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“What did you find in your little scouting?” Uriel asked.

Severin tipped his head, catching the slight edge and condensation in Uriel’s tone. “Little scouting?” he questioned. “You got a problem, Uri?”

Uriel lifted his drink to his lips and took a long sip without answering. Severin waited, knowing his silence and aura would grate on the four in the room. The other man’s knuckles turned white around the glass. His eyes flashed red, and red veins gathered in the white, as if the strain were making his blood vessels burst. Good. Severin knew how hard it was to keep up an outward facade when you were breaking apart inside.

“You’ve been acting off since we arrived in New York—disappearing and spending time away from us for long periods. Now you ask if I have a problem? Why the fuck did you have us come here? Are you wanting to make nice with your blood brother and what, replace us?” Uriel spat.

Severin blurred, reappearing in front of Uriel with one hand wrapped around the other male’s throat. “Are you done?” he asked.

Uriel didn’t blink. His free hand wrapped around Severin’s wrist, gripping hard.

“Isn’t that a question I should ask you? You had us come here and what, get us killed for a feud with your brother? Come on, tell us what we’re really doing here. We don’t need to expand into this territory. Hell, we shouldn’t have come to America fifty years ago in the first place. None of us said a word when you decided we should take over Chicago. However, like lambs, we followed you. Give me one good reason why we should continue,” Uriel growled, his voice hoarse from Severin’s grip.

“I do not answer to you, Uriel. Not now, not ever. If you want to sever ties with me, then so be it. There is the door.” He waved his left hand aside.

“Bullshit. Do you want to make a happy family with your brother and leave us behind? Or get us killed and make it easy for you to join his Family?” Uriel growled.

Severin flexed his hand, then tossed Uriel away. The male who’d been as close as a real brother flew over ten feet, flipped backward, and landed in a crouch.

Turning toward the others, Severin let his aura flare. “I have never betrayed my blood oath to anyone, let alone to the four of you. The fact you could utter such bullshit to my face says a lot, Uriel. How about the rest of you? Do you feel the same as him?”

He turned to look at the others.

“Fuck that. Don’t put that bullshit on us, Uriel. If you want to spout nonsense, that’s on you. I won’t let you drag me down with you. I never thought Severin would betray me or any of us.” Castle walked in front of Severin and fell to one knee, placing his fist over his heart.

Eliana and Enzo followed suit, giving their backs to Uriel. Severin stood facing his second, while the other three stayed kneeling with their heads bowed.

“I will sever ties with you today if that is what you want, Uriel. Obviously, trust has been broken between all of us. You went into their minds and pretended to be me. That is unforgivable. Without trust, I can’t allow you to have any of our backs.” Severin raised his hand, pulling the invisible thread connecting him to the other man. A cry ripped from Uriel. Blood spewed from his mouth as he fell to his knees, grabbing at his chest.

“What did you do?” Uriel looked up at him, blood running from his mouth, eyes, and ears.

“I took back what I gave you. Now, you’re free from my Clan and me. I suggest you find yourself a new place to call home, Uriel.” Severin flicked his hand, pushing the male toward the door like a piece of paper in a gust of wind.

Uriel’s face turned white. “You can’t do that to me. I took the embrace when you asked if I was willing to sacrifice everything. I said yes and vowed to stand by your side. Am I never to have a mind of my own?”

Severin flicked his wrist, making the door open behind Uriel. Another absent flick pushed Uriel out the door before it slammed shut on Uriel's frowning face.

“What just happened?” Enzo whispered without looking up.

Severin let out a shallow breath, feeling the loss of his best friend and the male whom he’d called brother since he’d lost his real one hundreds of years ago. He released the pressure holding the others down and turned toward the bar. Sending a trace of detection racing toward the hall, Severin followed the path Uriel took and tagged his former second. A hint of anger mixed with anguish. He could understand the first, but the latter puzzled him. The fucker should’ve known Severin didn’t tolerate betrayal. He’d shown nothing but loyalty and brotherhood to his Clan, giving them everything they needed to survive and then some.

Over two hundred years ago, he found ways to enhance their abilities past the limits of most of their kind. He didn’t doubt he and his Clan could take Scepter and his Family on if it came down to it. He’d brought only his four top lieutenants. However, if he needed an army, he could call on hundreds, if not thousands. He didn’t want a war. Not now. Not back when he’d found Bianca as his true bond mate, and if he’d had a say in it, not ever.

He slammed his hand down on the granite top, cracking it down the center of the bar. Rattling glasses clattered through the vast room, driven by his anger. Severin didn’t want to kill Scepter. He’d already taken too much from his twin. Debts stacked up, and dammit, he hated having fewer chips on his side of the table than others.

“Boss, we won’t betray you, but I’d like to know what the fuck just happened,” Castle asked in a roughened voice.

Severin met the other male’s steady stare. “I turned Uriel. He turned you. The same Maker turned Castle, and he turned his brother and sister, Enzo and Eliana. However, my brother and I were born, not made. As second-generation vampires, we were...unique, or so we thought. After Scepter left our home country and Bianca died, I couldn’t sit around the estate twiddling my thumbs any longer. I spent the next half-century in the mountains with some high priests who chose to hide away and study. For me, it felt like penance for my sins.”

Enzo held up his hand. “You willingly chilled with some Bible-thumping, celibate males for fifty years?”

Castle chuckled, then turned his face and coughed. “Sorry. I got something stuck in my throat.”

“Well, if you were alone with all males for over fifty years, it would probably be a dick,” Eliana joked.

Severin smiled down at the only female who would dare say something so outrageous to his face. Another female’s image popped into his head. This one had raven-black hair down to her waist that he ached to feel wrapped around his fist while he fucked her from behind. He had to push the images from his mind before he found himself sporting a hard-on. The last thing he wanted the trio in front of him to think was that he was excited about choking on some priest’s dick.

“Not to yuck on someone’s yum, but I’ve never had a dick in any part of my body and certainly have no plans to do so in the future,” Severin assured them.