Rebel Reborn E-Book

Sarah Piper

• Herausgeber: Two Gnomes Media
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

When darkness descends, who will survive the Battle for Blackmoon Bay?

The fight at the cemetery was hard won. But from the enemy’s perspective, the cemetery was just a minor outpost.

Blackmoon Bay is ground zero for their entire operation, and it’s no longer simply the home we’re desperate to reclaim. It’s the spark that will eventually set the whole world on fire.

If we fail, we will all die. Witches, shifters, vampires, demons, fae, and humankind. None will be left standing. Not one soul but the few who’ve masterminded the entire collapse.

But my dark rebels and I have a weapon the enemy could never touch.

We are the Silversbane Witches. The four of swords. And this is our destiny.

Get ready for one hell of a fight.

Leseprobe

Rebel Reborn

Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Piper

SarahPiperBooks.com

Published by Two Gnomes Media

Cover design by Two Gnomes Media

All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotations used for promotional or review purposes, no part of this book may be recorded, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express permission of the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, businesses, organizations, brands, media, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

v12

E-book ISBN: 978-1-948455-43-5

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-948455-11-4

Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-977336-57-6

Contents

Book Series by Sarah Piper

Get Connected!

About Rebel Reborn

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Origins of The Witch’s Rebels

About Sarah Piper

Book Series by Sarah Piper

M/F Romance Series

Monstrous Obsessions

Vampire Royals of New York

Reverse Harem Romance Series

Claimed by Gargoyles

The Witch’s Monsters

Tarot Academy

The Witch’s Rebels

Get Connected!

I love connecting with readers! There are a few different ways you can keep in touch:

Email: [email protected]

TikTok: @sarahpiperbooks

Facebook group: Sarah Piper’s Sassy Witches

Twitter: @sarahpiperbooks

Newsletter: Never miss a new release or a sale! Sign up for the VIP Readers Club:

sarahpiperbooks.com/readers-club

About Rebel Reborn

When darkness descends, who will survive the Battle for Blackmoon Bay?

The fight at the cemetery was hard won. But from the enemy’s perspective, the cemetery was just a minor outpost.

Blackmoon Bay is ground zero for their entire operation, and it’s no longer simply the home we’re desperate to reclaim. It’s the spark that will eventually set the whole world on fire.

If we fail, we will all die. Witches, shifters, vampires, demons, fae, and humankind. None will be left standing. Not one soul but the few who’ve masterminded the entire collapse.

But my dark rebels and I have a weapon the enemy could never touch.

We are the Silversbane Witches. The four of swords. And this is our destiny.

Get ready for one hell of a fight.

Rebel Reborn is also available in audionarrated by Tristan James and Aletha George!

One

DARIUS

From the moment my fangs pierced her flesh, I knew only her blood on my lips, the warm and salty taste of it bursting across my tongue as it slowly filled my mouth. I swallowed once, twice, unable to stifle a groan of raw pleasure as I continued to suck.

A flame flickered to life inside my chest, then ignited.

I was burning. Raging.

All for her. My witch. My love. My eternal mate, in this lifetime and all that would follow.

I would die for you, Gray Desario…

The words escaped my lips unbidden as I finally broke our connection, forcing the orgasmic flames in my blood to smolder, ignoring the ache in my very being that so desperately wanted more. That would always want more when it came to Gray. But she hadn’t yet turned; some part of me knew that if I took even a single swallow more, I would certainly kill her.

I lifted her off the ground and held her against my chest, burying my face in her hair, inhaling her scent. The gray mist of her soul had already slipped from between her lips, and now it floated freely, mesmerizing us all.

Jael whispered his fae magic, the very cadence of it so lovely it seemed to be weaving a spell around my heart as well. Slowly, peacefully, Gray’s soul drifted toward the moonglass held reverently in the fae prince’s hands.

“Holy shit,” Asher whispered, and we continued to watch in awe as the essence of the woman we loved filled the glass sphere like smoke caught in a bottle, light pulsing from its misty depths.

Even the very winter’s night seemed to be holding its breath until the last wisp of her soul was safely contained, and Jael sealed the glass and lifted his hands toward the moon, thanking her.

