Welcome to the newbies from Belgium, Mexico + Hungary, and Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! One question for y'all, since you have more than enough info to figure it out by now - who the hell is Liam??

I was on the floor again. My calf was throbbing where it had landed on a tree root, and I could feel bruises forming over my ribs. I took my sweet time getting up, because I was only going to get knocked straight back down again. There was no rush.

Rhodri was waiting for me. When I finally did climb to my feet, I made the dumbass decision to try tackling him. The second my shoulder collided with his side, he tossed me back to the floor without even, like, wobbling or anything. Down didn't necessarily mean the fight was over, but he proceeded to flip me onto my stomach. The knee on my back had more than seventy kilos of weight behind it, so I couldn't even wriggle, let alone free myself, and that did mean it was over.

This time, Rhodri helped me up. He even let catch my breath before he threw another punch. It was a lazy, mistimed blow which was easily sidestepped. I caught his outstretched arm, twisted it and took his legs out from under him. It helped that he wasn't trying to resist what was probably the most textbook grounding move we knew.

"You think I don't see that, boy?" Rhys demanded. His timing was shit awful — he had been too busy helping Bryn and Ellis to pay us any attention until about five seconds ago. "Stop going easy on her."

Rhodri found his feet and swore under his breath.

"You were doing what?" I snarled. In actuality, I not only knew — I encouraged it, but I had to pretend like I didn't. They both ignored me.

"It wasn't—" Rhodri began sullenly.

His father interrupted him with a laugh. "Yes, it was. Drop and give me fifty. Jess, you can count for him."

He had been carrying his daughter to keep her out of trouble, but now he put her down, and she sat herself in front of Rhodri, waiting expectantly, the sadistic little creature. I wasn't sure she could count higher than twenty, so this might take a while.

"You never tell Liam to quit taking it easy on her," my cousin muttered.

"No, I don't," Rhys agreed cheerfully. "You're her brother. Hit her. It's the only way she's going to learn."

"Bloody favouritism, that is."

"You think so? Want to make it a hundred?" Rhys asked, and Rhodri moved his eyes onto the ground.

"It ain't a fair fight, Dad. She's half my size," he tried, this time without the undercurrent of insolence which came with staring at an older shifter.

"It won't ever be a fair fight for Eva, will it? Sooner she gets used to that, the better." He caught my eye very deliberately and held it. "But I reckon you'll find that she can take care of herself just fine when she bothers to put any effort in whatsoever."

Dammit, he was onto me. It was lucky he couldn't prove it, or I'd be doing push-ups right alongside my cousin. I tried to look affronted and hoped for the best. Luckily for me, Fion chose that moment to call him from the house, and he had to go, leaving his daughter to mete out the punishment. With a heavy sigh, Rhodri dropped to the ground and started the push-ups.

"One," Jess announced happily. "Two, four."

"Sorry," I muttered.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't cuss me out, either.

"I'll do your laundry?"

"Three, one."

And I saw the barest hint of a smile.

"Laundry and dishes?" I tried.

"Zero, none," she giggled.

"I'm not mad at you, Eva," he said. He stopped the press ups for a second to glower at his sister. "You, though — you're not funny, you little piece of shit. Count properly and I'll give you a Freddo later."

Jess smiled slyly and held up two fingers.

"Yes, fine, whatever."

Another finger went up.

Rhodri looked absolutely disgusted, but she had all the power, and he knew it. "That's not how negotiating works."

"None," she repeated, narrowing her eyes, and now there were four fingers up.

"He'll give you whatever the hell you want, Jess," I assured her. "Just count."

Jess looked at her brother, waiting for confirmation, and he swore again, but he did nod his head.

"Seven," she said.

"If you're not mad at me, then who are you mad at?" I asked him. "Because your face looks like a skunk's back end, I'll have you know."

"Eight."

"At myself, you absolute carrot," Rhodri laughed.

"Nine."

It wasn't hard to tell why that might be. He got on well with his dad, and that had almost been an argument. I prodded him gently with a foot. "You need to stop talking back, Rhodri. Sooner rather than later."

"Ten."

