Okay lads. I'll be on placement for the rest of the summer now so you've got to decide whether you want your updates shorter or less often. Sorry about that. Things should speed up again when I finish Unhappily Ever After/go back to uni. Whichever comes first. PS. Welcome to Japan and the United Arab Emirates :)

The forest around Silver Lake was like any other forest, and the border was like any other border, but there was an air of menace about the place that sent a shiver racing down my spine. Maybe it was because I knew all of the despicable things they did to our raiders. Maybe it was because Liam was beside me, and I could hear his heart beating faster with every passing second. Maybe it was the smell of fresh blood as we went through the barrier.

There was a corpse hanging from one of the trees. It dripped blood into the leaves below, and it was so mutilated that I couldn't even tell if it was a guy or a girl, let alone how old they were. The only thing I could see was the ripped shirt-collar and the tattoo it revealed. Even after they waved us through the barrier, I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away.

We drove for about five minutes before we reached a car park. To my left, I could see glimpses of the massive, sprawling pack house through the trees. To my right, there were a few young men lounging under the shade of an oak tree. They eyed our car with idle curiosity.

"This is where you get out," the driver told us.

"Thank you," I mumbled. And yet neither of us made any move to leave the car, because it felt nice and safe in here. Outside ... well, those fighters didn't look very inviting. The pack house even less so.

She eyed me through the rear-view mirror. "No need to thank me. I just do what I'm told, pup."

The words weren't as sharp as they could have been, so I decided to try my luck. "Do you, um, know where we're supposed to go?"

"I might," she said. "Depends, really. What can you tell me about Hayden Lloyd?"

Uh oh. I should've just dragged my lazy, procrastinating arse out of the car when I'd had the chance.

"Not much. He's on Anglesey, working on diplomatic relations," I said automatically. That was how Jace had decided to explain his son's sudden absence from New Dawn, and I had no idea if this random fighter lady knew what was really going on.

"Yes," she allowed, and there was an impatience in her tone which made me think she did know. "I was just wondering if you'd heard anything. His family is very worried about him."

I didn't know if I was allowed to tell her anything. I certainly couldn't admit he'd been at the lodge, but I wasn't sure what Mam would want me to say, given that she was about to send his father that severed finger.

"From what I've heard, he's doing alright," Liam said before I could reach a decision. "A bit tired and homesick, maybe, but he's a tough kid. He can take care of himself."

The woman nodded. If I hadn't known better, I might have thought she was smiling. "That's good to hear. Thank you. If I were you, I'd go and introduce yourself to those boys. Say you're new here. They'll make sure you get to someone who can help you."

Liam and I looked at each other, and then we opened our car doors in unison. By the time they'd closed again, the driver had already started to pull off, leaving us alone in the heart of Silver Lake territory. Liam had the bags slung over his shoulder.

The fighters seemed to prick their heads up. One of them stuck his fingers between his teeth and whistled at us. Once he had our attention, he beckoned us over. I trailed after Liam, trying to make it look like I wasn't hiding behind him. I could feel their eyes crawling over us like so many ants.

The one who had whistled wiped his hands on his jeans and stood up. "You lost?"

Did we look lost? Was it really that obvious? I felt like a fish out of water, yeah, but I'd always thought I'd been pretty good at hiding that sort of thing.

"New Dawn's fifty miles that-a-way," he went on, jerking a thumb to illustrate his point. "So either git or tell us what the hell you think you're doing."

My shoulders were tensing up with every word that came out of his mouth. We'd only been here five minutes, and already this random dude was looking like he wanted to knock us into next week.

Lucky for me, Liam managed a rueful grin. "You got us all wrong. We're here to join the pack."

The man went from defensive to embarrassed in a heartbeat. He reached up to run a hand through his ashy-blonde hair, and I let all of the tension out of my body in a single breath.

"Huh. I didn't hear anything about newbies," he muttered, with a glance at the others. They all shook their heads in unison to answer the unasked question. "Oh well. Let's get you inside."

