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Chapter Thirty-nine

Michaela

A fter spending eight months with the wolves, I realize they love to celebrate. Tonight, we’re having a large cook out to celebrate getting rid of Vilkas.

The wolf didn’t put up much of a fight three nights ago. By the time we killed the rest of the human-turned and the ferals he had working for him, he folded like a soggy blanket. The only information I couldn’t get from him was who was sponsoring his attack on Chayton. I guess whoever was behind it knew that Vilkas would rat him out if he was ever discovered so he never gave a name. However, we found out that he sent the ferals and the human-turned, so it’s clear whoever it is, he’s powerful.

“Come on, Michaela,” Marley sings as she dances up to me.

A grin spreads across my face. Seeing Marley this happy is the best thing that could have come out of all this. Here with these wolves, has really brought her out of her shell. That helps make my decision to leave a little easier.

I always knew I couldn’t stay here forever. Even in that brief moment when I thought that maybe I’ve been wrong all my life and I truly would get my second chance at love. However, Markis reminded me that there was no peace for me. My past took away any chance of ever being happy.

“Go dance,” I tell Marley. “I’ll just watch.”

She frowns playfully at me.

“Marley, come on,” Anya calls out.

Marley goes over to her new best friend. I watch as they dance off together. Looking across the crowd, I spot Chayton and Enzo. Those flutters in my stomach react the moment my eyes land on him.

After all these years, I truly thought I’d never love again. I had never even considered it could happen, and now I’m so gone over this wolf my heart hurts at the idea that I’m going to have to leave him.

As if he could feel my gaze, Enzo turns to look at me. His brow dips with concern.

“What’s wrong?” he asks through our link. Even the sound of his voice in my head soothes me.

“Nothing, wolf. Enjoy your party.”

He continues to watch me. He isn’t buying my answer.

“I love you, Enzo,” I tell him. Not sure how many more of those I will get to say to him.

His face softens . “I love you too.” He winks at me before he turns back to Chayton.

“I saw that,” Liz says, stepping up beside me. “Is it too soon for me to say I told you so?”

I turn to my best friend with a smile. “Oh, so you’re going to rub it in?”

She laughs out loud. “Yes, I am. I told you I felt chemistry between the two of you. Next time you need to believe your best friend.”

Rolling my eyes playfully at her, I turn back to the crowd. “Where is my godchild?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Chayton recruited Rue into babysitting both kids tonight so that I could enjoy some time out.”

“Look at him being all sweet.”

She giggles and bumps my shoulder. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you changed the subject. I’m glad you took my advice and forgave yourself.”

Unfortunately, forgiving myself isn’t an option. Not with Markis coming for me. But I don’t tell her that.

I turn to Liz. “I need to ask you….” my words die down as I suddenly get dizzy.

“Michaela, are you okay?”

I fight to stop the room from spinning. The second it does, nausea coils my stomach. I grab my mouth and rush off to the nearest spot out of the sight of others. I grab hold of a tree as I empty my stomach.

Liz is right behind me, rubbing my back. When I’m done, I run the back of my hand over my mouth.

“Okay, that came out of nowhere,” I chuckle.

Liz watches me closely. “Is this the first time?”

“Yeah. I’ve been having dizzy spells here and there lately, but they’ve never caused me to get sick.”

Again she looks me over. “Come with me.” She grabs my arm and hauls me away from the party.

We aren’t far from the middle of town. She leads me right into Phaedra’s clinic. As soon as we enter, I head to the sink to wash my hand and rinse my mouth out.

When I finish, I turn around and come face to face with Liz holding a small white box.

“What’s that?” I ask.

She tilts her head to the side. “A pregnancy test. You need to take this.”

I’m shaking my head. All the memories of those yellow jars come crashing down on me.

“I don’t need a test, Liz. I’m not pregnant.” I go to walk around her, but she steps in front of me.

“Unless you have a good reason you can’t get pregnant, I’m telling you, these wolves got some potent sperm. I can almost guarantee you Enzo has been shooting up your club just so you can get pregnant.”

I know that as much as Zo and I have been fucking, any normal person would be pregnant by now. He hasn’t pulled out or used a condom not once. But he didn’t need to cause I can’t get pregnant. This would be the best time to tell her this.

“Liz, I can’t—”

“Take it. For me. Please?”

Letting out a sigh, I grab the box out of her hand. Look, if it will make her happy, I will take the damn test. It’s not like I can be disappointed. I already know what the test will say. I head into the bathroom to pee on this stick.

