Black Rook

Cornerstone Run Trilogy - 1

Kelly Meade

Chapter One

Brynn Atwood observed the entrance to McQueen’s Auction House, as she had done for the past few minutes while she gathered the courage she needed to leave the safety of her rental car. A steady stream of vehicles entered the parking lot and ejected browsers and buyers, all eager to view today’s auction and visit with acquaintances seen only during these once-a-week sales. Not Brynn. She was certainly the only person who’d showed up today intending to prevent a murder.

Walking alone into a town populated with and run by loup garou wasn’t the smartest thing she had ever done in her twenty-four years, but it certainly counted as the bravest. If she managed to achieve her goal, even her father would have to admit to her courage and to the validity of her visions. He didn’t trust in her seer ability, nor did he believe that her vision of him being murdered by a loup garou would come true.

“Surely you know I would never put myself into a situation that would result in such a calamitous outcome,” her father, Archimedes Atwood, had said the previous day. And as with every chilly encounter between them in the last few months, he’d spoken with the impatience of a strict teacher correcting a belligerent child. “Perhaps some of your visions have come true on occasion, but do not use me to distract attention from your own disgrace. I have no more time for this nonsense.”

Her visions were always nonsense.

Archimedes was a Prime Magus in the Congress of Magi, one of four, as well as a powerful practitioner of elemental magic. He’d never hidden his disappointment over Brynn’s uncontrollable precognitive powers—powers he had yet to acknowledge were real—or her inability to one day claim his spot on the Congress. She was too weak, a failure as a Magus. She couldn’t even manage to keep her job as a Congress tutor for more than two years. All she had left were her infrequent visions, in whatever time or manner they chose to come.

And worse yet, he had all but accused her of fabricating this vision and the need to save him in order to make up for the shame she’d brought to their name when she was fired. She didn’t want the vision to be true. She wanted her father alive for many years to come.

She would figure out how to save him on her own. She would prove her value.

Brynn climbed out of her car and surveyed the quickly filling parking lot. In any new situation, her best first step was to observe her surroundings, study others, and discover the way to best fit in. She had never before attended a public auction of any sort; she knew only that antiques and other goods were bid upon and purchased, sometimes at outrageous prices. Some patrons walked into the building carrying their own boxes, clearly expecting to purchase items. Others entered carrying only cups of coffee or soda, or small children.

The variety of patrons surprised her: young and old, scruffy and well-kempt, couples and singles and large groups, and families. Some drove up with pickups and vans; some parked expensive cars in the narrow, crowded lot. Everyone seemed at ease.

I must stick out like a smoking vampire in daylight.

Standing there like a fool would only garner her unwanted attention. Subtlety was the route to accomplishing her task. Brynn forced her feet to carry her forward, past other vehicles, toward the main entrance. Everyone seemed to be entering the large, barnlike building through those glass double doors. A few people came back to the parking lot from the side of the building, which indicated a back entrance/exit, as well. She’d tried to find blueprints of the layout before her arrival, but getting any sort of in-depth information on Cornerstone, Pennsylvania, was next to impossible.

The town had a small population of six hundred forty-one residents, and Brynn could guess that about ten percent were human. Cornerstone was founded by a run of loup garou nearly two centuries ago, and was one of a dozen similar safe havens around the country. Much like the Congress of Magi and a few surviving nests of vampires, loup garou runs required secrecy and anonymity to survive in the modern world. The weekly auctions at McQueen’s brought outside income to the town without the interference of tourism or industry, and it kept them from appearing too insular to the outside world.

Her father stubbornly refused to have any faith in her abilities, but Brynn’s visions of the future came true without fail, and the most recent had led her here to McQueen’s Auction House. Led her to the loup garou she’d seen standing over her father’s broken body. The man her careful research told her was named Rook McQueen.

The boy, she corrected.

As a general rule, her people did not trust technology. The Magi trusted tradition and magic above all else. Growing up an only child with few friends, Brynn spent hundreds of hours on her computer—a gift awarded by her father on her twelfth birthday, as a means to keep her mind occupied beyond the limited resources of their home’s physical library. Only weeks before, she had spoken to him of her first vision. In the middle of reading a book, she had seen a clear image of a baby bird falling from a nest. It disturbed her so much that she’d fled into the backyard in time to see it happen. She scooped the tiny robin up and climbed the tree where she spotted the nest, returning the lost baby to its siblings.

She was so proud when she told her father about it that night—not only the bird, but the premonition. Her very first display of a Magus power. “Manifestations of a child’s overactive imagination,” he had scoffed. “Do not bother me with these small things, daughter.”

The computer became her gateway to the outside world, a link to knowledge far beyond the borders of her home in Chestnut Hill. And like the young sleuths in the slim novels she’d loved so much, Brynn taught herself how to research and investigate—skills that had served her well these last few days as she raced to identify her father’s killer.

One of three sons of Thomas McQueen, the auction house’s owner, Rook was two years younger than herself, a recent college graduate, and the former lead singer of a popular local rock band—not exactly the portrait of a killer, loup garou or otherwise. And yet the brief glimpse of him in her vision, skin marked with tattoos, human teeth bared, and hands covered in her father’s blood, showed him capable of violence, as all loup garou inevitably were.

She would not allow her father to become Rook McQueen’s victim. Archimedes Atwood was too important, not only to herself but to the Congress of Magi. The Magi were small in number, and they relied on their leaders to protect them from their enemies, including the volatile, deadly loup garou. And as an elemental Magi, he was among the most powerful. Few others shared his ability to manipulate fire. Their people needed him, so Brynn needed to protect him. She had to find a way to prevent her father’s murder before it occurred.

The biggest blank in her research was Rook’s relationship to the run’s Alpha. Brynn had no access to the Congress’s files on the loup garou, and she couldn’t directly ask her father for the name of Cornerstone’s Alpha—her father had no idea she’d identified his would-be assassin, or that she was in central Pennsylvania doing reconnaissance on said assassin, instead of at the family home wallowing in her professional disgrace.

A random loup killing her father carried a very different meaning than a loup from within the higher ranks of the run’s Alpha family—the latter could easily be considered an act of war against the Congress of Magi. A foolishly begun war, as the Magi and loup had maintained an uneasy peace for the last sixty years.

Concentrate, foolish girl, before you get yourself killed. This isn’t one of your novels, this is real.

Brynn smoothed her palms down the front of her green t-shirt and tugged at the hem. She stopped, recognizing the nervous gesture, a habit from the two years she’d worked as a Congress tutor, which required skirts and blouses and high heels. The t-shirt, denim shorts, and Keds combination she’d chosen for today’s mission had been partly for comfort in the August heat and partly to blend in. The final piece of her costume was the Magus pendant hidden behind the t-shirt, which would act as a sensory mirror and hide her natural scent—any loup sniffing her for signs of “other” would smell a common human female, instead of a Magus. The auction attracted dozens of human buyers, but the people who ran it and worked there were still loup. The pendant was her only real protection against their sense of smell.

The stolen pendant, you fool. Plucking it from her father’s office had nearly given her fits, and her father would be apoplectic when he discovered it was missing—yet another reason to finish her task and return home posthaste. Maybe, just maybe, she could prevent this vision from coming true. She had to try.

Nerves twisted her stomach into a tight ball that nearly squeezed the air from her lungs. The thump of music and drone of voices greeted her as Brynn pushed open the door and stepped inside McQueen’s Auction House.

Avesta, protect me, your loyal daughter.

Plea to the Magi’s patron sent, Brynn forced her anxiety into the background and paid closer attention to her surroundings. The entrance was spacious, with a short hallway and a brightly painted “Restrooms” sign on her immediate right. On the left was a bulletin board covered in layers of posters and flyers advertising yard sales and on-site auctions. Past it was a roped-off stairwell going up to parts unknown. A handsome young man in cowboy boots and a matching leather hat leaned near the stairwell, sipping from a Styrofoam cup, as though he lived solely to hold up that particular wall.

His intent gaze landed on her, and she didn’t have to search for the copper flecks in his brown eyes to know he was loup garou. Brynn’s insides froze, but she forced out a calm, flirty smile. She knew she was attractive enough to gather a few second glances, and he was what she might hesitantly call beautiful—if a man could be considered so—with a slim nose and perfectly symmetrical features. However beautiful, this man was also her enemy. His body was fit, impeccably toned, and even at ease he thrummed with the power of his caged beast. He also wasn’t Rook McQueen, so although he was quite pleasant to look at, he did not hold her interest.

He tilted his head in a friendly gesture, then winked. Brynn blushed and ducked her head, a reaction she did not have to fake. Male attention of any sort nowadays left her insides squirrely, a sense of bitter panic residing where her confidence had once dwelled. She also needed to remain inconspicuous while here, and flirting with a local cowboy was not the way to stay alive.

Brynn followed an elderly couple out into the main room. She slipped over to her left, out of the flow of traffic, and absorbed the scene of orderly chaos. An elevated pair of cash registers stood near the entrance, with lines on each side. The customers in line traded personal information for a large index card with a number written in black marker. Cards in hand, the customers went to one of many places in the cavernous room.

Dozens of tables of merchandise were set up along the perimeter of the room, three rows deep, and at the center of it all was a dais, two stools, and a microphone. Directly behind the dais was a long row of antique furniture and four glass cases. Rows of mismatched chairs covered the rest of the floor space, facing the dais. At least half the chairs were marked by either sitting bodies or empty boxes waiting for their owners. In the far back of the room, close to Brynn’s position, was a food counter advertising sandwiches and chips and cold sodas, and it produced the bitter scent of over-brewed coffee. Opposite Brynn was another set of propped-open double doors, and a steady stream of people moved in and out of a second room that seemed crowded with boxes.

Someone jostled past on a waft of coffee-scented air, alerting Brynn to the competing odors in the room. The food counter fought with the tang of human body odor, as well as the musty stink of old paper and leather. A damp smell, like rain, hung over everything else, reminding her that even though she was surrounded by human beings, nonhumans also mingled. Every loup in the room posed a threat to her safety.

Brynn walked along the back wall, out of the heavier flow of people, alert for her prey. She spotted three other men who set off her loup alarms. Each wore a black t-shirt and jeans, just like the man outside in the cowboy boots.

McQueen employees. They must be.

One of them lingered near the dais, chatting with an older woman in a purple caftan, giving her his full attention while still managing to observe the room. He had a strong facial resemblance to the loup in the entrance, and a stronger resemblance to the photo she’d found of Rook. Each could easily be one of Rook’s two brothers. Brynn swallowed hard, mouth dry. If two of the three McQueen brothers worked here, maybe Rook did, as well. He could appear at any moment.

Your brother may one day murder my father.

The thought saddened her. Rook wasn’t just a potential murderer. He was also a brother and a son, and his family would miss him if he were gone. They would also fight to protect him the moment they considered her a threat.

You can’t think about that now, foolish girl.

Brynn inhaled a steadying breath. She palmed her right hand in her left, the fingers of her left hand smoothing over the gold band of the ring she wore on her right index finger. The top of the ring appeared to be a piece of costume jewelry, a blue gem the size of a nickel. A blue gem filled with a paralytic poison, developed decades ago to specifically target the loup garou’s nervous system. One tap of the ring would send a dose of poison down the ring’s band to her hand, and one firm handshake with any loup would put enough on his skin to kill him within an hour. No one would suspect such an innocuous item to be a deadly weapon, which was exactly the reason she’d stolen it from her father’s study.

As a small child, she had once overheard him boasting to another Magus of using the ring to drug an unsuspecting loup garou, and they were none the wiser. She had thought this made her father particularly clever, and the moment had stayed with her. Brynn Atwood might walk alone into a loup sanctuary town, but she wouldn’t walk in unarmed.

She had a single dose of the antidote hidden in her car in case she accidentally poisoned someone—no sense in leaving that to chance. She might be willing to kill to protect her father and she would defend herself if attacked, but she would not hurt an innocent loup.

If loup could be considered innocent. Her father would scoff at the notion.

She had considered her plan a dozen different ways before engaging. She didn’t rush blindly ahead. She rarely undertook any sort of action without having first clearly considered the potential outcomes. The only action guaranteeing her vision never came true was her removing Rook from the equation. Murdering him first. That was, however, a last resort action that almost guaranteed her own death at loup garou hands, as well as bringing the full power of her father’s anger down on their run.

She preferred the plan where she observed, gathered information, possibly discovered who the run Alpha was so she could introduce herself, and then took steps to prevent her vision that left all involved happy and healthy—her father especially.

Awareness prickled up her spine just as a male voice said, “You look a bit lost, miss.”

Brynn turned, not terribly surprised to find the cowboy from the entrance watching her. The cup was gone, but he still wore the silly leather hat, which cast a shadow over his eyes. It didn’t hide his beauty, though.

Enemy.

“I was supposed to meet someone here, but I don’t see them yet,” she said, the rehearsed lie falling easily from her lips.

“That explains it, then.” His tone was light, his voice lyrical and calming, but it still held a hint of danger. And challenge.

“Explains what?”

“Why you looked like you were casing the place.”

She laughed without forcing it, finding actual humor in the comment. “Do you often have problems with armed robbers staging stickups here?”

“No, but we’ve caught a few thieves over the years, trying to break in and steal items before they go up for sale.”

“Are you saying I look like a thief?”

“You just looked a little lost, that’s all. This your first time here?”

“It’s that obvious?”

He lifted his left shoulder in a shrug. “My father owns the place, and I’ve worked for him since I was a kid. I know all of the regulars, and most of the semi-regulars. New faces are easy to spot, especially faces as pretty as yours.”

Two things solidified for Brynn then: this man was definitely one of the McQueen brothers, and he was definitely flirting with her. Inbred disgust at the loup’s attention seized her, and she barely managed to stall a physical reaction.

He jumped, then his hand went to his jeans pocket. Brynn’s rising alarm calmed when he whipped out a vibrating cell phone and checked a message. “Damn,” he said as he tucked the phone away again. “Work calls.”

“Don’t let me keep you.”

“I hope your friend shows soon. In the meantime, take a look around. We’ve got a lot of great stuff today.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

He eased past her and walked straight up the center aisle of chairs to the dais, directly to the other man she suspected of being a McQueen. She watched them from the corner of her eye, but the other man gestured at the furniture behind the dais. They didn’t seem to be talking about her. She’d just had a conversation with her target’s brother and no one suspected a thing.

Don’t get cocky. Things could still go badly in a moment’s time.

She pushed away the voice of reason. A little more confident now, Brynn gave herself permission to look around. It was her first auction, after all. She wandered to the other side of the room, as much to make a show of belonging as to check out some of the items for sale. She’d always assumed auctions were full of dirty antiques and shiny glass baubles, but the table nearest her was covered with books. Boxes and boxes of books—hardcovers, paperbacks, textbooks, in all genres and on all subjects. The reams of knowledge in those boxes made her chest ache for the satisfaction she used to get from teaching.

Until last month, when she was fired from her tutor position and found herself with zero standing among her people, and with no hope for her future.

Maybe after this you’ll find a new calling as a Congress investigator.

Smiling at the ridiculous notion, she picked up a thick copy of the annotated works of Homer and smoothed back the torn corner of its dust jacket. Nostalgia for school and learning settled heavily in her chest, so heavily it tried to force up tears. She’d briefly considered returning to school and earning a new degree, since history and education hadn’t served her very well. Briefly. If the Alpha reacted badly to her presence in his town, or Rook took issue with her allegations, she’d never get the chance to reconsider her education more thoroughly.

She’d never get the chance to do a lot of things. Her father once said that loup justice was swift and merciless.

She put the book down and pinched the bridge of her nose, damming the tears and steeling her nerves. She would not cry, not here in public. Not when she needed to accomplish a job that required her full attention.

A flash of movement caught her attention, and Brynn turned her head toward the entrance. Her gaze drifted up. Above the entrance, probably accessible from that roped-off staircase, was a large window and a room behind. Two men stood at the window, talking and gesturing, in what looked like an office. Probably the manager’s office, which gave him a bird’s-eye view of his business.

The shorter of the two men captured and held her attention. Hints of a tattoo peeked out from beneath the sleeve of his black t-shirt. Metal glinted in his right earlobe, and another tattoo—or possibly the same—crept down his ear to his neck and disappeared into the collar of his shirt.

Even in profile, Brynn knew him. Fear and rage collided in a storm of cold and heat, and she clenched her hands into tight fists.

Rook McQueen. Her father’s future killer.

Blood rushed hot in her veins, and her heart thumped harder. He wasn’t just a face in a vision any longer. He was real.

“Ma’am?” The strange male voice alarmed Brynn into spinning around too fast. Her elbow clipped the voice owner in the chest and he grunted. Brynn’s stomach bottomed out. The man from the front of the room, her second McQueen brother suspect, frowned darkly, and she saw her own death there.

“I’m so sorry,” Brynn said. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. I’m sorry to bother you, but do you drive a white Dodge Neon?”

She blinked at the odd question about her rental car. “Yes, I do.”

“Someone reported that they backed into your car. You may want to come with me and exchange insurance information.”

“Oh for Av—God’s sake.” Brynn mentally slapped herself for the near slip. Using “Avesta’s sake” in the presence of a loup garou was as obvious as wearing a t-shirt that said “Yes, I’m a Magus Spy. Kill Me.”

“Small lot, so it happens once in a while,” the man said. Up close, she better saw the resemblance to the cowboy-wannabe in his narrow nose and hooded eyes. However, the slight roundness in his cheekbones and higher forehead showed a more pronounced similarity to Rook. And he was definitely older than the other two. “The auction doesn’t start for another forty minutes, if you’re worried about missing something.”

“No, it’s fine,” Brynn said, even though it wasn’t. The coincidence unnerved her, but she had no choice except to see how this played out.

He stepped to the side. “After you.”

She walked to the end of the row of chairs and made her way back toward the auction house entrance, keenly aware of her shadow’s presence, and that she’d just turned her back on one of her people’s greatest enemies.

Chapter Two

“I didn’t tell you about the fight because it had barely started before I stopped it,” Rook McQueen said, repeating the same thing to his father that he’d told Bishop not twenty minutes ago. If he’d known he’d get his ears chewed off for not reporting that morning’s minor non-scuffle, he’d have done so right after the incident occurred.

So much for big brother Bishop telling him to use his head, his common sense, and to start making his own decisions. Most of the time, Rook’s decisions were picked apart and declared wrong, anyway. Or foolish—that was his favorite. He really shouldn’t have expected this one to be any different.

Thomas McQueen, Rook’s father and run Alpha, turned away from the broad window that looked out over the auction floor. Thick arms crossed over his chest, dark eyes narrowed and hidden behind bushy eyebrows, Father made an imposing figure even when he wasn’t trying to intimidate. Of all the other loup in town, Father was hardest on his sons because—as he said over and over—they were his legacy. And he was hardest of all, as always, on Rook.

* * *

The first six chords of “Black Sheep Son” played through his mind. He’d written the song in high school, and it was the first original tune performed by his college band once they started making a name for themselves doing covers. Remembering his music kept him calm and focused.

“What was the fight about?” Father asked.

“The usual. Two teenage boys posturing over a girl, even though she’s made it clear her interest is elsewhere.”

In a town as small as Cornerstone, dating was often more difficult than a novice guitarist learning barre chords. Its two-room school educated fewer than fifty children at any given time, and you were lucky to have a handful of friends in your grade. Luckier still if one of them was of the opposite sex and interested in you—but that luck could be shattered by the color of your Wolf and the expectations that your color carried. As a Black Wolf, Rook had spent his teenage years in a firm, frustrated state of “look, don’t touch.” College had been another kind of nightmare. But this fight wasn’t about him.

“Who hit first?” Father asked.

“They moved at the same time. I saw it coming before they could actually strike each other, and I got in between. Technically, there wasn’t a fight, so I didn’t see a reason to bother you, especially on an auction day.”

“Run business doesn’t stop for auction day, son.”

“I know that, but I made the call.” Rook’s ability to stand up for himself had improved dramatically in the three months since he graduated college, but his father still intimidated him. As did the role of Alpha and everything it entailed—a role that Rook, as a Black Wolf, had a right to claim one day. Becoming Alpha was looking less and less likely with each decision his father and brother questioned.

Rook moved to the other side of the desk to stand opposite his father. The bustle of auction day continued below them, the noise a muffled rumble on the other side of the glass. A flash of black hair caught his attention as it bobbed through the crowd. The angle gave him only a cursory view of a slim female body, pale arms, and the back of a green t-shirt. Her hair was so black it actually glinted with blue highlights. His skin prickled with impossible interest, and he watched her, hoping she’d turn around—

“Rook?”

He snapped his head around. “I’m sorry, what?”

Father glanced out the window, then shook his head. “It sounds as though you handled the situation well, and you may have been right that it wasn’t something I needed to hear about.”

“But?” There was always a but.

“Bishop brought it up so that I could make that judgment call.”

“Bishop brought it up because he doesn’t trust my judgment and never has. He didn’t trust that I handled the fight or my assessment that it wasn’t worth bringing to you.”

“It isn’t about trust, son.”

“Then what is it about? You both keep telling me to take initiative. So I make a call, he questions it, and then he comes to you so that I have to explain myself.”

“It’s how we learn.” Father unfolded his arms and tucked his hands into his trouser pockets—in all his life, Rook had never seen his father wear jeans. “It’s how Bishop and I discover what you know and what you can do. There’s no written exam for this kind of work, Rook. You learn it on the job, just as I did.”

Rook frowned, not wanting to concede the argument, but his father had a good point. As the oldest son, Bishop was traditionally first in line to inherit the role of Alpha, despite being born a common Gray Wolf. As the third son, Rook had surprised everyone by being a Black Wolf—stronger, faster, fiercer, and typically the firstborn of a Black Wolf like their father. And as the Black son of the Alpha, he could one day claim the role of Alpha without physically challenging his elder brother for it.

Therein lay the friction.

Bishop had been training to take over as Alpha his entire life, working hard to overcome the handicap of being Gray. He’d been ten years old when Rook was born, and fourteen the first time Rook shifted and revealed his Black Wolf. His kid brother had innocently changed Bishop’s future, and he’d been punishing Rook for it ever since. Nothing Rook did was ever good enough—not even his music.

“I know you’re frustrated,” Father said, and the sympathy in his voice surprised Rook. “Right now it feels like we don’t trust you, but that’s only because you’re still learning. One day no one will go behind your back to bring matters to me, because everyone will know that your word is mine. Just like they know this with Bishop.”

Rook nodded. He understood all of that; it had been drilled into his head for years. And Rook knew he still had a long way to go to prove himself worthy of voicing the Alpha’s word. He also knew he didn’t possess an overabundance of patience, which fueled his daily frustration.

Footsteps creaked up the stairs, alerting them both to the interruption before a fist ever landed on wood. After two sharp knocks, the office door swung open. Knight came inside, his favorite Stetson in his hands instead of on his head. “Minor problem,” he said.

“What sort of problem?” Father asked.

Knight stepped further into the room, boot heels snapping on the wood. Rook resisted rolling his eyes at his middle brother’s choice of footwear. Knight only wore them on auction day, as a running joke about wearing a disguise for their human customers. Women liked it, though, and even if they didn’t come to buy at the auction, they spent their money at the concession stand while hanging around and hoping to flirt with him.

“There’s a young lady downstairs who’s giving off the strangest scent. It’s human, but there’s also an undercurrent of something else, almost loup. And she’s extremely agitated. Her pulse is all over the place.”

Having a human woman running around the auction house on sale day wasn’t uncommon, but a human scent mixed with loup was. “Half-breed?” Rook asked.

While run loup were forbidden from marrying humans without special dispensation from their run Alpha, some rogue loup lived with and married humans anyway, producing run-less half-breed children. Despite being born sterile and often without the ability to shift into beast form, half-breeds were the biggest threat to loup garou secrecy because of their mixed biology. They weren’t welcome in sanctuary towns like Cornerstone, and most were smart enough to stay away.

“I don’t think so,” Knight replied. “I’ve smelled half-breeds, and I was able to get close to her. Speak with her. Her scent was different. That and the agitation . . . Bishop is escorting her upstairs.”

Rook glanced out at the auction floor in time to see Bishop and the black-haired woman disappear beneath them, heading for the stairs. He moved around to the other side of the desk and stood next to Knight, while Father arranged himself behind the desk. Knight elbowed him in the ribs, then nodded at their father. He knew why Rook had been summoned. Rook rolled his eyes; he’d tell his brother all about it later. Only three years younger than Knight, Rook and he had always been close, often putting them both at odds with the much older Bishop.

Until it came to run matters. Then all three McQueen brothers came together as a solid, immoveable force.

Two sets of footsteps ascended the stairs at a steady clip. The scuff of the first was lighter than the clump of the second, and a waft of something sweet, floral, and decidedly female trickled into the office. The scent put all of Rook’s senses on high alert. Once again, awareness prickled across his skin.

And then the onyx-haired woman stepped into the room. She met Rook’s eyes immediately and froze in place, and he stared right back, his heart beating a bit faster. She was beautiful, with long lashes, eyebrows the same black as her hair, and flawless pale skin with no trace of makeup. And younger than he’d originally thought, guessing her to be around his age. She came up to Bishop’s shoulder, which would put her at about Rook’s chin. She was exquisite—a china doll come to life, cursed with a blank stare instead of a smile.

He wanted to touch her, needed to touch her, and his right hand lifted a few inches before he snatched it back, alarmed. Bishop had brought her up here for a reason, damn it. She could be a threat, and he was checking her out like a love-struck idiot.

She stared back at him with an expression that waffled between alarm and suspicion, and her eyes carried a lingering accusation. He didn’t know her (was positive he’d remember having met her at any point in his life) but she seemed pissed off at him for something. Maybe she didn’t like tattoos? Or the 00-gauge steel studs in both of his earlobes offended her beyond reason. They had certainly offended Bishop when he showed up two years ago with both lobes pierced. Whatever it was, her stormy expression squashed most of the interest rising from points south.

She blinked hard and the animosity disappeared behind a curious smile that she turned and directed at Father. “I was told there was an accident involving my car,” she said. Her voice was carefully controlled, devoid of accent, and sensual enough to drive a spike of heat right into Rook’s guts. Even his beast, usually silent unless threatened, stirred at the sound of her voice.

Father didn’t even blink at whatever lie Bishop had used to lure her upstairs. Bishop was smart enough to not close the office door yet, but he stood in it, his height and size blocking her only escape route. “Please, have a seat, Miss . . . ?” Father indicated one of the two wicker chairs across from his desk.

“Jones,” she said. “Brynn Jones. And I’ll stand, thank you. Mr. McQueen, I assume?”

“Thomas McQueen. Pleasure.”

“Likewise.” A slight trickle of sarcasm hinted at an unspoken “not.”

Rook inhaled hard, trying to her figure out. She did have a vague, indistinguishable human scent on the surface, but Knight was right—beneath it, threaded through, was something other. Almost definitely loup. Only she was doing everything a run loup (and most half-breeds, for that matter) wouldn’t dare do. She was looking an Alpha in the eye, for one thing. And she’d walked right into their town without permission, and without immediately introducing herself to the Alpha.

Even deeper below the other two things lingered that sweet female scent that drew Rook to her. Made him want to get closer, to breath that scent in deeper. Instead, he caught hold of his common sense and held still.

Father made a gesture, and Bishop closed the office door. Brynn took a few steps toward the center of the room, putting herself at equal distance from all of them, even though she kept her gaze trained on the Alpha. She fiddled with a ring on her right hand, its blue gem glinting in the office light.

“Ms. Jones, your car is fine,” Father said. “But we have a private matter to discuss with you.”

“Which is?”

“Why are you here?”

“You’re having a public auction. Do you interrogate everyone who attends for the first time?”

“Only when they give me a reason to do so.”

“What exactly have I done, Mr. McQueen?”

“According to all human laws, not a thing. But a few of our laws take exception to your presence here.”

“Your laws?”

“You seem too intelligent for word games, Ms. Jones, so allow me to be blunt. Your people should have told you it’s bad form to enter a sanctuary town without permission.”

Her jaw twitched, but she made no move to deny the fact that she wasn’t entirely human. Brave girl. “My apologies, then. I know my auction attendance is unusual, but I wasn’t aware of any laws requiring a Magus to ask permission to enter a sanctuary town.”

Magus? Rook inhaled deeply, catching Brynn’s scent again. He clearly identified human and loup, but not the bitter orange scent he associated with the arrogant magic users who called themselves Magi. What was she playing at?

Even Father frowned, his thick eyebrows furrowing in a deep vee. “You don’t smell like a Magus,” he said.

She reached beneath the collar of her shirt. Next to him, Knight stiffened, and Rook took a step forward. Brynn pulled a gold necklace out of her shirt and slipped the chain over her head. Her shoulder-length black hair fell back down in an obsidian wave and another blast of that floral scent wafted around the room. She put the necklace on the back of the nearest chair.

“It has a reflective spell,” she said. “The medallion was supposed to mimic the identifying scents of the humans around me and hide the fact that I’m Magi. I’m impressed you could smell through it.”

All four loup noses in the room flared at the same time as they reassessed the woman in front of them. The soft, earthy human scent was gone, and Rook caught a strong whiff of bitter orange.

Knight made a quiet, strangled sound. He gaped at Brynn with something like horror on his face. Bishop came closer, attention firmly on Knight. Bishop stopped within an arm’s reach of Brynn, and that’s when Rook scented it, too. Beneath the strong fragrance that marked Brynn as Magus remained the distinct smell of loup.

Brynn turned to face them, right hand clutched to her chest, tense. “What?”

“It’s a trick,” Bishop said. “It has to be.”

“What’s a trick? The necklace?” A blush stained her cheeks and her pulse jumped. “It was only meant for protection.”

“Protection from whom?” Father asked.

Her chest lifted higher as her breathing increased, her agitation rising to fear. She’d been caught in some sort of subterfuge and was fumbling to cover. As much as Rook wanted to calm her down and tell her she wouldn’t be hurt, he couldn’t speak up. Something about Brynn was wrong. Impossible, even. Protecting the run came miles ahead of comforting a woman he’d known for three minutes.

Father leaned slightly forward and planted his knuckles on the top of the desk, eyes hard. “Who sent you?”

“No one,” she said, the two words a plea. “I swear, I’m here on my own.”

“Why?”

She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, but didn’t speak. Fine tremors shook her arms and shoulders. Rook didn’t pretend to know a lot about women, but he knew a scared rabbit cornered by a wolf when he saw one. The very first time his band performed at a music festival for a cash prize, the bass player had looked just like that in the final few minutes before they went onstage.

“Knight,” Father said quietly.

Brynn lurched to the side, but had nowhere to run. She pressed her back against the bookshelf holding Father’s collection of vintage textbooks and primers, eyes wide and hands up in a stop gesture. “I didn’t do anything.”

“I won’t hurt you.” Knight moved to the center of the room. “I promise. I just want to help you calm down.”

She tilted her head and glared at him, hands close to her neck, twisting that ring again. “You’re the one scaring me right now.”

“Trust me.”

“Touch me and I’ll scream.”

“I don’t have to touch you, Ms. Jones.” Knight’s voice adopted the soothing tone he used when calling upon his gift. “Look at me, okay?”

She did, and the moment her eyes met Knight’s, her entire body stilled. Something in the air crackled with energy, like static electricity, as her Magus nature fought against the part of her responding instinctively to Knight’s call.

Knight was the rarest of all loup garou: a White Wolf. Loup populations were relatively small, and one in five hundred had a chance of being born White. White Wolves had the unique ability to calm other loup, to soothe tensions and prevent the primal, base nature of their inner beasts from taking over. Having a White Wolf in a run kept them civilized. For that reason, and because of the rarity of their births, White Wolves were often treated more like precious commodities than run members. Runs were not allowed to have more than one if another run was currently without. A majority vote from the thirteen run Alphas across the country could change a White Wolf’s life in an instant, and the loup in question would have no say.

Their mother, Andrea, had been a White Wolf and, according to the stories Rook had been told, was devastated to discover her second-born carried the mark of the White. Once Knight reached the age of four and shifted for the first time, he could have been sent to another run in need. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the point of view), their mother was killed when Knight was three, just a few months after Rook was born, in a skirmish with the volatile West Virginia run. Her death left them without a mother, but it also ensured the three brothers would never be separated.

Whatever magic existed in a White Wolf and allowed them to calm other loup had always worked on half-breeds in the past. The difference was that all known half-breeds were from a human and loup pairing. To Rook’s knowledge, no one had ever seen a loup-Magus offspring before. And until they got her story, this small girl was the biggest threat in the room.

“What are you doing?” Brynn asked, her voice pitched high with fear.

“Calming you, if you’ll allow me,” Knight said. “It’s painless, I promise.”

She blinked rapidly several times. “You’re a White Wolf, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Rook glanced at his father, who seemed just as surprised. The Magi were more educated in loup matters than Rook realized, and that worried him. If the Congress of Magi ever wanted to turn the loup against each other, targeting their White Wolves was the most effective way to create chaos within the runs. Rook didn’t like this stranger, attractive as she was, knowing his brother’s secret.

“I thought Whites could only calm other loup,” Brynn said. Her genuine fear and confusion, in both the pitch of her voice and the look on her face, slammed something home for Rook. Something that stunned his mind into stalling out for a few seconds.

Knight broke eye contact and looked at their father. From his spot behind Knight, Rook couldn’t see Knight’s face, but he imagined it mirrored Bishop’s and his own. Shocked. Confused. No one spoke. They didn’t have to: either she was an excellent actress, or she had no idea that she had loup garou blood.

* * *

Brynn was a hair’s breadth from screaming, and not just because she was trapped in a room with four brawny loup garou males, or because they seemed to be having trouble deciding how to handle her. She didn’t really care that she’d given away a Magi secret by revealing her knowledge of the White Wolf’s ability to calm other loup; she didn’t understand why he was trying it on her, or why she’d felt him in her mind, attempting to soothe her fraying nerves, when he shouldn’t have been able to do so.

No, she was quietly melting down because she’d failed to diffuse the situation immediately by revealing her purpose in Cornerstone. Her cover had been seen through too easily, and as she’d stepped into the office, she had realized that she’d failed in her self-imposed reconnaissance mission. Her hesitation and nervousness, caused in no small part by the four large and powerful men crowding her, only made her look like a threat to their kind. And until she prevented Rook from murdering her father, then by Avesta she was a threat.

The moment she’d seen Rook up close, as punkish and charming in person as he’d been in his band photos, Brynn had faltered. While she’d stared at him with hostility, he’d gazed at her with interest. Genuine, open interest from an attractive male. Something she hadn’t had in a long time. Because of her status as a second daughter, she’d grown up knowing she would never be as powerful as her father, nor accepted as a member of the Congress. Her weak, inconsistent seer abilities impressed no one, especially not the courtship of male Magi her own age. The one time her teenage self had forgotten her place and put her hope into the affections of a boy, he’d broken her heart and spirit in one cruel blow.

No, as much as she craved attention, she would not fail her father because of a loup garou’s wide-eyed appraisal. Or his good looks and perfectly toned body. She had more sense than that. And she was now ninety-nine percent certain that Thomas McQueen was Alpha of the Cornerstone run. And she could not bluntly accuse the son of the Alpha of murder without consequences for the Congress—especially now that they’d identified her as a Magus.

She had to talk her way out of this. The loup garou had keen enough senses to figure out if she was lying through her teeth, and she wasn’t a very good liar anyway. She never had been, even when it came to self-preservation. The truth was her only viable option.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Coming here was a mistake.”

Her statement earned the attention of all four men, and of the four, the suspicious glare coming from Rook unnerved her the most. Knight backed up a few steps, and she felt more able to breathe in the extra space between them. Until Thomas stepped out from behind his desk and overtook the spot in front of her, a large obstacle she had no hope of defeating. He was not a man she wanted as an enemy. He could snap her neck with one hand. Brynn dropped her own hands down, keenly aware of the ring on her finger and the lethal dose of poison hiding inside of it. The last thing she needed was his attention on that ring.

“Why did you come here?” Thomas asked. “The truth, if you don’t mind.”

“I really am here on my own. No one sent me. No other Magus knows I’m even here.”

“All right, I believe you. But you must know this is a sanctuary town, and I imagine there are plenty of auctions elsewhere that you could attend. So why mine?”

Sink or swim time, foolish girl.

She turned her head and caught Rook’s gaze. Even from a few feet away, bright flecks of copper glinted in dark brown eyes that watched from an expressionless face, and she was struck by the irrational urge to make him smile. Or at least to stop looking at her as if she’d been scraped from the bottom of his shoe. “I wanted to meet you,” she said to him.

“Me?” Rook gave her a disdainful look that made her want to melt into the floor. “Don’t tell me you’re a band groupie.”

She nearly laughed, and that amusement buoyed her waning confidence. “Hardly. I didn’t even know who you were until a few days ago, much less that you’re a musician.”

His frown deepened, and if a man could physically bristle, he managed it. “Then why me? I’m positive I don’t know you.”

“You don’t.”

“What do you want with Rook?” Thomas asked, his tone protective. Deadly.

Brynn kept her gaze steadily trained on Rook, too nervous to look away and see the suspicion and accusation coming from the loup surrounding her. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, determined to tell as much of the truth as she could. “I’m here because I want to look into the eyes of the man who kills my father.”

Chapter Three

“Huh?” The grunted word wasn’t Rook’s most intelligent response ever, but it was about all he could manage. The man who kills my father swirled through his mind like a sixteen-measure chorus, spoken by Brynn with the conviction of someone who’d already witnessed the crime. But he didn’t know Brynn or her father, and he sure as hell had never killed anyone.

His father growled—a low tone that he used as a message of warning when his run members were testing his patience. “That’s a very serious allegation,” he said. “Accusing someone of murder.”

Brynn’s entire body was trembling, and she looked as though she wanted to climb inside the bookcase and hide. She stood there, though, head up. “I didn’t say it was murder.”

“You said ‘kills’,” Knight said. “As in future, right?”

She glanced at him, nodded. “Yes.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I saw it in a vision last week. Him”—she pointed at Rook—“standing over my father’s mangled body with blood all over his hands.”

Rook’s guts tightened with disgust. Being accused of killing someone was bad enough, but she made it sound as though he’d ripped the man apart with his bare hands. And while beating a man to death was, as a Black Wolf, theoretically possible, he couldn’t ever imagine a scenario in which he’d actually do it.

No, that wasn’t completely true. He could imagine killing a man in defense of his family or his run’s safety. Hypothetically and in self-defense. Not murder.

“And you interpreted this vision to mean that Rook kills him?” Father asked.

“No one else was in the vision. He was covered in my father’s blood. How would you have interpreted it?”

“You don’t know me,” Rook snapped, finding his voice again. “But because I’m loup garou you assume I’m a killer? Or is it just the tattoos?” In the band, the markings and piercings had made him cool, made him part of the scene. At home in Cornerstone, it made him scary and different, especially when he shifted and the gauges remained in his ears.

Brynn flinched, and her façade of confidence cracked. “I assume you’re a killer because of what I saw.”

“These visions,” Father said. “Do you see futures that will happen, or futures that may happen unless a course is altered?” Perfect redirect of the conversation.

She gave her attention back to him. “I see what will happen, but the ability isn’t well-defined, and I can’t control it. Sometimes I see things months in advance. Other times, I see things that happen seconds later, so there’s no possibility of trying to change them.”

“Not well-defined?” Bishop asked with a derisive snort. “I call shenanigans. I’ve yet to hear any Magus admit to being in less than perfect control of his or her power.”

The furious expression Brynn leveled at Bishop made him take a half step backward. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“Just making an observation.”

“If your father is the supposed victim,” Father said, “why are you here, and not him?”

“Because he refuses to believe I’ve had this vision, much less that it will come true,” Brynn said. “He cannot foresee himself in the middle of the woods, much less allowing himself to become the victim of a loup garou.” She seemed about to add more, then thought better of it.

The phone on his father’s desk buzzed, and then Amber’s voice came over. “Thomas? We’re starting in five minutes.”

He reached across the desk and pressed the intercom button on the phone. “I’ll be down shortly, thank you.” He turned back to Brynn. “I hope you understand that this conversation isn’t over, but I do have a business to run.”

“Which means?” she asked.

“It means that Bishop, Knight, and I need to get downstairs. For now, you’ll remain here with Rook.”

“What?”

“Sir?” Rook asked. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the entire auction stuck in his father’s office with a Magus who thought him a murderer, based solely on visions she admitted weren’t under her control.

Father crowded him to the other side of the office, and Rook didn’t protest. “Talk to her,” Father said in a low voice. “Get her to describe the vision in detail, especially where it happens. Anything she says could be helpful.”

Rook squashed the impulse to protest babysitting the Magus. Father was putting a huge amount of trust in him to both keep an eye on her and to get answers. Besides, Rook was the one that Brynn had come to see. Maybe she’d talk to him more openly without the others around.

He wasn’t the subtlest of people or the best listener, but he’d give it a try. “All right,” Rook said. “I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will.” Father turned around. “Ms. Jones, if you require anything to eat or drink, just let Rook know and it will be brought up.”

Brynn frowned. “So I’m a prisoner now?”

“Not at all, but this discussion must wait for a few hours, and to be honest, you’re safer up here than wandering around town.”

“Safer?”

Safe from the other loup who’d react poorly to her mixed Magus-loup scent—something she seemed unaware of, and they hadn’t shared yet. Rook would have to be careful to not let that bit of information slip out before they decided what to do with it.

“Yes,” Father said. He left with Bishop and Knight in tow, and they closed the door behind them.

Brynn watched him from her spot by the bookshelves, hands once again up by her chin, fingers twisting away at that ring. The nervous tic was starting to irritate Rook. With the loss of three other large bodies, the room seemed to fill with her scent. Floral and sweet, with that strange mix of Magus and loup. Beneath it all, though, came the faint, sour scent of fear.

“You might as well have a seat.” Rook gestured at the wicker chairs. “We’re going to be up here for a few hours.”

“I’d rather stand, thank you.”

“Suit yourself.” He moved to the window overlooking the auction floor and all of the activity he couldn’t take part in today. “Just don’t try to bolt out the door, okay? I’m faster than you, even from over here.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she actually seemed offended. “I’d never run away like a caught thief. I’ve done nothing wrong, except perhaps not introduce myself to your father, who I did not, by the way, know was the Alpha.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. The names of the run Alphas isn’t information that I have access to.”

“You couldn’t ask Daddy? Or doesn’t he know that I’m supposed to kill him?”

“I told him of the vision, but he didn’t believe me. Not even when I figured out who you were and that you were loup garou.”

“How did you figure that out, anyway?”

“I have a good memory for faces. I’ve spent many years amusing myself with research, investigating small mysteries, absorbing knowledge. You can discover almost anything on the internet, if you know where to look.”

“So you have magical internet hacking skills?”

“Hardly. I found a band photo online, and I tracked you from there. You should have used a stage name, Rook McQueen.”

“That’s really creepy.”

She shrugged—her only response.

“You keep mentioning your father,” he said. “What does your mother think of all this?”

“Nothing. She died when I was an infant.”

“I’m sorry.”

Rook looked out over the auction floor. His father had taken his seat up on the dais between Butch, their auctioneer, and Amber, the office manager. Father didn’t need to be up there for the auction to run smoothly, but he always was, unless he was absolutely needed elsewhere. He teased and joked with the audience, and the friendly rapport often helped drive prices. The higher the prices, the more the seller earned—and the more the house kept.

Knight and Bishop had joined Devlin and Winston Burke by the tables to work as runners, buyers were taking their seats, and everyone seemed primed to go. He knew this performance by heart and he hated being apart from it.

Brynn’s scent shifted, drawing closer, and he startled when she stepped up to the window, keeping a good two-arm’s reach of distance between them. Her presence rippled over him as though she’d caressed his skin. He’d never felt anything like it. Had she felt it, too, or was it all his imagination?

“What’s happening down there?” she asked.

Rook arched an eyebrow at her. “You’ve never been to an auction?”

“No. And?”

“Just asking.” Her bristling over the simple question was kind of cute, and he couldn’t resist asking another. “Don’t they have auctions where you grew up?”

“Of course they did,” she replied to the window glass. “Auctions simply weren’t something my father was interested in, so I never attended one.”

“Too busy with his Magi friends to take his daughter on a field trip?”

“Exactly.”

Rook didn’t expect her to agree with his comment so fast, and it left him grasping for words. She hadn’t sounded angry or insulted by her father’s lack of attention—resigned was more like it. Coming in second was simply part of her life. Unlike Rook, who could always count on his father’s attention whenever he needed it (and often when he didn’t want it).

“Did you ever do anything fun with your father?” Rook asked.

Brynn flashed him a hard stare, and he realized her eyes were a striking shade of blue. “My father . . .” She looked down at her feet before returning her gaze to Rook. The scent of fear had faded. “He has time for little beyond the Congress of Magi, and that’s simply the way it is. It’s the way it’s always been. Perhaps my childhood isn’t to your liking, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make fun of me.”

“Hey.” Rook held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, impressed by the way she’d held her ground and snapped at him. Wilting flowers were not attractive, and without the others around, Brynn Jones was definitely coming out of her shell. “I wasn’t making fun of you. Swear. I’m just curious. I mean, you went to a lot of trouble to find me because you think I’m going to kill a man I don’t know, and who doesn’t seem to give you the time of day.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, and light glinted off the large blue stone of her ring. “No matter how you see our relationship, he’s still my father.”

Rook got that. No matter how many times he argued with Bishop or with his father, they were still his family and he’d do anything to protect them. Still . . . “He didn’t believe you about your vision.”

“All that matters is I believe it, and that you—” She snapped her jaw shut, then looked out over the floor, where Knight was holding up a tray of ruby Depression glass candy dishes.

Rook wasn’t letting her not finish that sentence. “That I what? Don’t go all loup-rage and kill your old man? Done. I don’t spend much time away from Cornerstone nowadays, so tell him to keep his Magus nose out of our town and we’re golden. Problem solved.”

“It’s not that easy, Mr. McQueen.”

“Rook. And why isn’t it that easy?”

“Because I don’t know if the vision is supposed to happen next week or next year, and the location is so unclear.”

His father’s request rang in Rook’s head. “Can you describe it to me? The place where you saw this happen?”

“The woods. All I can really see are trees and brush. No snow, so I don’t think it’s winter, but there aren’t a lot of fallen leaves, either.”

“Well, it’s August eighth now, so if the vision comes true this year, it’ll happen before October. That’s usually when the leaves change around here.”

“Right.”

“So what else?”

“I’m sorry?”

“What else can you tell me about the vision? I’m featured in it, so I’d like to know exactly what’s going on.”

Brynn looked away from the window and, for an instant, her guard was down. Her naked expression held confusion and grief, as well as something he’d bet was relief. Relief, maybe, to be talking about her vision with someone who believed her. She looked so young and twice as beautiful, and he once again fought the urge to reach out and touch her. Hug her. Hold her until she felt safe. An odd reaction to a woman who was, by her Magi blood alone, his enemy.

Rook had dated before, and he’d been attracted to different girls in college, but this pull he felt toward Brynn wasn’t like those other times. It was stronger, more focused. He didn’t understand the difference between then and now—only that anything beyond friendship with Brynn was hopeless anyway. She was a Magus.

As Brynn’s emotional guard went back up, she began to speak. “The vision only lasts a few seconds. It’s more like a snapshot of a moment than a show of action. I always see my father on the forest floor in a pool of blood, blood on his clothes and his face, his chest torn up.” She cleared her throat. “He’s pale and still, and the damage is so terrible that he must be dead. His skin is . . . flayed. And you’re kneeling next to him, bending over him, his blood coating your hands. I can only see the right side of your face.”

Rook’s stomach rumbled uneasily at the descriptions. He needed more details than that, though. “Did you see any sort of weapon?”

“Not that I noticed.”

The lack of weapon ruled out him murdering the man in his human skin. That sort of physical damage could be caused by a loup garou in beast form, especially if the loup was provoked into a rage, but skin needed a weapon to tear up flesh like that. Rook was strong, but he wasn’t that strong. And something else occurred to him. “This may sound odd, but was I clothed?”

Brynn’s eyebrows drew together. “Clothed?”

“In the vision. What was I wearing?”

She closed her eyes as though trying to summon up her memory of the event. “Jeans, I think. And a light-colored t-shirt that had some blood splattered on it. I could see your tattoos much as they are now.”

Relief floated through Rook like a wave of cool air, and he smiled. “Good.”

“Good? What do your clothes have to do with anything?”

“Timing. You didn’t see a weapon—”

“You could have tossed it.”

Rook rolled his eyes. “In the woods so close to the body? Even if I was to kill a man, I’m not stupid enough to leave the murder weapon behind.”

Brynn lifted her eyebrows, but didn’t reply.

“Without a weapon, I couldn’t have killed your father like you described without being in my beast form, not with those kinds of wounds. And even if I’d just killed a man as beast and shifted back to skin, there are two other things wrong with your scenario.”

“Which are what?”

“First, beasts fight more with their teeth than their paws, so I’d have blood all over my face, not my hands. Plus the wounds would have been around his neck, not his chest. And second, even if by some chance I actually had attacked him and was stopping to make sure he was dead, I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to get dressed first. I’d have checked, grabbed my clothes if they were nearby, and bolted.”

Brynn’s lips had parted as he began, and by the time he finished, her mouth was open, jaw working, trying to reply. Her eyes unfocused as she considered his words. Everything he’d said was completely true. Mostly. If he’d wanted to kill a man as beast, then the man would be dead; he’d have no reason to stop and double-check. He just couldn’t make himself say that to Brynn. It made him sound like a cold-blooded killer. And he wasn’t.

And he never would be, if he could help it. Loup garou killed for family and for the protection of the run, and always in self-defense. They did not commit murder. The last time a run of loup had lost its way and fought for other reasons, Andrea McQueen had lost her life.

“All right,” Brynn said after a brief silence. “All right, I can accept your explanations. And assuming you’re right, the fact remains that you’re there when my father dies. Someone kills him in a brutal, animalistic manner, and I need to know who.”

“I wish I could help you.”

“You have, and perhaps you still can. I owe you an apology.”

“Forget it. You were worried about your father.”

She ducked her head and a curtain of black hair fell across her face. She looked down at her wringing hands—he was tempted to tie them behind her back to make her stop—studying that ring as though it held some incredible secret. Her attention to the ring finally dinged his Suspicion Meter. She hadn’t stopped messing with it since she stepped into the office.

“That’s very beautiful,” Rook said, pointing at the ring. “It looks old.”

Brynn looked up and couldn’t completely hide a brief flash of concern—which made him even more suspicious. “It’s an heirloom.”

“I’m trying to learn more about old jewelry to better assist my father in the business.” Not a total lie, since he was learning more about antiques. He and his brothers would inherit the auction house one day, and its day-to-day running. Only his studying usually ran to tools and farming equipment, not jewelry. “May I see it?”

“I’d rather not, if you don’t mind.”

Rook inhaled deeply and caught the sour tang of fear again. Like the necklace, she was using that ring for something, and she knew she’d been caught. He shuffled half a step closer. “I’m not going to steal it or drop it, I promise.”

“I wasn’t implying that you would.” She looked so adorably offended by his comment that Rook grinned.

“No?”

“No.”

Silence.

Okay, so flirting wasn’t accomplishing his goal, either. “I just want to look at it more closely. The setting seems exquisite.” As if he knew crap about ring settings.

Brynn came a bit closer. She balled her hand into a fist and held it up, putting the ring close to Rook’s nose. He supported her fist on the palm of his hand and the heat of that simple contact flashed down his arm to his chest. A warmth settled there, foreign and strange and still somehow exciting. He couldn’t explain it.

Ignoring the bizarre reaction to her touch, he concentrated on studying the blue gem. It was almost a perfect sphere, in an intricately designed gold setting that extended down the sides of the band. “It’s very pretty.” Not the best adjective ever, especially when he was pretending to know something about jewelry. “I’ve never seen a gemstone quite like it. It isn’t a sapphire.”

“No, it isn’t.”

He winked and flashed a coy smile. “Secret Magus stone?”

“Something like that.”

“I see.” Nothing else seemed off about the ring. He didn’t know if surveillance equipment that small existed, and even if it did, he saw no advantage to getting an inside look at a public auction house. Sending in a human with a video camera in their purse was a lot easier. He sniffed at the stone without being obvious, and a faint sting of something medicinal hit his nose—not a scent he usually associated with jewelry.

She tensed. Rook clasped her hand tighter before she could withdraw it, which sent another tremor of heat down his arm. How could touching someone make him feel like that? So awake and aware, his heart pounding faster? And a Magus?

Rook mentally shook it off. He met her wide gaze over the blue glimmer of the ring, working to keep his voice steady. “I’m surprised you’d wear such a valuable heirloom here.”

“I always wear it.”

Lie. He saw it in the way her eyes flickered off to the side, the way her nostrils flared. She wasn’t a very good liar, especially under scrutiny, and if he’d had any lingering doubts about her claim of being here on her own, they were gone. As low as his opinion of the Magi was, he didn’t think they were stupid enough to send her to do their dirty work.

He did, however, wonder if they were stupid enough to not realize what she was. Otherwise, they’d have warned her long ago about going into a sanctuary town unprotected.

“If you were really just here to confront me about your vision,” he said, “why the ruse? Why the necklace and sneaking around downstairs? Why not just ask to speak with me?”

She swallowed hard, blinked rapidly. The sight of her cornered like that unnerved him. He wanted to let go of her hand, but didn’t dare. He wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her, but he really didn’t dare. He was treading very new ground here. His father trusted him to get information out of her, not to feel her up. His father, who could see them both from his spot on the dais.

The dichotomy of his feelings for Brynn amped up his frustration with this entire scenario. Loup garou beasts often instinctively recognized another loup as a potential mate, but it was still up to their two-legged skin side to explore that relationship. Rook had never felt that pull toward another loup, and he’d be damned if he’d entertain the idea of it happening now with a deceptive Magus. Loup garou blood or not.

“I was afraid of you,” she said, her voice fractured. “All I saw was you covered in my father’s blood. Even if you aren’t his killer, you’re there when he dies. You’re still loup. You’re an enemy to my people.”

She had no idea who her people were. He used his left hand to point at the blue gem. “What does this do?” He tapped it with his finger, half-expecting an electric shock. The gem shifted in its setting, and Brynn yelped. She yanked against his grip, but Rook just held her fist tighter.

“Please let go,” she said.

“What just happened?”

“Let go.” Her voice rose to one level below shouting, and if she got any louder they’d be heard on the auction floor.

Rook loosened his grip just as she gave another tug, which sent her stumbling backward. He grabbed her right hand, which she clasped in return, and his counterweight kept her from going over onto her ass. Balance restored, she tore her hand out of his as if he’d burned her. She gaped at his hand with wide-eyed horror, then down at her own.

“Oh no,” she gasped. “Oh, dear Avesta, no.”

Alarm raised the hairs on the back of Rook’s neck. He studied the palm of his hand, but saw nothing unusual. Not even a scratch. Then the antiseptic smell he’d noticed on the ring stung his nose, and he almost sneezed. He raised his hand and sniffed. The scent was stronger there, like something had rubbed off on his skin.

The realization that something had rubbed off on him sent his stomach to the floor. He lifted his head, anxiety and anger colliding together with Brynn’s look of utter dread.

“I’m sorry,” Brynn said.

“For what?” Rook’s voice dropped to a deep growl that harmonized with his simmering temper. “What the hell did you just do to me?”

Chapter Four

Knight McQueen took most aspects of his life in Cornerstone extremely seriously. He treated his status as the run’s White Wolf with respect, making himself available to any loup who needed his help, especially when their quarterly came up. He counseled teenage loup who were coming into themselves mentally, physically, and sexually. He also did his damndest to reflect the honesty and fairness of his Alpha father every single day. He was responsible for ensuring that the six hundred loup in town remained emotionally stable so violence didn’t break out.

The only part of his life in Cornerstone that he took a little less seriously was the part he played in McQueen’s Auction House. Like both of his brothers, Knight had worked at the auction house in some capacity since he was a child. But as he hit puberty and shifted from awkwardly cute to drop-dead gorgeous—a description he occasionally overheard, but would never, ever repeat out loud—his role shifted as well. First teenage girls, and then young women, from various counties began stalking the auction with their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles. And once Father realized they hung around for hours just to watch Knight and drop their money at the concession counter, Knight inherited a new job at McQueen’s.

The job was the same as before—accept and tag merchandise, prepare for the auction, and act as a runner during the auction—with the additional task of flirting. Knight had zero interest in any of the human women he flirted with week after week, and he wasn’t susceptible to their emotional feedback, so it was a task he fell into easily with no emotional fallout. He donned his cowboy boots and hat, slung his jeans low, and smiled.

Bishop and Father thought it was good business sense. Rook teased him constantly. Knight did his job, then left the boots and hat at the end of the night and went home. Home to his father’s house and an empty bed, just as he always had.

Butch called for the next lot.

Knight carried his tray of ceramic liquor decanters forward, careful to balance the weight. They’d been working through a two-hundred-piece collection for the last ten minutes, dividing it into lots based on theme. The last tray had held eight different duck-shaped decanters. They’d sold choice first, then the rest for one money. His tray of six horse-themed decanters would go the same way, so he began a slow trek down the center aisle so folks could see what they were bidding on.

Halfway down the aisle, his skin prickled as a loup temper flared nearby. The auction house was usually his respite from the emotional battery of his people, because the majority of their buyers were humans. This interruption of his peace annoyed him. He scanned the room for the source. Few Cornerstone locals attended the auction as buyers, but a dozen or so worked there for any given auction, either as cashiers, runners, or behind the concession stand. No one seemed particularly irritated, though.

He did his job more woodenly than usual, no longer able to get into the role of the good-looking, flirtatious McQueen brother. The temper flare distracted him. His mind was also otherwise occupied with thoughts of Rook and Brynn Jones and her mysterious vision. Rook wasn’t the most patient or subtle person in town, and leaving him to question Brynn wouldn’t have been Knight’s first choice. But he hadn’t argued Father’s decision. That wasn’t his place.

His skin prickled again, just as the same bidder who won choice on the duck decanters won first choice on Knight’s tray. Knight went over to the man and waited as he selected four of them.

“Four times the money,” Butch announced over the mike. “Two left, folks.”

Knight returned to the front of the house so they could start over for the final two, and he took that opportunity to glance up at Father’s office. In the wide window, Rook grabbed Brynn by the shoulders and gave her a firm shake.

Alarmed—and now certain Rook was the source of the agitation—Knight made a fast decision. He peered down the line of waiting runners to the last person—his best friend, Devlin. He jerked his head; Devlin understood immediately. He came forward without question and took the tray from Knight.

Knight ignored Bishop’s curious look and prickle of concern as he slipped past, too concerned about what was happening upstairs with his younger brother to pause and explain, and hurried toward Father’s office.

* * *

No, no, no, please, no.

Time seemed to slow down, drawing every second out for the length of an eternity. Each ragged breath Brynn took rattled in her ears, and her blood pounded in her temples like mallets on a gong. She’d brought the ring as a last resort—a protective measure, a hidden weapon, and Rook had poisoned himself with it. She couldn’t move, couldn’t answer his questions. Nothing seemed to matter beyond her sudden awareness that she’d just signed her own death warrant.

Rook grabbed her shoulders and the touch sent a shockwave of awareness through her body unlike she’d ever felt before. It lasted only a split second, because he shook her hard, and Brynn’s head snapped painfully forward. She blinked at him, horrified by the anger and fear she saw in his face.

“What. Did. You. Do?” he asked, each word a verbal assault that broke down the haze around her mind.

“I didn’t want to.” The words tumbled out like a burst dam now that she was talking. “I had it for protection, but then I met you and you convinced me, and I know you probably don’t believe me, but it’s true. I don’t want to hurt you, I swear, it was an accident—”

“Brynn.” He shook her again, more gently than the first time, but enough to shut her up. His copper-flecked eyes caught her with their intensity, and she couldn’t look away. “Tell me what was in that ring.”

“Poison.”

A muscle beneath his left eye twitched. “Go on.”

Her insides twisted painfully, and she swallowed down the intense need to vomit. “It’s engineered to attack the loup garou nervous system and cause status epilepticus.”

“Which is what?”

“A type of persistent seizure that, in loup garou, will cause death within minutes of onset.”

He released her and stumbled backward several steps, his face a mask of surprise and confusion. He looked at his infected hand, then back at her. Brynn didn’t move, too afraid of startling him into attacking her, even though she knew she deserved it. She had created a complete and utter disaster. One of his brothers would burst in at any moment and kill her.

The only sounds in the room came from the auction floor—the faint bass of a voice over the microphone, the murmur of conversation from various parts of the building. Brynn wanted desperately to break the spell, to force Rook to say or do something—anything—to end her agonizing anticipation of his reaction. And of her own death. The loup garou were animals. They wouldn’t forgive this.

Face pale and shoulders shaking, Rook inhaled a deep breath, held it a moment, then blew out hard through his nose. “How long?”

Assuming he meant the poison’s reaction time, she forced air into her lungs and replied, “It’s slow acting. From first exposure, it takes about thirty minutes before the seizures begin.” She’d chosen this particular poison because of the lag time between exposure and death. If she’d believed Rook a murderer, she would have needed the time to shake his hand, and then get far away before he died.

“I’m going to assume that, at this point, washing my hands won’t help?”

“No.” Tears stung her eyes and nose. “I’m sorry.”

“Is there an antidote?”

She stared stupidly for a moment as the question sank past her shock and fear. He should be ripping her apart for what she’d done, not calmly asking her questions. The loup were emotional beasts, according to her father, but Rook was being so logical—

“Brynn!” The sharp snap of his voice jerked her back. “Is there an antidote?”

