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D ion and Rui set up a temporary ops center along with Marjani and the Baltimore fada at the motel where Adric had taken a room.

Neither Langdon nor his guards had been seen since that first afternoon, but that didn’t mean their little group wasn’t being watched.

Every single one of them had felt ice creep up their spine, sensed eyes and ears on them.

To keep the night fae at bay, Cleia conjured up fae lights for each of their rooms. They left them on low all night, shedding light on the treacherous shadows.

Marjani and Jace spent the nights as their cats, and they all took turns at watch, aware that if the night fae attacked, it would be in the hours between midnight and dawn. But Langdon refrained from attacking, clearly believing he had the upper hand as long as he remained behind his wards.

He was right. As things stood, they couldn’t touch the man—or get to Rosana and Adric.

They all took a shot at breaking into the night fae compound.

Cleia brought in her cousin Olivia to help shatter the wards.

The two worked long hours, but each time they thought they’d done it, they hit a new barrier.

At least Olivia had neutralized the look-away spell so they weren’t constantly fighting it.

But he worried about them both. It was winter, when the sun fae were weakest. Cleia and her cousin should be home, curled up under a shaft of sunlight, not pushing themselves to the limit in this dank, cold forest.

Meanwhile, the fada tried to sneak into New Moon as their animals.

Rui and Tiago changed to fish to try to enter the court through a stream, but the night fae had strengthened their wards to keep out anything larger than a minnow.

And while fada could adjust their body size to a certain extent, they simply couldn’t compress a man-size amount of matter into that tiny of a body.

Jace Jones didn’t even get that far. He spent hours as his black panther, sniffing around the court’s perimeter.

But the wards repelled him with increasingly violent results.

When he’d returned from his last foray with his fur singed, Marjani had drawn him aside and, after a heated argument, extracted his promise not to try again.

As for Marjani herself, she grew edgier with each day that passed. Dion kept a wary eye on her, afraid she’d slip off to exchange herself for Adric. It was what he’d do if he were her.

But where would that leave Rosana?

Sunday arrived with heavy clouds and snow flurries. They’d been in Virginia four days already. Five days until Friday and the new moon.

Dion spent the day prowling the forest around New Moon along with Tiago and Rui, daring the night fae to confront them. But the court remained maddeningly silent, concealed behind an opaque white fog.

Late that afternoon, he returned to the motel to find Marjani alone in the parking lot, gazing at the trees where they’d found her brother’s keycard.

He left Tiago and Rui to approach her. “Walk with me?”

She nodded and fell into step with him. “Something wrong, my lord?”

“Please. Call me Dion.”

She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her cargo pants. “Dion, then. What’s up?”

The sun was low in the sky, but it was still daylight. Still, he waited until they reached the center of the lot, far from any shadows where the night fae could lurk.

“I’m asking you to be patient. Give us a little more time to work this out.”

She bristled. “What do you mean?”

In the few days they’d been in Virginia, he’d learned Marjani was a Gifted strategist. Even afraid as she must be for her brother, she coolly examined a problem from all sides. Now he chose his words with care, knowing his only hope was to appeal to the strategist.

Because the sister knew that if she didn’t do something soon, her brother would be executed.

“As it stands, we’re even, more or less; the prince has Adric and Rosana, but we have you and Merry. So I’m asking you not to do anything on your own. We will bring them both home. That’s a promise.”

The cougar fada’s gaze slid sideways. So he’d guessed right—she was planning to barter herself to save Adric.

“If they capture you,” he added, “Merry will be our only bargaining chip, and I swore never to turn her over to the night fae.”

“So you’ll have nothing the prince wants bad enough to trade for Rosana.” Marjani stared up at the darkening sky. The moon hadn’t risen yet, but each night, the shadows took another bite out of it. “Even if he takes me in exchange for Adric, he’ll still have her. Gods, you don’t ask much, do you?”

He squeezed his nape, hating the bleak look he’d put on her fine-boned face. They both knew if things went south, her brother was dead.

“I have no choice. The night before Rosana was kidnapped, Merry Jones told Rui that she believes the prince has been watching her. Apparently, he has the farsight.”

“He knows she’s alive then.”

“ Sim. We think he’s just waiting for his chance.”

