Author: Leia Stone
Date: 2016-01-25T18:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Vampires; Romance; Fantasy
Description: Ever since Kai revealed the supernatural race to the humans, riots and chaos have reigned down on Mount Hood. Aurora is going crazy just sitting around and waiting for Layla to show up so that Aurora can finish her task and kill her, bringing peace to her pack. Kai does everything in his power to keep Aurora safe and confined on the heavily guarded mountain. But he should know that no one can really keep Aurora from the things she wants in life. She is determined to find Layla and end this war, forever. But at what cost?

Balance

By: Leia Stone

Copyright © 2016 by Leia Stone. All rights reserved.

Cover Art by Adithya Kaushik, Copyright © 2016 by Leia Stone

Matefinder Series characters, names and related items are trademarks owned by Leia Stone.

No part of this publication may be reproduced. Stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, live or dead are purely coincidental.

Stone, Leia

Balance

Portland, Oregon 97229

1. Fantasy Fiction

For information on reproducing sections of this book or sales of this book go to www.facebook.com/leia.stone
www.leiastone.com

To my husband, for being an amazing father to our children and a wonderful partner in life. This is for you.

Contents

A New Era. 5

Old Friend.. 12

Blood.. 20

Avery.. 28

Permanent. 40

Witches’ Ball 51

Witches’ Wine. 67

Practice. 73

Headache. 79

Sulk.. 90

Meeting. 111

Mom... 126

Healing. 148

Rebel 164

Alone. 182

Water. 190

Trapped.. 215

Epilogue. 242

A New Era

Life would never be the same for humanity. Four months ago, Kai revealed the werewolf race to the humans. Since then, we had to fight a lot of fires. Militias had popped up all over the world; rebel humans that didn’t stand with their government or the police. They joined with the werewolves and sought out vampire dens and nightclubs, slaughtering vampires that put humans in harm’s way. But race protectors had also become a problem, humans that thought vampires and werewolves didn’t deserve to be here, that it was unnatural and Earth was for humans only. The result was a blood bath, calmed only by reports that the werewolves were a small species that was naturally dying out and were harmless to humans in comparison to vampires that needed humans as a food source. Sort of a lie because more and more mated couples were having children, thanks to my gift of finding mates. Kai couldn’t go out in public like he used to and our lives on the mountain had changed. All human residents of Mount Hood who didn’t agree with the werewolves, had left. They abandoned homes, shops, everything. It was creepy. The other werewolves were able to keep under the radar, but Kai’s face was all over the news.

I was itching to find Layla, but every lead we had went dry. I was desperate to know if she was pregnant or not. The clock was ticking from when she bit me four months ago and had become fertile. Now, I had Emma on bed rest preparing to give birth and it racked my nerves. Werewolf pregnancy was dangerous and I tried not to think about it as I sat at Kai’s office desk tinkering with some dried herbs, learning to make spells. I wasn’t able to get over to see the witches as often as I wanted. They had managed to escape the limelight and wanted to keep their race a secret. The door creaked and I looked up smiling, sensing Kai. He walked in and gave me a look. His chestnut eyes were hooded, his wild brown hair fell in tousled waves across his forehead.

‘You’re stressing,’ he told me.

I sighed. ‘Not really,’ I lied.

He came up behind me and slowly massaged my shoulders. Mmmm. Then he spun the chair around and faced me. Reaching my hand out, I rubbed the stubble of his strong jaw and he kissed my nose.

“We will find Layla, and Emma will be fine,” he declared out loud. As if that would make it true.

“Okay,” I said, because he was trying to make me feel better. Nothing would make me feel better until Layla was a pile of ash.

His phone buzzed with a text. “It’s Emma. She wants us to come over.”

I jumped up, heart pounding. “Is she okay? Is it labor?” I wiped my palms on my jeans. I was ready; I had read all the books, taken all the classes.

Kai placed two hands on my shoulders. “She’s fine. She said she just wants to talk.”

I released a shaky breath as Kai watched me in anxiety.

We walked to Emma’s, hand in hand. The weather was perfect. Summer. Everything was in bloom. The trees stood tall and thick around our property on Mount Hood. I inhaled. God, I loved this mountain. Kai knocked before letting himself in. Emma was not to leave the couch. Even at thirty-six weeks along, Diya didn’t want her to go into early labor if she could help it.

Diya, Kai’s sister and the pack midwife, was tending to Emma on the couch. Diya’s own pregnant bump was showing. How far along was she now? Nearly four months. Almost every mated couple I had brought together was pregnant. Ten, twenty years from now, our numbers would be stronger. Diya gave us a quick hug and then left.

I gazed at Emma on the couch. Her bright red pixie hair and vibrant green eyes were the unique marker of my best friend. So beautiful but so broken after losing her mate. My stomach dropped at the thought of Devon’s death, sacrificing himself to save me. I don’t think the pack will ever truly heal from that loss. Emma’s hands were rested upon her giant belly. She was huge. I know you weren’t supposed to say that to a pregnant woman, but it was okay to think it, right? Her belly looked so swollen, like she would pop at any moment. I leaned down and placed a small kiss on her cheek. My best friend’s happiness was everything to me.

“Hey, pretty mama,” I peppered her with a compliment.

She rolled her eyes. “Shut up. I’m gigantic.”

I shared a look with Kai.

“You’re not gigantic. You’re just really pregnant,” I told her.

She waved me away. “Whatever. I wanted to talk to you both about something serious. Please sit down.”

I sat down with unease and prepared myself. Had Diya found a placental abruption? Low amniotic fluid? I had researched it all. I was Emma’s birthing partner and I wanted to be ready for anything.

Kai gently took her small, pale hand in his. “What is it, sweetie?” he asked with concern. Kai had never said it out loud but Emma was his favorite, most cherished pack member. I knew it; I could feel it.

Emma’s eyes filled with tears, her lips pursed. Turning to me, she met my eyes. “Before Devon died, we had a talk. We agreed that if anything happened to us, we wanted you and Kai to take care of the baby.”

Tears lined my eyes. “Nothing is going to happen,” I said as emotion constricted my voice. Why was she saying this? Kai kept it together for the both of us, gazing at her with a strong and loving look.

“Devon’s gone now, Aurora. I have to be practical.” She pulled out some papers from under her pillow. “Sign these and if I die, it gives you full legal custody. Devon signed them before he …”

I stood up. “No! You’re not dying. Do you understand me?” A mirror on the wall rattled as mist leaked from my skin. “Life won’t be that cruel. It won’t,” I stated to the universe. I could feel the Devi stirring inside of me. The witches had discovered that I had two affinities, healing and future sight. They also discovered I was a Devi. A soul had attached to mine to help with a big life purpose. They compared the soul to an angel but it still freaked me out. She had awoken with my anger and now I struggled to calm her.

“Calm down,” Kai told me firmly and put his Alpha power into the words. My mist stopped immediately and I took a deep breath.

Emma reached for my hand. “Aurora, you don’t understand. You’re not a mother. You don’t get it. I have this life inside of me. This helpless thing that depends on me for survival. I need to make plans just in case. If you don’t agree, I’ll choose Diya and Trent.”

My heart crushed. “Of course, I agree.” I dropped to my knees and hugged her.

Emma nodded. “Going into labor, I need to know that everything is set up.”

Kai laid the papers down on the coffee table and pulled a pen from his back pocket, signing his name, then he handed it to me. My mate was an Alpha but he was different with me. He never pushed me or threatened me, but the look he gave me now sent chills up my arms.

‘She won’t die,’ I told him.

‘Sign it, now,’ he commanded and gave me a look that scared me. I took the pen and signed my name. Emma needed me to do this, so I would, but my best friend wasn’t going anywhere.

Emma sighed in relief and I squeezed her hand. “You’re best friend and birthing partner is a badass witch with healing powers. Don’t forget that,” I told her. You better believe that if anything went wrong I was calling on every power I had to help her.

She smiled and I saw that a weight had lifted off of her. She must have been carrying this a while.

Kai rubbed her belly. “Emma, don’t worry. This baby will be well taken care of and loved, no matter what. She will know how courageous her father was and how loving her mother is and I will make sure she has a long and happy life.”

She looked more at peace. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” She lay back and relaxed on the couch. “So, you think it’s a girl?” she asked Kai. She was keeping the sex a surprise, even from herself.

Kai smiled. “I do, I sense it.”

“It’s a boy,” I told them both, rolling my eyes.

I didn’t sense it but I could totally imagine a feisty boy with red hair and green eyes.

Emma laughed. “I think it’s a boy, too. Devon wanted a girl. We will see.”

She closed her eyes then, looking utterly exhausted. I kissed her cheek and went back to the nursery. Diya and I had set everything up, but I wanted to add one more thing. I pulled a small wooden wolf carving from my pocket. It was a protection charm, from Nahuel, my shaman spirit guide who was also my brother in a past life. He had been trying to help us find Layla, too, with no success. I set the polished wood figurine on the white dresser and looked around. Baby stuff was cute. I told Kai I wanted to wait five years and then after two babies I would let the witches do a spell on me to make me infertile. That way, the vampires and RAIDOS would leave me alone. I held a tiny white onesie and smiled. Who knows, maybe we would only wait a year.

Kai came up behind me and patted my belly. “I heard that thought,” he told me.

I spun around and shook an accusatory finger at him. “Hey! Privacy please.” I tapped my head.

He smiled and looked around the nursery and then at my belly. “I’m ready when you are.”

I rolled my eyes and walked past him. “Good to know.”

Old Friend

I wanted to stop by Safe Haven and see how all the women were doing, but I knew Kai wouldn’t allow me to leave the mountain. Our wolves were working full-time security detail protecting Safe Haven and running check points all along the mountain, as well as trying to hold down their day jobs and fight alongside the militias. The 600-strong militia that had aligned with us was helping, but Kai wanted to make sure the workload was equal. I decided to spend the rest of the day hanging around with Emma and the girls. As it was starting to get dark, I said my goodbyes and ran home to do some quick gardening before the light was completely gone. I had planted some veggies and I needed to water them daily. I was becoming aware of how domesticated I had become. Gardening, cooking, and I had a cat. Next would be knitting at this rate.

I was hunched over a strawberry bush when Kai came out the front door and started stretching, getting ready for a run. He was inspecting some cuts on his arms.

“That damn cat! She’s psycho,” he exclaimed.

I stifled a laugh. Luna was gifted to me by Gretchen, my healing witch mentor. She was white, tiny, and utterly harmless. She also hated werewolves and only liked me because I smelled of witch.

“Aww, she scratch you again?” I asked in a baby voice. Kai had originally locked her in one bedroom, but after a couple weeks of my begging, he allowed me to let her roam the house free.

Kai gave me a glare. “She was hiding in a drawer in my filing cabinet. Took five years off of my life!” he exclaimed.

I busted up laughing. “Breaking news! Tiny white kitten gives big, bad Alpha a heart attack.”

Kai grinned, flashing his bright white teeth and dimples and looked me up and down. I was wearing cut-off jean shorts, rain boots, and gardening gloves. The sun was setting and my long blonde hair fell halfway down my back.

Kai sighed. ‘It’s hard to concentrate on anything when you’re wearing those tiny shorts.’

I grinned and bent over to grab the watering can, giving him full view of my rear. Hearing his growl made me laugh.

‘Have a nice run,’ I told him.

‘I will. Get nice and dirty so we can shower later,’ he told me and winked.

I smiled again. Married life suited us. I heard the snapping of twigs as Kai jogged off into the woods.

“Aurora!” Kai suddenly turned and yelled at me. I broke out of my thoughts and ran over to him. Concern etched across his face, his nostrils flaring.

“Do you smell that?” he quizzed me.

I froze and inhaled. “Alek?” What was he doing here? Alek was the only vampire I had met that was good. He drank exclusively from blood banks and lived with a human wife.

Kai grabbed my hand and we jogged around to the front of our house. Tossing my gardening gloves on the ground, we ran down the main road and towards the smell. The road was lined with densely packed trees and as we rounded the corner, I saw that the headlights of a car showed that Alek was being pinned to the hood, Max’s elbow at his throat. Jai had pinned a young teenage vampire face down on the ground and had a stake in one hand.

Kai shouted in a deep baritone voice, “Stand down! They’re friends of mine.”

Max looked in Kai’s direction but didn’t ease up on Alek’s windpipe. Looking closer, I saw now that Max had a silver spike in his other hand. Alek wasn’t fighting back; he was rigid and calm. Max was Kai’s second in command for a long time until I came along. He was very dominant and often times didn’t listen, now seemed to be one of those times.

“Are you deaf, Max? Stand down!” I shouted and power oozed out of my voice. Kai gave me a side glance and I saw he was smirking. Max pulled off of Alek and gave me a glare that told me he didn’t appreciate my comment and I might be paying for it later. Well, too bad.

I picked up my pace into super-fast mode and grabbed Alek’s elbow, helping him up. Jai pulled the teen vampire into a standing position.

“I’m sorry, they don’t know about you,” I told Alek.

Alek nodded, eyeing Max with a look of revenge.

Jai pushed the other guy in our direction. “Since when are blood suckers our friends?” he addressed his brother.

The teenage vampire hissed, making a move to attack Jai, but Alek’s hand snaked out grabbing him by the shirt, restraining him. The boy’s hair was greasy and black, his frame was thin, and his hands shook. I inhaled. He smelled of heroin. That metallic smell was familiar now. I had first smelled it in the nightclub when Kai and I discovered that vampires were getting humans high on heroin and then drinking from them. Vampires couldn’t get high themselves; they metabolized it too fast. Drinking through a human was the only way.

“Calm down, lad, we have enough problems to worry about,” Alek told the teenager.

His voice shook. Now that I was close to him, I could see that Alek’s normally pristine appearance was disheveled. His pupils were black, dark circles ringed his eyes, and his clothes were dirty.

Kai picked up on it, too. “Are you guys okay?”

Alek sighed, then he looked at Jai and Max. “Can we talk in private?”

Max chuckled. “So you can kill our Alpha or steal Aurora? Nice try. No.”

Kai glared at Max but didn’t dismiss him.

‘He has a point,’ Kai told me.

I agreed, as shitty as it felt. We didn’t really know Alek that well. I motioned to Jai. “Jai, go get Alexa.”

Jai looked disappointed at the dismissal but did as I asked. Max was staying.

“What’s going on, Alek?” I asked him.

He let out a shaky breath. “Where do I begin?”

The teenager scratched his arms. “We need blood.”

Alek fit him with a death glare and for the first time I saw just how deadly Alek could be when provoked.

Kai had straightened his posture. To anyone else he may have looked like he was just adjusting his stance, but I knew he was getting ready for a possible fight.

Alek put his arms up in a gesture of peace. “That’s not why we’re here. The kid is a newly-changed vampire. He’s strung out on heroin. I’m trying to help him get clean. When you’re newly changed, all you can think about is blood.”

“But you don’t look so great either, Alek, so is it true? Do you need blood?” Kai asked him and put the power of the Alpha into his words.

Alek swallowed as if salivating. “Yes, the blood banks have all been burned to the ground, thanks to your little shout out to my people.” He looked at me.

I recoiled. “What shout out?”

Alek sighed. “On social media, the footage from the barn, Kai says, ‘Kill all the vampires’ and you say, ‘No, they aren’t all bad.’ Well, Layla didn’t appreciate that. She took out all of our blood banks. But I can control myself without blood. The kid can’t.” He motioned to the teen.

“Shit! I’m so sorry,” I told him. I had only been trying to help.

Kai had his poker face on. I could tell he was deciding whether or not to trust him. “Where’s your wife?” Kai quizzed him. Alek’s wife was human.

“Safe. I had her go into hiding as soon as the first blood bank went down a month ago. I don’t want her getting hurt from anyone, especially me.”

“Why would you hurt your own wife?” Max asked him.

Alek sighed. “Because she’s human. I have no source of food and I don’t want to do anything in a blood craze.”

“What’s a blood craze?” I asked, aware that we were pretty much interrogating him at this point and I felt pretty shitty about it.

“A blood craze is when a vampire becomes so thirsty they will feed off of and drain the life from any living thing in their vicinity. Rats, goats, humans … it doesn’t matter,” Alexa said from behind me.

I was so enthralled in his story, I didn’t smell her approach.

Alek looked at her with curiosity.

“That’s right,” he confirmed. “But I can control it. I’ve done it before. I didn’t come here for blood.”

Having worked for RAIDOS, Alexa knew a lot about the supernatural community. I knew asking her to come would be a smart idea. RAIDOS was now our enemy and she should be brought up to speed on all new developments.

“Can you control it?” Max looked at him skeptically.

Alek raised his hands. “You caught me. I’m here to drain all of your blood. I walked into your hundred-strong den with a heroin junkie teenager. That’s my big plan,” he said, sarcastically.

“Look, we’re just trying to understand why you’re here,” I told him, trying to hide my smile at the way he shot down Max.

Alek shook his head. “I’m sorry, this has all gotten derailed. I’m not thinking clearly. I haven’t fed in three days. Look, we came to give you information about the queen. The kid knows stuff. He was turned two days ago and he heard things. I thought we had a common goal, but if you don’t want our help, we can leave.” Alek grabbed the kid by the shirt collar and turned to leave. The queen was Alek’s word for Layla. I wondered why he wouldn’t say her name.

“Hold on,” Kai told him and Alek stopped, turning to face us.

The teenager scratched his arms. “But I’m not telling nothing unless you give me some blood.” He fixed Kai with a glare.

God, he must have been sixteen years old. Some mother was probably roaming the streets looking for this kid.

“Fair enough,” Kai said and the kid’s face relaxed. “Let’s all go to the barn.” Kai led them away from the check point.

Max grabbed Kai’s arm. “I don’t like this. Since when do we supply vampires with blood?”

Kai grabbed Max’s shoulders. “Since now. Times have changed and we need to adapt to survive.” Then he walked away and we all followed.

Blood

Kai made a clean cut on his wrist and positioned it over a small glass. It began to fill with blood. Frowning, I decided I was never using that glass again. Ick.

The teenager’s nostrils flared and he tried to launch across the table, but Alek pulled him by the back of the neck mid-air and slammed him down hard on the table top. The teenager was breathing in through his nose and hyperventilating. Jesus.

“Be patient, child! Our host’s generosity will run out if you attack him,” Alek told him through gritted teeth.

The kid whimpered.

After filling the cup, Kai bandaged his wrist and handed the glass to the kid. “Is that enough?” Kai asked as the teen greedily gulped the blood.

Alek frowned slightly and swallowed hard. “Yes, that will be enough for now. Thank you.”

“What about you? I need you clear-headed and well fed if you’re staying on my land around my females,” Kai told him and went to cut his other wrist.

I stopped Kai’s hand. “No, that’s too much. I’ll do it.” Was he stupid? Werewolves died of blood loss. I wasn’t going to let him stand here and give two glasses away.

“No, you won’t. Vampires need your blood for other reasons, remember?” he ordered me and looked at Max. They were conversing in their heads, I could tell.

Max threw his arms up. “Fine! Why not? These are the good cuddly teddy bear vampires, right? Let’s help them,” Max joked, reaching for the knife.

Before Max could do anything, Alexa grabbed the knife and slashed her wrist, holding it over the empty cup that the teenager had drained.

Kai stared at her with his mouth open. “Alexa!”

She was a wild card, I had to admit. After things had settled after Layla bit me, we tested Alexa’s pack rank. She was fourth behind Max. She was very dominant and did what she wanted most of the time but respected Kai’s authority.

She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.” The cup was filled and Alexa watched in fascination as her wrist healed. “Cool,” she said. She was still a werewolf newbie.

The teenager was panting now and his pupils were pulsing. “I want the other kind of blood,” he whimpered to Alek.

Alek shook his head. “No,” he stated firmly.

Alexa handed him her cup. “Bottoms up,” she said. He bowed slightly before taking it back in three big gulps. His pupils shrank, his cheeks were pink, and he stood taller.

“Thank you, I feel much better,” Alek said politely.

As a human, I had struggled with low blood sugar issues. I was always snacking. Sometimes I got dizzy or grumpy or confused if I didn’t eat. I wondered if that was how vampires got, too.

“So, you have some information for us.” Kai stared at the kid.

The kid wiped his red-tinged mouth on his sleeve.

“Yeah, well, I was at a house party a few days ago and some really pale chicks showed up with some smack.”

I looked at Kai in confusion.

‘Heroin,’ he told me.

The kid went on. “I smoked weed a bunch of times but never did hard stuff. I wasn’t interested, but one of the chick’s made me. Her eyes went all purple and she sweet talked me into it. The second the high hit me … she attacked me. Bit me.” His hand flew to his neck rubbing the spot where he was once bitten.

Kai, Alek, Alexa, Max, and I all had the same look on our faces. Rage. This was not okay! Bringing drugs and forcing them on teenagers in a house party was not okay. Mist began to creep off my skin and I took a deep breath to calm myself. I wanted to blast the roof off of this barn! If I was feeling wishy-washy about killing the vampires before, this cemented my belief that they needed to be wiped out. Everyone associated with Layla’s drug-running clan would die. Anger rolled off of Kai and rippled through the entire pack bond.

I cleared my throat. “Go on.”

He scratched his arms again; they were streaked red but quickly healed. “Well, I felt like I was dying. She wasn’t letting go of me. I got dizzy. Right before I blacked out, she said something about wanting to keep me. That I was sexy. She dripped her blood into my mouth.”

Alek interjected, “Get to the part when you woke up and heard the queen talking.”

The kid slicked his hair back with a shaky hand and then sighed. “So, I wake up in a medical type of room and the door’s open. They don’t even know I’m awake. But I hear voices coming from the next room. This lady is screaming and freaking out on some doctor for killing her baby. He calls her Queen Layla. He calms her down and says if she gives him one more chance, he can give her a full-term healthy baby. He tells her that her body was too cold to carry the child and that’s why she miscarried. But he says something about her eggs being good. That it worked. He tells her to get more fertile blood and to kidnap a female werewolf to incubate her fetus in. He says a human will be too weak. A werewolf will stay warm but can regenerate.”

Holy Shit. Oh, holy mother effing shit. It’s like time had stopped. I stood there staring at this kid in shock. I wanted to say a million things but nothing came out. My mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. Kai had enough peace of mind to ask a good question.

“When was that? When you heard the doctor and the queen?”

“I dunno, like, sometime yesterday? Day and night are weird now that I can’t go out in the sun.  I ran off after that. I saw her feed off of him and I knew what I was.  I had an insatiable thirst for blood but I didn’t want to hurt anyone, so I ran to the nearest blood bank. Found this guy.” He motioned to Alek.

Alek looked sadly at the boy. “And I’m going to help you live the best life you can.”

The kid scratched his arms again. “I wanna go home. I want more smack.” His leg kept bopping up and down.

Kai’s voice was deadly calm. “Where was this? Where was the lady who talked about her baby?”

The kid shrugged. “I was delusional. Somewhere in Pearl District, a warehouse.”

Kai and I met each other’s eyes, but Alek shook his head.

“She’s too smart. She will know he fled. She will leave.”

Kai ordered Alexa to go send a team to check, anyway. Pearl District was in Portland. We could be there in an hour. Layla had done something to make it so we couldn’t smell her clan, even with hundreds guarding Emma and me, she was able to sneak through. None of her vampires could be smelled and it was so damn frustrating. The dark witch, Prudence, who worked with her was most likely responsible for it.

The teenager scratched his arms. “I need more blood. That wasn’t enough! I need the good stuff. You said you would help me get it.” He looked at Alek with a murderous gaze.

Alek looked at Kai. “I’m going to need a steel reinforced cage,” he said calmly.

The kid whipped his head in Alek’s direction and hissed. Crouching down, he jumped up five feet in the air and slammed down on the table, crushing it. Max and Alek each reached out and took an arm, but the kid threw them off quickly. The large werewolf and vampire both sailed through the air and slammed into the nearby wall like a sack of bricks. Holy shit, this kid was strong! I wished we had Anna. Max and Alek were both groaning on the ground, so Kai and I slowly stalked towards the boy. My hand snaked out and I put a firm grip on his neck, essentially choking him. Tough love, right? Kai pinned his shoulders down and Max limped over to grab the kid’s ankles.

“We want to help you,” I told the kid and loosened my grip when I was sure Kai and Max could handle him.

Alek stood shaking his head, seemingly to clear the daze of being tossed across the room. “Newly changed and jonesing for smack blood makes them very strong. If I can keep feeding him clean blood for the next week, he will be fine. If we let him loose, he will murder, steal, and God knows what else to get what he wants.”

“Get off me, assholes! I thought you were going to help me! You said you would help!” He struggled against Kai’s and Max’s grip, so I slipped in to help hold him. His scream was a wail now.

Jesus.

‘Kai, we have to help him.’

Kai growled. ‘I know. God dammit! This is the last thing I need. A vampire caged in our basement for a week. Feeding him powerful Alpha blood. Who knows what that will do?’

‘He’s just a kid,’ I added.

“I have cages in my basement,” Kai said aloud.

Max had an elbow on the kid’s chest, pinning him down. “This could be a trap. Don’t let them live with you and keep tabs on you. They’re vampires!” he roared.

Kai looked at him for a long while until Max lowered his eyes.

“Times are changing, brother. We have united with the humans and now with a few vampires. If they do anything that makes me suspicious, I’ll kill them both.” This time Kai looked at Alek.

“Fair enough,” Alek said, nodding.

*

After getting them set up in the basement and enduring Max’s bitching, Kai called the council and told them to put all female werewolves on lockdown. To spread the news of what we heard tonight.

Later, as Kai and I were getting ready for bed, I turned to him. “You think they will listen? The other packs?”

Reaching his arms up, Kai took his shirt off in one quick move and sighed. “Alphas don’t like being told what to do. If they are smart they will listen. Some won’t. Some aren’t even on the council’s radar. We can’t reach everyone.”

“She’s winning.” I glared at the blank wall behind Kai trying not to let the depression settle over me.

Kai reached out and pulled me closer to him; his warmth comforted me.

“We’re getting closer to catching her. We have more information now.” He was the eternal optimist.

I nodded but still felt unsettled. I wouldn’t sleep well again until Layla was wiped from the earth. Was that the Devi’s thought? Or mine? It was hard to tell. Kai placed a kiss on my forehead. “Shhh.”

“I wish I could turn my brain off,” I confessed.

He gave me a sexy, lopsided grin. “How about I distract you?”

I smiled and his hand expertly roamed my body as he pulled me in for a toe-curling kiss. No matter what was happening in the world, this was where I was meant to be.

Avery

The next morning passed slowly until Kai came home from checking in with some of the Portland wolves.

“How’s everything in Portland?” I asked, eager for gossip from anywhere off of the mountain.

“Portland pack is good, they confirmed the blood banks were burned down and that vampire club activity has lessened. Either the vampires are becoming wary of our attacks or they have gone into hiding.”

A sigh escaped my lips.

Kai looked me in the eyes. “I see an opportunity, with so many of Alek’s kind without blood ...”

I squinted, sifting through the mate bond until I got his meaning. “We have to ask the militia. They’ve given so much to us already.”

“I know,” Kai stated. “Barn meeting in fifteen minutes.” He crossed the room in a few quick strides and was out the door again.

*

I stood in the barn with Max and Alek as Earl walked in slowly with Kai, Alexa, and another militia member. He was tall and muscular, his head was buzzed clean, and he had an American flag tattoo on his forearm.

Kai introduced everyone to Alek. “This is Alek. He’s a vampire and he’s here to help us. He’s given us very valuable and distressing information that we need to talk about.”

Earl kept his eyes on Alek, sizing him up.

“I’m Earl, leader of the Pacific North Militia, this is Todd, my second.”

I grinned at Earl. He was showing us that his militia was his pack. He was Alpha and Todd was second. I really liked him.

Todd saluted us. “Senior Chief Todd Renault, United States Navy.”

Did Max just roll his eyes? I had to suppress a smile.

“Good to have you, Chief. Let’s get down to business,” Kai told them. “We have a situation. Most vampires are a part of Layla’s North American vampire clan. They import heroin and kill humans for sport. But a small percentage, like Alek, either drink blood from willing donors or from a blood bank.”

Earl and Todd shared a look I couldn’t interpret.

Alek took over. “Layla burned those blood banks to the ground recently and now we have all of those vampires without their source of food. They will be weak and suggestible. They might even join up with Layla again, if it means they can have a food source.”

Earl gave a low whistle. “How many of your kind are there?”

Alek looked uncomfortable with sharing numbers. “About ten thousand across the United States that I know of.”

Earl’s face was lined with worry. “That’s a lot of vampires to feed.”

Alek laughed. “That’s nothing compared to Layla’s clan. If we can supply these vampires with donor blood, they will do whatever we want as repayment.”

Kai looked eager. “Wouldn’t hurt to have ten thousand vampires on our side.”

Alexa interjected, “The human media is all over us now. We need to be careful about publically siding with vampires. Even if they appear nice.”

Kai nodded. “Agreed. We will do it in secret.”

Earl nodded. “I will hold a vote with my people.”

Kai thanked him and he left.

“You gonna let us vote?” Max asked Kai with a smile.

Kai smirked at his friend. “Nope, we’re doing it.” He placed a hand on Max’s shoulder.

Max threw his hands up. “Great, bon appétit for the blood suckers.”

Alek glared at Max. “If it makes you feel any better, we much rather human blood. Werewolf blood tastes like dog.” Then Alek turned on his heels and left the barn.

I stifled a laugh. “Max, you hurt his feelings.”

Max shrugged. “He’s a vampire, Aurora.”

Kai growled softly. “He’s my guest.” Kai left to go after Alek and Alexa went to check in on Emma, leaving me alone with Max.

Max rolled his eyes. “I could tell you stories of Kai back in the day. He hated vampires. This new Kai is weird.”

I chuckled. “Be nice.”

After leaving Max at the barn, I decided to go back home and take a nap. Being pretty much held captive on the mountain, had left me with zero entertainment options. I was bored as hell. Pulling Luna into our bed, I knew Kai would yell at me later for it. He hated her scent on our sheets. Oh well. Luna’s deep purr rattled against my chest and helped me drift into a peaceful sleep.

‘Wake up! Get to Emma’s. It’s happening. She’s in labor. Coming fast.’ Kai’s voice slammed into my sleeping state and jarred me awake.

I leapt out of bed and whacked my leg on the corner of a chair piled with laundry. “Oww!” I cried out while wriggling into clothes and then took off running out the front door, nearly plowing Max over.

“Emma’s in labor!” I screamed as Max watched me zoom by.

“Good luck!” Max screamed after me.

‘Is she okay? The baby?’ I asked Kai, my feet pounded the forest floor as I ran faster than ever before.

‘Baby’s fine, she’s fine. Diya says all is going well other than she is dilating very fast,’ Kai informed me calmly.

I flew across her lawn with vampire speed, a gift Kai and I shared. After throwing open the door, I ran back to the guest room, which was set up as a birthing room. Emma hadn’t set foot in the master bedroom since Devon died.

Resting inside the door frame, I let my breathing settle from the run and surveyed the scene. Diya was wearing green scrubs and white gloves. She was tinkering with a baby warming bed and setting out towels.

Emma was sitting on a birthing ball, holding Kai’s hand, face scrunching in pain.

Crossing the room in two big strides, I stopped in front of her and got on my knees.

“I’m here. How are you?” I asked, still panting.

Emma let go of Kai and grabbed my hand. “It hurts like hell. The baby keeps shifting forms.”

Damn, I couldn’t imagine a baby in my belly shifting from werewolf to human. It sounded awful but I wasn’t going to tell her that. Instead, I started the rhythmic breathing Diya had taught me.

“Okay, okay, we got this,” I told her calmly.

I rubbed small circles in her lower back and she moaned. “This sucks, I wish Devon were here.”

Kai and I met each other’s eyes and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. I wish he was here, too.

“Why would you want him here? He would have passed out on the floor by now. We would have needed to hire a nurse just to tend to him,” I joked.

Emma laughed. “I love you, Aurora. You’re a good friend,” she said and then starting screaming in pain.

I didn’t like that she was saying things like it was a goodbye. Diya reached over and attached some electrodes to Emma’s belly. Then I helped move her onto the bed so Diya could check her cervix.

“Wow, Emma, I’ve never seen labor progress this quickly. This baby wants out. The constant shifting from werewolf to human is making your uterus have more intense contractions that are changing your cervix.”

I raised my hand. “English, please?”

Diya smiled. “She is dilated to ten and the baby is coming. Time to push.”

