When my eyes opened sometime in the night, I had to blink a few times, trying to adjust to my dark room. I didn’t move so I could focus my hearing on what I had heard. But now there was nothing. Just the soft breathing of Emory next to me. I could have sworn I heard something. I got so used to waking up to any little noise the past month that maybe now it was just my imagination.

Letting out a slow breath, I turned my head to check on Emory. He was lying on his stomach having spread himself out on the mattress some time during the night. One of his feet was lying on my chest and I grinned, shaking my head as I carefully shifted him into his spot.

Taking the covers, I placed it over Emory after pulling him closer to me. I still felt drowsy and just as sleep was going to take over again, I heard something. I quickly sat up, blinking a few times then frowned at my door. Wolf eyes taking over, I saw that Vicky was also sitting up which wasn’t surprising since she was a light sleeper.

Vicky looked at me, whispering that she could hear something. I nodded that I could hearing something too but that I don’t think it was inside the house. I shoved the blanket off me, making sure to check on Emory one more time before following Vicky out into the hall.

We made our way down the stairs, careful to not make our steps too heavy. Once downstairs, Vicky mouthed, while pointing, that she’d check the living room and kitchen. I nodded, turning to the dining hall and raised a brow, looking around but nothing was out of place.

Shaking my head, I frowned that maybe Vicky and I were just paranoid because of Madilynn. Raking my fingers through the front of my hair, I sighed, making my way to the living room to meet Vicky.

A small, fragile scratching was picked up and I whipped around, my gaze looking around until I heard the scratching again, coming from the front door. I hesitated, brows furrowed as I walked over. My hand lingered over the doorknob, but then the scratching started up again. I closed my eyes taking a deep breath before unlocking the door and yanking it open.

At eye level I saw no one.

I frowned, squinting but then I heard a meek whimper and looked down. A gasp escaped, my eyes wide on the bloodied wolf collapsed on the porch. It slowly shifted; its hind legs grew long and slender, along with its torso and arms. I immediately recognized the silvery-blonde hair barely visible under the red hue.

“Vicky!” I shouted, kneeling beside the bloodied figure on the porch and brushed back their hair, tilting my head as the panic filled my voice. “Iota?! Iota, can you hear me?!”

I looked into the house again, just as Vicky ran out. Her eyes wide and tearful. I shouted at Vicky to run and get my parents. I growled at her when she was still standing there, stunned.

Vicky shook her head, turning away and ran up the stairs. There were already footfalls from what I could hear upstairs and Vicky’s panicked voice.

“Iota…” I whispered, careful to not touch her too much. I didn’t know how badly she was hurt.

The woman’s eyes barely opened when I spoke to her. Her face had dried blood streaks down her face like war paint. They were from deep claw marks. Iota’s hair was matted with her blood and the rest of her body carried more deep claw wounds and bruises.

Iota was drifting in and out, finding it hard to swallow as she lifted a shaky hand. Her long fingers touched my cheek. “I found you…” was barely whispered.

The porch light came on and I looked up as my parents came outside. My mom gasped, kneeling next to me and was already assessing the injured she-wolf.

Mom’s eyes widened in panic.

“Angus! We have to get her inside! We can’t take her into town for help!” She shook her head. “The pack can’t know she’s here!”

She looked over her shoulder, scanning the area while Dad bent and lifted Iota into his arms. Iota cried out and Dad tried to ease her with mumbled words. Mom, Vicky and I quickly followed him into the living room.

Mom shoved off all the pillows from the couch so Dad could lay Iota down. The injured she-wolf arched, gasping out another cry then whimpered.

Mom turned when more footfalls came down the stairs. She quickly instructed Cece to help gather towels and water, and for Cody to grab extra bed sheets from the closet. My little brother scampered away while Nikko and Sawyer asked what they could do.

My dad breathed heavily, shaking his head and frowned as he was trying to think. He looked at Iota when she let out another anguished cry. His attention snapped back to my two new brothers and told them to go back upstairs and keep guard of Wade’s door.

Nikko and Sawyer were confused from the frowns on their faces. Dad nodded that he needed for Wade to stay in his room while Iota was being helped.

“You do not let him down here, do you understand?” Dad ordered, his brows raised. “My son cannot see his mate like this! It will send him into a frenzy, and right now that’s not what we need! It will only draw attention to our house, and the pack can’t know she’s here!”

Nikko and Sawyer nodded, disappearing upstairs.

