Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Angelo
My phone buzzed. A text from Trystan: Need to talk. Now.
Shit. It wasn’t going to be good. I texted him back. Call me in five. I didn’t want Serenity to be disturbed by his news.
I left Serenity and Noelle surrounded by the women—a circle of fierce protection disguised as a baby shower. Lorenzo stood near the doorway, trapped in the feminine celebration, looking uncomfortable but vigilant. His eyes tracked every movement, every person who came near my mate and daughter.
Good. Serenity and Noelle had to be guarded. Every second. Every moment.
I headed down the hallway toward my office where Serenity wouldn’t overhear my calls. The laughter and joy from the living room faded behind me, replaced by the cold reality of what was coming.
One day. One day until the Full Cold Moon, and we still had nothing.
Dimitri and Enzo were still searching for Vex—scouring the city, questioning every contact, checking every lead. But neither of them had found anything. It was like Vex had vanished, gone to ground.
Or was waiting. Biding his time until December 15th.
Tinker Bell still hadn’t returned from Salem. Days had passed since she supposedly left for that conference at Goody Magic Academy. I’d tried calling her directly—nothing. It gnawed at me.
I’d asked Keir to investigate Prudence. To dig into her background, her connections, her history.
There was something about her I couldn’t shake, couldn’t trust. She was gone now—had left right after the birth, citing another client—but I couldn’t stop thinking about those teas.
The way Serenity had gone into labor four days early.
The way Prudence had tried to keep Noelle from her mother.
The timing was too convenient. Too perfect for whatever Vex was planning.
Cold fury coiled in my gut. If she’d done something to harm them—if she’d been working with Vex all along—I would hunt her down and make her regret ever setting foot in my house.
I shut my office door and locked it just as the phone rang.
I grabbed it on the first ring. “What did you find out,Trystan? Any news about Vex?”
“No. But I have news about Prudence.” His voice was dark, angry. “And about Tinker Bell.”
Dread pooled in my gut. “What about Tinker Bell?”
“She never left for Salem, Angelo. I had my people check with Goody Magic Academy. There was no conference. No lecture. She was never scheduled to speak there.”
The bitch! Did she know who she was fucking with?
Trystan paused. “Tinker Bell never left New Orleans.”
I went still, trying to rein in my fury. Prudence had lied. Deliberately, calculatedly lied about where Tinker Bell had gone. And if Tinker Bell hadn’t left for a conference that didn’t exist…
She was either hiding, captured, or dead. And Prudence knew which one.
“Why would Prudence lie to me?”
I already knew the answer—or at least suspected—but I wanted to know if that information had filtered down to Trystan. If others had connected the dots I had.
“What my men have discerned...” Trystan hesitated. “Angelo, this is going to be hard to hear. But it looks like Tinker Bell has been working with Vex.”
Everything clicked into place—and it was worse than I’d imagined. “What?”
“Prudence came to us two days ago. She was terrified, said she’d discovered something and didn’t know who else to turn to. She had evidence—correspondence between Tinker Bell and demonic contacts.”
“And you’re just calling me now?” Fury erupted through me. “Two days, Trystan? You sat on this for two fucking days while a traitor had access to my family?”
“I wanted to verify—”
“You should have called me the second Prudence walked through your door!” My free hand slammed against the desk. “The Full Cold Moon is tomorrow. Tomorrow! And you waited to verify?”
“Do you want me to tell you what they found or continue on your tirade?”
I gritted my teeth. “What did they find out?”
“Ritual components hidden in Tinker Bell’s workshop. Instructions written in her handwriting for a sacrifice ritual on December 15th.”
“No.” I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “Tinker Bell helped us. She warded the house—“
“Did she?” Trystan asked quietly. “Or did she create wards that would look strong but actually allow Vex through when the time came? Prudence says she tried to strengthen them after Tinker Bell left, but the base magic was corrupted.”
The room tilted. Corrupted wards. The protection I’d trusted—that I’d bet my family’s lives on—had been sabotaged from the start. Tinker Bell had built a door for Vex and disguised it as a wall.
Rage and terror twisted together until I couldn’t tell them apart. Serenity and Noelle were downstairs right now, surrounded by magic that was designed to fail.
“Where’s Tinker Bell now?”
“We don’t know. She disappeared the same day she supposedly left for Salem. Prudence says that’s when she started investigating and found the evidence.”
I didn’t buy it. Not yet.
Prudence’s timing was too neat, her story too convenient. If she’d really found proof, why wait until now to show it? My instincts—honed from centuries of liars and traitors—snarled in warning. Until I saw that evidence myself, her word meant nothing.
“And where’s Prudence?”
“She’s in hiding. Scared. Says if Tinker Bell finds out she exposed her, she’ll be killed. But she wants to help, Angelo. She gave us everything she found.”
I paced my office, forcing my thoughts into order. Too many things weren’t adding up—the tea, Serenity’s sudden labor, Prudence refusing to give her Noelle.
And that heartbeat of hers…always spiking when I entered the room. Fear? Guilt? Or excitement? I’d seen that kind of reaction before—the kind that hides a secret and prays you won’t notice.