Oh, shit. Kai backed up against the wall, out of the way, as I helped Diya get Emma’s feet into the stirrups. She was pale, sweaty, and grimacing.

“Can’t we give her anything? Vicodin? A martini?” I asked.

Emma laughed but it turned into a scream with the next contraction.

I grabbed Emma’s left leg as Diya grabbed her right.

“Push!” Diya screamed.

Emma flexed her belly and pushed, screaming.

After about thirty seconds she lay back panting, exhausted. Sweat beaded on her face and her chest was heaving with great effort.

Diya checked things out between Emma’s legs and then silently pulled a tray out from under the bed. On it were a bunch of surgical tools. My eyes widened.

Diya put out her hands to reassure me and glanced at the contraction monitor. “Another contraction is coming, Emma.”

“I’m too tired. I can’t do this,” she said.

I noticed her color was paler, her eyelids were closing so I gently grabbed her face. “Look at me,” I commanded.

Her green eyes popped open and held my gaze longer than ever before. Devon’s death had changed something within her, within her wolf. I had a strong suspicion she wasn’t a submissive anymore. “You can do this. You’re the strongest woman I know. You have been through a lot and it’s made you stronger. You got this, Emma.”

She lost her mate, carried their unborn child. She was the strongest damn person in my life right now. Determination settled into her features as she held my gaze for longer than a submissive should be able to and I knew she could do this.

“Okay, Emma, push!” Diya yelled.

Emma pushed, her face turning red, a werewolf growl ripping from her throat. Then, all of a sudden, a tiny pink baby flew out into Diya outstretched arms.

Oh my God! I laughed and cried at the same time. It was incredible! Even though you expect a baby to come out, it’s different when it actually happens. It’s really a shock. It was amazing. A strong cry came from the baby’s mouth.

“It’s a girl,” Diya said.

Emma burst into tears. Her tears turned to laughter as she reached out and held her daughter. Leaning over Emma’s chest, I stroked the baby’s head. She was so small, so perfect. Oh, my God. I wanted one. Like now.

I met Kai’s eyes from across the room. ‘I want a baby,’ I told him with one hundred percent certainty.

Shock registered on his face, then he grinned.

“Shit!” Diya screamed and blood poured out from between Emma’s legs and dripped to the floor. Emma’s eyes fluttered as she fainted and I quickly reached out to grab the baby as Emma’s arms went slack. Kai took the baby from me as I stood there in shock.

“The placenta detached and ripped her uterus with it. No, no, no!” Diya screamed, trying to shove gauze between Emma’s legs.

I was warned about the dangers of werewolf birth. It was like a human delivering a baby in the 1700s. The surgical interventions around today for humans didn’t work on the fast healing werewolf. I began to panic.

Diya’s frantic eyes met mine. “I can’t fix this. Aurora, I can’t fix this!”

Mist leaked from my pores, saturating the room as the baby began to cry. “Kai, get the baby out of here,” I roared in a voice that scared me. It was only half human and it oozed with dominance. Kai looked frightened but listened and left the room. Emma was a limp figure draped over the bed. My best friend. No!

I held my hands in front of me and sifted through every healing lesson Gretchen had ever taught me. Hovering my hands over Emma’s belly, I whispered, “Heal.” I imagined a tear inside of her body. I had been studying the anatomy book Gretchen had given me and I imagined the uterus stitching itself together. The pink tissue fusing together. I refused to look at the massive amount of blood on the floor.

Diya gasped in shock. “The bleeding stopped.”

I continued to hold my hands out, breathing deeply, imagining all of the female organs in Emma’s body as healed. Sending mist to aid in fast healing. I opened my eyes. Emma was limp on the bed, skin white as the sheet that she rested on.

Diya put two fingers to Emma’s neck and whimpered. “Too much blood lost. Oh God. I’m so sorry.”

“No!” I roared and the window next to the bed shattered spraying glass all over the floor.

The witches told me that because I had two affinities it marked me a Devi. That one affinity was mine and one was the Devi. I had a hunch that I was the seer and the Devi was the healer.

‘Devi, I need you. I know you’re the healer. I know it! If Emma dies, I die too! I won’t help you kill Layla. So you need to help me now. Please!’ The second I thought it, mist poured from my hands, saturating Emma’s body. I was brought to my knees panting as my skin tingled like my blood was filled with carbonation. Black spots danced across my vision and I felt faint. Suddenly, Emma gasped, taking in a huge gulp of air and that’s when I passed out.

*

“Her hair!” I heard Diya’s voice.

My eyelids flew open and I groaned.

Emma was sitting up in a chair, nursing the baby, and I lay on the couch in the living room. Kai was hovering over me with yellow eyes.

“Still with us?” he ground out.

I had a raging headache and felt hungover. “Yeah,” I croaked.

“Her hair,” Diya said again with fascination.

Kai eyed my hair and shook his head in disbelief.

“What?” I touched my hair.

Diya handed me a mirror and I gasped. A black chunk of hair streaked my bangs as I looked at Kai in shock. He was pissed and I could only shrug.

“Witches,” Kai mumbled.

Emma cleared her throat.

I sat up quickly and grabbed my head again. Kai put a strong hand under my elbow and helped me walk over to Emma who had finished feeding and was now gazing at her daughter.

Squeezing my hand, Emma looked at my hair with fear. “Thank you,” she told me.

I nodded. “What’s her name? Can we repaint the nursery pink now?” I asked and everyone laughed.

Emma looked down at the baby. “Avery. Devon wanted that name if it was a girl.”

I nodded. “Avery.”

*

Kai made me shift to my werewolf form and fed me raw steaks. My vegetarian side would be repulsed, but I let my wolf come to the surface and I knew I needed the steaks to replenish the blood I gave Emma. That was a scary thought. I gave Emma my blood. Somehow, magically. Now I had this black chunk of hair that wasn’t going away.

Emma was asleep and Diya was watching baby Avery. We had all decided to take shifts to help her out. Alek and the kid, Jeremy, had spent last night in the basement; Jeremy in a cage, Alek on a couch. Layla was hell-bent on kidnapping female werewolves to use as baby incubators, and my best friend almost died during labor. It was officially the longest day ever.  The second my head hit the pillow, I was out.

Permanent

The next day I awoke in excitement. Last month, Sylvia and the coven had formally invited me to an exclusive event called the witches’ ball. It was a black tie, witches only, ball where you could mingle with all of the witch covens, buy rare and precious magical items, get psychic readings, and God knows what else. Even with everything else going on, I was so stoked! Kai? Not so much.

I rolled over and let my gaze roam over my mate, moaning lightly. Serious eye candy. He was lying on his back, one arm behind his head, shirtless. I must have done something really good in a past life to deserve to sleep next to this gorgeous man every night.

Suddenly, he popped one eye open, a yellow eye. His wolf came to the surface for two reasons: when he detected danger, or when he detected sex.

I ran my fingers along his chest down to the V-shape of his lower abdominal muscles.

“Good morning,” I purred. “I thought you were sleeping.”

He rolled over and quirked one eyebrow. “I was until your naughty thoughts filtered through the bond.”

I laughed and then crawled on top of him. “The witches’ ball is tonight. I am so excited!” I told him, leaning in for a kiss.

He groaned and pulled me off, sitting up quickly, eyes suddenly brown. “Tonight? Wait, I thought it was next week. You’re not seriously going after hearing about Layla wanting to capture female werewolves, right?”

I sat back. Mood kill.

“Kai, it’s tonight.” Was he serious? I told him about this a month ago and then reminded him weekly.

He looked worried. “I should be able to go. I’m your mate.”

I sighed. Not this again! “You’re a werewolf. It’s a witches only thing. I will be perfectly safe with Sylvia and the coven.”

He didn’t think so. I could tell by his look.

I stroked his hair. “It’s in Portland, well into our territory. It’s going to be fine. Don’t ruin this for me,” I pleaded.

He still had that worried look on his face. I decided to distract him by peeling off my shirt and exposing my braless chest. His eyes went yellow and he grabbed me hard, pulling me into his body.

I chuckled. Men were so easy.

*

After showering and getting ready for the day, I came out to find Kai and Alexa in a heated discussion.

“I don’t trust the government, Kai!” she shouted. Dominance oozed from her.

Kai put a possessive hand on her shoulder. “I would never let anything happen to you. It’s just a meeting, you would be our spokesperson.”

I cleared my throat as Kai turned to me, looking strained. Alexa had her arms crossed, chewing her cheek. I still had trouble looking at her and not thinking of the blood that dripped from her neck. The way she forced me to change her. I shook off the thought.

“What’s up?” I asked. I knew the government was having a lot of phone conferences with Kai, trying to soothe the fears of the humans. The militias had united with us and were keeping a tally for every vampire they killed. There were vampire kill websites and everything. The government was trying to publically make it look like they had also united with us, and that Kai’s announcement of our kind looked like a planned controlled thing.

Kai placed a hand on Alexa’s back. “Being that Alexa used to work for RAIDOS, I feel she is the best person to be a liaison between the werewolves and the CIA.”

I cringed. When RAIDOS (Research and Intelligence Division of Supernaturals) went rogue and suddenly took it upon themselves to do their own thing, Alexa barely had gotten out with her life. She was right not to trust them.

“RAIDOS isn’t the CIA, right? They are separate?” I was trying to be neutral.

Alexa sighed. “They were a super-secret branch of the CIA. I wouldn’t exactly call it separate. Listen. Every single thing that we tell him will be recorded and put into a file somewhere so that one day when they decide they don’t like the werewolves anymore, they can use it all against us.”

Her surety gave me chills.

“What would you have me do?” Kai roared. “Ignore their attempts at peace? Let them drop bombs on this mountain and wipe us all out in our sleep?”

Alexa balled her hands into fists. “I don’t know! No, but I don’t trust them. I don’t want any part of it!”

Kai looked murderous. “I’m not asking you to trust them! I’m asking you to talk to them for me. To be my in-between person. They use language that I don’t understand, they ask for figures I don’t have, and sometimes I want to scream at them to back the fuck off!” Alpha power radiated from Kai and Alexa went to her knees in submission, whining. Hell, even I bowed my head. Kai had officially lost it and he never lost it. I came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, sending calm energy through the mate bond. Kai sighed.

Alexa looked scared; she stared at the ground, panting. She didn’t want to upset him further. Neither did I. Kai told me once that he prided himself of running a clean pack. He was Alpha, yes, but he wasn’t a bully. I didn’t know how much this government issue was stressing him out until now.

Kai swallowed, getting himself under control. Slowly, his eyes returned to brown and he pulled Alexa to her feet and met her eyes. “Alexa, I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m under a lot of stress to keep this fragile relationship with the human government stable. I will figure it out on my own.”

He turned to leave but she reached out and grabbed his arm.

“No, I’m sorry. You asked for my help and my answer is yes.” She gave a weak smile.

He smiled back. “You sure? Not just because I yelled at you?”

She shrugged. “A little because you yelled, but yeah, I’m sure.”

We all laughed and she gave him a quick hug. Pulling away, she placed both hands gingerly on his shoulders and looked him square in the eyes.

“But there might come a time when we regret being so friendly with the human government. Coming out to the humans was bound to happen, but continuing to give them information may be a mistake.”

Her ominous voice worried me. RAIDOS had originally been keen to partner with us. After finding out that my blood could make vampires pregnant, well, that partnership ended. Now they were a rogue organization not even backed by the government and they wanted me dead.

She broke eye contact and dropped her hands to her sides. Now it was Kai’s turn to grab her shoulders.

“Thank you for the wise counsel. We will be guarded with the information we give them and no one will hurt this pack. Not now, not in twenty years, never.”

She looked unsure but nodded and left.

Meeting Kai’s gaze, I reached out and took his face in my hands, kissing his lips.

“I love you,” I told him. He dealt with so much for this pack, for me. I didn’t realize how much until now.

His eyes roamed the length of my body. “I love you, too, but don’t bring Luna in our bed anymore. It stinks.”

My eyes widened.

“Busted,” Kai told me.

I laughed. “Sorry. I’m going to go see Diya.” I kissed his cheek and left before he could talk more about Luna.

I walked to her house slowly, letting the sounds and smells of the thick forest soothe me. The fresh dew, the bark chips crunching under my shoes, the varying shades of green. God, I loved this mountain. I would never leave it. I felt that Alexa was right to warn Kai, but I also knew he had done the right thing in coming out to the humans. Our fragile numbers were now strengthened with the human militias willing to fight the vampires with us but still. Humans outnumbered us all. When they realized that and if they wanted to … I shook my head, refusing to think about that.

When I came upon Diya’s house, I saw that she was on the porch drinking tea with Trent. Her belly was getting big and she had one hand resting on it. I smiled, approaching them.

“Hey, Mama.”

She smiled in return. “What’s up?”

I gestured to the black streak in my hair. “Can you dye this for me? I have a witches’ ball tonight and–”

She scrunched her upturned nose as if she smelled something bad. She didn’t like witches. “Witches’ ball. Does Kai know?”

I rolled my eyes and glared at her.

She lowered her gaze. “Yeah, I can dye it, come in.”

Trent stood. “No way. You’re pregnant!” He put his hands up in the air and looked at us like we were crazy.

Diya rolled her eyes. “I’m going to wear gloves and a mask. Besides, I’m a werewolf. Some bleach fumes aren’t going to harm our baby.”

Trent looked at me. “Sorry, Aurora, but no.”

Diya’s mouth opened in shock.

Well, shit. “I understand,” I told him.

Diya grinned like she was up to no good. “Well, if I can’t do it, then you have to, Trent.”

Trent looked mortally offended. “I’m not doing my Alpha’s mate’s hair!”

I grinned, too.

*

Thirty minutes later, Trent stood in the bathroom wearing pink plastic gloves and a mask, holding a brush with cream bleach.

I was trying to contain my laughter. “We have to get a picture of this,” I stated.

“Shut up,” Trent grumbled as Diya barked orders from the doorway.

“Now, carefully paint it on the chunk of black hair. Don’t get it on her skin.”

He rolled his eyes at his mate and started painting it on. I closed my eyes against the hard fumes and tried not to breathe it in. With my werewolf nose, these fumes were ten times as strong, it was probably a good idea Diya hadn’t done this. Yuck. After finishing and wrapping my hair in foil, I sat around and chatted with Diya about how Emma was doing.

“Okay, it’s been twenty minutes … that should be enough time,” Diya instructed.

Leaning my head over the sink, I pulled off the foil and washed my hair in the sink with shampoo. The second I rinsed the soap out, my stomach turned at what I saw. Jet black. It hadn’t lightened even one shade. Shit.

I dried it off and noticed Diya was staring at me in fear, chewing her lip. Why was everyone looking at me like I was dying? It was just a freak witch thing, right?

“It should have at least been orange. Not black. What does it mean?” she asked.

I didn’t know, but I assumed it wasn’t good. “Don’t tell Kai we tried to dye it,” was all I could say.

She looked reluctant but nodded. I said my goodbyes and headed back to my house to change for the ball. I had to meet Sylvia and the coven in a few hours. A witches’ ball! I grinned. A year ago if you told me I would be a half-werewolf, half-witch and on my way to a witches’ ball, I would have thought you were bat shit crazy. I wasn’t going to let the current drama in my life ruin this awesome night. The second I walked into the house, I saw that Kai and Max were sitting there waiting for me.

I groaned. They better not be here to try to lock me in the basement with Jeremy. Kai stood and came closer to me but stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. “Why do you smell like chemicals?”

I sighed. “Long story. Don’t ask. Are you guys here to tell me not to go to the witches’ ball … because I’m going.” I crossed my arms and prepared for a fight. Max grinned like a lunatic in the background. He loved a good argument between Kai and me. I shot him a glare and his smile fell.

Kai sniffed me one more time and then took my hand. “No, I just wanted to tell you that Max and I decided to go out for a beer tonight. We will be at McMenamins right across the street from the venue the ball is being held at.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Stalkers.”

Kai smiled. “If I have to stalk you to keep you safe, then so be it.”

“For the record, I’m only going to keep him from barging into some witch party and getting hexed,” Max offered.

I laughed. “We don’t hex. We spell.”

He put his hands up, palms out. “Oh, right, excuse me.”

But I gave Kai a serious look. “You really shouldn’t. Someone might recognize you from the news.” Not everyone was a fan of our kind. Going to a crowded human bar in Portland, not a great idea.

Kai gave me a sexy lopsided grin. “I have that covered.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion and decided to drop it. Trailing my finger along Kai’s chest, I purred. “I need to shower before the ball, you coming?” I raised one eyebrow.

Kai’s eyes went yellow and Max started for the door, shaking his head. “Newly mated. I remember that stage.”

Max’s words made my heart hurt for him but he had Tara now. They were taking it slow, she had officially joined our pack and they were dating. He wasn’t ready to do a mating ceremony yet. Kai dropped his pants, snapping me out of my thought. I laughed as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a caveman.

Witches’ Ball

I stood in my purple velvet hooded cape and black ankle-length corset dress Sylvia had given me. “How do I look?” I asked Kai.

He smiled. “Like a sexy little witch.”

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some big, black-rimmed, clear glasses, and put them on. I chuckled. This was his disguise? Nerd glasses? He crossed the room and stood in front of the hall mirror pulling something out of his pocket and sticking on … a little mustache? Turning to face me, he opened his arms wide.

“How do I look?” he asked, smiling.

I busted out laughing. “Honestly? Like a total creeper.” But he was pretty unrecognizable with that mustache so I think the plan would work.

Before he could retort, Max knocked on the door. I had agreed to allow Kai and Max to drive me to Sylvia’s and then home from the ball.

Max took one look at me and chuckled. “Where’s your pointy hat?”

I gave him the middle finger and he laughed. Max had become like a brother to me.

“Really? This mustache wielding weirdo is standing right here and you’re going to make fun of how I look?” I queried Max.

Max glanced at Kai and the corners of his lips curled.

Kai glared at me. “Mustache wielding weirdo? For that, I might sleep with it on.”

My eyes widened. “Oh God, please don’t.”

He chuckled as we walked into the garage.

We all piled into Kai’s Audi and after a short trip down the mountain we pulled up to Sylvia’s yellow house. It was modest and craftsman style, nestled on large acreage. I recognized all of the cars; the coven was assembled. Reaching over the seat, I kissed Kai, recoiling at the tickle of his fake mustache. “Love you.”

His face looked worried. “We will be across the street. Any issues and you can just use the mate bond.”

I gave him a look that said he was zapping my fun and then turned to Max. Flicking my fingers at him quickly, I shouted, “Hex!” and both Kai and Max roared with laughter. Jumping out of the car, I approached the front door, inhaling deeply. Sage, lavender, and frankincense. Being a witch came with the bonus of good smells. Upon entering the house, I saw that everyone was getting in a circle. The aura of magic was present.

Sylvia smiled at me and waved me over. “Quick, we were just about to start a protection spell.”

I snuck into the circle and wedged myself between Sylvia and Gretchen. We all held hands and I nodded to the others in greeting.

Sylvia raised up her interlocked hands high and we all followed. “Spirit! Tonight we gather with other magic users. Protect us from energies that are not of the light.”

A fine mist dropped down from the ceiling and settled over us.

“Keep our magic strong and encased within our bodies. Do not allow energy vampires to take from us!”

I widened my eyes, reminding myself to ask about that one later.

“So be it!” she shouted and we chorused her.

*

After a forty-five-minute drive, we arrived in downtown Portland at the conference center. Navigating our cars into the packed parking lot, we found a spot near the back. Exiting our cars, we all walked as a group to the door. Sylvia hung back behind the group and linked arms with me.

“You look deliciously witchy tonight.” She winked, her eyelids were dusted with deep purple eye shadow and a smattering of glitter. Her long auburn hair glistened in the soft glow of the street lamp.

I smiled. Sylvia had quickly become one of my favorite people. I noticed she was letting the group get far ahead of us.

“What’s with the black hair?” She raised an eyebrow.

Shit, I forgot. I ran my fingers through it and briefly told her about healing Emma. Her face fell as she listened and clutched a medallion on her chest before letting out a shaky breath. We stopped walking. I didn’t want to think about this; I was hoping everyone would forget about it. Now, I worried just how bad it was.

“What does it mean?” I met her green eyes. Only they weren’t just green now, they were swirling with cloudy white. She was getting in the zone.

“Aurora, if your goal is to safely split from the Devi and walk away with your life, I think you just made it ten times harder.”

I cringed. I had to say it out loud. “You think the Devi has black hair? That this is her?”

She brushed her soft fingers over my cheek like I was a treasured daughter and nodded. “I do. I think you have bound yourself to her even deeper now. I also think I would have done the same to save a friend.”

Returning the nod, I bit my lip.

She perked up. “Come on, let’s have some fun. Nothing we can do about it right now.”

We walked the length of the parking lot and were nearing the entrance when Kai spoke into my mind.

‘Have fun.’

I spun around and squinted across the street. Kai and Max sat on the balcony of the bar. I glared and Kai raised his glass, tipping his head to Sylvia.

Sylvia chuckled. “Alphas have some serious control issues.”

I nodded in agreement and followed Sylvia through the double doors of the giant building. Two very handsome and identical twin warlocks bowed as we entered.

“High priestess,” they said in unison, bowing low and giving her a smoldering look. They looked about late twenties, whereas Sylvia was at least forty.

Sylvia batted her eyelashes. “Hello, boys. A pleasure as always.”

I grinned. There had to be a story there and I was dying to know. But before I could ask, I felt a large blanket of power saturate my body. I struggled to breathe for a second.

Sylvia patted my hand gently. “Just a security measure. It will ease.”

Looking around the room, I was left speechless. We were in the opening of a grand circular conference hall. Black velvet drapes lined the windows, giving complete privacy. Dozens of large round tables with black linen cloths dotted the open floor. Above the tables, pink glass lanterns floated in the air. They were magically suspended! I glanced towards the back of the room and saw an elevated stage. Looking around the room, my gaze rested on hundreds of witches and warlocks engrossed in conversation. Off to the right were merchant tables with trinkets.

“Cool!” I told Sylvia, as she pulled me over to where the coven stood at a refreshment line.

Sylvia chuckled. “That’s nothing. Wait until you see the belly dancers perform.”

My eyes widened. Belly dancers? This night was going to be so awesome. It’s just what I needed after being locked up on the mountain for months.

As we passed a group of witches, I felt a darkness come over me. A slight change in my mood and a subtle pressure on my skin.

“Half-breed,” one of them spat at me.

My mouth dropped open but before I could retort, Sylvia’s hand flung out and white mist hovered around the witch’s throat. She was gaping like a fish, but no sound came out. One of her friends glared at Sylvia.

“That was uncalled for!” the friend told Sylvia.

Sylvia shrugged. “It will wear off. Eventually.”

I snickered as we met up with Gretchen and everyone. Half-breed. Ouch, that was harsh. I was tempted to go back and beat the shit out of her but thought better of it. Now that we were farther from them, the dark mood and pressure on my skin was gone.

“They are from Prudence’s coven,” Gretchen told me, indicating the group.

My eyes widened.

She put her hands out. “Don’t worry, she’s banned from attending. Anyone who openly does dark magic is banned.”

“Openly.”

She shrugged. “Others hide it but we know who they are.” She glared again at the group of dark witches.

“Hey, Aurora,” a familiar male voice said behind me. I spun around and saw Adrian. The warlock who was also a police officer and had helped me and Kai out of a bind.

“Hey, Adrian. How are you?”

He wore a deep green cloak. “I’m great. According to the palm reading I just had, I’m going to win the lottery next Thursday.”

We all laughed.

Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Who told you that?”

“Mary,” he responded.

Sylvia chuckled. “She isn’t even a seer witch! How can the high council allow her to run a palm reading table?”

Adrian shrugged and eyed Maureen, a witch in our coven who had the affinity for Alchemy. She could turn any metal into gold.

“Not everyone has an alchemist in their coven. We’ve got to make a living somehow.” His tone was respectful but slightly clipped.

Sylvia raised an eyebrow. “Fair enough.”

I turned to Sylvia. “You read my palm and you aren’t a seer witch.”

Adrian laughed. “She’s a high priestess.”

Sylvia merely nodded as if that explained it.

“Right.” I was trying to keep up.

“Good to see you, Aurora, Sylvia.” He bowed and walked off to greet some others.

“Are alchemists rare?” I whispered to Sylvia.

Sylvia nodded. “The rarest. We’re lucky to have Maureen.”

*

Interesting. A tiny, old witch tapped the microphone on the stage. “Please take your seats! We will open with a blessing ceremony and then the program will begin.”

We found our table. Whiteraven Coven was scrawled in gold lettering on a pretty card. We were closest to the stage and I found myself wondering if Sylvia was somewhat of an honored guest. A lot of people in the magical world treated her like she was important. I took off my cape and draped it around the back of my chair, taking a seat.

‘Are you okay, your energy feels muted?’ Kai’s voice broke into my mind.

‘It’s just a protection spell. I’m fine. There are lanterns suspended in mid-air, so freaking cool!’

He chuckled. ‘Witches.’

The witch on the stage said a blessing over all of us, invoking the Goddess and asking for prosperity, love, and health for all of us in the year to come. I felt good when I was here with my coven. I felt like a witch. I didn’t feel much like a werewolf. It was weird and nice. As much as the pack was my family, so was Sylvia and this coven. As if reading my mind, Sylvia met my gaze and winked.

The tiny, old witch on the stage smiled. “Now the moment you have all been waiting for!”

I heard bells jingling behind the stage curtain and the music suddenly changed to a Middle Eastern beat. “Back for the fourth year in a row! The Pink Ladies!” the witch cried out, leaving the stage. The curtain suddenly pulled to the side revealing a dozen or so young, beautiful belly dancers. They swished their hips in unison with the beat, shaking the gold jingle bells from their pink silk outfits. Everyone burst into applause and I joined them. Grinning, I watched two of the girls twirl in circles holding long, pink scarves that swirled in the air around them.

They rolled their abdomens, showcasing their flat, perfect bellies, and as the beat picked up they ran down the steps off-stage and approached our table, circling us. Then they threw their hands in the air and pink glitter dust fell onto our heads. It smelled like roses and the second I inhaled it, I bubbled with laughter as an elated feeling came over my body. Sylvia was grinning at me as the belly dancers went to the next table throwing their arms high in the air and releasing more pink glitter. I laughed again, because Gretchen was laughing and it was hilarious to me for some reason. I felt stoned. It was so awesome!

Sylvia reached out and touched my head. “Be gone,” she whispered as witches around us were cackling in laughter. Suddenly, the feeling was gone as I frowned and shook my head, clearing it.

“Whoa, I felt drunk. What was that? I might need to take some home.”

Sylvia smiled. “That was happy dust. They’re showing off, but I like to remain clear-headed in front of so many magic users.”

I nodded. Good idea. Gretchen and Maureen were high-fiving each other and laughing hysterically.

‘What was that?’ Kai asked.

‘Jesus! Kai. I’m having a good time, okay? Stop pouncing on me every time you feel something,’ I shouted, harsher than I meant to.

I felt his anger and hurt. ‘Fine. Radio silent,’ he shot back, and I felt the mate bond retreat a little.

Whoops. I was beginning to lose count of how often I pissed him off.

The food arrived and I gorged on exotic juice cocktails, sage and butternut squash raviolis, chocolate lava cake and shoestring french fries roasted in truffle oil.

“Oh. My. God. I will come here every year just for the food,” I declared to the coven and they all laughed.

Maureen raised her glass. “It is quite spectacular.” She smiled and her gold-capped tooth glinted in the candle light.

I felt so stuffed but I wanted to explore the market stalls and I had to pee wicked bad.

“I’m going to explore and find a bathroom,” I stated.

Sylvia, who was in deep conversation with another coven leader, stopped talking.

“Oh, I’ll go with you.” She went to stand.

“No, no, keep talking. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

She looked unsure. Kai had probably threatened her not to leave me alone. I could feel my eyes going yellow; my wolf wasn’t happy being treated like a baby. “I’m fine,” I declared through gritted teeth.

“Okay, dear.” Sylvia lowered her gaze.

Shit. Why was I pissing everyone off?

“Sorry,” I muttered before walking off. Seriously though, I was an independent control freak being treated like I was made of glass. It was a shock I hadn’t killed everyone by now. I understand some of the concern but the day I couldn’t take myself to the bathroom was the day I went postal on everyone. Pushing past some people, I went over to a table that had tons of beautiful crystals on it.

A short, curvy witch with wild, black, curly hair and kind eyes stood as I approached. “Hello, dear. A crystal for wealth? Love? Fertility?”

I smiled. “What about for protection?” I ran my hands over some of them, feeling the power vibrating along my slender fingers. The entire table was coated with white magical mist.

“Ahh, yes. Good choice. Here we are.” Her fingers were adorned with jewelry and crystals.

She handed me a ring with a large, rectangle, shimmery black stone on it. I held it and it felt good as I slipped it onto my index finger.

“I’ll take it.”

She smiled and I paid her before making my way to the next table.

“Witches’ wine?” A server offered me a deep purple bubbly drink. I shrugged my shoulders. Why not? I did have to pee, though. I grabbed the drink and took a sip. Bubbles and flavor exploded on my tongue.

“This is amazing!” I exclaimed as the server chuckled and walked away. I chugged the entire glass and set it on a table and then went to go in search of the bathroom. Scanning the hall, I saw a bathroom sign in the far corner by the buffet tables, which were crowded with people. I began to walk over there when a dizziness hit me. Shit. I felt really drunk. Werewolves didn’t get drunk, not that easily. We metabolized alcohol too fast. I shook my head to clear the feeling. I was trying to move past a group of witches. “Escuuuse meh.” My words slurred.

Holy shit balls, I was hammered. My own thoughts were slurring, maybe I should find Sylvia. No, I had to pee so badly! I rubbed my face, which felt numb. Maybe one glass of witches’ wine was equivalent to two bottles of regular wine. The bathroom! I stumbled through the door, my shoulder hitting the wall hard causing me to bust out laughing. I found a stall and somehow managed to lift up my dress and actually pee in the toilet and not on myself. Holy shit, I was wasted and Kai was going to be so pissed. Maybe Sylvia could ‘be gone’ it away. The thought made me laugh harder. After finally finding the handle to flush, I decided to skip trying to wash my hands, and just find Sylvia. Leaving the bathroom stall, I found four witches from Prudence’s clan waiting for me.

Well, shit. I busted up laughing.

They were grinning ear to ear.

“You look a little intoxicated, dear,” one told me.

“Oh my gawd, yer so obserbant,” I told her, feigning shock.

Her jaw set. “Bitch,” she roared and came after me.

Okay, shit. I was drunk off my ass, about to get jumped by four witches. Did one of them have a knife in her hand? I blinked but the world was getting blurry.

‘Kai, I’m druuuunk n bout to get jumped in the bathrum. Help, peeze.’

Before I got my arm up to block it, the witch slapped me hard in the face. Another laugh ripped from my chest. “Who slaps people? Hit me!” I roared at her.

The one with the knife advanced on me. “Pin her down. Let’s get the blood.”

Shit. My immediate future was looking bleak and I was beginning to think they had gotten me drunk on purpose. I decided to shift to my wolf and make it harder on them. Looking down at my body, I tried to force the change. I wasn’t changing! I had forgotten how. Dammit! Stupid drunk. I slapped my forehead as one of them grabbed me hard and the protection ring on my finger heated up.

“You guz r bitchez.” I decided shit talking was all I was capable of at that moment. I put my arms out in front of me and let mist pour from my palms. It was raw and undirected magic and I had no idea what I was doing, but it was my only defense.

“Step back!” Sylvia roared from the door. My white magic was met with Sylvia’s advancing white cloud and all four women were thrown hard into the wall.

“Yer such a badass, Sylvia.” I fist pumped as the protection ring lost its heat.

She came closer to me and sniffed. “Witches’ wine? That’s been illegal for decades.” She shook her head in anger, then her eyes rested on the ring. “That probably saved your life. It absorbed all of the dark magic.”

Wha? I tried to stare at the ring but it was blurry. They were throwing dark magic at me? I didn’t even feel it. I should go back and tip that lady.

Sylvia placed an arm around me and dragged me out the door. I heard screaming coming from the entrance to the convention center and saw a commotion. Blinking rapidly, I tried to clear the image and see better.

