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Erion was Pureblood vampire, but he was also a hts, stripped hiranted hiht-unlike his Roman brothers

He flashed into the alley across from the Roman and Beast compounds, which were situated next to each other on theto the construction plans they&039;d devised, would be one massive home in just a few ether, but it hadn&039;t stopped hi that was just his-soeneration

He bypassed a decent amount of dayti through his own enchantments was silad he&039;d chosen this side of the lawn first Devoid of any of the afternoon&039;s sunlight, the low of the fireplace, and it was packed with the entire Roman and Beast crew Erion heard theressive-but Lycos, with that damn nose of his, was on Erion before he even crossed the threshold into the huge circular space

"Where the hell have you been?"

"I&039;lare as he walked into the roolad to hear it," Lycos said, his eyes ripe with irritation "But I want to knohere you were You can&039;t be out of communication We need to be able to reach you"

Erion cared deeply for his rown fond of his Roht now all he cared about was his boy

"Have you found Cruen&039;s whereabouts?" He addressed the query to the room, to all who sat and stood and stared at him

"Not yet," Nicholas told hiri registered in his chest The veana was like a surrogate mother to Ladd She loved and cared for hi on the walls?" he asked, his gaze still on Nicholas

"The Order hasn&039;t contacted us," Nicholas said quietly "There&039;s been nothing"

Phane stood up, anger flaring in his nore Ly&039;s question?"

"I&039;ve been searching for the boy," Erion said on a growl He hadn&039;t told anyone about the house he&039;d purchased It was his private business He didn&039;t want questions, didn&039;t want to have to explain why he&039;d bought it, his hope for who he one twenty-four hours, Erion," Helo said calh with e of a chair "We have enough to worry about without having to send a search party out for you"

Erion knew they meant well and that everyone was jacked up on worry for the boy, but Helo&039;s last words really pissed hi as I wish it, brothers I aa I caleaned" He looked around the roo Christ, have you even moved since I was here last-since the boy was stolen?"

Alexander and Lucian cursed, Phane and Helo stood, growling, Sara tried to speak civilly to hiot in his face and pushed

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted

"Just don&039;t appreciate doing the work of ten"

"You run off, don&039;t stay in contact, then presun to co on our asses all day drinking blood?"

"You have nothing!" Erion shouted "No information, no trail to follow"

"Neither do you, asshole!" He looked around, behind Erion "You got the balas? You brought hi?"

A fierce snarl escaped Erion&039;s throat, and he headed toward his wolf brother "Screw you, Lycos"

Phane stepped between the like a-"

"Nutcase!" Lycos called, his beast out and snarling

"No, an idiot," Phane said

Lycos snorted "Fuck, no! A-"

"A father"

The air in the roo, testosterone-laden fire bled froo were ready to kick the shit out of one another

"He&039;s acting like a father"

All heads turned to Nicholas The paven stood by the wall, alone, his eyes tired and sad as he watched Erion

"You think you&039;re the only one feeling like this, brother?" he said

"Like what?" Erion returned, not fierce but fearful "Disappointed in the lack of work that&039;s being done to locate the boy"

Nicholas shook his head "You know that&039;s not true You know every va all he can to locate Ladd What Iabout hi if he&039;s hurt, if he&039;s scared" Nicholas&039;s hands balled into fists and he sla on

Erion didn&039;t want to see the paven emotional, afraid He couldn&039;t afford to feel any of that He had to stay detached and clearheaded and vicious

"We&039;ve all been out searching, Erion," Alex said, his tone as calht"

"We all want the boy back," Sara said,into the crook of her ether"

"The Eyes are looking into Cruen&039;s whereabouts," Lucian said "But those fanged street rats aren&039;t being even remotely helpful I swear Cruen has stolen their er informants for hire but his personal servants We&039;ve offered them insane amounts of money, and they&039;re not even te with the Order now," Sara added, "She&039;s trying to find out what they know, and Gray is seeing if the Impure warriors can obtain a mental link"

Alexander turned to his brother "How is Kate?"

Erion flinched, then hated himself for it He didn&039;t want to fall into the sad warmth of their emotional connection He watched as Nicholas shook his head, his eyes weary "Frantic She tried to go with Dillon to the Order"

Alexander snorted "Went over well, did it?"

Nicholas&039;shasn&039;t htened around his s of a growl If he re to explode

"You can continue socializing," he said "I have work to do" He turned on his heel and started for the door

"Where?" Helo called after him "What work is it? What&039;s your plan?"

"One of us will go with you," Phane added "Wait, brother"

"No" Erion didn&039;t slow

"Goddamn you, Erion!"

Lycos&039;s frustrated outburst followed Erion out the living room door and into the hall, but the only one who actually followed hiht up with him near the kitchen and blocked his way The paven looked tired, older, but in his dark eyes a fire smoldered

Erion bared his teeth, flashed his demon "Move"

"I don&039;t like this, Erion," Nicholas said, undeterred by the show of brawn

"Not my problem"

"He is mine too, and Kate&039;s"

Erion&039;s jaorked, a quick and irrational anger surging within him "You think that&039;s what this is? That I would steal him back only to keep him for myself? I am no father" His eyes narrowed "He is all yours, brother I would never atteaze turned sympathetic "You knohat I ical-"

"He is nothing but a lass in his et out of my way before I help you"

Nicholas didn&039;t , it would be better served to work together"

"Not this ti You think you owe hi about his existence"

The rurowl of warning "Don&039;t tell ," Erion hissed, so to do with "You and I have no understanding of each other, our histories, our perspectives"

"Is this about the past? About our mother and what she did to you?" Nicholas shook his head "If so, you have nothing to make up for I truly believe you were better off"

"That veana may have used you, brother, hurt you, but at least she wanted you"

Nicholas laughed bitterly "Oh, she wanted me She wanted er service those pieces of shit herself" He turned away for ato catch his breath "What does any of this have to do with Ladd?"

Erion could barely feel, barely think, he was so puer and fear "I cannot"

"What? What, Erion?"

His gaze lifted and his eyes found his twin&039;s He shook his head miserably "The balas will not think, will not believe-ever-no matter where he ends up-that I did not want him"

There was a moment of silence between them, and Nicholas&039;s eyes softened "You don&039;t have to do this alone for hihtened his shoulders, shoved away the sentiment and e irrational And it&039;s dangerous for the boy"

"My passion,the boy hoh "God, I hope so"

Erion bit into his wrist, then grabbed his brother&039;s and bit into his flesh too Nicholas cursed, but he allowed Erion to press the two bloody gashes together

"Noe are connected," Erion said, his eyes locked on his twin "Feel forfor an answer, Erion ripped his aret back to his search, to his prisoner The moment he stepped out of the house, the moment he felt sun on his face, he flashed

In seconds, he landed on another lawn, in another country It was night and the rain had stopped Erion ran his bloody wrist along the lock, then waited for the gate to draw back It had barely swung two feet before he saw the front door to the castle burst open One of his servants ca out, followed by the brown-and-white canine Both barreled down the s on his heels, the servant halted before Erion "Your prisoner, sir"

Instantly alert, Erion said, "What about her?"

The servant&039;s rim line and his eyes ith anxiety