“You must love my daughter.”

“I love Petra,” Syn clarified. No male who treated his young like this could be called a father.

Still gripping the paven’s throat, Syn lowered his head, so his temple was flush with Cruen’s face and fangs.

“Go back on your word, and every Roman, mutore, and shifter in this place will take you down before you have a chance to pull your next breath.”

The last word wasn’t even out of Syn’s mouth before Cruen’s fangs thrust deep into his temple. As before, on the floor of Erion’s dungeon, the blood drain was executed painfully, quickly, but this time Syn let go and gave in. As he opened his mind wide, to a world of past hurt and sadness and regret, emotions flooded his senses like a massive and unceasing ocean wave.

And then there was nothing. And everything. And Cruen was pulling out of his head, and he was back, standing in the gathering stones, scenting Petra, gripping Cruen, with his entire arsenal of baggage. All the hate and all the love.

And bloody hell, all the newfound strength.

Syn’s fingers dug into the paven’s throat. “Release. Her. Now.”

Cruen stood there for a moment, unmoving, no doubt thinking and plotting and planning. Could he use Petra another way? Could her death be of benefit? Or her life? And then suddenly, he opened his hand and freed her from his grasp.

“Go, Petra,” Syn commanded gently. “Go to your family.”

As Petra took off, holding her neck, stumbling forward, dizzy, into the arms of her mother, Cruen shouted at all of them, “You’ll never contain me, and you know it. None of you are able to. Even with my power waning, I will always be the one to rule this Breed.”

Her eyes frosty, yet the most controlled Syn had ever seen them, Feeyan moved forward. She began with an incantation, then slowly circled her arms around Cruen, wrapping him in some kind of invisible magical vise. She sighed, clucked her tongue. “I’ve always enjoyed our back and forth, Cruen. Our sharing of knowledge and power. Even our battles. But you have shamed not only yourself but the entire Eternal Breed. Your daughter”—her lip curled—“forcing her to live with these creatures. Not knowing her true worth. A Pureblood veana.” She leaned in, snarled as he struggled against her magical bonds. “Consuming the flesh of . . .” Her nostrils flared. “You have just insulted every Pureblood on the planet. In truth, I have stumbled somewhat in my governing of our kind as of late. Perhaps I was under the impression that I could not measure up to your way. It made me reckless and far too interested in proving myself to others. But I see now that your way wasn’t in service of the Eternal Breed. It was in service of you.” She glanced up at Syn, who was still holding Cruen by the throat. “I will take him now. Deal with him in my own way.”

“Not a chance,” Syn said, shaking his head. “I escort him to Mondrar, walk him into the cell, make sure he’s contained by the most powerful magic possible.”

Feeyan titled her chin. “You do not have a choice in how the Order punishes—”

“After all that’s just happened, I bloody well do.”

And with that, Syn flashed himself and Cruen from the gathering stones, the Rain Forest, and the strange sadness in his beloved veana’s eyes.

• • •

Seconds after Synjon flashed from the Rain Forest, the Order followed suit. Well, all but Dillon. She was still holding her throat, standing close to Gray, who looked like he wanted to put his fist through a fucking wall. In seconds, the sand disappeared, and all was back to normal within the gathering stones.

From his perch on the highest rock, Phane watched the shifter leaders attempt to find calm, understanding. But it was crystal clear to all, now that the Order knew about the Rain Forest and its inhabitants, that things would be very different from now on. They were no longer hidden, no longer safe.

His gaze cut to Dani. The hawk shifter female was comforting Petra, her arms wrapped around the veana as she shook with great sobs of grief. Below Phane, her mother by blood looked on, watched her daughter, then turned to look at Wen, who was embracing Dillon.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Wen said to the jaguar female, who looked both shaken up and pissed off by what Feeyan had subjected her to.

The leader of the Mountain Faction approached Dillon as well. “We won’t forget what you did for us. How you spoke up for us. Please know that you are all welcome here at any time. For those who have shifter blood, it would be our honor to introduce you to your kind.” His eyes warmed. “We have jaguar in my faction. If you ever want to know them . . .”

The veana visibly winced as the male’s voice trailed off. Like his half sister, Phane felt the strangeness of being in a place with others similar to himself. But truly, there was something here that called to him. To Helo as well. He shook his head. Foolish Lycos. The male was missing it all because he refused to get involved, refused to see this as an opportunity to know his history, know more about himself.