Tears streaked Liam’s face, his wide, blue eyes like twin orbs in the dim. Gone was the omnipotent, ancient being we’d come to know as Death; he seemed in that moment quite young, and quite human.

His origins, his mysteries remained his and his alone. But there was one secret even the Great Transformation Himself could no longer hide:

He’d fallen in love with her.

I averted my gaze, feeling the need to give him privacy.

The woods surrounding our moonlit cemetery had gone silent during the spell. Before we’d begun, we’d sent the remainder of the group back to base camp under the protection of Elena, her shifter team, and one of Gray’s hounds. The other paced a perimeter twenty feet out, keeping one ever-watchful eye on Gray, the other on the darkness beyond.

Snow continued to fall all around us, collecting in tiny drifts on the headstones, filling in our blood-soaked boot prints, erasing all evidence of our earlier battle. Gray’s body began to tremble in my arms, but that was to be expected; the transition was never easy.

“It is done,” Jael said softly, bringing the orb close against his chest. We locked eyes in that moment, mirror images, each one cradling a precious piece of the woman I loved.

I nodded, and he bowed his head in acknowledgment.

It was a moment of peace and understanding in an otherwise treacherous night, and everyone seemed to feel it at the same time, all of us releasing a collective sigh.

Then the others looked to me, to the woman lying limp in my arms.

“She will survive the change,” I said, even as the tremor continued to snake through her body, even as the white mist of her breath ceased, her lungs no longer requiring air. “I can feel the life force inside of her. She’s stronger than any of us ever realized.”

“Stubborn as hell, too,” Emilio said, and the rest of us let out a quick laugh. Stubborn as hell? Yes, that about summed it up. Who else could’ve talked us into undertaking such a risk but the fiercely beautiful, determined, impossibly stubborn witch we’d all fallen in love with?

Lowering my eyes to the moonglass in Jael’s hands, I asked, “What of her soul?”

I was as desperate for the answer as I was afraid of it. Caught up in the intensity of Gray’s plan, none of us had stopped to talk through the logistics of what would come after. By the time we’d agreed to support her plan, it had been enough to know that her soul would not be instantly damned.

But now?

“I must take her to my home realm,” Jael said plainly. “It’s the only safe place for her now. My family will protect the moonglass until it comes time for her to honor the contract with Sebastian.”

“Your family?” Ronan’s eyes turned demon black, his shoulders bunching with tension. “And what happens when the wind changes direction, and Queen Sheyah decides it’s a fine day to stab us in the nuts?”

“My mother may be cold and calculating,” Jael said, “but she’s not cruel, nor is she a traitor to her blood. She will honor my wishes, Ronan. You have my word.”

“Jael, there is no room for error on this,” Emilio said firmly. “No room for petty squabbles, judgments, or old vendettas. This is Gray’s soul. Should it fall into the wrong hands, even in your realm…”

The wolf trailed off, turning his face toward the moonlight, casting the new worry lines around his eyes into sharp relief.

I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t know which vendettas he referred to, but I didn’t need specifics. The Seelie queen was a notoriously conniving woman; she never formed an alliance unless there was something in it for her, and like most bargains struck at an hour of desperation, her allegiance never came without cost.

I suspected she was one of the reasons—if not the reason—Jael and Kallayna had left their realm and made a new home in the Bay in the first place. Now Jael wanted to bring Gray’s soul back there? Under the protection of the woman who—if the centuries-old rumors held even a whiff of truth—had once burned an entire village of humans and their livestock on the mere suspicion that they’d been harboring a runaway fae child?

“I have given you my word.” Jael’s yellow eyes glowed fiercely, his brow drawn tight. “Never mind that Gray has become important to me as a leader, a warrior, as well as a friend. Her soul will be well-protected. I shall give my life to that end, if it comes to it.”

“You’ve been more than loyal, prince,” Liam said.

“It’s not his loyalty we’re worried about,” Asher said. “It’s that whole ‘if it comes to it’ part.”

“It won’t come to it,” Jael insisted, but I wasn’t convinced. None of us were, and in the uncertain silence that followed, the fae prince finally exploded.