With the two other males gone, Dad stood back just as Mom and Cece came in. He stood in the background with Cody holding the sheets requested. Mom had a large bowl of water and my sister cradled a bunch of hand towels and bottles in her arms.

Mom knelt down by the couch where I was staying with Vicky to be near Iota. Despite the shakiness in her voice, Mom kept calm, busy taking the hand towels and dipping them into the water. She kept her gaze on the she-wolf on her couch, muttering instruction for Cece to go upstairs and grab some of my sister’s loose comfortable clothing. My sister nodded, leaving the room.

Mom was ringing out the towels as quickly as she could and glanced at a pale-faced Vicky. The she-wolf was staring wide-eyed at her older sister.

“Vicky, Dear,” Mom got the younger’s attention.

Vicky’s brows pinched, worry etched into her frown. Mom took the wet cloths and was wiping around the open wounds on Iota’s torso.

“I need you to hold up for me, alright?” Mom urged, raising a brow as she glanced at Vicky. “I need you to remain focused. You’re going to need to help me with your sister.”

I think my mother figured if she could keep Vicky occupied, my Caretaker wouldn’t have a mental breakdown which wasn’t something we need right now.

My mom looked at me, her voice firm as she instructed, “Gigi, stay by her side.” She nodded at Iota turning her face away and groaning. “Just stay by her and talk to her. Calmly. You don’t want her to pick up on any panic. It’ll delay her healing.”

I nodded, kneeling beside the couch and tilted my head as I lightly brushed the woman’s hair. Iota whined, wincing from the two women cleaning her wounds.

“Iota…” I swallowed, remembering what Mom said. I took in a breath and let it out slow before trying again. “You’re going to be OK. We’ll get you all cleaned up and the pain will go away soon. Just keep listening to my voice, OK?”

Iota gasped out a loud painful cry, clutching to the cushions under her. Mom was pouring alcohol onto the open gashes and she glanced at the she-wolf before pouring more. Iota was screaming now, reaching up to clutch her clawed hands around my wrist. I winced from the tips of her claws digging into my skin.

There was a sudden heavy thump from upstairs. All of us looked up, frowning until my eyes widened and I looked at Dad in a panic.

“Dad, it’s Wade!”

“Shit!” Dad muttered. He nudged Cody to follow him and they ran upstairs.

The bedroom door to my brother’s room must have opened because I could hear Wade’s frantic shouting and a snarled growl before it was slammed shut. My heart raced as we stared at the ceiling, hearing the multiple heavy footsteps, some more thumps, even a crash. Wade was giving them a hard time with all the heavy noise coming through the ceiling.

I looked down at Iota again. Tears streaked down the sides of her eyes. She grit her teeth, tipping her head back until she let out another painful scream.

“Iota… Hold on, Dear… Hold on…” Mom tried to soothe, pouring the alcohol while Vicky wiped around the wounds to clean them up. She’d then place a dry cloth over.

Cece came downstairs, breathing heavy and eyes wide. She had some of her clothes and whispered when she was kneeling beside me that our brother was extremely dangerous right now.

Mom placed the bottle down, taking a cloth and handed another to Vicky. The two females quickly and carefully cleaned off the mud and blood on Iota’s skin. Mom shook her head, muttering something to herself before sternly telling Cece to grab the first aid kit. My sister jumped up and ran out of the room again.

I swallowed, looking at the concentrated frown on my mom’s face. She kept glancing at Iota’s tear-stained face then back to what she was doing.

“She’s going to be alright… right, Mom?”

Mom blinked a few times, frowning as she was pressing a wash cloth against one open gash against Iota’s rib cage that started bleeding again. She didn’t answer me right away, and I was starting to panic.

“Mom!”

She looked at me at me, brows pinched further. Shaking her head, Mom admitted that she didn’t know, that she wasn’t a doctor. She did acknowledge that for the most part, the other wounds had stopped bleeding, it was just the one she was pressing on that was concerning to her because it wouldn’t stop bleeding.

When my sister came back into the room, Cece handed off the first aid kit. Mom told Vicky to hold the wash cloth down. Vicky’s hands trembled as she obeyed. Iota was panting heavily now, sweat dripping profusely, and she arched, yelling out again.

By the time my mom used almost everything in the first aid kit to patch up the larger wounds on Iota, the she-wolf on the couch had returned her breathing to normal. Iota was asleep now, after having been cleaned up with the wash cloths; each of us finishing wiping her down thoroughly of any mud or blood. We even washed out her hair which was little more difficult and time-consuming because Iota wasn’t able to move much.

