I yanked Lucy closer to me, but luckily for her, the pixie queen just cut her own hand and let a few drops fall onto the end of the hair strand. She finished by swooping a single teardrop from her eye. The drop followed the path of the bloodied hair, and with a deep breath Malisna blew in the last of the strand. It slithered inside, disappearing from sight.

Nothing happened for a few beats of my pounding heart, but then the doorway started to move.

"Amazing." Malisna sighed. "Lucy's hair was what we needed all along." She turned to her daughter. "If you hadn't come searching for us, we'd have been stuck in here forever."

They hugged, arms awkward over wings, but the joy on both faces was almost blinding. I turned back to the door. The circles had just started swirling rapidly. I watched closely until the motion began to make me dizzy.

"I can't believe it," Refis said. "It worked."

"What happens now?" I had to speak loudly; the door was noisy.

"Now we can move between this realm and First World."

I wondered if I could ... I pictured my room, and sure enough the tethers were back. Reaching out, I captured one and in a flash I was back in Angelisian. It took about thirty seconds for people to burst into my room. Josian was one of them; Colton, Lallielle and Fury were also there.

I held up one hand. "Be right back."

I attempted to tether back to the circular doorway, but there were no glittering strands there. I ended up back at the edge of the forest where we had started. I didn't know where else to go.

"Lucy!" I bellowed.

d.a.m.n, I should have taken her with me. How was I going to find her now? I spun as a doorway appeared right where I was standing and a large wolf lunged free. I should have expected him to be on my b.u.t.t. How he'd tracked me, I had no idea, maybe just from the location of the forest. He stormed straight up, his fur standing up in a hawk and growls falling from his mouth.

"Calm down, Colt, Lucy's fine but ... I'm just not sure where she is right now."

He snapped at me, but before I could answer with a kick to his face a black shape dashed out of the trees and landed between me and the Walker-wolf.

Cerberus must have smashed through the dense undergrowth. He was covered in leaves and sticks. His growls were low, vibrating across the area as he started to advance on Colton, pus.h.i.+ng him away from me. The snow-white wolf didn't like this, although it took a few steps back before he stood his ground. Luckily, Lucy flew out of the trees then and headed straight for her snarling mate.

"Cere." I called him to me. The two-headed hound retreated, but didn't take his eyes from Colton.

"Lucy's mate?" Refis and Malisna stood behind me. Refis was the one who had asked the question.

"Yep, that growling, drooling fur ball is her one true love. Have to hope the babies look like Lucy, right?" I attempted to lessen the tension.

"I'm not drooling, Abigail," Colton said. He was back in human form and naked as the day he was born.

Lucy stepped in front of him, her tiny build hiding the important parts. Not that he was shy. As a s.h.i.+fter he was often left with his bits hanging free.

"I need an explanation right now?" Colton was still growling, and he had both of his hands wrapped possessively around Lucy's biceps. He met my gaze with his own furious one. Every line of his face stood out starkly. "And can anyone tell me why the h.e.l.l I had to knock Brace out to get here. He's supposed to be the calm one."

I worked hard to keep all expression from my features. I didn't need to invite these sort of questions right now. I must have been semi-successful because Colton removed his laser eyes from me.

Lucy quickly detailed everything that had happened since we came to the forest. When she was about halfway through her story, a Walker doorway opened and out stepped my parents and the half-Walker girls. A wave of disappointment drowned me, although the smile remained on my features. The fake smile I'd learned to cultivate the past few weeks.

I don't know why I'd expected it to be Brace. I felt like he should be storming around like Colton, worried off his brain. Which won me moron-of-the-year; he didn't remember me, and it was all my fault. If we'd still been melded and I'd disappeared like this, there was no doubt that right now I'd be cuffed to his bed, and he'd be debating whether to keep me prisoner for fifty or a hundred years.

I was distracted as Lallielle and Josian engulfed me in huge hugs.

"Don't ever do that to us again," my bear of a father scolded me. "When Colton lost sense of Lucy, and then no one could reach you mentally, I didn't know what to think."

Half-Walkers had an inbuilt protection. No one could sense our energy, even though we were all pretty powerful. So this made it really difficult to keep tabs on us.

"Sorry, once we were in, there was no going back, and I couldn't trace or open a doorway. We were definitely stuck," I said.

All of the girls stepped forward to hug me too. I welcomed each one with their vastly different energy. All of the half-Walkers varied in power and looks.

