And though Adrien held deep concerns for his brothers, she and Josh were his priority.

“What about Lucian and Marius?” She rubbed the fabric between her thumb and forefinger over and over.

“Daniel won’t kill them. Their deaths right now couldn’t serve him at all. He needs them to form tracking pairs.”

Lily frowned. “So Daniel can’t use Quill and Lev?”

“No, neither of them has that ability.”

She shifted to look up at him, her head cradled in the nook of his elbow, his hand rubbing her bare arm. “But you’re worried about Lucian and Marius.”

“Yes. And no. Before I met you, I’d thought of little else than helping to keep my brothers safe. At the same time I felt powerless. Then you arrived and changed everything. You created this enormous miracle in my life and now I’m trying to think about Lucian and Marius in those terms—that maybe something will come into each of their lives to change their futures as well.”

She shifted to stroke his cheek with her fingers. “Like Claire? Do you think she intends to form a bonding pair with Lucian?”

Adrien nodded. “I believe so. Why else would she have told Josh the things she did. She must have learned about Lucian’s chain and schemed to steal it. I’ll alert Gabriel so that he can keep an eye out for Claire. Hopefully that will give Josh some peace as well.”

“What if Daniel is waiting for her and decides to use her like he used me? Maybe you should try to intervene?”

He leaned down and kissed her. “I can’t answer for what is about to happen to Lucian or Claire, and I wish I could go to him, but you’re my responsibility now, both you and Josh.”

She wanted to protest, her guilt rising, but he kissed her again and a soft smile curved his lips. “No guilt, Lily. I don’t know exactly why events unfolded as they did, why you were brought into my life, but you’re here. Lucian and Marius are men, very powerful vampires, and what I trust in the most right now is that each will figure things out, how to survive.

“But there’s something more. Gabriel is working behind closed doors with other Ancestrals, and intends to create a counterforce against Daniel. He wants to retake the Council, and in time he will. So I will trust in that, in those vampires of Ancestral status, like Gabriel, and those aligned with him, to do what needs to be done.”

“But you should be with them.” More than anything in life she didn’t want to be a hindrance.

He shook his head. “If Daniel knew he could find me, he’d turn his attention toward me. The Ancestrals want his attention fixed on my brothers and on still hunting for the extinction weapon. They can track him better.”

“Did you give Gabriel the location of the weapon at the Black Cavern system?”

He nodded. “They’ve been there and destroyed it.”

“But it’s not over.”

He shook his head. “There were several groups experimenting at the time. Gabriel and many of the Ancestrals believe there was more than one weapon, and some of them in pieces, hidden in different systems.”

“That would explain why, when I thought about the weapon, I’d get so many readings, all over the globe at the same time. But Adrien, shouldn’t you and I be looking for them, perhaps now more than ever?”

He caught her hand and kissed her fingers. “In one sense, yes. But Gabriel and I both believe, as do many of the Ancestrals, that Josh should be our focus. I know that won’t make sense, but Josh, a mere child, didn’t deserve to become embroiled in what is essentially a vampire problem. He didn’t deserve to lose his mother, or his family. If I go with you both now, we can atone to you and Josh to some degree for what was taken from you because of my father. Please, don’t protest. The decision has been made. We’re going to the Rain Forest Caverns.”

Lily felt his determination and knew he wouldn’t be moved, which also gave her a tremendous sense of relief. She rested in what appeared to be a group decision to let her, and her tracking ability, disappear into the jungles of South America.

With her biggest concerns laid to rest, she looked into Adrien’s beautiful flecked teal eyes and finally began to relax. Josh was now safe, the future settled, and she could focus on the miracle that had become the man, the vampire, cradling her in his arms.

She pushed her fingers into his hair, shoving the beautiful strands away from his equally beautiful face. Love flooded her heart, an intense love, surprising and miraculous, because of the chains that bound her to Adrien. Tears filled her eyes all over again.

“Don’t cry.”

She chuckled softly. “These are just tears of profound joy and gratitude. I didn’t think we were going to make it.”

“But we did, didn’t we?”

“Incredibly, yes. With Josh.”

He nodded. “With your son.” He dipped down and kissed her, this time a lingering kiss. “Oh, Lily,” he murmured. And he lifted her to her feet, took her in his arms, and kissed her again.

The feel of his lips removed the last of her worries.

She was with Adrien, in his South African home, and he was going to make love to her.

He searched the recesses of her mouth and drew her tightly against him, all her velvet and crystals pressed against his fine black Brioni.

The physical strength of him was what she felt, the latent power in his muscled physique, the way his biceps rippled beneath her hands, his thighs flexed against her legs.

He drew back then dipped to kiss her neck, a series of plucks against her vein, a reminder of who and what he was.

She felt his blood-need rise, a tremor that passed through him and sent a strong vibration through her double-chain.

“Yes,” she whispered, “I need that as well. I need you to take from me. Tonight, you’ve given me so much. You’ve given me everything.”

He licked her neck repeatedly so that her breaths grew light and shallow, longing for him.

“I want to do something with you, Lily. Something I’ve never done before, but this new level of power tells me I can.”

Her mind flowed back and forth, loose with desire. Through the chains she could sense his desire as well, like a dull wonderful ache. “Anything, Adrien. My God, anything.”

He kept plucking at her neck. Chills rippled down her chest and arms, even her back. “Mmmm,” she murmured softly. “What do you want to do?”

“I think it’s better if I just showed you.”

He shifted her back to the bed and set her down on the edge. Her fingertips gripped the sides of the silk comforter. She trembled now as he knelt on the carpet. He took her burgundy skirts in hand, pushing them up her bare thighs, higher and higher.

“Lift your hips,” he whispered.

She obeyed and he shoved all that fabric up behind her, then spread her legs. She wore a black lace thong, the barest scrap of fabric.

“Lie back.” His deep voice worked like a hypnotic drug and she eased down on the bed, her dress a lump under her back—but it really didn’t matter because he was kissing her low, and using his finger to play with the lace, which gave her two sensations at once. He rimmed the edge of her thong with his tongue so that the fabric tugged on her while his fingers played and his tongue spread a layer of oh-so-welcome moisture over her skin.

“Unh,” came from between her lips, a soft moan. She shuddered when he gripped the sides of her thong and tore the fabric apart.

“Oh, God,” she said, a whisper against the air.

His tongue covered her in long wet swipes, sideways over her bare mons then moving lower and lower, teasing her labia, all swollen now with tingling desire.

But when he began to work her between her lower lips, her body arched and a deep moan fell from her throat.

Lily.

Telepathy. Beautiful. I love your voice in my head.

I’m going to do that thing now. Be ready.

She might have groaned, she wasn’t sure. I’m ready. She closed her eyes and waited. He never stopped taking care of her very low but after a moment a familiar vibration began, the kind that happened when he battled in two places at once.