"Before we start, I just want to submit that this is fucking crazy, and one of us is probably going to end up dead. You, most likely." Krista was standing next to Mel, speaking in a low tone. They stood just on the edge of the forest that abutted Torres' property.

It had taken a week to get everything together and ready for the heist. Once a few of the details were ironed out, it seemed incredibly simple. Ballsy, but simple. As long as Mel could pull off her bit, they'd have the stone in plenty of time for Tina's deadline.

"No one's dying on this one." Mel stretched out her neck and arms, swinging her limbs in circles.

"We can get the scry stone from Mom some other way." Krista reached into her bag, digging for charms, as she spoke.

"Tina won't give it to me another way. We both know that." Mel stopped stretching and looked at the other woman. "We're good, right?"

Krista's hand paused in the bag and she wouldn't look at Mel. "I'll do the job."

That was good enough. Mel checked her watch as the seconds ticked down. Bob should be in place at any moment. She tried to clear her head of the clutter floating around, the tension between her and her team, the stray thoughts of Luke's lips that wouldn't leave her alone. She needed everything gone but the job.

An owl hooted in the distance. Four seconds later a crow cawed. And then the owl once more. She nodded goodbye to Krista and took off through the forest at a run. She had a lot of distance to cover and not enough time to do it in. But they'd added more guards at the perimeter of the property, so Mel had to time her entrance just right. There was a thirty second window where she could cross into the territory without anyone catching the scent of an unfamiliar shapeshifter.

And then there was getting into the house itself. She activated the cloaking spell and approached slowly. Fast movements were more likely to break the illusion, but it was a risky spell to use around shapeshifters since it masked sight, not scent. But if Bob had done his job, she'd have enough time to get in and get the stone before they smelled her.

She climbed up the stone wall, her fingers finding handholds that shouldn't have been possible. Her destination was a small balcony with a simple French door. Normally it would be guarded by an alarm, but she was able to disarm that and let herself in without an issue. That was the easy part.

They could take care of the people outside the house, but they had no way of knowing who was inside. Krista couldn't leave activated charms in the house for more than a few hours, so their intel was half data, half hope. Mel didn't slink through the house. The charm kept her invisible, and even if someone caught her scent it might take them a little while to realize that it shouldn't be there. No house was without its visitors.

No one saw her, no one stopped her. She made it all the way to the vault without anyone the wiser. The lock would have been tricky, but she'd encountered it before. In her experience, most shapeshifters of note went to the same two or three consultants for home security. Consolidation like that made her job easier. She took a breath before opening the door; this was the biggest mystery. They hadn't gotten eyes in the vault yet.

But once she was through the door she let out a small sigh of relief. She'd been having nightmares about encountering some unknown enchantment, something that would kill her if she didn't have permission to go near it. Never mind that almost no shapeshifter would willingly let a witch near his belongings. The smart ones always invested in enough magic to keep their stuff safe.

It looked like Mr. Torres wasn't that smart.

She disabled the sensor on the expensive glass case and exposed the Scarlet Emerald to the air. The case looked intimidating, but it was only on par with what she would find in a museum.

She stuffed the gem into a small canvas bag tucked against her side and turned around to face the vault door. Either there was a mass of shapeshifters waiting for her on the other side or there wasn't. She only had one way to find out. Mel checked her watch. Krista and Bob were due to be in place for the grand finale.

No one was in the hall outside the vault. Good. Maybe, just maybe, Plan B would work and they'd all walk out of this scot-free. With practiced patience, she made her way through the inner staircase and up to the alpha's room. It was madness to use this as an escape point, but it was also the fastest way out of the house.

She was through the door and into his room in seconds. Mel froze by the window when the door opened. Her enchantment should still be working, but the sudden movement of jumping through the window would break it.

A blonde head popped through the door. "Luke?" A girl asked. "Are you in there?" She stepped in and closed the door behind her.

Mel bit back a curse. She couldn't speak without revealing her position. On the other hand, either the open window or her scent would give her away before long. But Mel held still. She watched the girl look around, thankful that she didn't switch on the light.

