“Thank you,” I whispered, feeling suddenly shy. “I . . . I . . .”

“You need to heal, and whatever it takes, we are here for you.” Trillian chucked me under the chin. “But for now, I think you need food and sleep.”

I nodded. “I can’t sleep alone tonight. Smoky, will you allow Trillian to share the bed with us? I know this is your barrow, but . . .”

Smoky let out a soft rumble. “Always, as you wish. But Morio is right. We all need dinner.” He handed me my bathrobe and I slid into it, tying the belt firmly around my waist. The soft silk felt smooth against my back and, with a swish of material, I headed for the living room. Morio eased himself into a wheelchair and wheeled himself behind me, as they brought up the rear.

Iris had managed to somehow turn the small kitchen into a full food factory, and now a gleaming platter of stew sat on the table, while Rozurial and Vanzir set out paper plates and plastic utensils. Trillian hurried to take a bowl of dinner rolls from her, and as soon as everything was on the table, we dug in. Trillian brought a plate to Morio, and Delilah brought one to me. As I was sitting there, I saw Menolly over in the corner, her gaze fastened on Morio. He was looking at her, too, and my stomach thudded.

One more thing to deal with—the blood she’d given to him in order to heal him had created a sexual bond between the two, and now they had the hots for one another. I wasn’t too concerned. Though I really preferred that my husband not fuck my sisters, if he had to, at least Menolly would do her best to keep from hurting him. But right now, I didn’t want to be worrying about walking in on them, along with everything else.

I sauntered over to Menolly. “The pull still there, huh?”

I swear she blushed, though vampires don’t. She shrugged. “Yeah, but we’ve got it under control. And with what’s going on, I’m not about to do anything to make your burden heavier.”

“If it happens . . .” I turned to her and looked her straight in the eyes. “If it happens, I won’t blame either of you. I prefer that it doesn’t, but I’m not going to throw fits. We’ve seen the result of that . . .”

This whole mess had driven home the fact that there were some things not worth throwing tantrums over.

Menolly nodded, then hung her head. “Though the connection is compelling, to be honest, I normally wouldn’t find him all that attractive. Roman—yes. But he’s a vampire, and when it comes to the boys, I want someone I can toss around. I fully understand this is an unnatural bond. But you . . . how are you doing?”

I slid into a chair by her side, quietly enjoying the stew. “Honestly? Angry. More angry than anything. The pain makes me angry, the bruises make me angry . . . the knowledge that he’s been inside me without my consent—makes me angry. I’ve never felt so much anger. Not since you showed up at home and we realized what Dredge had done to you.”

Menolly laid her hand on mine. “You helped save me from what he had planned. Nobody could save me from him, but you stopped his plans for me. I’ll never forget that. And I intend to repay you.”

Chase meandered over, a strange look on his face. He’d put down his plate, and now he rubbed one temple. “I feel rather strange,” he said. “Does anybody have any aspirin?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, we can’t take aspirin. Maybe Sharah is carrying some—” But as I spoke, he started to crumple and hit the floor with a thud. I jumped up, looking around wildly for Sharah, who was over in the corner with Delilah. “Sharah! Stat—now. Chase just fainted.”

She raced over and knelt down by his side, feeling his pulse. “Thready, fast . . . weak.” A hand on his forehead, and she wiped it on her jeans. “He’s sweating up a storm. Could be from him being out on the astral so long, and not used to the magic it took to get him there. I need to get him back to the FH-CSI for some tests. What’s the quickest way to get him there?”

Smoky stepped forward. “I can take the two of you through the Ionyc Seas. I’m not sure how it will affect him, but if you want him there without a ninety-minute drive, especially in this weather, then you’d better let me take you.”

She nodded. “Help me get him up.”

Smoky swept Chase up in his arms. “Climb inside my coat and put your arms around me. I’ll carry him. It will be safer.” To me, he said, “I’ll be back shortly. Don’t let anyone in until I get back.” Before I could say a word, the three of them vanished, as if they’d never been there.

