"There has never been a human mate, Lilly," Cypher told her as they stood in his room. "I don't even know if my magic will bind you to me."

"But you think the fae’s can?" she asked him.

Cypher chuckled. "Honestly, I don’t think there is much that woman can't do, not once she puts her mind to it."

Lilly smiled. "I would have to agree."

He put a finger under her chin and lifted her face to look up at him. "Tonight I will make you mine—my mate, my queen, and my lover."

Lilly shivered at the possessive gleam in his eyes. And all she could do was nod.

With her daughter, Jen, Jacque, Alina, and their respective mates gathered around them, Lilly and Cypher stood before Perizada. The high fae allowed a bit of her power issue forth, basking the happy couple in a soft white light. She held an ancient crumbling book open in one hand and a small ceremonial knife—which looked equally as ancient—in the other.

"Never has there been a human united with a warlock," Peri began. "Cypher has sought the wisdom of the high fae and it is by my magic, along with Cypher's and his own blood that we will bind these two." Peri took the blade and sliced it across Cypher’s palm, then again across Lilly's palm. The bite of the blade burned up her arm, but the pain was gone the minute Peri pressed Lilly’s hand against Cypher’s. Then she took a thin gold cord and wrapped it around their hands, binding them together. It reminded Lilly of a handfasting tradition that she'd often read about in the period books she loved so much.

With their hands clasped, their blood mingling, and the chord binding them, Peri began to speak in a beautiful, elegant language. Her voice filled the stone walls of the gathering room in the warlock mountain. Power pulsed and magic licked across their skin as, slowly Lilly, began to feel not only her own essence but Cypher's as well. By the time Peri had finished speaking, Lilly felt as though something inside of her had been unlocked. She looked up into Cypher’s eyes and saw her future with him.

Lilly blinked several times as she cleared her mind of the memory. She still stood in the forest, where her mate and Peri had left her. She shivered as a cool breeze rushed over her. Yes, life was changing again. The supernatural world was about to be turned upon its head, and Lilly didn’t know if it was going to be a good change or one that was going to get them all killed.

Decebel, Fane, and Costin each stood at the door of Vasile’s office when Peri appeared with Cypher.

“Why didn’t you just flash us into his office?” the Serbia Alpha asked.

“Because they needed some time alone,” Peri answered in her usual snappy tone.

Decebel reached his hand out and clasped Cypher’s forearm in the warrior greeting. “It’s good to see you, Cypher.” The warlock king nodded and then greeted Fane and Costin.

“Come in, please.” Vasile’s voice traveled clearly through the closed door but Decebel noticed that it sounded worn and tired. He pushed open the door and stepped inside. The stench of anger, fear, and death permeated the air. Judging by the coughing coming from the other males, he wasn’t the only one affected by it.

“What is that smell?” Fane asked his father.

“That would be the smell of three little human girls who lost their lives this night,” Vasile answered, quickly sobering the room.

After several beats of silence, Decebel folded his arms across his broad chest. “What’s going on?”

Vasile nodded to Peri. “Please.” He motioned for the fae to step forward. To Decebel’s surprise, she looked hesitant, completely uncharacteristic for the fae.

“I wouldn’t ask this of you if the news I’m about to share wasn’t so gruesome,” Peri said as she addressed them. “But, it is. Please block your mates from this conversation and don’t reveal the information you are about to learn. Once you have heard everything, then you all can decide how much you want to reveal to them.”

Her words had Decebel’s jaw clenching. He did as she asked and immediately felt Jen’s irritation.

She was going to bombard him with questions later, livid that she was shut out. She was like a dog hunting a meaty bone when she decided she needed information.

“I’m sure Vasile has told you.” Peri paused and glanced at the Romania Alpha. Vasile was shaking his head. “You didn’t tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Costin asked.

Decebel could tell the other males were beginning to become as agitated as he was. Something was very wrong.

“Why the hell not?” Peri growled at Vasile.

Vasile stood up and stepped around his desk. Alina stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his arm. Decebel could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen his old friend look so troubled.

“Perizada, I respect you as the ambassador that you are, the friend you have become, and as the mate that you are to my brother. But you will remember to whom you speak. I made the decision not to inform them of what you told me because I was hoping that this was an isolated incident. Since you and the other pack males destroyed the coven, I had hoped that the problem was solved.”

Decebel’s ears pricked at the word coven. “Vampires,” he growled. The other males added their voices to his as low rumbles vibrated in their chests.

“There haven’t been vampires seen above ground in centuries,” Cypher argued.

Peri finally turned away from Vasile and looked back at them. She let out a humorless laugh. “They still haven’t been seen above ground, at least not by anyone left alive. But they are hunting again. Of that, there is no doubt. Without going into too much detail, my mate, myself, and two other male wolves went to visit a coven in hopes of discovering some much needed information. But instead of finding information, we found bodies―lots and lots of little, young bodies. The vampires were all too happy to parade them in front of us. Apparently they’d forgotten what it’s like to provoke pissed off male Canis lupus. Dalton Black, the Beta of the Colorado pack, killed them all.”

Decebel was shaking with the need to phase. They were killing children, innocents. Children had always been sacred to him, but now that he had a daughter of his own, there was a whole new meaning to the term sacred child. The idea of his Thia in the hands of bloodsuckers filled him with enough rage that his hands began to phase and fur was beginning to sprout on his arms and neck.