's stony gaze. "Get the others mobilized."
Fang nodded, then ran off to spread the word.
Acheron Parthenopaeus, leader of the Dark-Hunters and an immortal Atlantean god under a massive crisis situation, not the least of which was his own brother trying to kill him, cursed as he hung up the phone. This was not good and it was getting worse by the heartbeat. If the Daimons got a hold of those pregnant wolves and augmented their powers, there would be no stopping them and the streets of New Orleans would run red from the blood of its human occupants.
He walked quickly down Bourbon Street toward Canal, which was where his Dark-Hunter was supposed to be patrolling for Daimons out to munch on human souls.
There was no sign of him.
And where the hell was Talon?
The Celt was supposed to be in his swamp, guarding the human, Sunshine Runningwolf, and instead there had been no sign of him when Ash had gone there.
Closing his eyes, Ash sensed the Celt was fine. But he didn't have time to fetch him away from the woman he was protecting. The Daimons were moving fast and he didn't have long before they'd reach Vane and his family.
Then it would rain rainbows and rose petals on them. . . .
Not.
He flipped his phone open and called Valerius who was still at home. The ancient Roman general was a major pain in his ass on his best day, but in a crisis, there were few better fighters. "Val, I'm on Bourbon-"
"I will not venture down that street of crass iniquities and plebeian horror, Acheron. It is the cesspit of humanity. Don't even ask it."
Ash rolled his eyes at the Roman's arrogant tone. "I need you in the swamp."
Silence answered him. He could just imagine Val at home with his lip curled in repugnance. Not that the general hadn't been in worse places back in the day when he'd commanded a Roman army. He was just cranky in his old age.
"We have a situation, Valerius," he said sternly. "A group of Daimons are after a Katagaria pack and they have women in labor-"
"Where do you need me?"
Ash smiled. The Roman had his moments. Good and bad. Luckily, this was a good one.
"I'll be right there." Ash hung up the phone. He dashed into a nearby doorway where no one could see him and flashed to Val's side in his mansion.
Valerius did a double take at seeing Ash in his living room before the Roman could even return his cordless phone to its pedestal. Dressed in a black Armani suit and black silk shirt, and with his shoulder-length dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, Valerius was the epitome of a privileged, well-bred man.
Patrician to the end.
The only hint of shock Valerius showed was a slight arching of his right brow.
"We don't have time for conventional means of transportation," Ash explained.
Before Val could ask him what he meant, Acheron grabbed him and they materialized close to the Katagaria den.
Val scowled at him. "How did you do that? Are you some odd Were-Hunter hybrid like Ravyn?"
Ash gave a dark half-laugh. None of the Dark-Hunters knew he was a god and he really wanted to keep it that way. The less they knew about him and his sordid past the better. "Long story. The pertinent part is that I have to be careful using my powers around the pregnant Katagaria. If the pregnant wolves are forced into human form by my powers, it'll kill them and their babies instantly. So, I'm fighting strictly hands-on as a human just to be safe. Your powers aren't ionically charged so you should be safe to fight as always."
Val nodded in understanding.
Acheron manifested his warrior's staff, then led Val toward the den.
The camp was in total chaos as the males, mostly in human form, tried to gather up the pregnant wolves and pups and move them without using their magic.
Vane and Fang stood over a pregnant wolf in labor while another male, who bore a striking resemblance to Vane, knelt by her side. The man was quite a bit older than the brothers.
It was Markus.
Ash remembered him well. The ruthless Katagari ruler hated everyone outside the pack.
Then again, Ash amended, as he looked at Vane and Fang, their father hated many who were in the pack as well. Including his own sons.
"Do us proud, Anya," Markus said sternly. "Know I will raise your pups under my full protection."
The wolfswan whined.
Their father stood up and raked a sneer over Vane and Fang. "This is your fault. I curse the day I ever had werewolf sons."
Fang growled at the insult that implied they were more human than animals, and started for his father, but Vane caught him.
Markus curled his lips. "You'd best protect her young. The gods better help you both if something happens to them." He stalked off toward the others.