“Gentlemen,” he began, his voice full of fire, “I have risked my sister’s life and my own to bring you intelligence from the Bay. I have fought by your sides in battles I could just as well have left behind, narrowly escaping an army of hybrids intent on burning me alive and nearly succeeding. I have risked eternal banishment from all the realms by calling upon forbidden moon magic, all in service to the woman I’ve come to call a close friend. I did not take such actions only to betray her at the very last.”

“Jael,” I began, but he would not relent, his entire body tense but for his hands, in which he held the moonglass as gently as a soap bubble.

“I would not take her within a galaxy of my realm if I believed for one moment my family would bring her harm.” Jael’s voice shook with defiance. “I understand your concern for her, but I beseech you to take an accurate accounting of my proven fidelity before accusing me or my family of future treasons.”

Emilio lifted his palms in a gesture of peace, but Ronan and Asher were still wound up.

That Jael believed he could protect her was obvious. But could we really trust Queen Sheyah, regardless of Jael’s noble intentions? And what of her royal guard, her servants, her subjects? When had Jael last communicated with his family? How could he be certain he’d even find welcome in his realm, let alone protection for the soul of a human witch-turned-vampire he’d just risked his own eternal existence to save?

I closed my eyes and pulled Gray tight against my chest, my blood humming in recognition at the blood now flowing through her veins. We were beyond connected, beyond bound, beyond mated.

We were one.

Trust him…

The message was faint but clear, imprinted from one vampire mind to another. The realization nearly made me weep.

She truly was assimilating.

Unconscious as her body was, Gray’s mind was right here with us—right here with me. She trusted Jael. And as much as I hated the idea of letting her soul out of our sight, I knew what Gray had known from the very moment she’d made the decision to turn:

There were no other options.

Opening my eyes, I looked from Ronan to Emilio to Asher to Liam, nodding at each before my gaze finally came to rest on Jael’s still-smoldering yellow eyes.

“Gray entrusted you with the extraction and guidance of her soul,” I said, granting him the same small bow he’d offered me earlier. “We entrust you now to protect it in whatever way you deem best.”

Ronan blew out a tense breath, but no one said a word to contradict me. We’d all come together to support Gray in her decision to change, and that—like so many things we’d done and shared together on this journey, whether I could remember the particulars or not—bonded us once again as brothers.

Jael wasted no more time.

“We must move quickly,” he said, “while night still holds. I need to draw upon the moon’s power once more, if she’ll allow it, and weave a portal spell to open a doorway back to my realm.”

“How long will it take?” I asked, eyeing the expanse above the snowy treetops. The sky was still inky black, but soon enough, the sun would begin her ascent. I’d very much prefer Gray and I were back at base camp with time to spare before the first rays touched the earth.

“Can you guarantee me complete silence and zero interruptions?” He headed off to find a clear spot beyond the headstones. He knelt upon the snow, nestling the moonglass into a downy drift at his side. “If so, it shouldn’t take more than—”

The rest of his words cut off abruptly as a blinding pain split my skull.

It unfolded like a car crash—time slowing for an eternity before zooming forward, leaving my mind in a frenzied blur, uncertain where one moment ended and another began.

The agony and confusion brought me to my knees.

It was all I could do to shield Gray from the impact as we hit the ground, my head spinning.

“Beaumont!” Ronan shouted, but I couldn’t see him, barely registering the motion of his body lunging for me. Someone else scooped up Gray, and I bent forward and pressed my forehead against the snow, desperate for something—anything—to numb the pain.

Useless.

My body shook, head to toe, the tremble so violent I bit my tongue. Blood filled my mouth, and the walls inside my mind burst like ancient dams, ushering in a flood of disconnected images and sounds and scents, each one unlocking another and another and another, slicing through me like hot blades. Arms and legs wild with spasms, I roared into the night, unable to contain the torment, certain my ears were bleeding.

“Darius? What’s happening?” Someone was at my side, a warm hand on the back of my neck, another flat on my back. Ronan’s? Liam’s? I had no idea. There was only the torture unfolding behind my eyes. Only the haunting howl of a thousand ghosts inside my skull. Only the taste of Gray’s blood welling up from within.

Only… only memories.

