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THE MORNING SUN HAD peeked over the horizon when Dimitri knelt behind a strand of shrubbery, his gaze sweeping the outer perimeter of the castle walls. Light snow was falling, and the temperature continued to drop. Despite wearing warm gloves, Dimitri could no longer feel his fingers, and his face and lips stung from the bitter wind.
The forest was devoid of sound, as if the animals had sensed the impending threat. Marius had been by to warn them he’d seen activity at the castle, but there were still no signs of Tatiana. Dimitri was beyond frustrated. His brothers were not far away, scoping out the castle for weaknesses. He noticed his brothers stayed close to each other but ignored him as if he was the outcast wolf of the family. Maybe he was. He pretended he wasn’t bothered, but he was. Tatiana’s fathers and his fathers were on the other side of the castle. Between the three packs, Dimitri prayed they’d find a way inside.
What was once a run-down old building shrouded by overgrown greenery was now a high-tech edifice surrounded by an electrified fence and patrolled by guards with automatic weapons and bloodhounds. So much for the Russians claiming they were turning the castle into a hotel. This fortress was obviously built for more nefarious reasons.
And their mate was somewhere inside, all because of Dimitri’s foolishness. If he hadn’t gone on that drunken rant, she would’ve been safe with them inside the bar. She had to have heard him. Why else would she have left? Knowing that he’d caused her pain and his words might have sent her to her death was more than he could bear. He now understood why Tatiana had been putting off bonding with them; she felt the same pain every day over their mother.
He sent a silent prayer to the ancients that Tatiana was alive and unharmed. He couldn’t live with himself if she wasn’t.
What was taking Tor so long to send the signal? If they didn’t attack soon, he’d go out of his mind. He’d go after her alone. He didn’t care if the guards filled him full of bullets. He would take every last one down to save her.
A familiar figure emerged from the castle, flanked by two armed guards. Tatiana?
Constantine signaled for them to move and he surged forward, ducking behind trees and bushes, ready to shift into protector form and defend his mate at all costs.
Much to his surprise, the guards opened the automatic gate and let her go unharmed. She walked through the clearing and onto the narrow road covered in packed snow as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
Dimitri followed Constantine’s lead, tracking Tatiana and wondering why she walked with such a sure step. Why wasn’t she running from her captors, and why had they so easily let her go?
They caught up to her as she went around the bend, her hands stuck in her pockets, a fur cap pulled low over her forehead.
“Tatiana!” Constantine called, waving her into the woods.
She turned toward him with a wide smile and trudged through the snow until they met in a clearing in the forest.
She threw her arms wide. “Hello, my beloved mates.”
Dimitri held back when Dejan charged her, twirling her in his arms and plastering her face with kisses. Constantine and Andrei hugged her next, but something wasn’t right.
“Dimitri,” Constantine grumbled, elbowing him in the ribs. “Aren’t you going to welcome our mate?”
He stepped forward but hesitated when she turned to him. “What happened to you?”
Her smile faded. “What do you mean?”
The strong scent of pig blood assailed his senses. Why would she smell like blood? “Why did the demons have you? Did they hurt you?”
“Demons?” She rubbed the back of her head, looking lost in thought. “They asked me a few questions.” She casually shrugged, as if getting kidnapped by demons was no big deal. “I’m fine.” She held out her arms to him.
He resisted. “You’re fine?”
Her bottom lip turned down. “That’s what I said.”
She wasn’t acting like Tatiana. “But you disappeared last night.”
“Because I heard you insult me, Dimitri.” She stomped her foot like a toddler throwing a tantrum. “You hurt my feelings.”
His gut twisted. This was not their Tatiana. She didn’t throw tantrums. She withdrew and acted distant when she was upset.
“He didn’t mean it.” Constantine elbowed him hard. “He was drunk.”
“We’ve been worried sick about you.” Dejan wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. “What’s that perfume?”
