"Where is she?"

Nicholas stood before the Order, his black eyes narrowed as his boots sank into the sand. After he'd left Cambridge and flashed to the mountain near the caves, it had been only seconds before the ancient ten pulled him in.

"She has been returned to us," Cruen said in a calm voice. "Now, if you have Dare hidden somewhere behind your back, we could consider our dealings with the Romans settled."

Nicholas snarled. "Where is the balas?"

"As we told the veana, we have no balas."

"You lie. You are al a bunch of motherfucking liars!"

Nicholas ignored the rumble of outrage by the other Order members and focused on the one who seemed to rule them all. "I want to see Kate. Now."

Cruen's pale blue eyes narrowed. "Prisoner 626 wil remain in Mondrar. After her escape and abduction of the balas, she now has a life sentence to fulfill."

Nicholas fairly leaped on the table, his fangs popping out of his gums like switchblades, his voice as deadly as a scorpion's sting. "I wil do nothing to apprehend Dare until I see her."

Flashing his brick-red fangs in return, Cruen said, "And we wil morph Lucian Roman unless we get Dare. So where does that leave us, Son of the Breeding Male?"

"With your drained body at my feet," Nicholas spat out, ignoring the whispers of the other members. He was barely able to contain himself. A part of him was missing, and he would have it back, even if he had to slit the throats of every vampire at the table to get it. "Kate Everborne is my true mate," he declared. "And as such, I have a right to see-"

"It is you who are the liar now," Cruen cut in, not even a shred of calm left in his tone.

"She bares my mark, completes my mark."

"That is impossible. It is Mirabelle Letts who-" Cruen cut himself off, his eyes flickering toward the Order members to his left.

Warning sounds went off inside Nicholas, and he leaned against the wood table, getting closer to the ancient paven, a mere breath away. "What did you say?" he whispered fiercely. "What do you know of Mirabelle?"

Cruen slammed his eyes shut, and started performing some kind of heavy breathing act through his nostrils as his mouth began to work a silent chant.

In seconds, there was a crack in the air, a hum, and Kate appeared behind the table, two guards bracketing her. She looked startled, as though this was the last place in the world she expected to be. Her gaze shifted around the Order's reality-sand to table to members, as she tried to get her bearings.

Nicholas nearly lost his mind. She was chained, shackled, and garbed in nothing but a strip of cloth. And as she final y found his gaze, he saw that her eyes had lost their fire, their hope.

Mine.

Tossing his head back, Nicholas roared, then headed straight for her, his brands going hot and heavy against his jaws.

"Stop!" Cruen screamed. "Or she is dead!"

Nicholas froze, nearly on top of the table, his nostrils flaring, his chest spasming. Desperation and need and fury and impatience whirled like a cyclone inside him. She belonged to him, and in that moment, nothing else mattered-not his brother, not his past, nor his present or future.

She was everything.

"Kate," he moaned.

She shook her head, her eyes beseeching him. "Find Ladd. Please. Dare must have him. He's got to be scared and-"

"Cease," Cruen commanded, glaring at her. "This paven has claimed you are his true mate. I know this to be impossible. But to satisfy the remaining nine, we shal strip you down and prove it."

"No!" Nicholas yel ed so loudly every member of the Order jumped.

"Try it and lose an ear," Kate warned one of the guards who made a move to touch her. "Muzzling me is about the only way you're going to get me naked."

Cruen nodded. "So be it."

"You fucking touch her and I wil find Dare and help him!"

Nicholas threatened. "I wil help that piece of shit Impure destroy the race and the Order. I swear it! Now . . ." He turned to Kate and nodded. "Show them, sweetest one, turned to Kate and nodded. "Show them, sweetest one, show them my mark so we may end this."

Kate's eyes turned from angry to blisteringly sad as she looked at him. Nicholas felt an overwhelming urge to comfort her, but al he could do in that moment was beg.

"Please, Kate."

Dropping her head, she pulled the ratty fabric down over her right breast, almost to the nipple until the mark could be seen.

The seconds ticked by as the Order stared, first at her mark, then at Nicholas's facial brands-the ones they themselves had been responsible for implementing.

"It is true," one member remarked. "She completes his kiss. Kate Everborne is Nicholas Roman's true mate."

"But she has broken the law," said another. "Ran from her probationary period, with a balas of the credenti."

"Yes, but we need Purebloods to mate," said the white-haired veana beside Cruen. "Now more than ever. She has paid for her original crime. We could forgive her mistake with the balas."