I managed to get to my knees again, and clamped my hands around my head, desperately trying to keep my skull from exploding. A flurry of images and sights and sounds poured unbidden into my mind, imprinting themselves all at once, disconnected and fragmented, but… but mine, I realized suddenly. Every last one of them was mine—flashes of the life I’d lived and lost, the lifetimes I’d rebuilt in the decades and centuries that followed.

Memories.

Memories of my wife and children, the family I’d mourned on so many long, lonely nights.

Memories of my brother, my turning, the anger that had burned like hot coals inside my chest when he’d stolen my mortal life.

Memories of friends come and gone, of careers, of homes.

Memories of everything I’d once loved.

And then—impossibly sweet, impossibly precious—memories of a brand new love, unfolding as gently as a spring bud, then rapidly growing into a flowering vine that had somehow crept in behind my walls and blossomed, wrapping itself so thoroughly around my heart I could scarcely remember a time when it hadn’t been part of me, nor I part of it.

Gray. My witch. My little brawler. My vampire. My queen.

I remembered the night we’d spent in the cabin in the Shadowrealm, making love until we’d nearly no strength left in our bones, chasing away the cold with kisses and caresses. I remembered the heartbreak in her eyes as I told her how I’d been turned. I remembered the taste of her kiss, the promises inherent in each and every one.

I remembered the words she’d uttered so breathlessly at the mouth of the hell portal.

I love you, Darius…

I remembered my own words sliding into my consciousness, balancing on the tip of my tongue, desperate to be heard.

It seems I’ve fallen in…

The last had remained locked inside, stowed away as we came under attack from the demons that would steal my memories—memories that had just been returned to me.

Gray had saved me in all the ways that counted—then and now.

Her blood, our connection… she’d been right to trust it.

I would never doubt it.

My love for her knew no limits, no bounds, and deep inside me, that feeling expanded endlessly, chasing away the worst of the pain, steadying my hands. I was falling, experiencing each moment with her for the very first time, again and again and again.

“I’m in love with her,” I announced, my tears turning to laughter as I felt the force of that love hit me full on. With Ronan’s help, I got to my feet, swaying against his side. I was unsteady, but suddenly I felt unstoppable.

“For fuck’s sake, Beaumont.” Ronan gave me a shove. “We thought you were dying, asshole.”

“Ah, but I was. And now I’ve been reborn!” Again I laughed, bordering on maniacal, and grabbed his shoulders, hauling him in for a fierce hug. “You don’t understand, demon. I fell in love with her. I know I did.”

“Yeah, you and me and everyone here.” He pulled back and narrowed his eyes at me. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“More than you know, friend,” I said. “I remember it. All of it. All of you!”

Ronan glared at me a moment longer, then his eyes widened as the realization finally dawned. He gripped my arms, a smile cracking his stoic face. “You’re shitting me. You fucking remember?”

“It must’ve been the—”

“Hate to break up the lovefest, but, uh…” Asher crouched down next to Sparkle and followed her line of sight to a dense copse of trees beyond the cemetery. The hound’s haunches were raised, a menacing growl reverberating from her chest.

Asher got to his feet and rolled his neck, the bones cracking. “Fight or flight, assholes. We got company.”

Two

DARIUS

“Sellouts.” Asher spat at the ground, leaving a smattering of blood in the snow. His jaw was red and swollen where he’d taken a hit, and his blue eyes blazed in the darkness, the adrenaline from the fight still zipping through his blood. “My guess? The inside team called for reinforcements, but these fucks wanted no part of it. They took their time getting here like a bunch of pussies, waiting until our numbers thinned out and the spellcasters left so they could get the drop on the rest of us.”

“Agreed.” I bent down to scoop up a handful of snow, using it to rinse the taste of hunter blood from my mouth. After the incident at the motel when I’d attacked two of them and overdosed—a brutal scene I now remembered with utmost clarity—I refused to swallow even a drop of their bitter poison.

There’d been about a dozen of them tonight, all human, hiding out in the dense trees and waiting to make their move. They’d underestimated us, though, as hunters with big egos and small pricks were wont to do. With Gray’s loyal hound leading the charge and Emilio’s wolf a close second, we’d left Liam to watch over Jael and Gray, bolted into the woods, and sliced through their ranks like a hot knife through butter.

