Chapter 40

By the time I circled back to the meeting point, a patchy fog covered the island. I found Brien contemplating the shed's blackened remains.

"Any luck?" he asked.

I shook my head. "You?"

"No."

Cain jogged up in time to hear us. "Same here. We've been over every inch of this island. Hell, I turned over rocks in case the bastard's burrowed into the ground."

The three enforcers arrived from different directions. They hadn't had any luck either. The person or persons who'd rigged our boat to explode had vanished.

Brien's mouth compressed. "It's like these motherfuckers are always one step ahead of us."

"Yeah." I fingered my switchblade's smooth ebony handle. I'd had it out the entire time we searched. If I'd seen Nazaire, I would've struck first, asked questions later—or not.

Answers didn't matter. What mattered was keeping Eden safe, and I wouldn't rest easy until Nazaire—or whoever was behind this—was in their final grave.

"Let's go." Brien jerked his chin at the waiting helicopters. "We're cutting it close as it is, and this fog doesn't help."

I jogged forward with the rest. Something about this didn't pass the smell test. The urge to return to Eden, to assure myself she was safe, was a monkey on my back now, impossible to shake off.

On the flight back, Brien and Cain discussed strategy. I listened through my headset without joining in, Brien's comment chewing at me.

These motherfuckers are always a step ahead of us.

I straightened up. "Why tell me to bring Twilight?" I interrupted.

My friends stopped talking to look at me.

"What d'you mean?" asked Cain.

"Why would Nazaire—or Lemaire, for that matter—want Twilight? She's a vampire now. Vampires don't make good blood slaves. To keep her under control, they would've had to chain her in silver, keep her half-starved."

I'd never kept a blood slave, but a half-starved anyone simply didn't taste as good. That's why the dark SOBs like Nazaire turned their thralls into addicts. Much easier to control someone when their "fix" was you drinking from them.

"That's a damn good question," Brien said.

"I figured it was to draw Brien out," said Cain.

"But they told me not to tell anyone," I pointed out, "especially Brien."

"Maybe the plan was to weaken him," Cain said. "Slay his mate, and it's as good as taking him out, too. He might even go blood mad like…"

Cain trailed off, but he didn't have to finish. We all knew he was thinking of Brien's father, who'd never been the same after losing his mate.

"That's what I figured, too," I said. "But what if we're wrong? What if this wasn't directed at Brien? What if it's always been about Twilight?"

"But why kidnap Eden?" Cain asked.

"Because she's carrying my spawn. They can't easily kidnap Twilight. She's a vampire, and Brien's with her most of the time anyway. And you don't have a mate. Eden was the easiest one to grab. They knew I'd go after her, if only to save my spawn."

Cain winced. "Hell."

Brien's snarl ripped through the headphones. "And we left Twilight in the castle while we're an hour away chasing our goddamned tails."

My throat worked. Because Eden was in the castle, too. "I might not have it right."

"Or you might have it exactly right," Brien returned. "Pick up the pace," he ordered Gianna. "I'll text Twilight." His thumbs moved over the screen. "She isn't responding," he said a minute later.

Cain had his own phone out. "Jasper's in the war room," he reported. "He says everything's quiet."

White lines appeared around Brien's mouth. He leaned toward Cain. "Where's Twilight? Ask him."

"Texting him right now," replied Cain. A few seconds later, he swore. "He says she's with Eden and the cams just went down in that section."

"No." My stomach dropped through the helicopter floor and kept dropping until it hit the ocean and sank below the waves, taking my heart along with it.

Why the hell had I left Eden? She was bruised, exhausted, dehydrated. She couldn't take much more.

And that was if they allowed her to live.

Eden had been kidnapped to use as a bargaining chip. If we were right and they really wanted Twilight, Eden wasn't any use to them except as a slave.

"Twilight's tough," Cain said. "She won't be easy to take. And she'll look out for Eden. That's how she's made."

I shook my head, fear eating at my insides, tunneling into my brain.

Brien leaned forward, staring out the windshield like he wished he could sprout wings and fly the rest of the way.

I knew exactly how he felt.