The girl seemed to give up, muttering something and walking back through the door. Mel let out a breath. She examined the screen in the window and found one sensor. An alarm would sound if she removed it from the frame. A glance at the door to the balcony told her the same thing would happen there. But there was a simple way around the frame.

She heard accelerated steps in the hallway outside the door.

Mel pulled a small retractable knife from her pocket and sliced the screen in an X. The fall was going to hurt like hell, but it wouldn't kill her. She backed up a few steps and took the window at a run, diving through the hole she made. Just as she went through, she heard the door open behind her once more.

Showtime.

She was in the middle of the shapeshifters territory, running, and carrying their most prized possession. This shit was going to be tricky. She had to make it into the forest bordering the property and a mile away before they caught her.

Mel dropped all pretense and sprinted, covering the grass of the yard and diving into the woods. She trusted her body to find the right path, avoiding fallen branches and vines. Of course this would have all gone a lot faster if she could have covered the distance in her other form, but then she would have no way to carry the gem. She'd briefly considered holding it in her mouth, but the risk of swallowing it was too great.

The forest was eerily silent around her. But then again lions were chasing her, she'd barely be able to hear them when they caught up. She didn't look behind her, instead looking up at the thick branches overhead. If she were going to catch someone, she would pounce from above. But she was a leopard. That was her style. Luke's pack was made of lions. Who knew how they would act? This wasn't the savanna.

Her heart labored in her chest, pumping so fast that she could feel the pulse in her temple. But she covered the mile and found the little charm buried under the dirt. It resonated with the magic in her concealment charm. She pulled the concealment from the bracelet she wore and grabbed the small canvas bag with the Scarlet Emerald in it and buried both of them underneath a small layer of dirt. Krista would be able to come back for it and the charm would keep the gem hidden from the werecats.

Breaking into Torres' house wasn't that hard. Stealing the stone had been even easier than she expected, but now came the part that made this job so damned difficult. Once a shapeshifter got a scent, he didn't forget it. She would be a marked woman in this territory for as long as Luke Torres ruled, maybe longer. And that was if she could get out.

Her car was hidden another two miles away, and she had no idea what connections Torres had to local law enforcement. She and her team had taken every shortcut possible to get this thing done, and now she was going to pay the price.

Mel felt rather than saw the first cat. It was a prickle at the nape of her neck. She picked up her pace, changing to an all-out sprint. She made enough noise to scare every small animal in a half-mile radius, but speed was now more important than stealth.

A roar sounded far behind her, and she wanted to freeze in her tracks. The alpha knew and now he was after her. She should have been scared, but Mel smiled, feeling the thrill of the hunt. Even if she was the one hunted, that alpha was a worthy opponent. And no matter what happened to her, she'd already beaten him.

Mel couldn't run any faster. There was a simple limit to how fast two legs could carry any one person, and she was there. It would take too long to shift and gain speed. That lion's roar told her she was in trouble, but she didn't give up. Escaping would be nearly impossible, but she'd been in impossible situations before. She always came out of them, somehow.

This time, though, it looked like she would need to find another way. A lioness landed behind her, claws digging into the dirt just feet from where she'd been a moment before. Mel skidded to a stop. She couldn't outrun a cat, not on two legs. Probably not even on four. Outrunning a shapeshifter in her own territory was a fool's errand.

Fight or surrender?

She knew what she was supposed to do, but her claws pricked at her fingertips, dying to be let out. She could take one cat. Even in human form. But the saner part of herself argued. It wouldn't just be one cat for long, and the fight would delay her.

"Damn it!" Mel turned around, her hands raised.

A golden lioness crouched before her, ready to leap up and subdue her. Mel bowed her head, keeping the animal in her sight. "I surrender myself to the Alpha's mercy." The words burned her tongue, but ritual words held power. They were important. Now this lioness couldn't kill her, not if she thought that honor was important. There was only one man who could do her harm now.

Luke Torres.