Back on the other side of the cemetery, Jael continued to work on the portal spell, Liam doing his best to stand guard. He’d wrapped Gray in another cloak, and now he held her close, stroking her hair. The sight brought me comfort.

Liam was one of us now.

We’re definitely going to need a bigger bed…

“You think we’re in the clear?” Ronan asked, reclaiming my attention.

I turned to see him rubbing snow into his hands in an attempt to clean the blood. Moments earlier, when the last hunter standing had given us a rather detailed account of what he’d been planning to do to our witch, I’d watched with delight—and a good measure of awe—as Ronan tore out the bastard’s throat with his bare hands.

I scanned the woods behind him, taking in as much sensory detail as I could. Save for our movements, the night had fallen silent once again. The air was tinged with the scent of human blood, but if any hunters had survived our attack, they’d scampered back the way they’d come.

“The last of the rats have either expired or fled back to their cages,” I confirmed.

“For now,” Asher said. “But we’re still exposed out here. Gray’s immobilized, Liam’s got no defensive powers, we can’t risk anything happening to the moonglass, and we have no idea what other surprises are waiting for us in the woods.”

“You think there are more fae out there?” Ronan asked.

Hunters were one thing; relatively easy to contain, they didn’t stand a chance against a vampire, a wolf, a hellhound, and a pair of demons. But the dark fae could present a serious challenge—especially if there were a lot of them.

“Unlikely,” Asher said. “The fae aren’t fucking cowards. If they were anywhere in the vicinity, they’d already be on top of us. Nah, I’m more concerned about hunters playing games. We’re stronger and faster, but that doesn’t mean they can’t fuck with us. Sun’s not too far off now, and like I said, Gray and Liam are basically sitting ducks. They need to get the fuck back to the lodge. You too, Beaumont.”

I nodded, conceding the point. All the vampire strength and speed in the world couldn’t compete with a sunrise. “But we’re not going anywhere until Jael—”

The force of the explosion knocked us to the ground, the light blinding.

“What the fuck?” Ronan shouted. We got to our feet and shook off the impact, trying to see through the thick blanket of smoke engulfing the entire cemetery.

Seconds later, Liam walked out of the smoke like an apparition, carrying the still-unconscious Gray.

A bolt of horror pierced my heart.

“Where is the moonglass?” I demanded.

But Liam seemed unfazed, his eyes cold and mysterious once again, just like his voice. “Jael has completed his mission.”

“Successfully?” I asked.

“He and the moonglass have vanished, along with all signs of the portal.”

“I’ll count that as a win,” Asher said.

“He could’ve been a bit more subtle about it,” I snapped, brushing the snow from my backside. But with Gray’s soul safely out of harm’s way, and her body still whole, still assimilating, it was nearly impossible to hold on to my anger. By the time Liam placed her back in my arms, there wasn’t even room inside me for mild annoyance. Her presence immediately calmed me, steadied me, and again I buried my face in her hair, taking in her scent.

She was still unconscious, which was a blessing. Yes, her mother had survived the turning. But Gray was the first witch I’d ever personally known to survive the change—to begin the assimilation process. I had no idea how her body would react once it completed the transition—I only knew that she’d be hungry. Ravenous.

We needed to get her secured and sedated before she became conscious of that.

Holding her tightly against my chest, I nodded toward a clearing in the distance—our way out. “We’ve still got a bit of a trek ahead of us, and it looks like the snow is picking up again.” I stepped over the blood-soaked body of one of the hunters we’d dispatched. “Let’s just hope this was the last and only ambush.”

“Hope isn’t a viable strategy, bloodsucker.” Asher spit out another mouthful of blood, then rubbed his swollen jaw and sighed, exhausted but resolute. He looked to Ronan, as if asking permission.

“Do what you gotta do, brother.” Ronan clapped him on the back, then whistled for the hound, who bounded out of the dense knot of trees, her fangs and muzzle dripping with hunter blood. Seemed Ronan had interrupted her midnight snack, but if she harbored any resentment, she wasn’t showing it. She pressed her nose against Ronan’s leg, and he reached down to scratch behind her ears.

“What is it you have to do?” I asked Asher.

