Eternal Sin

gathering stones and stared. Every member of his family that could handle sunlight—except Ly, of course, who had once again refused to come—was seated and waiting a few feet below him. Like Helo, Phane had also been curious about the Rain Forest and its creatures. After living all of his life among vampires, Phane had wanted to know about that other part of himself. The one that had never been discussed or revealed. But in all that time— hell, even back at the house in SoHo—he’d never contemplated another being like himself.

He felt his hawk scratch inside his skin as he watched the female shift from avian form to human. In the air, gliding, swooping, touching down, she’d been fucking magnificent. But on land, in her female form . . . Shit, he’d never seen anything or anyone so hot. She was the perfect height, not too tall, not too short. Her body was a mix of athletic strength and dangerous, supple curves. Her blond hair was cut in a short and sexy style that accentuated her beautiful, sharp-as-shit face, and mysterious black eyes and a ripe mouth that she seemed to work well and often. But it was the piercing—the small ring through her nose—that made Phane’s entire body erupt in possessive desire.

He wanted to lick it, run his fangs over it.

Maybe while she bit his neck.

His cock strained against the zipper of his jeans. Then went steel hard as before his very eyes the last shreds of hawk feathers disappeared and she was completely and totally nude. His obvious, lecherous gaze raked over her spectacular body just seconds before she slipped on a thin electric blue dress.

She’d been naked. In front of anyone who cared to look—and Phane was pretty damn sure there were many who wanted to look—and she didn’t give a shit.

That was his kind of female.

Fuck, he might be in love with her already.

He thought about shifting into his hawk and gliding down to stand beside her. He needed to stake his claim, let her know he planned on mating with her. Not today. Not unless she agreed to it, of course. But soon.

Unfortunately, the dark-haired veana who looked so similar to Alexander’s Sara stepped into the center of the stones at precisely that moment, drawing everyone’s attention. Phane knew the female was in swell, but he hadn’t realized how far along she was. Five, maybe six months. She looked good though, healthy, her face and eyes bright—far better than when he had seen her last.

“Why have you all come?” she asked the small crowd of Petra’s mother, the Roman females, Helo, Phane, and Dillon.

The last was the first to speak. “This land, Petra, your existence—it has all been a closely guarded secret for some time.”

“Try forever,” said the hawk shifter female, who stood in the shadows of a massive boulder, just a few feet behind Petra.

Damn, she was tough. Phane liked tough.

“Right,” Dillon amended. “Well, it’s a secret no longer.”

“Do you speak of more than yourselves?” asked Petra’s mother, Wen, who sat beside Sara.

“I do.”

“Humans?” Wen asked.

“No,” Dillon said. “Our kind. Vampires.”

Wen looked momentarily relieved. “Didn’t they already know? With Cruen as their leader . . .”

“He held this secret pretty damn close to the vest,” Dillon explained. “He didn’t share anything about you with the vampire community, and he told you nothing about us.”

“So is that the only reason you’re here?” Petra asked. “To let us know about this development?”

“We wish,” Sara said tightly, her eyes locking with her half sister’s. “They know Pureblood vampires are here. They think they’re being held against their will.”

“That’s right.” Dillon ran her hand over the smooth surface of the rock. “And by this new species they’ve just heard about. The head of the Order, Feeyan, is running on paranoia and nerves, if you get my meaning.”

“I’m not here against my will,” Petra informed her, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll be happy to tell them that. Anytime they want to come here to the gathering rocks—”

“You’ll have to go to them, Petra.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not leaving the Rain Forest. Not until the balas is born.”

Dillon sighed. “You don’t want them to come here. You don’t want us—the Order—involved in your world. Trust me.”

As the forest winds blew around them, Petra seemed to consider this. “If I go to them, tell them the truth, that I’m a free and independent being and I wish to remain here, can you guarantee that they’ll not only accept what I say but allow me to return?”

The wind died, and everything, everyone, within the gathering rocks grew still, eerily quiet as Dillon pondered this. The mutore female looked like she’d rather be anywhere else, and dealing with something far less problematic.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” she said finally, her tone unabashedly melancholy. “Not when it comes to the Order.”

Petra put her hands up in a defensive posture. “Then I’m not going.”

As the female hawk shifter broke from the shadows and came up alongside Petra in a blatant show of support, Phane dropped down from one rock to the next until he stood just inside the flat, grassy oval where the pair was.

“Here’s the problem.” It was Kate who spoke this time. Nicholas’s mate had been pretty quiet lately, keeping to herself since her nephew, Ladd, had gone to the Underworld to live with his father, Erion, and his father’s mate, Hellen. Everyone knew how hard the move had been on the veana, and it was good to hear her sharp, steady voice again. “If the Order comes here to see you, they’re going to want to see and question the other vampire who’s here.”

Petra’s lips formed a thin line and her face paled.

“What other vampire?” said the female hawk shifter with a sneer.

“We can’t skirt around this anymore,” Kate continued. “Is Synjon here, Petra?”

Petra was silent, but Phane noticed her hands had gone to her belly. The hawk female’s eyes narrowed on Kate. Damn, she was fierce. He wanted her eyes on him like that.

“Is he here against his will?” Kate asked, her gaze unmoving as she sought Petra’s attention.

“You don’t have to answer them, Pets,” said the hawk shifter. “You don’t have to answer to anyone—”

But Petra couldn’t be quelled. “The baby needs him.”

“Pets!”

She shook her head. “No. It’s okay, Dani.” With a slow exhale, she walked forward, toward Dillon and the small crowd seated on the rocks behind her.

Dani. So that was the female shifter’s name. Hot damn, Phane mused, wanting to try it out on his tongue but knowing he had to use only his mind for now.

Dani.

He liked it. He liked it a lot. And so did his hawk.

“I sympathize with what you’re saying, Petra,” Dillon said. “I know what Synjon’s put you through, what a complete and total shithead he’s been over the past week. I was the one who told Alex, Nicky, and Luca to get into that penthouse of his and talk some sense into him. But right now, I speak for the motherfucking Order—not my favorite thing to do, mind you—but there it is. They won’t rest on this until they have the truth.”

“Look, veana.” It was Helo who spoke, his gaze on Petra, his voice calm. “Let us speak to Synjon. If he’s cool with being here, all he has to do is tell the Order that and we’re done.”

Petra turned her attention to the water beast and sighed. “He’s not cool with it.”

“Oh, shit,” Dillon muttered.

“You need to let him go, Petra,” Kate said.

“No.”

“Then at least let Helo or Phane speak with him.”