"Someone has to go up there and drag him out," Kenneth said tiredly. "We need him. No one is talking about what—"

Axel pointed his burning cigarette at Kenneth, quieting him. "No. We aren't discussing it unless he brings it up." He dropped his hand and seemed to lose some tension when Crystal stroked his arm soothingly.

Kenneth scoffed, but probably heard the threat in Axel's tone because he didn't push.

Reid crossed the yard slowly, his body aching.

By the time he reached the pavers, Kenneth was arguing with Hannah again about the guy in the necklace, coiled on the garden table.

Hannah wanted the guy to help break Reid's curse.

He was grateful she was trying so hard to help him. She'd been staying up all hours of the night with Milton, poring over tomes, searching for answers.

Unfortunately, they hadn't found much. Nothing, actually.

Kenneth wanted to blow up the necklace.

At the mention of explosions, Wyatt's eyes lit up unsettlingly.

At the harsh tone Kenneth's voice took on, a sudden invasion of unwanted memories hit him. His father and mother fought. Sometimes physically, when it was particularly bad.

Last week, he awoke to Kenneth holding Hannah on the bed. Rage had filled Kenneth's eyes. Reid had blanked. When he blinked, he had been holding Kenneth on the ground.

He knew Kenneth would never hurt Hannah, not intentionally. But Reid hadn't been thinking logically.

Shoving the dismal thoughts aside, he headed to the staircase leading up to the deck. He'd been holding his piss for over an hour.

He forgot about his need to relieve his bladder when a pretty redhead came down the stairs, smiling.

Rowan nearly slipped on a step and, instead, fell into his arms, soft palms finding his aching face.

He saw Presley stick his head over the deck. And when the werewolf took in their embrace, it was a wonder he didn't pass out from how fiercely he rolled his eyes.

"I thought you were training?" Rowan whispered, her bottom lip sticking out in a cute pout.

Reid gripped her fingers and kissed her palm. "I was." He noticed they had an audience in the yard. The garden table had fallen awkwardly quiet. He felt his face heat up. "Should've started with learning how to dodge."

Rowan giggled, and Reid's lips rose into an affectionate smile.

How could he not kiss her?

She was adorable.

She tilted her face in offering. Her green eyes were mesmerizingly beautiful, and her long, dark lashes drew him closer.

But before their lips could meet, she backed off, her lightly freckled cheeks turning pink.

After their night together, they'd discussed what this was between them. Rowan admitted she didn't know if she could handle a relationship. Not so soon after everything she'd suffered in Shadow Peaks. He understood, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

When they'd been losing themselves in each other, he'd asked her to marry him, and she'd said yes.

He'd hoped she meant it.

But once the sweat had dried, she began sobbing, and their harsh reality came crashing down.

She had told him she didn't want him tied to someone broken like her.

He had said that he didn't care about any of that. He just wanted to be with her. But she was stubborn.

She was his. Her sobs against his chest as he held her had cemented that in his heart. He wanted to tear the world apart to protect her. He loved her. That hadn't changed, but he'd let her take the lead and set the pace.

In his mind, the baby situation was separate. He'd promised Rowan that much. No matter what happened between him and her. Even if they never made whatever was growing between them official. He would be there, always.

He would give that baby everything he didn't have: a father who was present and loving.

He wanted that future so much that it stole his breath.

"Don't you dare," Hannah shrieked suddenly.

When Reid looked, Hannah had fled from the pavers to the damp grass. She was laughing and trying to push Kenneth away, but he was relentless, wrangling her into a tight hug.

Hannah whimpered, "You're so sweaty!"

She began tickling his sides and yelped when he spun her around. He held her close and gave her a slobbery kiss on the cheek.

Gianna laughed with them from the table, but her grey eyes were tired. She must be just as worried about Kiernan. Their marriage might be unconventional, but she cared deeply about him. She asked about Kiernan's state constantly.

Hannah squirmed out of Kenneth's hold and slapped his chest lightly. She walked back to the table, swaying her hips, her face flushed, and tossed a middle finger over her shoulder.