It wasn't what he was saying, because we all ran our mouths from time to time. It was the way he was saying it. If he kept it up, one of the adults was going to end up giving him one hell of a thrashing. And maybe that would put a stop to it, but maybe not. I was a little worried he would be sent away like Nia had been. I wasn't sure I was ready to leave home just yet, but I wasn't sure I could do another few months away from my honorary brother, either.

"Ten and one."

"I know," he sighed.

"Ten and two."

***

Fifty push-ups was a lot, as it turned out. I was sweating just watching him, but Rhodri only started to slow when we reached the forties. It wasn't like chopping firewood or digging latrine pits — there was a whole different group of muscles involved, and I reckoned he would be aching in the morning.

Not two minutes after he had finished and I'd helped him up, I heard new voices and pricked up my ears without turning around. Mam was coming out of the house with a full rucksack and Fion and Rhodri's dad at her heels.

"If I remember correctly, Rhys, you set fire to his pack house and then punched him in the face," she snorted.

He shrugged sullenly. "He swung first, though, didn't he?"

"Even more evidence that he didn't like you. Stay here. Hold the fort until I get back — won't be more than a day."

If all the raiders were about to turn up on our doorstep, she would definitely want Rhys here. He was one of the few people who knew every single one of them. But I wasn't interested in that anymore. I wanted to know where the hell Mam was going. Rhodri and I edged a little closer under the pretence of getting drinks from the cooler.

"I'll stay, but if Syd Jacobs starts talking shit again, I'm not playing diplomat," Rhys muttered.

"You can look the other way," Mam allowed. "You can't join in."

"Fine."

"Are you bringing him back here, Skye?" Fion asked. "Because I'm not sure that would be—"

"Goddess, no. He can stay where he is until we need him."

I was moving before I had even fully processed her reply. In a dozen steps, I crossed the front lawn and put myself in the adults' way. Mam narrowed her eyes, asking for an explanation.

"You're going to see the Fletcher kid," I told her matter-of-factly, "and we want in."

Behind me, Rhodri made a face, because we had definitely not discussed this.

"Do you?" she laughed.

"Yeah, do we?" my cousin muttered.

"Hell yeah," I insisted. "Liam's there, ain't he?"

The adults exchanged weary looks, and I knew they were discussing it through the mind-link. I dared to glance at Bryn, who shot me a thumbs up because he was eavesdropping, as always.

"Mm, count me out," Rhodri drawled.

"Would you quit pretending you hate him for even a minute, asshat?" I hissed at him.

He snorted. "Who's pretending?"

I thumped him hard. "Please excuse this sorry excuse for a goat turd, Mam. He does want to come. We both do."

My mother peered at me, pretending like she hadn't already decided to let us tag along. "If you're coming, then you're working. We don't have room for dead weight."

"That's a lovely way to talk about your child," I said dryly.

She poked me in the stomach. "You've got a nerve for someone who once skipped patrol to take a nap in a cowshed."

Rhodri sniggered behind me, because he had played no small part in getting me drunk the night before. I had been too hungover to function, in my defence, and it wasn't like flockies had overrun Haven in the few hours I had been asleep. I would have gotten away with it had Emmett's raiding team not happened to be returning from a raid. I could still hear their laughter ringing in my ears to this day.

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, okay, point taken."

***

We were pretty far off the beaten track. The nearest road was seven miles away, so it had been a nice long trek to get here. Still, I supposed that was the point. The Ember outlaws would want to avoid discovery at all costs, since us rogues would kill them for being flockies and the flockies would hand them to Alpha Jackson for proper executions. They had abandoned their pack — they were deserters under pack law and only one peg up from Haven members.

The scouting party was waiting for us under an oak tree. There were a dozen of them, but, even from a distance, it wasn't hard to identify my dad, my uncle Ollie and a certain towering young man near the back.

Liam had his hands in his jacket pockets, and he was facing the wrong way. I could only see the back of his head — mussed up dark hair and the inch-long scar which disappeared into his hairline. Tempting as it was, I knew better than to sneak up on him.

So, when we were a few metres away, I put my fingers in my mouth and gave a horribly piercing whistle. The entire raiding team turned around, but I kept my eyes fixed on Liam and I got to watch the excitement and disbelief wash across his face. He obviously hadn't been told that we were coming.