“Dimitri,” Constantine said, “tell her you’re sorry.”
Bridging the distance between them, Dimitri breathed in another scent. Lavender, just like that demon woman had smelled.
“You smell different,” Dejan said.
She took Dejan’s hands in hers, giggling and leaning against him. “Do I?”
Dejan angled his head away, wrinkling his nose.
Dimitri searched her eyes, looking for that familiar spark, and saw only a void. He yanked her out of Dejan’s arms and dug his fingers into her shoulders. “What the fuck did you do with her?”
“Dimitri!” Constantine charged and pushed him off her.
Stumbling, Dimitri nearly tripped over a stump before finding his footing. He pointed at the imposter. “That isn’t our mate.”
Constantine protested. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Smell her!” Dimitri demanded.
Constantine sniffed.
She held out her hands in a gesture of surrender. “My captors wore a lot of perfume. I just need a shower.”
Dimitri wasn’t buying it. He surged forward, his gaze targeting her. “Where is she?”
Constantine stepped between them. “Dimitri, back off.”
“I know her smell!”
Constantine’s eyes shifted to blinding white. “Back the fuck up now.”
“Or what?” He spoke in a low voice, his angry protector clawing to break free.
“Mates, please don’t fight over me,” she cooed. “I am ready to bond with you and have lots of passionate sex. Don’t you want that, Dimitri?”
Rage threatened to crack his skull. “She doesn’t even talk like Tatiana.”
“Dimitri is right.” Andrei walked around her, a feral look in his eyes. “Her smell is different, and she still hasn’t told us who took her and why.”
Constantine’s face fell, a hopeless look in his eyes. “If she’s not Tatiana, who the hell is she?”
“Don’t listen to them.” She let out a shrill laugh, turning pleading eyes on Constantine. “They’re crazy.”
“Let me see you shift,” Dimitri spoke through clenched teeth, using all of his willpower not to attack the bitch pretending to be their mate.
“Not here.” Her gaze darted from Dimitri to the forest behind her as she backed up. “The hunters.”
“We’ll cover you.” Dejan stood behind her, folding his arms and refusing to let her pass. “Show us.”
Her legs wobbled, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “I will have to get naked, and you cannot see me.”
Realization dawned in Constantine’s eyes. “We’ve seen you naked before, Tatiana.”
“Shift for us,” Dimitri insisted. The fucking bitch. What the fuck had she done with Tatiana?
Pouting, she stomped a foot. “No.”
Constantine arched a brow. “Why not?”
“She can’t,” Dimitri snapped.
She gave him a cool look and crossed her arms. “I won’t.”
Dimitri and his brothers closed in on her, predatory wolves stalking their prey.
“Why not?” he insisted.
Her voice turned shrill. “Because you’re all assholes, that’s why!” For the briefest of moments, her eyes flashed red.
Demon!
Letting out a primal roar, Dimitri rushed her, knocking her to the ground. Careful not to crush her, he shifted into protector form and straddled her, closing his big, furry hands around her slender throat. “What did you do with our mate? Tell me or so help me, I’ll pop off your head.”
She snapped at him like a rabid cat. “You do that, and your mate won’t have a body to return to.”
He slammed his fist to the ground, shaking the earth with a thunderous boom and scaring the birds out of the trees. He’d never been more angry or terrified in his life. “Where is she?”
She blinked up at him, then broke into a slow, devilish grin. “She is safe—for now. My master wishes to negotiate a trade.”
Fuck!
Shifting into protector form, Constantine dropped down beside them. “We don’t make deals with demons.”
She snickered. “Then your mate will die, her soul lost to you forever.”
They all howled, and Dimitri felt as if a thunderbolt had struck his chest, ripping him in two. He couldn’t lose her, not in this way. He prayed the Ancients would save her.
Constantine’s big shoulders fell. “What’s the trade?” There was no mistaking the hopelessness in his voice.
