“Chico!”

The ridiculous bird flew right to Teresa, perched on her shoulder and bobbed up and down like it was doing a victory dance. Then it turned to give Rune the evil eye. While it shook itself, ruffling its brilliant feathers, Rune spoke up.

“You’ve got the bird. Now we get out of here.”

“Right,” she said with a nod. “Just one more stop to make before we go.”

“Are you insane? There were hunters at your house. Waiting for you. You’ve already fought one and the others have found him by now. We need to leave.”

Gently stroking her bird’s back, Teresa paled a little, but even as he noted that, Rune saw a spark of defiance shine in her eyes. “Not until we make sure Elena’s safe. She gave me the things I needed to help you and I probably took the feds right to her door.”

He understood loyalty. Respected it. And in other circumstances would have admired seeing that trait in his witch. But now was not the time.

“If you did, there’s no help for it now,” he said. “Your friend knew what she was doing. She chose to help.”

“And now I’m choosing to do the same.” Teresa took a step toward him, the stupid bird still bobbing and weaving on her shoulder. Her gaze was fixed on him and her features were set in a blank mask that revealed nothing of what she was feeling. “I know I said I’d leave after you got Chico, and I’m sorry about that. But I have to make sure Elena’s all right. You can either come with me or wait here or, hell, I don’t know … go ahead to Mexico and I’ll meet you there.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Which?”

“Any.” He watched her closely and saw her loyalty warring with her innate sense of duty. Just as she had done so many years ago, Rune noted, she was forcing a choice on herself. Back then it had been simple. Side with Rune—do her duty as she knew it to be—or throw in her lot with the coven and her sister witches in their quest for power and knowledge.

Rune had trusted her then. He had believed that they were one in heart and mind. But she’d betrayed herself, him and everything she had ever believed in.

“You expect me to trust you?” he said, the deep rumble of his voice rolling out around her.

“Yeah,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because I trusted you once. And you betrayed me.”

“What? I—”

Suddenly he didn’t care about the feds. Or the need to get out of Sedona. He wanted Teresa to remember. To grab hold of the past and understand who and what she was. And he had no time to wait for all of her memories to return on their own.

He seized her shoulders, his huge hands gripping tightly. His gray eyes bored into hers, delving into her mind, reaching for the past that had been buried for too long. “Think, Teresa. Remember.”

She staggered a little under his touch, but her eyes were awash with the flashing shifts of emotion. He felt her tremble as ancient memories were awoken.

“Oh, God,” she said softly. “It was us. The coven. We did a spell with the Artifact. We wanted to open the portals to other dimensions. To gather more power. More knowledge.”

“Yes,” he said, maintaining his hold on her shoulders.

She blinked as a sheen of tears filled her eyes. “The spell went wrong. We …” She shook her head and he knew the memory wasn’t clear enough for her yet, so he told her the rest of it.

“You opened the gate to hell. Demons poured out of the opening you carved. The Eternals fought back, but couldn’t reach you. You were all in a protected circle; you had shut yourselves off from us. We could only watch and fight.”

“We did this,” she whispered brokenly. “All of it. The spell. The evil in the world. The Awakening. It’s all because of what we did that night.”

“Yes.”

She blew out a breath and wiped one hand across her face, as if she were trying to reconcile herself to this new information. He knew it would take time. He knew she didn’t have all of her memories yet and when they returned it wouldn’t be easy for her to deal with them.

Belen knew, Rune had had eight hundred years to reconcile himself to the past and still it ate at him. So he wouldn’t blindly trust her to do the right thing. Neither of them could afford mistakes this time around, though, and if that meant he had to protect her from herself—from misplaced loyalties—then that’s just what he would do.

“I still need to check on Elena,” she told him. “And I need your help to do it.”

“Your friend means nothing to this quest,” he said, though the words sounded brutally cold even to him.

“She means something to me,” Teresa told him flatly. “And I swear to God, if you flash me out of here against my will—”

“You’ll do what exactly?” he demanded. “Turn your back on your duty? Again?”

“Don’t do that,” she snapped. “Don’t compare me to that foolish woman from so long ago. I’m not her. I’m Teresa Santiago and I’m damn well going to do what I think is right whether you agree or not.”

When he only scowled at her, she continued.

“Look,” she said, reaching out to lay one small hand on his chest, “I know we have to go. I can feel it, too. But I can’t go not knowing if Elena is safe. She’s family to me and I don’t have many people I care for. Give me that and I’ll go.”

He couldn’t believe that once again he would be swayed by the very witch who had made his eternity a misery so far. He was an Eternal. Drawn from the belly of the sun. He bowed to no one, human or demon.

And yet … The feel of her hand on his chest. The sound of her soft breaths. The trusting gleam in her eyes. And oh, Belen, the scent of her—earth and sky and woman. All witches smelled of the earth magic that bubbled through their veins, but each witch carried a singular blend of that scent, too. Something that made her unique. Something that tantalized her mate and made him consider foolish things.

She was tall, yet beside him she seemed so much smaller and vulnerable. The unbeating heart in his chest clenched with need and he wondered why he was going to allow her what she needed despite knowing that it would be a stupid move.

Because, a voice in his mind whispered, your body hungers for her. Your heart aches for her. Despite everything. Despite the years, the betrayal, the loneliness—she is yours.

All true, he told himself. But that didn’t mean he would ever trust her. Not this time. Not when the fate of the world hung in the balance.

“I take you to her and then we leave.”

She blew out a breath and gave him a fast smile that swept across her features and was gone in an instant. “Agreed.”

“Fine,” he muttered, reaching out to grab her and pull her in close to his body. He ignored the bird’s outraged squawk, focused on the feel of Teresa’s body aligned with his, then called on the fire and vanished.