I make quick work of the test. Placing it back in the box without even looking at it, I wash my hands and take the test back to Liz.

I hand it to her as soon as I walk out of the bathroom.

“What did it say?”

I shrug as I make my way over to the small fridge Phaedra has in her clinic. Ever since my run in with those ferals and vamps in the woods that day I saved Liz and Miko, Phaedra has kept emergency blood in her clinic. I thought it was nice of her to think of me and Marley in that way.

“Don’t know. Didn’t check. But I’m sure it’s negative.” I grab a bag out of the fridge. I need a little boost after vomiting. Before I can sink my fangs into the bag, Liz’s soft gasp has me turning to her.

Her wide eyes and huge smile have me frozen.

“Michaela, you’re pregnant.”

My world spins again. My heart pounds in my chest.

“Liz, don’t joke about that.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not joking.” She turns the test around for me to see. I place the bag of blood down on the nearest flat surface and walk over to her. Taking the test out of her hands, I stare down at the two lines. My knees get weak and the first tear rolls down my cheek.

For so long, I’ve wanted this. I begged and prayed to all the many gods for it, and it never happened. Now, to be standing here with this positive test in my hands feels like a miracle.

Liz wraps her arms around me.

“But she said,” I can’t get the rest of the words out. The witch had said I’d never get pregnant.

“No, she said you will never give him a baby.” The reality of those words hit me like a sledgehammer. I always thought she meant in general. But now I understood her curse. Markis was never really mine. He was mated to another before I met him, and he was only with me for what I could do. That witch blessed me the day she cursed me.

“I’m pregnant,” I repeat, pulling away from Liz.

She has tears in her eyes too. “Yes. This is it. This is what I promised you. You’re getting your happily ever after.”

“I have to tell Zo. Oh my gods, Marley is going to be…” My words are cut off as a burning sensation hits my chest.

Even though I no longer have a bond with him, he still has the same effect on me. Markis is here. My time is up.

“Sacrifices will have to be made. Your job will be to figure out who will be the sacrificial lamb.” The enchantress’s words come back to me from that day at the shop. It’s time I picked the sacrificial lamb.

I glance down at the positive pregnancy test one more time.

“Liz, I’m so sorry,” I plead.

Enzo

“I love you Enzo,” her words continue to cycle through my head. Why the hell did those four words sound like a goodbye?

“Are you alright?” Chayton asks, getting my attention.

I shake my thoughts away. Scanning the crowd, I look for Michaela, but don’t see her.

“She left with Liz,” Chayton says with a smirk.

I turn back to him.

“For someone that didn’t want to keep the mate bond, you sure are attached. It’s almost like you would’ve missed out if your best friend and Alpha didn’t step in.”

I shake my head at him. “Real subtle, Chayton.”

He laughs. “Hey, I’m glad you locked her down. Hell, we would’ve never been able to figure out who was sending those ferals into our lands if not for her.”

“Yeah, she’s special.”

“And there weren’t any dirty secrets. You almost ruined everything for nothing.”

I haven’t told Chayton what all I found out about Michaela. The night of the camping trip, when she told me the truth and showed me all the shit her and her ex had done, I had a mix of emotions. On one hand, seeing her brutally murder so many shifters, witches, and humans was disgusting. But being inside her head and seeing her point of view showed me she was just a weapon that was being manipulated to do what Markis wanted. She was just as much of a victim as the ones she killed.

However, I know that telling Chayton who she was will not go over well with him. He will not see her the way I did because he wasn’t going to get the experience the way I did. But he’s my Alpha, which means I need to tell him.

I turn to face him.

“I need to tell you something,” I say. “And before I do, I want you to know that if what I tell you makes you want to kick my mate out of the pack, I understand. I just need you to know I will go with her.”

I wasn’t even sure about that until I actually said it. Would I be willing to let go of my pack, to leave my family and best friend for Michaela?

“Yes,” my wolf growls. I knew he’d be convinced.

Chayton’s eyes widen. “You’d leave Dark Woods for her?”

“Yes. She’s my mate, Chayton.”

He watches me closely before folding his arms over his chest. “Alright, let’s hear it.”

Sighing, I go to tell him who Michaela is, but get cut off.

The music cuts and the pack goes silent. Chayton and I both look over the crowd to see what’s going on.

“Well, don’t stop the party on our behalf,” a tall dark-skinned vampire with locs says. He’s holding onto a young man with the same complexion as Michaela.

