The werewolves and their zombie counterparts had spread through the territory, but they were being hunted. None would survive the night.

"Mine," Chloe repeated. "And I protect what's mine."

The queen bared her teeth. Then she yelled in Latin again, and the next instant, a column of dark smoke surrounded her.

And she disappeared.

Like a coward.

Forever

"I hate zombies."

"I hate ferals more than zombies."

Because, naturally, clearing their territory hadn't just been a matter of killing the undead the queen had brought back to life. There also were ferals at the borders.

Alexius had eventually shifted back because the lot of them stank. Biting them wasn't his idea of fun.

It took a while, but they finally had some peace and quiet. Well, they would when all the corpses were burned or buried, anyway.

"Should we call a cleanup crew?" Levi offered, once they'd piled up the zombie carcasses high and burned them all.

There had been about forty or fifty undead, and they couldn't get away with leaving them crawling about. The ferals, at least, didn't have to be handled in person.

"Marvelous idea. Perhaps they'll give us a multi-order discount."

They'd won. It was over, and they'd won.

Or rather, Chloe had won. Jesus, the woman was savage.

Avani was still fussing over her, treating her like her alpha. Which was exactly what Chloe was.

They'd rushed through Oldcrest to go find Greer as soon as the queen had been taken care of, but just as the fight was winding down, the woman had walked down the hill and helped with the fire spells.

Spotting Mikar dragging a wayward zombie to the fiery pit, he noticed the way his shoulder was sagging down.

"Ouch. Let me snap that into place before it heals at the wrong angle," Alexius offered, joining him and cracking it.

"Thanks, man."

“Lex?”

He turned, tilting his head, watching his mate—his fucking mate. That made so much sense, though it still blew his mind—her stunning smile lighting up every single one of her features. “You’re outside. You’re outside of Oldcrest.”

With everything going on, it hadn’t even registered when the fight had moved to the borders; he was firmly out of the Wolvswoods, somehow.

Shit. How?

“How…”

"Maybe it's the bond. Since I'm able to get out, you are too?" Avani guessed.

“Actually, probably not. I wasn’t allowed to tell,” Greer admitted, wincing. “I tried, many times, but my ancestors are nasty. They sent me migraines so acute I almost passed out every time I attempted to give you a clue. The way your spell works, it would only lift when you’d forgiven yourself. That’s why I pushed you to act on your attraction for Avani. I figured, if you could, even for one moment, see yourself like the rest of us see you, you’d stop beating yourself up for being a dreadful kid like, a thousand years ago. Literally.”

Alexius opened his mouth, and closed it again.

Holy shit.

He couldn't believe he'd been held back by a curse that fucking stupid. How the hell hadn't he worked it out?

Come to think of it, it made sense. His fucking father might have been an asshole, but he'd been smart enough to know that Alexius might learn control someday, and he might learn to help people; what he wouldn't naturally have learned was how to forgive himself for what he'd done.

And he hadn't, in a way. Not really. He was still sorry for the lives he'd taken a long time ago. He just ceased to beat himself up about it.

He intended to go forward with his life. Help people when he could. Enjoy the small things with his friends. Be happy in the arms of his mate. He would have been content doing all that in Oldcrest now. Not focusing on his captivity—and the reason behind it—had ended up freeing him.

He only had a minute to wonder at his own stupidity before a car approached Oldcrest from the main road. Soon, it swerved toward them as its driver spotted them.

The car should have clued him in; it was a pristine vintage Cadillac, so shiny it might as well have just come out of the factory. Its driver was something a lot older.

He came out, wearing a dark tailcoat and holding a walking stick that he didn't actually need. For walking, in any case. The sword inside it might have come in handy half an hour ago.

"What did I miss?" asked Fenrir Knox, the Immortal Wolf.

Avani yelped and rushed to his side before wrapping her arms around him.

Alexius might have pouted. Just a bit.

"Everything," he replied. "But your timing couldn't be more perfect. You have a pack to take care of, if you don't want us to clean it up for you."

Knox listened to their tale with an even expression, making no remark, though he did tilt his head and smile, observing Avani's mark.

"Helsing, hm? I guess you could have done worse. Possibly. If you tried very hard."

