All the fight completely left her body.

The crazy, wild anger that had made her run toward the edge of the bridge was gone. The shock from Zarek’s hard kiss had woken her up, but waking up just meant she had to feel the huge, bleeding hole in her chest all over again.

Roxy sagged against Zarek. She didn’t have the strength to stand up on her own anymore.

She balled her small hands into tight fists. She brought them up and hit Zarek right in the center of his chest.

Thump.

It wasn’t a hard hit. She was too tired. But she hit him again.

Thump.

And again.

She kept hitting his chest, burying her face in his black leather jacket. She hit him because she was so incredibly sad. She hit him because she was mad at him for taking her away from her babies. She hit him because the pain inside her heart was simply too big for her small body to hold, and she needed to let it out before it crushed her completely.

Zarek didn’t try to stop her hands. He didn’t grab her wrists or tell her to calm down.

The great Dragon King just stood there, planted firmly on the dirty concrete, and let her hit him. He wrapped his massive arms around her shaking shoulders, pulling her as close as he possibly could.

He rested his chin on the top of her dark hair. Every time her small fist hit his chest, he just took it. He knew he deserved it. He knew he deserved a million hits for leaving Drax, Axel, Onyx, Tanith, Iris, Tyara, Fedor, Zale, and the new baby girl all alone in the dark.

Zarek closed his golden eyes, and hot tears spilled down his cheeks, hiding in the soft curls of Roxy’s hair.

The other five men stood in a circle around them, feeling totally and completely useless.

These were men who used to rule the entire beast world. They used to command feral beasts that could destroy earth. Even now, in the human city, they were the richest, most powerful men around. They could buy whole hospitals, huge buildings, and giant fleets of cars.

But all of that money and all of that power meant absolutely nothing right now. They could not buy a magic door. They could not buy a hug from their children. They could not fix the completely broken woman crying in the middle of their circle.

Torian rubbed his big hands over his face, wiping away his own tears. He hated seeing her like this. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

Syris stood perfectly still. The bright red mark on his pale cheek, where Roxy had slapped him so hard, was still stinging. But the sting on his face was nothing compared to the awful pain in his heart. He felt like a terrible father. He felt like a selfish monster for pulling her out of the street, only to make her live in a world that made her want to die.

Ren and Caspian just stared at the ground. They were the healers of the family. They knew how to fix broken bones and sickness. But there was no medicine in the entire world that could heal a mother’s broken heart.

And then, there was Kaelen.

The former King of the North stood a few steps away from the rest of the group. His light blue eyes were moving back and forth between his crying wife and his sad brothers.

Kaelen felt a deep, hot anger starting to bubble up inside him. He wasn’t angry at Roxy. He wasn’t even angry at the terrible city around them.

He was angry at the secret they were keeping.

Kaelen lifted a hand and ran it hard through his short silver hair. He took three steps to the left, then turned around and took three steps to the right.

He kept looking at his brothers. Syris wouldn’t meet his eyes. Zarek just kept his eyes closed, holding Roxy tight.

They had all made a promise to each other. When they first brought the special thing to the human world, they had a long, serious talk in the penthouse. They had all sworn a vow of silence. They promised they would never, ever tell Roxy about the secret they had hidden away.

They kept it a secret because they were scared. They didn’t know if the secret actually worked. They were afraid that if they told her about it, and it failed, it would break her heart all over again. They thought it was safer to just let her think the door was closed forever. They thought she would eventually forget the pain and learn to be happy with just the six of them.

But as Kaelen watched Roxy hit Zarek’s chest, crying so hard she could barely breathe, he realized how stupid they had been.

She was never going to forget. She was never going to just move on and be happy. The sadness was eating her alive from the inside out.

Just a few minutes ago, she had tried to step in front of a giant, speeding truck. Then, she tried to jump off a huge bridge. She was willing to die just for a tiny chance to see her children again.

Kaelen stopped pacing. He stood frozen on the sidewalk.

If they kept this vow of silence, Roxy was going to mentally ruin herself. She would go completely crazy. She would stop eating. She would stop sleeping. Or worse, the next time they took their eyes off her, she would find another tall building or another fast truck, and Syris wouldn’t be there to catch her in time.

Keeping the secret wasn’t protecting her. It was killing her.

Kaelen looked at Zarek. The Dragon King opened his eyes and saw Kaelen staring at him. Zarek instantly knew what Kaelen was thinking. Zarek gave his brother a very small, sharp shake of his head. It was a silent warning. No. Do not say it. It is too dangerous.

But Kaelen was done listening to warnings.

He was completely unable to watch the woman he loved suffer for one more second. He didn’t care about the rules. He didn’t care about the vow of silence they took. He had to give her a reason to live, right now, before her heart stopped beating from pure sadness.

Kaelen let out a big, heavy, angry sigh. The sound was loud enough to make Caspian and Torian look up at him in surprise.

Kaelen took a few big steps forward. His long legs ate up the distance until he was standing right next to Zarek and Roxy.

"Roxy," Kaelen called out.

His voice was clear and strong. It wasn’t a soft whisper. It was the firm, steady voice of a King.

Roxy’s small fists finally stopped hitting Zarek’s chest. She took a shaky breath and slowly turned her head to look at Kaelen. Her green eyes were swollen and red from crying. Her face was covered in wet tears and street dirt. She looked so tired and so small.

Zarek stiffened. "Kaelen, stop," Zarek warned in a low, tight growl.

Syris took a quick step forward, reaching his hand out as if he could grab the words right out of the air. "Brother, please, we agreed—"

"I do not care what we agreed on!" Kaelen snapped loudly, cutting Syris off completely.

Kaelen didn’t look at his brothers. He kept his bright blue eyes locked directly onto Roxy’s tear-filled green eyes. He wanted to make sure she heard every single word he was about to say. He wanted to make sure she knew he was telling the absolute truth.

He saw the broken, hopeless look on her face, and he finally spat the secret out into the cold night air.

"There is a way to communicate with them."