God bless Danica and her belief that hot tea with lemon and honey cured all worries.

Verika gratefully sipped her steaming cup as the women sat on the sofa in Verika and Elijah’s suite while Nik paced a short distance away. He hadn’t stopped moving since Danica had the tea brought up. Every now and then, Verika saw him glance outside, eyes lingering on the woods.

“Feeling better?” Danica gazed at Verika over the rim of her teacup as she took another sip.

Verika nodded. “Yes. Thank you. Whenever she was stressed, my mother always chugged tea like they were going to quit making it.”

Danica giggled. “Can’t say I’m not the same way.”

Though the silence that followed was more relaxed, an undercurrent of tension remained. Verika looked again outside.

Danica rested her hand on Verika’s. “Don’t worry. They’ll find him.”

Verika’s eyes glassed over, to the point the moonlight and woods became a white and indigo blur. “It’s my fault. He’s been through so much trauma, and I made him relive something awful. He hasn’t even told me everything he’s been through. But from what I do know, I’m certain it had to have been something awful.”

“Awful or not,” Nik crossed his arms but continued his relentless pacing, “we’re going to have to try again when he gets back.”

“No.”

Nik stopped now, stared at Verika. “Come again?”

She shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

“But we were making progress.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It damn well does! This could be our chance at—”

“I said no!” Verika snapped. Energy crackled around her hair, lifting it on a phantom breeze as the furniture in the room rattled and the floor vibrated with power.

Nik swallowed but said nothing more. Even Danica’s spine had stiffened; she was backed up into her side of the couch as much as she could be.

As far away from Verika as she could get.

Verika sighed wearily, and the power surge stopped. She set down her mostly emptied teacup on the coffee table and rubbed her temples. “We’ll have to go the other route. We’ll have to find Mistress Black based on locating the spells masking her hideout. There’s also the matter of the DPI figuring out who Elijah is, if one of Mistress Black’s rats hasn’t told them already, and them coming here. If they figure out you’ve been hiding us, that you lied to them about our presence here once already, they’ll take you all in. Elijah and I are a danger to you all. I think that much is clear,” she added bitterly.

“It probably would be best if we took this show on the road, to evade them coming here. If they even do,” Nik murmured. “I’ll mention it to Gage when—” He stiffened and turned to the forest. “Something’s happened.”

Danica and Verika both stood and followed him to the balcony. He sniffed the air deeply.

There was the almost inaudible sound of his breath catching, his eyes widening to match.

The next instant, he was across the room and bounded down the stairs as fast as he could run.

The bloodcurdling scream that broke the night had Verika and Danica following swiftly behind him.

“Nik!” Danica cried out. “What is it?”

He didn’t reply, keeping up his breakneck pace down to the foyer. Verika and Danica raced down the stairs, trying not to trip. “Nik!” Danica called again.

Nik was already at the front entrance by the time they caught up to him. Danica grabbed his wrist as he reached for the handles. “Tell us what’s going on,” commanded the queen.

“Blood,” he breathed, face pale with worry. “I smell blood. Alara—she’s been injured.”

Verika’s breath caught. Danica merely nodded. “Go. I’ll send for our guards and follow close behind.”

Nik didn’t have to be told twice. Soon as he was outside, he Shifted into a large brown wolf. He knelt, giving a bark to Verika, who hovered nearby.

She raised a brow. “I’m not riding you.”

A growl was his response.

“Fine, fine, we’ll get there faster. Point taken.” She got on Nik’s back, grabbed fistfuls of fur, and they were off, tearing through the countryside and into the forest.

She sent a thought toward him: Do you think anything’s happened to Elijah?

Don’t know. We’ll find out soon.

No sympathy, no words of comfort. He was just as black and white about things as Elijah.

It didn’t take long to find them. Although Verika’s nose couldn’t quite detect the blood yet, Nik’s could. He used it like a breadcrumb trail, following it to the source.

And when they found it, Verika wished they hadn’t.

