Chapter 42

"Talon?" Eden swayed on her feet, a hand to her side.

My heart ricocheted into my throat. "I've got you."

I scooped her up and sat with her on the couch as Brien shot past us to where his mate lay crumpled on the floor.

"Are you okay?" My gaze went to where Eden pressed a hand to her abdomen. Shards of fear scraped my lungs. "Please, angel. Tell me you're okay."

"I'm not sure." She leaned against me, and I felt her trembling. "But I think it's just a pulled muscle."

"Okay. Okay. Take it easy." Easing an arm around her shoulder, I sent a desperate look at Cain. "Get Olivia back down here."

He nodded and whipped out his phone.

"What the fuck happened?" Brien lowered himself to the opposite side of the couch, Twilight cradled in his lap. "Drink, love," he crooned. When she didn't respond, he gently cupped the back of her skull, pressing her mouth to his throat.

"Stygian," Eden told Brien. "He stabbed her."

Cain finished his quick conversation with Olivia and looked at Eden. "Stygian? Who's that?"

"No idea," she said. "But Twilight seemed to know who he was."

"SI," Brien said under his breath.

I met his eyes over the top of Eden's head. "Could be. Working with Lemaire?"

Brien made an angry sound. "Wouldn't be the first time. Did this Stygian mention anyone else?" he asked Eden.

"No. It—it all happened so fast."

"I want the castle searched," Brien told Cain. "Nobody goes in and out until we know if this guy was working alone.

He waited for Cain's nod and went back to trying to wake Twilight up enough to drink from his vein.

While Cain made a second call, I lifted Eden's forearm. "What happened to the IV?"

"I had to take it out so I could move around."

"And meanwhile, we were chasing our tails on that fucking island."

Cain put his phone away. "Olivia will be here in ten minutes, and James is coordinating a search of the castle," he said, naming one of the enforcers who'd accompanied us to the island.

Cain crouched next to Stygian's smoking bones and ashes. He plucked two switchblades from the charred remains. "This is Smythe's. I recognize the raven." He indicated the bird engraved on the ebony handle of one of the switchblades.

"Smythe?" Brien's mouth tightened. "Bloody Lilith."

"Yeah. Twilight staked the mofo with his own weapon." Cain's tone was admiring.

"Good," Brien said shortly. "Saves me the trouble."

Cain cleaned both blades and closed them. Then he hefted the second switchblade. The plain, stainless-steel one.

"But I don't recognize this one." His gaze slid to Eden.

She tensed. Still trembling, but now she looked scared on top of it. Her throat worked. "The other switchblade is—"

"Mine," I interrupted. I looked at Brien over her head. "I gave it to her because I was afraid something like this would happen."

I sensed Eden's surprise, and I'm sure Brien and Cain did, too. I locked gazes with Brien, daring him to contradict me. He gave me a considering look, then with a shrug, went back to coaxing Twilight to drink.

Cain put the blades at the end of my bar and poured himself a blood-whiskey. "So you stabbed Smythe, too?" he asked Eden.

"I—" Eden nervously licked her lips.

"It's okay," I said. "You saved Twilight, didn't you?"

Eden straightened. "Yeah. And I did stab him—in the thigh. He had a switchblade to her throat, and he'd stabbed her three times, maybe more. She was hurt—she looked like she had a fever. But when I stabbed Stygian or Smythe or whatever his name was, she managed to get his blade away from him and stake him. Then she collapsed."

Cain lifted his glass to her. "Good for you, love."

"Yeah. You're a hero." I brought her hand to my mouth, kissing her fingers. "My hero."

"Yeah?" Her beautiful eyes creased in a smile. "I love you," she said.

I knew she loved me, but finally hearing it aloud was like absorbing a body blow. Three little words, but they squeezed my heart. Pulled all the oxygen from my lungs.

I touched my forehead to hers. "I love you, too. So much."

A noisy sucking made us pull apart. Twilight had finally revived enough to drink from Brien. She'd be okay, then, although she'd feel like crap for a few days. Silver poisoning hurt like a sonuvabitch.

"That man," Eden asked. "He was actually Smythe? Brien's PA?"

"That's what Cain thinks," I replied.

Cain left the bar, stopping a few feet away from us. "What did he look like?" he asked Eden.

"Kinda like Loki on that TV show—you know the one I mean? Narrow face, shoulder-length brown hair."

"Tom Hiddleston," Cain said. "I've never seen the show, but I met him once in London."

"Oh. Well, anyway, that's who he looked like. He wasn't British, though." Eden's gaze turned inward. "He had faint European accent, even though I'm pretty sure he was North American—maybe even from Canada."

"Sounds like Smythe," Brien said. "He told me he'd been a PA in Paris for five years or so. But why attack Twilight?"

"And what about the guard who was supposed to be on duty?" asked Cain.

"And MinJi Park?" I added.

"I don't know about the guard, but Twilight sent Mrs. Park to bed," Eden volunteered. "That's why she was here."

Cain had his phone out. "James says Smythe sent a message to the guard," he said, his eyes on the screen, "telling him Brien wanted him in the war room. It seems to be legit. The man showed James the message."

I frowned. I'd told the guard not to leave his position until I returned. "Have James confine him to his quarters until I've had a chance to talk to him."

Twilight stirred. "Smythe told me straight out that he was Stygian. I never met him in person, but I know he was with SI. He was my alpha's PA, in fact."

"Ah," said Brien. "But why—?"

"Because he knew," she responded with a sideways look at the rest of us. "When he grabbed me, he said, ‘This is for Crow, you bitch.'"