The soft laughter that escaped from Kenneth's rising lips brought a smile to Reid's face.

Hannah gave Kenneth what Reid couldn't. He felt that truth as a punch to his gut. He never made Kenneth look happy anymore. He only made him look miserable and worried.

If he wasn't selfish, he'd push Kenneth to be with Hannah and move on. Then, they'd be free from him and the bullshit that followed him around like a dark cloud.

"Reid," Milton said, dragging Reid from his spiralling thoughts. "Where are you going?" He sat at the head of the table, eyebrows raised in question.

"Bathroom."

He noticed, confused, that Asha was frowning. She was staring at his hand, which gripped Rowan's soft fingers. Before he could decipher her thoughts, Axel stood up, metal chair legs screeching on the pavers.

"We'll wait for you," Milton said, leaning back. "I want you to be present for this conversation."

Reid gave him a thumbs-up.

Axel snubbed his cigarette on an ashy ceramic plate left on the table. It was apparent he was going to accompany Reid into the house, and he knew why. Axel thought he was going to make a break for the stairs. Maybe he had contemplated it but the lack of trust irritated him.

"I don't need an escort," Reid said, scoffing.

"What did you do to him?" Hannah asked Kenneth in a hushed voice.

"Trained him," Kenneth replied with a shrug. "It's not my fault he bruises easily."

"Remind me never to ask you to train me." Hannah let Kenneth's arm come around her shoulders, pulling her against his side. Apparently, she didn't care about sweat anymore, leaning into his hold.

"The Prince will be fine alone." Asha stole the whole table's attention. She rarely spoke. But when she did, it was always worth listening to.

"Kid," Axel warned.

Reid rolled his eyes.

"He needs you," Asha said, staring at Gianna, who looked on the edge of tears. "Patience, and when the Prince returns, go to your husband. But..." She lifted a finger, and her expression was intense. "He will claw you and try to break your resolve. Do not waver. Give him sanctuary in your love. He's ready, but he needs you to give him that push."

Gianna fiddled with the chain around her neck, breathing shallowly. "You're sure?"

Asha seemed to think about it, and then nodded happily. "Yes." Then her intense gaze turned to Reid, and something was being conveyed without words. He felt it as a shiver up his spine, and he swore the wind picked up speed, rustling the trees violently.

He swallowed, caught in the pull of her eyes. "I'm... fuck." He ran up the steps, fleeing from Asha's knowing gaze.

Axel didn't sit back down, staring after him with a deep frown.

"No escort!" Reid shouted. "Follow me, and I'll stab you with a fork!"

From below, Kenneth laughed.

Reid gave Presley's glare nothing but a passing glance and slipped inside the house.

He'd taken a few steps down the hallway when, from behind him came an irritated voice.

"Wait a minute."

Inhaling, Reid turned, not in the mood to deal with the inevitable argument that was about to occur. Presley left the back door ajar, approaching warily.

The werewolf had his cell phone in hand, the screen held against his chest.

It wasn't a secret that Presley didn't like him. He was downright hostile, growling and glaring. Honestly, Reid assumed the guy had a crush on Rowan and was trying to exert his territory. That's why he hadn't spoke up about it, but that aloofness only held if they stayed far apart.

Right now, Presley was close enough for Reid to see the flecks of lighter brown in his luminous gaze. Was he going to transform and rip Reid to shreds? That would be a crummy way to die.

"I know you and Rowan have a..." Presley grimaced. "Thing."

"A thing?" Reid parroted, offended. It was more than just a thing. Wasn't it? Did she say something to Presley?

Presley rolled his eyes.

Dark thoughts filled Reid's mind. Snapping Presley's neck was the most vivid.

"I know we haven't been friends." Presley sounded bored, but his heart was beating rapidly. "But I have to show you this, or I'll feel like a total piece of shit."

Before Reid could answer, a phone was thrust into his face.

A picture was on the screen.

He recognized Rowan with her fiery hair and lovely green eyes, smiling widely. She was a young teenager with colourful clips keeping her hair back. Presley was in the photo, too. His blonde hair was shaggy, and he looked happy, which was a contrast to the grimness his face held now.

