It was after midnight. I was woken by a loud crashing noise and a muffled thump like a body hitting the ground. Liam was already sat up in bed, one hand on his knife hilt, and I wasn't slow to follow him.

We'd gone a week without an escape attempt. Surely, they couldn't be this stupid—

They weren't, as it turned out. I saw Hannah's face appear between the bannisters at the top of the staircase, and I saw Hayden standing behind her with his hair sticking up wildly and his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants.

The raiders who came to babysit them through the night were making faces at us. Clearly, they'd thought we were responsible for the noises. I motioned for the lot of them to stay put. I didn't like this.

I picked up one of the decorative fire-pokers and got onto my feet, padding towards the hallway. As I got closer, I could see shadows moving beneath the door. We hadn't imagined it, then. I went as still as I could and pressed my back against the wall.

The fire-poker was cold against my palm, and I lifted it now, ready to clout whoever was lurking in our hallway. Liam stood a pace behind, his hand resting on my hip to steady me.

The door began to open with a little squeal. And as it swung, so did I. The poker collided with something very solid, and that very solid thing collapsed in an ungainly heap. Backing away cautiously, I flicked my knife out.

"Bloody hell," the heap muttered. "What was that for?"

I knew that voice. My knife-hand fell back to my side, and I let the fire-poker drop. The fear drained away in an instant, embarrassment filling the space it had left.

"Rhodri?" I demanded.

"Yes, you walnut."

Hannah had ignored my instructions, evidently. She was beside us now. She leaned over to flick the light-switch, and suddenly we were all blinking. Rhodri was mud-spattered and rain-soaked. He'd left a trail of dark brown footprints on the nice cream carpet and a horrible smear where he'd fallen.

I pocketed my knife and smiled sheepishly. "Oh. Hi. We thought you were an intruder."

He managed to get up onto his knees, where he clutched at his side and spat out a few choice swearwords. "I am an intruder. Doesn't mean you get to wallop me with a— What? Cricket bat?"

"Pillow," I supplied.

Rhodri swatted at me. "Don't lie to me. I think you cracked some of my ribs."

"Oops?" I offered. "I'm not sorry, mind. You could've been anyone."

"Yeah. I could've been some little old lady, and you'd have killed me, Eva."

I didn't think little old ladies tended to break into people's houses in the early hours of the morning, but he was welcome to use that argument, assume he'd won and shut the hell up. Nine times out of ten, it was the best way to deal with him.

It was unfortunate that Hannah didn't understand that piece of strategic brilliance. Her scowl had only deepened. "Goddess, quit whining, would you? They'll heal in five minutes flat, and it's no less than you deserve."

And those words marked the end of Rhodri's playful mood. He stood up properly and used his extra eight inches of height to stare down at her. They were close. So close, in fact, that I couldn't tell if they were about to kiss or start a fistfight.

"I think I preferred it when you were sulking," he told her.

Hannah's lip curled. "I think I preferred it when you were at the other end of Snowdonia."

"Really?" Rhodri drawled. "Don't fib now..."

"I'm not."

"So you'd rather I was off raiding than hanging out with you? No moral objections to that?" he asked slyly.

"Oh, you were raiding, were you?" she demanded. A low growl rumbled through her chest. "Do you feel big and strong when you're terrifying little kids?"

"We don't touch the bloody kids," Rhodri snapped.

Hannah's lip curled. "You don't have to. They get to watch while you murder their parents for pocket change."

"Me raiding is the only reason you're eating, flockie. All those special meals of yours ain't cheap, you know. Neither's the insulin."

Even by his standards, that was a low blow, and I saw the hatred flash across Hannah's face, clear as day. "Then let me the hell go. No one's making you keep me prisoner, you brain-dead prick."

There was enough force in those words that I stepped between them. Rhodri's eyes were still speckled hazel, but hers had gone very dark, so I worried she'd end up shifting. We could do without a fight on our last day.

"Whoa. Chill out," I told them both. "Let's just all take some nice deep breaths, yeah?"

Rhodri was stupid enough to smirk then, and Hannah went for him. Liam and I caught an arm each. Between us, we managed to keep them apart until Hayden could come thundering down the staircase to hold her back.