"So this was about revenge?" I asked. I didn't know the whole story, but I knew Twilight had had a falling out with her former alpha, and then her alpha had disappeared. Permanently.

Twilight's eyes closed. She looked better, if feverish, her face lined with pain. "Yeah," she said, resting her head against Brien's shoulder.

"And somehow, he hooked up with Lemaire," said Cain. "Who was also out for revenge."

"And Nazaire, too," I added. "I still think he's in this somewhere."

"I may be able to find out more about Nazaire." Cain cleared his throat. "That…contact I have in the QCS."

Brien's eyes blazed blue. "Do it. I want whoever is behind this stopped, damn it. If this had worked, it would've been a win-win for those SOBs. Take out my mate and it's as good as staking me. Because—"

He halted, shaking his head, but I heard what he didn't say.

It would've broken him.

I understood. Losing Eden would've left me not just broken but shattered into jagged pieces.

Brien rose, Twilight in his arms. "If you two have this handled, I'm taking Twilight back to my apartment."

"Go," I told him.

Brien paused next to us. Eden had stopped shaking, but at his scrutiny, she tensed up, until he said, "Consider your debt to us repaid in full."

Her jaw dropped. "Yeah? Wow. Thank you."

"No," he said. "I'm thanking you. And I'll make sure the syndicate knows you saved the prima's life."

Twilight lifted her head from against Brien's chest. "She saved us both. She could've barricaded herself in Talon's bedroom. I told her to do that, actually. But she didn't."

Eden moved a shoulder like she hadn't done all that much, but she was smiling.

I kissed her temple. "Mine," I mouthed at Brien—and I didn't mean she was my blood thrall.

He understood. He dipped his chin in acknowledgment and left.

"I can talk to the guard," Cain told me. "You stay with Eden." His gaze shifted to Eden, his ice-blue eyes warming. "You did good," he told her. "That kid's lucky to have you as a mom."

It was high praise, coming from Cain, and Eden knew it. She gravely thanked him.

He offered her the stainless-steel switchblade. "I believe this belongs to you."

Her swallow was audible. Then she lifted her chin. "It does, yeah," she said, and took it from him.

With a curt nod at the rest of us, Cain left, and I carried Eden back to my bedroom, where I placed her on the bed, her back against the pillows to wait for Olivia. Eden was still clutching the switchblade. With a glance at me, she slid it under the pillow.

"It's yours," I said. "You earned it."

"And I'm going to learn how to use it," she said. "I never want to be that helpless again."

"Fine by me," I said.

When Olivia arrived, she confirmed that Eden had pulled a muscle in her side but was otherwise fine. "I won't hook her back up to the IV," she added. "As long as she's drinking all right and able to urinate, she's good."

She handed Eden a glass of orange juice and ordered her drink it. "You're not to move a step today," she told Eden in a no-nonsense voice, "unless it's to go to the bathroom. And this time, I'll be right here, making sure you follow orders."

"Thank you," I told Olivia. I lifted a brow at Eden. "But you will follow orders, won't you, angel?"

She brought her fingers to her temple in a salute. "Yes, sir."

Olivia suppressed a grin. "I'll stay anyway."

Dawn was less than an hour away. Cain had reported that Smythe appeared to be working alone. The castle would stay on alert, but for now we were fairly sure there wasn't another traitor in our midst.

I tossed down a shot of blood-whiskey, then closed the door to the living room, where Olivia was reading a magazine, and got undressed, climbing into bed with Eden and pulling her against my naked body. She yawned and snuggled deeper into me.

My chest contracted. I tightened my grip on her, my fingers spread over her belly.

Mine.

The almost savage sense of possession was tinged with vulnerability. I should wait, romance Eden like she deserved with hot-house flowers and Moon Mist and over-the-top jewelry. I wanted to adore her and fuck her senseless—and then ask her to be my mate.

But to Hades with that. Eden was mine. The romance could come later. If she needed it, I'd romance her every night for the next decade.

Right now, though, I was claiming her.

I teased her earlobe with my tongue. "You're my mate," I told her, the words tumbling from that hungry, possessive, vulnerable place.

Her cheek lifted in a grin. "Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Both." Beneath my fingers on her belly, a tiny elbow or knee pushed back. Our son apparently approved.

"Don't I have to accept?"

I growled and bit down on her lobe. "Don't make me punish you. I can be all kinds of creative."

She shivered in that way I loved, then giggled. "Okay, okay. I accept."

And damned if I didn't feel a punch in my chest. At the same time, Eden arched against me, a throaty moan tumbling from her.

"Holy shit, Talon."

"I feel it, too," I said hoarsely. "I didn't know it would be so…physical."

"Yeah." She swallowed hard. "Like we're connected now." She took the hand I had resting on her abdomen and brought it to her lips. "I love you. So much."

The words branded themselves on my heart, digging hooks in so deep I'd always be connected to her.

"I love you, too."

She kissed my hand again. "I know. I feel it, same as you feel me."

My dick pressed against her lower back. Gods, I wanted to take her, to claim her in the most primal way.

"I want it too," she said, wriggling against me, which didn't help one iota.

"Not until we get Olivia's okay." I kissed the side of her mouth. "Now go to sleep."

"Are you always going to be this bossy?"

"Yes."

I waited until she dozed off, then reluctantly left the bed to lock myself in my vault so that Olivia would be free to come and go. It felt like I was tearing myself away from my own soul.

But it was okay. No, better than okay.

Because when I woke up tonight, Eden would still be here.