“Antidote?” Knight’s voice surprised her into pivoting toward the office door. He stood just inside, paused in mid-step, as though Rook’s question had stopped him short. “What the hell’s going on?”

Brynn shrank back, moving as far from both brothers as she could get—which wasn’t very far. All hope of getting out of this fled with Knight’s arrival. Would her father ever know how she died?

Foolish girl, coming here alone.

Rook ignored Knight, and his anger seemed to fill the room. “Is there one?” Rook snapped.

“Yes,” Brynn said, and the word spurred her mind back into proper working order. He didn’t have to die. She could save him, despite being responsible for his being poisoned at all. “Yes, in my car. I can get it.”

“You’re not leaving this room.” Cold fingers crept down her spine at the ice in his voice. “Tell Knight where it is and what it looks like.”

“Rook?” Knight said.

“Tell him!”

Brynn jumped, her heart hammering against her ribs. Knight’s gaze shifted between them, as frustrated as it was suspicious. “It’s a white Dodge Neon, third row. There’s a black case in the glove compartment that looks like a fountain pen holder.”

Despite his confusion over the conversation, Knight simply nodded. “Keys?”

She dug them out of her pocket with her left hand and tossed them. Knight caught the two keys and simple ring with one hand, and then he was gone, boots pounding down the stairs. Brynn wiped her face with the back of her hand, surprised to find a few stray tears. She sagged against the wall where she’d cornered herself, unsure if her knees would buckle or not.

“Was this your original plan?” Rook asked after a moment of silence.

The sheer calm of his voice made her look up, right at him. He stood near the desk, every muscle rigid, his posture defensive. Only his face was passive, blank except for the rage sparking in his eyes. Rage that punched Brynn right in the gut, because she had put it there.

“I believed my vision, Rook. I thought saving my father might redeem me in his eyes. He accused me of fabricating his death in order to win back his favor. I thought that finding some manner of proof that I was right would change the fact that I’m a failure in the eyes of the Congress.”

“The Congress is big on murder?”

“No, they aren’t.” She pushed back another press of tears.

That muscle under his eye twitched again. “You didn’t come here to talk. You came to murder me.”

“No!” She put all of her waning strength into the denial. “I came to solve the murder in my vision before it could occur. The ring was meant for my protection. I didn’t know how you’d react when I told you what I saw.”

“You thought what? I’d try to kill you for asking questions?”

“I didn’t know. All I know of the loup is what my father has told me.”

“Which is that we’re all cold-blooded killers who aren’t to be trusted?”

“Yes.”

“Typical.”

“I never intended to use the ring unless I felt my life was in danger. I hope you can believe that, Rook.”

“Does it really matter what I believe about you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She had no answer. She didn’t know herself why she wanted his forgiveness so desperately. She didn’t understand why his simmering anger upset her so much, or why she’d felt his earlier touch in every corner of her body. Yes, her survival instincts were in high gear, and she knew better than to antagonize an already emotional loup garou. However, this felt personal in a way that made absolutely no sense.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs toward them, and seconds later Knight rushed through the door. He kicked it shut, then stalked toward Brynn with the black case in one hand.

“What the hell is this?” Knight asked. “Ketamine? Are you trying to dope him, or what?”

“Of course not,” Brynn replied, startled by his shaking rage—such a difference from the calm anger she saw in Rook—and she stammered for an explanation. “It will deactivate the drug that’s already in his system. Granted, the side effects might—”

“What drug is in his system?” Knight bristled, and the calm rush she’d felt from him only twenty minutes earlier was gone, replaced by a tingle of something she couldn’t explain. Something dark and unsettling.

“Can we argue about this after I get the antidote, please?” Rook asked.

Knight opened the case and produced a glass syringe filled with a clear liquid. “You trust her enough for me to poke you with this, little brother?”

Rook didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

Brynn closed her eyes, and two hot tears left trails down her cheeks. She didn’t wipe them away when she opened her eyes again. “Inject it into the soft tissue at the top of the gluteus maximus,” she said softly.

Knight stared at her.

“She means the top of my ass,” Rook said.

“I know that. Someone’s eventually going to tell me what this is all about, yeah?”

“Yes.”

Rook moved to the other side of the desk, and as soon as he reached for his belt, Brynn looked away. She stared down over the auction floor, at all of the humans going about their day, oblivious to the events unfolding in the office. She watched Thomas McQueen say something to the woman on his right, to the music of Rook’s belt jangling and the whisper of cotton. The woman wrote something down, right as Rook grunted.

“Sorry,” Knight said.

Brynn thought of her father, of how angry he’d be knowing how badly she’d screwed up today. And the thought of it crushed her. She wiped away more stray tears, frustrated by their continued presence. Once she was turned over to the Alpha for poisoning his son, she would not beg for mercy. She wouldn’t cry again. She would accept her fate as a proper, stoic Magus and, even if he never knew, do her father proud in her final moments.

Her gaze swept over the tops of heads, only to be caught by someone waiting at the end of the line of runners. Bishop stared up at her, his expression difficult to discern at such a distance. She turned away from the window and was grateful to see Rook cinching his belt back up.

“You may want to sit down,” Brynn said.

“Yeah, that sounds like the perfect plan after being stuck in the ass with a needle,” Rook replied.

The fact that he could even be sarcastic with her gave Brynn a tiny flare of hope. Hope for what, though, she wasn’t certain. “The ketamine can cause disorientation and dizziness, Rook. Please.”

He sat gingerly in one of the wicker chairs.

Knight put the empty syringe back in the black case, shoved the case into his rear pocket, then turned the full force of himself onto Brynn. “Now are you going to tell me what the hell’s going on?”

Brynn explained everything from the moment she and Rook were left alone in the office, to the conversation they had while Knight was fetching the antidote from her car. She impressed herself with her steady voice and still hands, even though her insides were shaking uncontrollably. Nothing about this was okay, and yet it felt less hopeless than even a few minutes ago. Knight was still exuding contained fury, but Rook seemed downright calm. More than anything else, Rook’s composure fed her own emotional state—and she didn’t understand why.

Knight didn’t say a word during or after her explanation of events. He turned and walked to a small door she hadn’t noticed before, opposite the office entrance, and went inside. From her angle, she saw a small mirror on the wall above an edge of white porcelain, and she guessed it to be a private bathroom. Knight returned a moment later with a paper cup in his hand. He went straight over to Brynn and held out the cup.

“Put the ring inside,” he said in a tone that dared her to argue.

She did as he asked, grateful to have the dangerous object off her finger and away.

“Thank you.” He folded down the top of the cup, creating a neat little package for the ring, which he tucked into the front pocket of his jeans. “Now stay there for a minute.”

“Okay.” Brynn remained perfectly still while Knight helped Rook over to the bathroom. She heard the unmistakable sound of running water, which lasted for a solid minute of washing. She was desperate to do the same, to wash the offensive drug off her skin, even though it would have no effect on her own system. It only killed loup garou, not Magi.

When the brothers returned, Knight jacked his thumb over his shoulder. “Your turn,” he said. “Scrub it off good. Leave the door open.”

Brynn nodded her acquiescence, then gave them a wide berth on her path to the bathroom.

Knight helped Rook settle back into his chair, more than a little concerned by the glassy sheen in Rook’s eyes. The fear he’d sensed from Rook was disappearing behind the drugs in his system. Everything that had happened in the last few minutes, from the instant Knight had stepped into the office and heard the word “antidote,” had scared the holy hell out of him. Initial fear from both Brynn and Rook had battered his empathy, and he was only just starting to get out from under his own stifling sense of panic. Injecting Rook with the syringe had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do—trusting the word of a Magus that the contents would help Rook, rather than harm him.

He’d done it, and only because Rook had not hesitated to say he trusted the girl. Knight did not trust her. His beast was furious and wanted to punish her for hurting his kin, despite her explanations and tears. She was a Magus; she was their enemy.

She also had loup garou blood, which made her one of them, as well. She called to his White Wolf, who wanted to soothe her. It was all too confusing.

“How do you feel?” Knight asked.

Rook blinked up at him. “This must be what being stoned feels like.”

“Come on, rock star, I thought you knew that feeling.”

Stoned or not, Rook still had the coordination to flip Knight off.

Loup garou physiology made it nearly impossible to get drunk or high—either state required serious amounts of alcohol or recreational drugs, and the necessary quantity could be fatal before it was fun. Certain barbiturates and anesthetics were effective when dealing with serious wounds, as their town doctor knew all too well, and ketamine was definitely on that list. And Knight knew that Rook had done quite a bit of acting in order to present the kind of guy others thought a member of an alternative rock band should be. At home in Cornerstone, surrounded by loup and a handful of trusted humans, Rook didn’t have to pretend to be someone he wasn’t.

None of them did.

“They’re going to miss you downstairs,” Rook said.

“I know,” Knight replied. “We have to tell Father about this.”

Rook sank deeper into his chair. “Yeah. One more example of me fucking things up.”

“What? How is this you fucking anything up? It’s Brynn’s fault, not yours.”

“You heard her, Knight. I activated the ring, and then I grabbed her damn hand. I poisoned myself.”

The water shut off in the bathroom, but Knight ignored that. “Brynn Jones brought a deadly weapon into this building. A concealed deadly weapon that you had no way of recognizing. Setting it off was not your fault, you hear me?”

Rook shrugged.

“He’s right,” Brynn said from the bathroom doorway. “All of this is my fault, and I’ll accept full responsibility for it. I am so sorry.”

“Our Alpha will have to be told,” Knight replied. Ignoring her apology was rude, but accepting it meant he excused her nearly killing his brother. And he didn’t. She’d walked into their sanctuary town armed with a poison meant solely for loup garou. The fact that such a poison existed at all could be considered an act of aggression by the Congress of Magi.

“I understand.” She came closer, hands clasped behind her back, head angled down in a perfect imitation of submission. “I have something else I must confess to you both.”

Knight’s temper rose, even as his natural empathy told him to keep calm and listen. Rook tried to turn around in his chair and ended up slumped sideways with a confused look on his face.

“My family name isn’t Jones,” she said quickly, and visions of more dangerous jewelry quickly disappeared. “I apologize for lying about that.”

“Why did you?” Rook asked.

“I’m uncertain. It was a knee-jerk reaction to being brought up here.”

“And you didn’t want us connecting you to your father?” Knight added.

“I suppose so. My real name is Brynn Atwood.”

“Atwood.” Knight couldn’t place the name, but he’d heard it before in reference to the Congress. He’d even hazard a guess that her father was pretty highly placed in the Congress—which made their current situation even more complicated.

“My father is a Prime Magus.”

“Fuck,” Rook said. “Sorry, crap.”

It may have been old-fashioned, but their father had a personal rule about certain levels of swearing in front of ladies—even if they swore right back at you. Some habits were hard to shake, even while under the influence of drugs.

“That’s a fairly high position, right?” Knight asked.

“Four Prime Magi form the highest tier of the Congress, yes,” Brynn said.

Naturally. “So it stands to reason that he’d have a lot of enemies who might want him dead.”

“Of course. I’ve always known that, and until a few minutes ago, I had no reason to not think your family was among them. I hold no position in the Congress, so I have no access to their private information about the loup garou.”

Knight started to reply. A harsh beeping sound cut him off, echoed a few feet in front of him. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket, startled by the specific tone meant only for emergency text messages. Run business. Rook was trying to retrieve his own phone and not managing it well. Knight opened the message and was not surprised to find a single line from Father: Office, ASAP, 911.

“What’s up?” Rook asked, having given up trying to manage his own phone.

“I’m not sure, but Father sent a message to gather here, 911 code.”

“Not good.”

“What does that mean?” Brynn asked.

“It means you should hang out over there”—Knight pointed at the rear corner of the office, near the bathroom—“because we’re about to have a meeting.”

Brynn did as told without question, all while maintaining that submissive position. Knight tried to arrange Rook in the chair so that he didn’t look quite as sloppily stoned, but their father would know something was wrong the moment he walked in. Three sets of footsteps beat their way upstairs. His Father entered first, with Bishop and Devlin right behind him. Devlin stumbled briefly when he spotted Brynn, but he was too smart to comment. No one spoke or asked questions while Father walked to the other side of his desk—he’d speak when he was ready.

Their Alpha closed his hands into fists and pressed his knuckles against the top of the desk—a sure sign to anyone who knew him of his rising tension. Tension already filling the room and prickling at Knight’s senses. “I just received a call from Joe Reynolds,” Father said, his voice deep and angry. Reynolds was Alpha of the loup garou run in Springwell, Delaware, and the nearest run to Cornerstone. “A few minutes ago, he received an anonymous phone call that our sanctuary town in Connecticut has been attacked.”

Chapter Five

“Attacked?” Bishop repeated.

“Joe didn’t have any details,” Father said. “He answered an anonymous call about an attack on Stonehill, Connecticut. The caller said the aggressors were fast, deadly, and that at least two dozen people had been killed already.”

Rook pressed his lips closed against a sudden wave of nausea, followed by rage that their people had been attacked. Father’s words had burst through the cotton wadding wrapped around his brain with devastating clarity. Loup garou did not shift into their beast forms often, because the change was extremely painful and it took up to a full minute to complete. A trick of their biology also required what they called a “cooling-down period”—for however many hours the loup spent as beast, twice as many were required in skin before they could shift again. If Rook took a half-hour beast run through the woods, he couldn’t shift again for at least an hour. His body simply wouldn’t allow it.

Most loup spent the majority of their lives in skin form, choosing to shift only during their quarterly. Every one hundred and one days, from sunset to sunrise, a loup was forced into his or her beast for eight to twelve hours, depending on the time of year. The quarterly had been a huge inconvenience while Rook was in college, and was responsible for the end of his musical career.

Because of the time it took to shift into beast, once an alarm was sounded, backup would take time to arrive. Even in skin, though, a loup garou was a formidable opponent and it took quite a lot of effort to kill one. For twenty-four people to have died before someone could call for outside assistance was unthinkable, unless—

“Guns?” Bishop asked.

“I don’t know,” Father replied. “Joe couldn’t tell me anything, because he only knew what the anonymous caller told him. That two dozen are dead, and that they’re under attack. After he got the anonymous call, Joe tried calling Andrew Butler, Springwell’s Alpha, but he didn’t answer, so Joe called me. Joe’s sending a squad of enforcers up to investigate, and I agreed to do the same.”

Rook jerked in his chair. This was exactly the kind of assignment he needed to prove to his father that he could handle himself and lead others. Only going today was impossible, and it was his own fault. With the ketamine in his system making higher thought a challenge, he’d be useless in Connecticut. And when his father looked directly at him, obviously waiting for Rook to volunteer, he didn’t meet his eyes.

The silence lasted only a split second, but it was enough. Father didn’t comment. He had another crisis to deal with before he focused on his youngest son.

“Bishop, take four people with you,” their Alpha said. “I want you ready to leave in fifteen minutes. I’ll give you the contact information for Joe’s squad leader.”

“On it,” Bishop replied. “Dev?”

“I’m in,” Devlin replied.

The pair left as quickly as they came, back into the bustle of the auction that was continuing as usual without them. Father moved fast—one moment behind the desk, the next standing in front of Rook.

“What’s wrong with you?” Father asked.

“Long story.” Rook felt five years old again, confronted by his father after stumbling home a bloody mess. He’d tried to climb a tree he’d been forbidden to touch, because it was rotting, and he’d gone up anyway. When a branch gave out halfway up, he’d hit a lot of other branches on the way to the ground. Sharing that shame with his father had been excruciating at age five. As an adult, it was far more embarrassing.

“Knight?” Father said. “A summary, please?”

Knight explained everything as Brynn had explained it to him, presenting the evidence as it was needed: the cup holding the ring, the syringe box. Brynn didn’t move from her corner, but the sour tang of fear coming off her increased, as did the ragged sound of her breathing. Rook clasped the arms of his chair to keep still, when what he really wanted to do was comfort her. To tell her that he wouldn’t let his father hurt her for what she’d done, even though he had no idea what his father would do.

And why was he sitting there thinking about protecting her, when she was a Magi who’d just poisoned him with a deadly toxin engineered for loup garou? He should dislike her on principle. He blamed the ketamine.

Father surprised Rook by squatting in front of him, nostrils flaring hard as he scented him. “Rook, how do you feel right now?”

“Groggy,” he replied. “A little queasy.”

“Any aches or muscle pains?”

“No.”

“Dizziness?”

“I haven’t tried standing up in a while, so I don’t know.” Rook tilted his head up. “I believe her. Brynn. It was an accident.”

Father looked him in the eye, and Rook didn’t look away. He saw so many unnamed things in his father’s eyes, but one he did recognize was fear—and that baffled him. The Alpha was never afraid. “All right,” Father finally said. “But I’m giving that ring to Dr. Mike for testing. And you are getting a checkup once you’re able to walk without falling over.”

Rook nodded his acquiescence. Dr. Michael Abraham had been the town’s doctor since before even Father was born. He’d birthed most of the loup in Cornerstone, and he knew more about loup garou physiology than anyone Rook had ever met. If the ring’s poison caused any other side effects, Dr. Mike would figure it out.

Father stood and folded his arms over his chest. “Miss Atwood?”

“Yes, sir?” she replied.

He didn’t speak right away. Rook studied his expression, but saw only quiet contemplation—Father’s favorite face when he was making a decision.

“On second thought,” Father said, as though they’d been in the middle of a conversation, “Knight, can you go fetch Dr. Mike and have him come here?”

“Of course,” Knight replied.

“One moment.” Father snatched a piece of paper off his desk, wrote something down, then handed the paper to Knight. He didn’t fold it or hide the message, and Knight read it as he took it. Rook couldn’t see the words, though, just the way Knight’s eyebrows rose and some sort of understanding dawned. Knight left.

“You don’t have to hide in the corner, Miss Atwood. Please, come and have a seat.”

Brynn did, taking the chair next to Rook’s and perching gingerly on the edge. She kept her head down, hands clasped in her lap. Tension radiated from her, along with that fragrance of wild flowers he found so enticing.

“I’ve heard of your father,” his father said. “Archimedes Atwood?”

“Yes, sir,” she said to her lap.

“And you’re no longer of the impression that my son will kill him?”

“No, sir. I believe that he’s present at the time of, or immediately after my father is killed, but I do not believe that Rook is his killer.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Rook started to speak, then pressed his lips shut. It wasn’t his question to answer, and he knew he shouldn’t take it personally. Father was making certain he could trust Brynn’s word, not hinting that he thought Rook guilty of the crime.

Brynn stared at the Alpha like he’d sprouted a third eye. “Because we spoke. You understand instinct, Mr. McQueen, and my instincts tell me Rook is innocent.”

“You’ll blindly trust the word of a loup garou?”

“Blindly, no. But I trust logic. Rook gave me a new perspective on the vision, and I trust that.” She held the Alpha’s intense stare, and the fact that he blinked first increased Rook’s respect for the young Magus. She had a vulnerable side, but she wasn’t weak.

“All right,” Father said. “I hope that, under the circumstances, you’ll accept my invitation to be a guest in our home tonight.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I want to believe you, Miss Atwood, but consider my perspective. You arrive in town, my son is poisoned, and then we get word of a serious attack against another of our sanctuary towns. The timing is bad, and while I don’t want you to think of yourself as a prisoner, you are not free to leave, either.”

“I don’t know anything about the attack in Connecticut.”

“And that may very well be the truth. However, until I know who is responsible, I’m going to err on the side of caution.”

“But—”

“Do you have a cell phone?”

“Yes.” She glanced between them, then produced the phone without being asked.

His father took the phone and locked it inside of his desk. “Thank you, Miss Atwood.” To Rook, he said, “Joe Reynolds is informing the other Alphas of the trouble in Connecticut, and it will take Bishop several hours to get there. I’m returning to the floor for now. Once Dr. Mike has taken a look at both of you, you’re free to leave the office with her. Just stay close.”

“Of course,” Rook said.

After Father left, Brynn shifted in her chair to face him head-on. “Why does your doctor need to take a look at me?”

“Just being cautious, I guess.” Rook wasn’t entirely certain, either, why his father was concerned—the smell. It hit him again, with Brynn sitting so close, and in the excitement of everything else, he’d forgotten. Brynn had loup garou blood, and she’d come into contact with her own poison. His heart pounded harder as he understood the purpose of Father’s earlier note. She’d said the seizures began within thirty minutes of exposure, and it been at least that long since Rook was dosed. Would it take longer to affect her because she was a half-breed? Would her Magi blood protect her?

“What is it?” Brynn asked.

“Nothing.”

“No? Then why do you look so startled?”

He didn’t want to lie, but he also couldn’t tell her the truth. “How certain are you that the poison will only affect loup garou physiology?”

“I have no reason to doubt what I was told.”

“Weren’t you also told you’d be killed if we discovered you’d entered our town with a deadly weapon?”

“Yes.”

“Has that happened?”

She blushed. “No.”

“So how can you say for sure that it won’t affect you in some way? You had it all over your hand, too.”

She squirmed in her chair, fingers twisting together in her lap. “Why are you trying to scare me?”

“I’m not trying to scare you, Brynn, I promise. I just think that letting Dr. Mike check you out might not be a bad idea.” He stared to reach for her hand, to give it a comforting squeeze, but stopped himself. She probably didn’t want his comfort or his touch, even though he wanted hers. Wanted to know if that connection he’d felt when he grabbed her hand was a fluke. He needed it to be a fluke, because any attraction to her was wrong and impossible. “I won’t let Dr. Mike hurt you.”

Her silence worried him, and they sat that way for a while.

Rook listened to the sounds of the auction as Butch called the next lot. They’d moved along from the table items, and the auction had split. The furniture in the back row was up now, while the boxed lots in the next room were being sold simultaneously. Doubling up kept the auction from taking too long, and the target buyers for the two were usually very different. The antique furniture dealers didn’t often want the miscellaneous items thrown together in the boxed lots. The entire auction should wrap up in about ninety minutes, and then they’d begin the process of cleaning up. Buyers had two hours from the end of the auction to get their purchases out of the building—no exceptions.

The more minutes that passed, the clearer his head became. The ketamine dose hadn’t been large, but it had thrown him for a loop. Rook didn’t like the fuzzy-headed loss of control he’d felt. He had faked it well in the music scene for years, and he couldn’t imagine actually existing like that as his band mates had. He struggled every day to control his temper as a Black Wolf, and the ability to achieve actual intoxication would have made that control impossible. He’d have never survived college, never reached his dream of playing in a locally recognized band—never been so close to stardom that he could actually see it in his head, laid out for him like a fantasy come true.

He’d have never had to humiliate himself and let his band down—giving it all up to keep the secret of his loup garou heritage.

Brynn’s anxiety compounded with each silent minute that ticked by, marked by the antique Coke clock on the wall. She didn’t understand why Rook had put those doubts into her head. Doubts about the toxin and its likelihood of affecting not just loup, but her as well. Why would her father have designed a ring that distributed the toxin in such a way if it wasn’t safe for Magi? Rook’s concerns were illogical, and yet his sincerity made her doubt herself.

By the time Knight returned with the doctor, Brynn was ready to climb the walls. She twisted around in her chair to observe the oldest man she’d ever seen in her life walk into the office. He was completely bald, with layer after layer of wrinkled, leathery skin that nearly hid his actual facial features. Sharp eyes peeked out through the folds and from beneath two bushy white eyebrows. He was thick, without being overweight, and his ancient body still hummed with the power of his loup garou blood.

“Hello, young one,” he said. “Dr. Michael Abraham, but everyone ’round these parts calls me Dr. Mike.”

Brynn stood and forced herself to shake his outstretched hand, not surprised by the strength of his grip. “Brynn Atwood. A pleasure, Dr. Mike.”

He held her hand a bit longer than necessary, and the way his nostrils flared betrayed the fact that he was smelling her—something she’d come to expect from the residents of Cornerstone. They probably didn’t get a chance to sniff a Magus very often. Dr. Mike released her hand, then moved to stand in front of Rook.

“All right, son, present yourself,” Dr. Mike said.

Rook stood up slowly, using the arm of the chair for support. “Knight fill you in?”

“That he did, yes. And if it was ketamine in the syringe, then the logic is sound.”

“It was,” Brynn said. Her annoyance level rose at the constant questioning of the syringe. She had been nothing but honest and cooperative for the last hour.

“We’ll see. Knight?”

Knight placed an old-fashioned black doctor’s bag onto the desk, and Dr. Mike snapped it open. Brynn took the opportunity to approach the window and watch the auction for a while, keeping half of her attention on the things being said behind her. The sale seemed to be winding down, the crowd thinning out and dividing up, and she was sorry to have missed so much of her first auction. She’d like to know more about how Rook’s family business was run. History and its artifacts fascinated her—it was one of the reasons she’d become a teacher.

“I’ll have to do some blood work to be certain,” Dr. Mike said, “but you seem to be just fine. The ketamine will be out of your system soon, and barring any unknown side effects of the poison, you should be in top form again by tomorrow.”

“Good, thank you,” Rook said.

“Your turn, young miss.”

Brynn turned—too fast, she suspected, because the room tilted. She grabbed the window ledge with her left hand, and pressed the palm of her right to her forehead. A warm body appeared by her side in an instant.

“Brynn?” Rook said. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, fine.” She blinked hard, surprised by the dark spots floating in her vision. “I just got dizzy for a moment. I moved too quickly.”

“Okay. Come sit down.” He slipped an arm around her waist, and Brynn didn’t push him away. She clung to his warmth, and the strength of the muscles that shifted beneath his t-shirt. Her skin didn’t crawl from contact with a loup. It tingled in a pleasant way. This close, she could smell him—the musk of his aftershave, the sharpness of sweat, and the deeper, damp leaves scent of his loup garou nature. She had never smelled anyone so acutely in her life. Of course she’d spent almost her entire life around other Magi. Perhaps the loup simply had stronger body odor?

The silly thought almost made her giggle.

He helped her sit on the edge of the desk, but the faint dizziness didn’t dissipate. Dr. Mike held her chin loosely in his hand and looked into her eyes. She stared back at him, alarmed and confused and somewhat loopy.

“Her pupils are dilated,” Dr. Mike said. “Are you feeling any sort of numbness or shortness of breath?”

“No, just dizzy.”

“Heart palpitations?”

“Not really.”

Dr. Mike took her wrist and held it, then glanced over his shoulder at the clock. “Your pulse is close to one hundred. That’s much too fast for a woman your age at rest.”

“She’s probably nervous,” Rook said.

“Mind your own health, son.” He spoke with a fond gruffness that made Rook smile, but it did nothing to ease Brynn’s nerves. “Miss Atwood, I don’t want to alarm you, but it’s possible you’re having a reaction to your own poison.”

“No, I can’t be.” She shook her head, which turned out to be a mistake. Her vision blurred, and perspiration broke out on her forehead and upper lip.

“Brynn?” Rook said. He grabbed her hand, squeezed it. The shock of his touch grounded her briefly, before being broken again by dizziness. She tried to press back and couldn’t manage it. Something was very wrong.

“It’s all right, young one,” Dr. Mike said. “It’ll be all right, you’ll see.”

“This isn’t happening,” Brynn said. Her voice sounded muffled, far away.

The sleeve of her t-shirt was pushed up, then something cold touched her shoulder. She tried to look, but Rook turned her head back toward him. She focused on him—his concerned eyes, his full lips, on those strange silver things in his ears and the hints of tattoos on his neck. Something stung her shoulder.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“You’ll be okay,” Rook said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

A rush of vertigo changed everything, and Brynn reached for him even as she fell.

* * *

Carrying an unconscious woman down the stairs and out the front door of the auction house was a little too conspicuous for Rook. Of course, laying Brynn out on the office floor on a couple of towels, with the wicker chair cushions as pillows, wasn’t a spectacular compromise, but it was the best he and Knight could do. Even Dr. Mike was surprised at how quickly she’d succumbed to the small dose of ketamine he’d given her to counteract the poison. She wasn’t full-blood loup garou, and she’d been exposed to the poison longer than Rook, which seemed to account for her strange symptoms. Dizziness instead of the forewarned seizures.

He just hoped they’d acted quickly enough.

Once he deemed Brynn stable and sleeping, Dr. Mike packed up his bag, blood samples, and the ring, and he returned to his office to run his tests. With his own strength returning, Rook found himself pacing the length of the office, agitated and confined by the small room. His steps fell in uneven measures, creating an imperfect melody in his mind that did nothing to distract him.

“You’re making me dizzy,” Knight said from his perch on the edge of Father’s desk. The wicker chairs were not comfortable without the cushions, and no one but Father sat in his leather chair.

Rook mentally flipped him off and continued pacing. “How could she not know?”

“About what?”

“Having loup blood.”

“If her Magus blood is dominant, it’s possible she’s never even shifted. We’ve stumbled across human-loup half-breeds who have no idea they’re part loup.”

“But her father has to know. He’d have to know her mother wasn’t human or Magus or whatever it is they marry.”

“Rook.” Knight’s warning tone shaved the edge off Rook’s frustration. Insulting Brynn’s people wouldn’t help them figure this out—or help them decide what or how to tell Brynn about her reaction to the poison.

“I’m sorry.” Rook stopped pacing and leaned against the wall near Brynn’s head. She looked so peaceful asleep, so fragile, and his protective instincts increased. Instincts fed directly by his beast, which confused him even more. His mind screamed that she was the enemy, an unknown, and her dual nature made her dangerous. Maybe more than any of them knew, because no one like her had ever existed before.

And even if she proved herself an ally, rather than an enemy, as a half-breed she would still be at risk in Cornerstone.

Because of the fact that human-loup half-breeds were not fertile, the pairing was generally prohibited. In very rare instances, run Alphas could give permission for a human to be brought into a run and for a marriage to occur, but they were extremely rare and children were forbidden. Loup garou, as a species, were less than ten thousand in number across the entire country. Survival depended on procreation. In fifteen years, Father had given five of their Gray Wolves permission to marry humans, but for a Black or White Wolf, it was simply not allowed by run law.

Rogue half-breeds were an entirely different problem. Their parents were often loup who left their runs and the protection of their Alpha, and they lived outside the laws of the loup garou. Half-breeds were difficult to control, and they excelled at causing trouble with humans. They also seemed to enjoy antagonizing their full-blood kin, often to the point of violence.

The real problem with Brynn Atwood was that no one had ever encountered a loup-Magus half-breed. Her scent alone would turn heads in town. Rook understood his father’s reasons for keeping Brynn close for now, but she would never be completely safe in Cornerstone. After this, she may no longer be safe with the Magi, either, but that wasn’t his problem to worry over.

Easier said than done. She was under his skin already, and he wanted her back out.

“You might want to get a handle on your feelings, little brother,” Knight said. “Your emotions are rolling off you like a smoke signal.”

Damn Knight anyway for being a White Wolf and able to sense his emotional chaos. Rook had absolutely no reason to like Brynn—none that made logical sense—but he did. He was confused and protective and angry, and he didn’t handle those emotions well. He’d scare her off before they became friends, and maybe that was a good thing.

“If my emotions are bothering you, you don’t have to stay up here and babysit me. I’m sure your adoring fans miss you downstairs.”

“Bite me.”

“Hey, who stuck a needle in whose ass?”

“Not something I’ll ever brag about, trust me.”

“Well, thank you anyway.”

Knight blinked. “For what?”

“For listening to her and not just reacting.” Rook caught his brother’s eye and held his gaze. Knight spent so much time seeing after the emotional state of others that Rook doubted the man paid much attention to himself—and when Knight had walked into the office earlier, he’d been as close to losing control as Rook had ever seen. “I’m not sure if you realize just how pissed you were, but I know you. So thanks for keeping it together and helping us.”

“I was helping you.”

“Either way, thanks.”

“Anytime. Just try not to poison yourself anymore, okay?”

Rook grinned. “Deal.”

Chapter Six

Waking up on the floor wasn’t the least dignified thing Brynn had ever done, but it certainly made her top ten list. Her back ached from the hard wood, made no softer by the large beach towels spread out beneath her and, for a split second, she forgot where she was and why she’d passed out in the first place.

Everything rushed back when a familiar face came into her line of sight, looking down at her from above. “Welcome back,” Rook said. He smiled like her waking was the highlight of his day, when her very presence there had caused him nothing but pain.

“Thank you.” His handsome smile filled her with warmth, and she clung to the unfamiliar feeling as she tested her limbs and found them all in working order. Her right shoulder was sore, likely from the injection she vaguely recalled receiving from Dr. Mike. She’d reacted to the toxin in her ring after all, which made no sense. Her father said they’d been using the toxin for years without any Magus suffering ill effects. What was so different about her that she’d required the antidote?

“Can you sit up?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Rook held out his hand, and Brynn took it without hesitation. He pulled gently. She maneuvered into a sitting position with only a slight twinge from her lower back. No dizziness, no nausea, no blurred vision. They were alone in the office, which was oddly silent. It took her a moment to realize the distant hum of voices was gone.

“How long was I asleep?”

“About two hours.”

“Two hours? Sweet Avesta, that’s a long time.”

“I was starting to worry, but Dr. Mike said it was normal.”

“You didn’t pass out for two hours.”

“I’m also a full-blood loup garou. The ketamine didn’t affect me the same way it did you.”

He had an excellent point. Before today, the strongest drug she’d ever taken was aspirin for the occasional headache. She’d never had cause or occasion to ingest prescription drugs. It made sense that her system might react poorly. “Is the auction over?”

“A little while ago. Everyone’s cleaning up.”

“Oh.”

Rook gave her hand a squeeze, and she realized that neither of them had let go. His larger hand dwarfed hers, and yet seemed to fit perfectly. “You sound disappointed.”

Brynn shook her head no, even though she was. “I had hoped to observe more, that’s all. Why aren’t you assisting them?”

“I was waiting for you to wake up, so we could go home and get some dinner. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

At the mention of food, her stomach gave a soft rumble, and she laughed. “I haven’t eaten anything all day, actually. Coming here, I was too nervous to eat.”

“Good. My father has a large meal for all of the auction employees after every sale, to say thank you for their work.”

“How large a meal?” The idea of being in a dining room full of loup garou sent a cold shock down her spine that settled in the pit of her stomach.

Rook covered their joined hands with his free hand. “We can go over early and get plates before everyone else shows up. Sitting down with a dozen strangers probably sounds a little intimidating, doesn’t it?”

“A bit, yes.” She ought to pull her hands away, to separate them, but she liked the touch—a fact that stirred her gut with unease. Rook wasn’t a murderer, but he was still loup garou, and therefore capable of terrible violence. He should terrify her, not make her feel so strangely safe.

“No problem. If you’re feeling up to it, we can walk over now.”

“All right.”

He released her hand when she was on her feet, and she found herself missing his touch. Despite their violent beginning, he comforted her in a way she couldn’t explain, and in a way she didn’t dare ask for. Anything beyond this tentative friendship was impossible, because as soon as Alpha McQueen gave her permission, she was going home. Part of her rebelled at the idea of needing permission, that in some way she was a prisoner, but acquiescing to the request was easier than fighting. She had no resources to battle the loup garou now that her ring was gone.

After giving her back the necklace—they both agreed that shielding her Magi nature was still the best route for now—Rook led and she followed him out of the office she’d walked into only hours earlier fully expecting to confront her father’s future killer. Nothing today had turned out the way she’d imagined.

Contrary to the bustle of activity from before, the downstairs entry was empty. A few bodies moved around in the main room to her left, but Rook turned right and headed for the doors. The evening was still warm, but less humid than just a few hours ago, and the parking lot was nearly empty. Her rental car sat in its space, quiet and unassuming.

“We can take my car,” she said, realizing too late that Knight still had her keys. Yet another way for them to keep her in town.

“It’s just one street over,” Rook replied.

“Okay.”

Brynn took a good look at the layout of Cornerstone as they walked. Main Street connected off a busier state road and the majority of town seemed to be settled around it. The auction house was the first actual building marking the start of town, and just beyond it on Main was a large brick building that advertised a diner and coffee shop. More brick and stone buildings, their architecture dating back to the nineteenth century, stretched as far down Main as she could see, until the road seemed to turn left. Dozens of homes were built on side alleys feeding off Main, stretching back for several blocks, dotted with ancient oaks, elms, and willow trees.

The town itself was built in a valley, with the Appalachian Mountains rising up on all sides like a box canyon and only one road in or out. The wilderness around them probably gave the loup garou residents plenty of freedom to roam in their animal forms, and it also offered a great deal of protection from the outside world.

A sidewalk began on the other side of the auction parking lot, and she followed Rook past the busy diner and its steady flow of patrons. A few gave her a second glance, but she kept her head down and stayed close to Rook. Even if someone could sniff past the medallion and tell she was a Magus, she doubted they’d bother her as long as she stuck close to the Alpha’s son.

At the end of the block, Rook turned left down a narrow street wide enough for one car at a time to get through. Federal- and colonial-style houses lined both sides of the street, some with large yards, others with front doors that opened right onto the sidewalk. The trees shaded the road from the late-setting sun, creating a sense of peace she’d never felt in her hometown of Chestnut Hill. Hundreds of loup garou had lived and died here; she felt their history in every brick and board and sidewalk stone.

Rook crossed the street and stopped in front of the third house down. A waist-high iron fence ran the length of the yard, protecting the lovely three-story Victorian home behind it. A long porch stretched across the front, and a single spire on the right side of the house made her think of a fairy-tale princess trapped in a tower. A massive willow tree stood in the center of the yard, its long, leaf-covered branches bending far enough to brush the trimmed lawn.

“Is this your home?” Brynn asked.

“Yep.”

“It’s beautiful, Rook.”

“Thank you.”

An open gate took them down a stone path that led straight to the front porch. Brynn felt strange walking into the home of a loup garou, but Rook seemed perfectly at ease with her presence. As though what they were doing was absolutely normal, and she was just an acquaintance coming home for dinner. He opened the front door and held it so Brynn could go inside.

The foyer gave her an instant sense of what she imagined the rest of the house would be—a blend of vintage antique and lived-in comfort. A round, ornately carved table held a vase of fresh flowers, and right below it was a jumble of sneakers and work boots. An antique oak hall tree was covered in a similar mix of sweatshirts and baseball caps. The dueling scents of furniture polish and cooking food made her smile with its hominess.

“The parlor is in there.” He pointed at a closed door immediately to their right. “Father uses it when important guests come to visit, but it’s mostly just for show. Living room is on the left.”

She peeked inside, pleased to see two large sofas, a leather recliner, several tables, and a well-stocked entertainment console. It was a room that people lived and relaxed in after a long day. A wide staircase led upstairs, and a hallway went straight past it. Rook led her in that direction, pointing out two more doors under the stairs—the first a closet, the second a half bath—and another on the left that led into the dining room.

“The library is in there.” Rook nodded at a half-closed door just past the bathroom. “I think we have more books than the town’s actual library does, but our family has maintained it for generations.”

“I’d love to see it, when there’s time,” Brynn said.

“Definitely.”

At the end of the hall were steps leading down and to the right. “Conservatory-slash-greenhouse. It’s one of Bishop’s hobbies. Plus having fresh herbs on hand at all times keeps Mrs. Troost happy.”

“Mrs. Troost?”

“Our housekeeper. Brace yourself, she’s probably in the kitchen.”

Rook pushed through the swinging door on the left and they went down three short steps into a large kitchen that was a magical cross between modern, industrial, and colonial. A six-top range sat next to an old iron woodstove. What looked like original wood counters butted up next to sleek stainless steel workstations. Dozens of pots and pans hung from a brass ceiling rack. The entire setup seemed more worthy of a small restaurant kitchen than someone’s home—but Brynn had no idea how many people lived and ate here regularly.

One whirlwind of a loup female rushed around the room, muttering to herself. She moved with incredible speed for her short legs and wide frame. Gray hair was tied back in a sleek bun at the nape of her neck, and her apron was still perfectly white, despite working with what smelled like some kind of tomato sauce. It was obvious that she ruled that room, and Brynn did not get any closer.

Mrs. Troost finally noticed them and stopped short with a pair of silver tongs in her hand. “Rook, lad, you’re early for supper,” she said. Her accent had a faint brogue, even though Troost was definitely not Irish. Thin, black eyebrows shot up when she spotted Brynn. “And you’ve brought a lady friend with you.”

Something about the way Mrs. Troost said lady friend made Brynn blush.

“Mrs. Troost, this is Brynn. She’s staying at the house overnight.”

Her eyebrows got a bit higher. “Does your father know?”

“Yes, Father knows, and it’s not what you think.”

“Shame, lad, she’s a beauty.”

“Um, thank you,” Brynn said, certain she should speak up at some point. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Troost.”

“Likewise, my dear.”

“I was hoping we could take our supper out to the backyard,” Rook said. “Brynn’s kind of shy, and I don’t want to subject her to Thursday night with the entire crew.”

“Understandable. They tend to get a tad beastly after a whole day of working and very little food.”

Rook chuckled, but he didn’t deny it, which made Brynn doubly glad they were going to eat in a more private setting.

“Help yourselves, of course,” Mrs. Troost said. “There’re two pans of lasagna standing up on the stove there, salad in the bowl, and the garlic toast will be ready in a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” Rook said. “You’re the best.”

“Save those compliments for your lovely lady friend, lad.”

Still blushing, Brynn followed Rook over to the stove and began assembling her supper.

* * *

Rook didn’t spend energy trying to keep up small talk while they ate. Brynn seemed content to tackle her serving of lasagna and salad in silence, while pausing occasionally to gaze around the backyard. Rook knew every inch of it by heart—the scattered oak trees, the large vegetable garden spewing its contents from cultivated rows, the teak patio furniture that matched the table they were eating at—so he spent his time stealing glances at Brynn. Out of the harsh glare of fluorescent lights and in the natural glow of twilight, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

She ate with a polite precision he found amusing, alternating small bites of food with sips of iced tea, like someone used to eating fancy meals with important company. He imagined with a father as highly placed as hers, that wasn’t far from the truth—unlike daily meals at the McQueen household, which held fast to the simple rules of elbows off the table and don’t talk with your mouth full. They came from two completely different worlds, and yet she there she was, easily fitting into his. He liked her here.

She probably couldn’t wait to leave.

The back door squealed open, and Rook didn’t have to look to know who was joining them. Seconds later, his father sat down in the chair next to him, opposite Brynn, with a mug of coffee.

Brynn paused in her eating long enough to understand she didn’t have to stop on his account, then gave the last of her salad her complete attention.

“Has Bishop checked in?” Rook asked. He was as curious about those happenings as he was about his father’s plans for Brynn, and Bishop had left almost three hours earlier.

“A few minutes ago,” Father said. “He met Jillian Reynolds and her squad in New York, and they’ll be entering Connecticut in about twenty minutes. They’ll be in Stonehill in less than an hour. There’s been no contact with the town or its residents.”

“There’s no way to get to them faster?” Brynn asked.

“Unless we magically sprouted wings and flew, our vehicles are still subject to the laws of physics, Miss Atwood.” Father’s touch of sarcasm spoke loudly to his frustration with the situation. Pennsylvania and Delaware were the two closest runs and best able to lend assistance. They were doing the best they could while heading into the unknown.

“I’m sorry. I imagine waiting for word is the most difficult part of a situation like this.”

“Yes, it is.”

“What about the local police?”

“We loup police ourselves inside of our sanctuary towns, and calling human authorities into a situation like this could be disastrous to the loup as a whole. We’d have no explanation for why very large black and gray wolves were running around fighting, especially if this is an attack by rogue loup or half-breeds.” He tapped his fingertips against the top of the teak table. “Dr. Mike also called, Rook. Your blood work is fine. The poison reacted to the ketamine as expected, and Dr. Mike doesn’t foresee any future side effects.”

“Awesome,” Rook replied.

“Does he happen to know why I reacted so badly?” Brynn asked.

Father paused only a fraction of a second—not long enough for Brynn to notice, but Rook knew his father—before he shook his head. “He’s still investigating that.”

Rook hated keeping something this important from Brynn—everyone deserved to know where they came from—but he trusted his father to do what was best in an uncomfortable situation. “So how did the sale today go?” he asked. A more innocuous conversation topic was needed before Brynn asked any more questions. They’d told her so much already.

They discussed auction business for a few minutes longer, creating a sense of normalcy in a situation rife with abnormalities. Waiting on news from Connecticut was excruciating, making any conversation a welcome distraction. A while later, Father stood and excused himself. “I have some things to take care of,” he said. “Mrs. Troost is making up one of the third-floor guest rooms for you, Miss Atwood.”

“Thank you,” Brynn said.

“Of course. If you need anything, just ask Rook or Mrs. Troost.” He then surprised Rook by taking their empty plates inside with him.

“He’s really worried,” Rook said, mostly to himself and the closing back door.

“Your father?” Brynn asked.

“Yeah.”

“His people are being attacked, and his son is heading into an unknown danger. He has good reason to be worried.”

“I know, but he’s usually a lot better at hiding it, especially around outsiders.”

“I imagine so. And I’m so sorry for contributing—”

“Please, Brynn, stop apologizing.” He folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. She looked so vulnerable, so desperately in need of comfort. He pushed against his beast’s demand that he provide that comfort physically. “Listen, the way you came into town, unannounced and with that poison, is not okay, but my getting poisoned was an accident. I’m not happy about it, but I don’t hold a grudge against you. Okay?”

Her expression softened and her posture relaxed. “All right. Thank you. But what about your other brother?”

“Knight?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll talk to him and make sure he’s cool. All of our emotions were feeding his at the time, so Knight got more wound up than usual. He’ll be fine.”

“He’s susceptible to that, as a White Wolf? The emotions of others?”

“Strong emotions within a certain physical proximity, yeah.”

“It sounds difficult for him.”

“It can be.” He didn’t like discussing Knight behind his back like this, so he grasped for a different topic. “So what do you do?” Generic, but he was somewhat hopeless when it came to small talk.

“At the moment, nothing.” Something sad flashed in her eyes. “I was a tutor for two years. I loved teaching.”

“If you loved it, why did you quit?”

“I was fired.”

He’d just proved how good he was at putting his foot in his mouth. It had been a long time since he’d wanted to get to know someone, or put any effort into it. Brynn was special, and he wanted to learn about her, but he hated that learning meant a constant reminder that she was Magus. Her people were his enemies, but she was also part loup. Did that make it okay to hate seeing hurt in her eyes?

He had no idea.

Rook leaned close and lowered his voice, exaggerating his raised eyebrows. “Want me to kill someone for you?”

She stared at him, taking him seriously for a split second, until she caught his humor. She smiled, and the sight made his heart jump. “No, but thank you.”

“No problem.” The moment lingered, growing into something sweet—something it could never be between them. He cleared his throat, breaking the spell. “Why don’t I show you where your room is? You can settle in for the night.”

“All right.” She stood up with him, but made no move away from the table.

“Brynn? You okay?”

“I just thought of something.”

“What?”

“Well, I never planned on staying here overnight.”

“I know, and it’s got to be—oh.” He got it. “You probably need a toothbrush and stuff.”

“Yes, a toothbrush, hairbrush, maybe even something to sleep in besides my bare skin.”

The mental image of Brynn sleeping in the nude flashed into his brain and refused to budge. He gripped the edge of the table, alarmed at the way his jeans were beginning to tighten. His sudden lack of self-control was absolutely ridiculous, considering he’d been managing it quite well since puberty. One innocent comment from a pretty girl shouldn’t create instant wood. Especially when the comment was from Brynn. Magus. Enemy.

“Ah . . .” He needed something a lot more intelligent than that. “Mrs. Troost has a grand-niece who’s about our age. She can, um, probably get you some stuff.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.”

“No problem.”

Neither of them moved. Rook began to sweat.

“Are we going inside?” Brynn asked.

“Yes?” He was an idiot. “I mean, yes, we are. Sorry. After you.”

Brynn picked up her iced tea glass, gave him a curious look, then headed for the back door. Rook briefly contemplated dumping the remains of his own glass down the front of his pants, then followed her into the house.

Chapter Seven

“It was a goddamn massacre,” Bishop said.

Five words spoken over a cell phone on speaker mode had the striking ability to sweep their father off his feet. Rook watched with rising panic as he sat heavily on the edge of the library sofa and dropped his head into his hands, as though he’d lost the power to stand.

Bishop had texted them a few minutes ago, announcing an incoming phone call. Their father had gathered Rook and Knight in the library so they could hear the update together, but the first words out of Bishop’s mouth were not what any of them had been expecting.

Knight was sitting in a leather chair opposite the sofa with the active cell phone in his hand, and he stared at it as though the small piece of plastic might explode. Rook couldn’t seem to move from his spot by the door, planted in place by shock. Shouting voices and the rumble of engines spilled over the line from Bishop’s end, but he didn’t add anything else to his announcement.

“How many dead?” Knight asked when no one else did.

Bishop made a sharp, choked sound. “We found one survivor.”

“One?”

Their father scrubbed his hands through his silver-streaked hair, then looked up. “Stonehill had three hundred and seven residents,” he said in a hollow, toneless voice. “You found one alive?”

“One,” Bishop said. “A woman. She’s hurt pretty badly, but Jillian thinks she’ll live.”

It took Rook a moment to remember that Jillian Reynolds was the squad leader sent by the Delaware run. “Who would slaughter an entire town of loup garou?” Rook asked.

“The method worries me more. Hold on.” Bishop said something that was muffled and not to them. “Sorry. We found no traces of gunfire or explosives. It was a literal slaughter. Throats torn out, bodies mangled. And it was methodical. Most of the victims were in their homes and didn’t have time to shift and fight back.”

The descriptions of the murders turned Rook’s stomach, and he was glad it had been a few hours since supper. It also enraged his beast, who demanded justice in kind against whoever had done this.

“And there’s another problem.”

“Which is?” Father asked.

“I’m no expert in morbidity, but the bodies aren’t fresh, not by at least half a day. I think it’s a safe bet that the massacre was over before that anonymous call to Joe was placed.”

Father swore loudly—a single word that marked his anger and shock. “You’re certain?”

“Positive.”

“So it’s likely our anonymous caller was one of the murderers.”

“Yes.”

“What does your nose tell you about who did this?”

“Nothing that makes sense, but it isn’t easy sifting through the smell of death. The strongest scent is loup, and there’s a lot of it. Some of it’s foreign to the local loup, but that’s not the worst of it. We can also smell vampires.”

Knight fumbled the phone, but managed to not drop it.

“That makes no sense,” Father said.

“No, it doesn’t, but the scents are here.”

“Vampires and loup don’t work together, and certainly not to do something like this.”

“I wish I had an explanation, but I don’t. It’s possible the loup involved were half-breeds.”

“That still doesn’t explain working with vampires.”

“No.”

Only a few hundred vampires were known to still exist in the world, and that was largely due to the actions of the loup garou. In the early days of Rook’s grandfather’s generation, a bloody feud had broken out between the loup and the vampires. With their superior numbers, the loup had overpowered and killed a large percentage of the vampire population. In the last sixty years or so, the vampires had remained mostly silent, making no bold moves and taking no part in the occasional hostilities between the loup and Magi.

So why step forward as a threat now?

“There’s one other thing,” Bishop said. “I’m pretty sure, and both Jillian and Devlin agree, that a Magus was here.”

Knight glanced in his direction, but Rook couldn’t stop staring at their father, whose face had flushed and whose clasped hands were shaking. He was the very picture of barely contained rage, and the sight of it made Rook want to hit his knees as his furious Alpha triggered the submissive instincts of the loup under his command.

Knight put the phone down on the book-covered table next to his chair, then moved to stand in front of their father. He touched Thomas’s shoulder and the simple act of a concerned White Wolf seemed to absorb some of the enraged Alpha’s stray emotions.

Relieved to have his brother there with them to keep their father calm, Rook inched closer to the table so he didn’t have to shout to be heard over the cell phone. He didn’t want anyone else in the house hearing this news yet. Unexpected news he didn’t want to believe, because of the coincidence of Brynn’s arrival. Had she been playing them all along? “What makes you think a Magus was there?”

“Well, we aren’t in Florida and it stinks of rotten oranges,” Bishop replied. “That and some of the bodies were . . . roasted.”

Roasted conjured up a mental image of someone tied to a man-sized spit over an open flame, and that was not something Rook needed in his head. “What do you mean roasted? As in burned?”

“No, that implies an external heat source, and nothing around here smells burned. The people who died this way . . . damn it.” Bishop cleared his throat hard. “It’s like they cooked from the inside out, and since loup aren’t known to spontaneously combust, the only way that could happen is through magic.”

“So our suspects are loup, vampire, and Magus? Is that even possible?”

“Possible or not, they were all here during the slaughter and they left before we arrived.”

“How many?” Father asked. His voice was rough, bitter, but Knight’s abilities had taken the edge off.

“It’s difficult to determine,” Bishop replied. “We’ve agreed there’s only one distinct Magus scent, but the loup and vampire scents are less distinct. Our best guess is three to six suspects.”

“Six people killed over three hundred?” Rook asked, his horror and fury compounding with the implications of such an occurrence. “How’s that possible?”

“I wish I knew, Rook.”

Knight turned toward the phone, his expression helpless, as though he wanted to reach through the air and take some of the haunted desperation out of their oldest brother’s voice. So many lives lost to such a violent, unknown enemy, and Bishop had seen the devastation with his own eyes.

“Collect whatever evidence you can,” Father said. “Destroy what you need to keep from the human police, and then get home.”

“Already in progress,” Bishop said. “I’ll text you when we’re on our way back.”

“All right. Be careful.”

“Always.”

Rook waited for Bishop’s end of the line to go silent before he ended the call. He stood in the middle of the library, unsure what to say or do. Their world had tilted sideways a few minutes ago. The foundational melody was ripped apart and forever changed. Over three hundred of their brethren were dead and other runs had to be notified. The rest of the Cornerstone enforcers—a handful of Black Wolves and the strongest, fastest of the Gray—needed to be told, alerted for possible danger. Cornerstone had twice as many loup garou as Stonehill had, but until they knew why Stonehill was targeted, everyone was potentially at risk.

Similar thoughts must have been going through their father’s mind, because he said, “I need to make some calls. The other Alphas have to know what’s happened.”

“Would you like our help?” Knight asked.

“Not with the calls. I need you and Rook to tell the other enforcers what’s going on. No immediate action, but I want them alert and informed. And then try to get some sleep, if you can. Bishop and the others won’t be home for hours yet.”

Rook doubted he’d be able to sleep tonight, but he agreed to the request—after he asked Brynn about the Magus and the roasting. He didn’t want her involved in this violence, but there existed a very real possibility that she already was.

* * *

As soon as Father locked them out of the library so he could make his calls in private, Knight made a dash for the downstairs bathroom. Ignoring the muffled sounds of retching behind the closed door, Rook slipped past to the foyer, allowing his brother a moment to himself. Knight felt everything more keenly than other loup, and he’d likely been trying to steady both Rook and their father during the entire conversation. Tempering all of that negative emotion had taken its toll physically.

Rook went upstairs, determined to be strong tonight—for his family, and for the people of Stonehill who’d died at the whim of an unknown enemy.

They’d have their vengeance. Rook made the silent promise to three hundred-plus murdered souls—and to the one lone survivor who’d wake in the morning to a very different world.

* * *

The forest, somewhere she doesn’t recognize. Her father sprawled on the ground, his shirt torn, his chest bloody. His eyes are closed, his body still. A young man crouches above him, blood on his hands.

She knows the young man now. Rook. Knows he isn’t the killer, but he’s still there. He looks at the blood on his hands, then over where she cannot see. His profile is not scared, not sad. He doesn’t seem to care that her father is dead.

Brynn shook herself awake with a screech, hands clawing at unfamiliar linens. She stared at strange shadows in someone else’s bedroom. Perspiration covered her face and neck, despite the cool air from the window fan blowing directly on her from across the room. She shoved the sheet and thin summer blanket down and sat up, desperate to recover her bearings.

Cornerstone. The McQueen house.

She grabbed the small, windup alarm clock off the bedside table and angled it toward the window. She squinted at the hands on the clock face, until the moonlight helped her determine it was after three.

A soft knock on her door made her fumble the clock. It hit the wood floor with a bang and clang of the alarm bell, and she flinched. Her bedroom door inched open, and Rook poked his head inside. The unexpected sight of him sent a warmth through her middle that chased away the last remnants of her vision and her lingering fear. How could the appearance of a man she barely knew, whose people were her enemy, make her feel so safe?

“Are you all right?” he whispered.

“Yes, sorry. I dropped the clock.”

“I didn’t mean that. Before that, you sounded . . . like you screamed.”

She was surprised he’d heard her—then again, she wasn’t certain where his bedroom was in relation to hers. “Bad dream. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I was awake.”

“At this hour?”

He slipped fully inside her room and closed the door. He was still dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, while she was sitting there in a borrowed tank top and pajama shorts. He stood straight, shoulders back, but the complete lack of energy in his demeanor alarmed her. She wanted to cross the space between them and hug him, and she didn’t understand why. The urge went far beyond simple empathy with a hurting soul.

“Bishop and the others will be back by sunrise,” he said without really answering her question. He spoke with a quiet anger that told her without words that they’d received bad news about Connecticut. “Do you know what they found up there?”

Brynn blinked hard, confused by the question. “No.”

“Really?”

“I told you before that I have no knowledge of the attack.”

“You’ve said a lot of things today, Brynn, the first several of which were lies.”

“And I explained why I lied.”

“How could a loup garou body be found dead, roasted alive from the inside out?”

The gruesomeness of the question startled her into momentary silence.

Rook growled. “Surprised we’re smart enough to figure out only a Magus could do such a thing?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.” He took a menacing step forward, hands clenched, his anger mixed with genuine grief. “How long does it take to kill someone that way? Is it fun watching someone suffer so badly before they die?”

Horror made Brynn’s heart pound. “Are you suggesting a Magus was responsible for something that happened up north?”

“No, I’m saying it plain. They scented a Magus in Stonehill, and believe me, your kind is impossible to mistake.”

“But—” What? Theoretically, an experienced Magus could do exactly as Rook said, especially a fire elemental. “I don’t know anything about that, I swear to you. I swear on my life, Rook.” He only glared at her in the dim light. “Please believe me.”

“A Magus was there. You’re here.”

Frustration at the persistent accusations overwhelmed her fear, and she stood up and planted her hands on her hips, a stance that used to intimidate her students, but probably did little for the incensed Black Wolf in front of her. “Yes, I am here. And I know it’s the worst sort of coincidence, but that’s all it is. A coincidence. My being here is not part of a larger Magi conspiracy. If it was, the Congress would have sent a much better liar.”

A tense silence fell over them. Brynn waited, nothing left to say in her own defense. It was Rook’s turn to believe her or not. She wanted him to believe her and stop looking at her like she was some sort of traitorous spy.

“I accept that,” Rook finally said. Some of that rage rolled away, leaving exposed nerves in its wake. “They killed so many so fast, and we don’t know who they are.”

As much as her curiosity was piqued, she couldn’t bring herself to ask about it and to make him continue reliving that pain in the dark hours of the morning. “Is there anything I can do?”

“It’s too late to help them.”

Her heart ached for Rook. He was too young to look so wrecked by the violence of the world. The old floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she crossed the small room to the door, drawn to him and his grief. Despite the horror of her vision, she’d seen something that had yet to happen. Rook was dealing with something that had already occurred and was haunting him right now.

She reached for him, then drew her hand back. Only a few inches of space separated them physically, but an entire world separated them in every other way. Nothing about them together made sense, and yet she found herself consistently intrigued by him. Curious about his life and his family and the things important to him. She wanted so badly to ease his hurt, even if only temporarily. She just didn’t know if he’d let her—or what she’d do if he pushed her away.

Unsure what else to say or do, Brynn said, “I’m so sorry, Rook.”

He blinked rapidly, his eyes glimmering too bright in the dim moonlight. “They’re all dead. Three hundred and six people.”

“Sweet Avesta.” She didn’t need an explanation now, didn’t need to him say that those three hundred had once been part of the Connecticut loup garou town. She didn’t need to know the details; they existed in the sharp angles and shadows on Rook’s face. She knew enough to give him the simplest thing a grieving man needed: comfort.

Although she was shorter than him, she slipped her arms across his shoulders and around his neck. He allowed her to pull him down into the hug, and his own arms looped tightly around her waist. She turned her head and rested her cheek on his collarbone, inhaling the warmth of his neck, the fragrance of his skin. He drew in a deep, shuddering breath, then let it out on a soft exhale. The contact sent shivers of awareness down her spine. Her body warmed everywhere they touched. Her lips were so close to the skin of his throat that the slightest movement would cause contact, and she found herself wanting it.

Despite the situation, she could not deny her body’s reaction to him. And it scared her to death. Oh Avesta, stop this before we’re both destroyed by it.

His heart beat steadily against her breast, even as his breathing became shallow and uneven. Something warm and wet hit her bare shoulder. Her insides ached for his pain. She held on tighter, wanting to do more, to take it for herself, keenly aware she was doing everything she could. Probably the only thing he would allow from her.

Rook pressed his face into the crook between her neck and shoulder, and in the privacy of the dark, mourned a loss she could never imagine, while she held him close.

* * *

Brynn woke to the warmth of sunlight on her face—and to the unfamiliar, yet comforting warmth of another body pressed against her back. She blinked hard as she opened her eyes to a view of the windowpane and wall. The warmth against her back shifted slightly, and a puff of moist air tickled the side of her neck. She inhaled, and her nose filled with a familiar, earthy scent.

Rook. In bed with her.

Even as a small part of her cheered the fact, the rest of her floundered for meaning. She tensed, and that simple motion woke the sleeping man behind her. He sat up with a grunt, lost his balance and flailed. Brynn grabbed his arm to steady him before he fell out of the bed and woke everyone in the house.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He blinked hard several times, then ground the heels of his hands into his eyes. “No, my fault. I forgot where I fell asleep.”

