I'm kicking and screaming, bleeding all over the bed that smells of Sean and me and now Braxton, too. Alphason Conner throws Braxton to the floor, where he lays crumpled and unmoving. Sean is tangled with a strange blonde wolf who is speaking to Bailey as she edges her way around the fighting males toward me.

"Iliana? Are you alright? Hold on, Ili."

I hear Bailey's voice as if from a distance. My vision blurs. My she-wolf has retreated deep inside me, shivering into the fetal position. I see two males pacing, their predatory stares peering through the dark shadows of her den, trying to get a glimpse of her.

I mouth to my luna, 'help.' Everything else is tossed away. My pride, my petty smugness that Sean was angry with Georgina and that they both finally could see that I was worth something. My hold over Braxton, the male who loved me before he ever met Caroline. My determination to be Bailey's alpha female. My life. My jealousy and hypocrisy. Everything cruel and nasty and small that I've done. It's all meaningless. I'm nothing.

I feel other wolves. Others inside me. Hunting me. Two. Two males. I push and fight, but I can't chase away the two males no matter what I do. They've taken root in my mind, in my soul, and no amount of hiding is going to fool them. I want them gone. They'll see me. They'll see I'm nothing but dust and bones and empty promises.

Alphason Conner picks me up, leaving Braxton unconscious on the floor. He barks some orders at other wolves who are entering the cabin. It's so small. We don't all fit inside the tiny space. It's meant to be intimate, for two wolves, not twelve.

I don't feel good. I try to tell him, to warn my alphason that I may be sick all over him. He either doesn't hear me or he doesn't care. I can hear his heartbeat over my own. Loud, strong, steady, and lividly angry. My she-wolf curls up more tightly. She doesn't want this giant male angry with her.

Alphason puts me in his truck. He says something about the clinic. Wetness coats my cheeks. I hate the damn clinic. I hate being sick and weak and ill and starving. I hate vomiting up everything they feed me and then being told to eat more as if I'm not trying hard enough.

Bailey says something in a stern voice. I feel Alphason Conner hesitate, then agree with her. I drift, not unconscious, but nearly. The truck jostles me, bouncing. I tense, trying to tell my muscles to obey so that I don't fly off of the seat. Something soft and warm holds me in place. Gentle fingers stroke my head.

---

I don't like the bright lights. The two males are gone. My she-wolf pokes her nose out of her den, only to scurry back inside when she feels the horrid sting in her nose. A feeding tube. It's as recognizable as the awful feeling of the catheter.

My belly cramps. I hear shouting. Dad. I've never heard him scream like this. More wolves come, but I only see their shadows. The lights are too bright.

---

A stern-looking black man peers down at me. His eyes are weathered and beaten, but the soft brown is stronger than steel. His skin is the dark color of burnt coffee, but his features are clear. He's not some scary shadow looming in the distance. Maybe he knows the lights are too bright? He's fooled them into staying away. Smart male.

My she-wolf peeks out. He is human. My she-wolf can sense how firm he is. How resolute. She retreats back into the den, but now her nose is out, sniffing, wondering if this male is as safe as he seems.

"Iliana? Can you hear me? I'm Hank, Bailey's dad."

His voice is low. He reminds me of dad. I want my own father, but with dad comes Georgina and I can't go home. I can't ever go back there. I've failed at everything and I don't want to keep trying. I'm very good at being nothing.

"You can stay with me, Iliana, if that's what you want. It's just me and sometimes Bailey in our house."

Stay? My mind sluggishly tries to catch up. Bailey's dad lives on packlands, right? He just moved recently, but he lives far from the pack's center. He's smart, like Bailey, some sort of engineer or computer guy. He was decidedly unimpressed with the pack and wolves in general.

He knows that I want to be alone.

I try to respond for a full minute before my body obeys my silent commands. "Yes," I whisper.

---

I wake up in a room decorated in soft lavender and cream. It's pretty, sort of a grown-up version of my childhood bedroom. Maybe I should hate purple now that I'm nothing, but I can't help but still like it.

