 
Tethers (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #2)

By Claire Farrell

Editing by Red Adept Editing Services

Ava's been protecting her shifter friend from the alpha for months, but now he's managed to come up with a brand new excuse to take Esther, and the Senate have turned their backs on her completely.

While Ava works to find a way to keep Esther out of Mac's reach for good, a series of violent murders put everyone in the cul-de-sac under suspicion. An entire race will be exterminated the real culprits aren't found, and people like Ava just might be next on the soon-to-be-extinct list.

Copyright © Claire Farrell

Claire_farrell@live.ie

Cover by Yocla Designs

Licence Notes:

All rights reserved. This eBook may not be re-sold.

Chapter One

"Oh, Ava, you must think me a foolish old prude trying to rein in everyone's fun. The type who stays awake at night, dreaming of ways the world will end because of our choices. Heaven knows that's how my colleagues see me." Willow removed her glasses and rubbed the indents on the bridge of her nose. "It's just... the changes have been so swift that I'm worried about the people who fall through the cracks."

I poured the surprisingly disgruntled Senate member a second cup of green tea. "That's always going to be the case. You can't reach everyone, you know?"

Willow represented people like me: those who had nobody else to speak for them. Most of the Senate, and the press, considered her a do-gooder at best, an interfering bat at worst, but at least she tried. We'd both known for a while that she was fighting a losing battle, but never before had I seen her look anything less than optimistic or determined.

"It's not good enough. This was supposed to be a better way, but it's exhaustingly stressful." She tugged a lock of her brown hair. "I'm going white! Not just grey—white! I have to dye my hair every four weeks just to keep up. None of my siblings have white hair. This job is running me into the ground. We were all supposed to thrive, strengthen each other, but we're barely better than the old Council." She released a mournful sigh. "Shay was a great loss."

I hid my smile at her theatrical woe. "He didn't die, Willow. He just decided he could do more away from the Senate. If anything, since he broke away, the government pulls fewer of his team's strings. That's a good thing, right?"

"It's true that he's cut through a ton of red tape," she conceded, "but I just can't take to the police commissioner who took his place on the Senate. Mick is too easily persuaded, too concerned with politics and appearances." She frowned. "Which means he can be bought."

"He seems very professional at the press conferences," I said.

"He's dismissive of what I do. In fact, most of the Senate members are dismissive of what I do when they're not concerned with furthering their own causes. I've no idea what Elathan thinks, because he shows up only if and when he feels like it."

"He's been trapped too often to be confined now." I pushed a plate of cookies closer to Willow. My neighbour Anka's special double-chocolate-chip cookies always went a long way toward cheering me up. "And it's good to have a knowledgeable ancient on the road on our country's behalf. He knows things and people who most of us don't even realise we should know. But he can be kind of intimidating to the average person, and he's a strong reminder of the old ways because he was part of the old Council. I think he's making the best of the little he has to work with. "

"And he does enjoy scaring his groupies." She waved a hand when I gave her a questioning look. "You might make a good point about Elathan, but with Phoenix away for some reason he won't even share with the rest of us, we're barely keeping afloat."

I kept my expression blank. Phoenix had left with the twins weeks ago, without so much as a goodbye. Even for him, that was odd.

"And don't get me started on the alpha," Willow continued in an exasperated tone. "He's just one step shy of marking his territory around his seat in the meeting room. He won't listen. He's too busy trying to intimidate everyone else into submission."

"You mean he's trying to alpha his way to the top," I said with a snort. I'd had more than my fill of Mac over the last few months.

Willow managed to force the corners of her lips upward. "There is that. But he's not my only concern. Jack is too close to the police commissioner, not to mention he's a pain in my behind. Daimhín is... well, Daimhín. Vega is more concerned with the rights of exiles than anything else, and there's some kind of tension between Callista and Layla that takes up far too much of their time. Not to mention the... oh, never mind. The point is that if Phoenix doesn't return soon, we may fall apart."

"You won't fall apart," I said firmly. "You're just... still rubbing off the rough edges. That's all."

"The Senate has been in control of supernatural business for over a year," she said bitterly, "and we don't appear to have made anything better. There are rumblings of an official election for the coalition government finally coming to pass. They might decide to end the Senate, too."

"Nobody wants to end the Senate. You have made accomplishments." I held out my hand and listed items on my fingers. "The school, the museum, Shay's integration agents, massive reforms in ancient laws, and reuniting stolen children with their only living relatives. All good things. I didn't even have to think about it."

"But those things were always on the agenda, even from day one. Where have we gotten since then? This country is simmering on the edge of something, Ava. There's a darkness out there, and hidden beneath are those who desperately need our help."

That subdued me. I'd sensed the same thing. "Something changed when the sky went dark, and I suspect we still haven't seen the full effect."

She smiled broadly. I sensed her ill humour leave her as her back straightened. She slipped on her glasses and reached out to take my hand. "I knew you would understand. We are alike in so many ways, my dear. When you have a cause, you fight for it until the end."

Uh-oh.

"That's why I came here today," she said, still beaming. "I have a proposition for you. You seem to be... treading water."

"I'm trying to stay in business," I said. "I need an income, and the property tax is kind of killing me right now."

She waved a hand. "That's money. That's not what I mean. I want to give you a cause to fight for, Ava. You seem so lost without one."

I pressed my lips together. Without the business side of things, I would have been at a total loss. My very first lost soul had come to me a year ago. After helping her, I'd felt a new resurgence of life. And then... nothing. I was still impatiently waiting for lost soul number two. The Eleven hadn't warned me I might have to wait.

Willow leaned forward in her seat, an expectant gleam in her eyes. "I want you to be an advocate for those without a voice, Ava. You're perfect for it. You're the face of something, and—"

I held up my hands. "I'm not the face of anything anymore. People don't recognise me on the street. They leave me alone, and I like it that way."

"But you look so bored every time I see you. I'm not asking for much, just a recognisable face to something new. So many people need our help. They need to know that strong, independent women like ourselves are willing to speak up for them."

"Speak to who, exactly?"

"Okay." She licked her lips. "People bring things to the Senate. Sometimes, it's an unfairness in an old law. Sometimes, it's to renegotiate. And some people are still indentured, Ava—don't forget it. We need to work hard for them, to make sure they're taken care of."

"I just don't see how I could help with that. I'm not anything to the Senate."

"You make them listen to you. You're not intimidated. And I know you're not led by money or power. You don't let past experiences with certain species sway you from doing what is right. I'm not asking you to give up your life for strangers. I just need someone at my back at times. I'm fighting against the tide here, and I could use someone like you. Desperately."

I saw she meant that, but I had been doing such a great job at avoiding the Senate for so long. Do I really want to face them now?

"And it's not just strangers. You've already advocated for others in need," she said, not a little slyly. "I'm talking about people like those special children left behind in that home. I know how hard you worked to get that boy a pass to work in the outside world."

"Noah? That was a lucky break." Actually, I had tormented Phoenix and Shay until they agreed to bring Noah's situation to the rest of the Senate, and I had even exchanged a minor deal with Daimhín to go along with it. Reminding Callista of an old favour hadn't been tough, and Willow had already been on board with the idea. The Senate had voted in my favour, and the kid had been allowed to work in a local garage. Of course, he only received a supplement as an income, but it was a start, and Noah was finding a way to fit in. Unlike a lot of the other children in the home, he didn't have magical powers, but he had been raised to kill. Even though we had rescued him from the slave market, he had still felt like a captive until I'd persuaded the Senate to give him some freedom.

"We both know that's not true." Willow flashed a knowing smile. "You fought for him, and you won. There have been three other cases since then. You advocated for them without even trying."

I fought my smirk. I already knew what I had won. Part of me wondered if Shay had quit his role and Phoenix had left the country so I wouldn't call on them for anything else. Fighting on Noah's behalf had been different from the pleasure of defeating a foe on the battlefield. Maybe a quiet life really was for me.

I'd just opened my mouth to speak when somebody knocked on my front door. "Just let me get that," I said, then winced as the sound repeated more insistently. Great. I already knew who was at the door—an extremely annoying shifter.

"Mac," I said snidely, answering the door. "People will start to talk if you keep turning up on my doorstep like this."

"Where is she?" he demanded gruffly. Mac was tall and broad shouldered, but he had put on weight since becoming alpha, and it didn't suit him.

