Chapter 21

**“In my heart I know it’s not real. I know she is safe. But my mind does not believe my heart. My mind sees her lifeless body before me and my wolf rages. Kill, maim, and destroy, he snarls in my head. I feel my humanity slipping away as I watch unspeakable things happen to my mate. My wolf only believes what is before him and the emotions of the man are stopping him from being what he needs to keep her safe. I don’t know how long I can stay me. I don’t know how long until the wolf takes over for good.” ~Costin**


Costin closes his eyes against the scene before him. If he has to watch another man put his hands on her, or hear her cries for his help again, he’s going to go crazy. She begs for him to save her. She asks why he won’t stop them from hurting her, why he is letting them touch her.
Costin is on his knees as he looks up at her tear-streaked face.
“It’s not real, baby,” he whispers through tears. “It’s not real.”
“Costin, please stop him, please don’t let him touch me again.”
Costin watches her struggle against the male’s hold. She reaches out to him and Costin tries to get to her, but it is all in vain.
He closes his eyes as the screams began anew. The sounds are enough to make him vomit and even the smells are real. His precious Sally’s scent, wrapped in fear, anger, lust and pain.
“ARRGGGG!”
He screams into nothingness, his cries smothering out that of his mate's.

***

Decebel felt the world crash in on him as he watched Jennifer give birth to their baby girl. Blood was everywhere and the echoes of his mate's cries bounced off the walls. Just as the baby was born, a huge owl swooped down and clutched the screaming babe in its claws. The owl flew off into the night with a loud screech. Decebel lunged for the animal, the cries of his baby – his and Jennifer’s little girl – deafening in the night.
“Why didn’t you save her, Dec?” Jennifer asked him through tears and moans of pain. “Why didn’t you save our baby? You promised to save her.”
Decebel closed his eyes and when he opened them Jennifer sat before him, whole, and glowing with pregnancy. He wanted to enjoy the brief moment of peace, but couldn’t, knowing that it was only beginning again. His fears would once again be fulfilled before his eyes. And it would happen over and over and over.
Jen climbed into his lap and it was so real he could feel her breath on his neck. Her scent wrapped around him and he clung to her.
“Shh, baby,” she cooed to him. “It will be alright.”
“No, it won’t, Jennifer. It will never be alright.” Decebel’s voice shook with pain and his shoulders shuddered as sobs wracked his body.
Then Jennifer was ripped from his grasp, a formless shape her captor. She screamed in pain clutched her swollen abdomen.
Decebel reached for her, begged the form to let her go.
Blood poured from between her legs, splashing to the ground with water mixed in. Jennifer fell and rolled onto her side. He watched helplessly as the form hovered over his mate and pushed on her stomach.
“DECEBEL!” Jennifer screamed. “Make it stop, make it stop! Don’t let them take her from me, from us.”
“Shh, my love, please, it’s going to be alright.” Decebel crawled on his stomach to her, his body covered in her blood. His hands slipped in the sticky substance as he got closer to her. He cradled her face in his hands and tried to wipe away the blood he got on her pale skin.
“It hurts,” she whispered.
“I know. I know, baby. I’m so sorry.” Decebel leaned down and kissed her lips gently. He gathered her to him and watched helplessly as she writhed in pain and finally gave birth to their child. He laid Jennifer back and reached for the still, little form.
Decebel looked into the beautiful face of their baby and wept at the lack of life. No crying, no breath, no movement. Nothing.
“Let me see her,” Jennifer whispered to him weakly as she reached for the child.