No longer trying to fool them, her voice changed to that of a sibilant serpent. “Your mate for the witch.”
Dimitri’s world came to a slow, thudding halt as he shared a horrified look with his brothers. “The witch?”
“The one you call Eilea.”
Constantine jumped to his feet and kicked snow on her face, furious. “Our pregnant stepmom? Hell no.”
“Give her to us, and your mate will get her body back.” She got up on her elbows, her eyes deep crimson, like old blood. Her gaze lingered on Constantine’s big, hairy chest. “Do we have a deal?”
They couldn’t give them Eilea. The demons knew this, which meant his beloved would perish if they didn’t find a way save her. The thought of what they had already done to Tatiana filled Dimitri with a fury that knew no bounds. He was so angry, he could hardly think to focus.
He struck her, but not as hard as he wished to. Constantine pushed him off her.
Dimitri swore when his face hit the hard, cold earth. Spitting out a mouthful of snow, he snarled at his brother.
“Dimitri!” Constantine roared. “You fucking idiotule!”
“That’s not our mate!” He pointed at the demon whose eyes had rolled to the back of her skull. Her nose was swelling.
Andrei bent over and checked her pulse. “Our mate could still be trapped inside.”
The thought made Dimitri sick to his stomach. “You mean possessed?”
Andrei turned to him with a snarl. “Da!”
He should have controlled his temper. He had belted his mate’s body. How much worse would he have done to it if Constantine hadn’t interceded? “Is she dead?”
“No,” Andrei said. “Just unconscious.”
He looked at Constantine. “What do we do now?”
“We take her to Eilea.” Constantine grimaced. “If anyone knows how to cast this demon out, it’s her.”
* * *
EILEA QUAILED WHEN Artem gave her that look, too severe and too knowing for a baby. She clung to the doorframe of his nursery, fear rooting her to the spot as the bottle she’d made him slipped from her grasp. When he held out his hand, she went to him, afraid of what she’d see but knowing she couldn’t let her child carry the weight of his powerful vison by himself.
She thought about calling to her mate, Jovan, and his father, Nicolae, who were patrolling the outer perimeter of their home while the others searched for Tatiana, but the vision could pass by the time they arrived. She picked him up and sat in a chair, knowing the strength of his magic could knock them both down. He placed his tiny hands on her forehead, his expression grim.
She closed her eyes, and her chest tightened when she saw demons holding Tatiana, taunting her with a snarling animal in a cage. Tatiana was in a cell, chained to a wall. Eilea cried out when they dug a blade into the girl’s collarbone to retrieve an amethyst. Tatiana’s body morphed into a wolf and then quickly changed back into a human, her eyes turning demonic red.
The demons had stolen her body!
Eilea shot to her feet, hands trembling as she struggled to stand. Setting Artem back in his crib, she was barely aware of her movements as she handed him his bottle.
“Thank you, baby,” she breathed, kissing his forehead, her lips lingering on his heated skin. Her child was too young to carry such a burden.
She grabbed the side of the crib, squeezing the rail when a contraction hit.
Not now!
Sucking in a sharp breath, she slowly exhaled, willing the pain to subside. After it passed, she straightened and walked to the door, watching her child sit with his bottle. Tears streaming down her face, she blew him a kiss, closed the door, and went downstairs.
The Army trackers still hadn’t arrived, and Tatiana was in grave danger. They couldn’t wait a moment longer. The demons had to be stopped, and she was the only shifter with the power to do it.
* * *
HOLDING TATIANA’S BODY close to his heart, Constantine went into the house, heedless of the snow and grime on his tattered clothes.
“Eilea!” he called, voice breaking.
His brothers crowded in behind him, chests heaving as they struggled to catch their breath after running several miles through the snow in their human forms. Bunic Nicolae and their second alpha father, Jovan, followed them inside.
“Thank the Ancients,” Nicolae said. “Where was she?”
“The Ancients need no thanking,” Dimitri rumbled. “They have forsaken us.”