“Well, I don’t think sleeping together was part of the plan when we sat down.” She just remembered her calves burning from their awkward standing position and gently urging Rook to sit for a few minutes while he collected himself. She did not, however, recall lying down or falling asleep.

“Yeah, well—damn. What time is?” He snatched the alarm clock up off the floor, then swore again. “Bishop and the others are probably back. I have to go.”

“Okay.”

“Mrs. Troost put towels and things in the bathroom for you, if you want to take a shower, and there are clothes—”

“I know, Rook, you told me last night.”

“Oh. Right.” He was so discombobulated that she hesitated to let him walk and talk at the same time. Shadows darkened the skin beneath both eyes, and despite a few hours of sleep, he still looked exhausted. “Thank you.”

She didn’t insult him by asking why he was thanking her. “You’re welcome. I’m so sorry for your losses.”

“Yeah. Just head for the kitchen when you’re ready for breakfast.”

“Okay.”

He hesitated, as though he had something else to say then thought better of it. He climbed off the bed—sneakers still on his feet—and slipped out of her room, careful to avoid the creakiest floorboards.

Brynn stared at the closed bedroom door, more confused this morning than she’d been in her life. Yesterday she’d woken with a plan. Today she had no idea what she’d be doing in an hour, or if she’d be allowed to leave. Rook’s accusations about Magi involvement in Connecticut worried her. If Alpha McQueen suspected she was involved, he might not be as subtle in his questioning of her. And if a Magi truly had been involved, he might order her killed in retaliation—more than anything, that outcome terrified her.

No. She’d sat idly by her entire life, allowing things to happen to her. Not this time. She’d broken a few minor loup laws, but she knew nothing about Connecticut or the deaths of three hundred loup. Magus or not, Brynn was not their enemy. Somehow she had to become their friend. An ally with value—more value than as a message to the Congress.

She liked Cornerstone (at least what she’d seen of it) and she liked Rook (much more than she should) but this was not her home. The only home she’d ever known was far away and no longer welcoming. She felt as displaced among the Magi as she felt with the loup garou—which confused her because Cornerstone had never been her home. Home was nowhere.

At least here, prisoner or not, she could do something. She was smart, educated, and a decent planner. She’d do what she could to help Alpha McQueen find out who murdered their kin. Research, provide answers, anything that wasn’t a betrayal to her father. She’d prove she was worth more than a scandal and an abrupt dismissal.

If to no one else, she would prove it to herself.

* * *

Rook took sixty seconds in the bathroom to do his business and splash some water on his face, before pounding downstairs to the first floor. He couldn’t linger and enjoy the faint scent of Brynn clinging to his clothes. He’d woken up before her, aware of her body against his, so hard he was surprised she hadn’t noticed—or if she had, she didn’t comment on it. He had stayed quiet and still, listening to the gentle sound of her breathing, inhaling her scent, existing in the perfection of the moment. He’d never felt so content as when lying by her side, and that baffled him. He should have been appalled at himself for lowering his guard so easily around her.

When she finally roused from sleep, he was so relaxed that her sudden tension had startled him. For an instant, he thought someone else had intruded on their peace. Despite everything he’d learned last night about Stonehill and his own accusations against her, Brynn had given him peace, and he’d be forever grateful for that.

The hum of voices led him straight to the library, where Bishop, Father, and a woman he didn’t know were gathered around a laptop. The trio looked up when he walked in.

Seeing Bishop in person and unharmed did little to calm the way his heart began racing. Until that moment, it hadn’t really hit Rook—what might have happened if the hostiles had still been around when Bishop and his squad arrived. The anonymous call had been placed to lure other loup to Stonehill, and the hostiles could have easily been lying in wait for fresh victims.

Bishop seemed to understand why Rook was staring at him, because he nodded as if Rook had asked a question. It helped.

“This is Jillian Reynolds,” Father said. “Joe’s her father. Jillian, my youngest son, Rook.”

“I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances,” Jillian said. She was about Bishop’s age, with straight brown hair, flat bangs, and sharp features a little too angular to be pretty. But she exuded strength and intelligence, and Rook would bet a month’s salary that she was a Black Wolf.

“Likewise,” Rook said.

“She and her enforcer squad are our guests until we figure out exactly what happened in Stonehill,” Father said. He tapped some keys on the laptop. “We’re setting up a conference call with the other run Alphas in a few minutes to discuss everything.”

“And the woman who survived the attack?”

“She’s with Dr. Mike and Knight.”

“Knight?”

“She was understandably hysterical when she woke up,” Jillian said. “Your White Wolf was the only person who could calm her down enough for the doctor to sedate her.”

Rook wanted to tell her that White Wolf was his brother and he had a name, but he refrained. Every temper in the room was running at top speed, and he didn’t need to start a pissing match with another on-edge Black. He’d look petty, and Father would be furious at his lack of control.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Rook asked instead.

“At the moment, no,” Father replied. Rook nodded, expecting to be dismissed, and he was surprised when his father added, “But you’re welcome to sit in on the conference call.”

“Thank you.” He glanced at Bishop, whose raised eyebrow said it all. Every extra scrap of responsibility that Father threw at Rook seemed to, even indirectly, circle back to the question of which brother would step up as Alpha. Bishop wanted it. Rook could take it. Their father was trying to give them both every opportunity to prove themselves the better candidate. But this situation had nothing to do with one day leading the Cornerstone run—it had to do with justice for the murdered people of Stonehill, and every extra head puzzling through the evidence brought them that much closer to finding out who the hostiles were.

Rook took a seat on the sofa opposite the others. “I asked Brynn if she knew anything about the attack, or the Magus involved.”

If the Alpha was surprised by the statement, he didn’t show it. “What did she say?”

“She was pretty offended that I implied she knew anything. She insists that her arrival and the attack are coincidences.”

“Do you believe her?”

“I do. She’s not that good of a liar.”

Rook waited for more questions, or even for his father to announce he’d question Brynn himself. He didn’t. He turned back to the laptop, putting his trust in Rook’s assessment.

Jillian leaned forward and squinted at the laptop. “Someone hasn’t checked in yet,” she said.

“Mitch Geary isn’t answering our calls,” Father said.

“Geary’s the West Virginia Alpha?”

“Correct.”

Rook realized he was digging his fingers into the legs of his jeans, and he forced his hands to relax. Geary and his run was a sore topic in the McQueen household, and just thinking about the man seriously threatened Rook’s calm.

The West Virginia run had, for the last several generations, skirted the edge of loup garou laws. Instead of a sanctuary town, they lived in what could barely be considered a camp—cabins, tents, shacks, with no actual electricity or running water—on a tributary south of the Potomac River, near the tiny town of Allensville. Geary ran the camp with the care of a drunk sheriff who’d given control over to the outlaws. Half-breeds and humans lived side-by-side with what remained of the full-blood loup. They kept mostly to themselves, staying out of the majority of formal run business.

Unless they needed something. Then they became violent. Like the night someone decided the Potomac run had been without a White Wolf for too long, and since Cornerstone had two—Andrea McQueen and her three-year-old son Knight—they were going to take one. Three Potomac loup got into town, and then into the house. Rook was still an infant at the time, but ten-year-old Bishop was seriously injured trying to protect his brothers and he still carried a scar on his chest. Knight was successfully kidnapped. Thomas and Andrea McQueen set out with six enforcers to retrieve their stolen child, and in the ensuing fight, Andrea was killed.

Geary denounced the three kidnappers, but few of the other Alphas believed him—even when he had the lone survivor executed. In the two decades since, the Potomac loup had kept to themselves. Their silence now, considering the slaughter in Connecticut, was either purposely heartless or suspiciously incriminating.

Rook looked up and met Bishop’s eyes across the coffee table. Stormy anger reflected back at him. No one had blamed Bishop for Knight’s kidnapping—he was only ten and no match for three adult loup—but Bishop still carried a burden of responsibility for it that no one had been able to hoist off his shoulders.

“Geary only has one phone that we know of in the entire camp,” Father said. “Joe and I have both left messages, but Geary wouldn’t be able to join us at this late notice, anyway. He’d have to go into town just to get internet access.”

“Convenient for him,” Bishop said in a harsh whisper meant to be overheard. The comment earned a raised eyebrow from Jillian.

Father leaned forward to see past her. “Why is that, son?”

“No reason. I’m sorry.”

“Stonehill no longer had a White Wolf, did they?” Rook asked.

“No,” Jillian replied. “Their White disappeared about twenty-five years ago. She was the wife of the Alpha, Andrew Butler, and one day she was just gone. No sign she was removed by force, no trouble in the marriage. She was supposedly crazy about their daughter, who was two at the time, so no one believed she left willingly.”

“The disappearance occurred three years before Potomac tried to kidnap Knight,” Bishop said.

“You’re right, but if they had her, then why go after Knight? Even back then, no connection was found between Chelsea Butler’s disappearance and your brother’s attempted kidnapping.”

“It wasn’t attempted.”

Jillian scowled at Bishop. “You know what I mean. For all of the evidence presented, Chelsea Butler walked out of town on her own steam, whereas your brother was taken by force. Two different scenarios. And even as out of touch as Potomac is today, they know Stonehill no longer has a White Wolf, so there’s no logical reason for them to have been the aggressors.”

Bishop didn’t reply.

“You’re well informed,” Father said.

“I’m a Black Wolf and my father’s only child,” she said. “Delaware’s future Alpha female needs to be well informed, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I do, and you’re correct. However, the Potomac run lives outside the lines of decent loup garou, and I will never again give them the benefit of the doubt. They live openly with half-breeds, and they’ve been known to associate with vampires. We need to speak with them, and the sooner the better.”

“As suspects?”

“As our loup garou kin, who may also be in danger from these new hostiles.” Father looked away from Jillian and allowed his gaze to stop on both of his sons, including them when he said, “If we can’t raise them on the phone, then we’ll have to go down there and speak to Mitch Geary in person. We’re their closest neighbors.”

Finally something Rook could volunteer for—and if his memory was correct, Bishop had no chance of being included. His quarterly should be tonight, which would make a long trip to West Virginia impossible. Bishop’s epic frown told Rook his guess was correct.

“With your permission, Father,” Rook said, “if a trip to Potomac is necessary, I’d like to go.”

“Not alone,” Bishop said.

Rook resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Of course not alone.”

Father tilted his head to the side, then nodded. “If we have to make a personal trip, then Rook will go with Devlin. Devlin has a good nose. He saw and smelled Stonehill firsthand. He’ll know if anyone involved is in the Potomac run. Not that you’ll inform Geary of that fact.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Devlin would be his secret weapon.

“It’s time for the call,” Jillian said.

“We’ll discuss this further afterward,” Father said.

Rook nodded, and then settled back to listen.

Chapter Eight

Brynn paused in front of the closed library door for only a moment, curious about the muffled discussion occurring inside, and then continued past to the kitchen. It felt strange to wander alone in the large house—a house owned and lived in by an unknown number of loup garou. She’d hurried past the living room on her way down the hall, alarmed by the number of male voices coming from inside and their possible reactions to a Magus in their midst. She no longer completely trusted the medallion around her neck to shield her from prying noses. She would take nothing for granted from now on.

Her strange night with Rook unsettled her. First the alarming accusations about Magi participation in a mass murder. The idea itself offended her, but she couldn’t argue with what the investigating loup said they smelled. Then offering Rook comfort in the wee hours of morning. It had felt natural, felt right. Anyone would have done the same. Falling asleep with him in her bed, when she had never before slept a night with a man, had confused her. He was loup garou and dangerous by nature, and yet she’d slept like a stone with him next to her. For an instant, when she first woke, she’d felt safe. Some instinctive part of her that lived deep down had stirred with awareness. Had been content.

You were exhausted from the day’s drama, that’s all. Don’t see signs where none exist, foolish girl.

Mrs. Troost was hovering over the stove and a large skillet, and the warm scents of bacon and fresh bread drifted to Brynn. She inhaled, enjoying the hominess of it, and then pushed back a slight pang of guilt. Would her father notice her absence this morning? Had he even noticed her empty room last night? He barely noticed her when their paths crossed at home, and she’d become accustomed to moving through life like a ghost. She’d left no note yesterday when she sneaked out of their large house in Chestnut Hill. The only trail she’d left behind, if he cared to search for her, was using her ID to rent the car she’d driven here.

She wanted to call simply to ask if he’d noticed she wasn’t there. The devastating possibility that he hadn’t kept her from seeking out a phone.

“Morning, child,” Mrs. Troost said. She waved a spatula at her. “I’ve got bacon in the oven and eggs in the skillet, soon to be ready. Lots of extra hungry mouths this morning, so the first round is gone.”

“I’m not really a breakfast person,” Brynn said.

“There’s biscuits then.” She tossed her head toward one of the workstations. “Coffee, too.”

Brynn found the towel-covered basket of warm biscuits, right next to a coffee carafe. She skipped the caffeine for now; it would only make her jittery. A glass of orange juice found its way into her hand, and she thanked Mrs. Troost. She ate quickly and quietly, staying out of the way of the quick-moving cook as she piled eggs, bacon, and those biscuits onto a large tray. Mrs. Troost shoved through a swinging door at the far end of the kitchen, out into what was probably the dining room and more hungry breakfast seekers.

Had Rook managed to eat anything? She’d taken five minutes to shower before coming downstairs, so she hadn’t seen him since and only assumed he was in the library. She had so many questions and no one to ask.

“Mrs. Troost?” she asked when the cook returned with an empty tray.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Have you seen Rook since he came downstairs?”

“Aye, dear, he’s in the library with his father, Bishop, and a very lovely lady from the Delaware run. Ms. Reynolds, I believe her name was.” Her kind face creased with grief. “Such a terrible thing that’s happened up north.”

“Yes, it is. I wish there was more I could do.”

“So do I dear, but that’s what Mr. McQueen and his boys are for. They’ll catch the bastards who did it and make them pay for every life they took.”

Brynn had no doubt that Mrs. Troost was right. “Knight isn’t part of the meeting?”

“He’s over at Dr. Mike’s seeing to the young lady they brought back from Stonehill.”

She blinked, startled by that revelation. Rook had said they were all dead. She didn’t know there was a survivor. “Will she be all right?”

Mrs. Troost shook her head sadly. “No dear. Even if she physically recovers, after what she saw, she’ll never be all right. Not really.”

The words hit Brynn in the gut. Some traumas you never truly healed from, no matter the passage of time or distance you traveled. Intellectually, Brynn understood that. She wanted to go see this woman she’d never met, and she wasn’t certain why. What comfort could she offer?

None, of course, but maybe—just maybe—her seer ability would kick in and give her something useful about the woman. Even if it was as simple as a future in which she learned how to smile again. Alpha McQueen had asked her to remain inside of his home, but she couldn’t do anything trapped here, and she refused to cower in her room as though she had something to hide. “Mrs. Troost, where is Dr. Mike’s office?”

“From the front walk, straight across the street, one house to the right. Red shutters.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

The day was already heating up, humidity thickening the air, when Brynn stepped through the front door. She half-expected some sort of alarm to sound, or for a burly loup garou guard to step out of the hedges and demand to know where she was going. No one stopped her from stepping off the porch or from following the stone path to the sidewalk. Far away, someone was running a lawnmower, but no other sounds marred the peaceful morning.

Peaceful.

She admonished herself for using such a word, despite its relevance to the quiet around her. Three hundred-plus loup garou had lost their lives last night. She was basically a prisoner in this town, her life in the hands of men she’d been told were volatile animals. Peaceful should not describe the day. It should be raining, the sky crying tears for so many senseless deaths, nature mourning her children as the surviving loup mourned their kin.

In the bright light of the morning, Brynn finally understood the impact of what had happened last night. Even without relevant details, she knew the slaughter in Connecticut would cut deeply into the loup garou communities around the country. They would seek vengeance against the aggressors, whoever they were. Their lives would never be the same.

My life will never be the same, either.

Fear whispered through Brynn like a cold breeze, chilling her bones and sending a shiver down her spine. She pushed it away, unwilling to entertain her own uncertainties right now. She saw the future, but she could not predict it in any meaningful way. First things first—visit Dr. Mike’s office and check on the Connecticut survivor. Maybe this trip would be fruitless, but she had to do something.

She had to try.

* * *

“Shay Butler.” Knight read the name he’d been texted, relieved to finally know the identity of the sole survivor of the Stonehill massacre. He had sent a photo of the woman to Joe Reynolds a few minutes ago. Reynolds had been friendly with the Stonehill run and their Alpha, Andrew Butler. Neither of them had expected the survivor to be Butler’s only child.

“Such a shame,” Dr. Mike said.

They were in one of Dr. Mike’s upstairs bedrooms, where Shay had been brought for treatment as soon as Bishop and the others returned to town. Shay had been bleeding and hysterical, and even after Knight arrived and calmed her, it had taken a good dose of drugs to finally knock her out. She had deep gashes on her chest and throat—claw marks, Knight was certain—as well as bruises on her back and legs consistent with a fall. The weight of her fear and grief had left Knight exhausted and on the verge of a migraine. He’d never felt such naked terror from anyone before, and he never wanted to repeat the experience.

She was sleeping fitfully in the full-size bed, sweating and muttering. Knight couldn’t make himself leave her side, not for a moment. Since the instant he saw her sobbing in the back of Bishop’s van, he’d felt something he couldn’t quite explain. A deep need to take care of her, a demand of it from his normally quiet beast, far beyond his role as a White Wolf and stronger than any pull he’d ever felt for a run loup. He’d sensed her emotional state so keenly, so quickly, that it had nearly bowled him over. Her fear was acid on his tongue, her rage a burning coal in his gut.

He knew very little about Shay, except that her mother had disappeared twenty-five years ago and no one seemed to know what had happened to her—that made Shay about his age, maybe a year or two older. He knew she’d been very young when Chelsea Butler disappeared.

“Neither of us had a mother,” he whispered.

“What’s that?” Dr. Mike was on the other side of the room, arranging bandages on the dresser.

“Nothing.”

“I dare say she’ll be famished when she wakes.”

“I doubt she’ll be thinking about food.”

“You’re no doubt right, lad, so we need to think of it for her. You know what’ll happen.”

Everyone knew—it was taught to all loup from a young age, just like the necessity of the quarterly change to their sanity. The forced shift every one hundred and one days maintained the careful balance between the logical skin and instinctive beast by allowing the beast control from sunset to sunrise. It was the main reason why the quarterly cages existed. Loup garou had very high metabolisms, which meant they needed to eat often. Starvation symptoms could begin in as few as twenty-four hours and at a certain point, the beast took over. A change would be forced and the manic beast would attack the first prey it found—animal, human, or otherwise.

Shay would have enough stress; starving was not another she needed to endure. “You’re right,” Knight said.

The downstairs doorbell buzzed. Dr. Mike heaved an exasperated sigh. “I put a sign on the door that we’re closed except for emergencies.” He angled his head toward the door, bushy eyebrows furrowing. “I hope it’s not another emergency.”

So did Knight. Moments later, Dr. Mike’s heavy footsteps clumped downstairs to his office.

Knight angled his body toward the bed and shifted on the upholstered chair he’d pulled over. He snagged a washcloth off the night table and blotted sweat from Shay’s forehead. A lock of curly strawberry-blond hair stuck to her damp cheek, and he brushed it away. Her lips were parted and she was panting, caught in some terrible nightmare he couldn’t take away from her. His guards were up; he just needed to protect himself for a little while. He’d already filtered so much of her darkest emotions; any more and his own control might snap.

He focused on other things, like the subtle loveliness of her face. She wasn’t beautiful, not in a classically defined way. Her cheekbones were a bit too high, her face slightly too long, lips thin. But he imagined she could silence you with a look, or make you laugh with only her smile. His heart ached with the need to see her smile just once, except she had nothing left to smile about. He doubted she would thank them for saving her life when her entire run had died.

Father would discover who committed such a heinous crime against their people, and he would make them pay—of this, Knight had no doubts.

The floorboards in the hallway creaked, the weight too slight to be Dr. Mike returning. Knight sat up straighter, alert for danger. Brynn stepped into the open doorway. She paused, her curious gaze bouncing off him before fixing on the bed. Knight bristled, every instinct in him demanding he protect Shay from anyone who might harm her again, including their resident Magus-loup half-breed—a fact they were still keeping from said half-breed.

“She’s so young,” Brynn said, seemingly to herself.

“Are you here to gawk?” Knight asked before he could censor himself.

“What?” She fixed him with a wide-eyed stare. “Of course not.”

“Then why are you here?”

She just stared at him, utterly baffled by his rudeness. If his father was here, he’d have cuffed Knight in the back of the head for being such an ass to Brynn. His emotions were off-kilter, he knew that, but it was no reason to act in such a manner. He shoved the backwash of Shay’s emotional state into the corner of his mind and tried to remember how to be polite in stressful situations.

“I’m sorry. I’m not exactly myself right now.”

“I understand.” Brynn offered a tentative smile. “This can’t be easy for you, either. Honestly, I’m not sure why I came. I really want to do something to help. I need to do something more useful than sitting around twiddling my thumbs.”

Knight barely held his tongue. The logical side of his brain understood that Rook’s poisoning was an accident, and that it was very possible her arrival in town had nothing to do with Stonehill. The emotional side of his brain that mourned last night’s losses remained angry and suspicious. “Nothing that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours makes any sense.”

“Are there any suspects in the Connecticut attack?”

“Too many.” He wasn’t comfortable discussing the specifics. He wasn’t sure how much she already knew. “None of it fits, though. Loup garou kill for one reason: survival. The survival of ourselves, of our families, of our people. We do not commit murder, and we certainly don’t murder our own kind on such a scale.”

Brynn inhaled a sharp breath. “Other loup did this?”

“We aren’t certain of anything, only that there were loup scents in Stonehill that did not belong to its residents.”

“Sweet Avesta. Rook mentioned a Magus may have been there, as well.”

“He did?”

“He wasn’t subtle about accusing me of knowing something, and I’ll assure you as I assured him. I don’t. I can’t imagine a Magus doing such a thing, much less willingly working with loup garou.”

“Because we’re so offensive to the Magi?”

Her cheeks pinked. “Some less so than others.”

Knight studied the young Magus, as she in turn studied Shay. Now that Brynn no longer seemed to fear being torn to pieces by angry loup, she stood with more confidence, spoke with the assurance of someone taught to look down on those outside of her kind. She wasn’t trying to hide in a corner or save her own life. She saw a puzzle, a problem to fix, and she was here to try to solve it.

“Your visions,” he said. “You can’t control them?”

“Unfortunately, no. I had the misfortune of being my father’s second child.”

He frowned, not sure what birth order had to do with anything. He was a second child, after all, and he felt no shame in that. “I don’t understand.”

She blinked at him, then seemed to debate her words. “For Magi, magical abilities are passed down from father to child. The stronger the mother’s powers, the stronger the child’s will be. And it’s for this reason that most Magus couples have only one child. In that second child, magic is diluted and her chances of a good marriage are slim.”

“I see.” He hadn’t known that tidbit of information about the Magi, and he pocketed it for later reference. “May I ask what happened to your elder sibling?”

“She died at birth. We were twins, which are an incredible rarity among the Magi. My father told me no one was certain how our powers would be divided. My sister was born first and died soon after. As I aged and discovered my abilities were severely limited, the question of our power division was answered. I am a disappointment and second choice as heir to his name, even if never his position in the Congress.”

Knight wasn’t sure how to reply. She spoke with a quiet absolutism, sure of her own words and her place among her people. Perhaps in relation to magic, she was a disappointment. But he saw a determined young woman who’d risked her own life to save her father’s.

“I came here,” Brynn continued, “because I’d hoped to have a vision of some sort. Anything to help you discover who killed your people. But I cannot force the visions. They come or they don’t.”

“Well, I appreciate the thought.”

She glanced at Shay. “Will she be all right?”

“She’ll live. She lost a lot of blood, but she made it this far. She’ll start healing faster once she’s strong enough to shift.”

“I thought shifting exhausted your human body.”

“It does.” Shay wouldn’t need to be in beast form for very long, but the experience would be excruciating and even fifteen minutes on four legs required at least thirty before she could shift again. Not that she’d want to so soon. “There’s no exact science to it, but shifting from skin to beast form accelerates healing to a degree. Now an injured beast shifting to skin is an entirely different world of agony, and those wounds take longer to heal.” Knight would be the first to admit that loup garou physiology was confusing as hell to most outsiders, but—“I’m honestly surprised you don’t know more about my people.”

“As I said, I’m a disappointment to my father. He’s never trained me to take his place in the Congress, and I’m privy to very few secrets beyond what is common knowledge among the Magi.”

Knight couldn’t imagine being so disliked by his own father that he was kept in the metaphorical dark about . . . well, anything. Even though he wasn’t in line to be Alpha, Father kept Knight informed on all run-related matters. He’d always been treated as an equal to his brothers.

“If you’re feeling sorry for me, please don’t,” Brynn said.

“I was just trying to imagine being in your shoes.”

She thumped the heel of one sneaker against the wooden floor. “I don’t recommend them. You have a wonderful family, Knight. Despite my reasons for coming here, I’m glad to have met all of you. I’d honestly never spoken to a loup garou before, much less been trapped in a small room with four at once.”

Her smile faltered, then froze as her eyes went distant, unfocused. For a brief moment, she didn’t seem to be breathing, and Knight leaned forward in his seat, more curious than alarmed. Then Brynn blinked hard and snapped herself out of it.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb. “I’m fine.”

Her emotions skipped all over the place, and Knight couldn’t get a solid read on them. Her Magus half wasn’t helping, either—sometimes it seemed to overpower the loup garou side of her that called to his White nature, muddling her feelings. “Brynn, did you just have a vision?”

A blush stained her cheeks. “It wasn’t about Shay.”

She didn’t deny having a vision, though. “Who was it about? Rook again?”

“No.” She shook her head hard, slick black hair flying around her shoulders. “No, not Rook, either. The vision was very brief. It’s nothing of great urgency. Many of my visions are as simple as a person walking down a busy street. Very few are as dramatic as the vision I had of Rook and my father.”

“Okay.” As curious as he was, her visions weren’t his business, as long as they didn’t relate to his family or friends.

Heavy footsteps up the stairs preceded Dr. Mike by a good thirty seconds. Brynn stepped inside the room to allow the brawny doctor to pass. He gave Knight a sour look, then said, “Ms. Butler will probably sleep through the afternoon, lad. Go home and get some rest before you exhaust yourself.”

Knight started to protest, but it was a useless effort. He’d known Dr. Mike his entire life, and the man’s mind was made up on the matter. He didn’t want to leave Shay, even though he’d be useless to her if he didn’t get a few hours of sleep.

“I’ll stay with Shay,” Brynn said. “It’s something I can do for you, and I don’t have anywhere else to be right now.”

Because I haven’t been given permission to leave hung off the end of her sentence. She was stuck in Cornerstone until the Alpha said otherwise, as it didn’t seem her own people would be in any hurry to come collect her.

“I’ll be back in a few hours,” Knight said.

“If I see you sooner than four hours, I’ll sedate you myself,” Dr. Mike said.

“Understood.”

* * *

Brynn settled into the chair that Knight had vacated, both relieved and uneasy at being alone in Shay’s room. She had no idea what to do if the wounded loup garou woke suddenly, despite Dr. Mike assuring her that wouldn’t happen. Mostly she was glad to have a moment to process the brief vision she’d experienced while standing in front of Knight.

* * *

A fogging mirror in a yellow-tiled bathroom. Steam rising. A hand wipes away the condensation. He stares at his reflection. Touches the mirror. He closes his eyes. Tears spill down his cheeks.

She doesn’t recognize the bathroom, only that it isn’t the one she used at the McQueen house. All she truly understands is the grief on that man’s face.

Knight’s face.

But what does it mean?

More important, should she tell him?

Chapter Nine

The conference call didn’t last as long as Rook expected. Jillian and Bishop presented the evidence they’d collected to the other Alphas, and no one could come to a consensus on what it all meant. The idea that loup garou, vampires, and a Magus had worked together to slaughter an entire town and then reported it themselves was beyond ludicrous—but scent was a huge part of loup life. Their noses didn’t lie.

The one thing every Alpha agreed on—other than the fact that every run needed to be on high alert until this was solved—was the need to make contact with Mitch Geary’s run. Rook had a mission.

After the call ended, the sudden silence in the library allowed him to hear the gentle rumble of voices in the hall. Father stood and opened the door. Devlin (who’d excused himself from the room a few minutes earlier) and Knight (who Rook hadn’t seen since the night before) stood outside, frozen in mid-conversation. Father waved them inside.

Knight trudged in with heavy steps and sank into the corner of the sofa. He was pale, with dark smudges under his eyes, as exhausted as Rook had ever seen him. “Dr. Mike has ordered me to get at least four hours rest,” he said. “This counts.”

Father’s eyebrows twitched. “How is Shay?”

“Sleeping. Brynn’s sitting with her.”

Rook sat up straighter in his chair. Brynn had left the house by herself? To sit by the bedside of a wounded loup garou? The idea of her leaving unprotected, even to go a few houses down the street, irritated him. “Did she have a vision?” he asked.

“Not about Shay. I think she was hoping to have one that could help us. Must have thought being close to Shay would jog her precognition.”

“We need to keep a close eye on the Magus until this is sorted out,” Father said.

Knight grunted. “She’s not the only one, apparently.”

“Meaning?”

“Ask Dev.”

Every head in the room swiveled in Devlin’s direction. He didn’t seem bothered by the sudden attention—not much bothered Devlin, who was a good person to have watching your back in a crisis. He closed the library door, then took a few steps toward the center of the room. “I haven’t mentioned this sooner, because I wasn’t certain about it,” Devlin said.

“Certain about what?” Bishop asked. He stood up, allowing his height and scowl to establish his authority in the conversation.

“A scent I noticed back in Stonehill. It was muddled and faint, but one that I did notice on a good number of the bodies. The scent was like spring grass, only it was the memory of the smell of grass, if that makes sense?”

Bishop nodded. “I noticed it a bit, too. Go on.”

Devlin’s head jerked, as if he wanted to look at someone and stopped at the last minute. His gaze stayed on Bishop, but Rook allowed himself a glance at Knight. Knight was staring at the floor. Rook let his nose find what Devlin hadn’t said yet.

“I didn’t think much of smelling it on Shay Butler during the trip home, because she’d been attacked, right? Only when I was in the hall just now, it was all over Knight.”

“He just came from the girl’s room,” Bishop said.

“It’s Shay’s scent, Bishop,” Knight said.

“Someone in the group that attacked Stonehill shares Shay’s scent marker,” Devlin said. “They share her blood.”

“How is that possible?” Bishop asked.

Knight made a rude noise. “You see, when a man and woman get together and have sex—”

“Knight,” Father said.

He snapped his mouth shut and looked at his lap. “I’m sorry.”

“Shay Butler’s mother disappeared years ago,” Jillian said. “Her body was never found. It’s entirely possible she had other offspring. Even half-breed offspring. She was a White Wolf, after all.”

“But to return to her former town and destroy her run twenty-five years later?” Bishop said. “Offspring capable of massacring three hundred people in a matter of hours?”

“It’s a theory that our evidence supports. Unless you’d rather believe Shay was complicit in those deaths.”

“She wasn’t,” Knight said, almost snarling the words. “She’s been devastated by this.”

“Devlin,” Father said. “How positive are you about this information?”

Devlin did not hesitate. “One hundred percent, sir. I’d rather it not be true, but our noses don’t lie.”

“Do we share this with the other Alphas?” Bishop asked.

His father took a moment to look around the room, meeting the eyes of each person there. “That information remains in this room. Until we have confirmation of Shay’s relationship to the people who attacked Stonehill, she is to have a guard at all times—as much for her protection as ours. We don’t know if she was left alive on purpose or by accident, or if someone will come to finish the job.”

No one argued. Rook turned the declarations over in his mind in a repeated chorus. He understood their father’s need for caution, as well as for keeping this new development to themselves. Not every Alpha would be as rational in the face of such news—the idea that one of their precious White Wolves had born half-breeds capable of such slaughter. They’d have Shay questioned mercilessly, regardless of her mental state, in order to get answers. Their Alpha would never allow that to happen.

“What’s our next step, then?” Jillian asked

“Same as before,” Father replied. “Rook and Devlin will visit the Potomac run and find out what Mitch Geary’s been up to. Until Shay wakes up and we can question her about last night, we have little else to go on.”

“What about the Magus we smelled in Stonehill? Should the Congress of Magi be told?”

“If the Congress is in any way involved, then they already know a Magus was present. If they don’t know, I want more evidence in my pocket than ‘my people smelled one.’”

“Fair enough.”

“Rook, Devlin, I want you both ready to leave in half an hour.”

“Yes, sir,” Devlin said in harmony with Rook saying, “We will be.”

“And you, young man,” Father said, turning to face Knight, “to bed.”

* * *

Brynn paused from her oral reading of “Sleeping Beauty” and rolled her neck, stretching the tired muscles. She’d discovered an ancient copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales on the nightstand, and as she wasn’t good at sitting quietly and doing nothing, the book had been a godsend. Reading silently had seemed selfish when the wounded woman in the bed ought to know she wasn’t alone, so Brynn had started reading out loud.

She’d skipped through “Cinderella” when the one stepsister cut off her toes in order to fit into the slipper, alarmed at her faulty memory of the tales. The versions she recalled had certainly been sanitized of violence, and Shay did not need to hear about self-mutilation, even if the woman was sleeping. “Sleeping Beauty” was fine until prince hopefuls were being torn to shreds by the thorns surrounding the castle.

She glanced up at the doorway and nearly dropped the book on the floor. Rook was standing there, silent and still as a statue, watching her. He’d changed his clothes into something much more intimidating than the day before—black jeans and a black t-shirt that showed off parts of his swirling tattoos. And clung to his finely muscled biceps. He looked every bit the strong, capable warrior, and her pulse jumped at the sight of him.

“How is she?” he asked, tilting his head in the direction of the bed.

“The same, I think.” Why was her heart pounding harder now that Rook was here? She felt no fear of him. “Dr. Mike says she’s sleeping more deeply now, so she should be able to get some real rest. How’s Knight?”

Rook’s mouth twitched. “He didn’t like being ordered to bed, but I bet he passed out as soon as he got there. Listen, I can’t visit long.”

“I’m sure you have quite a lot to take care of after last night.” She didn’t need him to babysit her all day.

“I have to go out of town for a few hours, maybe a day.”

Her stomach sank; she hadn’t expected that particular announcement. She stood up, clutching the book tightly to her chest. “You’re leaving?”

“It’s an assignment relevant to last night’s killings. We’re leaving in a few minutes. I might be home tonight, but tomorrow morning is more likely.”

Disappointment curled around her heart and squeezed tight. “You came to say good-bye.”

Rook stepped deeper into the room, close enough to touch. His scent overwhelmed her senses. He seemed sad, though, rather than happy to be finally rid of her. “I don’t know, but if you’re gone when I get back . . .”

She waited for him to continue, to give some hint that he might actually miss her. She didn’t know why it was important to hear him say that, or why the idea of never seeing him again made her want to scream. She came here expecting to confront a killer, and now she wanted . . .what? To be his friend? Something more than that?

Impossible from the start, foolish girl. Let him go.

She put the book down and offered him her hand. He quirked an eyebrow. “It’s not poisoned, I swear,” she said.

With a dazzling smile, Rook did more than shake her hand. He clasped her elbow, aligning their forearms in a more intimate touch, and she matched his hold. A soft jolt shot up her arm at the warm contact, the sensation so much like before. She didn’t understand what it meant, only that she liked it and feared it at once. Her heart beat harder, and she swore she heard his doing the same. Pounding with something she would never call want, never call desire. She wasn’t supposed to want him.

But is seemed she always wanted what she couldn’t have. First her father’s love and acceptance. And now Rook.

Foolish, foolish girl.

He held her arm tightly, his expression soft. His gaze dropped momentarily—to her mouth—then returned to her eyes. Copper flecks seemed to dance in the dark brown irises. She parted her lips, unsure what she’d do if he tried to kiss her.

She cleared her throat. “Wherever you’re going, please be careful.”

“How can I deny a pretty lady?”

He shuffled closer, still clasping her arm, the heat of his body like a balm. She wanted him to kiss her, which was beyond foolish, beyond idiotic. He wouldn’t. They were from two different worlds that could never exist together. This thing simmering between them had to stop. His leaving was a good thing. She stepped back and pulled her hand away.

Rook let go with a reluctant frown. “I’ll see you,” he said.

“Maybe.”

He inhaled a breath and seemed poised to argue. Instead, he exhaled hard, turned, and left the room. Brynn stared at the empty doorway, terrified for Rook and unsure of the reason. She’d seen no other visions involving him, just the one of Knight crying in an unknown bathroom—a vision that could happen tomorrow or years from now. It didn’t mean that Rook was in immediate danger.

Only he was, and that’s what bothered her. An entire town of loup garou had been destroyed, and while Cornerstone had twice as many residents, they were also the next closest sanctuary town to Stonehill. If the murderers were working their way through loup garou, then Cornerstone was logically next.

And she was stuck here.

“Fantastic,” she said out loud.

The sleeping woman in bed did not answer her.

From the window of the bedroom, Brynn observed as Rook climbed into the passenger seat of a waiting blue SUV. It pulled away from the curb, taking him off to some important task, and possibly out of her life forever. If that was what the gods wanted, then so be it.

Two large figures crossed the street, coming in the direction of Dr. Mike’s home. Thomas McQueen walked with intent, shoulders back. The man with him she did not recognize, and he kept pace two steps behind, slightly to his Alpha’s right. They strode down the stone walkway to Dr. Mike’s front porch, and a moment later she heard the door buzzer.

She returned to her chair, but didn’t sit. She did not have to wait long, even though her jumping nerves made the brief minutes stretch into agonizing hours. Would the Alpha take one look at her and know of her mismatched feelings for Rook? She would die of embarrassment.

McQueen filled the entire doorway with his presence, and the room felt half as large when he stepped inside. She was struck with the oddest urge to drop to her knees and cower in front of this man; Magus pride kept her firmly on her feet. His companion was older, closer to McQueen’s age than any of his sons, with sandy hair and visible scars on his face and throat.

“Ms. Atwood,” McQueen said. “I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to speak again since last night.”

“You had more important matters to attend to,” she replied. “But as I told Rook, I have no knowledge of the Magus who was supposedly in Connecticut last night, I promise you. I’m horrified by what happened.”

“I appreciate that.”

“As such, may I have your permission to go home?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Brynn resisted the very real urge to growl out her frustration. “I have been nothing except compliant, Mr. McQueen.”

“And I appreciate your cooperation, but I’d prefer if you remained a willing guest for a while longer.”

It all sounded so polite, and yet it wasn’t a request. She wasn’t loup garou, but Brynn recognized an Alpha’s order when she heard one. “I wouldn’t say willing, sir, but I’ll continue to cooperate.”

“Thank you. I’d also like to speak with you in private. O’Bannen here can sit with Ms. Reynolds for a while.”

She glanced at the sandy-haired loup named O’Bannen, then nodded. “Of course.” She followed McQueen into the hallway, then down a few doorways to an empty bedroom.

“I’d like to know more about your seer abilities,” he said after he closed the door. “Do you mind explaining?”

“No, I don’t mind.” She put a little distance between them for her own comfort, then told him the same things she’d told Knight. She left out her brief vision that morning, unwilling to alarm not just Knight’s Alpha, but also his father. The kind of protective, loving father she could not imagine having for her own.

“Would your father have any reason to be near West Virginia today?”

“No, he rarely leaves the family home near Philadelphia, except for Congress business. I can’t imagine he’d have any reason to go so far west.”

“All right, thank you.”

She didn’t understand why—oh. “Is that where Rook is going?”

“Yes. I’m sure you can understand my concern.”

“Of course I can. I sincerely wish I had more control over my ability.”

McQueen studied her with a soft frown. “Your father has never worked with you to develop it? None of your peers?”

Sadness clutched her heart. “No. As I said, I’m a disappointment in the world of the Magi, as second children often are. I am tolerated, nothing more.”

“And yet you faced the wrath of six hundred loup garou to save your father.”

Why does everyone seem so surprised by this? “Kind or cruel, Mr. Queen, he’s still my father, and he’s an important man in the Congress.”

“You wanted to prove something.”

“Yes, I did. In the end, I’ve proved nothing and I’ve embarrassed myself. I can’t apologize to you enough for that.”

“I accept your apology, but you’re wrong. You’ve proven to have courage and loyalty, and you’ve given me a new perspective on the Magi. I’ve never met one I thought I could trust. Rook seems to trust you. I wanted a chance to speak with you to see if my trust could be extended as well.”

Brynn swallowed hard, mouth unexpectedly dry. She hadn’t expected this, and the confession startled her. “And?”

He slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and relaxed back onto his heels. His warm smile was his only answer to that question. “Ms. Atwood, as loup garou, we rely on the power of smell more than any other sense. We use it to identify between the species, but it’s also part of our genetics. Families have distinguishing scent markers. For example, a loup stranger would be able to tell by his nose that my sons and I are related.”

She nodded so he’d know she understood and was following along. He didn’t seem the type to speak in circles or mince words, so there would be a point to the brief lesson in loup garou biology.

“In the same way,” he continued, “we can tell when strangers have been in an area.”

“Such as Stonehill?” she asked.

“Exactly. Our noses help us distinguish unfamiliar scents, as well as half-breeds and other species, such as vampires or Magi.”

“May I ask what I smell like?”

His hesitation lasted a split second, but it was long enough that Brynn noticed. “The Magi have a smell like bitter orange. And unlike loup, we can rarely tell one Magus from another simply on scent.”

“Is that why your sons figured out who I was yesterday, despite the medallion?”

“Partly, yes. Your medallion didn’t properly hide your scent, but that isn’t why I’m explaining all of this.”

“All right.”

“When our teams returned from Stonehill this morning, everyone present confirmed one piece of evidence. A Magi scent was found in several places around town, which suggests they were present during and likely participated in the slaughter.”

Her stomach twisted up tight. “Yes, Rook mentioned that to me. Actually, he accused me of knowing something about it, but he was upset. I thought we’d established that I know nothing of it.”

McQueen moved to stand in front of her, a large and intimidating presence, and she fought the urge to fall to her knees in front of the Alpha. She was not loup, though, and as a Magus she would never submit to one. Stubborn pride in her people kept her still.

“Rook established you know nothing, and I trust his judgment. I’m simply delving deeper into the topic, and I need you to be honest with me right now. What reason would a Magus have to be involved in these murders?”

“None!” She didn’t mean to shout. “It’s impossible.”

He growled softly, and the sound raised the hair on the back of her neck. “Impossible? Can you name another living creature other than a Magi who would have the ability to burn someone to death from the inside out?”

Her stomach roiled. She hadn’t forgotten what Rook told her, and she knew that only an elemental Magus could have done such a thing. But why?

The importance of this conversation struck her. In his own gruff way, Thomas McQueen was asking for her help. Finally. This was something she could do.

“It is possible for a Magus to kill someone that way,” Brynn said. “The magic we possess is a product of the magic of our parents. It’s why good matches are so important. Strong parents produce a strong child.” Something she would never be able to provide for a husband—no Magus male would want an unpredictable seer mothering his heir.

Heir. Parent.

Brynn pulled on every ounce of her own strength to keep her face still, to not let her fear and disgust show. “For such an ability as you mentioned to exist, one parent would have to possess the elemental ability to manipulate fire.”

When McQueen didn’t ask any questions, she looked up at his face. He was watching her intently, asking without using words. She appreciated that he was allowing her to speak freely, to make the choice of how much to betray about her own people. Elemental powers were not uncommon among the Magi, but she only knew a handful who were fire-based—including her own father.

“Ms. Atwood,” he said when she didn’t elaborate, “I understand wanting to protect your people. I won’t force you to name names at this time, but I hope you understand that for the immediate future, you are not free to leave Cornerstone.”

She heard the unspoken threat—no, the promise to get that information out of her if he reached a certain point of desperation—and it irritated her. She hoped it never came to that. “May I ask a question?”

“Certainly.”

“You said the Magus was smelled in some parts of town, but he or she couldn’t have killed everyone by himself.”

“No. Some of the loup scents were confusing, even for trained noses like Bishop and Jillian. They suspect loup and human half-breeds, between three and six.” He hesitated, weighing the information he wanted to reveal. “They also scented a vampire.”

Brynn shook her head, not understanding. “What would half-breeds, a Magus and a vampire be doing together? And to slaughter a town of loup garou?”

“All good questions, and exactly what we’re trying to answer. Any information that you’re able to give me . . . well, you know where my office is.”

She looked away, unable to meet his eyes any longer. Heavy footsteps moved away. Brynn fell back on the bed and covered her eyes with her hands, dizzy and confused and frustrated enough to scream. McQueen had lost so much, and his own town was potentially in danger from this rogue group of murderers. She wanted to help, but at what cost? Could she give up the names of the Magus men who were fire elementals? Could she give up her own father, the very man she’d come here to save? Could she betray her own people to the loup garou? Was her father’s future death somehow related to all of these recent events?

More than that, could she live with herself if her silence resulted in more innocent deaths?

Chapter Ten

The Potomac run camp wasn’t on any state maps, and the dirt road leading to it didn’t show up on their GPS. Devlin would have driven right past the hidden gate if Rook hadn’t known what marker to look for—an old, fallen tree split down the middle like a tuning fork. The gate itself was an ingenious collection of living brush and dead branches, strapped together in a way that could be shifted out of the road, and then put back again.

Rook let them in, and they trundled down the rutted path toward the most dangerous run in the country. He wasn’t nervous, exactly, but his blood was already humming with anticipation. Different runs had a history of fighting, and Cornerstone had its own bloody past with Potomac. However, he had no reason to think Potomac was involved in the mass slaughter in Stonehill. The other Alphas just needed to know for sure.

Tall trees and their thick summer leaves created a canopy overhead, giving the illusion of having entered another world entirely. Rook rolled down his window and breathed in a nose full of the forest. Dozens of other scents carried inside the truck’s cab, including those of humans, loup garou, and half-breeds. The half-breed stink made him bristle out of habit. He’d never understood how Potomac embraced so many of them.

He thought of Brynn, and his own prejudice hit him in the gut. She was a half-breed, as well, of a different sort, and he not only accepted her, he wanted to know more about her. He’d come very close to kissing her several hours ago at their parting. He was afraid she’d be gone when he returned home from this errand, and he’d have forever lost the chance to kiss her. To feel her mouth on his, to taste what he had already scented. He’d chickened out, too afraid of her reacting badly to the action, and for good reason. She’d been raised believing she was fully Magus and that loup were animals. As much as he had wanted to kiss her, he didn’t think he could stand it if she was disgusted by it—which made very little sense, considering he’d known Brynn for less than a day. More and more, his beast reacted to her proximity and, likewise, to her distance from him now.

His beast needed to shut the hell up about a woman he couldn’t have. It was best for both of them if she was gone before he returned to Cornerstone. He wanted his last memory of her to be a good one, and it was. He still felt her clasping his arm, still smelled her scent on his skin.

The track bent sharply to the left, and then three large, male bodies were blocking the way. Devlin stopped and rolled his window down.

The tallest of the trio walked over to the driver’s side and ducked down to see inside. “Where you from?” he asked.

“Cornerstone, Pennsylvania,” Devlin replied. “Our Alpha, Thomas McQueen, has been unable to make contact, and we have urgent news to share with your Alpha, Mitchell Geary.” Name-dropping was not only polite, it also told the other loup that they were in the know and not just guessing in order to gain access.

The local loup sniffed them both, and Rook returned the favor, catching a strong odor of fish.

“All right, go on,” the local said.

He waved at his companions, and they cleared the road. Devlin drove through, and a few more yards down, the track ended in a clearing at the edge of a rushing, south-flowing tributary of the Potomac River. Dozens of scrap-wood cabins and canvas tents were scattered in the clearing, clustered around different fire pits and clotheslines. People stood near their tents and cabins, watching with wary eyes as strangers came into their sanctuary. Their clothes were simple, in neutral colors, and most were barefoot. Half a dozen loup in beast form stood like sentries at various points around the camp.

Rook pulled a dirty work rag from under the front seat and wiped it down his right arm, hoping it did enough to remove Brynn’s scent. Devlin arched an eyebrow at him, but didn’t comment. They climbed out of the truck, then stood together in front of it. Waiting, as Father told them to wait. Approaching any further without permission could be misinterpreted as aggression, and the last thing they needed to cause was accidental violence.

A cabin door opened and a man walked out into the shade. He strode toward them with his shoulders back, head high, and a slight limp. His hair was white, his wrinkled and scarred face a history of his life so far, but his eyes glinted with intelligence and danger. Rook kept his gaze on the man’s chest as he approached. From Father’s description—and the man’s strong scent of sour pine—Rook was certain this was Alpha Geary.

“I know your scent,” Geary said. “You’re a McQueen.”

“Yes, sir, Rook McQueen,” he replied. “Son of Thomas, who sends his regards. This is one of our enforcers, Devlin Burke.”

“Welcome to Potomac, then, boys. Your visit must be mighty important for Thomas to send you all this way. Our damned phone doesn’t always work way out here.”

“It is very urgent.” Rook glanced around at their captive audience. No one stood within twenty feet of them, but they weren’t hiding the fact that they were trying to listen. “And it’s a matter we may want to discuss in private.”

“There’s no private in this camp, son. What’s the news that’s brought you here to me?”

Rook took a bracing breath, then launched into the story, from Joe Reynolds’s first phone call to everything they’d discussed on the conference call that morning. He left out any mention of Brynn’s presence in town—because of Jillian’s group, Reynolds was the only Alpha who knew they had a mini-Magus in Cornerstone, and Rook wanted to protect her from outside scrutiny as long as possible—as well as the possible connection between Shay Butler and the half-breeds who attacked Stonehill.

Gasps went up around the camp at the news of the death toll. Geary’s expression shifted between horrified and furious. “That’s unbelievable,” he said, his voice edged with a low growl. “Even with a Magus on their side, how do half a dozen people kill three hundred?”

“We don’t know,” Rook said. “As the responding runs, my father and Alpha Reynolds are working closely together to investigate this. We held a conference call this morning with the rest of the run Alphas, so they are aware of what’s going on.”

“One downside to choosing a more natural way of life is lack of communication with the outside world. It’s also one of the greatest benefits, except in cases like this.” He gave Rook a shrewd look. “I must say, I appreciate the personal touch, but wouldn’t your time be better spent investigating and not playing messenger?”

Rook struggled to maintain his passive stance and not bristle. “I am investigating, sir.”

Geary blinked hard, then narrowed his eyes. “I see. Old grudges die hard, I take it.”

“No grudges, Alpha. We’re being thorough and weeding out every possibility so that we can better see the answer.”

“Thorough, you say. From your father’s point of view, I can see this as being thorough, sure. Last big outbreak of violence among loup was blamed on me, as I recall it.”

Rook bit down hard on his tongue. Geary had been rightfully blamed for the violence caused by his run’s loup, whether or not he’d ordered the raid twenty-two years ago. The raid that left Bishop horribly wounded and their mother dead. “An Alpha is responsible for his people,” he said stiffly.

“Yes, we are, you’re right. Then let me put a few things to rest on behalf of my people. We’ve got no reason to stir up trouble, and sure as hell no reason to go out there and kill a whole town of loup garou. I got no grudges against Andrew Butler or anyone else, and I am sorrier than you know that his people are dead. You take those words right back to your Alpha, son.”

“I will,” Rook said.

“I’ll also say here and now that I’m truly sorry for what happened way back then, with your brother and your mother. You don’t have to believe me, but those are the facts.”

“Thank you.”

“Good then.”

A man about Rook’s age stepped out of the line of curious faces and approached. He brought the faint scent of pine, as well as a strong resemblance to Geary. He gave Rook a hard, distrusting stare, then hunched under Geary’s attention. “Are our guests staying for supper?”

“You are certainly welcome,” Geary said to Rook and Devlin. “It’s a long trip from Cornerstone, and I won’t turn you back on the road right away.”

Rook exchanged a look with Devlin, whose passive expression said he’d go along with whatever Rook decided. Despite Geary’s assurance that Potomac wasn’t involved, Rook did not trust the man. Maybe old hurts colored his judgment, but he saw no harm in staying for a few hours and observing the run. He was incredibly curious how the full-blooded loup managed to live alongside so many half-breeds.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Rook said. “We’d like to stay.”

“Good.” Geary swept a hand out toward the man with his scent. “This is my son, Jonas.” After Rook and Devlin introduced themselves, Geary said, “Jonas, why don’t you show them around a bit?”

Jonas looked like he’d rather chew glass than play tour guide, but he nodded. “Of course, Alpha.”

“With your permission,” Rook said to Geary, “I’d like to call my father and let him know we’ve spoken.”

Geary laughed. “If your cellular can get a signal out here, you’re more than welcome.”

“Thank you.”

It took a bit of wandering around with his phone in the air, but Rook finally found a location that gave him two bars of service. He had to stand on a bare boulder that jutted out over the river, with a shaft of summer sunshine glaring down on him from above, in order to place the call. Devlin watched from close by and tried to make polite conversation with Jonas, who didn’t seem to be returning the favor.

“Thomas McQueen.”

“We’re here, in Potomac,” Rook replied.

“And?”

He repeated what Geary had said, as verbatim as memory allowed, including the apologies. “We’re going to stay for a few more hours, just to interact.”

“That’s a good idea. Do you trust Geary’s word?”

“So far, yes. The group here seems small, and Devlin hasn’t mentioned scenting anything familiar from Stonehill. How is—?” He started to ask how Brynn was, but that was a ridiculous question, considering. Father had called two hours ago to share his conversation with her about elemental Magus powers and that he’d forbidden her to leave town. She was probably furious and freaked out. “How’s Shay Butler?”

“Still unconscious. She’ll need to be woken soon, though. It’s been too long since she’s eaten. What’s that background noise?”

“The river. I’m close to it. The reception out here is pretty spotty.”

“Of course. I’ll leave a message if anything new comes up, so make sure you check your phone frequently.”

“I will.”

“She’s fine, too, Rook. Bored, but fine.”

Rook smiled at the rushing water. He didn’t have to ask to know his father meant Brynn, and he was grateful for the news. “Thank you. I’ll let you know when we’re heading home.”

“All right.”

He put his phone away, then joined Devlin and Jonas for a tour of the camp.

* * *

Brynn realized quickly that not only was she still forbidden from leaving town, she was also apparently not allowed to wander around without a shadow. At some point during her day, she noticed that O’Bannen was following her. He kept a respectable distance, but that didn’t stop her from feeling like a criminal falsely imprisoned for a crime she hadn’t committed. And it prevented her from any possibility of sneaking out of town, had she chosen that route. O’Bannen’s constant presence prompted her decision to spend the majority of her afternoon in the McQueen library, immersed in a world of new and antique books, hoping to distract herself from the questions that kept haunting her.

Should I give up the fire elementals? Keep silent? Which is the bigger betrayal?

The dead loup were not her responsibility; they were not her people. They were, however, still living beings whose lives had been taken without cause or provocation, and in a horribly brutal manner. They deserved justice. And no one knew for certain if the killers would strike again, or where.

Has Father even noticed I’m missing?

She had no way of knowing. Her cell was still locked up tight, and she hadn’t seen a landline anywhere in the house. She doubted her shadow would let her use his. She wanted to imagine her father had noticed her absence by now, and that he was beside himself with worry. She wanted to imagine him demanding the whole power of the Congress help him find her. She wanted to imagine his joy and relief at finding her safe and sound, if a little shaken.

Her imagination wasn’t that vivid.

The back door squealed open, and two sets of footsteps entered the back hall. She’d left the library door open—mostly so that O’Bannen would leave her in peace for a while and do his guarding elsewhere downstairs, which he seemed to be doing—and voices drifted in from the hall.

“—downstairs and shift after I eat,” Bishop said. “This is the absolutely most inconvenient time to have my quarterly.”

“We can’t choose our times,” said Jillian Reynolds. Brynn had met her briefly after returning to the house from Dr. Mike’s office, and she found the female loup incredibly intimidating.

“I know that, Jillian. Don’t tell me you’ve never been inconvenienced by your quarterly.”

They seemed to have paused outside of the kitchen, and Brynn felt a sudden pang of guilt. She wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose, and now she was curious as to what this quarterly was—yet another loup garou thing she didn’t know about, like the high importance they put on scent.

“I have,” Jillian replied. “We all have. Isn’t that why your brother sabotaged his music career?”

“That gossip made it all the way to Delaware?”

“The concert was in a few of the papers. It wasn’t exactly a secret.”

Rook sabotaged his music career?

Bishop made a sound that might have been a snort. “He loved performing. Music’s his passion. I hate that he had to give that up.”

“A loup’s first priority is to the preservation of the run. You know that.”

“I do, and so does he. That doesn’t make giving up your dreams any easier, especially when you’re young.”

“No, it doesn’t. You’re afraid his new dream is to supplant you as the next Alpha?”

“He can’t supplant me, Jillian. He’s a Black Wolf. The position is his if he wants it.”

“Does he want it?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I think so, other times I think not. Right now, it isn’t even a priority. I need to eat, so I can go downstairs and shift.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

A door swung open and shut. Boot heels clicked toward the library. Brynn held her breath, willing Jillian to continue on past, but she walked right in the door. She didn’t seem surprised to see Brynn curled up on one end of the long leather sofa, and Brynn flushed bright red.

“I’d accuse you of eavesdropping,” Jillian said, “only we weren’t being very discreet.” She smiled, and Brynn relaxed a fraction. Jillian had an angular face, straight hair, and bangs cut neatly across the line of her brow—combined, it gave her a severe look that was very intimidating. Even when she smiled.

“Rook sabotaged his own music career?” Brynn asked. She didn’t mean to, but curiosity got the best of her. The entire conversation had confused her.

“Yes, less than a week after he graduated college. A few months ago, his band was headlining a big-name music festival. It would have been the concert that got them noticed, maybe made them famous. Scouts and producers were there. They had to play a night concert and Rook tried to get them into another slot, but the organizers wouldn’t change a thing. So Rook was unable to show up for the performance.”

“Because the attention would be too much for the town? For his family?”

“Yes, that was always a possibility he faced, but that wasn’t the reason he couldn’t show up.”

“Then what was?”

Jillian sat on the opposite end of the couch, maintaining perfect posture even on the soft cushions. “Do you know what a loup garou’s quarterly is?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Shifting into our beast form is painful, and it’s physically taxing once we shift back to skin, so we do it very rarely. However, to maintain a balance between our dual natures, we endure a forced change once every one hundred and one days. From sunset to sunrise, our beast takes over. During the quarterly shift, our instinctive animal nature is in control, rather than our conscious mind. Many homes, including this one, have a reinforced room for the loup to spend the night in, so he or she doesn’t accidentally injure someone.”

“And Bishop is going through this tonight?”

Jillian nodded. “Yes. He’ll eat a large meal, then be locked downstairs in the basement until sunrise. That’s why Rook went out of town this afternoon instead of Bishop.”

The conversation in the hall made more sense now that Brynn had these details, but she still didn’t understand what that had to do with—oh. “Rook’s quarterly was the night of that concert he couldn’t reschedule. Wasn’t it?”

“Yes. He’d been very lucky until then, able to schedule his concerts and classes around it. It must have been incredibly embarrassing for him not to show up that night, and I can only speculate as to the lie he told his bandmates. His bandmates never forgave him for sabotaging that concert and their shot at performing for so many producers. He couldn’t tell them the truth for obvious reasons, so he quit the band and gave up his music. But I think it also made something very clear to Rook.”

“Which is what?”

“That our people live together for a reason. We have sanctuary towns so we can be ourselves without running the risk of discovery. I think he realized where he belongs, and it isn’t out there entertaining humans at rock concerts. His family needs him here.”

“To be their next Alpha?”

“If that’s his choice.”

“It sounds like the only choice he’s left to make for himself.”

Jillian scowled, but Brynn didn’t retract the statement. Rook had tried to go out and explore his passion, to have a life of his own, and he’d been forced to return to what he’d always known. She understood that more than she could express, having never felt completely at ease among the Magi—like something else was waiting for her. Nothing waited for her at home in Chestnut Hill except disappointment and an ongoing scandal. Perhaps this was her chance to have something different.

“You don’t know what it means to be loup garou,” Jillian said. “The Alpha forms the identity of a run. The entire community lives and dies by their leader’s strength and character. Rook is in a very unique position. Don’t ever misunderstand the weight behind the decision he has to make.”

Before Brynn could offer a response or attempt to defend herself, Jillian stood and stormed out of the library. Her boot heels clicked all the way to the front door, then disappeared into another part of the house. Brynn closed the book of Shelley poems she’d forgotten about, then rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. She didn’t care that Jillian disliked her now. She was grateful for the extra information, both on the loup garou and on Rook.

A flash of white behind her eyes was Brynn’s only warning before images flickered through her mind in a crash of pain. Three images, on a never-ending loop, fraught with agony and fear.

* * *

A black-haired girl, no older than a teenager, bares white fangs and sinks them into Rook’s neck. They are in the woods, in darkness, indistinguishable from others around them, moving.

Rook in a fireman’s carry over the same girl’s shoulder, taken into a camper. Still in darkness. Rook doesn’t move.

Rook tied to a chair in a room, maybe inside the camper, while someone looms over him.

Brynn held on tight to the visions, despite the throbbing in her head, desperate for every detail she could get. Two visions in one day were rare. Three at once, about the same person, had never happened before. She wasn’t certain of anything, except that they were about Rook, and she had to remember everything.

Night. Woods. A fight. A camper. The black-haired girl had to be a vampire.

A vampire had been in Stonehill.

She stumbled up off the couch, and her book hit the floor with a bang. “O’Bannen!” she yelled.

He was there in an instant, braced as if for an attack. “What is it?” he asked, already taking in the room.