He managed it almost effortlessly — one arm around her waist and another hooked under her arm — and then he lifted her clean off her feet and back several paces. By the time he put her down again, she was calm enough to stand still.

"He's not worth it, okay?" Hayden murmured.

Hannah ignored him and continued to stare at my cousin, who was just grinning at her. He was probably enjoying this, and I reckoned she'd just worked that out. Pissing people off had always been a favourite pastime of his. I could've cut the tension between them with a knife and still had plenty to spare.

"Change of subject, anyone?" I offered nervously. "Brilliant. Rhodri, how did you even get in here? I swear we locked the door."

He sat himself down on the sofa and crossed his muddy boots on the coffee table. "Climbed through a window."

I could feel Hayden's eyes boring into my back with that unbearable smugness. "See, Eva? This is why we keep the windows—"

"Shut up and go back to bed, flockie," I told him.

He wasn't inclined to listen. Instead, he came even further into the room, his eyes fixed on the muddy stains. His jaw fell open, and he let out a strangled groan. "Seriously? Look at what he's done. That's never going to come out."

"What did I just tell you?" I growled. "Screw off."

He muttered something foul under his breath and headed back towards his bedroom, babysitter in tow. While it couldn't have been fun trying to sleep with some random guy watching you, it was a good deal more fun than being handcuffed to the headboard. Hannah followed him, but not before she'd thrown a final gut-liquifying look at Rhodri.

As soon as she was gone, Rhodri slumped in his seat with an exaggerated sigh. "Is it just me or does she get ten times hotter when she's angry?"

"It's just you," I assured him. "Is that why you keep winding her up?"

"Nah," he muttered, running a hand through his hair until it was all standing on end. "I do that because she won't even talk to me otherwise."

"So could it be that you think she's ten times hotter when she's paying you the slightest bit of attention?" I asked patiently.

He slid further down the sofa cushion until he was lying flat on his back and chewed over that one for a moment. "Could be."

"Sounds like you're whipped, Llewellyn," Liam offered from the doorway.

"Am not," Rhodri said indignantly. "I've been getting cosy with a girl called Charlotte these last few days. Not as hot as Hannah, mind, but she's much nicer to me."

I groaned at him. "Charlotte from Nia's crew? Because I do not like her one bit."

"She doesn't like you either," he assured me through a burst of laughter. And that seemed to be the end of the conversation. I was too busy fuming to reply, and Rhodri was too busy trying to swallow his amusement before he choked on it.

I'd much rather have him pining for Hannah than running around with one of my nemeses. The truth was, me and the flockie had been getting along okay this past week. She was still cold with Liam, and she wouldn't even talk to the babysitters, but it turned out she wasn't half so grumpy when her blood sugar was stable and she was getting a proper night's sleep. It was a shame that Rhodri's presence was going to put an end to that.

Yesterday, she'd spent an entire afternoon showing me how to do flockie chores because both of the boys were utterly hopeless at them. Hoovering had been noisy and a little frightening. If you put your fingers too near the vacuum part, they could get sucked inside. 'Making a bed' had been a bitter disappointment. You didn't get to make anything. You just put clothes on an existing bed.

"You'd best show me, then," Rhodri drawled as the silence stretched longer, tapping the whorl of black ink which crept above his shirt collar. "Nia was telling me you've had the snip."

I pulled down the collar of my t-shirt with a single finger to reveal the neat red line along my collarbone. Rhodri's mam had turned up a few days ago to surgically remove our tattoos, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience, to say the least. I'd struggled my way through it. Liam had needed heavy sedation to let a knife anywhere near his throat, and he'd been quiet ever since.

Rhodri wrinkled up his nose. "Damn. You really are flockies now, aren't you? You certainly smell the part. Next you'll be talking like them."

We'd actually been practising that. And by practising, I meant that we'd been imitating the slightly more 'refined' pack accent and that we'd cut back on the constant, unapologetic swearing. I dipped into that voice now just to show off.

"You look just awful, young man," I exclaimed. "Did you run all the way here?"

He rolled his eyes. "Course I did. Took me an hour just to find the place. I can't stay very long, either, 'cause I've got to be back in my bed come the dawn. Nia didn't exactly sanction this little sortie."

Liam let out a low whistle. "Shit, Llewellyn. You ran halfway across the bloody mountain range just to hang out with us for a few hours?"