He started towards the pack house without another word, and we were left to catch up. When we finally came alongside him, he held out a hand for Liam to shake. "Stevens. I'm one of the Deltas here. The gentlemen behind me are my merry band of idiots, known to most people as Third Patrol."

"Alex," Liam said, taking his hand.

Stevens gave him a patient smile. "Try again. We go by surnames here."

"Oh. Hayes."

"That's better. Nice to meet you, Hayes. And this beautiful young woman is your ... sister?"

Until that point, it had felt like I didn't exist to him, but this wasn't much better. His eyes went from my head to my toes, pausing in two distinct places. If I hadn't already hated my horribly tight clothes, that would have done the trick.

"Mate," Liam corrected, putting an arm around me to illustrate the point. His hand was resting on my hip, and I leant into him. We'd been around Nia and Lily enough to know how to put on a convincing show.

Stevens threw me another look, this one more wistful than predatory. "Damn. Can't blame a guy for trying. We're short on pretty faces here ... so if you two ever fall out, come and find me, darling."

I smothered a growl before it could leave my chest. My mark was showing, so he was a jackass at the very least. Even now, his eyes were still wandering, and I couldn't help the wave of homesickness that washed over me. Rogue boys knew they had to mind their manners or lose a few teeth.

His gaze snapped to Liam before he could notice the sour look on my face, and a crease appeared on his forehead. Because Liam hadn't liked that comment any more than I had, of course, and he was staring.

"I don't know how they do things in New Dawn, Hayes," Stevens said slowly, "but here we're quite strict on hierarchy. I'm a chill guy. The bosses not so much. You're going to want to keep those eyes down."

Dammit. I dug my fingernails into Liam's skin. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough that he'd feel it and remember where we were. He seemed to swallow his frustration, and then he dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Sorry," Liam muttered. He blew out, and I knew he was fighting his own hurt pride, not his wolf. The pill must have been working. I also made an effort to stick my eyes to the ground.

Stevens noticed that and laughed. "Not you, love. You're alright."

It was as I had suspected. I was invisible here. Not really a 'person' in the same way that Liam was. Certainly not a threat to these big, strong young men with their fragile egos. Unless they could get me into their bed, I wasn't worth talking to.

It was unpleasant, yeah, but maybe it could work in my favour. Back in camp, people had paid attention to me if only because my surname was Llewellyn, and I'd still managed to cause a fair bit of havoc. Here, with no one looking, I reckoned I might just get away with murder.

The Delta led us into the pack house. It was quiet at this time of day, but there were still a few packlings making their way inside. I felt like I was walking into a lion's den, so I was glad to have Liam at my back. We were soon walking through a corridor which was big enough to drive a lorry through.

"This is the pack house, obviously," Stevens said over his shoulder. "Offices are this way. We'll just have to see who's around."

Maybe they hadn't been expecting us, after all. I certainly hadn't seen a welcome party. A few of the passers-by were giving us odd looks, and that was all. I took every glance as a threat, and my heart was thundering along at breakneck speed. I scratched at the scar where my tattoo had been. The waxy, hardened skin beneath my fingertips was oddly reassuring.

As we were nearing the end of the corridor, someone came out of a room. It was a young man in his mid-twenties at least. He was tall and lanky, and his chestnut hair was long enough to cover his ears. It was a stark contrast to the cropped style most flockies favoured.

He stared at us for a moment before he called, "Oi, Stevens — are those my freshers?"

"Yes, sir," Stevens drawled. "Found them wandering the car-park."

The more I stared at the newcomer, the more certain I was that this was one of Liam's brothers. There wasn't much physical resemblance, true, but those dark eyes were damning enough. I risked a glance at Liam. His jaw tightened a fraction, but that was the only indication he'd even seen the guy.

This would be the moment of truth. It had been seven years since they'd seen each other, and Liam had certainly grown, but we could only hope it was enough. Swallowing, I braced myself to run at a moment's notice as we got closer.