***

Vasile reached for Alina but she backed away from his grasp.
“How could you let this happen, Vasile?” she asked him through tears. “How could you not protect your own?”
Vasile closed his eyes, searching for the truth in his mind, remembering his mate telling him this wasn’t real. He needed her strength, especially now as he stood before a version of his mate who looked upon him with such disappointment that even as an Alpha, he felt small. Alina was his heart. Everything good in his life came from her and the idea of disappointing her, of not being what she needed, paralyzed him. He had let her down. He had let his son be taken, along with his pack and the Alpha of another. He hadn’t fought hard enough, or done everything he should have.
“How can you stand before your pack as Alpha?” Alina spat at him.
“Mina.” Vasile’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m sorry, Mina. I failed you.” He knelt before her and waited for the words he had always feared, words he knew would cause him to destroy the world.
“I can’t love a man who can’t take care of his own, Vasile.” This version of Alina glared down at him with such vitriol it made him sick.
Vasile’s wolf howled and clawed at his insides, trying to get free. He refused to lose his mate. Nothing – heaven, hell, or anything in between – would take her from him, not even by her choice.
“You are mine!” he snarled. Of course, this Alina didn’t respond. She wasn’t real.
Suddenly she was gone and his Alina stood before him. “Vasile...” Her voice was tentative and lost.
Vasile stumbled toward her as he stood. He took her in his arms and held her close, breathing in her scent.
“You left me. Why did you leave me?”
“Shh, Mina,” Vasile soothed. “I’m here, I didn’t leave. I’m here.”
Alina fell apart in his arms; the wetness from her tears caused his shirt to stick to his skin. She pleads for him to come for her, to bring Fane with him and never leave her again.
Vasile, Alpha of the Romanian Grey Wolves, begged his mate's forgiveness, forgiveness that he knew would not come from this Alina. For every tear she cried he cried more. For every broken sob she emitted his heart tore in two. Everything in him knew this wasn’t really his mate, but everything told him it was. He had to fight it. He couldn’t give into the wolf, he couldn’t give into the horrifying possibility that he and his would be doomed to suffer their fears for eternity.
He had to remember his mate, his true mate, and know that she was waiting on him, was expecting him to come through this a whole man, not a broken wolf.

***

Adam, Sorin, Gavril, and Drake were also going through their own personal hells in the In Between, each man suffering over and over their deepest, darkest fears. And as they endured in what they felt was solitude, little did they know they were mere feet from each other.
A devastated Sorin watched as the mate he had just found turned her back on him.
Adam stood before an enraged Crina, cringing as she told him just what she thought about being mated to a Fae.
Gavril sobbed as Desdemona cut his mate's still-beating heart from her chest. Her screams pierced his heart.
Drake stared into the darkness, darkness so bleak and alone that the arms of death called lovingly to him.
So, on and on they endured. They seethed, they howled, they wept and cried out at things that weren’t really before them. Their wolves raged inside of them, seeking a way out of the man, but they held on.

***

Mona opened her eyes after seeking out the In Between in her mind. The pixie King had contacted her when he captured the males and she had been nearly as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. She wanted to see the great Vasile broken, the mighty Decebel a blubbering idiot, and stared in satisfaction as she watched them. She couldn’t see what they were seeing, that was their reality, but she could see their reactions to it.
“Music to my ears,” she told the empty house she was staying in while she waited for Cypher to fulfill his end of their bargain.
“Wolves wailing like just weaned pups. I should video tape them and send it to their mates as presents. It will be the gift that just keeps on giving.”
Mona began to pace as she thought about what was to come. She was to meet with Cypher in a matter of hours and he would be opening the Veil to the underworld. With the demon horde under her command, she would be able to wipe the wolves from the face of the earth. She would take the two healers and with their blood be more powerful than any other being, even the Fae.
Looking at the clock, she noted that it was still several hours until her meeting. As much as she detested resting, she decided she was going to need energy to wipe out the wolves. She kicked off her shoes and laid down on the floral couch and found it surprisingly comfortable.
“Who says there’s no rest for the wicked?”
She grinned to herself as she drifted off.

