His kiss was gentle, almost reverent. She felt love pouring into her mouth, down her throat, spreading through her body so that there wasn’t a single cell that wasn’t saturated with the intensity of his emotion. When he lifted his head, she touched her lips with wonder.

“I can’t believe you could do that,” she whispered.

“I can’t believe a woman like you even exists, let alone that I have the privilege of her belonging to me. I am a wolf, Branka. More, I’ve been an alpha almost from the day I was born. I’ve always been in the position of leadership. I expect that deference and when I don’t get it, the alpha wolf reacts in the way it would to keep the pack together. I can’t do anything about it. That’s my makeup. That’s who I am.”

“I know Zev,” she replied. “I accept that.”

He stroked his fingers down her cheek, touching her with the same tenderness that had been so prevalent in his kiss. “I never thought there would be a woman for me. Not in all the long years. I’ve always known I had little tolerance for defiance from a pack member, so I knew I’d be worse with my mate.”

“This woman definitely loves being yours. Just don’t be worse with our children,” she cautioned. “Dragons protect their young fiercely—especially fire dragons.”

He laughed softly, for the first time the tension in him slipping a little. “I’ll remember that. In the meantime, you remember that when a wolf hasn’t had family, hasn’t had a single person he loves, when he finds her, he holds on with everything he is. Maybe too tight.”

Branislava wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged hard, pressing her face over his heart. “You don’t have to worry, Zev. I hear your warnings. I understand what you mean. I’m not a woman who will be trampled on and I won’t lose who I am because you’re a strong man. I don’t scare so easily, either. And I love every moment of our lovemaking.”

He held her tightly. “You really are a miracle, Branka. My miracle.”

She thought it was the other way around, but she didn’t mind in the least being his miracle. “We’re getting in the habit of leaving our guests. We’d better go back and tell the prince that Gregori will have to take the chance of removing the shadow from Damon, because I’m certainly not okay with you killing him. I’ll have to try to explain to Gregori what to look for. If he trips a safeguard or can’t unravel it, he’ll die, and we’ll lose Savannah and possibly their daughters.”

“Damn it, Branka,” he snarled her name, turning away from her with a quick, restless motion, pacing the length of the small cave as if he couldn’t contain the energy inside of him. “You’re manipulating me and I don’t like it, not over this.”

She shook her head. “I’m stating a truth. A fact. Gregori doesn’t know the way Xaviero sets his patterns. I was there in the same room with him. I might have been locked behind ice, but I could see everything he did and I learned. I need to pass as much information as possible to Gregori so he has a chance of making it out alive.”

He swore and drove his fist deep into the wall. She winced, knowing he felt helpless. She kept silent, waiting for him to come to the only real conclusion possible on his own. She didn’t like it any more than he did, but in the end, the risk to Gregori was far worse than to her.

He turned around to face her, resting one hip against the entrance to the small chamber. “I’ll go in with you. I can stay back out of your way, but if things get dicey, I might find a way to protect you.”

She opened her mouth to protest.

Zev shook his head. “I’m not negotiating here. If you go after that shadow, I go with you to guard you. Take it or leave it.”

Branislava nodded slowly. “We’re better together than apart. You give me courage and strength, and he’s my worst nightmare. Having you close might be just the thing that gives me the edge.” Her nod grew firm. “I think that will work much better for both of us.”

He held out his hand to her. “Let’s get it done then. We’ll let Mikhail know.”

“We’ll need to prepare,” she murmured, talking to herself more than to him as they made their way back through several passageways toward the sacred cave of warriors. “Skyler and Tatijana can help me with a circle of protection. Both are very strong and I’ll need them.”

No one said anything as they entered the lit chamber, hand in hand. Zev sank down onto the smooth rock seat with Branislava beside him.

“I’ll need a large open space,” Branislava announced, “so if Xaviero becomes aware of my presence, he can’t see anything or anyone that might betray our movements to him. He’ll know when I remove the shadow that someone knows about him and he’ll retaliate in some way. He’ll strike at the Lycan council or at Mikhail. If anyone else is mage-shadowed, he can use them, and he will. I know him. He’s going to be very angry that anyone would dare thwart his plan.”

“Then we’ll have to check each one of them,” Gregori said. “Every single one, before you try to remove the shadow. We don’t have to try to figure out who is doing it, you’ve already identified him. It’s a matter of just looking and not touching.”

“There are a lot of Lycans here,” Fen pointed out.

“We can start with the key people, those in positions of power. The council members and then their guards,” Gregori said.

“How long will it take to go through that many people?” Fen said.

“We’ve got a lot of help. Tatijana is capable,” Gregori reminded him. “Skyler certainly is. Darius will help us. Certainly you and your brother can look into a skull and find a mark on a brain without disturbing anything. You’re just looking, not touching anything, if you trip a safeguard, if anyone does that, the mage will know.”

Mikhail nodded. “I can help as well and there are a few others we can ask.”

“No,” Gregori and Fen said firmly, simultaneously.

Dimitri added his opinion as well. “You can’t, Mikhail. Xaviero is specifically targeting you. If he brings you down, he has a much better chance of defeating the entire Carpathian race, wiping out our species. Now, more than ever, you have to be safe.”

Mikhail pushed both hands through his hair, the first real sign of agitation Zev had ever seen him make. Zev couldn’t blame him. The man reeked of power. He couldn’t open his mouth or take a step without anyone close feeling that power, yet at every turn, his own warriors stepped in front of him, blocking him from helping in times of need. Zev never wanted to be in that position.