“But what would Tinker Bell gain by making an alliance with Vex or Balthazar? She’s already one of the most powerful witches in North America. Why would she risk everything?”
“According to Prudence…,” Trystan said. “That’s how she became so powerful in the first place.
Tinker Bell has been making deals with demons for decades.
Trading sacrifices for power. But that kind of magic has a price—it corrupts, it drains.
The power doesn’t last. She needs to make another sacrifice to maintain her strength, or she’ll lose everything she’s built. ”
The pieces fit together too neatly. Too perfectly. But I’d seen desperate witches do terrible things before. I’d killed witches who’d sacrificed children for power.
Yet Tinker Bell had never used her magic for darkness. Not once. Why start now? Unless she was better at deception than I’d realized—so skilled she’d fooled every one of us.
“What kind of sacrifice?” I asked, though I already knew. Already felt the cold certainty settling in my gut.
“A hybrid child,” Trystan confirmed quietly. “The notes Prudence found were explicit. Half-vampire, half-angel. Royal bloodlines on both sides. That level of power—that’s enough to sustain a witch for another century. Maybe more.”
I adjusted my hold on the phone before it snapped in two. “The notes were in Tinker Bell’s handwriting?”
“Prudence says yes. And the ritual components were hidden in Tinker Bell’s private workshop—the one no one else is allowed to enter.”
It made sense. Horrible, terrible sense.
But something still felt wrong.
“I want to see this evidence myself,” I said. “Have Prudence bring it to me. Tonight.”
“She’s scared, Angelo. I’m not sure—“
“Tonight,” I repeated. “If she wants my protection, if she wants me to believe her story, she brings me proof. In person. No intermediaries.”
There was a pause. If she didn’t show, I’d have my answer. Guilt always hid behind silence—and Prudence was hiding something. Something she didn’t want me to uncover.
But I would. I always did.
“I’ll tell her. But, Angelo? If Tinker Bell is working with Vex... your wards might already be compromised.”
I ran my hand through my hair, frustration and fear warring inside me. “I know. Tell Prudence I want her help strengthening these wards. If they’re compromised, we need them fixed before tomorrow night.”
“I’ll tell her. She’ll come, Angelo. She wants to protect Noelle as much as you do.”
I hung up and immediately called Enzo.
“Yeah?”
“Where are you?”
“City Park. Near the Dueling Oak.” His voice was grim. “The oak trees here have mysteriously started dying, Angelo. Ancient trees that have stood for centuries—their leaves are turning brown, branches rotting from the inside out. It’s spreading fast.”
My pulse didn’t quicken–it stopped. Wherever he goes, vegetation dies.
“It’s Vex,” I said with certainty. “He’s in the city. Close.”
“That’s what I thought.” I could hear the wind through the phone, Enzo moving through the park. “I’ve got men searching the perimeter, but—“
“Have Dimitri take over the investigation there. I need you to go to the Moon Coven immediately.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
I relayed everything Trystan had discovered—Prudence’s accusations, the evidence against Tinker Bell, the ritual notes, the demonic correspondence.
Enzo was quiet for a long moment. Then, “That sounds too convenient. Like a perfect frame job.” His enforcer instincts were as sharp as ever, and relief flooded through me. At least his instincts matched mine.
“I’ve been around Tinker Bell for years,” he said. “I’ve never sensed her magic being dark. Never felt anything demonic about her power. And trust me, I’d know.”
“Exactly what I’m thinking.” Like always, we were on the same page, making us a deadly pair. “That’s why I need you at the coven. I want you to investigate Tinker Bell’s workshop and her private rooms—that’s where Prudence claims she found the evidence of dark magic and demon contact.”
“You want me to verify the evidence exists.”
“Or prove it doesn’t.” I let the silence hang a beat before finishing. “If Prudence is lying, if she planted that evidence herself, you’ll find proof. You’re the best investigator I have.”
While Enzo searched, I’d be tracing Tinker Bell’s last movements myself. If Prudence was setting her up, I’d catch her in the act. And if she wasn’t… then I’d find out what game Tinker Bell was really playing.
“On my way now. Give me an hour.”
“The Full Cold Moon is tomorrow night, Enzo. We’re out of time.”
I hung up and sat on the edge of my desk, staring at the door that separated me from the laughter downstairs.
My mate and child were indulging in happiness—precious, fleeting happiness. Baby gifts and Christmas cookies and the illusion of safety. Serenity’s smile when she’d walked into that room, Noelle cradled in her arms, had been the most beautiful thing I’d seen in centuries.
And I was about to destroy it.
I was reluctant to douse Serenity’s happiness with this news. God knew she deserved joy, deserved peace, deserved one afternoon where she didn’t have to think about demons and sacrifices and threats to our daughter.
But I couldn’t leave her in the dark. Not about this. Not when the danger might already be inside our home, woven into the very wards that were supposed to protect us.
All of them needed to know.
Needed to know Tinker Bell was either being framed by someone we’d trusted—
Or she was our deadliest enemy, and we’d invited her into our home to ward us against the very demons she was working with.
Either way, we were in danger.
And we had less than twenty-four hours to figure out which.
I stood, straightened my shoulders, and headed for the door.
Time to tell them the truth.