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“Riven! Wait!” Tovi cried.

He collided with Evelyn, pushing her out of the vampyr’s path. The blood-hungry creature screeched, advancing toward Riven, who held Evelyn behind him. Something primal, something furious bristled under Kade’s skin. He’d turned away and now another man guarded Evelyn, his betrothed.

Riven faced off against the vampyr. Kade readied his blade, calming his frantic heart. Rain poured around them. A crack of thunder sounded, and everyone went still. Lightning illuminated the street, and the vampyr jumped stories high to grip the shingles of an overhanging roof, escaping out of sight.

Part of Kade ached to run after the vampyr, yet his body took over, his primal instinct to protect, and he sprinted to Evelyn’s side instead. Blood stained the frayed edges of shredded fabric, and he itched to touch the gashes in Evelyn’s skin and care for them.

“Saige, are you all right?” he bit out.

She nodded. “I’m fine. It’s already healing.”

In the darkness, Kade watched as the blood slowed. Vampyr claws didn’t possess venom or poison like their fangs. A witch could survive both injuries if treated quickly enough. A bite was trickier, but Evelyn healed quickly thanks to the flame in her blood, a gift from the Sun Goddess.Relief washed through him, as cold and jarring as the rain showering his face. He’d chosen his sword over standing at her side. Kade bristled. Thank the moon, she’d be all right in a matter of hours.

He met her stare, steely and tired, but magnificent still. Rain ran down the bridge of her nose and clung to her lashes like diamonds. Kade swallowed, fighting the urge to brush her wet, tangled hair behind her ear and away from her beautiful, sweet face. Instead, he helped her stand, his hands searing from holding hers as they rose.

“Perks of being a witch?” he said, somehow mustering the energy to make light of the situation.

Evelyn bit her lip. “Something like that.”

Kade stilled, breaking his hold on her hands and averting his eyes. Her evasion of the truth snapped him back to reality.It was slight, but enough to build Kade’s steely exterior again.

Evelyn Carson kept avoiding the truth, and Kade didn’t want her to. He didn’t want her to want nothing with him, and he didn’t want her to push him away. Yet, he was unfair, and he knew it. He was Cyrus and she was Saige. How could he expect her to be honest about who she was when he was disguised as a huntsman?

Remember your duty.

His mother’s last words echoed in his reeling mind. Kade traveled here to bring Evelyn home, and these murders and their attraction for one another was getting in the way of his purpose. Yet Kade couldn’t shake the nagging question of why she had left. From her interaction with Tovi, Evelyn seemed sad. Her secrets hurt. A part of him wanted to understand, but another part simmered with frustration.

The rain slowed while Tovi and Riven approached them.

“I don’t think I believed it until tonight. There is a vampyr in Callum.” Riven clutched Tovi’s hand on his arm, and the siblings shared a concerned look.

Kade turned to Evelyn. The wound on his betrothed’s arm was another reminder of not only the threat they faced in Callum, but in their homeland. Without knowing why she’d left, Kade didn’t want to lose the progress he’d made with Evelyn by revealing who he was, but he refused to lose sight of his purpose. Bit by bit, muscle by muscle, Kade straightened back into it.

Solve these murders, demonstrate they worked well as a team, convince Evelyn to fulfill their duty, and return to Sorin, their homeland.

“We should head to Lake Glenn tomorrow, see what clues we can find,” he said.

Something flashed in her eyes. Relief? Unease? He couldn’t tell.

“All right,” she said.

“Tovi and I can walk you home,” Riven said, taking a step toward Evelyn.

Kade angled himself in front of her, his body moving on its own accord again. “No need. I’ll join her.” He looked between Tovi and Riven. “You should both rest after the attack.”

Tovi looped her arm around her brother’s. “Cyrus is right. Let’s get in from the rain.”

Riven’s jade eyes, similar to his sister’s but with an edge to them that Kade sensed was predatory, lingered on him before the man followed his sister to the print shop.

Through the empty streets of Callum, Kade walked alongside Evelyn. The two of them said nothing to the other, but plenty of noise traveled between them. The lazy drizzle, the singing sea wind, and the unsaid secrets of who and what they were.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kade

The next day, Kade’s wolf became more and more restless the closer he and Evelyn got to Lake Glenn.

Thanks to the stars above, the rain had at least stopped, but a wintry chill brewed in Callum’s air, crisp and cutting. A body of water sat nestled between two ancient mountains weathered down to hills. Feathery gray clouds floated over the peaks and onto the mirror-like surface, hovering just shy of the water.