Despite all that had happened between me and my ex-lovers, my heart still belonged to them. I clung to the hope that when this was through, we would be reunited. And that hope was hindering me. It paralyzed me. Was it their betrayal that held me in a terrified death grip or was it their love? Honey eyes and eyes of ocean. Peacock colors and diamonds. A sulfurous dragon stare and sunlit gold. Calm waters surrounded by a ring of darkness. They all stared out of the well at me in accusation. Memories haunted me with soft touches and murmured words. Were the memories false or was it their hearts?
“Why do you hold back?” Viper whispered against my lips, “You've been keeping me here with you while you send the others to oversee the outposts. I know you want me, and I know you feel more than attraction for me. Every day, we talk for hours. We share things about ourselves, intimate things, and then you shift into a dragon and leave me. When you come back, you're colder. You lie in my arms, but you're not fully there. You kiss me, but you won't make love to me. What's standing between us, Vervain?”
“I just need a little more time,” I whispered. “Can you—” I broke off on a scream, my back bending from the pain that shot through me.
“Vervain!” Viper caught me and lowered me to the stone floor. “What's happening? Tell me what to do!”
I clutched Viper's hand as I gasped through rocketing rips; invisible claws tearing through my soul. I knew what this was; I'd felt it before. Why hadn't I thought to prevent it? Could I have prevented it?
“Trevor!” I screamed.
Viper gaped at me and then clutched me against his chest. “Who is Trevor? Vervain,” his voice broke. “Will this man help you? Tell me where to find him, and I will bring him to you.”
“There's no need,” Star said grimly as she appeared beside us. “He's here.”
“What? Where?” I panted as the pain finally faded. It would return in waves; that's what happens when a bonded wolf is separated too long from his mate. He begins to die a slow, agonizing death.
“At the gate,” she said. “Your husbands have brought him. But you told me to keep them from you. Do you want me to send them away?”
“He's dying!” I sat up furiously and then stumbled to my feet to face her.
Viper stood and steadied me, his wide, acid green eyes sliding from Star to me warily.
“Let him die, and you will be free,” Star said reasonably.
“I'm not letting my husband die!”
“I thought you left them?” Viper narrowed his eyes at me. “I thought you didn't love them anymore, Vervain?”
“I left them because they betrayed me,” I said softly to him. “But that doesn't wipe away the past. I can't let him die, Viper.”
“I don't understand.” He shook his head. “Why is this man dying?”
“Trevor is her wolf,” Star said smugly to my viper. “Her bonded Froekn Prince. If they are apart too long, he starts to weaken and then will die.”
“You're mated to a werewolf?” Viper asked as if I'd done it to hurt him.
“Viper, you know that I had several lovers before you; several husbands,” I said sternly. “You know my magic makes it necessary. I told you all of this.”
“You told me about the magic, but you never talk about them,” Viper murmured. “I thought you didn't love them anymore.”
“It's not... I...” I stumbled over the words.
“I've kept your lioness magic in check, but I can't hold it down forever, Vervain,” Star interrupted crisply. “If you don't return to your husbands, you will have to take more lovers.” She transferred her stare to Viper. “I warned you about this as well. You've had weeks to come to a decision and you chose to love the Dark Star. This is what loving her means.”
“If I must share her, so be it.” Viper lifted his chin. “But she holds them between us like a shield. It's not the other men who worry me, it's what they mean to my relationship with her.”
“I'm right here,” I growled. “Stop talking as if—” I screamed again and fell to my knees.
“My star!” Viper swept me up and carried me inside to the bed. He laid me down carefully and then crawled up next to me. “Tell me what to do,” he begged as he cradled me against his broad chest. “Shall I go and fetch this man for you; your Wolf Prince?”
“No,” I hissed through the pain and clung to his shirt. “Don't leave me, Viper!”
“Never,” he swore determinedly. “I will never leave you and never betray you, Vervain. No matter what you choose, I will stand beside you; I swear it. But I can't stand to watch you suffer.” He looked up at Star. “Can't you dampen this pain?”
“I can end it entirely.” Her glowing gaze met mine.
“Bring them here, Star,” I gasped through the agony. “Bring them all to me.”
Star pursed her lips in disapproval but nodded. Viper tensed, clutching me even closer, as my husbands and boyfriend appeared in the room. Trevor hung limp in Odin's arms; body hunched, face drawn into lines of pain, and cheeks sunken.
“Vervain!” Kirill rushed forward and climbed across the bed to drag me out of Viper's embrace and into his own. “He's dying. You have to help him! Please, sweetheart!”
“Kirill?” I whispered.
Viper hissed long and low as he came to a crouch on the bed. Kirill looked up, finally acknowledging the man beside us, and hissed back. Cat against snake.
“Enough!”