I shook my head. “I have no idea. But I don’t even want to think about what might be wrong. He was out on the astral for a long time. We should have made sure Sharah looked him over. Too much has been going on.”

Vanzir sidled over. “I have news,” he whispered. “But we have to go outside. Need to make a phone call.”

I bit my lip. “Shade’s going with us.”

“Sure. I’d welcome the big guy. The fact is, I can no longer be counted on to protect you, not without my powers. I’ll get him.”

As Vanzir moved back through our ever-expanding household, I slid my cape around my shoulders, then wandered over to the door and opened it, staring out into the darkening evening. Snow drifted down, softly kissing the ground, and the chill of the night embraced me like a silken shroud. I put on a pair of slippers and stepped outside, turning my face up to the flakes that whispered past.

So much had happened. So much was still happening. I longed for the comfort of our own home. For the familiar pattern we’d built over the months. For Maggie to be playing in her playpen near the stove, while Iris searched through catalogs for goodies she might want for the kitchen, and Delilah read computer magazines and watched trash TV.

As I leaned against the doorjamb of the barrow, staring into the darkness, I tried to wrap my mind around where we were. Chase was in trouble, and I had the feeling it was tied to his time in the spider freak’s house. But there wasn’t a damned thing we could do to help.

We were waiting on Hyto—and he’d find us, not the other way around, was my guess. And until he did, I was stuck with this fucking collar. Would it interfere with my initiation? Speaking of which, if I didn’t take care of this matter, would I even dare undergo an initiation at this time? What if Hyto came in charging, leveling Talamh Lonrach Oll?

At that moment, Vanzir and Shade appeared and we wandered out away from the barrow so Vanzir could put in his call.

“Carter left me a message and I didn’t have a chance to return his call till now.” He punched in the number to our main contact for the Demon Underground. I moved away, giving him privacy, and Shade followed.

“Do you know your dragon relatives?” I asked Shade. “Would they object to your relationship with my sister? It might be good to know up front if we’re only dealing with one set of insane in-laws.” I didn’t mean to sound snide, but I couldn’t help it. I was getting damned tired of bigotry. My own father refused to tolerate Trillian because he was Svartan. Smoky’s father hated me to the point of madness. The Rainier Puma Pride disapproved of Nerissa’s relationship with Menolly. We couldn’t seem to please anybody.

Shade held up one finger, then vanished back inside. Within seconds he’d returned, carrying a chair. “Sit down. I know you’re still pretty banged up.”

Grateful, I sat. “Thanks. You’re a sweetheart.”

He grinned. “I try to be.” Then, kneeling down by the side of my chair, the gorgeous man with the craggy scars leaned on one of the arms. “My family . . . my mother is dragon. My father was Stradolan. Not a common mix but one of the few you’ll see come out of the Netherworld. Black dragons live in the shadows; they run similar energy to the Stradolan and often pair up for working magic. My mother and father were one such pair. They fell in love during their work, and I am the result.”

“I knew you didn’t live in the Dragon Reaches.”

“No, shadow dragons do not put as much stock in the hierarchy that, say, silver or white dragons do. They exist in a slightly different plane than the rest of the Dragonkin. And Stradolan . . . how to explain—the Stradolan are solitary beings. We know and recognize our family, but seldom do we meet after we are grown and away from our parents. So my mother and father would not be averse to meeting Delilah or her sisters. They would be aloof, but no more than is their nature.”

I frowned, trying to wrap my head around the thought of an energy being falling in love with a dragon but then just stopped. It was no different than Smoky falling in love with me, or Morio and me.

“What about you? You don’t seem so aloof.”

He grinned then, and his teeth flashed brilliant white. “I was taken from my family very young and fostered in the Autumn Lord’s realm. He made me hang around the Death Maidens a lot. I learned very quickly how to interact. Especially when they used to play tricks on me.”

“So you grew up out of your natural element.”

Shade gave a little shrug. “Not so much. After all, Haseofon is a temple of the dead. The Autumn Lord is one of the Harvestmen, as well as being an Elemental Lord. But look, Vanzir appears to have finished his phone call.” He nodded at Vanzir, who was headed our way.