“Tie up a few loose ends.” Gesturing for the wolf, he said, “El Lobo and I will meet you guys back at the lodge in the morning. Don’t wait up.”

“Where in the bloody hell are you going?” I asked.

At this, Emilio cocked back his massive furry head and howled at the moon, his battle cry haunting and clear, a chilling warning to all who’d dare cross his path tonight.

Asher flashed a feral grin, teeth glinting in the moonlight. “We’re going hunting, brother. Take care of our girl.”

Three

GRAY

So. Much. Blood.

The taste of it in my mouth, the smell of it in my nose, the viscous feel of it sliding deliciously across my tongue. My veins hummed with it, magic and power and strength, all of it crackling to life with a fierce intensity that made me feel like I could burn down the world with little more than a pointed glare.

I was born for this…

Flat on my back in nothing more than a T-shirt, underwear, and a thin sheet over my legs, I opened my eyes to complete darkness and tried to sit up. My body refused to obey. The blood inside me was buzzing and alive, my senses finely attuned, but my muscles felt slow and sluggish.

I sucked in a cool breath—the first I’d taken since I’d awoken—and realized at once we’d made it back to HQ. I could smell the familiar mix of salty ocean air and fresh-cut wood from the lodge’s timber framing, and the scents of all the witches and men and shifters who’d occupied it, every one of them clear and distinct. Strongest of all was Darius’s—that heady blend of leather and expensive whiskey that always made my blood sing.

Again, I tried to rise.

No luck.

My belly turned over with a terrible growl, empty. Craving. Demanding.

“You’re hungry,” announced a familiar voice, and slowly I turned my head to find my vampire standing near my bedside, still as the darkness itself. My eyes had already adjusted to the lack of light, and now I saw him as clearly as if he were bathed in afternoon sunlight. I blinked, not believing it, but the shape of him only sharpened—glossy dark hair, full lips that made my thighs clench with fresh, hot desire. His eyes narrowed as he took me in, his honey-brown gaze both tender and severe.

“Darius,” I whispered, but there was no time to wonder about his breathtaking beauty or my enhanced vision. My stomach turned over again, bringing with it a wave of nausea so severe it made me gasp.

I needed to move, to feed, and again I tried to sit up, but the firm, comforting press of his palm against my chest steadied me. I hadn’t seen the movement, but now he was standing right next to me, the scent of him nearly overpowering my senses.

I wanted him. Badly. My mouth watered for it, my core suddenly burning with the unquenched flames of desire. Everything inside me craved his touch.

My hunger for him was even more desperate than my hunger for blood.

I’m going to die without it...

“What’s…. happening to me?” I sputtered. “I feel like… like I’m…” I tried to reach for him, but my arms were locked in place, immobilized despite the fact that my skin felt like it was on fire.

No, not immobilized. Restrained, I saw now. Same with my legs and torso. I tugged hard against the binds—thick leather straps fastened tightly around my wrists, ankles, and across my lower rib cage.

They’d tied me to the bed. Under any other circumstances, I might’ve been turned on by the idea. Now, it just made me rage inside.

Still. I knew it had to be done. After all, I was a deadly predator now, recovering in a lodge full of warm bodies, every single one of them pulsing with thick, sweet blood.

A whimper escaped my lips.

“It’s temporary,” Darius assured me, his voice measured and tight. “Once we’ve regulated your blood intake and weened you off the hawthorn infusion, this arrangement won’t be necessary.”

“Infusion?”

He lifted the sheet covering my legs, revealing an IV taped to the top of my foot. I followed the tube to the bag dangling from the poster at the end of the bed, slowly meting out a clear liquid drip.

“It’s on a time-release,” he said.

Well, that explained the sluggishness I was feeling.

“After our return,” he said, “I bathed you and helped you get settled in here. I’ve been with you ever since.”

“Ever since when? How long was I out? Is everyone else okay? What about Jael? My sisters? Sparkle and Sunshine?”