Acheron and Val headed toward the brothers.
"What are you doing here?" Vane demanded as soon as he saw them. "I told you we can handle this."
Acheron planted the end of his staff in the ground and eyed him with a patience he didn't really possess. "Don't play hero, Vane. The last thing you need is to fight Daimons off your back while Anya labors."
Vane narrowed his eyes at them. "Do you know anything about delivering a baby?"
Ash nodded. "I do indeed. I've helped deliver more than my fair share of them over the last eleven thousand years. Human and otherwise."
In spite of his earlier words, Vane appeared relieved by Ash's answer.
Vane looked at Val. "What about you?"
Val's answer was as out of character for him as his presence here. "I don't know nothing about birthing puppies, Miss Scarlett, but I can cleave the head off a Daimon without breaking a sweat."
"All right, you can both stay." Vane crouched down beside his sister and nuzzled her snout with his face while the she-wolf panted and whined. "Don't worry, baby. I'm not going to leave you."
Ash sat down by her side and held his hand out for her to sniff him. "I'm a friend, Anya," he said gently. "I know you're in pain, but we're going to stay with you and help you deliver your young."
She looked up at Vane who made wolf noises back to her.
A loud curse sounded.
"Vane!" Fang shouted. "We got gators moving in all over the place."
Ash smiled. "It's okay. They're with me. They won't attack you unless you hit them."
Fang cocked his head in doubt. "You sure? They don't look friendly to me."
"Positive."
The last of the Katagaria pack moved out, except for two. Ash had seen them both before, but he didn't know them. . . .
No, not entirely true. Since he could see into their minds and hearts, he knew instantly that the blond one was Vane and Fang's brother. A brother neither of them knew they had.
The dark-haired wolf was a friend. Liam.
Fang narrowed his gaze at them as they joined the brothers. "What are you doing?"
Fury shrugged. "Wolves don't fight alone."
"Since when do you give a shit?"
Fury glanced quickly to Anya and Ash felt not only his pain, but his longing to be counted among their siblings. It was so raw and deep that it brought an ache to his own chest.
It was also a pain he could more than relate to.
"You two need a level head to help fight." Fury indicated him and Liam. "That's us."
Vane looked up. "Leave them alone, Fang. If they want to stay, let them. The more we have to help protect Anya, the better."
Fang stepped back while the other two wolves gave them distance. They went to stand off to the side with Val and the gators while Ash, Fang, and Vane were huddled over Anya.
The quiet stillness of the swamp was broken only by Anya's pants and whines.
As they waited, Ash felt the grief in Vane's eyes. He remembered a time when he'd listened to his own sister's screams as she birthed her baby. There was nothing more disturbing.
But all that faded when the first cries of the baby were heard. Then the focus became one of joy at the new life that had been created.
"She'll be fine," Val assured the brothers as he noticed their discomfort as well. "We'll get her through this."
"No," Vane said, shaking his head. "All we can hope for is to save her puppies. As soon as the last one leaves her body, she'll die."
Val frowned at him. "Don't be so fatalistic."
A muscle worked in Vane's jaw. "I'm not, Dark-Hunter. She was claimed by her mate. They bonded their life forces. Had she not been pregnant and carrying new life when he died, she'd have died with him. As soon as the puppies are born, she'll be off to join him on the other side."
Ash's stomach drew tight in sympathetic grief as he heard the pain in Vane's voice. He knew how much Anya meant to both of her brothers. He also knew what was about to happen and though he wanted to change it, he knew he couldn't. Fate was what it was and in trying to avert it, he could worsen the outcome for all of them. "I'm sorry, Vane."
"Thanks." Vane brushed his hand through his sister's white coat.
Fang sat off to the side, his gaze haunted as he remained silent. How rare for him not to be making offhand and even asinine comments. That told Ash more than anything just how upset Fang was.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a horde of Daimons attacked.
Vane shot to his feet to confront them. "I don't know how to birth the cubs," he told Ash. "You stay with her and I'll fight."