“I talked to Carter. He’s worried. He’s heard rumors of a rogue portal—roughly opened but usable—set up to the Subterranean Realms. It needs to be shut down, but first we have to find it. Someone mentioned they thought it was up in Shoreline, but there are also rumors that it’s over in the Lynn-wood area. Nobody really knows for sure.”

I stared up at him. “Crap. Has anybody been using it, do you know?”

“Yeah, Carter says that someone in particular slipped through who we’re going to want to know about.” He glanced around to make sure we were alone, then leaned close enough to whisper without being overheard. “Telazhar.”

My stomach flipped. A necromancer from the Scorching Wars down in the deserts of Otherworld—Telazhar had long ago been sent to the Subterranean Realms and there, he’d trained demons, including Stacia Bonecrusher.

“Is Carter sure? Telazhar, loosed on the general populace . . .” Suddenly Hyto didn’t seem like our biggest enemy. I looked up into Vanzir’s whirling eyes. “We’re in trouble. Big trouble.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I wish to hell I had my powers back.”

“I wish you did, too.” I hung my head. The Moon Mother had done as she saw fit, but I couldn’t figure out how taking away Vanzir’s powers—ones he was already conflicted about—had done anything to help us.

“I don’t blame you,” he said. “Trust me, Camille—I don’t blame you for anything. I’d give anything to take back what happened. But I can’t. I’ll do whatever I can to help, though. I’m still working on your side, powers or not, soul binder or not. I just hope Smoky decides to let me stick around.” He bit his lip. “I’ll never touch you again. I promise.”

I licked my lips, feeling awkward. “Vanzir . . . if the circumstances were different . . . I guess what I’m saying is that although I would undo what happened if possible, it’s not because of you. You were incredible. Never doubt yourself. Never worry about . . .”

He laughed, a little too harshly, but he was nodding. “Same to you, woman. Just don’t tell your fire-breathing husband I said that.”

I nodded, then turned to Shade, who had moved back to give us some privacy. “We’d better get back inside to tell the others the news.” Telazhar was a necromancer so powerful he’d make Morio and me look like dabblers.

As we headed inside, we were just in time to see Smoky appear. He held up his hand as Delilah started in with a flurry of questions about how Chase was doing.

“I stayed for a few moments to find out what I could. But Sharah has no clue. She said it will be morning before she’s able to finish a battery of tests. Meanwhile, he’s stabilized and not in immediate danger.” He took off his trench coat and hung it over a knob on the coatrack near the door. Turning to me, he held out his arm and I slid beneath the shelter of his embrace.

“Sharah hopes to have some news by tomorrow morning, Delilah—she suggested you call her around nine A.M.” He paused, then looked over at dinner. “I’m still hungry; if you’ll excuse me, I’ll finish eating.”

I realized that I’d skipped most of my dinner, too, and joined him at the table, filling up another plate. Iris volunteered to heat it up, but I shook my head.

“This is fine. But I have some news for everybody.” I looked around. “Where’s Hanna? I haven’t seen her since earlier.”

Menolly spoke up. “She was feeling punky, so we fixed up a bed for her in a little cubbyhole the first level down. She doesn’t mind—she said she was used to being stuck in a cave.”

“Yeah, well, that needs to end soon enough.” I let out a short breath. “She suffered at Hyto’s hands for five years, though not in the same way I did. But she lost more than me.” I thoughtfully chewed a mouthful of potato.

“What was it you had to tell us?” Delilah asked. She looked worn out. We all did. Living in Smoky’s barrow was going to crowd us, but we didn’t dare go home.

“Vanzir has something to tell us, actually. News. Not good. Bad, in fact. Real bad. Hang-on-to-your-hats bad.” I decided, why get their hopes up? We were already facing a world of hurt, might as well Band-Aid it and just yank it off fast.

Vanzir cleared his throat and told them what Carter had told him. When he finished, everyone sat there, staring at him. Then at me. Then all hell broke loose and the barrow was awash with voices.

After a moment, I slowly, painfully climbed on top of one of the chairs and let out a whistle. Delilah winced—her hearing always gave her trouble with shrill noises.