Avani laughed. "He's perfect. And perfect for me."

"I'm glad to hear it."

If Alexius wasn't mistaken, The Wolf wasn't just glad. There was something in his eyes a lot like envy.

Once they were done, he headed to the Wolvswoods, presumably to clean house. It was just as well; Alexius suspected there would be far less bloodshed that way.

A few minutes later, the screams coming from the woods suggested otherwise.

They headed back up to the hill in silence, until Chloe asked Sylvan,

"What was it with the sword, by the way? I felt strange when I got it."

The De Villier slayer grinned. "I was told you had some Enlightened blood, so I thought it might work for you. It's a divine instrument. Not a very powerful one; it belonged to a minor god I had to kill a while back. It's yours, my lady."

"Oh, I couldn't."

Sylvan shrugged. "I stole it from a corpse. Don't sweat it."

Alexius wrapped his arm around Avani's waist and smiled down at her.

A normal man might have asked her how she felt about all this. The battle. The marks on their shoulders. Their unbreakable link.

He didn't need to. He felt it; he felt her, and could listen to her unguarded thoughts.

He was hers, to have and to hold.

"You should get a dress for the wedding."

"Someone's getting married?"

He shrugged. "We are." He pointed to Chloe and Levi. "Just because these two are taking their time doesn't mean we should."

"I wouldn't mind a wedding." Levi winced. "She's the one making me work for it."

Chloe just laughed.

Avani tilted her head. "Maybe I should, too."

He dipped his head to her lips, and kissed her softly. "I'll work on it all night long. Wedding tomorrow. Deal?"

She was his and he wanted her in every possible way. Now. For the rest of time.

“Deal.”

He leaned in and grinned as her scent hit his nostrils, more enticing than ever. “Good, because you look just like my future wife.”

She laughed. “Dork. You really do have the worst lines.”

“It’s all good.” He winked. “You love me anyway.”

She didn’t even bother to deny it, which was just as well. Because over the course of the last month and a half, he somehow had completely fallen for his gorgeous, kind, sexy, strong, crazy wolf.

Meanwhile…

Diana felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her favorite short denim skirt. She ignored it. The next pocket was going to be hard, but she'd win. Today, she'd fucking win.

She was great at pool. She had a century of experience, dammit. That a shifter punk kid had beaten her every day for a week was unacceptable.

Just as she angled her cue, her phone rang again, distracting her as she was about to take the shot.

Ugh!

She pulled the cell out of her pocket and barked into it. "What?"

"Ms. Helsing?"

She didn't recognize the voice and the number had been hidden. Diana was all but ready to stuff the phone back into her signature suede.

"If you know who I am, you know what I'll do to you if you're wasting my time. Hang up or get on with it."

The man on the other end of the phone swallowed, but to his credit, he stayed on the line.

"Please excuse me if I'm interrupting."

That very much depended on the details.

"I'm Dennis Walters, ma'am. I work on the hill."

Ah.

There only was one hill worth mentioning in the entire world.

Her home.

The place where she hadn't set foot in hundreds of years.

It wasn't the first time someone called her from Oldcrest; she was a legacy—one of the only Helsings left in the world. She was also an ancient. Many times, her presence had been requested.

She had the exact same answer each time. No way, no how.

Diana had always been a needy child; not out of her own disposition, she'd just been rather sickly. So her mother had spent all of her time and energy on her, doing her very best to keep Diana alive until she was old enough to be turned—and ignoring Alexius in the process. Their father wasn't exactly the fatherly type either.

He'd gone off the rails after turning because no one had ever taught him better, or taken care of him. And it was her fault.

Alexius got lucky; he was cursed, rather than killed on sight. But Diana had made herself a promise then, and ever since, she'd stuck to it.

She'd never step a foot back home until her brother was allowed to leave it. It was her comeuppance, her way of paying her share of the guilt.

"I have a request that has been given to me by my father, and his father before him told him, too."

Diana's heart stopped, and resumed at the speed of light.

There was only one thing that she'd asked of the mortal residents of the hill.

"I was told to contact you by any means necessary, if Sir Alexius ever left town. Well, he and his mate are on their way to the airport as we speak, miss. Hello? Ms. Helsing? Anyone there?"