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Even brimming with magic and power, the search for Moira was hopeless. I’d searched high and low, scanned the entire world looking for my best friend, and had come up empty-handed. The thought infuriated and terrified me.

Her mother had never been kind. Who was I to think things had changed, especially after what else she’d done before she’d caught Moira again?

Power boomed over our land, announcing my father’s arrival. I waited until I felt him settle beside me before opening my eyes.

He hadn’t bothered trying to appear human this morning. Emerald green magic snapped around him like a nimbus. His eyes swirled with his fae heritage.

Cernunnos’s powerful shoulders slumped. “I can’t find her,” he croaked. “What good is all this power if it can’t find one vampire?”

I scooted closer to him and leaned my head on his shoulder. “We’ll find her,” I promised. “Moira is clever. She will find a way to tell us where she is.”

Dad inhaled a heavy breath. “She’s been gone too long. Her magic has to be drained.”

I leaned away and stared at him. “You love her, don’t you?”

Dad’s jaw clenched. “I love and hate too much. So much sometimes I can’t tell the emotions apart. I feel everything, Evangeline, and it is breaking my heart.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I said quietly.

“She doesn’t love me,” he said. “How could she love something like me?”

My brow furrowed. I shook my head. “You old fool,” I said with a chuckle. “I don’t think you understand just how alike you and Moira are. You were there for her during her worst days.” I paused, not wanting to say too much. My best friend had a lot of complications in her life right now. Her captivity obviously took precedence, but there was one more glaring complication currently sitting in my living room with my husband, super pissed about his “unlawful detainment” as he called it.

Of course, Rowan was still a Shifter Lord, as was Ethan, so I had to ensure every bit of the fallout of holding Ethan here against his will fell on me and not my husband. Easy enough, though whether Moira would forgive me later was yet to be seen.

If there was a chance Ethan could find Moira sooner than any of us, I’d hogtie his dumb ass to a tree and beat the knowledge out of him with a stick if I needed to. One Shifter Lord piñata, coming right up.

They were bonded, those two. And I had a terrible feeling the bond was the kind that was very difficult to sever. Which made my father’s feelings even more complicated.

Few would stand in the way of a mating bond, and I suspected Cernunnos was one of those who would walk away.

“Moira’s feelings are muddled. She and Ethan never had the chance to work their issues out before her mother cast that horrific spell.”

Both of our gazes trailed over to the woman’s body still glowing with unholy magic—the spell keeping Ethan trapped with his dead wife, Sarah. Except Ethan didn’t realize Sarah was dead. The spell made him forget that tiny little fact, but it had also made him forget his feelings for Moira.

My bestie was trapped in a fucked-up spider web, and I couldn’t see any way to untangle her without making it worse for everyone.

“Should we just kill her?” Dad asked.

I sighed. “Trust me, I think about that one every single day.”

Dad’s eyes narrowed. “We could expect spell blowback. Sarah would fall dead. Again. Ethan might die.”

Our eyes locked. “Moira might live,” we said at the same time.

Breaking the spell so abruptly would seriously injure Moira’s mother—maybe even kill her.

“The mating bond is a complication,” I murmured.

Dad’s lips thinned. “If there is one.”

I snorted. “We both know the answer to that one.”

“They haven’t finalized anything. She’d feel the spell break, but it might not harm her too much.”

“I don’t think we can risk it if she’s in a weakened state.” I looked away and studied the mountain range. This was my favorite place to commune with Rowan’s land, even when it was cold as hell outside. In the springtime, the place was dotted with wildflowers of all colors. The grass swayed gently in the breeze, and there was always a cool wind against my neck.

Today, only a blanket of white and stillness greeted me. Beautiful in its own harsh way. The land underneath my body hummed with contentment, the ground still teeming with life and seeds resting, waiting for the seasons to change before they awakened.