“Shut up. Everyone just shut up. There isn’t much we can do about it now. There isn’t much we can even discuss doing about it. Tomorrow, we put out feelers. Hunt around, see what we can find. We do our best to trace the rogue portal—but I guarantee you, Telazhar isn’t going to be hanging around waiting for us. I have no doubt he’ll make himself known, however.”

“Do you think he’s working for Shadow Wing?” Roz began to carry plates into the kitchen for Iris.

“I don’t know. Stacia was working to edge Shadow Wing out of his position. Telazhar trained her. Chances are he’s on a rogue mission, but then again—we can’t be sure.”

I tried to run through all the permutations. Telazhar could be working on his own, or for Shadow Wing. For all we knew, Trytian could have coaxed him to come over. No matter which way you cut it, it added up to a very dangerous sorcerer hanging around Seattle, and that just wasn’t going to fly.

“All we know is that he’s trouble and we can’t let him stay over Earthside. If he tries to make it back to Otherworld, they can deal with him—and will. He’ll be put to death if he tries to reenter OW.”

A knock on the door interrupted me. Smoky answered it, cautiously peering out into the night. Almost immediately, he pulled back and opened up the door, allowing Estelle and St. George to enter. Georgio looked up at Smoky and began to sputter, mingled wonder and fear spreading across his face. He’d recognized Smoky as a dragon from the first time he saw him. Sometimes those who walked with one foot in another world—whether it was the world trapped inside their own minds, or another realm—could see beyond the superficial.

“What brings you to my barrow?” Smoky asked.

Estelle shook her head, tears streaking down her cheeks. “Someone came to the house. Someone I did not recognize. He was average height, bald—except for a long ponytail hanging from the center of the back of his head—”

“Asheré! It’s Hyto’s snow monkey!” I turned to Estelle, panic rising. “What did he say? What did he want?”

“He indicated we’d better get out of the house if we didn’t want to be . . . how did he put it? Cannon fodder. He told us to bring you a message, Lord Smoky.”

Smoky looked seconds away from losing his cool. I took his hand in mine and held it tightly. He glanced down at me and I stepped closer to him, the barrow suddenly feeling all too exposed.

“He said to tell you that your sire is coming, and if you don’t want to see the surrounding area razed, you are to meet him in the clearing yonder—with Camille—tomorrow morning at dawn. If you don’t show up, then Hyto will begin to systematically destroy all the houses and humans around the area. And then he vanished.”

My breath caught in my chest, and the collar around my neck began to pulse. I reached for it, trying to yank it off, but it just throbbed, slow and steady, and I couldn’t breathe. I fell to my knees, gasping for air, the room spinning.

“Move, move and give her space,” someone said.

The words became a whirl as I fought for control, fought for consciousness. Hands lifted me and I wasn’t sure where they were taking me, but I found myself in a dark hall, staring down a long corridor. Behind me, Smoky and Trillian begged me to open my eyes, but something from the darkness beckoned and I felt that I had to go ahead, follow the trail of twinkling lights that spread out in front of me.

I teetered on the edge of a black, vast abyss, and then went spiraling into it, head first, swan-diving into dark sparkling night.

I hesitated, then—feeling no sense of Hyto nearby—decided to do as they asked. I’d reached the point where I had to run on instinct because I was certainly not in control of my life anymore. Everyone else was taking a bite out of me; maybe if I just gave in and did what they wanted, everything would be okay. Hell, the damned collar around my neck was proof that I no longer could count my life my own—not until it was off.

Allowing the sparkles to drag me along, I found myself almost giddy. I finally wasn’t fighting. I was giving in—letting the universe do what it would. Even though I was afraid, whatever happened would happen and I could only react. There was no control here to fight for.

The sparkles led me through the dark until I could see a ring of trees ahead. Were we outside? Inside? I didn’t know, but I followed the lights and suddenly found myself outside under the night sky.

