Draven’s hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel which was the first sign this trip was going to be a disaster.
The second sign was how he’d been silent for forty-five minutes straight, not even the clinical observations he usually offered, just tense quiet that bled through our bond like anxiety wrapped in iron control.
I wanted to ask if he was okay but the answer was obviously no and pointing that out seed cruel, so I just sat in the passenger seat watching trees blur past and trying not to focus on how my stomach was attempting to stage a revolt.
Vampire covens didn’t exactly welco hybrids with open arms—sothing about our blood being offensive to their senses or our existence being an affront to nature or so bullshit I’d stopped trying to understand—and walking into one without backup felt like the kind of stupid decision that would get killed.
But we needed allies. Needed the coven to understand the demon was coming for all of us. And apparently I was the only one who could make them listen because Hybrid Queen or whatever.
My thumbnail found my finger, notching into the pad hard enough to sting.
"Stop." Draven’s voice was tight. "You’re bleeding."
I looked down and yeah, I’d notched through skin, small red bead welling up.
Embarrassing. Great. Perfect start to this nightmare trip.
"Sorry." I wiped the blood on my jeans. "Nervous habit."
"I know." He glanced at and so of the tension in his jaw loosened. "I can feel it through the bond. You’re terrified."
"Are you not?" The question ca out sharper than I ant. "Because you left this coven fourteen years ago for reasons you still haven’t explained and now we’re driving back there and you look like you’re about to break the steering wheel."
His hands flexed, proving my point.
"I’m not afraid of them." Careful and asured. "I’m afraid of what being back there will make rember."
Oh. That was—I didn’t have a good response to that so I just reached over and rested my hand on his arm, and through the bond I pushed calm I didn’t feel but hoped he’d accept anyway.
His shoulders dropped half an inch.
We drove in silence for another twenty minutes before the GPS announced we’d arrived, which was a lie because all I saw were trees and a dirt road that looked more like a hiking trail than anything ant for vehicles.
"We walk from here." Draven killed the engine. "Covens don’t advertise their locations."
Right. Because vampires were paranoid. Or smart. Probably both.
The forest was too quiet—no birds, no insects, nothing but the sound of our footsteps on dead leaves—and every instinct I’d honed over two years of rogue camps scread that we were being watched.
"They know we’re here." Draven’s voice stayed low. "They’ve known since we crossed into their territory five miles back."
"And they’re just—what, watching? Waiting to see if we’re a threat?"
"Essentially yes."
My heart was doing the thing where it felt too big for my chest and also like it might stop entirely, and I had to focus on breathing through my nose to keep from hyperventilating.
"When we get there." Draven stopped walking and turned to face . "Let talk first. Don’t react to anything they say about hybrids or your bloodline or your existence. They’re going to test you."
"Test how?"
"Insults. Provocations. Attempts to make you lose control." His eyes were serious. "The coven leader is Lysander. He was the one who—" He had to stop, jaw working. "He was the one who used . If he tries to use you, I need you to trust that I’ll handle it."
The way he said ’used’ turned my blood to ice.
"Draven—"
"I’m fine." Not convincing. "But I need you to promise you won’t retaliate no matter what he says."
"I’m not going to just stand there while he—"
"Promise ." His hands found my shoulders. "Please."
The please broke .
"Okay." My voice ca out smaller than I wanted. "I promise."
We kept walking and the trees started thinning and then we were standing at the edge of a clearing where a manor house rose out of the ground like it had been there since before anyone invented electricity.
Dark stone. Gothic architecture. Actual gargoyles on the roof because apparently vampires believed in committing to the aesthetic.
And standing on the front steps was a man who radiated the kind of predatory beauty that sent my hindbrain screaming danger while my lizard brain whispered yes please.
Tall. Dark hair pulled back in a way that emphasized sharp cheekbones. Eyes like ice chips. Dressed in all black like he was going to a funeral.
Lysander. Had to be.
He smiled when he saw Draven and the smile was all teeth and zero warmth.
"Well well." His voice was cultured and cold. "The prodigal weapon returns. And he’s brought a pet."
Pet. He’d called a pet.
My fingers curled into fists before I rembered Draven’s warning and forced them to relax.
"Lysander." Draven’s voice went flat. Empty. "We need to talk."
"Do we?" Lysander descended the steps with the kind of grace that looked inhuman because it was. "I don’t recall requesting your presence. Or hers."
He looked at then and recognition mixed with disgust mixed with interest that crawled across my skin.
"A hybrid." He circled like I was livestock at auction. "And freshly bonded if I’m reading those marks correctly. Four bonds. Ambitious."
My thumbnail found my finger again and I had to force myself to stop before I drew blood.
"She’s the Hybrid Queen the prophecy speaks of." Draven’s voice stayed level but I felt his rage through the bond, tightly leashed. "The demon has awakened. She’s here to request alliance."
Lysander laughed. The sound was crystalline and wrong.
"Alliance." He stopped in front of , close enough that I could sll whatever cologne vampires wore that probably cost more than my life. "Why would we ally ourselves with a mongrel who can’t even control her own scent?"
My scent. Was he—could he sll the fear? The anxiety? The four different alpha scents that marked as claid?
Heat crawled up my neck.
"The demon doesn’t discriminate." My voice ca out steadier than I felt. "It’ll co for you too. United we might survive. Divided we definitely won’t."
His eyebrow lifted. "Did you rehearse that little speech?"
I hadn’t. But also kind of yes? And now I felt stupid for trying.
"The hybrid speaks." Lysander’s smile widened. "How novel. Tell , little mongrel, what makes you think a coven that’s stood for three centuries needs protection from a demon we’ve avoided perfectly well on our own?"
"Because this ti is different." I t his eyes and didn’t flinch even though every instinct said look away look away look away. "This ti there’s a Hybrid Queen. And the prophecy says I either unite the factions or we all die. So you can insult all you want but that doesn’t change what’s coming."
Silence.
Then Lysander turned to Draven with a look I couldn’t read.
"She has fire. I’ll give her that." Back to . "But fire burns quickly when you don’t know how to control it."
He gestured and five vampires appeared from the shadows—literally appeared, like they’d been invisible—and surrounded us in a circle that felt very much like a threat.
"You want alliance?" Lysander’s smile turned sharp. "Prove you’re worth it."
And then the vampires attacked.
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