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“We’re different. We’re meant for this life. To keep the balance. Not to allow vampires to rule the world.”

“I’m not letting Amaros do anything,” I growled. “Neither is Zan. And PARA is no better than him.”

“The humans have souls that aren’t shrouded in evil. Vampires will never stop fighting for power.” She shook herhead. “PARA might not be perfect, but if it wasn’t for them, the vampires would have won the war all those years ago. Could you imagine life if you never had a safe city like Project Hope?”

I detested how her words were sinking through me. If I’d met her six months ago, I would have agreed with her on nearly every point. Fear lashed in my chest. Maybe I had changed.

“It’s not too late to choose the right side,” she murmured softly. “You don’t have to be the dark, Kali. You can rule in the light with me.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Zan choked out between labored breaths. “They want?—”

Rowan reached down, and yanked the knife from Zan’s chest, making him hiss out a curse. “Not another fucking word, or I drag you out of here and you go back to the cell.”

Zan lifted his head, glowering at Rowan with a hatred I’d never seen from him. My heart squeezed, wondering what fresh hell he’d gone through these last ten days.

“Look at who you care about.” Keeva gripped my arms tighter. “Kanes. Vampires. Then tell yourself why you think you’re on the right side. Bonds can be broken. Blood can’t. I’m your blood, just like he is Kane blood.”

“You are nothing to her,” Zan growled.

“Enough,” Rowan snapped. “They’re here. I’ve been waiting for this for years. It’s time.”

Chapter 30

Zan

Rowan was living on borrowed time. I was going to fucking kill him. Torture him in ways that would have him screaming for death. In the last ten days, I had ample time to think about what I was going to do to him. Watching Kali get fed hawthorn and sedatives to the point of being trapped in her own body was worse than any pain they’d inflicted on me.

They were going to regret every single fucking thing they did to her.

I sucked in a pained breath as I shifted on my knees, keeping my gaze on Kali. My body was so weak. It was taking me so much longer to heal, and my heart was still throbbing with pain from the knife that Keeva had stabbed me with. It didn’t help that they were still slathering me with hawthorn lotion to keep my wounds open. The blood they’d given me was just enough to keep me awake, and it wasn’t for my benefit. Rowan took pleasure in making sure I watched Kali suffer.

While I was relieved she was awake, I had a feeling whatever they had planned next wouldn’t be good for her. I frowned, watching as she stared ahead of her with silent questionsswirling in her brown eyes. She hadn’t spoken to me since Rowan and Keeva had walked out of the room a minute ago. There were still about twenty soldiers surrounding us, but I didn’t pay them any attention.

“Kali. Don’t listen to them.” I kept my words below a whisper to make sure no one else could hear. “Her words are bullshit.”

Her eyes snapped to me. “Are they? They’re the same words in my mother’s note.”

“Quiet,” a soldier ordered sharply. “No talking.”

“She also wrote that you get to choose between light and dark,” I hissed, hating that her fucking twin was messing with her head. “I know your soul, Kali. And it’s not dark.”

I saw the butt of the rifle a second before it was smashed against my temple. My vision went black for a few seconds, and as waves of pain rolled through my head, I managed to stay silent when the PARA member slammed the gun into my skull again.

“She’s choosing wrong because of her feelings for you.”

I whipped my head up to see Keeva striding back in the room. Rowan was nowhere in sight, but there were two new faces following her. Their scent wasn’t human, and I studied them. Vampire or Shadow. Seeing as it was next to impossible for a vampire to be following Keeva, I was guessing they were Shadows. Unless she held the same power to entrance vampires like Kali did.

“You’re the reason she is siding with vampires,” she said, her lip curling in disgust as she met my eyes. “Her bond with you is keeping her in the dark.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I snarled. Kali’s emotions were fragile right now. She’d just gotten used to the fact that she was a Shadow. She finally admitted her feelings for me, and now Keeva was trying to fucking wreck that.

Kali’s eyes were darting between me and her twin, her body going rigid when she glanced at the two people who were following Keeva.

“Those Shadows weren’t with me,” Kali said slowly, confusion in her voice.

“No, they’re with us.” Rowan appeared in the large doorway.

Shock swept through me at his words. What the hell did that mean? Rowan sauntered closer, and I saw two soldiers behind him with someone between them. My heart skipped when I recognized Norman. I’d guessed the humans would have killed him when they found out he was a vampire, but he looked worse off than I did. Since I turned him recently, he was a new vampire and those wounds covering his body would take weeks to heal.