“Safe? I think you’re overlooking something.”

“Believe us; once we’ve eliminated her, you and your brother and sister will be safe.”

Haven shook his head. “Yeah. From her.”

At his words, Yvette suddenly realized what he meant. He was right. They weren’t safe. They would never be safe.

“How about all the other witches out there who know about the prophecy? What makes you think they won’t come after us too?”

When Yvette heard the collective curses of her colleagues, she knew they understood the threat as well as she did.

“The only way to eliminate her and any other witch who might try to steal the Power of Three is if Wesley, Kimberly and I harness it ourselves.”

At Haven’s suggestion, all her colleagues jumped up, their angry voices talking and shouting over each other.

“Out of the question!”

“Fuck, no!”

“Over my fucking dead body!”

“I won’t allow it.”

“No way!”

“SILENCE!” Samson yelled and everybody shut up instantly. He looked into the round and then at Haven. “I’m afraid we can’t let you do that. Any attempt at harnessing the Power of Three, and I’ll give the order to kill one of you.”

Yvette looked into Samson’s eyes, realizing how hard the words were for him. Samson wasn’t a killer, but he had to protect his friends and his family. She understood that.

“Oh, I see,” Haven snapped. “You want the power for yourselves, don’t you? So you’re the ones who rule!”

“Even if I wanted the power, which I don’t, there’s no way I could take it.” Samson looked at Francine. “Explain it to him.”

“Only a human body can harness the power of a witch. No demon. No vampire. Samson is right. Even if he wanted the power, his vampire body wouldn’t be able to contain it. No witch power can survive in a nonhuman body.”

A sign of relief crossed Haven’s handsome features, the frown on his face lessoning, the tense jaw relaxing somewhat.

“Then why not let us harness it and make sure it’s safe forever? Or will one of us die if we do it?”

Samson shook his head. “No, only if the power is stolen from you, then the weakest of you will die. However, no side can be allowed to have ultimate power.”

“We promise we won’t harm you,” Kimberly claimed.

Samson gave her a soft smile. “You say that now. But once you have the Power of Three you’ll want to use it. The temptation will be too powerful to resist. Even if you believe now that you’ll never harm us, you will. We can’t risk it.”

Francine nodded. “Samson is right. Even resisting the power when it’s close is virtually impossible. Once it’s within your grasp, you’ll want to have it. And you’ll want to use it for your own purposes. You have to have a pure heart to be able to resist. And let’s face it, nobody really has that.”

Kimberly pouted at the explanation.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Haven asked, looking deflated.

His blue eyes searched for Yvette. A pleasant tingle swept through her body when their gazes connected. She wanted to give him assurances that he had nothing to fear from her friends, but with an audience around her who was watching her every step she felt paralyzed and couldn’t bring herself to give him the words he was looking for.

Gabriel cleared his throat, forcing her to break eye contact with Haven. “Okay, here’s the plan: we separate the three of you. Kimberly will stay here at Samson’s house under the protection of Samson and Amaury. Wesley will come with me, Maya and Oliver. We’ll protect him at my house. That leaves Haven. He’ll be protected at Thomas’ house. Zane and Eddie will be there too.”

Yvette noticed that her name had conveniently been left out of the equation. “I’m staying at Thomas’ house too.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “That won’t be necessary.”

Yvette took a step toward her boss. “If you think I’ll leave Haven under the supervision of Zane, you don’t know me at all. He’s tried to kill him once.” She gave her bald colleague a sideways glance. “No offense, Zane, but you’re a loose cannon.”

Zane only answered with a low growl.

“Zane knows not to harm our guests,” Gabriel assured her.

“Don’t mind if I check on that myself?” She wouldn’t be talked out of this.

“Fine. One more bodyguard won’t hurt.”