EXCERPT 1
Ander laughed as both twins attack-hugged him. They always seemed to sense when he needed hugs—they knew a lot of things they shouldn’t. 

Like now, when Remy said, “Mam will come back soon. Don’t be sad.” 

Ander’s throat ached with the threat of tears. Zenna went still in her armchair, her sharp green gaze flicking to meet his.

“I hope so, Remy.” Ander tried to keep the despair out of his voice for the twins’ sake.

Raven had the faraway look that came with her daydreams. “When she comes back, we’ll all live here.” 

“Wouldn’t that be awesome?” He wished he could believe it. The huge old house he and Kate had grown up in was meant for generations to share. Now most of his immediate family was gone, and he’d lived alone for the past year at Forrest House, its emptiness an unwelcome roommate until the twins crash-landed in his bedroom.

Ander hadn’t realized how lonely his life had become until they arrived, but he had to live with the choices he’d made.

The kids allowed him to squish them for a little longer than usual before squirming out of his embrace. “Hot chocolate now?” Remy asked.

“In a little while. Go change out of your pajamas and into warm clothes, and maybe we can go sledding later.” Maybe—if they were lucky. The snow looked too wet, more like mushy rain than soft, airy flakes. 

The twins raced down the hall to their room, bare feet slapping against the hardwood floors. Even though they had started out in separate rooms, they always ended up together. Ander had quickly bought them a bunk bed. The nightmares weren’t as frequent now as when they’d first arrived.

“Missing Kate?” Zenna murmured after a slurp of coffee. Nanny of baby wizards and his link to sanity on bad days, his cousin was a capable practitioner in her own right, and the best equipped to deal with the potential disasters of juvenile wizardry. 

“Yeah. I’m missing her.” 

“Intuitive little shits.”

“I’m starting to wonder if it’s more than that,” Ander admitted.

His cousin frowned over the blanket she’d bundled into when she sat down. “Psychic gifts don’t run in our family. Do they run in the Piper clan?”

“No idea. They’ve been doing magic and wild shaping since they were four, and Edwyn swears that’s the youngest he’s ever heard of in their family. Who knows?”

“Can Cai wild shape?”

A twist of different pain lashed through Ander at the mention of the youngest Piper brother, but he tamped it down. “Yeah. The whole family can.”

“Druids are weird,” Zenna muttered around another sip of coffee. 

“And we’re not?” Ander raised an eyebrow. “I do magic with blood and skin for a living.”

“Yeah, but you’re a healer. You’re supposed to.” Zenna gave him a side-eye. “Unless you’ve picked up the family arts again and haven’t told me.”

“No,” he said, his voice flat.

“You’re not going to turn into Miles the Elder if you use your gift, you know.” Her low voice got softer when she named their infamous ancestor.  “Grandmother was a horrible person. She can’t make you feel like a villain waiting for your origin story anymore.”

 

EXCERPT 2
Cai cleared his throat. “You said I’m in America?”

“Yeah.”

“And if I was sent by a bloodspell, does that mean Remy and Raven are here?”

“Well, of course.” Ander blinked as Cai closed his eyes and sighed. He wasn’t sure if it was relief or defeat. “You didn’t know,” he said.

“No. Edwyn kept it a secret, even from me.” His fingers touched the blood-matted knot at the back of his head in tentative exploration. “I must have been out. I would never have let him send me otherwise. He was bleeding badly.” His hand tapped an area high and to the outside on his left leg. “Shot in the thigh.”

Ander thought of all the major blood vessels there and breathed a plea to the Goddess that none were severed. “I didn’t think the Fellowship used bullets.”

“We don’t. We were on a joint mission with intelligence agents. Someone started lobbing spells at us and our allies turned and shot each other. He was hit in the crossfire.”

“A Judas spell?” Ander frowned.

“I think so.”

“Were you working with British intelligence?” 

Cai opened his mouth to answer, then flinched and rubbed both sides of his head. “Some of my memories are missing. It’s painful to think about.”

“I think you might have a concussion.”

“Maybe. But this feels more like it was blocked by a spell.”

“By Edwyn?”

“I don’t think he would have had time. Not surrounded by guns and magic.” His breath became uneven again, and he sat unsteadily on the bed. “The harder I try to think about it, the more it hurts.”

“Don’t try right now.” Ander came closer and put his fingers under Cai’s jaw, forcing him to look up so he could peer into his eyes. Still no signs of a more serious head injury, but he wasn’t satisfied until he ran his fingers under Cai’s clotted hair to cradle the bruised lump beneath his palm, his senses open for new bleeding. He didn’t discover any. 

Cai stared at him as he pulled away, his face inches from Ander’s. They both became aware at the same time of how close he was standing, his hands gentle on the back of Cai’s head as if he were going to draw him into a kiss. Ander slowly stepped back.

“I have to find a way to get back to…” Cai frowned. “To…damn it! They took that, too. I don’t know where we were.” He looked to Ander with a desolate gaze. “I don’t even know if Edwyn’s alive.”

“You can’t ask the Fellowship?”

He stiffened. “No, I can’t.”

“I’d feel better if I could get you to a hospital.”

“I’ll be fine. I think it’s clear I’m meant to protect you and the twins.”

“Protect us from what?” He sat on the bed next to him. “What’s going on, Cai? Why wouldn’t Ed tell you where the kids were?”

He didn’t answer, his gaze slipping sideways. 

Ander had not missed this infuriating silence. Kate had pushed Ander away with it, Edwyn maintained it, and Cai had used it to shut down questions when they were together. 

He’d left Wales and come home because the people he loved most in the world could barely talk to him unless he was inducted into the Fellowship. 

Fury rose in scarlet floods with Cai’s refusal to speak. Ander let it crest. “That’s fantastic. Of course you can’t say anything. Then tell me how to protect them and get the fuck out.”

“You don’t—”

“They’re all I have left of Kate! I need to know how to protect them!”

“If you’re going to shout at me, then I will take that paracetamol now.” His voice was soft, defeated. A crease furrowed the skin between his brows, and the tight lines of his body spoke of more pain than a headache. Ander didn’t have to imagine the grief of not knowing if his brother was dead or alive. He knew only too well.

“I’m sorry.” Ander exhaled, forcing himself to calm. “We aren’t done,” he said in a less strident tone. “You will tell me what’s going on. Fuck the Fellowship and your code of secrecy! Those kids are my priority now. They’ve already lost their mother, and now maybe their father. No more.”

To his surprise, Cai nodded. “I promise I will tell you what I know.”

Disconcerted by his unexpected victory, Ander reluctantly let his anger drain away. 

“Are you hungry? I’m making dinner.”

“Starving. I can’t recall when I last ate anything.”

“It’ll be ready in half an hour. Make sure you drink the rest of that water.” He turned to go.

“Ander.” Cai’s expression was gentle as Ander looked back over his shoulder. “It’s good to see you.”