Quinn swallowed hard at Ember’s look of betrayal. She looked like she might puke on the floor. “Life or death, remember?” he reminded her. “That was the deal.”

Ember withered under Isa’s stare. “Is this true?”

“I don’t know,” Ember admitted, looking at her own hands. “I just don’t feel it anymore.”

Isa stood before Ember, gently sweeping her hair out of the way, and then Isa pressed her face to Ember’s throat and inhaling deeply. Ember held her breath, eyes closed. “You still smell like you, but he’s right. Something’s missing.”

The lying had gone on long enough. The pack would never be able to fix this if they didn’t know the truth. “It’s Mace. Mace is missing,” Quinn said.

Tristin’s mouth fell open, and she stared accusingly at Ember. “That makes no sense. Why would Mace have any bearing on my magic? On Kai’s? Besides, my magic is fine. I screamed in the cemetery, ask Quinn.”

Quinn crossed his arms over his chest, glancing at Kai, who was staring at Quinn, looking bewildered. “That wasn’t your magic, it was the energy you pulled from the dead,” Quinn told Tristin.

“What the hell does that mean?” Tristin asked.

Quinn’s mouth flattened. “It means reapers can draw energy from the dead. They can use the dead to manifest their powers…But it’s not as effective as using their own magic. It’s basically magical piracy. You screamed because the dead in that space are so powerful you were able to use them as a battery.”

Tristin’s jaw flexed as she assessed him. “How do you know all this?”

That was the question. He’d already exposed one of Ember’s secrets, he didn’t feel like revealing another, but the wolves would hear his lie, so he gave her half-truths and hoped they would be enough. “It was a hunch, a theory I needed to test.”

Tristin’s face contorted, and she took two steps towards him before she stopped short. “So-So you decided to test my magic by taking me to a cemetery—a cemetery where something possessed my cousin—to test some hunch you had? So…so everything that happened in the cemetery…you were just testing me? It wasn’t a—” Her breath hitched, face going red as she composed herself. “You just thought you’d scare the crap out of me and see what happened?” Her eyes widened as something seemed to hit her. “Did you make that…thing appear? That guy who I thought was going to kill you? Did you make that happen?”

Quinn’s mouth fell open. “What? No. I was just going to try what we did earlier only with the energy of the cemetery.” He wouldn’t do that to her. Would he? Silas would. Maybe Silas had been watching all along. Maybe it’s not only Ember’s magic holding Silas’s interest. Maybe Silas wanted to collect them all. He moved closer, dipping his head, so she knew the words he spoke were only for her. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Not everything that happened there was a test.” He let his lips trail across her cheek, but she jerked away from him. He was starting to feel desperate. “Come on, Tris. You know me.”

Tristin watched him, wounded. “I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Me either,” Ember said. “Not after you let that guy try to kill me.”

Isa rounded on Quinn so fast he flung his arms up, palms out, backing up until his back hit the wall. “I didn’t. I swear I didn’t let anybody try to kill her. I…panicked.”

Rhys frowned, nostrils flaring. “You’re lying.”

Quinn knew this would happen eventually. He knew it would all come crashing down on his head. He just hadn’t thought it would happen so soon. What was he supposed to say? There was nothing he could tell them that didn’t name Silas directly, and Silas was very clear about keeping his name out of things. “I’m not lying.” Even Quinn felt his heartbeat trip. “Okay, I am. I’m lying. I didn’t let anybody try to kill Ember. It couldn’t kill her. It wasn’t real. It was an illusion. A test. Just like Tristin, to see if Ember’s magic was sleeping or gone. Fear is Tristin’s trigger; I thought it might be Ember’s too.”

Ember flinched like he’d slapped her in the face. “What is wrong with you?” she asked him.

Something hot flared in his stomach and rolled over his skin. “What’s wrong with me? Really? Okay, yeah, let’s talk about that. I was ripped back from the dead, against my will. I’m wearing another man’s skin. I can’t speak to my sister in public. My father’s missing and, more than likely, dead. I haven’t slept in days, and when I do, the things I see would make your blood run cold. People are dying all around me, but I can’t find the answers I need because nobody knows I’m alive except—actually—everybody does.” His hands balled into fists until his short, blunt nails formed half-moons in the skin of his palms. “What’s wrong with me? How much time do you have? Huh? Because I don’t think any of you are quite ready for what’s wrong with me. So, how about, we circle back to my impending nervous breakdown at a later time and focus on what we can fix. Ember’s magic is gone, and Mace is the reason it’s missing.”

When he finished, he was breathing hard, shoulders rising and falling, his rage draining as quickly as it came. He slid down the wall, drawing his knees up, refusing to look at any of them. He was tired. He was just so tired. He pressed his fingers into his eyes until spots danced before them.