Marjani’s head dropped. Her whole body hunched in on itself. The silence stretched, and then she blew out a noisy breath.

“Fine. I’ll hold off for now. But only because I know if it was up to Adric, he’d sacrifice himself for Rosana in a heartbeat.

” She must have seen something in Dion’s expression, because she snarled, low and mean.

“You don’t believe me? You think my brother would leave her with those sadistic S.O.B.s? And that goes double for Merry.”

Dion hesitated. “I believe he’d willingly give his life for Merry, or any pup.”

Adric might be a ruthless S.O.B., a man Dion didn’t particularly like or trust, but he had to admit the other alpha was a good leader, one who put children and elders first. Everything he did, he did for his people.

But Rosana wasn’t a member of his clan.

“You just don’t get it, do you?” Marjani said. “He loves Rosana. He only kept his hands off her because he believes he’s no good for her, that bringing her home to Baltimore would be a step down for her. If she didn’t mean so much to him, he’d have taken her years ago.”

“Maybe,” he shot back. “But we both know your clan would never accept her. What kind of life is that—a pariah in her own mate’s clan?”

“Merry has made a life in your clan, and she’s not just half earth fada, she’s a quarter fae. What makes you think we’d be any different? My own mate is a quarter fae, and Adric accepted him into the clan. He’d make damn sure Rosana was treated with respect.”

He snorted. “Your brother can’t even control his own people. M?e de Deus , the very first night Rosana spent in Baltimore, she was kidnapped.”

“That had nothing to do with Adric. That wolf—Luc—was working for the fae and you know it.” Marjani leaned in.

“You think you’re so much better than us, but you’re wrong.

I’ve seen how my brother hurts, wanting Rosana, loving her—and not being able to claim her because he’s too fucking noble to come between the two of you. ”

“She would never have him.”

Then he recalled the note Rosana had left and scraped a hand over his hair.

I’m with Adric. I’m tired of hiding it. I love him, and he loves me…

Marjani gave Dion the look women reserve for clueless men. “What d’you think she was doing in Lewes last week?”

Dion rocked back on his heels. “What do you mean?”

A jerk of her shoulder. “Forget it.”

“You’re saying she was with Adric?”

When Marjani dipped her chin in assent, his jaw hardened.

So that Tuesday night in Baltimore hadn’t been the first time.

In fact, that talk he’d had with Adric at the Full Moon Saloon?

Apparently he’d already been too late—and the devious son of a bitch had neglected to inform Dion of that little detail.

“How long have they been meeting?”

“Overnight? That was the first time.” She eyed him warily. “Look, forget I said anything. But I wanted you to know that Adric would do anything for Rosana. That’s why I’m so worried about him.” Her voice hitched on the last few words.

“No. You were right to tell me.”

His claws pricked his fingertips. Adric, it always came back to Adric. He should’ve taken the cabr?o out years ago.

But Dion didn’t kill for no reason. And while Adric might be a cocky pain-in-the-ass, he’d also done things that had left Dion in his debt—like rescuing Tiago’s mate from a pair of rogue river fada.

Plus, he was ten times the alpha Leron Savonett had been.

Take Adric out of the equation, and the situation in Baltimore would only get worse, and before you knew it, Rock Run could be dragged in.

If Dion was honest, this wasn’t about Adric, it was about Rosana.

Shame squeezed his chest. That his own sister believed she had to sneak around to be with the man she loved rather than tell him, Dion, straight out.

So he can’t want me for myself? she’d asked, and he’d brushed her question aside.

He withdrew his claws, stared unseeingly into the trees.

“Hey.” Marjani touched his back. “She’ll be all right. You’ll see. Adric will make sure of it.”

He jerked his chin in acknowledgement. “It’s dark. We should go in.”

Wednesday morning dawned. Dion woke from a restless sleep with a sense of dread. Time was running out. The new moon was just two days away.

Cleia had spent the night at Rising Sun with Brisa while Dion bunked down with Tiago, both of them tossing and turning for those hours they weren’t on watch, their worry for Rosana a constant, clawing thing.

He glanced at where his brother lay staring at the ceiling and threw off the sheet. “I’m going for a swim.”

Tiago rose as well. “I’ll come.”