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Eros disappeared from anywhere familiar shortly after I parted ways with Kris. For that reason, I went off the grid and completed only solitary missions, similar to Sloan before he was partnered with Kris, to stay hidden in case Eros reappeared.

The Dark Fae was a phantom when not on the hunt.

The only contact I permitted myself was with Rose. We rarely met over the last few decades, but for some reason, the bond we shared was the most maternal one I’d ever experienced.

I didn’t have a mother or father, or really any family. I’d been raised in a white box, monitored and tested on like a fucking animal. After my life was destroyed when Eros killed Giselle, I closed myself off to every person I met.

But Rose, she intrigued me. She provoked me to think. She forced me to come out of my own damn head and live a little, so I couldn’t abandon her. And when V’s suspicious abilities came into the picture ten years prior, I couldn’t say no.

The fact that Eros was here could only mean one thing: V was targeted for the same reason as everyone else.

But because the Dark Fae had the serum, it was different. There wasn’t any way a guy like him could get his hands on it without help, because he was a top-priority enemy to the Organization, and one they’d been eager to capture for as long as I was a part of it.

The Dark Fae may know everything about magic, but his comprehension of progressive science was practically nonexistent. He hadn’t countered any of my devices or figured out a way to protect against them. His weaponry was limited. The Dark Fae relied heaviest on his magic, which told me everything I needed to know about his skill set.

Bastard only knew how to cast spells.

Recreating the serum would therefore be impossible. I could confidently say it was very unlikely he even understood how it worked. Since the reverse serum couldn’t be detected by any test and its wear-off time varied, Eros wouldn’t identify what happened first—administering the antidote, or the serum wearing off.

Most importantly, Eros couldn’t move about freely. The most likely way he got his hands on the serum was through a back-door deal, and only a few Hunters high enough up the chain had that sort of access. Several of which unfortunately had a personal vendetta against me.

It added a complicated layer to his sudden appearance. Up against Eros and the serum meant I couldn’t get distracted again. If I did, it’d be my life.

Or worse, V’s.

Eros had taken too many of the people around me, and the very idea of him taking another turned my insides in on themselves. It reignited the desire to chase after him and finally put an end to the elusive assassin.

But I couldn’t.

Sheneeded me.

My heart thundered as I turned the quaking woman on her side. Then, taking a spot behind her, I held V as she writhed over the floor with a gentleness she’d argue I was incapable of. I brushed back her hair, which was matted against her forehead due to an agony I’d felt one too many times in my life. Carefully, I placed my jacket under her head, but only after I’d removed all the weapons from it. I kept them close enough to grab if Eros attacked again, but with the ever-watchful Shifter standing over us, I didn’t worry too much.

Bet the wolf has a lot to say.

Not that I cared what the bastard wolf thought about me, but it would get under my skin today. Everything would with V in such a state.

I’d failed her.

Thankfully for us, Eros specialized in one-on-one fights and fled when he was outnumbered. His magic required intense focus and wasn’t limitless. Invisibility and binding spells as well as teleportation were likely what cost him the most. So, Eros wouldn’t survive if he had to fight a group, especially not one as strategically in tune with each other as a pack of Shifters.

Wolves could talk to each other telepathically and were natural enemies to magic-users, mainly because their fur protected them against spells. As such, Eros would be limited to casting spells on the world around them and couldn’t bind or harm Nigel like he could V and I.

It was the only thing I envied about that damn wolf.

The Dark Fae’s ability to transport short distances helped him escape normal Hunters, and it was likely why he hadn’t been captured yet.

The bastard always escaped when he knew he couldn’t win.

Still, the fact that V was suffering seizures meant the poison was working quicker than normal. It meant we didn’t have time to wait around, and it’d been a long time since I’d felt this way.

Scared.

Keep it together.

“She trusted you,” the wolf growled.

I didn’t look up, gaze wholly focused on the woman shuddering beside me. “I’m not the only one she trusted who failed her.”