"She returns." There was a sarcastic bite to Dáithí's voice as Rhia opened the door to her mother's villa. "I guess I should thank you for not making me track you down this time."

His words stung, but she couldn't blame him for thinking it. She had been something of a flight risk the last five months. But even she could admit that this time was different. "I did text you," she reminded him. "Dinner was still on. You were still invited. Why didn't you come?"

"Right. A text message. Not even worthy of a phone call now."

An eerily familiar sense of overwhelming anxiety and guilt washed through her. This felt like something Church would do. Bile rose in her throat at that. Dáithí wasn't Church. He would never do something like that. Yet, still, she had the sudden feeling like she needed to apologize for nothing. "Look, I'm sorry," she sighed, just hoping to keep the peace and move on. "I really wasn't ignoring you. A lot has happened. There's so much I need to tell you."

"Well, it's your turn to wait." Dáithí got up from the couch and started for the door. "I'm not in the mood to hear about your latest bender."

"Don't do that. I haven't had anything to drink in a week."

"Oh, look at that. The little bird finally got her shit together."

Rhia grabbed his wrist as he passed and forced him to stop. He turned on her, ripping free of her grip and raising it in another terrifyingly familiar way, and she flinched. "I went to see Keoni," she said quickly. "He told me what you did to him and Ares. Is it true?"

It was brief, but that flicker in his eyes was definitely fear. It was gone the next second, and his lip curled up in a snarl. "That old cripple is full of stories," he spat. "How the hell should I know what he told you?"

"God damnit, Dáithí, I just want to know the truth. Why can't you just be straight with me?"

"I have always been straight with you!"

"Then tell me! Keoni said you used his mating to Ares as a tactic against the bond. If he was lying, this is your chance to defend yourself."

"Why should I have to defend myself to you? I thought we were friends."

"We are. Of course, we are, but... Dáithí, I don't want to believe it. But Keoni hasn't ever given me a reason not to believe him."

"Hasn't he? He's as bad as the dragons, Rhia. Remember, he uses the bond. Juniper is bound to him, not Ares! A slave commanding slaves under the guise of a sham relationship!"

"So, it is true?"

"I'm hardly the only one to think it! I was just the only one brave enough to say it! Might I remind you that you thought the same!"

"I never said that them both being male was the problem! Or a problem at all! My best friend is gay, can't you see that's where I might have an issue?"

"The same best friend that abandoned you for being a dragon. Keoni is no better. He turned his back on his own kind when he lifted his tail for a dragon!"

The pure venom in his voice when he said that last word. Dragon. For the first time in the year she had known the truth, she felt like that was directed at her as much as the others. It hit her so hard, she actually took a step back away from him, staring up at the darker side of a man she thought she knew. "What does that say about you?" she hissed. "A little hypocritical, don't you think?"

"Oh, come off it!"

"What? You were ready to stick your dick in a dragon last week!"

"You're not a dragon! You're not one of them!"

"Well, thank God for that."

She turned away and stormed down the hall to the bedroom, tears brimming in her eyes. Dáithí stomped after her, stopping in the doorway and watched her scoop up a pile of dirty clothes and throw them into an open suitcase. "What are you doing?"

"Packing. I'm going home."

"Because of my feud with the dragons? You've always known about that, what's gotten into you?"

"Hard as this may be to believe, Dáithí, but this actually has nothing to do with you being a homophobic dick."

She tried to squeeze past him to get to the bathroom, but his hand slammed against the doorway to stop her. "I think this has more to do with me than you're willing to admit."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" His voice had lowered into a husky growl, and his free hand brushed the wild strands of hair from her eyes. She tried to swat him away, but he gripped her by the back of the neck and wrenched her closer. "I poured my heart out to you, Rhia. I told you everything I was feeling for you and what I wanted. You're doing what you've always done. You're running away."

"No," she tried to pull away again, but he held her still. "Dáithí, you don't underst-"

"Oh, I understand perfectly. I have always been there for you, little bird. When you needed someone to lean on, a shoulder to cry on, someone to tell you everything is going to be alright, you came to me. We've spent a year together. Are you really going to look me in the eye and tell me that you feel nothing?"

"I don't-"

"Bullshit." He tugged her even closer until her whole body was pressed into his and lowered his mouth to hover a breath away from hers. "I have watched you push everyone away for the last five months. Your mother, Nekros, Nova... everyone except me. You always come back to me. You kissed me the other night. You wanted me."

"I was drunk..."

"Not that drunk. Just drunk enough to reveal the truth. I can't watch you destroy yourself anymore. I can't watch you lie to yourself. Just tell me the truth. Say the words. I love you, Rhia. Tell me you love me too."

Tears were streaming down her face. Dáithí didn't move or allow her to move as he waited for her to answer. Two words came out in little more than a whisper. "He's alive."

He stared at her, his eyes opening wider and wider as her words sank in. "What did you just say?"

"He's alive, Dáithí. Nolan's alive."

Dáithí staggered back, a mix of disbelief and fear taking over his expression. "That's... that's impossible..." he breathed. "He can't be..."

"I know, it sounds insane," she insisted. "But he's out there. I know he's out there. That's what we were talking about at dinner."

"We? Who knows about this?"

"Everyone. My mom, Nekros, Nova, Atticus and Zesstra, Nolan's family... We have a lead, Dáithí. A lead on the Organization. We don't have to keep waiting for Maddy to call us, we finally have something to look into ourselves!"

