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He leaned in then and whispered something in Bron’s ear. Instantly she gasped, her cheeks turning bright red. Bringing a hand to his mouth, she tried to silence him, but Lucian only growled playfully and nibbled at her fingers. Pulling her hand free, Bronwyn broke out into a fit of laughter.

Phane watched the entire display, his gut aching. He turned away from them and focused on Helo and Lycos. This was becoming too familiar. This jealousy, this growing need for a mate of his own. He wanted what his Roman brothers had. What his Beast brother, Erion, had. Shit, he would even go into Hell and remain if it meant he had a chance of finding someone like Hellen or Bron or Sara or Kate.

His gaze moved back to the family, to Dillon in particular. His half sister, the one who had also been headed for the Dumpster when Cruen had decided to rescue them, adopt them. Use them. She was eyeing her own mate, the Impure male Gray, but not with flirtatious abandon. Instead, the female mutore looked thoughtful, concerned even. Phane crossed his arms over his naked chest and waited for whatever was to come. Because clearly this wasn’t a social call, no matter how much the couples were using it as one.

“Dillon?” He said her name softly, but firmly.

She looked up, found his gaze.

“What’s going on?” he asked her, his voice carrying above the small crowd, snagging their attention.

When all conversation had ceased and all eyes were on D, she puffed out her cheeks and blew a weighty breath that caught in the cool night air.

“We have a slight problem,” she began. “Unfortunately or fortunately because of my illustrious and very unwanted position on the Order—”

“We get it, baby,” Gray said, giving her a smile and a squeeze on her shoulders, trying to ease her tension. “You have a love/hate thing going on with those Pureblood bastards.”

She turned and glared at him. “Yeah, laugh it up. It should’ve been you.”

“True that,” Gray said. “Mouth closed over here.”

She shook her head and turned back to the group. “Anyway. The Order has learned about the shifter community where Sara’s sister and her adopted family live.”

“Shit . . . ,” Helo muttered. The Order had only recently found out about the trip into Hell, and the origin of Erion’s mutore side. What would their reaction be to another group who’d had influence over their vampire blood?

“How?” Phane asked, drawing closer.

“Feeyan informed us,” Dillon said. “I don’t know how she found out. But that’s not the problem. Well, not the biggest part of the problem.”

“What do you mean?” Helo asked.

Lycos sneered. “Are the big, blustering vampires scared of the wee animals?”

“The Order can’t see the shifters as a threat to the Eternal Breed,” Phane said, wondering where this was all going. “Not like the mutore were.”

“Are,” Lycos corrected, his tone dripping with ire. “Mutore will never be accepted by the Purebloods even if one happens to be on the Order.”

Dillon turned her gaze on him, but said nothing.

“The shifters have kept to themselves forever,” Helo said, remaining close to the water. “They’re peaceful beings. It was Cruen’s interference that started this, taking their DNA, using it to make a more perfect specimen of vampire.”

“Now she knows where the mutore came from,” Lycos said. “If that isn’t a threat to their perfectly pure blood I don’t know what is.”

“It’s not about the blood,” Dillon said at last. “At least not yet. Feeyan believes the shifters aren’t so peaceful after all. In fact, she believes they’re holding Pureblood vampires against their will.”

“You mean Petra?” Phane said. “That’s bullshit.”

Seated beside Alexander, a very pregnant Sara nodded. “Of course it is. Petra wants to be there. Her family”—she paused for a few seconds—“the family she grew up with, at any rate, is there.”

“Do they know this?” Helo asked Dillon. “Do they know the truth of the situation?”

“No.” Dillon took a deep breath, shook her head. “I didn’t want them to know the connection between Petra and our family.”

“Why not?” Lycos asked coldly. “What is there to hide besides her asshole of a father, and how he conned Celestine, a desperate veana, into screwing over her mate and fucking him instead?”

A low growl rumbled in Alexander’s throat, but Sara put her hand on his arm to quiet him. She looked at Lycos, her eyes steady, her voice clear. “My mother made a mistake, a grave mistake, going to Cruen for help. She’s paying for it. We’re all paying for it. But the Order isn’t going to profit from it. Do you understand?”

The female held the wolf shifter’s narrowed gaze, her chin lifted. Sara was a tough female, and loyal above all else. She took no shit, and every male gathered around the pool thought twice when going head to head with her. Even Lycos. Growling, he nodded and turned away.

“We need to go to the Rain Forest,” Nicholas said, breaking the tension with a call for action. “We need to speak with the shifters.”

“I say we explain things to Petra,” Helo suggested. “She can come here. At least for a while. Until the Order understands that she’s not being held captive.”

“Problem is, it’s not just Petra,” Nicholas said tightly.

Phane’s brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

It was Gray who spoke this time. “It seems one of our elite Purebloods was abducted from his home and taken there by shifters.”

“Who?” Helo and Phane said at the same time.

Lycos growled. “Syn, right?”

Lucian turned and glared at him. “How’d you know?”

The wolf shifter rolled his eyes. “You three couldn’t get that British bastard to go help poor little Petra, so a few of her loyal family members did it.”

“Cool it, Lycos,” Alexander warned, his eyes dimming with irritation as he pulled his pregnant mate closer.

“Yes, it’s Synjon,” Dillon confirmed. “And the Order is demanding his release.”

“So what do you want from us?” Lycos asked, his jaw twitching with tension.

“You know what they want,” Phane said without looking at the male. “We’re part shifter. We should go. The community might take it better coming from their own.”

“We’re not their own,” Lycos said.

“What is up your ass today, Ly?” Helo asked with irritation. “Christ.”

“Not a thing,” Lycos said, pulling off his jeans. “Just opting out of the visit to the homeland, that’s all.”

Once naked, the male shifted, his wolf springing forth easily. The powerful animal snarled at them all, his eyes snapping with irritation, his gray pelt bristling. Then he took off past them, disappearing inside the house.

“We don’t need Ly. I’ll go,” Helo said, then turned to Phane. “It’s a helluva lot warmer there, and I wouldn’t mind seeing where we began. What about you, Phane?”

Phane didn’t say anything at first. He wasn’t siding with Lycos, abandoning the whole mess, but he wasn’t sure he wanted any part of where his cells originated. The idea filled him with unease. Then again, how could he refuse his family? Their call for help? And, truly, that’s what the Romans were to him now.

Family.

He turned to Dillon, lifted one sharp eyebrow. “When do we leave?”

* * *

He listened to the water running as she showered.

Then waited when it shut off.

He listened closely for the sounds of cotton brushing wet, heated skin.