Nicolae and Jovan gaped at him.
“What’s that smell?” Jovan asked.
His mate’s mother, Mihaela Thunderfoot, raced over to them, tears streaking down her face. “You found her!” She stopped as if she’d hit a brick wall. Constantine had used rope to bind her wrists and ankles. “Why is she tied up?”
He backed up. “There is a demon in Tatiana’s body.”
“What? No!” Mihaela let out a wail, stumbling into Dejan’s arms before righting herself and turning several shades of red. “Let me see!” she said, pushing Tatiana’s hair out of her face and sniffing her. “She smells like dark magic.”
Constantine grimaced. “I know.”
She slapped Tatiana’s already swollen face hard.
Her red eyes shot open, and she hissed at Mihaela. “Keep your hands off me, bitch!”
Mihaela’s eyes shifted to a brilliant gold. “Where is my daughter?”
“With my master,” the demon said.
Mihaela let out a roar so powerful, it rivaled that of the fiercest protector.
The demon whimpered, burying her face in Constantine’s chest. He had no desire to offer her comfort. If she hadn’t been in Tatiana’s body, he would have drop-kicked her to the ground.
“The demon said they have her soul.” Dimitri spoke through shuddering breaths, the agony in his voice as thick as churned butter. “And they’ll kill her if we don’t make a trade.”
Nicolae arched a brow. “What kind of trade?”
Constantine feared Jovan’s reaction. “They want Eilea,” he said.
Jovan’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Over my dead body,” Jovan declared, hair sprouting on his face and his eyes shifting.
“Father,” Dimitri pleaded, “they’re going to kill our mate.”
Crossing his arms, Jovan glared. “Let’s say I lose my mind and agree to give Eilea to the demons. Do you think they’ll honor the trade?”
“Then what do we do?” Constantine pleaded, wondering where Eilea was. He scented her nearby and heard commotion in the kitchen. Why hadn’t she come? Surely she heard them come in.
“When are the trackers getting here?” Jovan asked Nicolae.
He rubbed his graying beard. “They should be here tonight unless the storm delays them.”
Constantine felt as if he carried the weight of a thousand protectors on his back. “We can’t wait that long.”
Nicolae’s shoulders fell, and he gazed at Tatiana as if he was a mourner observing her on a funeral pyre. “We’re going to have to.”
“They could be torturing her,” Dimitri cried, pulling at his hair. “Raping her!” The crazed look in his eyes was enough to make Constantine wonder if his brother was descending into madness.
Andrei and Dejan gawked at their brother, their eyes bloodshot and creased with worry. Constantine tried not to think about what their looks meant or what had happened to Tatiana, lest he go mad, too.
“Sons,” Jovan said, “we have no choice.”
“We do.” Dimitri paced like a caged animal, pounding his palm with his fist. “We attack now. We know where their nest is.”
“It’s heavily guarded.” Clucking his tongue, Nicolae shook his head. “We can’t go up against automatic weapons.”
“The protectors will act as shields,” Dimitri said brusquely, “so the trackers can get in.”
Jovan threw up his hands. “That’s a suicide mission.”
Dimitri bowed his head and covered his face with his hands. “I don’t care.”
“Dimitri,” Jovan said, clasping Dimitri’s shoulder. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
He shook off their father. “They have our mate!”
“Everyone, please calm down. I made something that will help.” Eilea emerged from the kitchen, balancing a tray that held seven steaming cups of tea. Where had she been all this time? Making tea when they needed her guidance? Didn’t she understand the severity of the situation?
Dimitri snapped at her. “Do you think fucking tea will fix this?”
“Dimitri.” Jovan protested, giving his son a warning look and taking the tray from Eilea.
His stepmother had an oddly serene smile on her face as she handed each of them a cup, took the tray from Jovan, and handed him the last one. “This tea was brewed specifically for mental clarity. Drink,” she said to them while tucking the tray under her arm. “It will show you a clear path.”