Mom helped Vicky put a shirt and shorts on her sister then Mom took the sheets Cody had brought down earlier to drape one on the clean couch and we all carried Iota over to it. The she-wolf meekly groaned until resting on the cushions. Mom covered her up, brushing back the young woman’s hair. She caressed the back of her fingers down Iota’s cheek and Mom smiled a little.

Turning to us, Mom ran her fingers through her messy hair, her hand fell heavily at her side. Her gaze went to Vicky then told her that Iota would need someone to watch over her around the clock so for now, Vicky could take the first watch.

Eagerly, Vicky went over, taking Mom’s place by the couch and sat down. She scooted closer, resting her head on the cushion. Vicky stared at her older sister sleep. Her eyes teared up and she lifted a finger to carefully trace Iota’s cheek.

Leaving Vicky to watch her sister, Cece and I helped Mom clean up everything before going to sit in the dining room. We sat there, drained from the excitement so early in the morning. Every so often, Mom would get up to go check on Vicky and Iota. She returned, smiling softly that the sisters were doing okay. Especially Iota.

“I think she’s going to be just fine,” Mom sighed, sitting down again. “I don’t think she would have made it through the night had she not showed up here.” She said this low enough so Vicky didn’t hear. “It’s remarkable she traveled all the way here like that…”

Cece had brewed some coffee for her and Mom. Cece brought me a glass of orange juice.

Dad was coming down the stairs, Nikko and Cody behind him. They looked worn out and my youngest brother was sporting a black eye.

Mom frowned, looking at Dad who knew what that look was for. He held up a hand, sighing that Cody was behind Wade at the wrong time whose elbow jammed against Cody’s face which now explained the crash we’d heard.

My little brother weakly grinned at Mom’s pointed look.

When Cece asked where Sawyer was, Dad said her mate was upstairs talking to Wade. The blond was assuring our brother that his mate was alive and was doing well but she needed rest. Sawyer was convincing Wade to not overwhelm Iota right now.

My dad rubbed the back of his neck, grinning as he chuckled, “Beats me how he hadn’t woken up sooner before we brought her inside. I think maybe he was in a deep sleep from crying it out last night.”

I sipped my juice, looking around at the tired faces and the dried blood on both of my parents clothing. I grinned a bit, grateful to have such a loving and caring family. For them to wake up and help without worrying about losing sleep.

Mom touched my hand all of a sudden. I looked at her, lowering a brow before she suggested, “Why don’t you go clean yourself up, Gigi? I’m sure Emory wouldn’t react very well if he saw you bloodied as you are.”

I looked down at myself. Iota’s blood had gotten on my chest and tank top. Dried blood smeared onto my arms and hands, too.

Sighing, I stood up and mumbled that I’d be back and trudged up the stairs. I didn’t make it halfway up when I saw that Emory was standing at the very top. His sleepy eyes blinked a few times then he saw my shirt.

“What happened to you, Gianna?” Emory asked, eyes wide.

I reached the top of the stairs, feeling completely drained. Resting my hand on top of his head, I sighed, “Come on, Em. I’ll tell you inside the room.” then took his hand as we walked down to the end of the hall.

Emory looked up at me and whispered behind a hand cupped around his mouth, that he could hear my brother crying.

“Mm,” was all I could say as I ushered him into the room and then shut the door behind me.

Emory climbed onto the bed, twisting around to sit cross-legged. I went to grab clean clothes and a towel. I told Emory to wait a moment then walked into the bathroom across from my room. I left the door open to keep an eye on Emory and stood at the sink to give myself a good wipe down, using the soap from the dispenser by the sink. I had to go behind the door, out of Emory’s line of sight, to change then took the towels and dirty clothes back to my room.

“So what happened?” Emory raised a brow, his gaze following me to where I dispensed my soiled clothing into my laundry bin.

I smiled at his impatience. “Well…”

I went over to shut the door again before sitting on the bed beside the eight-year-old. Emory blinked his big eyes while tilting his head. Brushing his hair back, I smiled that it was actually good news even though at first it started off scary.

“Iota is here,” I told him, immediately seeing his face brighten. But I quickly told him it would have to be a while before Emory could see her.

He pouted, asking me why and I explained, “Iota was really hurt, Emory, when she showed up here. That’s why you saw all that blood on me. It was Iota’s. But she’s all cleaned up now and is sleeping. So we have to let her sleep so when she wakes up, she’ll feel better and then we can talk to her… OK?”

