Lucus glanced at me, then back at his brother. “You will submit to your alpha’s mate.”
Wait. What?
Baccio’s jaw worked as he gritted his teeth. “As you wish.” He turned to face me. Fury made the vein along the side of his forehead pulse. He took a knee and looked up. Traces of his lure tingled across my body, and I fought a sigh. “Coren, I submit to your rule.”
Sure, I hated the guy, but this was ridiculous. I felt my face go red. “You don’t have to do that.”
“He does,” Lucus said, his voice a snarl and his lure pouring from him suddenly and crashing over me.
It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep my eyes on Baccio. I wanted to toss Nancy out of the damn way and throw Lucus to the ground right here, right now.
“Kiss her wrist,” Lucus snapped. “Take no aura or you will suffer, brother.”
Baccio took my hand gently, but I could feel the anger rolling off of him. “I don’t wish to be your enemy, Coren. I won’t pretend to like you or to approve of this joining. But I know neither of you can control a fated bond, so my ire is misplaced.” He flipped my hand and pressed his lips against my pulse point.
Desire, uncaring about what was right or wrong, shot through me. “I want you on our side. We need all the help we can get.”
“Forgive me, my alpha’s mate.”
I glanced at Lucus. This was his brother to forgive. Not mine. But Lucus nodded like he was down with whatever I decided, so I turned back to Baccio. “You’re forgiven.”
Good thing I was a mage and mages could lie because I really was not feeling the forgiven thing. Dude would pay and pay hard when the time was right. He’d gone full traitor at Queen Arleigh’s court, and I’d never forgive that even if it made me a terrible person. I didn’t care one tiny bit. Sure, Aurelio had also gone off track while we were there, but he’d come back to us at the right moment, right when we really needed him. Baccio had not. So yeah, lying to this jerk neck felt just fine.
Hekla squealed into the parking lot, driving like a bat out of hell. Nancy’s eyes opened, but she remained unmoving in Lucus’s arms. She stared like she was comatose while we explained everything to Hekla.
Baccio and Lucus helped Nancy into the back of the Volvo.
“And Baccio?” Hekla’s lip curled as she whispered behind his back.
“He asked forgiveness,” I whispered.
“Hell no.”
“Agreed, but for now, he’s with us instead of against us, and I’ll take it.”
“Gotcha,” Hekla said. “Should we take Nancy to the hospital? She’s definitely in shock.”
I shook my head. “We can’t let her tell anyone about what she saw. She is not a fan of Lucus and company. She’ll just get in our way. Let’s take her back to my place, Hekla. We can make her some tea and try to talk to her reasonably.”
“I’ll ride with Hekla and keep the nosey human from causing problems.” Lucus kissed my temple. “And I’ll keep watch on my brother,” he whispered, his lips dancing over my ear.
Hekla started up the Volvo as I got on my bike. She met my gaze through her windows, and her face said she felt exactly the same panic I did.
Once we had the shocked Nancy settled on my couch with a steaming cup of chai rooibos within reach, Lucus, Hekla, Baccio, and I had a little meeting in the kitchen. The lovely scent of the tea was at odds with the tension zipping around the room.
Hekla crossed her arms like she was hugging herself. “What now? You know the minute she snaps out of this, she’s going to tell the world about Lucus.”
“She called him a demon.”
Hekla’s eyes closed. “Not good.”
“I agree that we must take action to keep Nancy here,” Lucus said. “I’ve seen humans riot over the appearance of creatures such as us. Though I can handle the fight, I’d rather not be forced to injure humans simply because they are ignorant and afraid. Aside from the troublesome town crier, you should both know that the trees showed me that the dark magic, the wyvern demon, has coiled deep beneath the roads here. It seems to be waiting.”
“On what, exactly?” Baccio asked.
Lucus shrugged, or at least the gesture looked like a shrug. Some of his mannerisms were foreign to me. Probably because dude was from the 1500s. “Demons hunt for spirit and blood. They thirst for life they can consume in great quantities. But this particular wyvern might act differently.”
“Because it was born when we broke the curse,” I said.
“Exactly.”
Hekla pushed her bangs back and let out a breath. “Wait. Wait. Like how would the situation surrounding a magical demon’s birth affect its behavior?”
I leaned around the kitchen doorframe to check on Nancy. She hadn’t moved. “I don’t think we’ll know that until we see more of what it decides to do. Right, Lucus?”
My phone went berserk in my mini skirt pocket. I pulled it out to see a text full of autocorrect fails. It was from Titus.
this is insane butt im Sirius some guy has me trapped in a bedroom at bellemeade plantation and i can’t evennnn tell yoo but i think he is knocking me out and drinking my blood i know its sounds crazy but please call the police not kidding he is coming in the room now please help i have ot hide my phone and its on 2% charge
“Oh, fantastic. Kaippa has Titus.”
“What?” Hekla shoved me. “What do you mean? Is he okay? I’ll flay the vampire alive.”
“I will help you,” Lucus said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Somehow Kaippa has taken control of Bellemeade Plantation,” I said. If Kaippa hurt one hair on Titus’s head…
My front door slammed.
“Do you have a visitor?” Baccio’s eyes narrowed.
The couch was empty. “I think Nancy regained her
