I'd left Neera with Aymeric while I went to handle some pack business with Néron. After devoting my morning to the pack, I could be with my Howl for the remainder of the day, working to get her to a point that she was willing to Take my Blood. That was critical, and I was baffled as to why, now that she knew everything, she was still unwilling to bite me.

He's an idiot if he thinks some vague explanations about magic are enough for me to forget that rejection of me.

I grunted as I heard Neera's thoughts and missed the question my brother had asked me about the Luniere pack. Their Alpha wanted to meet with me to discuss some other strange happenings. Unfortunately, all I could think about was tracking down Neera and showing her just how much of an idiot I was.

I shot a quick text to Aymeric.

As usual, his wordy reply took forever to read:

I sighed. Every fucking time. The Alpha's Teeth could never give more information or expand on his answers unless asked specific questions.

His response came quickly:

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I typed out another text:

His response wasn't as swift this time, and I almost choked when I read his answer:

Well, fuck if that wasn't interesting. My Alpha's Teeth saw women as a nuisance and had always claimed he was content to be single, happy that so far the Forces had not sent him a Destined One. I strongly suspected he'd never fucked a woman or he might not find them so objectionable. It was all about the job with Aymeric, and he took his position as my Alpha's Teeth seriously. That he wanted to put that little wolf over his knee spoke volumes to me. I assumed she was slightly younger than Neera, so her mate brand hadn't appeared yet.

To put Aymeric's tail in a twist, I texted back:

Three dots appeared and then disappeared for an entire minute.

I burst out laughing.

This time, it took two minutes for him to reply.

Oh, for fuck's sake. He and my brother were my closest friends, but I did not want to know this shit. I'd be willing to bet my father hadn't dealt with this type of shit from his Alpha's Teeth. Still, he was a pack member and he seemed to be asking for my advice. Cringing, I typed out a response.

Tell him if she smells good to lick her face, my wolf interjected.

OK, enough of this bullshit was enough. I needed to finish up pack business so I could get to my Howl and talk her into Taking my Blood. I needed this bond to go both ways so we could communicate. I'd feel much better, given the uncertainty of things right now. Lindsay Morgan was still moving about at will, although I had eyes on her; I was unwilling to imprison the bitch since I didn't know what she was capable of with her magic. I wanted her to go on thinking we had no idea what she was until I had more information and was ready to move on her.

Tell him, my wolf scratched at me in such a way I knew he wouldn't shut the fuck up until I gave Aymeric some wolf advice. With another sigh, I typed out what I hoped to the Forces would be the last text on the subject.

The reply came back fast:

Needing some sanity in my life, I texted the group of Lindsay Morgan watchers.

Four replies were almost instantaneous:

Right before I finished the last of my paperwork, Aymeric texted to say he and Neera were heading back to the secure house.

After I finished up my paperwork, some pack members came in with a minor disagreement they needed me to arbitrate, so I listened and told them my solution. Once they agreed to the terms I set out, I checked my phone to see half an hour had passed...and there had been no text from Aymeric. Irritated, I texted him.

No dots, even after a minute. That was odd. Aymeric always responded to me within seconds. Feeling for my connection to Neera, I was disconcerted to find there was nothing. Not even a stray thought to read.

Shit.

Concerned that something was wrong, I ran to Néron's office, and he shot to his feet when he saw the look on my face.

"What's wrong, brother?"

"I don't know that anything's wrong, but Aymeric hasn't texted me to say he and Neera were safely back at the secure house. And he didn't respond just now to another text."

"Shit," Néron said, and with a glance at each other, we were both out the door, running flat out for the secure house, just over the next hill.

What the hell was going on? Come on, give me some clues if you can, Neera. Then I felt it, weak and thready, but there.

Night.

I waited as we continued running for the house.

Help.

I wished once again she had completed the Taking of the Blood so she could read my thoughts and she'd know exactly what I wanted to know -- needed to know.

Tell me where you are, I pleaded uselessly, knowing she couldn't hear my thoughts. What's going on?

The house was just ahead of us.

Tell me where you are, Neera. Tell me where they've taken you!

Lindsay. Raevyn. Prison.

Prison? It didn't dawn on me what she meant until Néron and I burst through the door of the secure house, ready to start tracking Neera down, when we realized we didn't have to.