But that wasn't where Reid's focus was honing.

Another teenager stood in the middle. Rowan and Presley had their arms around the boy's shoulders.

A boy who had blonde hair, nearly white. He was laughing and staring at Rowan, love plain in his deep, sapphire-blue gaze.

"Eliot," Presley said, lowering the phone. "He died. Rowan's never gotten over him and..." He gestured to Reid as if he hadn't caught the similarities. "I'm going to be blunt and punch me if you want. But you're a perfect replacement for her dead boyfriend."

The walls felt as if they were closing in.

'She lied to you,' the whispers sang scornfully.

"She didn't..." Reid whispered, turning away from Presley with fast breaths. He couldn't suffer the pity Presley was giving him with a deep frown.

He went straight to the bathroom, did his business, and washed his hands longer than necessary. He heard Presley leave the house, and some of his tension receded.

He didn't look in the mirror, keeping his gaze down. He never did. Not since he was turned. He didn't want to see a stranger staring back at him.

Now, he was worried he'd see the harsh similarities between him and Eliot.

Gaze flickering to the small window near the toilet, his heart leapt. He needed to steer clear of Asha from now on. She kept staring at him, her unsettling gaze hunting his every step. She knew everything. Didn't she? His deepest wants and desires. The dark thoughts and urges he battled daily—the things he didn't want to admit to himself.

The last part scared him more than anything.

Dammit, he was good at suppressing and was more than content to live out his dismal existence with blinders on.

But he couldn't suppress the fact that Rowan had been using him. The night they shared together. All the things she'd said that, at the time, he'd wanted to hear

It's always been you.

Had she been talking about him?

Or Eliot?

'She can't be trusted,' came from deep within his mind.

"No," Reid agreed reluctantly, finally looking in the mirror. Fading bruises, pale skin, and blue eyes. Fair hair, in need of a trim, curled slightly where pieces grazed his ears.

He looked like...him.

A dark thrill ran up his spine that he knew to be the voices.

"Did she lie about Azrael, too?" Reid asked them.

'Perhaps he sent her to you intentionally.' He swore the shadows, reflected in the mirror, shifted. 'She could be in his cage even now, subduing you until you're both his.'

"What would she gain from lying?"

'Her freedom.'

He wished they didn't make so much sense.

Leaving the bathroom, he was in his head, lost in thought, and nearly smacked into a broad chest.

He started to apologize.

Then he saw who wore the navy shirt, with its sleeves rolled up to impressive biceps.

Reid swallowed nervously. "Hey."

Lucas didn't smile, which made the tension that had already been thrumming in the small space between them rise. He slowly put out an arm, palm coming to rest on the bathroom door, stopping Reid from slipping past.

They were close.

Reid's heart leapt—not from apprehension.

That's why he needed to flee.

Right now.

Caring for Lucas was one thing. But being alone and feeling emotionally vulnerable made the song he'd been yearning for since Asha cast that spell on him so clear that it terrified him.

"Kane outside?"

"They're having a war meeting."

"Can we talk?"

Reid lungs constricted. He scented the faint fragrance of soap that clung to Lucas's hair and skin from a recent shower—mint, honey, and a tang of citrus. It was nice.

Lucas frowned. "Are you okay, love?"

No!

"Y–yeah," Reid lied breathily. "We..." He looked at Lucas's bedroom door, then back at the man watching him intensely. "In there? It has to be quick, or they'll come looking for me."

Lucas nodded.

Reid moved to the bedroom door with a clench in his stomach and rapid patter taking his heart.

When his hand found the cold knob, Lucas moved closer.

They didn't touch, but Reid tensed, swearing he could feel the man's body flush against his back.

Opening the door and stepping inside, he suddenly had a mouth pressed against his ear, and he shivered, breath held.

"I'm never quick," Lucas whispered huskily, "but I'll make an exception for you."

Feeling faint, Reid stumbled, and Lucas gripped his arm, pulling him upright with a rough laugh.

Shit.