"We could."

"We are the Order."

Cruen stood, slammed his fist on the table three times until silence was obtained. "Enough of this. She is not worthy of a Roman. She is Mondrar witte, a murderess of her own blood."

"It is I who am not worthy of her," Nicholas shouted over the din, his gaze locked on Kate's. "I offer my life for hers."

Kate's eyes went wide. "No," she uttered, shaking her head. "Nicholas, no."

It was in that moment that Nicholas understood love. Truly understood it. His life meant nothing without his other half, without the veana before him, and he would do anything, including destroying himself, to see her have the one thing she had always wanted.

Freedom.

"I wil accept punishment in her place," he said, his tone harsh and resolute. "I demand it."

"Nicholas, please." He heard Kate beseech him, but he didn't turn from the Order.

"We do not want you in Mondrar, Son of the Breeding Male," said the white-haired veana. "We want you hunting Dare."

The paven beside her nodded. "Indeed."

There was a moment of silence; then the white haired veana spoke again. "Bring us Dare tonight before the change from eve to morn, and you wil have your mate, Nicholas Roman."

Seething and realizing that he'd lost control of his position, Cruen attempted to reason with his members.

"This is unjust, my brothers and sisters. It wil set a precedent with the inmates-"

"It wil be done, Cruen," the veana said. "Dare must be eliminated."

His face tense with hatred for the Roman brother before him, Cruen could barely spit out the words. "Fine. But if he fails, the veana dies and the third brother is morphed."

As each member of the Order nodded, Nicholas turned to see Kate flash out of the reality.

Nicholas sat down across from Whistler at the empty chess table in Washington Square Park, his brothers bracketing him. It was closing in on seven p.m.-five hours to find, kill, and drop Ethan Dare. No time to waste.

"Here." Nicholas shoved the bag toward the Eye.

"Quarter of a mil ion, in cash."

"The Romans have deep pockets tonight," Whistler said, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he checked the contents.

"This isn't Roman money," Nicholas said tightly, feeling both sets of eyes on him. He wasn't looking for approval from his brothers, or the I'm-so-proud+of-yous. The raid he'd made on the safe he had hidden below the floorboards in his room wasn't about anything except getting clean, coming to his mate free and clear, his past remaining there forever. "I'm going to say this only once, Whistler," Nicholas said. "The whore is dead and buried.

Understand?"

Whistler's eyes shifted to Lucian, then Alexander, then back to Nicholas. "Got it."

"Now. That kind of cash is going to get us location and entry points."

A slow smile broke on Whistler's ugly mug. "The compound's on the Hudson, owned by an actress, some goth vampire wannabe type."

"Does Dare have the whole operation there?" Nicholas asked. "Recruits, veanas, females?"

The Eye attempted to look confused. Wasn't a good look on him, might get him strung up if he wasn't careful. "Don't know about any operation."

"You can stick coy right up your ass, Whistler," Nicholas hissed, "or I'll do it for you."

The Eye blanched. "I hear there are recruits and the ones who lie beneath them."

Nicholas said, "I need you to find out where Dare keeps the balas, then text us."

Whistler nodded. "Are we done?"

"Go," Nicholas said, flicking him away like a gnat.

As the Eye jumped up and scurried off with his trick-or-treat bag of cold hard cash, Nicholas rose too.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing hold of Lucian.

Alexander nodded. "Suit up and pick weapons."

They flashed from the park without one thought as to who might be watching them.

Inside the reality he'd abandoned days ago, Cruen stood at the water's edge, looking out at the miles and miles of calm sea.

"You need to get to my Impure," he said to the Beast at his side. "He must not be kil ed, not until I have the pleasure of doing it myself."

Erion inclined his head, said with a deadly baritone,

"Yes, my lord."

Cruen looked up at the shape-shifter, who was in his vampire form at the moment. "I must see Lucian Roman morphed, Erion."

The male's diamond eyes glittered in the sun. "It wil be done, Father."

Enclosed in a shelter of trees, the Hudson River mansion of Hol ywood's girl next door rose up like a mini White House.

Pretty fucking stunning, Nicholas thought as he quickly surveyed the area, looking for recruits patrol ing in the night.

"I think we need to move," Lucian whispered, checking his weapons stash to see if it al had made the journey safely. Two Glocks and that goddamn tomahawk. "I belong in this place."

