Drake set down the duffel he was carrying and pulled her against him in a gentle embrace. She didn’t fight it even though she knew she should. Relying on him for comfort brought them one step closer together. It brought her one step closer to falling for him.

“I need to find her, Helen. I need her.”

Drake’s head shot up too fast for her not to notice. “Need her how?”

Zach’s pale eyes slid to the side. “I need to touch her. Be near her. I don’t get it, but that doesn’t seem to matter. I need her.”

“I know exactly how you feel.” Each word was slow and precise. “That’s how I felt when I saw Helen. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“What can’t be?” asked Helen, confused.

“I want to believe, but if you’re wrong, I’m not sure I could take it,” said Zach.

“You have to find out,” replied Drake.

“Find out what?” asked Helen.

“If Lexi is like you. Like us.”

Zach ran a wide hand over his face. “Man, don’t even say it. You’ll jinx it.”

The side of Drake’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “Are you superstitious now?”

“If it works, hell yes.” Zach looked at Helen. “You’ve got to help me find her.”

“I don’t know how. I wish I did. I don’t like the idea of her running around out there on her own.”

Zach pressed a hand to his chest as if it hurt. “Neither do I.”

“Maybe Nicholas can help.”

“He hasn’t been able to so far. I was counting on Helen knowing something more.”

Helen felt a twinge of guilt that she couldn’t help, and a whole pile of concern for Zach. He looked wildly desperate and a little sick to his stomach. “I’m sorry. I wish I did.”

“If you think of anything else, even something small, will you tell me?”

“I promise.”

A gentle pressure surged around her. She’d felt it before when she’d given her word. It was strange.

“You’ve got to quit doing that,” warned Drake. “You’re going to get yourself in trouble making so many vows.”

“I didn’t hear you complain when you were at the receiving end,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, well, there are a lot of things that you can do with me that I don’t want you doing with the other men.” A delightfully wicked light warmed his eyes, and Helen felt her body soften in response.

She was going to need to build up some serious barriers if she was ever to have a chance at keeping her distance. One look like that from him and she was ready to find a nice, quiet spot and get naked with him for a few hours.

“I’d like that,” he told her in that dark voice that melted her insides.

Drake ran a finger over her cheek and across her bottom lip. Helen’s eyes shut against her will, and her tongue reached out to touch him.

A man she didn’t recognize walked up to them and cleared his throat. “They’re waiting for her.”

Drake sighed heavily. “Right. The ceremony.”

Helen’s stomach tightened in a sudden rush of anxiety. “What ceremony? No one said anything to me about a ceremony.”

She was dressed in a pair of borrowed sweatpants and a sloppy T-shirt. Not exactly ceremonial attire.

“It won’t take long,” Drake assured her. “The Theronai want to meet you and welcome you into our family.”

Well, that didn’t sound too bad. In fact, it sounded kinda nice.

Chapter 16

It was not nice at all. This ceremony was a disturbing combination of half-naked men, blood, and guilt. “I’m going to kill you for this,” whispered Helen under her breath to Drake.

He merely smiled, looking proud that he had the chance to display her in front of his makeshift family.

Yet another shirtless, tree-tattooed man came to the front of the room where she stood next to Drake. He drew his sword, knelt at her feet, and sliced open his chest, vowing, “My life for yours,” in a reverent tone.

There were over a dozen Theronai here and each one of them went through this same process. Each time they uttered those words, she felt them weighing down upon her. Each man’s promise to give his life in defense of hers was not an idle one.

Thomas had proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. These men would die to save her and she hated it. She wanted to scream at them to stop being stupid. Her life was nearly over and not worth saving. Even if she wasn’t fated to die soon, she still would have hated their violent promise. They were much stronger than she was. Braver. More capable of fighting off the Synestryn. The world needed them a lot more than it needed her.

Drake leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You’re more valuable than you realize. I’m going to prove that to you.”

Yeah, right after he taught pigs to fly.

Another man stepped forward. He was leaner than Drake, but still beautifully muscled. He had dark hair and bright green eyes that glittered with intelligence. As with most of the men here, only a few leaves clung to his tree—his lifemark, Drake had called it.

Unlike the other men, he smiled at her. “Thank you for choosing to join us,” he said.

“Choosing?” Helen gave him a blank look. She hadn’t been given any choice about being at this ceremony, but she wasn’t about to tell him that.

The man frowned, addressing Drake. “You forced her?”

Drake tensed and Helen could feel a single throbbing pulse of anger push into her before he shut down the connection. “The final decision to take my luceria was hers.”

“And she knew what that meant? Both to her and to you?”

Drake’s jaw bunched and he remained silent.

“What is he talking about, Drake?”

