Pain. Rage. Betrayal. It floods me, drowns me, fills every inch of me until I can’t tell where I end, and it begins. My body starts to give out. My legs burn; my body pushed to exhaustion. “No,” I sob, shaking my head, forcing myself forward. Faster. Harder. “No, no, no.”
The road dips into a valley, and in the distance, lights appear. Headlights. Engines rumble low at first, then grow louder and closer. I don’t move aside. I don’t care who sees me. Fear claws at my spine, but it’s nothing compared to what’s chasing me inside my own head.
“Lilith!” The voice cracks through everything. I skid to a halt. Motorbikes—lots of them—roar to a stop behind me. And him. Lucian. He strides toward me, his expression carved from concern, his amber eyes searching mine like he has any right.
“What happened?” he asks, voice low, urgent. “Are you okay?”
Something inside me snaps. All that pressure, all that fury erupts. My hand moves before I can think, slamming across his face with a crack that echoes into the night. His head whips to the side. “Fuck. You.” The words tear out of me, raw and venomous.
I’m so focused on him, I don’t see her. Not until it’s too late. A savage growl rips through the air, and Evelynn slams into me, driving me to the ground. Her hand clamps around my throat, crushing. “You don’t ever hurt what is mine,” she snarls, her eyes wild, feral and protective.
A broken laugh chokes out of me. “Ask him why,” I rasp, the sound hollow and splintered. “Ask him why he and all of them lied to me. For years.” My voice rises, cracks, shatters. “Ask him!”
Silence stretches, and her grip loosens. She knows. “You knew,” I whisper, the words barely there.
Evelynn’s expression shifts, just enough. She releases my throat and sits back, pulling me up with her. Her hand wraps around mine, steadying me. “I only found out a few days ago,” she says quietly. “And for what it’s worth…” She pauses. “I don’t think they should’ve kept it from you.”
I blink, my fury flickering, faltering under the weight of something deeper. “I loved a man who killed me,” I say, my voice shredded and raw. “And then I fell for his brother… who got my family killed.” The words land like a death sentence.
Evelynn frowns. “What do you mean, Silas caused it?”
I look at her, then at Lucian. His silence says everything. “You didn’t tell her,” I breathe.
“Didn’t tell her what?” Clutch steps forward, the rest of the club closing in behind him.
The air tightens. “Silas enrolled Morbius into the Dominion,” I say. Each word feels like dragging glass through my throat. “He’s the reason my family was slaughtered.” Shock ripples through the group.
“Wait,” Clutch shakes his head. “I thought all he did was change you.”
Lucian exhales sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can we not do this here?—”
“No,” Viktor cuts him off, anger flaring. “We do this now. You kept secrets from your own club. Seems like the perfect time to bleed them out.”
Evelynn’s hand tightens in support around mine. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to.
“Morbius nearly got Clutch killed,” Lucian says finally. “He was unstable. Dangerous. You all voted to cut him loose.” The brothers shift, unease creeping in. “But Silas…” Lucian continues, his voice heavy. “Silas couldn’t turn his back on him. No matter what he’d done.”
His eyes flick to me.
“He went to the Dominion. Told them Morbius was a threat to vampires. That if he weren’t controlled, he’d expose everything.” He swallows. “But he also said Morbius could be an asset, if they trained him.”
A bitter laugh breaks from Cain. “Yeah,” he mutters darkly. “And Morbius repaid that by slaughtering them all and taking control.”
The weight of that truth settles over us like ash. Lucian nods slowly. “We didn’t know. Not until he came back.” His gaze locks on mine, softer now. Regretful. “He did what he thought wasright, for the club. For Morbius.” A minute passes. “For you. He knew Morbius would get you killed one day. And he couldn’t live with that.” My chest tightens painfully. “That’s why he changed you,” Lucian adds quietly. “You were dying in his arms. He’d already lost his brother. He couldn’t lose you, too.”
Silence. Then the rage comes roaring back. “Oh, don’t,” I snap, tears burning down my face. “Don’t act as if you care now. You still punished him.”
Evelynn stiffens. “Punished?” No one answers. That’s an answer enough.
“You told me about Silas and the Dominion,” she says slowly, her voice sharpening as she turns on Lucian. “You left that part out.”
I laugh bitterly.
“They cut him open,” I spit. “Sliced into him. Then forced him to sit in the sun so the wounds would blister and never heal.”
A horrified gasp tears from Evelynn. “What did he do that was so unforgivable?” she demands.
I meet her eyes. “He changed me.” The words fall like a blade.