My body is sore and aching, but I don't feel pain until I try to move. I groan as fiery agony streaks through my chest and neck. I try to lift my hands to feel my chest. I think I remember a feeding tube. Is it still in?

Bailey opens the door with a cup in one hand and a small iPad in the other. "Hi, Ili," she whispers. She creeps forward, dressed in all black, but the pants must be alphason Conner's because there fourteen sizes too big for her.

The second time she trips over the too-long pant legs I try to stand. "No!" Bailey hisses and holds out the iPad in one hand while trying to jack up her pants with the other. "This was ridiculous. I wouldn't have to sneak around if Dad was being reasonable. Apparently, he's not allowing the wolves to come here," she explains as she finally makes it to the bedside table and sets down the cup.

"No spills," I rasp. My voice is unrecognizable.

"I'm clumsy, but a good clumsy," she announces.

It's funny, but my lips won't curve upward to smile. "Not a wolf?" I manage to ask.

"Oh I wasn't sneaking around because of Dad," she admits, "but Conner won't be far behind me. So... I had to sneak in here."

"Oh," I blink tiredly. It's not easy to open my eyes again. By the time I do, Bailey has settled in a chair next to my bed. She's reading the screen of her iPad, her eyes moving impossibly fast. When she notices that I'm awake she smiles at me and puts the iPad down. "Reading?"

"It's the genetic research from Honieker Labs," she says blithely. "I'm trying to pinpoint other... test subjects."

"I don't know?" I whisper. Test subjects? Genetics?

"Oh. Well, at first it was about genetic anomalies in paired subjects. Uncle Alex hired Dr. Honieker to create and strengthen the heat inducers to boost fertility in non-mated pairings. Of course, Honieker went further with his research. Uncle Alex had a controlling interest in the lab, but Honeiker had other clients. RedMoon was one of the others and they wanted to essentially create superpups."

She taps the iPad absently. "The difference is that the heat-enhancing cocktail Uncle Alex paid for only allows for heightened fertility amongst paired wolves who already have compatible genes. I was explaining to him that the leap from that research to making viable offspring between non-compatible genetic couples is simplistic at best, almost inevitable really. I'm actually surprised that Honeiker wasn't using the newer technology to create new pups from non-mated wolves years earlier. Well, I mentioned this to Uncle Alex and you would have thought I spit in his tea. He thinks that there's a good chance that Dr. Honieker was using the newer tech years ago. So, I'm looking for genetically incompatible pairings that may have resulted in conception over the past two decades of lab research. Speaking of tea, do you think you can try some?"

"Ili?" Bailey whispers softly. I try to open my eyes again, but my eyelids are so heavy...

---

Hank Washington is sitting in Bailey's chair when I wake up.

"Good Morning, Ili," he greets me quietly without taking his eyes off of the t.v.

"Hi," I eek out the greeting. A thin straw is placed between my lips. I take a sip and something smooth and tasting faintly of vanilla and strawberries slides down my throat. The aftertaste is chalky, but before I can complain the straw is gone.

"Livia Drusilla," Hanks says quietly with a nod at the t.v. "The first Roman Emperess. She was a firecracker."

I sleepily turn my attention to the t.v. It's positioned so that I can see it easily without straining my neck. Hank doesn't ask me if I want to watch the current show and I don't ask him to change it. I just let the words and images on the screen wash over me.

Hank's right; Livia Drusilla was pretty amazing. Married three times, she whipped those emperors into shape. It's not all sunshine and roses, but our human history education is pretty scant, so it's fascinating all the same.

The straw gets slipped into my mouth a few more times during the show. Every time I'm done drinking Hank pulls the straw from my mouth before I can tell him I need to stop. It's a welcome change to being force-fed in the clinic or have Mom in tears because I'm not eating enough.

I fall back asleep when the next episode of Wu Zetian, the only Chinese Empress to rule alone, comes on. I try to stay awake. She seems more badass than Livia Drusilla, but my brain and body disagree with that plan.

---

"It's interesting," Hank says calmly. "The 'Me Too' movement has nothing on the circumstances these women had to deal with. Total misogyny," he murmurs.

