Chapter 501

• He continued to frown at her, though his expression was less irate. "Are we just puppets to your whims, Anakatrine? Was no one safe from your machinations?"
• Her expression grew clouded, regret shining from lavender eyes that were so like Rhianna's but subtly different too. "I had to do what was necessary. Do you think I liked keeping my mate and my guardian in the dark about what was to come? Do you think it was easy knowing that I could only save one of them, and having to choose which one? Our history, the very existence of every vampire and every Were was mine to protect, Caleb. I had to do what was best in the short time that I had to guide events before I died. So, yes, my machinations were necessary, even as they broke my heart a thousand times over."
• He had to be made to understand, though the recent revelations that someone had managed to infiltrate his inner defences would have put him more on edge than before. That was to be expected and she would have to concede to Rhianna's abilities to soothe her mate and help him reconcile with that fact. When his expression cleared a bit further, the Vampire Queen contained the relieved sigh that threatened to escape.