Chapter 4
* * *
The estate was too quiet.
Not peaceful. Not calm.
Just… waiting.
The silence was thick and unnatural, like the house itself was holding its breath—waiting for the storm to break.
Candy sat on the edge of the massive bed, spine rigid, fists clenched around the edge of the blanket like it was the only thing anchoring her to the earth. Her bare feet pressed into the cool stone floor, grounding her, but her mind was spinning. Spiraling.
She should be used to this—the gnawing anticipation, the threat she couldn’t see but had always felt.
But this time was different.
This time, she wasn’t running.
This time, he was.
Aeolus sat beside her, still and watchful, a silent storm wrapped in flesh. His massive frame radiated heat and control, his power coiled beneath the surface like a predator waiting for a target. He hadn’t spoken in minutes. Just watched her. Patient, focused, lethal.
She felt him there like armor. Like a vow.
Finally, his voice cut through the silence—low, rough, edged with steel. “Tell me.”
Candy blinked, pulled from the echo chamber of her own thoughts. She turned toward him, and there he was—those ice-blue eyes locked on her, unrelenting.
“Tell me what’s chasing you inside that head of yours.”
She inhaled sharply, then let it out slow, fingers flexing. “I’m just… processing.”
Aeolus tilted slightly toward her, his intensity grounding. “About Betsy?”
“And the hunt. And everything else,” she admitted. “I’ve spent so long surviving. Hiding. Always calculating our next move. And now, for the first time… the threat’s being hunted. He’s being hunted.”
Her voice dipped, barely audible. “And it doesn’t feel real.”
Aeolus reached for her hand. His fingers closed over hers—firm, steady, claiming. “It’s real. And it’s over the second we catch him.”
Candy nodded, but her throat felt tight. Her past clung to her like smoke.
“I haven’t told you everything,” she said finally, voice quiet.
His response was instant. “Then tell me now.”
She looked down at their hands. His was larger, scarred, unyielding. Hers trembled slightly in his grip.
“Betsy and I… we’re sirens. Not just witches. Siren-blooded. Our magic isn’t just in spells or charms. It’s in our voices. In our will. We can make people obey. Lose themselves. Burn the world if we push hard enough.”
His jaw ticked, but his hand didn’t leave hers. No fear. No flinching. Just focus.
“I discovered it young,” she continued. “Didn’t know what I was doing, didn’t understand the power. But others… they noticed. People got possessive. Obsessive. I learned fast how dangerous attention could be.”
Her voice grew brittle. “Our mother was a siren too. Strong. Powerful. She taught us the little she could before she… left.”
“Left?” Aeolus asked, though his tone said he already suspected something darker.
Candy’s mouth flattened. “She didn’t abandon us. She sacrificed herself.”
Aeolus stilled. Completely.
“She left us in the system,” Candy said softly. “Foster care. Hidden identities. Spells to mask our power. She said it was the only way to keep us safe—from our father.”
Aeolus’s body went hard as stone. “Tell me what he did.”
Candy shook her head. “He wasn’t a siren. But he wanted our mother’s magic. Wanted to control it. Harness it. And when she refused to be a weapon for him, he tried to break her.”
Her next words came on a whisper. “She knew he’d never stop. So when he found her—after years of chasing—she faced him one last time.”
Aeolus’s breath grew heavier.
“She killed him,” Candy said, voice tight. “But not before he killed her too.”
Aeolus’s entire body tensed like a wire pulled to the point of snapping.
“She traded her life to end his,” she whispered. “She gave everything—so Betsy and I could live free. She died with a blade in her hand and a spell on her lips.”
Aeolus rose from the bed in a single, fluid motion, the force of his rage vibrating in the air. His wolf surged behind his eyes—not uncontrolled, but barely contained.
He paced once, dragging a hand through his hair before turning back to her. “He made you orphans. Made you run. Hid in the shadows like a coward while you grew up fighting to survive.”
Candy nodded. “When I was sixteen, someone found me. We don’t know if it was him, or someone who worked for him—or someone new entirely. But that’s when the stalking began. The letters. The gifts. The feeling that I was being watched.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I was terrified. But I had Betsy. She was just a kid, and I had to protect her. So I didn’t fight. I ran. I stayed quiet. I survived.”
Aeolus returned to her like a storm closing in, dropping to one knee in front of her. His hands found her thighs, warm and unmovable. “You don’t have to survive anymore. You live now. With me.”
Her throat went tight. “That’s why I came to Stavros. I thought—if I worked under a name that big, maybe he’d back off. Maybe I could finally rest.”
Aeolus’s gaze pinned hers. “You didn’t just come to Stavros.”
