“Can I count on you?” He turned me around to face him. I just looked at him for a second, not believing my ears. Count on me? Since when did he trust me enough for that? “I can smell the Silver Hearts on you. So I need you to give me a straight answer.”

“I don’t think he can do that.” Marc scoffed mockingly. Of course, he wouldn’t miss an opportunity like that. What an asshole. I turned my grey gaze at him, filled with the promise of pain. He stiffened immediately, locking his gaze on his feet.

“Yes. You can count on me,” I said to Father. He nodded then turned towards the pack.

“There is no other scent here than the one on the note. Which means no physical person put this here. But we have to make sure. Nikolai, Trystan, Ryan you go north. Diego, Dyson, Akira you go west. Katashi, Yuri you get the middle. I’ll watch the house,” he ordered, then looked at me. “Reid, you go with Marc and Colwyn, search the east side, and if you see any vampires tell them I want a talk with Baltazar. Go.” We went. Actually, we ran, taking our clothes off as we did, so we could shift. It was quick thanks to the bloodlust and adrenalin. It still hurt like hell, but I didn’t care… I wanted to kill.

The black wolf ran through the snow, hearing his companions follow him. A dark brown wolf with amber eyes and a white wolf with blue eyes. Marc and Colwyn. The black wolf easily found the border, his muscles remembering the hours he used to spend running around this territory. He still remembered all the scents, the familiarity made him feel home.

The wolves followed him, letting him lead them, trusting him to lead them. A rabbit crossed their path, running deeper into the territory. The wolves’ first instinct was to chase it, to hunt it down. Marc went for it. The black wolf snapped his jaws at him, growling. That made the other wolf stop and get back in line. His ears were drawn back in an apologetic expression. They had a job to do, they could hunt later.

They set a fast trot and followed the border, checking for any traces of invaders. The scent of death came from the other side, but there were no vampires near the border at the moment.

They quickly got to the north part of the border, three wolves already stood there waiting for them. A big grey wolf, Nikolai, next to him only a slightly smaller grey wolf, Yuri, and a white wolf with a golden back, Trystan. The black wolf approached Yuri, sniffing then nuzzling him with a wagging tail. Yuri licked his ear, then all of them headed back to the den. Nikolai took the lead, the black wolf swished his tail in slight annoyance but followed him. He knew the broad-shouldered wolf deserved respect, so he kept quiet.

Back at the den, the Alpha stood on the back porch in human form with the other wolves already there, shifting. They all did the same.

Once everyone shifted they reported to Alistair that they found nothing. We all stood there, naked with the cold snow under our bare feet, except for Alistair. No one was bothered by it, we were all used to it since we had to be naked in order to shift.

“So no one crossed the border and yet there is somehow a body on our doorstep.” Colwyn frowned, crossing his arms over his chiseled chest. Werewolves couldn’t get fat, shifting took so much energy that we all simply were lean and muscular. It hit me then that I probably liked Matt’s body so much because all I ever saw when growing up were muscled hunks. I turned away quickly before Colwyn started to think that I was staring at him. I wasn’t interested in him, not one bit.

“Did a cadrac drag it here?” Marc asked, his eyes still glowing amber as he fought his wolf for control.

“It would smell like ammonia here.” I shook my head.

“So one of ours? A scent that we wouldn’t look for, because they walk into the house all the time?” There was dread in Yuri’s eyes as he suggested that. Oh, Yuri, so loyal, thinking no one could ever betray the pack.

“That is a possibility, though I don’t think that that’s what happened.” Katashi shook his head, looking at Alistair. “We really need to talk with Baltazar.”

I frowned, glancing from Alistair to Katashi and back. Baltazar, the leader of the Purgatory clan, a terrible crazy vampire. Also Daniel’s Maker. And… No physical person put this here. Father’s words rang through my head.

“You don’t think that…”

“We can’t be sure,” Father cut me off clearly not wanting anyone else to hear. “Have you met any vampires at the border?” he asked, looking at Colwyn instead of me like he expected him to have led the patrol.

“Uh… no,” Colwyn said uncomfortably, his gaze quickly darting to me then away.

“All right. I want to triple the patrols, go see which pack members are free to help, and clean the porch. Trystan, make sure it’s all done,” Father ordered.

“Yes, Alpha.” Trystan nodded seriously.

“Nikolai, Katashi… Reid, meet me in my office.” And he walked away, leaving all of us stunned. Trystan glared at me with half the warriors right there by his side. I didn’t know either why I was invited to the private meeting. I resisted the temptation to smirk at him and quickly found my clothes in the snow. Of course, they were totally drenched, so I quickly ran to my car for the sweats I bought and then followed Katashi and Nikolai – both in their wet jeans - up to the office.

“Close the door,” Alistair ordered as we came in. Katashi closed it. “I called Baltazar’s assistant and scheduled a meeting for seven pm tomorrow.”

“You’ll go yourself?” Nikolai asked, obviously not pleased by that.

“He’ll be offended if I don’t come in person,” Alistair said, leaning on the desk.

“But you’re not going alone right?” Katashi asked as he sat down on one of the chairs.

“No. I’m not.” He looked up at me, his mossy gaze making me feel small.

“What?” I only managed to say.

“We are one powerful wolf down,” he said sadly. “I need Katashi and Nikolai here while I’m gone. And you are the only wolf powerful enough to be any help in a nest full of vampires anyway,” he said.

That was true, not even Katashi or Nikolai could say they would be a better choice than me. But I never expected to hear something like that from Father’s mouth. I never actually expected him to trust me enough for it.

“Baltazar wouldn’t be stupid enough to do something like this right?” I said. Baltazar was batshit crazy, but he had to know that a war with the Ghealach pack would bring more bad than good.

“I don’t know…” He sighed, his hand curling into a fist then relaxing. “We’ll sure find out when we---” His phone started buzzing. He looked at it, frowned, and suddenly looked very tired as he massaged his temples. “Go, we’ll talk later,” he said then.

“Who is cal—” I wanted to ask, but Nikolai squeezed my shoulder, shaking his head as he dragged me out.

“Leave it, Reid,” Katashi ordered but the serious look on his face as closed the door made me worry even more. But they didn’t let me stop, they dragged me all the way down into the kitchen.

Triple patrols meant almost no one was in the house, even Nikolai and Katashi left. When I asked them if I should go as well they told me to wait for Trystan’s orders. And I was right back where I started. I was once again confined to the house. There was no hope Trystan would entrust me with anything.

Holly was sitting in the kitchen, nursing a coffee and looking quite miserable. “I don’t get it…” she whispered when I sat down next to her. “We were all home and yet no one heard or saw anything. We only realized there was something on the porch when we smelled the blood. How can you get around a whole pack of werewolves?”

I wasn’t much for plain words of reassurance so I just put my hand on her shoulder. I didn’t like seeing her sad and worried. After mother’s death, she did everything she could to replace her as best as possible. Trystan and Akira didn’t appreciate it too much but I and Lowell loved her very much for it, especially since I spent all my time with Yuri and Lowell with Ivan.

“Oh, I almost forgot, Jack has been asking to see you,” she said after a while and dumped the rest of the coffee into the sink.

“How is he doing?” I asked, looking at the stairs into the basement.

“He’ll be alright, he just needs plenty of rest.” She smiled then motioned for me to go downstairs. I did since I had no idea how to make her not worry.