I narrowed my eyes at Liam and coughed pointedly. He took a moment to understand.

"I mean ... oh my," he corrected himself flatly, his eyes on me. "I hope you didn't go to any trouble on our account."

Rhodri threw a cushion at my face, having correctly identified the ringleader. He missed, but he did manage to clip my ear and make me jump. "Quit it, you inbreds, or I'll be on my way. And since you ain't got nothing better to do than screw around, I'll be wanting a glass of your finest whiskey. Neat."

Normally, I would've told him to go to hell, but ... well, Lowland Pack was about forty miles away and it was pouring outside. He certainly looked exhausted. Even as I watched, he kicked his boots off and lay flat on the sofa. A dark water stain was spreading across the cushions beneath him.

And so I plodded towards the kitchen to fetch some drinks.

Margarita for me, vodka and coke for Liam and the whiskey Rhodri had so politely requested. I got a little carried away, I'll admit — cracking out the fancy wine glasses and the ice-cubes. The finished product was loaded onto a fancy tray with crisps and cubes of cheese. Against all the odds, I was getting good at this housewife nonsense.

"What the hell is this ice doing in my drink, Eva?" the ungrateful sod demanded, not three seconds after it was delivered directly into his hand.

I paused midway through a sip of my drink and glowered at him over the rim. "Keeping it cold."

Liam had said thank you. Rhodri, on the other hand, had a bone to pick with me, and I was only too willing to let him. I'd missed this. I could bicker with Liam, of course, but it wasn't quite the same. I could call Rhodri a whoremonger because no matter what I did, he wasn't going to get offended.

"Do you know what 'neat' means, or was that not included in your flockie education?" Rhodri drawled.

"I'm gonna be honest now — I wasn't really listening when you were talking to me, so you're lucky I even remembered the whiskey part."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, it tastes like shit."

"Mm," I agreed cheerfully. "I'm going to flog the good stuff and use it to buy more cheap stuff. You're enjoying Tesco's Basics right now."

Rhodri swore at me, but he did finish that glass and then two more, so it couldn't have been that awful.

***

I awoke to the sound of Hayden Lloyd eating cereal. He was sitting cross-legged in one of the armchairs, his bowl balanced in his lap, and he was watching me wake up with lazy curiosity.

"Where's your babysitter?" I demanded, and I found my voice hoarse. I didn't have a hangover because I hadn't actually gotten drunk. Rhodri, though... One glance around the room showed me that he was passed out on the sofa, looking like death. So much for being back at Lowland before Nia missed him.

Hayden just shrugged his shoulders, his attention entirely focused on an attempt to cram as many of the little pieces of cereal onto a dessert spoon as physically possible.

"There's a car in the driveway," he told me through a mouthful of Coco Pops. "Thought you'd want to know."

Oh. Right. Yeah. Mam was supposed to be picking us up this morning because the paperwork had finally gone through. And instead of being packed and ready to go, we were still in bed at gone eleven o'clock because we'd been up talking half the night. Shit almighty.

Beside me, Liam was yawning as he woke. Our little nest of bedding on the living room floor had disintegrated overnight, and we were somehow sharing a pillow. The duvet was tangled around our legs.

"Rise and shine," I muttered. "We are in so much trouble."

He took one look at Rhodri and swore. And then, as if on cue, came the tell-tale sound of the front door opening. Hayden carried on shovelling cereal into his mouth, but there was a hint of a smile playing about his lips. He was enjoying this, damn him.

"Eva?" Mam called. "I hope you're ready...?"

I squirmed out of bed and pulled my trousers on in frantic haste, and then I went into the corridor to stall her while Liam did ... something. I almost ran into her. Once we'd regained our balances and put some distance between us, her eyes flicked from my head to my toes and narrowed ever so slightly.

"Well, that answers my first question," she sighed at me. Before I could open my mouth, she'd slipped around me and gone into the living room. Both of the boys had vanished to Goddess knew where, leaving Hayden alone with his cereal. My mother seemed intent on scrutinising the whole room.

"We might have overslept a bit," I admitted. "Through no fault of our own. The flockie was supposed to wake us at eight, but he forgot."

