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“But don’t you want to find out where the alphas are?” Eliaslooked at Kian. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but since you’re the only one who can fly and you can hide yourself with your shadows, would you be able to sneak in and ask someone?”

His shadows receded slightly and he looked back down. “Do you think they’ll want to talk to a ‘bloodsucker?’”

Elias winced slightly, his face apologetic. “Sorry, we’ve been total dicks, haven’t we?”

Well,Ihadn’t been a total dick, but I kept my mouth shut so my pack could apologize properly.

Kian rolled over on his back, emitting small pulses of shadow from his finger and releasing them into the sky. “Look, it’s not like I was super thrilled when my father told me he wanted me to work with an alpha shifter pack, either. Especially when I found out the Council had tried to kill you all and steal your girl, I figured gaining your trust would be an uphill battle. And I don’t particularly like having to constantly prove myself.

“But these fae assholes killed most of my people and are itching to finish the job. If saving the vampyrs means working together, I’m in. I just don’t know if I’ll be facing the same kind of animosity with the shifters down there as I do on Earth.”

A lone wolf howled in the distance, sending a chill of submission down my spine.

“That must be Ezra,” I whispered. “I hope the pixies were able to cover our scents well enough.”

After a few more minutes of silence, Kian finally growled his resignation and sat up. “Okay, I’ll sneak in by myself. But if things go south, you need to be ready to create a diversion so I can get out.”

Julian looked over and grinned. “Oh, I can do that.”

45

KIAN

Imade my way down the steep hill towards the camp below us, light on my feet. Meanwhile the shifters had transformed back into wolves, blending into the rocks and vegetation to keep hidden just in case the guards looked beyond the walls.

This world still baffled me at every new sensation. My hand grazed a plant that curled a leafy tendril around my finger in response. Flowers sighed—sighed—as we passed, releasing fragrant puffs of perfume in the air.

Even the dirt was different. Lighter and fluffier, which made walking barefoot almost seem appealing.

When we reached the small copse, Camden and Julian shifted back quickly and crouched down behind a large bush.

“Alright, so from us we just want to know where the alphas are, and if they have any information on Marlowe. Anything else you want to ask, about vamps or whatever, is completely up to you.”

“And if you hear any screaming…” I started.

Julian winked. “I got you.”

I nodded, trying to psych myself up to sneak into this shifter prison run by fae. That was definitely not a sentence I’d ever thought I’d be able to say before.

But ever since my father called me into his office ten days ago, demanding I drink his blood, everything I’d known about my kind and shifters had been turned on its head.

I twisted the ring on my finger and sent a silent message of love to Aisha and Jasmin. Maybe we didn’t have telepathic bonds likeshifters, but it was nice to pretend they might receive it, in some form or another.

Aisha was my Lunessa, and Jasmin my second, but they were both my everything. My father insisted I have a large servaglio like him, allowing for dalliances on the side, and loved to go on and on about how weak vampyrs were getting as we more closely followed human customs. But after discovering the truth about the Great War, it seemed like our powers had less to do with tradition and more to do with access to this place, our ancestral homeland.

It couldn’t be a coincidence that both shifters and vampyrs had begun to lose their magical abilities once we’d closed all the portals between our two realms. But not being able to fly was a small price to pay to escape genocide.

The real question now, though, was why the cover up? Why pit our two species against each other in the aftermath and erase the proof?

Summoning my shadows, I bathed myself in darkness, creeping closer and closer to the wall. It hummed with magic and touching it directly would likely either hurt me or trigger some sort of alarm. Even the plants gave the border a wide berth, so I kept my distance as I floated over, holding my breath.

As predicted, the guards were mainly focused on those inside the camp, so they didn’t even notice the black void landing along the inner edge.

An acrid smell assaulted my senses, a mixture of wet dog, burning wood, and something fouler—despair. I had to cover my nose to keep from coughing, sliding between dilapidated shacks in search of a spot hidden from the guards’ vantage points. Somewhere to wait until I could find a shifter willing to speak to me.

The cover of night was convenient for secrecy, but not so much for finding willing conversationalists. I had no idea what time it was here, or how they even measured time, but it must have been late, because it appeared that most people were sleeping. I could hear a few shifters still milling about, but hardly any walked alone or my way.

I would have to think of a new strategy.