“I need to see Mr. McQueen right now.”

He didn’t argue with her, just nodded. “He should be at the auction house.”

“Good.”

She practically bolted out of the room, panic urging her to run faster than she’d ever run in her life. This was happening soon, she was sure of it. The detail stuck out of her vision like a neon sign—Rook was wearing the exact same clothes he’d left in that morning.

Chapter Eleven

Dinner was served later than Rook expected, and the smell was driving him crazy. In a good way. Most of the food the Potomac run ate came from the mountains around them and the river on which they lived. Tonight’s meal arrived in the form of two large deer carcasses that had been hunted and skinned just a few hours earlier. Rook had never actually had fresh venison before, but the scent of roasting meat coming off the fire pits was mouthwatering.

He’d called home an hour ago to check in. Geary had invited him and Devlin to stay the night, rather than driving late into the evening, and they’d agreed. Geary offered his cabin, but Rook told him that unless it rained unexpectedly, they’d be fine in the truck bed.

With the matter settled, Rook had spent some time fishing the river with a mixed family named Woodson. The father was a full-blood loup, the mother a human, and their three children an interesting assortment of half-breeds. All three kids were over the age of four (when first shift occurred), but only the oldest and youngest could actually shift into their beast. Few half-breeds could maintain a full beast shift, so learning that two of those three children could had surprised him.

They were amazing fishermen, too, casting their lines like pros even though the eldest was only nine. Rook found himself enjoying the experience, despite his own longstanding dislike of half-breeds. They were inferior to loup and would never be able to have children of their own, but they were still living creatures. Adorable, mischievous, talented little living creatures.

As the sun dipped lower, someone rang a cowbell. The three kids squealed and reeled in their lines, shouting that it was time for supper. Rook laughed at their enthusiasm and followed them over to the fire pits. The deer had been removed from the spits and placed on a wide table for carving. Residents went in and out of cabins and tents, collecting plates and utensils and thermoses. The beasts had disappeared, and several new human faces entered the mix gathering for supper. The air was rich with the scent of cooked meat.

A little girl with red pigtails ran over and tugged Rook’s hand. He squatted to eye-level and smiled. “Yes?”

“Jonas says you play music,” she said with wide, starstruck eyes.

“Yes, I do play music.”

“Can you play for us after supper?”

He hadn’t played for an audience in months, and he itched to perform again. “What’s your name?”

“Iris.”

“I’m Rook. I’d love to play for you after supper, Iris, but I didn’t bring my guitar. I could sing for you, though.”

“Yay!” She scampered off to find her family.

“Looks like your reputation precedes you,” Devlin said with a grin.

Rook cuffed his friend on the shoulder, then joined the various families for food. The meat was excellent, and Rook found himself enjoying the company even more. The Potomac loup were garrulous and loud, but the love they had for each other came through in words and actions—even for the half-breeds. Devlin struck up a conversation with a brown-haired girl named Rachel, whose mixed scent clearly identified her as someone he and Rook should distrust. But she also smelled of the river loup, and that made her family.

It was all too confusing.

As the evening waned into twilight and the venison settled in their bellies, an elderly loup male produced a banjo and began strumming chords to “Oh, Susannah!” Rook knew that one well, and he launched into the first verse with a smile. It produced a loud squeal of joy from Iris and several other children, who tried to sing along. The entire camp seemed at peace, enjoying a meal as a run, basking in each other’s company—something Cornerstone was simply too large to do in the same intimate way.

The last verse of “Oh, Susannah!” ended to a scattering of applause.

“Do ‘Shenandoah’ next please,” Iris said.

Rook glanced at the banjo player, who nodded. They both knew that one, too.

A shriek pierced the serenity of the evening, followed immediately by a second. Heads turned. Rook stood, alert to danger, and scanned the woods, unsure of the source of the screams. He reached for his cell phone out of habit, not sure who he’d even call or why. The third shriek was followed by an agonized squeal. A dozen loup surged to the east, away from the river, while others grabbed children and headed for the cabins.

Rook followed the men into the woods, Devlin on his heels. Adrenaline shot through him, speeding up his heart, urging him to give in, drop to his knees, and shift. His beast growled, angered by the screams of fear and pain from his fellow loup garou.

A black blur cut through the dozen men, knocking several aside like they were dolls. One screamed. Red spurted into the air, and the heavy odor of blood joined the sour scent of fear permeating the forest. The blur came fast. Faster than Rook could move to defend himself, and he slammed sideways into a tree before he felt the blow that knocked him there. Breath exploded out of his lungs, and he gasped for air.

Devlin hollered his name. Rook couldn’t respond.

Two black blurs raced past him, a bit slower than the first. Slow enough to get the vague idea they were humans—or at least shaped like humans. Short humans, slim, in black clothes.

Rook rolled onto his side, coughed hard, and levered up onto his knees. His chest ached. A few feet away, a man lay on his back, his throat torn out, blood soaking the earth beneath him. Dead.

Just like Stonehill.

Three other bodies were scattered and bleeding. He didn’t see Devlin, and with the sun nearly gone, the forest was thick with shadows. The sounds of battle—screaming, gurgling, thudding—were ahead of him, closer to the camp. He reached for his t-shirt, intending to shift and do what he could to save lives.

A black-haired girl dropped down from the tree above, landing with preternatural grace. She smiled like they’d just shared pleasant conversation. She had blood on her hands, which were oddly deformed—long fingers, deadly hooked claws. Rook growled, low and deep. A warning.

“Hello, Rook,” she said.

Ice skated down his spine. “Who are you?”

“Won’t you be surprised?”

He snarled and lunged. She laughed.

Someone latched onto him from behind like a giant tick, skinny arms holding his tight against his sides. As he stumbled and fell, something sharp pierced the side of his neck. The rotting stink of vampire filled his nostrils as blood flowed out of his body.

* * *

Knight wasn’t sure what to expect when he walked into his father’s office less than two minutes after receiving the 911 text and location. Jillian and Brynn were seated in the two chairs opposite Father’s desk, where he stood with both fists pressed hard against the wood surface. O’Bannen nodded from his position near the far wall. Knight was struck by the oddity of a 911 meeting without Rook or Bishop—as well as a wall of tension that filled the room like thick fog.

“What happened?” Knight asked as he approached the desk, instinctively absorbing some of the tension.

“Nothing yet,” Father replied. “But there’s a good chance something is about to. Ms. Atwood?”

Knight circled to stand near the bookcase so he could face both Brynn (who looked miserable) and Jillian (impatient and curious), positive that Brynn had had another vision. “What did you see?”

“I saw Rook,” Brynn replied. “Three different things in succession. I’ve never had visions like that before. In the first, a female vampire bit him on the neck.”

Vampire. He shuddered, revolted by the idea of Rook being fed on by one of those bloodsuckers. Dread rolled off Brynn and his father in waves.

“In the second, the same girl was carrying him into a camper or trailer of some kind, and in the third he was secured to a chair.”

Jillian looked as confused as he felt. “Wait,” she said. “You’re saying that a vampire first bites Rook, then kidnaps him and ties him up in a camper?”

“If the visions are in order, then yes. He’s bitten in the woods when it’s dark, and it’s still dark at the camper. Inside, I can’t tell. There is very little detail to the final vision.”

“A vampire was part of the group that attacked Stonehill,” Father said. “This is why I’m concerned. I’m afraid Rook and Devlin will come into contact with this group in the very near future.”

“Why near future?” Knight asked.

“Because Brynn said that in her vision, Rook was wearing the same clothes as he wore today.”

“Did you—?”

“I tried calling him twice. He told me earlier today that the area has terrible cell phone reception, so he’s supposed to check often and call me back when I leave a message.”

“But in Stonehill no one was taken,” Jillian said. “Everyone was killed.”

“Shay wasn’t,” Knight said.

“No, but she was still attacked and gravely wounded. She wasn’t drained to unconsciousness, and then carted off by her attackers.”

“Assuming this is the same vampire from Stonehill,” Father said. “It’s entirely possible, if unlikely, that this is a rogue vampire, or related to something else that has nothing to do with Stonehill.”

“I wouldn’t place odds on that, Alpha.”

“Neither would I, Ms. Reynolds.”

And neither would Knight. “So what do we do? Wait and worry until Rook calls us back so we can warn him?”

“Something like that.,”

Knight’s cell phone beeped, alerting him to a text message. Brynn jerked in her chair at the sudden noise. He yanked his phone out of his pocket and checked. His heart hammered against his ribs, too fast.

From Rook: If u are not alone, go somewhere private. Now.

“Knight?” his father asked.

He fumbled for a lie that would get him out of the room. “It’s someone else. Someone needs me.” It wasn’t unusual for a resident to require his calming White Wolf for various reasons.

“All right. I’ll let you know when Rook calls.”

“Thanks.”

He excused himself from the office, then forced himself to not run downstairs. To walk slowly out of the front doors of the auction house and around the side of the building to the merchandise loading doors. There were no security cameras angled here. No one could see from the street. He returned the text: Okay. What’s wrong?

A reply came almost immediately in the form of a photograph. He opened it. Rage clawed at his chest and burned in his gut.

Rook. Face scraped up. Duct tape over his mouth. Eyes closed.

“Shit.”

His phone rang. He nearly dropped the thing, his hand shook so badly with the force of his hatred for whoever had done this. The display said it was from Rook’s phone, but Knight knew his brother wasn’t on the other end of the line. “Who is this?”

A female laughed long and loud, and the bottom of his world fell out. Brynn’s vision had already happened. They were too late.

“Who the hell is this?”

“Now play nice, Knight,” she said. “You wouldn’t want me to take your bad mood out on baby brother, would you?”

“Is he alive?”

“Of course he’s alive. You wouldn’t very well stay docile for me if he was dead. He’ll make excellent leverage.”

Docile. Leverage. What was she talking about? “What do you want?”

“You.”

He stared blankly at the oak trees on the opposite side of the lot. “What?”

“I want you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You know, I didn’t think you were this stupid. I want you, Knight. I want you to get into a car and start driving south and not tell anyone you’re leaving.”

“Why would I—”

A muffled scream came over the phone, and Knight cursed. Even behind duct tape, he knew Rook’s voice. The scream died into a whimper, then silence. Knight clutched his phone hard enough to crack the case. His beast reared up, demanding someone pay for hurting his flesh and blood.

“Would you like to ask any more questions?”

He had too many questions still to ask, but would not risk Rook being hurt again. “No.”

“Wise choice. As I said, you tell no one you’re leaving town and once you’re on the road, don’t answer your phone for anyone but me. If I suspect for a single instant that you’ve cheated or that you’re playing me, I will kill your brother. He will experience true agony before he dies.”

“I understand.”

“I hope you do, for Rook’s sake. Now get going.”

He had to try three times to hang up, his hands were shaking so badly. He fumbled the phone twice before he got it into his pocket, overwhelmed by his seething temper and utter frustration. This was insane. Leaving like she asked was suicide, but he didn’t know who she was. If she did find out he’d cheated her rules, she could hurt Rook. Kill him. He couldn’t allow that. He didn’t know why this mystery woman wanted him, and the only way to find out was to play her game.

“Please, don’t let this be a mistake,” he whispered to any god who was listening. “Please.”

* * *

Rook could barely contain his boiling rage at the woman grinning over him—the same woman who’d spoken to him in the forest. Not the one who’d jumped him. That vampire bitch was perched on the camper’s narrow counter, eyeing his neck like a snack cake. A combination of nylon rope and duct tape had him secured to a metal chair, which was bolted to the camper floor. But it wasn’t the rope and tape that kept him from unleashing his beast and tearing them to pieces.

It was the thin silver chain looped around the bare skin of his throat and wrists that kept his beast down. His skin burned beneath the poisonous silver, and a dull ache had already started at the base of his skull. A sharper ache matched it from his left hand, where the vampire had taken great glee in ripping the nails off his pinkie and ring finger during the phone call to Knight. Rook hadn’t wanted to scream.

He hadn’t been able to stop himself.

He didn’t understand what was happening. The camper reeked of bleach and lemon cleaner, destroying any real hope of sniffing out his location. Something buzzed in the rear, creating white noise that blocked out everything except the hateful sounds of his own ragged breathing.

“What do you think, Rook?” the smiling bitch asked. “You think Knight will behave and do as he’s told? Does he love you enough to trade himself for you?”

Rook wanted to rip her smile right off her face one lip at a time. To punish her for this. For all of the deaths he’d seen back at Potomac. He had no idea how many had died. Had they all been slaughtered, just like Stonehill? Was Devlin dead? Grief fueled his rage, and neither emotion had any outlet. He couldn’t move because of that damned silver.

“He wants to know who we are,” the vampire said. “You can see it in his eyes. He’s so confused.”

“Let him wonder. Let him wonder why we killed those mongrels in Connecticut. Let him wonder about his friends on the riverbank. Let him wonder about the new lady in his hometown.”

He bristled. Did she mean Brynn? Or was the nut job talking about Shay? He’d kill them if they harmed Brynn.

She leaned in closer, eerie eyes gazing into his with delight and madness. Green eyes speckled with copper, not unlike a loup garou. Impossible. But something about her was horribly familiar, he just couldn’t figure it out. “Your kind will be extinct soon, mongrel. Let that comfort you while you mourn the deaths of others.”

As she pulled back, something wafted over the cloying stink of bleach and lemon. Something that made his guts tighten with dread.

The odor of bitter orange.

She was the Magus.

* * *

Brynn didn’t know if choosing to wait in Thomas McQueen’s office was smart or idiotic. He worked at his desk with a calm patience she envied. She barely managed to sit in her chair and not fidget. Granted, having a book to read would have helped with her wandering attention. Jillian had excused herself a few minutes ago, and Brynn considered doing the same. Thirty minutes of waiting had never felt so endless. Her entire world felt suspended as she waited for news of Rook.

The office phone rang, and he snatched it up. “McQueen.” A pause. “No, not in half an hour or so. He said someone needed his help.”

The call must be for Knight.

McQueen frowned. “Of course. If I see him first, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. Bye, Doc.” He hung up, then hit speed dial. “Knight, it’s me. Call me when you get this.”

He stared at his desk phone, then at his cell, as though willing one of the instruments to ring. “At least I know where one of my sons is,” he said softly, to himself. He must have forgotten he had an audience.

The cell rang. He did a double take at the display, then answered. “Devlin?”

Devlin was calling and not Rook? Brynn didn’t have a chance to ponder the meaning behind that, because McQueen’s face went perfectly still. The temperature in the room seemed to drop as some kind of silent shock came over him. Brynn knew. Without asking, she knew her visions had come true. She felt instantly sick.

“How many dead?” McQueen asked in a stony voice. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “Get them here, Devlin, as fast as you can.” A pause. “You didn’t see what happened to Rook?”

Brynn twisted her hands in her lap, heart aching, bursting with questions and the need to help Rook. To get him back from whoever had taken him. To bring him back to his family—and to her. She should do something, but she didn’t know what.

No, that wasn’t true. She’d seen the exterior of the camper in her vision. She knew exactly what it looked like. She knew what the vampire looked like.

She could help. She needed to help. She’d prove her value to them and to herself.

“We’ll get search teams out there,” McQueen said. “Right now, your priority is keeping the wounded and survivors safe until we can get them here to Cornerstone. Find a place, then call me back with the location so we can come get you.” Softer. “Be safe, Dev.”

He hung up, dialed another number. “Knight, call me right now. Potomac was attacked. Rook’s missing, and we’re collecting the wounded. Call. Me.”

Brynn somehow managed to sit in silence while McQueen made several more calls, which brought seven new loup garou into the office, plus Jillian. He left a message for Joe Reynolds. The crush of silent loup around her should have scared Brynn, but she was too frightened for Rook to care about her own safety. The only thing she’d done wrong was have her vision too late to prevent it. Was this why she’d had a vision of Knight crying? He still hadn’t reappeared, and that worried her on a completely different level.

McQueen stood up and turned away, toward the window overlooking the auction floor. He seemed to take several deep breaths. The loup shifted and fidgeted, affected by the intense emotions rolling off their Alpha as he struggled to control himself. He needed Knight. And when McQueen finally turned to face his people, the strain was evident in his normally calm demeanor.

“Around eight-thirty this evening, I received a call from Devlin Burke. He and Rook were visiting the West Virginia run this evening when they were attacked by the same people who decimated Stonehill.” Murmurs and gasps cut off quickly when he kept talking. “Potomac had a population of one hundred and forty-two loup, humans, and half-breeds. All but eighteen are dead, and three of those are critically wounded.”

Brynn covered her mouth with her palm, afraid of releasing the angry tension building in her throat.

“They left more survivors,” Jillian said.

“The attack happened suddenly, but the alarm sounded fast,” McQueen said. “Some of the enforcers were able to shift and defend, and it helped drive them off. Devlin was injured, but he’s trying to place the scents to what he remembers from Stonehill. As of now, he thinks there are four individual hostiles.”

“What about Rook?” someone asked.

McQueen’s jaw twitched. He glanced at Brynn, then back to the people behind her. “He disappeared during the fight. They haven’t found a body, so we’re going on the assumption that he was taken by the hostiles.”

Several of the enforcers behind her cursed.

“Bishop is unavailable until sunrise,” he continued, voice rougher than before. “So I’m putting Jillian Reynolds in charge of recovering the Potomac survivors. Devlin is moving them to another location. He’ll call when he’s there, but you need to get a head start. Take as many vehicles as you’ll need to comfortably transport the wounded. One driver and one extra body per vehicle.”

“Understood, Alpha,” Jillian said.

“Winston will take you to the car lot. He’ll know where to find more people if you need them. Everyone in this room except for O’Bannen and Ms. Atwood are going with you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And start spreading the word around town that Knight needs to report back to me. This takes precedence over whatever else he’s doing.”

More verbal confirmations followed, and then the loup began to file downstairs in a long, thundering echo of footsteps. Brynn glanced over her shoulder. The room was empty except for herself, McQueen and O’Bannen, who looked furious at being left behind to continue watching her.

“Ms. Atwood.” McQueen came around the desk and sat in the wicker chair next to hers. “I need you to tell me everything you remember from those visions. Any detail you can recall, no matter how small.”

“I’ve told you everything I remember.”

“Please try.”

The desperation in his voice, the panic of a father whose child was in danger, made Brynn close her eyes. She couldn’t say no. She thought of Rook, of her inexplicable connection to him after only knowing him for two days, and used it to pull back the memories of those brief glimpses, searching for something she’d missed. The first vision was useless; they knew from where Rook had been taken. She concentrated on the second, on the exterior of the camper.

“It had a foundation,” she said. “The camper, so it wasn’t in a campground. It has to be part of a residential trailer park of some kind.”

Movement around her nearly broke her concentration, as did the sudden clacking of computer keys. She pushed those noises away and focused. She had to do this for Rook.

“There are numbers on the side by the door, really faded. Thirty-two. It’s probably the address.”

“What color is it?” O’Bannen asked.

“Mostly turquoise with a thick white stripe about two-thirds of the way up. One door that I can see, a square window with rounded corners. Two windows next to the door, but the camper seems larger than what I can see. And it had a rounded front end.” She looked across the desk where O’Bannen stood hunched over McQueen’s computer. “What are you doing?”

“Search engine magic,” O’Bannen said without looking up. His fingers danced across the keyboard. “Computer tech is my specialty. Tell me if any of these look like your trailer.”

Brynn rounded the desk and scanned the photos O’Bannen had brought up of various turquoise trailers from different decades. “There, it looked like that one.”

“Nineteen fifty-seven Airfloat. Good place to start, but there are probably still hundreds of those trailers out there, in and around trailer parks.”

“Will you be able to get us an idea of where to start looking?”

“Us?”

She turned to face McQueen. “I’ve seen this place. If we pass by it, I’ll know. I could describe it down to the number of bolts in the siding, but it will never be as precise as the picture in my head. Please, Mr. McQueen, I owe Rook, and I cannot sit here and do nothing when I could be out there looking.”

“Without more information, you could be out there chasing ghosts,” McQueen said.

“I realize that.” She closed her eyes and called up the third vision, determined to find something else. Something beyond the awful image of Rook held captive. “There are fliers on the wall behind him, tacked up. Take-out menus, perhaps.”

“Can you see anything on them? Even a phone number?”

“Three-oh-one. The area code is three-oh-one.” Relief struck Brynn in the heart. No one kept take-out menus from three states over. This could be the break they needed.

“That’s Maryland,” O’Bannen said. “I can definitely narrow our search down now. Maybe not be to one place, but ten are better than a hundred.”

“Do it,” McQueen said.

“Alpha, please let me help,” Brynn said. “Maybe the minute we leave, whoever has Rook will call and make a ransom demand, and it won’t matter because they’ll bring him to us. But there is nothing useful for me to do here, and I’m sure O’Bannen would appreciate the chance to do more than just babysit me in your home’s library.”

O’Bannen flicked a grateful look in her direction.

“All right, I’ll allow this,” McQueen said. “You two will stick together, and you will report your progress back to me every thirty minutes. If you think you’ve located the hostiles, do not engage without additional backup. We’ve seen how deadly they are.”

“Understood,” Brynn said. She resisted the urge to pinch herself, just to make certain he’d said yes.

“I’ll have us a place to start in a few more minutes,” O’Bannen said.

“Good, thank you.”

She was glad to be going out and doing this. Even if she didn’t bring Rook home, she had to try. He’d just come into her life, and he was already under her skin. Despite the differences in their species and status, she wasn’t going to let him go without a fight.

Chapter Twelve

Knight decided to break the rules.

For the last two hours, he’d ignored eighteen phone calls and various text messages. He didn’t even check the texts for fear of what the mystery woman would do to Rook if she decided that counted as cheating. He’d been missed at home, that much was obvious—most of the calls were from his father.

The only calls he’d answered were from Rook’s phone, and each one came with a new direction. He was somewhere in northern Maryland, just over the state line, waiting at the appointed gas station for his next phone call and second-guessing his decision to come alone. He eyeballed the pay phone next to the small convenience store. One call . . .

His cell rang. ROOK.

“I’m here,” he said.

“Good, you’re close. Get back on that road heading east. Ten miles down, make a left. It’s the only road. Come to the trailer marked thirty-two.”

“Okay.”

“No more calls after this, Knight. Turn off your phone. I expect to see you in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll be there.”

She hung up. He turned off his phone, then dropped it onto the passenger seat. He slammed his palm down on the steering wheel and barely felt the sting. Talking to anyone about this was cheating. Using his cell for anything except her calls was cheating. She never, however, mentioned a hang-up. Father would follow every single lead to recover his lost sons, even a missed call from an unknown Maryland phone number.

He dug change out of the car’s ashtray, then ran over to the pay phone. Dialed Father’s cell. Let it ring once, just enough to put the number on the cell’s screen, then hung up. Call incomplete, the money tumbled down. He fished out the coins, used his sleeve to wipe any possible fingerprints, then bolted back to the car.

The pay phone rang as he was pulling out of the parking lot, its shrill tone a haunting sound he had to leave behind.

Ten miles never seemed to take so long to travel. He finally found the road, a track of dirt that was probably impassable after a hard rain, and turned onto it. Half a mile down, a decaying trailer park sprung up. Many of the old trailers had once been mobile, but sat on blocks or permanent foundations. The majority seemed abandoned. A few showed signs of life. He trundled past slowly, searching for number thirty-two.

His destination was a horrid white and turquoise combination that hadn’t been new in about fifty years. No cars outside, but the lights were on behind drawn blinds. He parked in a weedy space next to a cracked cement patio and turned off the engine. The sudden silence made his pounding heart seem so loud he was sure they could hear it inside the trailer. Anxiety and hate pulsed in his blood.

No one came for him, so he grabbed his phone and got out. Sniffed the air. Under the fragrance of pine and earth, he caught the faintest hint of bitter orange and vampire. Further below was Rook’s unique, damp leaves scent. He went to the door and banged his knuckles against the frosted window.

A shadow appeared. He stepped back as the door swung open, blasting him with the eye-watering stench of bleach and lemon. His nose stung, and his head began to pound.

A teenage girl with straight black hair cut just below her chin smiled at him, showing off a pair of thin, needlelike fangs. Maybe sixteen years old, she had a narrow, pale face, her cheekbones high and sharp. She looked unremarkable, and yet somehow familiar. “Look who joined the party,” she said. Not the woman from the phone. She eyeballed him up and down. “Come on in, sweetie.”

She backed up. Knight inhaled a bracing breath, then ascended the three stone steps. As soon as he crossed the threshold, she slipped behind him and shut the door. Turned a lock. He froze, shock turning into a fresh bout of rage when he spotted Rook. Silver chains on his throat and wrists had opened weeping blisters on the exposed skin. His left hand was bleeding from two fingers. The scrapes on his face had shaded in with blue and purple bruises. He looked at Knight with rage in his eyes.

Knight straightened his spine and channeled his anger away. He needed to stay clear-headed. He needed to be strong for his little brother and get them out of this alive.

The camper was long and narrow, and past the kitchen area where he stood was a hallway that ended in a closed door. Other doors along the hall might be other bedrooms. One had to be a bathroom. The door at the end of the hall opened, and a second woman walked toward him. Familiarity struck him, but he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t know her, had never met her that he could recall. She had the same black hair as the vampire, but her long hair was as shiny and dimensional as the vampire’s had been flat, dull. She was also slightly older, her face rounder, less angular, pretty in a homicidal kind of way.

“Your timing is impeccable,” said his phone tormentor.

“I had motivation.”

“Phone?”

He handed over his cell. While she turned it on and checked, he looked around. The place wasn’t very clean for all of the stink. They were probably using it to mask their own scents from anyone prowling around. It was certainly doing a number on his nose, and Rook had been breathing it for hours with no relief. He also didn’t see any obvious weapons, except for the women themselves. He couldn’t take them on himself. Vampires were incredibly fast, and these were close quarters. The stink and his own churning emotions prevented his empathy from sensing anything specific from his brother, and he hated that.

“I’m impressed,” the older girl said. “You seem to have actually followed instructions.”

Knight glared. “Like I said, I had motivation.”

“Yes, you did, and now that you’re here, let me introduce myself. I’m Fiona, and behind you is Victoria.”

“Delighted to meet you,” he said flatly. “I’d tell you my name, but you already seem to know me.”

“I do, yes, and I know what makes you special, Knight.”

“That I’m loup garou? Old news at this point, isn’t it?”

“Not that. In fact, I find the majority of your kind disgusting, filthy dogs who should be put down.”

Rook growled. Knight shot him a quelling look, but Rook was too busy glaring at Fiona to notice.

“So it’s my charming good looks?” Knight asked.

“Those are definitely a bonus, considering why you’re here.” Her gaze traveled up and down the length of his body, a leering appraisal that made him sick. “I’m willing to let your brother go if you agree to stay here in his place.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Fiona inched closer until she was in his personal space. He caught a faint whiff of bitter orange and shivered. The Magus. He also caught something else below that, something very distinct and unmistakable that made his insides squirm—female arousal. His entire body went cold, and he fought the urge to shove her away. To get as far from her as possible. Warmth came up behind him—Victoria. Neither woman was touching him, but their proximity made his skin crawl.

“Someone’s catching on, I think,” Victoria said.

Oh yes, he was catching on all right.

Besides their empathic natures and power to calm other loup garou, White Wolves had another unique ability that Gray and Black Wolves did not. While Blacks and Grays could only procreate with loup and humans, Whites could conceive children with otherwise barren half-breeds, as well as with vampires. In the long histories of both loup and vampires, only a scant handful of successful half-breed children were known to have existed, and none in the last fifty years. In his own relatively short twenty-five years, Knight had been pursued by a handful of half-breed females intent on making babies. When he was sixteen one had even gone so far as to drug him, but Bishop had intervened before anything irreversible happened.

Now Bishop wasn’t here to save the day, and these crazy bitches were threatening to kill Rook if Knight didn’t comply. Not for the first time, he cursed his luck at being a White Wolf. He also resisted the urge to lunge for their throats. Giving in to his beast’s need to punish them for hurting Rook would only get them both killed.

Rook made a loud sound that was probably a “No!” Rook was hurt and in pain, and he probably couldn’t fight a five-year-old child, but he was still trying to protect Knight. Black Wolves could do nothing less.

And White Wolves could do nothing less than ease the suffering of their kind—especially when the one suffering was his brother. “Let Rook go, with no additional harm, and I’ll stay,” Knight said.

Fiona smiled like a child who’d been given the world’s largest lollipop. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and withdrew a length of thin, silver chain. “I think I’d rather have you secured first.”

He eyed the chain with disgust. He abhorred being bound, and he had no way to ensure she held up her end of the deal if he was tied with silver. “I told you I’d stay willingly.”

She shrugged. “I don’t trust you.”

“I don’t trust you, either.”

“Not even for your baby brother’s sake? You might change your mind about staying once Rook is safely far away. Now hold out your wrists.”

He looked at Rook, who was begging with his eyes for him to not do this. But Knight couldn’t not do this. As soon as Knight was secured, Fiona could double-cross him and decide to keep them both, but Rook was slowly dying under the weight of those silver chains and needed to be free of them. Knight had to risk it, or Rook would die. And as long as Rook was alive and could identify the enemy, Knight knew he would always be searched for. His family wouldn’t give up.

A loup garou protected his family, by any means necessary.

Knight held out his wrists.

* * *

Rook screamed inside of his own head in a single endless note, since screaming against the duct tape had proven fruitless. He’d hoped that Knight wouldn’t actually show, or that he’d come with some sort of trick to get them both out safely. But no, this was happening. The crazy bitches who’d kidnapped him (who finally had names) were going to take Knight and do God-knows-what with him.

Actually, he knew exactly what Fiona had planned for Knight. He was just having trouble getting his throbbing head and panicked brain to admit it. He’d spent the last few conscious hours playing music in his head so the pain didn’t drive him crazy, and even that was lost to him right now.

His entire body was on fire from the silver he’d been exposed to for hours, his hand ached where his fingernails were gone, and he was desperate for a drink of water. None of that hurt as much, though, as seeing Knight hold out his hands and allow Fiona to wrap that damned silver chain around his wrists.

“Now,” Fiona said, “let’s go into the back so we can discuss your new role in life.”

“Let Rook go first,” Knight said.

“You’re in no position to make demands or give orders.”

“But—”

Victoria plastered herself to him from behind. Knight couldn’t even blink before she sank her fangs into his neck. Rook shouted against the tape and lunged. His ravaged wrists and neck shrieked with fresh agony. Color fled Knight’s face as blood fled his body, and his resistance went with it. His knees buckled. Victoria executed a quick move that ended with Knight over her shoulder in a perfect fireman’s carry. He had six inches and forty pounds on her, but she lifted him without effort.

The two women disappeared into the back of the camper with his brother.

Rook screamed his throat raw, even though there was no one to hear his horrified song.

* * *

“We used a reverse directory on the number.” McQueen’s voice was tinny on the cell phone’s speaker, made worse by the rumble of the car engine. “It belongs to a pay phone located at a Qwik-Mart outside Leitersburg, Maryland.”

Brynn’s heart jumped at the news. Leitersburg was near one of the locations on their list of thirteen potential places in northern Maryland, where they’d begin their search. O’Bannen had cobbled the list together through lease agreements and records of sale involving vintage Airfloat trailers—a talent she couldn’t hope to understand, so she was simply grateful for his abilities. She and O’Bannen had been on the road for over an hour, driving south, and narrowing down the list this quickly was a blessing she hadn’t expected.

Avesta, my thanks.

“It could be a trap,” O’Bannen said. “Or a legitimate wrong number.”

“You’re right,” McQueen replied. “But it’s also possible someone left us an intentional breadcrumb.”

His emphasis on “someone” clearly meant he hoped it was Knight. No one had heard from him since he disappeared from the auction house office more than two hours ago. They were operating on the hope that Knight had found some sort of clue and gone off in search of Rook. The alternative was that he’d been taken, too, so she understood McQueen’s need to believe in the best possible outcome for his sons.

“We’ll be extra careful heading into Leitersburg,” Brynn said.

“Let me know what you find at the gas station.”

“I will.”

She put O’Bannen’s cell on the seat between them, then typed the new town into the GPS. They were about fifty minutes away. A white and turquoise Airfloat, built circa 1957, with the lot number thirty-two, existed in a half-abandoned trailer park ten miles away from Leitersburg. It fit.

She and O’Bannen had spoken very little since his assignment as her bodyguard, and even less during the past hour, stuck together inside a moving vehicle. She knew nothing about the big, burly loup. “The way you created our list of locations so quickly was impressive,” she said.

He glanced at her, surprise in the arch of his dark eyebrows. “Thank you. I must admit, Ms. Atwood, when I heard about how you tracked down Rook based on a vision, I was a little impressed myself.”

A blush warmed her cheeks.

“A little jealous, too,” he continued. “Makes me wonder if my computer skills are sharp enough to do the same thing.”

“I think we can do anything we set our minds to, given the proper motivation.”

He seemed to consider that. “Makes sense. Guess that’s why I got the location list together so fast. Knight and Rook are important to me.”

Of course they were important. “They’re the Alpha’s sons.”

“And they’re my friends.”

Brynn felt foolish for not thinking of that, but she knew little about how run politics worked. The Alpha had a group of trusted enforcers who seemed to act as both bodyguards and personal assistants—investigators, too, if her experience with O’Bannen was any indication. She hadn’t yet added “friend” into that cluster of descriptors.

I have so much yet to learn.

Their brief conversation ended. Brynn silently recited names and dates of famous battles of the Civil War during the rest of the drive in order to keep her mind occupied. Being an ex-tutor had advantages when it came to retention of random trivia. Otherwise, she’d begin imaging scenarios they might find once they arrived, and none of them had happy endings. Once she’d made it through the Civil War, she listed all of the presidents in reverse order, including term dates, just to challenge herself. She made it all the way to James Madison when the first sign for Leitersburg flashed by the side of the highway.

“We’re almost there,” O’Bannen said.

The Qwik-Mart was closed, all but one security light switched off. It was almost midnight, and the station looked like it saw forty customers on a busy day, so this didn’t surprise her. O’Bannen pulled up in front of the grimy pay phone, then jumped out to call McQueen and tell him they’d gotten this far. The conversation was quiet and only lasted half a minute. When O’Bannen got back into the car, he had a confident twist to his mouth—not quite a smile, but more than the intense frown he’d worn all night.

“I can smell Knight,” he said. “He’s been here, too. I think we’re on the right track.”

“What do we do next?”

“Get as close as we can to the trailer and see what’s what, who’s where. We’re not to engage unless we’re made.”

“Engage with what? Witty sarcasm?”

He snorted, then reached into the backseat. He brought a black duffel bag over into the front and dropped it between them. Something heavy and metal clanked inside. “Ever fired a .22 before?” he asked.

Guns. He wanted her to fire a gun. She’d never even seen one up close, much less fired one. “Do water pistols count?”

He gave her a look, then shook his head. “Pray we don’t get made.”

“Gladly.”

* * *

Rook was numb from head to toe. His physical wounds had stopped hurting a while ago, overtaken by the agony radiating from his heart until even that petered out into a single, overwhelming press. He didn’t know how much time had passed. He strained to listen through the white noise blocking out the world. He tested his nose, but he’d long ago lost the ability to smell anything except bleach. His eyes were numb. Even his precious song lyrics had fled his pain-addled mind.

Silver poisoning.

Much longer and he’d be in serious trouble. His wrists wore bracelets of ragged, blistered, weeping flesh. The silver had sunk into the grooves, giving it direct contact with his bloodstream. Sooner or later, it would go to his heart. Cardiac arrest. Death.

Knight had come for him, and he was going to die anyway. All for nothing.

The bedroom door squealed open. Female laughter trickled out. Acid scorched the back of Rook’s throat. He couldn’t get his head to turn far enough to look. The door shut again.

“Still alive I see.” Fiona slapped the back of Rook’s head. Pain exploded behind his eyes.

“Be nice, sister,” Victoria said.

Sister. That was new.

Fiona circled around in front of him and squatted down. She wavered there, a mirage in the desert. “I suppose we should get rid of him now, as we promised. We have what we want, after all.”

Victoria giggled, a sound that raked down Rook’s spine like a blade. “We certainly do. Pity. He’s kind of cute, too, in a rock star sort of way.”

“He’s extra baggage we don’t need.”

“True.”

Fiona stood up and walked over to the door. Opened it just a few inches, then paused. “Go clean up, Victoria. When you’re done, drain this one so he doesn’t have a fit when we leave with his brother. I’m going to dump Knight’s car. I’ll be back for you in thirty minutes. Be ready.”

“I will.”

After Fiona left, Victoria trotted into the rear of the trailer. Another door opened and shut. Water ran.

If she drained him again, he wouldn’t survive the silver poisoning. They never intended to let him go. He wished Knight had understood that, hadn’t tried to fight for him. He loved his brother for trying, knew he would always try. No matter what. And Brynn. He’d never get to know Brynn any better. See her smile again.

The water shut off. The bathroom door opened and shut.

Somewhere outside the trailer, a wolf howled.

Rook raised his head, as if he could look right through the wall and see the source. He knew the cadence of that howl. A signal.

The cavalry had arrived.

Chapter Thirteen

Despite the order to only engage if they were made, an opportunity presented itself when the black-haired woman opened the trailer door before finishing her conversation. That mistake gave Brynn and O’Bannen just enough information to formulate a fast plan.

After finding the trailer park, they’d parked behind a cluster of unruly bushes next to number twenty-six, armed themselves—Brynn had felt somewhat foolish tucking a pistol into the waistband of her borrowed shorts—then taken off on foot. Number thirty-one was empty. This close to midnight, the entire park was dark, silent. She stayed hidden while he sneaked close enough to overhear the discussion, and then came back. By the time Knight’s car passed by them, being driven by a dark-haired woman who was not in Brynn’s visions, O’Bannen had already begun the process of undressing and shifting.

The plan was simple: draw the single hostile outside and attack. In beast form, O’Bannen would be quieter, faster, and fiercer. Beast loup garou had battled and destroyed hundreds of vampires. One shouldn’t be a problem.

Brynn just hoped he was right.

While he was fighting, her job was to get inside and find the brothers. She could do that. She would do that. Rook needed her.

Avesta, hear your daughter. Watch over us.

O’Bannen shook himself out, and Brynn took in the sight of a two-hundred-pound black wolf with glimmering copper eyes. He was larger than the average wolf, with thicker muscles and longer teeth. Teeth he bared in what looked like a horrific sort of smile.

“Good luck,” she whispered.

He ducked his head in a nod, then loped off to take position. Brynn scooted around to the back of the trailer, giving herself a good view of thirty-two’s front door. She crouched in a shadow and waited.

O’Bannen’s howl pierced the quiet night. Far away, someone’s yappy dog started a ruckus. A shadow moved inside the white and turquoise trailer. The door opened and the teenage vampire from Brynn’s vision slipped out onto the cement steps. The vampire glanced around, a born predator observing the darkness for her prey. Brynn shifted, just enough movement to gain the vampire’s attention.

Light from the interior of the trailer glinted off fangs, and then the vampire moved. Her speed was incredible, her path aimed directly for Brynn, and Brynn had a brief flash of panic. A scream stuck in her throat. And then a blur of black fur crashed into the vampire, and the two tumbled into the grass together.

Brynn bolted. She didn’t look back, didn’t think about the fight. She raced for the trailer, tripped on the first step, and went sprawling inside onto hard, industrial carpet that burned her palms and knees. The awful stink of bleach made her stomach somersault. She pushed up to her feet, then yelped when she saw Rook.

“Oh Avesta, no.”

He looked like he’d been beaten up while he had the flu. His skin was pasty white and his tattoos stood out like ink stains on a sheet. His throat and wrists were raw and bleeding and quite possibly infected. Rage filled her at the sight of him, followed by an intense need to hurt the person responsible for his pain.

She reached for the silver coils first and began to unloop them. He cried out once, but didn’t seem entirely aware of her presence. Silver was poisonous to loup garou, and she had no idea how long he’d been exposed. Too long, if his wounds were any indication. The rope and tape were harder. She found a knife in one of the kitchen drawers and used it to release the rest of Rook’s bindings. The last thing to go was the duct tape on his mouth, which came off quickly and left his lips raw.

She squatted in front of him and took his face in her hands. His skin was cold, eyes glowing with fever. “Rook, it’s Brynn. Can you hear me? Rook?”

He blinked hard and seemed to try to see her. “How?”

“It’s a long story, and I won’t be able to tell you if we don’t get out of here.” She couldn’t hear anything else inside the cabin—or outside, for that matter, which concerned her.

“Knight,” he slurred. “Back room.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

She sprinted down the short hallway to the last door. It wasn’t locked, and she shoved it open. The undersized room was barely large enough for the double bed inside it. Like the rest of the trailer, the room reeked of bleach. She looked behind the door, confused by the room’s lack of occupants—until the lump of blankets on the bed shifted. She pulled them off and uncovered a bound and gagged Knight.

Fresh puncture wounds stood out on his neck, no longer bleeding but not yet scabbed over. Below the wounds was a length of silver chain that she unwrapped and flung away. The skin beneath was raised and pink, but not yet blistered, so the silver had been a recent addition. His ankles were bound with several layers of duct tape, and his wrists with even more. Another piece of tape covered his mouth. He was shirtless, his chest covered in ugly red scratch marks, and his wide eyes were pleading with her to hurry up and get him out of here.

The teacher in her wanted to scold him for running off to the rescue and not telling anyone he’d left. The concerned quasi-friend apologized before ripping the tape off his mouth.

“Is Rook alive?” he asked.

“He’s sick, but he’s alive. I’ll be right back.”

She fetched the knife, pausing only long enough to confirm Rook hadn’t fallen out of his chair, then went back to cut Knight loose. Knight lurched off the bed and was out of the room before she could even think to follow. He crouched in front of Rook’s chair and pulled his brother forward into a hug, whispering words she couldn’t hear. The sight made her chest ache with unidentified emotion.

Brynn went to the door and peered out into the gloom. The ground was torn up next to the other trailer, but she didn’t see the combatants.

“What’s the exit strategy?” Knight asked.

She turned and jumped, surprised to find the brothers standing behind her. Knight’s arm was looped around Rook’s waist, Rook’s arm over Knight’s shoulders, supporting each other. Rook was on his feet and seemed less likely to pass out, even if he couldn’t handle fighting a kitten right now. She wanted to be the one holding Rook, but Knight was stronger. He could protect Rook better than she.

“We have a car six trailers down,” she said, pointing. “We run.”

Rook blanched. “Run?”

“Who’s here with you?” Knight asked.

“O’Bannen. He’s fighting the vampire.”

Knight’s eyebrows jumped, but he didn’t comment. “I’m going to get Rook to the car.”

“I’ll be right behind you.” She pulled the .22 out of her waistband and slid the safety back exactly as she’d been shown. “Go.”

She gave them a three-second head start, then followed. A furious screech and a canine whine made her stumble and change direction to the rear of number thirty-one. In the backyard gloom, she almost tripped over a large furry lump.

“No.” She crouched down and brushed blood-matted fur away from O’Bannen’s eyes and muzzle. He licked her hand and whined. Huffed a breath. “They’re safe. I found them.”

One copper eye rolled toward her. The lid dropped down. He huffed again, then stopped breathing altogether. Tears choked her as a deep sense of loss settled in her heart—loss of a loup garou she’d known less than a day. Another senseless death in the chaos of her life now. Beneath the loss she felt something new rise up. A deep need for vengeance in O’Bannen’s name.

“I’m so sorry.”

As she stood on unsteady legs, she studied the rest of the yard. Blood darkened the ground here and there, but she saw no sign of the wounded vampire. As much as she hated leaving the monster alive and leaving O’Bannen behind, getting out of here with the brothers was her priority. She’d see this plan through.

She broke for the car at a frantic run, threw open the driver’s side door and scrambled inside. Rook and Knight were in the backseat, and that’s what mattered. She turned the key and the engine roared to life.

“Where’s O’Bannen?” Knight asked.

She threw the gear into reverse, ignoring the blood she was smearing all over the interior. “Dead. He’s dead, and we have to get out of here before the other woman comes back.”

They didn’t argue or comment while she concentrated on speeding out of the trailer park and back to the highway. As her adrenaline waned, exhaustion set in. Her head pounded, and grief blurred her vision.

Knight slid forward and squeezed her shoulder. “Brynn, we need to stop for a while and rest. You need it, and Rook needs it, too.”

“Soon. We need to get farther away first, then we can stop.”

“Do you want me to drive?”

“Can’t stop. Need to get farther away.”

He held her shoulder a little tighter, then let go and sat back. Brynn concentrated wholly on the road and making their escape at a reasonable speed limit. She had a gun on the front seat, no license on her, a car registered to a dead wolf, and two wounded loup in her backseat. Getting pulled over was not something she needed tonight.

What she really needed was a few minutes in private to quietly break down, then pull herself back together.

Farther away, then we stop. Soon.

* * *

After two hours of nonstop driving, Brynn found a roadside motel off I-81 in Pennsylvania that looked like they wouldn’t mind a two a.m. registration from a frazzled woman who wanted to pay cash. Of the three of them, Knight was the only one with his wallet, and they didn’t want to risk using his credit card. No one knew the extent of Fiona’s reach, or how desperate she would be to track them tonight. Brynn was happy to defer to his judgment in covert matters where she was still a novice, despite her knowledge of such things in books. This wasn’t one of her beloved novels; this was real.

I’m a tutor, not a spy.

Only one other car was in the lot of their motel when Brynn pulled up in front of number seven. Rook didn’t protest his brother’s help inside the musty room. Brynn’s skin crawled at the general untidiness of the motel, with its awful brown wallpaper and plaid bedspreads and water strains on the ceiling tiles. Fortunately, the plan was to stay only until dawn and then begin the drive home. Vampires were susceptible to daylight; this gave them an advantage in about six hours.

Rook listed toward the first double bed, but Knight dragged him to the rear where the bathroom door stood open. “Wanna sleep,” Rook said. The whine in his voice struck her with its desperation and helplessness. She wanted to hug him, to drive that pain away, but Knight knew what he needed now more than she did.

“I know, pal,” Knight said, “but you’re still feverish and we need to take care of those wounds. Brynn, help me.”

She scooted around them and turned the light on in the smallish bathroom, illuminating gaudy yellow tiles.

* * *

A fogging mirror in a yellow-tiled bathroom. Steam rising. A hand wipes away the condensation. He stares at his reflection. Touches the mirror. He closes his eyes. Tears spill down his cheeks.

“Brynn?”

She jumped, then moved back so Knight and Rook could go inside. This was the bathroom from her vision, she was sure of it. For some reason, her power had intruded upon a private moment for Knight, possibly a silent breakdown from the stress of everything he’d endured tonight. She couldn’t imagine the fear of a missing sibling, knowing they were being tormented by known murderers.

Knight deposited Rook on the toilet seat. “Listen, I need to run out to a drugstore and get a few things,” he said. “Brynn, can you get him into a cold bath while I’m gone? We need to keep the fever down.”

Get Rook into a bath? Is he insane?

“Of course. Is going out a good—?”

“Dr. Mike taught us all a trick for dealing with severe silver poisoning if we were unable to get to him right away. I can’t get what I need out of the vending machine, okay?” He snapped the last few words, as close to losing it as she’d ever seen—even more so than yesterday in Thomas’s office, when he discovered she’d poisoned Rook. His wide eyes begged her to do what he asked and stop questioning him.

She held up the car keys. “Be careful.”

“Always.”

He left with a hard slam of the door.

Brynn pulled the tub’s plastic curtain back and turned on the cold water. A heavy chemical smell wafted up, then cleared as the pipes emptied. After the odor was gone, she pulled the plug up and let the stained ivory tub fill. Rook sat quietly while she tugged off his t-shirt, mindful of his raw wrists and neck. Just below the circle of wounds around his throat, she spotted what looked like healing punctures—the vampire’s bites from her vision.

The rage she thought she had dispelled came back full-force, directed squarely at the women who’d hurt Rook. She hated seeing him in so much pain and being unable to take it away. Hated knowing her visions had come too late to save him and Knight this torment storming in both of their eyes.

So many visions occurring in such a short amount of time confused her. What was it about being among the loup garou that caused them in such rapid succession? She’d never had this many about the Magi in so short a time period. And these recent visions had all, in some way, involved her.

Rook’s fingers circled her right wrist and tugged. Her pulse jumped at the contact. She looked down into his beautiful brown eyes flecked with bits of copper. Eyes that burned with both fever and something she couldn’t name. Something she was too scared to even consider. He turned his hand around so he could clasp hers, the chill of his skin quickly warmed by the heat of her own.

“You came for us,” he said.

“I came for you.” She didn’t mean to say that, not out loud. “I owed you, Rook. Your life was much safer until I walked into town yesterday.”

“You didn’t cause this. Fiona would have attacked Stonehill no matter what you did. They’d have found a way to get to Knight.”

She frowned, digesting that bit of information. “Fiona wanted Knight?”

A look of pure hate crossed his face. “I was bait to trade for him.”

“That’s why he left town so suddenly without telling your father.”

“Yeah. How did you find us?”

“I had a few useful visions.” Useful to the loup garou, even if not the Magi. She described them briefly; the details could wait. “Before he arrived at the trailer, Knight made a hang-up call from a pay phone. We used the number to narrow down your location.”

“I can’t believe Father let you come after me.”

“I made a good case. Besides, the rest of his people were busy helping with the Potomac evacuation.”

Rook’s entire body jerked, and she half expected him to leap off the toilet seat. “Devlin, is he alive? What happened there?”

“He’s alive. He called your father after the attack. They have eighteen survivors.”

He closed his eyes, his face crumpling with grief.

“Jillian Reynolds took people down to collect them.” Brynn brushed her left hand through his short hair, wishing she had the right words to comfort him. His anguish filled the small bathroom, a bitter taste in her mouth that she wanted to wash away. She hated that he hurt this badly.

“I fished with some of them today,” he said with heartbreak in his voice. “So many were kids.”

“I’m so sorry, Rook.”

He didn’t reply. The tub was halfway full. She reluctantly released him and shut off the water, filling the room with an unexpected silence.

“You should take your pants off,” she said when nothing else seemed appropriate.

He blinked at her, startled. “What?”

“The bath.”

“Oh, right.”

She helped him balance while he took off his shoes, socks, and jeans, skimming down to just a pair of boxer briefs. She respectfully kept her eyeballs above chest height. The last thing she needed to do was ogle a half-naked man for whose physical health she was responsible. Anything beyond professionalism right now, with his body so weak and ravaged, was beyond inappropriate—no matter how attractive said body was. Or how much she wanted to see more of it.

Concentrate.

Goosebumps rose along his arms and back as he stepped into the chilly water and sat down. He didn’t complain, though. He seemed so defeated, and she hated that.

Instinct demanded she keep him talking until Knight returned with his supplies. She sat on the ledge of the tub and immediately regretted the vantage point when she noticed how see-through his briefs had become underwater. She blushed and shifted her gaze to a crack in the tile above his shoulder. “What does silver poisoning do to a loup garou?”

Rook lifted his left hand out of the water and examined the raw flesh circling his wrist. “Depends on exposure. Physical scarring. Too much time in the bloodstream can lead to cardiac arrest. Another hour or so like that and I’d have probably died.”

Her heart twisted hard at the idea of him dying in so much agony because she’d been too slow. She had certainly cut the timing close. “They weren’t going to let you go, were they? Even though Knight kept his word?”

“No, they would have let me go, I think. But Fiona seems to like word games, and Knight didn’t negotiate for her to remove the silver chains before she dumped me. She’d have set me free to die.”

“We’ll be certain to return the favor.”

Rook gave her a startled look she was certain her own face mirrored. Never before had such a blood-thirsty thing fallen from her lips. But she meant it in her heart, or she wouldn’t have said it. She was furious on Rook’s behalf. Fiona and Victoria had hurt him; they hurt Knight. She wanted to hurt them both back and with interest. For Rook, for herself, and for all of the loup garou they’d slaughtered in the last two days.

He studied her face with open curiosity, and she had the oddest notion that maybe he wanted to kiss her. She parted her lips, allowing her gaze to slide down—

The motel room door opened, then slammed shut. A plastic bag crinkled. Knight came into the bathroom, gave them a cursory glance, and started putting things on the counter. Three bottles of white vinegar, rolls of gauze, antibiotic ointment, medical tape, extra-strength ibuprofen, antibacterial body wash.

Most of those items made perfect sense, but— “Vinegar?” she asked.

Rook groaned. “Great, more smelly shit.”

“It’ll help reverse the toxicity of the silver in his open wounds,” Knight said. “Most people don’t know vinegar helps cuts heal.”

“Oh.” She stood up and eased out of the bathroom. “I don’t know much about first aid, or I’d offer to help.”

“That’s all right. I’ll take care of him.”

“Did you call home while you were out?” Rook asked.

Knight shook his head slowly, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. “I don’t have my phone.”

“I’ll check the car,” Brynn said. “I’m not sure if O’Bannen had his in his clothes, or if he left it in there.”

She took the room key from Knight. After a bit of searching, she found O’Bannen’s cell underneath the front passenger seat. Naturally, the slim piece of plastic wouldn’t turn on. She popped the glove compartment and said a quick prayer of thanks when a power cord revealed itself beneath a pile of takeout napkins and old insurance cards. She shoved the cord into the cigarette lighter, then slid the other end into the side of the phone. A few seconds later, the phone powered up.

Eight missed calls.

They hadn’t contacted McQueen in over an hour. He had to be frantic—or as frantic as he’d allow himself to get in the face of his run. She hit redial and didn’t have to wait for a full ring to complete.

“O’Bannen?” The strain McQueen was under was clear in his gruff voice, even after only one word.

“No, sir, it’s Brynn.”

“My sons?”

“We found them. They’re alive and away from the women who had them.” Saying the words, positive though they were, did nothing to relieve the pressure building in her chest.

Something creaked loudly, as though McQueen had fallen into a chair. “Thank God. Are they injured?”

“Knight was bitten by the vampire and has some scratches, but he seems all right now. Rook has silver poisoning. Knight’s taking care of it. We stopped at a motel for the night—”

“Don’t tell me where, just in case.”

“We’ll start back in the morning, after we’ve had a chance to rest.”

“Where’s O’Bannen? I told him to not take any action until—”

“We saw an opportunity to act and we took it, sir.” Had she really just interrupted the Alpha? “I, um, it was our best chance to get Rook and Knight away from them.”

McQueen was silent for an eternity. “O’Bannen was killed.”

Brynn’s throat closed. She shouldn’t be the one telling the Alpha that one of his enforcers had died. It wasn’t her place. She was an outsider, and she had only brought him trouble. “Yes, sir, he’s dead. I had to leave him behind. He was too big to move.”

“Your priority was to the living, I understand.”

“The vampire he fought was wounded. She didn’t stick around to prevent our escape, and I’m positive we weren’t followed. Only . . .”

“What is it?”

“She was incredibly fast, the vampire. I know they have good speed, but she was insanely quick.”

“Devlin reported the same thing about the Potomac attack. None of them acted or shifted like loup garou, and yet the scent markers remained. I have a feeling Rook will confirm that.”

“I’ll have him call you when he’s able.”

“It can wait until morning. He needs to rest and get that silver out of his system. And I want Bishop up to speed.”

“All right, morning.”

“Thank you, Ms. Atwood, for finding my sons.”

Pride warmed her chest. “You’re welcome.”

She ended the call, then put the phone down on the seat to continue charging. The pressure in her chest rose up and out in a loud sob, and she released the tears she’d been holding on to for hours. She dropped her face into her palms and cried—for the suffering and the loss, and for the heartbreak she knew was still yet to come. For her useless powers that had done nothing to save the loup garou family she was growing to care about.

She allowed herself the weakness for a few minutes, until she’d indulged long enough. Brynn sucked in deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. Think rationally. Consider this new enemy. Fiona had gone through a lot of trouble to get Knight McQueen, and she wouldn’t give up after one minor setback. This deadly game was just getting started.

Chapter Fourteen

Rook hated the smell of vinegar almost as much as he hated bleach and lemon cleaner. His sense of smell had cautiously returned during the car trip north, only to be harassed again by some necessary wound cleansing. The cold vinegar bath had eased most of the pain from his neck and wrists, and it had reduced the ache of fever that made his head feel like one giant blister.

He still couldn’t quite believe that Brynn had come for him.

The Little Magus Who Could. The silly nickname made him smile, and his heart kicked just thinking her name.

Knight helped him finish rinsing off, but by then much of Rook’s strength had returned. He wouldn’t be getting into any wrestling matches or shifting in the near future, but he could handle toweling off on his own. Knight wrung his soaked boxer briefs out in the sink while Rook shimmied back into his jeans. His blood- and sweat-stained t-shirt could stay on the floor where Brynn had dropped it.

He sat back down on the toilet seat while Knight wrapped ointment and gauze around the two fingers missing nails, as well as his wrists and neck. The wounds would scar, thanks to the silver that had eaten down through skin and muscle—constant reminders of the night they’d endured. Worse than his own physical pain, though, was the fact that Knight wouldn’t look him in the eye. Knight hadn’t said anything in the time they’d been alone in the bathroom that wasn’t an order to move this way or that.

Rook had been half-delirious during Knight’s initial conversation with Fiona and Victoria, but he was sure he remembered all of it. The three of them were in that bedroom for a long time. Anything could have happened. Knight may have purchased a shirt to cover up the scratches on his chest, but they were still there beneath the cheap cotton. Despite the strong lingering scent of bleach, Knight’s skin also carried the stink of those women.

Rook had no idea how to talk to him.

“There’s a bag of snacks and drinks on the bed,” Knight said once he’d finished his doctoring. “I want you to eat something, drink some water, then get some sleep.”

“I should call Father.”

“Brynn and I can take care of that. I need you healthy, little brother.” Knight threw his trash into the tiny wastebasket, then pushed the medical supplies to the back of the sink.

“What about you?”

“I’m fine.” Knight picked up the bottle of antibacterial body wash. “I need to take a shower.”

“Knight—”

“Please, Rook.” He brushed past Rook and turned on the faucet in the tub. “Just . . . later?”

It wasn’t a promise to talk, but Rook wasn’t being completely shut out. Only momentarily dismissed. “Okay, I’ll be here. For anything.”

“Thank you.”

Rook reluctantly shut the bathroom door on his brother, hating that he couldn’t do more to ease Knight’s pain. The main room was empty. He peeked out the front window. Brynn was in the front seat of the car wiping her eyes with a paper napkin. The sight of her drying tears infuriated his beast. He hated seeing her so upset, especially after she’d done so much for him tonight. He let the curtain fall shut, ashamed at intruding on her private moment. They’d all been through a lot. Brynn had led a quiet life up until walking into Cornerstone. She wasn’t used to this sort of violence.

None of them were, really, but loup garou were built for violence. It was the nature of their beasts. Magi thrived on magic and order, not blood and chaos. Brynn still had no idea of her dual natures, that she had loup blood in her veins. After all of this, how would they manage to tell her such a shocking secret? Would she hate him for keeping it from her?

He found the bag of food. He’d scarfed down two protein bars and half a liter of water by the time Brynn came back inside. Her eyes were puffy and red, but she smiled when she saw him, and that eased him some.

“You look so much better,” she said. She locked the door, then came around to sit on the opposite bed.

“Cold showers can work wonders.” He winked.

Brynn’s eyes went wide, then she laughed. “I imagine so.” Her smile faltered, then disappeared completely, and he wanted it back. “I called your father and gave him an overview of the situation. It wasn’t my place to tell him about O’Bannen, but he asked. I had to tell him the truth.”

“It’s okay. You were there.”

“I’m so sorry he died.”

“That wasn’t your fault, Brynn. He knew the danger of his plan, and his sacrifice won’t be forgotten.”

“Did he have a family?”

She had so much to learn about run life. “In a way, we were all his family. But yes, he has—had a wife and one daughter. She’s ten.”

Her eyes filled with tears. God, he didn’t want her to cry anymore. Rook slid off his bed and sat next to her. Slipped an arm around her waist, glad when she let herself collapse against his chest. He rested his chin on the top of her head, in awe of the easy way she fit there. Her pounding heart sent his own racing to the beat of a new song he’d never heard before. A song meant only for the precious creature in his arms.

“You’re a wonder to me,” he said softly. “You care so much for the feelings of people you barely know.”

“Compassion isn’t so mysterious.”

“It is when the compassion comes from a Magus to a loup. You saved our lives tonight, Brynn. My father won’t forget it. Neither will I.”

“I’d do it again. You’re important to me.”

He couldn’t stop his smile, or the way his blood hummed with awareness—of her, of her nearness, of the significance of her words. “You’re important to me, too.”

She pulled back, and for a moment, he thought he’d offended her somehow. She didn’t move away, though, just studied his face, his eyes, his mouth. Her fragrance overtook his senses—flowers and bitter orange and something perfectly, wondrously female. Brynn. He inhaled deeply, drinking her in. His pulse thrummed. Her nostrils flared.

They moved together into a gentle kiss, just a lingering brush of lips. Duct tape had abused his skin for hours, and the softness of her lips was a balm to the roughness of his. He wanted to draw her in, to devour her mouth, but that would lead them to places they weren’t ready to go. A place that, as a Black Wolf, he was unable to go with her because of her loup blood. But by God and heaven, he wanted her. Wanted her like he’d not wanted a woman in his life, and despite his exhaustion, felt the first stirrings of arousal.

The kiss ended too soon, without nearly enough contact, and left him breathing much too hard for its gentleness. Brynn blinked at him, eyes wide, arms trembling. She smiled and any fear of a negative reaction from her evaporated. He pulled her back into his arms, overcome by the urge to keep her close, keep her safe. Even his beast agreed.

Mine.