He was looking at us, yeah, but he wasn't looking at us. He'd barely spared me a second glance, and his eyes were moving from Liam to the Delta and back again without sticking. If he recognised his brother, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

"Awesome. I'll take it from here. You must be Alex and ... uh..." He glanced at some smudged writing on his hand. "Evan...?"

"It's Eva, actually," I corrected amiably. I could've sworn I heard Liam choke on a laugh. On any other day, I might have glowered at him, but today I was just glad to see him smile.

"Whatever."

Our guide excused himself, and we were left with the new guy. I didn't dare look at him too closely in case he took it for a challenge. His wolf was already stream-rolling mine for no reason whatsoever. He was bigger than Liam, I reckoned, and he had a wider build, but there was a looseness to his stance that lulled my guard down. 

"He doesn't know who I am," Liam told me through the link. His mind was swirling with disbelief and amazement to the extent that it made me a little dizzy.

"No," I agreed. "This might actually work."

Still wary, we followed him into one of the larger offices, and he skirted around the desk to sit himself down. The worktop was a sprawling mess of loose paper. A handful of pens lurked amongst the sheets, and there was a laptop balanced haphazardly on the edge of the desk.

"Sit," he said. "I want to get this done before lunch."

We each took a chair on the other side of the table. It felt so ... domestic. If I'd thought walking into the pack house was strange, this was much, much stranger. We were sat across from someone who had no idea he was talking to his little brother and the daughter of his mortal enemy.

He started rifling through sheets of paper, cursing occasionally. The silence was a little uncomfortable, so I tried out my shy flockie voice with a question that couldn't fail to stoke his ego. "Are you the Alpha?"

He looked at me like he didn't even understand why my mouth was open.

"No," he said after a long moment. "Mason has taken the day off. Between you and me, that means he'd rather screw his mate than do his paperwork. I'm the Beta, which makes me the lucky bastard who gets to pick up the slack."

So this was Felix. That explained why Liam was so calm. This one was on drugs, if I remembered correctly. I couldn't smell them on him, and he seemed perfectly functional, but I could see a few track marks snaking their way down his left arm.

That was where my eyes stuck. Felix was still searching for something, and his movements were bleeding frustration. It grew and grew until his mouth was twisted into a scowl. "Shit. Where did I put the bloody—"

The anger wasn't directed at me, but that didn't stop me flinching a little as he brought a fist crashing down on the desk. It rattled under my arms, the blow forceful enough to knock the laptop off the edge. I lunged forwards and managed to fumble a catch.

Felix took the laptop from me without a word. If anything, he seemed even more pissed off than before as he returned it to the desk.

A glance at Liam showed me that he was sitting very rigidly, watching his brother's every move with a honed caution. I wasn't sure he even realised he was doing it, so ingrained those instincts seemed to be. I'd seen him do the same thing when people raised their voices or moved too quick at Haven, but never on this scale.

It was lucky that Felix was too preoccupied with the search to notice him staring. I reached out and intertwined our fingers. I didn't know if I was comforting him or he was comforting me, but it seemed to help on some level.

"There we go," Felix said eventually, brandishing a crumpled piece of paper. His smile was back as quickly as it had disappeared. "Sign here."

My wariness remained. It was unnerving because he seemed all easy-going, but there was the evidence that his temper burned hot and fast. The thing that scared me was that I might have fallen for the act. I might have written off that little burst of anger as the product of a busy morning ... had I not heard certain stories.

He pushed the document over to Liam, who scrawled something illegible on the line without bothering to read it. There was nothing for me to sign. When Liam returned it, the Beta added his signature below and dug out another bit of paper to read from.

"It's time for the boring legal stuff now, so hang tight," he muttered. "Your probation period is one month. Until that time, you're subject to pack law, but we can prosecute you as a lone, so you'd do well to behave yourselves. If Mason's happy with you after that time, we'll add you to the register and you'll have the same rights as everyone else. Understood?"

I nodded, but Felix waited for Liam to do the same before continuing.