Ash nodded and remained crouched by Anya as she snapped and whined.
Fang transformed into a wolf, his stronger form, to fight, as did Liam and Fury, but Vane remained human.
Ash heard the Daimons scream as they found the alligators lying in wait for them.
Anya began thrashing as the fight broke out. Ash kept his attention focused on the she-wolf and only looked up to make sure the Daimons weren't making their way any closer to Anya.
Fang, Fury, and Liam were doing a remarkable job keeping them off in wolf form while Valerius and Vane fought them with knife and sword. The bad thing though was that the wolves couldn't use their magic any more than Ash could. Any random shot of their energy could accidently hit Anya and her pups and kill them.
"Vane!"
Ash started at the human noise from the wolfswan. He looked up to see a Daimon about to attack Vane's back. Forewarned, Vane saw the Daimon and whirled around in time to stab the Daimon through the heart and kill him.
Anya lay back.
Ash held her still as the first of her puppies crested. "That's it," he said to her in a calm, soothing voice. "We're almost there."
A Daimon came up through the hedges beside them. Ash sprang to his feet and whirled to defend Anya as Fang caught the Daimon and knocked him away from them.
"Take care of my sister," Fang shot to him in his mind.
Ash quickly returned to Anya.
With the Daimons so close now, he was having to watch the coming cub, Anya, and the Daimons.
It wasn't easy.
"Push," he said to Anya. "Just a little bit more."
The next few seconds happened rapidly and yet they seemed to move slowly through time.
Heartbeat by heartbeat.
Two Daimons rose up from their fight with Fang. One of them shot Fang with a Taser, immediately turning him human. Fang let out a howl as his body convulsed uncontrollably back and forth between wolf and human.
Vane went after the second one at the same moment the first one aimed the Taser at Vane, who dove at the ground. The Daimon pressed the button and the electrified prongs missed Vane by a fraction of an inch.
They struck Anya instead.
Ash cursed in anger as Anya was transformed from a wolf to a woman and back again. Her screams echoed in the trees and then she fell eerily silent.
Back in her wolf form, she didn't move at all.
Vane ran to her, but it was too late.
She was dead.
Ash let out his battle cry and rushed the Daimon who had killed her. He punched the Daimon hard in the jaw, then used his bare hands to finish him off. He pushed his hand straight into the Daimon's chest, piercing his mark.
The Daimon shattered into a spray of golden dust.
Now that he could use his powers without restriction, Ash made short work of the remaining Daimons.
Fang's transformations had slowed down, but he was still alternating between human and wolf forms as he dragged himself slowly toward his sister's body.
Vane walked stonily toward Anya and sank down beside her. He gathered her wolf's body up into his arms and cradled her as if she were a baby. Tears streamed down his face as he rocked back and forth with her and whispered to her.
Fang let out a fierce howl and turned into a man. His body bare, he laid his head down on Anya's back and held on to her too.
Ash would never forget the sight of the three of them huddled there in their grief. It would haunt him forever.
All too well, he remembered his own past.
Saying good-bye to his sister and her baby . . .
Pain like that never fully healed. He knew it for fact. Not even eleven thousand years had taken away the bitter burn inside him.
His face grim, Ash took a step toward them. "Do you need me to-"
"Get away," Vane snarled, his voice feral and cold. "Just leave us alone."
Val arched one regal brow. "There might be more Daimons coming."
"And I will kill them," Vane growled. "I will kill them all."
There was nothing more to be done to help them and Ash hated that most of all. The brothers needed time to grieve.
Disintegrating his staff, he turned toward Val who watched the brothers with a troubled gaze. "There was nothing more you could do," Valerius said to Vane. "Don't blame yourself."
Vane let out an inhuman snarl.
Ash pulled Val's arm and led him away from the scene before Vane attacked out of sorrow.
Val's features were still haunted with sympathy. "The innocent should never have to suffer from the battles of others."
"I know," Ash said, his heart heavy. "But it seems to always be the case."