She curled into him and rested there. “This is impossible, isn’t it?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“We’re from two different worlds, Rook. A bird cannot live in the ocean with a fish.”

“Penguins can swim there, though.”

She laughed, her breath warm against his neck. The melody of her laughter rumbled from her chest to his heart, and he committed the sound to memory. “What if the penguin has never learned to swim?”

“Then she’ll have to find a dedicated fish who will teach her.”

The shower turned off, and the small motel room was suddenly too quiet. The spell around them shattered as the world came rushing back in. Brynn got up and rummaged through the bag of groceries for water and a snack. Rook watched her slow, graceful movements, mesmerized by such a simple thing as her unwrapping a granola bar, while all of the challenges they still faced came racing back into his head. He had to take care of Knight. They had to get home in the morning and face the near extinction of another loup garou run. Rook had to deal with the failure of letting his ass get kidnapped. Some kind of Alpha material.

Alpha material. The run would never accept someone with Magus blood as the Alpha’s mate. Sharp understanding stabbed his heart—if he wished to be the Alpha of the Cornerstone run, he could never be with Brynn.

They truly were an impossible match.

* * *

Brynn stared at the shadowed ceiling of the motel room, listening to the comforting sounds of two men breathing in the other bed, unable to find the sleep they’d both captured long ago. Images of the last few hours continued to haunt her thoughts and fuel her anxiety.

Her kiss with Rook played over and over in her mind, a steady revisit of an unexpected intimacy. It wasn’t her first kiss, of course. She wasn’t a blushing virgin. She was, however, far from being a skilled lover, and she imagined Rook—former rock star and handsome college student—had expectations exceeding her limited experience.

The first boy who’d shown any interest in her had preyed upon her seventeen-year-old heart’s need for affection and attention. Robert’s seduction had been perfect—flowers, compliments, gentle words. She hadn’t realized until years later how skillfully he’d trained her to accept his smothering kisses without complaint, to perform oral sex on him without expecting anything in return. She fell in love with him despite the warning signals in her head. He was the son of a highly placed family who was expected to make a good marriage match, and she would never be an option.

Emotion won out over logic. After five months of keeping their relationship a secret, Robert’s promise to tell his parents about their “perfect love” coaxed her into giving up her virginity. Her first time was brief, rough, and ended with Robert kicking her out of his house with the snarled demand to “never look at me again, you powerless whore.”

Robert had come back into her life two months ago in an entirely new way—as the father of the five-year-old girl who had been her newest tutoring pupil. He was still handsome and charismatic, and he’d married the daughter of another Prime Magus. Their daughter was exceptionally bright and would have been a joy to teach—except that Brynn was fired three weeks later. Robert had picked his daughter up one afternoon from her tutoring session and asked Brynn for a private conversation. He made a very blatant pass at her, and when she shut him down, he threatened her job if she didn’t sleep with him. “No man will want to marry you, so you should take what you’re offered,” he’d said.

Her only true shame from that encounter was that she’d spent a full day considering his offer, almost believing that she would never find anything better than a life as someone’s mistress. Then she steeled her spine and told Robert’s wife. Robert denied it, of course, but the scandal had been created. He had a friend lie for him and say that Brynn accused him of the exact same thing, which led to her dismissal as a Congress tutor. Her own father could barely look her in the eye, and he never asked for her side of the story.

Robert had been her first and only lover so far, but his kisses had been harsh, demanding. Rook kissed her like she was precious, a thing to treasure and not take advantage of, ever. His kiss was the only one that had ever truly mattered, and would matter for the foreseeable future. She couldn’t explain the connection she felt to Rook, the desire to stay close and be part of his life. She was attracted to him, and she shouldn’t be. A Magus simply could not fall in love with a loup garou—the pairing was impossible.

And yet she had the distinct impression that it could happen quite easily with Rook. He gazed at her like no man ever had, as if she was the only thing in the world worth looking at. His touch warmed her skin. She wanted to tease him, to make him laugh and smile and tease her back.

What you want and what you can have are not the same, foolish girl. Understand it now and save yourself the heartbreak later.

Logic warned her to not get involved, to keep her distance from Rook. Her heart urged her to stay close, to get even closer if he was willing.

She didn’t know what to do.

Her thoughts were also occupied by Knight and her vision of him in front of that steaming bathroom mirror. He’d emerged from his shower with an odd stiffness to his gait, his skin scrubbed red and smelling of the soap he’d purchased. He hadn’t spoken a word, just checked Rook’s bandages, then checked his pupils and pulse. Brynn had told him about the phone call home and the plan to call again in the morning. He’d nodded, crawled under the covers of one of the beds, and that was that.

She didn’t know Knight well, but Rook’s open concern and her own intuition told her something was wrong. She had no expectations of gaining Knight’s confidence, and perhaps he’d have discussed it with Rook if she wasn’t there. The brothers had shared an experience during their captivity, one she had no hope of ever understanding—even if it was her place to try to do so.

The frequency of her visions continued to worry her, as well. She might experience two in an entire month, and she’d had multiple visions in just the last two days. Her own father had never seen any value in her ability, while Rook’s father put his faith in her word and allowed her to track down his missing sons.

Her thoughts churned and raced in a thousand directions, slamming into each other and bouncing away. And then something shrill squealed nearby, startling her into sitting upright, her heart racing. Morning sunlight peeked through the blinds, paling the shadows in the room.

Rook took his hand off the ancient alarm clock and blinked bleary eyes at her from the other bed. “You sleep?”

“A little,” Brynn replied. Six o’clock meant she’d drifted off at some point. “Not much.”

“Me, either.”

They roused themselves and cleaned up. Knight gave Rook a new t-shirt from his bag of supplies, then started wiping down the room with a washcloth and diluted bleach. She understood the need to hide their presence here. After a brief swing through a fast food drive-thru for breakfast and coffee, Knight typed their destination into the GPS and set a course for Cornerstone.

Once several sausage sandwiches apiece had been consumed—even Brynn ate two, and she wasn’t normally a breakfast person—Rook set the cell phone on speaker and called home. Brynn shifted forward between the two front seats while they listened to it ring.

“McQueen.”

Rook visibly relaxed at the sound of his father’s voice. “We’re on the road and heading home.”

“Rook.” She’d never heard so much relief in a single word as in the way McQueen said his son’s name. “How are you?”

“Better. The fever’s gone, and the cuts are healing.”

“Knight?”

“Sir?” Knight replied.

“How is he really?”

Brynn glanced at his profile in time to see Knight’s mouth twitch.

“He’s telling the truth. We cleaned the wounds with a cold vinegar bath. We also bleached the room before we left and took all of our trash with us.”

“Good,” McQueen said.

Bishop’s deeper voice joined his father’s on the other phone. “You two couldn’t have waited to get into trouble when I could help?” He sounded annoyed, but also relieved.

“Take that up with the loony tunes who kidnapped me,” Rook retorted.

“Ms. Atwood gave us a very brief overview last night,” McQueen said. “Why don’t you and Knight fill us in on the details.”

“Who else is us?” Knight asked.

“Myself, Bishop, and Ms. Reynolds.”

“Devlin?”

“Resting at Dr. Mike’s for a few hours more. He had some serious gashes on his chest and ribs, but he’s stable and they’re healing.”

“Thank God.”

“Indeed.”

Rook spoke first, glossing over his visit with the Potomac run until he reached the actual attack. His descriptions of the fast and lethal way the hostiles moved matched the way Victoria had practically flown from the trailer door. The entire Potomac attack seemed like a grotesque distraction, meant only to get Rook alone and unconscious. As he reached the point of waking up in the trailer, strapped to a chair, Knight took over.

Knight detailed that first text from Rook, the photo, everything that prompted him to do exactly as Fiona asked. “After what they did in Stonehill, I knew they had no qualms about torture and murder. I made the call.”

“And not an easy one,” McQueen said. “I’m proud of you.”

Knight flinched, an odd misery in his eyes. “I got into my car and drove, like she said. I hated not answering your calls. Not knowing what was going on.”

When his story led him to the trailer’s front door, he and Rook began to tag-team the narrative. “Fiona seems like the one in charge,” Rook said. “She’s the Magus, too, I could smell it on her. And at one point, she called Victoria ‘sister.’”

Brynn jerked in her seat. This was new information. “But Victoria is a vampire. How is that possible?” she asked.

“Oh hell.” Rook was staring at the phone as though it was rigged to explode.

“What is it?” McQueen asked.

“Something I just remembered. When Fiona first confronted me in the woods, she leapt down out of a tree like . . . I don’t know. It was crazy graceful. And her hands were twisted and clawed, like a partial beast shift. I know her hands weren’t like that in the trailer.”

Bishop cursed. “That explains the scents and the footage.”

“Footage?”

“Devlin recorded about twenty seconds of the attack on his cell phone. We’ve been examining it, and judging by that and what we’ve determined via scent markers, there are four hostiles. Three seem to be identical in age and size, while the other—who is your Fiona—is older with similar features and longer hair. Our best hypothesis is that the three youngest, the triplets, are vampire-loup half-breeds.”

“What?” Brynn asked. “Vampires and loup garou aren’t compatible. Children aren’t possible.”

Rook and Knight shared a look she couldn’t decipher, but they didn’t seem surprised by Bishop’s theory.

A bizarre silence filled the car.

“In ninety-nine percent of cases, that’s correct,” Alpha McQueen said when no one else spoke. His voice had a strange hitch to it that worried her. “Black and Gray Wolves can reproduce quite easily with humans, but not with vampires or the Magi. However, White Wolves are able to procreate with those species.”

A chill wormed down her spine. Knight’s gaze stayed on the road, which was slowly filling up with morning traffic.

“Vampire-loup half-breeds,” Rook said. “It explains the way they’re able to move and kill so fast, and why their scents are so damned confusing. But that doesn’t explain Fi—hell.”

“What is it?” McQueen asked.

Knight gripped the steering wheel hard enough to make the leather creak. “I think he’s thinking what we’re all thinking, and it’s not a happy thought,” he said.

“Well, I’m not thinking it.” Brynn was beyond frustrated with the circular wordplay, too. She’d missed something, a logical conclusion everyone else saw, while she couldn’t.

“Fiona.” Knight glanced at her in the rearview. “She’s a half-breed, too. It explains the on-again, off-again clawed fingers, and it explains what I saw in her eyes.”

Brynn’s entire body trembled, and she clasped the steering wheel with both hands. “Which is what?”

“Copper flecks. I think Fiona is a loup garou-Magus half-breed.”

Part of Rook was glad he hadn’t been the one to say it, to put that expression of utter horror on Brynn’s face. He twisted in his seat and watched her closely as she digested the news. They’d suspected the existence of a Magus-loup offspring since the day Brynn Atwood walked into McQueen’s Auction House with her bewildering scent, but even Rook hadn’t considered that there might be more than one. Or what that meant for Brynn.

Her horror melted into blankness, giving away little of what she was thinking. He couldn’t imagine her confusion. Until a few minutes ago, she hadn’t even been aware vampires could breed with loup garou, much less a Magus. Then again, she could also be working really hard to repress her disgust at the idea of a Magus together with a loup.

No, she wouldn’t have kissed him earlier if that disgusted her. Unless she kissed him because she’d forgotten for a minute that, beneath his human skin lurked a beast.

“It’s a logical conclusion based on the facts as we know them,” Father said. “The questions become who are their parents, and what do they want?”

“They want to breed,” Knight said. “Why else go through so much trouble to capture me?”

He spoke with the same cold detachedness he’d had the entire conversation. Hell, he’d sounded the same since last night, and Rook didn’t like it. He knew Knight, knew when he was trying hard to keep it together—usually because of his empathic abilities. This was something else, a fear that had dug deep into Rook’s mind and stayed there like a bad guitar riff.

It all made a horrific kind of sense. The only other known male White Wolf was sixty-odd years old and lived in Wyoming. The four hostiles would have no use for a female White if they planned on being the baby mamas for a second generation of half-breed psychopaths.

“They were going to leave me to die from the silver,” Rook said. “They planned to take Knight with them, but the cavalry showed up first.”

“Just in time, from what I hear,” Father said.

Rook wasn’t so sure about that.

“So they want to breed what, exactly?” Bishop asked. “Some all-powerful mixed race meant to slaughter us all?”

“Possibly. Four of them have murdered four hundred and thirty loup garou in the last forty-eight hours. That’s five percent of our race’s entire population in this country.”

“They had the element of surprise in Stonehill,” Rook said. “Dozens were dead before an alarm could be sounded. In Potomac, there was time to act.”

“Devlin confirmed that. He said several of the enforcers were able to shift, and that the hostiles were less effective against the beasts.”

“O’Bannen fought hard against Victoria,” Brynn said. She seemed to have gotten back out of her own head and rejoined the conversation. “If he’d had help, maybe he’d have won.”

Rook flinched.

She noticed. “I didn’t mean you or Knight. I just meant if he’d been with another loup, someone more useful than I was.”

“You got us out of that trailer, Brynn,” Knight said. “You were useful.”

“Bishop, what is it?” Father asked.

Rook could easily imagine the face his eldest brother must have made to get their father’s attention with such abruptness.

“I have a horrible guess as to who the White Wolf is,” Bishop said. “The one who produced Fiona and the Terrible Trio. Do you remember the scent marker from Stonehill that Devlin mentioned yesterday morning? The one he thought he smelled on Shay Butler because of her proximity to the attacks?”

“The memory of spring grass,” Knight said. His voice went from cold to furious in no time flat. “You think the half-breeds’ mother is Chelsea Butler. Shay’s mother.”

“Yes. The timing of her disappearance fits.”

Rook experienced a new kind of bitter rage at the idea of a precious White Wolf enduring such a thing, and he worked to keep his building horror under control as he said, “You’re saying Shay’s related to the same people who slaughtered her entire town?”

“I am.”

Knight swore a blue streak that their father didn’t admonish him for. They all felt that way.

“Is Shay awake?” Rook asked.

“She’s awake, but extremely agitated,” Father replied. “She hasn’t been able to tell us much about the attack, only that the girl who first wounded her stopped mid-fight and left her there. She doesn’t know why.”

“If the hostiles didn’t know about Shay, her scent might have surprised them into not killing her.”

“Possibly. It is the most likely explanation.”

“But if they didn’t know about Shay, then why attack Stonehill specifically? Why not us? Why not Delaware?”

“I don’t know, and much of this is still speculation. We can continue discussing the details when you three arrive home.”

“We should be there in about two hours,” Brynn said.

“Good enough. In the meantime, we’ll share necessary information with the other Alphas so they can take steps to protect their White Wolves.”

Like we couldn’t protect ours. It dangled on Rook’s tongue. Instead, he said, “We’ll see you soon.”

When Rook tucked the cell phone away, he might as well have tucked away the conversation, too. Knight drove on autopilot, his expression empty, eyes forward. Brynn had settled in against the backseat, angled to stare out the driver’s side window, and didn’t seem inclined to talk. She was probably still processing everything. She now knew of the existence of a loup-Magus offspring, and the revelation had turned her world inside out.

Rook had no idea how she’d take it when she learned she was part loup, too—or how much she would hate him for keeping that truth from her.

Chapter Fifteen

Knight watched familiar faces pass by as he drove slowly down Main Street and made a left toward home. More folks than usual were outside on the sidewalks, chatting in clusters, discussing whatever official statements the Alpha had likely made about recent events. One of the downsides to living in such a small, close community as Cornerstone was that secrets were very difficult to keep. Even if word of the massacre at Stonehill hadn’t made the complete rounds yet, the eighteen refugees from Potomac had chummed the waters and brought out the curious and the gossips. Father was always honest and fair when it came to keeping his people informed, but he also knew when to withhold things. He was positive that his father would keep the news of the vampire-loup hybrids from everyone except the town’s enforcers.

Once they arrived home, they went through the expected rounds of hugs and “good to see you”s from Bishop and their father. Knight kept his guard up, blocking out any stray emotions from leaking through and tweaking his empathy. He couldn’t deal with anyone else’s stress right now. He needed zero emotional contact for as long as possible so he could collect himself and prepare to face the inevitable questions.

The six of them in the know finally congregated in the library to talk.

“Geary and his son Jonas have agreed to keep information about the hostiles to themselves,” Father said once they’d all settled. “They’ve taken over the old Flynn Boarding House for now.”

Cornerstone didn’t have an actual hotel. They didn’t like to encourage outsiders to stay longer than a few hours at a time. The boarding house was built to maintain the impression that their town was no different than any other old settlement town in Pennsylvania—it was just rarely ever used.

“Alpha Geary isn’t staying here?” Rook asked.

Traditionally a visiting Alpha and his people were guests in the home of the resident Alpha. Even though most of their extra rooms were being used by Jillian and her squad, no one would have refused to move for the comfort of another Alpha.

“I offered. He prefers to remain close to his people.”

“Understandable, given the circumstances,” Jillian said.

“Why are you still here?” Knight asked before he could censor himself. He was standing by one of the room’s windows, while everyone else had helped themselves to the furniture. Father, Bishop, and Rook all twisted around to give him identical expressions of surprise. Jillian blinked like he’d spoken in an alien language. Only Brynn didn’t react at all; she hadn’t reacted to much of anything since their arrival.

It took Knight a moment to realize just how rude he’d sounded, which was not like him at all. Controlling his empathy sometimes meant a less sensitive brain-to-mouth sensor. “My apologies,” he said to Jillian. “I just meant that with everything that’s happened, aren’t you needed by your own run?”

Bishop and their father relaxed back into their original positions now that the crisis moment was over. Rook, on the other hand, kept giving him that look. The same one he’d occasionally tossed Knight’s way since the previous night. The look that said “I know what happened, but I don’t know how to talk to you.” And the look was getting damned annoying.

Jillian leveled him with a steady gaze that would serve her well when she stepped up as the Alpha female in Springwell. “After considering recent events and revelations, as well as the fact that your town now seems to be the epicenter of the hostiles’ attention,” she said, “my Alpha has advised us to remain here and assist for as long as Alpha McQueen allows it.”

Epicenter of the hostiles’ attention was certainly a colorful way of saying “they’re coming for you, and that’s why we’re here.” Years of practice at deferring to others and knowing his place allowed Knight to say, “Gratitude, Ms. Reynolds,” when all he felt was guilty for her remaining there in the first place. She and three of her kin were on the front lines of the most brutal, terrifying battle the loup garou had faced in decades when they should be back in Delaware with their own people.

She canted her head to the right, a gesture that seemed to accept both his apology and his gratitude.

“Yes,” Father said. “We’re all grateful for the help we’re receiving from Alpha Reynolds. All of the Alphas agree that we need to keep as much information as possible from the general population, in order to prevent gossip and speculation, which could easily lead to panic.”

“How much are we releasing?” Rook asked.

“For now, we’re admitting to the vampire-loup hybrids. They aren’t unheard of in the history of our peoples, and considering the speed at which they move and the efficiency with which they kill, attempting to hide it is futile. And it allows our people to be prepared in case another attack occurs.”

“What about Fiona?”

Knight’s attention traveled to Brynn. She sat hunched in one of the library’s leather smoking chairs, head down, seeming to listen without participating in the conversation. If he’d known her well enough to guess, he’d think she was meditating.

“That’s not up for discussion beyond the people here and the enforcers who noticed the Magus scent at Stonehill,” Father replied. “For now, no one else is to be told. It will be difficult enough for folks to accept the idea of three vampire hybrids alive today. No one, to the best of our combined knowledge, has ever heard of a Magus-loup offspring.”

And now there are two of them.

Two of them about the same age, with the same black hair and pale complexion. He’d have suspected them of being sisters, if not for the fact that every Magus he’d ever seen or seen a photograph of looked exactly the same—black hair, pale skin. As though they all descended from the same gene pool—which wasn’t entirely incorrect, considering how few Magi existed in the world. The simple fact that Brynn had loup blood told them that someone in her family tree had once conceived a child with a White loup garou—the largest variable was which family member and how many generations ago.

The family connection they needed to worry about most was that of Shay and the vampire triplets—everything they had in the way of information said that Shay’s missing mother, Chelsea Butler, was their biological mother, as well.

He desperately wanted to go over to Dr. Mike’s and visit her—and Devlin, too—but he had to endure this exercise first. Bishop, Rook, Jillian, and his father discussed a few security-related items that Knight found as interesting as a bowl of sand: auctions for the next two weeks will be canceled, enforcers will patrol the woods at night in full beast shift. Useful information, perhaps, but it took all of his concentration to stand there and not fidget. His agitation would just fuel the moods of everyone around him, and it was his duty to keep them on an even keel. Never an easy task to start with, the job had gotten twenty times more difficult since last night.

He didn’t notice the conversational topic change until Jillian and Bishop stood up. Brynn did, too, more reluctantly, and the trio left, shutting the library door behind them. Rook didn’t protest Brynn’s leaving, so Knight knew he’d missed something important while he was lost in his own thoughts.

Father and Rook hadn’t moved from their spots on the sofa. Time for the questions.

Knight stayed by the window. He preferred this indirect line of sight. It negated the need to look anyone in the eye.

“Rook, Knight,” their father said. “I need to ask each of you something, and I promise that nothing you tell me leaves this room without your permission.”

Knight’s pulse jumped. He stared at the side of a walnut bookcase and studied the grain of the wood.

“Okay,” Rook said.

“Normally, I wouldn’t be so blunt about this, but given the violent nature of these half-breed women, the length of time you were both alone with them, and the potential consequences . . .” Father cleared his throat before continuing, a nervous gesture he rarely fell back on. “Rook, during your captivity, were you sexually assaulted?”

Rook answered fast. “No, sir. Victoria made some comments and touched my face a few times, but that was it. All of their assaulting was on my hands, throat, and fingernails.”

The flip finish did nothing to quell the simmering fury that struck Knight each time he remembered Rook tied to that chair, his body wracked by silver poisoning, helpless to stop whatever the Psycho Siblings decided to do to him. And the shame that all of it had happened to Rook because of Knight only fueled his anger. His empathy shields fell and worry hit him from both his father and his brother.

He didn’t realize he’d started growling until his father was standing in front of him with the kind of concerned look that only a parent could wear, and Knight stopped the noise immediately. Knight’s beast was furious at everything that was happening to his family, and he wanted out—and yet his beast calmed under the direct influence of his Alpha. How his father managed to exude the necessary composure to do that was beyond Knight’s understanding.

A lot of things were beyond his understanding at the moment.

“Knight?” Father said. “It’s not your fault that Rook was injured. The blame lies solely at the feet of the women who kidnapped him.”

“They kidnapped him to bait me,” Knight said. Despite the wash of serenity trying to curb his anger, some of that bitter rage still leaked out in the snap of his words. “And they succeeded brilliantly, didn’t they?”

“For a short time, but like all inept thieves, they couldn’t keep what they stole. I’m proud of you, son, for protecting your brother. More proud than I can say.”

The comfort Knight wanted to take in his father’s words didn’t make it past the shame of allowing the capture in the first place—or the fear that they’d come for him again, and that more loup would pay the price with their lives. “Thank you.”

“Knight?” His voice had adopted that tense hesitation he’d used when speaking with Rook a moment ago. Knight forced himself to look up and into his father’s eyes—and the apprehension he saw hidden behind the familiar copper flecks nearly cut Knight’s legs out from under him. “What happened when you were alone with Fiona and Victoria?”

Knight kept his gaze level, his expression as neutral as possible, even though his insides were shaking with rage and shame. He knew Father would ask, had practiced his answers in his head during the ride back to Cornerstone. “Victoria fed from me first, which led to weakness and disorientation. I remember them moving me into the bedroom. At some point, they bound my wrists and ankles, and they wrapped silver chain around my neck to keep me docile. My shirt was removed. I’m not sure how. They may have cut it off.”

His rehearsed answers faltered as his heart battled what his mind had already told him to say next. Last night in the motel shower, Knight had gone through his memory of events over and over, examining the strongest in an attempt to bolster the weakest. Some things he allowed to drift into the back of his mind, to a dark place where the memory wouldn’t hinder his life here, or affect the delicate emotional balance he needed to maintain as a White Wolf.

“They made their intentions pretty clear,” Knight continued. “Fiona wanted me to impregnate Victoria.”

Father’s jaw twitched at the unsurprising statement. “And?”

“I told them both to go to hell, and after they made fun of my clichéd response, they tried to proceed without my cooperation. Victoria took her clothes off. Fiona . . . tried to help nature along.” God, there were some things he’d never imagined looking his father in the eye and saying. Knight ignored the overwhelming need to tell them what really happened, and instead said what his head decided was the truth. “The blood loss kept me from getting hard. After a while, they gave up and left me alone.” One last line, almost word for word from the witch’s mouth, would make it perfectly reasonable. “Fiona said they’d try again when they got me home.”

Father’s face was unreadable. The only part of him that betrayed any emotion were his eyes, which burned with anger and with a deeper need to avenge his child’s pain. A violation was a violation. Knight had been taken hostage, fed from, and touched against his will—and Thomas McQueen was pissed.

And apparently stumped for what to say next. Rook didn’t offer anything useful, but he also didn’t contradict Knight’s words.

Compelled to break the oppressive silence and somehow comfort his father, Knight added, “I’m fine, Dad.”

He blinked hard, probably because Knight had used the most familiar form of address possible. It took the situation firmly out of the realm of the Alpha and into the hands of a worried parent. His father grasped his forearm in a firm grip. “I hate that this happened, son.”

“Me, too.”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but I’ve always worried about you more than your brothers. White Wolves carry a heavy burden. I saw what your mother went through, and I never wanted that pain for you.” He inhaled, held it, then exhaled hard in a weary sigh. “In a way, it’s all come full circle. The run connected to her death was nearly destroyed tonight, and all for the same thing.”

“Me?”

“Greed.” Father squeezed his arm, his expression fierce. “For wanting something that wasn’t theirs to take.”

“Mom died a long time ago. You had no way of knowing any of this would happen. No one could have predicted the Potomac run being targeted or Fiona’s plans for me.” Despite everything, Knight couldn’t bear seeing such pain in his father’s eyes, thinking all of this was somehow connected to the actions that led to their mother’s death twenty years ago. He needed to take some of that guilt away. “And maybe I carry an unusual burden as a White Wolf, but I’ve always known I’m loved. We all do.”

His father’s expression softened, and Knight allowed a brief hug. He also spared a glance at Rook for the first time, only to find Rook staring at the far wall, his temperament impossible to read from that angle.

“We can’t guess what will happen next, but we can take steps to better protect ourselves,” Father said. “Knight, I don’t want you leaving town limits for the foreseeable future, or for you to wander around outside alone. You are to be with someone at all times.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Knight said.

“I didn’t say bodyguard. Think of it more like the buddy system, and it’s not negotiable if you want to leave this house.”

There was no arguing with the Alpha when he made decrees in that tone of voice. “Understood. On one condition.”

“Which is what?”

“Brynn needs to be told about her loup blood.” From the corner of his eye, Rook startled and turned to face them. “Especially after what we know about Fiona. We can’t keep the fact that Brynn’s a Magus hidden from the general public for much longer, and after all of her help, she deserves full disclosure.”

“She doesn’t seem to be accepting Fiona’s dual nature very well,” Rook said. “She’s barely said a word about it.”

“Perhaps you should be the one to tell her,” Father said to Rook. “She seems to trust you the most, and Knight is correct. She needs to know. And we need to know if there’s any connection between Brynn’s mixed blood and Fiona’s existence. The Magi keep so much about themselves secret that any help Brynn gives us will be invaluable.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you. First, though, I want both of you checked out by Dr. Mike, especially you, Rook. Those silver burns need to be examined.”

The last thing Knight needed was Dr. Mike poking and prodding him, but he nodded his agreement. Arguing would do no good, and he wanted to head over to Dr. Mike’s to visit Shay and Devlin anyway. He’d just put the exam off as long as possible so the second pair of vampire teeth marks could finish healing—no one knew about that bite, and he had no plans to share.

“I have to head over to the office for a few hours and take care of some auction business,” Father said. “I’ll see you at home for lunch.”

Their father left the library first. He took with him the heaviness of the conversation they’d just had, leaving Knight relieved and exhausted. The mental gymnastics were going to kill him before Fiona got another shot. And he still had Rook’s look to deal with. Rook had stood up, and he followed Knight silently out of the house.

Their street was quiet and almost empty. Curiosity plagued the town residents, but they also knew better than to idly hang around the Alpha’s front lawn. They’d be gossiping among themselves in town, at Smythe’s Restaurant, Belle’s Diner, or the various Main Street shops.

Knight crossed the street at an easy pace, Rook at his elbow. He could see the questions radiating from his younger brother, and it was only a matter of time before they were verbalized. Knight’s feet were hardly on the sidewalk in front of Dr. Mike’s house when Rook said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you lie to our father before.”

Knight didn’t respond to the comment, just stopped and turned to face him. Rook didn’t look angry or upset—rather sad, maybe a little understanding. Knight’s heart ached with it, but he didn’t feel chastised by the expression or the words. He felt understood. Safe.

“And I won’t contradict anything you said to him,” Rook continued. “Unless it becomes necessary for the safety of the run.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” And he didn’t. As much as he wanted to make Rook promise to keep anything he knew secret, Knight couldn’t do that and Rook would never agree. As their potential future Alpha, Rook had a duty to the run as a whole—even if it meant betraying a single member.

“But as your brother, I’m worried about you.”

“I know you are.”

“Anything you need.”

“Right.”

The familiar shorthand comforted Knight, and he let himself smile. Rook didn’t smile back, just raised an eyebrow. They continued on to Dr. Mike’s house.

Chapter Sixteen

A Magus-loup half-breed.

The idea of such an offspring had haunted Brynn’s mind for hours, cutting off most other thoughts and demanding her full attention. The ramifications of such a creature were sure to be huge and long-lasting to the Congress of Magi. How had such a thing remained a secret for so many years, especially considering the woman’s ability to incinerate people from the inside out?

She hadn’t paid much attention to the conversation in the library, beyond confirming what she already knew: Fiona wanted Knight so they could make more hybrid babies. The horror of it made her stomach squirrely and also made her doubly glad she and O’Bannen had arrived in time. She grieved silently for all of the loup garou who’d died last night in West Virginia—grief she did not understand, because they were strangers. She didn’t know them, owed them nothing, so why did their deaths—and the deaths of those from Stonehill—hurt like they were her own kin?

Nothing made sense. She hadn’t protested when Jillian suggested they go to the kitchen and get some coffee. Coffee sounded nice, and she needed to escape Rook for a little while. After their brief kiss the night before, she could think of nothing else when she looked at him and she’d purposely chosen a seat on the opposite side of the library. She cared more than she should, had grown attached to a man she’d initially come here to question as a murderer—and what if she was one day forced to be his enemy? She also didn’t know what her vision of him and her father meant, or when his death was supposed to occur. Her father’s safety came before a man she’d known for less than three days, no matter her personal feelings for him.

Brynn blew across the top of her mug of coffee, then inhaled the rich aroma. Mrs. Troost warned her that she brewed it strong, because that’s how the boys liked it. Brynn and Jillian had taken their coffee out to the backyard and were sitting at the patio table. The sun was hiding behind a few passing clouds, but that gave little relief to the humid heat of the day. The back of her borrowed sundress already stuck to Brynn’s shoulders, and she desperately wanted her own clothes.

Despite the disappointment and solitary life waiting for her there, she wanted to be at home, in a familiar place where her world made sense—not sitting outside on a summer morning drinking hot coffee with the daughter of a loup garou Alpha, contemplating the surreal turns her life had taken in the last few days.

“You’re fond of Rook, aren’t you?” Jillian asked.

Brynn’s hand jerked, and she almost upset her mug. “What?”

“I suspect he’s just as fond of you. It’s as obvious in how he doesn’t look at you, as it is in how he does.”

“Of course I’m fond of him. He’s been very generous with me, considering I nearly killed him.”

Jillian’s eyebrows arched. “And you don’t think his easy forgiveness is an indication of his feelings?”

She felt as though she’d been thrust into the middle of a conversation already in progress. Jillian couldn’t possibly have guessed that she and Rook had kissed. Perhaps she was just incredibly perceptive and fishing for answers. Brynn wanted to deny it and move on, but what was the point of lying? Her own feelings confused her, and while she and Jillian weren’t friends, they also weren’t enemies. Brynn had no other women in whom to confide.

“I don’t think either one of us is sure about our feelings,” Brynn said. “He’s a loup garou and I’m a Magus. We don’t make any sense together, and yet . . .”

“You want him anyway?”

“I’m certainly drawn to him. He’s attractive and honorable and so loyal to his family.” He looks at me like I’m the only person in the world who matters and he’d do anything to protect me. She wanted so badly the knowledge that someone would always fight for her. Stand up for her the way no man ever had—even her own father. “And he believes in my visions. He believes in me in way that no one else ever has.”

“Your visions are useful to him.”

Brynn flinched. The truth in the words did nothing to lessen their sting. Is that why she was still here? McQueen saw her as a means to an end? Someone useful to keep around in case she had another relevant vision?

Did it matter?

“My entire life, I’ve been irrelevant,” Brynn said. “A burden to my father and my people. If Rook and his father find my visions useful, then so be it. Odd as it may seem, I enjoy their company.” She never imagined being so at ease in a town full of loup garou.

Or perhaps that sense of ease was simply a product of Knight’s White influence. That first day in the auction house office she had been shocked that he could affect her. She’d always believed loup could only affect other loup, but he’d proven otherwise by touching her mind and calming her down. She fiddled with the amulet around her neck, comforted by its presence.

“Have you considered the consequences of your flirtation?” Jillian asked. “How it will affect Rook’s status here?”

Brynn’s mind stuttered at the direct question. “I have no idea, but I’m assuming that Rook does.”

“Rook is a Black Wolf, and he’s the son of the Alpha. By all rights, he can choose to become Alpha of the Cornerstone run when their father retires or dies.”

“I know that.”

“Do you also know that Bishop, who is the eldest son, has been training to take over as Alpha for his entire life? It is very rare that a third son is Black, but being Black carries a higher status for Rook, despite his birth order.”

“So if Rook chooses to not become Alpha, then the position becomes Bishop’s.” It all seemed logical enough.

“Exactly. The question, it seems, is how badly Rook wishes to be Alpha. He’s strong and he seems capable, but I’m an outsider. I cannot judge his capability, but as another future Alpha of her run, I understand the importance of the current Alpha’s successor. The run cannot sense any weakness from their new Alpha, or it could be disastrous.”

The puzzle pieces fell into place, and Brynn understood. “I would be considered a weakness, because I’m a Magus.”

“Yes. The fact is, Brynn, that Rook McQueen will never be Alpha if he chooses you. Keep that in mind as you pursue him.”

The heat of the day did nothing to stop the chill spreading through Brynn’s chest and spine and wrapping around her heart. She wanted to hate Jillian for being so blunt, but she valued honesty too much. And Brynn would have hated herself for unknowingly taking the position of Alpha out of Rook’s grasp—especially if that was truly the future he wanted. She was an outsider, a brief acquaintance and no more than a passing fancy. He had the future of his entire town to think about, and that mattered more than her own selfish desires.

“I understand,” Brynn said.

“If it helps, I know what it’s like to choose duty to your people over what your heart wants. Positions of power often leave us few options, but the strongest among us learn to adapt.” A flash of sadness crossed Jillian’s face, there and gone so quickly it may have been Brynn’s imagination, but she doubted it.

“May I ask you a question?”

Jillian nodded. “Of course.” Now that she’d spoken her piece, her entire face had softened. The angular, asymmetrical features had smoothed out, and her eyes seemed less cold. She almost looked friendly.

“Do you want to be Alpha of your run when your father retires?”

“It’s the only future I’ve ever known. Only one in four women are born Black Wolves, as I am, and I had the added luck of being the first child of the Alpha. Both positions entitle me to inherit the run one day, even though it generally passes through the son. My mother died when I was three, giving birth prematurely to what would have been my brother, only he died as well a few days later. Father never remarried, but I had a dozen different mothers to step in and help raise me.”

“What about you? How does marriage work for you?”

“That’s where it gets tricky.” Jillian blew a hard breath through her mouth, which fanned her bangs in a comical fashion. “As a Black and as the future Alpha, I cannot marry a wolf below my own status, which means only Black or White. Common Gray Wolves are out of the question.”

Brynn was following along, for once, and she offered a conclusion of her own. “And since the only White Wolf of marrying age is Knight, your romantic choices are limited to Black wolves.”

“Correct.” She drummed her fingers along the top of the patio table. “All of the Black Wolves in my run know this, so there isn’t a day I can escape from the posturing and gestures of intent. Father expects me to choose another husband soon, but the man I choose will also become the Alpha Male of our run, so I must choose carefully.”

“Another husband?”

Jillian’s eyes flashed with grief. “I was widowed two years ago. My husband, Derek, and I had been married less than a year before he was killed in a car accident.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. He would have been a fantastic Alpha Male, had he been given the chance. His successor has very large shoes to fill, if you’ll forgive the expression.”

“No possibilities?”

“Not at the moment, but a choice must be made in the next few years. My father was set to retire once already.”

Brynn sighed, her sympathy for the woman growing by leaps and bounds. “Follow your heart or choose who’s best for the run. That’s a terrible sort of choice.”

“And Rook is in a similar position with you. Fortunately, you’ve both just met. There’s little chance of feelings being destroyed if you end it now.” Jillian’s tone had taken on a somewhat distant quality, as though she wasn’t quite speaking about Brynn and Rook anymore—rather about herself and someone else.

The idea piqued Brynn’s interest in the other woman, who had more layers to her than Brynn originally thought. She could come to like Jillian Reynolds.

“Thank you, Ms. Reynolds,” Brynn said. “I genuinely appreciate your insight.”

“Call me Jillian, and you’re welcome.”

Jillian excused herself to make a phone call, and Brynn settled back in her chair. Maybe it was better this way, to put any thoughts of Rook out of her mind. She’d continue to help the Cornerstone loup in whatever way she could, but her involvement should end there. As much as her body craved him, she couldn’t have him. It would make returning home easier on everyone.

Her vision grayed, then a flash of pain blinded her.

* * *

Fire. Hot and furious, it roars and consumes. She knows this building, has been inside it, only she can’t see it properly. Dark sky above. People behind her shout. A wolf howls a long, loud signal. The fire continues to burn.

She shot up from the chair and it clattered over backward. The phantom stink of smoke surrounded her, there and gone in an instant. Another new vision—her third in as many days. She couldn’t be certain, but she made an educated guess that something in Cornerstone was going to burn down. She had to tell someone.

Jillian had disappeared into the house, and McQueen hadn’t assigned another enforcer to babysit her, so Brynn had no one to ask for help. She checked the library, only to find it empty. McQueen would likely have gone back to his office at the auction house. It was as good a place as any to start.

She’d never walked through Cornerstone by herself, and the moment she stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the McQueen home, she felt the skin-prickling sensation of being watched. No one was on the street or standing in a neighbor’s yard. She ignored the feeling and started walking. Halfway to Main Street, a figure stepped out of the shade of a large oak tree, right into the center of the sidewalk.

Brynn shouldn’t have stopped walking, should have continued past as though she had every right to be here, but she didn’t. She froze with less than ten feet between them. He was tall, muscular, with a head of shaggy dark hair and a crooked nose that had probably been broken more than once. His clothes were patched and frayed in places, but not dirty. He was also a stranger to Cornerstone. Brynn wasn’t certain how she knew that, but her instincts screamed that he was out of place here.

He sauntered toward her, limbs loose, expression openly curious. “You must be the mysterious seer that my father told me about,” he said in a slightly accented voice.

West Virginia. He’s one of the refugees. But how—father. He’s the Potomac Alpha’s son that McQueen mentioned.

Brynn squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, affecting her father’s favorite pose in order to hide her own nervousness. “I’m so sorry for your losses,” she said.

He blinked, seeming surprised that she knew who he was. His nose twitched as he scented her. “Thank you. Jonas Geary.”

She didn’t know if a loup garou who lived in a tent, fished from the river, and whose people owned one cellular telephone would recognize the name of a highly placed member of the Congress of Magi. She just didn’t want to start out by lying to him. “Brynn Atwood.”

“A pleasure, despite the circumstances.”

“Indeed.”

He sidled into her personal space, and she caught a strong scent of pine and musk. He was taller than her by a good eight inches, and the crowding forced her to look up. He didn’t touch her. He didn’t need to—they both knew he was faster and stronger, and in this proximity, she had no chance of escaping.

“Do you make it a habit of wanderin’ around alone?” he asked. “A beautiful girl like you?”

“I’m expected by Alpha McQueen in a few moments.”

“Sure you are.” His sly grin suggested he didn’t believe a word of her lie. “I just wanted to introduce myself to the woman who let my home be attacked and my people killed.”

Brynn’s insides twisted into cold knots. Alpha Geary and his son had more information than she assumed. After Potomac’s attack, Alpha McQueen had probably felt compelled to share what he knew about all of the players involved. It certainly made her question what the other run Alphas knew about her. “I cannot control the visions I see, or when I see them. I’m so sorry that my vision came too late to save your people.”

He leaned down, and it took all of her self-control to not back away as his nose ghosted across her cheek, over her hair. Breath hissed as he inhaled. He was uncomfortably close, practically nuzzling her ear, and then he pulled back far enough to look her in the eye. His brown and copper eyes gleamed with suspicion.

“Your scent is strange to me, Magus,” he said.

Her necklace must be confusing her scent, making her smell like a human rather than the Magus he knew her to be. She had half a mind to remove it, so he could sniff her and be done with this invasive exercise. “I really need to go.” The comment lacked force, and she knew it.

Jonas grabbed her left arm, his large hand easily wrapping around her bicep. He didn’t squeeze, but he held firm, and Brynn very nearly screamed. “You smell of loup garou, too, girl.” His voice lowered to a growl. “Been bedded by one of the brothers already, have you?”

Rather than let it intimidate her, Brynn bristled at the accusation. Her pulse jumped and with it rose her temper. She was no one’s whore. With a burst of adrenaline, she yanked her arm out of his grasp and almost gave him a sturdy shove backward—almost. She stopped herself before she committed a grave error in judgment, shocked that she’d immediately thought to resort to a violent action.

He didn’t take as long to react. He reached for her again, lips curled back in a silent snarl.

A loud, furious growl stopped Jonas mid-grab. Rook stalked across the street toward them, hands balled into fists and cheeks flushed, the very picture of rage. Brynn expected Jonas to back off from the sheer force of Rook’s approach; she wanted to cower from it herself, and she was half-afraid some of the anger was directed at her. Only Rook’s eyes were firmly fixed on Jonas, who stood his ground, one hand still raised in Brynn’s direction.

Rook didn’t stop until he was in Jonas’s face, which meant he was also in Brynn’s perimeter, and the strength of his scent hit her like a hurricane-force wind. Her stomach tightened, and she remembered the touch of his lips on hers, the way he’d looked at her. She didn’t want to give that up, and she didn’t have a choice.

“Weren’t you taught better than to treat a lady like that?” Rook snarled.

Jonas bared his teeth. “The Magus and I were having a private conversation. Why so protective, Rook? You give it up to the little witch?”

The “witch” dig rolled right off Brynn’s back, but her temper piqued at the suggestion that she and Rook been so intimate after having known each other such a short time. Rook’s did, as well. He was shorter than Jonas, but he still got into Jonas’s face, forcing Jonas to take a step backward.

“I’m protective because she saved my life last night, jackass,” Rook said. “Our people responded more quickly to your tragedy because of her, so show a little goddamn respect.”

Jonas growled low and deep. “You want me to respect a Magus? They’re no better than the animals they accuse us of being.”

“Some more so than others,” Brynn said, shocking herself with the brazen comment. Rook’s support and proximity had bolstered her courage.

Jonas reached for her. Rook gave him a hard shove that sent Jonas stumbling backward into a mailbox. Jonas gave her a look of pure poison—tempered with a smallest amount of respect—before returning his glare to Rook.

“Was that a challenge?” Jonas asked.

“I wouldn’t waste my time challenging river trash. Besides, you’re a guest of my father, and he frowns on me killing his guests.”

“Pretty confident, aren’t you? Or are you just afraid of losing to a piece of river trash in front of your piece of ass?”

Brynn had faced worse insults from her own kind in recent weeks, so the comments didn’t sting as Jonas likely intended them to—not to her. Rook, on the other hand, seemed ready to tear Jonas’s lungs out through his throat. Something told her to keep silent and allow Rook to react in his own way; challenging his defense of her would only hurt him in the eyes of his competitor.

“Insult her again,” Rook said, his voice icy cold.

“And you’ll do what?”

“Test me and find out.”

“Name the time and place, Little Pawn. I’ve had a mate, so once I put you down, I’ll have your Magus, too, since you can’t.”

She bristled at the blatant threat. Rook had murder in his eyes.

“What the hell is this?” Bishop’s deep voice boomed through the silence and bounced off the trees. He strode toward them from the direction of Main Street, his age and status causing both Rook and Jonas to back down and step away from each other. Brynn moved to Rook’s right side, keeping him between her and Jonas.

Bishop stared them all down with his hands on his hips, channeling the strength and power of his father in every way. He didn’t seem angry. He seemed disappointed. “Tell me that I didn’t just interrupt a public pissing contest between two Alphas’ sons.”

“A misunderstanding,” Jonas said.

“Uh-huh.” Bishop glanced at Brynn, then back to the men. “Brynn is a guest here in Cornerstone, like you are, Jonas. And we expect our guests to treat each other with the same respect we give them while they are on our land. Is that understood?”

“Perfectly. Like I said, it was a misunderstanding.”

Misunderstanding? Is he kidding? To hell with how loup garou traditionally deal with these types of confrontations. I’m not a prize to be taken by the winner.

“There was no misunderstanding,” Brynn said. “You don’t like that I’m a Magus. You threatened to kill Rook and then rape me afterward.”

Bishop’s eyebrows rose in surprise, then furrowed in agitation. Rook growled. Jonas’s cold glare only fueled the confidence with which she’d spoken, and she glared right back.

“Is that so,” Bishop said. Danger edged his voice and he stepped closer to Jonas. They matched in height and bulk, but Bishop’s age and experience came through in the way he bullied Jonas down. “Congratulations, Jonas. You’ve now become responsible for the health and safety of both Rook and Brynn while all three of you reside here. Anything happens to either of them, and I will personally rip your throat out.”

“Is that a threat?” Jonas asked.

“Oh no. I don’t make threats.”

Brynn shivered and made a mental note to never, ever cross Bishop McQueen.

Jonas held Bishop’s gaze for another few seconds, then he looked down.

“Good,” Bishop said. “Now you can go back to your father and explain to him why you personally are no longer welcome in my father’s house.”

With a grunt of disgust, Jonas gave the group a wide berth and stalked back toward Main Street. The tension that had surrounded them dissipated, and Brynn discovered she could breathe more easily.

Rook touched her cheek and tilted her head up, and she pressed into the heat of his hand. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” She hated confrontation, but she’d surprised herself by not backing down from Jonas—not before or after Rook arrived. “He struck me as more bluster than action, but I don’t like being threatened.”

“I can tell. What were you doing out here by yourself?”

She’d quite forgotten the errand that had drawn her out of the safety of the McQueen property. “I needed to tell your father about a vision.”

“Another one?”

“Yes. It was very brief and vague, but it might be important. All of the others have been.”

“He should be in his office,” Bishop said.

Brynn ignored the looks of bystanders as they walked up Main Street toward the auction house. She focused on Bishop’s back as he led the way, and she concentrated on the pleasant warmth of Rook next to her. Just being close to him had buoyed her confidence, helped her hold her head high in a town full of loup who looked at her with suspicion and contempt. By now rumors would be spreading about the Magus who had visions, but she couldn’t make herself remove the amulet necklace. Let it confuse her scent; she no longer cared.

McQueen was finishing up a call when they arrived. Brynn didn’t bother sitting before she told them all about her vision of the fire, as well as her unconfirmed impression that this was a building somewhere in Cornerstone.

“I can’t begin to explain why I think the fire will occur here,” Brynn said. “It’s the feeling I had when I saw the flames and heard the howling. Every vision I’ve had since coming to Cornerstone has been related to you and your family in some way. It makes sense that this one is, as well.”

“Could this have something to do with Fiona’s powers?” Bishop asked. “She incinerates from the inside out, which is a connection to fire.”

“It’s possible,” McQueen said. He looked at Rook, then tilted his head in Brynn’s direction, as if asking a silent question. Rook shook his head.

Brynn stared at them both. “What?”

“Ms. Atwood, there’s something we haven’t been completely honest with you about, and I apologize for that.”

The hair on the back of her neck prickled. McQueen and Bishop wore passive expressions, but Rook looked absolutely guilty. She drew up to her full (if unimpressive) height and crossed her arms over her chest. “And what is that, exactly?”

McQueen silently deferred the question to Rook, who seemed as comfortable as a guilty man placing his hand upon a sacred object to swear an oath. “You remember that first day here in the office?” Rook asked. “When you got upset and Knight was able to calm you down?”

“Of course I remember. I didn’t expect that to happen.”

“You also didn’t expect for the poison in your ring to affect you.”

“No, because it should have only affected loup garou physiology.”

“We noticed something about you that day, Brynn. Something we weren’t sure how to bring up, or if you even knew, and those two things confirmed our suspicions.”

Her stomach churned unpleasantly as he tiptoed around something she wasn’t certain she wanted to hear. “What suspicions?”

“You have a mixed scent that has nothing to do with your magic medallion. You smell of both Magus”—Rook swallowed hard, his steady gaze burning into hers—“and of loup garou. From somewhere in your family tree, you have loup garou blood, Brynn.”

If Rook said anything else after those words, it was lost in the distant sounds of a woman weeping, and her own father’s derisive laughter.

Chapter Seventeen

She didn’t faint or anything, but the swaying was enough to scare Rook into picking Brynn up and settling her into a wicker chair. Her skin was far beyond its normal shade of pale and cool to the touch. She stared without seeing, her breath shallow without falling into hyperventilating territory. Seeing her like that infuriated his beast, and he had to tamp down his temper. He crouched in front of her and grabbed her hands tightly in his, rubbing them for warmth and to remind her that he was here.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

“How is that possible?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “How can I not know this?”

“We can’t be sure of the genetics from scent alone,” Father said. “Your Magus blood interferes too much.”

“Someone would have known. Magi magic is passed from father to child. The Atwoods have held power in the Congress for generations. Any dissolution of that power would have been noticed.”

She wasn’t outright denying the possibility of being part loup, which gave Rook hope. She seemed more confused than actively disgusted. She just needed answers before she could accept a new truth about herself. And he needed her to know that he wasn’t judging her for being a half-breed.

“What about your mother?” Rook asked.

“She died when I was very small. I don’t even remember her.”

“Could her family have been hiding the secret of loup blood?”

Brynn frowned. “Her family was middle-ranked, I’m told. My father’s parents chose her for his wife because of her strong telepathic powers. They were considered a good match.”

“We won’t likely find our answers this way,” Bishop said. “And we can’t very well go around sniffing her entire family tree.”

She made a funny noise, somewhere between a giggle and a snort, coupled with a hint of madness. “I wouldn’t suggest it, no.”

Making jokes was a good sign.

“What about loup records?” Rook asked. “At some point a White Wolf was involved.”

“That’s a good place to start our search,” Father said.

“Jillian told me a bit about your quarterly change,” Brynn said. “I’ve never felt a compulsion like that.”

“That isn’t unusual. Most half-breeds never shift at all, and if your loup blood is even more diluted, you may have never known you were different from the other Magi.”

“I’ve always felt different from them, though.” She looked over Rook’s shoulder, at his father, her eyes glistening. “I’m a second daughter. My powers are weak. I’m not the heir my father wanted, and I never can be. I’m simply the heir he was left with. In the Magi world I have no value, and I’ve grown up aware of this. It’s been made very clear to me recently.”

“You have value here,” Rook said fiercely. He squeezed her hands harder, and she looked at him. A single tear spilled down her left cheek, and he couldn’t let her go long enough to brush it away. His heart swelled with unnamed emotions, with the need to stop her tears and keep her safe and destroy everyone who’d ever told her she had no value. He wanted her and all of her flaws, real or imaginary.

“Rook is correct,” Father said. “Your visions have proven invaluable to us. You said you’ve never had this many in such a short period of time. Perhaps you needed an encouraging environment in order to develop them.”

She blinked hard and a second tear fell. “Perhaps.” Understanding brightened her eyes. “That’s what Jonas meant.”

“When?” Rook asked.

“Right before you arrived, he said he smelled loup garou on me. I thought he was simply being crass, but he accused me of sleeping with one of you, and now it makes sense. He smelled my true nature, just as you did.”

Rook’s heart pounded a furious beat at the memory of that scene on the sidewalk—of glancing out the window at Dr. Mike’s and seeing Jonas grab Brynn’s arm. He hadn’t thought, hadn’t considered the consequences of a confrontation. He’d just bolted, fueled by the need to protect what his beast had already decided was his. To protect Brynn. Bishop’s arrival had been fortuitous—and probably the only thing that stopped Rook from killing Jonas where he stood for his threats against Brynn. He would gladly snap the neck of any man who hurt her.

Brynn untangled their hands and touched his cheek, and Rook realized he’d started growling. He cut it off and leaned into the warmth of her palm, glad that she seemed to understand.

“He had no right to treat you like that,” Rook said. Before his father had to ask, Rook filled him in on the confrontation. Brynn and Bishop added their own details to complete the scene.

Father tapped his knuckles against the top of his desk. “I can forgive many things because of shock and grief,” he said, “but if Jonas or anyone else from his camp steps out of line again, they will cease to enjoy my hospitality and will spend time in one of the quarterly cages.”

They didn’t have a jail, because they didn’t have police. The quarterly cages in various homes, including the McQueen house, occasionally served as places of punishment when it was deemed necessary by the Alpha. Many things were tolerated due to the nature of a loup garou’s temper and instincts, but not murder and certainly not rape. They had ways to punish criminals for their crimes.

Rook’s mind shifted to Fiona and Victoria, so smug and sure of themselves in that camper. Amused at what they’d done, not just to Rook but to Knight. Listening to Knight trying to explain everything to Father had slowly broken Rook’s heart. When he caught them, Rook would kill those women slowly and gleefully for everything they’d done—no jail, no mercy.

“I should call my father,” Brynn said.

His hand jerked at the unexpected statement. “Your father?”

“I’ve been gone for almost three days. He has to have noticed my absence by now, and maybe . . .”

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe he knows something. About me or about Fiona. A White Wolf went missing from Connecticut two decades ago, and you think she’s Fiona’s mother, don’t you? If the Congress was involved in any way, my father will know.”

“Will he tell you?”

“Probably not.” She gave him a brave smile that warmed his heart. “But I can try. At the very least he is still my father, and he deserves to know I’m alive and well.”

“You’re right,” Father said. “Call him.”

“Thank you. If he asks, Mr. McQueen, am I still compelled to remain here?”

“You may leave if that’s your choice. I am, however, asking that you stay until this business with Fiona and her sisters is finished. Not just because your input is valuable, but also because you’ve been in close proximity to them. You may be a target now.”

Brynn nodded her understanding. Rook stood up and offered her his hand, which she took as she rose. His father turned his desk phone around to face them, then went to the door. Bishop followed him downstairs.

“Would you like me to go?” Rook asked.

She studied him long enough to make him nervous, then asked, “May I ask you something first?”

“Anything.”

He didn’t expect her question to come in the form of her reaching up, cupping his head from behind, and pulling him down into a kiss. He responded without thought, his arms going around her waist, hauling her against him. Nothing like their first tentative kiss, this one asked and answered a thousand questions. She angled her head and parted her lips, and Rook accepted the invitation. The taste of her mouth exploded on his tongue as he took everything she gave.

His heart pounded and his pulse raced in an exciting cadence inspired by her touch. His senses filled with the taste and scent of her, and his dick began to take notice of the proceedings. He wanted her. He wanted to taste every part of her, to bring her only pleasure and joy from his touch, to see her naked in his arms. He wanted her to come undone beneath him, and for himself to be the one to take her there. He wanted her to take him there, too.

God, if only it were possible. If only the choice to make love to her were as simple as both of them wanting it. And the way she pressed her hips to his, the way she groaned into his mouth, told him she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He wanted to stay here in this moment and kiss until they were both senseless from it, and then he wanted to bend her over the desk and claim her as his.

But that was not possible—not until he’d made another choice.

Reluctantly, Rook broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers, unable to catch control of his breathing. The warmth of her breath puffed against his throat, and her thin fingers clutched his t-shirt at the shoulders. They stood there, inhaling each other in, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

“Damn,” Brynn said.

“Damn?” Rook pulled back to look at her face.

She was smiling. “I was hoping last night’s kiss was a fluke and all of this would become less complicated.”

“Instead of more complicated?”

“Exactly. I also needed to be sure of my decision to stay before I call my father.”

Hope grabbed his heart and held tight. “You’ll stay and help us?”

“Yes, and not because I’m asking you for any promises. I won’t ask and we haven’t known each other long enough to make them. But I do feel like I can do some good here. I’ve had more visions since I walked into town three days ago than in the entire previous month. My visions brought you and Knight home. I can’t promise I’ll have more, or that they’ll be effective in any way, but I’ll stay. It isn’t as though my father has any use for me at home.”

Her words both exhilarated and confused him. He wanted her to stay, but she didn’t want him to think she was staying because of him—them—and he didn’t understand. Oh. Yes, he did. She didn’t want him to base any of his future decisions regarding his role as Alpha on her. Too bad. He wanted her so badly his teeth ached. The feeling was nothing he’d ever experienced in his life, and that had to mean something.

His hands drifted down to settle on her hips, and he paused. He had half a mind to pull her closer, to show her how much he wanted her—although how she couldn’t already feel his erection through that flimsy sundress was beyond him. He also knew that more bodily contact was a seriously bad idea. Especially here in his father’s office. So he very gently separated them, despite his beast howling for him to keep her close.

“You should make that phone call,” he said.

Brynn perched on the side of the desk as she dialed. He sat in the wicker chair across from her, surprised she changed the phone over to speaker. The mechanical buzz repeated four times before someone picked up the line.

“Atwood,” said a strange male voice.

She licked her lips. “It’s Brynn.”

“Where are you, child? Are you safe?” The genuine concern in the man’s voice surprised Rook—not nearly as much as it surprised Brynn, if her arched eyebrows were any indication.

“Yes, I’m fine, Father, and I’m sorry I couldn’t call before now. Circumstances didn’t allow it.”

She carefully explained everything, from her determination to find Rook and somehow prove she hadn’t manufactured her vision of him, all the way to this morning. She avoided certain details, such as the number of loup lost and their identification of Fiona’s dual nature, as well as the truth she’d learned about herself. She did tell him about the vampire-loup hybrid triplets and their plans to breed more of themselves.

The other end of the phone remained silent long after Brynn finished talking.

“Two of the three visions I’ve had since I arrived have come true,” Brynn said when her father didn’t speak. “The third hasn’t happened yet, and neither has your death, Father.”

“You need to come home,” he replied.

“I can’t. I need to stay and help the people here.”

“They aren’t people, daughter, the loup garou are animals.”

Rook held back a snarl at the familiar insult.

“They’ve been kind to me, despite the fact that I snuck into their town and accused one of the Alpha’s sons of your murder. You say they’re animals, but they’ve demonstrated compassion and tolerance. Would the Congress have done the same had our roles been reversed?”

“No loup garou would have gotten close enough for it to be an issue.” Now Atwood was insulting their security. Nice. “I’ll repeat myself, daughter. You need to come home.”

“I told you that I can’t.”

“Are you a prisoner? They won’t allow you to leave? Because that Alpha will answer to—”

“I’m not a prisoner, I promise. And I didn’t call so you could change my mind about staying here.”

“Then why did you bother?”

A pained looked settled on Brynn’s face, and Rook could almost see the thoughts flashing through her mind: because you’re my father and I didn’t want you to worry; because despite not believing in me I love you; because it’s the right thing to do. Rook leaned forward and squeezed her knee, offering the only support he could.

“I called you because a Magus is involved in the two loup garou bloodbaths I told you about,” Brynn said with steel in her voice. “We have proof.”

Silence. Then, “What kind of proof?”

“The irrefutable kind. Do you know anything about it?”

“You know I can’t confirm or deny that question, Brynn.” Atwood actually sounded surprised. “I would never betray a Congress secret, or the trust of another Magus.”

“Can’t or won’t.”

“Both.”

“Not even to save my life?”

“This isn’t about you, daughter, this about Magi honor and allegiance to our people. Something you would do well to remember while you’re associating with those animals.”

Brynn flinched. Maybe Atwood truly had no idea of his daughter’s loup blood—or the jerk was just being deliberately cruel. Rook wanted to know, wanted to reach through the phone and pound answers out of the man with his fists. He wanted to take that devastated look off Brynn’s face and replace it with joy and pride in who she was.

“What’s honorable about ignoring the needs of others?” Brynn asked. “These hybrids will keep coming until they get what they want, and they will keep killing. Once they’re done with the loup garou, what’s to stop them from attacking the Magi?”

“We can protect ourselves from four little girls.”

Rook bit back a snarl at the implication that the loup were incapable of the same. If the Magi weren’t involved, they had a bigger head start on defending their kind against this new hostile than the loup had.

“Just tell me you’re not involved, Father, please.”

“I cannot answer that. I wish I could, but I cannot. Will. Not.”

Brynn closed her eyes briefly, and when she reopened them, they glistened with furious tears. “Then don’t. But please be wary, Father. Someone in the Congress may be working against the rest of us. If you truly know nothing about the Magus who is helping the half-breeds, then be wary. They may not stop at murdering the loup garou.”

“I’ll take your words under advisement, daughter. Whatever your chosen path, be safe in it.”

“Thank you.”

He hung up before she could continue the conversation.

