When I looked around, we were no longer surrounded by fire and smoke. The darkness of the burning room was gone. Instead, the sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky.

We stood in front of a Cotswold stone English county mansion, flanked by Corinthian fluted columns and surrounded by lush green gardens. Everything around me looked colourful and vivid in the light, the whole place exuding serenity.

But inside me, there was a storm of fury raging. Fear and anger had wrapped themselves around my heart, painfully squeezing it every time I thought about my mates, and how Markolf had tricked me and had left them there to die. Heat burned my cheeks. The only thing that kept me from exploding and destroying him right now was the gut feeling I had that they were still alive. It was like every part in me knew that if they were dead, I would sense it and I could only hope that I was right.

Yet, I couldn't let Markolf know that there was even the slightest chance that they made it out of that burning inferno. If anything, this was to our advantage- he was hopefully not going to see them coming. Until then, I had to keep up appearances.

"You sick son of a bitch," I lunged forward and hit Markolf in the chest. "You fucking lied to me. You killed them."

I couldn't inflict any more harm on him because, as expected, he tapped into my anger and put me under his control. My arms and my legs froze, and I could do nothing but talk.

"Easy there, beautiful. Don't make me do this because you and I both know that we are a lot more fun when I let you be yourself."

"Then let me go and face me without your powers, you coward."

"I know you are upset. It will pass though, and soon enough, you will see that this was for your own good. Now, we should get you settled in- my assistant will help you out and then we can enjoy a nice dinner together later."

I wanted to hit him, slap him, hurt him. I wanted to shout and rage at him, but the control he had on me through my anger didn't allow me to do any of that. Instead, Markolf himself was trying to tone down my emotions. This was perhaps a good time to free myself from his control by playing along.

Relax, release, ease, Riley.

I calmed my breathing and cleared my mind enough to show Markolf that I was no longer any threat.

"You see," he said, "so much better."

His smug smile made me want to throw up every time I looked at his face. And to think that once upon a time I thought that Rafe was a conceited prick- Markolf made him look like a saint. Then again, I had grown to know Rafe and I knew by now that behind his cocky, arrogant exterior lay a complex man who had been living with so much pain and guilt that he hid his true self from most people.

"Where are we?" I muttered once I was finally calm.

He started walking towards the main entrance and I followed quickly behind him.

"My home. It's hidden with the help of the most powerful warlock magic out there, so it's nearly impossible to find it or to enter."

I heard footsteps nearing as we entered the mansion and a beautiful older woman stepped out from around the corner. She was in her fifties or so but looked stunning, even with her grey hair. Elegance and calm radiated from her. I carefully studied her face and noticed her magnificent blue eyes. They felt so familiar, so comforting. Good.

How had a woman like her ended up here with a crazy man like Markolf?

Was she also a supernatural servant to the cambion like Caleb or another victim entrapped in this place like me?

"Ah, there you- could you please show our guest to the guest room in my wing, please? Make sure that Aurelie has everything she needs," Markolf instructed her and she just smiled warmly at him and nodded. Whoever she was, she clearly had a much better opinion of this maniac than I did.

As if he knew that I was silently cursing him in my head, he turned around towards me, grabbing my hand and kissing the back of it as he spoke. "My trusted assistant will take care of you, Riley. I'll see you at dinner, sweetheart."

His words-,and even more so his touch- made me shiver and not in a good way. Memories from our encounter at the gala flooded my mind, even if I knew that now I was protected from his control over my lust because my mates had marked me.

"Come along, miss," his assistant said as she started walking up along the curving marble staircase, while Markolf went in a different direction.

The mansion had a modern interior and its wide hallways had countless paintings and designer pieces exhibited, many of them being over a hundred years old. Of course, I was no expert- they could be copies or fakes- but Markolf struck me as the kind of megalomaniac who would not settle for anything else than original masterpieces from renowned art geniuses.

What struck me was that the place was swarming with staff- maids, gardeners, security. They all seemed human to me but as we passed some of them and they politely greeted us, the slight absent-mindedness that I caught made me wonder whether they were not all under Markolf's persuasion control.

"Here is your room, miss," his assistant held the door open for me.

The bedroom was opulent but had a cosy feel to it, just like everything else that I had seen in the mansion so far. The space was decorated impeccably and the smells of flowers had filled up the whole room thanks to the beautiful mixed bouquet placed on the coffee table. The love and care that had been poured into making the whole mansion was certainly not thanks to Markolf- he didn't have it in him to put together such a beautiful home.

"I hope you don't mind the scent of the flowers- I've always thought that they bring life to a place, so I took the liberty to put some in your room."

My suspicions were confirmed- his assistant seemed to be the driving force in the cambion's home. My mind was telling me that there was more to her than met the eye. She seemed like a nice person and I felt comfortable in her presence, too comfortable even. She reminded me of home in a way. The soft, kind way she talked and her seemingly caring nature gave off a certain motherly vibe.

And then it hit me- was this Markolf's mother?

I wasn't going to put the possibility that he made his mother his assistant past him but I could not shake off the feeling that she also seemed familiar to me. Whenever I looked into her eyes, it was like I had stared at them before.

"No, I don't mind. They smell divine actually, thank you."

"My pleasure. Mr Mark rarely gets visitors, especially such a beautiful one," she said, smiling at me like a mother who was trying to set her son up.

Why was she calling him Mr Mark if he was her son though?

It didn't make sense.

Not to mention that her implication that there could ever be something between Markolf and me made me want to wretch.

"Erm...yes. We are not actually friends, so I doubt I will be staying here very long."

"That's a shame. I can sense that Mr Mark is rather lonely. He is such a nice boy and could certainly do with a nice girl like yourself. Maybe if you get to know him, you will see that he is really lovely." Her voice was so genuine that I knew she truly meant every word she said.

"I doubt it." I shook my head and gave her an awkward smile. Markolf and lovely were not words that I was ever going to be able to put in the same sentence. "We are very....different me and him. You seem to be quite fond of him. Have you been his assistant for a long time?"

She moved over to the coffee table, rearranging the flowers in the vase to make sure that they were perfectly placed.

"For as long as I can remember. Truly, I don't really remember my life before I started working for Mr Mark- this shows how much my time here means to me. Over the years, I have come to care for Mr Mark. He has been through so much as a child growing up, the poor boy, and I often think that he is misunderstood and thus lonely." She paused and smiled to herself. "In a way, Mr Mark is like the son I never had."

Despite her seeming happiness, there was also a note of sadness in her voice.

"What about your family?"

"Oh, I don't have one. None that I remember at least. This place is my family now. Mr Mark even insists that I call him Mark but I just can't- switching from Mr Wolf to Mr Mark already felt like I was overstepping my role."

She busied herself with final touches to the room while we spoke until something buzzed in her pocket.

"Oh silly me, I have to let you get ready as it will be time for dinner soon. The door next to the bed takes you to the walk-in closet and the bathroom. I have already prepared both with everything that you might need but let me know if anything is missing."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome, dear. I will send someone from that staff to come and get you for dinner in about an hour and a half. Feel free to relax until then."

She bowed slightly, as if I was some damn royalty, and started heading out of the room.

"Wai," She froze in her tracks as I called out to her just as she was about to exit. " I don't know your name."

"It's Michelle, my dear. Michelle Macalister." And she was gone.