"Shut the door," a woman I assumed was the Raevyn ordered me, and I obeyed since Lindsay Morgan had Neera's back against her front, and a wicked looking knife pricking my Howl's throat, a steady stream of blood trickling down her neck. Raevyn stood right next to Lindsay Morgan.

"Lovely to finally meet you on the day you're going to die," Raevyn drawled.

I said nothing, and I could feel Néron tense beside me. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Aymeric tied up and bleeding in the corner. He was still alive.

"This day has been a long time coming, since four hundred years ago when a wolf killed a magick simply because he'd killed the wolf's mate, and that began an all-out war between the magicks and the wolves. Your kind eventually figured out how to destroy us, and my sister and I were the last ones left alive, about to be killed, when we saved ourselves."

Lindsay jumped in. "We had to wait for the memories to fade, to lay low until it was time to rise and finish the work we'd begun all those centuries ago. Since your pack and the Luniere pack began it all, we thought we'd start with you."

"That's fine," I told the sisters. "Start with me, but let Neera go. We'll do a trade."

Lindsay laughed. "I think not. You wolves aren't getting out of here alive. It just depends on the order you go out in."

"Oh, Ifrita, I just can't decide how this should go," Raevyn said.

"I want to start with the bitch. The only question is, should I hack Neera into pieces as a human or a wolf?" Lindsay asked Raevyn before turning her attention back to me. "Killing your parents as wolves was fun, but I'm thinking carving up a human might be even more fun because that way we can all hear her begging. Unfortunately, with your parents they could only whine and howl in pain since we spelled them to prevent them from shifting back into humans. Sometimes they whimpered, poor, pathetic pooches. I must say, watching your father trying to get to your mother as we ripped her apart was so very entertaining."

"It'd been years since we laughed that hard," Raevyn said with a fond smile of remembrance.

Don't react. I forced myself to ignore their words and concentrate on a plan. If we survived this, Néron and I would have plenty of time to work out the pain of hearing about our parents' last moments. I could feel my little brother forcing himself to be calm beside me, and I wished I could offer him comfort. Neera's thoughts had gone silent since I entered the house.

Think. What was it Echo had said Blaisall told them about Raevyn? When my wolf is out, her magic doesn't work.

The plan that began forming in my mind was risky, no doubt, but it was all I could think of, weak though it was. I'd know exactly what to do if I had been up against wolves, but I was faced with not one but two magicks, and I had no idea what they were capable of, what kind of destruction they could rain down on us.

These two women hated wolves and planned to kill all of us. If they started with the four of us in this room, the pack was fucked. Aymeric, Néron and I were the three strongest wolves in the pack, and I had no confidence that the other sub-alphas could figure out how to defeat the two magicks since they had no idea they even existed or what they were.

I was an Alpha without his Howl, which left us without the incredible power of the Bonded Wolf. My plan continued to take shape as I listened to Raevyn and Lindsay Morgan talk without paying attention to what they were saying. Formulating a do-or-die plan was taking all my concentration, but I hated that it depended on if and might.

If this happens...

If that also happens...

Then it might work...

If was a very risky gamble with Neera's life, all of our lives, hanging in the balance. The very future of the entire pack depended on this if and might plan working.

Weak, but I had no other options.

If and might were all I had right now, in addition to split second timing, followed closely by I hope Néron can figure out in less than a second what I need him to do.

Solid motherfucking plan.

I can't let my wolf out. She wants to bite you. Take the Blood.

I prayed to the Forces that what Neera's thoughts had told me about her wolf's overwhelming desire was still true.

Without appearing to, I focused and gathered myself, drawing on all of my Alpha strength and power, hoping it would be enough to do what I needed to get done.

Not knowing if it would work on wolves who had been ruthlessly repressed for so long by the magicks. Needing it to happen with all four at the exact same moment. I couldn't even look at Neera's face for fear of losing my focus.

Split second timing...

If...

If...

Might...

"Maybe I'll start hacking pieces off Neera's pretty little neck to start," Lindsay Morgan's words drew my attention, and she began sawing the knife deeper into Neera's neck as the evil bitch smiled right at me.

I was out of time. I had to act. No time for second-guessing.

With that realization, I bellowed an Alpha Decree, my muscles straining with the force of the power and command I threw behind the single word: