Edie shrugged away the pity, chasing away her initial joy. “I wasn’t there, sweetie. I can’t tell you what happened. But the evidence is clear. You areMagicae Lupus, the only one of your kind. Only Amelia can tell us how that happened.”
“You know where she is?”
She shook her head. “Finding her wouldn’t be difficult. But we have to survive this first.”
The threat holding them prisoner in this house was significant enough to push away the weight of the new information. “Why would Ethel want me?”
Edie glanced at Adella, and both women sighed in unison. Whatever the reason for the witch’s fixation, it was sinister enough to scare two powerful witches. He held his breath. How much can one wolf endure? There had to be a reprieve, right?
“Only aMagicae Lupuscan enter and leave the Underworld undetected and unscathed,” Adella said.
The invisible hammer he’d seen coming fell with tremendous, undeniable impact.
The weight of the wordsAnima Alterumfollowed Caster to his study. He couldn’t outrun them. The implication was impossible to ignore. It explained everything: his powerful attraction to Mark, the easy, uninhibited way Mark submitted to him, and the control he seemed to have on his wolf.
His mother was on his heels, her immense presence a certainty he had little hope of ignoring, and even the petulant child in him knew he couldn’t tell her to go away. The familiar safety of his study was an illusion. Even here, memories of Mark, fresh and abiding, haunted him. He walked to the shattered window and stared into the darkness outside, justmaking out Ethel’s twice-dead army. How could this be? There was no denying the joy Mark’s presence brought him, but it was the wrong time. His world, their world, was falling apart. Every vampire on the planet relied on him to hold them together. How could he fulfill that obligation when everything in him wanted to make Mark’s safety his priority?
The undeniable click of the door had him sighing. He drew his gaze away from the overwhelming darkness outside, his wayward thoughts, and fortified himself for his mother’s admonishment. But when he turned to face her, her expression tore at his remaining strength. She didn’t look like the all-powerful Queen of the Vampire Race, but a mother who recognized her son’s heartbreak.
He looked away from the comfort her expression offered, the carpeted floor a much safer option. “Please, mother…”
She moved closer to him, close enough that when he summoned the courage to face her, he could see the pain in her eyes. “Remember when Cy was born?”
He frowned, unsure why she would want to talk about his brother right now.
“You were so young.” She smiled, easing some of his tension. “You spent every night in his room, keeping him safe as you put it. And no one could dissuade you from that.”
“I don’t remember that.” He lied, and his mother tilted her head to the side, calling his bluff.
“You were so adamant in your protection that your father worried perhaps you were aware of a threat we couldn’t yet see.” She pointed to his chair. “Sit. Get away from Ethel’s darkness.”
Until his body crashed onto the chair, he hadn’t realized how tired he’d been.
“The point is, my beautiful boy, you have always equated protection with love.” She held his gaze, unyielding in her challenge. “You love him, don’t you?”
He shook his head.
She shrugged. “Well… maybe you haven’t admitted it to yourself yet, but I’m your mother. It didn’t take long for me to see it.”
“That’s not possible. I’ve only known him a few days.”
“And you think that matters?”
He shook his head, trying to find the right words, but she was right; she knew him well, even the parts he dared never share with anyone. “You just want him to be my soulmate.”
She laughed, her joy a balm on the grief tearing at his heart.
Its source was clear. Mark may be hisAnima Alterum, but he belonged to another. His rival for Mark’s affections couldn’t be ignored. Even dead, that werewolf held tremendous influence on Mark. Why would the Goddess choose to punish him with this? “What is so funny?”
“You are so like your father, it’s uncanny.”
He leaned back in his chair, ready to argue his case. “Mother, I…”
“You think that duty eclipses love somehow. That you need to choose between one and the other.”
How did she do that? “Doesn’t it?” He leaned forward, thewords flowing faster than he intended. “With everything going on, Uncle Lucien and his possible ties to Ethel, the council… How can I even think about this now?” He scoffed. “And the Prime Alpha, his brother, just threatened war. Again.”
She dismissed his points with a wave of her hand. “The Prime Alpha is too reasonable to start another war.” Her refreshed smile mocked him. “And between you, him, Damien, and everyone else, you’ll figure out what your uncle is up to and put a stop to it. Of that I have no doubt.” She reached for his hand. “All I’m saying is, there is more to life than duty. It is that werewolf in the conference room.”