WILLOW__I couldn't shake off the feeling something was wrong.Could be because I had slept thinking about Lev's parting words. What odd things happened this side? Puffing out my cheeks, I tried to cancel out my thoughts and the feeling of foreboding spreading around my chest.Looking around the small cottage, I set to thinking about my next course of action. I was Hecate's chosen, at least according to Allegra. The lycans didn't know that, but given the way Allegra had stationed witches around me for protection, the lycans must think I was important to her, and therefore to witches in general.And if that was the case, then, assuming they held her--or any witch--hostage; they'd be using me as incentive for confession. I wondered what lies they'd told them. That I had been taken to an intensive torture unit? That with each lie they told and each information they withheld, I'd have a limb cut from me?I grew sick. If it was so then I needed to get back to Chicago, to take away their o

WILLOW__The door suddenly came open and I paused in spreading the linen on the dinning table.Lan leant his broad shoulder against the doorframe, folding his hands before him. There was... something different about him, but I couldn't tell what.His deep voice filled the small space. "How were you able to communicate with your people?"Turning away, I resumed what I'd been doing before he came in. Uncaring of whether or not he'll believe me, I said, "Through my dreams. Allegra had a dream-walker reach out to me.""So I'm guessing the plan was to give them the code to the refuge so they'd come in and launch a surprise attack on us."I pasted a smile on my face. "Again, you guessed right."He nodded, then as if quoting someone, he said, "I could not have known your people were coming, and you would have just remained with me until they did... right?"Growing stiff, I looked at him. What was he implying? Averting my gaze,

Decan and his companion left shortly, and Lan went out the door, his shoulders tense. I went out to meet him standing near the moonlit forest, staring up at the dark skies.As if hearing me approach, he said in a deadened tone that had my throat tightening, "It's all been a lie." He laughed humorlessly. "All this time I've accommodated the very person that killed my mother, ate at the same table with him, laughed, shared toasts... Goddess, I was so blinded by hate. I...I could have conducted a proper investigation, I could h--"Walking up to him, I passed my hands over his shoulders gently. "Lan... Don't beat yourself up. You couldn't have known..."My voice trailed up when I felt a shudder wreck his huge form. He pinched the bridge of his nose and when his shoulders heaved, I realized he was crying.My eyes stung and I went over to stand before him. Wounding my arms around his shoulders, I hugged him to me tightly. After a while he buried his face in the

Lan was insatiable.Throughout the night, he'd woken me up at different intervals with a few whispered words, passionate touches and hot kisses to have his wicked way with me. Even now he nuzzled the side of my neck. "How do you feel?" he murmured into my ear.The early morning rays of sunlight teased the side of my face. Blinking open my groggy eyes, I looked up to meet his green gaze. They were the brightest I'd ever seen them. His face and composure reeked of satisfaction and happiness, and for a brief moment, a memory of him as a boy flashed across my mind.Reaching up, I pushed a few stray locks away from his forehead and smiled at him. "A bit sore," I admitted.He gave a small, apologetic smile, passing his thumb over the side of my face. "I'm sorry I kept you up last night."The tips of my ears reddened. "Well... I'm not complaining."A smile stretched his sculpted lips, and at the memory of those lips on me, I grew hot.

LAN__The next day Lev took me over to the mines.His voice sounded beside me as we trudged along the snowy tracks. "Now, Mikhail is not... I will say, the friendliest of persons. He can be a mean son of a bitch sometimes but as long as you work good, he will not disturb you."Although the lycan in me despised answering to anyone, I nodded quietly to his statement, saying nothing more. I needed to make money, so I would make it regardless of any obstacles... or nuisances I might face. Coming out of my thoughts, I tried to focus on what Lev was saying."...We had gone to the same secondary school. I was a bit surprised seeing him here after all those years. Turned out he was inheriting family business at the mines."Before I could say anything, the loud sound of drilling and metal on hard rock had me raising my head. Ahead of us, a large cliff rose into the horizon, blocking out the early morning rays of the sun.Lev muttered beside m