I sighed. "Esther still isn't here. She would have to be the stupidest person on the planet to be here when you're this predictable."

"No more of the smart mouth," he said, sending saliva flying.

I laid a hand on my roiling stomach. "The news, not the weather, MacDaddy."

With a growl of rage, he kicked. Luckily for him, he caught my door rather than my thigh.

"Careful, now," I said as steadily as I could manage. "Wouldn't want the Senate's golden boy caught destroying property or intimidating women again."

"That was a false accusation!" The massive scar on one side of his face deepened in his rage.

"Somehow, I doubt that." The accusation had been a massive story in the newspapers until the Senate hushed it up, and his reaction had just convinced me of its authenticity.

His lips curled back, revealing teeth clenched with anger. "You will regret that."

"Mac?" Willow joined me at the door. "Is there a problem here?"

He bit down on his fury, but his eyes remained wild. The previous alpha had been a dickhead, too, but at least he'd maintained a modicum of self-control. Fur was bursting through Mac's skin around his cheeks.

"You really need a shave," I said lightly as I moved in front of Willow. If the man shifted, she was much too breakable to be in his way.

He rubbed his face, embarrassment suddenly wiping away the anger. He panted like an animal, but I sensed the shift receding. Still, the alpha didn't look well. His skin was pasty, his eyes were red-rimmed, and his hair was rapidly turning white.

He swallowed hard. "I'm looking for the panther's bitch sister."

"Excuse me?" Willow brushed past me, bristling at his tone and language. "For who?"

"Esther," he ground out. "I know this one is hiding her."

"I've spent the afternoon in her house. There's no shifter inside there."

He sneered. "Of course you'd take her side. You've no backbone. You have no place on the Senate."

"Oh, hi there, kettle," I said. "Go home, Mac. I'm getting tired of this. You won't find Esther unless she wants to be found, and since you're looking for her so she can take her brother's punishment, I'll make sure to send her away if she does come here." The heat had risen in me, too.

"I'm going," he said. "But I'll be back. You're not the only one who can work a majority vote, and your puppets aren't around to help you this time. I'll tether that bitch if it's the last thing I do!" He turned his back and strode off, his gait ungainly for some reason.

The lines on Willow's forehead creased as she frowned. "He's falling apart."

"What's he even talking about?" That was it. Mac had made my mind up for me. "You know what, Willow? You're so right. I'll absolutely help you whenever you need me to. This advocate thing works for me, too. I'm in."

She clapped her hands together. "I can't believe that shifter is good for something. Thank you so much, Ava. You won't regret it. I promise."

She slipped her arm in mine and started babbling about charities, but I couldn't focus anymore. Mac was pushing his luck, and I would have to deal with him eventually. I also needed to get word to Esther that my place wasn't safe for her to visit for a while longer. She had vanished from public view again when Mac started showing up in the cul-de-sac, and I had barely seen her since. She couldn't leave the country, only partly because Mac had everyone watching for her.

Mac leading the shifters on a witch-hunt wasn't fair, and the Senate allowing him to do that wasn't right. But after Phoenix left, Mac got too big for his boots. The unfairness of Esther's situation had lured me into agreeing with Willow, but maybe she was right. Maybe as an advocate, I could figure out a way to help Esther escape the shifters' sick need for vengeance and maybe even drown out that pesky feeling of inadequacy.

***

I knocked on Peter Brannigan's door and waited impatiently. Willow had buzzed off as though someone had lit a fire under her, but I needed to vent. Carl hadn't been home, and Val was still living on fae territory with Leah, even though Phoenix had spirited away the twins. I definitely didn't want to burden Anka with details about a misogynistic alpha, so I'd turned to Peter as a last resort. That probably wasn't the best idea I'd ever had, and yet I found myself doing it more and more often of late.

He had cooled off considerably, giving me my space while he and Val received more cases, and I had discovered I still wanted to be friends with the man I had initially considered safe and protective—before I'd gone and fallen for him, that was.

The door opened, and I stiffened, completely unprepared for the stranger, a brunette I had never seen before, standing on Peter's doorstep. Was that a cupcake piercing her nostril?

She gazed at me suspiciously, her grey eyes eerily colourless. "Can I help you?"

"Um." Who the hell are you? I wanted to demand. A rush of something boiled up within me, maybe leftovers from my confrontation with Mac. "I'm looking for Peter."

"He's not here," she said brusquely.

Well, duh. "Where is he?"

"Who are you?" she asked, her left eye twitching slightly. Her nostrils flared, and she jerked her head to the left as though signalling to someone I couldn't see.

Unsettled, I stepped back. My afternoon was turning into the weirdest day.

A voice shouted my name, and a skinny ten-year-old boy barrelled down the hallway and straight into me.

"Hey." I ruffled Emmett's dark-brown hair, completely forgetting the nutty woman in the doorway. Emmett was one of my favourite people. After being kidnapped as a toddler, the boy had been returned to Peter less than two years ago. The transition hadn't been smooth, and Emmet had bonded with me instead of his father. At almost eleven, he had made a lot of progress, but he was still under the influence of magic that forbade him from speaking of his past. "How are you, kid?"

"Good." His eyes were bright. "Dad's not here."

The woman cleared her throat loudly.

"When are you expecting him back?" I asked, ignoring the pink elephant on the doorstep.

Making that impossible, the woman said, "He's working."

I gripped Emmett a little more tightly and looked at him quizzically.

"Val had something urgent for him," he said. "He'll be back later."

"Tell him I need to talk to him. It's..." I glanced at the woman again. "It's kind of important."

"You haven't met Melody," Emmett said. "Ava, this is Melody. Melody, this is Ava."

"Oh," Melody said knowingly, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're Ava."

I bit back on a snide remark. "How did you meet your new friend, Emmett?"

"Dad had a job." The boy sucked in his lower lip and reddened. "He met Melody, and... um, she's kind of like me."

"Like you?"

"I'm Melody Love, the medium," the woman said as if I ought to know what was going on.

"Oh," I said slowly. "She sees ghosts." I waited, wondering if she controlled the dead, just as Emmett did.

"Spirits," Melody said sharply. "I see spirits." She glanced at Emmett. "People like us need a guide. I'm here to be Emmett's guide."

"A guide?" I frowned. "He already knows how to see spirits." And more.

"It's not about seeing them."

Emmett looked from one of us to another, confusion clouding his features. I was confused, too. Melody's seemingly instant dislike of me was definitely mutual.

Melody sighed when Emmett frowned at her. "It can be dangerous for young mediums. They can have out-of-body experiences and see spirits as a part of them. Sometimes, they get too engrossed with the spirit world to return."

That immediately made me think of Shepherd, who had once sent me back into my own world after I got stuck in another plane of existence. "You're teaching him control?"

"Something like that," she said. "He's so young and so powerful that it would be a shame to see so much talent go to waste. If directed properly, he could be a very successful medium professionally."

I gave Emmett a sceptical look. "You want this to be your job? Talking to ghosts?"

Melody made a frustrated sound through gritted teeth.

"I just want to know more," Emmett said. "I don't know anyone else like me. Melody can answer my questions. 'Sides, she says it's dangerous for someone like me to go it alone."

And Peter was agreeing to Melody's plans? Letting in other people when it came to Emmett didn't sound like Peter. Then again, he kept saying he was changing. Maybe the whole "spirit guide" thing was part of it.

"Well, we have a lot to do today," Melody said, drawing Emmett toward her, out of my reach.

A flash of red-hot emotion burned my chest. I swallowed it. "I'll see you later, Emmett. Don't forget to tell your dad I need to speak to him."

"I'll let him know," Melody said with a weak version of a smile. She ushered Emmett inside and slammed the door behind her.

Baffled by the entire day's events, I turned around and walked away, choking on the waves of emotion wrestling to the surface. What was I even feeling? Confused, yes. Protective, probably. But something else was mixed in there, something entirely unexpected.

Peter had moved on and let somebody new into his life. Emmett had someone other than me to turn to, someone he probably needed even more than he needed me. Keeping everyone I cared about so close wasn't healthy, and that was why I hadn't made a move to stop the twins from leaving or even to discourage Val and Leah from following. But everyone in my life seemed to have found a new path. Carl had the school to contend with, Anka had her business with Margie up and running, and even Peter and Emmett had this Melody person in their lives. Peter had let her take care of Emmett when I was free, without even introducing her to me. Everyone had moved on, but for the past year, I had been running in place.

