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of digging, but we managed to put it together. Ackmeyer had mentioned in a science journal interview last year that he was working on a pet project involving ultraviolet light. At the time, he’d said he thought it would be ideal for agricultural purposes.”

“Until someone wagged a big paycheck in front of him, no doubt.” Lucan raked his hand over his scalp, hissed another curse. “Is that what happened? Ackmeyer sold his tech to someone who thought it might be put to better use as a weapon against the Breed?”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” Kellan replied. “I meant to get answers, and if Ackmeyer didn’t prove cooperative, I was prepared to persuade him to destroy the technology—by whatever means necessary. Problem was, Ackmeyer didn’t know anything about his work being leaked outside his private lab. When I questioned him while he was in my custody, he said his project—something he was calling Morningstar—was still in testing stages, under lock and key. He swore up and down that he’d never allow his work to be used to harm anyone. I read the truth in him, Lucan. He was innocent. By the time I figured that out, the wheels were already in motion.”

Lucan grunted. “You shouldn’t have acted alone. You should’ve come to the Order with this.”

“Come to you as Bowman?” Kellan asked, his expression grimly wry. “Or as the coward who’d turned his back on his brethren and his kin?”

Lucan knew he was right. His situation had been untenable either way. It still was. “Unfortunately, it may be too late to turn any of this back now.”

Kellan nodded. “There are a lot of things I wish I’d done differently, starting with how I left eight years ago.” He glanced down, exhaled a short breath as he shook his head. “Jeremy Ackmeyer is dead because of me, Lucan. Because ultimately I gave the command to abduct him. I accept that blame. But I’m telling you here and now, I didn’t give the order to torch his lab or to harm him in any way.”

“You’re going to have a hard time convincing the public of that.”

“I don’t give a shit about the public and what they believe,” Kellan said, a flicker of amber lighting in his eyes. “I need to know that you believe me. That I haven’t lost your trust.”

Lucan listened to the younger vampire—the once-sheltered, sullen Darkhaven youth who had become a formidable, stalwart warrior under Lucan’s tutelage, only to vanish without a trace before he’d reached his prime.

That warrior was still alive inside Kellan Archer. He was still prepared for the good fight, still held his honor intact, even though he’d lost his way for a while. What a waste it would be to see him slip away once more.

Lucan swore, low under his breath. “Of everything that’s gone wrong here lately—and Jesus Christ, there’s enough to choose from—I’m not sure what bothers me the most. The fact that you and Mira are blood-bonded under the worst circumstances, or that I have to be the one who tears you apart.”

23

MIRA SAT ON THE EDGE OF A SOFT BED IN A ROOM THAT smelled of roses and lemon wax, surrounded by the love and support of the women of the Order.

She was home. Reunited with her parents, family, teammates, and friends—all the people who mattered in her life. And yet she’d never felt so adrift. So alone.

Because the one she needed most was the one farthest out of her reach now.

By his own choice.

Kellan had promised he wouldn’t abandon her ever again, but he had. They might have stayed in the old Darkhaven in the Maine woods for weeks longer—a precious handful of months, if they were lucky. Instead, he’d willingly put an end to their time together.

She would have stayed with him as long as possible.

Instead, he’d let her go.

The warrior in her refused to accept this defeat. Blinded or not, she wanted to leap up and fight her way to wherever Kellan was being held. She wanted to demand he stand with her and take on his problems together. Take on the whole bloody world together, if they had to.

But it wasn’t the Order or mankind or the world that stood between them.

It was fate.

Destiny had made a claim on Kellan’s life eight years ago. Now it was coming to collect. And in her heart, she knew no amount of fighting, no amount of running, could ever be enough to win out over an enemy as powerful as