Hayden scrunched up his entire face and made no attempt to deny it. Like most flockies, he had the art of looking scornful utterly perfected. It was convincing enough for my mother, who probably hadn't believed me in the first place. Luckily, she seemed to have something else in mind.

"Have you seen your cousin?" she asked.

I played dumb, obviously. It was never difficult. "What? No."

She looked down, counting the empty glasses, of which there were three, and then she looked back at me with her eyebrows cocked. "You're not going to ask me which cousin?"

"Does it matter? We haven't seen anybody. Ain't that right, Hayden?"

He paused eating to look up at me for a long moment, the smile on his lips only growing wider. "Mm. What she said."

Mam regarded us both with narrowed eyes, and then she raised her voice loud enough for the whole house to hear. "Rhodri Llewellyn, don't make me come looking."

It was a long agonising minute of waiting. I hoped he'd stay wherever Liam had stashed him because we couldn't be punished without proof, and so far Mam had none. But of course, Rhodri didn't know that. He came back into the living room and scratched the back of his neck as Mam let out a quiet, almost unintentional growl.

"Well, at least I can tell Nia that you're alive," she said.

He had the good sense to look sheepish. "I—"

"Outside."

Rhodri heard the bite behind that word and did what he was told. She hadn't yelled at him, though. She hadn't even given me a dirty look. Today was a special occasion, after all. It wasn't every day you sent your daughter to almost-certain death. What had Dad said about the life expectancy of sleepers? Three months? There was a reason we didn't have any in Silver Lake.

Hayden had finished his cereal now. He'd been eating out of a mixing bowl because the ordinary ones weren't big enough for him. That boy seemed to eat my body weight for breakfast alone. As soon as Mam saw him set his bowl down, she pulled a little Tupperware box of ice from her pocket and extracted something from within.

"Here," she said, extending it to Hayden. "Take it — go on."

Instead of obeying, he took a wary step backwards and tucked his hands into his pockets. "What is that?"

"What does it look like, Hayden?" she asked. "You're going to hold it until it smells like you."

He let out a derisive snort. "Like hell I am."

I moved a little closer to squint at the 'thing' and made a face. It looked like the top half of someone's finger. The skin was jagged where it had been severed, and there was a crust of dried blood on the ice. "Huh. Where did you even get that, Mam?"

She put the Tupperware away, leaving the finger lying flat on her palm. "Never you mind."

"I'm not touching it," Hayden insisted, folding his arms and backing away until he hit the coffee table.

Mam gave him a flat look. "Yes, you will. Your father is giving me the run-around. He released the prisoners who were in for trespass, but he's hanging onto the ones who were sentenced to death, and I'm not in the mood to play games. Call this a friendly warning."

"Wait a minute. If we release all our prisoners, the other packs are going to hear about it," he said hurriedly. "Getting labelled a rogue sympathiser is almost as dangerous as actually being a rogue. He can't help you if he's deposed."

"I've got a four-year-old waiting to hear if their Daddy will be coming home. I could give a shit about Jace and his pack drama. Hold it or I'll just take one of yours. It'd be less hassle," Mam snapped.

Hayden folded his arms. Either he wasn't taking the threat seriously or he was trying to pretend like he wouldn't care if she chopped one of his fingers off. It didn't really matter which because neither strategy would help him in the slightest.

"Is Turner still locked up?" I asked. I hadn't seen him with Syd's crew, so I could only assume.

"The loud one? Yes."

"Hold the finger," I told Hayden roughly. "It ain't going to kill you."

And somehow, that worked where all my mother's harsh words hadn't. He reached out, cringing all the while, and he took the little chunk of flesh. His face was twisted and sour like he wanted to throw up. I didn't envy him, to be honest. Even with the ice, it was starting to give off a smell.

Liam came in then. While we'd been bickering, he'd put on the flockie clothes that Jace had sent over. They weren't much different to ours. Free from holes and rips and odd stains, maybe, but they wore jeans too. Cargo trousers and camouflage were less common.

I went to look him over. During the last two weeks, we'd started to smell more and more like flockies, but the wave of New Dawn that hit me now was enough to make my nose wrinkle. Wild garlic and sandstone and arrogance.

"Those are mine," Hayden told him sourly.