And maybe that was really why I'd said yes to Willow and why I felt so eager to put Mac in his place. I needed a project just for me. Being the Matriarch hadn't exactly made my life busy so far, despite my memorable first try. Something was missing from my life, and I hadn't been able to quite put my finger on what that was.

And as I returned to my own house, I finally recognised the feelings that had engulfed me at Peter's doorstep in front of Melody bloody Love, the so-called medium. For the first time, and completely unexpectedly, I had been experiencing out-and-out human jealousy. Damnit.

Chapter Two

A hammer, or maybe a tank, tried to break down my front door a few days later, pulling me from a nice, warm, non-annoying dream. Bleary-eyed, I glanced at my watch and discovered it was still stupid o'clock. I sat up and pulled on some clothes, noting that dawn was trying to break through on the horizon. The banging repeated, somehow echoing all across the cul-de-sac. Concerned, I looked out the window. Figures stood at every front door in the cul-de-sac, obnoxiously attempting to wake the entire neighbourhood.

Oh, hell no.

Furious, I sprinted down the stairs as the banging on my door resumed. I swung open the front door, my fangs on display. My appearance forced the two men at my door to simultaneously take a step back, their apprehension stinking the air.

"What in the hell is so important that you have to wake everyone up before the bloody sun rises?" I demanded.

"There she is," Mac called out in an unbelievably smug tone. "Step aside, boys. I'll deal with her." He strode into my garden, holding up a piece of paper. "I'm acting under the authority of the Irish Senate to take your shifter friend into custody. Esther is mine, and the Senate agrees." He shoved the paper at me.

I ripped it out of his hands. It was some kind of permit, freshly stamped with the Senate seal. "Who did this?"

He leaned forward until his nose nearly touched mine. "I did this, little lady, so you had better get used to it."

"Who did you bribe and threaten for this crap?" I asked, fighting the urge to crumple the paper in my hands.

"This is the law," he said. "It's the law of my people, the law of the shifters, and now it's the law of the entire country. My traditions supersede any crap you human-lovers can come up with."

"So find Aiden! Leave Esther out of this!"

"Oh, it's not just about retribution anymore. I warned you not to push me, and now you're five steps behind. While you've been making enemies, I've been making allies." His sneer grew excited. "The fact that Aiden might return to save his precious sister is just a bonus. He turned us from our true path, from our true ways. He let shifters leave the pack, and—"

"Oh, noes. He was such a monster."

He ground his teeth noisily. "You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not the only one who knows what happens when shifters go untethered for too long."

"Do I look like someone who knows what the hell you're on about?"

He lowered his voice, his eyes sparking with passion. "Esther is a danger to the people of this country because she is untethered. She is without pack, and shifters without a pack—and more importantly without an alpha—are vicious, unpredictable, and feral."

"Wow. Esther should feel honoured that you made up that little spiel just for her."

"It's not made up!"

"Oh, please. Vicious, unpredictable, and feral? You just described yourself."

"I am alpha," he bellowed. "The untethered have long been a cause for concern, and Aiden let it get out of hand. Now that I'm in charge, I'm prepared to rein in high-risk shifters."

"High risk because she doesn't want to join your little pack? Give me a break, Mac. Even you can do better than that."

"Ignorant little half-breeds should do their homework before opening their mouths. I'm pushing for a return to the old laws forbidding the untethered. Your little friend is dangerous. We need to avoid any more incidents before even more Irish citizens flee the country in terror."

"Seriously? You're blaming emigration on Esther? Nothing to do with the incompetence of the previous governments or the recession or any number of fucking serious reasons! Get a grip. This is personal for you. What's wrong? Are you afraid she'll try to take the alpha role from you?"

"As if a woman could," he said. "There's never been a female alpha in Ireland, and there's never been one as broken as Esther. Don't think I haven't heard about her brain damage."

I rolled my eyes. "If she isn't a threat, why can't you back off?"

"You don't have people," he said, lowering his voice. "You don't understand what we must do to protect them."

"This isn't protecting anyone. It's just causing more problems!"

"This is the only choice, and higher powers are ready to back me up. I was willing to give you a chance, but you've gone against me far too many times. I can't sit back and wait any longer. I'm coming for Esther, whether you like it or not, and I have permission to search every building in this neighbourhood."

"Leave the rest of them alone. Please." Swallowing my anger killed me. "Esther isn't here. You can look in my place all you want, but this has nothing to do with the rest of these people."

He smiled. "Should have thought about that before you decided not to cooperate, Delaney. This is what your smart mouth earned you." He raised his hands. "Go to it, lads. No need to be gentle."

His shifter duo pushed me aside and strode into my house. Something inside of me broke. I didn't see the point of signing away a century of my life to a secret group of powerful people if they couldn't even stop my home from being invaded. I made to follow, but Mac got in my way. I resisted the urge to back away from him. Even his scent was obnoxious.

"Don't even think about it," he said. "I know your kind. Go whine somewhere else."

"If they break anything, they're paying for it," I retorted.

I headed out of my garden and toward Peter, who was having a raging argument with the shifter attempting to gain entry to his home.

"You can't just come into my house!" he shouted. Emmett's pale, worried face peeked out from behind him in the hallway.

"The quicker you let them in, the quicker they'll be gone," I said, but I really wanted to punch the shifter out.

"Thank you," the shifter said, looking embarrassed when Peter finally stepped aside.

"What the hell is this?" Peter asked me, holding Emmett close.

"Mac asserting his power," I said. "It'll be over soon," I added for Emmett's benefit.

We moved into the centre of the road to group up with other dismayed residents.

Carl strode toward us. At well over six feet, he looked every inch of his height while angry. "He's trying to fucking dominate us. He might as well start humping our legs."

"Let's hope it doesn't go that far," I tried to joke.

My normally mild-mannered best friend's cheeks had turned puce. "I hate this prick."

"I hate shifters." Peter absentmindedly scratched his three-day-old stubble. "I've decided."

"Esther's a shifter. So is Val. Think again," I said.

"They're not like this. Even Aiden wasn't like this," he said. "Who does Mac think he is?"

"He got permission from the Senate." I shrugged. "Looks like the Senate's against us now."

"Worst thing that ever happened to us was Shay retiring from the Senate," Carl said. "Is this really about punishing Esther? It just seems so ridiculous."

"It's personal," I said. "But he has a new excuse. Esther's untethered from a pack, and untethered shifters go wild or some crap like that. He reckons she's a danger now, and apparently, the Senate agrees. Oh, and some mysterious higher power is going to back up the shifters. Willow was just here a few days ago. Why didn't she warn me?"

"I'm going to call Shay," Carl said. "See if he can do something."

I looked at Peter. "I doubt he can. Not now."

Peter was still staring at his house, his mouth twisted into a grimace. "I reckon Mac did this without most of the Senate knowing. All he needs is the majority vote, right?"

"Looks that way. But he would have to bring it to the entire Senate, no?"

Peter shrugged. "Things have changed."

"Never thought I'd wish Elathan would come back," I said. And Phoenix.

Peter pulled Emmett closer. "He's always had a soft spot for Esther, but he doesn't seem interested in actually leading anything here."

"I know." I glanced at him. "I met Melody, by the way."

"Yeah." His gaze shifted away from mine. "I texted you when I got back."

"I had already vented to Carl by then." I bit my lip. "So Emmett needs a guide?"

"Yeah, I kind of... bumped into Melody on a job last October. She filled me in on the dangers of him becoming a wanderer."

"A wanderer?"

"A kid who's more into death than life and walks with the spirits until they sort of lose their way home."

"Sounds scary."

"It is. But he seems okay, right?"

"He's definitely happy," I said. "Are you?"

He gave me a sharp look and opened his mouth to speak, but a loud crashing sound from inside my home stopped him.

"Oh, no, they bloody well didn't!" I raced over to my house.

Mac, along with a pair of oversized shifters at his shoulders, blocked my way. "Now, now," he said, unable to contain his smile. "Let the boys do their job."

"They're wrecking my house!"

He shrugged. "Accidents happen."

"That's my... there are sensitive relics in there. You can't just barge in and wreck the place because you have a bone to pick with someone who knows me."

