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into the prison of the pentagram, allowing her powers to dampen its effect and prevent my transformation into a monster that Jacob would have been forced to hunt down and destroy.”
    “Do not,” he murmured, pulling her forehead to his lips, his desperation communicated through the hands that enfolded her head. “Do not speak of it. It shatters my soul to even think about it.”
    It would have destroyed him.
    Legna, his graceful, precious sister, caught in the dark, twisted magic of a pentagram that would have destroyed her beauty, her very soul, twisting her into a likeness of a demon humans would have expected to see.
    She would have become a monster who would have been hunted and destroyed in order to protect vulnerable humans and Demons alike. It would have been enough to embitter him for the rest of his life, and that was a frightening prospect for a man who ruled an entire species. He knew there was a huge difference between normal humans and the mortals from that species who dabbled in black arts and became necromancers, but if he had lost Magdelegna, he was not certain he would have been able to maintain the distinction.
    “But all has turned out well,” Legna insisted to him, squeezing his hands in comfort. “You must stop thinking such dark things, Noah, and live in the comfort of the moment. I am well,” she reiterated, giving him another little squeeze to make him absorb the impact of her statement.
    Noah nodded, smiling finally, his eyes lighting to a soft ash and jade color as he accepted her comfort.
    “Yes. You are well. And healthy.” He took her hands in his, spreading her arms wide and perusing her.
    “I wonder sometimes why no one has come to my door demanding to make you his mate. Perhaps it is because, like Bella and Jacob, it is a Druid who must win your heart and soul. The chance of you being matched in an Imprinting has suddenly become a tangible thing. An amazing thing. You can see it now for yourself, just as I saw it when Mother and Father were alive. No one who has ever spent time in Bella and Jacob"s presence could possibly ignore the miracle such love can be, how rewarding that deeply spiritual connection is. Jacob is a changed man. I have never seen him so happy or content, and Bella is glowing with love as well as her pregnancy.
    I find myself envious.”
    “I know.” Legna smiled softly at the mention of her new friend"s name and the good fortune Bella had found in her love for Jacob the Enforcer. “There has not been an Imprinting in our society in almost... well, frankly, I do not think I can remember when. I, for one, always used to think it was a fairy tale little girls were told. This was before I understood Mother and Father were Imprinted. I wish I had... I wish I could remember what you do. I wish I could remember the depths with which they loved one another. You make it sound so beautiful, and now that I watch Jacob and Isabella, how passionately they love, I wish it even more.”
    “Well,” Noah chuckled, “little boys were told these fairy tales as well, but I think we tended to concentrate on the part about it being the most outstanding sexual experience known to exist in the world.”
    “Noah!” Legna gave him a little shove as she scolded him. But she broke into giggles in spite of herself. “I think I might have thought about that once or twice myself. Take heart. Two Imprintings in a single week last October bodes well for you, my brother.”
    “One can only hope,” Noah said with a lecherous wink that compelled his sister to cluck her tongue at him and roll her eyes in exasperation.
    “You are incorrigible! And you wonder where your nieces and nephews get it from?”
    Noah laughed, shaking his head. He realized then that Legna had once more found a way to turn the conversation away from herself and onto something entirely different. It had been her habit for as long as he could remember. Legna never discussed herself, her empathic nature always urging