“Thanks, sis,” she whispered, leaning up to press a kiss to my cheek. “Might take you up on that offer.”

“Plenty of room for all of you.” I cleared my throat as, to my mates, I asked, “Can I open up the East Wing for Lara, Todd and Cade?”

Even though all three of them were busy—Eli at the grill, Ethan reading to the kids, and Austin playing ball with the pack—they paused to arch their brows at me. Of course, that led to Austin being tackled by twenty kids, which made me and Lara chuckle, even though I knew she wasn’t privy to our conversation.

“Cade’s not happy leaving Grace and Knight,” I told them softly, and knew from their resigned looks, and without a word of reply, they understood the offer.

“Tell them they’re welcome. Don’t expect Todd to be as eager as Lara though,” Eli said gently, before he veered back to his conversation with Todd.

Ethan nodded, and Austin mumbled, “Make sure you put them in the rooms farthest away from us. We all know how noisy you are.”

I almost snickered at that. “And you three aren’t?”

“We’re running out of wings to stash all the kids and the family,” he complained as he managed to worm his way out of the pile-in.

“Stop grousing,” Ethan rumbled, “you get plenty.”

Heat sparked in my blood at that.

He sure did.

Austin, huffing as he managed to shuck off six pups who clung to him like he was a climbing frame, just sniffed and went back to doing what he was doing—playing with children who adored him.

A sight that made my heart melt because all their life, Ethan and Austin had been rejected by their peers. Yet, here they were, not only accepted, but surrounded by said peers’ offspring.

“You’re talking to them, aren’t you?” Lara asked softly.

“You felt it?” I knew that was something she could do.

She hummed. “Yep.”

“I was asking if I could let you have rooms in the east wing. On a permanent basis.”

Tension filled her, then it whooshed out of her as she peered at me. “You’d do that for us?” Her eyes were shiny with tears.

I squeezed her. “Why does that come as a surprise?”

“I don’t know. It just does. Thank you,” she rasped. “I’ll have a word with Todd.”

I nodded. “We don’t have to tell anyone. If his pack is funny about him being over here, I mean.”

“I don’t think they will be. They see how close Cade is to Grace and Knight. We haven’t kept anything from them. They know they’re mates.”

Whenever Cade did leave, I had to admit, it felt like we were tearing them apart. The ties between them were so tight, it was a wonder Daniel wasn’t in pain from the distance between him and them. Even if, at the moment, they could only be considered boring as he was a good twelve years older than the youngest, Cade.

As Knight broke my heart by pressing a kiss to Grace’s forehead, not a smack of a kiss like what he gave me, but a tender one, then by doing the same with Cade who was half-dozing as they leaned against a log at the edge of the wood where I saw Berry, my guard, and Lincoln—her twin pup that was pretty much welded to Knight’s side—protecting them, I heard Eli’s cell buzz.

He reached for it, even as he joked about something with Todd. When his gaze drifted to the screen, I felt his tension. Felt it like it was my own.

It was thicker than the steaks he was grilling.

Ethan and Austin focused on him too, and he sent, “It’s Henrick.”

Eyes widening as I registered the alpha of our twin pack in Miami, the pack who was sheltering Daniel and Seth, I waited with bated breath as he answered the call and began to stride toward the packhouse.

“It’s okay. Go,” Lara soothed, keying me into how many of the nuances between us she recognized. “I’ll watch over them.”

“Thanks, sis,” I whispered, hustling after my mate, aware that Ethan and Austin had my back.

As I walked through the patio doors to the formal living room where Eli was pacing, I leaned against the sofa I still hadn’t bothered changing since we used this room so little. The formal space suited the severity of the moment, and not even Austin slinking in behind me, supporting me, eased my tension any.

“You’re not serious,” Eli growled into the phone, making my heart pound with tension. “How did you let him get away?”

Sickness invaded me if Eli’s words meant what I thought they did.

Seth was in Miami to keep him and Grace apart. Daniel was there because he was Seth’s Mother-appointed guardian.

If Seth had run off, then we needed to shore up Grace’s defenses—

“Mother damn it,” Eli snapped, then he muttered, “Thank you for getting in touch so quickly, Henrick.”

Even though the other alpha had evidently fucked up and was busy apologizing, Eli cut the call.

“What is it?” Ethan demanded, his tone hard.

“Seth’s dead.”

Whatever news I’d expected, it wasn’t that.

“What? You’re kidding,” Austin blustered.

I shook my head. “I don’t believe it.”

Eli grunted. “Henrick said a maid went to his and Daniel’s room this morning when neither showed up for breakfast. Seth was on the floor, dead. Daniel was gone.”

“He’s missing?” Ethan questioned.

“Apparently.”

“He’ll be heading home,” I whispered, well aware that Daniel felt the ties that bound him to his mates keenly. It might have been creepy, but the last time he’d been here, when he’d looked at them, it was the same way Lincoln and Berry looked at the kids.

Like he’d slay anyone who even thought about hurting them.

His protective instincts were worse than mine where they were concerned, and I made a Momma bear look friendly.

“I’m not sure. It’s clear he thinks he killed Seth.”

Ethan snorted. “He’s done us all a favor.”

But I shook my head again. “Seth isn’t dead.”

Eli cast me a grim look. “He is, Sabina.”

“He isn’t,” I repeated, just as grimly. “You can think I’m crazy, but I know he’s alive.”

“Then they’re burying someone on a funeral pyre tomorrow who’s still living,” Eli retorted.

“I won’t believe it until it happens,” I whispered, something inside me rejecting this news with all of my being.

It wasn’t just a flight of fancy, wasn’t my gut. It was something deep in my bones, in my soul that told me the truth.

Seth wasn’t dead.

Not yet.

Whatever his role was in this world, he’d yet to play it, and that was the key here. No amount of wishful thinking was going to change this… Seth wasn’t dead.

And somehow, he’d fooled a pack and its alpha into believing he was.

Three

Daniel

With my shoulders hunched, and the hood of my sweater high so that it kept my face in shadow, I decided the state of my hunger required I have a filling meal.

I’d been subsisting on Cheetos and other junk since I’d left Seth’s dead body behind, only sneaking into diners as and when my stomach dictated it.