Nekros got to his feet, and Rhia followed slowly. "I know it may be difficult," he said with a warning growl and shifting to but himself between Rhia and the oncoming dragons. "But please try to hold your tongue. Let me handle this."

That wasn't going to be a problem. For all her outward disgust of him, Quin terrified her. Always had, from the moment she first met him. At least back then, he hadn't been openly hostile towards her. His dragon form looked to be made of pure gold and sunlight, and it put the light emitted by the earth's star to shame. From the earliest legends of the dragons, before they set the record straight, it had been believed that he had hatched from the sun itself.

He was a god. An omen of life and light that chased away the darkness.

Ra. Helios. Akycha. Soleil. He had a thousand names.

But Rhia only knew him as Quintiles Drakos. Dragon King. CEO of Drakos Security Group. A beloved figure amongst the kin, and a powerful man who held silent political standing all over the world. A ruthless businessman known to outbid every other company for the best security contracts and manipulate the wording of the documents to favor his own, personal needs.

Quin was not warm, but colder than Luna's ice. He did not encourage loyalty or respect, he demanded it. His command over his bound dragonkin was absolute and unquestioning. Disobedience was not tolerated from anyone, as proven by how willing he had been to kill Rhia, Nolan, and Cameron just for questioning him. For weeks, Quin had joined the rest of the Organization in her nightmares. What's worse was that he seemed to take sick pleasure in knowing just how scared she was of him.

Quin shifted feet away from the ground and landed without disturbing so much as a grain of sand. His humanoid form was no less imposing than his dragon. As large as Atticus at nearly seven feet tall, broad and heavily built. He towered over even Nekros, sun-yellow eyes burning in an attempt to intimidate them both.

It only half worked. Rhia immediately flinched away, but Nekros did not move. The Black Death had seen far worse than the Sun's infamous temper, and he had been dealing with it far longer than his young daughter. Of the many things he promised Rhia the first time they met on this very beach, one of them was to protect her from this man. He had not forgotten that, and he would uphold it no matter the consequence.

He was stronger now. Stronger than Quin could even comprehend.

Lysander moved to stand next to Nekros, a silent sign of solidarity and all but confirming that this wasn't going to be a fun gathering. Ares landed and took a spot somewhere between them, and Luna landed some fifty feet back. When she shifted, Rhia lost all focus on the others.

Luna didn't look right. She carried none of her usual swagger or flirtatious air. Instead of wearing whatever the latest fashion trend in freshman college classes, she wore a pure white, almost Grecian-style dress that went down to her toes and fingertips, covering every part of her that might be considered immodest. Her hair, which Rhia had only ever seen down and free in the wind, was twisted into an elegantly braided updo. There wasn't any sign of her heavy eyeliner or the dozen or so gold bracelets around her wrists.

The dress was light and flowy, and Luna was jaw-droppingly gorgeous... but it wasn't her. It was jarring.

"This conversation is long overdue," Quin said. His tone was deceptively warm and calm, yet a chill rippled down Rhia's spine. "It should have happened months ago. I foolishly believed giving your daughter and sister an opportunity to grieve their pets would be good for them in the long run. It seems that all it has done is softened the lot of you."

Lysander bristled angrily. "Pets?" he spat. "Gods above, Quin, have you no respect? They had their flaws, but Nolan and Constantine were loyal to us."

"And ants are loyal to their queens, but the queen does not stop because one of the workers dies. There is a bigger picture here, and greater responsibilities that have been neglected."

"You're right," Nekros responded coolly. "My primary responsibility is to my daughter. I have, in fact, neglected her needs for far too long. That is what I am trying to rectify now."

"You are ignoring your kin. When you disappeared, your kin were left unbound. More than half of them still are, and those who transferred their bonds back to you need guidance. The dragonkin of Europe are in disarray, and you're off chasing ghosts. It is time to realign your priorities."

"Nolan Wes lives, Quin. Erebus, yfeerie of the sun, your yfeerie, is alive."

"That yfeerie died the night he decided to live as a vampire. Nolan Wes died the night the vampire king was killed. The vampires are no longer our responsibility. They never should have been our responsibility. A dragon deserves far better than the likes of a blood-sucking pest."