***

Lilly lay on her back on a couch in one of the many sitting rooms of the huge mansion. Cypher had been gone all day and late into the night. She knew she had angered him with her accusation, but he hadn’t denied it, so she figured part of his anger was probably directed at himself. She stared at the ceiling, her mind trying to come to terms with what her heart was feeling.
“Okay,” she said to the empty room, “I’ll admit it. I have feelings for a warlock. There, I said it.” She rolled her eyes at herself as she thought about how silly she must look laying on her back, talking into the empty room about her feelings for a warlock. A freaking warlock.
“You forgot to mention the King part.”
Lilly jumped at the sound of Cypher’s voice, causing her to roll off the couch into an unladylike sprawl on the floor. She glared up at him as he stood over her.
Cypher walked over and reached for her hand. She reluctantly placed it in his and he pulled her up from the floor, directly against his body. She let out a gasp but didn’t have much time for more than that before his lips were against hers. Lilly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She separated her lips at his urging and he licked his tongue across hers and she groaned passionately.
Cypher picked Lilly up into his arms, never breaking the kiss, and sat her down on his lap as he sat on the couch. He raised one hand, gathering her hair in it and used it as an anchor to guide her head as he kissed her.
Lilly was beginning to get lightheaded and pulled back to take some deep breaths. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his.
“You’re – the – enemy.” She panted as she spoke.
Cypher released her hair and stroked his hand down the length of it.
“Shh, little one. No, not your enemy, never your enemy.” He kissed her forehead tenderly and waited for her to open her eyes and look at him.
When she finally did, he saw the fear and confusion in them.
“I won’t hurt you Lilly,” he told her firmly.
“What about the rest of the world?” she asked him.
Cypher let out a deep sigh. He started to turn his face from hers, but Lilly was having none of it. She placed both her hands on either side of his face and held his gaze.
“Cypher, you are a good man. I can feel it. For whatever reason you think that the only way to help your people is to help Mona. I’m telling you right now that evil never wins.”
Cypher reached up and tenderly stroked her cheek. “I've been alive long enough to know the ebb and flow of things, Lilly. Desperation changes what once would have been easy decisions. Circumstances change.”
Lilly didn't look away. “She will betray you.”
“But you won’t,” he whispered softly.
She took his hand and kissed the center of his palm.
“I don’t understand what's between us, Cypher. I’m drawn to you. I feel something for you and I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Cypher thought, brooding. First of all, he didn’t want to lose Lilly. In the two days he’d known her she had stolen his cold, dark heart. If she asked him to walk through fire naked as the day he was born, he would have done it with a smile. No, he didn’t want to lose her. That meant handling things with Mona. He was going to have to tread carefully to beat the witch at her own game.
“What would you have of me, little one?” he asked her.
“Don’t help her. Whatever she has planned, it’s only for her own gain. I have a feeling it has something to do with the wolves and if it does, then it has something to do with Jacque.”
“Does this pack have a healer?” Cypher asked carefully, knowing that Lilly’s answer would tilt the scales.
“Yes,” Lilly told him. “Jacque’s best friend is a gypsy healer.”
Cypher closed his eyes and growled. Mona wanted this pack destroyed so she could have the healer. He knew of their importance to witches. She may not have spelled her plan out to him, but Cypher was old and his memory was long. If Lilly’s daughter was in the pack Mona wanted to destroy, then he would have to move mountains to make sure that didn’t happen.
“Talk to me, Cypher.” Lilly ran a finger lightly across his lips. “Show me what I’m worth to you.”
“A gypsy healer’s blood is very powerful,” he began in a tired voice. “They are pure – pure of heart and mind and there is power in that purity, power that a witch could never possess because witches lack that purity. Mona wants the healer’s blood. She wants to destroy the pack and take the healer.”
Lilly jumped from his lap and he let her, knowing she needed to get it off her chest.
“You were going to help her with this?” Lilly’s eyes widened.
“I led her to believe I would open the Veil to the underworld, Lilly. I never intended to help her destroy anything.”
“How am I supposed to believe you? How am I supposed to trust you?” she asked him incredulously.
“You have to make a choice.” He held his hand out to her, waiting to see if she would take it. “Make a choice to see what this is between us. Either way I will not let any harm come to your daughter or her friends.”
Lilly looked into his eyes and then at his outstretched hand. She seemed to make a decision. And when she placed her smaller hand in his, she let him pull her back onto his lap. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly, then he smiled at the dazed look in her eyes.
“Wipe that smirk off your face, warlock King,” she growled playfully.
“My apologies. I didn’t realize my kisses were so potent.”
Lilly snorted. “Maybe they’re actually boring and making me sleepy.”
Cypher grabbed her chin gently but firmly and held her still as he kissed her again. When he was done, he pulled back and looked at the passion dancing in her golden eyes.
“Definitely not boring,” he murmured.
She grinned and nipped his lips affectionately.
Deciding he couldn’t put it off any longer, he let out a deep breath.
“I’m meeting with Mona tomorrow.”
Lilly sat up straight and waited for him to continue.