“Shit.” Sylvia never cussed. “Calm down, Alpha! She’s fine,” Sylvia roared and her voice was magically amplified to the entire hall. She walked me quickly to the front of the dining hall but my feet kept tripping and I fell. Suddenly, Adrian picked me up and jogged me to the front where I could see that the twin warlocks guarding the front door were bloody and unconscious. Kai and Max looked feral, fists bloody and fur rippling along their half-human forms. Kai’s mustache and glasses were long gone. The second Kai saw me in Adrian’s arms he rushed towards me. Adrian sat me down quickly and backed away as I tried to keep my face calm.

Kai pulled me into his arms and took a deep breath. “What’s that smell?” he roared as everyone looked on.

Sylvia had caught up now. “Witches’ wine. It’s illegal. I will take care of the matter. She wasn’t hurt.” Sylvia held his gaze.

Kai’s eyes went yellow, he was breathing deeply, trying to control himself. Horrible timing, but I busted out laughing.

Max couldn’t keep a straight face. “You’re three sheets to the wind,” he declared.

Kai growled, sending witches stumbling backward as he scooped me up and exited the dining hall with Max trailing behind us.

“You smell good,” I told Kai and winked. His face was blank, eyes yellow. We got to the car and I made him put me down. Max reached over and opened my door as I looked over at him. Max. Dirty blond hair, blue eyes, rock-hard build.

“Yer a gud looking guy, Max,” I told him as his eyes widened and his face went red.

“Are you trying to get me killed?” Max looked horrified.

I laughed as the veins bulged in Kai’s neck. “What? Max is gud looking, not as hot as Kai but still.”

“Okay, Aurora, enough.” Kai pushed me into the back seat and I lay down laughing. Man, car seats were so comfy. That was the last thought I had before sleep took me.

Witches’ Wine

I awoke with a headache from hell and all the memories of last night. Shit. My throat was so dry, my head pounded. I squinted against the light filtering through the curtains. Kai wasn’t next to me.

‘Are you awake?’ Kai asked.

‘Shhh … turn it down.’ I grabbed my head.

The door opened and Kai entered with water.

I prepared for the bitchfest that was undoubtedly going to come down on me. Kai spoke softly. “After hours of being completely livid with you, I’ve decided that last night wasn’t your fault, so I’m not mad at you.”

He handed me the water and I squinted as my head pounded, trying to work out what he had just said. No fight? Seriously? Yes!

I sighed. “Thanks,” I whispered. “Can I have some Advil? Like an entire bottle?”

Kai shook his head. “Won’t help. Sylvia said to take a bath in two cups of salt and lavender oil.” He said Sylvia’s name with anger. She probably got the bitchfest.

I sipped some water, letting the cool liquid quench my parched throat. Then I slowly stood and stumbled to the bathroom to draw a bath, tossing the salt and lavender in. The sound of the rushing water was too loud, so I plugged my ears. My thoughts went back to last night. So I got drugged with some illegal spell wine? Bitches. They probably planned the whole thing. What were they going to do to me in that bathroom? I shivered thinking about it. I hadn’t been able to change into my wolf. The thought made my eyes widen. What kind of wine was this?

I eased into the bath and immediately felt some of the head pounding dissipate. I stared in shock as the water became deep purple. The salt was pulling the witches’ wine out of my skin. Whoa. Note to self. Thank Sylvia. I soaked until I felt somewhat normal again and then drained the purple water. Had I called Max hot last night? I smacked my forehead and changed into skinny jeans and a tight tank top. Padding out of the room, I went to find Kai. He was with Max in the backyard working out. Since Jeremy and Alek had taken over the basement, our workouts were limited.

“Feeling better?” Kai stopped doing pushups and stood to greet me.

“Much better,” I told him and turned to Max who was avoiding looking at me. “Max, about last night.” I started to apologize and his hands went up, face red.

“Didn’t happen as far as I am concerned.” He looked nervously at Kai who grinned.

I chuckled. “Okay.” I glanced at my watch. It was midday. Wow, I must have slept eighteen hours.

“So, I talked to Sylvia about the incident last night.” Kai’s voice was full of anger.

“It’s not her fault–”

He put a hand up. “I know, but someone drugged you and she said four witches associated with Prudence’s clan tried to jump you in the bathroom.”

I frowned. It sounded really bad when said out loud like that. That witch really needed to die.

“What do you think they wanted?” he asked.

My memories of that incident were hazy. “I dunno. Blood, capture. What do they always want?”

Kai’s phone rang, distracting him. He pulled it from his gym shorts and glanced at the number, groaning.

“Shit. I forgot about this meeting with the government. I’ll be in my office.” He answered the phone and dashed into the house.

Max shook his head as Kai left. “He deals with a lot.”

Suddenly, I felt awful for my mate. He dealt with so much shit on my behalf. All of this drama with the humans was because of me. He did it all to protect me. Saying goodbye to Max, I went to listen at Kai’s office door.

“Sir, with all due respect, my people will not be tagged like cattle!” He roared and I flinched.

I couldn’t hear what was said on the other end of the line, but Kai didn’t seem happy.

“Tell them we are doctors, lawyers, waiters. We are just as much a member of society as the humans!” His fist hit the desk, making me flinch again.

“Fine.”

I heard the phone slam in the cradle and I contemplated opening the door.

“Come in, Aurora.” He sighed.

Damn. Life was so much better when I was a human and could sneak around spying on people without being smelled.

I slowly walked inside. Kai sat at his large wooden desk, his tight black V-neck t-shirt clung to his large muscles, his breathing heavy, eyes yellow.

“What was that all about?” I cut right to it.

His lips pressed together. “The United States government has suggested we wear some sort of tag or tracking device.”

My mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding, right?”

He ran a hand through his thick, wild hair. “I wish I was, Aurora.”

He looked at me and through the mate bond, I felt his guilt at coming out to our people. His fear that it was the wrong choice.

Sitting on his lap, I wrapped my arms around him. “Hey, you did the right thing. Now humans are aware of the vampires. The militias have tripled our numbers. Dozens of feeder clubs and dens have been shut down. Who knows how many human lives we have saved?”

He draped his arms around me and pulled me closer. “In the short term, yes, I think I did the right thing. After the smoke has cleared and the vampire problem is solved, I’m not so sure the humans will be so welcoming.”

I groaned. “Tagged? Like, a microchip? They really said that?”

He had a far-off look in his eye. “They said it would be voluntary. A way of showing the reluctant humans that we aren’t hiding.”

Bullshit. “They want to know how many of us there are. What cities we are in, what jobs we hold.” Mist began to leak from my skin. All of a sudden, Luna leapt out from behind the curtain and hissed at me. Kai jumped up and I fell off of him, crashing to the floor.

“Jesus Christ! That cat. I didn’t even smell her.” He clutched his chest.

I busted out laughing and Luna came to purr and rub up against me. I winked at Kai. “A little spell I did to increase Luna’s odds at survival.”

Kai scowled at me. “Seriously? You took her cat smell? That’s not fair. She could be anywhere and I wouldn’t know it.”

I lay on my back as Luna jammed her paws into my belly. “The coven and I are trying to figure out how Layla and her vampires have no scent.”

Kai looked impressed. He inhaled again as Luna looked at him and hissed.

Kai’s eyes went yellow and he growled, sending Luna scampering up my shirt and flying across the room to hide behind a potted plant.

“Kai, you scared her!”

He smiled. “Just having some fun.”

He kissed my cheek. “I should bring this matter of the tagging to the council. Can you run the pack training session tonight?”

I nodded.

After he shut the door, I pulled Luna out from behind the plant.

“Don’t let the big, bad werewolf scare you. He’s harmless,” I told her.

“No, I’m not!” Kai said from the hallway.

I laughed but it sounded fake. I couldn’t forget what Kai said on the phone about tagging us, like animals.

Practice

We were gathered in the barn, all of the wolves and a hundred militia. A month ago, we had paired up, one wolf to one human, and we were teaching them how to fight. Teaching them how to kill vampires. Some of them had become friendly, would chit chat after practice, but some just came to learn and left. I guess you couldn’t expect everyone to be on board but it saddened me to see wolves on one side of the room and humans on the other. Max walked up on stage with me.

“I like when Kai’s gone and you’re in charge,” he said.

I chuckled. “Oh yeah, why is that?”

“Because it makes me second again.” Max was back, all of my witch wine drunken rant forgotten.

I rolled my eyes. “Well, get ready because I’m going to shake it up a little. We need some bonding time.”

Max looked at me like I was an alien. “Please tell me you did not just say bonding.”

I whistled loud. “Listen up!”

The murmuring quieted and I held my hands up. “Kai had business to tend to, so I will be leading tonight’s sparring session. Since I’m in charge, I thought we could do something different for a change.” I raised an eyebrow.

Max frowned and I scanned the sea of confused faces.

“Who wants to play flag football?”

My question was met with a resounding cry of support.

Max looked at me, impressed.

“We will start with two thirty-minute games. Rotate every thirty minutes for the next two hours.”

“Humans against werewolves?” someone shouted.

I shrugged. “Up to you. Who wants humans against werewolves?”

The humans started chanting. “Human, human, human.”

I laughed. “Okay! You got it. Humans against wolves.”

People began high-fiving and talking crap to each other. As they turned to leave, I shouted. “Wolves!”

Everyone turned back to me. “Go easy, they’re fragile.”

Earl gave me a grin and twisted his mustache. “It’s on.”

*

There was a football field at the high school in Welches. We were still technically on Mount Hood but farther away from our homes. One of our wolves worked as a coach for the school and opened up the locker rooms for us, which had everything we needed.

I sat on the bleachers looking out onto the game. It was the fourth quarter and the humans were winning. This was doing exactly what I had intended, boosting morale. Even though we were playing humans against wolves, the two teams were smiling and high-fiving each other after good plays. There was respect growing. We were showing them that we were like them. Max, drenched in sweat with a stony expression on his face, pulled the wolf team into a huddle. I saw Tara on the sidelines checking him out and it made me smile. Who knew a simple game of football could make everything screwed up in the world feel so normal.

“Come on, Max! Make us proud!” I shouted.

He smiled and shook his head, embarrassed, as Earl rounded the corner and stepped up onto the bleachers, taking a seat next to me.

“This was a good idea. We should make it a weekly thing.” He winced as he sat down and straightened his leg.

“You okay?”

He waved me off. “Just getting old. Nothing you will have to worry about.”

I smiled. True, weird, but true. Max made a touchdown and I jumped up clapping and whistling.

After I sat back down, Earl leaned into me. “You know, it’s been months since the incident with the vampire queen.”

I rubbed my neck. Incident. Yeah, where she bit me in a bid to get pregnant.

“My guys are getting antsy for action. Raiding the clubs is good, but we want to take her out.” He had the fine lines around his eyes and mouth that told of a happy life, lots of laughter. I liked Earl. He was a good guy I didn’t want to disappoint him.

I met his gaze straight on. “You have no idea how bad I want that. I promise we will get her. We’ve got a new lead. When Kai gets back, we will call a meeting to discuss it.” I placed an arm on his shoulder and he nodded.

I stood again and hollered in excitement as Max scored another touchdown. Earl chuckled, but before I could sit back down, his face froze in horror and his eyes fixed on my chest. What the …? Suddenly, his hand reached out and pushed me hard. I fell backward and cracked my head on the metal bleachers as a sharp pain sliced into my leg. Looking down, I saw at least five red sniper dots following me. Shit!

“Go!” Earl shouted as I rolled onto my tummy and started to army crawl across the floor of the metal bench. I was wedged into the small space and extremely exposed. What the hell was going on? The sound of snapping bullets hurt my ears. My head filled with a symphony of chaos, screaming, roaring, wolves shifting.

‘Kai, I’ve been shot. We’re under attack.’ His meeting was in Portland, but the mate bond was strong, so I hoped he’d heard me. Earl groaned behind me and I turned to look back at him. He was slumped over, flat on the bench floor, red laser dots lined all over his back. Oh, shit! He was human; there was no way he could come back from that. Earl was pack as far as I was concerned.

“No!” I jumped up, ignoring the searing pain in my leg, and threw myself over him as bullets riddled my back instead of his.

Getting shot is exactly as you think it will be. Hurts like hell and does a good job of cutting open your insides. I couldn’t breathe; what little breath I could take was hard and rattled like water in my chest.

I heard Max roar, “RAIDOS! In the trees!”

The militia returned RAIDOS’ fire with gunfire of our own. Then, strong arms were around me and I felt someone pick me up off of Earl, who was alive and looking at me like I was a ghost. I didn’t feel pain anymore, just cold. Mist was leaking out of my skin like air from a balloon with a small hole in it.

Max’s face suddenly came into view. “You’re not allowed to die on me, Aurora!” he screamed.

I felt him rip my shirt off and press something hard to my back. A painful scream tore from my throat as the pressure on my back caused me agony. RAIDOS. Yes, of course they wanted me dead. Vampire baby-making problem solved. Dammit, couldn’t a girl just watch a football game in peace?

My eyelids were fluttering. It was so cold. How cliché but true, you got super cold when you were dying. I was dying, right? Werewolves regenerated, but we also died of blood loss. By the looks of Max’s clothes, which were dripping with my blood, I was a goner. When I thought I couldn’t stay awake any longer, a sudden burst of energy flooded my body.

Kai.

‘I’m coming! Keep talking to me,’ Kai told me but I was too sleepy.

‘Blood loss.’ My thoughts weren’t working right. More power flooded me. Alpha power. Kai was giving me all that he had.

I looked up at Max. His eyes were wild, face streaked with blood. “If I die, you can be second again,” I joked with a slurred voice.

His retort was garbled as he reached out and smacked my face hard, making my drooping eyelids fly open. I tried. I tried so damn hard to stay awake and keep talking but in the end, I failed.

Headache

I awoke with a racing pulse and a headache from hell. Witches’ wine had nothing on this sucker; there was a constant pounding drum in my brain. Sitting up too quickly, I was slammed with a wave of dizziness. Kai grabbed my shoulders and pressed his face to mine. “DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN,” he commanded.

I winced. “Shhh.”

He backed up a little.

“I didn’t plan on getting shot. Geez.”

I reached around slowly and felt my back. Smooth skin. I took a deep breath, clear. This werewolf healing thing was insane.

“I’m like indestructible,” I stated.

Kai’s eyes were yellow as he glared at me. “No, you’re not. You almost bled to death. Max saved your life and you’ve had two blood transfusions aided by the witches.”

Shit. Then all of the memories from last night came back to me.

“Earl!”

Kai nodded. “Took one in the arm but will be fine. Has already been discharged from the hospital. You saved his life.”

I sighed and reached out for Kai’s hand. His hair was wild and I knew he hadn’t slept. I hated that I did this to him, but it wasn’t like I asked for it.

“RAIDOS?” I knew the answer.

I could hear Kai’s teeth grind from my place on our bed. He nodded. “They intended to take you out. Semi-automatic long range rifles. Waiting in the trees.”

I frowned. “How did they know we would be there? The drones are all gone, right?”

Kai seemed to consider this. “I think we have a mole.”

I sat up straighter. “Really? In the pack? No way!”

Kai shook his head. “No, in the militia.”

There were over six hundred guys in the militia and Earl couldn’t know them all personally. It was a definite possibility.

I whistled low. “What do we do?”

He shrugged. “Keep a close eye for now. I told Earl about it. We should stop sparring practice with them, pack only.”

That didn’t sound like a great plan.

“Kai, we were just starting to bond with them.”

“Pack only!” His neck veins were bulging so I didn’t argue. Maybe later.

There was a knock at the door. I inhaled. Max.

“Come in, Max,” I called out to him softly, trying to will my headache away.

He opened the door and met my gaze, shaking his head.

“I can’t believe you did that to me.” He threw his arms in the air.

I laughed. “Everyone needs to quit acting like I wanted to be shot!”

Max sat at the edge of the bed. “All I’m saying is trouble sure seems to follow you. Kai would have killed me.”

Kai nodded. “Yes, I would have.”

Max smirked but I leveled his gaze with mine. “Seriously, thank you.”

Max returned my serious look and nodded. “You realize Kai will never let you out of the house again, right?”

I glared at Kai, who glared back. “This just means we have to take out Layla now. RAIDOS won’t be after me once they know she is gone. The sooner we end this threat, the sooner we can move on.” Anger rumbled in my chest. “Enough bullshit. Let’s kill this bloodsucker.”

Max stifled a laugh at my comment and Kai cut him a glare.

Then Kai suddenly stood. “You get some rest. I have to make a few phone calls.”

‘Kai,’ I started but he cut me off.

‘I held my dying, bleeding wife and thought all hope for my future happiness was over. Now you want to run back into danger the first chance you get! I get to be pissed!’ he roared.

I flinched. Shit. He was right. That must have been awful for him. I remembered how awful it was for me when RAIDOS had captured him and I had gone in to get him back. They had him naked and strapped to a gurney, a few of his fingers cut off. He had been in rough shape and it had terrified me.

‘You’re right. I’m sorry.’

Kai nodded, Max stood and they both left the room. Well, that didn’t go as planned. I sighed and decided to take a shower to get the crusty blood out of my long hair.

When I went out to get breakfast, I saw that Kai had made me a veggie omelet and was cleaning the dishes. All was forgiven, that was my Kai. He couldn’t stay mad at me for too long and he always worried if I had eaten enough. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned in to cradle my nose against his neck. He took a deep breath and I felt his possessive love settle into the mate bond. He didn’t want me to ever leave this house again.

“You want to lock me in the basement with Jeremy, don’t you?” I joked.

He gave a short bark of laughter. “Yes, I do.”

I chuckled and pulled away from him, smiling.

He pushed the omelet in front of me. “Eat,” was all he said, kissing my forehead before walking back into his office.

I did and it was amazing. Kai made omelets with a touch of Indian spices in them; they were beyond delish. I chugged some orange juice and realized my headache had eased. Feeling better, I went to find Kai and heard him yelling loudly on the phone in his office.

Opening the office door, I met his yellow gaze.

“I warned you!” he screamed into the phone and slammed it down as I walked in.

“What’s wrong?” I stood there, panicked. His emotions were all over the place. Fear, sadness, and rage burned through the mate bond.

“Kai?”

He looked up at me, eyes burning yellow, his voice gruff. “I warned the council about what Jeremy told us. I told them to tell all of the packs that vampires might attempt to abduct our females. To use them as breeders for Layla’s sick plan.”

No! Then I knew. I felt it through the mate bond. Sadie. His ex-girlfriend of five years. She’d been taken. So had others from other packs. I quickly sifted through our pack bonds. All of our females were accounted for. I sighed in relief.

Reaching out, I touched his hand. “Kai, I’m so–”

He stood quickly. “I’m going to go tell Earl to be extra vigilant when guarding the perimeter. Grab Max and meet me in the barn.”

I nodded. This bitch has gone too far! Stealing female werewolves to use as incubators. It made my omelet threaten to come back up. Layla needed to be taken out now! I stormed out of the house and rounded up Max and we made our way to the barn.

Max paced the barn in anger as we waited for Kai to show up. “Sadie is like one of our own,” he stated.

I tried not to let it hurt my feelings. She was in this pack for a long time before me. I nodded and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

“I feel like it’s all my fault. This all started when I survived the change,” I confessed.

Max sat next to me and put an arm around me. “Hey, you are the best thing that ever happened to Kai and our pack.”

I smiled and when Max went to pull his arm off of me, his skin touched my shoulder and I was pulled into a vision.

Tara, Max’s mate, was roaming a wooded area. She was a changed wolf and like all changed wolves, her human DNA, when mutated into the werewolf, left her with a gift. Tara’s gift was similar to that of a chameleon.

In my vision, every time she passed a tree, her fur would change to match. She looked frightened and she had the feeling she was being stalked. I could feel her fear, her thoughts. Then, I heard footsteps behind her and she froze, crouching down. Suddenly, a dark-haired vampire came out of nowhere and pounced on her. She tried to howl but the vampire knocked her out quickly. Then a silver net was cast around her.

I came back to myself lying on the floor of the barn. Max was used to this by now and he sat patiently with my head in his hands.

“You back? What happened? New mate couple?” He didn’t seem too alarmed because usually my visions were about mates and they were happy visions. I had already told him Tara was his mate and they were dating and taking it slow. He still had a lot of healing to do from losing his mate and child during labor years ago. The thought of having two mates in a lifetime was not easily accepted in werewolf culture. Technically, Tara was still his first mate, only reincarnated.

I didn’t know what to say. “Max, it’s Tara. I need to call Kai.”

He pulled me up into a standing position quickly. His face looked serious. “What do you mean?”

I didn’t know when the reality of the vision would happen or if it already had. My hands trembled slightly as I pulled out my phone and dialed Kai. I didn’t know how far away he was and calling him on the phone was 100% foolproof, where our mate bond had potential issues. This was time sensitive. How long ago had he left to talk with Earl? Ten minutes?

“Aurora?” he answered.

“Quick, search the pack bonds. Is Tara okay? I had a vision. She’s in trouble. I can’t tell if it’s happened yet.” Timing in my visions was weird and sometimes the future could be changed. My birth mother had a vision I was going to die at five years old if she didn’t do something drastic, but luckily that vision never came to pass. I could feel Tara through the bond but not like Kai could. Kai would be able to tell if she was in danger and what exactly was going on with her.

“She’s fine. She’s been a bit depressed lately with how slow things are progressing with Max. She went for a run. I just checked in on her,” Kai said.

Max was close enough to hear that. He winced.

“Check again, Kai. She’s in danger!” I told him.

Then I felt Kai’s fear through our mate bond. “Oh, shit. Something’s wrong,” he said then hung up.

“No!” I cried out in frustration. It happened. I knew it. She was taken. I could feel her panic now. Dammit!

I tore out of the barn, blindly running through our property with no idea where I was going. Max was right beside me, panting frantically.

“Tara!” He tore off his shirt, shifting into his wolf form.

Max ran off into the forest and I stood there frozen, sniffing the woods trying to catch her scent, any scent.

Just as Max’s wolf retreated into the thick trees off to the left of the barn, Earl came running from another part of the woods. His arm was bleeding, his chest covered in vampire dust.

“I was deep in the woods with a few of my guys when Todd came over the walkie talkie saying that Kai was looking for me. I was hiking back towards your property when I heard a howl. The bloodsuckers got one of your girls. I’m so sorry.”

I fell to my knees. “Which way did they go?” My voice sounded hollow. This was awful. This wasn’t happening. If Jeremy was right, Tara was going to be used as an incubator for vampire spawn. No, no. Don’t think about it. Oh God.

He shrugged. “They were in an all-terrain vehicle. We got a few of them, but she was taken, back behind Red Creek walking trail.”

I pounded my fists into the cold, hard ground. No! Tara. I had to control my breathing to keep from shifting. My wolf wanted free but looking at Earl, I saw that he was hurt.

“Let me look at your arm.” I stood. It was bleeding pretty bad. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about me healing it with witch magic he didn’t know about. “I can call our pack doctor.”

He shooed me away. “Nah, we have our own medics. I ripped my stitches from the bullet wound. I’ll be fine, just wanted to tell you about your friend.”

Sweet Tara. I sighed. “Thank you.”

He nodded and turned to walk away, but I grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently. “For everything. I would be dead if you hadn’t pushed me out of the way the other night.”

He chuckled. “I think I am the one that should be thanking you. You draped yourself over me like a shield. I’m an old man and I’ve lived a good life. Next time don’t bother.” He winked and tipped his hat. “And I’m sorry again about your friend,” he added.

“We’ll get her back,” I declared.

He twisted his handle-bar mustache and said, “Okay,” and walked away.

Shit, this was so bad.

Max and Kai emerged from the woods. Both shirtless, in cut-off sweatpants, eyes yellow.

“It’s not your fault.” Kai put a hand on Max’s shoulder, but Max shrugged him off.

“Yes it is! If I had mated with her, I would have been in constant communication. She wouldn’t have been moping in the woods.”

Kai put his hands out to stop Max. “No, it’s my fault. I told her not to go alone. She lied and said she would take someone with her. I should have assigned someone to go with her to make sure.”

Max shook his head. “She’s smart and beautiful and she’s my mate. I should have told her that. I should have married her! What the hell am I waiting for?”

“It’s my fault!” I shouted, shutting them both up. “Everything. Devon’s death. This. It’s all my fault. The vampires want me!” I stormed into the house and slammed the door, scooping up Luna and lying with her in my bed. This was getting to be too much. All of these people were getting hurt over me. The vampires wanted my blood. Maybe I should just do the spell with the witches and become infertile. Not tell Kai. But the moment I thought that, baby Avery popped into my mind. I wanted that with Kai. I shouldn’t have to give up on the dream of being a mother. No! I stood. I just needed to find Layla and kill her once and for all, and I would start right now.

‘Call the council. We need to have a meeting and come up with an idea to find Layla and get Tara back NOW,’ I told him.

I felt his feelings. Apprehension that doing so might cause me danger but also that it needed to be done.

‘I agree,’ was all he said.

Sulk

After a while of sulking, I put Luna down and went to Emma’s to take my shift helping with baby Avery.

When I got there, the lights were low in the living room. Avery was asleep in a cradle and Diya was rocking her.

“Hi,” I whispered.

Diya gave me a look of concern. “Are you okay? I heard about the shooting … and Tara.”

I sighed and rolled my shoulders, remembering where the bullets had entered my back. Amazingly, I felt fine. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks. Kai is going to the council to have a meeting and we’re going to find Layla and get Tara back,” I said with certainty.

Diya nodded and there was an awkward moment of silence. Then she gestured to Avery, smiling. “Isn’t she perfect?”

I nodded, watching the tiny infant sleep. Her bottom lip was puckered out and her breathing was slow and steady. “She is.” She was also our pack’s first cub. Pride, adoration, love; those words didn’t even begin to express how we all felt.

“Guess what? Trent and I are having a boy. We just found out today.” She smiled, patting her belly.

Wow, a boy. Seeing these happily mated couples I had brought together having children made me feel complete, like I had a purpose, a good purpose.

I gave her a hug. “That’s awesome. Have you thought of a name?”

She nodded. “Mason, after Trent’s father.”

Now that everyone was having babies, I was feeling my own biological clock ringing. Seeing Avery born had changed something within me. The loss of Tara, the RAIDOS shooting. I needed some good in my life. I had made a decision. I wanted a baby. Now. I was ready.

‘Kai?’

‘Yes, my love?’

I smiled. ‘Throw out the condoms.’

Excitement burst through the mate bond and I chuckled.

“So, what do I do?” I asked Diya nervously, gesturing to Avery. I had babysat a little in college but not a newborn. She was so fragile and tiny.

Diya chuckled. “Keep her alive. That’s about it at this age. Diapers and wipes are over there. Wake Emma if she cries and starts rooting. That means she is hungry.”

I swallowed nervously. “Rooting?”

Diya smiled at me. “Sucking fingers, making an O-shape with her mouth. Trying to breastfeed over your shirt.”

I laughed. “Okay.”

All of a sudden, I heard snapping noises. I gasped and looked down as fur started popping up all over Avery’s body. She was shifting.

“Oh my God, is that okay?” I asked Diya.

Diya smiled. “Perfectly normal. She is waking up. I’m tired. Text me if you need anything.” Diya left.

Avery was now a furry, adorable wolf cub wrapped in a blanket. Oh my God. Cutest thing ever! She gave a small growl and I picked her up and tucked her under my arm. She leaned into my shirt and bit my nipple. “Ow!” I yelped and pulled her away from my body.

“You little stinker. You hungry?” Making quick strides, I crossed the living room and walked her down the hall into Emma’s room. She shifted again and gave a loud human baby wail.

Emma sat bolt upright. “What’s wrong? Is she okay?” She looked frazzled, her gaze darting around the room.

“Yeah, she’s just hungry,” I told Emma, sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Aurora, you’re here.” Emma smiled, taking Avery to feed her. I had seen Emma naked a hundred times. Breastfeeding in front of me or any member of the pack was no big deal.

“Does it hurt?” I asked Emma as her eyelids drooped.

“Kinda. But being full of milk hurts worse.” She leaned back, closing her eyes.

“You feeling okay?” I asked her, trying to keep her awake. She looked ready to drop at any second.

“Just tired. No one warns you about that. The sleep deprivation … Awful. Headache, hungr–” She fell asleep, her head rolling to the side. Her arm went slack and I bolted forward, catching Avery and boosting her back up to latch.

God, being a mother was harder than I thought. Poor Emma. I had never seen her so tired. Not even after Devon died. We expected mothers to labor for hours and push out a human being. Then, when their body needed to rest, we woke them every two hours to feed that human. Yikes. Was I sure I was ready for this? After Avery was done feeding, I lifted her over my shoulder and instinctively patted her back. She gave a big burp and I giggled, walking her back out to the living room.

Looking into her green eyes, and at her fuzzy red hair, I saw that she looked just like Emma. “I’m your godmother and the coolest aunt you will ever have,” I told her. She scrunched her face and a huge rumbling sound came from her diaper.

I grimaced. “Thanks, kid.”

*

After staying the entire night shift, I woke on the couch to find Alexa shaking me.

“Hey, it’s my shift,” she whispered.

I peeked over, Avery was still asleep. Oh, man. I was exhausted. Avery had her days and nights mixed up and only fell asleep an hour ago. I had been up all night rocking her and cooing, taking her into Emma for feedings. How did parents do this every night without a pack to help?

I extended my hand to Alexa for her to help me up and when my hand touched hers, I was pulled into a vision.

A guy with short brown hair and kind eyes was chopping wood, a thin silver chain tied him to a nearby tree like a dog. Alexa’s mate, I knew it. He was in a pack in California, in the Redwood Forest. His name was Jameson, someone called his name and he turned to look at him, his Alpha. Seeing his Alpha made my stomach drop. I recognized him. It was Dane’s old second in command. After Kai had killed Dane and taken over his Portland pack, his second went rogue and ran off with a few of the others who didn’t want to join our pack.

In the vision, his Alpha barked an order at Jameson, who lowered his head and set down the axe, walking towards him submissively and dragging the long chain behind him like a slave. Then the vision changed and I was shown Kai and Jameson’s Alpha locked in a brawl. Something filtered through the vision to me. A knowing. The Alpha didn’t want to give Jameson up because he had a very rare gift. He was a submissive who could amplify his Alpha’s dominance and strength tenfold when they were close to him. His Alpha kept him very close, therefore increasing his strength. The vision went back to the fight and I saw Kai being thrown hard against a tree. The tree broke and Anna rushed the Alpha, knocking him over.

I came out of the vision and Alexa was standing there with wide eyes and pale skin. Alexa and I were extremely close. I was the one who changed her and it had made us more bonded than others. A tear lined my eye. “I found your mate.”

Her hand flew to her mouth. “Really?” It seemed that every time I found a mate, there was a problem.

“But … there’s an issue,” I told her.

*

Izzy, our pack member with two human children of her own, had rushed over to watch Avery while Alexa and I found Max and Kai. I knew we needed to find Layla and Tara and deal with the RAIDOS attack but Alexa’s mate was in trouble. Being tied to a tree like a dog with a painful silver chain was not okay. This had to be dealt with now.

Kai listened to me as I recounted the vision. When I finished, he nodded. “We can go get him. My father is flying in from India and Shamus is driving down from Seattle. By the time we get back, the meeting will be assembled and we can make a plan to get Tara back and find Layla.”

I could feel Alexa’s excitement and apprehension.

“And RAIDOS? When do we pay them a little visit for shooting up our football game?” Max glared, arms crossed.

Kai’s eyes went yellow. “They nearly killed my wife. We will retaliate. It’s just not the right time. We have too much on our plates.”

Max huffed. I knew he was traumatized from carrying me off that field, bleeding and so close to death, but I think most of his frustrations came from Tara’s absence. I felt her there, in the pack bonds, but it was faint and cloaked with magic.

“Okay, so Max, Anna, Jake, Kai, Alexa, and I. That’s the group in the vision.”

Kai seemed worried. “That’s all of my strong dominants. Who will protect the pack we leave behind?”

I chewed my lip. “We will have to risk it. From my vision, it looks like we will need all of the help we can get in order to get Jameson out of there.”

Kai’s brow furrowed but he nodded.

*

We decided to drive. It was only about six hours. We could do it in one day, taking shifts. We had attempted to make contact with the Alpha, Harris. Since Kai was now a member of the council, he had Harris’ contact info but calling him didn’t go over so well. Harris told us to drop Alexa off and leave but we would not be permitted to linger and he would not be allowing Jameson to leave the pack. Kai tried to explain further but Harris hung up on him.

Kai slammed the cell phone down on the dash and I cringed as the screen cracked. Well, there went $600. Angry dominant werewolves went through cell phones like crazy.

“He hung up on me!” Kai roared. I’m guessing Kai didn’t get hung up on often.