He closed the space between us. Up close, his eyes looked wild, as though his average-looking body could barely contain his animal half. I shivered at the void staring back at me, wondering how the hell the shifters had managed to find an alpha who actually beat Aiden as the worst shifter of all time.

"You don't have a choice," he said in a distinctly growly voice. "What are you going to do? Take on the Senate? There's nobody left with a soft spot for you. We've cut the wheat from the chaff already, Delaney, and you're the one left lacking. Now back away before I teach you what an alpha truly is."

"You wouldn't know what an alpha truly was if one beat the shift out of you right now," I spat. "Get out of my house, Mac."

"You think you can take on the entire pack?" he asked, chuffing softly. "Do you think the innocent little children would survive that?"

Shocked by the overt threat, I froze. Then the heat came, burning my veins with a longing for violence. Blood pounded in my ears, and I took a step forward, sending the alpha back a step. "Do not threaten the people I care about, Mac. That might be dangerous, even for the worst alpha." I held his gaze, seething with fury, and he dropped his first. Some alpha he is.

He quickly recovered. "She threatens me." He barked out a laugh. "And she thinks that Esther is the end of the line." He poked my shoulder. "I'm just starting with Esther, but after that, I'm coming back. You're hiding the most pathetic bunch of mongrels here, and I won't have it. You crossed me, tried to make a fool out of me, and now you'll pay."

"You've been imagining confrontations with me." I steeled myself as his face reddened. I couldn't fall into his trap and attack him first, even if my fangs were itching to appear. "Is it playing out the way you hoped?"

He gripped the collar of my shirt, his pupils dilating.

My fangs did break through then, and I caught the scent of Mac's fear.

"Mac!" Shay shouted.

The ugly alpha let go and shoved me back a step, mostly to save face.

My fangs retracted as I looked over my shoulder. My Garda friend was surrounded by pairs of the integration agents under his command, at least two of whom were shifters. None of them looked as though they felt any comradery with Mac.

"And what do you want, human?" Mac asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Shifters' hearts beat at a faster rate than humans' did, but I was struggling to count Mac's. He was in fight-or-flight mode.

"You've gotten your money's worth," Shay said, his voice uncharacteristically cold. "Now leave. You didn't find Esther. I highly doubt she's hiding behind the bookcases."

Mac strode over to Shay, getting in his face. The shifters on Shay's team moved to block the way. The male looked down at Mac, unflinching. I didn't understand why Mac wasn't calling them untethered. They obviously weren't loyal to the pack anymore.

Mac scoffed before waving his hands. "Come on, boys. We'll be back for the second round soon."

I glared at the shifters still loitering in my hallway. "You heard him. Get out."

They reluctantly followed Mac, who exchanged a few more barbs with Shay's shifters before showing signs of actually leaving.

Shaking his head, Shay met me halfway across the cul-de-sac. "Everyone all right?" he asked.

"He threatened the kids." I folded my arms across my chest. "And he had a stupid piece of paper telling me that I couldn't do anything about him. I was powerless. I hate him."

"We'll make sure they all leave." He avoided my eyes. "If there's anyone you need to go see today, you might not want to use the front door."

I nodded gratefully to him and his team as they escorted the shifters out of the cul-de-sac. Shay might have distanced himself from us over the last few months, but I could count on him in a crisis. And Mac counted as a crisis.

I signalled to Peter then stepped into my house. The shifters had trashed the place. I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat as I walked right through and out to my back garden. I soundlessly climbed the wall, too full of anger to worry about falling off. Mac had come into my territory and threatened my people. I had to figure out a way to deal with him before he destroyed everything. I jumped off the wall, barely missing a thick hedge, and ran through the property behind my house. Though it looked abandoned, I secretly owned it.

I ran through thigh-tall grass as best I could, counting each step to focus my boiling rage, then rushed through a small wooded area. I finally reached the back roads that would eventually lead me to a block of flats. Being forced to go to such lengths to visit a friend was ridiculous, but the world wasn't as safe as I'd imagined it would be. We had changed everything, and yet so much had stayed the same.

I ran, careful to make sure I wasn't being followed, and had calmed down significantly by the time I reached the place where Moses lived. A couple of women waved at me, giving me warm smiles that drove away the cold Mac had embedded into my chest. He'd made me feel vulnerable, but worse, he had surprised me. I hated that. I knew the nearby brethni would sound a warning if Mac finally figured out that he should search the flats—that was the only reason I had agreed with Esther when she wanted to return there when Mac became troublesome. I had wanted to ask Val if Esther could stay in the sanctuary, but I wasn't sure where Phoenix would stand on that matter, so I left the half-hellhound out of it. At least for now.

I jogged up the stairwell to Moses's flat. He answered wearing a white-and-orange knit hat with flaps that dangled over his ears. It didn't mesh with the thick gold chain around his neck or the oversized medallions he wore on his chubby fingers.

I blinked a couple of times, feeling disoriented for the second time that morning. "What's with the hat?"

Sheepishly, he pulled it off his head. "Ah, yeah, that. I knitted it myself."

I snorted. "No, you didn't."

"I did! Me ma got one of those knitting loom things because Esther thinks her hands are like paws holding knitting needles. Esther got bored after five minutes, but I dunno—it's kind of relaxing."

I kept my face blank, hiding my amusement. "Cool. Knit me a scarf or something. So can I come in, or are we going to stand here, swapping patterns?"

"Yeah, come on." He moved aside and waved me in. He was starting to plump back up again, and it suited him better than the gaunt look that worry had given him. "Anything going on?"

I nodded then smiled at his mother, who always seemed to clear the room when I arrived. Esther was scowling on the sofa, flicking through stations on the television, when I stepped into the living room. She brightened when she saw me, leaping up off her chair to embrace me.

"Hey," she said excitedly. "How is everyone? Any news? I've been trying to call."

"I've warned everyone not to call, just in case. Mac was back today."

She scowled. "What's new?"

"He got permission from the Senate this time—that's what's new," I said. "He let his shifters trash my house, and he threatened everyone, even the kids. I couldn't do anything. It was so frustrating."

"Hold on," Moses said. "Why would the Senate even agree to that?"

I shrugged. "They must have voted. Shay showed up before things got too tense, and Mac left, so I assume he wasn't supposed to actually destroy anything." I groaned. "I probably brought that on myself. I made a comment about him trashing that shifter woman's house because she left the pack to be with a human."

Esther clenched her fists. "That shifter woman left Mac to be with a human. I tried to contact her, you know."

"Esther." She wasn't supposed to be communicating with the shifters while wearing that big neon target on her back.

"I had to try. And get this—nobody's heard from her since then. She's vanished."

"You think Mac hurt her?" Moses asked.

"Actually, I think he forced her to stay with the pack. He could be keeping her prisoner, for all I know."

I gently kicked her shoe. "Then he'll do worse to you. He has permission to take you in since he somehow convinced the Senate that you're dangerous because you're not aligned to a pack."

She snapped her fingers. "So that's what he's doing. I've tried to reach out to lone shifters, the ones who don't associate with the pack for whatever reason. The only ones I can track down who aren't with Mac are with Shay."

"So if he goes after you, he'll have reason to go after Shay's shifters, too," Moses said. "If the Senate backs Mac, then Shay won't be able to protect his own people. I'll have to warn him."

"Do that," I said. "It's better coming from you. Nobody in the Senate knows you now, not really. And you're human. But if they come here..."

Moses cracked his knuckles. "The brethni will help us teach them not to come back. This is serious shit, Ava. I might not be scary anymore, but I'm not about to let any shitebag shifter come here and try to show us who's boss."

"He's really making enemies for himself," I said. "Why even bother? He's acting like a nutcase."

"He's trying to assert himself. There might be rumblings of somebody else challenging him," Esther said. "This will keep them in line for a while. I mean, who else would want to go against so many people?" She frowned. "And all for an ancient rule that nobody even thinks about anymore."

"Think somebody ancient put it into his head?" I asked. "He was boasting about higher powers on his side."

"It's possible, but who? And what would they have to gain?" She thrummed her fingers against her chin. "I'm missing something here. I have to be."

"He said he'll be back," I told her. "I don't like it, but it means you can't visit us, Esther. It's not safe. I have to take the back route just to get here. I can't risk leading them to you."

