“What does the poison do?” Zoe edged toward him. “Does it hurt?”

“Every damn minute,” Ryan said grimly. “It’s like fire in my veins.”

Jane swiped away a tear. When had that fallen?

“How long do you have?” Finn wanted to know.

“Now that I’ve located Keira—Jane,” he corrected almost absently, “probably only a day or two more.” But he didn’t seem to care. Why not? He should care. He was talking about his death too casually. “The potion linked me to her. The witch said it would burn brightest when I found what I sought.”

He’d sought her.

“He’s going to burn alive,” Heath whispered. His gaze swept over them all. “Burn from the inside out. Lorcan thinks he’ll die within the next twenty-four hours. But there’s a cure.”

“He’s lying.” Ryan whirled away from the human.

Jane stepped into her brother’s path. “Drink from him and see.” He might be ready to give up and die, but she wasn’t ready to let him go.

A faint furrow appeared between Ryan’s brows.

“Drink from him. What do we have to lose? Just…see. There could be a chance for you.” He’d suffered for so long. Didn’t he deserve a chance?

“Why not?” His teeth flashed. “I could go for a bite.” He turned back toward Heath. “I’m not going to be gentle.”

That was the only warning Heath had. Ryan grabbed for the man, twisted his head to the side, and shoved his fangs into Heath’s throat.

Jane’s own throat burned. Liam had done that to her. He’d wrenched her head to the side—

“Jane.”

Alerac. His voice. His hand on her arm.

She blinked. When had he moved so close to her?

“It’s okay,” he told her. His voice was strong and certain. She glanced away from Alerac and back to her brother.

Ryan had freed Heath. “Fuck me.” There was shock in his voice. Ryan swiped a hand over his lips, wiping away the blood. “There is a cure.”

Relief made her a little dizzy. There was a cure, and it looked like they had about twenty-four hours to find it.

***

“They’ll come for the cure,” Lorcan said as he glanced over his shoulder. His witch stood there, pressing her back into the corner. For a being so powerful, she was also incredibly weak.

Breakable.

The marks on her neck were just starting to heal.

It was so hard to find good witches these days.

“They’ll come, and I’ll kill them.” Simple. He’d deliberately let Heath learn of the cure. Every move that he’d made had been deliberate.

If Heath hadn’t been killed on sight at the werewolf compound, then either Ryan or Keira would drink from the human. They would look into his memories.

That was the way of the vampire.

When they took his blood, they’d learn of the cure. They’d learn of Lorcan’s hiding spot in the mountains.

They’d plan an attack.

Alerac would follow his bread crumbs so perfectly. So foolishly.

You destroyed my clan. Now it’s my turn to destroy your pack.

Everything was falling into place. Every f**king thing.

He crooked his finger toward the witch.

When she flinched, he smiled. “Come now, my dear, it’s almost time for you to do your part.”

She had a role to play, just as he did. Only once his lovely witch had done his bidding, then he’d kill her.

She was incredibly weak, and he despised weakness. It would soon be time for a new model.

***

“He’s waiting on the other side of the mountain, in a blue house just past the bridge.” Ryan’s voice was flat. “I saw the house in the human’s mind. Lorcan is there.”

“It’s a trap.” Alerac knew this. They all had to know this. “We aren’t trading Jane.” That plan was pure shit.

Jane stood near the fireplace. No fire burned. She stared at the empty hearth. “I don’t understand. If he wanted me dead, if he wanted me at all, why didn’t he come for me himself when I was free? Why wait six months? Why start the attacks now?”

Alerac wanted to know the answers to those questions, too. At first, he’d thought that he’d gotten lucky. That he’d found Jane first.

Lucky hadn’t been in the equation.

Lorcan was playing them.

“Lorcan is a tricky bastard. He’s always manipulating, playing his games.” Ryan was close to Jane’s side. “I don’t know why—”

“There wasn’t anything special in her blood,” Heath muttered.

Alerac frowned at him. “A vampire’s blood, by its very nature, is f**king special.” It had certainly healed the human.

But Heath shook his head. He was sweating, but no longer bleeding. Fear oozed from the man’s pores. Probably because he realized that he wouldn’t be living much longer. Not much longer at all. “Liam had me comparing her blood to other vamps. He was—he was looking for something in her blood. Some kind of power that wasn’t there. He kept saying that it should be there.”

Liam knew that Alerac had grown stronger after taking Jane’s blood. That he’d transformed into something that was both werewolf and vampire.

Liam had taken the blood of other vampires so that his life could be extended. So that he could fight at Alerac’s side. But he’d never gotten the power boost that Alerac had received. Never transformed into a hybrid creature.

Only Alerac had done that—with the aid of Jane’s blood.

“I think Liam and Lorcan both want to know how you changed me.” Alerac made sure that his voice carried easily across the room. “Hell, maybe Lorcan even held back on making contact with you because he wanted me to find you first. He probably even wanted us to mate, so that he could see the changes.” Was that why the guy hadn’t directly come at them yet? He was waiting, watching?

Her breath whispered out. “Changes?”

“The sun isn’t hurting you anymore. You aren’t weak, and you should be weak during the day.”

Her lashes lowered.

“Maybe Lorcan wanted you to spend time with me because he wanted—” Alerac broke off. He wanted us to mate. To f**k. To bond. “When you came from your imprisonment, you weren’t linked to me.” Those words were so hard to utter, but they were true. He’d been tied to her, body and soul, for two centuries.