I knew Emory wanted to go down now if I hadn’t said to wait first. The eight year old scrunched his nose, pouting but let out a grunted agreement. I laughed, leaning forward to kiss his head.

“Don’t fret, Little One,” I used the nickname he loved Iota to use. “Your Caretaker, Iota, is still going to be around to protect you.”

Emory crawled over to sit in my lap and rest his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him and sighed while the boy yawned, “Gianna…?”

“Yes, Emory?”

Emory lifted his eyes up at me when I pulled back to see him better. “I’m hungry,” he whined softly.

Smiling, I nodded, “I bet! You went to sleep yesterday without dinner. Come on. Everyone is downstairs. Let’s brush our teeth and then we can go see what we can get for breakfast.”

Emory hopped off my lap, sprinting for the door. He giggled as he jumped up and down excitedly while waiting for me to approach. I purposely walked slower but then he noticed this and stopped bouncing to give me a frown.

Laughing, I nodded, “I’m just kidding!” and took his hand to head to the bathroom. I let him use one of the new spare toothbrushes we kept under the sink for emergencies.

After helping Emory clean his teeth properly (he thought just brushing the front of his teeth was good enough), we walked out into the hall, hand in hand. Wade and Sawyer were coming out of Wade’s room and they looked at us. My brother was still in his nightwear; a t-shirt and boxers. His dark hair sticking up at odd angles.

Wade gave me a small smile after looking at Emory.

Placing my hand on his shoulder, I told my brother, “She’s going to be just fine.” and he nodded, thanking me before Sawyer and him followed us downstairs.

When we were passing the living room by the stairs, I glanced at Wade discreetly peering into the living room. I knew he really wanted to go over and meet the sleeping she-wolf but Wade forced himself to turn away and head to where everyone muttered a ‘good morning’ to him. Mom was asking Wade how he was doing and he muttered something back.

“Gianna!” Emory whispered my name in a way that wasn’t really whispering. He cupped his hand around his mouth and looked up at me to (not really) whisper, “I’m hungry!”

Mom’s head immediately snapped our way and she jumped up, beaming as she clapped her hands together. She startled all of us a bit doing this and Mom declared that she couldn’t have a starving child in her house. She said to no one in particular that it had been some years since there were children around to enjoy some ‘happy face’ pancakes.

Cece, Wade, Cody and I frowned. All of us grumbled that underage children or not, we wouldn’t have had a problem enjoying some ‘happy face’ pancakes. Cody grumbled the loudest, crossing his arms at the table that he’d been the pedestal child for those pancakes just last year. Nikko grinned at him.

Ignoring us, Mom excitedly clapped her hands again and smiled at Dad.

“Angus! Happy face pancakes for Emory!”

Dad raised a brow, tilting his head. “Why are you looking at me then?”

Mom blinked, lowering her hands and feigned a frown. “Well, Angus… You cook better than I do. We all know that! Besides,” Mom looked over at us—or more Emory—with a giddy, “I haven’t had a child under the age of ten run around here in years, so I want to enjoy that!”

My dad frowned after Mom ushered him away. As he was walking to the kitchen, Dad grumbled, “But maybe I wanted to enjoy that too…”

Mom narrowed her eyes at his back before rolling her eyes and smiled at us.

“Now then! Emory, Dear, come sit beside me.” She patted the chair next to hers. “I have much to discuss with you.”

Emory looked puzzled, even going as far as to tilt his head as he repeated, “Discuss…?”

“Yes! Come, come! Let’s talk about finger painting!” Mom eagerly patted the chair again.

Emory slowly released my hand and walked over as he piped up that he didn’t know what that was. His response only encouraged more enthusiasm from my mom. She claimed that the afternoon would be spent making arts and crafts with him.

The eight year old had no complaints to this. But he did turn around halfway over to Mom and asked, “Gianna? Can I finger paint later?”

I frowned that he didn’t have to ask but that of course he could. Emory squealed, bouncing over to Mom who helped him into his seat despite the boy being old enough to seat himself. Mom started talking to Emory about all the colors that he could paint with.

I sat down beside my sister, taking a good long look at Cece who was listening to Emory chatter away. My throat tightened, taking in my sister’s pretty face, and my chest hurt to imagine her being in Iota’s position and me in Vicky’s. I think my sister felt me staring because she shifted her gaze to mine.