Fury had hot energy, and with her red skin and white hair she was a very dramatic contrast against the woodsy backdrop. Talina with her cool, watery power had emerald hair that wrapped around me during our hug. And last was Ria, stunningly beautiful and with an affinity for nature. Vines were emerging from the forest line to brush lovingly against her.

As we finished up all of the hugging, Lucy summed up the last few details of our journey. Josian stepped around me and handed Colton a pair of pants. He must have brought them knowing the boy was going to be bare-a.s.sed in front of his in-laws. The blond Walker turned his back and dressed quickly, which allowed Lucy to step forward and introduce everyone to her newly discovered family.

"Queen Malisna." Josian clasped her hand briefly. "It's been far too long. I feared the worst for your species when you disappeared."

It was clear that Josian and Malisna were well acquainted with each other.

"We're back now. Lucy told me about the Seventine, and in light of the bond between my daughter and yours, I offer the skills of the pixies to once again work with the Walkers."

Josian inclined his head respectfully, before he turned to where Cerberus was sitting by my side. The puppy was back to his horse height.

"I don't know what to say, Cerberus, how are you here?" His tone sounded reverent. "We thought you had forsaken our race."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my nose crinkling at the intensity between Josian and Cerberus.

"Cerberus is one of the sacred guides. Walkers have animal spirit guides, and they're important in our lives and customs." He straightened, his eyes finding the hound again. "There are seven different guides."

"Seven," Fury said, mock astonishment written across her wide-eyed features. "Never would have guessed that."

I bit my lip to stop a grin.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

Josian waved his hand. "They're scattered around the worlds. They often return to us during times of war. Maybe the others will also find you, Aribella." He stared off into the forest for a moment.

I saw his shoulders rolling, as if he was uncomfortable.

Finally he caught my gaze again. "I'll give you all the details of the other six another time. Right now you need to get moving to Nephilius."

"But you said we had two weeks," Lucy protested. She'd moved back to her Walker; he'd become agitated when she was too far away from him.

Colton's broad shoulders were still bare, the corded muscles in his arms flexed as he held Lucy close. He couldn't keep his hands off her, seemingly fascinated by her physical changes as he touched her wings and the glittery green on her skin. The simple act of being able to touch and scent her was calming him.

"You've been missing for twelve days," Colton murmured, his voice low and rough. "You're lucky I managed to stay sane and control my wolf. I just wouldn't accept you were gone; I'll never accept it."

Lucy tightened her arms around him, and even though he was twice her size and four times her weight, it looked as if she was holding him together.

d.a.m.n, twelve days! Once again time moved differently on every world and apparently even within portals of worlds. And we needed to get to Nephilius before the tournament started. I couldn't lose my legitimate excuse to be wandering around; I had to find the half-Walker.

"Lucy, you need to stay and learn about your pixie abilities," Malisna protested.

My oldest friend shook her head. "Sorry, end of the world and all that junk. Abbs and I just don't have time. You noticed how we didn't have a clue that there were Walker animals. Well, that's just one of a million other things we still need to learn, and we've known about Walkers for months now. We learn the hard way."

Malisna locked me in her gaze. "Give me just one day with her. Maybe we can get to the bottom of these planted visions and strengthen her mind enough to prevent any further deception."

I hesitated. I didn't trust the pixie queen, but it was clear Malisna was not ready to give up this precious time with Lucy, and who could blame her? And it was pretty important to figure out Lucy's visions, since we continued to base our decisions on them.

"So what will happen to pixie land now?" I asked while I considered. "The portal is gone."

"Now that the spell on the portal has been broken, our world will slowly seep back into First World," Malisna said, sweeping her arms. "This forest used to be home to many of us fey, both greater and lesser."

I guessed goblins and such were considered lesser.

"It seems as if in our absence the land has grown wild, but we will tame it to our will again."

I had no doubt they would.

Her serious flower eyes locked on me. "I really do need time with my daughter. Just one day."

Finally I nodded. "One day," I said, before leveling a glare at her. "But if I hear any more s.h.i.+t like the chest-stabbing incident, I will hunt your pixie a.s.s down."

"What?" Colton's voice was a growl. He started to s.h.i.+ft the collar of Lucy's s.h.i.+rt in an attempt to see her chest.

She stilled his hand. "I'm okay; I'll explain everything to you later."