"This is all on me," she said. "I have to deal with him, Ava. I think I'm going to have to challenge him."

"There's no way," I said. "You can't challenge the alpha. You're still recovering."

She made a face. "I've been recovering for a year, Ava. This is the best I'm going to get."

"Do you really think he'll fight fair?" I demanded. "He's adamant that a woman will never be alpha, particularly one like you."

"What does that mean?" Moses asked. "Because your father was human?"

She shook her head. "I'm not the right kind of shifter. My mother wasn't even European, never mind Irish. We're a different type, and he's playing on that."

"Different type?"

"Think of the real animal world," Esther said wearily. "A new predator amongst an established ecosystem creates havoc. He's trying to scare people into thinking that shifters like Aiden and me are the predators who don't belong."

"You're not a predator," I said softly. "You're not what he says you are."

"Well, maybe it's time I showed him what kind of predator I am," she said coldly. "Because if I don't, he's never going to stop, and all of the people I care about are going to get hurt because of me."

"None of us feel that way," I said. "None of us blame you for his actions."

"You don't have to," she said. "I'm doing enough blaming for all of us. And I'm done with hiding, Ava. I want to come home. Moses has been great. Everyone here is great, but I want to stop running. The shifters should be my people, but they've cast me out. It's time I showed them that I'm not scared. It's time I faced Mac."

A chill spread up my spine at the determined look in her eye. Esther would never beat the shifters—not alone.

Chapter Three

I managed to convince Esther to stay put for at least a little while longer. When I felt confident that she wasn't about to run screaming for the nearest shifter, I returned home and found a few of my friends cleaning up my house.

"Oh, get out," I said, secretly pleased. "It isn't up to any of you to clean this mess up."

"We wanted to surprise you," Dita said. "Mam's making you cookies and everything."

"That was my idea," Emmett immediately said.

She thumped him in the arm. "Was not."

I rolled my eyes. "All right, you two. Was a headache part of the plan, too? Why don't you go make sure Anka puts extra chocolate in this batch? I think we deserve it, right?"

They hurried out the door, each child trying to shove the other out of the way.

"You can head on, too," I told Carl. "I'll finish this off."

"No chance of us leaving you alone with this." Carl swept up the remains of a painfully expensive vase I had been preparing to sell. "We're all in this together."

"I feel sick right now." I reached for a dustpan and got on my hands and knees to help. "Esther thinks she should challenge Mac."

He knelt next to me, the colour draining from his cheeks. "She can't do that. She's not strong enough."

"Try telling that to the poked bear. She's just done with hiding. To be fair, she was done months ago, and we persuaded her to wait it out. Maybe I was wrong."

Carl hissed as he sliced his finger on a piece of broken ceramic. "Damn it."

"I have plasters in the kitchen. Come on."

He trotted after me like an obedient puppy. Once, the sight and smell of his blood might have tempted me, but that side of me had been growing steadily easier to control since I'd joined the Eleven. Even I had to admit there were some bonuses—just not the ones I had imagined.

"Mac's lost the plot," Carl said as I washed his wound. "If Phoenix or Elathan were here, none of this would have gone down."

"Wouldn't it?" I asked. "I mean, Mac managed to get the Senate on board with this. We can't trust anyone there now."

"He got a couple of votes. That doesn't mean the entire Senate is against us," he said.

I dried his hand and wrapped a child's bandage around his thumb as best I could. "Well, I plan on finding out. I'm going to reach out to Daimhín first. She might be the most devious member of the Senate, but conversely, she's the most likely to be frank about where she stands on this. I may have just run out of favours with her."

He leaned his upper body on the counter so I wouldn't have to look up at him. "Stupid vampire if she turns on you."

"She's never been my biggest fan. But did you notice how weird Mac was acting today? Every time I see him, he's lost a little more control. Why is that?"

"He looks terrible," Carl said. "And he was putting on a show for the others."

"The shifters?"

"Yeah." He nudged me. "You know, to let them know he's in charge of all the things."

"The big weirdo." I frowned. "I better go see the damage upstairs. I swear, if those shifters were rooting around in my underwear drawer, I'm going to break their fingers."

Sniggering, he shook out a fresh bin bag and followed me upstairs. "How's Esther really dealing with all of this?"

"She's pissed. So am I, for that matter. I should have done something. None of you deserved to have shifters nosing through your things. There are benefits to having people afraid of you." I sighed as I opened the door to my bedroom. "Maybe I've mellowed out too much."

"You did the right thing by not protesting too much, Ava. That's probably exactly what he wanted."

Inside the room, I scowled at my clothes flung all over the place. "It's infuriating. Esther told me he's bringing up old rivalries or something. He says because she and Aiden aren't technically the right kind of shifter here, they're a threat. People will happily go along with that kind of mentality if it gets him off their backs."

"And we'll happily go against it." He picked up a bra and tossed it at my face. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We'll deal with this the way we deal with everything. Together."

I fell silent. We had been like a family, but everyone had moved on with their own lives. Dragging them back into more drama wasn't fair.

Carl picked up a broken picture frame. "Shay wasn't happy, for the record."

"Of course he wasn't." Peter came into my room, cradling a small ornament that was cracked down the centre. I hadn't even realised he was in the house. "I found this in your bathroom. Thought it looked valuable. Maybe it can be fixed."

I groaned when I realised which talisman it was. "There's no fixing that. The power's already leached through the crack. That was going to feed me for two months. Bloody shifters."

Peter tutted sympathetically. "This kind of thing is probably the reason Shay isn't working with the Senate anymore."

"He still has to work for them," I corrected.

"But Mac scarpered when Shay showed up with his team. That counts for something."

Yet I felt sure that Mac had already been desperate to leave. "But is it always going to be like this? Us caught in the middle and having to fight back against whoever is in charge?" I chanced a question I hadn't dared ask before. "Has Val mentioned when Phoenix will come back?"

Peter rubbed the back of his head, again looking uncomfortable. "She doesn't talk about the fae much."

"Is she pissed that Lucia hasn't come back yet?" Carl asked.

"That's her business." Peter turned his back to me. "She won't be happy to hear about this."

"You going into the office tomorrow?" I asked. "Will Val be there?"

He looked at me, puzzled. "Yeah, but why not go see her at home today?"

"I want to finish up here," I said. "I need to check inventory and see what I've lost to Mac's tantrum."

"I keep telling her she should keep her stock elsewhere," Carl said. "Tell him why you won't, Ava."

"What? I like looking at it all. What's wrong with that?"

He grinned broadly. "She decorates her place with the stuff before she sells it on."

The men exchanged amused glances.

"Oh, stop that, the pair of you."

"I'll help you check your inventory," Peter said. "I'll even drive you over to Val afterward."

"Can't." I grimaced. "I'm going to face Daimhín later and see what she knows about the direction the Senate is taking right now."

"Is that safe?"

"Is anything?" I shrugged. "I need answers before Esther tries to fix this herself. If Mac gets his hands on her, I can't see any of us sitting back and watching. This is the kind of trouble he seems to want. I'm not even sure he's after Esther. I think he just wants to take care of a lot of things with one fell swoop."

"I'm pretty sure he still wants the werewolves to join his pack," Peter said in a warning tone. "You can't fight the werewolves."

"I won't have to," I said sharply. "There's no way Phoenix will let that happen."

He seemed about to say something but sighed instead. "You're right. And maybe Aiden will face the music before Esther has to so we can stop worrying."

I breathed deeply and moved on with the cleaning. I had a nasty feeling at the base of my spine that we had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

***

I warily eyed the man and woman standing guard outside Daimhín's mansion. I didn't recognise the pair, but I had used my other senses to double-check their species. Definitely shifter. They gave me blank stares in return, but my mind had already put plenty of numbers together. The shifters were working for Daimhín, maybe in exchange for a yes vote.

"I'm here to see the queen," I said tersely when they hadn't moved aside.

The blonde nodded at her male companion and stepped out of my way. The hair on my arms stood up as I walked between them. They were poised for attack, but they didn't make a move as I stepped up to the house. Although she always made it clear she was the boss, Daimhín never overdid the drama surrounding her home, unlike certain other vampires I had come across.

A young human volunteer opened the glass-paned front door with a cheery smile. "We've been expecting you."