They drank the tea. It was mildly fruity and refreshing. Constantine downed the entire cup in a few swallows, not realizing until that moment how thirsty he’d been.
After wiping his mouth, he belched and handed Eilea the empty cup. His head suddenly felt fuzzy, not clearer. “How long before it starts working?” he asked, shocked at how he slurred his words.
“I feel funny,” Andrei said, dropping his cup before he tumbled to the floor, his brothers and Tatiana’s mother following suit.
Nicolae and their father slumped to the carpet like discarded ragdolls when their knees buckled.
Constantine’s vision blurred. “Eilea, what have you done?” He fell against a wall and then slid down it, Tatiana’s body falling from his arms.
“I’m sorry.” Eilea bent over him, her mouth draped in a frown. “I can save her.”
His stepmother was going to rescue Tatiana by herself? Had she gone mad? He tried to tell her she needed protectors to shield her, but his tongue was too heavy and his eyes refused to stay open.
* * *
EILEA CHECKED ON ARTEM, pleased to see he’d fallen asleep with his bottle. Slumped in a nearby chair was Bunica Elena. She’d been the first to drink Eilea’s tea about twenty minutes earlier, and she was already stirring, mumbling in her sleep about Tatiana and the Ancients. Eilea knew she had to hurry before the others woke up and tried to stop her.
Setting the bottle on the nightstand, she gave Artem a kiss. “Daddy will be awake soon,” she whispered, then tiptoed out the door.
No sooner had she reached the bottom of the stairs than another contraction hit her. Repressing a curse, she placed a hand over her swollen belly and recited a simple calming spell, pleased when the pain subsided. Now was not the time for her to go into labor. She had some demon ass to kick.
After a good amount of grunting, she got her boots on and then her coat and hat. Retrieving her wand from the pocket, she infused magic into it until the tip glowed fiery red. She’d fashioned the wand from a demon-touched tree branch she’d found on the outer perimeter of the Hoia Baciu, Romania’s haunted forest, which was only a few miles from their home. The handy stick had served her well the past few years, helping channel her sometimes wild magic.
She bent over the demon and burned through her bindings, then stood, rubbing her sore lower back. “Get up, demon. I know you’re awake.”
The demon in Tatiana’s body blinked at her, stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. Her nose was red and swollen. Eilea could have healed it with a simple spell, but she wasn’t doing the creature any favors.
“We’re running out of time, demon,” she said, her boot poised next to the demon’s ribs. “Get up or I’ll kick you.”
The demon sat up. “You shifters are rude.”
Jovan rolled over, letting out a blubbery snore. Not long, and he’d wake. Eilea was out of patience. Mumbling an incantation, she raised the wand, and the demon rose like a puppet on a string.
Her jaw dropped. “How did you do that?”
Eilea glared at her. “What is your demon name?”
The demon laughed shrilly. “As if I’d tell a witch.”
Warmth infused Eilea’s hand as she made a winding motion with the wand, pointing it at the demon’s bruised neck. “Tell me.”
The demon sputtered and gasped like a fish out of water, clutching her throat while Eilea cut off her air.
“Balban,” she finally rasped.
Eilea released the spell. “Didn’t I already banish you to hell?”
“I found my way back.”
“And what is your master’s name?” she asked, and when Balban clamped her lips shut, held up the wand in silent threat.
Balban clutched her throat, making a face. “Sitri.”
“How many demons are there?”
Her lower lip trembled. “Two.”
Balban was holding back information. Eilea felt it in her bones. Someone was helping them.
“And guards?”
“About a hundred.”
It was as she feared. Too many protectors would be slaughtered if she enlisted their help. She’d definitely have to do this alone. “Take me to Sitri.”
Balban blanched. “I told Master you were too powerful.”
“I am.” Eilea laughed, feeling the magic in her fingers. “And now he shall learn the hard way not to fuck with my family.”