I walk ahead of the others, my shoulders rigid with the weight of what just happened. Behind me, I can hear Kian's footsteps and the soft padding of Catriona's tiger paws against stone. She's staying in animal form, and I don't blame her. New shifters need time to adjust, and after a battle like that, maintaining tiger form probably feels safer than being vulnerable and naked.
The scent of smoke lingers in the air—Mikhail's signature, clinging to my skin like an accusation.
'I will finish what we started, old friend.'
The words echo in my mind with every step. Old friend. We were friends once, before Saoirse, before everything turned to ash and betrayal. But that was centuries ago, and the bond we shared died the day he chose power over her life.
But that's Mikhail's way—twist the truth, rewrite history, make himself the victim when he's always been the architect of his own destruction.
I should have killed him when I had the chance.
Rage coils beneath my ribs, hot and demanding. My dragon wants to turn back, to hunt Mikhail down wherever he's hiding, to finish what we started tonight. But I force it down, locking the fury behind walls I've spent centuries perfecting.
Because the truth is, I don't know if I could kill him even if I had another chance.
We reach the vehicles parked near the lighthouse. Rafe emerges from the shadows, his expression carefully neutral as he takes in our battered state. Blood stains my clothes. Burns mark my arms where Mikhail's fire found gaps in my scales. Kian's naked and covered in ash, positioning himself between the others and Catriona's tiger form.
"Abbey," I tell Rafe. "Now."
He nods and moves toward the lead vehicle without question. That's what I appreciate about the brotherhood. They don't need lengthy explanations or emotional processing. They see what needs to be done and they do it.
The drive feels longer than it should. I stare out the window at the dark ocean, watching moonlight dance across waves, and wonder where Mikhail went when he disappeared in that burst of light. Phoenixes can teleport short distances by consuming themselves in flame, but the energy cost is enormous. Hewon't have gone far. He'll be hiding somewhere on the island, recovering and planning his next move and his next target.
Dr. Lila Mercer's face flashes through my mind—dark hair pulled back in a professional bun, sharp eyes that miss nothing. She arrived on the island recently, investigating a series of drownings in the waters around my territory. Strange drownings, she called them—bodies found with no water in their lungs, but every sign of death by drowning nonetheless.
I know what caused those deaths. The syndicate's been testing something in my waters, conducting experiments that violate every natural law. And Lila stumbled onto their operation without realizing what she's dealing with.
She thinks she's investigating a medical mystery. She has no idea she's walking into a war zone.
The vehicle pulls through Wolfstone Abbey's gates, and I'm out before it fully stops. The ancient stone structure looms against the night sky, solid and permanent in a way that usually brings me comfort. Tonight it just feels like another cage.
Inside, the others are already gathering. Declan stands near the massive fireplace, his wolf just beneath the surface, alert and assessing. Eliza sits nearby, watching everything with the sharp intelligence that made her such a good investigative journalist before she became pack. Grayson leans against the far wall, his bear's solid presence grounding the room. Jax hovers near the door, scarred and dangerous and barely leashed even now.
Rafe materializes from the shadows to join them, completing our circle.
And Kian guides Catriona—still in tiger form—through the door and toward the stairs. He's protecting her, giving her privacy to shift back and dress without an audience. The claiming mark on the nape of her neck will announce what she is now—his mate, a shifter, one of us.
I watch them disappear up the stairs, and something sharp cuts through me. Kian found his mate and claimed her, bound himself to someone who'll stand beside him through whatever comes. He has that certainty now, that anchor.
I have Mikhail's promise of vengeance and a human woman who doesn't know monsters exist.
"Report." Declan's voice cuts through my thoughts, pulling me back to the present.
I turn to face the brotherhood, these predators who shouldn't work together but somehow do. They're watching me, waiting for answers I don't want to give.
"Mikhail escaped," I say. The words taste like ash. "Used phoenix regeneration and teleportation. He's wounded but alive."
"And the threat level?" Grayson's rumble carries the weight of someone who's seen too many battles to be surprised by another one coming.
"High." I meet his eyes. "He knows we're organized now, knows we're working together. And he made it clear this isn't over."
"What's his connection to you?" Jax asks the question everyone's thinking. "The way you two fought... that wasn't enemies meeting for the first time."
I consider lying or deflecting or changing the subject. But these are my brothers in arms, bound by blood spilled and oaths taken.
"Mikhail and I have history," I say carefully. "From before. Before the island, before the brotherhood, before any of this." I gesture vaguely at the room, at the life I've built here. "We were connected once, allied. Until we weren't."
"What changed?" Declan's eyes are too knowing, too sharp.
