It was for the best.
She was human and he was the wolf who loved her. Vane cursed at the reality of that statement. He wanted desperately to deny it and he couldn't. She was everything to him.
There was nothing about her he would change. He loved the way she looked at him as if he were crazy. The way she hummed quietly to herself while she dusted her shelves. The way she always made sure to split her food with him.
The way she felt in his arms as she came for him, and the sound of her breathless voice as she said his name while in the throes of her orgasms.
Hell, he even liked the way she hogged the covers.
"Oh, fuck this," he snarled. He wasn't going to just let her go. He loved her and he wasn't going to just up and leave. Not without a fight and not without at least telling her.
He turned and headed back toward the house.
"Vane! Come quick."
He paused at Kyrian's deep voice. At the urgency he heard in the former Dark-Hunter's tone.
Flashing back to the house, Vane materialized in the foyer to find Kyrian there with his daughter and Tabitha. Bride was nowhere to be seen.
A bad feeling consumed him. "Where's Bride?"
"The demon took her," Tabitha said.
The animal inside him snapped and snarled with vengeance. He reached out and found nothing in the air. No scent, no trace.
It didn't matter. Alastor had taken his mate.
Vane would find her, and when he did, there would be one less demon in the universe. Bride wanted to scream, but couldn't. Her vocal cords seemed to be paralyzed.
Sight came back to her so suddenly that it hurt her eyes.
She blinked to find herself inside what appeared to be an old cabin or house of some sort. It was long and narrow with an old-fashioned fire blazing out in the open with no fireplace or real confinement.
"Don't be afraid," the demon said, releasing her.
He stepped around her. Instead of the good-looking blond he had been earlier, he was now hideous. His skin was a deep, dark purple shade and he had flaming red hair and eyes.
His feet were twisted and looked more like overgrown clubs. He limped as he walked toward the door and opened it.
"Bryani!" he called out, then he looked back at her and sniffed like an animal. His large teeth were too big for his mouth, and when he spoke he lisped. "No one is going to hurt you, bobbin."
Bride was getting seriously tired of people telling her that. "Where am I?"
He wiped at his nose. "Don't worry yourself, bobbin. You're safe here."
"I was safe where I was." Sort of, anyway.
What kind of screwed-up delusion was this? If she was going to lose her mind, she much preferred losing it with Vane than with an ugly monster thing who could barely speak.
The demon stepped back to make way for a beautiful woman who reminded Bride of a young Grace Kelly, only this woman had three vicious scars on her face and neck that made a mockery of Tabitha's.
Underneath the scars, the woman bore a red tattoo very similar in design to Vane's. She looked to be no older than her mid-twenties and yet the woman carried herself with the bearing of a regal queen. She entered the room as if she owned it and dared anyone to question her authority.
Blond braids were wrapped around her head in an elegant design that was held in place by a gold circlet decorated with what appeared to be very large diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.
Bride frowned at the woman's clothes. She wore what appeared to be something out of an episode of Xena. It was gold body armor that covered her torso, but left her arms bare, except for gold arm- and wristbands. Her vibrant red and dark green plaid skirt was voluminous and many-layered.
Most impressive, the woman had a sword, bow, and quiver of arrows strapped to her back.