Wu Zetian started as a concubine. Hank restarted it today for me. We finish watching the episode and Hank sighs and stands, picking up my empty drink as he goes. "Marta is swinging by to take a look at you. Is that alright?" he asks me.

I nod, slowly. Marta is one of the better nurses. I blush when I realize that my catheter is probably working away down there. I can't feel my lower half, but I think (and hope) that it's because I'm on some pretty gnarly painkillers. I'm thankful that Marta will be the one to deal with all that instead of Hank. He seems better as a mostly silent, straw-holding, remote-control wielder.

Heavy meds would explain why my she-wolf is sleeping, dead to the world, on her back with all four paws up in the air. She hasn't been that relaxed in a very long time. Too bad, she may have liked the story of Wu Zetian and her life.

"Then, if Bailey can lose her tail, she plans on coming over with more research notes," Hank remarks quietly.

Her tail. My laugh startles me. It dies as quickly as my brain registers how painful it is to laugh, which is almost instantaneously. Still, I didn't think I would be laughing anytime soon, so I count it as a win even when the agony steals my breath away.

"Easy," Hank gives me a very paternal pat on the head before he meanders out of the bedroom.

---

My mouth tastes like dirt. Coughing, I accidentally inhale a mouthful of... dirt. I blink the crud from my eyes and push up from the ground with both my hands, lifting my head to see more grey-brown dirt.

Spitting onto the ground, I lever my palms under me and rise to my knees, then my feet. I'm facing the wall of a cliff with a cave carved into the face. There are no trees, no grass, just endless rock and dirt.

I spin around slowly, my heart thudding, the fur on the back of my neck rising in warning. My wolf growls, low and deep, a wordless threat for the wolves behind me.

The first thing I see is my big brother. Conner stares at me with a hard, unwelcome glare. Not a single muscle twitches, but my wolf knows aggression when he sees it. Pacing behind him is Orion, on paws, lips curled back to reveal his canines. I don't keep my eyes on Orion. I know Conner is the bigger threat.

Gerald is here, even further back. What is Ili's father... Shit.

Between the three males and me is an eight-foot-tall chainlink fence. It's reinforced titanium that claws and teeth can't shred. Curling wickedly from the top of the fence is two feet of barbed wire. The gate is locked with an electronic code box and an old-fashioned dial lock on a chain.

My heartbeat picks up. I tear my eyes from Conner's silent threat to observe more. There are no trees on this side of the fence. The cliff is unscalable without climbing gear.

I'm in prison.

"What the fuck is this? Where is Ili?" I snarl toward my brother, flashing fang.

Conner's green eyes narrow the slightest bit, but he doesn't say a single word. He doesn't have to. An instant after I ask about my mate, Gerald is at the fence, his face pressed to the metal hard enough to indent his skin. Fangs flash as he spits, "don't ever mention my daughter again, mutt!"

Orion snarls along with me. He walks up to Gerald and butts his head into the male's waist until he can sidle his body between Gerald and the fence. He doesn't pause there but keeps pacing, like a lion at the zoo during feeding time. It's almost neurotic and makes Conner's uncharacteristic stillness even eerier.

Gerald, growling and shaking, retreats a few steps from the fence.

"She's mine now," I point out, desperately. "I'll take any punishment but this," I meet my brother's gaze. "She'll need my help, especially-"

"Sean is her truemate," Conner grunts.

My heart stops. The shock jolts my entire body. My wolf recovers before I do, howling his denial into the air a scant second later. "He's not!" I roar. Betrayal and hurt collide with my wolf's furious belief that Ili is meant to be ours. She's not. He's not. It's not possible.

"He was her heat male," Conner continues in an almost robotic tone.

The growl that rips from my throat makes my chest quake with force. A second later and I'm the one with his face pressed against the chain just inches from my brother's face on the other side of the fence.

"It's not true. She would have told me." My wolf shakes his head, growling and snapping at the air in helpless fury. A truemate. A heat male. The first step of a Claim. It can't be true. Not my Ili.