“I haven’t been hung up on since high school,” I stated.

Max was staring out the window. I reached back and nudged him and he glanced my way.

“You okay?” I said softly.

His energy was low. I felt his depression seeping into the pack bond; we all felt it.

He simply shook his head but Kai and I shared a quick look.

‘Tara,’ Kai told me.

‘Yeah, I figured. Any leads on where she is?’

I felt Kai’s anger rise up so quickly my breath hitched.

‘No. They blindfolded her and then our bond was snuffed out. I can tell she is alive but I can’t communicate with her.’

Shit. My mind went through dozens of ideas in trying to find the girls. Spells. Trackers. Anything. But we couldn’t smell the vampires so our trackers couldn’t get a trail, and if they had snuffed out the mate bond they sure as hell wouldn’t be found with a finder spell.

“Showtime,” Kai grumbled, pulling the SUV up to a large cabin. Kai had said that most all Alpha residences were on file with the council. I gazed up from the dash, the entire Redwood’s pack was assembled in a semi-circle, with Harris in the middle.

“Well, shit. Homeboy looks ready to throw down,” Max said, cracking his knuckles, readying for a fight.

I busted out laughing along with Alexa and the others.

“Homeboy? When did you join a gang?” I joked.

But Max’s jaw was set. He was a loose cannon. I could see it. He was waiting for something to set him off so he could take out all of his aggression about Tara on someone.

We jumped out of the SUV and I put a cool hand on his shoulder.

“You good?”

His eyes went from glowing amber to ice blue. He cleared his throat and nodded.

Alexa was wiping her hands on her jeans. Anna, the strongest member of our pack, surveyed the situation as she jumped out of the car after us. I could see her calculating how many people there were. Aside from having super strength as her special power, Anna had really shown improvement in practices. She was a quick learner.

I took the lead even though Kai tried to walk past me and get in front of me.

The last time I saw Harris he didn’t want to join our pack and wasn’t strong enough then to fight Kai. Now with Jameson by his side … I was worried about my vision and what it meant for Kai’s safety.

As we approached, I saw about twenty wolves spread out before us. I could see, just beyond the semi-circle of dominant wolves, that Jameson was chained by the ankle to a tree. He was maybe ten feet from Harris. How close did he need to be for his gift to work?

I met Harris’ yellow gaze, taking in his appearance. He looked more filled out than the last time I saw him, more toned. His arms were covered in tattoos and his dark hair was slicked back.

“I believe your wolf Jameson is the mate to our female Alexa.” I got right to it and pointed at Alexa as I felt Kai stand beside me.

Harris nodded. “Good. Leave the bitch and go.”

My mouth dropped open. Kai slipped off his t-shirt and tossed it to Max. Oh, shit. Here we go.

Kai had been through a lot of shit in the last forty-eight hours. Having one of his wolves be taken by the vampires, me getting shot and nearly bleeding to death. I wouldn’t mess with him right now, but Jameson’s gift made Harris super strong.

Kai’s voice was so gruff I barely recognized it. “I wouldn’t give you one of my females in a million years!”

The hairs on my arms stood up. God damn, my mate could be scary ... and sexy. I nearly salivated staring at his chiseled, shirtless body.

Harris took off his shirt and gave Kai a devilish grin. “Then I guess we fight for it. The old way.”

Kai nodded and his pack formed a circle around them.

‘The old way?’ I asked Kai.

‘We stay human. First one to get knocked out loses their wolf.’

‘Kai, he has super strength with Jameson near.’

Kai gave me one glance that told me to shut the hell up. I swallowed. I guess I should have said, ‘Go, babe, go!’

Harris grinned as he slipped on a glove with silver knuckles.

“Hey! Dirty cheat,” Max roared.

Harris shrugged. “Anything goes. You are allowed one non-lethal weapon of your choice.”

Max stalked off to the SUV and returned with a tire iron. Whoa. Shit just got real.

He handed it to Kai who still hadn’t taken his eyes off Harris. I probed my mate’s thoughts. He was feeling murderous with not one ounce of fear.

Anna approached Kai. “Let me fight him. It will be fairer.”

Kai didn’t look away from Harris. “No,” was all he said to Anna and then he walked into the middle of the circle.

Harris nodded to Kai, who nodded back initiating acceptance of the fight. Then Kai tightened his grip on the tire iron and with blinding speed struck Harris in the side of the neck. It was a blur of fast motion and as he clocked Harris in the side of the head, the entire pack took a step backward. Harris wobbled to the side but straightened himself quickly. He took his silver knuckled hand and gave Kai a strong upper cut to the jaw.

I heard Kai’s jaw break from where I stood. His body flew up and backward six feet from the force of the blow, leaving him to crash into the hard ground. Holy shit, Harris was strong! A growl ripped from my throat but Kai pushed himself up onto one arm indicating he hadn’t lost consciousness yet. My eyes fell on Jameson who looked scared and was trying to fiddle with his leg chains. He wanted free.

Anna was shaking her head back and forth. She really would have been a better match for Harris but no way would Kai let one of his females fight for him. I decided I couldn’t watch. If I did, I would bum rush this asshole and blast him with magic breaking all kinds of pack rules and starting a big-ass fight. I had to calm my breathing.

Suddenly, Kai popped up and hunched over, running at Harris with vampire speed. He crashed into his mid-section and slammed Harris into a tree. I turned away then and began to skirt along the edge of the circle that had formed. I kept my thoughts calm and supportive. I couldn’t have my mate worrying about how I felt right now.

Max met my eyes and nodded. I nodded back. An unseen conversation passed in that nod. He would watch Kai’s back; I would try to free Jameson. There was no way we were leaving today without him, whether Kai won this fight or not. You don’t tie your wolves to trees!

I was sneaking slowly around the outside of the circle when all of a sudden I heard a tree crack. My head snapped in that direction just in time to see Kai fall to the ground with the tree falling on top of him. Just like my vision. Anna was a blur of motion as she charged Harris.

“Anna, no!” I screamed too late.

Her face looked murderous as she pushed Harris so hard he flew ten feet and slammed into a huge redwood, splitting it. Harris crashed to the ground on all fours, panting to catch his breath. No doubt there were some broken ribs. Kai was barely holding onto his consciousness, his eyelids fluttering.

I couldn’t move. I had to keep the mist from pouring out of my skin.

“She interfered with an official Alpha fight! I will have the council put her down! One on one, those are the rules!” Harris roared as he stalked towards her with a slight limp in his step.

Anna stood there defiantly, not afraid, and met his gaze. Max held her mate, Jake, by the arms, which were twisted behind his back.

I stepped forward. “Actually, you interfered with the fight first. One on one, you say?” I flicked my eyes to Jameson. “You used Jameson’s gift to make you stronger. Not fair. So I think two on two is fairer.”

His nostrils flared. I had a point. Kai was still on the ground struggling to get up and I was ready to shift at any moment if shit got more worked up.

“Fine, two on two,” he said, and in one quick move he clocked Anna in the jaw with the silver knuckles and sent her flying backward.

“You’re dead!” Jake roared and began shifting in Max’s arms. His teeth were snapping and a guttural howl ripped from his throat.

I was about to shift when I saw a streak of black launch through the air and knock Harris over. He hit the ground hard, his teeth cracking. I grinned and cheered my mate on.

‘He punched Anna! Screw the rules! Rip his goddamn head off!’ I told Kai and then slowly made my way behind the crowd so that I could try to get within reach of Jameson. We needed to plan our exit NOW. Five of the pack’s dominants were guarding him. They stood there like a wall, glaring at me. One of them looked unsure, like maybe he wanted to let me through. I glanced back at Kai, who was winning. Anna stood behind him ready to jump in.

“Boys, let’s do this the nice way,” I told the dominants guarding Jameson.

Harris’ second stood forward. He was tall, littered with tattoos, and had that ‘50’s rockabilly look. “If your mate kills Harris, I become Alpha and I won’t let Jameson go either. Leave the girl. Give up and go home!”

His breath smelled of beef and whiskey. My wolf didn’t like the threat. She came to the surface, eyes going yellow. Little did these idiots know, I had been distracting them the whole time. Alexa had gone all the way around and come up the back of the fight. She made her way over to Jameson and quietly snapped his chain with bolt cutters from the car. They shared a shy smile and she began to undress and shift, then Jameson began to shift into his wolf form and I grinned.

But the dominants caught me looking.

“Run!” I told Alexa and Jameson. Without a second thought, they took off like I had lit their tails on fire.

The second in command tore off after them while four of the other dominants advanced on me. I was a pretty badass martial arts fighter but four dominant werewolves were too much for me.

“Max!” I shouted, glancing over my shoulder as Kai ended Harris’ life. I saw Harris’ head sail through the air and land with a thud.

Turning back to the dominants just in time, I blocked a kick but one of the guys grabbed my arm, yanking me forward. Then I got sucked into a vision. Oh Jesus. Bad timing. I couldn’t see, so I tried to back up as a fist landed in my face.

“Don’t touch her!” I heard Max roar next to me.

“Mate vision,” I choked out as I followed it. I had no choice.

I saw Kat, the red-headed Alpha from the Tucson, Arizona pack. This guy holding my arm was her mate. His name was Murphy, I just knew. He let me go as I fell to the ground but the vision played on. He had just been changed last week and he was very dominant. He was a good guy and didn’t want to be mixed up in all this. Harris changed him.

When I saw the events surrounding his change, I gasped. Murphy and Jameson were best friends as humans. Harris stalked Murphy and Jameson for a few days first. He sought out the strong, young males and then changed them against their will. They were walking out to their car after working out at the gym, when Harris lured them to a side building and attacked. Harris wanted a pack full of changed wolves so that they would all have powers. The strong, young human males were more likely to survive the change.

The vision kicked me out and I gasped for air as I came to. Opening my eyes, I looked around, Harris was dead on the ground. Alexa and Jameson were back and Kai had Harris’ second tied up, his face was shoved on the ground. Everyone else was staring at me.

I waved awkwardly and then turned to Murphy. “I found your mate and I know what happened to you and Jameson. That is not allowed!”

His eyes widened and everyone quieted.

Then I turned to Kai. ‘It’s Kat.’  She had been waiting a long time for her mate. I would be happy to give her this news.

Kai grinned, but his broken jaw was purple and swollen. I needed to heal it soon.

“There is something we need to clear up before we can leave,” I shouted to all of them. Harris’ pack watched me quietly.

“Your Alpha was planning to change humans into wolves to collect powers. He changed Jameson and Murphy against their will! That’s not allowed!” I roared.

Kai stumbled forward. His brow creased as he reached down and picked up Harris’ second. “Is this true?” he shouted in his rockabilly face.

The guy swallowed hard, all traces of his tough guy attitude had fled. This was a council matter now and the enforcers would be here tomorrow to take him out if he knew. Murphy glared at the second in command.

“Remember before you answer, that I have a seat on the council,” Kai told him through gritted teeth.

The second nodded. “It’s true but I didn’t agree with it. I tried to convince him to turn himself over to the council after he illegally changed the two.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Sure you did.”

The second shouted, “I did! But he was too powerful with Jameson by his side. I won’t lie, I liked having a powerful wolf like Jameson in the pack, but turning humans to gain powers is wrong. I told him that. The rest of the pack didn’t know. He told the pack he saved them from an accident.”

Murphy nodded. “He threatened us if we revealed the truth. Being new to this life, I didn’t want any trouble. He promised me I would be strong and powerful,” Murphy said, stepping forward and staring at the second in command like he was dead meat. “After my power manifested, I knew I could leave anytime, but I stayed to protect my best friend. He was submissive and Harris treated him like shit.” Murphy stalked towards the second. “So did you!”

Kai backed up and let them go at it. Murphy clocked the second in the jaw and he stumbled backward.

Kai and I shared an appraising look. It was a good punch.

The second stood up, hands still bound behind his back and glared at Murphy, fur rippling along his body.

Kai stepped in between the two then and met Murphy’s eyes. “If you want to rip him to shreds I won’t stop you. That’s your pack politics. But your mate, Kat, is a very good friend of mine. She’s a gorgeous, stubborn woman who drives a Harley and smokes way too many cigarettes, but she will be dying to meet you. I will make sure the council takes care of this matter if you want to leave now.”

My jealousy flared at his term ‘gorgeous woman.’

Murphy cleared his throat. “I’m ready to leave.”

Kai looked at the second. “Let them both go.” Alpha power oozed from his voice. The second was technically Alpha now even though I’m pretty sure Murphy was stronger.

He looked reluctantly at Kai. “Now it seems like you are collecting all of the gifted wolves,” He shot back.

That was a threat.

Kai grabbed his throat. “Murphy’s mate is an Alpha and will not be joining my pack. I am taking Jameson because I would never trust one of my females to your supposed pack. Pack means family. Don’t ever forget that.”

The second’s face was purple. Could a werewolf die of oxygen deprivation? The curiousness in me was tempted to hold my breath and find out.

Kai dropped him on the ground as the second gasped for air and held his throat. Then he slowly stood, transforming his hand into a claw and quickly swiped Murphy’s arm. “I cast you out,” he said with a raspy voice. He walked over to Jameson who lowered his head. Alexa growled and gave him a death glare.

“I cast you out,” he finished.

I found myself wondering what Murphy’s power was. This guy really didn’t want to let him go.

Kai addressed the pack. “I will send a council enforcer in the morning to interview you all. Anyone who wants to leave the pack is welcome to. This new Alpha will be under probation until a trial and sentencing.” Kai glared at him.

Murphy stepped forward. “Where’s my mate?” His eyes glowed yellow. It wasn’t a command, there was a deep desire in his voice.

Kai looked at him. “Tucson, Arizona. Her name is Kat. I will arrange a flight for you.”

He grinned. “No need for that.”

Murphy then turned to Jameson. “Keep in touch, brother. It looks like you will be taken care of in this new pack.”

Jameson, still in wolf form, nodded.

Murphy then looked at me. “Thank you.”

Then he turned around, undressed and within seconds, transformed into a giant eagle and flew off.

What the eff? My mouth was frozen open, my eyes wide.

“Holy shit! Is that possible?” Max blurted out, saying what we all were thinking.

I looked at Kai. His eyes were bugging out of his head as well. “He must have shaman blood in his line. That’s the only explanation I can think of, but it shouldn’t be possible.” Kai shook his head, seemingly to clear his thoughts. Holy crap, what did this mean? Could shamans and werewolves mate? I needed to ask Nahuel next time I saw him.

Kai then looked at all of us. “Let’s go home.” He walked over to Jameson and brought him into the pack. I felt his energy merge with all of ours. Then I felt Alexa’s excitement, pure bliss. A mated pair.

Alexa and Jameson nuzzled each other and we walked back to our cars.

Two mated couples. I sighed. It was starting to feel like I was being pulled into two different directions. I wanted to find these mated couples and be with Kai, but the Devi was restless to find Layla and end her. We both were to be honest. Kai’s eyes met mine and I forced a smile.

Meeting

After we got in late last night, I had to set Kai’s jaw so it would heal properly. Now, I awoke to find him gone with no note.

‘Where are you?’

His energy seemed nervous. ‘Just hanging with Max in the barn, be home in a bit.’

It felt like a lie. Weird. Kai didn’t lie to me. Ever. I chugged a huge cup of coffee, showered quickly and went to find him. As I neared the barn doors I picked up on a bunch of smells. My father in law was here? Opening the barn doors, my eyes fell on Alek, Max, Earl, Kai’s father, Sylvia, and Shamus. Whoa. Big-wig meeting without me? What the hell was going on?

As I approached, Kai shushed everyone and I gave him a glare that could cut ice.

“What are you secretly talking about?” I crossed my arms and oozed as much dominance as I could muster. How dare he lie to me! Raj smirked at my defiance, but Kai glared back at me and no one said a word. Oh my God. They were having a secret meeting about me!

“I thought you were supposed to be helping Emma today?” Kai asked.

“Aurora, we–” it was Shamus but Kai cut him off.

“No! If you tell her, she will do it and she may be captured or hurt and then I will kill you all!” Kai roared and the hair on my arms stood.

Shamus looked at his friend with compassion. “What other choice do we have? Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Think of Sadie and Tara!”

Kai scowled at Shamus but then dropped his gaze. I think throwing Sadie and Tara in there finally got to him. My mate looked defeated.

“Listen up,” I told them all. “Kai is my mate, yes, but he isn’t my keeper. From now on, you don’t talk about me behind my back. You don’t hide shit from me or make plans about me. I make my own choices, and it’s really starting to piss me off when I find out you’re all making choices for me. Either tell me your ideas, or leave!” My eyes were yellow. My wolf didn’t like this situation. All of the dominants here, talking about me, making plans without me knowing. It was my idea to have a meeting in the first place!

Kai threw his hands up and started talking rapidly in Hindi as his dad chuckled.

“Come here, dear.” Sylvia motioned me over.

Sylvia’s long hair was braided like a thick rope. She wore an ankle-length dress and leather cuffs and she looked fit for battle.

As I approached her, she reached out and held my hand. “As you know, Layla drank your blood, so she could now be pregnant with a child. But now two females have been taken. We are all just talking about different ways to find her and eliminate her in order to get the girls back. The coven and I cannot search her out by magical means. She has the help of very dark magic. So, the idea was brought up–”

From across the room, Kai growled.

I looked at him. ‘Babe, please. Stop protecting me.’

‘Never,’ he replied.

I sighed.

Sylvia cleared her throat. “… to take you away from the safety of the mountain and use you as bait to draw her or some of her people out. She’s greedy, she will want more of your special blood for her people. It’s the only way to find the girls.”

Now I knew why Kai was so upset. He knew the second I heard this I would do it. Because it was a good idea, the only idea.

“I’ll do it.” I looked at Kai, pleading forgiveness. His eyes were yellow and nearly caught fire at my acceptance.

“Over my dead body.” He growled and began stalking towards me. For a second, I felt genuine fear. My husband was menacing when he wanted to be. The second he felt my fear through the mate bond he slowed his pace and his eyes turned brown. He grabbed the sides of my face. “Meri Pyari, I forbid it. Please, for once in your life, listen to me. For your own good.”

I gazed at his gorgeous face, so filled with concern for my wellbeing. “I know it’s for my own good, but I need to do what’s good for humanity and for the girls who were taken, not just myself. It’s my life purpose. You need to support that.”

He could feel the finality through the mate bond, like a steel door shutting. I wasn’t going to budge and he knew it. Letting go of my face, he turned to everyone.

“Give me a few days to design the mission. I call the shots. If she’s injured or taken, I will never forgive any of you.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. “I’m going for a run. Alone.” He crossed the barn in seconds and slammed the door behind him.

I tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. We never fought. He never walked away like that.

Shamus approached and put an arm around me. “He’s a big Alpha teddy bear who got his pride hurt and his orders shot down. He’ll be okay.”

I nodded.

“We need to get Sadie and Tara back. This is the only way to draw Layla out.” Shamus said. He looked like he hadn’t slept. He was right. Two females were taken. I needed to help in any way that I could.

Raj motioned me over with a flick of his head. Then, Sylvia and the others left and it was just Raj and me.

“I can’t believe you’re back here. Is your pack okay without you there?” I asked him. He was the Alpha of a huge pack in Delhi and they were the big, bad fighting kind of werewolves. The flight from India was a good twenty hours.

Raj chuckled. “There have been a few issues in my absence. Nothing my dominant second can’t handle. Nikhil will be a good replacement for me one day. Much less power hungry and more even tempered than I.” He smiled and I returned the gesture.

Raj and I had a comfortable relationship. He seemed rough on the outside but he was really just a loyal family guy. Kai and Raj had their issues, but I could see that all he did for his son was out of love, and I trusted his opinion.

“So, this plan—”

He nodded. “Is a good one, but I want to remind you of the intel I received from the captured vampire in my possession.”

I shivered. The vision of that creature being starved for information had been a sore spot with me. But I did remember the intel. The vampires had created some sort of bloodletting device. They would drain and bottle my blood to sell to the highest bidding vampire. Drain enough to keep me alive but also enough to impregnate thousands of vampires.

I blurted out something that I wasn’t sure if I should share with him but I was dying for a second opinion on it. “The witches have found a way to make my blood infertile to the vampires.”

Raj raised his eyebrows. Rarely did you catch this man off-guard. He opened his hands as if to say, ‘why not do it?’

“It would mean that Kai and I couldn’t have kids. Ever,” I told him.

His face fell. “Ahh. I see.”

“But the whole greater good thing, right? Should I be reconsidering that?” I chewed a fingernail. I had talked with Kai about this. We had already decided two kids and then I would do the spell. Why was I reconsidering it? I guess I wanted someone else to agree with me. I didn’t want to be making a selfish decision.

Raj placed his hands on my shoulders and stared me right in the eyes, a big dominant Alpha stare. “Listen to me, daughter. There is no greater moment in all my life than when Kai was pulled from Maya’s belly. The second I saw him, my first born, I realized how incredible life was. The fact that two people can create a life, it’s astonishing. Would my son become a doctor? Cure cancer? Would he discover a new planet? Would he fall in love and have children of his own? There is no greater gift to the world than having a child with the potential to do anything. Now, not all people want children and that’s fine. Good for them for having the insight to know themselves and make that decision. But for me, being a father is the greatest life achievement I have ever known. Don’t deny yourself of that, if it’s something you desire.”

My eyes were swimming with tears. He was right. I shouldn’t let anyone dictate my life. I deserved to be happy and have everything I wanted. I did want to have children and I would. After seeing Avery, something in me had changed and now after getting the last of the doubts out of my system, I was ready.

I gave him a hug. “I’m going to go find Kai.”

Leaving the barn, I stripped down to nothing. After shifting, I took off running and followed Kai’s scent as I ran through the thick trees, relishing in the cool breeze against my white fur. A good hard run was just what I needed. Kai’s scent led me to Bagby Hot Springs. The natural spring he had taken me to right before our wedding. He was naked and submerged in the water looking out into the sky. He sensed me approaching and looked in my direction.

I shifted instantly. “What are you thinking about?” I asked him, trying to gauge whether or not he was supremely pissed at me.

He turned to look at me with a serious expression. His wet hair was tousled and he looked all kinds of sexy. A deep sigh escaped his lips. “I feel like I’m constantly pulling you in my direction. I had to fight to get you to set a wedding date, I had to fight for you to want to have children with me, and now I’m having to fight to keep you from getting killed by vampires. I’m just wondering what it is you want in life. I’m done fighting. I just want you to have what you want in life. So, what do you want, Aurora?”

My heart dropped, a numb feeling spread throughout my body. He was right. “Kai.” I climbed over the side of the soaking tub and slipped in beside him.

“I want you! I want a baby with you. I want a happy ending,” I told him as I slid on top of him and straddled his waist.

His eyes went yellow.

“But?” he asked.

“But I have a conscience and I can’t let the vampires take over the world knowing I am meant to stop it. I have this Devi here inside of me.” I pounded my chest. “She’s full of power and waiting to lash out when the chance strikes. I’m not myself; I’m part her. I can’t get rid of her until I fulfill my purpose. Only then will I be one hundred percent Aurora. I’m doing the best I can to live both lives. You don’t understand what it’s like. The duality is maddening sometimes. Human, werewolf, witch, Devi. I’m on the edge of losing it.” My eyes were wild. I needed him to understand. I was barely holding my shit together lately. He was my rock and I needed him to be solid right now.

Kai gave me an expression of pity. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was that hard. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to share your body, to feel like your actions are not your own.” He tenderly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and eyed my lips.

I shivered thinking about it. “I just want this over, Kai. I want to use me as bait. I want Layla to show up and I want to rip her head off and burn the body.”

His deep rumble of laughter made me grin. He kissed my chin. “Then that’s what you shall have, my love.”

I was still straddling him … naked. I gave him my best seducing look. “Wouldn’t it be a cool story to tell our child that they were conceived at the hot springs,” I kissed him, “one warm summer night after we had a big fight?”

He licked his lips in anticipation and kissed me again, his greedy lips parting with hunger. Standing up, he hoisted me out of the hot tub as I continued to straddle his waist and kiss him. Walking us over to a soft bed of grass, he lay me down, kissing my neck, then my chest, my belly button. I moaned. I could do this. I could have everything I wanted in life. I could have it all. I would.

*

I awoke the next morning with a grin. The night before was amazing. Mist crept down from the trees, rolled across the grass and saturated our lovemaking.

After dressing, I went out into the kitchen. Kai was standing over the stove. On the counter was orange juice, a veggie omelet, toast, fresh fruit, and two bottles of vitamins.

I laughed. “What is all this?” I asked.

Kai turned around holding a skillet with veggie patties. “Take one of the prenatal vitamins and then another of the DHA. Then enjoy your breakfast.”

I laughed. “Kai, this is enough food for the entire pack! Also, I’m pretty sure werewolves don’t get birth defects. We heal, remember? Never heard of a werewolf with cancer or anything.”

He looked at the pills. “Take them anyway.”

I shrugged. “Okay.” It was adorable. He was such a protective guy, I wouldn’t deny him this.

“So … when are we planning on going after Layla?” I said casually as we ate. We had agreed to the plan last night, right?

He stared at me. “I was hoping to put it off as long as possible.”

“Kai,” I started, but he put up a hand to stop me.

“I will start planning the operation and we can go tomorrow.”

I nodded. “How’s Max with the whole Tara thing?”

Kai shook his head. “Completely guilt-ridden. This will help take his mind off of it. Brett can’t reach Sadie. They are blocking the mate bond.”

My mouth opened. “Is that possible?”

He shrugged. “It shouldn’t be. Witches,” he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes.

After eating as much as I possibly could, Sylvia knocked on the door. She was with Gretchen and a few other witches.

“Hey, guys, are we having a lesson today?” I asked, confused.

Sylvia shook her head, clutching some glass bottles and a velvet bag. “No, I thought we could try something, a new spell.” She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me.

Luna purred and rubbed herself up against Gretchen’s legs. “Okay, let’s go outside. Kai doesn’t like witchy stuff in the house.”

Kai grumbled behind me. “I never said that.”

I shrugged. He didn’t have to, I felt it.

Sylvia gestured to Kai. “Actually, the spell experiment will be on him.”

Kai’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that so?” He leaned casually against the wall as I let the ladies enter our home. Well, this should be interesting.

Sylvia and the witches put their things down and began to gather in a circle. “Right now we can’t smell Layla or her clan. Prudence has done something to make this so, but I think I can do the same for some of your pack and give us an edge when we use Aurora for bait.”

Kai looked impressed now as he strode over to where the witches stood. “Okay, but why not do it on Aurora and keep her safe?”

“She is the prize. Layla must smell her to come after her. But Layla won’t come for her with over 800 people on this mountain fighting for her safety. Between the militia and your pack, she is well guarded.”

Kai puffed his chest. “Yes, she is.”

“Too well guarded for Layla to attack,” Sylvia added and their eyes met.

She was right and Kai knew it. This entire time I had been thinking of how I could get to her and end this. I was making it too hard by staying in my fortress.

“So we conceal the wolves and just let Aurora and one other wolf keep their scent. Have her go somewhere public and wait for Layla to attack,” Sylvia added.

Kai looked impressed again. “Layla will think Aurora is alone.”

Sylvia smiled. “But you will be right there.”

Kai rubbed his chin. “I like it.”

Wow. He agreed with the witches! The world must be ending because that never happened.

“Good, then step inside the circle,” Sylvia prompted him.

He gazed at me and I grinned. Kai willingly going into an experimental spell was a sight to see. He reluctantly stepped into the circle and I grasped hands with the witches surrounding him. Sylvia and Luna were inside the circle with Kai as we chanted around them. Sylvia reached into a velvet purse and pulled out a small bottle, handing it to Kai.

He uncorked it and took a whiff making a disgusted face. “Jesus.”

“Bottoms up,” Sylvia told him.

He grumbled and took it back in one swig as Sylvia said an incantation. Mist crept down from the ceiling and covered his body as we threw our hands in the air. “So be it!” we all screamed as the mist dissipated.

I broke the circle to walk over to Kai and sniff him. “Oh my God. I can’t smell you! How weird.” My wolf didn’t like that we couldn’t smell our mate.

Kai sniffed his armpit. “I smell me.”

Sylvia shrugged. “It works on others, that’s what matters.”

He nodded to her. “Thank you. Let me know how I can repay you.”

Sylvia pulled a small dagger and a bottle out of her bag. “I can always use Alpha blood.” She winked. Kai chuckled and extended his wrist as she eagerly made a cut and bottled his blood.

“What’s so special about Alpha blood?” I asked her. I still had so much to learn.

Sylvia looked at me as the slow, hypnotic drip of blood fell into the jar. “A werewolf’s blood is good for spells, but the blood of an Alpha has the energy of all of the wolves in his pack. It makes the spell that much stronger.”

Whoa. We had over a hundred wolves in our pack. So she was getting blood that had 100 times the energy. Interesting.

Sylvia then came to me. “Give me the protective necklace Nahuel gave you.” She held out her hand.

Kai looked suspiciously at her as I handed it to her without question. I trusted Sylvia with my life. Sylvia took a piece of her hair and breathed an incantation over it. Then she wound it in a ball and placed it inside my pouch.

“If you are taken, Prudence will make it impossible to find you. But I will always be able to find a piece of myself.”

I recoiled in shock. “Sylvia, that’s brilliant. Thank you.” I hugged her. She had become my family. She was my pack as much as Emma or Max were.

Kai nodded behind her as if he heard that thought.

Sylvia turned to Kai. “I will take the scent from twenty of your best wolves that you want to bring.”

Kai nodded.

‘Alexa, Anna, Max–’ I started telling Kai.

He chuckled. ‘Who is the Alpha? Sometimes I forget. I got this.’

I frowned. Whoops. ‘Sorry.’

Kai walked Sylvia and the rest of the coven outside. “Tomorrow we lure in Layla. In the bright of day,” he declared.

I nodded. It was smart; control how many showed up. Only a few had undergone dark magic to be able to withstand the sun.

“I’m going to take them over to the other wolves’ houses to do the spell,” Kai told me.

Mom

After Kai and the witches left, I started to clean the kitchen. It excited and scared me that I might be pregnant, a smile lit up my face at the thought. My cell phone rang, and I glanced down to see it was my mom. Kai had bought her a house on the mountain. After coming out on the news, I had no choice but to tell her that Kai and I were indeed werewolves. She had a rough first few weeks but now she seemed okay with it.

I answered the call. “Hey mom, I was thinking of stopping by today.” I wanted to tell her Kai and I were trying to have a baby.

“I think that would be a good idea.” Layla’s voice came over the phone and I gasped.

“Don’t alert your mate or anyone else. Calmly come over here and mommy doesn’t get hurt, okay? If I smell any other wolves. Mommy dies,” she told me.

Holy mother eff. That bitch had my mom! Heads were gonna roll.

I spoke calmly, “I want to hear her voice.”

“Honey, don’t come,” my mom said, and then I heard a slapping noise.

“You’re gonna die, Layla. I have dreams about killing you.” I seethed, trying not to think about that slapping noise.

I heard my mom wail in the background. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Layla taunted.

Oh, this bitch was dead! I grabbed a silver stake from Kai’s office and tucked it into the back of my jeans, pulling on my jacket to cover it. After getting into my car, I took a moment to rein in my emotions. I needed to keep calm so I wouldn’t alert Kai while I tried to figure out what to do. I drove out of the driveway and headed over to my mom’s. It was a short five-minute car ride.

I tried to think of all the possibilities. Kai didn’t smell like a wolf now, so if I told him, then he might be able to sneak over without alerting Layla. Did I want to chance it? I had no doubt in my mind that Layla would kill my mother without a second thought. I decided to wait until I got there to tell Kai. Then I could protect my mother if Kai brought wolves and tipped Layla off. I breathed slowly as my hands shook, trying to hold onto the steering wheel. Trying to control my thoughts as I made the turn down my mother’s street. Mist crept out of my skin. If I killed Layla the second I saw her, I might never find Sadie or Tara and my mother could get hurt. I bit my tongue. I didn’t know what to do!

‘What’s wrong?’ Kai asked.

Shit. I couldn’t control my emotions anymore. I was almost at my mother’s.

‘Don’t be mad. Layla has my mother and told me to come alone. I’m almost at her house. If you come alone, she won’t smell you. Don’t bring anyone else or she will kill my mother the second she smells other wolves.’

‘Aurora, stop!’ he screamed.