"What lead?"

"Me, Dáithí. They call it the Entity Program. Me and nineteen other kids were stolen from our parents and raised by the Organization to do their bidding. I'm not the only one! That's why I'm going back to California. Bastian and Atticus and I are going back to the facility in Tahoe where they took us. Nekros and Ares are gathering the other dragons and are going back to the Mongolia site. There has to be something we missed."

"What does any of this have to do with Nolan?"

"I met one of the other entities. She can feel him. He's alive!"

Dáithí was quiet for a minute, staring at her intensely and a muscle in his jaw working slowly. "This is insane, Rhia," he shook his head. "Nolan is dead."

His words were like a sledgehammer to her heart. She hadn't expected this from him, of all people. She expected Ares and Keoni to let her down gently. She even expected her own mom to try and make her see sense. Not Dáithí.

"You're putting your faith in someone from the Organization. I shouldn't have to tell you how stupid that is. What real evidence do you have that he's alive? What real, physical proof do you have that you can show me right now that we should believe them?"

"I... I don't..."

"Exactly. You don't have anything. What happens when you go to Tahoe and find nothing? What happens when Nekros comes back from Mongolia empty handed?"

"I don't... We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"No, Rhia, cross it now! Just stop and think about it for a fucking second! Are you going to go back there, put yourself through that again, make Nekros go back to the place he was held captive for thirty years for a hunch? When you find nothing, what next? Another four months of drinking yourself into an early grave?"

"Don't do that. Don't say that, please, Dáithí, I need-"

"I know you need me!" he roared suddenly, and the entire house shook with his anger. "You have always needed me, and I have always done right by you! Apparently, I'm the only one with enough sense to tell you the truth. He's gone. He's dead."

"He's not... I know he's still alive... Dáithí, he was your best friend. Please..."

Dáithí stepped up to her again, brushing the tears from Rhia's cheeks with his thumb. None of the warmth she had come to expect from him was there. His eyes glowed faintly with cold anger and sending shivers of dread down her spine. "If you do this," he whispered. "You're on your own. When Nekros, Madeline, and everyone else give up, I will not be there to hold you up. I will not be your crutch. I will not feed into this delusion. He's dead, Rhia. Nolan's gone. It's time to accept that."

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, and then he was gone. The front door slammed closed a moment later, leaving her in complete, oppressive silence.

Wiping away the tears, Rhia took a deep, shuddering breath. Instead of breaking, her heart hardened. She meant what she told Keoni. Nothing would stop her. Not the Organization, not the dragons... no one. Nekros and Madeline's support were appreciated, but she would have done this without them. It was going to be hard, but she could do this without him. Apparently, she had to do this without him.

Squaring her shoulders, Rhia went back to cleaning and packing. She couldn't waste any more time feeling sorry for herself.

A mile away in the middle of an empty field, Dáithí stopped running. Doubling over, he sucked in gasps of air. It couldn't be possible. It couldn't be. He closed his eyes and played back the events of that night.

Nolan: covered in blood and curled in pain as the vampiric magic was ripped from his body, desperately trying to call for help. Calling for Rhia. For the woman he never should have been with. He stopped breathing. His heart had stopped. He was dead! He had to be dead.

Except he didn't die. He came back. That lightning magic was stronger than what should have come from a yfeerie. Stronger than Ainsley, his mother. It was almost on par with Valkyr's power.

Standing straight again, Dáithí pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a number he thought he'd never have to call again. The call connected on the second ring, but there was no greeting. "They lied to us," he told her. "The Organization never killed Nolan. He's alive and Rhia knows."

"That sounds like you have a problem, little snake," she drawled in a bored tone. "Hard to convince a girl to love you if she thinks her real lover is still alive."

"It's going to be your problem soon enough. She's convinced Nekros and Ares. They're going back to the two facilities they do know about. How much do you actually trust the Organization to have kept you off of their records? How sure are you that you wiped your presence from the Tahoe site after setting me free? Like it or not, hell-witch, we're in this together."

She let out a long, disgruntled sigh of exasperation. "Well, it's a little sooner than I expected. But I suppose I have no other choice."

"What are you going to do?"

"Don't concern yourself with the details, Dáithí. We did prepare for this, remember? Go to America and make sure they don't find anything they're not supposed to."

"How am I supposed to do that? I just called her insane and told her I wasn't getting involved!"

"I don't care," there was anger in her voice now, and an unwilling shiver rushed down his spine. "It's no skin off my back if the girl never spreads her legs for you."

"Listen here, you-"

"No, you listen," her snarl cut him, and he was sure he could feel her power through the phone. "Don't forget your place, little snake. You think we're in this together, but the reality is that you need me a great deal more than I will ever need you. So, how's this for a plan; keep the girl from finding anything or I will kill her. Tell her the truth, and she will hate you until the end of her days, which there will be very few of because I will hunt her down and rip her apart. Tell the other dragons, and they'll kill you while I tear out her throat. No matter how you look at it, if you want your precious little whore to live, then make sure she stays ignorant of my involvement. Are we clear?"

Dáithí growled. "What about Nolan and the Organization?"

"As I said, don't worry about the details. Are. We. Clear?"

"Crystal."

She hung up, leaving him in the silence of the field. It took every ounce of his control not to crush the phone. "Damn you," he spat at the ground, wishing for it to be Nolan's face at his feet. "Why are you always in my way? How many times do I have to kill you for it to finally fucking stick?"

~