He wasn't having to read from the sheet anymore. "Okay. In regards to pups ... fertility checks are every six months and compulsory. We follow a variation of 'droit du seigneur' here. And, oh, you've got to have a minimum of four kids.

"Four?" I spluttered, forgetting myself for a moment.

Lucky for me, Felix seemed to find it funny. He leant back in his chair and snorted. "Yes. Four. We're fighting a war, darling. You've got to earn your keep somehow."

What was I? A broodmare? For a moment, I got so thoroughly caught up in my outrage that I forgot I wasn't actually joining this pack and I certainly wasn't having any pups at the ripe age of seventeen. Liam let his fingers brush against my palm beneath the table. A glance at him showed me the worry swirling in his dark eyes.

"Moving on," Felix said, paying us no heed. "I seem to remember reading that you're transferring because you fell out with some of your previous packmates. Jace wrote me a long bloody essay, but the gist of it was ... what? Brawling?"

Liam shuffled in his seat. "Yeah, I guess. Me and one of the boys from the night shift kept getting into it. The Alpha decided it would be easier to separate us, but it wasn't like I was the one starting anything—"

"Don't worry," he laughed. "You're not in trouble. I can see why Jace sent you in our direction. We encourage fighting here. Just make sure it's clean and that it doesn't interfere with your ability to do your job. If not, you and me will be having words. Got it?"

"Got it," Liam assured him.

"Good. We start all new fighters in a patrol unit and let them work their way up. You've already met Stevens, so I'll just assign you to him. The salary is twelve, paid in monthly instalments. Bed and board are covered."

Twelve what? Million? Goats? Chickpeas? Bars of gold? One glance at Liam's face told me that he didn't know either, but I supposed we'd find out.

"Our females are expected to help around the house," Felix went on, looking at me now. "Kitchens, laundry room, etcetera. You've been allocated to the kitchens — the six – three shift."

That was probably for the best. I'd be able to chop vegetables, and I'd be nice and close to the food. Maybe I could just slip something into the Vaughans' dinner and be done with it.

"Do I get a salary?" I tried.

Felix didn't find that question so amusing. His bottom lip curled. "Of course not. You're doing chores, not a job. I'm sure your mate will give you some spending money if you ask very nicely."

It certainly sounded like a job. I was going to assume six – three meant six in the morning until three in the afternoon, and that was an awful lot of hours. It felt like another way to control the girls here. If I was dependent on Liam's salary, I had to be nice to him.

"I think that's everything, now," Felix said, rising to his feet. "Follow me, and let's get this shit finished, yeah? The bloody Luna's supposed to give the bloody tour, but you'll never guess where she is..."

I did have one guess, yeah. It was my turn to watch Liam's back now. Felix was in a hurry, apparently — he set a breakneck pace which my short legs couldn't match. Well, not unless I broke into a jog, and that wouldn't be very dignified, would it?

He took us back down the corridor and pointed vaguely at the other end of the pack house. "Gym. Commissary. Bar. Kitchen's that way, too. Breakfast is seven until ten. Lunch is served at one and dinner at seven. If you're on shift, they'll put something aside."

I could see why the Luna was supposed to give the tour. He was worse than useless.

We were now headed for a tiny, ancient-looking lift, and Liam stopped in front of me so suddenly that I collided with his back. It wasn't difficult to guess why. He wasn't good with small spaces at the best of times. Sharing that little box with his brother was going to send him straight over the edge, and then we'd have a fun time trying to explain a full-blown panic attack.

I'd never thought so quickly in my entire life.

"Oh, gosh," I stammered, darting behind Liam for added effect. "Is it okay if we take the stairs? I'm terrified of those things."

The muscles in Felix's jaw writhed and popped.  He took a threatening step towards us, making Liam flinch a little. "Then you'd better get over it very, very quickly."

I let out a shaky whimper. "Really, I can't. They're death traps. Did you know that ten thousand people die in lift-related accidents every single year?"

"That's— I don't think—" he began, stopping when he took a proper look at the terror on my face. He muttered something about hysterical females and stormed towards the staircase. "Whatever. We'll just waste another five minutes. Why not? It's not like I've got shit to do."