“Who the fuck are you? And how did you get on my pack lands?” Chayton snarls.

“This,” I say, glaring at Markis. “Is Michaela’s ex. The reason they’re here.”

Markis’s dark brown eyes glare back at me. I can feel his anger like a heavy blanket covering me.

“You will explain to me later why I’m just finding this out,” Chayton’s anger filled words press into my mind.

“How the fuck did you get past my scouts?” Chayton asks a good question.

Markis laughs. The hand full of vampires with him join in the laughter. We don’t see shit funny.

“Those half-trained pups were your scouts?” Markis sneers. “You need better help, Alpha.”

Beside me, heat rises from Chayton’s body. His anger has my wolf on the edge as well.

“You’re trespassing, vamp. I advise you to leave now.”

Markis looks at me even though I haven’t spoken.

“I’m not leaving without my wife.”

“Your wife isn’t here,” I tell him. “You’re mistaken.”

His dark brown eyes narrow even more at me. Suddenly, there is a pain in my head so sharp I nearly buckle to the floor.

“Once mine, always mine, wolf,” the vampire’s deep voice growls in my head.

He flips through my memories like a picture book. Every page he turns feels like he’s slicing into my skull. I have never felt pain like it before.

“Enzo,” Chayton calls out to me. I can’t answer. The vampire stops at the memory of the campsite. The night Michaela told me she loved me.

His snarl is so loud in my head it vibrates my teeth. He rips the memory away. My wolf roars, but there is nothing he or I can do. We both watch in pain as he dissolves the memory right before my eyes.

The way she looked when I stroked into her, the desperation and love in her eyes as she spoke those words to me. Even the way her mouth opened on a silent scream as she came all around me. All those sharp memories gone in seconds. It’s like the night never happened.

Suddenly, all around me, I hear the cries of pain from my pack mates.

“All of you mutha fuckers need to kneel before me,” Markis shouts.

I drop to my knees no matter how hard I try to fight it.

“Stop it,” Marley pleads. “Make him stop, Chikae.”

I notice she is the only one among us that is not in pain and still standing.

“Quiet, sister,” one of the guys with Markis sneers. From the way he looks at Marley, it’s clear he does not like her.

I try to reach out to Chayton, but the connection is blocked. It’s like a wall is between us.

“Markis,” her voice cuts through the night like a whip.

The immediate relief from having that bastard in my head is incredible. When I turn to find my mate, she’s walking toward us with a crying Liz.

“What the fuck?” Chayton says beside me.

“What are you doing?” I try to reach Michaela, but she’s blocking me.

Marley starts to cry. Her small body shaking with tears.

“Wife,” Markis sneers. “I have something for you?” he shoves the young boy to the ground at his feet.

“I’m sorry, Zani. I should’ve—”

“Quiet,” Michaela snaps down at the boy. She looks back up at Markis. “Took you long enough. You’re falling off. I left the spy for you to find.”

The kid gasps as if he’s shocked. My mind is trying to come to terms with what’s playing out in front of me. Did she play us all along?

“No,” my wolf growls. “She wouldn’t.”

Markis laughs. “So, you wanted me to find you?” he cuts his eyes to me.

“Of course. Why do you think I left him behind?”

The vampire stares at Michaela long and hard before a smile spread over his face. “I knew you were still mine. Do you see this?” he turns to his followers. “I told you; Mizani will always belong to me.” This time, he looks back at me.

“What have you brought me?” Markis asks, looking over Liz.

Michaela lifts her chin. “I found your fey key.”

This time my heart nearly stops beating. I knew what they had planned to do with that key. I try to stand, making it halfway to my feet before that heavy weight presses me back down.

“Stay down, dog,” Markis sneers. He presses so hard against my brain I almost black out.

Marley screams.

“Focus, Markis.” Michaela says with an unbothered tone. The pain in my head recedes, allowing me a reprieve.

“You’re right,” he says. “Bring the key.” He turns his back to her.

“No,” she replies. “We finish this now.”

We all gasp when she sinks her teeth into Liz’s shoulder. Blood pools underneath her shirt at the puncture wound.

“Elizabeth,” Chayton shouts beside me. I can tell he’s trying to get to his feet as well, but can’t move.

Michaela continues to drink from Luna. We all watch in horror, unable to do anything. When she finally pulls away, she licks her lips. I take a collective breath. None of us likes the idea of her feeding off our Luna, but it isn’t the worse thing to happen.