Rook stood and folded her against him. She didn’t sob or scream, just rested there, one hand over his heart, as if comforted by its constant beat. He rested his chin on the top of her head and inhaled her scent, intoxicated by its strange mix of bitter orange and wildflowers. “What do you think?” he asked.

“He’s hiding something. I’m uncertain if it’s guilt or if he’s already suspicious of someone in the Congress. And there’s something . . .”

“What?”

“I’m not certain. It could be a memory, it could be nothing. Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”

“If you remember what it was?”

“I’ll tell you, I promise.”

“So your father? What would you lay money on? Guilty?”

“I’m not a gambler, Rook. I need facts, not odds.”

“Not a gambler, huh?”

She shifted in his arms to face him, and he couldn’t help noticing how perfectly she fit there, next to him. Gazing at him with wide blue eyes overflowing with trust—and an unexpected heat that went straight to his groin. “I wouldn’t consider this thing with us, whatever it is, a gamble,” she said.

“What would you consider it?”

“A calculated risk.”

Risk implied intent on her part. She wasn’t completely putting her heart on the line, but she was offering him a glimpse of what was available. She wanted him. He wanted her. That was the easy part. Everything else around them made being together impossible.

No, not completely impossible. Only impossible if he wanted to be Alpha. He’d finished college as planned, and then left his music career behind because he’d had no choice. He had to protect his people’s secrecy. He’d returned home to prove himself Alpha material because, again, he’d felt he had no choice. He was the Black Wolf. He enjoyed working for his father, working with his brothers, and learning how to be a respectable role model for the other loup garou in their run.

The real question he needed to answer for himself was: did he want to lead?

Bishop had been groomed for the role of Alpha since he was a child, for years before Rook was even born and before he was discovered to be a Black Wolf. Bishop had never said a cross word to him about Rook’s claim to the role of Alpha, and he’d been as supportive as any older brother could be in Rook’s training. Bishop would step aside if Rook decided he wanted to step up. Bishop would be his second, his confidante in all things.

Could he do that to Bishop? Take away everything he’d wanted and worked for since he was a boy? And for what? Because Rook lost his chance to be a musician? He could still play, could still sing if he chose to. There were other dreams, other ways to live his life. Rook didn’t have to steal his brother’s dream and claim it for his own. There was something—someone—else he wanted to claim for himself more.

Brynn cupped his cheek in one warm palm. He’d been staring at her without speaking for a while, and he still wasn’t sure what to say. He covered her hand with his and threaded their fingers together.

“What do your tattoos mean?” she asked.

The random question threw him a bit. Then the inquisitiveness made him smile. “They’re lyrics to the first song I ever wrote. Granted, I was twelve when I wrote it, and the lyrics weren’t that good, so I had a friend draw them in Sanskrit for the tattoo artist.”

She studied the marks on the side of his neck and his forearms. He hardly noticed them anymore, but they often got double takes from strangers. “Can you read one to me?”

“‘My heaven is in your eyes,’ is the chorus. It’s pretty cheesy, but it was a ballad.”

“I’d like to hear you sing one day.”

“I think a private concert can be arranged.”

“Excellent.” Her smile dimmed. “Rook, please don’t think I’m trying to make a decision for you. Jillian told me about the choice you have to make. Whether or not you wish to succeed your father as Alpha.”

He stiffened. He couldn’t help it. Brynn tried to pull away, and he held tight. He wouldn’t let her pull away from him as if her feelings didn’t matter. “What did Jillian tell you?”

“That if you chose to pursue me you’d be forfeiting your chances of being Alpha.”

“She’s right.”

“Rook, please don’t let me be a factor in that decision. You have to do what’s best for you and for your people.”

He took her hands and clasped them together over his heart. “And what if I decide that you are what’s best for me, and that Bishop is best for our people?”

“Hearts can be finicky things, and they can sometimes lead us astray. Whatever you do decide”—she wrestled one hand free—“make sure the decision comes from here”—she touched his temple—“and from here”—then squeezed the hand over his heart. “Both places need to agree for you to truly be happy.”

“You’re right. Thank you.” He kissed her, just a gentle press of lips. “We should tell my father about the conversation with yours.”

“Right.”

* * *

Brynn’s mind was spinning with information and emotions by the time they tracked down Bishop and McQueen in the back room of the auction house. The conversation with Archimedes had not yielded the dearth of knowledge that she’d hoped for, but it had clarified one simple thing for her: her father wasn’t surprised by the existence of the hybrids or the possibility of Magus assistance. Granted, she hadn’t told him that it was actually a Magus-loup hybrid, but his reaction had been the same.

As she’d told Rook upstairs, it meant her father already knew something of current events. The question was, how much and was he involved? She couldn’t shake the sour feeling that had settled in her stomach that morning when she first realized Fiona was a hybrid. And if Brynn believed that Chelsea Butler was Fiona’s mother, it meant Fiona’s father was a fire elemental Magus. Given the small number of fire elementals, it meant Brynn’s own father had a sporting chance of being that Magus.

No. She could believe a great many things about Archimedes Atwood. He was loyal to the Congress of Magi, and he would ruthlessly protect their interests. He demanded perfection, and he’d been cursed with an imperfect daughter. He was extremely prejudiced in matters pertaining to the vampires and loup garou, creatures the Magi considered far below their station. He also believed in the sanctity of bloodlines—something he had instilled in her as both a warning and a punishment.

“A good match is necessary in all things,” he’d said. “Do not muddy a strong bloodline out of lust or weakness.”

Knowing she was weak and destined for a bad match had only made his words hurt more. Her father was many things, but he was not a murderer. He would not collude with disreputable scientists in order to create Magus hybrid children. He would not condone the slaughter of hundreds of innocent loup garou.

Avesta, let me be right about him. Please.

“I appreciate your efforts,” McQueen said to her. “At the moment there is little else we can do. The recovery team we sent to the trailer found it burned to the ground, with what looked like the remains of a shifted loup. There was no sign of the sisters.”

“So they’ve gone back to their home base,” Rook said.

“That seems likely. Their initial plan to capture Knight failed, so they will probably regroup and come at us from a different direction.”

“Possibly head-on this time,” Bishop said.

A direct attack against Cornerstone seemed unlikely, given the size of the population, as well as the sheer acreage over which the town was spread. From what she understood, Stonehill had been a very small town, centered around a few major buildings, and Potomac was little more than an encampment. Cornerstone was too large for four hostiles to engage on their own.

On the other hand, just because they only had proof of four hostiles, they could not assume more didn’t exist somewhere.

“How’s Shay doing?” Brynn asked.

“Physically, she’s healing,” McQueen replied. “Emotionally . . . Dr. Mike says she’s become catatonic. She’s slipped into her own mind, and she won’t speak or acknowledge anyone. Hasn’t for a few hours now.”

Brynn hurt for the damaged young woman. She couldn’t begin to imagine the pain and emotional wreckage heaped upon Shay Butler. Brynn had weathered a few bombshells herself these last few days, but nothing so devastating as the slaughter of her entire community. “Is Knight with her?”

“Knight’s doing his best.”

The subtle change in Rook’s body language caught her attention. She couldn’t quite put her finger on the difference—more tension, perhaps.

McQueen gave her a benign smile. “Ms. Atwood, as I said before, you’re a guest and not my prisoner. However, it’s probably still best if you limit your movements for the time being.”

“I understand.” Exploring hadn’t been first on her agenda, but she was disappointed in not being able to see more of Cornerstone. She’d yet to wander past the half mile of road between the auction house and the McQueen home. Then her stomach rumbled, and breakfast suddenly felt like a long time ago.

Rook nudged her with his elbow. “Why don’t we go see what Mrs. Troost has fixed up for lunch?”

They excused themselves and returned to the sweltering afternoon sunshine. The clouds had disappeared, leaving behind a lovely blue sky that stretched to the edges of the mountains all around the valley in which Cornerstone had been built. Rook stayed close as they walked back down the same brief length of Main before turning onto the narrow street that led back to the McQueen house. The silence between them was comfortable, rather than awkward. The only thing that bothered her was not being able to hold Rook’s hand; she was not yet brave enough to risk that.

With the secret of her Magus identity out, she no longer felt the need to hide from the many faces who came and went from the McQueen house on an hourly basis. Two male loup she recognized by sight were already eating in the dining room when she and Rook entered. They gave polite nods to both of them, and she pretended to not notice the way their noses crinkled as they scented her. She’d decided to leave the medallion on in order to confuse her scent—so far, only a handful of people knew of her loup blood, and she preferred the majority smelling human and loup, rather than Magus and loup. She couldn’t explain why it felt safer that way.

Mrs. Troost had laid out a platter of sandwich fixings, as well as a platter of sliced veggies and a large bowl of mixed salad—standard lunch fare, according to Rook. While they ate, they chatted idly over nonsensical topics such as books and music. Her love of historical subjects and their relevance to modern issues matched his enthusiasm for different brands of guitar strings and the notes they coaxed from his Córdoba Fusion. The conversation lasted long after their companions left, long after Rook deposited their dirty plates in a plastic basin near the kitchen door. It all seemed so normal, like a real first date might go if they were average people living average lives.

“Brynn, can I ask you something?” he asked after a discussion of big band music petered out.

“Of course.”

“Have you ever seen a shifted loup garou up close?”

Twenty-four hours ago, her answer would have been an emphatic no. “O’Bannen last night. I didn’t see the actual shift, and we were only together for a few seconds.”

“Did it scare you?”

“Not at the moment, no. I was more scared of the gun O’Bannen gave me and the odds of accidentally shooting myself in the foot.”

His lips twitched with amusement. “I’m glad you avoided that particular scenario.”

“So am I.”

“Our beasts aren’t as scary as you might think. During an intentional shift, we’re in complete control at all times.”

“What would be an unintentional shift?”

“Our quarterlies, which is why we have reinforced rooms. If a loup becomes malnourished or dehydrated, a shift is forced so the beast can protect them both. Very occasionally, emotional duress can force a shift.”

Malnourishment made her think of Shay. “What will happen if Shay can’t feed herself?”

“Most likely, Dr. Mike will insert a feeding tube. She’s under enough emotional stress that a forced shift will be devastating to her health.”

Avesta, protect her. “You talk about the beast like it’s a separate entity.”

Rook nodded. “In some ways, yes. Nothing like multiple personalities, but the beast is a different side of a whole that only comes out at specific times. Those base urges are always there, in the back of my mind. I think my beast realized how attracted to you I was before I consciously understood. It was there from the first moment I saw you.”

A pleasant warmth settled in her belly, and she couldn’t quite explain it. He’d just told her that the wild, animalistic side of his nature had wanted her from the beginning, before the man side of his brain caught up. The confession should have worried her, made her wary of his affections. Instead, it made her smile. Hers wasn’t the only heart struck by Cupid’s arrow that day.

“May I see you?” Brynn asked.

“See me?”

She glanced around the empty room, oddly embarrassed by her request. “Your beast. Is that rude to ask?”

He chuckled softly. “No, it’s not rude.” A flash of doubt dimmed his smile as he hesitated in answering her first question. Then the full smile was back. “And yes, I’ll show you. Come with me.”

While she hadn’t expected him to shift in the middle of the dining room, he surprised her by taking her hand and leading her out into the backyard. The right rear of the fenced property had a large wooden shed. Behind it was a shaded area, protected on three sides by fence, bushes, and the back of the shed. The earth was partially covered in grass and the deconstructed remains of a children’s swing set sat piled in one corner.

Birds chirped high in the oak trees, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves, creating an unexpected sense of peace.

“I prefer shifting outside,” Rook said. “Somehow the fresh air makes it hurt less.”

“How badly does shifting hurt?” She hated the idea of Rook causing himself pain.

“From what I’m told, a forced shift from stress or injury hurts much more than an intentional one. Bishop described it once as the sensation of having all of his fingernails ripped off one at a time.” Rook glanced at his bandaged fingertips and grimaced. “Guess I can empathize with that more now.”

Curiosity at the reason for Bishop’s forced shift nudged the back of her mind, but Brynn filed the questions away as “none of her business.” “How does a regular shift feel in relation to fingernails?”

He grinned. “Ever had a fingernail snag on something, and then rip off just below where the nail ends and the flesh starts?”

“Yes.” Memory of the sensation made the flesh on the backs of her legs crawl. She hated that instant flash of pain, followed by hours of a dull throb.

“Kind of like that. Hot pain at first, then a slow ache. Once the shift is complete, it doesn’t hurt anymore. How fast you try affects the pain, too.”

“What’s average?”

“A simple shift can take up to two or three minutes, if you aren’t in a hurry. It’s possible to rush a shift and do it in under one minute, but it hurts like hell and can take longer to recover from once you shift back.”

“Recover?”

“Think of it like a rechargeable battery. If I shift for thirty minutes, I’ve used thirty minutes of juice, and I need twice that time to recharge. I don’t necessarily have to sleep, but I’ll be hungry and can’t shift again for at least an hour while my body recovers and recharges.”

O’Bannen had completed his shift in less than a minute. “Your physiology is complicated. Our physiology.” She would never get used to that—the idea that she also carried loup garou genes, and had never even known it.

“It is complicated. Then again, there’s very little in life that’s truly simple.”

“Good point.”

Rook inched closer, caressing her with his presence and intensity, rather than his hands. “I’d like to kiss you again.”

Her heart leapt at the unexpected request. She loved that he asked permission. Other men in her life hadn’t extended that particular courtesy. Her trip to Cornerstone was the first time she’d left Chestnut Hill since the scandal that led to her dismissal as a Congress tutor, and Robert’s words came back to her. Only Robert had been wrong. Someone did want her. Rook wanted her. Her heart pitter-patted at Rook’s touch in a way it never had for Robert. Her skin tingled for Rook’s caress, and she smiled just hearing his voice say her name. Rook did not demand the use of her body. He asked. He respected.

Logic told her to be wary of Rook. He was powerful and strong, even in his human form. They were in a secluded place, far from prying eyes. He could silence her before she could scream for help.

Logic can go fuck itself.

Brynn answered his question with actions, rather than words.

Chapter Eighteen

Their third kiss was a quiet one, a gentle exploration like the first, rather than an explosion of passion like the second. Brynn enjoyed the sensations of mouths pressing and tasting in an easy give and take, filling her senses with the wildness of him. Making her ache in places long forgotten, awakening desires she had crushed beneath her shame. So different from the other kisses they’d shared, this one felt full of promise.

A promise of what she wasn’t certain. And for once, she didn’t mind.

Rook pulled back with a satisfied smile, then kissed the tip of her nose. “Thank you,” he said.

“My pleasure.”

He laughed and stroked a fingertip down the length of her jaw. “Not yet, but one day soon, I hope.” The sultry promise in those words sent a tingle down her spine. “First things first, though.”

She blinked at him, then furrowed her eyebrows, confused.

“My shift,” he said.

“Oh, yes.” She’d forgotten about that completely. “Should I do anything?”

His flirtatious smirk more than answered her question. “Just don’t do anything to distract me while I get naked.”

Her cheeks heated immediately. “Um, should I turn my back?”

“That’s up to you.”

She’d seen naked men before, and she certainly wouldn’t swoon at the sight of a penis, but this was Rook, for Avesta’s sake. She tried to imagine the bare skin beneath the black jeans and t-shirt he wore, clothes that hugged his toned body so perfectly. She wanted to see more of the tattoos that disappeared beneath the fabric, more of what she’d only glimpsed back at that motel.

Rook groaned. “On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t watch the whole thing. I’ll feel like I’m doing a strip tease, and I can’t shift with a hard-on.”

Her surprised laughter became an embarrassing abbreviated snort. “What if I promise to keep my ogling to a minimum?”

“You’d ogle me while I was naked?”

“Definitely.” Surely he knew how beautiful he was. Any woman with eyes would stare when he walked into a room, and she would smile, knowing he only wanted her.

He didn’t hide his own appraisal of her body, which lingered on her face and breasts, before he shut his eyes. “Damn it, this definitely won’t work if you look at me while I’m shifting.”

“All right.”

Moderately disappointed, Brynn turned around to face the vegetable garden. As she studied the neat rows of tomatoes and string beans, she listened to the rustle of fabric, the snick of a zipper lowering. She could almost sense the air moving behind her, displaced by Rook’s simple act of undressing. Her senses hadn’t changed since her arrival at Cornerstone—that was impossible. Perhaps the change was simply psychosomatic. Here among the other side of her nature, new things were coming to the forefront.

Like my visions. They’re certainly more active here.

“Strip tease complete,” Rook said. “It’s not pretty in-progress, so you don’t have to watch.”

She peeked over her shoulder. Rook was on his hands and knees, angled away from her, which gave a lovely view of his rear end.

Naked man kneeling. Oh my.

She forced her eyes up to his shoulders and the back of his head, as she allowed the rest of her body to turn around. What she saw of him was gorgeous. Smooth skin. Rippling muscles. So much power. Something tickled just below her breastbone and in the back of her throat—something strange that wanted her to . . . growl.

It’s the magic of his shift. It’s affecting my loup side.

Rook grunted and arched his back. Fingers dug into the grass. His spine rippled as if a wave of water had traveled down it from top to bottom, only it didn’t stop at his coccyx. The end of the spine lengthened, as did the skin around it.

He’s growing a tail.

A sound like twigs snapping in half, dozens in a row, filled the quiet air behind the shed, matched only by the harsh rasp of Rook’s breathing. His skin darkened, first to a golden bronze, and then an oily black. Limbs reformed, snapping and creaking as they took a new shape. Black fur sprouted across naked skin, and still she wanted to growl. Or howl. Anything to ease the tickle in her throat that no amount of coughing would dislodge.

She was just grateful that she couldn’t see his face. She didn’t want to see that part of him ripped apart and rearranged.

Time meant nothing as she watched the transformation, and soon he shook himself from head to tail, fluffing out thick ebony fur and testing the new placement of his limbs. He turned to face her. Copper eyes shined from the pitch-black face of the largest wolf she’d ever seen in her life, bigger even than O’Bannen’s beast. Rook had to be closer to two hundred fifty pounds, more like a small horse than a canine, and glimmering in each ear was a steel gauge.

He tilted his head and seemed to smile. Brynn crouched. He approached slowly and stood in front her, presenting himself. She stroked one hand down his muzzle, surprised at the softness. He licked her palm. Despite the length of his teeth, despite the bulk of his size, despite the fact that he could kill her in five seconds flat, Brynn was not afraid.

“You’re beautiful.” Perhaps “beautiful” wasn’t a word best applied verbally to a man, but she could easily apply it to his beast. Beauty and power encaged in the shape of a wolf who would never make a move to hurt her—she was certain of that, if of nothing else.

She stroked the velvety fur around his face and the tufts by his ears. He wagged his tail and nudged her hand with his head, so she stood up. His shoulder came up to just above her waist. She petted along his shoulders and back, aware of the iron muscles beneath the silky fur, framing the body of a creature born to hunt and kill.

“I’m so glad you showed me, Rook.”

He bumped his head against her hip, and she petted him for a few moments longer. She ruffled the fur between his ears, then said, “Thank you.”

Brynn stepped to the corner of the shed and turned her back, giving him privacy to change.

* * *

Shifting back from his beast was the hardest transformation of his life, and not just because it had been somewhat risky. The odds of needing to shift again in the next quarter hour in order to defend his town weren’t high enough to stop him from showing Brynn his beast. He’d need time to recover before he could shift again, sure, but he’d been beast for only a few minutes. No, he was having difficulty with the reverse shift because the beast was battling to stay out.

Rook struggled with his animal side that did not want to let go and return control to skin. His beast craved vengeance—for Stonehill and Potomac, for Knight, and for himself. The man who wore his skin craved it, as well, but he understood the need to wait. The need to plan. The beast only wanted blood and resisted Rook’s demand that he retreat. The beast had done his job for now—the shift would help his torn fingernails heal, and while he’d forever wear a bracelet of scars on each wrist and a faint line around his neck, the wounds would be gone. Rook needed to regain control before Brynn realized something was wrong.

Brynn.

His beast reared at the thought of her name, and her presence only a few yards away wasn’t helping his concentration. She’d been so tender, so curious, not a trace of fear in her eyes or body language. He’d seen amateur performers freak out more over something less stressful than facing a loup garou beast for the first time. But Brynn wasn’t afraid of him. She’d gazed at him with affection in her eyes.

He held back a groan as his spine realigned, each vertebrae a slash of fire. His tail was the most painful part of the transformation—all other parts lengthened or changed shape. His tail was the only thing that was created and destroyed with each shift, and it hurt like hell.

Hipbones snapped back with a brief jolt of agony and his jaw popped. The overall haze of pain subsided, and he tested out his reformed body. A tremor of fatigue danced through him like a badly played F chord, as it always did after a shift. Still, he felt better than he had before. Like he’d shaken off the filth of the last few days.

If only memories were as easy to cleanse.

He dressed quickly, more for Brynn’s sake than his own. Loup garou did not have the same inborn sense of modesty as humans, and bare skin felt wonderful in the scorching August temperatures. A creek in the mountains west of town was a favorite skinny dipping spot for young loup, and he’d gone up there a lot while he and Knight were growing up. Still, he didn’t want to risk the temptations that came along with total nudity—not when the heated look in her eyes made his blood burn.

She still hadn’t turned around. Rook slipped up behind her and rested his hands on her hips. The dress fabric was some thin cotton, and the warmth of her body came through. She leaned into him, resting her back against his chest, and she covered his hands with hers. Her head fell against his shoulder, and he kissed her temple. It all felt so natural, so easy.

“Thank you for showing me,” she said.

“Thank you for accepting me.”

“I’ve always known what you are, Rook. The beast is just another part of you, and he’s beautiful. Are all loup so large?”

He pressed his hips firmly against her ass. “Only the lucky ones.”

She laughed. “You know what I mean.”

“White and Gray aren’t. Black Wolves are protectors. We’re born faster, stronger, and larger, yes.”

“Good to know.”

He brushed his nose along the shell of her ear, enjoying the scent of her so close and real. The heat of her in his arms and the gentle rhythm of her breathing. He’d never imagined holding a woman could feel so perfect.

Her fingertips played over the scars on his wrists. “How are you with everything that happened last night?” she asked.

Had it really only been last night? “Feels like I’ve lived a lifetime in twenty-four hours.”

“I know the feeling. I’ve been here three days that feel like a month’s time, and I’ve spent it all on the same two streets. I wish I could see more of this place.”

“The yard?”

“No, the town. My vision of the fire was incredibly vague but perhaps seeing a location will ping something in my mind.”

Father’s request for Brynn to keep her movements localized made sense, and Rook supported it. He also understood Brynn’s need to explore her surroundings and her latest vision. The details she’d fed him suggested a very sheltered life with few opportunities to experience new things. Even something as simple as a small Pennsylvania town could be an adventure for her. He wanted to show her more of Cornerstone. His home.

“I have an idea,” Rook said.

Without question she followed him around the side of the house to the front yard, straight to the sidewalk. He desperately wanted to hold her hand. Instead, he kept their pace steady so their arms brushed occasionally as they walked toward Main Street. The Smythe building on the corner was the tallest in Cornerstone—not saying much when it was only four stories. The top three floors were storage and apartments. Ground level housed Smythe’s Restaurant, owned and operated by the Smythes for over a hundred years, and the most popular dining establishment in town—facts he pointed out as he led her to the fire escape in the rear alley.

He pulled the ladder down, then held it for Brynn. Not looking up while she climbed took an impressive amount of self-control (not to mention it was disrespectful to her) and then he followed. She seemed to have caught on to the plan, and she ascended to the roof in short order. Most of the surface was tarred, and it practically steamed under the hot summer sun, tossing up a sharp, nose-tingling odor. A narrow path of cement ran the border of the roof, allowing access to various ducts and piping.

They walked single file to the front, which looked down over Main Street and gave a decent view of the town. Mountains rose up around them. Rooftops spread out to the front and left, the majority private homes. The occasional voice drifted up from the street below. The diner’s daily special of chicken and dumplings scented the air with the rich aromas of meat and gravy. A lawn mower roared far in the distance. And in the privacy of the roof, he did hold her hand.

“How many people live here?” she asked.

“Six hundred and forty-one.” He grimaced, thinking first of O’Bannen’s loss, then of their recent additions. “Give or take now.”

She seemed to be on the same train of thought. “Where did O’Bannen live?”

He pointed to green-roofed home a few blocks north, its perimeter dotted with Scots pine trees. “There. His wife—widow’s name is Jennifer. Their daughter’s name is Lucy.”

“I can’t imagine the pain they’re in.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Brynn.”

“Logically, I know that. We took a risk and he died.”

“He died serving his Alpha. It’s an honorable death for our people.”

She nodded, her mood still melancholy.

Hoping to shift the conversation into something less gloomy, he extended his hand toward an open area half a mile west. “There’s a playground and ball field over there, right next to the school.”

“You learned there?”

“Everyone was taught K through twelfth grade in that schoolhouse.”

“I always had private tutors so I never experienced the socialization of schools.”

He smiled. “Well, small towns mean small classes. I only had one girl my age and two boys a year younger. The next oldest were Knight and Devlin.”

“That must have made dating difficult.”

Understatement of the day.

Across the street from their building, a very pregnant woman waddled out of the Second Chances thrift store with a bag of items in one hand and a small child hanging off the other. Michelle Barnes. Gray Wolf. Married to Francis Barnes, a Black and one of their enforcers. He remembered the wedding and Michelle’s first pregnancy very vividly, because Francis had been a stuttering mess the entire time. He’d drive forty minutes to Harrisburg just to find the specific brand of local barbecue potato chips that she craved. Dr. Mike nearly had to sedate him during the birth.

Small towns meant fewer options in many things, but it also meant Rook knew every single face on the street, every single story—and everyone knew his. No sense in hiding anything from Brynn. “Dating’s always been a bit of a minefield for me,” he said.

“Because of your status?”

“Yeah. There is no divorce among loup garou. No matter our color, we marry for life. But Black Wolves . . . well, for lack of a better turn of phrase, we literally mate for life. There’s no such thing as casual sex with other loup.”

“Never?”

“Well, not exactly never. Widows and widowers have more leeway to seek physical relationships with each other, but it’s different for unmarried Blacks.” He’d expected to be a bit more embarrassed having this conversation with Brynn, but her open curiosity and lack of judgment encouraged him. “I couldn’t have slept with anyone here without it meaning an engagement.”

“What about college?”

“Humans are exempt from the marriage intentions, if that’s what you’re asking. They wouldn’t know I was loup, anyway. However, condoms aren’t one hundred percent effective, so I didn’t chance it very often. Getting a human woman pregnant would have been a disaster. Runs have very strict rules about allowing humans to know about our existence, and only Grays are allowed to marry them. Even then, children are forbidden.”

She studied him with a calm expression as she puzzled through the information he was feeding her. “I always imaged rock bands were all about music, partying, and sex. How did you manage college and band life?”

“Band life isn’t always what you think. The great thing about being loup garou, though, is I can drink people under the table without actually get drunk myself. I got good at faking a lot of things, including one-night stands with girls who just wanted to brag that they’d slept with the lead singer.”

“So you’d get them drunk, make out with them, and then not sleep with them?”

“Mostly, yes. I let them pass out before things got too heavy. Sometimes they assumed we had sex and bragged to their friends and I never contradicted it. But if a girl ever asked, I always told her the truth.” He sighed, never happy with the decisions he’d made to try to fit in there. “In a way I lied all four years I was in college. No one ever knew I wasn’t human because I got so good at hiding it. And it all feels like a lifetime ago.”

Far down Main Street, closer to the heart of town, a trio of loup males came into view. Jonas walked in the center, flanked by the other two. They weren’t doing anything except walking and talking, but Rook’s skin still prickled with warning.

“So . . .” Brynn blushed and stumbled over her words in a completely adorable way. “How intimate have you been with a woman?”

He liked the way she got flustered over the topic. “I’ve had sex, if that’s what you’re trying not to ask me. I had excellent self-control, but I do have hormones like any other guy my age. I was just very, very careful each time. And I made each time as memorable as possible for both of us.”

She licked her lips, and he liked knowing she was probably remembering their kisses. He wouldn’t mind showing her some of his other skills, too, which involved kissing of a much more intimate nature. That self-professed self-control reared up and kept him from drawing her into a kiss right there—they might be four stories up, but they were still in open view of anyone on the street who decided to look up.

Her eyes unfocused for a few seconds, and he watched as something came together in her mind. “Oh, I get it,” she said.

“Get what?”

“What Jonas said on the street earlier.”

Confused by the shift in topic, Rook shook his head. “When he said what?”

“That he’d already had a mate, so he’d have me because you couldn’t.” She waved her hands in the air. “I know, that’s a very random thing to say, but it just clicked for me.”

“Jonas was being an ass. Technically, I suppose I could sleep with you without it being a mating promise, since you aren’t full-blooded loup, but I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You wouldn’t sleep with me?” She almost sounded offended.

Adorable. “I wouldn’t take that kind of step unless I could promise you forever. You deserve that and more.”

“Thank you.” She sighed deeply. “Do you think Jonas’s mate—wife?—mate? Was she killed last night?”

He needed to get her mind off Jonas. Just the guy’s name irritated him now. “I’m not sure. I was never introduced to a wife, so she may have already passed away.”

“Such a tragedy would certainly help explain some of his hostility.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t give him the right to threaten you.”

“Considering a half Magus helped slaughter his run, I think he’s allowed some leeway in that area.”

“No.” Rook practically growled the word. “No one is allowed to threaten you, ever. You may be Magi, but you’re also loup.” And you’re mine. “Our Alpha has welcomed you, so you deserve the same respect as any other member of this town.”

“But I’m not a member, Rook.” She squeezed his wrist, her face twisting into a sad smile. “I can’t imagine your people will ever accept me.”

He covered her hand with his, the simple gesture not enough when he wanted to sweep her into his arms. “The Alpha’s word is law, and once you are declared under the protection of the Alpha, any act against you is in violation of our laws. We have fewer than fifty humans who live here, openly, without fear of being attacked by the loup. They are safe from violence. Peace isn’t perfect, and we can’t police anyone’s thoughts, but everyone knows better than to cross the Alpha.”

“Being a guest of the Alpha isn’t the same as being accepted into the run. I’m not saying that’s what I want, or that there’s any need, but it is an important thing to consider as we go forward.”

“Ah.” He got it. She was worried about the kind of future they’d have here if they chose to explore the simmering chemistry between them. To pursue a relationship, despite everything fighting against their potential happiness. “Please don’t let Jonas skew your view of the people here. Emotions are running higher than usual for a lot of reasons. People are scared and angry, and usually a run’s White Wolf is able to deal with those emotions and keep the peace.”

Only his run’s White was dealing with his own personal trauma, and Knight’s agitation seemed to be bleeding out into the town at large. Maybe it hadn’t been part of Fiona’s master plan, but she’d found a way to hurt them all from the inside. All runs, especially those as large as Cornerstone, depended upon the positive influence of their White Wolf. He was the drummer keeping the beat for the entire town. Without him, Cornerstone’s song was unsteady. Unbalanced. Fiona had struck right at their heart and left an unhealing rift.

“This can’t be easy for Knight,” Brynn said. “Being the target of an insane vampire-loup hybrid intent on making him the father of her children, on top of the all the murders she and her sisters have committed.”

Rook raged for his brother’s pain, hating that he had no way to fix it. “He’s having a hard time.”

A car rumbled past, drawing his attention back to the street. Jonas and his friends—whose names Rook couldn’t quite recall—were a block and a half away. The handful of Cornerstone residents around were giving them a wide berth. The Potomac loup had a reputation for being a little crazy, and Jonas seemed to be enjoying the notoriety. Jonas’s threat to Brynn infuriated Rook all over again. Jonas was used to being the top dog in his run; he needed to have his ass handed to him.

“You’re growling,” Brynn said.

He stopped immediately, surprised that he hadn’t even noticed. The need to protect Brynn brought that out in him without thought or intent. He wanted to haul her against him, to kiss her until they were both stupid with it, to mark her as his so no other male would dare harm her while he lived.

She looked out over the waist-high wall of brick and down to the street. “Ah, I see. Forget him and tell me more about the town.”

He did, pointing out the roof of the Flynn Boarding House, the old sawmill that hadn’t been used in over sixty years, and several other places of interest. His inability to show her these places in person frustrated him, but he understood the reasons. Her safety took priority over entertainment.

Tense tones rose up from the street below, words laced with sharp snarls. Jonas’s trio was facing off with four young Cornerstone loup on the sidewalk in front of the diner directly below them. Fists were made and posturing was in full force. Not good.

“Damn it,” Rook said.

He didn’t explain himself or ask Brynn to wait. He slid past her and ran for the fire escape, climbing down so fast he missed a few rungs and banged his knee on the rusty iron. The pain was lost under a burst of adrenaline that carried him around to the front of the building. Jonas was in the face of Alan Smythe, a Gray with all of the personal subtlety of a steamroller and no sense of self-preservation if he was goading a Black.

“—with humans like they’re your equals,” Alan snarled. “It’s disgusting.”

“You have humans here, you fucking hypocrite,” Jonas replied.

“Our humans know their place.”

Rook didn’t have time to ponder the absolute asshole-ish nature of Alan’s comments—or the fact that his sister was married to a human male—because Jonas took the bait and swung. Alan’s head snapped back, blood spurting from his nose. Bodies collided into a full-out brawl.

“Knock it the fuck off!” Rook shouted as he entered the fray. An elbow clipped his chin and rattled his teeth. He grabbed Alan and shoved him toward the diner wall.

“He said knock it off!” Bishop’s voice boomed across the street like a detonation, and the brawlers scrambled apart. Leave it to Bishop to break up the skirmish in five words or less and without lifting a finger. He didn’t carry the title, but he was already treated as the next Alpha. The realization didn’t hurt as much as Rook thought it might.

Bishop joined Rook on the sidewalk between the two groups. Rook’s heart was hammering from adrenaline and the excitement of the fight. The battle had been ill timed and for the wrong reasons, but loup garou enjoyed physical altercations as a stress reliever, and Rook had a hell of a lot of stress to exercise. A passing car slowed, and Bishop waved them on. While the Cornerstone loup stood with their heads bowed, the perfect pictures of regret, Jonas stared Bishop down.

“This is the second time I’ve caught you starting trouble here,” Bishop said to Jonas. “Is this how you show gratitude?”

Jonas squared his shoulders, seeming to ignore the cut on his cheek that was pouring blood down his face. “Your hospitality leaves a lot to be desired,” he said, answering Bishop while glaring at Rook. “Are we banned from your restaurants, as well?”

“You’re banned from exactly one place in this town, and you know why.”

“Then maybe you should explain that to him.” Jonas pointed at Alan, whose broken nose was already swelling. “It seems my kind isn’t welcome in his family’s establishment.”

Bishop turned the full force of his annoyance onto Alan. “What kind is that, exactly? Last I checked, we’re all loup.”

“Not all of us,” Alan replied. He looked down the sidewalk, where Brynn watched from the corner of the building.

Jonas snorted loudly. “The little witch is never far from you, is she?” he asked Rook. “She must have stamina.”

Rook bristled and took a step forward. “I warned you once, Jonas. If you wish to remain a guest here, you’ll watch your mouth about the people under our Alpha’s protection.” He whirled to glare at Alan. “And you. The Potomac residents are our guests, too, and you’ll treat them as such. Is that clear?”

“Clear,” Alan said. He backed down, even though he was obviously not happy to concede. One glance at Bishop’s furious face, though, and Alan’s attitude disappeared completely. “It’s clear, sir.”

“I think we lost our appetites,” Jonas said with an obvious look at Brynn. “Something stinks of rotten oranges.”

“You should get used to the smell,” Brynn said, even though she still wore the necklace that hid her Magus scent. She surprised everyone by striding up to Jonas, hands balled into fists, face set. She radiated confidence, which only made her more beautiful. “I’m here until the end to see those hostiles stopped and your people avenged. Why are you here?”

Rook barely managed to keep a smile off his face, while his heart swelled with pride.

Jonas loomed over her, so much bigger, but she didn’t seem cowed. “I’m here because one of your kind helped murder my people.”

“Those vampires were half loup, as well. Your own kind killed your people. Or did you forget that pertinent detail in your quest to make me the villain?”

He snarled. The muscles in his shoulder bunched and flexed, hinting at his intent to swing, and Rook lunged.

Bishop was faster. He caught Jonas’s right arm before Jonas could strike, and the force of the stalled punch pulled Bishop off balance. Jonas snapped his arm backward. The crack of his elbow connecting with Bishop’s chin was muffled by the rumble of a car motor. They were too close to the curb, and Bishop’s foot slipped off the sidewalk. He lost his balance. Jonas kept turning, fueled by rage, and landed a solid punch to Bishop’s mouth before Rook could intercede.

Rook used Jonas’s momentum to spin him forward and send him crashing into his friends, who went scattering like bowling pins to the sickening notes of tires squealing and a solid thud.

Chapter Nineteen

Brynn couldn’t move. The frozen shock lasted only seconds, but it felt like an eternity. She’d lost her temper with Jonas and said things that had surprised even her, and she certainly hadn’t expected the brief fight that erupted when Jonas tried to grab her. She didn’t expect to see Bishop lose his balance, get punched in the face and stumble backward into the path of an oncoming car.

The car wasn’t going fast, fifteen or twenty miles an hour at the most. The impact was strong enough, though, to knock Bishop up onto the car’s hood and crack the windshield. The driver slammed onto the brakes, and the sudden lack of motion sent Bishop skidding back down the slick surface of the hood and onto the pavement with a stomach-churning thump.

Rook spun around, his fury-flushed face going momentarily slack. “Bishop!”

Brynn shook herself out of her shock and dropped to her knees next to Rook. Bishop had rolled onto his back and blinked up at them, dazed, his face bloody from cuts on his chin and right temple. She ignored the hysterical driver behind her who’d just realized who he’d run over as she searched for other obvious injuries.

“Hey, look at me,” Rook said. He leaned over Bishop’s head, studying his eyes.

“Ouch,” Bishop said.

“Someone send for Dr. Mike,” Brynn said. She didn’t look to see whose footsteps took off in the direction of the doctor’s house.

“It’s not that bad.”

“The hell you say,” Rook said. “Does your head hurt?”

“I just got hit by a car. Yes, it hurts.” He tried to sit up. Rook put a solid hand on his chest and held Bishop down. He bent down and whispered something into Bishop’s ear, too soft for Brynn to hear. Whatever he said, Bishop grimaced and replied.

Rook conceded something, and he helped Bishop sit up. Neither tried to stand. Bishop massaged the back of his neck, then looked at the blubbering, apologizing driver.

“It’s okay, Larry,” Bishop said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

The loup who’d first argued with Jonas came around and took Larry over to the sidewalk to calm him down. Jonas stayed by the wall of the diner with his friends. The fact that he hadn’t fled impressed her. A small crowd was gathering, drawn to the accident like bees to a picnic basket, buzzing with hushed conversation and speculation.

“What’s going on?” Thomas McQueen’s voice startled Brynn. He stalked down the sidewalk from the direction of the auction house, Jillian and Mitchell Geary following right behind him. Onlookers moved aside to allow them to pass; others backed up from the sheer force of their arrival. “Everyone who is not involved, go about your business. Now.”

The gawkers scattered, leaving only Jonas and the man he’d argued with bleeding on the sidewalk and Larry on the bench.

“Jonas,” Geary said, his voice as powerful and intimidating as McQueen’s. “Explain this immediately.”

Jonas wilted under the force of his Alpha’s anger. He came forward, head down. “An argument poorly ended, sir.”

“That’s not an explanation.”

“With your permission, Alpha,” Brynn said. She stood up, which earned her the attention of every person in the crowd. She held her head high and waited.

Geary studied her a moment, his nostrils flaring. “Go ahead, young lady.”

She explained the fight, sketching the specific actions with just enough detail to make all motivations clear. She didn’t attempt to reduce her own part in Bishop’s accident, and neither did she assign specific blame. They were all participants. McQueen managed to hide his feelings well, but Geary did not.

Geary stopped in front of his son and poked a finger into his chest. “This is the second time today that you’ve embarrassed me in front of our hosts. I don’t care what your personal feelings are for that woman, it is no excuse for your behavior.”

Jonas blinked hard, as though he couldn’t believe his father’s words. He’d paled considerably, lost every hint of confrontational energy, and he just seemed . . . confused. “I’m sorry, Alpha,” he said.

“This cannot continue, Mitch,” McQueen said. “We have enough outside enemies trying to destroy us. We cannot keep fighting among ourselves.”

“You’re right, Thomas,” Geary said. “I’ll abide by your decision in this matter.”

“Thank you.” McQueen moved closer to Jonas, his presence intimidating the younger loup into hunching. “Your people are welcome to my hospitality, Jonas Geary. You, however, are not.”

Jonas’s eyes widened as McQueen’s statement sank in. Brynn let out a surprised squawk when she realized the severity of the punishment. Even Rook, Jillian and Bishop looked startled.

“Too much is at stake for personal prejudices to tear us apart,” McQueen continued. “I’m asking you to leave Cornerstone.”

“You’re banishing me, sir?” Jonas asked.

McQueen nodded. “Once our current problems are resolved, your status will be reexamined.”

Jonas cast a searching look at his father, who simply turned his back. The sight broke Brynn’s heart a little. She disliked Jonas, but he seemed so young and lost in that moment. He didn’t argue his punishment. He also didn’t slink out of town like a beaten dog. Jonas squared his shoulders, held his head up, and turned east. He was a Black Wolf and the Alpha’s son, and he carried himself as such. She watched him until he disappeared down the road leading past the auction house, toward the town limits.

Jillian crouched next to Bishop and whispered, “Didn’t your mother teach you not to chase cars?”

Bishop’s mouth twitched. “Technically, that one chased me.”

“You have some explaining to do, Alan,” McQueen said to the local loup with the bloody nose. “I want you in my office in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” Alan said.

“Bishop?”

“I know,” Bishop said. “Someone went for him.”

“Good.”

Dr. Mike turned the corner with his black bag in hand. Brynn removed herself to the sidewalk to wait while he saw to his patient, unsure what to do next. Her lovely conversation with Rook had been ruined by the fight, but it also gave her time to think.

His admission of his sexual history had surprised her—not that he’d opened up to her with explicit detail, but the things he had said were important. Enough to glean that he’d never been in an actual relationship before, because he couldn’t date a human, and dating another Cornerstone loup was one step away from a marriage proposal. Loup rules continued to befuddle her in so many ways. Her own sexual exploits could be counted on exactly two fingers, so it was not as though she was the experienced older woman seducing the younger man. They were probably somewhat balanced on that scale.

Nothing about their relationship was simple, so it didn’t surprise her that one more thing was added to the list. Normal people who were interested in each other went out on dates, tested their sexual compatibility, and then either stayed together or broke up. For Rook, testing their sexual compatibility was akin to announcing their engagement, and he respected her too much for sex to ever be casual.

An admirable trait so few men possessed, and to find it in a warrior like Rook McQueen? Amazing.

She didn’t notice Rook stand or come over to her. She was simply aware of his presence by her side, a warmth and constant she desperately needed.

“Jillian’s going with him to Dr. Mike’s,” Rook whispered.

She nodded, glad for that. Bishop was on his feet and walking, but even a loup garou could be injured by a moving vehicle. She appreciated McQueen’s protectiveness with his people. After a moment, she realized they were alone on this section of the sidewalk. Even Larry had gotten into his idling car and left.

“You okay?”

“I’m not sure,” Brynn said. “I didn’t expect that.”

“Which part?”

“Any of it, but especially Jonas being banished from town.”

“Alan was wrong in denying them access to the diner, but Jonas is unstable. He’s allowing personal feelings to get in the way of what’s best for the community.”

“I goaded him.”

“You were right. The Psycho Siblings have the blood of all three races, and there’s enough blame to go around. Jonas can’t heap all of this onto the Magi just because you’re a convenient target.”

“It still feels wrong that he’s banished and I’m here.”

“Brynn.” He squeezed her elbow, and she looked at him. “You’re one of us. You have every right to be here.”

“Do I? I was raised as a Magus, Rook, and we don’t know how much of me is loup garou. I don’t imagine many Cornerstone residents will like me any better now that this has happened.”

“Hopefully they’ll surprise you.”

She nodded, unconvinced. “Can we return to your home? I think I’d like to lie down for a while.”

“Of course. Do you feel okay?”

“Yes, just tired.”

She also wanted some time alone to think about everything that had happened today, especially her father’s phone call. A piece of information tickled the back of her mind, teasing her with its presence without coming forward and presenting itself. Something about the Magi that was relevant to everything happening today. Perhaps some relaxation would nudge it into the foreground.

She had to do something to help.

* * *

Knight paused on the stairs as the jaw-popping yawn that attacked him made his eyes water and his head spin. The steaming mug of coffee in his hands was supposed to help with that, even though what he really needed was sleep. Uninterrupted, dreamless sleep.

As if.

He’d been at Dr. Mike’s for hours, hiding from the intense emotions of his family and dividing his time between visiting with Devlin and sitting next to Shay. Devlin was alert and talking, but the gashes in his chest and torso were deep. Dr. Mike wanted to keep an eye on him until he was strong enough to shift and speed up the healing process, and Devlin was a terrible patient. Much like Rook, Devlin wasn’t a fan of sitting still, or of admitting to injury or weakness.

They’d also been friends for their entire lives. Devlin knew when to push and when to keep his mouth shut—one of the main reasons Knight was still hiding out at Dr. Mike’s. Devlin wouldn’t try to make him talk about Fiona or anything else contributing to his agitated state.

During a distracting discussion of the merits of Devlin wearing a hat and boots like Knight’s at the next auction, a stranger knocked on his door. She was their age, pretty with short brown hair and the hard, muscular body of someone who’d always known a difficult life. Her faint pine and fish scent betrayed her as one of the Potomac survivors.

Knight’s nose twitched. She was also half human.

“Rachel,” Devlin said. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she said.

“This is Knight McQueen. Knight, Rachel Kowalski from Potomac.”

“Nice to meet you,” Knight said.

“Likewise.” Rachel smiled at Devlin and a faint blush stained her cheeks. “I wanted to check on you. I didn’t have a chance until now.”

“Thank you for coming,” Devlin said.

Knight had caught on to the significant look Devlin was giving him. He dropped his empathy shield enough to catch a lot of positive vibes from both of them. He’d politely excused himself for coffee, to which Devlin pointedly said, “Good idea, because you look like shit on a cracker, pal.”

After the yawn passed, Knight continued his ascent. As he reached the first landing, the front door opened. He’d heard Dr. Mike rush out a few minutes ago. Knight paused just out of sight and listened, curious about the emergency.

“I’ve had concussions before,” Bishop said. Knight’s eyebrows rose. “This one, if it even is a concussion, is incredibly minor, Doc.”

“I’ll judge that if you don’t mind, son,” Dr. Mike replied. “Unless you’ve gone and graduated medical school since this morning.”

What on earth? Knight went back downstairs, careful to not slosh his coffee. Bishop and Dr. Mike had already disappeared through the waiting area and into an exam room. Jillian lingered in the foyer with an odd look on her face and emotions that flickered between amusement and concern. Considering the fact that Bishop had said the word “concussion,” the amusement confused him.

“What happened?” he asked.

“The long version or the short version?” Jillian replied.

“Short.”

“Bishop was hit by a car.”

“Excuse me?” He waited for her to explain further and she didn’t. “Long version now, please.”

Knight listened with growing incredulity as she relayed secondhand the bulk of the events that had played out on Main Street. He understood Father’s reason for kicking Jonas Geary out of town—his prejudices and temper were going to get someone else killed, and could have easily killed Bishop. He also knew, more than anyone else, that he bore a load of responsibility for that fight. He served an important function as a White Wolf, and he wasn’t doing his job. He was angry, frustrated, and lost in his own head, and that wasn’t doing anyone any good. Not when emotions were running so high.

His run needed him, and he was hiding at the doctor’s office.

Jillian touched his arm, and he flinched back. She smiled and folded her hands behind her back. “Bishop will be fine.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you look so devastated just now?”

He really needed to keep better control of his facial expressions. He didn’t have to censor himself with Devlin, and Shay was catatonic. Everyone else would try to help, even though they had no idea what the real problem was. No, that wasn’t completely true. Rook knew. He hadn’t said it out loud, but Rook knew.

“I’m just exhausted.” He hefted his mug of coffee. “It’s been a long three days and something tells me it’s only going to get worse.”

“You may be right.” She paused. Her expression remained even, but concern colored her emotions, and instead of accepting it, he steeled himself against it. “Knight, you can tell me to mind my own business, but if you need someone to talk to—”

“I’ll pass.” He didn’t care if he was being rude.

“I didn’t mean me. My run’s White Wolf’s name is Agnes. She’s older, sixty-five this fall, but she’s smart. She’s seen a lot in her years and might be a good ear to bend.”

He rarely had the chance to speak to other Whites. There was no such thing as a White Wolf support group, no hotline to call and vent his frustrations. No group chant to relieve the stress of dealing with the emotions of others all day, every day of their lives. No twelve steps toward a healthy, happy, mentally stable White Wolf life. Many went mad before they reached the age of fifty; Knight figured he’d be lucky if he made it to thirty with his sanity intact.

“I appreciate that,” he said. “I’ll let you know.”

“Please do.”

He escaped back upstairs, right into Shay’s room. He’d told Devlin he would be right back and only felt a tiny twinge of guilt for abandoning his wounded friend for the empty stare of a catatonic stranger. He shut the bedroom door and put his mug down on the side table before he spilled it. His entire body felt numb. He sank down into the bedside chair and dropped his face into his hands.

Bishop was hurt. Jonas was banished. Tempers were running high all around town, and Knight was in no shape to help anyone. The only job anyone really expected out of him—time spent at the auction house felt like busy work most days, a way to make the hours pass more pleasantly—and he was failing. Failing everyone. Failing himself most of all.

“You know what’s funny?” he asked his legs. He had no idea if Shay could hear him, or if she was trapped inside of her own horrible memories. He liked talking to someone who didn’t try to fix him. “I’ve spent twenty-five years not feeling sorry for myself for being a White Wolf, and now I can’t do anything else. I hate it. I hate self-pity. I just don’t know how to turn it off.”

He flopped back into the chair. Stared up at the ceiling.

“It’s hard to get a handle on my own crap when I’ve got everyone else’s coming at me from all directions. I mean, it’s not like I can turn off my empathy completely. There’s no switch. I can try to block it out for a little while, but it’s always there waiting for me when I stop concentrating.” He blew a harsh breath through clenched teeth. “I just need to get past it, that’s all.”

Easier said than done. The wound had healed, but he could still feel Victoria’s teeth puncturing his thigh. The burn of her bite and the venom she’d injected searing through his bloodstream. Doing what nature couldn’t. Her hands on him. Her face looming above him, while blood loss and silver exposure kept him from fighting back.

He couldn’t get past it if he couldn’t admit to it. How was he supposed to say it out loud? To tell his father that he—

Cotton rustled to his left. Knight sat up so quickly he almost fell out of his chair. Shay’s formerly relaxed hands were clenching the bedsheet. Her face hadn’t lost that vacant stare, but a single tear tracked from her right eye into her hair. Heart pounding, Knight shifted to sit on the edge of the bed. He covered one of her cool hands with his and squeezed. The physical connection grounded him, soothed him in a way he couldn’t explain, and it reminded him of why he was by her side.

“Shay?” he said in his gentling White Wolf voice. “Shay, it’s Knight. Can you hear me?”

Her eyes, wide and dark, brightened with liquid, and another tear spilled from her left eye.

“Shay, you’re safe here. Remember? You’re in a very safe house, surrounded by loup garou who will fight for you. It’s okay to come back out and talk to me.”

The hand under his relaxed, then clenched. Knight leaned forward and brushed his fingertips across her left cheek, hoping the stimulus helped. She still had a few bruises on her face, dark splotches on otherwise porcelain skin. He hated that she’d been hurt so badly and was desperate to make it better.

“My name’s Knight and you’re in Pennsylvania, far away from the people who hurt you. We know who they are, Shay, and they can’t get you here. I know it hurts, but you can come out.”

Nothing.

“Please, talk to me. I swear I’ll protect you.”

Her chest heaved. Shay closed her eyes and her entire face crumpled. She lurched up, off the bed, and he pulled her close as a wrenching sob tore itself loose. She clutched at his shirt. He stroked her hair, her arms, her back, while she cried against his neck, her scent filling his nose as her grief filled his heart to bursting. He tried to collect her pain, to keep it for himself, but there was so much. So much so fast. It overwhelmed him and had nowhere to go except out.

He ignored his own tears, telling himself they were falling for her pain, not his. He held her as she let out her rage and fear and took that first, desperate step toward healing.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I won’t let go, I promise.”

Chapter Twenty

Brynn hadn’t gone to her room with the intention of falling asleep. She never napped. Napping left her more tired and groggy than when she first went to sleep, and this was no exception. She blinked bleary eyes at the numbers on the alarm clock—after five. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her it was suppertime.

She stretched her limbs as she sat up. Her mind was unusually quiet, given how quickly her thoughts had been racing before she dozed off. Thoughts she couldn’t properly sort out, no matter how hard she tried, and at the very top of her list were Rook and Archimedes. She needed to confront her father and not over the telephone. She had to look him in the eye and ask what he knew about the hybrid hostiles. Only then would she know if he was lying to her.

The floorboards outside her bedroom door creaked an instant before someone knocked.

“Come in,” Brynn said.

Jillian poked her head inside. “Alpha McQueen has called another meeting, and he’d like you there.”

“When?”

“Now.”

“All right. In the library?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be right down. How’s Bishop?”

“Hardheaded, apparently.”

Jillian slipped out, leaving the door wide open. As Brynn bent to put her shoes on, she noticed a small pile of laundry on the foot of the bed. Someone had washed her clothes.

Thank you, Mrs. Troost.

While she appreciated the use of the sundress, she’d be glad to get out of the flimsy cotton and into clothes less likely to flash her underwear in a stiff wind. Later, though, after she took a shower and washed away the sweat and grime of the longest day of her life. She stopped in the bathroom to splash water on her face and pee, and then went downstairs.

The library was occupied by everyone she expected to be there—McQueen, Geary, Jillian, Bishop, Rook, and Knight. The only person whose presence surprised her was Dr. Mike. She took a seat on one of the sofas next to Jillian, across the room from Rook. He met her gaze and offered such a warm smile that her heart pounded a little harder, and she couldn’t do anything except smile back.

“Knight, this is your meeting,” McQueen said.

Knight had chosen one of the chairs, and he slid forward a bit, hands loose in his lap. He looked exhausted, wrung out, and he didn’t address anyone in particular when he said, “Shay started talking again.”

A jolt of happiness shot through Brynn at the news, and her joy was reflected in the faces around her. Only Dr. Mike didn’t seem surprised. The attentive audience shifted in their seats, restraining what had to be a litany of questions wanting to be asked.

“She’s still a mess, but not as bad as before. She was able to give me some details about the attack in Stonehill,” Knight continued, still speaking to his hands. “The attack began just before dawn, hours before that anonymous phone call, and she was asleep when it started. She woke to the sounds of fighting downstairs in the Alpha’s home. When she went to investigate she was attacked. Her description could be any of the vampire hybrids.”

“How was she not killed like the others?” Geary asked.

“Shay recalls being down, seriously wounded, waiting to be killed, and she says the girl simply stopped attacking. She leaned over, smelled her, then turned and left. Shay crawled into a closet beneath the stairs and locked herself inside.”

“That’s where we found her,” Bishop said. “They spared her life.”

Knight nodded. “It sounds that way. If Chelsea Butler really is the mother of those hybrids, they probably recognized Shay’s scent.”

“The question is, did they know whose run they were attacking? Did they expect to find Shay?”

“No idea.” Knight’s expression soured. “We’ll have to add that to the list of questions for Fiona.”

“Son,” McQueen said. “Did you tell Shay about her connection to the hostiles?”

“Yes.” No hesitation. He sat up a little straighter, as though standing up for his decision. “We couldn’t have hidden it for long, and she deserves to know the whole truth.”

Brynn studied the Alpha’s reaction, but she couldn’t determine if he agreed with Knight’s choice or not. Bishop didn’t seem happy, and Rook’s face was oddly blank.

“How did she take it?” Bishop asked.

“How do you think?” Knight rubbed his hands over his face, then through his hair. “Sorry. She didn’t believe me at first, so I told her everything we knew. After that, she seemed less skeptical. She’s upset and grieving, but she isn’t as fragile as we first thought.”

“And she only ever saw one of the vampire hybrids?” McQueen asked. “She never saw Fiona?”

“Not that she mentioned, no.”

“Shay’s information fits with our theory that Chelsea Butler is the mother of Fiona, Victoria, and their sisters. Now we need to figure out who their fathers are.”

“To what end?” Geary asked.

“Because a happily married White Wolf doesn’t walk away from her run one day for no good reason. A Magus and vampire don’t sire children with a loup for no good reason. Perhaps discovering their paternity will help shed some light on the motivation for creating these hybrids in the first place, as well as help us find them before they kill again.”

The nugget of information that had been nudging at the back of Brynn’s mind spoke up again, insisting she pay closer attention. She wasn’t certain how, though, because the information remained stubbornly just out of reach of her conscious thoughts.

No good reason. They attack for no good reason.

The hostiles had a reason. Stonehill got their attention. Potomac got them a shot at Knight.

Not the hostiles, foolish girl. Vampires.

So far, the vampires hadn’t been involved in the mass slaughter against the loup garou. Few vampires still existed and those who did kept to themselves, living in small covens around the country. Their numbers had been nearly wiped out over sixty years ago, during a series of bloody fights between the covens and the Midwest runs. According to the few documents she’d read and rumors she’d heard, the vampires had begun violently attacking loup garou for no good reason, which caused the loup to retaliate.

No good reason. Only they did have a good reason, and you know it.

Brynn recalled a single moment, many years ago. She had been five, almost six years old, and her father had just taken a seat as Prime Magus in the Congress. Compelled by a child’s curiosity to know exactly what that meant and how much more of her father’s attention she’d lose, she had sneaked out of her bedroom while her father entertained the other three Prime Maguses. They were talking about the loup garou who were, at the time, a mythical concept to her, like the bogeyman.

“Only a Prime Magus is privy to this information, Archimedes. No one can be told.”

“I understand, Stafford.”

“Make certain that you do. After all, the loup garou believe the vampires incited the hostilities that led to that war. They can never learn the truth. The loup garou outnumber us five to one, and their reaction would be disastrous for the Magi.”

“You have my promise.”

“One day the loup garou will be done away with completely. We must simply be patient and allow nature to take its due course. Why dirty our own hands when we can trick them into destroying themselves?”

Brynn hadn’t understood a word of it. She’d forgotten it until now, buried under a lifetime of disappointment and futile attempts to prove herself worthy of her father’s affection. A father who’d known a terrible truth all along. A father who might be involved now.

Her stomach churned, and she swallowed hard against the urge to vomit. She also realized she’d missed a large part of the continuing conversation.

Two large sheets of paper had been spread out on the coffee table, each containing pencil sketches of different faces. She recognized one as the vampire-loup she’d encountered briefly at the trailer. Victoria. The other sketch could have been of any young female Magus, including herself—straight black hair, thin nose, sharp cheekbones.

“These are the best he could do with your descriptions,” McQueen was saying. Brynn had completely missed who drew the sketches, and she was not going to draw attention to herself by asking.

“They’re pretty damn accurate,” Knight said. “Too bad they move so fast that they’d be on you before you could identify them.”

“Every new piece of information helps, and now the other runs will know who to keep an eye out for. They’ve already been scanned and emailed to the other Alphas. As for tonight, we’re going to increase night patrols in the mountains. They seem to like to attack at dusk and dawn, and the sun will set in a few hours.”

“They know we’re expecting them and are prepared to act,” Bishop said.

“You’re right, and the odds are good the hostiles won’t attack us directly. There is no element of surprise, and we have twice the population of Stonehill. Any attack on the town would be futile.”

“Not completely futile,” Knight said. “It would scare the hell out of people, and a lot of scared loup in one place is a recipe for emotional overload and forced shifts. People are already nervous and it’s taking its toll on tempers.”

“Point taken. All we can do is maintain due diligence and respond to any more fights swiftly and decisively.”

The meeting broke up. The mouthwatering aromas of simmering meat and spices wafted into the library once the door opened, reminding Brynn that it was suppertime. She couldn’t muster enthusiasm for food, though, even when Rook escorted her into the dining room, where she ate with a large group for the first time since coming to Cornerstone. No one gave her a cross look, because she was here under the Alpha’s protection. She sat with confidence because of her own loup blood.

Rook tried to engage her in conversation during supper. She hated disappointing his efforts, but her mind was consumed by the memory of that conversation, filtered over time and through a child’s perspective. She needed to tell Rook and his father what she knew, and yet she couldn’t make herself speak. She needed proof before she accused her own father and the Congress of the crimes she suspected them of committing against the vampires and the loup.

She had to go home.

Rook found himself in the unusual position of actually wanting to talk—to Brynn, to Knight, to Bishop and Father. He had a head full of questions and no idea how to start a single conversation with any of them. For the last few days, Brynn had been the easiest person for him to open up to about the most random things. Now, as early evening turned late and the sun began to set, his words dried up and nothing sounded right.

After supper, she’d slipped out to the back patio and curled up on the lounge chair, angled away from the house. It was a pretty obvious “don’t talk to me” position, so he’d left her alone. Only he was too damned antsy to sit. He spent a good twenty minutes pacing around the conservatory and its rose-scented humidity. Rows of potted flowers swung in the breeze created by his rapid movements. He had a good sweat going, too, when he decided to hell with her body language.