I felt a shock as I was suddenly saturated in Alpha power. He was trying to stop me! Holy shit, my foot slammed on the brake without me controlling it. I looked down at my body in shock, I was stuck in my car unable to move. Kai was controlling me! Oh, hell no. I mentally pushed him back.

‘How is this possible? How dare you!’ My hands shook with rage.

‘I’ve wanted to do this to you a dozen times. Any other Alpha would have! I’ve tried giving you your freedom but you’ve gone too far. This is stupid!’ Kai scolded me.

I could feel that his actions only came from a place of love and protection but this was NOT okay with me. Big, bad Alpha was about to get booted out of my head.

More mist crept from my skin. ‘Kai, if my mother dies because of you, I will never, ever forgive you! I will move to another country where you can’t find me. I will never be able to look into your eyes again. Do you understand me?’ My words dripped with dominance. If he thought he was keeping me from saving my mother, he was dead wrong. The hold was broken instantly and I could feel that the effort to keep me frozen had cost Kai and the entire pack. He had sucked strength from all of them and was now left exhausted. With relief, I sped the car up and drove into my mom’s driveway, throwing the car in park. Jumping out, I ran up to the door in super speed.

‘You can’t control me and you shouldn’t want to,’ I scolded him again. I needed to make sure that shit never had a repeat.

‘I’m almost there, please wait,’ he said, strained. He was weak; it was stupid of him to use all of his energy.

Did I blame him? I would have done the same to keep him safe. Pushing Kai out of my mind, I threw the front door open.

My breath hitched when I saw Layla, standing in the kitchen with a gun to my mother’s head. My fragile, beautiful, human mother.

Slowly, swiveling my head to the left, I saw Prudence who gave me a bitchy wave. Black mist crept from her skin as white mist began to pour from mine. The ground began to shake, rattling the pictures on the walls. The Devi inside of me was livid; we both were.

Suddenly, a male vampire appeared beside me holding a device.

“Move and your mother dies,” Layla said.

I went through ten different scenarios in my head. My mother was fifty feet away, Prudence, ten feet. Could I hold Prudence with magic and get to Layla without my mother getting harmed? No. I was fast but not faster than a bullet. The house shook with my barely contained magical rage; the Devi wanted to end things. Now.

“Stop that!” Prudence shouted and threw black magic at me, as my white magic reflected hers causing me no harm. The shaking stopped as I shoved the Devi down inside of me.

I grinned at Prudence. “Scared?”

The vampire holding the device grabbed my right arm and attached the device around my upper arm like a metal cuff with an LCD display screen. I tried to struggle but I heard Layla cock the gun from across the room. Cold, numbing fear saturated my body. My whole life I was conditioned to just sit by while my mother’s life hung in the balance at the hand of my father. Now it felt like it was happening again and I was helpless.

I froze, completely still as my mother looked surprisingly calm. We held each other’s gaze as I felt a pinch in my arm. Looking down, I saw that the device was draining my blood into a bag. Mother eff. There was nothing worse as a dominant than having to helplessly submit your will.

‘Kai, I’m in the open front door. There is a vampire taking my blood. Prudence is in the living room and Layla has a gun to my mother’s head in the kitchen,’ I told him.

He was tired, I could feel it, but at my words, Alpha power surged through the bond as he again pulled from the pack and pushed hard to get to me faster.

Layla had her back to the glass door that opened out onto the patio. Kai bought my mother this house. We had dinner here with her once a month. He knew the entire layout and I was hoping he had a plan because I was so severely screwed right now.

“I love you, Aurora,” my mother suddenly said, calmly meeting my eyes. If Layla thought she could scare my mom, she was mistaken. My mom was a domestic abuse survivor. She could take a beating. She took many beatings from my dad and never fought back. That’s why it shocked me when my mom’s arm flung out quickly and karate-chop cracked Layla in the throat causing her to drop the gun.

Holy shit! Go, Mom! I shook off my shock and slammed the vampire nearest me against the wall, ripping off the arm cuff which spurted my blood everywhere. The vampire snatched the hanging full blood bag from the bottom, and head-butted me hard in the face before bolting out the front door. Dammit!

“Freeze!” Prudence yelled, as black mist surrounded me and my legs felt cemented to the floor.

I saw that Layla now had my mom’s throat in her hands.

“Layla, no! I’ll go with you. I’ll give you my blood, just stop!” I screamed as my mother’s face turned purple, her body slack. A grin spread across Layla’s face as she dropped my mother to the floor, gasping and coughing. Just behind Layla, out the kitchen window, I saw a streak of black and smiled. Kai came crashing through the back window, spraying glass over Layla and my mom and knocking Layla to the ground. He sank his teeth into Layla’s arm, which was raised above her head to protect her face as my mom rolled off to the side and out of the way. Kai was engaged with Layla, hopefully two seconds from ripping her goddamn head off as I struggled to breathe against the black witches’ power. It crept up my legs and was trying to cover my body. Oh, hell no. Never again.

“You freeze!” I shouted at Prudence and took a deep breath, unleashing a cloud of white mist to chase away her black. My legs were tingly but I could move, I ran at Prudence with the speed of a vampire and slammed her against the wall, screaming my biggest battle cry. She looked shocked as I quickly transformed my face into my werewolf form and attacked her neck, going for the kill. But the second I bit down, my snout was shocked with electricity. I yelped as she threw me off, smiling. Ow! What the …? I was shaking, my breath ragged as I shifted my face back to human.

Suddenly, the sounds of shattering glass all around the house flooded my ears as vampires descended into my mother’s home. They were flying into every window, completely surrounding us. Prudence grabbed one of my arms but I threw her off and pulled the stake from behind my back and rammed it through the nearest vamp’s chest, making it rain ash. These bastards were everywhere! We were so screwed!

“Need some help?” Max’s voice boomed from the front door.

“Get my mother out!” I yelled at him. A series of gun shots rang outside and I breathed a sigh of relief. Max had brought the militia. God bless paranoid human beings with large gun collections. They just saved our ass. The bullets wouldn’t kill the vamps but it would slow them down so they could be staked. I turned to deal with Prudence, but she was gone.

Glancing at the kitchen, I saw my mother with a nine-inch blade in her hand, standing behind Kai who was wrestling with Layla. Whoa. When did my mom become a badass? Max side stepped around Kai and Layla’s fight and took my mom out the back door to safety. Earl, Trent, Jai, and others poured in through the front door, stakes and guns drawn. Layla quickly stood, taking Kai in her arms, and stepped back, getting her footing. She squatted and then jumped up throwing him out the open back door. Jesus! Kai sailed through the air and landed with a thud and didn’t get up.

“Kai!” I screamed and began to run into the kitchen.

“Aurora, down!” Earl shouted and I hit the floor without question. A silver stake flew past me and just missed Layla. She glared at Earl with red-hued eyes and then ran out the back door as bullets flew all around me. Hissing and grunting filled my ears.

‘Kai!’ I screamed again. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t dead or I would feel it but he was out cold. Oh God. I army crawled across the broken glass, cutting up my elbows and forearms. Once I made it outside. I jumped up and ran to Kai, placing his wolf head in my lap. After a moment, he jerked suddenly, then whined. He took a few gasps of air through his snout then shifted to his human form, groaning.

“Jesus, Kai. You scared me.” I shook his shoulders, barely keeping my shit together. Seeing a strong-ass vampire queen chuck your mate out the window like a newspaper really tested your sanity.

He rubbed his head, opening and closing his jaw. “Now you know how I feel every time you get hurt,” he commented.

I huffed and pulled him close to let his warm body press against me. My wolf was rattling my skin like a cage, ready to break free.

I inhaled deeply. I couldn’t smell Layla. Of course not. So we couldn’t follow her! I kicked the ground. “She got away, again! I could have killed her but then we wouldn’t find Sadie and Tara. Ahh! This is maddening,” I roared.

Earl came out of the house and threw a towel at Kai who was gloriously naked. Kai wrapped it around his waist, nodding to Earl.

“They were too fast to track,” Earl told us.

I glared at Kai. “If I didn’t have to come out here and check on your unconscious ass, I could have gone after her! If I didn’t have a mother, she wouldn’t have been able to use my emotions to lure me here.” I swear to God I was five seconds away from going insane.

Kai frowned. “What do you mean?”

I sighed. “She’s playing me. Maybe I need to go after her alone.” I stalked off and headed to the front of the house.

‘Don’t say that. I’m sorry for controlling you before,’ he said as I walked away.

‘That’s not what I’m talking about, Kai. Layla knows I care about all of you. She uses you guys to keep me weak. Prudence made me hear Emma’s fake scream last time. This time they used my mother and then Layla knocked you out.’

‘It’s good that you care about us,’ he told me and I turned to see that concern lined his face.

“I’m not so sure. If I wasn’t mated, and so attached to the pack, I would run off and take her on myself. The Devi and I could do it together.” I knew my eyes were fierce.

“Don’t say that,” he said with fear. He sensed the certainty through our bond.

I got in my car. “I’m saying it.”

Kai slid in the passenger seat beside me. “We’ll find her and the female wolves she has taken. Together,” he declared.

I looked out at the trees, letting my hands rest on the steering wheel, but I didn’t respond. Kai grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.

“Look what we learned today. She must be staying within the area. Tara was taken yesterday so she is still in the area.”

“That’s what she wants you to think! She could have a private jet taking her to New York. You know nothing about her! She’s winning!” I slammed my palm on the steering wheel. I was having a hard time figuring out if I was so angry or if it was the Devi. It scared me not to know if I was myself or not. Tears lined my eyes.

Kai took my hand in his and kissed the top of it. “Let me make some calls. We haven’t exhausted all options. Your mother is safe, you are safe. That’s all that matters right now.”

I nodded but I made a decision right then. If Kai didn’t find where Layla was hiding Sadie and Tara soon, I was going to finish this by myself. I quickly cleared the thought so he couldn’t pick up on it. It was the only thing left to do.

Fighting with Prudence had given me an idea. After dropping Kai off at home, and setting up the guest room for my mom, I called Sylvia and the coven over and we all met inside the barn. Since I wasn’t allowed to leave the mountain anymore this barn had become my little meeting place.

When Sylvia and the others had gathered, I stood and addressed them all. Sylvia had once told me that the only real way to harm a witch as powerful as Prudence, was to use her full-given magical name in a spell.

“Prudence has powerful magic and she just tried to kill my mom and capture me, so I want your help in finding out her full-given magical name,” I told everyone gathered.

Some of the women gasped, and I saw many shake their heads. They looked afraid but Sylvia seemed to consider my words. Sylvia was the one who named me. Someone had to have named Prudence. If I could find them and get the information out of them, Prudence was mine. Layla was too powerful with Prudence helping her. I needed to even the scales.

“I know what you’re thinking, but the person who named Prudence is dead,” Sylvia said.

I gasped. “How do you know that?”

Sylvia looked at Gretchen. “Because it was our old coven leader. Prudence killed her the moment she named her. To keep anyone from ever having control over her.”

I sank down and put my head in my hands. No. I needed to catch a break! “Prudence was in this coven?” I said in disbelief.

Sylvia sighed. “Only for a short while. After she killed Gloria, she ran and started her own dark coven.”

Gretchen moved forward and placed a healing hand on my back. “I have an idea if you’re open-minded.”

I felt waves of peaceful energy saturate my body as I looked up at her. Her hair was half up, half down with a crown of braids. I envisioned Gretchen and Sylvia kicking back the witches’ wine on Friday nights for fun and had to stifle a chuckle.

Gretchen was looking at me oddly as her hand hovered over my back, then she smiled. “Oh, you’re pregnant,” she declared as all of the witches gasped in excitement.

My mouth dropped open as I ran my hand over my flat belly. “What? It’s too early to tell,” I told her, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. Holy shit. Excitement mixed with fear bubbled up inside of me.

Gretchen raised one eyebrow. “Not for me. I always know.”

Sylvia came over and gave me a hug. “Good for you, dear.”

My hand still rested on my flat belly. Suddenly, my wolf felt very protective. Wow. It was happening. I needed to get rid of Layla and Prudence fast, so I could focus on becoming a mother and starting a family with Kai.

I looked at Gretchen. “I have an open mind. What’s your idea?”

Gretchen nodded. “You’re a powerful seer. That means not only can you see the future, but you can see beyond the veil. We put you in a trance and you contact the dead spirit of Gloria so she can give you Prudence’s full name.”

Genius! But Sylvia looked worried, shaking her head no. The other witches were tossing salt and praying and acting all kinds of scared.

“Gloria died a gruesome death, she was betrayed. I don’t think contacting her spirit will be a good idea,” Sylvia told the room and a few witches agreed with her.

“No, it’s a good idea. I’ll be fine,” I told them all sternly. I knew my eyes were yellow. I needed the upper hand with Prudence and this was the only way to get it.

Sylvia looked to the other coven members, unsaid words passed between them. They all nodded. “Fine, but invite your shaman. He can help protect the open portal to the spirit world,” Sylvia told me with once flick of her slender hand.

Nahuel. I nodded and walked outside. Reaching into my shirt, I produced the protective pouch that Nahuel had given me. I buried the arrowhead into the earth and waited. A little while later, Nahuel walked out of the woods. He never ceased to amaze me and I wondered if there were limits to his power. So far, I had seen him stop time, change into a panther, and materialize out of nowhere. What more was there, I wondered.

“This mountain has seen a lot of death lately. It needs to be cleansed,” he said cryptically. His smooth, graceful walk reminded me of his panther form. Hair in a long, thick braid, jewelry littering his fingers, Nahuel looked his usual shaman self.

I smiled. “Hey, it’s good to see you.”

He nodded and peered at me with kind eyes. “I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”

I shrugged. “Sorry. I need your help now, though. The witches and I want to contact a spirit.” I chewed my nail nervously, not sure what he would think of my statement.

Nahuel nodded calmly as if this were a normal request. He pulled out a dried sage bundle and touched his palm to it, igniting it with flames. Oh yeah, add materialize fire out of nowhere to his list of amazing acts. After blowing on it, he fanned me with smoke.

Then he scanned my face seriously. “You seem different.”

I grinned. “I think I’m pregnant.”

His calm façade broke and he lit up with a smile and brushed ash across my forehead. “That’s wonderful but that’s not what I meant. Your eyes are green not blue, the black chunk in your hair. I think you’re letting the Devi take control.”

His words sent fear rippling through me. I touched my cheeks with a shaky hand. My eyes were green? I had forgotten about the chunk of black hair. Oh, shit. “Maybe that’s a good thing?” I offered. Maybe the Devi needed to take control so I could kill Layla once and for all. Yeah.

Nahuel shrugged. “Maybe.” He didn’t sound so sure.

I decided to focus on the spirit séance and ignore this new revelation, so I turned and led him into the barn without another word.

Sitting in a meditative pose, I took a deep breath and stared at Nahuel sitting across from me. We were in a circle surrounded by the witches. My eyes were half-lidded as I deeply breathed in and out. The witches chanted around me and mist leaked from the walls and saturated all of us.

“Gloria Sinclair! We call thee from beyond,” Sylvia shouted as the temperature in the barn dropped and mist crawled along the floor and up the walls.

Nahuel looked behind my left shoulder. “Her spirit his heavy,” he said calmly.

Shit, how often was Nahuel chatting with dead people? This didn’t look like his first rodeo. I tried not to freak out but having someone look over your shoulder at a ‘heavy’ spirit was a frightening feeling.

I slowly turned to see a wispy, white ghost glide towards me. Her hair was long and flowing, her face looked haunted. “How could she!” she screamed at me and whooshed in front of my face, bringing the freezing cold with her and sending goose bumps up my arms. My breath caught in my throat.

Nahuel clapped hard and Gloria jerked back, looking at him. “Don’t touch her,” Nahuel told the spirit.

Gloria sobbed. “I can’t believe she killed me. My own student!”

I looked at Sylvia and the other witches, but it didn’t seem like they could see her. Just me, Nahuel, and one other witch, Bonnie, a seer. Bonnie met my eyes and nodded. Here goes nothing.

“Prudence?” I asked Gloria.

Gloria’s face suddenly looked angry. “Yes! That traitor. She betrayed me. I can’t cross into the light while she still lives!” she screamed and ice cold air blasted me again.

I swallowed and tried to rein in my fear. “I can help you with that. If you can tell me her full magical name, I will make sure she no longer lives and you can cross over. You named her. What was it?” I asked Gloria as she stared off at all of the witches.

Her head suddenly snapped in my direction. “Hey, I know you. I’ve seen you before. You’re going to be over here soon, too. Can you stay with me? Then I won’t be alone.”

Dread churned in my stomach. What the eff was she talking about? I looked at Nahuel.

“What?” I asked her.

She smiled. “It’s okay, dear, we can keep each other company.” She floated closer to me.

“No!” I shouted and stood.

The witches began chanting protection around me as Nahuel slowly rose from his sitting position.

Gloria glared at me. “Don’t yell at me!” she told me with malice.

Nahuel clapped again and thunder cracked outside. The barn walls shook.

“Tell her the full name of the dark witch Prudence or be gone!” Nahuel roared and held a smoking sage bundle in front of him like armor. I swallowed hard.

Gloria frowned. “I remember that day like it was yesterday. Prudence was my brightest student. The affinity for the power stone worried me a little but not really. She was a nice girl. As the head priestess, it was my honor to name her. I did the ceremony and the second I cried out ‘Prudence Heather Sorenson,’ she killed me!”

Yes! I grinned. Prudence Heather Sorenson was going down.

“Thank you,” I told Gloria honestly.

Nahuel began to fan her with sage as the witches chanted.

“No, I want to stay!” she called out, reaching for me.

I put my hands in front of me and mist poured out of them. “Go back to where you came!” I commanded her firmly.

The mist and sage smoke wrapped around her. Frowning, she looked around the room. “Tell them I miss them,” she said sadly, and disappeared.

I looked at Nahuel. “Thank you.” I’m not sure that would have gone down so well without him.

He nodded but looked at me with reservation. Were my eyes green again?

Suddenly, he took me in an embrace. “Goodbye, Aurora.” He squeezed me hard. Nahuel wasn’t the hugging type. That wasn’t a normal goodbye. Sadness overcame me as he let go and walked away.

‘What’s wrong?’ Kai picked up on my feelings.

‘Nothing, just doing a spell in the barn,’ I told him. I couldn’t let Nahuel leave like that.

I pushed past the witches and followed Nahuel outside. “Wait! What’s wrong?” I called out.

He looked over his shoulder. “Nothing, little sister. The time has come for me to fulfill my purpose just as you should fulfill yours. Our time together has come to an end. You’re ready.”

Panic gripped me. “Will I be able to?”

He gave me a look. “I’m not worried about that. You are powerful, too powerful.” He said it like it was negative.

“The Devi,” I stated.

He nodded. “There’s a reason everything has come so easy to you. When the Devi gets what she wants …”

Realization crashed over me. He was saying goodbye because he knew I would defeat Layla and then I would die. “So, you’re saying I’m only strong because of the Devi. That I’m not strong enough by myself. To survive.” My hands shook.

He gave me a pained expression and walked back over to me. “I’m saying it has been my pleasure to guide you. I’m here for you and I believe in you.”

What the hell? Why was he always so serious? Why did I feel like I wouldn’t see him again? “I love you,” I told him. I didn’t want him leaving without knowing how much he meant to me. Because this sure as hell felt like a goodbye.

He smiled. “And I love you, little sister. Remember that. Only love is real.”

Great. Leave me with a metaphor. Typical Nahuel.

He walked off into the woods, leaving me confused.

I exhaled. It was true. I was super powerful, two affinities, Matefinder, werewolf, witch. Earthshaking magic, healing abilities. I swallowed. If I took Layla down and survived the Devi leaving me, I would be a completely different person. Still a Matefinder, but … who knew? I shook off these thoughts and turned around to see Sylvia was waiting in the barn doorway for me.

I tried to put on a smile. “I got her full name.”

Sylvia nodded, but her eyes gleaned with tears.

I walked over to her and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She laughed. “I’m just proud of you.” She smoothed my hair. “I’ve watched you grow from a scared, unsure, newly-changed werewolf, to a beautiful, strong woman. I’m very proud. As if you were my own child.”

“Sylvia.” I hugged her, but I couldn’t help but feel like people were saying goodbye to me. What the hell?

When she pulled back her face was serious. “Do you trust me, Aurora?”

I frowned. “Of course.”

She nodded and produced a dagger and glass jar, then asked for my finger tip. I hesitated for a second but I did trust her. I extended my finger and she pricked it, milking the blood from it. Then she pulled a hair from my head and placed it in the jar.

I wanted to ask her what it was for, but part of me didn’t want to know.

She gave me a sly smile and a big hug then walked back into the barn to get her things and left with the rest of the witches. I stayed behind for an hour or so, lost in my thoughts. I thought back to a year ago; my biggest worry was getting enough donations to keep Safe Haven running. Now I had two locations, I was married, probably pregnant, and had a legion of vampires after me and another soul sharing my body. WTF? Major life issues.

I put my head in my hands. There was also RAIDOS to worry about. They were so hell-bent on taking me out, they almost killed Earl, a human. They had gotten reckless and it scared me. The world was a scary place right now. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t sense Kai approach until he was right behind me. Not being able to smell him was so weird.

“I can feel your stress,” he said and began to massage my shoulders.

I sighed and let my head roll forward, pulling my hair out of the way so he could rub my neck.

“I’m just trying to make decisions that will be the best for everyone involved, while also having my happy ending, too. Sometimes I don’t think I can have both,” I confessed.

Kai stopped massaging me and sat down beside me on the bench.

“Don’t say that. Where is my confident ‘I can do anything and I don’t give a shit what you think’ Aurora?” He gazed in my eyes and I laughed.

God he was gorgeous. My gaze roamed over his body.

“Maybe I just need something to take my mind off of everything.” I raised one eyebrow. He grinned and his white canines pressed into his bottom lip. I was told newly-mated couples rarely left the bedroom. Kai and I didn’t have that chance with all of the drama. He got on his knees before me and peeled my shirt up over my head revealing my black lace bra.

“I am at your service,” he said and kissed me with heated passion. I smiled as he lay back and pulled me on top of him. How would I explain this feeling to a human? This complete wholeness that comes over you when you’re with your mate. People go lifetimes without ever finding a love like this.  I had made a lot of stupid choices in my life, but being with Kai wasn’t one of them. No matter how much people wanted to bring us apart, Kai was my destiny; I knew it.

Healing

I had just finished another shift of watching baby Avery. Emma was doing well and Kai was in the basement with Jeremy and Alek. Today was day five of feeding him clean blood and they were testing whether or not he could be let free. I sat there playing with Luna when Alexa knocked on the door.

“Come in!” I shouted.

She came in holding a tablet. “We might have some more trouble,” she said. Alexa and Jameson were so damn cute together. I was really happy for her.

“What’s up?” I stood.

The tablet flickered in her hand. Alexa had a gift of shorting out appliances and lights. She could make an EMP blast and take out entire buildings. She was inarguably our most valuable wolf.

I took the tablet from her and saw a news clip. “We’re live and humans have stationed themselves at the base of Mount Hood. They are requesting a meeting with the wolves,” a newswoman said and the camera panned to a scene that showed the humans at our farthest check point. Some militia members and Anna were holding them back. Shit.

Kai burst into the room then, as I continued to watch the screen. One man wheeled a frail woman with no hair forward. “Is it true that if you change a human into a werewolf, they won’t have disease or get sick? Please change my wife. Save her!” he shouted. The other humans shouted Change me! Change me!

“Shit,” Kai said and started running outside.

“Stay here,” I ordered Alexa and ran after him.

We ran to the base of the mountain in human form and slowed when we saw reporters so we wouldn’t scare them with our super speed. Seriously? Could we catch a break? It was one drama after another, but I guess that was life. The militia had barricaded the small two-lane road with two pick-up trucks parked sideways. There were a dozen humans and a cameraman with the reporter. Kai leapt up into the back of the pick-up truck making the humans go quiet.

“I am going to say this one time, so listen up!” Kai said with a deep, booming Alpha voice. “We do not change humans for fun. We have rules that our society has followed for thousands of years. If the rules are broken, wolves die. I can speak for every wolf alive when I say that we will NOT be changing humans to grow our numbers. Go home!” he roared.

A few of the younger teenagers wearing wolf t-shirts booed and walked away, but the man who stood behind his wife in the wheelchair came forward. She was in her early thirties, a breathing skeleton. I swallowed hard and tried to control my emotions. She reminded me of our Anna before we saved her.

“But to save a life? She’s terminal. One month to live.” The husband hunched over her wheelchair, a broken man looking for any option. He was maybe thirty-five years old, but this disease had aged them both beyond that. My heart hurt for them. This was the kind of shit that would keep me up at night. Anna met Kai’s eyes. Oh, Anna. Our sweet Anna who was dying of cancer when I found out she was Trent’s mate.

I could feel Kai’s pity through the mate bond. “Women rarely survive the change. It’s a dangerous process. It’s painful. If it worked, your wife would live on for a hundred years and you would grow old and die,” Kai said as the camera panned back and forth between them.

The man shrugged. “I would rather her die trying to be saved than waste away before my eyes. I would love nothing more than to watch her be a strong and powerful werewolf. Even if it meant I grew old and died without her. Wouldn’t you do the same for someone you loved?”

I saw a flash of weakness fall over my mate’s face, but then it was replaced with a cold, hard Alpha glare. Kai gritted his jaw. “No, that’s not how we work. I’m sorry.”

Kai jumped off of the pick-up truck and I slipped my hand into his as we began to walk away. When we were far enough away that I knew we were alone, I turned to face him. The thick trees surrounded us as I looked up into his eyes.

“Not what you had in mind when you told the humans about our kind, huh?”

His deep brown eyes held so much emotion.

He shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. I forgot how weak humans were. Cancer, diabetes, mental illness. We don’t get any of it.”

Standing on my tiptoes, I kissed him lightly. “Maybe it’s something to bring up with the council.” I raised an eyebrow.

“What, take in all the terminal cases and change them? Our numbers would blow up. The human government would feel threatened. They only tolerate us now because they need us, and they out number us. You forget that many wolves die in the process of the change. You haven’t seen that. No!” Kai said and walked off.

I ran after him. “I’m just saying a few here and there wouldn’t hurt. It’s good PR and the decent thing to do.”

He gave me a side glance and shook his head. “Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s your greatest strength or your greatest weakness.”

I stopped. “What?”

“Your heart,” he said seriously.

I smiled. “Probably a weakness, but I don’t care.”

He smiled softly and looked off to the side. “The moment the first human died during the change it would ruin all we have built with them.”

I sighed, because he was right. This relationship we had with the humans was fragile.

Kai creased his brow. “Alexa wants us to come home. The vampire kid is up and feeling better.”

Duty calls. I officially decided that I needed a damn vacation.

*

Jeremy, Alek, Kai, and I sat around the kitchen table. My mom was back in the guest room with Luna and we were waiting on Earl and Todd. Kai’s dad had gone to Seattle with Shamus to have a meeting about Sadie. Ten females had been taken by the vampires. Ten. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to act quickly. Find Layla and snuff out this fire before it grew. She had an entire bag of my blood now. It only took one drink to make her fertile. I had a million questions about how vampire fertility worked. Was she fertile forever now? I didn’t think so because of what Jeremy said about her needing more blood. Did the men need to drink it? Did they drink off of her? I shuddered at the thought. A knock at the door snapped me back to reality, as Kai squeezed my hand.

“Come in!” Kai roared and Earl and Todd entered. They were dressed in full army fatigues.

Earl nodded to all of us and then looked Alek in the eye. “I’ve spoken to the chapter presidents across the country. Most are in agreement that it would be wise to donate blood to the vampires willing to join our fight.”

Alek looked shocked. “Thank you.”

Earl nodded. “We can choose to stop at any time. Our goal is to keep humanity thriving for thousands of years to come. Layla and anyone else associated with her will be wiped out. After that time, maybe we can all coexist.”

Kai grabbed Earl’s shoulder. “Well said. I will get some mobile blood donor trucks up here. Thank you.”

Earl nodded. Todd had been quiet the entire time, he was staring at Kai with an expression I couldn’t read.

“Is there a problem?” I questioned Todd. I couldn’t have a loose cannon on our inner circle.

Earl looked uncomfortable as Todd looked at me. “Is it true that werewolves don’t get sick?”

I sighed. He must be referring to the commotion with the newswoman. “Yes,” I told him truthfully.

He froze. “Is it true that a sick human can be changed into a werewolf and be healthy again?”

Shit. That question was a bit more calculated.

Before I could answer, Earl put a hand on Todd’s shoulder. “Todd’s brother is in a wheelchair. His legs were affected when he got polio as a child.”

Todd nodded. “We were stationed with my dad who was serving in the military in Japan. If you could change him, he could walk again.” His face looked hopeful.

Kai let out a deep breath. “I’m really sorry to hear about your brother. I’m sorry to hear about any human suffering. Werewolves have an intricate political system. It’s what sets us apart from vampires. We don’t change humans for sport.”

Todd glared at Kai. “I’m not asking you to change him for sport. I’m asking you to change his life. Give him a chance at walking! At a long and healthy life.”

Earl faced Todd down. “That’s not going to happen, son. Don’t ask again!”

Todd gave Kai one last long look and then stormed out, slamming the door.

“I’m sorry about that. He heard about the news and got excited.” Earl twisted his handle-bar mustache.

Kai nodded. “I’m sorry, too. Our peace with the human government is fragile. I can’t go changing every sick human. Most would die during the change, I’m sure you understand.”

Earl nodded. “Absolutely. I’m in agreement with you.”

Jeremy cleared his throat. “Vampires don’t get sick either, why doesn’t anyone want us to change them?”

Alek smiled. “Because no one wants to be a bloodsucker, kid,” he joked and we all laughed, easing the tension.

‘Kai, would changing a few sick humans help boost our image with them?’ I wondered again.

‘No, I have been having meetings with the president, the deputy secretary, the CIA. They all have one strong request. Don’t let the supernatural race overpower the humans. Right now they are in a strong position with their numbers and they want to keep it that way. They don’t even know about the witches. If we change one, it will spread like a wildfire. The government will take us out.’

I groaned. He was right. We had RAIDOS and Layla’s clan against us. We didn’t need any more enemies. Shit, this entire situation was spreading. I was human not too long ago. I understood the desire to want to be healthy, but this couldn’t be the future. Kai was right. If we changed too many, the government would rise up in anger. If too many died during the change, the humans would retaliate. It was a damn shitty situation to be in.

“So, what’s the next step? My men are hungry to take out this vampire queen and all of her drug runners,” Earl asked.

Kai glanced sidelong at me. “Layla may not take the bait now that she has a bag of Aurora’s blood. We should think of another plan.”

I rolled my eyes. “Kai, it’s still a good plan. Of course she will still want me. That blood bag will run out soon.”

Kai glared at me. “Hear me out. Kat called to thank us for finding Murphy and said there was some retaliation on her pack from our little stunt at the border a few months ago.”

Yeah, I could imagine there was. We hijacked three busloads full of heroin and sent them up into flames.

“She said Murphy has been able to fly across the border and get more information. I say we take some of our guys, some of the militia, and go back to the border. Team up with Kat’s pack and see if we can’t stir up trouble and coax Layla out. If we stop her drugs, they will take notice.”

Alek had been listening quietly the entire time. “You have no idea how deep the queen’s pockets are,” he commented.

Why didn’t he say her name?

“So, she’s rich. Big deal,” Earl said.

Alek grinned. “Kai’s rich. Hollywood actresses are rich. Layla is beyond rich. Her wealth can buy anything. She is worth billions. She has her hand in politics, cosmetics, drugs, land development, prostitution, you name it. She can buy humans, she can buy favors, she can buy anything you can’t.”

For the first time, doubt crept into my mind. I liked thinking of Layla when she was just some vampire bitch bent on making babies for a little power.

Alek seemed to be in a sharing mood so I decided to ask him the one question that had been bothering me. “Why. Why does she even want to make a baby? She would be a horrible mother.”

Alek laughed and folded his hands, giving me a look. “Aurora, when you become a vampire there are a few things that you are told that will never change. You will need to survive off of blood. You do not age. You will live forever unless killed a certain way and …”

I held his gaze. “You can’t have children.”

He pointed at me. “Yes! So imagine what the millions of vampires around the world will think when the North American vampire queen falls pregnant with a healthy child. When she bottles the cure for infertility and offers to ship it overnight.”

Kai growled. “She will be the most powerful and the richest vampire in the world.”

Alek nodded. “Yes, and she will reign queen over all of them. She will control all of the vampire assets in every country. She will be given favors and power beyond her wildest dreams.”