“What the fuck is going on?” Chayton asks beside me. I had nothing to tell him because I honestly didn’t know.

Suddenly, Marley cries harder, which seems out of place. And then it happens. Michaela grabs Liz's head and twists it, cracking her neck. The moment life slips away from our Luna, a wave of sorrow swoops through our wolves.

Beside me, Chayton lets out a gut-wrenching yell. It’s so filled with pain; my wolf cries out.

Liz’s body drops to the ground. Michaela steps over her without a second glance. My head is spinning. I’m not believing my eyes. There is no way this is real. I know how much Michaela loves Liz. She would never hurt her.

“Yeah, tell that to Luna’s lifeless body,” I think to myself.

The entire pack is in tears around me, and I’m still stuck in a fog.

Michaela walks over to the young boy that her ex shoved to the ground. She stands over him, glaring down. She then picks him up and shoves him toward Marley as if he’s trash. Markis holds out his hand for her and she takes it. He pulls her into him and drops a kiss on her cheek.

“My wife is back,” he cheers.

As my pack mourns their Luna, I can’t help but stare at Michaela. All the love I have for her feels disgusting. You’d think by now, the love would fade. Realizing that she’d played me all along should take this love away, but it doesn’t. It hurts. It feels as if my heart is being ripped out of my chest. I thought when Ana died I was hurting, but watching Michaela stand beside her ex feels worse that any pain I’ve ever experienced.

I chuckle, shaking my head. She looks at me with her neutral face, pissing me off even more. “You fucking vamp,” I snarl. “And here I was thinking you were the victim.” Her jaw tenses, but she doesn’t speak. “But you’re just like him. A waste of life.” I spit on the ground beside me. “I hate that I ever touched you. I hate that I ever allowed you to touch me. You are everything I said you were.”

She looks away at those words. Marley cries harder.

“Look at me you fucking leech,” I yell so loud spit flies from my lips. She turns her gaze back to me, her face still void of emotions. “You don’t deserve my love, and you damn sure didn’t deserve Elizabeth’s. Until the day I take my last breath, I will hunt you down and kill you for this.” I snarl those last few words out. “I.. fucking… hate you.”

Marley drops to her knees and sobs.

Markis laughs. “Are you heartbroken, wolf? Would you like for me to send you to meet your precious Ana?” I don’t even question how he knew about Ana. He’s been all through my memories.

“Leave him,” she says, finally breaking her silence. “The pain of me walking away will do him more harm.” She doesn’t even look at me when she says this.

“My mate,” my wolf whimpers.

“She’s not your got damn mate.”

“You better run to the ends of hell, Michaela,” I grit out. “Because when I catch you, you’ll wish you never met me.”

“We can solve this now,” Markis chuckles. “Kill them all.” Once again, I try to stand, but that heavy presence is keeping me on the ground. If he holds us down, we will be defenseless to these vamps.

“We don’t have time,” Michaela says, as if she’s bored. “If you want the power of this fey key, we have to break the bond I have with the wolf and redo ours. The next full moon is in 24 hours. Midnight is the best time to break this bond.”

Markis glares. I can tell he doesn’t want to let us live.

“Fine,” he finally says. “Let’s go.”

“Michaela, please,” Marley pleads with her sister. “Don’t do this. Don’t leave me.”

Michaela turns to her sister, those dead eyes staring back at her. “You’re grown now. You’re no longer my problem. Figure it out.”

With those last words, the vampires take off through the trees. It isn’t until they are out of sight that any of us can move. Chayton is the first to his feet. He runs over and scoops up Liz’s limp body. Phaedra is at his side. I watch him hold his dead mate to his chest, so much anger and disgust fills me I can’t see straight.

Torak cradles Marley as she continues to sob. I try to muster up my anger at her, but she’s truly just another victim of Michaela.

“Let’s take her to the infirmary,” Alarick suggests as he goes up to Chayton.

My Alpha is too unconsolable to speak. He lifts Luna up and carries her to the hospital.

“Everyone, go back to your homes.” Zyion directs the pack. I don’t even have it in me to play my role as Beta. The only thing I can think of is tracking Michaela down and killing her.

We make it back to the infirmary. Chayton places Liz’s body on the bed. He hovers over her, pushing her hair out of her face and placing kisses on her lips. I turn away.

“It’s not your fault,” Phaedra says beside me.

I shake my head. “I went against my gut and allowed that fucking leech to get too close.”

