Chapter 13

Danielle paces beside the fire, clasping her glass in her hand. She mutters to herself occasionally, saying things like, "fucking vampires," and "vampire baseball." Nonsense words.

When Castor asked if there were blood drinkers in her world, she stared and stared until a high-pitched laugh pealed from her mouth and she started talking about men with sparkling skin.

It is unlike her.

I only hope the sickness that has affected the few of us Starbound men left here is not affecting her now. Even now, I feel the bite of the warded marks that run across my forearms and biceps, protecting me from the worst of it.

"Have you heard news of Lesath?" He didn't receive the marks in time. Most didn't.

Castor looks away from Danielle's pacing, clearly as disturbed as I over her ramblings. "He has been in his other form too long." Castor shakes his head, sipping his drink.

"It's an ugly one, too," Kaus adds, but there's no humor. We're all concerned over my mate. Over our futures. My heart weights heavy in my chest. Everything depends on the dark-haired beauty pacing by the fireside. My stomach sinks. I still have much to tell her, to explain. Letting her believe anything but the truth at this point is a disservice to us all, but most of all, to her. I will make it right. I heave a sigh.

I will tie this meeting up quickly.

"We need Ras Elasad." I lean against the back of the chair, smoothing one hand over a horn. The warlord, the greatest fighter of us all.

Kaus makes an indignant noise. "Ras is long gone. No one has heard even a whisper of him. The House of Leo is crumbled, overrun."

"Perhaps things are changing," I muse. Danielle glances at me over her shoulder, firelight casting a warm glow on the shine of her hair.

"Perhaps they are," Castor agrees. His lips are pressed in a thin line as he studies the rim of his glass. "But you know better than either of us that you cannot count on him to appear out of thin air."

"Your woman, she does not want to stay? Madena told us as much today." It's less a question and more of a statement, and the urge to throttle Kaus over it is so intense that the glass shakes in my hands. I set it carefully on one of the spindly, fragile tables Castor collects.

"I am working on it."

He casts me a furtive look. "Perhaps I could convince her?—"

In a flash, I'm at his throat, my hand at his windpipe. "Do not even speak of it."

"You two are brawling like frat boys," Danielle's angry voice cuts through my red haze. I do not know what a frat boy is, but it sounds like an insult. "I'm tired. I don't want to watch you fight. He's just being a dirty asshole, Dabin. Can I go to bed?"

Castor's mouth twitches like he's holding back a smile, and I growl before shoving Kaus back in his chair. I cross the room in an instant, sweeping my lovely mate into my arms. She pouts up at me but doesn't complain about me carrying her, and my heart squeezes. Danielle rests her head against my chest, and I berate myself for not realizing how exhausted she is.

Castor sighs. He dips a hand into his pocket, retrieving a set of gold keys and dumping them into my hand. "Your usual room is ready. I assume this conversation is over."

"There is nothing left to talk about, old friend," I tell him. "Nothing has changed for our strategy."

Yet.I hope.