I forced myself down to sleep last night. My restlessness was almost painful, but I managed to get down, with some chemical assistance from Daemon. I needed all my strength and faculties for this day. The most dreaded day I had known would come for the past five years. This is the day I would be forced to have Ele strip my pack bond before the contingent of alpha males who had flocked to Grayville. With my eighteenth birthday tomorrow, they would officially declare me "fair game" to their less than legal means of pursuit.

Dread snaked through my belly and the foreboding of the day and night washed over me. I was not prone to rage like Jenna, but I felt a strong righteous fury on the matter of my unjustifiable future. My sisters had no idea what I planned for the people who were coming for me. Lycan males like these were a cancer that needed to be snuffed out. My analytical mind knew that it was now a "me or them," situation, so I chose me. I would always choose me over the mongrels who wished to rip a piece of my sister's pack from her, like it was their god given right.

I pulled loose the two wooden boards under my bed. I pulled out a large black duffle. I had hidden it here for over six months. The scent of thick metal and gun oil filled my sensitive nose. I was now dressed in black cargo pants and I had on a black tee shirt. I put on a pair of black leather boots with a steel toe in them. I pulled my long red hair together and I unsheathed a large knife. It was a black steel knife, the kind the U.S. armed forces members carry. I had bought that and a series of small caliber fire arms through less than legal channels.

I slashed through my thick mane of red hair, leaving it just above my shoulder now. I struck a match and dropped it in my metal waste bin, along with the crimson locks I had severed. I packed some paper in, so everything would burn away. My clothes were already packed into a small Subaru WRX, along with the rest of my firearms. I quickly checked and loaded each of my .40 caliber guns, all loaded with explosive hollow-points. I had two compact size .40 caliber hand guns now hidden in concealed holsters on the inside of my pants. The large fit black shirt covered them. No one would be looking for me to be armed. We were lycans, not humans after all.

I took no pleasure in what I was planning. My mind seemed to be eerily quiet, like I was entering a battle trance.

If they are going to play dirty with my sister's pack, then I shall escalate matters. No one will be safe from these brutes, unless someone does something about them. No one can do anything, not if they are still members of a pack. Reprisal will fall on every lycan they know.

I thought to myself, like a last-minute mantra of sorts. Reminding myself of the long view. I was just one lycan—one she-wolf—but maybe I could do enough damage to the cancerous problem before I finally died, that it would affect the community and send ripples through out the lycan world.

I will fight for myself, for my dignity, my right to choose if or when I will ever mate. I fight for all the women over the centuries who have been "claimed" in less than consenting manners. Everyone has just shut up and looked away, telling themselves, "This is just the way of things." Today I would fire the opening salvo of my own revolution for one. My private war to be waged against the corruption of my world.

My sister knows I have a plan, but she has no idea what it is. She cannot know, she must be above reproach, or they will find a way to target Grayville. I just hope I drop enough bodies to make these males think better of fucking with my sister's pack ever again. Though I will be stripped of my pack bond soon, I will forever love the Grayville Pack. Ele might not be able to take up arms in the manner that I plan to, but in her own way, Grayville is a rebellion against the archaic systems of the old world. Like her, I will kill to live, not for the pleasure of it.

****

The "dignitaries" of the many North American and European packs had men on the ground. They were outside the town limits. Ele would not permit them, or their veritable band of lycan thugs into our town. There were over five hundred male lycans present and two dozen alphas. This was why I could not let my sister go to war. She could face down more than one of these men by herself, but two dozen alphas would eventually destroy her.

The main contingent was well back from the two-dozen smug and self-satisfied males. At the very head of this metaphorical serpent stood Jamie Wells. Five years had not been kind to him. His red-rimmed eyes were raw and he licked at his lips and smirked at Ele, as if telegraphing to her his intents for the night. To her credit, Ele did not give anything away. She trusted and respected my decision, she would see this through.

A smaller, lean built alpha I recognized as the leader from Germany clapped his hands together. His name was Gregor. He was as ruthless and cut-throat as any unsavory lycan male in the world.

"Let us be on with this. I am sure we all agree that the sooner this is done... the less painful it will be."