A few early lightning bugs danced around the farthest corner of the yard, near the shed where he’d shifted. He still couldn’t erase the memory of her expression when she’d first seen him. The awe and respect in her eyes, and the total lack of fear. Now, twisted up on that lounge, she seemed withdrawn and troubled. His beast reared up, determined to fight whatever was hurting her.

“Brynn?” He sat on the end of the lounge, as far as he could be from her toes without actually falling off.

She took her time turning her head to look at him. Her blue eyes swam with silent misery that hurt his heart to see. “I have to go,” she said.

He blinked, stupefied by the comment. “To . . . the bathroom?”

“No. Go, Rook. Home.”

“What?” Blood roared in his ears. This had to be a joke. “Why?”

She worried her lower lip with her teeth before answering. “I can’t explain right now, but I have to go. I need to speak with my father in person.”

“About what?”

“Everything. About me having loup blood, and about Fiona and her sisters. I truly believe he knows more than he’s saying, and I need to prove it.”

He wanted to grab on to her, hold tight, and keep her from setting a single foot outside of Cornerstone. He couldn’t protect her if she left. “How can you prove it?”

“Because I know him, Rook. Telephones can only give you a person’s voice, but you can tell a lot about someone from his face. I must speak with him in person.”

“What if he is involved? Then what?”

She slid down the lounge and swung her feet over the edge so they sat side by side. She grabbed his hands and squeezed them hard. “Then I come back and tell you so. Either way, I will come back. You have my word.”

Her promise to return released only a fraction of the anxiety crushing down on his shoulders. “What if he is involved, though? What if he stops you from returning to me? Do you think he would hurt you to protect the Congress?”

“I want to believe not. I’m still his child, but the duty of every Magus is to the longevity of the Congress and our magic.” She pulled a face. “And they have a lot of secrets that need protecting.”

“Such as the creation of vampire-loup hybrids?”

“Possibly. I cannot and will not accuse them of anything without proof.”

“I understand.” Kind of. “When?”

“Tonight.”

His chest ached at the thought of losing her so soon.

“It has to be tonight. I can’t explain it, Rook, but everything in me is screaming to go back and see what my father knows. I’m afraid if I wait, I’ll lose something important.”

“You have to follow your instincts.”

“I do.” She pressed her shoulder to his. “I know it’s irrational, as we’ve only known each other a few days, but . . .”

“I understand.” This time he meant it. He knew too well what she couldn’t say. “With the sun going down, it’s dangerous to leave town. We don’t know if the hostiles will try something tonight.”

“I should have left after supper was over.”

“Why didn’t you?”

She looked at him, her eyes shining with emotion. “First I had to convince myself leaving was the correct next step when my heart insists I should stay. Making that decision was too difficult while you were close by, and even with distance it wasn’t easy, but I know it’s what must be done.”

“Stay ’til morning, Brynn, please. I can’t bear the thought of Fiona lying in wait where I can’t help you. Your scent was left behind at that trailer. She and Victoria will be able to scent you out in a crowd.”

“I thought Magi smelled the same to loup.”

“They do, but you have loup blood, too. It helps make your scent unique. You smell like wildflowers.”

An indeterminate emotion flashed in her eyes. “It’s strange. Even though I’ve accepted that I’m part loup, at least intellectually, I keep forgetting. It’s as though part of me continues to reject the notion.”

“It isn’t easy to change a lifetime of thinking in just a couple of hours. Discovering a new heritage isn’t the same as deciding to get a tattoo.”

“True.”

“Please don’t leave tonight.”

“Rook—”

“One more night. Ten hours. It’s less than two from here to Philadelphia.”

“I can’t.” She glanced up at the dusky sky. “If I go now, I can get to the highway before the sun’s fully down.” She raised his hands to her mouth and kissed his knuckles, determination and a silent promise in that action. “I can do this. I will be back.”

“I should go with you.”

“You can’t. Your family needs you. If the hostiles attack and you aren’t here to defend the town, you’ll hate yourself.”

He would. “I’d hate myself if you were attacked and I couldn’t defend you.”

“I’m not your responsibility.”

“Not yet.” He freed one of his hands and cupped her cheek. Tilted her head up to his. The simple contact sent a jolt of awareness straight to his heart. “One day I hope to change that.”

Her kiss caught him off guard, and then he hauled her close, needing contact wherever he could get it. Memorizing her touch and scent and taste—it had to last for however long she was gone. His beast whined at the knowledge that she was going where he couldn’t follow, but the man understood why this was the best option. Maybe the only option.

As they parted, he brushed his lips across her forehead. “I’ll walk you to your car,” he said.

“Thank you, Rook.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He stood and pulled her up from the lounge. “You may not like what you find in Philadelphia.”

“You may be more right than you know.”

* * *

For thirty-five minutes, Rook paced the auction house parking lot—long after Brynn’s taillights had disappeared down the dusk-shadowed forest road—until she called from a public payphone at an interstate rest stop. She was safe. Hearing her voice, clear and truthful, as well as the sounds of vehicles whizzing by and horns honking, reaffirmed the words. It didn’t quell the storm of worry in his guts, but it lessened the riot a little bit.

They spoke briefly, as planned, and then hung up. She wouldn’t be truly safe until she reached her family home outside of Philly, and she couldn’t do that standing at a roadside gas station. With that particular item checked off the to-do list, his next task was to explain her absence to his father.

Father hid his reaction well. He sat behind his office desk, rigid as a slab of wood, hands folded on the blotter, while Rook talked. Rook spoke calmly and rationally, impressed with his own ability to articulate his decision to let Brynn go without rambling a single time. After Rook finished, he maintained an at-attention stance between the two wicker chairs opposite the desk. Father studied him, his expression blank.

“Brynn didn’t give you any indication of what she thought she’d learn by returning to her father’s home?” his father asked after a good sixty seconds of frustrating silence.

“Nothing specific.” Rook gave an internal sigh of relief that his first question hadn’t been more along the lines of “What the hell were you thinking?” Maybe he’d made the right decision after all. “I’m sure it has something to do with the half-breeds, but she refused to say anything without actual proof.”

“An honorable, if problematic, stance for her to take.”

“Problematic?”

“If she doesn’t come back, then we’ve lost our only contact within the Magi community.”

“She’ll come back, unless she’s physically prevented from doing so.”

“How do you know, Rook?”

“Because she said she would, and I trust her.” He didn’t have to hesitate. He trusted Brynn with his entire being, and if she promised to return to Cornerstone, she’d do her damndest to come back to him.

“I know you do, son.” Father relaxed into his chair, which let Rook relax his own posture a fraction. “I also know that you’re developing feelings for her.”

Rook didn’t deny the comment.

“What are your feelings for her, exactly?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I think—” He swallowed, nervous now. “I think I could fall in love with her. I think I’m starting to.”

“You’ve known her for three days.”

Rook bristled—the first time he’d ever reacted in such a manner to his father. “You told me once that your beast knew our mother was your mate the moment you met. That you knew you’d love and marry her after the first hour you spent together.” His tone of voice bordered on disrespectful. He did not, however, apologize.

His mother, Andrea, had not been born in Cornerstone. She was from the Rockpoint, Nevada, run and she’d been sent to live in Cornerstone when she was fifteen—a month after Cornerstone’s White Wolf died. Thomas had been seventeen, a promising successor to his own Alpha father, and according to Thomas’s stories, he had fallen for the young White Wolf almost immediately. They married on her eighteenth birthday. Rook also knew that his mother’s required change of address at a young age had fueled her need to protect Knight from a similar fate. She hadn’t wanted Knight to be separated from his family, as she’d been from hers.

Rook knew little about her family in Rockpoint. As per run law, Andrea had ceased contact with them when she moved to Pennsylvania. In theory, it helped the displaced White Wolf concentrate on building relationships within the new run, rather than maintaining ties to the past. Rook couldn’t imagine the loneliness of being shipped two thousand miles away and never allowed to see or speak to his brothers again.

Father’s mouth opened, but his response never articulated itself. Rook would have placed a double-or-nothing bet that the words he almost said were “That was different,” or some variation. In some ways, yes, his parents had been different—they were both full-blooded loup garou, both with established positions within loup society. Rook was a full-blood loup, while Brynn was a Magus with some loup blood.

Rook and his father were the same, though, in that they both loved beautiful women with very special abilities.

“I suppose it would be hypocritical of me to deny your feelings for Brynn,” Father said. “So long as you’re certain what they are.”

“I wish I was certain.” Rook wasn’t sure how to talk to his father about this stuff—that he didn’t know what it felt like to be in love, because he’d spent his whole life running away from any chance of it. The closest they’d ever come to a conversation on the topic was the day Rook left for college, and his father warned him (for about the fiftieth time) to not sleep with any of his classmates because of the chance (protection wasn’t one hundred percent effective) of siring a half-breed child with a human. Rook had mostly listened.

“Be certain, Rook, before you act on your feelings. Loving Brynn isn’t out of the question. I’ve given permission for outsiders to marry our people, and you know I would do it again to see you happy.” Father leaned forward and propped both elbows on the edge of the desk, hands steepled in front of his face. “But you need to understand that you’d be giving up any chance of succeeding me as Alpha.

“I know you and Bishop are in an unusual position, and I know that you’ve been working incredibly hard to prove yourself worthy of leading our people one day. You and Bishop would both do me proud. However, the run will never accept a half-breed as the Alpha female. If you choose Brynn, you give up your claim to Alpha.”

Hearing those words spoken so plainly drove them home in a way his own musings never had. He knew he could be happy as Cornerstone’s Alpha, and that he would be successful with Bishop by his side. The run would eventually accept him as they’d already accepted Bishop, and he would live a full life. He just didn’t know if he’d be happy without Brynn there, too. A future with her wouldn’t be easy. She wouldn’t be accepted by everyone, and their biologies may not allow them to have children. She might not even want the same future he did. But where would she go if he denied her now that she knew her mixed heritage?

He had a decision to make. They had a decision to make.

“I understand,” Rook said. “I do.”

“Good. All I want is for my boys to find joy in their lives, in whatever form that comes.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

* * *

Rook slept little that night, his thoughts waking him every hour or so, and when the first light of dawn crept in through his bedroom shutters, he let out a deep, relieved sigh.

The hostiles hadn’t attacked.

For now.

Chapter Twenty-one

The Atwood family home was located in Chestnut Hill, just outside of Philadelphia. Brynn loved the town for its historical flair and architectural beauty. The house she grew up in was a three-story cottage-style home built more than two hundred years ago, with three brick fireplaces and its kitchen in what was once a separate building.

“Compound” was often used to describe the house, which amused her in many ways. Compound conjured up images of high-voltage security fences and armed guards. The house had no standing fence, no guard dogs, and no visible security of any sort. All security was of the magical variety. No one could cross a specific, invisible border without Archimedes knowing.

The magic border kept Brynn in her car overnight, parked a block away from her own home. Crossing the border would alert him, and she needed him oblivious to her presence. As dawn streaked the night sky with shades of purple and pink, she began second-guessing her plan to face him on neutral ground.

The front door opened. Brynn sat up straighter, heart beating harder. Archimedes stepped outside and paused. Tall, thin, with the same black hair as every Magus she’d ever met, he tilted his head to the sky and squinted at the rising sun. He was oddly dressed for the summer heat in a gray sports jacket and navy jeans. In fact, Brynn had never seen him dressed so casually.

You’re dressed to blend and not attract attention. But where are you going?

He didn’t go to his car, which she expected. He routinely left early in the morning, dressed in a dark suit, and then drove into the city for Congress business, only to return late at night. A routine he followed every single day, even on weekends. Today, he trotted to the sidewalk and strolled toward the next street. She would never be able to follow him with her car. She had no disguise, except the Lancaster County t-shirt she had purchased on a whim at the rest stop the previous night, and the red bandana she’d tied around her hair. She had to try, though, so she palmed her keys, got out, and trailed her father down the sidewalk.

He led her to Chestnut Hill West. Once a trolley station and now a converted newsstand, it was also the nearest SEPTA train station. He was going into Philadelphia.

Without a train schedule, she had no idea how long she would have to wait and she couldn’t risk poking around to look. Her wallet had still been safely hidden in her rental’s glove compartment, so she had cash for the fare and she bought her ticket from the teller at the window. The real test was getting on board without Archimedes noticing. A handful of early morning commuters were waiting on the platform. Not enough for Brynn to disappear among them, so she stayed down near the corner, out of sight. Her cell phone was still locked tight inside of Alpha McQueen’s office, so she had nothing to pretend to fuss with while she waited. No way to let Rook know she was all right.

Archimedes stood alone, halfway across the platform from her, eyes straight ahead. He didn’t fidget or gaze around, or even check his wristwatch as other commuters did. One woman in a black business suit kept shifting a black briefcase from hand to hand, alternately fanning herself with the other. Brynn was hot enough in her shorts and t-shirt, and she did not envy that woman her layers and heels.

The train finally roared into the station with a blast of hot, oil-scented air. Brynn clenched her trembling hands, waited for Archimedes to step into the first car, then quick-stepped her way into the middle one. The train was nearly full of commuters, hot bodies sweating together in the paltry air-conditioning. She managed to find a seat close to the door and settled in as the train hurtled on to its next stop. She barely looked at the conductor as he came around to check tickets.

At each stop, as riders entered and exited in various quantities, she watched. At six-foot-four, Archimedes was easy to pick out of a crowd, and soon the train was bulleting into the heart of center city Philadelphia. She’d never been in the city alone. Her father had never allowed it. On the few occasions she was given permission to see a museum or visit the zoo, she was always accompanied by one of her tutors. Traveling to a small town like Cornerstone had been a huge step for her, but that experience was nowhere close to the fear and intimidation she was battling as she went deeper into a major city. Alone.

The other passengers mostly ignored her, when they weren’t jostling past to find a spot to sit or stand. A boy about her age, handsome in his own way, stared openly at her for two stops, before he disembarked. He made a point to brush his hand across her hip as he passed, and the touch made her skin crawl. Something deep inside of her wanted to snap that she was not his to touch as he pleased.

She was Rook’s.

Warmth settled in her belly, calming some of her jumping nerves. She wanted Rook by her side, giving her strength to be brave and do this. He wouldn’t be afraid of a city with millions of people. He’d played his guitar and sang for large, rowdy crowds of drunks; Philadelphia would be a piece of cake. She drew on that for her own confidence, drew on him, even though he was a hundred miles away.

Archimedes exited at the next stop—Market East Station—and she followed him out.

She had come here once with a tutor, for an event at the convention center. She couldn’t recall now what or why, only that she recognized the station name and the street they came out on. Archimedes strode to the end of the block and turned left onto Filbert Street. She kept her distance, allowing half a dozen people to remain in between herself and her father as they passed into the shaded area beneath Reading Terminal. Halfway down, he wove between cars stalled in traffic and walked into Reading Terminal Market.

Brynn didn’t hesitate in following him now. If she lost him inside the hustle and bustle of the market, she would never find him.

He walked straight up the main aisle, past a seafood stall, deliciously fragrant Thai food, and a produce vendor. The noise and combating smells of noodles and fish and baked goods served to both make Brynn queasy, and to remind her that she hadn’t eaten since supper last night.

Archimedes went into a large seating area and sat down at an empty table. Brynn scurried around to the other side, out of his direct line of sight and tried to tuck herself out of the flow of traffic.

She didn’t have to wait long for his companion to show. A young woman about Brynn’s age, with short black hair, a thin nose, and a fierce expression plopped down into the chair across from Archimedes. A shudder of revulsion tore through Brynn, accompanied by a pang of recognition. She hadn’t met this woman in person yet, but she’d seen a very accurate drawing the night before. Her insides turned to ice.

Why is my father meeting with Fiona?

She desperately wanted to call Rook, to tell him what she was seeing. She wished for her cell phone to take a photo of this as proof, even though her mind would never forget the scene of betrayal playing out in front of her.

Their conversation was lost to her, but neither of them looked happy. Fiona gesticulated with her hands almost as quickly as she spoke. Archimedes went red-faced very soon into the argument, his body rigid, hands perfectly still. No one around them seemed to notice. No one had any reason to notice. They could have been any father and daughter arguing in a public place.

The thought stopped Brynn cold. A dull roar filled her ears, made worse by the thundering of her heart. She couldn’t move. She wasn’t entirely certain that she was breathing. Her father was one of the fire elementals. Fiona’s Magus power was fire-based.

Please, Avesta, no.

Archimedes reached into his coat and retrieved a folded manila envelope. He dropped it on the table between them. Fiona plucked it up, smoothed out the crease, then fanned herself with it. She seemed less angry now, more smug. She said something else that made Archimedes scowl, then she pushed back from the table.

Brynn tracked Fiona with her eyes as the murderous hybrid disappeared into the crowded market, torn between following Fiona and confronting her father. As much as she loathed allowing Fiona to escape, Brynn had no resources with which to hold the woman. Fiona could kill her with a touch.

Propelled by anger and confusion, Brynn strode over to her father’s table and sat down across from him. He jerked backward when he realized she was not a returned Fiona. His eyes widened to comical proportions, even as the earlier flush of his skin bled away, leaving a striking pallor in its place.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said. He even had the audacity to sound offended by her presence.

“Neither should you,” Brynn snapped back. Her blood hummed with barely contained fury. “This explains quite a lot about our phone call last night.”

“It explains nothing.”

“What did you give her?”

He stared at her, his earlier shock settling into confusion. She had never stood up to him before, never openly questioned anything he had said or done. Learning the truth about her mixed blood had changed her, gave her confidence to defend herself and the things she cared about—like the McQueens.

“What are you doing here, Brynn?”

“My questions first. What did you give her?”

“Information. She agreed to a trade. Information for your life.”

She blinked hard. “My life?”

“Your involvement with the animals in Cornerstone has made you a target. I’m trying to save your life. You need to come home with me.”

“No.” She leaned forward and placed her hands palm-down on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me that I have loup garou blood?”

He froze as perfectly as a television image on pause.

“I’ve spent the last three days among the loup. Do you really think they wouldn’t have sniffed me out?”

“But you took the medallion.”

She lifted the necklace out of the collar of her t-shirt. “This one? Its shielding power isn’t as effective as you’d like to think. Who is the loup blood from? You?”

“Absolutely not!” He was so perfectly offended that she almost laughed.

“My mother, then.”

“We shouldn’t be talking about this here, daughter.”

“I think this is the perfect place to discuss it.” Someone passing by jostled her chair, and Brynn gave brief review to their location. No. Public was best. She would not risk being whisked off to his home and imprisoned there.

His home. When did you stop thinking of it as yours?

Her home was with Rook. With people who accepted her despite her Magi blood. The Magi would never accept her if they discovered her loup blood. “You knew about the hybrids all along, didn’t you?” she asked. “The Congress is involved, right? They condone the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people?”

“They’re loup, daughter, not people.”

A week ago she would have readily agreed with him. Everything she’d ever been taught about the loup boiled down to a single, simple concept: the loup garou are animals. And perhaps they did have an animal deep inside of them, an animal they unleashed when they shifted, but the man was always present. When Rook shifted for her, she’d seen him clearly in the beast’s eyes.

No one could unlearn decades of rhetoric in only a handful of days, but she was determined to try—for Rook, and for herself, no matter what her father believed.

The heat of Brynn’s anger settled into a cold rage. “I suppose that means I’m not a person, either,” she said. “Do you see me as an animal, as well?”

“Of course not. Despite your unfortunate blood line, you are still my child.”

“A child who is a disappointment as a Magus, and whose abilities you never believed in.”

“Brynn, this is more complicated than you know. Magic is about control, and Magi must have control over their ability in order to be effective. Your visions are haphazard, at best, lacking any sort of ability to control their timing or content. My support would have made me a joke to the Congress.”

“So instead your daughter is the joke.”

He actually looked miserable for a brief moment. “It was a callous choice, but I did it to protect you. Positive attention from the Congress, any sort of meaningful interaction with its members, meant a greater risk of someone discovering your dual nature. I wouldn’t risk it.”

“Because finding out you had a half-breed daughter would get you kicked out of the Congress?”

“Because they would have killed you.” Something like grief pinched his face. “From your perspective, my actions were cruel and uncaring, but I do love you, child. All I ever meant to do was protect us both.”

“By pushing me down and raising yourself up?”

“It was a cruel thing to do to you, as was calling your vision of my death a fabrication.”

“I saw it.”

“I know you did.”

His answer hit her in the chest like a fist. “What do you mean?”

“I believed your vision about me and that loup, especially when you brought me his name, but I needed you to leave it alone. I couldn’t risk you getting involved with them, even to try to save my life. I worried that they might discover what you are.”

A fear that was not unfounded. “They knew right away, and they never hurt me.”

“They told you that you have loup blood. It was not their secret to tell.”

“Would you have ever told me the truth?” His silence was her answer. “You made a mockery of my visions and hid me away in order to protect me, and yet here I am, squarely in the middle of everything.”

“And I need you out of it before the violence that started in Stonehill destroys the rest of those animals.”

She finally understood something with startling, heart-wrenching clarity. “You knew the attack on Stonehill was coming. You knew the hybrids would be going after the East Coast runs, and you didn’t want me in the middle.”

“Yes. I want you far away from this as it plays out.”

“It’s too late for that. I’m involved.” Involved and furious that her father had been complicit in so many deaths.

“So I’ve heard. Fiona told me you interfered in her plans the other night.”

“I saved the lives of two men who’d been tortured and manipulated by Fiona and her sisters. How could expect me to do anything less?”

“I did not raise you to sympathize with animals—”

“You didn’t raise me at all, Father, tutors did.” She lowered her voice, aware of the shrillness of her tone. “Sixty years ago, the Magi tricked the loup into nearly destroying the vampires. You’re using the hybrids to do it again, aren’t you? Only this time, you want to see the loup garou destroyed.”

“We want to see them contained.” His temper was peeking through, and behind his anger she swore she saw fear. “The vampires were getting too numerous and too strong, and they had to be dealt with. The loup are the same now. Their numbers grow too rapidly, and their half-breed human offspring are getting too much negative attention. Our lives depend on secrecy, Daughter. The loup are distasteful creatures who are easier to control in small numbers.”

“What gives you the right to declare genocide on a species?”

His expression adopted the haughty, superior stare she’d grown so accustomed to over the years. Every Magus had perfected it. “The Magi have been in power for thousands of years, centuries before the loup garou found their skins and adopted to life on two feet. We rid Europe and Asia of vampires before our people came here to do the same in the Americas. We’ve done these things to protect the human race.”

“Bullshit.” The profanity slipped out, shocking both of them. Brynn found unexpected power in the word, and in her flat denial of her father’s statements. “The Magi have committed mass murder for centuries to protect themselves, not humans.”

He did not reply.

She needed to steer the conversation back to useful territory. “If you’re the one pulling Fiona’s strings, then why did you have to bargain with her for my life? Doesn’t she do what you tell her to do?”

He squirmed. He actually squirmed in his seat. “Fiona is learning more than she needs to know, and she’s beginning to question my authority.”

“You’re losing control of your pets.”

“In some ways, yes. They were supposed to attack Stonehill and leave injuries and witnesses implicating the Potomac run. They were not supposed to slaughter everyone in town.”

Horror wrapped around Brynn’s heart and squeezed, and any shred of the man she’d once called Father fell away. Left behind was the cold-blooded general of an imaginary war—a man responsible for over four hundred deaths in only a few days.

“It doesn’t matter what they were supposed to do or not do,” Brynn said. “You set them loose. You’re responsible for everything they’ve done.” She remembered the ring she had long admired, and his long-ago boasting of drugging a loup with it. She swallowed hard, wishing she had a glass of water. “Are you also responsible for taking Chelsea Butler from the Stonehill run twenty-five years ago?”

Archimedes stared, his mouth flapping open like a gasping fish.

“The loup are smarter than you think,” she said. “And so am I. I know only White Wolves can breed with other species, and I know Chelsea Butler disappeared from her run without a trace. Is she their mother? The hybrids?”

“Yes.”

Brynn closed her eyes as disgust assaulted her. She couldn’t imagine the life Chelsea must have had, or the things that had been forced upon her. She also had one more question before she needed to find a place to vomit. She met his gaze, repelled by all of the emotions she saw there. “Are you Fiona’s father?”

His silence was her answer.

My father is a rapist and a killer. Please, Avesta, give your daughter strength.

“How could you?” she whispered.

“My wife was infertile.”

The seeming non sequitur threw her for a moment. “My wife” had to be Brynn’s mother, but—“What do you mean?”

“You know the importance of offspring to a Magus. The woman you called your mother was infertile. We realized this too late, though, and we were already married. Because of my own father, I was due a seat as Prime Magus and the scandal of a divorce would have ruined me. Her parents were too well placed to risk it.”

She shook her head, not understanding—no, she did understand. “She was infertile because she was half loup garou?”

Archimedes sighed. “No, not that. She was fully Magus, but her eggs were not viable. I could have taken a mistress and risked an inappropriate power match, but the idea did not suit me or your mother. When the Hybrid Project was presented to me, I saw an opportunity to serve myself, as well as our people. We borrowed a scientist who was doing what was, at the time, groundbreaking research in in vitro fertility treatments. He created embryos from my sperm and Chelsea Butler’s eggs, and he implanted them in my wife. Ten months later . . .”

“Fiona was born.” Brynn spat the words, their shape disgusting on her tongue.

“Fiona was born, yes.” He smiled sadly. “And about three minutes later, so were you.”

If she hadn’t been sitting down, Brynn was certain she would have fallen over. Her heart slammed against her ribs so hard she was afraid it might rip through flesh and bone and explode. Everything tilted. She could have handled the idea of Fiona being her half-sister, sired by her father and a loup garou. She wasn’t sure how to deal with this—knowing that Fiona was the twin sister she’d been told had died just after their birth. That her birth mother wasn’t her biological mother, and that both women had been involved in a horrible experiment in genetic manipulation.

“Are you all right, dear?” a stranger’s voice asked. An elderly woman leaned over the table, her lined face full of worry.

Brynn blinked at her, wanting to scream that nothing was all right, and it would never be all right again. Only the lady was being kind, and Brynn would never do such a thing. She struggled to find her voice. “Bad news,” she said.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you need anything?”

She glanced across the table at her father’s empty chair. He’d dropped his bomb and fled the destruction and its aftermath, the coward.

“She’ll be fine,” a new voice said, even as a familiar body slid into her father’s vacant chair. Fiona smiled up at the old lady. “I’ll take good care of my sister, don’t you worry.”

Chapter Twenty-two

Rook applied the old “a watched pot never boils” adage to his cell phone, after he’d spent an hour staring at it over breakfast. Brynn would call when she had information and was able, not because he willed it so.

He tried distracting himself by playing his guitar. First in his room, then downstairs in the library, and finally on the back patio. His fingers couldn’t find the chords no matter his physical location. His heart wasn’t in the music—not while part of his heart was in Philadelphia. He gave up feeding his own needs and decided to see to his town’s.

Despite the lack of action last night, town residents were still on edge and nervous. It didn’t help that their White Wolf was as agitated as everyone else. Rook did his job as a son of the Alpha by walking around town, chatting with his people, and just being present. He hadn’t done a good job of this since his return from college three months ago; he’d spent more time begrudging his lost music career than he’d spent winning the affection of the run. An affection and loyalty that Bishop had been given for years, because he’d worked for it. The run trusted him.

Rook genuinely liked the socializing part of his role as the Alpha’s son—a role he would still have as second to Bishop. Gray Wolves becoming Alpha was not impossible, it was just very rare. Bishop had the intelligence and training to be a good leader. Physically, he was almost as strong and fast as Rook. And everyone respected him, deferred to him, looked to him to lead when Father wasn’t present. Bishop’s voice was father’s. Rook was the prodigal son who’d come home tattooed, full of holes, and oozing resentment for his broken career. He was respected out of duty, not because he’d earned it.

Bishop deserved the position of Alpha. He’d already struck up a friendship with Jillian Reynolds, the next Delaware Alpha female, and those relationships were useful to have. He was unmarried and unattached, but he’d have no trouble finding a suitable wife to take the position of the Alpha female.

Rook, on the other hand, was falling in love with a half Magus.

He checked on the Potomac survivors, as well. Seeing only a handful of faces from the crowd he’d sang with a few precious nights ago physically hurt him. Iris had survived the attack, and she hugged him for a long time while she cried.

Afterward, he found himself wandering in the direction of Dr. Mike’s house—the one place he was always sure to find Knight. The house was unusual to the others in that it had a second floor balcony directly above the front porch, and Rook’s pace slowed when he spotted two figures sitting up there. Shay was easy to identify by the thick tangles of her strawberry blond hair. She was stretched out on a lounge chair, covered in a blanket, face turned up to the sun.

Knight sat next to her, holding one of her hands. His lips were moving, the words lost in the distance between them. Their actions spoke pretty loudly, though. The gentle way he touched her. The calm way she seemed to speak. Rook held no hope that Knight had confided in Shay, but he was glad his brother had found someone to focus on while they searched for the hostiles.

The front door opened and ejected Devlin Burke, bandage free and seeming back to his old self. He spotted Rook as he trotted down to the sidewalk and veered toward him.

“You look better,” Rook said to his friend. “Sorry I didn’t come visit.”

They hugged briefly, then stepped apart. Devlin grinned and popped his knuckles. “Knight told me you had your hands full. I’m good now, anyway. I shifted last night and again this morning.”

“Good.”

“First one hurt like hell, but I guess that was expected, huh?”

Rook nodded. Even though it was common knowledge that shifting sped up the healing of physical injuries acquired in skin, the method was rarely used in Cornerstone because of the additional pain involved. Aside from the occasional testosterone-fueled brawl over a woman, serious injury was uncommon. Unless insane vampire hybrids were trying to kill them.

“What’s wrong with you?” Devlin asked. “You look like someone just smashed your favorite guitar into little bitty pieces.”

Going on gut instinct that Father would want Devlin brought up to speed on everything he’d missed overnight, Rook gave him the condensed version, including Brynn’s quest for information. Devlin listened without interrupting, absorbing the information, and nodding along when appropriate.

“The little witch has guts, huh?” Devlin said when Rook finished. Only knowing Devlin for his whole life kept Rook from being insulted by the “witch” comment. Devlin was a good fighter and loyal to the end, but he was never deliberately cruel, and it came off like a favorite nickname.

“Yes, she does.”

“I’m shocked you let her go.”

“It wasn’t my place to stop her. This is something she has to do.”

“Well, here’s hoping she comes up with something useful.” Seeing Rook’s glare, he added, “And gets back safe and sound.”

“That’s the part that worries me.”

“Hold on, stop the presses.” Devlin planted his hands on his hips and smirked. “You’re falling for the little witch. Aren’t you?”

Rook opened his mouth to shut him down, only his phone chimed with a text message. He yanked it out of his pocket. The return number wasn’t familiar, despite the Pennsylvania area code.

I can’t help her now, but you can. Reading Terminal Market. Tell her I’m sorry. –AA

“AA.” Archimedes Atwood.

“Her.” Brynn.

Pulse racing, he thumbed open the attached photo, not even caring how Atwood got his cell phone number. Not when the photo opened. It showed a busy dining area in what had to be Terminal Market, with two black-haired women sitting across from each other at a table.

“Is that your witch?” Devlin asked. “Who’s she with?”

Rook nearly choked on the name. “Fiona. Damn it.”

“Where’s Reading Term—?”

“Philadelphia. I have to go.”

Devlin grabbed his arm in mid-lunge and nearly separated his shoulder. “Wait a sec, pal.”

“Are you seriously going to try to stop me?” Rook turned a murderous glare onto his friend.

He let go of Rook’s arm and stepped back. “No way. I’m going with you.”

“Fine.”

“You gonna tell your father?”

“When we’re on the road.”

Devlin blanched. “Great.”

* * *

For the first time in her life, Brynn had lost all control over her own body. She wanted to scream for help. She wanted to get up and run away from the table. She wanted to reach across it and choke Fiona for everything she’d done. She wanted to react and all she could do was stare.

Fiona settled back in her chair and licked the dripping side of an ice cream cone. “I’d ask if I ruined the surprise for you, but I saw you talking to our dad before,” she said, her tone as breezy as her posture. “And I saw your face after. Bet you didn’t see that one coming, huh?”

Brynn couldn’t find enough air to speak, even if her vocal chords weren’t frozen. Logic failed her. Nothing made sense anymore. Not the voices talking around them or the shape of the table, or even the color of the ice cream. She felt like she’d fallen down the rabbit hole into a world where nothing was as it should be, and everything was backward. Up was down. Black was white. Her dead twin sister was alive and a mass murderer and sitting in front of her.

“Relax, B, I’m not going to kill you,” Fiona said. “I made a deal with Daddy, remember? I may be a little high strung, but I keep my promises.”

The familiar way Fiona spoke to her, as if they had some sort of sisterly bond, sent a pulse of revulsion through Brynn’s chest. She wanted Fiona away from her—not because she was a hybrid, which would be beyond hypocritical at this point, but because she was a cold-blooded killer. Possibly even insane.

Her overwhelming disgust for Fiona, however, did not halt the desperate questions racing through her mind. “Why?” Brynn choked out. “Why did they keep me and not you?”

“Oh, that.” She wiped a streak of chocolate ice cream off her nose with the back of her hand. “Apparently, I was too obviously loup from the start. I got the loup smell, you got the Magus smell. Plus, you know, these.” She leaned forward and widened her eyes, showing off a pattern of brown and copper specks.

“But you inherited Father’s powers.”

“Some of them, yep. They’re pretty cool, let me tell you. I could melt the rest of this cone into cream in two seconds flat, but I’d rather eat it than wear it. Daddy couldn’t hide me in plain sight like he wanted, but I guess they decided they could pass you off as normal. Too bad your powers kind of suck.”

An odd pang of regret hit Brynn hard—regret for the life she hadn’t known with the sister she’d been told had died. And she quickly shoved that regret away. Fiona was a killer, period. They might be related by genetics, but they were not family.

Rook’s my family.

“I can see you thinking,” Fiona said. “Asking yourself all kinds of questions. If it helps, I didn’t know about you until my—until my contact told me that a baby Magus named Brynn Atwood was helping out the Cornerstone dogs. It made me a little suspicious of our old man. And then you showed up at the trailer and I got a whiff of you. Who knew we had so many long-lost siblings?”

She means Shay Butler. Sweet Avesta, Shay is my half-sister.

The Butlers had been her family, which made Stonehill, in many ways, her community as well. Brynn’s entire body rippled with rage for those lives lost, and for the lives her twin sister was still bent on ruining.

“Don’t look so disgusted, honey.” Fiona seemed to be enjoying the one-sided conversation. “The loup garou are animals. You’re a fool for casting your lot with them. You never knew her, sweets, but our father treated our biological mother like a queen, which is more than her own people did.”

Brynn shook her head. That wasn’t right. Chelsea Butler was a White Wolf. She’d been treasured by her run and mourned when she was taken. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“She speaks!” Fiona dropped her half-eaten cone onto the table, oblivious to the mess it made as it splattered. “It means I’ve seen proof that Andrew Butler sold his wife to the Magi for half a million dollars. Money that is in trust for his daughter Shay and accessible on her thirtieth birthday.”

“But that’s—” Brynn didn’t know what it was. Archimedes all but admitted to kidnapping Chelsea not ten minutes ago. White Wolves were too valuable to a run’s healthy existence for any Alpha to sell theirs—especially not their own wife. And Fiona was just crazy enough to make up such a story. “I don’t believe you.”

“Then don’t believe me. I know what I know.” She clasped her hands and rested them on the table and leaned over; she grinned like a kid about to spill a big secret. “I also know the Magus you thought was your mother, the witch who gave birth to us, didn’t die of natural causes. She killed herself when she found out what Daddy impregnated her with. She found out what her precious baby Brynn really was.”

Brynn couldn’t take any more. She tried to stand, only her feet didn’t want to work. Her knees didn’t lock. She pushed back in her chair, as far from Fiona’s tainted words as she could get. She was cold all over, numb inside, thoughts racing too quickly to catch and decipher. She pressed her palms into her eyes to stave off frustrated tears. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Telling you the truth? Because the truth is a powerful weapon, B. Our father lied to us about a lot of things for our whole lives. But he’s a fool, and he’s losing his power over both of us. It’s time to stand on our own two feet, don’t you think?”

“I’m doing that.”

“By playing in the dog pen? The loup garou are weak-minded animals. You and me? Us and the triplets? We’re the strong ones. The Magi think we’re pets on their leash, but we’ll prove them wrong very soon. You should be with us, with your family. You’ll be an aunt, sister.”

Brynn’s blood froze. Fiona and Victoria had been alone with Knight for over two hours. Had more happened than he’d admitted to? Or was Fiona speaking in future hypotheticals?

“You can’t stop us from taking what we want,” Fiona continued. “And neither can his family. We will kill every dog in Cornerstone to get Knight back, starting with his brothers, and that’s a promise.”

“Why?” Yes, it was an incredibly stupid question. Far beyond the obvious reasons for wanting Knight, Brynn didn’t understand what motivated Fiona to go to such murderous extremes. She needed to understand if she was going to stop Fiona from reaching her goals and killing more loup, and she willed herself to pay attention.

“Power, dear little sister. You’ve seen what four of us are capable of. Can you imagine what we can do with more? It will take years, of course, to build a proper army. Once we have it, though? The Magi, the vampires, and the loup will be our slaves. Ours to control and torment. Ours to use as we see fit.”

Hate flickered past the amusement in Fiona’s eyes—the first genuinely negative emotion she’d displayed since sitting down. Curiosity got the better of Brynn, and she asked, “What did they do to you?”

“Do? They made me. They called it a lab, but it was the basement of some abandoned hospital in New Jersey. I was alone with our natural mother, Chelsea, until I was seven, when the triplets were born. Apparently the in vitro process had a high failure rate, and since your Magus adopto-mom had already offed herself, Chelsea was chosen to carry them.” For a moment, Fiona seemed sad. “Chelsea died when they were born. Their gestation destroyed her uterus, and the Magus doctor chose the babies over her, and he let her bleed to death. She was useless to them then, you know?”

Brynn scowled. “So much for the Magi treating Chelsea better than her own people.”

Fiona matched her glare. “The Magi didn’t sell her. She had every comfort while she was alive.”

“She was probably drugged out of her mind and didn’t understand what was going on. The Magi used her to create children to use as weapons. Do you really think she was okay with that?”

“Maybe she was drugged most of the time, but it doesn’t matter. She took care of me, she gave us our sisters, and now she’s dead. Let go of the past, B, and look at the future. The Magi’s power is waning, and we will be the mothers of a new generation more powerful than the last. You should be with us.”

“Never.”

“Don’t you want to be a mother one day, B? You know the White Wolf is your only chance for children.”

“It doesn’t matter. And any children he sires should be Knight’s choice, not yours.”

“This is where we disagree. His function is not as a partner or a parent. He’s a sperm donor, a tool necessary for the survival of our kind.”

“We don’t have a kind, Fiona. We’re experiments. We’re unnatural.”

“We are perfectly natural. The only thing unnatural about us is that we’re subjugated to the whims of others. But that’s going to change very soon.” She gave Brynn a pleasant smile. “Maybe I won’t kill Knight’s brothers after all. I mean, a girl has needs and the triplets are much more interested than I am in being mothers. Maybe I’ll keep the brothers around as pets.”

Brynn’s temper surged, melting the ice in her veins and setting her on fire. Every loup instinct inside of her reared up, desperate to protect Rook from Fiona’s threats. She couldn’t bear the idea of Rook chained up as a sexual slave to Fiona. Such a fate would kill him—and Brynn, as well. Hatred for Fiona began to clear her mind and lift the haze of shock she’d worn since the moment Fiona sat down.

Fiona ran her finger through a puddle of melted ice cream. “Methinks I struck a nerve. What value are the lives of three loup garou to you? Or is it one in particular? Does my little sister have a crush?” She inhaled deeply through her nose. “Ah, there he is.”

“Don’t.”

“You smell of the youngest. Rook.” She giggled, the sound so sharp it was almost an hysterical cackle. “I suppose you have a choice now, B. Join me and keep him, or fight us, lose him, and I’ll keep him.”

Brynn surprised herself by maintaining perfect calm. A bizarre sense of peace had settled over her, allowing her to think clearly. She would not lose Rook to Fiona, but she was never going to join her half-sisters in their quest to populate the world with Knight’s children. She needed to buy some time. She need Fiona distracted from the idea of attacking Cornerstone, even if only temporarily.

“What if I deliver Knight to you, without the violence or the fighting?” Brynn said before she’d fully considered the consequences of her offer.

Fiona snorted. “You can’t deliver on such a promise, and I don’t believe you, anyway.”

“I am falling for Rook. You’re right about that, and I’ll do anything to keep him safe.”

“Let’s pretend I believe you’re serious. What’s your offer?”

“Knight loves his family, and he wants to protect them and his town. If you give me your word, sworn on your own life, that you will spare the lives of every loup garou in Cornerstone, I believe he will come to you willingly. He’ll see the value in the needs of the many, but only if he truly believes in your promise.”

Fiona was silent, eyes seeming to search for any hint of deception in Brynn’s. “You’d be the bearer of this promise and deal? Even though brokering it may cost you Rook’s affections?”

“Yes.” No hesitation.

“He may hate you for this.”

“I don’t care. He’ll be alive and free and that matters more.”

“A very mature response. You do know, though, that Knight’s family won’t let him make the deal. They’ll tie him down to keep him from sacrificing himself, because they’re stupid enough to believe they can win this war.”

“His family won’t know. I’ll take your word only to Knight, and if he agrees, we’ll come to you alone. You’re right. His father and brothers will do everything they can to stop him.”

Fiona didn’t answer. She drummed her fingertips on the tabletop, a muffled beat lost in the commotion of the market. Brynn had all but forgotten about the people around them, going about their lives, while a negotiation for the survival of a town was held by two loup-Magus offspring at a tiny table between a deli and a fish market.

“There is a place outside of town where the loup are known to swim,” Fiona finally said. “If Knight agrees to this proposal, meet me there tonight. Midnight. Alone. Believe me when I say I’ll know if you’re being watched.”

“I do believe you. How will I convince him that you’re sincere? That you’ll leave the town alone if he goes with you.”

“Do you have a cell phone?”

“No.”

“Stay here. If you’re gone when I come back, the deal’s off.”

Before Brynn could acquiesce to or deny the request, Fiona stood up. She nearly tripped a woman behind her as she pushed away from the table and left the dining area. Brynn gave the passing woman an apologetic smile. She didn’t know what Fiona was up to, but the chance of ending this kept her in her chair. Minutes ticked by, and then Fiona was back with a cell phone in her hand.

She handed it to Brynn. Brynn pressed a key to turn on the main screen, and an image of two teenagers hugging each other illuminated itself. “You stole a phone?” Brynn asked.

“Borrowed,” Fiona said. “You can give it back to them tomorrow, if you want to. Now put it into video mode and tell me when you’re ready.”

Brynn recorded Fiona’s message on the stolen cell phone. When Fiona was finished, Brynn tucked the phone into her shorts pocket. Fiona had sounded perfectly sincere in her promise to spare Cornerstone any more violence if Knight gave himself up. Even Brynn believed her.

“I think we’re done here, little sister,” Fiona said.

“I agree.”

“Remember, midnight. Just the two of you.”

“Right.”

“If you betray me, Brynn Atwood, then Rook will die bloody and screaming. That is also a promise, sister to sister.”

Brynn closed her eyes against the assaulting mental images, and when she blinked them open again Fiona was gone. Brynn was risking a lot—more than was hers to risk. The moment she walked back into Cornerstone with Fiona’s offer, for better or worse, everything would change. She just hoped she didn’t screw up.

The wrong next step might cost them all their lives.

Chapter Twenty-three

Father was understandably annoyed by Rook’s decision to leave town with Devlin and then call to tell him what was going on. “I’d have told you take more men with you,” Father had said. Surprised, Rook had promised an update as soon as they found Brynn.

Driving and parking a car in center city Philadelphia was a nightmare of epic proportions. Fortunately, Reading Terminal Market had an attached parking garage at 12th and Filbert, where they left the car. After hashing a brief plan to split up and meet back at the same entrance in ten minutes, Rook slipped into the crowded market in search of his woman.

It didn’t even feel strange to think of her that way. Using his nose to locate her was pointless with so many odors in the air—yeast, shellfish, deli meats, sugar, spices, plus the individual scents of hundreds of humans—so he made do with his sharp vision. He checked female faces under shoulder height and probably looked a little stalker-ish in doing so.

He faltered at an intersection of stalls. His path led him forward, but instinct pulled him to his left so he altered course. He moved past a fish counter, toward a section of tables and chairs. A woman sat alone at one table, its surface streaked with something brown, her hair covered with a cheap red bandana.

Even from behind, he knew it was Brynn. He exhaled a deep, calming breath, despite the overwhelming urge to whoop for joy at having found her. He sent a quick text to Devlin, giving him her location. Fiona was nowhere in sight, but Rook still maintained alertness as he approached Brynn’s table.

She looked up just as his shadow crossed her lap. Her eyes were red, betraying that she’d been crying. He dropped to his knees and pulled her to him. She fell easily against his chest, her arms cinching tight around his neck. Her heart hammered against his, her breath ragged and uneven, and he held her. Felt her. Smelled her. Experienced her there, alive and unharmed.

“How did you know I was here?” she whispered.

He stroked her back and glared at someone giving them a funny look. “Your father.”

Brynn pulled back far enough to see his face. “He called you?”

“He sent me a text with your location and a photo of you with Fiona.”

She frowned, seeming perplexed. “How did my father get your cell number?”

“I have no idea and I don’t care. When I saw that photo, Devlin and I hit the road.”

“Hit the road? How long have I been sitting here?”

“For a while. Are you all right?”

“No, not at all. I feel as if my head is going to explode from everything I’ve been told today.”

“Told by Fiona?”

“And my father. He’s involved, Rook, so terribly involved.”

“Tell me.”

“Not here. I just want to go home.” She touched his cheek with a cool palm. “Back to Cornerstone. Please.”

“Okay.” He brushed a soft kiss over her mouth, happy in a deep down place his other fears couldn’t touch. “We’ll go home.”

Devlin found them a few minutes later, and he called to report to the Alpha as they headed back toward the parking garage. Brynn refused the front seat and curled up in the back for the ride home. She didn’t speak, just stared out the window, her expression passive. Her silence scared Rook. He wasn’t going to like whatever informational bomb she had to drop on them, that much was clear. Halfway down the interstate, her stomach growled loudly. Rook pulled off at the next rest stop for food, and she ate her cheeseburger value meal without comment.

Ten minutes from Cornerstone, she finally spoke up. “I need to talk about something, but only to a few people, Rook. You and Knight. Your father. Bishop.”

Rook glanced into the rearview mirror. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “If this is hybrid related, Mitch Geary will want to be there.”

She considered the comment. “All right. No one else. More can be shared later, but for now, no one else.”

Rook looked at Devlin, who shrugged, not insulted at being left off the guest list. As an enforcer, Devlin worked on a need-to-know basis, and he was smart enough to know when his help wasn’t needed. He did, however, make the call and reported that everyone would be waiting for them in the library at home.

“Thank you,” Brynn said, then pressed her forehead to the window glass.

Rook ached to do something to remove the invisible weights holding her down, to soothe the pain etched around her eyes. He wanted to fight the monsters in her head that kept hurting her and to make everything all right again. And he couldn’t do anything except drive a damned car. Even after they arrived and walked from the car to the house, she kept her distance. Whatever information was inside of her head had created a bubble that did not allow anyone to get close, and it made Rook more nervous than ever.

The usual suspects were in the library when he and Brynn arrived. The two leather smoking chairs were empty. Rook shut the door, and they sat down. He angled himself toward Brynn, nearly jumping out of his skin to know what she hadn’t told them for the last two hours.

“I take it your trip yielded some answers,” Father said gently, probably trying to kick-start the conversation.

“Many more than I expected, yes,” Brynn replied. She described following Archimedes from Chestnut Hill to the market, then observing his interaction with Fiona. That small part of her narrative cemented Rook’s own suspicions about the Magi’s involvement with the hostiles—only she wasn’t finished strafing the landscape with information grenades.

“Chelsea Butler was definitely the biological mother of Fiona, Victoria, and the other two sisters. Both my father and Fiona verified that, although there’s a discrepancy in exactly how she found her way into the Magus’s hands.”

“What do you mean?” Father asked.

“My father claims she was taken from Stonehill, which is what you’ve always suspected. Fiona claims that she was sold to the Magi by her own husband, and that the money is in trust to Shay.”

A round of furious exclamations went up, including one from Rook. No loup garou in his right mind would sell a White Wolf to anyone, much less to a Magus. Yes, Whites were occasionally sent to live in other runs, but no money was ever exchanged. The idea was ludicrous.

“That’s simple enough to verify,” Father said. “Did she mention the name of the trustee?”

“No, but Fiona says she has the proof.”

“And I won’t believe it without seeing that proof,” Mitch Geary said. “No Alpha would do such a thing, not to his mate and certainly not to a White Wolf.”

“Is Chelsea Butler still alive?” Knight asked.

Brynn shook her head. “She died when the triplets were born, about seventeen years ago. Carrying them killed her.”

“So besides Shay, Fiona and the triplets are Chelsea’s only other surviving biological offspring?” Father asked.

“No, there’s one other.” Brynn’s face went stark white, and Rook’s stomach plummeted even before she finished her answer. “Me. Fiona is the twin sister I was told died just after our birth.”

The shocked silence in the library was a living thing, filling in all the gaps of air and choking Rook on its fumes. He couldn’t think beyond two words that echoed around in his brain, making no real sense: me, sister, me, sister, mesister, mesistermesistermesister . . .

A harsh sob ripped from Brynn’s throat. “I didn’t know, I swear. I swear to you all, I didn’t know.”

Rook believed her, he just didn’t know how to say it.

Father found the words. “I believe you. Your entire life has changed in only a few days. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now.”

Brynn wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. “My father hates the loup garou. He’s said so before, but today he drove that point home. He thinks you—we—are animals that need to be thinned out in order to be controlled. The hybrids were intended to be their method of shrinking the loup population.”

“By slaughtering us one town at a time?” Geary asked.

“No. The intention of Stonehill was to kill only a few, but to make it look as though Potomac committed the crime. They wanted to turn the runs against each other and start an internal war.”

“To keep their hands clean.” Geary snorted in disgust. “Typical.”

“The Congress did it once before.”

Rook sank deeper into his chair as she told them how the Congress manipulated the loup garou into destroying the vampires. Tempers in the room piqued. Knight looked like he was going to explode.

“So the Magi have lost control of their experiments,” Father said.

“Yes,” Brynn said. “Fiona is convinced that we, as hybrids with no human blood, are far superior to the other races. She’s also convinced that the next generation will be even more powerful. She won’t stop coming after Knight.”

Father growled. “She’ll have a hell of a fight waiting for her.”

“She did make an offer.”

“I won’t bargain with her.”

“I’d like to hear it,” Knight said. He leaned forward, shoulders hunched, elbows on his knees. He was pale, his eyes lined with dark circles, but he seemed determined. “What’s her offer?”

Brynn pulled a cell phone out of her shorts pocket. She tapped a few buttons, then put the phone down on the coffee table. Rook moved forward at the same time as the others, and they huddled around the recording.

Fiona’s face smirked at them from the small screen of the phone. A blast of background noise made his ears ache until he adjusted to it. “I know I don’t need to introduce myself to you again, Knight,” Fiona said, “so I’ll just say hey, handsome. I miss you.”

She made obnoxious kissy noises at the camera, and Knight shuddered.

“You know why I want you, and you know what I’m capable of. I’m sure you don’t want to see your precious town reduced to a pile of dead bodies, or your brothers chained up as my personal pets, so here is my offer. You give yourself to me without a fight, and I’ll spare your town. Neither I, nor my sisters, will attack your family or friends ever as long as you cooperate. Brynn has my permission to share this recording with them after you’re in my custody, so that they don’t try to find you or steal you back.

“If you agree to my terms, she knows when and where we’re to meet. Tell anyone else before that time, and she also knows the consequences. You can save six hundred and fifty lives tonight, Knight. Or you can all sleep with one eye open from now on, always wondering who will be picked off next. Your choice.” She smirked. “Daddy.”

The recording stopped.

“God DAMN it!” Knight snarled. He pushed back from the coffee table and stormed to the other side of the library. His rage filled the room, washing over all of them in the worst possible way. Rook battled to keep a lid on his own temper as Knight’s empathy struck at him from all directions, sharp needles stabbing at his control.

“This is bullshit.” Bishop radiated danger. “Fiona has to know we won’t accept her deal. She’s more insane than I—”

“It wasn’t Fiona’s idea,” Brynn said.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. Rook stared at her, cold all over, horrified by the answer he knew he was about to get. “Whose idea was it?” he asked.

“She’s a fanatic, Rook. She absolutely believes in what she’s doing. She will kill every person in this town, and in any town he flees to in order to get Knight. It’s horrible and it’s wrong, but that’s what will happen.” Her voice broke. “I couldn’t stand the idea of her—of you—so many lives have already been lost. The exchange was my idea.”

A chill wormed down his spine to settle in his guts where it simmered with anger. For the first time since they met, Rook didn’t recognize her. Even when she had accidentally poisoned him he hadn’t felt so completely betrayed. Played for a fool. Had she really gone off to bargain with his brother’s life?

“You had no right,” Father said, his voice sharp enough to slice iron.

Tears streaked her cheeks. “I know.”

“Yes, she did,” Knight said. Every head in the library turned to look at him. His rage had melted away into some odd mix of anxiety and exhaustion that made him look seven years old. He put his hands on the back of the sofa and leaned forward, eyes on Brynn. “She had every right. Brynn was protecting her family.”

“What family?” Rook asked. Brynn flinched away from him.

“Shay,” Knight said. “Shay is her half-sister. Right?”

Brynn nodded, her silent tears falling harder.

“Regardless,” his father said, “there’s no deal to be made here.”

“Shouldn’t that be my call?” Knight asked.

Father stood and turned around. “Son—”

“No, Dad. No. This is about me, and believe me, I understand what to expect if I go with Fiona.” He shook his head, limbs loose, too calm for Rook’s comfort. Rook stood up as Knight kept talking. “She’ll hold this town hostage and drive us insane with fear, never knowing who’s going to die next. She’ll pick people off and leave them in pieces as a warning until the entire run hates me for hiding behind them. I can’t live with that, not when I can save all of you. I’m just one man.”

“You’re not just one man.” Father strode around to the other side of the sofa and grabbed Knight by the shoulders. Made him face him. “You’re my son.”

Knight straightened his spine. He exuded a kind of peace Rook had never seen from Knight before, and Rook knew with heartbreaking clarity that his decision was made. “I’m very proud to be your son. You taught me so many things, including when to put others before myself. This is the right decision.”

Bishop stood up, horrified. “You’re going to go with her.”

“Yes.”

Rook sat back down hard enough to jar his teeth. This couldn’t really be happening.

“I could order you to not to go,” Father said, his voice rough. “I could lock you in a quarterly cage until this is sorted out another way.”

“You could.” He covered Father’s hands with his and squeezed. Knight’s gaze was clear, his voice strong. “But I know you won’t. You know this is the right thing to do, Alpha.”

Their father visibly shuddered, but he didn’t disagree. He released Knight and stepped back, observing his middle son for a long moment. “As a father, I want to forbid this. But as your Alpha”—he swallowed hard—“I know you’re right.”

Their gazes locked for a beat, and then Father looked away.

“You know the details?” Knight asked Brynn.

“Yes,” she said.

“When?”

“Midnight. I can only tell you where, though. I’ve already broken my word to Fiona by allowing everyone else to see the video.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

She blanched. “For what?”

“For bringing all of this information back to us. We know much more now than we did before, about a lot of things.”

“And everything stays in this room,” Father said. “Everything about the Magi, the hostiles, and about Knight. Any information that needs to be shared will be shared tomorrow.”

“So that’s it?” Bishop asked. “We’re just letting him do this? No alternatives or backup plans? Nothing?”

Knight turned to face him. “What do you want me to do? Wear a wire? Draw Fiona out into some kind of trap? She’s insane, Bishop. The instant she suspects something, the deal’s off and you’ll all be targets again.”

“How do you know she’ll keep her word about not attacking us? She didn’t when you traded yourself for Rook three days ago.”

Rook couldn’t see Knight’s face, but he could imagine the black look that must have been there, because Bishop backed down. Knight sacrificing himself had to be tearing Bishop up inside. He’d always felt responsible for them, ever since their mother died, and he couldn’t protect Knight this time.

“We’ll have people watching as best we can,” Father said. “If we see a chance to take out all four of the hostiles, we’ll take it. But only all four. If even one of them gets away, the deal is for nothing, because they’ll just come at us again.”

Bishop nodded. The Alpha had spoken, and the conversation was over.

A chorus of voices agreed and bodies shuffled out of the room. Rook remained rooted to his chair long after the others cleared out, too astonished by the sudden turn of events to even think about moving.

Knight had made the choice to go with Fiona, but that didn’t change the fact that Brynn brought that choice to him. Brynn had offered Rook’s brother up as a prize, something to be bartered for peace and for the protection of her newly discovered half-sister, Shay. Rook tried to see it from the outside, as an Alpha might. Tried to justify offering the freedom of one man to save hundreds of others. Intellectually, he understood the decision and the need to consider it as an option. Emotionally, he despised the notion of a trade. Despised the entire concept of the greater good, when it took his brother away from him.

But despite his hatred of Knight’s decision, Rook knew it was the best move. Father was right to allow it. Rook also knew, in his heart, that he couldn’t have made that call. Maybe Bishop could have, but not Rook. He could never make the sort of difficult decision an Alpha often had to make for the safety of the run—not if it meant hurting someone he cared about.

And that, he realized, was okay with him. His future was not as Cornerstone’s Alpha.

Brynn, though . . . intentionally or not, she’d hurt him. The look on her face when she admitted the truth about Fiona’s bargain still haunted him. She’d been terrified to tell them she’d offered up Knight, and not because she feared a violent response. She had to have known what the bargain would mean to Rook—that it would devastate him—and she’d still acted in the best interest of the run, even though doing so might mean losing Rook’s affections. She’d made an Alpha’s decision.

The Little Magus Who Could.

He couldn’t accept what she’d done, but he did respect the risk she’d taken and the strength she continued to show, even as her own world crumbled down around her.

Rook looked at the clock on the wall—almost noon. By this time tomorrow, both of their worlds would be a very different place. He had to forgive Brynn. He also had to find a way to say good-bye to his brother. The new chords of his life had to mix seamlessly into an old favorite song, and he only had twelve hours in which to do it.

* * *

Brynn had excused herself to the safety of her temporary bedroom with the intention of curling into a ball and sobbing herself into exhaustion. Once she was alone, however, her tears dried up and left a cold, hollow feeling in her chest. She couldn’t erase the memory of Rook’s face—the way he’d looked after she confessed to planting the trade idea in Fiona’s mind. He looked utterly betrayed, as though she’d gone out of her way to stab him in the back and twist the knife as deeply as it would go.

Her intentions had been the opposite. She’d wanted to save Rook and his run, save them so he had a chance to be their Alpha one day. The anger in his eyes when he looked at her destroyed any hope of him loving her the way she’d started to love him. He would always blame her for Knight leaving. They could never go back to where they were half an hour ago, when he still trusted her. Still smiled at her.

At midnight, she would deliver his brother to her sister, and their lives would be forever broken. She couldn’t stay here in Cornerstone, not if Rook blamed her. She fully expected McQueen to ask her to leave in the morning, once her task was complete. She would ensure the safety of the Cornerstone run, and then walk away.

Except she had nowhere to go. Not fully loup and not fully Magi, she no longer belonged in either world. And she would never betray the McQueen’s by joining Fiona. She truly was alone.

She didn’t even have her rental car anymore. It was still parked on the street a block from her father’s house. The absurdity of it made her laugh, then laugh some more. Soon she couldn’t seem to stop laughing as a tsunami of emotions swirled up and out through tears and guffaws. She fell onto her back, clutching her aching stomach, until the laughter turned into soft choking sounds.

“Keep it together, Brynn,” she said to the ceiling. “Just for a few more hours.”

Brynn was protecting her family, Knight had said. Intellectually, Brynn understood what he meant. The knowledge had floated in the back of her mind for hours, an amorphous shape she hadn’t yet acknowledged for what it was. Shay Butler was her sister; they shared a biological mother. They both also shared a biological mother with the vampire hybrids who’d caused so much damage and heartache, and who’d nearly killed Shay.

I should go visit her.

But to say what? They had nothing in common beyond genetics. Brynn’s father was responsible for the death of Shay’s father, as well as the slaughter of her hometown. Those were not exactly sisterly bonding topics. No, Shay did not need her, and Brynn would not heap her own guilt upon the poor, broken woman.

The stairs creaked. She strained to listen, but couldn’t identify the footsteps shuffling across the wood floor toward her door.

The knock made her sit up. She brushed sweaty strands of hair off her forehead. “Come in.”

The door swung open and Rook stepped inside. He shut it, then leaned heavily against the door, the very picture of physical and emotional exhaustion. His hands dangled loosely by his sides. Only his eyes remained sharp and clear and fixed on her. She didn’t move, positive that any action would provoke him into whatever he’d come to her room to do—such as kick her out of his father’s house.

“How are you?” he asked.

Rook might as well have asked her a question in Chinese. The words made no sense to her terrified, stressed-out mind, and she just stared at him a moment before proving her idiocy by saying, “What?”

“How are you, Brynn?”

The question made sense this time, only it should be her asking him—not the other way around. “I’m frightened.” She had no reason to lie or hide her feelings. She would be gone soon, anyway.

“Of meeting with Fiona tonight?”

“That, and of what happens after. I hate what you must think of me right now.”

