My heart was in my throat as I followed behind my mother, my entire body almost vibrating intensely in fear and excitement. Yet, I did my best to keep my face as placid as possible, to resemble the blank walls of the tower. The bond was strong, but I didn’t want to let my mother know how much of an effect it had on me.

I didn’t — couldn’t — trust her with such knowledge. Every time my eyes darted to her, I caught sight of her new fur coat and another bout of nausea threatened to overwhelm me.

Once I saw Damon and Blaise, I needed to get them out of here as soon as possible. How I wished that instead of wolves, they could turn into ordinary pigeons to fly out of this sordid city. Instead, they were walking straight into the lion’s den for my sake.

On the other hand, my mother seemed more than eager to meet them, ready to play the consummate host. She led me to the dining hall and began to flutter around the dining table gracefully, making sure that the table setting was arranged to her liking.

For once, I caught sight of other people working in the tower― ordinary staff who were busy polishing the plates and straightening the napkins. I could have told them to save the effort, but my eyes were drawn to the forks and spoons.

There was an awfully familiar shine to them that I didn’t like.

"Mom, are you expecting them to use silver cutlery?" I demanded indignantly, pointing at what one of the workers was polishing.

Her smile grew impish. "Maybe. Either way, they could eat the food with their hands if they wished. Animals don’t need to use cutlery anyway."

"Mom!" I protested in disgust, but my mother waved off my objections.

"Just kidding," my mother said cavalierly. "It’s stainless steel. The cooks actually put in a lot of effort into this meal, and I would hate for their efforts to be wasted."

I could only seethe to myself. I didn’t believe my mother in the least, but what could I do? Damon and Blaise were right at their doorstep. My mother’s phone beeped, just as I was suddenly overcome with fear and worry.

Damon and Blaise were so close.

"Just in time!" My mother clapped her hands. "Daughter, can you put on a smile? You’re going to give them the wrong impression. They might think I’m ill-treating you."

The smile on my face in response to her words could have curdled milk, but it turned sincere when I managed to smell two familiar scents wafting down the corridor. Before I could think twice about my actions, I was running out the door through the corridors, leaving my mother behind.

"Damon! Blaise!" I yelled out, and almost at once, I felt twin bodies colliding with me with the force of a supernova. Strong arms enveloped my body from all sides, their warmth bracketing me.

"You’re here, you’re here..." Damon and Blaise’s voices blended together as they clung onto me tightly, burying their faces in my shoulders.

Tears leaked out from my eyes. They were finally here, in my arms. I felt their relief as strongly as they felt mine. If this world was kinder to us, we would have all the time in the world to reconnect.

But that was not the hand I had been dealt with. My mother was hot on my heels. This was the only chance I had to relay the news.

"Damon, Blaise, you have to leave now," I whispered quickly. "It’s not safe―"

"We’re not leaving you behind," Damon interrupted with a growl, and he and Blaise both tightened their grip on me.

"We’ll get through this together," Blaise promised fervently, his voice low and muffled. "I believe in us."

I believed in us too. What I did not believe in was my mother’s mercy and good nature.

Speak of the devil.

"What a lovely reunion." My mother’s voice rang loudly behind me, causing a spike of fear to travel through me. Of course, this did not go unnoticed by Damon and Blaise, who tried to shield me from my mother’s own glance. I peered at her through the safety of their hold, and my mother merely crossed her arms and eyed the three of us with wry amusement.

"Oh, there’s no need for such posturing. I’m hardly going to lay a hand on my own daughter," she said genially, but her shoulders shrugged, casually drawing their eyes to her new impressive fur coat.

Both brothers were startled, their hackles rising as they realized the fur coat belonged to one of their own kind.

Damon growled in warning. Both of them caught the implication in her words and actions, but only Damon bared his teeth in response."But you’ll lay a hand on us, won’t you? You bloodthirsty bitch."

I gripped their arms tightly, hoping that they would not lunge for my mother― even if they successfully managed to subdue my mother — and that was a very big ’if’ — they would still have to fight their way out of an entire city of hunters who would be out for blood.

"Well, that depends on how our meal will go, doesn’t it?" My mother countered evenly, raising an eyebrow at the insult. "And I’m a perfectly human hunter. Those words would be more suitable to describe Gus."

"Gus?" They exchanged glances at that awfully familiar name.

"There’s a lot to explain," I said, trying to pull the both of them away, but of course, my mother wouldn’t have that.

"And we’ll explain all of it over dinner. Come on, I would like to see if both of you are good enough for my daughter. So far, you’re on thin ice, Damon Valentine."

"That’s not up to you to decide, you witch," Damon snarled. "We are her mates. The Moon Goddess has already deemed us to be her best match. You are a puny human, and you have no right to an opinion!"