“I’ve got to keep her thinking I’m going to help her, but I’m going to come up with a way to stall.”
“How?” Lilly asked brightly, obviously liking his plan.
“I’m the only being who knows how to open the Veil to the underworld.”
“Why only you?” Lilly interrupted.
“Can you imagine the danger of having a bunch of supernaturals running around with that knowledge?”
Lilly nodded, “I can see how that would be dangerous, but how did you end up being the one with that responsibility?”
“It’s always been the burden of the warlock King to keep the secret of the underworld. The King before me held it and when he passed, I inherited it.”
“So, it’s one of those 'this is just the way it is' things?” Lilly asked.
“I guess you could say that. My race is deeply magical and very old. But, as I mentioned, the Fae have left this realm, and our magic is waning as a result.”
“Wait, what? The Fae have left?” Lilly asked, confused. Apparently, she hadn't been listening. She didn’t know anything about the Fae other than that they existed, but found it interesting and a little unnerving that they had chosen to leave this realm.
“After the Great Purge, the Fae faded out of view. They stuck to their side of the veil and since there have been no healers; they haven’t bothered checking in much. They are the very epitome of magic and since they have pulled back so has the magic.”
“So, are you weaker because of it?”
“Yes,” he repeated. Cypher saw the worry in her face and quickly added, “But I am still very, very powerful.”
Lilly grinned. “Nice save.”
Cypher smiled back. “I like you,” he told her.
Lilly let out a bark of laughter. “Good to know. I like you too.”
In an instant Cypher’s face grew serious again, the romantic moment gone. “Mona doesn’t know what it takes to open the Veil. If I can convince her that there is something I need in order to open it, something I don’t have right now.”
Lilly made an “ah” movement with her mouth. “You can buy yourself time,” she finished his thought.
“Exactly.”
“Okay, so what is it that you are going to need?” She made little quotation marks around the word “need”.
“Usually in any sort of spell there is a sacrifice. There is in the case of opening the Veil – it requires blood, my blood. But, again, she doesn’t know this.”
Cypher was quiet for a moment too long and Lilly tilted his head until he was looking at her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I just thought about something that could either work in our favor or be a liability.”
“Oh?” Lilly’s brow rose.
“Magic is finicky, Lilly. It lives and breathes on its own. We, my people, the Fae, the wolves, and so on, are simply the wielders of it. We do not own it, nor do we always control it.”
“What are you trying to say, Cypher?”
“I know the magic it requires to open the Veil. I know the sacrifice, but that was before you.”
“What do I have to do with it?”
“You have changed me and that is no small thing. I’m very old, little one – ancient. And to change something in me at this point ... I don’t know how that change will affect what the magic requires of me,” Cypher explained.
“So, you're telling me that you don’t really know what it will take to open the Veil?”
Cypher’s lips tensed. “Not yet.”
“Then you won’t have to convince Mona, or lie at all. You can truly tell her you aren’t sure what it’s going to take.”
Cypher nodded in agreement. “That should buy us time. But now that I’ve realized that I do not know what the sacrifice will entail, I need to figure it out. I don’t want any surprises.”
“When do you meet with her?” Lilly asked as she stood from his lap. He let her go reluctantly and watched as she stretched her arms above her head, stretching out her back.
Cypher glanced out the window and noted the lightning in the night sky. “In a few hours.”
Lilly grabbed his hand and pulled him from the couch. He stood and looked down at her curiously.
“Good, then we have a few hours to get some rest.” She began pulling him in the direction of the staircase.
“You’re going to lay with me?” He asked her slowly.
Lilly choked down her laughter. “You make it sound so biblical. We’re going to sleep in the same bed. I’m tired, but I would like to hear some more about you and your people, so I’m going to let you talk to me until I fall asleep,” she informed him with a grin.
“You’re going to 'let me'?”
Cypher chuckled as he let her pull him up the stairs and down the hall.
Lilly kicked her shoes off and climbed into the large bed. She tried to get her breathing under control as Cypher’s large body lay down next to hers. It had been a very long time since she had been in bed with a man – to sleep or otherwise.
“Are you alright, Lilly?” Cypher asked as he rolled onto his side. He propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at her.
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured nervously.
“Lilly.” Cypher scooted closer and wrapped a large arm around her waist and pulled her next to him.
“It’s just been a long time since a man has held me,” she whispered into the dark room.
“I am not a man,” he told her, and she felt the whisper of his lips against her neck as he leaned down and nuzzled her.
“You know what I mean.”
“If it makes you feel better, I have never lain with a woman in my arms.”
Lilly looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide in shock. “Never?”
“No. I’ve been waiting for my mate.”
“But surely you’ve been with a woman.” Lilly’s words stumbled out.
Cypher chuckled. “Yes, although that is not really a conversation I want to have while I hold you in my arms.”
Lilly smiled, “Agreed.” She let out a breath. “Now, tell me of your people. Keep my mind from worrying about my daughter and worrying about you helping that stupid witch take our world to hell in a hand basket.”
Cypher smirked at her choice of words and proceeded to do as she asked. He had only made it as far as his adolescent years before Lilly was breathing slowly and deeply, eyes closed, and a calm expression on her face. Sleep had taken her.