Fur began to ripple on my arms as I slammed my fist down on the table. “No!” I shouted and Kai looked at me with shock.

Kai frowned. “Your eyes are green.”

‘Good. Let the Devi come forward and kill her,’ I told Kai and realized that slowly the Devi was taking control.

‘Then when the Devi is done. What happens?’ Kai asked me with yellow eyes.

I frowned. I had agreed to help balance Earth. This Devi spirit attached to mine came with an exit clause. When she leaves, I might die.

‘I don’t know,’ I told him honestly.

He growled.

Everyone cleared their throat and Kai took his attention back to the room. “So, I want to take a team to the Arizona-Mexico border and take down Layla’s drug supply. If that doesn’t coax her out, then we can go forward with the plan to use Aurora as bait.”

Earl nodded. “It’s better than standing around. I will gather a hundred of my best.”

Kai nodded. “That should do.”

Everyone cleared out except for Kai, Jeremy, Alek, and I.

Kai looked at Alek and Jeremy. “Jeremy, you may stay here with Alek as a guest in my home.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Can you get a TV and some video games in the basement, at least?”

Kai let out a genuine laugh and it shocked me how long it had been seen I had heard him laugh like that. My favorite thing was to hear his deep rumbling laugh. This drama with Layla and Devon’s death had taken the happiness out of all of us.

“Yes, I will get you a gaming set up,” Kai told him.

“Yes!” Jeremy put a fist in the air and left to go down to the basement.

“He seems better,” I told Alek. It was just the three of us now.

Alek nodded slowly. “You’re good people to take in two vampires,” he said honestly.

“How’s your wife?” Kai asked.

Alek shrugged, looking resigned. “She’s fine, but I miss her. We talk on the phone. I’m not sure when I will be able to see her again. I can’t risk bringing trouble to her and I can’t protect her from the queen by myself.”

Kai and I shared a look. One thing about the mate bond and about Kai that I loved, is that when we shared a thought, it was like a click. Like two puzzle pieces came together.

“You know, I have an extra empty house on the mountain that Aurora’s mother was living in. We can clean it up and you, Jeremy, and your wife are welcome to live there under the protection of my pack.”

Shock registered on Alek’s face. His mouth opened and he stuttered for a second. “I’m not sure I can accept that,” he said, finally.

Kai clapped him on the back. “It’s already yours.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. God, Kai was such a good man. He opened our pack to humans, vampires, and anyone else in need. He would be keeping them at a distance but close enough to offer protection. My mother would have to stay with us until this was all over, anyway. Even after that, we would need help when the baby arrived. The baby. It was weird to think I might actually be pregnant.

“Thank you,” Alek said and shook Kai’s hand before retreating to the basement.

Kai sighed and rolled his neck back and forth, then he met my gaze.

“I’m going to tell you to do something and I want you to do it,” he said with a serious tone.

I raised one eyebrow. “When has starting a sentence with that ever worked for you?”

“Stay back and let us go to Mexico and lure Layla out. We can find where the girls are being kept–”

I didn’t even let him finish. “No.”

He sighed. “Yes.” His eyes flashed yellow and he stared me down. When he had forced me to stop driving the car to my mom’s, something went wild within me. This need to break free and now it turned into a need to prove myself to him. To prove what we both suspected. I was more dominant.

I stared him down and straightened my posture.

“Don’t do this,” he told me and stared back with yellow eyes.

“Kai, Gretchen told me that she could see I was already pregnant,” I told him.

His eyes lit up with joy and surprise, but I quickly got to the point. “I’m not going to be killing vampires while waddling around with my huge baby bump. I want this done. NOW!” I roared and continued to hold his gaze.

Sweat began to break out onto my forehead. Kai looked strained as well. I held my chin high. I needed my mate to know how important this was to me. This wasn’t just about killing Layla and helping the humans. It was about having a purpose in this world and needing to fulfill it. A purpose that was mine alone.

Kai bore into my eyes. “If you’re pregnant, than all the more reason to keep you safe!” he roared.

Mist crept from my skin as the pictures on the wall began to rattle. “Kai! You don’t understand. I’m the only one who can stop her. It’s my purpose. Let me do this!” I felt dizzy with the pressure of his dominance. His upper lip was sweaty and the pictures rattled more. My mate continued to hold my gaze. I felt all of his possessive love saturate my body and I realized now that if Kai has his way, I would be caged in the basement.

“What’s going on? Earthquake?” My mother’s voice came from the hall.

Shit! Kai and I broke away panting as my mother came into the room, looking at us with wild eyes.

“No, mom. It was me. Sorry.” I told her, trying to catch my breath. What the hell was I doing getting into a dominance battle with my mate? Was I stupid?

She looked confused. “Okay …” She looked between me and Kai.

“You raised a stubborn woman,” Kai told my mother in a deep voice, smoothing back his hair and wiping the sweat off of his upper lip.

My mother smiled, nodding. “She was born that way and that stubbornness saved my life.”

Tears lined my eyes as I smiled at my mother. She may not have given birth to me, I never knew that woman, but this woman before me was my mother. I was stubborn and I wouldn’t have chosen to change anything about my life. Even though I had been through a lot, it made me who I was.

Kai slipped his hand into mine. ‘Can you give me this one thing? If I don’t capture Layla at the border, I will come home and we will go forward with the plan of using you as bait. I’m your Alpha and your mate. Allow me this one last time to try to protect you.’

I sighed. ‘Fine.’

Kai grinned.

“By the way, mom, I’m pregnant,” I told her, changing the subject to lighten the mood.

Her eyebrows shot up, mouth hung open. “Aurora! Wow. That’s wonderful. Will the baby be a …?”

I looked at Kai and smiled. My mom didn’t know about the witch race or that I was the Matefinder. We didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. “Yes. The baby will be a werewolf.”

She looked a little frightened at that. “Oh, well, that’s good. Right?”

Kai went to the kitchen and held up a bottle of wine. “Let’s celebrate!”

I smiled.

“No drinking for you,” Kai told me and I frowned as he handed a glass of wine to my mother. Here we go, he was already taking away my wine. I growled.

Rebel

I awoke the next morning and reluctantly said goodbye to Kai and the crew that he was taking to Arizona. He left Max and Jai with me for protection. Both had their smells taken by the witches so they would be good guards for me and the others. I stood next to Max, waving them off and leaned in to smell him.

Max gave me an odd look. “What? I wore deodorant,” he stated.

I laughed. Max and I had a rough start and it made our friendship now that much sweeter. I would do anything for him.

“I can’t smell you. It’s weird,” I told him.

“Oh, that.” He gave me a small smile. “It’s pretty cool.” He shrugged. Max was normally a vibrant person, always inserting his opinion whether wanted or not. Lately he seemed off.

“You okay?” I asked as the troupe of cars drove away from the house and off to the airport.

Max and I were alone now as he seemed to consider my words. “You know in our culture, finding your mate is a huge deal. Huge. It’s everything we strive for.”

I frowned, knowing where this was going.

“Max.” I reached out to touch his shoulder. Watching the lines of pain dance across his face.

He shrugged me off. “No. It’s my fault! How stupid. She’s my mate! I should have had the mating ceremony. Opened our bond. I can feel her a little, but it’s faint and what I feel scares the shit out of me. I feel pain and rage and fear.” His jaw clenched, then he met my eyes. Yellow wolf threaded into his crystal blue eyes. “If Kai doesn’t fix this soon, I’m going rogue. I need to find her. I’m going crazy!” He banged his fists on the sides of his head.

My heart broke. I was the same way when Kai was taken by RAIDOS after Devon died.

All of a sudden, a huge wave of responsibility crashed over me. I may not have caused Tara and Sadie and the others to be taken but I could stop it. I could give myself up. Let them take me and then kill Layla and end this bullshit once and for all!

I could feel Kai probing my feelings so I quickly pushed them down but I would fix this, no matter the cost. Tara and Max deserved a future together after all that had been taken from him. I wouldn’t take his second chance at having a mate and a family.

I let my wolf come up to the surface and held Max’s gaze. “Max, I won’t be selfish.” Dominance oozed from me. “If there’s something I can do to get the girls back, I will.”

Max nodded. “I know that. That’s why I let you be second.” He swung an arm around me and we walked back into the house.

I laughed. “Hah! Let me. Whatever.” Shaking my head we entered the house and I was surprised to see Alek waiting for me.

Max glared at him.

“I wonder if I might speak with Aurora alone?” Alek asked kindly as he sat perched on my couch.

“Nope,” Max said immediately. Kai had left Max in charge of my safety. Freaking great.

I looked at Max. “Go for a run. I won’t leave the house.” It was an order.

Max pinned Alek with his eyes. “I will go for a short walk around the house.” My mother was at Emma’s helping with the baby and Jeremy was in the basement. We were alone.

After the front door clicked closed, I sat down on the couch opposite Alek. “What’s up?”

Alek sighed. “I feel that if I told you certain things, I would be betraying my kind. But I need to tell you something.”

Fear came over me and I sat up straighter. “Tell me what?”

Alek put his hands out. “Nothing serious. Just … vampire knowledge is kept very secret. If you are to truly defeat the queen, I think I must help you. Tell you things.”

I swallowed, relaxing slightly. “Okay.” Hell yeah, tell me secret vampire shit. I was slowly cataloging little pieces of information against these two. I had Prudence’s full name and now I was getting something on Layla.

Alek nodded. “I would kindly request you don’t share this information with Kai, the pack, or the witches.”

Not share it with Kai? “Okay. You have my word.” Kind of, I mean I couldn’t keep things from Kai.

Alek nodded. “When this is over, I would hope that my people can start anew. This knowledge would help those that want to harm us, so it needs to be kept secret.”

Whoa. This was about to be some juicy gossip. I nodded. “I understand. You have my secrecy.”

Alek took a deep breath. “When a vampire bites a human and then offers them their blood, it turns them into a vampire.”

I nodded. I knew that.

Alek chewed his lip. “When that new fledgling vampire completes the change, they are powerful. Strong. The sire or vampire that changed them feeds off of the fledgling once more. It gives the sire the power. A sire that has changed ten humans into vampires, is ten times as powerful as a vampire who has changed one.”

My stomach sank, because I knew where this was going.

“Okay. So how many has she changed?” I didn’t have to say her name. We both knew who I was talking about.

Alek shrugged. “Thousands. Maybe more.”

The breath went out of me. “So she can’t be killed? It’s impossible if she’s that powerful.”

Alek put his hands up. “That’s not true. Do you know why a stake through the heart or decapitation kills a vampire?”

Excitement ran through me. Did he know? “No.”

“I shouldn’t be telling you all of this,” he said, running a shaky hand through his hair.

“No, Please. I promise not to tell anyone. You can trust me. I only want peace between all of the races. I want balance. A new way for all of us.” It was true. It reminded me of something Nahuel said. Killing all of the vampires wouldn’t bring balance. We all needed to coexist. I just wanted the bad ones to be nice, pretty piles of ash.

He nodded. “When a vampire changes from human to vampire, it’s because of a virus. Similar to the lycanthrope virus. The vampire virus is transported through blood, it shuts down the humans’ organs, effectively making them somewhat dead. Preserving them. That’s why we don’t age at all, ever.”

My mouth was open in shock, absorbing everything.

“But our heart and our brain are the weak spots. It’s what keeps us alive.” He did air quotes. “Pierce the heart or detach the brain from the body and you render the vampire virus useless. Those two organs are what keep us animated and moving and thinking. Without one, the virus dies. Our bodies decompose immediately. Into Ash.”

I already knew how to kill them, but it was helpful to know the mechanics of how it worked.

He leaned in so close to me, I could barely hear him. “If you want to kill Layla, you will have to kill Prudence first. The witch has done dark magic to tie them together and make each other stronger.”

Holy shit. Alek had just given me news that would change the game.

He leaned back and went on. “When a vampire sires a new fledgling, that vampire is powerful, yes. But not invincible. I’m telling you this so that when you get to that point with the queen, you remember that she has a weakness. They all do. No matter how powerful, no matter how many she has sired. She is infected with a virus and can be defeated. Her heart, her brain. Take those and she will be ash in your hands!”

A light growl ripped from my throat. His speech had given me the boost I needed to go after her. When Kai got back from Arizona, I was ready.

“Thank you,” I told him.

He nodded and after a few moments, wished me a goodnight and walked back down to the basement.

Whoa. That was a lot to digest, but it also was good information to have. No matter how powerful Layla seemed, she had a weakness. Two actually. I owed Alek big time for that pep talk.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I rolled my eyes. “Max, you’re such a guard dog!” I shouted, opening it.

But it wasn’t Max, it was Emma.

“Hey, what are you doing out here?” As I got closer, I saw that her eyes were red like she had been crying.

“What’s wrong? Avery?” My stomach dropped.

Emma shook her head. “She’s fine, can we talk inside?”

She was making me nervous. I led her inside and sat on the couch.

She reached out and touched the black chunk of my hair. “It’s weird to see that.”

I sighed, remembering her lying there … dead. Yeah, that was weird, too. I squeezed her hand.

“So, what’s up?” I knew my friend. She didn’t look good. Something was majorly wrong. Had I been helping out enough? I had been a little busy with all of this drama and being a new mom was hard.

She looked on the verge of tears. “I think I should move back to Utah and be with my parents. Join their pack.”

My mouth dropped open. “What? Why?” Kai would be devastated, Emma was his favorite. She was my favorite. No way!

“I need more help with Avery. It’s too hard,” she said and stared off, not looking at me as tears fell from her porcelain cheeks.

My heart ached for her. “Well, give us a chance. We can increase shifts. I will move in with you. I thought the pack was helping enough, but–”

“I can’t stay here!” she shouted and started crying. Big sobs racked her body and as she leaned into me and I held her tight.

I grabbed the sides of her face, pulling her up to look at me. “I’m pregnant, okay?” I told her.

Suddenly, she smiled, tears still leaking from her eyes.

“And you’re my best friend. I want our kids to grow up together. You have to teach me how to be a mother. I need you. Don’t leave me,” I whimpered. Screw this dominance thing. I would straight up get on my knees and beg for Emma to stay. I would do anything for her.

Emma chewed her lip. “Okay, it’s not that I need more help with the baby. I lied. Everyone has been overly helpful. I’m the most well-rested new mother in the universe and my house and clothes are too clean.”

My head jerked back at her admission of lying, my hands fell to my lap. “Okay … so what is it? Do you feel unsafe?” Female werewolf safety was a big deal and lately they were getting snatched up. Maybe she thought we couldn’t protect her and Avery.

Emma gave me a haunted look. “That house!” she screamed, pointing in the direction of her home. “Our room, we picked out the bedspread together. The living room paint color, we fought for three days over that. It’s all Devon. Everywhere it’s all I see. My soulmate. I miss him.” She collapsed into sobs again.

Oh, shit. I hid back my own tears and swallowed hard. How stupid of me. I should have guessed. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Why did we keep her in that house?

I held her as she cried. “I understand and I’m so sorry. We’ll fix it. If that’s the only reason, we can fix that. You can have our house. You can have any damn house you want. Just don’t leave me!”

Her sobs turned to laughter. “I’m not taking my Alpha’s house.” Her gaze rested on my chin and my little submissive mouse was back.

I smiled. “If you want it, you can have it. Whose house do you want? You name it and it’s yours.”

She laughed. “There are perks to being best friends with the Alpha’s mate.”

I laughed. “Yes, there are. Think about it. Seriously, anyone in this pack would switch with you. Kai owns them all, anyway. Take Max’s house, it’s nice.”

She smacked my arm. “You just want to piss Max off.”

I grinned. “Maybe.”

“All right, I’ll stay if we can move Avery and me,” she said finally and it looked like a weight had lifted off of her.

“Consider it done,” I told her.

“So, the pregnancy, was it planned?” she added, smiling.

I nodded. “It was. After seeing Avery, my biological clock kind of exploded.”

Emma laughed and wiped her eyes. “I needed a good laugh. Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand. “I’m here for you. Always. So you will stay?”

She nodded and hugged me. “I better get home. It’s near feeding time.” She pointed down to her huge milk-filled chest. Wow, was I ready for being a mother? I swallowed nervously and watched her leave. Thinking back to that day that Devon was killed made a darkness slip over me. I couldn’t imagine Kai being killed, feeling his essence ripped from the mate bond. Shaking off those dark thoughts, I decided to take a long, hot bath, and then head off to bed. After my bath, I was lying awake reading a book when my phone buzzed with a call. It wasn’t a number I recognized. I had been meaning to call Kai and check in soon before I went to sleep.

“Hello?”

“Aurora, it’s Brett. I’m going crazy over Sadie. I need to talk.” He sounded on the verge of madness, his voice shaky. I sat upright.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Sadie’s mate was in the Seattle pack and it was unusual that he would call me with problems. He should be talking to his Alpha.

His voice shook. “I can feel everything. They’re hurting her. She keeps fighting back so they keep hurting her. I can’t take it, I need to find her. Can you help me? Layla wants you, she will come out for you. Please.”

My heart was hammering in my chest. “Do you know where Sadie is? Has she been able to tell you anything?”

Brett growled. “No! They blindfolded the girls before taking them. They keep them inside. That witch keeps messing with the bonds, so I can’t talk to her all the time.”

“Shit.”

“Aurora, they are doing procedures on them, to make them pregnant. This is urgent. We can’t wait. My Alpha doesn’t agree. He thinks going to Mexico and trying that option is a good idea. But I fear that if we wait, then we will have ten female werewolves with vampire babies inside of them.”

The gravity of the situation slammed into me. Even if I killed Layla, what the hell would I do with vampire-induced pregnant werewolves? I rubbed my temples.

“Where are you?” I asked him.

“I’m driving your way. I have to find her. I just talked to Shamus. He said they have already stirred trouble at the border with no sign of Layla. She isn’t stupid, she won’t come out with hundreds of militia and wolves waiting for her.”

My breathing stilled. “What are you asking of me, Brett?”

There was silence. “Go with me tonight, out in the open, away from the protection of the pack. I will keep at a distance and follow. I’m the best tracker in my pack. I won’t lose your scent.”

Holy shit. I let the idea roll around inside my brain and chewed the inside of my lip. It could work. She was probably watching the mountain right now, somehow. If I slipped away and exposed myself, she would snatch me up. Kai would kill me. I was planning on doing this when he got back from Mexico anyway though.

“Okay,” I agreed quickly.

He sighed in relief. “There’s a coffee shop in Portland, in the Pearl District. Vinnie’s.”

I nodded. “Yes. I’ve been there.”

“Meet me there. She won’t kill you, she wants your blood. She will take you and I will follow. When I reach the destination where they are keeping the girls, I will call in everyone.”

It was actually a good plan. “Okay. Let’s do this. Bring the girls home.” The Devi stirred within me.

Hanging up, I changed into black yoga pants and a t-shirt. I made sure that my special protective necklace pouch was around my neck, the one that held Sylvia’s hair. After slipping a silver stake, a gun, and my cell phone in my purse, I took a deep breath.

‘You okay?’ Kai checked in with me. It was amazing that no matter the distance, his voice was like he was right next to me. Our mate bond was strong and I panicked as fear shot through me. Did he know? I forgot to hide my feelings when Brett called. It felt awful to lie to him. I didn’t know what to say so I kept silent, trying to think of what to reply.

My phone rang; it was Kai.

Shit. I evened out my breathing and answered.

“Hey, babe,” I said calmly.

“What’s wrong? Why didn’t you answer me?” Kai’s voice was pinched with tension.

I said the first thing I could think of. “Emma wants to leave the pack.”

“What! Why?” I felt his shock through the bond.

It was a perfect cover for my feelings and also true, I explained her sadness about living in the house she once shared with Devon.

He sighed in relief. “She can have a new house. I’ll give her any damn house she wants.”

I smiled. “That’s what I told her.”

“So, nothing else is wrong?” He questioned and I swallowed hard.

“How’s it going over there? Any sign of Layla?” I changed the subject.

He sighed. “No. We questioned one of the vampires under duress. He said she isn’t here.”

Duress. That was Kai’s code word for torture. Great, and Layla wasn’t even there.

“Yet.” Kai added. “We took out a huge shipment. We will keep at it until she shows up to retaliate.”

“She’s not going to show, Kai. She isn’t stupid. She will send lackeys to retaliate. We need to go forward with the plan to use me as bait. I’m the only thing she wants, the only thing she will risk exposure for.”

Kai sighed. “Aurora, there is another way–”

“Kai! I love you but you’re being selfish! There are ten females scared and locked up and possibly tortured right this second because you won’t man up and do what’s best for the collective whole.”

My skin tingled as the Devi stirred inside of me.

“Man up? What kind of man sends his pregnant mate into a vampire trap!” he roared.

This was awful. I felt sad that we were fighting, I didn’t want this. This wasn’t how Kai and I were. He felt my feelings.

“I’m sorry. I only do what I do because I love you. I want to keep you safe.”

I nodded as tears fell down my cheek. “I know, but I don’t think you can keep me safe.”

“Don’t say that,” he told me.

“I love you, Kai. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

His panic run through the mate bond. “Okay. I love you, too. Goodnight.”

I hung up and wiped my tears. Enough was enough. I pushed my love for Kai deep down inside of me. I had hopes and dreams for this baby, for Kai and I, and every single one of them involved a world free of Layla. I pushed everything down that made me weak and then I brought my wolf and the Devi to the surface. It was time to end this. I would not bring a child into the world knowing it would live a life of being hunted! If I died because of it, then so be it. I couldn’t sleep one more goddamn night knowing that Layla was alive and experimenting with my blood! My wolves! She was as good as dead. A growl ripped from my throat.

I was ready. My entire journey had led me here to this moment.

Grabbing my car keys, I crossed the living room quickly and went into the garage. After sliding into the car, I pressed the button to open the garage door.

“Going somewhere?” a voice from the backseat asked.

I jumped up screeching. “Jesus Christ! Max, you scared the shit out of me.” My heart was in my throat. Bastard.

Max wore a grin from the backseat. I inhaled. I couldn’t smell him. Shit, I forgot. He smiled.

“The witches took my scent, remember? Helpful when I need to spy on you.” His eyes narrowed.

Think. Think. Think. I started the car. “Why are you spying on me? Get out. I need to go get a few things from my mom’s house.” I tried to keep my face calm to cover the lie.

Was I really doing this? It was a smart plan. If Kai made some big plan with tons of wolves, the vampires might not come. But with just Brett … we had a chance. I needed Max to leave.

“Hmm, you know, normally I would,” Max said but sat there. I turned around and stared at him.

“Max! Get out of my car. That’s an order.” I glared, pulling dominance into my voice.

He stared back with suspicion. “I would, but my Alpha just texted me and told me to keep an eye on you. He also made it an order. Why are you going to your mom’s at ten at night?”

I sighed and threw the car in reverse. “Fine come with me. She needs her night clothes and things.”

I pulled out of the driveway. I needed to come up with a plan. Either I go to my mom’s, get Max inside the house and try to ditch him or…  I looked into the rearview mirror and met his eyes. He knew something was up. Frick. I pulled over, put the car in park and turned around to face him.

“Do you love Tara?” I asked him seriously, giving him the stare down.

He looked caught off-guard and chewed his lip nervously. “Yes, but I never got to tell her.”

I nodded. “What if I could give you the chance?”

“Aurora, what are you saying?”

I put my hands out. “Don’t tell Kai. Just hear me out.”

Max could send Kai a mental message and have the whole pack on my ass in minutes.

He nodded.

“Okay, Kai called from Arizona. Layla isn’t there and she isn’t going to show. She isn’t stupid. She wants me. Brett contacted me and they’re hurting Sadie.”

Fear flashed across Max’s face. “Did he say anything about Tara?”

I shook my head. “No, but Brett is a good tracker. He wants me to meet him right now. We can lure Layla out and she will take me. You guys follow and when you get the location, you call for backup.”

I could see him considering it.

“Kai’s my best friend,” he declared.

I nodded. “And he’s the love of my life but if we do it his way, then Tara and all of the females will be implanted with vampire spawn and I will be safe and cozy on my mountain. I need to end this. I’m the only one who can.”

Max met my eyes and was silent for a long time. Finally he exhaled deeply. “Okay, God help me when Kai finds out, but okay.”

“Okay.” I nodded. Holy shit, this was happening.

Alone

Putting the car into drive, I went to meet Brett. It was either the smartest or stupidest decision of my life. But it was better this way. Without Kai, I could focus on my life’s purpose, bring balance to the supernatural species and try not to die in the process. I could make a better world for Avery and this baby inside my belly to live in.

It was a silent drive downtown, both Max and I were lost in our thoughts. I pulled my car up to a meter in front of the coffee shop that I had been to dozens of times while studying for exams in college. Downtown was pretty dead; it was a weeknight. A few bars had their lights on but otherwise we were alone. Brett stepped out of the shadows of the coffee shop’s side building. When he saw Max, he recoiled.

“It’s okay, he’s in on the plan,” I told him quickly, trying to whisper. I wasn’t sure if we were being tracked by vampires or what.

Brett nodded. “Let’s split up. She will have had her trackers smell you by now. We shouldn’t be seen together. I won’t let you out of my sight. I promise,” he said.

Max nodded to him. “If Kai finds out we helped, you and I are dead men.”

Brett shrugged. “Better than our women being dead.”

Ouch. The man had a point. Brett walked fully out of the shadows and right past me as if he didn’t know me.

Looking up at the surrounding high tower buildings, I sighed. Okay. Here we go.

Max caught my arm. “I care about Tara and I want her back but I care about you, too. Don’t do anything stupid.”

I smiled. “Who me?” I said innocently and he grinned.

“I got your back,” he told me. I nodded and walked off, heading down towards the Willamette River. Downtown Portland kissed the Willamette, on the other side was Northeast Portland and the Columbia River, so close to Washington State you could cross a bridge and be there in five minutes. It was a beautiful city. I inhaled. The warm summer air was my favorite part of this time of year. I passed a few hippies playing hacky sack in the park and blasting reggae music. They threw me a peace sign when I met their gaze and went back to what they were doing. I had lost sight of Brett, but I assumed he could see me, so I took a left and walked up to Water Front Park trail, right on the river. Suddenly, I had the feeling I was being watched, and not by Brett or Max. It’s that icky feeling women get. We just know. Movement at my back caused me to turn quickly, just in time to see a vampire approach me lightning fast.

He was tall and lanky with a sinister look and dark ringed eyes.

“You can’t be this stupid,” he hissed.  I gripped the stake in my purse.

“Where’s Layla?” I ignored his jive and wasted no time getting to the point.

He smiled. “The queen isn’t close, but has requested your presence. Come with me.” He reached out and gripped my underarm.

“I want to make sure the female wolves are alive or I’m not going anywhere.” I stood firm.

He glared at me and pulled out a cell phone. After tapping it a few times, he then turned it to me, showing me a video. Tara was in some type of cage, lying on the ground. There were silver needle spikes one inch away from her skin. Anger flared inside of me. Tara was weeping.

The video then panned to a large room with the rest of the girls. A scientist was pinning down Sadie. Every time Sadie resisted, the needles poked Tara. They were using Tara as a pincushion to keep the girls from fighting back. Rage flooded my system and I pulled out the stake and rammed it into the chest of the vampire quicker than I had ever been.

He poofed to ash as the phone fell to the ground. “You bastards!” I screamed and kicked the cell phone out of the way as three vampires came out of a boat on the dock.

They zoomed into my vision, incredibly fast. “That was stupid,” one of them told me as they came up behind me and took both of my arms.

“Take me to my friends.” Oh, yes. I would go willingly and kill every bloodsucker involved in hurting Tara and the rest of them.

He slipped a black pillow case over my head. “Happily.”

Then I was being pushed super-fast onto the dock. My body was lifted up into a boat and I felt it sway. I had to flex my leg muscles to stay upright.

Shit. Brett and Max couldn’t follow a speed boat and I couldn’t see. As the boat took off, I was jerked back into my seat. I had to be taken though, the image of Tara screaming was burned into my head. I had to do something even if it meant no one was following to save me.

‘Kai, I’m sorry. I had to,’ I told him hoping he would forgive me.

I felt his energy wash over me. ‘What? Where are you?’

‘Downtown Portland. I think I’m heading east on the Willamette. The vampires have me. I went willingly. I’m going to end this.’

I had never felt so much rage from Kai in my entire life. ‘God dammit, Aurora! You will be the death of me. Keep talking to me. Who else is with you? I’m coming.’

He was hours away, there was nothing he could do. ‘Call Max. I need to pay attention. I still have Sylvia’s necklace on.’

The vampires ripped my purse away from me and I heard a splash as they tossed it into the river. They didn’t bother tying me up so I assumed they knew I wanted to be taken, that I would help my friends.

I reminded myself that I wasn’t alone, the Devi was inside of me. We would end this together, I was strong enough.

‘Max is in a kayak. He has you in his line of sight. Jump out of the boat and swim to him,’ Kai told me frantically.

I swallowed hard. ‘No. This is my chance and I’m taking it.’

‘Aurora, you jump out of that boat right now!’ His scream inside my head made me flinch.

‘No, Kai! Then what? We continue to wait around and hope Layla will show up?’

Kai was numb, his energy frantic. He couldn’t believe this was happening. ‘Sometimes I wish I never met you.’

The declaration put a sob in my throat.

‘I’ve never loved anything more than I love you. I need you but you don’t need me,’ Kai said in a deadpan voice. Oh my God. No!

‘That’s not true, I need you. But I can’t be free of this until my purpose is done. I wish you would understand and support me. I have another freaking soul occupying my body! A vampire queen making babies with my blood and shooting human teens with heroin. I have to do something!’ I told him.

The boat was slowing.

‘You think I give a shit about your purpose if it takes you from me? No! I won’t support that. Please, Aurora, jump out of the boat.’ He was blinded by love, could I blame him? I was doing this for us, so we could get past this and be together, raise a family.

I sighed. No one really understood what it was like to live your life except you. ‘You made Devon a promise. That Avery would grow up in a better world. I’m giving him that promise. I love you, I do need you, and I’m sorry.’

I went into my mind’s eye and buried our mate bond. I felt him try to saturate my body with Alpha power but I was ready. I pushed it off as mist leaked from my skin. I could feel him trying to control me like he did in the car on the way to my mother’s. God damn he was powerful, but with the mate bond buried and me ready, he didn’t stand a chance.

The boat lurched as it was docked and I heard the whirl of helicopter blades in the distance. This was it, no going back from this decision. The vampires lifted me up by the arm pits and walked me closer to the helicopter sound. If they put me in that helicopter, Kai might never find me. Pushing down my nerves, I let them drag me. The vision of Tara screaming, hundreds of silver needles sticking into her skin, urged me to go with them.

I still had the protective necklace, so Sylvia would be able to find me. If I ran now and jumped in the river, I could swim to Max; my hands weren’t tied. If I went with the vampires, I risked myself but I could save ten female werewolves, kill Layla and get Prudence. I quickly weighed the options and made up my mind. I didn’t resist as the vampires hauled me up into the helicopter.

As the helicopter took off, I could feel Kai raging through the mate bond. All of a sudden, the mate bond was unearthed inside of me; I felt it pulse and go strong.

‘Don’t EVER do that again,’ Kai roared. How the hell did he do that? Maybe Alphas were more powerful than I had originally thought. My small time as an Alpha had seemed more of a burden but now I saw that I may not have given it a fair chance.

“Hello, dear,” Prudence screamed over the whirling blades.

‘I need to concentrate. I’m in a helicopter with Prudence. Don’t talk to me. I have to focus,’ I told him.

‘Fine, but when I get you back get home, I’m locking you in the basement forever,’ Kai declared.

I wanted to say ‘If I get home, this will all be over.’

“Hello, Prudence,” I said sweetly. I didn’t want to play my final hand just yet. I had her full name; she was as good as dead. I needed to allow them to take me to the girls, to Layla. Someone zip-tied my hands together behind my back.

We flew in silence for about twenty-five minutes and then Prudence leaned close to me. My head was still covered but I sensed her. She inhaled deeply, then all of a sudden, she reached into my shirt and ripped off my protective necklace.

“No!” I screamed, thrashing.

“Stop!” she shouted, pinning me down. The door opened and I could feel the cold air hit my face. I could only guess she threw my necklace out the window. Shit. Game over. I was on my own.

‘Kai, we’ve been flying twenty-five minutes and Prudence found my shaman pouch and tossed it out. Have Sylvia find it.’

‘I’m going crazy right now, Aurora! How could you do this to me?’ he said in agony.