I locked eyes with Colton and raised one of my eyebrows. He gave me a succinct nod in return. He'd keep a close watch of Malisna for me.

I spoke again. "Alright, I'll head back to Angelisian. Colt can stay here and bring Lucy across. I can't give you more time. We have to gather the half-Walkers "

"The worlds depend on it," chorused Fury, Talina and Ria, their voices blending together.

I snorted. Okay, maybe I was a bit of a broken record lately.

Josian opened a doorway while I hurried over to hug Lucy.

"Stay safe and call for me if you get into any trouble," I said as I pulled back from her.

I hated to leave her behind, but I knew Colton would not let her out of his sight. And I could trust him to fight to the death to keep her safe.

"I'll see you soon," Lucy promised.

Cerberus followed me as we entered the short-length doorway taking us back to the beach in Angelisian. And I have to admit, it felt right having him around. We had bonded, the connection between us real and important. I sensed that it was actually very important.

I was at the back of the group, behind my parents and the half-Walker girls, so I didn't see him straight away as I exited the Walker doorway. But the jolt of awareness, from deep in my soul, stopped me dead in my tracks.

Brace.

He was leaning against the railing of our big front porch, in that s.e.xy but casual pose he had down pat. His Walker marks framed his perfect features and when I managed to move my gaze past his face I realized that he held a huge bunch of flowers. Not just any old flowers, but what looked like twenty colorful varieties, stylishly thrown together in a bouquet. I could smell the sweetness from where I stood. A lump immediately formed in my throat; I stepped closer.

"Are you okay?" Josian asked me in a low voice. "Do you want me to run interference?"

I shook my head.

Lallielle laughed then, before proceeding to drag her mate away. "Stop being so overprotective. Let Aribella have a few moments with Brace."

She was matchmaking. I'd have thought it funny if it wasn't so heart breaking.

Everyone else faded off to do other things, leaving me alone with Brace. There were no witnesses and no Lucy around now to stop me from throwing myself into his arms and reforming the bond. All I had was my own strength and conviction to hold me back.

The worlds were screwed.

He straightened then, and my ability to breathe fled, along with all the feeling in my lower limbs.

"I'm glad that you're alright, Abby."

His deep voice washed over me, all the way down to my toes. My body reacted. It knew him intimately and was conditioned to respond to him. Heat flooded through me and I almost whimpered at how hard it was to keep my distance.

"Abby?" Questioning entered his voice.

G.o.d d.a.m.n I missed hearing him say Red, but at least he'd stopped with the Aribella, like we were strangers.

"Lucy and I were stuck in pixie land," I finally blurted out, trying not to sound like a love-sick lunatic.

He moved closer again, the smell of flowers mingling with the spicy cinnamon scent of Brace. He was just like a donut, only hotter and non-fattening.

"I kind of figured after Colt broke his chains and knocked me out cold." He rubbed his chin. "You should have called me for help; I'm always here if you need anything."

I couldn't halt my smile. This calm, reserved Walker was so unlike the bulldozer he'd been as my mate. And in that moment I realized something. Maybe it was the look in his eye or the slight tremble of his hands: Brace was nervous.

But nervous or not, it didn't stop him taking the final steps right up to me. And extending his long arms for me to take the flowers. I accepted them. The bunch was surprisingly solid.

"I wanted to get you something," he said, the faintest smile crossing his full lips. "I've been worried about you."

Oh, my.

Be still, my trembling heart.

Brace was courting me.

And he was going to smash me into a million pieces if he didn't stop. I took a step back to give myself some room, and to break the tension between us.

Suddenly his dark eyes flicked up and away from my face. "Is that Cerberus?" He took a step toward the beach. "What the h.e.l.l? I can't believe ... how is he back?" His eyes were wide. "He's an old friend of mine."

I turned, a smile curving my lips when I saw my new buddy frolicking in the edge of the sea, his heads bouncing around as he swam. Talina and Ladre were close by, which wasn't strange. Ladre rarely left the ocean.

"Yes, he was trapped in pixie land," I started to say.

Brace gave me a brief grin, one hand resting warmly on my arm for a few intense seconds. "Hold on a moment."

And then he was off. He dashed right up to the big black beast and threw his arms around him. Cerberus gave some happy barks and I wondered if he was one of those animal friends Brace had told me about a long time ago. I didn't take my eyes off them, my gaze locked like glue.