The moon was still waning, a shadow in the night. She turned her face to me and smiled down onto the snow, through the icy chill. The sparkling mantle of white stretched through the silhouette of a woodland, mirroring the glittering stars that shone overhead. I could hear the beat of the land, the pulse of the magic that filled the area, and a whisper of elements swirled around me, a cacophony on the wind, weaving a dance as I approached the center of this mysterious glade.

I caught up my breath, squinting, curious as to where I’d been led. But then my questions were answered, for out of the towering trees stepped a figure tall as the sky, tall as a building. He stood astride two cloven hooves, his cock and balls enormous pendulums between his furry legs. His torso, gleaming under what light there was, led to a high and noble bearded chin, and atop a head of cascading locks, two spiraling horns rose high into the night.

“Herne,” I whispered, going down on one knee. When in the presence of a god—kneel.

His son, Tra, danced around him, piping a melody that ricocheted through my core, hitting my blood like silver wine, and I longed to follow it into the forest. I laughed, feeling awash in sight and sound and the touch of velvet magic on my skin.

“My daughter.” Out from behind one of the trees stepped my Lady, clad in a white gown that barely covered her thighs. Her breasts were full and ripe, heavy under her gown, her nipples raised with arousal. Herne held out his arm and she slid into his embrace. I caught my breath, the scent of their desire making me ache to join them.

“My Lady . . .” What could I say? What was I supposed to say? I greedily soaked in the energy, basking in their presence. I could become a living statue, stay here forever, root deep into the forest and let the ivy grow wild over me.

“You need our strength, my child.” The Moon Mother stepped over to me and gazed down, her eyes filled with sorrow. “I did what I could to help while you were in the dragon’s grasp. He is crafty, that one, and old, and treacherous.”

I nodded, tugging at my collar. “Can you release this for me?”

She pressed her lips together, shaking her head. “I would, but I cannot. Freeing yourself from his slavery is woven in the hands of your personal destiny, and not even the gods can challenge the Hags of Fate. There is a reason this has all happened to you, my dear, even if you do not see it now. Walk through the fire, and you will be far stronger than those who have tried to subjugate you.”

Nodding, I let her words ripple through me. No one—not the gods, not mighty heroes, and certainly not mortals—could win against the Hags of Fate. And the Hags of Fate worked within the balance of the realms, of the worlds.

They were the law of the universe, bringing chaos when order reigned too strong, enforcing law when chaos reigned supreme. I accepted the natural balance of life. Shadow and light, both had their place. Even when it hurt.

“What can you do for me, if anything?” I did my best not to sound expectant. Unlike many, I didn’t expect the gods to help me out of rough situations. That wasn’t their job. But I would happily accept all the help they could give if it meant getting even with the Big Bads. Especially Hyto.

The Moon Mother reached down and stroked my face, and the welts on my cheek vanished. She motioned for me to disrobe, and I did. A stroke from her hands and—though the bruises remained—they weren’t nearly so painful. A gentle palm between my legs, fingers rippling over the raw skin and abrasions Hyto had left me with, and their pain, too, faded, and I began to breathe easier. She then kissed my forehead and a river of silver began to run through me, filling me like summer rain. I reveled in the healing waters of her magic, soaking it in, bathing in the glimmering mist that foamed up around me.

“My daughter, listen to me. Sometimes when you give up control, you actually take control. Sometimes letting go means taking the lead. And sometimes fear is the only control someone has over us. Whatever happens, you are my child, and I am deep in your heart. You are my priestess. Kneeling in body can be a shallow gesture—kneel in your heart before those who deserve it. The Hytos of this world don’t need to know the difference—let them be damned.”

As she turned me toward the path, she leaned down and whispered, “Sex is my passion. Herne is one of my mates. Never let anybody take that passion away from you. They may abuse your body, but they cannot own your soul. Because I have first claim on it. And I yield my priestesses to no one.”

I found myself, cleansed and recharged, back on the path, following the trail of sparkles, down the tunnel.

A few moments later, I began to lose consciousness, and when I opened my eyes, I was on the bed, surrounded by my loved ones. The collar still chafed, but I knew—even though I still wore Hyto’s mark—he would never own me again.