I froze, my body beginning to shake. I had asked her if she could find out what had happened to them. No one had messaged me back when I’d started trying to get in touch, but there hadn’t been any obituaries for them, either. Nor any missing persons reports. It was like they’d completely disappeared…
“They’re alive.”
A shuddering gasp escaped my chest and I fell to my knees, tears pouring down my cheeks. “Oh, thank you. Thank Hecara,” I blubbered, Ember now rubbing on my legs in circles around me. “Where are they? Are they safe? Did you talk to them?”
“I don’t know, relatively, and no.”
“You don’t know? Relatively?”
“I went straight to their house after dropping you off and found a note they’d left for you. Apparently, Cindralis police—or witches posing as CPD, more likely—showed up five years ago to tell your parents you’d gotten mixed up with the Carvassi family and placed them in some witness protection program.”
“What? And they just went along with that?” I knew my parents were a little gullible and had fallen for fake stories and images on MagikGraph, but to just leave their home, no questions asked?
“What would you do if a bunch of alphas with convincing cop badges showed up in the middle of the night and told you that you needed to leave immediately?”
Probably go with them, I supposed. And it wasn’t like I could really judge, considering how little fight I’d put up when Victor had shown up at my apartment.
Besides, no matter what, the important thing was that they were alive.
“I’m guessing there’s no way to find out exactly where they are or to get in touch with them?”
“I’m sorry, but no. They’re likely being monitored twenty-four-seven as it is, but now that you’re gone? Their location will be one of the first places he locks down.”
“That makes sense,” I said quietly.
They’re alive. That’s all that matters.
“But,” she continued, her tone hesitant. “Once Victor is gone, Accalia can easily bring them—and you—back out of hiding.”
It was so hard to reconcile the concept that my freedom, ultimately, would come once Victor died. Once he was gone, there was no reason for anyone to be looking for me, and the only people who really knew what I was to him were Accalia, who had helped me escape, and his guards, who I doubted cared enough about him to find me and kill me in revenge.
Socially, coming out of a five-year absence, especially after the deaths of my boyfriend and my best friend, would be difficult. But Conan had been willing enough to accept my excuse of heart complications, so maybe the rest of my friends would, too.
“Thank you, Morgana. Really. Just knowing they’re alive is everything.”
“Of course. I’ll check in tomorrow. And don’t let those old alphas run you ragged, okay?”
We hung up, and I wiped the tracks of tears from my cheeks as I stood up and stuck the phone back in the nightstand drawer. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the way out, spooked for a second, as I still unaccustomed to the glamour, and then headed back to the bar.
* * *
It was only the beginning of spring, butSelene’s Howlwas much further south than Cindralis or Noctis, and the nights were pleasantly warm. After years of having nothing to wear but skimpy lingerie and negligees, though, showing skin—even skin glamoured to hide my scars—made me uncomfortable, so I was still covered head-to-toe in clothing.
I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand after I finished slicing all the limes for the tequila that I knew Marcus was going to order. He’d been gone yesterday on a job, but had told me before he’d left that he’d be back tonight, and to be ready for him.
I backed up through the swinging doors holding the sheet, and nearly dropped them when the scent of star anise invaded my senses.
It alighted every cell in my body, making me tingle all over. A sensation I hadn’t felt in years.
But this was stronger than before. More powerful. More impactful.
I panicked, wondering if somehow Victor had found a way to change his scent and become the mate I needed him to be, to drag me back when I biologically couldn’t say no.
When I looked up, though, it wasn’t Victor walking through the front door, but an alpha demon.
Tall, broad-shouldered, in his early thirties, if I had to guess, with jet-black hair that fell into his eyes and horns that curled back from his temples in smooth, dangerous arcs. His golden gaze locked onto me the instant he crossed the threshold and flared wide, pupils swallowing the light.
My heart slammed so hard in my chest it hurt, heat pooling low in my belly, my magic stirring like it had been waiting for him. His scent hit me again—smoke and spice and something darkly sweet beneath it—and I had to grip the edge of the counter to keep myself steady.
