look in his eyes. “If she’s not Tatiana, who the hell is she?”
“Don’t listen to them.” She let out a shrill laugh, turning pleading eyes on Constantine. “They’re crazy.”
“Let me see you shift,” Dimitri spoke through clenched teeth, using all of his willpower not to attack the bitch pretending to be their mate.
“Not here.” Her gaze darted from Dimitri to the forest behind her as she backed up. “The hunters.”
“We’ll cover you.” Dejan stood behind her, folding his arms and refusing to let her pass. “Show us.”
Her legs wobbled, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “I will have to get naked, and you cannot see me.”
Realization dawned in Constantine’s eyes. “We’ve seen you naked before, Tatiana.”
“Shift for us,” Dimitri insisted. The fucking bitch. What the fuck had she done with Tatiana?
Pouting, she stomped a foot. “No.”
Constantine arched a brow. “Why not?”
“She can’t,” Dimitri snapped.
She gave him a cool look and crossed her arms. “I won’t.”
Dimitri and his brothers closed in on her, predatory wolves stalking their prey.
“Why not?” he insisted.
Her voice turned shrill. “Because you’re all assholes, that’s why!” For the briefest of moments, her eyes flashed red.
Demon!
Letting out a primal roar, Dimitri rushed her, knocking her to the ground. Careful not to crush her, he shifted into protector form and straddled her, closing his big, furry hands around her slender throat. “What did you do with our mate? Tell me or so help me, I’ll pop off your head.”
She snapped at him like a rabid cat. “You do that, and your mate won’t have a body to return to.”
He slammed his fist to the ground, shaking the earth with a thunderous boom and scaring the birds out of the trees. He’d never been more angry or terrified in his life. “Where is she?”
She blinked up at him, then broke into a slow, devilish grin. “She is safe—for now. My master wishes to negotiate a trade.”
Fuck!
Shifting into protector form, Constantine dropped down beside them. “We don’t make deals with demons.”
She snickered. “Then your mate will die, her soul lost to you forever.”
They all howled, and Dimitri felt as if a thunderbolt had struck his chest, ripping him in two. He couldn’t lose her, not in this way. He prayed the Ancients would save her.
Constantine’s big shoulders fell. “What’s the trade?” There was no mistaking the hopelessness in his voice.
No longer trying to fool them, her voice changed to that of a sibilant serpent. “Your mate for the witch.”
Dimitri’s world came to a slow, thudding halt as he shared a horrified look with his brothers. “The witch?”
“The one you call Eilea.”
Constantine jumped to his feet and kicked snow on her face, furious. “Our pregnant stepmom? Hell no.”
“Give her to us, and your mate will get her body back.” She got up on her elbows, her eyes deep crimson, like old blood. Her gaze lingered on Constantine’s big, hairy chest. “Do we have a deal?”
They couldn’t give them Eilea. The demons knew this, which meant his beloved would perish if they didn’t find a way save her. The thought of what they had already done to Tatiana filled Dimitri with a fury that knew no bounds. He was so angry, he could hardly think to focus.
He struck her, but not as hard as he wished to. Constantine pushed him off her.
Dimitri swore when his face hit the hard, cold earth. Spitting out a mouthful of snow, he snarled at his brother.
“Dimitri!” Constantine roared. “You fucking idiotule!”
“That’s not our mate!” He pointed at the demon whose eyes had rolled to the back of her skull. Her nose was swelling.
Andrei bent over and checked her pulse. “Our mate could still be trapped inside.”
The thought made Dimitri sick to his stomach. “You mean possessed?”
Andrei turned to him with a snarl. “Da!”
He should have controlled his temper. He had belted his mate’s body. How much worse would he have done to it if Constantine hadn’t interceded? “Is she dead?”
“No,” Andrei said. “Just unconscious.”
He looked at Constantine. “What do we do now?”
“We take her to Eilea.” Constantine grimaced. “If anyone knows how to cast this demon out, it’s her.”
EILEA QUAILED WHEN Artem gave her that look, too severe and too knowing for a baby. She clung to the doorframe of his nursery, fear rooting her to the spot as the bottle she’d made him slipped from her grasp. When he held out his hand, she went to him, afraid of what she’d see but knowing she couldn’t let her child carry the weight of his powerful