“What do you think he knows?” Fane asked Decebel.

“Who knows? The fae are as notorious for their secrets as they are for their power. All I care about is that, whatever it is, it will get us where we need to be. He had better decide to share.”

Fane’s eyes narrowed. “Peri wouldn’t allow him to keep anything from us that would help us find our mates.”

Decebel shrugged. “I would like to think not. But right now all I can really think about is Jennifer and how she needs me and…,” Decebel bit back a snarl of frustration.

“And you need her,” Fane finished for him. “We will get them back Decebel. If we have to tear every realm apart in order to do so, we will get them back.”

“I agree with young blood,” Costin said as he walked over to the corner that Fane and Decebel occupied. “The world may wind up being drenched in blood, but we will find our females, and anyone in our way will die.”

“Who are we killing?” Adam asked as he tossed on of his knives over and over in the air.

“No one,” Vasile growled and at the same time Decebel snarled, “everyone.”

Adam looked between the two Alphas. “Does that mean I get to kill half as many as planned, or twice as many?”

“Anything?” Peri asked Alston again.

“I told you that as soon as I found it I would tell you.”

“Well time is growing short,” she huffed. “The hunt begins in two hours. How will you know you have found it if you don’t remember what it is you’re looking for?”

“I’m not certain, but I think that there was sort of a key in the spell itself so that once a person started remembering bits and pieces of what it is they were supposed to forget, all of it would come back to them, given the correct trigger.”

“I’m guessing you’re not talking about the kind of trigger I could pull,” she said dryly.

“You know exactly what kind of trigger I’m talking about.” Alston looked up from the book in his hands and peered at Peri thoughtfully. “You really do care about these girls, don’t you?”

She shrugged non-committedly. “They’re like a fungus; they grow on you.”

“Yes, but a fungus is something you try to get rid of, not something you rescue when it’s been taken.”

“If it’s a mushroom and you really like mushrooms, then it most certainly is something you would try to get back.”

“Whatever you say Peri,” he told her as he started flipping through the book again.

Several minutes passed in relative silence as Alston searched books and Peri stood wondering what it could have been that they had blocked from everyone’s memories, including their own. What could have been so horrible that they didn’t want anyone in any species to remember?

“The dark forest.” Alston’s words couldn’t have struck any deeper if they had been attached to aharpoon and shot straight into Peri’s soul.

“What did you say?” she asked. Though her voice sounded calm, she was anything but.

“The dark forest: Volcan, witches, wolves, death.” Alston’s words seemed to ring loudly in the quiet, still room.

Peri stumbled and caught herself on the wall. “Holy hell,” she muttered.

“We need to hurry,” Alston stood up, not bothering to put any of the books back on the shelves. He started to push past Peri and when he noticed that she wasn’t following, he turned and looked back at her. “Peri, we need to hurry; we need to get Vasile and the wolves to the dark forest.”

Peri’s eyes had grown large and held the haunted look in them of someone who had seen too many shadows in their life. “When he remembers, he is, he will…” When her eyes met Alston’s they were wet with unshed tears.

Alston nodded. “He will hurt, and the wound will feel brand new.”

“Why does this seem too easy?” Jacque asked Alina as she walked slowly around the forest where Lorelle had dropped them, literally, on their asses. Alina had let an uncharacteristic cuss word slip, causing Jacque to laugh, which earned her yet another cuss word.

“Because it is,” Alina answered. “Lorelle is fae; she will have something up her sleeve.”

“Magic?” Jacque asked.

“Exactly. Vasile will not underestimate her,” Alina spoke confidently of her mate.

Jacque wished she shared that confidence, but all she could think was that by the time the males found them, they would be frantic and probably not thinking very clearly. But instead of pointing that out she asked a question, “Do you think the others are in similar situations?”

“Probably,” she answered. “He’s set this up as a hunt, so he isn’t going to want them giving away their location by crying out in pain,” she paused thoughtfully then finished. “Then again, he could have some spell keeping any noise from escaping.”

“That’s not helping, Alina,” Jacque growled.

“Then let’s just go with their situations are probably the same.”

“Sally,” Crina’s voice broke through the fog covered air, “are you okay?”

“I’m good,” Sally answered as she stood from the ground and brushed the dirt from her palms where she had caught herself after being tossed by Lorelle. “How about you?" Sally asked.

“Say something again.”

“Something again?” Sally’s words came out as a question as she waited for Crina’s response. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand close around her shoulder. “Bloody hell, Crina.” Sally grasped at her chest and swallowed down the scream that had nearly clawed its way out of her throat. “Give a girl warning before you just reach out of the fog and grab her okay?”