"Of course you have," I said as I brushed past him. I didn't need directions to Daimhín's living room, and I didn't hesitate outside the door. I barged right in, much to the volunteer's dismay.

Inside the cream-toned room, the Irish vampire queen was holding court with her current favourite vampires and volunteers. They lounged on soft furnishings, looking sated and comfortable, but I barely recognised a face amongst them. The child seer, Eloise, was nowhere to be seen, and Daimhín's old bodyguard Zion had been murdered by the very first vampire the year before. A lot had changed since I'd first met Daimhín. I used to be scared stepping into the lair of the vampire queen. Nowadays, I wanted to slap her for being so bloody stupid.

Daimhín raised her eyebrows at my appearance, but that was her only greeting. She looked as neat and relaxed as always, maybe even a little too comfortable. Her decrepit skin was brightened by a flush in her cheeks that only a recent feed could have caused.

"I see the new staff is a little bit alive for your usual requirements," I said. "Were they a 'please vote yes' bribe or a 'please don't eat me' gesture?"

"A little of both, probably."

I couldn't hide my distaste. "Just like that."

"The Senate has given me a good position, and the volunteers have been climbing over each other to offer themselves up. I've never been this well fed in my entire existence. And if I have to say yes to make a shifter stop talking every now and then, then so be it."

"That alpha is out of line."

The corners of her mouth twitched. "He's exceptionally annoying, isn't he? All he has going for him is... actually, I don't know what he has in his favour, but he certainly has no foresight."

"Then why are you siding with him? Why did the Senate let him destroy my house today?"

"Well"—she made a lazy gesture with her hand—"technically, the Senate merely allowed him to look for a shifter. As far as he's concerned, all of the shifters in Ireland belong to him."

"Well, they don't!"

"And he'll discover that soon enough. I wouldn't worry about the shifter alpha. I have it on good authority that a more... nomad tribe is returning home this year. He won't be alpha for long, as it happens."

"But in the meantime, you'll accept his gifts and do his bidding?"

She leaned forward scarily fast, her eyes blood red with only dashes of blue in their midst. "Careful what you insinuate, tainted one. I'm in no mood for your insults tonight."

"But you're finally coming out in the open, aren't you?"

She blinked a couple of times. "Out in the open?"

"You're choosing a side," I said. "You're standing against me, and you're picking the alpha. Good to know." I turned to leave.

"Ms. Delaney—"

I held up a hand to cut her off. "The new bodyguards aren't a patch on Zion, just so you know." And I left the vampire queen behind, knowing I would find no ally in her lair.

The walk home gave me time to think. Esther had guessed that somebody might have challenged Mac, and Daimhín had more or less confirmed it with the announcement that another group of shifters were returning to Ireland soon. Whatever 'nomad' means when it comes to the shifters... The point was that the shifters would be in a time of change themselves.

Perhaps, if I could just keep Esther out of their way long enough for the new pack to take care of Mac, I wouldn't have to worry. If anything, I could try to align myself with the new shifters, providing they weren't more obnoxious than Mac was. Although being that obnoxious seemed impossible.

Still, I had to know if Phoenix was going to come back soon. Even before he left so abruptly, I hadn't spoken to him much. I wasn't sure he was still on our side, but Lorcan certainly was. Esther had been injured while helping the twins back in Liverpool. That was something I could use should Phoenix stand on Mac's side.

Willow had said I was bored, and right then, I was really wishing for that boredom again. Well, almost.

***

The next day, Willow called me and begged my forgiveness.

"I had no idea Mac was going to do that. The Senate didn't bring this to everyone."

"Just enough for a majority vote," I said. "Daimhín was given two nice shifter bodyguards to say yes."

"Bribery?" Willow sounded disgusted. "And Vega isn't in Dublin, so she hardly had a say. I'm sure Callista wouldn't have voted against you. The commissioner is gone for meetings in the north, so I doubt he was included."

"It doesn't matter much anymore," I said. "The Senate is disjointed. Nobody knows what anybody else is doing. You need somebody to take charge, somebody who isn't afraid to include everyone, even if they might disagree."

"You're right. Initially, I thought Phoenix would be the one, but then he left without notice, barely saying a word. How can we trust him with the Senate now? It'll come to the point where Mac is the only viable option. He has warriors on his side, after all."

"Can't you try to get in touch with Phoenix?"

"No. He's left us a handful of messages, probably to reassure us of his safety, but I have no way of speaking to him."

"That's strange. Where is he?"

"I have no idea." She paused. "I'm worried, to be frank."

"I haven't heard from the twins, either, except for a postcard a few days after they left. I didn't think people even did that anymore. Anyway, thanks for calling. I did wonder what was going on."

"Don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you need my help," she said anxiously. "I really hope this doesn't interfere with your advocacy."

"If anything, Mac just makes me more determined to help," I said. "I'll talk to you soon, Willow."

After I hung up, I debated going to see Val. She probably didn't know when Phoenix would return, either. But I was worried about her. Val had been acting off for months, and since Lucia left, she had retreated completely out of our lives. Whenever I asked Peter about her, he tended to clam up. I had the distinct feeling that the half-hellhound was avoiding me, but I had no idea why.

With that in mind, I headed over to Peter's house before he left for the office. I sat on his wall and waited for him to return from dropping Emmett at school. He seemed surprised to see me waiting.

"I want to see Val," I explained.

"Ah. Want a coffee to go?"

I shook my head and got into the car. We had run from so much danger in that car, but now I had to keep dealing with boring politics. I noticed that Peter looked uncomfortable when he came back out of his house with his flask.

"I can see her at home if this is a bad time," I said hesitantly when he sat in the driver's seat.

"No, that's not it. I'm just not sure how helpful Val will be, and I don't want you to..." He looked away. "Let's just go."

"No, tell me."

"Just try not to mention Lucia too much when we get there," he said, ending the conversation.

I supposed that made sense, but it was odd that Peter would even think of Val's discomfort if I brought up her relationship with Phoenix's daughter. I chanced a sly look at him. Was Peter actually warming up to the fact even supernatural people had feelings?

"Stop looking at me," he said after a moment, as he pulled away from the cul-de-sac.

Laughing softly, I turned on the radio, just in time for a talk-show discussion about supernatural beings taking all of the "normal" jobs.

Peter soon switched it off in disgust. "Idiots. As if we're not all walking on eggshells as it is."

"Wasn't so long ago that you hated supernaturals with every fibre of your being," I teased.

I'd meant it lightly, but he gave me a serious look in return. "That was before I fell for you."

After that, the conversation dried up as the tension grew overwhelming. I just could not with Peter.

We arrived at the premises of my solicitor, Martin Breslin, shortly afterward. I had given Val and Peter the room above Breslin to use as their office while they were getting things together. Their business wasn't exactly booming, but they were still eating out on their high-profile success from months ago.

Martin came to the front door to greet me. His very-pregnant secretary was sitting on a chair, with her shoes off, looking extremely uncomfortable. I made a mental note to suggest a few replacement options for when she went on maternity leave. We exchanged pleasantries, then I followed Peter upstairs.

The office of Valeria Brannigan Investigations was furnished with a narrow desk, two plastic chairs, and a sparsely filled bookshelf.

Val was sitting at the desk, writing in a notebook. I knew she must have caught my scent, but she didn't even look up from her writing.

"Wow," I said. "You've really turned this into a home away from home. How do you ever make yourself leave this place?"

Peter took the second chair and cleared his throat. Val looked up at me and made an attempt at a smile.

"No hello?" I asked, curious at the change in her attitude.

"Hello, Ava. Can I help you?"

"A rather cold greeting for an old friend." I wandered over to the bookshelf. "I take it you heard about the trouble we've been having from Mac."

"I know he's been showing up, asking for Esther," she said.

"He came with permission from the Senate," Peter said. "They searched every house in the cul-de-sac and trashed Ava's for good measure."

The pen in Val's hand cracked apart. She threw the pieces into the bin next to her desk. I had a curious peek to see if it was full of broken writing utensils—and found fewer than I expected.

"No," she said. "He wouldn't dare."

"Oh, he dared." I grimaced at the memory. "I got in his face, and he said he didn't think the children would survive the battle."

Val jumped up from her seat, a growl emanating from deep in her throat. "I'll kill him. I'll separate his head from his shoulders." Her own shoulders appeared to have enlarged before my eyes.

