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CHAPTER ONE

?WE HAVE PROBLEMS?

Caden MacTavish rolled his eyes If Braht that was news, it came teeks too late

Hovering on the edge of a bottle green arrandson sla the Dooy silence with hiical All had the kind of mettle that would have been welcome in the Marine platoon in which Caden had served

Without Braickind?s Brad Pitt looked both jurave In fact, all the wizards, and Marrok, the forrihts drifted to his absent brother Lucan, a Doomsday Brethren warrior

Please God, let this end soon

A loud crash upstairs thu, shook the walls A wo from her voice On the upper floor, a door crashed open, the shrieking grew louder, and footsteps pounded above hi out the door

Tearing out of the library, Caden raced to the shrieking blond worabbed the frantic witch by her shoulders Though likely over two hundred, she looked deceptively young Her wide green eyes were glazed with fear

?Wait Please? He caught her anxious gaze ?My brother??

?I can?t? Her voice quivered ?He?s big and feral and? snarled that I smell of another man He ripped his ch-chains? Her words broke with new tears ?And lunged for my throat?

Caden closed his eyes and held in a curse The fifth energy surrogate Lucan had frightened away in teeks Nohat?

At the top of the stairs, Braolden hair were askew, but her deo?

Instead, Caden clasped the witch tighter If he released her, ould becoenerates?

Caden couldn?t finish the sentence The thought

?He?ll die? Sabelle sighed ?He ed him mentally My Aunt Millie says she?s never seen a case ofthis severe?

More dreadful news Where was the freaking light at the end of the tunnel? Braed hio; the hell hadn?t let up since Frustration ate his gut like acid He didn?t want to fail Lucan Years ago, he?d been unable to save his younger brother Damned if he?d let his older one die, too

?If Lucan isn?t taking the energy to survive froht them??

?Priates co an attack It?s a delusion, and we can?t explain otherwise to hiates bring the shts back?

?Maybeit?s time to consider that he wants death,? Bram murmured behind him

Fury slashed through Caden What kind of friend even thought that? Caden had held the hands of fallen comrades in Iraq and prayed for their recoveryeven as some rattled their last breath

?My brother will not die like this! I will find Anka and bring her back?

?It o,? Bram demanded

?Please,? the scared blonde pleaded

Caden shook with rage He wanted to crush soain screwed up his life But the sobbing witch in his grasp shrank back in fear, like he, too, was a monster

For about the two hundredth tio, Caden cursed ic To a human male, the loss of a beloved wife could be e But as a wizard, Lucan?s loss had reduced a perfectly sane person to a rabid animal The man upstairs wasn?t the older brother Caden had idolized as a child

Though he?d left his childhood ho or anyone associated with ht lose his only reht of never speaking to Lucan again? Unthinkable

He must restore Lucan?s mental health To do that, he had to find Anka and return her to his brother?s arms? quickly And clearly, the witch Caden currently detained couldn?t help

With a sigh, he released her ?Go?

She sprinted out and closed the door Silence reverberated

?Come back to my office,? Bram said

Caden whirled on the wizard ?I won?t give up on my brother, damn you!?

With a twitch of Braically hauled back into the office Caden seethed with resentment as Braive the wizard a furious earful, but Bram held up a hand

?I understand your frustration But our difficulties aren?t merely about you and your faestured to the other three ickind?

?My brother is chained to a bed like a lunatic, Anka is one We cannotis more important?

?I wish Our other problerave?

Ice Rykard, another of the warriors, was a big man, but when annoyance stamped his square, hollow-cheeked face, like now, sane people backed away ?You summoned me here to tell me what I already know??

As Ice rose to leave, Bra new has arisen Prudence requires that we attend to it All of us?

Braht his assistance? Caden would have laughed if he weren?t so furious ?I ca mate??

?Former mate,? Bram corrected ?Their bond is broken?

?Involuntarily,? Caden stressed ?I?ve no doubt Lucan still regards Anka as his, and they were in love Why would she not welcoain, not solve your problems?

Brahed ?Lucan isto ain But that is a mission of mercy The other matters are of life and death?

?If you do not help me find Anka, Lucan will die!?

?If we fail to act on this new proble Lucan?

Sacrificing one for many Bram had shoved this ?necessity? down Caden?s throat before His patience earing thin Exhaling, he rubbed gritty eyes Every day, worrying Every night, not sleeping?he often paced, Lucan?sin his mind Meanwhile his brother?s ?friends? worried about everyone else

?Please? Siest of the Doomsday Brethren, drilled him with a stare ?We need you as much as Lucan The sooner we tend to these issues, the sooner we can help him?

Caden felt four pairs of eyes locked on him Except for the fact Bra He?d known theickind and their proble theut