“One question at a time, little brawler.” Darius let out a low chuckle. “Let’s see… Everyone is present and accounted for. Your sisters are well, chomping at the bit to see you, though we all agreed it would be best for the humans of the household to wait until you’ve fully stabilized before visiting. The hounds have scarcely left your side—I had to bribe them with raw steak just to get a few moments alone with you tonight. We’ve not heard from Jael, but he completed the portal spell and disappeared with your moonglass before we left the cemetery that night, and the queen has not declared war upon us, so we’re assuming no news is good news on that front. All of the liberated prisoners are being treated for various medical issues and injuries, but everyone is expected to recover. As for you, you’ve been in and out of consciousness for the better part of two days. This is the first time you’ve managed to stay with me for more than a few moments—speaking, besides.”

My head was spinning. “Two days? I feel like I haven’t eaten in months.”

“Hours, actually.” He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a muscled forearm and a wrist covered with punctures, dark bruises welling angrily beneath the skin.

The sight of it made me wince. For Darius to bruise and not immediately heal, I must’ve been pretty brutal, and I must’ve taken a lot from him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s nothing, love. Few more hours, I’ll be good as new. But my blood is a stopgap—not nearly enough to sustain you. You need non-vampire blood—preferably human. Quite a bit of it, at that.”

My stomach growled again, and Darius replaced his palm on my chest, as if he’d sensed I needed his touch, needed him to keep me from slipping away. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the parched feeling in my mouth, focusing instead on the rest of my body. My blood, singing and alive. My magic, crackling as always inside me, but more solid and sure than it’d ever felt before. I could hear laughter down on the first floor, the sounds of cooking in the kitchen, the splatter of wet snow against the windowpanes. The curtains were open to let in the moonlight, but the night was dark and cloudy. When I inhaled, the wisdom of the sea filled my senses, sharp and ancient and as powerful as I felt inside.

My heart now beat more slowly than I remembered, but it was stronger, responding to Darius’s touch with a deep familiarity.

“I survived,” I said, the word itself bringing forth a rush of laughter. “I survived the turning.”

“Yes, it appears your body has fully assimilated the change,” he confirmed, his voice thick with a mixture of relief, surprise, and there, lurking just below the rest, a hint of sorrow.

I understood. This hadn’t been his choice, after all, and I wasn’t out of the woods just yet. Not until I could exist in the presence of others without trying to murder them.

A shudder wracked my body, but instead of passing as I’d expected, it intensified, rolling from head to toe and back up again. My teeth chattered, my fangs cutting through my gums, then sliding back in. Again and again. The taste of my own blood filled my mouth.

“D-D-Darius? What’s happening now?”

“Shh, it’s alright, love.” Darius lifted the sheet and climbed into the bed next to me, his hand sliding under my T-shirt to trace a soft pattern on my belly. “This will pass.”

“What is it? Why am I sh-shaking like this?”

“You’re a vampire, little brawler,” he said plainly. “A hungry one at that. Your instincts are telling you it’s time to hunt.”

Vampire…

Instincts…

Hunt…

The bed shook with my renewed efforts to escape—instinctual more than logical at this point—but the hawthorn had done its job. I couldn’t break the binds.

“We can’t grant you your freedom yet, Gray. You’re too strong. If that primal part of you takes over, you could—”

“I get it, D,” I snapped, but then I closed my eyes, forcing myself to count backward from ten, focusing on the feel of his touch until the tremble finally subsided.

None of this was Darius’s fault—he was just doing what he had to do to keep everyone safe, including me. This was my choice, and I had to live with it. Besides, for the power and immortality of a vampire, hunger pangs and a few bouts of the shakes were a small price to pay.

I just hoped the transition period wouldn’t last too long. Every hour I wasted in bed was another hour we were leaving Blackmoon Bay in the hands of Orendiel and the hunters.

And in the hands of my mother, a vampire-witch we now knew was the deadly, vulgar head of the world’s most poisonous snake.

“My mother killed to feed herself,” I said absently, my thoughts drifting back to the darkness of the crypt, the evidence we uncovered there.

“You will not be reduced to such savagery. Elena has reached out to her connection at the local hospital to procure what we need, and at present, our demons and the wolf are braving the weather to retrieve it. You’ll have a fresh, humanely harvested supply very soon.”

“What about after? What happens when that runs out?”

“Then we’ll find more.”

“Darius, you need to eat, too. As will the vampires we rescued, including Fiona. We can’t just drain the city’s donor supply.”