"That's not up to you." Rhia wasn't able to keep her mouth shut, but she also wasn't able to bring her voice above a whisper.

Slowly, Quin turned his cold gaze on her. If she hadn't been frozen to the sand, she would have backed further away. The slight throbbing behind her eyes from a pre-existing headache intensified, and she subconsciously started rubbing her temples and avoided looking at him again. "Luna," he called to the woman behind him. "Come here and tell them what you told me."

Luna hesitated, but eventually turned towards them. Rhia waited for Nekros to react to the change to her outwardly appearance, but he didn't even bat an eye. She couldn't be the only one to think that was weird, right?

The Ice Queen came to stand at Quin's side and avoided looking anyone in the eye. "It was my magic that made vampires what they are," her voice was dull and listless, void of any real emotion. "Same with the werewolves. It formed a weaker version of the dragon bond that we have with the kin. I have always had a connection with both breeds, particularly with Eve and-"

She cut herself off before saying his name and glanced up at Quin. He nodded in what was likely meant to be a reassuring way, but an unsettling feeling grew in Rhia's chest.

"I also had a strong connection with the first turned. Eve's first mate and Nolan. The more that were made, the weaker the bond grew, but it was still there. I... I felt it with all of them, until..." her voice cracked just the slightest, but after a deep breath, she continued. "Until Eve died. Our bond broke, and so did the one connecting me to her people who were turned. Now my connection to the vampires is gone, too. I... I felt Nolan die. He's gone."

Again, she looked up at Quin for a brief moment, and this time he placed a heavy hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Again, it was likely supposed to be reassuring. Again, Rhia had the sudden urge to burn his hand off and get Luna as far away from him as possible. Finally, Nekros noticed that something was off, and his whole body went stiff as a board, and he was glowering at the hand on his sister.

"Luna," Lysander spoke up, much more gently than he had spoken to Quin. "All due respect, of course. I know your bond with Eve and Constantine ran deep. But, in this case, you're wrong. Rhia and Nolan are soulmates."

Luna's eyes widened and, for the first time, looked up to meet Rhia's gaze. Her silvery eyes glistened with the slightest hint of hope before Quin's grip on her shoulder tightened, and she looked up at him for the third time. "Be that as it may, it changes nothing," he snapped.

"Nothing?" Nekros hissed. "It changes everything. If Nolan is alive then we must find him, if only for Rhia's sake. She cannot live with a broken soul."

"I agree with them on this, Quin," Ares spoke up. "As does Keoni. We both feel that should use our great resources to find Nolan Wes. He was born a yfeerie. We failed him when he needed us most. We cannot do that to him again."

"Out of the question. I did not expect this from you, Ares. You have allowed yourself to be blinded by the romanticization of the soulmate bond experienced by lesser creatures."

"Are you forgetting that I have bonded with my soulmate?" Ares snarled, his own temper flaring dangerously. "Tell me, brother, do you think my relationship with my soulmate is born of blind ignorance?"

"Of course not. Now, you tell me, brother, exactly what did you feel when Keoni was so devastatingly injured last year?"

"You know precisely what I felt, damn you."

"I am well aware of how you felt when you received the news and arrived on the compound. How did you feel before then? As the reports from other breeds, those bonded to their soulmates should know when they are in destress, especially when they are in physical pain. Did you feel when your beloved Keoni was blown apart?" To that, Ares hesitated, and the corner of Quin's mouth turned up in a cruel smirk. "As with all things, this magic affects us differently from the rest of the world. We are stronger than this so-called bond. Ares wasn't aware of his soulmate's near death, and you, Nekros... you and Phoenix were bonded soulmates. How are you coping with her death."

Rhia looked sharply up at him, her jaw going slack. The pressure and pain in her head were growing more intense, and it was only made worse by watching Nekros starting to rub the scar on his neck.

"Ah, I see," Quin purred, glancing between father and daughter. "You never told her, did you? You never told your own daughter that her parents are the oldest known pair of soulmates in the history of all things. That she is the product of this magic. Or that when Phoenix died you felt nothing. That, twenty-seven years later, you still feel nothing."