His face remained unreadable. “Do you think I hate you?”

“Don’t you?”

He pushed away from the door, and it took all of her strength to remain still and not shrink back from his approach. He loomed over her. “I don’t hate you. I’m falling in love with you, Brynn Atwood.”

Something squeezed her throat, even as a strange sense of peace settled over her. Warmth coiled in her belly. She smiled. “As I am you, Rook McQueen.”

“I want you. No one else.”

“Are you certain? What about being Alpha?”

He shook his head and traced the tip of a finger down her cheek. “Today showed me that Alpha is not my future. I can’t be that man. You helped me see that.”

“Me?”

“You stood up to Fiona and to my father, and you did so to save our people more suffering. Knight stood up and sacrificed himself for hundreds of others, and my father allowed it. Our Alpha chose the needs of the run over the needs of his own child, and I could not have made that call. I know it in my heart, Brynn. I’d rather fight a thousand loup if it meant my brother staying here, safe from those lunatics, because that’s who I am.”

“It was one decision.”

“One decision can change everything, and this is the best decision I have ever made for my people. Bishop will make an excellent Alpha one day, and I’ll be here to support him. To fight for him when he needs me.”

“You’re certain?”

“More than I’ve ever been in my life.”

“Swear to me this isn’t about us, because I’d hate myself if you resented me—”

“I swear this isn’t about us. Not wanting to be Alpha is about me and about what’s best for this town.”

Determination burned in his eyes, and it released a bit of the apprehension gripping Brynn’s heart. “I’m glad you know what you want.”

“I do. I can live without the responsibility of Alpha, but I can’t live without you. And I believe you feel the same.”

“I do.”

“You’re the song of my heart, Brynn.”

Joy filled her to bursting. Brynn stood and he reached for her, and then they were kissing. Nothing existed except for that kiss—the heat of his mouth, the taste of him, the strong thrust of his tongue. She opened for him, taking everything he gave her, letting him fill her senses completely. His hands closed around her waist and hauled her forward, crushing her breasts to his chest. Even through the thick denim of his jeans, the heat of his growing erection pressed into her belly.

She slid her fingers beneath his t-shirt and around to his back, touching bare skin and shifting muscles. Bare skin she wanted to see and explore. She wanted him, wanted to make love with him, wanted to be claimed by this Black Wolf who’d stolen her heart. Without meaning to, Brynn growled low in her throat.

Rook matched the sound. He lifted her and they went tumbling onto the single-size bed. He rolled her beneath him, then lifted up on his elbows to gaze down at her. His lips were wet, his eyes shone with delight and passion, and he breathed hard through his mouth. Brynn bent her knees until he settled between her legs, his erection cradled in the juncture of her thighs. He moved his hips ever so slightly, and despite two layers of denim, the pressure sent a jolt of arousal straight through her. Her scalp prickled and her pulse raced with anticipation.

“I’m going to make love to you, Brynn,” he whispered, his breath hot and moist on her cheeks. “Tell me now if you want me to stop.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He stole her breath with a hard kiss that promised he wouldn’t, then he sat back on his heels. Brynn watched him over the length of her body as he took off first her shoes, then her socks. He massaged each foot with gentle fingers, smoothing the red marks and making her laugh from the accidental tickles to her soles. She enjoyed the soft touches and tender care he was taking, but a deep, primal part just wanted him to take her. Make her his. Being a half-breed likely negated the Black Wolf’s instinct to claim her as his mate for life, but this wasn’t about the beast inside of Rook. This was a promise made between a man and woman for the future they both wanted together. She gave him an unsubtle hint by wriggling out of her t-shirt and bra and dropping both to the floor. Rook’s nostrils flared and his eyes widened. Her breasts weren’t large, but he looked at her as though she’d uncovered precious jewels. He bent down. The heat of his mouth closed over her right nipple, and she gasped. Her previous two lovers had never done such a thing, never cared so much for her pleasure.

Rook explored her breasts with care and intent, with kisses and bites that sent bursts of heat straight to her core. She gripped the bedspread with trembling fingers, unsure what to do with her own hands. She wanted to hold him down and push him away, to touch him and to touch herself. So badly she wanted to relieve the building ache between her thighs, to put pressure where she needed it most.

When he released her breasts and sat back, she whined. It was a horrible, unbecoming sound, and yet she didn’t care. He’d stopped. He reached back and pulled his own t-shirt off, revealing a tanned and chiseled chest, and beautiful abs that disappeared into the low waist of his jeans. The black lines of his tattoos crept down from his neck, across his right shoulder and curled around the bicep. She couldn’t read the Sanskrit design, but the marks were gorgeous and part of him.

He kicked off his shoes, then shucked his jeans and belt, leaving only his boxer briefs still on—briefs that outlined his erection and left little to her imagination. Her body clenched with anticipation; she wanted him inside of her. She pulled him down for another kiss, thrusting her tongue into his mouth to dance with his. He allowed her to control this kiss, to lick into his mouth and withdraw at her own pace.

Her fingers slid down his back, over shifting muscles and the ridges of his spine, to dip just beneath the waistband of his briefs. He groaned into her mouth, but did not drop his hips as she’d hoped. He stayed above her, out of reach, a delightful anticipation of things to come. She raised one leg and rubbed her knee against his ribs.

He made a sexy noise that burned through her senses. “God, Brynn,” he huffed. “Don’t know if I can make this last.”

She turned her head so she could nip his earlobe, and she tasted the metallic bite of steel. Her hands dug into the flesh of his buttocks. “Then make it memorable.”

He shuddered and groaned, and Brynn’s mind flashed briefly to the idea of protection. She was an extraordinary creature—half loup and half Magus, and even though loup-human half-breeds were sterile, and no one could say with absolute certainty that pregnancy was impossible. As far as she was aware, she and her sister were the first of their kind to exist, and the possibility of carrying Rook’s child did not frighten her.

He slipped off his briefs, and Brynn sat up to watch him stroke himself. His erection was startling in its simple beauty—a description she’d have never thought to apply to an erect penis. Not overly long or terrifyingly thick, the dark red length curled toward Rook’s belly, the head already glistening. Part of her wanted to taste him; the rest of her was too impatient. There would be time—please, Avesta, let there be time—later for more in-depth explorations.

“Lean back,” he said.

She did, her body quivering with anticipation and arousal, desperate for his touch. He hooked his fingers in the sides of her panties and pulled them down, revealing her in slow, deliberate inches. He dragged his fingers over her skin, down her thighs, past her knees, all the way to her feet, the persistent press against her skin setting her nerves on fire. He dropped the scrap of fabric to the floor, and finally they were naked together.

He gazed at her in way she had never experienced and had not anticipated—with utter adoration and mystification, as if he couldn’t believe the treasure he’d uncovered. She blushed under the intensity of his eyes, even as the lust in his smile gave her the confidence to open her legs a tiny bit wider.

He accepted her silent invitation with a soft growl—only he didn’t blanket her with his body as she’d hoped. He shocked her by putting her legs over his shoulders, cupping her buttocks in his hands, and licking the length of her sex. She cried out, unable to stop the noise, then slapped a hand over her mouth. Her insides clenched and white fire raced in her veins. He licked and kissed her in a way no one ever had, until she was writhing, keening, desperate for release. Her head fell back and she shut her eyes, unable to do anything but experience the pleasure coiling in her body.

His finger slid inside and pumped slowly in time with his tongue. He focused his attention on her clitoris, alternately sucking and nipping at the small bundle of nerves until Brynn was positive she would fly out of her own skin. Everything pulled taut, tight, and then burst in a rolling wave that began in her core and expanded out to touch every inch of her. Her body clenched and relaxed, her skin was on fire, her nerves sang with delight.

Rook coaxed her through it, until she could only gasp and quiver and mutter breathless thank-you’s laced with various profanities. He leaned over her, mouth glistening, pupils blown wide. She had no words, so she reached for his head, drew him down. He hesitated, then plundered her mouth in a dizzying kiss. She tasted herself on his tongue and lips—an odd flavor, proof of what they’d done—and she whined softly, desperate for more. To complete the journey they’d begun together.

He licked into her mouth once more, and then very gently turned her onto her stomach.

* * *

Rook brushed a lock of sweaty hair off Brynn’s shoulder, then kissed the back of her neck. Goose bumps prickled across her skin, and she giggled, a sound both adorably girlish and mind-blowingly sexy. He did it again, just to hear her re-create that melody.

He’d been surprised when she kissed him a moment ago. The last girl he’d gone down on and then kissed had shoved him away and gargled her beer. Unsurprisingly, their night had ended soon after.

Brynn was different. She embraced everything they did together. Her body responded to his touch in a way he’d never experienced before. She touched him the way music never could. This was what making love should be like, and he was dizzy with joy to have this with her.

He nudged her left leg, helping her bend it slightly toward her chest, opening her body for him. The air was scented with sex and sweat and an animal passion that prickled his scalp and put fire in his blood. She was his, and he was hers—mates in mind and spirit, and momentarily in body.

“Make love to me,” Brynn said. “Please, Rook.”

Arousal shuddered down his spine, straight to his aching cock. He curled his body around hers, cradling himself in the crease of her ass, her skin hot and damp beneath him. She huffed softly and rocked her hips. He groaned, then nipped at the cord of muscle between her neck and shoulder.

Rook reached down and lined his cock up with her entrance. His heart pounded in his chest, deafening his ears to everything except his own erratic pulse and rasping breath. Slowly, so damn slowly, he pushed inside her tight heat. He lost himself in the sensation of her body allowing him inside, of the way her hips moved and her torso shook, of the completely primal act of claiming this woman as his. His beast growled its approval. When he was fully sheathed, he stopped even though he wanted to move. He needed a moment to—

Brynn clenched around him, and he groaned. So much for waiting.

He withdrew almost to the point of leaving her completely, then drove back in. She said his name in a way that broke the last of his restraint. He snapped his hips, slamming into her over and over, as though the next thrust might take him wholly inside. She stretched her hands out beside her head and clenched the bedspread. Rook curled his own hands over hers and held tight. She thrust back against him as he plunged forward, creating a rhythm that sparked white fire at the base of his spine.

Back and forth, they moved together in an endless haze of pleasure and heat, creating a perfect song with their bodies. The fire in his spine coiled tight and then burst forth without warning. He buried his face in her shoulder to keep from screaming his release. His body shook from the force of it, and then he fell, boneless, on top of her. He didn’t want to move, buried so wonderfully in her body, so completely joyous and sated. His heartbeat slowly calmed and his pulse rate returned to normal, but he knew that the song, once again, had changed.

Mine.

He withdrew with care, stupidly pleased to have left some of himself inside of her. Marking her as his. Brynn turned onto her side, and he wrapped his arms around her from behind. She fit against him perfectly, and he wanted her there always.

As much as he longed to stay there in bed, surrounded by the musky scent of sex and the heat of Brynn’s body, he couldn’t. Not for long, not right now. Too many things were still unknown and undecided. He’d found Brynn and claimed her, but unless he discovered an alternative to their current options, tonight he would lose one of his brothers.

And that was just not acceptable.

Chapter Twenty-four

Knight didn’t want to waste his last few hours in Cornerstone on good-byes; he wanted normalcy. If he thought about tonight’s rendezvous in the context of potentially never seeing his family again, he would lose it completely. And the only way his father would allow him to do this was if Knight maintained an award-worthy external façade of calm and determination. No one could know about the chunk of cold dread that sat in his stomach or the fear stitching a pattern of ice around his heart. No one could know that he knew exactly the life that waited for him with Fiona and her sisters, and that he had no intention of submitting to an existence as their sex slave.

Too bad he couldn’t thank Brynn for her Magus ring full of poison. Or apologize to Dr. Mike for stealing it out of his home lab.

Dr. Mike had removed the miniature glass vial of poison from the ring’s jewel in order to test it, and only a tiny amount was left. The vial was the size of a kidney bean, small enough to hide in the back of his mouth behind his molars, and it seemed thin enough to shatter with a good, solid bite. Knight hoped it was enough.

Not to say that he was suicidal. The last thing he wanted to do was die. He wanted a chance to live a full life. He wanted to fall in love, marry, and have children. He wanted to watch them grow and worry if they’d be Gray or cursed White like him. He wanted to see Cornerstone thrive, to see his brothers grow old with families of their own. He wanted to share his run’s joy and hope and love. It simply wasn’t to be.

He’d given brief consideration to some attempt at dosing Fiona with the Magus poison, but her sisters might interpret that sort of aggression as him breaking their pact. Cornerstone would still be in danger, with the Trouble Triplets more eager to drop vengeance down on their collective heads. No, trading himself and then taking the poison was the best option—Fiona wanted him, but her video did not specify the length of time she was allowed to have him.

For the first time in his life as a White Wolf—few though his remaining hours were—Knight felt like he was in total control of his own existence.

The decision to accept Fiona’s deal had been the hardest and easiest decision he’d ever made. Fiona had declared war on his entire species in order to further her goal of creating some kind of master race of supernatural hybrids. Going with her tonight would save the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of loup garou—his Father and brothers and Shay included—and put a huge dent in Fiona’s plan when he took his own life via Brynn’s Magus poison.

The irony of the way everything had tangled together to give him a workable solution helped fuel him as he went about the rest of the day.

After his theft of the poison, he went upstairs to sit with Shay. She didn’t stir from her sleep when he sat down in the chair he’d come to think of as his. She only slept this deeply when she was sedated, which occurred more frequently than either Knight or Dr. Mike liked. Her mind was filled with horrors that surfaced when she tried to rest, which led to extreme bouts of agitation—all of which could lead to a forced shift if it wasn’t controlled. High doses of sleeping pills, carefully monitored, were the only way she seemed to get any real rest.

He liked sitting with Shay. At first, it had been a convenient excuse to avoid his family and their questions. He could hide up here under the flag of his duty as a White Wolf and use the time to not think about what Victoria had done. Now he came because he enjoyed being around Shay. Despite her injuries and the trauma she’d survived, he experienced an odd sense of peace when she was near. Peace he rarely felt from other loup and never so consistently. He longed for another White Wolf to speak with, to ask if they’d ever experienced such a thing. Had Father calmed their mother in a similar way?

He held Shay’s hand in his, absorbing that lifeline for a while, until Dr. Mike came upstairs and told him she’d likely sleep through supper. Knight thanked him, stayed with her awhile longer, and then kissed her forehead before he left.

The emotional temperature of the town was still at a feverish level, and Knight did his best to channel the turbulence around him. He visited the diner, the library, and several other businesses around town where large crowds had gathered for evening gossip. His own high spirits buoyed the spirits around him, giving the people he’d known his whole life—or likewise, their whole lives—a sense that things would turn out okay. Even if his high spirits were a complete farce.

No one outside of a secret circle of six knew what was happening tonight at midnight, and no one else could know. Devlin remarked on Knight’s strange good mood during their supper of burgers and onion rings at the diner. “Did you steal some antidepressants from Dr. Mike?” he asked, and Knight only laughed.

He hated not being able to tell his best friend the truth. Hated not being able to say a proper good-bye. They ate and joked and toasted their Cokes to O’Bannen, who had been an excellent enforcer and a good man who’d be missed.

Knight took an hour to slowly wander around the empty auction house, crossing floors he’d walked on since he was first able to toddle on his own two feet. He’d grown up here, surrounded by the hustle of auction day, the buzz of voices, and the bang of an auctioneer’s gavel. He remembered hundreds of auctions, thousands of pieces of merchandise, and more faces than he could ever recall names.

His only clear memory of their mother was in this room, probably within weeks of her death. It was auction night, cold and snowy outside, toasty warm inside. According to Bishop, Knight had been having a “toddler tantrum” and would not behave himself upstairs in the office. He wanted to sit with Dad up at “the big box and bang the hammer.” So after sorely testing her endless supply of patience, Mom took him down to the floor, marched straight through the center aisle to the dais, and plopped him down in her husband’s lap.

Alpha and auction house proprietor titles aside, Thomas McQueen knew when to not argue with his wife and life mate. Knight had spent the rest of the evening slamming down the gavel when Dad told him to and grinning like a prince at the audience—thus began a lifelong task of charming the buyers out of their money.

Knight walked up to the dais and ran his fingers over the age-polished wood. A fine sheen of dust had already settled over it. Considering the mix of treasures and trash that came through on a weekly basis, the building was never spotless, but he hated seeing this area unkempt. The only other time in his life that they’d shut down the auction for an extended period was after their mother died—no one worked for a solid month.

How long would Father shut it down for this time?

He slid onto Father’s stool, in the center between two others, where Father had held court for decades. Rows of empty chairs stared back at him, a hodgepodge of wood and plastic, old and new, very few that actually matched. They even had two sections of old movie theater seats on one side, the red velvet worn to bare threads, joints that squealed loudly when you put the seat down. The item tables were empty, waiting to be filled. Without people or merchandise, the building felt so empty. Lifeless.

He lost track of time as he sat there, tracing the edges of the gavel without picking it up. His father’s scent still lingered in the air and the wood and the thin seat cushion. Their combined scents permeated the auction house, just as generations of McQueens permeated every corner the land and soil of Cornerstone.

No matter what, his family would carry on.

The front door squeaked open. Footsteps shuffled down the entry toward the main room, lighter than Father’s, but heavier than Rook’s.

Bishop eased into view, hands deep in his jeans pockets, shoulders slumped as he scanned the room. He didn’t seem surprised to see Knight up on the dais.

“Thought I might find you here,” Bishop said.

“Why’s that?”

“Because when you were a kid and you wanted to be alone, you came here.”

Knight raised an eyebrow. “So naturally you came to keep me company.”

He shrugged as he approached, taking slow and measured steps, like he thought going too fast might spook Knight into running. “Maybe I wanted to be alone.”

“Do you?”

“I haven’t been great company this afternoon. Jillian almost punched me in the eye a few minutes ago.”

“Really?” Knight stared at his big brother, both shocked and impressed he’d managed to get such a violent reaction out of the even-tempered woman. “What did you say to her?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Hell yes, I want to know.”

Bishop eased his tall frame into a front-row seat and stretched his legs out. “Trust me, I was being an asshole and she didn’t deserve it.”

And all because of Knight. He sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.”

His brother’s love sifted through Knight’s mind and buoyed his courage.

Their eyes met, and a dozen things were said in silence. Apologies for not finding a different solution; for never taking the time to go fishing like they’d planned; for every fight, every slight, every misunderstanding. Nothing had to be said. With Bishop, he’d always spoken a simple language. Things either were or they weren’t, because that was Bishop’s way. This was happening. Bishop could hate it, but he wouldn’t waste words trying to change what couldn’t be changed.

With Bishop, not saying good-bye was easy.

Rook was an entirely different story.

* * *

The atmosphere in the McQueen house was that of a deathwatch, and as afternoon waned into evening, Brynn hated that she couldn’t do anything to ease the pain of father and sons. Even though her body still hummed with delight over those precious hours with Rook in her bedroom—and later in the shower—her mind kept turning to the awful task fast approaching. And she couldn’t prevent small doubts from creeping in alongside her joy—Rook forgave her today, but would he feel the same tomorrow, when Knight’s sacrifice was no longer hypothetical?

Supper guests not part of the plan—Jillian, Devlin, Dr. Mike, and a handful of enforcers whose names Brynn still hadn’t memorized—seemed confused by the subdued level of conversation over Mrs. Troost’s platter of barbecued ribs and corn salad. The mood could be blamed on the continued threat of the hybrids, or for those in the know, the recent confirmation of Shay Butler’s trust fund.

The trustee was a small holding company in Albany, New York, that was created three days before the trust agreement was signed. Brynn had confirmed without hesitation that the holding company handled private Magus financial matters—the name had appeared on her tutoring pay stubs. The information supported Fiona’s claim about the trust, but the timing of the company’s formation supplied reasonable doubt about Andrew Butler’s complicity in his wife’s disappearance. And with Andrew three days dead, they had reached a dead end with finding those answers.

Despite their churning thoughts, supper and dessert passed in peace, coffee was poured, and then the group broke up.

Keeping Jillian Reynolds in the dark was akin to stopping a speeding train.

She followed Brynn onto the back patio, where Brynn had hoped to escape with her coffee and watch the lightning bugs dance. Instead, she found her view of the backyard blocked by Jillian and her intense stare.

“You know what’s going on,” she said without preamble.

“You’ll have to be more specific than that,” Brynn replied.

“You know why Alpha McQueen and the others are acting strangely. It has something to do with your excursion to Philadelphia this morning.”

Brynn didn’t want to lie to Jillian, so she said nothing. She wasn’t certain what, if anything, Jillian had been told about the plethora of new information that Brynn had brought back. Everything would be revealed to Jillian, her father, and the other Alphas in the morning. Until then, Brynn would not break her promise.

“I know it’s not my place to question Alpha McQueen’s decisions,” Jillian said, “but I’ve been privy to everything else. I don’t like being kept out of the loop on this.”

“Jillian, if there is a loop that you’re outside of, then there must be a good reason for it. You just need to be patient.”

“I have no patience when loup are being attacked and murdered, and when I don’t know when to expect the next assault.”

Brynn wanted to reassure the woman that no assault should occur tonight, so she could rest easy, but she didn’t. Even that seemed like giving away too much. “I wish I could help you, I really do.”

Jillian huffed, which blew her straight bangs up from her forehead. She flattened them back out with an annoyed swipe of her palm. “I know. It’s inappropriate of me to be asking you to defy the Alpha’s confidence.”

“But you’re worried.”

“I am.”

“Things will be much different tomorrow, if you trust in Alpha McQueen and be patient.”

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, then said, “I only hope the change is a good one.”

Brynn had no answer.

* * *

As the evening passed and eleven o’clock approached, Rook made one last ditch effort to corner Knight, who’d done an amazing job of avoiding Rook all night long. He wasn’t stupid. They knew each other too damned well. Knight didn’t want him to try to change his mind, or to take Father’s idea and lock him into the quarterly room in the basement to prevent him from going to Fiona.

Not that Rook would stoop to kidnapping his own brother. No matter how much Rook hated it, this was Knight’s decision.

He used his nose to track Knight down and found him on the roof of the Smythe Building, in almost the same spot Rook had stood with Brynn the day before. He climbed off the fire escape and followed the path around. In the light of the three-quarters moon, all of Cornerstone spread out in front of them, dotted here and there with the occasional house light. So deceptively peaceful.

He stood next to Knight, his brother and best friend, and gazed out over the town they both loved so much.

“I’m glad you have her,” Knight said.

Rook didn’t have to ask who or what he meant. Knight would be able to sense the shift in Rook’s emotions since making love with Brynn—the joy of finding his mate, even under all of the anxiety and sorrow surrounding tonight’s plan. “Me, too.”

“Bishop will make an excellent Alpha.”

“Yes, he will.”

“And you’ll support him.”

“Always.”

“Do me a favor?”

Rook swallowed, wanted to tell Knight to take his favors and shove them because he wasn’t leaving. “Sure.”

“Play your guitar for Shay once in a while. I think music will help.”

Something hot pressed the backs of Rook’s eyeballs and he blinked hard. “I can do that. Maybe a nice folk song.”

“Good idea. When she’s well, I bet she and Brynn will have a lot to talk about.”

“For sure.” It wasn’t every day that you found out you had a long-lost half-breed half-sister. “When she’s stronger. And we’ll leave out Fiona.” Even saying the name sent a blaze of hate through Rook’s guts.

“Right.” He turned to look at Rook for the first time in the conversation. Even tempered by sorrow, the confidence in his eyes was unmistakable. “It’s getting late. We should go back down. I need to find Brynn.”

Rook started to leave. Knight grabbed his arm, and Rook stopped. Looked back. “Thank you,” Knight said.

“For what?”

“Not asking me to reconsider. Not making this harder.”

Rook’s throat tightened. A few months ago, the angry, petulant side of him would have done just that—would have been selfish enough to stop Knight from doing what he thought was right. But Rook had slowly shaved away that side of himself since returning home and going under his father’s wing as a candidate for Alpha. Maybe that position was no longer his to take, but the experience remained. He understood Knight better than he ever had before. His father, too.

He didn’t answer Knight. He just hugged him. Felt his heartbeat. Inhaled his brother’s unique scent for maybe the last time. And then he let Knight go.

* * *

Brynn found her destination easily. Rook had given her good directions to the head-shaped boulder that hid the footpath she needed. The path wound upward toward the slope of the mountains west of town. Her flashlight and the light of the moon guided her, until the gentle rush of the creek announced her arrival. Water flowed directly ahead, pouring out from between two rock crevices into a deep pool wide enough for swimming. At the far left end of the pool, the water poured out again into the branch of the creek that angled south.

She stepped into a small clearing covered in last year’s leaves and dropped pine needles. She imagined it was a lovely place during the day for a picnic; she also knew she would never be able to come here and share this place with Rook. There would be too many ghosts after tonight.

She checked the screen of her phone—the same cell phone Fiona had stolen that morning. Two minutes until midnight.

They’d agreed that Brynn would go ahead and ensure Fiona showed up, reconfirm the deal, and then call Knight. He and Rook were waiting in an old barn at the edge of town. McQueen and Bishop had to sacrifice their participation in order to keep up appearances with Jillian and the other enforcers. Jillian still believed an attack could happen at any time, so they were checking up on patrols on the other side of town while under the assumption that Rook was doing the same here.

She turned in a circle, scanning the woods for any sign of Fiona. The forest around her was oddly silent, almost unnaturally so. A branch snapped behind her. She spun to face north, opposite the creek. Shadows danced below the trees. Something red flashed in her eyes. She blinked hard, startled by the light. She looked down. A small red dot hovered over her breast.

She’s got a laser sight on me. Avesta, protect your daughter.

Brynn remained still, even as her insides began shaking.

“You’re alone.”

Fiona’s voice, directly behind her, startled a short scream from Brynn. She spun around to face Fiona, her face now as familiar as it was repulsive.

“You’re not,” Brynn replied.

“I never promised I would be.”

Brynn replayed their conversations and Fiona’s original deal. Fiona was right. During their negotiations, Brynn never insisted Fiona come to the meeting alone.

Foolish girl.

“Don’t fret, sister,” Fiona said. “It’s only insurance, in case anyone who isn’t you or Knight decides to show up. I hate party crashers, don’t you?”

“Knight agreed to your terms. He’ll go with you.”

“Then why isn’t he here?”

“We decided I would come ahead to make sure the terms are still in place. Knight goes with you willingly, without a fight, and you swear on your life that you and your sisters will leave the loup garou alone from now on.”

“Ah, ah, sister. The agreement was the dogs who live here in Cornerstone. This town is off limits.”

Worth a try. “All right, the Cornerstone run is left alone.”

“What about your part?”

“Not telling anyone except Knight?”

“Correct.”

Brynn looked her directly in the eyes, wary of the suspicion she saw there. “I was careful, and Knight knew the consequences of telling anyone else. His family is busy checking patrols on the other side of town.”

“Indeed.” Fiona circled Brynn widely, until they’d turned so the sniper’s red dot was back on her breast. “Your scent has changed, B. You get up to a little hanky-panky with one of the dogs?”

“My private life is not up for discussion.” She had no intention of telling Fiona about her relationship with Rook, or letting Fiona make her feel like a lesser person for it. She cared about Rook and was not ashamed of making love to him. She’d found a home in Cornerstone and would fight for it.

“Come on, sis. Rook is pretty adorable, and I’ve seen Knight’s equipment. We should compare notes.”

Brynn bristled, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. “I’d rather finish our business here and leave. You disgust me.”

Instead of getting angry, Fiona laughed. “Good news. You kind of disgust me, too, so we’re even. Yes, let’s finish our business. How do you get Knight here? Dog whistle?”

She held up the stolen phone. “I planned to use this. Would you like to see it first?”

“You know better than to cross me. Make your call, while I let my friend in the trees know we’re getting another guest.”

Brynn didn’t call. She typed out a text to Knight’s cell: We’re set. Her finger hovered over Send for just a moment, then she pressed it.

* * *

Knight’s cell chimed with a text alert. The phone was already in his hand, where it had remained clenched for the last twenty minutes or so. He and Rook had paced a circle in the dirt floor of the old Chesterfield barn. The Chesterfield property bordered the edge of the woods near the creek footpath, and the barn hadn’t been used in decades to house anything except dust, spiders, and the occasional raccoon. Large sections of the exterior walls had fallen away, giving them a good view of the mountains outside.

The main house was several hundred yards past the aged, rotting barn, and they’d prewarned the family that they would have night patrols near the property. The few other homes in sight were too far to overhear anything, or blocked by too many trees to see properly.

Ten minutes into their silent wait, Mitch Geary had shown up, his expression as solemn as theirs. He’d thanked Knight, promised to honor his sacrifice, and then asked for permission to stay. Knight wasn’t in the habit of denying any Alpha’s request, so he said yes. Geary was in a unique position to sympathize with their father, since Geary’s own son was out of his reach, having effectively kicked him out of town for being an asshole. Losing a child was a horrible thing for any parent.

Geary was sitting with his back to one of the old stalls, and he sat up a bit straighter when Knight got the message that it was time to go.

The text changed Knight’s tight stomach into a sloshing pit of acid, and he fought the intense need to bend over and vomit. He peeled his fingers away from the keys and typed back a reply: On my way.

He and Rook had already said their good-byes on the rooftop of Smythe’s, but he was glad to have his brother there now. Glad he didn’t have to walk into the woods with no one at his back. Knowing Rook was watching would give him the courage to walk without hesitation or fear.

“This isn’t over,” Rook said.

“Nothing is ever really over,” Knight replied. “The game is just changing a little.”

“A little?”

“A lot.” He gave his cell to Rook, then clasped his forearm briefly. Love flooded him from the touch, and Knight didn’t block the emotion. He took strength from it. “Don’t live for revenge, okay? Live for Brynn.”

Rook nodded, his wide eyes too shiny. Too scared and angry.

Knight let go of his brother, turned, and walked away.

Chapter Twenty-five

Brynn fought to remain silent and still during the waiting period. The laser sight over her heart had added a new layer of nervousness to the proceedings, and Fiona was just too relaxed for her taste. Fiona wandered the clearing, amusing herself with pinecones, fallen branches, pebbles from the creek—any number of things that might interest a small child with a short attention span.

Had Fiona ever spent so much time in the forest? Brynn hadn’t. She wasn’t fond of mosquitos, ticks, or insects in general, and she’d never spent much time outdoors. She’d never gone camping or rafting, and she only knew which tree was an elm because she’d studied the leaf shapes from books. She also had no idea what Fiona’s upbringing had been like. Fiona had mentioned a basement laboratory and not much else.

It didn’t matter. Brynn had no intention of sympathizing with Fiona’s lack of outdoor explorations. The woman was a sociopath and a murderer, and despite their genetic connection, Brynn would not shed a tear for Fiona’s eventual death.

A branch snapped and feet scuffed the ground along the path. Knight was making certain his approach didn’t startle anyone. Fiona jerked to attention and darted over to stand next to Brynn, grinning like a girl expecting a special present. Brynn shoved away the sudden urge to do her sister violence.

Knight appeared, walking with confidence and a flat expression that flickered briefly when he first looked at Fiona. He shifted his gaze to Brynn and did a once-over, probably checking to make sure she was unharmed. In the shadows cast by the moon’s light, he seemed acutely aware that the path he was taking would eventually break him. Brynn’s resolve fractured a little bit.

You’re doing this for Rook. For Bishop and their father and the rest of the town. Knight wants to do this. Don’t chicken out now.

“Hey, handsome,” Fiona said. She curled her finger at Knight, and he stopped an arm’s reach away from her. “Did you miss me?”

“Like a fever blister,” Knight replied.

Fiona frowned and clucked her tongue. “Now that’s not nice. We’re going to be family, baby, so we might as well try to get along.” She slunk over to him and draped herself around him from behind.

Knight froze, every muscle rigid, his face ablaze with hate. He glanced down and his expression shifted. Brynn followed his gaze to the sniper’s laser sight, which was shaking around, like the gunman’s arm had jostled. The sight steadied itself.

Strange.

Fiona stroked her fingers up and down Knight’s arms, then moved to stand next to him, one arm still slung over his shoulders. “I suppose there’s just one other item of business left to attend to,” she said to Brynn.

“Which is what?” Brynn asked.

“You lied to me.”

Her mind stuttered to a halt. “I what? When?”

“Oh come on, B, don’t play stupid, it doesn’t become you. I know you lied to me. More people than just you and Knight know about this midnight rendezvous, and that wasn’t part of the plan.”

Fiona couldn’t possibly know that. They’d been so careful with the information.

“I promised you that Rook would die bloody and screaming if you betrayed me, sister.” Fiona stepped away from Knight, her fingers already tapping out something on her cell phone.

Brynn stared at her in absolute horror, unable to understand what was happening. “I didn’t,” she said, the lie unbelievable even to herself.

Knight’s chest heaved, and he seemed caught between wanting to attack Fiona and needing to go back the way he’d come to protect his brother.

“It’s a shame, really.” Fiona pointed her cell at Brynn like a pistol. “You two made a cute couple. Oh well.”

The phone in Fiona’s hand exploded. She shrieked and dropped the bits of shrapnel left in her bleeding hand. Brynn’s senses took longer to identify the rifle report still echoing through the trees. She backed away from Fiona and circled closer to Knight. The laser sight was bouncing a bit, but it was definitely focused on Fiona now.

Knight was staring into the woods from the direction of the shot. “I’ll be damned,” he said.

Jonas Geary burst into the clearing, a scoped hunting rifle braced against his shoulder, the sight still fixed on a panting, bleeding Fiona. She clutched her damaged hand to her chest and glared at Jonas.

“Does someone want to explain to me why in the blue fuck one of my father’s men was up in a tree holding this on everyone except the bad guy?” Jonas snarled.

Fiona laughed, and the mocking sound sent chills down Brynn’s spine. “Because your father told him to do what I said, you idiot.”

“Damn it!” Knight said. He lunged sideways, preparing to run, but Jonas swung the laser sight onto him. He froze, incredulous.

“No way,” Jonas said. “Not until I know what the hell’s going on.”

* * *

Rook stared into the forest, as he had for the last few minutes, waiting for any glimpse of Brynn’s return. He’d already decided if she wasn’t back by twelve-thirty, he was going into the forest after her, consequences be damned. He barely acknowledged Geary when he said he was stepping outside for a moment. All he wanted was to see Brynn’s face again. To hold her while he came to terms with the idea that he’d never see Knight again.

Maybe.

They couldn’t rescue Knight directly, but Rook had no doubts that their paths would cross with Fiona’s again in the future. The lives he and his family had would never be the same. The song was changing, but that didn’t discount what they might have down the road. Rook needed to believe in that. He needed hope.

The rifle report, distant and muffled, sent a jolt of terror straight to Rook’s heart. He reached for his phone, not entirely certain who he was going to call. Something heavy slammed into him from behind—muscular, furry, reeking of sour pine and fish. He hit the barn floor hard with the weight on top of him, effectively knocking the air from his lungs.

Before Rook could dislodge the beast holding him down, long, sharp teeth sank into his shoulder, and he screamed.

* * *

Knight’s emotions had fluctuated so rapidly in the last few minutes that all he felt now was numb. Looking at Fiona again had made his skin crawl. Her touching him had brought up memories he’d tried very hard to suppress. The call about Rook had enraged him beyond higher thought, and now Jonas was holding them all at gunpoint while God knew what was happening back in town.

One thing was crystal clear in Knight’s mind: Mitch Geary was a dirty traitor.

“I should have known better than to try to bargain with a bunch of dogs,” Fiona said. Her hand was a mess, and Knight wasn’t entirely sure she still had all of her fingers.

“Please,” Brynn said to Jonas. “Please, someone’s going to kill Rook. I need to warn him.”

Jonas hesitated, then said, “Fine, you go. Only you.”

Brynn bolted.

Fiona whined. “You were all too stupid to realize you were always being watched. Too stupid, dogs.”

“Shut up,” Jonas said. “What did you say about my father?”

She laughed. “It’s amazing what fathers will do to protect their sons. And then the fool kicked you out of town anyway. Ha!”

Knight’s temper roared. Geary had struck a deal with Fiona, ostensibly to protect Jonas. Jonas seemed utterly oblivious to all of this, and Knight felt his confusion too keenly to suspect he was faking. The air felt suddenly warmer and it crackled with energy. The strong scent of bitter orange hit him.

Fiona flung her undamaged right hand in Jonas’s direction. The air between them shimmered. He fired the rifle in the same instant he was slammed backward. He screamed, and something sizzled and filled the air with the stench of burnt cotton and hair. Fiona screeched as the random bullet hit her in the collarbone, on the same side as her broken hand.

Knight rushed Fiona. He dropped his shoulder and hit her square in the stomach, sending them both sprawling into the dirt. Her head made a delightful thud as it cracked off the ground. He rolled away, toward Jonas, intent on that rifle. He stole it away from the semiconscious man, unable to think about the wide, blistered wound on Jonas’s throat and chest. Knight pivoted on one knee and came up in a perfect crouch, the rifle braced in his armpit.

Fiona was on her knees, right hand out to her side as though gathering more heat to throw around. Blood poured from the hole in her chest, and she sobbed through obvious pain and rage. Knight steadied the laser sight over her heart, grateful the rifle was an automatic and not single-action, and prayed it was fully loaded.

“Look who’s got the upper hand,” Fiona said in a bizarre singsong voice. “You gonna kill your brother’s girlfriend’s twin sister?”

Knight doubted Brynn had any sentimental feelings for Fiona, but Knight had never killed before. Not in battle or in self-defense. As a White Wolf, he empathized with people. He helped them. He didn’t purposely cause pain or take life—he was nothing like Fiona.

“By the way,” she said, “Victoria sends her regards. Daddy.”

Knight raised the rifle a few inches and squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Faster, faster, faster.

Brynn ran like she’d never run in her life, ignoring branches that scratched her and rocks that tried to trip her. She’d tried calling Rook and received no answer. She’d had enough sense and oxygen capacity to call McQueen next with a simple, “Get to the barn,” message, and then she ran faster.

She burst out of the forest at a dead run and angled for the barn. Snarls and shouts greeted her as she went inside through a large hole in the wall. She stumbled to a halt and nearly screamed.

Rook was crouched in the center of the dark barn, bleeding from more wounds than she could count, a broken piece of wood clenched in his hands like a baseball bat. Two shifted loup circled him, one black and one gray. The gray limped, and his coat was streaked with red along his left flank. The black noticed her arrival first and bared bloody teeth.

“Leave her alone,” Rook said with a primal growl.

The gray lunged at Rook. Rook swung the wood club and missed. The beast danced back out of reach.

Brynn’s entire body was on fire with a kind of hate she’d never felt before. Her skin buzzed with the need to fight, to protect, to save her mate. Her throat ached, and she released a furious growl that startled the two beasts in the barn. Without thought, Brynn grabbed a rusty shovel off the wall and charged.

The black beast ducked her swing, then snapped his powerful jaws around the shovel handle. He yanked, which knocked her off balance, but she held tight to the shovel. He twisted hard to the side and slammed his large hindquarter into her legs. Brynn fell, but she still didn’t let go of the shovel handle. She yanked hard and must have had a good angle to hurt his mouth, because the black wolf released the shovel. She whacked him in the face with the business end, and he yelped.

Rook screamed. The gray had him by the throat.

“No!” Brynn lurched to her feet, only to be knocked down again by the black. The dirty board floor scraped her knees raw, and her hip hurt from the blow. She curled toward the fallen shovel, expecting teeth to sink into her flesh at any moment.

A furious howl echoed through the barn and claws scraped across wood. She sat up and almost wept with relief. Three new shifted loup, two black and a gray, had joined the fray, all snarling their anger. They herded the attacking wolves to the other side of the barn, where the fight continued. She ignored the sounds of growling and squealing and other awful things, and she scrambled over to Rook.

He lay curled on his left side, panting hard, eyes open. Long gashes covered his legs and forearms, and one bisected the beautiful tattoo on his right bicep. She helped him roll onto his back. Horrified tears burned her eyes.

His left shoulder was a mess of ragged flesh and dirt-caked blood. The damage extended down his bicep to the elbow and up the side of his neck. Part of his ear was missing, and his hair was matted with blood and debris. A long cut came dangerously close to his left eye, which was slowly swelling shut. He looked like he’d been mauled by a wild animal—which was exactly what had happened.

Brynn yanked off her shirt, unconcerned with who saw her marching around in her undergarments, and pressed it against his shoulder. Rook hissed. His eyes rolled around, seeking something. She moved into his line of sight, then leaned down. He tried to focus, tried to speak.

“I’m here,” Brynn said. “I’m here, Rook, I’m here.”

The battle sounds behind them quieted, and the inside of her throat prickled. The sensation was similar to when Rook shifted for her. She wouldn’t look away from Rook to be sure. She kept talking, touching, kept pressure on that bleeding mess of a shoulder. “Help’s coming, I promise,” she said.

Thomas McQueen crouched on the other side of Rook, his hands and face streaked with blood, and completely naked. He swore violently, then gathered his son into his arms and lifted him as though he were a small child. McQueen didn’t speak, he just started to run.

Brynn followed him, barely able to keep up, as he raced through parts of town she didn’t know, through private backyards, on some crow’s flight path to Dr. Mike’s house. At some point, the other two beasts caught up with them. McQueen burst into the doctor’s office with a loud shout for help, then took Rook into one of the exam rooms.

Dr. Mike thundered downstairs within seconds, and Rook was lost to his care. Brynn stood in the foyer, shivering, panting, and breathless. Behind her, the two beasts were shifting back to human shape. She didn’t know what to do or what to think, so she waited until Bishop and Jillian urged her over to a couch and had her sit. Bishop opened a closet in the foyer and pulled out a few sets of sweats. He handed one set to Jillian, who put them on over her bloodstained skin.

Bishop offered her a sweatshirt, which Brynn clutched to her chest in lieu of putting it on. After he dressed, he sat down next to her and squeezed her hands. “Brynn, please, tell me what happened. Why did Alpha Geary and one of his men try to kill Rook?”

“Fiona.” Brynn explained what she knew in halting phrases, her mind still trapped in the barn. She was probably going into shock. Bishop and Jillian listened with growing incredulity as she told them about Fiona’s order to kill Rook, then Jonas killing the sniper.

“Knight and Jonas are still out there?” Bishop asked.

“Somewhere by the creek.”

“By your timeline, two more gunshots were fired after you left the creek,” Jillian said. “I heard the first as we were running, and the second as we arrived at the barn.”

Brynn hadn’t noticed the other shots. She’d been too busy trying to keep Rook from bleeding to death. She looked at the half-closed exam door, the urgent voices muffled. Rook might die. Knight could already be dead out there in the woods. And all of this would be for nothing if that happened.

The front door banged open. Devlin rushed inside, out of breath and sweating. “What’s going on?”

Bishop stood up. “I need you to stay here with Brynn.”

Devlin nodded, not even questioning the order. “Where are you going?”

“Jillian and I are going out to find Knight and Jonas.”

Devlin’s mouth opened, a question forming that he didn’t ask, even though he clearly wanted to. He stepped aside so Bishop and Jillian could leave, then crossed into the small waiting room.

“Are you injured?” he asked.

“Not really,” Brynn said. Her knees hurt and her right ankle was starting to throb—had she twisted it?

Devlin squatted in front of her and untangled her hands from the sweatshirt. She allowed him to help her put it on, unable to do it properly by herself anyway. He had to be so confused, and she couldn’t tell him anything. She didn’t know if Fiona was still a threat. Devlin stood up, then glanced at the exam room door and sniffed the air.

“How badly is Rook hurt?” he asked.

“He held off two shifted loup as a man.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Holy shit. It’s bad, then.”

“He lost a lot of blood. His father is in there, too.”

Devlin started to sit beside her. The exam door opened, and he jerked to attention. McQueen stepped out wearing only a blood-spattered surgical apron.

“Your cousin Winston is A-negative, right?” McQueen asked.

“Yes, sir,” Devlin replied.

“Get him. Rook needs blood.”

Devlin nodded and bolted, and McQueen returned to the exam room. Brynn couldn’t even speculate on how McQueen knew what Devlin’s cousin’s blood type was. All she knew was that Rook needed someone else’s blood because he’d lost so much of his own. She sank back against the sofa cushions, unable to do anything except stare at the door and hope—and hate her stupid Magus power for not seeing this betrayal coming.

Chapter Twenty-six

Coming down from the creek was an exercise in extreme patience for Knight, and he truly had none left. Jonas’s burn left him in screaming pain and was slowly making his throat swell. Instead of waiting for help to find them, they’d begun the long trek back to town with Jonas leaning against Knight for support. They kept a slow, plodding pace so that Jonas didn’t have to overwork his gradually closing windpipe and risk choking to death.

They’d left Fiona’s body where it fell in a bloody pile of bone bits and brain gore. The bitch could rot.

The forest footpath ended, and they circled around the boulder. Headlights flashed through the thin tree line, and a truck engine cut off. The lights stayed on, though, and Knight altered their direction.

“Here!” he shouted.

Two bodies crashed toward them through the underbrush.

“Knight?”

Bishop. The familiar voice loosened some of the anxiety sitting heavily on his chest. Jillian and Bishop ran toward them, both dressed in sweats they hadn’t been wearing earlier. They reeked of fresh blood and the sour tang of fear.

“Where’s Rook?” Knight asked, and Jonas followed up with, “Is he alive?”

Bishop snarled at Jonas. “He’s at Dr. Mike’s. He’s bad.”

“Jonas didn’t know,” Knight said. “Geary must have made a deal to help Fiona in exchange for not killing Jonas.”

“When?”

“No idea. Can’t you ask Geary?”

“I would, but he tried to kill Rook, so I ripped his fucking throat out.”

Knight shuddered. “Fiona’s dead.”

“Good.”

Part of Knight felt the same way. Another part of him was terrified of the way the remaining hybrids would react to her death. The night hadn’t turned out like he’d expected. The poison capsule he’d planned to use was still in his pocket, Jonas was back in their good graces, and Rook was fighting for his life.

Victoria sends her regards. Daddy.

His stomach sloshed. He gave Jonas a rude shove toward Jillian, dropped to his knees, and vomited next to a bush. Acid scorched his throat and tongue, and he retched until the liquid turned to dry heaves. Bishop was beside him, hands on his shoulders. He pulled Knight back from the mess before he could collapse into it, and they sat there in the dirt while Knight shook.

“Jillian,” Bishop said, “take Jonas to Dr. Mike’s, then come back for us.”

Knight didn’t hear if she replied, and he was only vaguely aware of the headlights disappearing. He felt like a fool for losing it so badly in front of Bishop. He also felt safe. Bishop wouldn’t make him talk about it, wouldn’t ask for details. He’d accept Knight was upset and do whatever he could to soothe the pain.

“It’s never easy,” Bishop said softly a few minutes later. “Taking a life isn’t easy.”

“She deserved it,” Knight said.

“Doesn’t mean you have to be okay with doing it.” Something in Bishop’s tone hinted that he wasn’t just talking about Knight’s kill tonight. Enemy or not, self-defense or not, Bishop had taken the life of a run Alpha. The action would have consequences.

They were waiting in the field when Jillian returned with the truck, and a scene of barely organized chaos greeted them at Dr. Mike’s. Word had gotten around, and dozens of people stood on the sidewalks and in the street, waiting for information. They were respectful enough to not pepper the trio with questions as they climbed out of the truck. The only people Knight didn’t immediately notice were the other enforcers, or the refugees from Potomac. Father was likely having the refugees detained by the enforcers until proof of loyalty was established.

Knight couldn’t seem to think past the need to hear Dr. Mike say that Rook would live.

Devlin was sitting with Brynn when they walked inside. They both looked up with spooked expressions, which changed to relief when they saw him.

“Rook’s getting blood,” Devlin said. “Your father is sitting with him while Dr. Mike sees to Jonas.”

Knight nodded, then walked over to the door with blood streaked on the knob. He knocked softly, then went inside without waiting for an answer. Father stood on the other side of the exam bed, one hand on Rook’s forehead. Father wore a pair of sweat pants and his bare chest and throat bore drying bloodstains. He looked old, older than Knight had ever seen, and he ached for his father.

Rook lay flat on the bed, his left shoulder and neck heavily bandaged, pink and red already seeping through the white here and there. He was beyond pale and too damned still, his only movement the slight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Two IV lines led into Rook’s right arm—one from a bag of clear liquid, and the other attached to Winston Burke’s vein. Winston sat silently in a chair by Rook’s bed, freely giving blood to try to save a life. Doing his duty as any good enforcer would.

Knight circled the bed to stand next to his father, who gazed at him with watery eyes, the joy and gratitude at having his middle son back clear in their copper-flecked depths.

“Fiona’s dead,” Knight said.

Father blinked slowly, then inclined his head toward the bed. “Geary did this.”

“I know. He was trying to protect his son.”

“So far that’s the only part of this I think I can reasonably understand.”

“You’re one up on me, then.” Knight touched Rook’s left hand, the skin warm and slightly swollen, and the only place on his arm that wasn’t covered in bandages. He felt no emotional backwash from his brother. Nothing at all. Such a deep level of unconsciousness frightened him. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Do you know why it did?”

“Brynn told you about the exchange. Geary was in the room when she did it. That’s how Fiona found out. She warned Brynn this would happen if she told anyone but me.”

“Brynn took a calculated risk in doing what she did.”

“What if the results aren’t worth it?”

Father lifted his eyebrows in silent question, seeming dismayed by the comment.

Knight faced his father. “Rook could still die, and even if he lives he’ll probably be disfigured. And now that Fiona’s dead, the other sisters have every excuse to rain hell down on us. Fiona might have been insane, but she was calculating. She did things with a purpose. From what little I saw of Victoria, the triplets are wound even tighter and have half the brainpower. We can’t anticipate them.”

“You’re right, Knight, but this is how things have shaken out. This is what we have to work with. Rook’s hanging on, and you’re still here, and I will take both of those blessings over guaranteed safety. We have every chance of defending this town against an assault, whether it happens in an hour, a week, or never. I know you were willing to sacrifice yourself for us, and I am not sorry that you’re here, instead of with them.”

The tiny capsule of poison in his pocket felt like a lead weight to Knight, holding him down and reminding him of the choice he’d made. Reminding him of the decision that had, once again, been taken out of his hands. He wasn’t sorry he was alive and with his family, or that Fiona was dead on the ground with half her head missing. He was just sorry that Rook had to pay the price for Knight’s failure.

Dr. Mike came into the small room with his stethoscope at the ready. He checked Rook’s pulse, heart, and blood pressure progress with a consistently benign expression that irritated Knight. When Dr. Mike silently added something to notes he’d already written on the bedside chart, Knight bit back the urge to growl.

“Well?” his father asked.

“Blood pressure’s still low, but there’s progress,” Dr. Mike said. “If he makes it to sunrise, I’d say he’s in good shape to pull through.”

Sunrise was hours away.

Dr. Mike continued, “I want him to shift as soon as possible tomorrow so there isn’t any permanent nerve damage to that shoulder. Won’t do much for scars, but at least he won’t lose the use of the arm.”

“I understand,” Father said. “How’s Jonas?”

“Second-degree burns. I patched him up and slapped him into a bed upstairs. He’ll recover just fine.”

“Did he happen to mention how he came to be involved tonight?”

Dr. Mike nodded. “Aye, the boy said he’s been hiding near the creek since yesterday. Said he didn’t understand his father kicking him out for acting the way he was told to act around Brynn Atwood, so he stayed close. Said he overheard the one named Fiona talking to Cassius, his father’s enforcer, about shooting Ms. Atwood if she didn’t come with them. He knew Fiona was the bad guy, so he killed Cassius and stole the rifle. The rest you know.”

“We’re very lucky he stayed close by.”

“Sounds like it. If we’re done, I need to see to my next patient.”

Father blinked. “Who else is injured?”

“Ms. Atwood.”

“What happened to Brynn?” Knight asked, startled.

“She scraped her knees to pieces at some point, and her ankle’s probably sprained.”

“She was trying to fight Geary when we got to the barn,” Father said. “Facing down a beast twice her size with nothing but a shovel.”

“That takes a lot of guts.”

She was protecting her mate, Knight realized. She’d fought for him. She should be by his side, too.

She had more than proved herself worthy of that place.

* * *

Brynn’s only experience with painkillers extended to two aspirin tablets at a time, so she wasn’t sure what to expect when Dr. Mike made her swallow actual narcotics while he cleaned her knees and wrapped her swollen ankle. The pills didn’t seem to be helping, and then suddenly the room blurred and everything the burly doctor said was hilarious. She was vaguely aware of being carried, and then deposited somewhere soft.

When she woke up later, thin slants of sunlight were strewn across the ceiling. She was in one of the bedrooms in Dr. Mike’s house. Her skinned knees were covered with a shiny layer of liquid bandage, and her right ankle was wrapped and propped up on a pillow. Someone had covered it with an ice pack that had long since warmed.

No more Vicodin for me.

Her ankle still ached, but the throb had dulled to manageable levels. Her calves were sore, her hands were raw, and her stomach growled loudly. She needed to do a lot of things, including eat, but nothing was as important as finding out Rook’s condition. She hadn’t really seen him since the barn, except in glimpses and snatches, and that wasn’t enough. Sunlight meant she’d been asleep for hours. If he’d died while she rested—

No.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. The room tilted. She held still until the whirling sensation passed, and then gritted her teeth as the blood rushing down into her ankle made it throb twice as hard as before. She groaned at the idea of putting weight on it. Perhaps if she slid across the floor on her rear end, she could get to the stairs.

The door swung open and McQueen stepped inside with a wave of authority she felt more distinctly with each day she spent here—the power of the Alpha. And he’d come to see her. Her heart kicked. He didn’t look angry or grief-stricken, just exhausted, and that gave her hope.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Dizzy.” She was foolish for admitting it, but she didn’t much care. Her concern for Rook was stronger than her embarrassment. “I’m not used to such strong painkillers. I hadn’t planned to sleep for so long.”

“It was an exhausting night. Your body knew better.”

“I suppose. How’s Rook?”

He smiled, and the lovely expression cracked the fear enclosing her heart. “Would you like to see him?”

“Yes.”

Without a word, he scooped her up in his arms. She let him carry her downstairs, never once scared that he’d drop her. Thomas McQueen made her feel safe in a way her own father never had. But how could Archimedes Atwood, Prime Magus and perfectionist elemental, truly love a daughter who was always second choice? She was disappointed to finally understand this, and yet relieved, as well. She could stop trying to measure up to his unreachable expectations and just be herself.

Here.

With Rook.

The scents of cinnamon and warm bread greeted her in the waiting room. Bishop and Devlin sat on the couch eating something clumpy from ceramic bowls, which her nose told her was oatmeal. A sliced loaf of cinnamon raisin bread and a covered pot sat on a tray between them, and a coffee carafe stood on a nearby side table. They offered pleasant good-mornings as she and McQueen passed through. He nudged open the exam room door.

Knight stood with his back to the door, blocking her immediate view of the bed. He stepped back and to the side, gifting her with a gentle, haunted smile as he moved out of the way. Rook was propped up on several pillows, his body at a forty-five-degree angle. The bandages around his left arm and shoulder were white and seemed freshly changed, as were the gauze patches on his neck and cheek. Best of all, he was looking right at her.

Joy filled her nearly to bursting, and if she’d been able to leap from McQueen’s arms and fly to the bed, she would have. Instead, she allowed McQueen to sit her down on the edge of the bed, on Rook’s right side. She twined her fingers with his and squeezed, overwhelmed by the warmth of his skin and the pulse beating steadily beneath. Her own heart raced as her senses took him in, assuring her that he was alive.

“You look terrible,” Rook said.

Brynn didn’t censor her startled laughter.

“You saved my life,” he continued. “They’d have killed me if you hadn’t distracted them. Thank you.”

Brynn’s eyes burned with grateful tears. “It was my turn. Since the day we met, you’ve saved me more times than I can count.”

“I’m not keeping score.”

“If you keep me around, you may want to start.”

“No ifs, Brynn.” He gazed at her with an intensity that made her insides go liquid and her pulse race. Uncaring of her audience, she leaned forward and tried to kiss his cheek. He turned his head at the last moment and found her mouth with his, instead.

The kiss was gentle and sweet, the reaffirmation of a promise made the day before and nearly broken by the actions of others. She wanted to build a future with him, here in Cornerstone, and she put that silent desire into the press of her lips and the touch of her hands. His head moved ever so slightly, as if nodding his agreement.

She pulled back just enough to see his face, her entire body thrumming with life and purpose, and her heart filled with emotion. She’d walked into town five days ago certain that the precious man in front of her was a murderer, and now she would do anything to keep him safe.

I love him.

“He’s going to be all right?” Brynn asked, directing the question over her shoulder to McQueen.

“According to Dr. Mike, yes,” McQueen replied. “Rook needs to shift at least twice today, though, to make sure the muscles heal properly.”

Rook made a grumpy noise.

“Shifting while injured hurts a lot more than when you’re well,” Knight said. “Think of it like running a marathon over broken glass with two sprained ankles.”

“I needed that mental image, thanks,” Rook said.

“No problem.”

“Bite me.”

“I think I’ll leave that one to Brynn, if you don’t mind.”

Rook laughed, while Brynn blushed to the roots of her hair.

“You’ll get used to it,” McQueen said as he placed a warm hand on her shoulder.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Having more big brothers than you know what to do with.” He gave her shoulder another squeeze, then slipped out of the room. She stared at the half-shut door a moment, grateful for the silent acceptance into his family.

Brynn was finally home.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Rook finished toweling off, then cinched the blue terry around his waist. He stared at the fog-covered bathroom mirror, a little nervous to clean it off and look at the new him. After two grueling shifting sessions—made slightly easier by having both Brynn and Knight there—a six-hour nap, and one more thorough exam from Dr. Mike, Rook had been declared well enough to go home. As long as he took it easy for at least two days.

For a loup garou, “take it easy” was as simple an order to follow as flying a paper airplane in a hurricane.

He’d agreed, though, simply to go home again and sleep in his own bed. With Brynn by his side the entire night. She never commented on his scars, and he hadn’t wanted to see them. So while she went downstairs to check if there was any news on the three remaining hybrids, he hit the shower.

He cracked the door to allow some steam out, stepped up to the mirror, and swiped his palm across the condensation. Angled the left side of his body toward the mirror. His shoulder wasn’t as awful as Dr. Mike had feared it would be. Rook had lost a chunk of meat, thanks to Geary’s teeth, which made the height of his shoulders uneven. The skin was a craggy mess of scars, like someone had poured melted candle wax from his neck to just below his armpit. It would never hold a tan, but he hadn’t lost any use of the arm, and he was grateful for that. He’d make a lousy enforcer for his father—and one day, for Bishop—with only one good arm.

The other scars on his throat and legs were thin and nearly invisible unless you knew to look for them. He didn’t mind those.

The detail that bothered him the most was his left ear. The shell was intact, but the lobe was gone. Completely. He traced a finger over the jagged piece of cartilage and couldn’t help wondering which of his attackers had swallowed the missing steel gauge. His hearing didn’t seem to be affected at all—another thing he was grateful for—but the result made him look . . . incomplete.

The floorboards outside creaked, and Brynn’s floral scent tickled his nose before she knocked. He opened the door. Her startled eyes dropped to his towel for one brief, arousing instant, before returning to his face. She had a small box in her hands and an odd look on her face.

“What is it?” he asked.

“My father sent me a package.”

They took the book-sized box into his room. She hobbled a bit, taking her time, still getting used to the walking boot Dr. Mike had strapped to her ankle. He scented the box, but found nothing unusual or potentially harmful. Inside the shipping box was a smaller wooden box with a brass clasp. Brynn opened that. A folded note card fell out onto her lap. In the box, on a bed of red velvet, was a gold necklace. Attached to the chain was a pendant the size of a nickel, a simple clear jewel on a flat gold setting.

Brynn unfolded the card, which had a message written in fancy letters. “My daughter,” she read, “Please accept this gift as my most sincere apology for the lies that I have told you. You were innocent in these lies, and yet you have taken the brunt of the consequences. Wear this necklace. It will warn you when the remaining hybrid children are near. This is all I can offer in the way of assistance, as you have clearly chosen your loyalties. I never meant to hurt you. Be well. Archimedes.”

Her hands were shaking by the time she finished reading the note. Rook pried it from her hands, put the card and box on the bed, then pulled her into his arms. She curled against him and tucked her head beneath his chin. He held her tight, rocking gently, stroking her hair.

“Do you think the necklace is legitimate?” he asked after she’d stopped trembling.

“I do. He gains no advantage by sending a fake. I think he’s as scared of the hybrids as we are. With Fiona gone, he won’t be able to control them.”

“Frankenstein has lost his monster.”

“Exactly.”

“Why would he do this? He despises the loup. Why try to help me when I’m loup myself and have chosen to live with his enemies?”

“Because you’re his daughter. Fathers love their children.”

The statement was certainly true for loup parents, but what about the Magi? Had Archimedes loved Fiona? Or the triplets? Would he be able to murder his own child to stop the monster he’d unleashed? Rook didn’t know. He was only glad that Brynn’s father didn’t seem to hate her completely. “I love you,” he said. The words popped out, startling Rook, and his pulse jumped.

Brynn pulled back so she could look at his face. Her eyes gleamed, and she was smiling like she’d just discovered the greatest secret in the world. “I love you, too,” she said. “Given our beginnings, I’d have never expected to love you so much so quickly.”

He drew a finger down her cheek, from ear to jaw. “Me too. You’re mine.”

She did the same across the rougher skin of his left cheek. “And you’re mine. Ragged ear and all.”

He laughed, and then she did, too, and together, their laughter created the most beautiful music he’d ever played.

Content

Black Rook
Cornerstone Run Trilogy - 1
Kelly Meade

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven