“Always.” Riley placed his hand over Sera’s. He looked at Kai.

“Always,” Kai said, adding his hand.

The commandos followed suit.

“They won’t tear us apart, no matter what they do,” Sera declared.

Little did she know that she’d soon be eating her words.

A knock sounded on the door. Sera pushed back from the table and went to answer it. A young woman stood on the doorstep, nervously squeezing her hands together. Her bright red hair cascaded over her shoulders, contrasting beautifully with the dark hoodie she was wearing.

“Can I help you?” Sera asked the stranger.

“I’m Lara.” The woman offered Sera a tentative smile, her pretty face lighting up. “Lara Drachenburg. Kai is my brother.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Allies and Enemies

SERA STOOD IN the doorway, frozen. Kai’s sister was supposed to be dead. He’d told her that she was dead. Was this another one of Alden’s tricks?

Sera looked at the woman in front of her. Lara was young, about Riley’s age, so twenty-two or thereabouts. And she looked scared. Her magic was erratic, but it did feel a lot like Kai’s. It had that same spicy sweetness, but more sweet than spicy. If this was a trick, it was the best and most complete deception Sera had ever seen.

“Please come in,” Sera said. If the woman was lying about who she was, Kai was the one most likely to figure that out.

Lara entered, and Sera closed the door behind her. She led Lara into the dining room. As they entered, everyone at the table looked up at them. As soon as Kai saw the new arrival, he rose to his feet, shock on his face. His surprise poured off of his magic, which had gone uneven, a mix of relief and suspicion.

“Lara?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “Yes.” She looked at him shyly.

Kai walked over to her. The magic in the room was as taut as a tightrope. The commandos were strangely still. Kai stopped in front of Lara, looking her over. She was much shorter than he was, more delicate in her small bone structure. But there was a strength in her, a ferocity deep within that snapped and growled.

“Lara Drachenburg is dead,” Callum finally said.

Kai stared at her. “She is. I saw her die.”

“I was attacked by vampires,” Lara said. “I was twelve, and I died. Except I didn’t. A mage cast some spell on me, something to make me appear dead. As soon as I was buried, he came and revived me.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed. “The attack was staged?”

“Yes.”

“Who was this mage?”

“One of Alden’s followers.”

“This was ten years ago,” Kai said. “Alden was still sleeping back then.”

“Yes,” she replied slowly, cautiously. “But his followers never sleep. They have been hiding in the shadows for centuries. Until now. Alden is rising. He wants to take over the world.” She looked at Sera. “And he wants you to help him do it.”

“Why me?” Sera asked.

Lara shook her head. “I don’t know. He thinks you’re the key to his victory, to his new world order.”

“So that’s why you’re here?” Sera asked. “To recruit me for the Grim Reaper’s army?”

“No. He doesn’t know I’m here. He’s saving me for later. I’m that ace up his sleeve apparently.” She rolled his eyes—such a normal, youthful gesture from someone who had spent the last ten years being raised inside of a cult of crazy supernaturals.

Kai looked at her, inhaling her magic. He was still for a few moments, then he reached out his hand and drew her into a hug. Lara hugged him back with desperate ferocity, crying, shaking.

She finally pulled away, wiping her eyes. “I’m glad to see you again, Kai. To let you know I’m alive. I wanted to tell you all these years, but they wouldn’t let me.”

“How did you hold out under their brainwashing?”

“They underestimated the will of a Drachenburg.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “A mistake Alden will come to regret.”

She set her hand on his. “But this isn’t the reason I risked sneaking out. There’s someone coming to meet with you tonight. Someone who claims he’s a defector from Alden’s side. You cannot trust him.”

“Why would I trust him?” Kai asked.

“You’ll know when you see him. But don’t trust him, no matter how much you want to. Alden sent him.”

“We are not inclined to trust people from Alden’s side.”

She winced.

“Not you, Lara,” he said. “I didn’t mean you.”

She sighed. “You have every right to be suspicious of me.”

“No. We’re family.” Kai pulled out his phone. “I have to tell our parents. You have to go see them.”

She caught his hand. “Not yet. You need eyes inside of Alden’s camp. You need me there.”

“No,” he said, his eyes cold, his mouth drawn into a hard line. “Absolutely not. You’re not going back in there.”

“I must. You’ve always been calculating, Kai. You’ve never had problems sending people out for the greater good. You need me there. You know you do.”

“I just got you back. You were lost to us for so long. For so many years, our family was broken. It took us a long time to put the pieces back together. I won’t let you go again.”