"Soleil," Luna turned to face him, raising a hand to press her palm against his chest. "This is cruel. You're taking it too far."

Pure, unadulterated rage flared in his face and his golden eyes brightened with the force of his power. "You speak to me about cruelty," he snarled and grabbed her wrist in a crushing grip, ripping it off him with far more force than necessary. "Cruel is giving the girl false hope and allowing her to believe that her mate is alive. Cruel is ignoring the needs of our people to cater to her childish wants. Cruel is giving a fallen yfeerie the choice to live after his very identity was stolen from him by a parasitic experiment!"

Rhia's vision suddenly turned red. Unable to stop herself, she flew forward and shoved Quin as hard as she could away from Luna. A mix of red, blue, and black flames erupted from her palms, momentarily engulfing the much older, much larger dragon as he was forced to take several steps back. "Fuck you, Quin!" she shouted, as every inch of her trembled. "I didn't ask for your help! No one is asking you raise a fucking finger to help! Not that you would. You've never given a shit about anyone except yourself and your precious fucking reputation!"

Quin wiped his hands down the front of his shirt, quite literally brushing away hellfire like it was nothing, and scoffed. "I expected more from you, Rhiannon. Ten months since your awakening, and all you have to show is how much weaker you've become. Your father truly has failed you."

"That's not up to you either," Nekros repeated Rhia's first argument. "I'll take your advice when you have a child of your own."

The constant low air of Quin's power pulsed dramatically. Little pieces of sand rose into the air, twisting and breaking apart into even smaller, undetectable flecks of silica. As quickly as it started, it was over. The sand dropped and the air went still. "Do what you want. But you will not do it within my or Luna's borders. Nor will you do it within Valkyr's or Ozin and Tiamat's without their permission. Luna," he turned his back on the five of them. "I expect you to talk some sense into your family."

A moment later, he'd shifted into the enormous golden beast once again, and took off north. Immediately, Nekros turned in the other direction and stormed away, rubbing his neck furiously in an attempt to calm himself down. Lysander rounded on Luna. "Never expected you to be the one to cow to the bastard's demands," he hissed. "Not after everything you've been through."

He stormed off as well, following Nekros and leaving Ares with the two women. Luna was avoiding their eyes again, staring at the edge of the incoming tide and rubbing the wrist that Quin had grabbed. "Luna," Rhia stepped forward to take her hand, but she took an equal step back.

"Don't," she shook her head. "You shouldn't have done that. You should have just listened to him."

"He's in the wrong this time, Luna," Ares scowled.

Before either could stop him, he was gone, flying after Quin's shrinking form. Rhia stared at Luna, trying to sort out the feelings and discomfort swirling in her stomach, and tried not to let the pain in her skull affect her any more than it already was. "I'm sorry," she finally whispered. "I knew you had to be in pain... I didn't realize..."

"It's nothing," Luna still wouldn't look at her. "Everyone dies except us. We are eternal. We remain. When you're our age, you learn to take the loss."

"Is that what you think... or is that what Quin wants you to think?"

"Soleil is right. Nolan is dead. I know it's hard to accept, but-"

"What did he do to you?"

That made Luna finally look up. This close, Rhia could see just how wide her pupils were. The slight tremor of her bottom lip. A brief, honest look into a woman that Rhia had only ever seen as childishly stubborn and immature before a complete shutdown of her emotions and Luna looked away again. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't? I don't know what abuse looks like?" Rhia tapped her ribs where an elegant tattoo had been etched into her skin to cover the surgical scars that no longer existed. "Church didn't start out violent. He didn't get that way until after we broke up and got back together the first time. It always starts with something you know you did wrong, so it doesn't seem so out of place. He's never hit you before, but he was just mad, right? And after, he was so sweet and apologetic, and showered you with more affection than you've ever seen from him. But then he starts overreacting to every tiny little thing, until it starts to feel like everything you do is wrong. How you talk, how you dress, who you talk to and what you talk about is all wrong, and you love him so much that you would do anything to make him happy, but nothing you do is good en-"

"Stop it," Luna closed her eyes. "I know you think you know what's going on, Rhia. But Quin isn't some human with a bad temper. He is the essence of control. You're too young to understand. The way I have acted the last few millennia—how you have seen me—wasn't me. It was a phase I went through while connected to two very young, very violent breeds of Ancients. Now that Eve and... now that they're dead, I can focus on my responsibilities and my kin."

