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“This is going better than I thought,” Pax muttered under his breath. “But that can change if Amaros decides to come out of hiding. He might not have Shadows, but he has enough vampires to wage a war.”

“If we can convince the Shadows who are allied with Keeva to join us, then he won’t have a chance.”

Pax shook his head. “Ifwe can find them. We have no leads at all.”

“We will,” I said confidently. We had to. Defeating Rowan and my father was the only way that Kali would ever be free. I wouldn’t stop fucking fighting until they were both in the ground.

Pax leaned closer. “And what is Kali planning with her twin? Is she going to have a hard time if it gets ugly?”

“We can’t kill her, Pax. If the passage is true, then they’re connected for life.”

“I know. But she just found out she has family in this world.” His voice was laced with pity. “And now they’re enemies. It has to be tearing her up inside.”

My mind went back to the nearly two weeks we were trapped with PARA. Kali might not remember it because of the sedatives, but I could replay every damn second. Keeva chose Rowan overanything. She watched Kali writhe and scream from agony while being chained to the chair. Keeva didn’t bat an eye. No regret or sadness had covered her face. To her, Kali was nothing but a pawn to be used for what Rowan wanted.

“Keeva will never choose Kali,” I admitted in a low voice. “Spending her life with Rowan and PARA ruined her. She’ll never side with us. Or think we’re doing the right thing.”

I glanced around, realizing Viggo wasn’t beside me. I frowned, turning to see him behind us, talking to a human. As if he could sense I was watching, he looked up, his expression blank for a moment before he grinned, and motioned me over.

“Warner wants to talk to you,” he said as I got closer. “The Clovers have a question about Project Wish.”

“Why me?” I’d made my peace that Warner would be in Kali’s life. For eternal fucking life since I turned him into a vampire. She was mine, and I knew without a doubt that would never change, which was why I didn’t let his presence bother me anymore. But I wasn’t friends with him, and he usually talked to Viggo.

“He didn’t say. He’s outside the gate.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, throwing my hearing to listen to Kali still talking with the Shadows.

Pax chuckled. “I’ll stay with her. You can deal with being away for twenty minutes.”

I could—it didn’t mean I wanted to. But making sure this mission went off without any issue was important. I nodded and then followed Viggo and the human toward the front gate of the city. Viggo lit a cigarette as he walked next to me.

“Everyday we get closer to bringing down these cities.” He scoffed. “Not in the way I ever imagined it when we were planning it with Dad.”

“This way is better,” I muttered.

“Because it’s what Kali wants.”

I side-eyed him. “Because it’s the best way to prevent a future war. I thought we all agreed.”

“We do,” he drawled before lowering his voice so only I could hear. “Even if Kali thinks our name will never come out…Rowan isn’t the only one in PARA who knows our faces. If they find out who we are, all of this will be for nothing. Because the humans will never trust us.”

I stared at the human who was walking in front of us. “I know. We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

We walked past the few Clovers who were standing watch at the gate, and my annoyance grew when I didn’t see Warner anywhere.

The human who was walking with us pointed north. “He’s over there.”

Viggo began following him, and I grudgingly strode after them. I should have just waited for Kali. The trees soon blocked out the sun as we went deeper in the woods.

“How fucking far is he?” I asked. “I can’t hear him.”

“No idea.” Viggo stubbed his cigarette out with his boot. “Let’s just get this over with.”

He dropped back as I upped my pace, trying to hear any other heartbeats near us. After a few more minutes, I halted, cursing under my breath.

“If he wants to talk to me, then he can come find me. Can you hear him?”

“No.” Viggo’s voice came from right behind me.