The room was still, stunned silent by his sudden outburst. He jumped as an arm wound around his bicep and Neoma curled into his side. “It’ll be all right,” she promised, laying her head on his shoulder.

He felt like a weight was crushing his chest. He leaned his head against hers for a minute. It wouldn’t be all right, he knew that, but he wouldn’t tell her that. “Thanks, N.”

Kai cleared his throat. “Can we get back to Mace having our magic?”

When Quinn looked up, Kai gave the slightest nod in Quinn’s direction. Kai was drawing the attention away from Quinn, giving him a minute to regroup. Quinn tried his best to telegraph his thanks.

Ember scoffed. “Quinn’s guessing. He doesn’t know what’s causing this.”

Quinn eyed her warily. “Ember, you tethered your powers together. Your magic disappeared when he did. You know it’s true.”

“No,” she said again, shaking her head.

“Now you’re lying,” Rhys said.

Ember said nothing.

“That night you saw Mace in your room, the night of the ritual, did you feel your magic then?” Quinn asked.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Isa’s eyes narrowed at Ember. “Do you remember using your magic after he disappeared?”

“At the cemetery,” she said. “At Alex’s funeral.”

“Have you felt your magic at any point—when you weren’t in the cemetery—since Mace left?” Miller asked.

Ember’s hands fluttered, looking anywhere but at Miller and Isa. “Why are you cross-examining me like I’m a criminal?”

“This is important,” Miller pressed.

Isa sighed. “We’re just trying to get to the bottom of this. Why didn’t you just tell us?”

Quinn had wondered that too. Why had she been so determined to keep it from the pack? Quinn could tell by the look on her face she wasn’t planning on telling them the truth, not if she could skirt around it. “I didn’t notice right away. I’d just learned Alex was dead, and that it was my fault. I didn’t want to use my magic. But, when Mace didn’t come back, I wanted to make sure he was okay. When I couldn’t contact him, I thought maybe he really was gone. I didn’t believe it was my magic that was missing.”

“How many times have you tried to contact him?” Miller asked.

“Alone? More times than I can count. With Aaron, maybe a dozen. But he’s not here, and neither is my magic,” she swiped at a tear.

“Who is this Aaron you keep talking about?” Miller asked, looking from Ember to Isa and back again.

“He’s my friend,” Ember said, squaring her jaw.

Miller raised a brow at her. “How much does this boy know about us, about this situation? About what you are?”

Ember licked her bottom lip, glancing at Quinn. He nodded. She needed to come clean about this.

“All of it,” she whispered.

Isa’s eyes went wide. “Ember. What were you thinking? You put all of us at risk.”

Ember looked like she was on the verge of a full-scale meltdown. “You don’t understand. Aaron can see through spells. He could see that Quinn was Quinn and not Mace. Don’t you think lying about it would’ve made it worse? He’d never say anything. He hates the Grove as much as we do. I trust him. I trust him more than some of the people in this room,” Ember told Isa, glancing at Miller and then Tate before telling Isa and Wren. “You can trust Aaron, too.”

Tate shrugged, mouth turning down. “I don’t see the problem here. He knows the situation; he has an active power. He’s perfect for this. Get him over here.”

Ember glared at Tate. “Why are you even talking? You aren’t running things. Aaron is only involved because I involved him. I can’t ask him to do this.”

“Fine, I’ll ask him,” Tate said.

“Shut up,” Rhys snapped.

“Tate’s right,” Miller told Ember. “If you didn’t want him involved, you shouldn’t have told him our secrets. Call him.”

Ember fidgeted, as if stalling for time. “It’s five thirty in the morning. People in other houses actually sleep at night.”

“She doesn’t have to call him, do you?” Isa asked, glancing at the door of the dining room. Ember’s eyes widened, and Isa said, “Did you think I wouldn’t notice he never left? We’re wolves, Ember. Did you think we wouldn’t hear an extra heartbeat?”

One look at Rhys and Wren confirmed that, while Isa was aware of Aaron’s presence in the house, they either hadn’t noticed or had forgotten in the events of the last few hours.

“Aaron,” Isa called. “Come here, please.”

There were footfalls on the stairs, and then he was there, hair still braided and sweatshirt rumpled, eyes widening at the number of people in the dining room.

Isa crossed the room, standing before the wizard. “I trust you’ve heard everything.”

Aaron nodded. “Yeah, this house has excellent acoustics. Sound…carries.”

“Well?” Isa asked.

“I’m in.”

Ember startled. “What? Aaron, no.”

“This isn’t your decision. You don’t speak for me.” Aaron tilted his head, squaring his jaw. “This isn’t just about you. I have my own fight with the Grove, and you know it. You don’t get only to involve me when it suits you.”

Miller nodded approvingly. “Good lad.”

Aaron only spared a glance at the witch before looking to Isa. “So, what’s the plan?”