She couldn't say Constantine's name. Luna was trying so hard to put on a brace face but couldn't even bring herself to say his name.

"You should too. Nolan's gone. I know that it hurts right now, and you're never going to stop missing him, but it will get better. I promise it will get better. Our magic is stronger than that of a soul. You'll learn to love again. Next time it will be someone better... someone more appropriate for your stature as a dragon. When you to take your mother's place as the dragon of the volcanic belt, you'll meet lots of kin who are well suited as companions."

"Luna, I'm not going to stop looking for Nolan. He's out there, somewhere, and I'm going to find him. You don't need to help... but..." Rhia shoved her hands through her hair, trying to keep from crying again and wishing the pain in her head would just stop.

Slowly, Luna opened her eyes again, and they stared at each other. All at once, Rhia realized that the only person who knew what she was going through, what she had gone through in the past, was standing right in front of her. And she'd treated her with nothing but contempt and disrespect the whole time they'd known each other.

She thought back to what Ian had told her every time she broke down in tears while on shift. When everyone else had given up on her, the one thing he kept saying that stuck with her all that time. You can't help someone who's not ready to be helped.

"I'm sorry," she blew out a steadying breath. "You're right, I don't know what's going on between you and Quin, and... I guess it's none of my business. But... if you ever want to talk about... anything... call me, okay?"

A small, hesitant smile crossed Luna's face, and it changed her whole appearance. "How am I supposed to call you?" she asked jokingly. "Cellphones don't last more than two weeks around you."

"It's not my fault they build those things like wet toilet paper. Just use that family bond thingy. If Nekros can reach out on the other side of the world, you should have no problem." At Luna's shocked expression, Rhia laughed. "He doesn't think I'm aware of it, but I can feel him rooting around in there when he gets worried. I'm trying to figure out the range, but it's been slow going."

Luna looked over her shoulder at her brother. He and Lysander were at least a mile down the beach, slowly making their way back. "It's good he has you," she said quietly. "He doesn't say it, and Quin thinks that means he's not in pain... but he misses Phoenix so much. He's always been good at hiding his emotions from the others."

"He has you too. You see his pain."

"Yeah... I guess he does," she sighed heavily. "I should go."

"Sure... Can you deliver a message to Quin for me? Tell him... Tell him I will step up and take over from Phoenix as dragon of the volcanic belt and everything that that entails. But not until I know exactly what happened to Nolan, alive or dead. The sooner that happens, the sooner we all get-"

All of a sudden, the pain in her head got so bad that her vision went white, her knees gave out, and the world tumbled as she collapsed into the sand. Clutching her head, she tried to scream but no sound came out. But someone was screaming. The screaming was inside her own head, bouncing around her skull like an echo chamber.

Luna dropped to her knees, calling Rhia's name, and Nekros and Lysander crossed the distance between them in less than a second. She could barely hear them over the screaming, and she couldn't answer anyway. Luna lifted her head off the ground and into her lap, her ice-cold hands comforting against the pain though did nothing to help. Gently, Nekros tugged her hands away, and leaned over her to meet her eyes. She felt his voice enter her mind and his eyes started to glow. "Breathe, Rhia. Try to relax. Let me help."

Rhia tried not to fight back, but the pain was unbearable. The image of jungle-covered hills flashed before her eyes. Helicopters surrounded what looked to be the base of a massive waterfall. Something pulsed, and so did the pain in her head. She started crying, no longer understanding the soothing words of Luna and Lysander above her. It was only pain and this strange vision.

And then the world cracked open. Rhia went limp in Luna's arms. The water drained into the earth before steam and fire erupted out. The pain vanished. Her mouth moved but a voice that wasn't her own came out. "Nekros! Help me!"

The next second Nekros and Luna had shifted and were gone. Rhia fell back into Lysander's arms, gasping for air and watched the two dragons disappearing into the sky. "What the hell was that?!"

~