She nearly heaved at seeing Alara’s mangled leg. Gage looked up from his spot beside Alara, who whimpered and writhed on the ground. Elijah stood nearby, looking shaken.

Verika instantly went to him and threw herself into his arms. He didn’t move to hug her back at first, which made her step back and gaze up at him with puzzlement. “I was so worried…are you all right?”

His face was grim, his lips pressed together tightly. His eyes jerked uncertainly between Verika and Alara.

Nik instantly went to Alara’s side the second he saw her. His face was pale, his features drawn with worry. “What the hell happened?”

Elijah and Gage looked at each other.

Nik glanced between them. “Did he do this?” He pointed an accusing finger at Elijah, who winced but tried to cover it up.

Too late.

Nik launched himself at his brother in a fit of rage the likes of which Verika had never seen. Even when he got wasted and picked fights easily, Nik had never been this angry. This bordered on rage, the type of animalistic instinct that could drive a person to kill someone.

Even their own family.

“Nik!” Gage came up behind Nik and grabbed him, narrowly holding him back from tearing Elijah a new asshole.

Elijah stood there, mutely staring at his brother with sorrow in his eyes. As if he almost wanted to be hit, clawed, marked.

Punished.

Crushing guilt jarred Verika’s nerves through their mate-bond. Oh God. Had he really done this? Was he the one who had hurt Alara?

Nik kept snarling and snapping his fangs at the air, like a wild animal. Murder gleamed in his eyes.

“It was an accident,” Gage growled, the muscles in his neck straining as he held Nik back. “Calm down before you do something you regret.”

“The only thing I regret is not killing him the second I saw him!”

His words rang through the air. Each word seemed like a blow to Elijah.

“Nik,” Alara rasped, shaking her head.

Grief-stricken, Nik glanced at his mate, and then his eyes flitted back to Elijah. His gaze became filled with hatred. “What did you do? What the fuck did you do?” he screamed. With every word, he fought harder against Gage’s hold.

“Stop, brother!” Gage ground out through gritted teeth.

Nik kept screaming, “What did you do?” over and over, thrashing about.

Footsteps approached—Heath and a trio of guards.

Heath went straight to Alara’s side, ascertaining her injuries before he worked his Blue Magic.

Alara screamed as the bone began to right itself.

That did it—Nik broke free.

Verika held her breath as he charged her mate, claws raised high, ready to slice him open.

She thought about intervening with her magic, had already summoned tendrils of flickering black flames to her fingertips.

Then Nik jerked to a halt. He growled and whirled on Gage. “You command me to stop, brother? After you vowed never to invoke the Alpha’s Right on another wolf after all Malachite did?” He barked a bitter laugh. “This is low, even for you.”

“You left me no choice.” Gage’s voice sounded strained. Sadness shone in his eyes.

Two of the guards, one on either side, grabbed Nik.

“Take him to the dungeons to cool down for an hour.” Gage wearily rubbed his temples.

“Seriously, bro? You’re taking his side? What the fuck? After everything we’ve been through? After everything I’ve done for you?”

Gage was silent, his face grim as the guards started to drag Nik off. Nik fought, eyes glued to Alara. “No fucking way am I leaving her out here, with him. The son of a bitch who did this to her.”

Elijah’s stoic expression never changed. Verika rested her hand on his arm and squeezed, studying him with worry.

He never even responded to her touch.

Her heart broke. He’d shut off the bond between them, too, masking his emotions from her. Or more likely to keep from overwhelming her with them. God, the guilt and shame he must be feeling right now…

“It’s fine.”

They all looked up as Alara spoke, her voice wispy from screaming. “Don’t worry. Go.”

Nik stopped struggling, his face incredibly sad. He stared at his mate a long while, no doubt warring it out with her in some telepathic mate-bond conversation the rest of them weren’t privy to.

Evidently, Alara won. Nik’s face set in a scowl.

With a huff and another snarl thrown at Elijah, he turned on his heel and stalked toward the manor, leaving his guards jogging to catch up with him.