It was a little hypocritical of him to complain, really, because Liam and Rhodri had been lending him clothes for the last few weeks, albeit very grudgingly and under threat of punishment. Hannah had been leeching off me and Lily. None of us bothered to explain that to him — I was pretty sure he thought the clothes fairy had been conjuring them up from thin air.

Liam shrugged at him. "They were yours."

"At least someone's dressed," Mam sighed. "Eva..."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going."

I took one of the boxes of clothes, which we hadn't touched since arriving, and I took it into the downstairs toilet with no shortage of reluctance. It took me nearly five minutes just to wriggle my way into the jeans. They seemed to have been designed to squeeze the life from my legs. The waistband was tight enough that breathing became a conscious effort, and I didn't reckon I'd be able to sit down.

And the shirt ... it was a tight-fitting blouse type thing. The fabric was scratchy, and there were no pockets for my knife. I came out of the toilet room feeling more than a little bit uneasy in my own skin. The living room had emptied in my absence. The only person left was Liam, and his eyes went very wide when he saw me.

"Shit... Do you reckon flockies like being permanently uncomfortable?" I demanded.

He shrugged at me. "Mine are okay."

"I bet they are," I muttered, eyeing his nice loose jeans. "I can't run in these."

And if I tried to shift in a hurry, I would end up wearing them in wolf form, and I'd look like an absolute dumbass. There was a reason we wore our clothing a size too big. Then again ... when did flockie girls ever need to shift in a hurry?

"Not very practical," he agreed, "but ... um, they ain't hard on the eyes."

I rounded on him, my lips thin, just in time to see those dark eyes snap upwards. If that had been anyone else — and I meant anyone — I would've smacked them. The trouble was that Liam had one of those big genuine smiles that made it very difficult to get angry at him. He just looked so ... innocent.

"No, go on, Kendrick. Keep staring at my arse. See what happens," I drawled.

"Actually, I'm not," Liam told me, that smile now hinting at mischief. "Anymore."

Swallowing a growl, I stalked towards the hallway, where the others seemed to be gathered. Mam took in my attire and nodded her approval.

"Good," she said, pushing the door open and ushering us out. "There's a car from New Dawn waiting for you. Don't talk to the driver."

That wouldn't be difficult. I hated talking to people.

"And us?" Hayden asked wearily.

"You're coming back with me."

He didn't bother to conceal his groan. We were walking towards the car in a roundabout ambling fashion. While I'd been gone, Hannah had appeared. Her eyes were narrowed against the light and her hair was tousled, so I reckoned she'd only just woken up.

"All your paperwork is sorted, by the way, kids," Mam went on. She gestured lazily for the flockies to sit on the grass. "They're expecting you, so all you need to do is say hello."

"Cool. Anything else?" I asked.

"Yes, actually. These are for you, Liam," she said, handing over a bottle of pills that looked very homemade and somewhat dodgy. "They'll keep your wolf quiet."

I didn't like the sound of that one bit. Liam wouldn't complain, of course, but I would. It was true that his wolf was damningly strong. It was also true that he was going to have one hell of a time convincing said wolf to roll over for his brothers. But neither of those things worried me more than those little white pills.

"Hang on, now. What the hell are they, Mam, and where did you get them?" I demanded.

She let out a weary sigh at the pure defensiveness in my tone. "Well ... to be honest, they were originally used by humans to keep werewolf prisoners under control. The dose is low, but Fion tells me there might still be side-effects. Fatigue, slow healing and nausea are the main ones. She also said shifting will be difficult."

Liam stared at the bottle warily. "Sounds ... fun."

"Mm. You should probably go and take one now. Give it time to start working before you arrive."

He went back into the house, probably to get a glass of water. For once, I was glad that my wolf was a coward. If she'd inherited Mam's dominance, I would have to pop those same pills to stand any chance of ducking my head to Mason Vaughan.

Once Liam was gone, Mam nodded towards the hostages. "Were they good?"

Hayden and Hannah were sitting on the grass beside the car with shopping bags full of flockie food. They were putting on brave faces, but I knew they'd been hoping they could stay in the nice, comfortable house for another week at least. Poor Hayden was still holding the severed finger.

I shrugged. "Yes, actually. Perfect little angels. You could let them take a few pillows back to camp, you know — it'd probably make their entire week."

