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“Sometimes there is no good choice. There’s only a slightly less bad choice. And sometimes any choice is just FUBAR.” ~ Tyler

T he Romanian pack mansion was as imposing as Tyler remembered it, though the memories it stirred were bittersweet.

The last time he’d been here, Alina and Vasile had still been alive, strong, commanding presences who could calm even the most volatile alphas with a single look.

They’d been the heart of the Romania pack, the foundation for so much of the supernatural world’s unity.

Their deaths had left a void that still hadn’t been filled.

The thought of them brought a pang of grief and a wash of fondness, and Tyler pushed the emotions down.

There wasn’t time for sentimentality. Not now.

The great hall of the mansion was a storm of energy, crowded with wolves, fae, elves, warlocks, and djinn.

The tension in the room crackled like a live wire.

Dominant wolves, especially alphas, didn’t do well in close quarters, and the air was thick with barely restrained aggression.

Tyler stood at the head of the long oak table, his dark eyes scanning the room as the alphas argued, their voices rising and overlapping in a chaotic symphony of frustration.

“You’re not listening,” Jeff Stone, the Coldspring pack alpha, growled, his blue eyes flashing as he slammed his palm on the table. “The humans are panicking. Celise is tearing the world apart, and we’re sitting here arguing about what to do instead of actually doing something.”

“And what exactly do you propose?” snapped Antonio, the Spanish beta.

His dark eyes burned with frustration, his sharp features tight.

“We don’t even know where to start. Our alphas—our leaders—are gone, and you want us to fix the human world, too?

Our packs are hunting and fighting vampires and hybrids.

We barely have the resources to hold our packs together! ”

“Enough!” Drayden, the Canadian alpha, interjected, his deep voice rumbling through the room like thunder.

He leaned forward, and his massive frame radiated power.

“We’re not doing this. We’re not going to tear into each other while Celise burns everything we’ve built to the ground. We need to focus.”

“Focus on what?” Victor, the Bulgaria alpha, asked, his gray eyes narrowing. “Because so far, all we’ve done is talk in circles. Until we figure out how to deal with Celise, we’re just spinning our wheels.”

A low growl rumbled in Tyler’s chest, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was about to step in when a soft, but firm, voice cut through the chaos.

“Enough,” Sadra, his mate, stepped forward, her voice clear and commanding as she placed herself between the arguing wolves.

Her dark brown hair fell in waves over her shoulders, and her hazel eyes flashed with determination.

“You’re allies, not enemies. Start acting like it.

Dominant or not, none of you are going to solve anything if you can’t even have a conversation without tearing each other apart. ”

The room went quiet, as the alphas shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Tyler swelled with pride and gratitude for his mate. She’d always had a way of cutting through the noise and bringing calm to the storm.

“She’s right.” Tyler stepped up beside Sadra. “We’re here to stop Celise, not to fight each other. If we’re going to make it through this, we need to work together. Period.”

The alphas grumbled but nodded, the tension in the room easing slightly.

Tyler let out a breath, thankful for Sadra’s intervention.

But before anyone could speak, the air in the room shifted.

A ripple of energy—sharp and electric—swept through the hall and raised the hair on the back of Tyler’s neck.

Every supernatural present stilled, their voices falling silent as a shimmering portal appeared on the far side of the room.

A figure stepped through, and Tyler’s stomach dropped.

It was a djinn warrior. One he had not seen in a very long time. Raith.

The djinn’s golden eyes gleamed with amusement as he surveyed the room, his smirk sharp and mocking. He was tall and lean, his dark hair slicked back and his movements smooth as he strolled into the hall like he owned the place. His hands rested casually on his hips.

“Well,” Raith drawled, his voice smooth and dripping with amusement. “This is cozy. Quite the gathering. Alphas, fae, warlocks … wolves playing politics. How quaint.”

Synica, one of the djinn elders, rose from her seat, her expression cold. “Raith. Why are you here? It’s not like you to join in the plight of other supernaturals.”

Raith’s smirk widened. “Oh, you know me, Synica. I like to shake things up. Being predictable gets boring when you live as long as we do.” He shrugged and then continued.

“Since I know it’s going to make your elder head pop off if I don’t actually give you an answer, I’ll humor you.

Shade is up to some shady shit, pun intended, and I’m personally tired of it. ”

“By the goddess,” Synica muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“How did you get here?” Tyler demanded.