“My love?” Alex called out, his voice suddenly fearful.

A sound, low and filled with pain, brought everyone’s attention around to the large boulder where Sara had been sitting, waiting to see what would happen, waiting to be flashed home by Alexander if a fight truly broke out between the shifters and the Order.

Kate and Bronwyn were at her side. “What’s wrong?” the former asked, her tone deeply concerned.

“Sara?” Dillon rushed over to her as well, her own concerns completely forgotten.

Alexander’s female looked up, her eyes bright, her smile nervous. “My water broke.” She turned to Alexander, who was trying to get past the small crows and the worried veanas. “Our balas, Alex.”

• • •

It was a miracle of sorts. The mood inside the gathering stones changed in an instant. From dark and dismal to hopeful and excited.

When Alex finally reached his mate’s side, he scooped her up in his arms and barked at anyone who would listen, “Leza needs to be contacted immediately.”

Sara laughed and leaned in to kiss her mate’s neck. “It’s not coming this very second, my love.”

“We must also inform Evans,” Alex continued, undaunted. “He must get the house ready. Get our room ready. Clean sheets, towels . . .”

“Oh, yeah, someone’s about to become a father,” Nicholas said with a wide grin.

Getting in on the ribbing, Lucian snorted as he jumped down from his rock. “And look at his face. He looks scared to death. You know Sara is the one who has to do all the work, right?”

Alex growled. “Shut it, Luca.” Then he turned to his mate and kissed her gently. “Hold on, my love. I’m taking us home. All three of us.”

25

Petra sat beside Sara on the bed and melted at the sight of the one-week-old little bundle wrapped in a soft yellow blanket, sleeping peacefully in his mother’s arms. His lips kept pressing out into a cute little pout, as if he were dreaming about his first blood. “He’s so beautiful.”

“I think so too, but I may be partial.” Sara looked up and smiled at her. “I’m so glad you came.”

“Me too.”

“I’ve been worried about you. I haven’t heard from you in a few days, and after everything that went down at the gathering stones . . .”

Ah, yes. The gathering stones, Petra mused. And the apartment, and the River House, the tree house, and the caves. She’d been through much in the past few months. Revelations and disappointments. Hopes and fleeting happiness. But now it was time to take things slow and easy. Stop moving and build a life in one place for herself and her balas.

“I’m good,” Petra insisted, reaching out to touch the baby’s soft head. She couldn’t wait to experience this. Holding her sweet child in her arms. Such perfection. Such intimacy.

“Well,” Sara said, her eyes warm. “You’ll forgive me if I have to come by and see that for myself.”

“You’d better come by. Have Alex flash you and baby over. It’s so beautiful in the Rain Forest now. So green and wet. We’d love to have you stay.”

Sara raised one dark eyebrow. “We? So, does that mean you and balas? Or is Brodan in the picture?”

A sigh escaped Petra’s lungs without her consent. “Let’s just say Brodan is going to be a kick-ass uncle.”

Over the past week, the bear shifter had been around to see her at her parents’ house several times. He’d been his usual incredible self. Kind, caring, generous. And the list could go on and on. But the one thing he wasn’t was the one thing Petra wanted more than anything.

Synjon.

“I’m going to make a family for myself,” she told Sara, but truly the words were also for herself. She had to keep telling herself that, reminding herself that she would get through this, and that everything would be fine.

“You told Brodan how you feel?” Sara asked gently.

Petra nodded. “I would never even try to care for a male when I am not yet remotely over the one who broke my heart.”

Sara exhaled heavily and nodded. “Have you heard from him?”

Petra shook her head. After what had happened at the gathering stones, what he’d done, sacrificed—what she’d experienced at the hands of her father—she’d thought she might. Hell, she’d hoped he would try to contact her, come to the Rain Forest to see her. After all, they’d both made mistakes and bad judgments and choices that were unfortunate and filled with regrets. But clearly he was done. Maybe those emotions that Cruen had forced back into his mind had tamped down any feelings he’d had for her and the balas. After all, the loss of Juliet had been among them.

“You know he had the chance to kill Cruen and he didn’t.”

Lost in thought for a moment, Petra startled. “I know.”

“He’s looking into doing undercover spy stuff again. Maybe a private firm. Maybe his own.”

“That’s good.”