Alexander stood in front of the wall, his hand moving over the inscription, his need to run after the human woman momentarily quelled.

Behind him, Lucian snarled. "Un-fucking-believable."

Alexander glanced over his shoulder. "Is it?"

Lucian's almond eyes flashed hatred. "I won't believe it. No one has the power to premorph males. Not even the Eternal Order."

"Assumption makes asses out of us all, Little Brother," Nicholas said, seated behind his computer again, typing furiously.

"Then call me the biggest ass on the planet," Lucian returned. "I don't believe it."

Nicholas glanced up, ready to say something, then shrugged and uttered a dry,

"Too easy."

"Up yours, Nicky."

"Think clearly, Luca. What makes you think the Eternal Order lacks the power to premorph? If they can create an animal like the Breeding Male or remove the sex drives of Impures as though it were any normal feeding session, how hard is it to screw with morphing?"

"Not hard at all, it seems." Alexander went over to the desk and stood behind his brother. "What are you looking for, Nicky?"

"Anything on the Hollow," Nicholas said, Web pages opening and closing every two seconds. "Rumors on location, any off-the-radar vamp sites that might have some clue as to where to begin to look for the Order's headquarters."

"And?"

"Nothing."

"That's because the Order would imprison or obliterate anyone who revealed their supersecret hiding place." Lucian grinned with menace. "Pussies."

Alexander released a weighty breath and backed away from the computer. "This will be resolved. I'll leave at first dark."

"Leave for where exactly?" Lucian asked. "Unless a map shows up on the wall in the next few seconds, I'd say we're pretty much fucked."

Alexander shook his head. "The one thing I know is the Order wants me to go before them. As is their way, they will make me search like a rat in a maze first, humble me to show me just who is in control, and when that is complete, they will make themselves possible to find."

"And if they don't?" Lucian asked.

"If it becomes necessary, I'll contact the family."

Nicholas's head shot up, his normally sedate black eyes burning with sudden passion. "Family? As in your family?"

Alexander shrugged. "We have limited time. Theydon's uncle used to be a member of the Order. It's possible that he may know where this place is."

"You're just going to walk back into the credenti," Nicholas continued, "find your mother's mate, the paven who once wished for your death above all things, and ask him for directions?"

Alexander went cold, his tone like ice. "If I have to."

Lucian cursed.

"You're not going," Nicholas said with a dead calm, rising from his chair.

"Try and stop me."

"Oh, you know I will," Lucian said, his features and massive frame tightening into pure aggressor mode. "That cage of yours is looking pretty damn perfect right about now."

Alexander lifted his shoulders, looked from one brother to the other. "Either way I'm caged," he said. "But the two of you are free, and I am going to make sure you remain that way."

"I'm not afraid of morpho," Lucian said fiercely.

Alexander stared him down. "You should be. You of all of us should be."

The heat, the anger, the need that boiled in Lucian's gaze said it all. He was the most like their father, the only albino Breeding Male. If any one of them carried the gene and would become a rutting, uncontrollable animal when he morphed, it would be Lucian.

Alexander walked back to the wall, his gaze moving over each letter, each cluster of words, the uncloaked command. "If this is not stopped, the two of you will be next, tracked by the Order for the rest of your days. The hunger--though it will ease somewhat--will become your number-one need, soon to be replaced by either the inescapable hunt for your true mate or the unstoppable desire to breed." He paused.

Breathing in, breathing out. "I'm in morpho. It's done. But they will not turn the two of you."

"We took an oath," Nicholas reminded him, his tone devoid of emotion. "We left that life and everything in it. We cannot go back. For any reason."

"You're right," Alexander said, watching as letter by letter the message scrawled into his library wall evaporated. " You will not go back."

When the wall sat smooth before him, Alexander turned around and addressed Nicholas and Lucian in a way he hadn't since their days on the battlefield. "While I am gone, Nicholas is on Tom's trail. Lucian, you will find Sara, follow her, make sure she comes to no harm. Don't let her see you, and don't scare the shit out of her."

Both brothers stood there: Lucian's nostrils flaring with impatience, Nicholas's expression impassive, though his eyes had gone as black as a starless night. For one moment, Alexander wondered if they were going to defy his orders. It was one thing to curse and chide, even to make brash statements of noncompliance, but the truth was in their guts, in their genetic makeup: They were the younger vampires. They could do nothing when given an order by their elder but nod and take action.

"Well?" Alexander said. "What say you?"

Lucian spoke first, his upper lip curling with bitterness. "Fine. I'll follow her, but I can't promise I won't scare the shit out of her."

Alexander's gaze shot to the dark one, the black-eyed, cool-as-ice male. "And you?"

Nicholas shook his head. No.

For one moment, Alexander softened. "Nicky . . . Duro ... "

"Do not do this for us," Nicholas said.

"It is done." His jaw set, his mind resolute, Alexander headed for the door.