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“Swear to me you won’t die.”

I stare down at him, and though I cannot read his mind, I can practically feel his worry and powerlessness. Kane is hemmed in by the will of his pack. And I think right now, he desperately wants to join the fight, or at least protect me from it.

Memnon’s chair scrapes back, then the sorcerer’s heavy hand falls on Kane’s shoulder.

“You’re a good man, Kane,” Memnon says, “and your protectiveness will serve you well as a leader one day. Selene cannot make you that promise any more than I can. But I can vow to you this: I will not willingly lead her to her death.”

Kane stares at me a moment longer, and I nod.

“It will be okay,” I say softly.

It’s as close to a promise as I can make, and it might not even be the truth. Because none of this is okay. Not the forced bonds, not the killings, not the auction, and not the upcoming violence.

But there’s no going back from what happened last night. Not for Memnon and not for me. The only option for either of us is to stop the Fortunas before they stop us.

And hopefully the shifters decide to help.

CHAPTER 43

I driveMemnon’s car back to his house while the sorcerer takes his motorcycle. The sky has been heavy with the scent of rain this whole evening, but it’s only once I’m on the winding mountain roads that the heavens open up.

I flick on the wipers and try to force my focus to stay purely on the road.

Unfortunately, it keeps drifting.

“Did she tell the truth?”Vincent had asked.

“As she knows it, yes,”my mate had replied.

What had he meant by that?

Memnon?

I shouldn’t be bothering him. Not when he’s traveling these same slickened roads I am. On a motorcycle. With no helmet.

Yes,est amage?

Forget it, I say.

Well, I cannot forget it now, after I’ve been teased. What is it?

I adjust my grip on the wheel. Fuck it.

Tell me something you don’t want me to know.

I ignore the twinge of guilt in my stomach that comes with the command and brace for some horrible truth.

I think about marrying you all the godsdamned time,Memnon says down our bond.I think of ways to work around our arrangement just to make it official sooner. And once you’re my wife, I plan on convincing you with gifts and food and mind-blowing sex to stay with me, in our house, forever.

I rear back in my seat. That…wasn’t the confession I was expecting. I assumed he’d tell me some scheme he’d been keeping from me, not serve me his heart on a platter. I’d almost forgotten the unbreakable oath I made to him. But Memnon hasn’t.

You didn’t want me to know that?

No, he says. He doesn’t explain himself further.

When I pull up the long driveway to Memnon’s secluded house, he’s already there, standing out in the elements, waiting for me to get to him. The rain mats his hair to his face. Distractedly, he runs a hand through the wet locks, and the sight sets my whole body on fire.

I look at him, and finally, I see him, really see him. He’s no longer just some strange menace come to haunt me. He’s my soul mate, the man whose mind reached out to mine two thousand years ago when we were both children in the ancient world. He has been my enemy recently, but he has always been my partner.