“We were all fooled. We all grew to trust her.” She looks away to an unconsolable Chayton. Shaking her head she whispers. “I never would have thought she would hurt Luna.”

I know Phaedra is just trying to ease my concern, but I don’t want to hear it.

“Can you let me in, please?” the young boy is at the door of the infirmary, trying to get past Zyion.

I storm up to him, grabbing his collar. “Who the fuck are you?”

He looks startled. “I’m Tech. Well, Khalil, but Zani calls me tech. I’m her brother. Well, half-brother. We have the same father.”

“And why the hell should we let you in here?” Zyion snarls at him.

The boy looks at Zyion and then back to me. “Oh, you guys don’t know, do you? She’s not dead.”

“What?” Chayton shouts.

I place the kid on his feet. “What are you talking about?”

He squeezes past me. I follow him to Liz’s bedside. He goes to touch her, but Chayton growls.

The kid holds his hands up. “Can I?” he asks.

Chayton looks as if he’s going to deny him, but finally dips his chin. The kid places his hands on Liz’s neck. He seems to be feeling for something. I guess he finds it, because he uses both hands to snap Liz’s neck back in place. Liz takes in a deep gasp and then her eyes open.

“What the hell?” I shout.

Chayton doesn’t hesitate. He grabs Luna and pulls her into him.

We all look around the room, trying to figure out what is going on.

“You, kid,” I say. “How the hell did you know that?”

“It’s a video game. The vampire feeds a guy its blood and then breaks his neck. During the autopsy, they realigned the break in his neck and he came back to life. He ended up being a superhero ninja vampire. It’s a really popular game. I begged Zani for it on my fourteenth birthday.” The kid smiles fondly at the memories.

“Did it work?” Liz asks, pulling away from Chayton. “Was she able to get her ex away from here?”

My head is swimming at all this new information. My brain is trying to come to terms with something I’m not ready for.

“You knew what she was up to?” Chayton asks angrily.

Liz ducks her head. “Don’t be angry.” She grabs his hand. “It was the only way.”

“Only way for what?” Phaedra asks.

“To save everyone.” Luna looks around the room with teary eyes. “Michaela explained to me that I’m some kind of descendent of the fey. She said my thoughts will be the only ones safe from her ex.” She reaches into her shirt and pulls out a half-empty bag of blood.

“She didn’t feed off you?” Chayton acknowledges out loud what I’m thinking.

“No.” Liz shakes her head. “I told her to. If my blood was supposed to be some powerful thing, she needed to feed off me. But she refused.”

“I’m completely fucking confused.” Chayton rubs at his temples. “Can someone please explain to me fully what the hell is going on.”

Tech steps forward. “Michaela and Markis were once a powerhouse couple. They spent the entirety of their relationship looking for a fey key.”

“And what are fey keys?” Zyion asks.

“Me,” Liz says. “Apparently, back when fey still roamed the land, they had a thing for humans. They were dropping their fey jiz in lots of humans, causing an up rise in human-fey offspring.”

“Exactly,” Tech agrees. “The fey queen wasn’t happy about this. Her species was dying. So she placed a veil between the fey and this world. Cutting them off from the humans they loved. However, some of the offspring were left behind. They were called fey keys because left in their blood was the power of the fey.”

“And with that power,” I fill in the last of the gaps with what I know. “Markis wants to control all of us.”

The room is silent for a moment. We got a very short glimpse of that control tonight.

“That’s what you were about to tell me before he showed up?”

I look away before answering Chayton. “Yes. Michaela was once helping him search for the key, but realized she didn’t want to go along with his plans anymore. She was the reason he was captured. She ran here to us because her father released him, and she knew where a fey key was.”

A lot of the things she said play back in my head. The night at the campsite, I asked her why she didn’t use the fey key to get pregnant. She’d said, “Because my heart wouldn’t let me.” She loved Liz. It showed in everything she did.

When I asked her earlier on why she wouldn’t just leave when we were torturing her, she’d told me, “Because she means the world to me, and I will do everything I can to protect her.” I thought she was talking about Marley, but all this time, she was here to protect Liz, not Marley, not even herself.

“I…fucking… hate you.” My hurtful words to her play back in my head. What did I do?

“There is still a missing piece.” Chayton says. “If he needs Elizabeth’s blood, then why did Michaela fake bite and kill her?”

“I can answer that,” Tech volunteers. “It’s her gift.”

Immediately, a memory flashes through my head.

“What’s a conduit?”