His tone was sharp enough to make my wolf cower, but I didn't feel bad in the slightest. And as he started up the stairs, I dared to grin at Liam. He didn't manage to return it, but he did mouth a very relieved 'thank you' and give my hand an extra squeeze.

It was hard keeping up with Felix. I wasn't used to stairs, and he was practically running up them in his impatience. I followed with a cautious, fumbling gait, always picking my knees up to ridiculous heights and making sure my entire shoe was on the step before moving forward.

We reached the top of the stairs after three flights and found a very irritable Beta waiting for us. His wolf was a constant presence by then — pressing down on me and making me feel like I was suffocating.

"See?" I asked brightly. "Much safer. And healthier, too — just think of all the calories we burned. I've always been of the opinion that cholesterol is deadlier than any number of rogues."

I had no idea what I was saying, but it must have been convincing because Felix rolled his eyes and pressed onwards. He looked like he wanted to punch me ... or Liam ... or anyone, really. We were in a short corridor with a disproportionate amount of doors, so I was willing to bet these were the bedrooms.

"You're amazing — you know that?" Liam whispered through our link.

The smile came unbidden. "Mm. I know."

"Yeah, well, I think I'm going to keep reminding you anyway."

"If you must," I laughed.

I cut off the mind-link as Felix stopped outside the door numbered thirty-five. I'd been expecting four walls and some carpet, not ... this. It was a den of luxury which reminded me of the Lloyd family's lodge on a much smaller scale.

While we gaped, he dropped a set of keys into Liam's hand. "Yeah. I know it's not huge or anything. My advice? Have a kid, and then you can move into one of the nice big houses in the woods."

Was he kidding? This room was bigger than the cabin at Haven, and that could fit my entire family. Twenty people. There was a king-sized bed and a sofa and a television and even a little kitchenette. I wasn't sure what more we could possibly ask for, let alone need.

Felix thumped Liam between the shoulder blades, making him jump halfway out of his skin. His brother didn't seem to notice or care. "Alright. Settle in. I'll have Stevens collect you from lunch."

"Awesome. Thank you for everything," Liam said. He was still tense as a drawn bowstring, and his mouth was twisted like he had a foul taste in his mouth. I didn't blame him. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to say the T word to one of the Vaughans.

Lucky for me, Felix didn't wait for me to echo the sentiment. He went to bang on the neighbouring door. When it opened, he just said, "Come and tell the freshers how shit works around here."

The woman in the doorway gazed at him with wide, startled eyes and muttered something about turning off her hairdryer before closing the door again. Felix disappeared off down the corridor without another word to attend to all the vitally important things he needed to do.

Liam and I were left to stare at each other.

"Well," I said. "He's ... um..."

"He's going to shoot up," Liam muttered, rubbing at his forearm.

Not what I expected — that was what I'd been about to say. I cast a sceptical glance at the Beta's retreating back. He'd been sweating a little, but other than that... "Are you sure?"

He nodded slowly. "I'm sure. He hasn't changed much."

We had to shut up pretty quick when the neighbour's door opened again. A young woman stepped out. I didn't think she could be a day older than eighteen, and she beamed at us now. Her hair was black and ramrod straight, and she had heavy-set brown eyes.

"Hi there, newbies," she said. "I'm Lin. Has our esteemed overlord made himself scarce?"

We both nodded.

Lin heaved out a long breath. "Oh, thank goodness. He sounded even grumpier than usual. Don't tell him I said that, though. He'd probably knock my teeth in."

I liked her already.

"I didn't hear you say anything," I told her slyly, then turned to Liam. "Did you?"

The corners of his lips twitched. "Not a word."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if to savour the moment. "Hell yeah. Cool neighbours. The last ones were so the stuffy, uptight sort who couldn't appreciate good music at three in the morning."

Liam and I exchanged a wary, uncertain look, and Lin laughed at us.