The man turned to her and his eyes slid down to the luceria. She noticed a lot of the men looking there and wasn’t sure how to feel about it. She was used to men staring at her breasts, but these men seemed more interested in her necklace. She was trying not to be insulted.

“Did Drake explain to you what wearing the luceria means? Not just to him, but to all of us?”

“Uh. Kind of.”

She could hear Drake’s teeth grinding together.

“Did he tell you what will happen to him if you ever take it off?”

Helen’s head snapped around in time for her to catch Drake’s furious blush. He was beyond angry, all the way to pissed. “Enough!” he barked. “It is not your place, Paul.”

“The hell it’s not. Someone has to tell her what’s going on. She should have known before she made the commitment.”

“There wasn’t time.”

“There’s always time to allow someone free will. You violated her,” said Paul.

Helen didn’t feel violated. Afraid? Sure. Confused? Absolutely. But not violated. “I really don’t think this is the time or place to be having this discussion,” she told them. “There are still three more men waiting to bleed and I’d really like to get this over with.”

Paul looked back to her and bowed his head. “Of course, my lady.”

Lady? Where had that come from?

Before she could ask, Paul drew his sword, knelt, and gave her his oath to die for her. Of all the promises she’d been given today, his was the weightiest. She had no idea why that was.

Then he held up his hand to her. The ring on his left hand vibrated visibly and began swirling with more red than any other color.

“I could claim her, too, Drake. Remember that when you tell her the rest of the truth. She may decide to choose a man who would never lie to her.”

“I never lied to Helen,” snarled Drake.

“You didn’t give her the whole truth. It’s the same thing.”

Helen was swiftly getting creeped out. She grabbed Drake’s arm. “What is he talking about?”

Drake looked down at her with something nearing fear in his golden brown eyes. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but now is not the time.”

Paul gave Drake a sneering smile. “No. I’m sure you don’t think so.”

“Leave us,” ordered Drake.

Paul looked at Helen with those kind eyes of his and she felt a small, strange tug. “I’ll leave, but I won’t go far. All you have to do is call my name and I’ll hear you, Helen. I’ll hear you and I’ll come for you.”

Paul hurried from the room while he could still walk. Once outside in the hallway—out of sight—he leaned against the wall for support and pressed the heel of his hand against his chest. Sweat broke out over his skin and his knees no longer wanted to hold his weight. Pain pounded against his ribs with every beat of his heart until even breathing was difficult.

Helen could have been his. She could have saved him. But Drake had found her first.

After lifetimes of pain and loneliness, his people had found a woman who could end his suffering and she’d chosen another man.

Not that Drake had given her much choice, apparently. Then again, it was hard to blame Drake for his actions when part of Paul wanted to charge back in to the ceremony and cut Drake down where he stood. Then Helen would be free to join him. End his pain.

A sharp, stabbing sensation in his chest drove the breath from his body. He fell to one knee and looked down at his still-bare chest, half expecting to see a blade sticking out of his ribs. Instead, he watched as a leaf fell from his lifemark and landed in the ever-growing pile at the base of his tree.

His soul was dying. He was running out of time.

“I can help,” came a deep voice from a shadowed doorway across the hall.

Paul looked up and found Logan lurking not ten feet away. The Sanguinar’s silvery blue eyes glowed with predatory hunger and Paul’s hand strayed to his sword. He’d been avoiding Logan for days, ever since Sibyl—who saw visions of the future—had told him that he should accept the Sanguinar’s offer when it came. He didn’t want anything Logan had to offer. He didn’t trust any of the Sanguinar, especially Logan. As far as he was concerned, the Sanguinar would sell out every one of the Theronai if it suited them.

Logan held up his hands in surrender. “No need for violence. You look a bit under the weather. I merely meant to offer you my assistance.”

As weak as he was, Paul found the strength to sneer at the bloodsucker. Logan’s kind were growing more desperate each day and although many Sentinels were convinced that a race so beautiful and charming would never harm them, Paul wasn’t fooled. The Sanguinar were as dangerous as they were cunning. The peace their people enjoyed now would not be a lasting one. “I don’t need anything from you, leech.”

Logan didn’t even flinch at the insult; then again, he’d heard it before. “Are you sure?” His eyes slid to Paul’s lifemark and back. “It would appear otherwise. If my guess is right, then the brief contact you’ve had with Helen is likely going to speed up the rate at which your lifemark is shedding its leaves. By my count, you’ve got six left. That doesn’t leave you much time.”

A spike of panic made Paul’s stomach turn. What if he was right? Rumors said that Logan had actually looked into Helen’s mind. What had he seen there? Was she as beautiful inside as she was out? Did she truly care for Drake or did Paul have a chance? For the first time in his life, Paul envied one of the Sanguinar. “As gifted a healer as you may be, not even you can change that.”