"Sean is her truemate," Conner rasps. In the first movement he's made since I woke up, his fingers flex. Deep grey claws flicker on the ends of his fingers.

"No." It's all I can say.

A smile curls my brother's lips up at the corners. It's not a friendly smile. It's the smile of a male intent on inflicting extreme pain.

"I failed her," Conner says quietly. "And she nearly died more than once."

Reason and rationality wash over me. Sean. The male is in love with Georgina.

I stumble backward. "He rejected her. He rejected Iliana?!" I can't believe it. I can't envision a male who wouldn't want my mate as his own. "But she said she was MateLess. She swore it, Conner," I remind him.

"She lied because Sean is her truemate," Conner rumbles dangerously.

"And so?" I breathe. "So you just gave her to him? He fucked her sister."

"Yeah," that cruel smile widens. "Because Sean is her truemate and her heat was killing her."

I suck in a pained breath just before Conner adds, "apparently. I was not informed of Iliana's heat until it was too late." His claws flicker again, in and out.

"She wanted him? She invited him?" I rasp out. My tears are warm against the cool metal.

"No," Gerald throws out from twenty feet away. "I did."

"How could you do that to her?" I rage at Iliana's father insanely.

"How could you Mark her without her consent?" Conner rasps, bringing my attention back to him.

"I-"

Suddenly, my brother explodes. His claws sink into my chest despite the fence being between us. The fence, truthfully, is saving my life. Caught like a fish on a hook, I try to wriggle away from the raging alpha with no luck.

"Iliana Thomas has nearly died because both males meant to love her tried to destroy her instead!" his roar deafens me, but despite the ringing in my ears, I can still hear every word he's screaming at me. "Sean betrayed her! Then you had the chance to be her fucking hero and instead you attack her. Twice!" With the last word, he releases me. Spinning on his heel, he faces away from me and screams to the sky.

Chest heaving, Conner turns back to me. His face looks ravaged. "She's Bailey's first real friend here. She likes Ili more than even Velia. My luna is heartbroken and confused because she doesn't understand how this could happen to her friend." He slams his bloody fist against his chest. "I can't explain it to her. Because there is no explanation or excuse."

"I'll fix it," I promise him. There's a gnawing feeling growing in the back of my mind. I'm trapped here. This isn't the cage designed to contain a raging wolf until they've calmed down. This place is meant to hold a wolf for a long, long time. "Conner, don't take her from me. Please."

He barks a sarcastic laugh. "You've already lost her. Be thankful you're alive, Braxton." He shifts to paws, his wolf towering larger than I remember, and races off into the woods. Gerald follows, shoulders slumped, a look of pure misery and defeat on his face.

Orion shifts back to feet and looks at me with a pained expression. "I'm sorry, Brax. I interfered in the fight between you two instead of preventing you from Marking her. If I had just been faster..." he shakes his head.

"Not your fault," I tell him.

He shakes his head again. "Just remember that you're both connected to that female, OK? You both have started a Claim on her. And she's in rough shape. She can't have the males who are connected to her dying, yeah?" Orion turns. "Good luck, Braxton."

I close my eyes like a coward so that I don't have to watch my last friend leave me here. All I hear is the sound of a quiet forest for a minute before a beeping sound makes me open my eyes and force myself to back away from the fence.

A few seconds later an electric current zaps through the metal. It's strong enough to make the hair on my arms stand up straight even though I'm a couple of feet away.

Swallowing my shock and fear I head toward the cave. I might as well check out the rest of my prison. Maybe I'll be lucky and there'll be a backdoor to this hellhole that Conner forgot about.

I step inside the dimly light cave and nearly shift to paws as anger scorches through me. It's simple. A fridge and sink, no stove, a couple of bare bulbs encased in metal cages, and two mattresses slung on the floor against opposite walls. Next to the one on the left, is the unconscious form of Sean's wolf.

"Conner! Fuck that!" I go tearing back to the fence, screaming at the top of my lungs, "I'll fucking kill him! I swear I will!" I punch the fence with all my strength.