Closing the distance, I jumped at him, throwing my arms around his neck and squeezing with all my strength. I was the only person in the world who was allowed to hug Liam, and I sure as hell didn't take it for granted. He took my weight and squeezed back.

"Hey, you," I whispered.

"Hey yourself," Liam laughed.

When he finally put me down, his grin was wide enough to crease the scar which ran from his forehead to the middle of his cheek. "What the ever-loving hell are you doing here, Eva?"

"Oh, you know. Just happened to be in the neighbourhood," I drawled, stuffing my hands into my pockets.

"And you just couldn't resist," he finished, and I let my eyeballs roll skywards.

Rhodri had followed me over, and he was now looking over his shoulder, trying to pretend like he didn't give a shit. I saw straight through it. They were brothers in all the ways that mattered. He'd missed Liam. Not as much as he'd missed me perhaps, but who could blame him?

I pinched Liam's arm discretely, and I heard him sigh, but he did take his attention off me for a moment. "Alright, Llewellyn?"

His reward was a rather non-committal shrug. "Reckon so. You?"

"Mm hmm."

I rolled my eyes, but in all honesty it was a miracle to even get that much out of them. When Liam had first arrived at Haven, those two had spent weeks beating the stuffing out of each other. Not just friendly fights — real, vicious ones. Liam had started all of them, but Rhodri hadn't been slow to hit back.

They'd been trying to work out the pecking order. My cousin had won, because he'd been bigger and better trained, but Liam wouldn't submit. He didn't really know how. Usually, if your littermates were getting rough, you'd roll over and show your throat and win a reprieve, and that was positive reinforcement for the submission. But no one had stopped beating on Liam when he'd shown his throat, so he just didn't do it.

Now, they lived in uneasy truce. The fights had got rarer and rarer over the years, but they weren't unheard of. When it did happen, it was my job to get in the middle before they killed each other, because neither of them were going to back down. It was in their damned blood, I reckoned. Strong wolves made for stubborn wolves.

Without warning, someone hugged me from behind, and I growled because I knew exactly who that would be. It took me an unreasonable amount of time to wriggle free and dart behind Liam and Rhodri.

"Good to see you again, kid," Dad told me. "We've missed you."

I pressed my lips firmly closed and glowered at him.

"Eva," he sighed, and it was nearly a plea.

"Could someone please tell my father that I don't talk to blood traitors?" I asked coldly.

"Calling me a traitor is a little dramatic, don't you think?" he muttered, to which I replied by narrowing my eyes almost to slits. "It's been months. You can't still be angry at me."

Oh, I wasn't. Not really. But this was a matter of pride now. He had seen the tattoo on my neck, and he had been the one to go snitching to Mam, so I was going to ignore him for as long as I possibly could. Tell-tales weren't tolerated at Haven. Especially when they got you sent away from your friends for two whole months.

"I had to tell her, kiddo," Dad insisted. "You'll find out why soon enough."

Bull. Shit.

My lip curled, and I changed my tactics from staring him down to pretending he didn't exist. In all honesty, I was pissed at myself for being the one to screw up and let my collar slip down in the first place, but blaming him was a very convenient way to avoid that guilt.

And, speaking of convenient ways to avoid things — Mam had finished catching up with Ian, and now she was waiting for us with her arms folded across her chest. We were working, after all (which I had totally not forgotten), and we were supposed to be back-up or whatever when she walked into a camp full of antsy individuals, several of whom had Alpha blood.

I sauntered over, leaving my dad to stew in his apologetic nonsense for a little longer. Liam and Rhodri weren't far behind me, as always. Once the whole raiding team had gathered, a skinny beanpole of a scout led us deeper into the woods. We walked about a mile before we came to a clearing which had four camo tents pitched in a rough semi-circle, and the scout gestured to it wordlessly.

We spread out without being told, and then we did the spooky-ass thing where we all closed in at the same time, so that the flockies would see a perfect ring of people materialising from the darkness. I was between the boys, of course, with Liam on my right and Rhodri on my left.

As we closed in, I could see that there were eight people hanging around in the clearing. Five guys, three girls. Three of the guys looked very alike — the same muddy brown hair and blue eyes. It was hard to tell which of them was the ex-Alpha, to be honest, because they were all about the same height.

