I didn’t answer, couldn’t tear my gaze away from her face. My thumb kept stroking her soft cheek, careful of the red weal running just above her jaw and the bruise forming on her temple.
“She is our beloved,” Cas told him, never taking his eyes from our girl’s.
Shifting the wolf pup in his arms, Zane joined us with a disbelieving huff. The moment his eyes met hers, his perpetual smirk faltered.
“Beloved?” he breathed.
The truth hung in the air beyond all doubts. Three dhampirs, bred for war and survival, stood frozen around a battered girl who couldn’t have weighed even a hundred pounds soaking wet. And yet,there it was in her soft eyes: the undeniable pull, the instant connection that none of us could ignore.
Beloved.
Lucian hadn’t been lying that day in his office. Dhampirs didn’t find beloveds, not in the way vampires did. It was a fairy tale, a myth we’d longed to believe in, but never really dared to. But here in my arms was the proof of it.
She stirred weakly, her voice barely above a whisper as her eyelids began to drift down again.
“Mates?” The word was tentative, uncertain, and before any of us could react, she was out again, her body going slack and making my heart trip with a spike of panic at her condition.
“Mates? She’s a shifter? She doesn’t smell like one,” Zane murmured.
“Later,” Cas said in a clipped voice, going full alpha-leader mode. “New plan, effective immediately: Secure beloved. Assess injuries. Treat same.”
I glanced at him, his jaw set in that familiar, stubborn line, but now there was something in his eyes. Something he didn’t want me to see. Never wantedanyoneto see.
Tears.
I understood, but my shock was tempered by a rage that made me want to bust through walls.
And maybe I would later, maybe cryandbust through a few walls, but for now, she came first.
No, not for now,I corrected myself. For always.
Finding our beloved was monumental enough, but to find her likethis? She wasn’t just injured; she wasshattered, like delicate glass dropped on concrete. And thin.Waytoo thin. She hadn’t been treated right in a while.
Same with the wolf. The way his ribs formed a fragile xylophone beneath his patchy, scarred fur told me that much.
“We’ll take care of her,” I told my brothers and myself.
“Andthe ones who did this,” Z added.
“Painfully and slowly,” Cas and I agreed in unison, our voices a perfect blend of determination and rage.
#
Zane
Ko moved toward the house, carrying our beloved like she was made of feathers, his touch impossibly gentle for a man who could snap a stone golem’s neck. He just kept staring at her, his thumbbrushing against her cheek like he was trying to erase the bruises with sheer willpower.
Cas, walking point, was already at the front door. He yanked it open with a strength that sent it swinging hard enough to rattle the frame. Yeah, he was enraged, all right.
So was I, and I knew Ko was, too.
Sanguine mortis, someone was going to die for this.
With a scowl, I looked down at the wolf pup in my arms, and the little shit growled at me again.
“Down, boy,” I muttered. “I’ll bet my right nut that you’re like her baby, so that means you’re gonna get the VIP treatment.”
I didn’t know if he could understand me; anormaldire would, but this scruffy critter wasn’t normal. He nuzzled into me, though, his heart racing like a jackrabbit’s, so that was something. I just hoped he wasn’t hurt too badly. My instincts were telling me our beloved wouldn’t like that.
