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“Blondie needed to know who was boss.”

She reached up and kissed him. For a minute, he was with her all the way, and she melted against him, forgetting her problems. Then he pulled back. He cupped her chin with one large hand, tilted her face so he could look down into her eyes, searching for something.

“And are you the boss?” he asked. “I got the impression you were just waiting for the right moment, you’d do your clever little spell, and your whole nasty werewolf problem would disappear.”

She pulled free of his grip and stepped back. She’d forgotten about Catrin’s spell and what it might mean, but she couldn’t think straight right now. Besides, without Catrin to tell her the spell, the whole thing was academic anyway. She looked at Caleb and frowned. “Leave it, Caleb. I can’t think about this while Catrin’s missing.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “That’s the truth. Right now I can’t see past stopping Sardi because that is not going to be easy.”

“Who is he?”

“Wait till we get to the Council,” she replied. “I don’t want to tell this more than once.”

“Then tell me one thing—do you still love him?”

“No. If nothing else good has come out of this night, then at least that has.”

“So, you weren’t sure?”

“It was a long time ago. I was young, and it all ended so badly that he wasn’t someone I could easily forget. But seeing him again”—she shrugged—“I felt nothing. Not love. Not hatred. Until he took Catrin. Now I’ll hunt him down, and I’ll finish what I failed to do all those years ago.”

∞∞∞

They drove back to the city in silence. There was a faint red glow in the east and Caleb realized that dawn was not far away. He concentrated on the road ahead and tried to keep his mind clear, but thoughts kept intruding.

So much had happened that night.

His father was dead.

He felt no sadness, only regret for what might have been. He’d never been the son his father wanted. Would his life have been different if Ethan had known more? If he’d known what Caleb’s mother was, that Caleb would not turn until he was older? Then the torture would never have happened. Would Caleb have been happy to stay with the pack, not gone his own way? Would he have dreamed of a life among humans if he’d known he had not a single drop of human blood in his veins?

Ignorance had caused this, and from now on Caleb determined that he would not be guilty of that as his father was. From now on, his wolves would not be shunned and kept as outcasts. Caleb would take a place on the Council, and he would make sure they knew everything there was to know about this whole supernatural world.

In the past, he’d forced himself not to think of what went on in that world. Now he felt a stirring of excitement at the thought of discovering the secrets. He’d learned so much since Regan had come into his life.

He glanced sideways at her. She was staring out of the window, but it was obvious she saw nothing. Her teeth worried at her lower lip, and her hands clenched together on her lap. He had a flashback to those lips and hands on his body when they’d made love earlier that night, and heat pooled at his groin.

He knew he had accepted this new life, but he also realized that part of that was because he wanted Regan at his side. A stab of pain ripped through him when he thought of the idea that she might turn her back on him. Simply speak a spell and walk away from their chance of a life together. He pushed the thought away, but maybe she sensed his reaction because she turned to him.

“I can’t help thinking about Catrin,” she said. “Where she is. What Sardi has done to her.”

He frowned. “You think he’ll harm her?”

“I don’t know.”

He could hear the tremor of fear in her voice. “You fell in love with this guy—how bad can he be?”

She forced a faint smile. “Maybe I have appalling taste in men. How can I know what he’ll do? He kept his real self hidden from me. Even when I found out what he was, I didn’t believe he was truly evil. Then I found out he was working with the fire-demons.” She turned to look back out of the window. “It’s almost morning,” she said. “At least we won’t have to put up with any vampires.”

She was changing the subject and Caleb let her. He would find out soon enough. They reverted to silence and eventually pulled up into the underground garage beneath the Council.

This time they didn’t wait for a welcoming committee. Caleb followed Regan deeper into the building, back to the same conference room where they had met before.

Regan pushed open the door and they both entered. Caleb stepped to the side as Gina launched herself at her sister. For a moment, Regan buried herself in her sister’s arms, then she pulled free and stepped back.

“I can’t believe he took Catrin,” Gina said.