“He is trespassing.” Regulus’s eyes glowed an even darker red, and his normally refined voice took on a rough edge. “No one enters this house without my permission. Particularly not one with magic in him.”
“The time for secrets is over,” the old man said. “Paddy is here to help.”
Cade took his place at Farren’s side. “Put him down, Regulus.”
“Watch your tone, wolf. This is my house, and I make the rules.” Despite his words, Regulus released Paddy, and the practitioner sank down onto the chair he’d been sitting in.
“The storm took yer heart from ya’,” he said, turning his pale eyes to Cade. “And the blind found a way to see.”
“If you’re talking about Sameen, the least you could do is refer to her by name. She just risked everything for us.” Peter carried his mate to one of the stately leather couches in front of the hearth and sank down with her still cradled in his arms. His body ached, and had they been any further from the house, he wouldn’t have been able to carry her the whole way.
“Ah. Precious one. Old Paddy never knew her name. Never saw her face. Just felt her sufferin’.”
“How?” Farren asked. “How did ya’ find us? How did ya’ get in? And how in the bloody hell did ya’feelSameen’s sufferin’? Give us somethin’ we can use.”
“I’m with Farren,” Liam added. The big beta wolf buttoned his flannel shirt and took a seat so he could lace up his boots. “Ya’ve done nothin’ but spout half truths and riddles for months. We know where Mara is, and we’re goin’ after her.”
“Fire consumes, but does not die. In that strength, all hopes lie.”Paddy jerked up and staggered over to Peter and Sameen. He put one shaking hand over her eyes. Peter growled a warning, but the old man ignored him—like he wasn’t even in the room.“Newly joined, ya’ surely are. By fate and love, even from afar. Yet darkness lurks now deep below, a threat that comes not from a foe. Blood will spill and blood can heal, when given by a heart concealed. Do not despair for darkest night...can be banished by the light.”
Tears stained Sameen’s cheeks, and when Paddy straightened with a quiet grunt, her eyelids fluttered, and she turned her head to Peter.
“Who’s here?” she whispered, so quietly he had to strain to hear her.
“Old Paddy knows ya’, lass. The smart one. Ya’ keep yer wits about ya’, even though—”
“She knows nothing of the world?” Caitlin asked. “I thought ya’ were talkin’ about me, Paddy. Back at O’Connor’s all these months ago.”
“Was I now? Paddy says many things, lass. Rarely do they have only a single meanin’.” The old man tapped his nose and shuffled over to Farren. “Paddy can stop fightin’ soon. The storm cleared, and Paddy came like he promised ya’.”
In Peter’s arms, Sameen shifted, trying to sit up, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and settled her against him. “That crazy old man has been helping Farren for twenty years. Helped us after Fergus took Liam, told Farren to stop running away from Eli. But we don’t know who he truly is or how he knows any of this shit.”
“He’s...familiar,” Sameen said. “I don’t know him, but—” She doubled over, pressing her hand to her mark, and across the room, Liam and Farren both winced.
But next to the female alpha, Paddy stood taller. His pale gray eyes clouded over, and his wispy white hair started rising like he’d just stuck his finger in an electric socket.
“One fire dies so another can burn,”he said, his voice raspier and definitely not his own. “The ones in control have not learned. They think Fate guides them to the light, but love’s the only path that’s right.”
“Paddy?” Farren grabbed his arm as he started to collapse, and Regulus caught him before he hit the ground. As the vampire lay Paddy out on the sofa across from Peter and Sameen, the man’s arm flopped limply to the side, his ratty sweater rising just enough to reveal several curved, black lines on the inside of his wrist.
“Fuck me.” Farren pushed the cuff of his sleeve up higher, and the entire room fell silent until Peter remembered Sameen probably couldn’t see well enough to know what was going on.
“Paddy has the same sigil as Eli,” he whispered in her ear. “Except the circle is broken. That’s why he’s familiar. Every time the Thirteen controlled someone...you felt Paddy’s pain too.”
* * *
Mara
She woke up with a scream, the lights flickering in the corridor and pain snaking all around her belly.
“No. Not yet.”
Despite how broken the other part of her mind was, it had taken back control while she’d been asleep, and Mara couldn’t fight her way free.
“Let me out! This is a contraction! And it’s too soon!”
By her estimates, if the Thirteen were advancing her pregnancy a week every day, she’d be six and a half months pregnant. But for all she knew, she could be sleeping for more than twenty-four hours at a time. Or they could have made the spell stronger.
God, she was so hungry. So weak. If they didn’t bring her food and water soon, would she even survive long enough to give birth?
