“Hush!” I scanned the darkness and gripped his hands. “Danny, please. I’m begging you to help me.”

Danny gaped, from my hands tightening around his, to my face. “Celia, I know things are strained between you, but he loves you. You’re emotionally frail right now. As soon as you work through your trauma you’ll be able to think more rationally.”

My muffled sobs stopped his rant. I composed myself enough to speak. “Danny, I’m in so much trouble. People I love will be hurt if I don’t break my bond with Aric.”

Danny’s face split with shock and confusion. “How will sacrificing your relationship keep the Tribe from attacking you…” His voice trailed off and his eyes widened. “Oh crap,” he whispered. “This has nothing to do with the Tribe, does it?” My blank expression answered for me. “Then who? Who’s hurting you, Celia?”

I rushed toward the gate. “Danny, you already know too much. If you don’t want to end up like Bren—or worse—you won’t question me. Just please help me. It has to be done by tomorrow or someone will die.”

“There has to be another way, Celia.”

It hurt to swallow the lump in my throat. “I wish there was, Danny.”

“We can fight this somehow, I know we can.”

In the past, I’d always seen Danny’s optimism as rousing, but now I recognized it as only naïveté. “Danny, at first I might have believed you, but tonight Bren was with me and we both had the shit knocked out of us. For God’s sake, did you see him? We’re lucky he’s alive!”

Danny seemed to sense my desperation, but wasn’t totally convinced. “Celia, the only reason Aric has been able to defy the Elders’ order to stay away from you is because of your mate bond. Do you realize if you break it, he’ll no longer be able to contact you? You may never see him again, are you prepared for that?”

The image of that small beating heart appeared in my mind. Never once since first learning of my pregnancy did I believe my baby would grow up without a father. No matter our circumstances, I always knew Aric would be there for us. Now I couldn’t allow him to be.

“If I could see any other way out, I’d take it. I can’t stand the thought…” I took a calming breath. It did nothing. I was going to shatter into a thousand pieces. “I can’t stand the thought of losing Aric. But if I don’t do this he’ll die. Do you understand me? Aric will die.”

As a new werewolf, Danny had worked hard to determine his place in the Pack. As a blue merle werewolf—a rare entity and a symbol of power—we’d waited to see what special ability he’d acquired. So far, nothing had manifested. He struggled despite his best efforts. Much younger weres surpassed him in strength, agility, and tracking. But one thing Danny had to his advantage was his incredible intellect—that, and he’d quickly learned how to sniff out lies. My scent, my posture, the tone of my words—everything told him I spoke the truth.

We stopped a few feet from the gate. He sighed. “As one of Aric’s Warriors, I am duty bound to protect his life, and yours, as his mate, at any cost. If ending your bond will do that, I guess I have no choice.”

He was giving me what I wanted. It should have made me happy or at least granted me some relief, but my despair only worsened. It was going to happen. Aric and I would no longer be one.

Heidi’s car door opened and she stepped out. Two vampires descended from the thick cluster of the trees and blocked her path. Heidi resembled an adult film actress—big blond hair, full pouty lips, and boobs the size of Rhode Island. But she was as tough as sin and had become one of the few female weres ever granted the title of Warrior. Her speaking voice was cute and bubbly, yet the growl that rumbled from her throat thundered across the stone pavers.

I stepped between them. “Michael, Clara, stop.”

“She doesn’t have permission to be here, Celia,” Clara hissed. “Do you, bitch?”

Heidi smiled. “We’ll see who the bitch is when I’m wearing your fangs as earrings.”

“Back off, Clara. Heidi was just leaving.”

Heidi seemed hurt when I made it clear she couldn’t stay. “Did Danny tell you?” she asked.

I ignored her to watch Michael lead Clara away. “Come, Clara. Celia gave you a direct order.”

I waited until they left before addressing Heidi, but she was busy watching Danny unload his belongings. “I’ll be staying with Celia,” he said without meeting her face.

Her high heels clicked against the pavers as she rushed to his side. “You’re not coming back with me?”

“No.” He wouldn’t glance in her direction as he passed. She lurched forward and clutched his arm. “Heidi, not now.”

“Will you ever come back to me?” Tears dropped from her eyes and his.

“I don’t know.” Danny wasn’t cruel. He could never leave someone in Heidi’s state. They were almost the same height, so he easily turned to kiss her forehead.

Aric had to practically bend in half to kiss me.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Danny’s face crumbled. “No. I don’t think you do.”

I was intruding on their moment and quickly hauled ass back to the guesthouse. Danny raced after me. “Celia, wait.”

“I’m sorry, Danny!” Heidi yelled behind us. “I’m so sorry!”

Danny scrunched his face and focused ahead, struggling to maintain control. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked quietly.

“Don’t worry about me. We need to deal with your situation.”

I wasn’t the only one in need of a friend tonight. I caught his arm. “Tell me what happened.”

He dropped his bags onto the slick wet slate of the garden path and rubbed his eyes. “Heidi hasn’t been faithful to me. Since we’ve been together she’s had sex with several weres and a couple of humans.”

My mouth popped opened. They’d only been together a few months. “How did you find out?”

“She told me over dinner tonight. She said she couldn’t help herself. That it was something she’d always done so that others, specifically men, would like her.”

“I’m not trying to minimize what’s happened, but you told me yourself she was new to dating. She seems to genuinely care about you. Maybe she just needs time to adjust to being with one person.”