Decebel walked over to where Jen had taken refuge between two very large trees. "What is it Jennifer?"

"Where is Sally?" she asked softly.

Decebel growled. "I thought she was with you."

Jen shook her head. "She didn't flash with us. She was left with you all. Things were crazy when Rachel and Peri started working on—" She pointed towards her friend and her mate. "I couldn't ask Peri to go back. She's holding Fane and Jacque here, like literally using her immortality to keep them alive."

Decebel blinked several times as his hand pressed against his forehead. "When everything cleared and the vamps quit coming, the only thing left were some bloody clothes. Sally was not there."

Jen closed her eyes. This couldn't be happening. She could not lose both her best friends at the same time. "We have to find her."

Decebel looked around and pointed to Alston. "He can take us to Costin. There's nothing we can do here right now."

Jen agreed, though part of her didn't want leave the room—as though her presence was keeping her best friend from slipping away.

Decebel took her hand and lead her to where the high fae stood. Vasile had left him and was now holding his grandson with Alina sitting next to him.

"Can you please take us to the Serbia mansion?" Decebel asked curtly.

Alston didn't ask why. He simply held out his arm. They placed their hands on it and disappeared with the fae.

Alston left them in the foyer of the Serbia mansion with a nod and nothing else.

"This is," Jen started, but stopped when she heard pounding footsteps headed straight for them. She looked behind her and saw Costin. His eyes were wild with the wolf and he looked like he was in excruciating pain.

"Where is she? Where's my mate?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," Jen said, watching him closely.

Costin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She's not there. She's just gone. I can’t feel her through the bond. I can’t hear her or talk to her. It’s like she never existed."

"What?" Decebel’s eyes narrowed and began to glow.

"I can't sense her at all. I am alone—in here" —he tapped his head— "and here." Then he tapped his chest.

Jen didn't know what to do so she told Costin everything that had happened from the moment they entered the coven following Drake.

"Decebel said when the fighting ended, she wasn't there. He thought she was with me but she didn't flash with us."

Jen paused and shot a quick look past Costin, then placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. “Where is Titus?”

He seemed to have to think about it but then said, “He’s asleep. He wore himself out playing. I haven’t let him know that anything is wrong. I don’t know what I’m going to tell him.” His breathing started to quicken as Jen saw that Costin was realizing that it wasn’t just him he had to worry about anymore. He now had a child who would want to know where his new mommy was.

“We will help you,” Jen told him, allowing a little of the power endowed to her as Alpha to seep into her words. “Titus will be okay, Costin. He’s resilient, and he’s got one of the best dads a kid could ask for.” She didn’t know if her words helped, but she’d just keep reminding him and hoping that maybe if she said it enough it would somehow ease some worry.

Costin was at a loss. He didn't have anyone to kill, he didn't have any idea where to begin looking for her and it was his fault for not being there to protect her. And he had a three year old who needed them. Not just him, he needed Sally as well.

"Does Peri know she's missing?" he asked, his voice was rough with emotion.

"She's got enough on her plate for the moment trying to keep Fane and Jacque alive," Jen said. He could tell she was trying not to sound uncaring.

"So we literally have no idea where to even begin looking for her." His heart felt as though it just might stop beating at any moment.

"Not right now," Jen agreed. "But we will find her." She grabbed his hand and met his eyes. "We will find her."

Titus opened his eyes and saw that he was in the pretty garden that he’d been in once before. It was a dream, but it felt so real, so safe.

“Little one,” a sweet, soft voice spoke from behind him.

He turned and smiled up at the woman who’d visited him the last time he’d been in the same garden. She’d been the angel who told him that his new mommy and daddy were going to be coming to get him.

“Hi, angel,” he said. “You were right. My mommy and daddy did come.”

The angel knelt down in front of him. Her eyes were kind and her smile was real, like she wanted him to be just as happy as she was. It wasn’t one of those fake smiles that big people sometimes tried to do.

“They are precious to me, Titus, just as you are. You have been so very brave in all that you have endured.”

“What’s endured?” he asked.

“It means you have gotten through something difficult.” She reached out a hand and he took it without hesitation. “The world my children live in is one that has much darkness in it.”

Titus knew what darkness she was talking about. He’d seen darkness, felt it, and as the angel had said, he’d endured it.

“Unfortunately there will be more darkness to contend with.” She pulled him to her and then stood and led him to a bench. The angel picked him up and set him on the bench before sitting down next to him. “Your mommy and daddy are going to have trials to endure. Your daddy is a strong man. He is kind and loving and he is going to need you.”

“Me?” Titus couldn’t imagine how his new daddy could possibly need him. He was just a little kid.

She nodded. “You, little one, are the light in his life. Just like Sally is.”

“So why does he need me to be a light if he has mommy?”

“He needs you because your mommy is fighting the darkness now, as we speak.”

Titus frowned. “Why? She’s so good. Why does she have to endure?” He didn’t want to be angry at the angel, but he didn’t understand.

The angel wrapped an arm around him and he felt safe. “She has to endure because she can and she will. And when someone walks through the fire and comes out okay on the other side, they then can help others who will face the same thing.” When he just continued to look at her she spoke again. “For instance, you have fallen and scraped your knee before.”