He was unabashed about the fact that they were ripping an eighteen-year-old girl from her pack. They all had no shame in their faces at the thought that someone would be violating me before the end of the night. All they seemed to see when they saw me, was heirs. They all wanted heirs with the most power. They all wanted what Ele had given to her mate Clay, powerful pups. A legacy that would survive the ages.

They just did not bother to ask Clay how hard it was to woo a powerful alpha girl.

There were tablet screens open with the faces of other alphas connected via internet. They were tracking this "exchange" via the internet.

I held up one hand and said, "First, I want your word that I have twenty-four hours to flee. I am leaving my pack, but I have no intentions of leaving with nay one of you bastards."

A chorus of growls erupted around me. Ele stepped between me and them. I was still a member of her pack and her aura went nova. The white brilliance of her power staggered the other alphas. The only one that seemed the least effected with the other pure-blood alpha here. Serge, he was from Russia.

"You will concede this to her on pain of death! You are forcing me to give up one of my highest ranking lycans! The least you can do is to concede this! I am not here to gift wrap my alpha female to you all!"

Ele's proclamation only seemed to piss them off further. She was a woman who put them in their rightful place every time she opened her mouth. She was the personification of everything they hated in a female. Basically, she was the perfect role model for any developing lycan girl.

Jamie shrugged casually and he took one step forward. You could still see the trace white scares the crisscrossed his face. Jenna had torn him up so bad, he actually scared!

"I think that sounds reasonable, don't you guys? In fact, a little bitch hunt is in order, considering the long wait."

Clay growled from behind me.

"I am ashamed to know that I am even remotely related to you and our father. It sickens me that he has accented to this debauchery of justice! I once considered him a fair and impartial ruler of lycans, but I publicly renounce his name and my pups will be named only in their mother's maiden name! I would rather be a Cambelle, than a Wells after this farce!"

Jamie sneered and said, "Like it matters to me, get on with stripping the bond. The soon this is done, the sooner I can track this bitch down and take my time breaking her in!"

I felt chills go up my spine. I had never felt so sick in my whole life. I realized now that no man, regardless of species, could ever imagine the raw primal fear they can spark in a female. They have never had to survive knowing that forced breeding was actually a possibility for them!

I put my palm on Ele's shoulder and she turned to look at me. I could see her hope that I had somehow changed my mind, but I shook my head.

"It's time... let me go sister..."

I felt the single hot tear roll down my cheek. My inner lycan was howling that the thought of losing pack. Pack was home, was comfort and safety. Alpha was sister and mother rolled into one! To willingly lose such a bond with the most amazing alpha a lycan could ever hope for, was earth shattering. I felt the ice of my depression deep inside my heart.

Ele let out a deep breath and she put her hands on either side of my head and she pulled something. A metaphysical string ripped free and with it my pack ties and connections to her and all the others of Grayville were gone. I hit my knees, overwhelmed by the sense of void and loss. My soul felt like it had been rent in two. I reached into the sides of my waist and I cross-drew my twin pistols.

Ele's eyes went wide, as I bashed her in the head with the butt of one of my guns. I had already aimed my left hand in that motion. I fired three explosive shots neatly into Jamie's head. He was dead before he hit the ground. A cacophony of roars broke out and I back-pedaled and fired into the heads of the charging wolves. I made sure not to waste ammo. All shots were head shots, or heart shots.

The remaining men shifted, tearing through their clothes and pouncing in their lycan form. Roars were ripping through and the members of my pack gathered slowed the alphas down. I turned and ran for my car. I did not look back, I knew that my friends and family were going to let me escape. I had publicly assaulted Ele in front of the other alphas, so they could not believe she was in on my plans. They also could not punish her pack, they were not acting on her orders. As alpha of Grayville, that was her right alone. No, they would lick their wounds, or bury the dead and they would chase their "prize."

I shot out of the grassy patch I had parked on. My four-wheel-drive vehicle shot off. The turbocharged engine roared to life, pumping hard, accelerating to the safety of speeds well beyond any typical lycan's ability. Howls of primal vengeance could be heard all behind me. My sisters were now left with the mess I had made. I could only hope that they would not be the targets of the male ire.