"Oh, relax. I'm just messing with you. Sadly, I have joined the ranks of the mediocre where bedtimes are concerned. Will comes home at Goddess knows what hour of the night and we both fall straight into bed."

I nodded hesitantly. "Will is ... your mate?"

"I should hope so," she laughed. "Because I've been sharing a bed with him for nearly a year. But I am only sixteen, so he could, of course, be running an elaborate deception. I'm not sure why he'd do that. No one would mate with me of their own free will, I don't think."

I heartily disagreed. She was beautiful and had an actual personality, while I was very average-looking and hardly counted as a human being until I had caffeine in my system. The boys didn't care.

Wait a minute. Sixteen? Who had let this girl move in with her overage mate? It was normal to wait until the other person turned eighteen so you could be sure they weren't lying to your face before they marked you. I suspected Silver Lake's obsession with pups was to blame for this.

While I'd been puzzling, Lin had slipped past us to look around our room. She whistled long and low. "Dammit. Your bathroom's bigger than ours. I'll try not to hold it against you."

"Thank ... you..." I said with that edge of polite confusion that flockies seemed to like so much.

"You're welcome. Now let's see if we can't make your orientation a little more interesting. Any ideas?"

"None that are legal," I muttered. Beside me, Liam let out a quiet sigh and squeezed my fingers tight. It was probably a warning.

"Damn, girl," Lin drawled, the spark of mischief in her eyes suddenly all-too-familiar. "Got some fire in you. We're going to get along. And hey, you know what? There goes the lightbulb. Every time you guys look confused, I'm going to take a shot. Hang on for a hot second while I get the—"

She went back into her own room. I stared at the place she had been with my mouth slightly ajar.

"I didn't know there were cool flockies," I whispered to Liam.

"Yes, you did know, Eva," he sighed. "I'm the living proof."

I wrinkled up my nose at him to make my disdain obvious. The retort had to wait because Lin chose that moment to return cradling a bottle of gin. She popped the top and took a sip to kick things off. "Right. Okay. It's quite simple, really. We've given you some basics to get you started."

There was a crate on the bed with things like soap and teabags inside. I assumed that was what she meant, and I went to pick through it while she kept talking.

"When you start running low on something, you just write it on the whiteboard outside your room. Me and the girls will deliver within twenty-four hours. Commissary is downstairs if you're really desperate."

I chewed on my lip, and she took a deep draught of the gin.

"Commissary is the shop," she explained ruefully. "The prices are in the catalogue on your dresser, but just between you and me ... they're borderline extortion. Will and I have started buying toilet paper on the black market. They smuggle it in from human towns, and it's not triple ply or anything, but it's half the price. We can hook you up if you want..."

Liam and I looked at each other with a very particular kind of alarm. Toilet paper smuggling didn't sound like a good way to integrate ourselves into the pack, especially during our probation period.

"We ... um..."

Lin swigged again and grimaced. "No? That's okay. The guy in charge does one of those 'recommend a friend and you both get a discount' type deals — that's all. Let me know if you change your mind."

She was now gesturing for us to follow her outside. The two halves of the corridor looked identical, so I wasn't entirely sure which direction we'd come from, but Lin seemed confident enough as she struck left. We reached a little inlet in the corridor which was stuffed with white sacks.

"Next up. Laundry goes in the sack. You leave it here when it's full, and the ladies working the machines will collect and return it afterwards. And last but not least, the common area. We throw a party there on the first weekend of every month. Everyone goes, before you make some lame-ass excuse."

She was pointing at a room full of sofas and games tables at the very end of the corridor. I looked it over dutifully, already resolving to stay away. It looked like a place where people went to be social with each other, and that just didn't appeal.

Somewhere above my head came a horrible clanging sound like someone was banging two saucepans together.

"Oh," Lin said. "Lunchtime."

She had another mouthful of gin just for the hell of it, and then she abandoned the bottle on the floor of the corridor. When she headed towards the stairs, I followed with all due obedience. Because sure. Why wouldn't I want to go hang out in a room with several hundred flockies?