“A very rare ability giving to vampires. So rare that most don’t even know it exists. It is the power to absorb, mimic, and sense others’ abilities. And masters of this rare gift can even take powers from one being and give them to another.”

“He can’t wield the power of the fey,” I say as it dawns on me. “Which is why he needed her all along.”

“Yes,” Tech confirms. “Zani is a conduit. Only she can sense the fey power. And only she can take the power and gift it to her mate.”

And here I was thinking she was a sifter, but she was much more.

“What now?” Alarick asks. “She got him to walk away tonight without killing us, but what’s going to happen when he finds out she doesn’t have the power of the fey key? Don’t forget, she never bit Luna.”

“She said she was just buying us time,” Liz says. “She told me to tell you I need to get far away from here. She said that Torak would let us know if and when it’s safe to come back.”

“Torak?” I ask. “How would Torak know?”

“Because I’m the only one that has a connection with her.” Torak and Marley steps into the infirmary. Marley goes over to Liz and hugs her.

“That was difficult for her,” she whispers. “Her emotions were so heavy.”

Something else dawns on me. The way Marley was reacting, although warranted, was over the top.

“She was feeding you her emotions?” I ask Marley.

She nods. It’s then I remember her actions when I said all that stuff to Michaela.

Fuck.

“You hurt her, brother n law.” Marley looks down at her hands as she speaks. Even now her voice seems fraught with emotion. “I know you were only speaking out of hurt for what you thought she did. But your words really cut her.”

I can only imagine. The things I said to her. Telling her I hate her, that she was like him, and I regretted touching her. Shame and disgust fill me from the way I handled her.

“I told you,” my wolf growls. “ You hurt her. You hurt our mate.” His anger feels like indigestion in my chest.

“Don’t do that,” Chayton says in my head. “I can feel your pain and shame. You didn’t know.”

“I should’ve known,” I snarl. “After all the time we spent and all that she had shown me, I still doubted her. I still let my prejudice guide me.”

I didn’t deserve Michaela. In the end, I treated her no different from every other person who told her they loved her. That truth smacks me in the face.

“Hi,” Tech steps up to Marley with his hand out. She looks confused, but shakes his hand. “I’m Tech, or Khalil. I’m your half-brother.”

Marley looks just as shocked as everyone else.

Tech turns to Torak. “Are you the wolf that she brought back?”

Torak nods.

“Shit,” he says. “That’s not good.”

“Why?” I question.

“Zani said in 24 hours she was going to break the bond with you and redo the soul tie with Markis. She can’t beat him.”

“I’ve seen her take down vampires and ferals without breaking a sweat. What do you mean, she can’t beat him?” Zyion asks defending Michaela.

“He’s older than she is,” I answer for Tech. “Not only that, but he’s stronger and better trained. She’d never win a fight against him.”

“No,” Tech says somberly. “Which is why she’s going to redo the soul tie.”

“By tying her soul with his, if she dies, he dies,” Alarick states.

“Bingo. That’s why she said Torak would know. He’s the only one that will feel her death. It will snap the connection he has with her. She’s going to kill herself.”

My wolf growls. “You doubted her. Now she’s going to leave us.”

“Enzo,” Luna says, getting my attention. Tears dance in her eyes. “You can’t let her do that. She’s pregnant.”

Everything stops. My entire world tilts on its axis. My breathing becomes labored. Pregnant.

My baby is having my baby. The one thing she has always wanted. She finally gets her miracle, and she’s willing to risk it. Hell no.

I turn and head toward the door.

“Enzo, where are you going?” Chayton asks.

“To get my mate and my pup.” I snarl as I turn to face him, daring him to stop me.

He holds up his hands. “I will not keep you from going. I just need to point out that you have no plan, and that vampire is powerful. Have you forgotten he had us all on our fucking knees?”

He’s right. Markis is everything Michaela said he was. However, there is one thing Markis didn’t plan for.

I think back over her lessons with the recruits. She told them we were made to fight vampires. I even think back to what she told me about sifters. She said to focus on a memory. One that has the power to ground you. Now it makes sense why he went for the memory of the campsite. And why, even though he tried to destroy it, it’s now back and I can remember every detail.

“She told us everything we needed to know to defeat him,” I turn to Alarick. “Every single one of her lessons was a guide.”

I may not deserve Michaela after what I said to her, but unlike everyone else in her life, I was going to do everything I could to get her back.

“Alright.” Alarick nods. “Then let’s come up with a plan.”

“I have an idea,” Tech says, getting our attention.

“Let’s hear it.”