“Is this supposed to be a pep talk?” Eli asked. “Because it’s a terrible one.”
“No. This is a warning. Do not let your guard down for a single second. I will protect you until I can fight no more, Eliziam, for I owe your father a life debt. I offer your mate the same.”
“It feels like ye’re tellin’ us we’re doomed to fail.” Farren took Eli’s hand, drawing strength from his touch.
“We are. I am very old, she-wolf. I have been alive for more than three centuries, and I have seen many creatures go up against practitioners and fail. Even the Fae, and they are the most devious tricksters to ever walk this earth. If any of us escape with our lives, it will be—and I do not use this word lightly—a miracle.”
“Have ya’ ever seen someone like Eli fight them?” Farren asked. Her mate was strong. Stronger than even he knew. Farren could sense his power every time they touched.
Regulus inclined his head. “No. I have not. But Eliziam’s talents mean nothing if he is not whole.” Leaning close enough for Farren to get a whiff of the vampire’s scent—cloves and tobacco and blood—he held her gaze. In her head, his words boomed like a thunderstorm.
He will need you before the end, Farren Denair. If you cannot forgive yourself, you will fail, and that will be the end of us all.
The truth of the vampire’s words hit her like a hammer, and she let go of her mate’s hand. Forgive herself? She couldn’t. She’d gotten her beta, one of her oldest friends, killed. Lost two other wolves, one to Fergus and the other...well, she doubted she’d ever know where Abagail went off to. And she was supposed to simply...let go of that pain?
“Ye’re a proper bastard, Regulus,” she hissed. “And ya’ better be wrong.”
The night walker straightened his shoulders and stared down his sharp nose at her. “I am never wrong.”
* * *
Eli
The vampire had three cars ready and waiting for them, one with heavily tinted windows.
“I cannot walk in the sun under normal conditions. But I have a way to do so today for a very short time,” Regulus said as he revved the engine and peeled out with a squeal of tires. “The year was 1888, and I was in London. In the middle of the night, I heard a woman scream. I feed from humans, of course, but I do not kill them unless I must. I found her in an alley as a vile, disgusting creature hacked away at her body with a large knife. The Ripper died at my hand, and the woman...I gave her a choice. I could not save her life. She had lost too much blood. But I could turn her. She accepted my offer. When she woke as one of the night walkers, I learned that she was also a practitioner. Victoria was a gentle soul, and she could not stand the idea of harming others for her survival. I lost her after only ten days. But before she ended her own existence by meeting the sun, she left me a gift.”
Regulus reached into the pocket of his black leather coat and withdrew a gold signet ring. “Daybreak approaches. In three hours, I will be forced underground, and I will not allow myself to be trapped in one of their cells again. This ring will allow me a short time to walk in the sun.”
“What the bloody hell is ‘a short time’?” Farren slid across the smooth leather and tucked herself in at Eli’s side. “Ya’ mean to tell me ya’ brought us here, intendin’ to fight with us, but knowin’ ya’d be useless if the sun came up?”
Regulus narrowed his eyes at her in the rearview mirror, and despite how helpful he’d been, Eli didn’t appreciate the indifference in his gaze. “The abilities of my kind are quite well known. Surely you were not so terribly preoccupied you failed to noticethe time?”
Farren growled, low in her throat. A warning Eli feared meant she was close to losing control of her wolf.
“If I had intended to abandon you, I would not have brought the ring.” A hint of emotion crept into the vampire’s tone. Something Eli thought might even be regret. “This will allow me to sun walk until its magic has been depleted. The first time I had cause to put it on, the enchantments lasted hours. But in the decades since Victoria’s passing, it has degraded.”
“You’ll be wise not to keep any more secrets from us, vampire,” Eli warned, surprised at the possessiveness and outright threat carried in his tone. Farren met his gaze, shock and arousal dilating her pupils. Rather than question him, she draped her hand over his thigh and leaned in to whisper in his ear.
“The full moon is but thirty minutes away. It’ll have us both wantin’ to rip apart anyone who comes between us by daybreak.”
Despite his fear of what they’d find once they reached the castle—or perhaps because of it—Eli stole a moment with his mate, yanking her against him and ravaging her mouth. Her hands wandered until his dick stiffened under her touch. It wasn’t until Regulus cleared his throat that either of them remembered where they were.
“Wolves,” the vampire muttered as he took a sharp turn.
Eli missed her warmth as soon as Farren put space between them. The longer he spent with her, talking, kissing, fucking, the more he knew he wouldn’t survive without her. Facing the Thirteen knowing he could easily lose her to their magic? It made the task even more daunting.
“Somethin’ on yer mind, night walker?” Farren asked. “We were havin’ a moment.”
“I have been alive longer than the two of you can imagine. And as is the case for most vampires, I have spent the majority of that time alone. My progeny are scattered across the world, for I do not compel them to stay with me. These centuries have taught me many things, but I have forgotten much as well. Such as human emotions and their importance.”
It was more of an apology than Eli had expected out of the creature, and, at his side, Farren nodded. “Right, then. I suppose we’re all a mite tense.”
“The Thirteen are cunning and cruel. They know what I am and how to cause me the greatest pain, and they will know the same about every one of you within minutes of crossing their wards. It is their way.” Regulus turned the ring over in his long, elegant fingers. “The ring is no mystery to them.”
Farren sank back against the rich leather seat. “Then are ya’ sure it will even work? They could counter its magic without breakin’ a sweat, yeah?”
The worry lines etched around his mate’s lips riled something deep inside Eli. He’d cocked up the first casting so thoroughly to get them into this mess, and now he expected her—and the rest of the werewolves and elementals with them—to trust him. He had to find some way to redeem himself.
