The baby hadgrown. In the time it had taken the practitioners to brand her, make her change clothes, and march her back to her cell, it was almost as if a week had passed.
The fire elemental screamed, the sound full of horror and pain, and Mara fell to her knees on the mattress. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and then, like a switch had been flipped,shewas in control again.
“Oh, baby...I’m so sorry. Rachel. Rachel Eleanor. That’s what your name is. If I—God—if I don’t get to raise you, if your daddy can’t find us...never forget. You’re Rachel Eleanor Bowman, and you are loved so much.” She cradled her belly gently, rubbing circles over where she hoped her daughter would kick next, and it only took a few seconds before she was rewarded with a tiny thud against her palm.
The scent of the food hit her, and shehadto eat. Some sort of stew, a roll, a pile of spinach. Easily three servings, yet she finished it all. Along with a large jug of water and a pint of milk. Every bite left her hungrier than the last. Until it was all gone.
The light was still on in the corridor, but she had no idea how long she’d be allowed to stay awake, how long they’d force her to sleep, or who would be in control when she woke up. So she sat on the mattress and pulled the blanket around her shoulders.
“Listen, Katerina. Or...whoever the hell you are. Katerina’s spirit? Her soul? Some dormant part of me that just needed a mega-dose of fire to wake the hell up? We need to stop fighting one another and work together here. I don’t even know if that’s possible, but they’re going to take this baby from me—from us—if we don’t.”
Anger stirred deep inside her. Anger she knew wasn’t hers. Or, not exactly hers.
“That’s right. They’ll take Rachel and turn her into some sort of weapon or vessel for them to be able to harness spirit. You have been paying attention, right?”
She felt her other half’s answer rather than heard it, and hallelujah. They had some basic level of communication started.
“So help me stop them. You’ve been taking over for months now. And no one’s been able to figure out why or what you want. Find a way to tell me. Even if you have to put me back in that tiny little box again to do it. I don’t care.”
Something inside her started to burn, an ember deep in her chest, aching to be free, but before it could catch fire, the light went out, and though she fought with everything she had, the practitioners’ spell was too strong, and she toppled over, asleep.
Chapter One
Peter
His footsteps echoed on the Travertine floors, and Peter wondered why, since Regulus hadn’t set foot in Scotland in more than twelve years, he felt the need to keep such a lavish home here.
Gift horse. Mouth. Who the fuck cares?
He shouldn’t. Not when this house was currently protecting his family. Well, some of his family. They were spread across the globe now. Shawn, Livie, and their baby daughter in Canada. Ollie and Christine in Seattle, and Mara...
Shit. Guilt soured his stomach, and he stopped halfway through adding the coffee beans to the most expensive espresso machine he’d ever seen outside of the coffee shops in Seattle.
Cade’s mate had been taken from Farren’s house in Ireland less than thirty-six hours earlier. With Eli’s help—Peter still had no idea how the man’s unique combination of magic and elemental powers worked—they’d put an end to five practitioners and destroyed one of their lairs just a few hours ago. But the remaining members of the Thirteen—a coven dedicated to bringing about the fifth element of spirit so they could hold life and death in their hands—had hidden Mara somewhere else. Somewhere Cade couldn’t sense her and no one could scry for her.
The floor shook underneath Peter’s feet. Directly below, in the east wing basement, Cade, Peter’s alpha, had lost his mind with worry over his mate and their unborn child. When Liam, the pack’s beta, had last checked on him, he’d still been in wolf form, throwing his massive body against the stone walls time and time again.
“Ya’ plannin’ on blockin’ that machine all day? Or can ya’ move aside so I can get a cuppa?” Liam’s voice startled him, and Peter dropped the bag of beans on the counter, barely stopping them from spilling all over the fucking place.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Peter snapped. “Not today.”
Liam held up his hands and took a step back. “Wasn’t tryin’ to, mate. Ye’re off in another world.”
“Not another world.” Peter moved out of the way so Liam could brew two cups of coffee. “Just stuck in this shitty one and trying to figure out how the fuck we went from Bellingham eighteen months ago to here. We were happy. Safe. And now...?”
“I know.” Liam ran a hand through his shoulder-length reddish hair. “I can’t reconcile bein’ so happy I got my Caitlin back and so shattered over losin’ Mara. Or Cade bein’ tortured for so many months. Or yer...”
Peter flinched. “My damage? You can say it, Liam. I’m fucked up. Can’t run like the rest of you, can’t even manage stairs on my bad days. I’m glad you found your mate. Hell, I’m fucking sorry for giving her such a hard time when she came back. And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to find Mara. But can you blame me for wishing we could all go back in time?”
Abandoning his quest for caffeine, Peter turned, a little unsteady on his left leg, intending to stalk away, but his knee buckled, and he grabbed one of the dining room chairs so he wouldn’t fall.
“When was the last time ya’ slept?” Liam asked.
“Same time you did, asshole. When was the last time you checked on Cade?” Peter gritted his teeth and gingerly put weight on his bad leg.
Hold. Come on. Just hold.
Most of the time, he did okay. His wolf could manage something close to a run, though he couldn’t keep up with Cade and Liam when they were at full speed. But after the fight at the Thirteen’s castle just twelve hours ago, he was hurting.