They scrambled to their feet when they saw us, diving for weapons or shifting on the spots, and rightly so. Everyone was an enemy to flockie defectors. My fingers itched at the sight of flashing metal, but I kept them the hell away from my pocket. We weren't here to pick fights.

Only one of them paused long enough to look at us.

"Do I know you?" he asked warily.

Mam grinned. "We've met. My face was black and blue at the time, so I suppose I can forgive the lapse in memory. Hello, Lewis. You can all relax. If we were here to kill you, you would be dead already."

That didn't seem to ring any bells, so he scrunched up his nose to get a whiff of her scent, and I watched astonishment chase the confusion from his face. "You're the girl who showed up in the prison and burnt my pack house to the ground."

"That does sound like me."

"I'm sorry... I don't think I remember your name."

It was times like these when I got the pressing urge to be a smartass and had to remind myself that ninety-nine percent of guard duty was learning to keep your mouth shut.

"Man, you can tell you've been living under a rock, my friend," Ollie laughed. He was the second, so he was allowed to talk, which I thought was unfair, but whatever. "This is Skye Llewellyn."

"Oh," Lewis said. "Oh, right."

One of the younger guys cocked an eyebrow. "You look a bit scrawny to be a Llewellyn, sweetheart, no offence."

The answering chorus of snarling was missing only one rogue voice, and that was Mam's, strangely enough. She seemed content to smirk at him.

"Quiet, Isaac. Why would they lie?" his brother snapped. He offered my mam an apologetic smile. "I'm... I'm guessing you didn't come all this way to chat?"

He got half a shrug. "We did, actually. I wanted to ask why you're sitting on your ass while your uncle shits all over your pack. Go and kill the bastard before you die of old age."

The man sighed. Patiently, he pulled back the sleeve of his coat to show us that his right arm ended in a scarred white stump. "Would if I could. Have you tried fighting on three legs? It's ... tricky."

"Fair enough. That's a valid excuse. But you've got what — three brothers?" Mam asked, gesturing at the other guys, who shifted uncomfortably.

"Two, now. They tried to go back years and years ago ... and got shot at. Freddie took one to the head. We haven't tried again," Lewis said coldly. "Spare me the condolences, please. I would rather hear why you care about any of this."

"Oh, you have changed, haven't you? All the trust's been knocked right outta you," Mam laughed. "I care because things are about to change, Lewis. Either you move with the times or get swept away. As far as I'm concerned, Alpha Jackson is the only thing holding Ember back. Time to cut her adrift, eh?"

The guy called Isaac snorted. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we can't set foot on the territory, like he just said. You generally have to be within three miles of someone to kill them."

"I can get you in. That's easily done. But I can't help you win the fight. Whichever one of you challenges him will have to do it alone."

I reckoned they would manage it. Jackson was getting old and slow, and these guys were in their prime. I mean ... I could see their muscles even through their shirts, so they must have been keeping up with their training. Not much else to do in the middle of the bloody woods.

Lewis shook his head. "Even if we did, it wouldn't be legitimate. We've probably been struck off the pack register for desertion. Ember might accept it, but the packmeet would not."

"I can fix that, too," she said like it was no big deal to make six angry packs acknowledge an upstart, illegitimate Alpha. I shot Rhodri a look to convey all of that doubt, and he returned it with interest.

"Then where's the catch, because I can't imagine that you would do all this out of the kindness of your own heart?" he asked dryly.

"No catch. Only an added bonus after the deed — alliance with Haven and a guaranteed place on the winning side," Mam told him matter-of-factly.

Lewis actually winced. "All due respect, Skye, but we can't promise you the pack's alliance when it'll set us against every other Alpha in the north. They would destroy us. We're not like you — we can't melt into the forest. They know exactly where we live."

"By the time I'm finished, there will be four packs on my side, not just yours. Think about it. That's all I'm asking for now. It'll be months before I need your decision."

Four packs. That was a majority in the packmeet. It would be enough to vote down the amendment next month, but I didn't see how on earth Mam thought she would get it. None of the packs were even remotely sympathetic towards us, let alone allies.