"We'll see," she said, managing a smile. "Thank you for watching them. And thank you for going with him."

She didn't have to explain what she meant. Her eyes were fixed on the house. The door had just swung shut, so we probably had a minute before he came back. I found myself staring aimlessly in that same direction.

"I'm not doing it for you," I told her.

"I know," Mam said, almost gently. "It's not too late to back out, you know. It'll never be too late. If you don't think he's coping, we can pull both of you within half an hour. That's your call, Eva."

Huh. This was new. Trust, for starters, and a generous helping of responsibility. If she was giving me the power to mess up her little power play with a handful of words, maybe I didn't need to be quite so angry with her.

When I'd been little, I'd adored Mam and thought Dad was a little boring. We'd gotten along well enough back then. I was reminded of those days now. There had been several years when I'd started to suspect she was grooming me to replace her, but that had been before I'd decided that life was much easier in the backseat.

"How would I even—"

She reached over to stick an old Samsung into my jeans' pocket. "You can ring or mind-link. Rhodri and Rhys will be taking turns to wait near the border, and Nia and her raiders will camp as close as they can. We're not going to leave you high and dry."

I stuck my hands in my pockets, not really sure what to say at first. I knew full well that most sleepers didn't get this kind of protection. "Well ... thanks, I guess. I didn't know we were going to have a small army on retainer."

"You're my daughter, Eva," she said by way of explanation. "If I had my way, you wouldn't even be allowed to raid, let alone ... this. We're doing it safely or not at all. Now come here."

And with that, she wrapped me in a very bruising hug. It took me by surprise, in all honesty. Mam had never been the touchy-feely type, and that had always suited me just fine. Now, though, I found myself hugging her back. There seemed to be a lump in the back of my throat.

"Don't you dare get yourself killed," Mam told me. "Because I can and will resurrect you just to kick your ass."

It was an effort not to grin. As she released me, I murmured, "I believe you."

Rhodri took his turn next. He didn't hug me because that wasn't really his style, but he did thoroughly mess my hair up before I managed to shove him away.

"Don't forget about me just because you're spending all your time with the flockie," Rhodri said sternly. "I was here first. Water's sweet but blood's thicker, right?"

I make a sound of disgust in the back of my throat. "Yeah, you're definitely thicker than he is."

He lunged for me then — something I probably should have seen coming. I let out a little squeal and darted behind Mam. If he tackled me, he was going to ruin my nice clean clothes, and I didn't think I had the energy to wriggle my way into another pair of jeans.

Rhodri wasn't dumb enough to chase me, but he stood there waiting with a scowl that told me I'd be in for it if I dared venture out of my hiding place. Squeezing my arm, Mam gave me a look that advised me to put some distance between us.

"Go on," she told me. "He won't be long now."

Walking away was harder than I'd thought it might be. The goodbyes felt so horribly permanent, for some reason. I had to fight for every step, and yet I was halfway down the driveway before Liam came back out of the house.

From a distance, I watched him shake hands with my mother. They exchanged a few quiet words before he went to bump fists with Rhodri. Soon enough, Liam walked out to join me. He was carrying the two bags of spare clothes that I'd completely forgotten about.

"Ready, Eva?" he asked me.

We could see the car in the distance now. It was parked much further down the road, out of sight of the lodge, and it looked as fancy as it was possible for a car to get. There was a blonde woman with a fighter's build leaning against the passenger's side, waiting for us. The wind was carrying her scent towards us — one hundred percent New Dawn.

"Nope," I replied without moving my eyes from the car. It felt like my heart was trying to thump its way out of my chest. "You?"

Liam managed a wry smile. "Not even a little, but what the hell, right?"

Behind us, Mam and Rhodri were watching from the porch. I could see Hayden shading his eyes against the sun to peer at me. He was still sat on the grass, and Hannah seemed to be falling asleep on his shoulder. She wasn't a morning person.

Reaching out, I tangled our fingers together. We'd worked out that holding hands could be a bit overwhelming for him, but this worked fine. It was easy for him to pull away if he needed to. The contact settled my wolf, who didn't like the idea of being near packlings, let alone becoming one. It also made it easier to be brave.

"Right," I agreed. My voice came out a little breathless. "Here goes nothing."