"The Senate is backing him," Peter said.

"Then I'll come back to the cul-de-sac and wait for his next visit."

I hid my smile. Val might have distanced herself from us, but she still cared. "Daimhín told me some other shifters might be displacing him this year. Mac has more to worry about than us, apparently. The thing is, Daimhín let him bribe her for her vote, but Willow never even heard about this. The Senate is unreliable now. Have you any idea when Phoenix might return?"

She visibly deflated and exchanged a look with Peter. "No idea at all," she said.

"Esther thinks she should challenge Mac herself."

Val looked aghast. "She wouldn't survive."

"She won't survive if Mac manages to find her."

"You can't let her do this," she insisted.

"You know how she is. The bear can't let things lie. I need your help with her. The thing is, Mac's making a big deal about a shifter not having a pack, and he's boasting about her being the first on his list. You're technically a shifter, Val. He might come after you next."

She chewed on that idea for a moment. "And if he succeeds with us, he'll move on to the werewolves."

"Bingo. Phoenix needs to be here, if only for that. I'd beg you to come back to us, but you might be safer in the sanctuary. I'm afraid they'll come for you while we're distracted with Esther. She said that every free shifter she knows of has disappeared. Either they're dead or are being forced to stay with the pack. What's off-limits to people like that?"

She swore under her breath. "All this because of Aiden."

"So they say," Peter added.

She jolted. "What does that mean?"

"We think it might be an excuse," I explained. "A lot of people have targets on their backs right now, and you're strong, Val. You could win a challenge against Mac."

She released a sound of disgust and sat back down. "I could, but I don't wish to run a pack. Especially not his."

"Right, but in Mac's eyes, you're still a threat. Your strength and dominance makes you a risk that Mac won't want to take. That means taking you out of the equation completely," Peter said.

"Add that to the fact you're a woman—and Mac wants women barefoot and pregnant—and you can see why we might worry," I said. "Leah will get caught up in the aftermath if you take on the shifters that might come for you."

"Are you sure I shouldn't return?" Val asked, almost desperately. "What about Anka and Dita?"

"What if they came here for a while?" I suggested. "The cul-de-sac is supposed to be protected, but I have doubts about the authenticity of that claim. If someone like Mac can walk right in..."

"Unless he hasn't wanted to harm anyone before," Peter said.

"Can I trust that, though?"

"I trust it," he said firmly.

"Anka won't come here," Val said. "She trusts in it, too."

"At least she'll have the option to change her mind," I said. "All of them do."

My phone rang in my pocket. "Hold on." I frowned when a familiar name popped up on the screen. "It's Margie."

The old woman was upset when I answered, and by the time I hung up, I was shaking with anger. "Margie and Anka just arrived at their shop. It's been completely trashed."

"Let's go," Val said. Peter was already on his way out the door.

Anka and Margie's "little" potion-making business had been so successful that they had persuaded me to rent them a shop. I used the income to buy half their stock on a regular basis, and everyone was happy. The sweet, homey apothecary shop provided both women's only income.

Peter broke red lights while driving to the shop, where we found Anka and Margie cleaning up glass on the footpath outside. I stared at the damage in horror, having to cover my nose from the smell. The windows had been smashed completely. The signs had been torn down and urinated on. Furious, I stepped inside.

"Careful," Anka said. "Some of it is potent."

I turned to look at her. "I'm so sorry."

Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. "This isn't your fault."

I gave her a brief hug then moved inside, careful not to inhale too deeply. The shop was only large enough for one centre aisle and shelves on one wall of the unit. All of the glass bottles had been smashed, and other containers had been crushed.

Glass crunched underfoot as I trod carefully around the shop. I wanted to burst with anger, but I was careful to keep calm. Whoever had damaged the shop had destroyed literally every item. The non-breakable containers had been opened, their contents upended onto the floor, and in some cases, the scent of urine was intense enough to make my eyes water. The message was their strongest yet: don't screw with the shifter animals who liked to scare women.

"Fuck!" I kicked at broken glass covered in syrupy, bubbly fluid. It slid across the floor, leaving a dark stain in its wake. Unable to take the stench anymore, I headed back outside.

Val had her arms wrapped around Anka in an embrace.

"This was too far," Val said.

"I know."

"This isn't your fault." Peter laid a hand on my shoulder. "We'll get through this."

Margie was crying. Peter patted her back; she wrapped her arms around him and wept against his chest. The sound of the older woman's cries broke my heart. She had been loyal to me from day one, and the shop had been her lifeline. Anka had come from nothing, and the business had filled her with confidence for the first time since we'd met. The pair had put hours into creating the potions and remedies in their shop. Who were the shifters to just take all of that away?

Val was shaking so hard that Anka stepped away from her. "Stay calm," she said. "They're not worth your anger."

"Look at this damage." Val glared at me. "I'm going to kill him. Mac is a dead man."

"I'm going to get the Senate to pay for this shit," I said harshly. "I'm going to organise a meeting with whoever the hell is left in the country, and they're going to tell me to my face how they let this happen. I'm going to accuse Mac, and I'm not going to let it go."

"We have no proof it was him," Anka said.

Val made a sound of disgust. "I can smell the shifters all over this. They made a mistake this time."

"Not all shifters are with Mac," I said. "Just... remember that next time you smell a shifter. Please, nobody tell Esther about this. The last thing we need is for her to run straight into Mac's clutches."

"You really think the Senate will listen to you?" Peter asked.

I thought of Willow and how she had begged me to be an advocate for those in need, how she wanted me to be the voice for those who weren't being heard. I had my chance to advocate for the people I cared about. And if I stepped back now, people like Mac would keep pushing.

"I'll make them listen," I said. "I'm going to raise hell, and they're going to hear every word. And that stupid vampire queen is going to regret ever taking Mac's side."

"We need to go back to the old days," Peter said. "We need to make allies again. Ones who actually stay in the country for longer than five minutes."

"No, we need people to beg us to be their allies," I said.

Margie sniffed and finally let Peter go. "You all should go on. We can't leave this here. If certain mixtures combine, they can become toxic."

"She's right." Anka pulled a headscarf out of her bag and tied it over her hair. "We need to clean this up immediately. We use containers of different shapes and materials to protect the contents even if some are knocked over accidentally. This"—she gestured inside—"took time and effort. We can't leave this here."

"I'll stay and help," I said. "Val, Peter, is there any way you can track down known free shifters?"

"Anyone in particular?" Peter asked.

"Mac's ex," I said. "He did this to her, too."

"Wait, the one who left the pack for a human?" he asked. "She was with Mac?"

"So Esther said." The story had broken in the papers weeks ago as a barring order against the alpha, forbidding him from contacting his ex, surfaced. According to the female shifter, Mac had stalked and threatened her before finally trashing her house, but the Senate had quickly covered up the story, then it was forgotten. "If we can find her, maybe we can figure out what Mac's going to do next. I'd start with the human she ran off with." I hesitated. "If you can find him."

"Think he's dead?" Peter asked.

"I wouldn't put anything past the shifters lately."

"We should hurry," Val said.

Peter nodded. "Let's go. Ava, call me if anything else happens."

The pair left in his car, wearing matching looks of determination.

"Setting them a task away from here was a good idea," Anka said. "Val would only have gotten more worked up if she'd stayed with us. You don't have to stay, either, Ava. I know your sense of smell will make this difficult for you."

"Maybe I deserve a little punishment," I said. "I've sat back and let this go on for too long. I'm so sorry you two got caught up in this."

"Sometimes, I worry this world will never be right again," Margie said with another sniff.

We jumped into the cleaning, trying to figure out how to dump all of the materials safely. I kept my eyes open for any shifters coming by to see the aftermath, but none showed themselves.

Then another thought struck me. If I owned the shop that Anka and Margie rented, then it should have been protected by the same spell that protected the cul-de-sac. If those under my protection were so untouchable, then how did we keep getting attacked? Were we protected only from bodily harm?

As soon as I was done with the Senate, I was going to have to have a very long chat with Martin Breslin about the exact rules and loopholes of Baba Yaga's legacy. The Eleven had allowed me to fight against the first vampire because it had suited their own ends, but I hadn't done a thing about Mac yet, other than hiding Esther's location from him. So how had he found a way around the very things that were supposed to protect, not just me, but the people I cared about, too?