“No, I suppose we can’t.”

“And until we can figure out how to deal with this winter apocalypse,” I said, glancing out the window as a fresh bout of wet snow slapped against the pane, “I’m pretty sure imported goods are in short supply.”

“All true,” he said, though he seemed completely unconcerned about our predicament.

“At some point, we’ll need to—”

“At some point, at one point, another day, tomorrow, next week, next year, next century… All pointless frames of reference for us now.”

“How do you figure?”

“Gray, you’re an immortal. If you start worrying about everything that can go wrong, everything that can throw a wrench into your day…. Well, there are a hell of a lot more days to worry about now.”

I closed my eyes as the brutal wind whipped another wave of slush against the lodge. Darius was right. I had to take things day by day or I’d drive us all mad.

“All things considered,” he said, forcing a note of cheer into his voice, “you’re handling this extremely well. Much better than most.”

I nodded, forcing the desperate gnawing inside me to settle. I knew from the stories I’d heard—not to mention the things Darius had shared about his own turning—that things could’ve been so much worse for me.

“I guess that means I didn’t slaughter anyone in the night, right?” I asked, only half-kidding.

“Well, let’s see…” He tapped his lips, his tone light and teasing. “As of our last accounting, the casualties stood at four shredded bath towels, one shattered windowpane, an upended china cabinet full of porcelain shards formerly known as priceless antiques, two splintered dining chairs, and a fruitcake Verona was particularly proud of, but the rest of us secretly cheered for that loss. Oh, you also punched Asher in the mouth.”

“Holy shit, Darius! Are you serious?”

Darius shrugged as if this was all par for the course. “To be fair, he had it coming. Your incubus gets rather mouthy when—”

“But how did I manage to do so much damage? I don’t even remember coming home. I don’t remember anything after the bite. And I’m tied up, besides!”

“Initially, we thought we could forgo the restraints, relying only on the hawthorn. But you’re too strong, Gray. The few times you surfaced into consciousness were brief, but wild. You needed to feed, but my blood left you… Well, it left you a bit mad, to be honest. Asher insisted on trying to reason with you, convinced he could sweet-talk his way past thousands of years of predatory evolution.” Darius shook his head, holding back a laugh. “The moment he unfastened one of your restraints, you clocked him.”

Now I was laughing, too. The whole scene sounded pretty ridiculous—and one hundred percent Asher. “What did he do then?”

“Complimented your right hook, cursed up a storm, then retreated to a dark corner of the lodge with a bottle of tequila and a bag of frozen peas while I secured your restraints and got you calmed down. He hasn’t gotten close since.”

“I suppose I’ll have to make it up to him at some point.”

“I suppose.” Darius nuzzled the skin behind my ear with a string of kisses I felt all the way to my toes. “But it seems you’re through the worst of it, anyway.”

“I hope so.”

Most newborn vampires went absolutely wild with bloodlust. Without a present sire to tame them, to guide them through the early part of the change, to feed them and help them see the difference between instinct and choice…

I forced away the thoughts, unwilling to follow them any further. That wasn’t going to happen to me. I did have a sire. One I trusted with my life.

With my heart.

“So I guess I have to call you sire now,” I said, another laugh bubbling up as I turned to meet his eyes.

Darius flashed me a sexy smile, tracing his thumb across my bottom lip. “I wouldn’t refuse a nickname like that, if you insisted, of course.”

“You mean you like it better than D?”

“Hmm. That one has grown on me since our halcyon days in the Bay, but only because it’s from you.” He leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips that only left me wanting more. Apparently, it left him wanting more, too. The hot, hard press of his cock against my thigh told me everything I needed to know about that.

I shifted closer to him, as much as I could with the binds, the movement inspiring a low groan from my vampire.

“So what now, sire?” I teased.

Darius laughed again, his breath tickling my cheeks. His honey eyes sparkled with a thousand new facets, flecks of otherworldly colors and bottomless depths I was seeing with all new vision.

“Oh, little brawler,” he breathed, the length of him growing harder. “First my delivery girl, then my witch, and now my vampire… You really are going to be the death of me, in this form or the next.”

This form…