back from his face. Lily rarely saw him distraught.
“Hell.” He shot a quick look at Sebastian. “I don’t know anything at all about your father’s magic. Blood magic, much less human sacrifice is way out of my league.” He hit a switch on a large console next to his desk.
A map came up and lights went on all across the screen—the various households scattered around the property and beyond. He placed his hand on a sensor on a control panel at the bottom. His powerful voice sounded in Lily’s mind, and she knew that every member of the pack, no matter how far away they might be, would hear his request.
Annie McClintock has been kidnapped. If you’re able, please meet me in the meadow behind the main house. We need pack energy to defeat the one who has her. Be there by eleven tonight.
He swung around and took a quick glance out the window before focusing on Lily. “I wish I could go with you, but I believe I can better serve you here. Be careful.” He turned to Sebastian. “Keep my daughter safe, and yourself as well. You’re a good man, Sebastian Xenakis, and you are a powerful mage, but you are a man grown, not your father’s son. Remember that.”
Sebastian gave a short, sharp nod. “When’s the moon going to be full and directly overhead?”
“At eleven thirty-five.” Her dad ran his fingers over the screen and drew up a schematic of the night sky. “It will pass over the top of the mountain southeast of the oak at approximately eleven eighteen, but it’s not officially full until eleven thirty-five. If he’s working blood magic, I imagine he’ll time the climax of his spell accordingly.” He glanced at the clock on the wall over the desk. “It’s almost ten. It’s a good half hour on four legs from here to the oak. Get something to eat. I think Mom left plenty of leftover roast in the refrigerator for you. It’s cold, but you’ll need fuel for what you have to do tonight.”
He stopped, gazed steadily at Lily, and then drew her into a hug. “Damn, sweetheart. I hate sending you up there. I hate it.”
“Dad? We’ll be okay.” She hugged him just as tight.
“I know you will, baby. I’m worried about you and worried sick about Annie and Alex. They mated today. They’re bonded. If anything happens to either of them ... ”
“Oh, Goddess.” She pulled away and stared at her father. His amber eyes glittered—tears of rage and compassion for a young man who was as much a son to him as either of his own boys. “I am so glad they’ve mated, but you’re right. We have to go.”
Her father suddenly looked away with the deep concentration that meant someone had contacted him. Lily grabbed Sebastian’s hand and tried not to think of what Annie and Alex were going through right now. And Alex mated! She wanted to cheer, but at the same time, their new bond had to make this even harder for both Annie and Alex.
Sebastian wrapped an arm around her and held her close. Lily leaned against his side and hugged him back. “Let’s go get something to eat. Dad’s right. We need fuel. He’ll tell us if he’s learning something we need to know.”
“Okay. Lily, we haven’t had time to talk.”
She tugged his hand, pulling him toward the kitchen. “About the Mother?”
He nodded. “She’s the spirit of the tree. She’s been giving me the power to shift, helping my magic, though until I can do it on my own, she can’t be certain I’m Chanku.”
“Even the Mother doesn’t know?”
He shook his head. “No. And in my case, she said my magic is so strong that it affects her ability to read me. I need to keep taking the capsules. The nutrients will override my magic and allow me to shift naturally, if that’s my heritage.”
Anton caught up to them halfway to the kitchen. “Hurry. Eat something and get up on the ridge. That was Alex. He said there are twelve rogues up there now. He didn’t expect that many, and there could be even more, but he’s staying hidden. Tinker and Stefan are with him. There’s no word yet from Annie. We’re hoping she’s merely unconscious and can’t mindspeak. Hurry.”
Sebastian felt as if they were doing a major disservice to Keisha’s rib roast, but he and Lily cut huge slabs of the leftover beef and literally choked it down.
How could any woman look