“You come back to me Alina; we are not done in this life. Don’t you dare give up!”

He waited for something, anything to tell him she had heard him.

Her eyes fluttered open and, after several blinks, her vision began to clear. Peri shuddered as she felt the spell leaving Alina’s body. She pulled it into her grasp and walked over to Alston. He wrapped his hands around hers and spoke so low that no one could here. When he dropped his hands, Peri opened hers and let out a sigh of relief. It had worked.

“Vasile,” Alina’s voice was weak as she turned to look at him. Tears flooded her eyes and she reached for him. He hesitated and she misunderstood, thinking that he didn’t want to touch her.

“Don’t,” he told her sternly. “You know better than to think such falsehoods. I have always wanted you and will always want you.”

“Then why are you there,” she pointed to where he stood, “and not here?”

“Do you not remember?” He asked.

Alina closed her eyes to think.

“Don’t, please,” Vasile leaned towards her. “Please, don’t close your eyes.”

Alina looked at him and saw in his mind what she had done.

The pain on her face made Vasile’s arms ache to hold her and he shook with the effort to keep from gathering her in his arms.

“Please,” she whispered to his mind. “I am yours.”

“You will allow me to have what is mine?”

“Please, ” was all she could get out.

The pack magic was broken as soon as Alina had confessed her need for him. Vasile climbed into their bed and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t take his eyes off her when he growled at the Fae in the room. “Leave us.”

Peri and Cynthia went from room to room telling the males that she and Cynthia would need to bring all their mates to Cynthia’s room. It was neutral territory and should help the males feel less threatened. Once they had moved all of them, with mostly no problems, Peri explained what had happened with Alina.

“So, she is fine now?” Decebel asked, eagerly.

“Yes, she is curse free and Vasile has his arms around her now. It was rated PG when we left, but I imagine they have moved on to more interesting acts. The point is they can touch again.” Peri clapped her hands together and then rubbed them. “So, we ready to do this? It may take a little more effort and I will need to touch each female at some point. Also, Vasile pushed his magic through me to Alina and that seemed to be the catalyst for her.”

“What are we waiting for?” Fane snarled.

Peri rolled her eyes. “I swear I’m going to have a nice wolf pelt rug one of these days,” she grumbled as she and Alston placed the stones around the females lying on the floor.

Peri started on the rightside, Rachel being the first female. She laid her hands on her head and she pushed into her mind, just as she had with Alina. She chanted as she pulled on the curse. She felt Gavril’s hand on her shoulder as he helped draw Rachel from the dark place the curse had dragged her to.

One by one, Peri touched each mate. She made sure to call them by name and allowed each male to reach out to their females through her. Once again, the stones glowed as power began to fill the room. The Fae council chanted out loud this time as they watched Peri begin to weaken, straining with the effort to remove the spell. She was nearly ready to collapse when Dain stepped out of the circle towards Peri, who was by Sally’s side. Costin looked up to see the male Fae coming towards his mate and he lunged. His teeth were bared and his eyes glowed as he reached for the man he thought meant harm to his mate. He stopped in mid jump when he heard her voice.

“Costin,” Sally’s voice reached into him and drew the man back. She was calling for him. His mate was calling for him. He was by her side an instant later and nearly touched her before he remembered that he couldn’t.

“Sally I need to hold you, please invite me.”

Sally blinked, as she tried to focus on what he was saying. Her mind was a jumbled mess and she kept trying to push away thoughts that would only lead to tears.

“I need you Costin,” The words were barely thought and Costin had scooped her up and left, without a backward glance, heading straight for his room.

He laid her on his bed and sat beside her. He stroked her cheek and his heart broke when she pulled away from him.

“Sally, look at me,” Costin tried to keep the growl from his voice; he didn’t want to scare her any more that she already was.

She slowly turned her face towards him, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Don’t be submissive to me,” he told her as he gently tilted her chin up, ignoring her flinch. “You’re my mate, my equal, and you will always meet my eyes.”

She stared up into his hazel eyes. He was so handsome it nearly hurt to look at him. She ached for his touch but she feared it as well.

“Why?” He asked her.

“I’m not clean, I’m not…”

“You’re mine,” He interrupted and then continued out loud. “You are mine and I am yours.”

“They t-t-t,” Sally erupted into tears as she tried to explain to Costin. She needed him to know because he wouldn’t want her anymore. At this moment, she was so broken that she knew that if he left now she would just curl up and die. But if he stayed because he didn’t understand then she wasn’t really his anymore, and that would hurt even more.

“Costin, I was a virgin,” she finally got out.