Her lips parted.
“You came to me,” he growled. “You didn’t know it yet, but you found your mate. You walked straight into your pack’s arms. Into mine.”
Her eyes burned.
“You kept me safe before you even knew me,” she whispered. “You built a shield I could slip under without knowing why. And now…”
His hand came to her jaw, tilting her face up. “Now I make sure no one ever touches you again.”
Their lips met—this time not gentle, not soft.
This was claiming.
Heat surged between them, a fusion of power and pain, past and present, grief and rage and need.
When they broke apart, Candy pressed her forehead to his, voice trembling.
“We’re not running anymore.”
Aeolus’s voice was gravel and fire. “No, sweetheart. Now we hunt.”
* * *
Betsy adjusted the strap of her purse as she exited the grocery store, her heels clicking against the pavement. The night air was crisp, her breath misting in the dark. She didn’t mind it—preferred it, actually. The cold kept her sharp. A reminder that peace was always temporary.
But lately? Peace had started to feel… possible. Real.
Candy was finally safe. The wolves had stepped in. For once, Betsy allowed herself to hope.
And then—everything shifted.
The air changed. Her siren instincts surged. Every hair on her body lifted in warning.
She wasn’t alone.
Her hand slid into her bag, fingers curling around her keys just as she pivoted on her heel.
Too late.
A dark blur lunged from behind a car. But Betsy was already moving—graceful, fast, precise. She ducked, twisting sideways with dancer’s speed as the attacker landed where she’d been standing a heartbeat before.
The smell hit her hard—blood and rot.
Vampire.
He stood, fangs bared, eyes glowing with hunger. “Didn’t expect you to move that fast, little siren.”
Betsy straightened slowly, the wind catching in her long curls. Her hazel eyes narrowed. “Yeah? Then you’ve already lost.”
The vampire lunged again.
And Betsy opened her mouth.
Her voice didn’t sing—it commanded. Magic rode every note, wrapping around the air like chains.
“Stop.”
The word cracked like thunder. The vampire froze mid-strike, his limbs locking, eyes dilating.
He trembled, struggling against the pull, but he wasn’t strong enough to fight it.
“On your knees,” she whispered, the power in her voice dipped in honey and steel.
The vampire dropped like a puppet cut from its strings, kneeling before her with a snarl of defiance. But he couldn’t move. Not against her.
Betsy took her time pulling out her phone, stepping closer with dangerous calm. “You’re lucky I’m feeling generous tonight.”
She scrolled to the contact Candy had given her. One she never thought she’d use.
Adonis Stavros.
She hit dial.
It rang once.
Twice.
“Adonis speaking.”
His voice was rough velvet—cool, commanding, bored.
But the moment Betsy spoke, everything changed.
“You don’t know me,” she said, voice sharp and steady, “but my name is Betsy. I’m Candy’s sister. And I’ve got a problem you might want to collect.”
There was silence.
Not the silence of confusion.
Not hesitation.
Something else.
Stillness.
Predatory.
Then—
A sound.
Not a breath. Not a gasp.
An inhale. Deep. Controlled.
His wolf stirred.
Because through the phone—without seeing her, without touching her, without scenting her—Adonis felt something lock into place.
Her voice hit him like a blade between the ribs.
He could sense her fear. Her steel. Her fury.
And underneath it all, the bone-deep truth his wolf had been waiting its whole damn life to find.
Mate.
When Adonis finally spoke again, his voice was completely different—lower, raw, possessive.
“Where are you?”
Betsy paused. That voice… it didn’t just command.
It claimed.
She gave the address. “Hollow Pines Market. I’ve got a vampire kneeling at my feet. Thought maybe you’d want to clean up the mess. We’ll be in the abandoned building on third.”
The line went dead.
There was no warning. No command to his team.
Back at the compound, Stavros enforcers sat frozen in the war room, watching as Adonis—usually smug, always composed—stood like a man possessed.
He didn’t speak.
Didn’t blink.
Just turned and walked out.
No explanation.
Because he didn’t need one.
Outside, his feet hit the earth. His chest heaved once.
And then—
Shift.
Bones cracked. Muscle stretched. Golden fur exploded across his skin. A monstrous wolf, massive and furious, tore through the night with glowing eyes and snarling breath.
He didn’t need coordinates. Didn’t need scent.
His wolf knew exactly where she was.
And he would never let her out of reach again.
* * *
Aeolus exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as he turned off the water. Steam rose from the oversized tub, the scent of cedar and vanilla filling the air. The warmth seeped into the room, chasing away the chill of the night, but it did nothing to ease the tension coiled in his chest.
They still hadn’t heard from his brothers.