Biting my lip, I grinned, shaking my head that I was OK. Cece squinted at me though, saying that I was a liar. I laughed a little, sighing as I confessed that I was just unable to imagine how I would react had Cece and I been in Vicky’s and Iota’s situation.

Cece’s eyes softened. She smiled while placing her hand over mine. “You’ll always have me, Gigi. No one will take that away from us.”

I grinned, nodding then watched as my sister turned to Sawyer sitting beside her. He was playfully nipping at her shoulder and she lightly patted his face. Sawyer chuckled, lowering his voice when he spoke in her ear.

My attention traveled to Nikko staring at my baby brother with furrowed brows. Cody was still whining about not being the one with all the attention anymore. He even looked at his mate to bare his teeth and growl that this was Nikko’s fault. Nikko rolled his eyes.

As for Wade, he was sitting in the chair closest to the living room. Every now and then he’d look over his shoulder, his stare lingering in the direction of the dark room.

Aside from Vicky and Emory, everyone had their mate. Everyone. And sitting there around them just made me miss Ridge so much more. He was everything to me, and I had been the same to him. Now… now I was nothing. I was back to being the mate he didn’t want.

Standing up, I let my family ease into their different conversations while I snuck outside to sit down by the porch steps. I pulled my knees towards my chest, resting my chin on top of them. The air was a bit chilly but I was too lazy to go back inside for a sweater.

My mind returned to Ridge and to the short time I had with him. My eyes shut; remembering what that felt like being with Ridge. To kiss him. To have him hold me. To hear him say how much he loved me. Even how overwhelmingly blissful making love to him was.

Ridge had been my first everything. And he’d be my last.

And not in the way I wanted either because Molly Sinclair ruined my life. She took away the only thing I wanted and it’s still not enough for me to be selfish and make her sorry for it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t let myself do that. That really annoyed me because everyone would say I had every right to. And I guess they’d be right.

But they didn’t understand that doing something like killing Molly… would let the Darkness take over.

“When do you get a Happily Ever After, Gianna?” I sighed. I certainly wasn’t expecting a reply.

“Probably when you man up and get your wolf in gear.”

I looked over my shoulder as Vicky walked across the porch. Her bare feet patted against the floor boards until she was standing next to me. She sat down.

“How is she?” I asked.

Vicky nodded, saying that her sister was doing better than expected. That Iota was awake right now. Not too much, but enough that Iota was telling Vicky how happy the older was to see her younger sister safe and sound. Vicky mused that Iota was cut off addressing her sister because Iota started shifting around uncomfortably.

The she-wolf grinned, shaking her head that she had never seen such delight and confusion all rolled in one coming from Iota. Vicky chuckled that when Iota realized what was happening to her, Vicky had turned toward the entry of the living room where Wade stood peering in. She waved for him to come over, though he was hesitant. Eventually, after Vicky’s encouragement, Wade walked over, timidly standing next to her.

Vicky shrugged, “Thought I’d give your brother the chance to meet her, ya know, being mates and all. Just finished introducing the pair and took my leave to let them have some time alone.”

The she-wolf scrunched her nose, pretending to gag when grumbling that she saw the ‘lovey-dovey’ looks of the Recognition between Wade and Iota and Vicky had to leave the room.

I grinned, nudging Vicky a bit and the she-wolf scowled at me. She eyed me, scrunching her nose as I teased her that she was so sweet to let the new mates alone. Vicky rolled her eyes, shaking her head and looked out at the pack grounds.

After a moment, Vicky made a good point that regardless of how happy Vicky was that Iota was alive, Vicky knew her eldest sister, Madilynn, wouldn’t have let that happen if it wasn’t on purpose. Vicky was convinced that Madilynn let Iota think she got away but in reality, it was likely it was all planned.

“I have a feeling she was giving my sister time to find you, Shorty. I’m sure Madilynn wanted to make an easy path to you by letting Iota do all the work for her. Unknowingly, of course.”

Vicky looked at me and grunted, “So… Any thoughts on how we are going to prepare for Madilynn’s arrival?”

Glancing at her, I stared back at the she-wolf raise a brow at me before I responded, “Not a clue.”

Vicky rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in the air and scoffed, “Well, that’ll do it! Ride us into battle, Oh Fearless Leader!”

She was so quick I hadn’t expected for her to slap my forehead as she scolded, “Think!”

“Ow!” I touched my forehead and snapped at her to not hit me.