That’s when it hit me. Maybe I was the one being selfish. I didn’t think of how Kai would feel. How much was the Devi controlling me?

‘I’m sorry,’ was all I could say.

‘I’m going to find you. I told you we would end this together and I meant it. Together,’ he reminded me.

“You’re not talking to your mate, are you?” Prudence asked and all of a sudden a sharp object cracked the back of my skull and everything went black.

Water

I woke up to a dull, throbbing pain that pulsed behind my eyes. A groan escaped me as I was being hauled up to a standing position. From the quiet sound, I assumed the helicopter had landed as there were no more whirling of blades. I was exhausted; it was the dead of night and my hands were still tied behind my back, making my shoulders hurt. My wrists burned but a sharp scent pricked my nose. I inhaled.

‘She knocked me out. We have landed and I smell water. Not salty, maybe a lake. I don’t hear running water, so not a river.’

‘Jesus Christ, Aurora. You had me scared. Sylvia thinks the pouch is in Bend, Oregon. I will look up lakes. Your flying time was about fifty minutes.’

We both knew it was a long shot. Oregon, Washington, and California were full of lakes. I could be anywhere in the Pacific Northwest.

We were walking inside, if I could just get this hood off, I might be able to see some marker of where I was. I did a quick jump up and threw my weight forward tossing the hood off and forcing the vampires to let go of me.

Prudence quickly zoomed into my vision and saturated me with black magic, taking my sight. I stumbled in the complete darkness. I was blind! My eyes squinted, open and shut, in pure panic. They were burning.

“Don’t mess with me, child!” Prudence roared. I heard a loud metal scraping sound, like a door and then I was being hauled inside somewhere. It was now or never. I had to take Prudence out. I was assuming I had been led to the location of where Layla and the girls were and I couldn’t let Prudence live one second longer. Taking a deep breath, I readied myself for what was to come.

“Prudence Heather Sorensen!” I roared her full name and let the Devi fully come to the surface. It was like letting my wolf out. With one quick motion, I snapped the zip-tie holding my arms. I was strong; stronger than I should be.

I heard her gasp.

“You have no power over me!” I declared calling up my inner magic and immediately regaining my sight as her spell broke. Mist poured in thick clouds from me and surrounded Prudence. I was in a cement hallway in an underground structure somewhere. Prudence stood there frozen, her scraggly hair lifting on its ends. Raising my hands high over my head, I threw them forward, slamming Prudence against the wall with magical force.

The vampire who had walked me inside grabbed my arm but I pivoted quickly, bringing an elbow down hard on the back of his neck and he crumpled to the ground. I slowly stalked towards Prudence, she was pinned against the wall in a cocoon of white magical mist.

Standing before her, I saw her true self. Her magic had been stripped and she was an ugly shell of a human. A dark entity that had no place in this world.

“Darkness is the absence of light, so I shine my light on you until you disappear,” I whispered in her ear as she continued to stare at me in shock. Reaching up, I placed two hands on each side of her head.

“Balance,” the Devi whispered through my lips and quickly snapped her neck as she fell to the ground with a thud.  Staring down at her, I gasped as her face shrank until she looked 100 years old. The world was better off without her in it. She looked like a frail old human now.

Footsteps caught my attention and I turned to see Layla coming down the hall with four other vampires. Inhaling, I grinned. I could smell them now. With Prudence dead, her magic no longer worked. Time to kill Layla and be done with this! The Devi inside of me itched with anticipation.

“You’ll regret that!” Layla roared and held up a small LCD screen. It looked like a baby monitor.

The sound of Tara’s wail gave me goose bumps and stopped me dead in my tracks. I pushed the Devi down and thought of Max. That was his mate, my pack member, my friend. The mist I had conjured shrank away as I withdrew my magic.

“Should I kill her or just torture her? It’s up to you.” Layla held the screen up.

“Stop, please stop!” I begged.

But Tara wailed on. I threw my arms up to blast Layla with magic but Layla held a button on the monitor. “Kill her,” Layla said.

“No! I’m sorry.” I put my hands down and fell to my knees, head bowed. Oh God. What do I do? With the Devi, I was powerful enough to take out Layla, I could see that now. But I would not sacrifice one of my friends to do it.

“Stop,” Layla said into the monitor.

Two vampires came up behind me, surrounding me with their presence.

“Play nice and your friends live.” Layla narrowed her gaze at me.

I stood and glared at her as the vampires each firmly took hold of my arm.

“I don’t see why we can’t have a mutual arrangement. You play nice and supply me blood and female wolves. In turn, I will give you money beyond your wildest dreams.” Layla’s voice was musical, her eyes purple. She was trying to use compulsion on me. It didn’t work. White mist wrapped protectively around me.

I needed to be smart about this. She had Tara in some kind of torture room. I shouldn’t piss her off. I needed to learn the lay of the land and plan my attack and escape smartly. “I will think about it,” I told her.

Her lips curled into a fake smile. “Well, until then I’m going to have to lock you up with the other dogs. I can’t risk you getting away again.” She winked. I suppressed a growl at her use of the term dogs. She gestured to Prudence. “It’s a shame. She was very good.”

Then Layla turned to one of the other vampires. “Find me another witch.”

Her strawberry-blonde hair was curled, she had on layers and layers of make-up, and her clothes were fancy. “Going somewhere?” I asked casually as they walked me down a hall. I was scanning door numbers, signs, anything. We were in some kind of underground bunker. Would make sunlight a non-issue and no one would hear screams.

Layla laughed. “I have my first couple coming to do a surrogate transplant.” She rubbed her hands together in glee as my heart hammered in my chest. So then maybe that meant none of the girls were pregnant yet but they would be soon if I didn’t stop this.

We reached a door. “Sorry about taking out your heroin supply,” I spat at her. Screw playing nice, this bitch was evil. The big steel door opened.

She gave me an evil glare. “Sorry for burning down Safe Haven,” she said and threw me inside, shutting the door behind me.

What? No!

I didn’t even have time to process her comment. The room I had just been thrown into was full of female werewolves. I lay on my hands and knees, looking up at them. The room was made up of four solid cement walls. Looking behind me I saw that the thick steel door was shut and I heard it lock. Shit. We were trapped.

I scanned the females who lay on bunk beds or sat on the floor as they stared at me with a mixture of pity and curiosity.

Movement to my right caused me to turn. I was happy to see it was Sadie approaching me. Never thought I would be glad to see my husband’s ex-girlfriend.

“How nice of you to join us,” Sadie joked and reached out a hand to help me up. Her normally olive ethnic skin looked ashy and reddish. Her hair was messy and her eyes looked haunted. What the hell were they doing to these girls?

“I figured you might be getting bored by now. Thought I could keep you company,” I said, grabbing her hand and giving her a sly smile.

Taking another look at all of the wolves, I saw now that most looked terrified. They were all wearing white doctors’ scrubs but at least looked clean and well fed.

“Everyone, this is Aurora. She is the reason you’re here and also, probably the only one who can break us out of here.”

I rolled my eyes at her introduction. Way to make them hate me right off. Sadie was too good at being a bitch sometimes. “I killed the black witch,” I announced to everyone. “Your pack bonds should be working now. Try to contact your Alphas and mates.”

Sadie’s eyes widened at my declaration, then a concentrated look fell over her face. She began laughing and tears rolled down her cheeks. “I can hear Brett!” she said. The others began smiling, clearly lost in their own mental conversations.

I nodded. Prudence had messed with their bonds. Now that she was dead, her magic was dead too. A thought came to me.

‘Kai, I’m inside. All of the girls are fine. I killed Prudence. Have Sylvia try to find me now. A finder spell should work. The magic has been broken.’ I didn’t tell him about Tara being tortured, best to keep that quiet for now.

‘You killed Prudence?’

Surprise went through the mate bond. Well, technically I think the Devi killed her, I don’t think I was that much of a badass on my own.

Then I thought of what Layla had said before tossing me in this room. With dread, I asked Kai about it. ‘How’s Safe Haven? Layla said she burned it down? Tell me it’s a lie.’

She might have just said that to piss me off. Safe Haven was everything to me. It took me years to start it up and get enough donations to keep it running. It was my one good thing to offer this world.

He was silent and I saw that all of the girls were engrossed in their own mental conversations.

‘Kai?’ My stomach knotted with apprehension. If it was true, I couldn’t handle it.

‘Yes, they burned it down an hour ago. Right after you were taken. I just got the call.’

No! I sagged to my knees.

‘Was anyone hurt?’

‘Almost everyone got out.’ Kai’s answer was cryptic.

Tears rolled down my cheeks, ‘Almost?’ I needed to know, I needed to hear it.

Kai was silent. ‘A mother died saving her two children.’

Anger flooded my body as mist leaked from my skin and the ground began to rumble. The cement floor cracked and the crack raced up the wall reaching for the ceiling.

“Hey! Do you want to bury us alive, stop that!” Sadie screamed at me, snapping me out of it.

A TV on the wall flared to life and Tara screamed. She was lying down in some type of plexi-glass cage. Thousands of small silver needles shot into her skin as a vampire stood over her pushing buttons on the plexi-glass coffin.

I ceased the shaking immediately, calling back the mist and calming my magic. My hand flew to my mouth as the needles retracted and Tara was left panting, eyes rolling in her head.

Sadie shook my shoulders. “Get your shit together. You can’t do that stuff here. If you fight them, they hurt her,” Sadie told me.

Oh shit, what was I thinking?

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

Safe Haven, everything I worked for, gone. A mother’s life, gone. I would have to deal with it later. I stuffed it all down in my deep, dark place and promised to deal with it when I had a chance.

A blonde girl stood. “I say so what! If we all rush the door next time it opens, we can fight them off. Let them kill her so that all of us can go free,” she roared.

Sadie stalked across the room and stood before the girl. “That’s my friend in there!” Sadie bellowed. Sadie and Tara had been in the same pack in Seattle for a while, they must have become close. The two girls stared into each other’s eyes. A dominance battle. This was a disaster waiting to happen. Ten werewolves in a room, all from different packs. No Alpha. We needed to be working together, not tearing each other apart.

I strode over to them, knowing this would come to blows if I didn’t intervene. These girls were both dominants.

“Enough!” I snarled and let power ooze from my voice. “We’re all on the same side. No one is getting killed. Not Tara, not you. No one. I’m getting us out of here.”

The blonde girl broke her stare to look at me, and laughed. “Oh yeah? How you gonna do that?”

I squared my shoulders. “I’m working on it,” I told her.

She rolled her eyes and turned her back to me. My wolf didn’t like that. I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me. “If you rush the door or do anything to endanger Tara, I’ll rip your head off. Are we clear?” My voice was animalistic, as fear flashed in her eyes.

With this many wolves in a room, my dominance was ramped up. There was no leader and I felt the need to fulfill the spot.

She continued to stare at me, no doubt curious of how dominant I was. After a moment she began to sweat, her breath hitched, and she lowered her eyes and nodded. “I don’t want to hurt your friend. I just want to get this freak out of my belly and go home!” She grimaced and pointed at her stomach.

I looked at Sadie, eyes wide. “What is she talking about?” No. Don’t say it.

Sadie gave the girl a look of pity. “She is carrying the queen’s baby.”

Shitty shit shit.

The breath whooshed out of me as my mouth hung open in shock. There went my hopes that none of them had been impregnated yet. I glanced at her baggy clothes and saw the hint of a bump. Oh God. Then I scanned all of the girls. One of them was still in wolf form. She must have refused to shift.

“Anyone else?” I needed to know just what we were getting into.

“Not yet. Just me,” the blonde said, bitterly.

My mind was racing. How far away was Tara? The next room? Another floor? Could my magic reach that far? Could I protect her somehow? Could I protect her while also killing Layla? I doubted it as I tapped my foot nervously. Sadie tugged at my arm, leading me into a corner to talk privately.

“We need to get out of here,” she told me, looking vulnerable. Her eyes had dark circles around them; she looked weak. She looked worse than the rest. This was not the usual Sadie I was used to.

“We will,” I told her with confidence. God, please let that be the truth. I was already feeling claustrophobic under these tons of rock.

She gave me a weak smile as I looked closer at her arms; they had pink prick scars.

“You look gorgeous,” I joked with her and she laughed. The laugh sounded hollow and her face looked haunted.

Then I became serious. “What happened? Give me the scoop.”

She rubbed her arms. “Every few days they switch out which one of us gets tortured. I was first, then Tara, who knows who will be next. They’re very careful not to kill us. They won’t hurt blondie because she is pregnant with the queen’s spawn.”

Oh, shit. Now I knew why Sadie was so affected by seeing Tara in there. She knew what it felt like firsthand.

“There are multiple floors to this place. It’s an old cold war bunker or something. All of us have had our lady parts checked out. One girl was already pregnant with her mate’s child. They aborted it.” Sadie’s voice shook as she delivered this last news.

Evil bastards! My hand went to my mouth. Suddenly, I feared they would find out I was pregnant and take my baby. Tears lined my eyes and my throat constricted.

Sadie nodded. “They don’t care. They want baby growers. If you aren’t of use to them, they kill you. If you fight back, they hurt one of us. They have us trapped!” She pounded her fist on the wall.

Shit. I turned and scanned the girls. Some sat together, some alone. The one wolf who hadn’t changed was staring at me.

“What’s her deal?” I gestured to the wolf.

Sadie shrugged. “Refuses to shift. Been like that for days.”

I frowned. “No one has talked to her? Is she okay?”

Sadie rolled her eyes at me. “None of us are pack, so obviously we can’t talk to her while she is in wolf form. I’m sure she’s fine. The vampires have left her alone.”

Something Sadie said gave me an idea, a crazy idea. Oh, Kai, you aren’t going to like this.

“When will they switch out Tara? How is it done?”

Sadie lowered her voice, “I’m pretty sure they are listening. One time we tried to plan a break out and they were ready.”

Then she leaned in and whispered so soft I wasn’t sure I heard her. “Camera’s in the vent.”

My eyes went wide as I nodded and glanced around the room. My gaze settled on the air vent in the ceiling and the red glowing dot that lurked there. Shit, these bastards were smart; they had thought of everything. I lightly squeezed Sadie’s arm and then walked off to the opposite corner of the room to be alone.

‘Any news?’ I asked Kai.

‘Sylvia said your location is still blocked. She thinks a spell has been put over the building which would live on even after Prudence’s death. Spells put on people or living things die but not objects. I don’t understand it. How are you? Are Sadie and Tara still okay?’

I sighed. Okay, I was stuck in a room, being watched by a camera, I had no weapons, back up wasn’t coming and Tara was being used as a very clever way to keep us all in line. Shit. Think, Think. This was all up to me.

‘Sadie is fine. She’s with me.’

He noticed I hadn’t mentioned Tara. ‘And how is Tara? I can’t reach her. It feels like she passed out.’

I sighed. This would kill Max. Kai would never forgive himself for not being able to protect her. ‘To be honest, Tara is being used for torture if any of the females act out.’

Kai’s rage shot through the mate bond. I had expected that.

‘I have a crazy plan, Kai,’ I told him nervously as I chewed a fingernail and kept my eyes on the red dot in the air vent.

‘Okay,’ he said with trepidation, waiting for me to explain.

I looked around to all of the girls, and nodded, this was the only way. We could be stuck here for years if I didn’t stop this sick game, if I didn’t do something drastic.

‘I love you, Kai. I promise to get all of these females out of here safely and kill Layla. I’ve got this, it’s my destiny. Don’t worry about me,’ I told him confidently.

‘Aurora, why are you saying goodbye?’ His energy bristled and I felt him border on panic. God, I hated this.

I didn’t want to tell him my plan, for fear that somehow with his Alpha power, he could stop me. I also didn’t want to give him a chance to talk me out of it.

‘I love you, Kai. Do you understand that? Do you know how much you mean to me? You made me trust men again. You’re everything to me.’ Tears began to well in my eyes. It was true, after my father’s abuse, I never thought I would trust again.

‘Aurora, don’t scare me!’ Kai said weakly and I felt him grab hold of our pack bond and pull tight. He knew what I was planning so I needed to act quickly.

I wasn’t sure if we would be able to communicate after I did this. Closing my eyes, I felt for my pack bond, my mate bond to Kai, my Alpha, my husband. It was a strong, thick, glowing white rope. I yanked at it and it pulled taut.

‘No!’ he roared as I pulled harder and felt his Alpha power saturate me, trying to gain control of me.

‘They need an Alpha if we are going to survive this; they need a pack. It’s the only way.’ I told him and pulled as hard as I could, ripping the bond and snapping it in half. A scream ripped from my throat as I fell to the ground panting, pain saturated my being. My skin felt as if it was on fire. Oh God, it hurt. It hurt like hell! I felt hollow, empty, vulnerable, alone. It was like an instant depression took hold of my body. My hands shook with the strain of going rogue. I tried to take small, deep breaths and regain composure. Holy Shit. I was a rogue wolf.

I listened in my head. Nothing. Static. I felt for Kai; he was there, the mate bond was still there, but it was damaged. I felt his horror at what I had done but I couldn’t hear him, only feel him. Wiping tears from my eyes, I turned to face the females who were all staring at me. No doubt my scream had gotten their attention. Sadie was watching me with yellow eyes.

“You wanna be my second?” I asked her cryptically, hoping the vampires watching the cameras didn’t know enough about werewolf packs to know what I was up to, or to care.

She looked at me incredulously as it dawned on her what I had done. Finally, she grinned. “I’ve always wanted to be a second,” she said and closed her eyes.

The other females were looking at each other in confusion.

Sadie was quiet for a few moments and then suddenly cried out and grabbed her chest, bending on one knee. Her eyes watered as she took a shaky breath. It said a lot to me that Sadie was willing to rip her pack bond away from Shamus and Brett and join me. She knew I was more dominant than her; we had already worked that out in our pack with Kai. She extended her arm to me wordlessly, giving me the power of the Alpha and asking to join my pack.

I smiled and gripped her forearm with my right hand, pulling her in for a hug to disguise what I was doing from the vampires watching on the camera.

“Blood of my blood,” I whispered as I transformed my left hand into a werewolf paw and swiped her arm, drawing blood. Then I swiped my own and pressed them together between us. Closing my eyes, I saw a floating white wisp of energy in my mind’s eye. Reaching out and taking hold, I grabbed it as it slithered past me. It was strong and pulsing in my hand. Sadie was very dominant, a good second. I pulled the wisp closer to me and bound it with my own white wispy cord, braiding it like a thick rope. Pack. I let my wolf take charge, she knew instinctively that this was how you created a pack.

All of Sadie’s feelings for me rushed through the pack bond. She was jealous of my relationship with Kai at first. She wanted me to know that she had loved him first, longest. She had always wanted him as her mate, but now that she had Brett, she wouldn’t want it any other way. She respected me and wanted Kai and I to be happy together. Now that she had gotten to know me, she thought Kai and I were perfect for each other. I pulled away from her embrace as our arms healed.

‘Alpha,’ she said, using our newly formed pack bonds to communicate, her lips quirked in a smile.

I nodded. ‘Second.’ I never in a hundred years thought Sadie and I would be head of our own pack. The universe had a funny sense of humor.

She gave me a wolfish grin and I could feel that she was wolf born and had no special gifts.

“What’s going on?” the blonde girl who was pregnant said, stepping closer.

My arm had already healed; the vampires watching the cameras wouldn’t know what was going on. It looked like Sadie and I were old friends and shared a long hug.

I looked around the room and ever so slightly flicked my eyes to the camera light in the small air vent. Then I locked eyes with the blonde. “It’s a shame we can’t communicate together, like a pack.”

She frowned, then realization dawned on her face. She nodded and looked at the others.

“Go rogue,” she whispered. I think I had my third, she was already giving orders.

One by one, the girls saw what was happening. They bowed their heads in concentration and then cried out with the pain of ripping away from their packs by force. Leaving their mates, their beloved Alphas, it hurt, I knew it did, but in the end it was for the better. As a pack we could be stronger, take care of each other and have the upper hand. They looked at me like lost puppies.

I went one by one and gave them each a hug bringing them into the pack. I didn’t have time to focus on their thoughts, their rank in the pack or anything yet. I wanted to bring us all together first in case the vampires caught on and split us up. I came to the last girl, the wolf who wouldn’t shift. She had been crouched in the corner watching us the entire time. Eyes yellow, fur standing on end.

I lowered my voice to barely a whisper, I was pretty sure the camera had a microphone but it couldn’t be that good, all the way up in the air vent. “I won’t force you, but I’d be honored if you would join our pack so we can get the hell out of here.”

Her eyes flared yellow and then she winced, letting out a little yelp as I assumed she went rogue from her pack. She panted and then rolled over to show me her belly. I took that as a yes.

Reaching out, I swiped her lightly, disguising it as a belly rub and brought her into the pack. The second her energy merged with mine, I jumped back in shock at what I felt, what she was showing me.

‘You’re changed. Your gift, it’s incredible.’

She looked at me with big yellow wolf eyes. ‘It’s horrible,’ her small, submissive voice said.

‘How does it work?’ I asked.

‘When I touch someone while I’m in human form, I wipe all of their memories. It only works when I’m in human form, so I stay a wolf all of the time.’

My mouth hung open in shock. I could feel her deep loneliness, her longing for a mate a best friend, anyone who could touch her. Her madness at staying wolf all the time; she felt like a dog. I wanted to hug her. That must be a hard life, I rested my hand on her wolf and patted her fur.

‘Can you target certain memories?’ I asked her. The abilities she possessed were incredible. She could make a drug addict forget they were addicted, a murderer forget their past, a victim of abuse forget the abuse.

She shook her head. ‘No, everything goes. They know how to eat and talk and all of that. They know what an apple is and basic information but their personality is gone, personal memories, families are forgotten, desires, fears. All gone. A blank slate.’

Jesus! I frowned. That would be a hard gift to live with but it made a damn good weapon. What if I could have her take Layla’s memory? Could I trust that Layla wouldn’t turn evil again? That she wouldn’t remember her dark motives. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind for later. I was Alpha now, my pack needed me. We were a small, all female pack who barely knew each other, but I was Alpha and this was my new family. Mine to protect. Mine. I could talk to any of them without words. I could control them, ease their fears. I felt all nine of them, all strong females and I wished I had Tara in the pack, so that I could communicate with her too.

I turned around and met each woman’s gaze, slowly walking to each one and asking them the same question.

‘Changed or born?’ I asked them.

‘Changed,’ one with brown curly hair said.

‘Gift?’ I prompted.

She smiled. ‘I don’t feel pain.’

My eyes widened in shock as I nodded, making a mental note. She would be next to go into the torture chamber.

After going around to each girl, I found out in the end that there were only four changed females including myself.  The memory taker whose name was Karissa, the girl who didn’t feel pain was Kylee and then Amanda who could heat her hands to 400 degrees. I had the makings of a fine escape plan.

I felt empty without Kai’s voice here to guide me. His energy was frantic, I could feel his desperation, but I couldn’t communicate with him, no matter how hard I tried. So, I took a deep breath and tried to focus on getting us out of here.

I glanced over at Sadie. ‘Okay, now tell me how this place works.’

She met my eyes. ‘Every couple of days they come grab one of us to torture. They will open the cage and take out Tara and then shove the new one in. There will be about six vampires that do the switch. Tara will be too weak to fight.’

Shit. They really had this planned out. They were playing on our humanity, our pack mentality and togetherness. An idea struck me and I grinned. Sadie gave me a look that said she thought I was crazy.

I looked at the blonde dominant one that was carrying Layla’s baby. Her name was Chelsea. If they wanted to hurt one of ours, I would hurt one of theirs.

Just then, the door opened quickly and five vampires with silver bullet guns walked in and surrounded me.

“Your room is ready,” one of them said to me, sneering.

Chelsea and Sadie stood and snarled at the vampires.

I couldn’t fight or they would hurt Tara. Being in this position, having to act weak and let them take me was one of the hardest things I had ever done.

The two vampires nearest me grabbed my upper biceps and Sadie growled again.

‘No!’ I told her and let Alpha power ooze from my command.

She looked down at her feet.

I looked at my pack; they looked renewed with hope and ready for a fight. ‘You’re all my pack now. I will take care of you and I will get us out of here. Sadie is in charge while I’m gone.’

The girls nodded. Then the vampires tightened their grip on my arms, completely unaware that I could communicate to the girls without speaking, and forced me to walk out of the room. They reeked of heroin. The metallic scent hit the back of my throat and nearly made me gag. I wanted to let the Devi loose and rage on these bloodsuckers so bad but I calmed myself. I loved Tara and Max and everyone else who would be affected if Tara was killed. I had to be patient and do this the right way.

They walked me down the cement hall as I tried to look for any indication of where we were. It looked like a few signs had been spray painted over. They had been planning this a while. I sighed. God, I missed Kai. Although I drew strength from my newly formed pack, it felt wrong not to be in the same pack as your mate. As we passed a door, a scent pulled at my attention. Tara? I inhaled deeper. Yes, Tara! Two doors down from where I smelled her, the bloodsuckers stopped and banged on another steel door.

It slowly opened to reveal a tall female vampire who wore a starched white lab coat. Her hair was jet black and cropped short, and her face held no mercy. She pinned me with her evil eyes and nodded her head to the vampires holding me. As I was led inside, I glanced around the huge room and my eyes fell on a medieval-looking stand-up steel cage with straps that bolted it to the wall. Oh, shit. Everything in me wanted to shift into my wolf form and run the hell away from here. Then my eyes flicked to a large medical examination table on the far wall. Resting on a side table, were some surgical instruments, an ultrasound machine and the monitor that showed Tara. I knew what this room was. It was where they implanted Chelsea, I was sure of it. I could smell her all over it. Oh God. I squinted at the monitor showing Tara. The black and white screen showed her lying there limply, barely breathing. The feelings I was having were scaring me. I wanted to murder every single last one of these bastards for what they had done to her, to all of us. I wanted to burn this entire place to the ground for the way they were playing us off of each other. I didn’t feel human in that moment, I felt like a monster. A very powerful, pissed off monster hell-bent on revenge.

The doctor strode across the room and unfastened some buckles, opening the cage. “Be a good girl,” she told me and gestured that I walk into the cage. I took a few deep breaths, fighting my instinct, pushing my wolf down, pushing the Devi down, and crossed the large room walking over to the cage. The two male vampires strapped me inside of the cage, leaving the door open. One of them grazed my boob as he strapped me down and then smiled, giving me a lusty look. I let a growl rumble deep and long in my chest, glaring at him with yellow eyes. The Devi’s deadly power was bubbling just beneath the surface of my skin, I could bring this entire building down on us if I chose to. It was a scary thought and I was feeling less and less in control by the minute.

The boob grazer looked at the doctor and gestured to me. “Queen Layla wants to know if she can be used as an incubator as well?”

My food threatened to come up. No. No. No.

The doctor seemed to consider it, pressing one red manicured finger to her chin.

Oh God. If Gretchen was right, then I was pregnant. If the vampires found out, they would abort my baby. I tried not to whimper and suddenly felt Kai’s energy, far away, weak but frantic. I felt him. I needed him.

The doctor shook her head. “Too risky. What if getting her pregnant freezes the fertility powers of her blood? No. Tell Queen Layla to get more female werewolves.”

The breath I had been holding whooshed out of me. I could tell my new pack was restless worrying about me.

‘I’m fine,’ I sent to them and their energy settled slowly.

Then, the doctor reached into her pocket and produced a thin silver chain, touching it to my skin, I glared at her.

She smiled, flashing her pointed canines.

“Incredible,” she stated when she saw that I did not react to the silver.

I didn’t smell heroin on her but her eyes were black as night and gave me the creeps.

“Do you know why silver harms werewolves?” she asked me as she fiddled with a plastic IV tube.

What the hell, was this class time? I was about to get a lecture on werewolves and silver? Jesus. I shook my head. I was pretty sure pissing this woman off was a bad idea so I would play along.

“In human studies, microscopic amounts of liquid silver are beneficial in killing viruses. So when used on a werewolf, it begins to kill the lycanthrope virus. Since the lycanthrope virus has already killed the human, once you kill the virus, there is nothing left. Dead as a doornail,” she said, cheerily.

I glared. “Is that why silver stakes also kill vampires?”

She grabbed my arm hard, letting her nails cut into my skin and secured a bloodletting cuff over my upper arm. “Enough chit chat.” She pulled the top of the cage over me, folding me inside like an iron sandwich.

Gracefully walking over to the medical table she tapped the monitor that showed Tara. “I heard you already know what this is, so no funny business.” Her voice held the heavy sound of a threat.

The vampires crossed the room and opened the door as she followed them out, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Trapped

AHHH! I was so screwed. Pulling against the buckles, I looked down to assess the situation. My left hand was free but my right arm was strapped down and inside this blood cuff. Both of my legs were strapped down as well, and the space in the cage was so tight, it brushed the tip of my nose. I felt like Hannibal Lecter stuck in this thing!

Okay, breathe. Think. Any witch spells involving opening a cage? Before I could finish that thought, the big metal door opened again and Layla and a male and female vampire couple strode in. They were all dressed like they were going to the opera.

What the hell did she want?

“This is her. Our little money maker.”

Layla introduced me with a delighted tone in her voice. I wanted to strangle that happy sound right out of her throat and I couldn’t stop the growl escaping my chest.

The male vampire was freakishly tall as he walked closer and appraised me. “After Sarah drinks the blood, do I have to?” he asked Layla.

Layla gave a sly grin. “No need. You just take a little drink from Sarah, like you would during your love making. That’s enough to do the trick.”

Gross! I gagged and Layla cut me a look that gave me chills. Crossing the room, she went to the monitor and pushed a button. NO! Tara’s bloody murder scream filled the room. Shit. This was going to kill her if they didn’t switch her out soon. Too much silver. I needed to be on my best behavior so they didn’t hurt her anymore.

“No, stop! I’m sorry,” I told Layla. It killed me to be begging her but I would do anything for Tara or any of my other wolves.

Sarah didn’t seem fazed by Tara’s screams. She looked at me. “How many incubators do you have?”

Layla strode across to the cage I was held in and began to open a small six-inch, cut-out access panel in the door. I hadn’t noticed it before. Reaching in, she grabbed the blood bag that hung from the cuff in my arm, detaching it and pinching my IV shut with a clip. Then she clicked on a new bag and opened the IV tubing. How much blood could I afford to lose? I needed to distract her so she would leave the small door open. Sorry, Tara. One more time.

“We have about ten, with more on the way,” Layla told them.

Before she could close the access panel and turn away from me, I used the close proximity to spit in her face, making her mouth drop open in shock. Anger lit up her features and she looked like a demon, eyes red, hell-bent on murder. Her fist snaked out and she punched the cage hard, denting it near my face. Then she reached up and wiped her face clean of my spit and walked over to the monitor. The vampire couple looked at me with alarm.

“Make her hurt,” Layla said into the monitor. Oh God. I wished I could plug my ears.

Tara’s wails cut right into my heart but it had worked, she left the small access door to the cage open. After a minute or so of Tara screaming, she passed out, going limp on the screen. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I kept saying to myself, to Tara.

“Before we arrange payment, can we see the successful result?” Sarah asked Layla.

Layla flicked her eyes to me, still blazing with anger then she pulled out a walkie talkie. “Bring in my doggy,” she said, shooting me a death glare.

I suppressed a growl at the use of her word doggy.

‘Sadie, they are coming for Chelsea. I am strapped inside an iron cage but I distracted Layla and she left a small access panel open.’

‘How did you distract her?’ Sadie asked me.

‘I spit in her face,’ I admitted.

‘I like you more and more each day. They’re here,’ Sadie commented.

I searched for Chelsea’s pack bond, flowing strong within me and focused on communicating with her. As an Alpha, I could communicate with anyone in the pack, even in human form. It was a new sensation. ‘Let them take you. Don’t fight. Tara can’t take any more silver,’ I told her. God, I wished Tara was pack and I could talk to her and tell her she wasn’t alone. She had Kai, he was still her Alpha, at least one of us had Kai. I tried not to dwell on the bad shit.

Footsteps in the hallway outside got closer, and I watched Layla across the room as she pulled out the sonogram machine. Oh my God. I was going to see it. The … thing. I couldn’t call it a baby. I couldn’t.

The door opened and the doctor brought Chelsea in. Her hair hung limply around her pale face. She looked up at me and her eyes widened in fear when she saw me in the cage.

‘I’m here for you. You’re not alone and I’m getting us out,’ I told her firmly.

