He’d dreamed about her for six months before he’d actually met her, and in that time, she’d become the most important part of his life. A part he needed, craved. Like Mary Ann, she accepted him for who and what he was, and had from the beginning. Even though her own people considered him unworthy—not to mention his own. She understood what it felt like to be considered different. She was a princess, set apart. And hadn’t he vowed just today to only ever make this princess laugh?

“Just so you know,” Riley gritted out. “If you hurt her again…”

“You’ll call me a bad name?” Aden retorted. “Or maybe tell your friends not to like me?” He knew he shouldn’t provoke the wolf. Riley’s claws could rip through bone in a blink. But again, bite the big one, wolf.

Riley growled from low in his throat. Expected. What wasn’t expected? Victoria laughed, an honest to God laugh.

“I’m sorry,” she said when Riley tossed her a dark look. “But that was funny. You know it was.”

“Whatever,” Riley replied, but there was now suppressed amusement in his tone.

Aden’s chest puffed up. He’d done that. He’d caused that reaction without even trying. But then Victoria’s laughter subsided, and she once again refused to look at him.

More. He had to have more. “Victoria,” he began. “About what happened—”

“I know,” she said on a trembling exhalation. “I already figured out your reasons for ditching me at the ranch.”

Oh, God. Was she going to cry? “I didn’t ditch you, I swear.”

“Well, I know that, too.”

He shook his head, confused. There’d been no trembling that time. “Wait. You just said I did, in fact, ditch you. So…you’re not mad at me?”

“I was at first, but then I wasn’t. Don’t you see?” Grinning, she clapped, clearly proud of herself. “I’ve been teasing you since we picked you up. I was using exaggeration. Like a human. Did I do good? Did I fool you?”

His lips twitched in relief and pleasure. They had a lot to work on in the humor department, but he said, “You did real good.” And she had. She was trying to drop that ever-somber air. For him. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

“Thank you. So do you. Practically edible.”

His lips twitched again. Edible—the highest form of praise from a vampire.

Her hand slid over his and their fingers twined. As always, her skin was hot, smooth. Perfect. “Thank you, by the way. For what you did with the fairy,” she said, suddenly serious.

“You’re welcome.”

“I wish I could reward you, but instead, I’m taking you into a potential war zone. Are you scared?”

“No.” But he should be, and he knew it. “The drugs have made me a little detached.”

“Perhaps that’s a blessing. Fear can be smelled, and most vampires really like the taste of it.”

He snorted. “Baby, even if I was afraid, I doubt anything can be smelled except my perfume.”

Another laugh bubbled from her, bells tinkling together, and he grinned. Twice in one day. He couldn’t have been prouder.

“As I told you, my sisters are in town,” she said, then explained something about a fourteen-day waiting period. He didn’t tell her that he’d met her sisters already in the vision. Not that he recalled much more. But with that thought, another formed. There was something he needed to tell her. Something urgent. For the life of him, however, he couldn’t remember what it was. “Lauren is…”

“Hardcore,” Riley finished for her.

Victoria rolled her eyes. “She is not. He says that only because they used to date, but Lauren broke up with him. Anyway. Lauren is strong, opinionated and determined not to like you. She’s a warrior and one of the fiercest among us. She’ll come around, though. Stephanie, my other sister, is very humanlike. She used to sneak out of our home, to my father’s fury, and socialize with the food, as he would say. She might just be your biggest supporter.”

“Good to know I have one. Has your mother arrived yet?” Aden knew her mother had been locked away by her father, a punishment for revealing vampire secrets to humans. Upon Vlad’s death, though, Aden had decreed the woman free. His first act as king.

The title had him shaking his head. Weird, and not at all suitable for him. He could barely manage his own life.

“No,” Victoria replied. “She can’t teleport like me, and so she would be traveling by human methods if she had agreed to come to Crossroads. But she didn’t, preferring to stay in Romania.”

In protest of Aden’s rule? he wondered.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before, you know. My father has always ruled us. He was the first of us, after all, and he believed humans were good enough to be food or blood-slaves, but nothing more.” Victoria tapped a finger against his chin. “I’m sorry, but that is the mindset you will be up against this night.”

The car slowed as a tall iron gate came into view, the bars opening to welcome them. Two wolves sat at the sides, watching. Guards? Further up, a five-story, sprawling mansion consumed acre after acre. The black brick and black-shrouded windows pandered to every eerie stereotype there was, but perhaps that had been done on purpose. A way to keep humans at bay.

The roof dipped and rose into several points, knifing into the sky, where the moon seemed to have shifted away, looking elsewhere, as if afraid to peek inside the home. That was probably for the best.

Last time Aden had been here, a vampire had tried to murder him. That same vampire had murdered an acquaintance of his. He wondered what awaited him inside this time.

EIGHT

I WANT YOU to stay home tonight.

But I want to go with you. Be with you. I want to help Aden.

I’d rather you were safe.

And that’s how Riley had left it. He’d called, dropped the “stay home” bomb and hung up before she could protest again. Now, at close to eleven, Mary Ann paced through her bedroom. Each of her walls was painted a different color—pink, blue, green, red—and those colors blurred together. Half of her wood floor was covered by a multicolored rug that somehow managed to clash with the walls. A decorating scheme her mother—her real mother—had loved and her aunt, the woman who had raised her, had carried on.

What was happening at that vampire mansion? Was everyone okay? Had the vampires accepted Aden without protest?

Clearly, Riley viewed her as weak. A hindrance. She’d suspected, but this…this was proof. And she didn’t like it. Wouldn’t stand for it. But what could she do?

She couldn’t kidnap a witch on her own. That was just craziness. One, she didn’t know the extent of their powers or how they wielded that power. Even though she’d spent the last few hours studying every book she’d checked out at the library, as well as scouring the Internet yet again, looking for obscure details. Anything. There was tons of information out there, most of it conflicting.

Witches drew their power from the elements. Witches drew their power from inside themselves. Witches were good, benevolent. Witches were bad, evil, servants of the devil. Witches liked to perform ritual sacrifices. Witches were merely delusional.

You’re getting sidetracked. You were thinking about why you can’t kidnap a witch. Oh, and two, she doubted she could subdue someone physically just yet. And three, where would she keep the witch? In her closet? Her dad wouldn’t find anything odd about that. Yeah. Right.

Still. Waiting for Riley, Victoria and Aden to do something grated.

She wasn’t the best at spotting witches, but she could do it. Riley had taught her how. So. Maybe she could go into town and count how many witches were out there, discover what they were doing and where, exactly, they were congregating. Or even find out if none were out there. Tomorrow, she could report her findings, helping her group instead of dragging them down.