Raith turned to him, tilting his head as though considering the question.

“That’s actually an interesting tidbit of information, Alpha.

My comrades and I acquired the Nushtonia .

Handy little artifact, isn’t it? Makes opening portals child’s play.

One of those comrades is the shady one. Hence, again, why I’m here and not there with them. ”

The room erupted into chaos. Voices rose in shock and anger, the alphas demanding answers while the djinn elders exchanged grim looks.

They obviously did not think it was a good idea for Shade to have the powerful artifact.

Tyler’s stomach sank. The Nushtonia —Celise’s weapon—had a new master.

He wondered what that meant for Celise. Was she still alive?

If so, did she still have the power that she’d been given by the Book of the Dead?

“And where are your comrades?”

“Is Celise still alive?”

Synica and Drayden spoke at the same time.

Raith looked at the Canada alpha, “She is alive, although quite pissed off that she’s lost her evil BFF.

As far as I know, she’s still out there wreaking havoc like the deranged sprite that she seems to be.

He turned to the djinn elder. “You mean Shade, Edric, and Valin?” Raith’s tone was light and mocking.

“I left them at the veil of draheim. They’re trying to open it.

Shade is trying to find Myanin. Celise couldn’t tell him which realm she was sent to because apparently that wasn’t part of the spell when she decided to treat Fane’s people like confetti and toss them into the air.

But he did some blood bonding with the book and is convinced it’s told him she’s in the draheim realm, so I figured I’d let him get on with it. ”

“Why is Shade looking for Myanin?” Myron, another djinn elder, asked, his dark eyes narrowing.

Raith chuckled, the sound sharp and hollow.

“Oh, Myanin, the great tragedy of Shade’s life.

Maybe you elders were too busy doing whatever it is you do.

Long ago, Shade wanted Myanin for himself, but he felt she was too young.

Myanin fell for someone new, and we all know how that turned out, right?

Well, Shade? He’s still obsessed with her.

Claims she’s his mate.” Raith snorted. “He can’t let go.

” Raith folded his arms across his chest as he leaned a hip against the table.

“He’s also a little obsessed with Thadrick, but not for the same reason.

Fair warning, if Thadrick happens to come out of draheim realm, Shade is going to kill him. ”

“Myanin is mated to Gerick. Does Shade know that?” Tyler frowned.

Raith’s smirk turned sharp. “Oh, he knows. He just doesn’t care. He’s almost as bad as you wolves with his possessiveness of her.”

“If that’s the case, then where has he been all these long centuries?”

Raith rolled his eyes at Synica. “He’s an immortal being who got butt-hurt because the girl he wanted went and fell for another guy. He’s been moping. And you know time is irrelevant to us. Ten years to us is like a month to a human.”

“So let me get this straight.” Jeff spoke up, resting his elbows on the table as he leaned forward in his chair. “A powerful supernatural being has a powerful, dark magical object, and he wants to use that object to get a female that isn’t his and kill a guy that said female chose over him?”

Raith winked and pointed at the Coldspring alpha. “Nailed it.”

Jeff shrugged. “Honestly, it just sounds like any other day in the supernatural world.”

“Fair,” Raith agreed.

Tyler’s mind raced as he exchanged a glance with Drayden. Shade using the Nushtonia to open the veils so he could either kidnap his lost love or kill her former crush was a disaster waiting to happen—but it was also the only chance they had to free Fane, Gustavo, Ciro, and the others.

“If Shade is opening the veils,” Drayden said slowly, “then we need to be there. Not to stop him, but to help him. If the veils open, we can get our people back.”

Tyler nodded, his jaw tightening. “Agreed. We can’t win this war without them.”

“This isn’t a decision to take lightly,” Synica warned. “We have no idea if that book will open only one veil or all of them. And one of those veils was closed for a reason. If Shade’s plan backfires, we could unleash things far worse than Celise.”

“What realm are you talking about?” Aimo, the Italy pack beta asked, his brow furrowed into a deep ‘v’.

Synica looked at the other djinn elders. Each nodded and then she answered. “The Realm of the Dead.”

“Damn,” Boain, who’d been quiet up to this point, muttered. “That doesn’t sound ominous at all.”

“I know of this realm.” Dragomir rubbed his chin. “It is a forgotten realm, one that we no longer speak of.”