She nodded slightly and lay down on the small examination table. She stared at the ceiling, teeth gritting as the doctor pulled up her white scrub top and squirted jelly on her stomach. Now that her shirt was up, I saw that her belly was quite large for only being a month or so pregnant. How long ago had she been captured?

“How far along is she?” Sarah asked eyeing the baby bump with longing.

“She was inseminated about four weeks ago but the fetus is four months along. The baby seems to grow faster than human babies do. We think it’s because they are housed inside of the werewolves. They really are perfect hosts. The humans we originally tried all died. Too weak.”

Jesus Christ. I pulled against my bindings. If this thing was sucking our blood, would it be some kind of werewolf-vampire hybrid? It took everything in me not to vomit. Hosts? Like a parasite. Humans had died over this. My head was reeling.

The doctor pressed the wand to Chelsea’s large belly and I held my breath. I didn’t know what to think, what to prepare for. The profile of a baby came into view but I could immediately see something was wrong. The head was misshapen, more coned at the top and the nose was nearly missing. My eyes widened in horror as the doctor scanned the chest and I saw that no heart flickered. It was dead. Then, suddenly, it moved, jerky and animalistic.

“Like us, they do not breathe or have heart beats. But the fetus is growing in size, and we think the head and nose will normalize during the final month. It’s a success!” Layla clasped her hands and the couple seemed delighted.

The head and nose will normalize? Bullshit. Seriously? You were excited about a non-breathing, no-heart-beating thing with no nose and a cone head?

I could feel Chelsea’s depression settle over the pack. She was desperate to get out of this situation. She didn’t know Tara and although she cared for another female werewolf, she wanted the hell out of here no matter the cost. She wanted this thing out of her. She was a loose cannon and I understood why. She felt like a piece of meat. Carrying this unnatural thing inside of her was making her crazy. Being Alpha, I was privy to all of her thoughts.

‘It’s going to be okay, I will get you out of here. I will fix this, I have a damn good plan.’ I sent waves of calm through my Alpha bond to her. Okay, damn good plan may have been over selling it a bit, but it was the only plan I had.

Her eyes met mine and I saw a fierceness in them that told me that if I didn’t get us out of here soon, she was going to lose it and put all of us in jeopardy. She was even strongly considering suicide. Anything to get her out of this situation.

“Will the baby grow old or stay a baby forever?” Sarah asked, her high-pitched, eager vampire voice made me want to dropkick her in the teeth.

I had a god-awful feeling that the baby hadn’t been able to grow in Layla’s belly before because vampires don’t age. My theory was that by using werewolves to incubate and carry them, they were some type of vampire-werewolf hybrid. If that was even possible.

The doctor met my eyes and seemed to consider if she should comment.

Layla smiled as the doctor put an arm around Sarah. “We aren’t sure, but we suspect that if the baby can grow inside of the werewolf carrier then it may continue to need werewolf blood for feedings to continue to grow.”

My stomach dropped. Oh God no. No. This was beyond evil. There was no way they were feeding off of us! Tears rolled down my cheeks.

‘Kai, I need you. I can’t do this.’ This would never stop; we would be hunted forever. I felt Kai’s pull on my energy trying to find me, to communicate with me but I couldn’t hear him.

The doctor wiped Chelsea’s belly clean and then grabbed her by the arm pits and hauled her up, dragging her out of the room.

Layla strode over to the table and grabbed the blood pouch that she had taken from my arm and enclosed it in a nice silver case, handing it to Sarah.

“We will wire the money.” The woman kissed each side of Layla’s cheek.

Layla waved her hand like she didn’t care about the money. “Follow me to the procedure room. You will need to stay overnight. In the morning, we will implant the werewolf of your choosing.”

Oh God. Not another one. I had to get us out of here now! Layla winked at me before slamming the door and taking her entourage with her. Oh my God, I was so tired. It must be two in the morning and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.

Sadie spoke to me frantically.

‘They are here to take the next girl and switch out for Tara.’

‘Make sure they take Kylee!’ I told her.

I searched for Kylee within the pack bonds. She wasn’t afraid. Not feeling pain had given her a courageous edge. I closed my eyes and grabbed the link that bound us. I could feel her fighting. She had punched one of the vampires. They slammed her against the wall and she cried out in fake pain.

‘They’re taking me,’ she told me.

‘Good.’ This plan had to work. It had to.

‘You do realize that just because she can’t feel pain, doesn’t mean she won’t die of silver poisoning, right?’ Sadie told me.

I sighed. ‘I know. I won’t let that happen.’

There was silence for a moment. ‘Sadie, they are coming to take another girl for implantation in the morning. We need to get out tonight. Stay awake.’

I felt Sadie’s apprehension at my news. ‘Okay, we’ll be ready.’

Werewolves slept at night like normal people. We would be a weak and tired bunch by the time we got out of here, but it was the only way. Now, I just needed to get out of this cage. Once I had word that Tara was free of the torture chamber, I could go to work on getting us out of here.

‘Sadie, tell Tara that Max loves her. He wanted to tell her but didn’t get the chance,’ I added.

I felt fear roll through Sadie. ‘You don’t think we will get out of here.’

‘No, I just want her to know. To give her hope.’ Right? I looked down at my arm, which was slowly dripping blood into the bag. How much blood could I afford to lose? Would it start to weaken my power? Blood. Blood! A light bulb went off. I was an Alpha now and Alpha blood was the most powerful for spell casting. I grinned.

‘I have a crazy idea,’ I told Sadie.

‘Good, I’m down for crazy right now,’ she replied.

‘Take Chelsea hostage. Make a weapon and threaten to bash her belly in with it. Anything to create a distraction.’

‘Wow, you really weren’t kidding when you said crazy. What if they hurt Kylee?’ she replied.

My inner wolf didn’t like her challenging my order. But an Alpha did what was good for the whole of a pack, not just one, and Chelsea more than anyone, would understand. She wouldn’t want any other girls to get pregnant. ‘Then you hurt Chelsea. Just enough to get their attention.’

‘Shit,’ Sadie said.

Shit was right. It was risky but needed to be done. We couldn’t cower anymore and let them play us against each other.

‘Chelsea, I promise I wouldn’t do something if it weren’t for the good of the pack,’ I told her.

I felt her nerves run through the pack bond. She had just been taken back to the room of girls and seeing the freaky baby again had affected her. She wanted it out. Now.

‘What’s going on?’ Chelsea asked.

‘I am alone in the room now and I have a way out of the cage. I need a distraction so I can free Kylee and get us all out of here. I ordered Sadie to use you as a hostage. To hurt you to send them a message.’

At first I got nothing from her. Blank. No feelings. Then Acceptance. Pride. Trust.

‘It’s a good idea. Let’s do it,’ she said.

Something settled inside of me. These girls, though I barely knew them, were my pack now. Family. I had to get us all out of here. Using my free left hand, I pulled a few hairs from my head. Wincing, I detached the blood bag from my IV cuff, dropping it to the floor. Then I let the tubing drip blood into my open left hand and saturate the hairs there. Next, I closed the clamp, pinching the IV shut.

Making a fist with my left hand, I squeezed the blood and hair together.

I took a few deep breaths, centering myself and closing my eyes, calling on my magic. “Blood of an Alpha, I give thee. Remove all obstacles that would block my path. I am not lost, I am not hidden. Let this blood and hair be a beacon in the night! All who seek shall find me now!” I called out and opened my eyes. It didn’t rhyme but mist saturated the entire room and my skin tingled in response to the spell. I smiled and knew without a doubt that Kai and Sylvia could find me now.

I stuck my blood and hair covered hand out of the small access panel that Layla left open and began to inspect the lock. It was a keyed lock and I hadn’t even noticed the doctor locking it before, so who knew where the key was. I should have paid better attention! I yanked at it hard and produced nothing but a broken nail. The U-shaped loop that the lock was threaded through looked more fragile than the lock itself. Slowly, I began to twist hard to the left and right and saw that the loop was bending. Yes! I began to chant a spell for physical strength, and I felt the Devi rise inside of me, finally ready to end this all. “Blood and Hairs, Strength over fears. Blood and hairs, strength over fears!” Mist covered the lock.

Pain shot through the pack bond. Sadie!

‘What’s going on?’ I had been so focused on the spell casting, I hadn’t paid attention to the diversion. All of a sudden the monitor flared to life and Kylee screamed.

‘These bastards shot me!’ Sadie told me, panting.

‘Hurt Chelsea!’ I ordered. It felt wrong but it was our only hand to play.

I felt Chelsea’s pain shoot through the pack bond as my order was carried out.

Then I yanked the lock, hard. Snap! The lock popped off and I threw it to the ground with a satisfying thunk.

After opening the large cage door confining me, I reached down and began to undo the bindings holding me, just as I heard the door to my room begin to scrape open. No! Releasing the last binding holding my leg and ripping off the arm cuff, I threw myself at the person entering the room with vampire speed. It was the doctor and she had a big, thick metal syringe on her tray. I grabbed it and shoved the point in her chest. Then I spun and kicked it hard with my foot, sending it through her chest as she puffed to ash.

‘It’s a standoff. I’m bleeding pretty bad. Chelsea and Kylee are getting hurt. What do I do?’ Sadie asked weakly.

‘I’m almost to Kylee. Make them know you are serious! You will kill that thing growing inside her belly if you have to,’ I infused the power of the Alpha.

I felt Chelsea double over in pain as I banged on the door to Kylee’s room.

“Queen Layla needs you in the girls’ room!” I shouted, disguising my voice. The door opened and I pushed it back hard, smashing the vampire between the door and the wall.

I held my Alpha blood covered hand over his face. “Sleep,” I whispered, dousing him with magic mist and he crumpled. Witch perk.

The other vampire, who was controlling the torture cage, pushed a button and hundreds of needles pushed into Kylee’s skin. She was naked and lying face down. These bastards were going to die. I reached out and picked up a metal scalpel from a table of torture tools just as the vampire threw himself at me. Pivoting, I blocked his advances easily and kicked him backward, making him stumble to keep upright. He grinned and his fangs lengthened as he jumped up in the air and did a weird cartwheel thing, coming down on my shoulder and knocking the scalpel out of my hands. Ow. Shit! Enough of this human body, I needed my wolf. I tore off my shirt as the vampire looked at my chest distractedly. Then I shifted instantly to my wolf and kicked out of my pants. Lunging, I went for his throat and took him down to the ground, shaking him like a dog shakes a toy. With one quick jerk of my muzzle, I severed his head in my strong jaw. That Alpha power and strength spell had temporarily done something to me.

His vampire ash coated my wolf tongue. Yuck. But he deserved it. Hearing Kylee whimper, brought my attention to her.

“The silver, I can’t breathe very well,” she mumbled through the cage.

Shifting to my human form, I stood and banged on the top of the plexi-glass cage, as a large crack ran down the middle. This cage wasn’t strong and it looked poorly constructed. I gripped the lid in my hands and gave a big jerk upward as I ripped it from its hinges. The needles attached to the underside went flying with it, scattering the ground. Holy shit. This must be how Anna felt.

Kylee was weak and could barely push herself up, so I helped pull her to a standing position and threw a lab coat over her. After quickly getting dressed myself, I dodged the scattered needles and walked her down the hall, letting her lean on me. At the end of the hall, I saw Layla in the doorway to the girls’ room. Five other vampires stood behind her in a semi-circle and they were completely unaware of our presence.

I turned to Kylee. ‘You’re too weak to fight.  Go Hide,’ I commanded.  She didn’t argue, just limped off in the opposite direction, the silver slowing her movements.

‘Kylee is free. Attack! Fight for your lives,’ I sent to my pack. They had nothing on us now, war had officially begun.

My words were met with the sound of popping bones and growls just beyond the door and my inner wolf was satisfied.

I decided it was time to let the Devi loose, fully, it was now or never. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. I had no ties to Kai, no pack members being held captive, it was just me and Layla.

“Layla!” I screamed and the sound of my voice shocked me. It wasn’t me. It was something foreign. The Devi.

Layla slowly spun and for once, I saw fear flash in her eyes as the vampires parted to let her fully see me standing in the hallway, uncaged.

She reached back and grabbed Chelsea’s newly-shifted wolf by the neck skin and took off running with her down a side hall way.

Dammit! Beyond the door, I met Sadie’s eyes as she lunged for a vampire in the doorway.

‘Go!’ she told me. ‘I got this.’ A vampire raised his hand and shot Sadie in the abdomen but then one of my wolves leapt on him, knocking him back as they attacked him in typical wolf-pack fashion.

‘Kai told Tara your spell worked. They are on their way,’ Sadie told me.

I had forgotten Tara was still in Kai’s pack. Good. Help was on the way. I had to go. This was it, my moment. I bolted super-fast down the hallway Layla had gone and saw a door at the end of the hallway about to close. A glowing EXIT sign hung above it and I ran for it, jerking it open to see Layla was halfway across the lawn with Chelsea squirming in her arms. A helicopter whirled to life twenty paces away and she was trying to make a run for it.

Taking a deep breath, I thrust my arms out. “Stop!” I roared with every ounce of magic I could muster. Prudence wasn’t here, it was just me and Layla. Alek’s words of encouragement came to me then as a huge blanket of mist saturated Layla, reaching out like octopus tentacles and pinning her to the spot she stood. I knew that if Kai were here, he would tell me my eyes were green. This wasn’t me, it was her, the Devi. I didn’t know this magic; it was old magic.

Layla dropped Chelsea who ran off across the lawn and back into the building to help the girls. From my peripheral vision, I could see a bunch of cars and trucks driving up the road. Then I felt him. Kai. He was here. I smiled but didn’t dare take my eyes off of Layla. Vampires were pouring out of the doors from behind me, and around the sides of the building, but I used my magic to conjure up a magical wall stopping them.

“You’ve done too much damage for me to let you live. You know that, right?” my Devi voice told Layla.

She glared at me and dug her heels into the ground, pushing off and flying at me to tackle me, breaking my tendrils of magic. I was ready. Squatting down, I put both hands out so when she put her arms around my mid-section taking me down, I had a good grip on her neck. As we tumbled and rolled on the lawn, I squeezed her neck like a sponge. She kicked and struggled as I stood holding her neck in my strong arms and watching her lash out like a fish on a hook.

“Aurora, look out!” I heard Kai scream from far away, just as I felt a dozen bullets sink into my back. Oh shit. Not again. I struggled to breathe as I fell to the ground and turned to see Sylvia running towards me, hands outstretched, mist flying from them and saturating the shooter, a tall, sleek vampire who had broken through my magical wall.

Releasing Layla, a cough rattled my chest as blood came out of my mouth and into my hands. But then, a tingling sensation covered my entire back like pins and needles and the excruciating pain was suddenly gone. I felt the bullets fall out of my back and then the skin healed instantly as if by magic. What the hell? Sylvia collapsed on the lawn next to me and I took a deep breath, no rattling. It was like I had never been shot. What the hell had Sylvia done for me? No! Layla was running for the helicopter as Kai’s pack fought the vampires to keep them from getting to me. Too much was going on and I couldn’t process it.

“Sylvia!” Blood dripped from her mouth and she was slumped over with bullets in her back. I reached behind me, no blood, no bullets. Sylvia was dead. I knew it. Oh my God. She had asked me outside the barn if I trusted her. This was it. This was what she did. Some kind of sacrifice spell. My chest heaved, and all I saw was red. As my fists balled at my sides, I screamed. I screamed so freaking loud the ground rumbled beneath me.

Layla was limping towards the helicopter and I turned to Kai who was running over to me. He recoiled suddenly, looking scared as I knelt down to pick up a broken branch with a sharp tip. I ran so fast after Layla, I think it could have been categorized as flying. I had never been so enraged in all my life. Sylvia was my friend, my mentor, my second mother. When I was a few feet from Layla, I leapt into the air and came down on her back, shoving the stick through her chest, then I turned her around to face me. “That was for Devon!” I roared as the trees shook with my magic. Leaves rattling around me.

“You are a cancer upon the earth.” I held her head in my hands, as the helicopter blades whirled above me, making my hair whip around as Layla gaped at me with an open mouth and one hand clutching the stick in her chest. Her skin was turning grey, but it wasn’t enough to kill her. I knew that. The Devi and I had merged into one, to end her for good.

“This is for Sylvia.” I grabbed her by the waist and thrust her up into the helicopter blades as they cut into her neck and ripped her head clean off of her body. Dropping her on the ground, I stared at her headless corpse, and for a second nothing happened. I actually had a fear that her head could somehow be reattached. But then the grey color of her skin turned black and she crumbled into ash.

I was covered in blood, mine and hers. Spinning around in shock, I saw that Kai and the pack were taking out all of her vampires. I slowly walked forward a few feet and then fell to my knees.

“Balance,” I whispered.

‘Layla is dead. It’s safe.’ I told my all female pack as the adrenaline rush made my hands shake. I did it. I actually killed Layla. Something that started so long ago had ended. Kai and I would never have been able to have true happiness as long as she hunted for my blood, for my child’s blood.

The sound of spinning wheels behind me forced me to turn. Coming from the thick forest, was a group of black quads driving out of the trees. RAIDOS. The black army fatigues they wore brought only bad memories.

When I saw what was in their hands my stomach dropped. No!

‘Get out! Get out of the building!’ I frantically sifted through the pack bonds to see if anyone else was left inside. Spinning around, I glancing at the scene before me. Sylvia dead on the lawn, Kai, Max, and the others locked in battle with the vampires that kept spilling out the open facility door. Most of my female wolves were fighting with them.

I quickly searched my pack bonds again; Chelsea was still inside. One of the vampires caught up with her and was fighting her in a small utility room.

Sadie was still inside, too, and I couldn’t reach her. She was unconscious inside the room. NO!! I sensed Karissa was the only one left inside with her. That was three of my wolves inside the building. Karissa’s wolf nudged Sadie to try to wake her.

‘Shift and get her out now! They are going to bomb the building,’ I roared at Karissa with Alpha power.

‘No, I’ll wipe her memory if I do!’ Karissa whined.

Shit. She was right, she would have to shift to human form to carry an unconscious Sadie. ‘It won’t matter if you’re both dead! Pick her up and run!’ I commanded it. I slammed Alpha power over her body. Forcing her to shift. Her bones cracked as her human form took shape. She hadn’t been human in so long she almost forgot what it was like.

A clicking noise forced me to turn around as RAIDOS released the RPG launcher at the building and it felt like time stopped.  It sailed through the air and when it hit, it exploded, sending glass everywhere and the building burst into flames. My body hit the ground with the force of the blast and I was stunned into silence by the ringing in my ears.

Fumbling, I stood and ran at the side door. “No! Sadie!” I screamed as tears ran down my face.

Kai was shirtless and bleeding as he ran up behind me, grabbing me by the waist and stopping me.

“No, let me go! My pack!” I wailed as Kai pinned me down.

Earl and the militia took off after RAIDOS, pushing them back into the thick trees, guns snapping out bullets around me. This is what it must be like to be in a war. So much death and destruction you didn’t even know where to look.

Suddenly, I felt all of the fight go out of me. I had used too much power to kill Layla, Sylvia’s death, forcing Karissa to shift, it all had drained me. I prepared for that feeling; that awful feeling you get when someone in your pack dies. It’s like having an organ cut out. I had felt it with Devon and never wanted to feel it again. The pain hit me, Chelsea; she was dead, her essence ripped from the pack. Oh God, as an Alpha it hurt so much more. She burned alive, taking the baby with her and I burned too. My skin, my hair; it tingled with pain as my heart ached from the sudden loss of her.

“No!” I screamed as Kai held me tightly. Even though he held me close, he felt so far. I needed to be pack with him again, to feel him inside my head. I braced myself for the loss of Sadie and Karissa. The pain of losing three wolves might kill me.

But it didn’t come. A banging noise drew my attention to the side of the collapsed building. Karissa was naked, in human form, carrying an unconscious Sadie in her arms. They were covered in black soot and Karissa’s leg bled freely. She coughed as she fell to the ground, letting Sadie spill out of her arms.

I choked on a sob as I ran over to them and Karissa quickly backed up. “Don’t touch me!” she shouted as Kai moved to give her a shirt.

He froze, arms out. Brett skidded to a halt at Sadie’s feet and picked her head up, slapping her face gently. She was breathing steadily but out cold.

Karissa turned and met my eyes. “Her life is ruined. I’m so sorry.” Tears spilled over onto her cheeks.

Brett looked at me in confusion.

“You did as I asked. If you didn’t, she would be dead. I am the Alpha and I gave an order. You saved her life.”

Poor thing, she would never forgive me for this; for the responsibility of taking Sadie’s memory. There wasn’t any other way. Brett put his hand out to shake hers. “Thank you for saving her.”

“Don’t touch me,” Karissa cried and began shifting to her wolf.

“What’s going on?” Kai roared picking up on the unusual situation. It was so weird not to be able to communicate with Kai in my head, even though he was right beside me. He felt so far.

I cleared my throat and held my head high. I would not let Karissa feel bad for this. She did the right thing. I would rather be alive with no memories of my past than dead. “Karissa has a unique gift. When in human form, she wipes a person’s entire memories if she touches them.”

I braced myself for the bitchfest from Brett. He stared off into the woods for a long moment and then at Karissa’s wolf. “We will make new memories. We can do that, because of you. Thank you,” he said.

Karissa wined and rolled over to show her belly as Brett looked at me.

“She can’t use her gift in wolf form,” I told him.

Brett smiled and rubbed her belly. Just like that, in a wolf’s way all was forgiven.

I turned to survey the damage. RAIDOS had left. The building was completely engulfed in flames. Vampires’ ashes littered the ground. Sylvia was dead. My hands were shaking and suddenly Kai got in my line of sight.

“Layla’s dead,” he said. “You did it.”

He cradled my face in his strong hands and I whimpered. I had so much shame. I went rogue. I left him, my mate, my husband. How selfish.

“I’m sorry,” I said looking down, being submissive.

Then he kissed me passionately. “I know, and you’re on house arrest for the rest of your existence,” he told me.

I laughed as I leaned into him, smelling his unique scent. Home. The scent spell must have broken when Sylvia … No.

Suddenly, Sadie’s eyes flew open as she coughed deeply. Brett knelt and grabbed her face bringing it closer to his. “Thank God!” he shouted.

She looked at him confused but smiled. “Hey, you’re cute.”

We all laughed. The laugh turned into a sharp pain in my chest. Ahh. I massaged it as my female wolves crept towards me in wolf form. Alpha.

Kai frowned. “You okay?”

I felt the Devi slither inside of me. ‘Goodbye, Aurora. Thank you.’ Her voice echoed in my head. No!

I gasped as a pain shot up from my groin into my head and forced me to my knees, panting.

“Aurora!” Kai knelt with me. My wolves crept closer, whining.

“It’s happening. The Devi,” I whispered to him as my head began to throb. Wincing, I grabbed my temples.

Kai went pale. That was hard for an Indian to do.

“No. No. No. No,” he said frantically. As if saying it would make it so.

I had no more energy to fight, so I collapsed into his open arms as he slowly sat down with me draped in his lap.

As he leaned over me, shock marred his face and I reached up and felt his scruffy beard. “Do you know how much I love you? You are everything to me. My favorite part about this life,” I told him, breathlessly. It was getting hard to breathe, to think.

Kai looked defeated. He leaned over and pressed his full lips to my forehead. “I wish I had met you three hundred years ago. Infinity wouldn’t be enough time with you.”

I smiled as tears rolled down my cheeks and cried out as a sharp pain stabbed my heart. Kai stroked my face. “But you’re not going anywhere.” Alpha power oozed from his voice and saturated my body. He stared into my eyes. Challenge. My wolf stirred as he locked on my gaze, growling.

“Do you know why I assess pack rank with a staring contest?” Kai asked.

I couldn’t see anymore. A bright light had taken over my vision and called to me. I reached out to touch it. But Kai’s voice held me earthbound.

“Because being dominant isn’t always about physical strength. It’s about mental and spiritual strength as well. You have it! More than Max, more than me! You are strong and you can fight the Devi! Stay with me and fight!” he screamed, shaking my shoulders. But the light was warm and so inviting, I felt myself floating away.

Suddenly, a slice on my arm made me falter. I stopped floating and looked back at my body lying on Kai’s lap. My female wolves lay around me, whining as Kai touched his bleeding arm to mine. “Blood of my blood, Alpha,” he said and all of a sudden a rush of energy assaulted my body. I felt them, the entire pack. Portland, Mount Hood, and my girls. Emma, Trent, Diya, Max, Sadie, Kai, Isabelle, Karissa, little Avery. Over a hundred of them. All chanting Alpha, Alpha, giving me their strength.

I looked down my glowing light body, my soul, hovering just above my earthly body. Suddenly, the Devi stepped out of my soul body and floated towards the bright light. Our hands were stuck holding each other’s and as she floated higher, she took me with her.  She frowned as she looked back at our hands, fingers interlaced, I tried but couldn’t shake them free. The warm and loving light was so inviting. I pulled my arm but she winced in pain. We were stuck, she was trying her best to detach but we were stuck.

“You’re having twins.” The Devi let her words float on the wind. That realization knocked into me. I was pregnant! I had a purpose, an earthly purpose. I needed to stay. Suddenly, walking out of the bright light, was Nahuel. His glowing light body radiated orange and yellow. He nodded at the Devi who nodded back and took his hand. Nahuel pulled the Devi hard and I cried out in pain.

“I need you,” Kai whispered to my earthly body. I saw all of the thin wisps of energy, which was my pack, floating in the air all around me, tying me to them. Grabbing them until my hand was full of pulsing energy, I pulled them taut. I felt the pack giving me their strength, calling me back to my body. Alpha, Alpha, Alpha. Grabbing the pack bonds in my right hand, I yanked hard and all of a sudden, a ripping sensation flared in my left hand and I was free of the Devi and falling back into my body. My last visual was of Nahuel smiling down on me.

My two halves slammed together as my eyes flew open and I sat up quickly gasping for air. Holy shit. Kai’s face was inches from mine. Yellow eyes glaring at me. I looked down at my legs, my belly, my hands. My body. Me. Just me. No Devi.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Kai roared.

I coughed. “Deal.” That was the most intense experience of my life.

“You’re tough as nails, sweetheart,” Max told me as he came into view.

I turned to him and saw Tara was in his arms. Then I turned to look at Sadie smiling shyly with Brett. We were going to be okay, we were all going to be okay.

Turning to Kai, his warm chestnut eyes roamed over me.

“We’re having twins,” I exclaimed. I should have known that I would give birth to the next Matefinder and her male protector. His eyes widened and a huge, sexy grin lit up his face.

“I love you,” he said and pulled me in for a deep, passionate kiss. His lips pressed on mine with a hunger that I matched after being without him for the last twenty-four hours. I let my hands roam over his biceps and down his back. Breathing in again, letting his scent wash over me. Mate.

‘I love you, too,’ I replied, happy to have our mate bond and pack bond repaired. I sighed. We did it. Against all odds, Kai and I got our happy ending.

But then the limp, maroon-haired figure lumped in the grass caught my attention. Sylvia. Oh God. Chelsea. Safe Haven. Sadie’s memory. This happiness of mine came with a cost and I would never forget it.

Kai took my chin in his hands and tilted my face up to his as I met his yellow eyes.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said with certainty and touched my bangs, pulling them in front of my face. Blonde. They were blonde again.

I nodded. I would make sure that all of the sacrifices were not in vain. I had rid the world of Layla and her sick plans. Avery and these twins I was carrying would live in a better world. I would make sure of it.

Epilogue

Two years later

“Where are my black heels?” I asked Kai while Jaxon and Anya tore through the house chasing each other and just managing to not trip over things or break stuff. I couldn’t believe the twins were a year old already. It had all been a blur of sleep deprivation, only showering once every three days and lots of poopy diapers. Having twins was no joke, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But it was getting easier now that they slept through the night and God, they were cute. Light caramel skin, unruly mops of golden brown hair, and my blue eyes. A perfect mix of Kai and I. Jaxon was such a goofball with a dominating personality already. He would shift into his wolf pup form and bite his sister’s tail. Anya, she was a spitfire; we were in trouble when she was older. She was a ball of personality and sass. Constantly competing for attention and pushing Jax’s buttons. But at the end of the day, they were best friends. Shared the same crib, ate from the same spoon, and ended every argument with a hug.

Today was a happy day. Jai and Maxine, his mate, were having their mating ceremony. I was still having visions and finding mates but my magic side was different. My power had been cut in half and I no longer had the affinity for healing although some of the magic still lingered. A small scrape or cut could be healed but nothing major. It seemed that when the Devi had left, she had taken her powers with her, which was fine by me. I rubbed my hands along my arms, it felt nice to be in my own skin. Just me. I hadn’t seen Nahuel since that day but a part of me knew he was still around if I needed him.

Kai slipped out of the closet, holding my black heels.

I smiled as I saw him looking at the twins. Jax was yanking on Anya’s pigtail as she shook her head to rid herself of her brother. Kai slowly walked over to me, dropping the black high heels at my feet and taking my face gently in his hands.

“You sure you want to do this with the witches after? We can wait, you might change your mind. We could have one more,” Kai pleaded.

I tried not to growl. Gretchen and the witches were coming to the ceremony and after they were doing the spell to make me permanently infertile. That way, none of Layla’s followers could get any ideas of coming after me. Most of the evil vampires had either been wiped out by the militia or turned to more gentle ways.  Sure there were still pockets of evil but for the most part, it had shut down when Layla died. The government was now funding a voluntary blood feeding program. Any human willing to donate blood would be financially compensated and vampires enrolled in the program got blood delivered to their door in an effort to keep the peace. I wasn’t giving anyone a reason to come after me again and to be honest, two kids was enough for me. What was the saying? Two kids is like ten and three kids is like a hundred. No thank you.

Kai knew all of this. I kissed his soft lips gently and pulled back to meet his eyes.

“I’m done having children. I’m doing this with the witches,” I told him and let the finality run through our mate bond. I felt his disappointment but then acceptance. He was grateful for the two children we had and if he had it his way we would have fifty kids. Hell no. Tara and Max had their mating ceremony and were now pregnant. There would be more than enough little pups running around this mountain. It would be hard to see the witches today and not have Sylvia there but her presence was still with me. She visited me in my dreams often and I was finally at peace with her sacrifice and not seeing her around.

Kai reached out and brushed a chunk of blonde hair behind my ear, then he looked at the twins again. They were jumping on our bed, laughing and falling at the same time. Three jumps and a fall. I had a feeling they could communicate telepathically, like a twin mate bond. They were always doing things in synch without talking.

Kai squeezed my hand and smiled. Anya would be the next Matefinder and Jaxon her protector. The lineage of my gift would live on to give the werewolves a fighting chance in the future. Life was good and although I felt the weight of sadness at losing Sylvia, Chelsea and Devon, it was a happy ending. The human government was pleased with the outcome. We had built my mom a guesthouse in the backyard and had given her house to Alek, his wife, and Jeremy. Emma and Avery switched houses with Diya and Trent and life on our little mountain was damn near perfect.

Jaxon and Anya were both in wolf form. Jax had Anya’s tail in his mouth and she was growling viciously. Kai walked over to the bed and stood over both of them, giving them both the Alpha stare down. Suddenly, they looked up at him and Jaxon dropped her tail and they both went belly up, submissive. I chuckled and took a pillow from the reading chair. Grasping it, I chucked it at Kai’s head causing the twins to roll back over on all fours and yip in the equivalent of werewolf laughter. Kai turned and scooped me up, throwing me over his shoulder and dropping me on the bed as the twins jumped on top of me and I squealed in laughter. Kai lay next to me and looked down at all three of us. His pride and love surged through the mate bond and I smiled.  This was it, this moment right here. I wanted to freeze it in time and keep it forever. It was perfect.

THE END

Thank you all so much for your support and for loving these characters as much as I do. I don’t think this series is truly over, I’m kind of curious what Jaxon and Anya will be up to in twenty years… =) Stay tuned.

Acknowledgments

A big thank you to all of my readers, I love you guys so much! Thank you to Rachel Winn for being my wonderful Beta. Patti Geesey, as always you are a wonderful editor and person. To Mike Witherill, LeAnn Goff and everyone at MJW films for believing in the Matefinder series and optioning it for film. To my family for watching my kids so I could hide in my writer cave and produce this series. Peace and love y'all.

Table of Contents

- A New Era
- Old Friend
- Blood
- Avery
- Permanent
- Witches’ Ball
- Witches’ Wine
- Practice
- Headache
- Sulk
- Meeting
- Mom
- Healing
- Rebel
- Alone
- Water
- Trapped
- Epilogue