Two Glocks of his own at his chest, Nicholas tossed his brother a quick grin. "Could be available real soon, Luca."

"Let's roll," Alexander said, nodding at one lone recruit on the north side of the lawn. "I'll take him and meet you near the pool entrance."

Nicholas nodded, and he and Lucian hightailed it across the lawn, their eyes peeled for more recruits.

"Twenty feet," Lucian whispered, knocking his chin in the direction of another Impure near the driveway.

Nicholas took off silently, flashing directly behind the male. He struck with one brutal slash across the throat, then tossed the male into the nearby fountain. Mere seconds later, he caught up with Lucian and Alexander, who were waiting near the side of the house.

Nicholas could hear the now familiar sounds of a heavy bass line and hard-core sex. Just another night of making Impures, he mused. He moved with his back along the wal until he came to the floor-to-ceiling windows Whistler had told them about. With a quick glance into the massive living room, he saw no armed recruits near any of the exits.

They'd paid enough for the element of surprise, and the Eyes weren't about to have their money reclaimed for sel ing information to a second party.

Nicholas motioned for Alexander and Lucian, let them know al was wel and ready. The plan was get to Dare and the boy. Thanks to Whistler's text, Nicholas knew exactly where to go.

Alexander counted to three; then al of them lifted their Glocks and shot through the glass. They rushed through the shattered holes and burst inside the den. The surprised recruits scrambled from their female companions and reached for their weapons.

Nicholas spun into action and slit the throats of three Impure males who were locked in the throes of climax. Two other Impures leaped at him, smashed him up against a chair. He retaliated with a quick set of blows to one and a bul et to the temple of another.

With a swift glance at Alexander and Lucian, who were engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat with at least six recruits, a couple of them bare-ass naked, Nicholas deemed them under control and stole out of the room.

Whipping out his BlackBerry, he fol owed the signal that Whistler had sent him, moving down the hal with the speed and grace of a morphed paven. Halfway up the stairs, a recruit leaped out behind Nicholas, plunging a knife into his calf, ripping into muscle. Pain slashed at him, and he whirled around. Quick and deadly, he grabbed the recruit by the neck, crushed his windpipe with one squeeze, and tossed him.

Bastard.

Got a nice red trail to follow now.

Bleeding, his wound only an irritant to his body's drive to kill, Nicholas continued up the stairs, his eyes on the signal his BlackBerry was flashing-down one hal way, then another. It was too damn quiet in this place. He didn't trust it. When he got to the door where Ladd was supposed to be, he fisted both Glocks, then smashed in the wood with his foot.

No more games.

He scented Dare, heard the bastard's heartbeat.

This was it. The end.

He released a furious snarl, scoping out the room and its contents: an armed recruit, Dare, Ladd, and a pregnant female who was cowering in the corner. The recruit jerked up his guns and started shooting. Reacting instantly, Nicholas launched himself at Dare, while firing off three rounds straight into the recruit's chest. The male hit the ground dead at the same time Nicholas landed on the Impure he sought.

Refusing to let the bastard flash without him, Nicholas dropped one Glock near a shaking Ladd and gripped Dare by the chest, cold-cocked him to the side of the head.

Lying flat on his back, Dare looked as though he were trying to get out, flash. But nothing was happening.

"Has the plug on your power cord been pulled, Dare?"

Nicholas snarled. "Out of pure blood?"

"No," Ethan said, grabbing Nicholas's gun and training it on the child. "He's right here."

Perhaps Nicholas should've been worried, terrified even.

But he wasn't. "You'l never touch a hair on his head."

"Wanna bet?"

Lightning fast, Nicholas yanked the blade from his thigh and thrashed it across Dare's neck, al the way to the bone.

Shock froze the Impure in place, and the gun dropped from his hand. He lay there, staring and panting, as if he couldn't believe this was it, how he was going out, his end.

Ladd ran for Nicholas, as the female in the corner screamed and blood gurgled and seeped from Dare's neck. Nicholas pushed the boy behind him.

"Please," Dare uttered, his eyes flickering in death.

Nicholas sneered. "What is it you beg me for, Impure? A quick death?"

"I . . . didn't hurt . . . your son," Dare rasped. "Please . . .

don't hurt . . . mine."

The Impure stared up at Nicholas, fear bright in his dying eyes. But it wasn't for himself.

As Lucian and Alexander burst into the room, Nicholas nodded at the Impure, then grabbed his Glock and shot Ethan Dare in the heart.

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