“Hit, schmit!” Vicky shrugged. She stuck her chin up and claimed, “I barely tapped you.”

“Still…” I whined, glancing at her as I faced forward. “It hurt.”

We sat for a moment, and now I was thinking about how exactly I was going to warn my pack while still preparing for Madilynn and her army. The longer I thought about it, the more my brows furrowed and my jaw hurt from clenching it so tightly.

I shut my eyes a second, sighing, “It’s going to get bad… isn’t it?” then looked at Vicky.

Vicky pursed her lips, squinting straight ahead and then slowly nodded. Her gaze met mine.

“Yeah, Shorty. It is. But that’s why we have to hope Iota’s healing kicks in a lot faster so she can explain what the hell is going on. Otherwise, we’re going into this thing blind. If we go in blind… Madilynn will have the upper hand.”

I groaned, my hands covering my face as I laid back on the porch. I whined that this was so overwhelming because of how much fell on my shoulders, including my family’s.

My momentary pity party was short lived when Vicky started snickering. I frowned, slowly pulling my hands from my face and narrowed my eyes at her without getting up. I questioned if something was funny and the she-wolf grinned, her lips pursed in a smug way that eerily looked like Madilynn’s.

Vicky nodded my way, chuckling again and voiced that I shouldn’t touch too many of the pancakes my dad was making.

I scoffed, sitting up and narrowed my eyes. “Why not?”

With a half-mast eye-lidded look, Vicky deadpanned, “You’re getting fat.”

“Am not!” I gasped, looking down at myself then back at her.

Vicky sneered, “Good comeback.” then dropped her gaze again.

I pouted, looking down when she pointed out my abdomen area was getting a lot chunkier than when she first found me. She teased that I was a big girl already and still she could tell I was putting on some more weight. I retorted that it was because Iota was a good cook.

The she-wolf rolled her eyes, nodding that if that made me feel better about my eating habits then she’d let me think that.

“I am not fat!” I told her again, smacking her arm. “I just have a habit of stress eating and so now I’m bloated!”

Vicky yelped leaning away as she growled to not hit her again.

“Then stop calling me fat!” I chided, craning my neck forward, raising my brows.

Vicky narrowed her eyes, sneering as she took a finger, using the tip to push against my forehead and move me away. I swatted at her hand. We both settled down after that.

The fresh air paired well with the quietness of the pack grounds. It was still early, so no one was out and about as usual. My eyes wandered over the healthy green grassy hills while I took a moment to remember that I had only two days after today to figure out how to save my pack… even if they didn’t want me to. That’s if Madilynn didn’t show up any earlier.

“Even after what happened last night…” I shook my head, still looking out at the scenery. I could feel Vicky turned to look at me. “I can’t let anything bad happen to these people. To any of them.”

I heard the disbelief in Vicky’s voice when she scoffed, “Not even that she-bitch?”

The corners of my mouth lifted. And then I shook my head, “Not even Molly.” and ignored Vicky’s wide-eyed frown.

I shrugged a shoulder that I was slowly coming to terms that being a Quail Wolf was a responsibility. And regardless of one pack member being a deceitful little shit, that didn’t mean I had to let the rest of the pack suffer. I couldn’t take my vengeance on the pack. It wouldn’t make me any better than they were.

“Being a Quail Wolf… I have to see a bright future and then actually make sure it happens. I can’t do that if I go Dark, Vicky.”

Vicky sighed, though she agreed with my point. She added that it was only a short amount of time that I had to get my wolf balanced out. She frowned out in the open, pursing her mouth to the side.

“Madilynn is not going to take your defiance lightly, Shorty. Not when she knows that you are all that stands in the way of what kind of world she wants.”

I stared at her until she looked my way. Vicky raised a brow. “It’s either going to be you… or her.”

Narrowing my eyes, I turned away. I could feel my wolf stirring inside me. She was annoyed and I didn’t blame her.

Shaking my head, I raised a brow and stared ahead when I told Vicky, “Madilynn’s got another thing coming if she thinks I’m going to go down so easy. I’m starting to feel my wolf’s bottled emotions. She keeps letting them bubble… like she’s fighting me again… to try and keep them hidden but I don’t know how much longer I can hold her back.”

I took a deep breath. Vicky was staring again. My brows furrowed, eyes turning to my wolf’s as they flicked to the she-wolf beside me.

Vicky’s eyes widened, swallowing hard when I growled, “Fair warning, Vicky. By the end of this war, I’m going to kill your sister.”