***

Mona stood stiffly, staring at the tall, stoic warlock King. She was trying to keep her cool, but knowing that her plan was being delayed yet again was not sitting well.
“So, you're telling me that you don’t know exactly what you are going to need to do to open the Veil?” she hissed
Cypher’s eyes narrowed.
“I am not backing out of my end of the deal, Desdemona. You know how magic works. There is always a price. I knew the price before I had a mate – now Lilly is my mate. This changes everything.”
“Ah, your mate? How sweet. I’ll be sure and get you an appropriate wedding gift – maybe a nice wolf rug for your living room.”
Cypher ignored the remark.
“If you want this done right you are going to have to trust me,” he told her firmly.
Mona let out a harsh laugh.
“Great King, you should know better than most that there is no one you can trust in this world. Even your precious Lilly has secrets. But since you are my only option, I suppose I have no choice. Hear this now, however.” The room grew chilly. “If you are not true to your word, I will kill her. I will gut her like a fish before your very eyes.”
Cypher let out a roar and a sword appeared in his hand. He was in front of her in an instant, the sword poised at her throat.
“Hear me, witch. Threaten the woman I love again and I will carve you into pieces and send them in packages as gifts to the wolves. They will feed on your flesh and dance in victory over your downfall. Do not ever threaten what is mine.”
Mona pushed the blade away with her finger, slicing it open in the process. The sword seemed to absorb her blood – then it began to glow. She stared in horror at the blade.
Cypher smiled wickedly.
“The blade has your scent now, witch. There is no place in this realm or any other in which you can hide. Remember that.” He lowered the sword. “I will see you in a few days. It would not be wise to know how to open the Veil, but not know how to close it, lest more demons than you can handle get loose.”
In great discomfort, Mona watched the warlock King close the door behind him.
She had been overconfident and it had cost her dearly. She had shed blood for another. Not just another but for one of great power. She needed to watch the King closely – needed to think of a special spell for Lilly, one that would keep him in line when the time came. She hadn’t been lying when she told him to trust no one. Mona had learned many times over that there was only one being in this world whom she could trust: herself.
Otherwise, things were moving along quite splendidly. Maybe not as quickly as she would've liked, but then Rome didn’t come crashing to the ground in a day, did it? The healers no longer had the protection of the males, though they were still with the Fae, and were heading toward the Veil to cross into the Fae realm. She wasn’t worried about them making it through – she had a surprise for them.
Mona smiled to herself. Yes, everything was going according to plan, and soon, very soon, she would be the most powerful of the supernaturals. None would stand against her and all would fall.