Val nodded. "A furore infra, libera nos."
Ash paused at the Latin quote. Spare us from the fury within. "You know, Valerius, there are times when I think you might actually be human after all."
Valerius scoffed at that. "Trust me, Acheron, whatever human part of me that ever existed was killed a long time ago."
Fury watched quietly for hours as Vane and Fang held their sister and wept like children. He remembered a time when he'd cried like that too, but it had been centuries ago.
He'd sent Liam on not long after the fight had ended to tell the rest of the pack what had happened, then stayed behind just in case there was more fighting to be done. Regardless of past battles, snipes, and ill feelings, Vane and Fang didn't need to stand alone right now. Everything they'd cared about was dead. It was a pain Fury wished on no one.
Fury's grief hit him on a different level. While they cried for the sister they'd lost, he cried internally for the sister he'd never know.
It was so hard to watch his siblings embrace like that while he stood on the outside.
Forever a stranger.
But he couldn't tell them the truth. Their own mother and the siblings he'd been raised with had turned on him and tried to kill him. The only woman he'd ever loved had been among those who turned on him. Why then would Fang and Vane ever accept the fact that he was born of the same cursed union that had birthed them?
Besides now was definitely not the time for a family reunion.
He stepped forward tentatively. Not out of fear, but out of respect. "Guys? We've been here a long time. Since the Taser's worn off, I think we should be going."
Vane pinned him with the coldest dead stare he'd ever seen. He turned that look to Fang. "We need to give her a proper burial. We owe her that."
Fang wanted to scream and curse. He wanted to punch until the impotent fury inside him was quiet. But he didn't know if it would ever be quiet again. Something inside him was shattered. Anya wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to be here. In all the hell and uncertainty that had been their lives, she'd been the one thing he and Vane had lived for. Their calming influence.
She'd made the wolf human.
Without her . . .
There was nothing inside him now but the wild animal that only wanted the blood of everyone around him.
Fury approached them slowly in human form.
"Where's Liam?" Vane asked.
"I sent him on to tell the others that the Daimons were defeated."
Vane scowled. "Why did you stay?"
Fury glanced to Anya's body. "I didn't think you two were in any shape to defend-"
"We're fine," Fang snarled, and grabbed him by the throat.
Fury covered his wrist with his hand and jerked it away. His turquoise eyes blazed with anger. "Grief or no grief, you ever touch me like that again and I will kill you."
Vane broke them apart. "There's been enough killing here tonight. We need to go."
Fury stepped back.
Fang started to apologize, but the words caught in his throat. Besides, he didn't owe the bastard anything. Fury was probably gloating over this. It would be typical of him.
Dismissing the thought, Fang stooped down to retrieve Anya's body. He stood slowly with Anya in his arms. Her fur tickled his skin. Over and over he saw images of her as a pup, as a teen, and as a woman. Most of all, he saw images of her as his sister and best friend.
Gods, how he'd miss her.
Vane sighed. "You ready?"
No. He would never be ready to say good-bye to her. But they couldn't stay here forever. So he nodded even though he wanted to die alongside her.
Using their powers, they found their pack and where they'd made a temporary den in Slidell. Not too far away since the burdened females couldn't travel easily, but far enough away that they should be relatively safe.
As soon as they appeared, all activity in the camp stopped.
Every eye, human and wolf, turned to them and Fang swore he could hear their sharp intakes of breath.
But it was their father's ashen look that stopped them from moving.
Fang was taken aback by his father's expression. Was it even possible that the old bastard had feelings for them?
Yet there was no denying the anguish in his weary eyes.
Markus came forward. "Where are the young?"
Vane dropped his hand away from Anya's body. "She died before they were born."
Markus choked on a sob. Stunned by the unexpected show of emotion, Fang didn't move as his father came forward to hug Vane.
At least that's what it looked like he was going to do until his father snapped a small silver collar on his brother's neck. Before Fang could move, Stefan snapped one on him from behind.
Stepping back, Markus looked to the others around them. "It's time for a timoria. Kill them."