"Yes, we can think about it," he promised. "There's not much else to do here, to be honest."

That made most of us laugh. Their camp was extraordinarily basic, so I hoped to the Goddess they hadn't been here all these years. It was the kind of thing we would throw up for a single night, not permanent residence. The tents were wonky, the campfire bigger than could be considered practical, and the latrine pit was literally just a hole in the ground.

As I was looking around the camp, all scornful like, I noticed that Isaac Fletcher was staring at Liam with his forehead scrunched and a frown on his lips. That happened quite a lot, to be honest. A lot of the older flockies recognised that there was something familiar about him, but they could never quite put their fingers on it. When you threw his wolf's constant, obvious presence into the equation, you had the perfect storm, and it broke over us on a regular basis.

Now that the conversation was finished, he came stalking over and got in Liam's face. "Why the hell do you look so familiar?"

I got there quick, and Rhodri was a split second behind me, but neither of us were quick enough to stop Liam shoving the Alpha's brother backwards a step. He didn't like that — not one bit. He got hold of his collar and half-strangled him. Liam didn't hesitate to return the favour.

And that was the situation I threw myself into. I put my back to the flockie, which went against every fibre in my body, so that Liam couldn't throw a punch without hurting me, and then I pushed at his chest, trying to pry them apart. It was worse than useless, because they were both bloody massive. It was only when Rhodri got in Isaac's way that we made any progress at all.

His brothers weren't slow to start moving. Mam put herself in Lewis's way, but the other one came and tried to put Rhodri on his arse. It didn't go well for him. Two against one — I should have probably gone to help my cousin, but, in all the chaos, the guy had let go of Liam.

So I ignored the idiots in favour of dragging him backwards, seeing as he was the instigator of this whole mess. He was trying to get around me, of course, but I had a pretty good grip on his shirt. When I next risked a glance over my shoulder, Uncle Ollie and my dad were in the thick of it, but so were another two random flockie guys and one of Ian's raiders.

It reminded me of the brawls which broke out at our rugby games — everyone shoving, no one willing to throw the first punch and get themselves sent off. The adults must have gotten the same notion, because they hauled Rhodri away and took great care not to touch the Fletchers, lest they become just another two brawlers. It was working, albeit slowly.

Liam was still being a shithead, surprise surprise. He had quit fighting me, but he was now staring at the Fletchers over my shoulder, his wolf bleeding into his eyes.

"Park it, Kendrick," I snapped, "or, Goddess help me, I will break your balls right here and now."

That got his attention. He put his hands up and sat his ass down on the forest floor as fast as humanly possible, offering me a rueful grin. He was blinking as he tried to get his wolf under control.

When Rhodri came trudging back to us, his cheek was split open. I had no idea how it had happened — whether it had been the flockies or our own people, and I didn't really care. It would be healed in a minute flat. He spat on the ground and stood very deliberately in front of us.

Mam had let go of Lewis Fletcher now that everyone was behaving like civilised human beings again. She came towards us, picking her way through the scattered flockies. Rhodri moved just far enough let her pass, but I couldn't bring myself to budge at all, instead turning sideways. Mam stopped as close as she could without crowding him. Liam, still sat on his arse, had to look up at her.

"Well, I'm glad we left Rhys at home, in any case," she sighed. "Liam ... that was perhaps not the most restraint I've seen in my life."

"Sorry," he said quietly.

And, somehow, that one word was enough. Anyone else would have gotten a verbal thrashing for the ages. She'd deny it, but she was soft on Liam. We all were. There was something about those dark eyes — something eternally wary. He was always watching for the next blow, always ready to defend himself at a split second's notice. It kinda broke my heart, because it'd been nearly seven years, and that constant, unrelenting readiness ... fear was another word for it, I supposed ... was still as raw as it had always been.

Mam rounded on Isaac Fletcher next, who looked very much like he wanted to break Liam's jaw. "And as for you... The very next time you step up to one of my kids, I'll have no problem knocking your teeth down your throat. Got it?"

"He's not your kid, though, is he?" Isaac asked sharply, and my mam's silence answered him well enough. "I can feel his bloody wolf from over here. So would you care to explain what the hell you're doing with an Alpha's son?"