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To her horror, blood smeared her skin when she lowered her hand.

“What the hell?”

Her heart gave a desperate thump.

Terrek kicked.

“Shall I answer that for you?”

Moira spun around, vertigo be damned. Raw terror surged through her. The voice from her darkest nightmares cut through the sound of rushing blood in her ears. The angelic face of the Devil incarnate greeted her with an icy smile and glowing golden eyes.

Daeanna snatched Moira by the back of the head, fingers fisting mercilessly in her hair. Pain sliced through her from skull to hip as she grappled for Daeanna’s wrist, trying to loosen her grip.

“Ah, I had hoped for a warmer welcome. ’Tis been some time since we last met. Have you missed me, Moira?”

Moira shrieked when Daeanna jerked her around. Fear pierced straight through her soul when Daeanna arced her likea rag doll through the air and slammed her spine into the coffee table. The table’s legs snapped and the surface caved beneath the force of her body. Breath fled her lungs. Tears stung her eyes. She locked her arms around her belly as pain rushed through every damn inch of her. Every muscle. Every cell. Everything inside her screamed as she choked to breathe.

Terrek stirred wildly in her womb.

Daeanna hovered over her, the expression on the woman’s face chilling her to the marrow. “I’ll be delivering a very special gift to our mutual friend.” Her gaze flicked toward the bedroom. “I give you my word.”

She bit back the urge to curse the witch to hell. Whatever she did, she had to protect her unborn child.

Slowly, as air filled her lungs on a gasping breath, Moira rolled off the ruined table, shielding her belly as she struggled to her feet. Her ribs resented any movement. Her head throbbed, her vision pulsing with each beat of her heart. Warm, sticky liquid crept down the side of her head.

Whatever happened, she’d not let this demon harm Terrek.

“You didn’t answer my question, Moira.”

Daeanna’s eyes blazed like a sun fueled by the fires of Hell. She cut her arm in a sharp upward movement. Moira gaped as her feet ripped off the floor and she slammed into the wall-mounted television. She coughed, dropped onto the entertainment console, rolled off, and hit the floor. She gasped, her mind spinning, her fear immeasurable.

“I’m almost hurt by your lack of hospitality. Mayhap I’ve still more to learn about this wretched human realm,” Daeanna said with a sneer, but her voice sounded so utterly far away. Moira groaned, curling in on herself, trying to protect her belly as the pain in her midsection intensified.Terrek fought inside her, frantically kicking and twisting, his distress making her tears run free.

Hold on, little one. Hold on.

“Look at you.”

From the perimeter of her graying vision, she caught Daeanna’s approach. Her golden hair curled around her swaying body like it had a life of its own, deceptive golden snakes.

All previous speculation and worry over the Fae potion falling into the wrong hands manifested in this restored Tuatha dé Danann princess, and a lethal strand of Fae breeding.

“Quite pregnant. Shaye’s, I presume? A wretched spawn of his in the womb of a mortal weakling.”

Moira bit her lip. Hard.

Must survive. Must protect Terrek.

“’Tis why half-breeds are a disgrace. A bane to the pureblooded Fae. An abomination deserving of extermination.”

Daeanna grabbed her by the top of her head, once more fisting her hair until her scalp burned.

A solid force struck her in the face. She whimpered and dropped to the floor, head bouncing against the carpet as blackness swam around her vision. Warm, sticky liquid left streaks all over her face.

“I should kill that creature in your womb.Killit.”

“Don’t you…dare…touch my…baby.” Every word was a struggle to get past the excruciating pain ripping through her belly, her back, her head. The sensation of organs tearing apart inside her body.

“Oh? How precious.”