Chapter Four

Willow was only too happy to organise a meeting with the Senate on my behalf.

"I do hope you know what you're doing," she said over the phone, but she sounded eager to help.

"As long as I'm doing something, I'm good." I thought of Margie's face as she'd taken in the damage done to her livelihood. Being the little person at the whims of powerful people grated on me. The time had come for us to stop making ourselves such an easy target.

Willow organised the meeting for the following evening. In the meantime, the building that housed Martin Breslin's office and Valeria Brannigan Investigations had been covered in graffiti.

"Can't even prove it," Peter said as we stood outside. "How did this get so petty?"

"Three strikes," I said, unable to keep the anger out of my voice. "That bully is pushing me too far."

"I'll be accompanying you to this meeting," Breslin said firmly. "I'll make sure you're recouped for the damages. Don't you worry."

"I don't think this is quite the job for a human solicitor," I said gently.

"I've been in more complicated situations before, I assure you. Baba Yaga taught me well."

"All right then," I said, curious to see what he would unleash on the Senate.

By the time the meeting rolled around, I was completely jacked up on nerves and anger. Mac had to pay, and I'd been left to deal with him.

Peter drove Breslin and me to the new meeting house, which was actually a refurbished courtroom. The Senate had once thought it a good idea to meet in an old theatre, but after it was attacked and set on fire, they'd realised something a little more secure was necessary.

Inside the meeting room, I started to worry. The Senate hadn't yet arrived. In fact, the only person in the room other than the three of us was a man sitting at the end of the back row.

He turned to look in our direction, and his gaze locked on to mine. Something in those navy eyes made me uncomfortable. He had dark, curly hair that reached his chin, and his nose hooked a touch too far to the left. His mouth was little more than two thin pink lines pressed together. He didn't look tall, strong, or intimidating, but something about the way he held himself called out to me that he was untouchable.

"We'll take a seat at the front." Breslin led the way to the front row of benches that faced the main table where the Senate would sit, what was left of them anyway.

I felt the stranger's eyes boring into my back. Curious, I sent out my other senses, those tendrils of power that could see a person's "other" energy and, more often than not, their true form. My senses found the forms of the human men sitting on either side of me. Breslin, white haired and brown eyed, had a calm, confident sort of energy. His red pulsing mass was steady, instantly making me feel secure.

Peter had the same red energy of a human life, but his was a little different. I had never noticed before, not being in the habit of comparing human energies. Restless, Peter's stirred constantly, and the faintest hint of "other" wavered about him. If I hadn't known that his son was special, and therefore had to have inherited some of that from Peter, I might not have noticed. I had begun to wonder if Peter was hiding things from himself, never mind the rest of us.

I tried to move on to the stranger, but I seemed to get stuck in a web before I could reach him. I moved past him and outside, into the real world. There, I easily found more energies, more people. I returned to the stranger, again getting trapped before I could reach him. Shivering, I forced myself to face forward and not look him directly in the eye.

The door screeched open, and two sets of footsteps moved down the aisle and up to the main table. James, the human candidate more concerned with business than actual people, and Layla, the succubus representative, ignored us as they passed. Peter nudged me, but I was too busy glaring at their backs to pay him any attention. When they took their seats, James kept talking to Layla, who graced us with the briefest nod. I wondered if my old neighbour, an annoying energy-vampire succubus, was also watching me through Layla's eyes.

When Willow arrived soon after, she leaned over Peter to whisper to me that she hadn't been able to get in touch with Phoenix, Elathan, or Vega. She sounded apologetic, and I knew that meant the numbers were stacked against me.

Daimhín turned up next, joined by Eloise, Jules, and the two shifters who served as Senate guards. Eloise sat in the bench across from us, giving me one of her enigmatic smiles. I hadn't seen the child-like vampire in a long time, and I wasn't exactly keen on seeing the green-eyed Jules more frequently. He was a biter.

The memory of him biting me shocked me into a second look at him. Jules's eyes were pure green, which meant he hadn't been feeding regularly. A glance at Eloise confirmed that her eyes were not a pure red, either, although she had been feeding more often than Jules had. He pressed his body against her side as though he were seeking comfort. What was going on in the vampire queen's coven? She had boasted of being well-fed, but that apparently didn't extend to the rest of her coven.

"Did you forget to feed your pet?" I asked Daimhín before she took her seat.

She gave me a sharp, surprised look. "Sometimes, even the lowest of pets require re-training. The most obvious punishment tends to work best."

"I'm more into positive reinforcement myself." I tried to look relaxed as the vampire queen focused all of her hatred on me. A giggle from Eloise creeped me out all the more.

Callista arrived then, interrupting what was becoming an increasingly awkward face-off. "I'm so sorry I'm late," she gushed. "I had to take some pictures outside."

She really meant her fans had been waiting, as always. The curvaceous blond siren had become quite the rising star since first appearing on the Senate. Her sessions in Finn's bar were legendary.

Callista looked up at the waiting Senate. "Is this all who's coming tonight?"

"We're waiting for Mac," James said gruffly. "This is all down to him, apparently."

"We don't know that for certain," Layla said.

"You don't know that he trashed our properties?" Peter asked. "Or if he has somebody else pulling his strings?"

It was an empty taunt, Peter and I both knew, but half the Senate froze in their seats. I exchanged a bemused glance with Peter, and when I looked at Breslin, his expression was smug. He knew exactly what angle he was taking.

"Well," Willow said hesitantly, "I suppose we should wait for Mac."

Thirty minutes later, the shifter alpha still hadn't shown.

"I'll call my contacts," Daimhín said impatiently. "See what's taking him so long." Glaring at the shifter bodyguards, she had a brief, angry conversation on the phone before turning to the rest of the Senate. "Apparently, his second in command can't find him. Useless shifters."

One of her bodyguards growled, but the vampire queen caught his eye, cutting him off abruptly. I exchanged a grin with Peter, only to notice Eloise's intense gaze. I really hoped she wasn't having a premonition of my death.

"Are you serious?" James demanded. "What is he thinking lately?"

"That he's guilty, and he doesn't want to face the music," Breslin said, getting to his feet. "I am Ms. Delaney's legal representation, and as the accused is obviously in hiding—"

"Nobody said that he's in hiding," Layla said.

Breslin nodded. "Then he must not take his Senate duties very seriously."

"It's true," Willow said. "We can't wait around all night in case he turns up. It's late. Let's get this over and done with."

"This isn't a courtroom," James began.

A short, sharp bark of laughter erupted from Peter. "That's exactly what this is."

"Not officially then," James retorted. "There's no accused and no need for legal representation."

"There's no law against having a solicitor handy in times of need. And we're aware that we are not attending court. If we were, a barrister would be speaking in my stead." Breslin smiled. "As I'm sure you're aware."

James's face flushed as though Breslin's words had hidden a dig. "Fine. Why are we here?"

I made to stand, but Breslin stayed me with his hand. "Ms. Delaney and a number of her tenants were roused from their beds before working hours by the shifters. Mac, the current alpha, produced a piece of paper that looked legitimate. It was stamped by the Senate and gave him authority to search the premises for a shifter that he is in search of."

"We know," Daimhín barked. "We gave him the go-ahead."

"I didn't," Willow said. "This matter was never brought to my attention."

"Nor mine," Callista said, looking furious. "Is there a reason for this?"

"Time constraints," James said. "Carry on."

I clenched my fists at his easy dismissal of the others' concerns.

"In the process of this search, a large amount of valuables were destroyed."

"Accidents happen," Daimhín said. "How much of value could this young tainted one even possess?"

"I trade in ancient relics these days," I said sharply. "Mac purposely destroyed a lot of value and a lot of heritage and culture, by the way. All in search of someone who hasn't done any harm and who obviously isn't staying with me—if she had been, Mac would have sniffed her out one of the million or so times he's turned up at my place."

"He's in search of an untethered shifter," a male voice from behind us announced in an indistinguishable accent. "A danger to not only this country, but the world."

"Says who?" I scoffed as I faced the stranger I couldn't truly see.

"Says a paragon," he said haughtily, his gaze set on mine. "I would be careful how you address such a one."

A cold fist gripped my heart. A paragon? Shepherd had warned me that a paragon was in Ireland a year ago, and Phoenix had his concerns at the time, but when Phoenix left, I was sure it was because the paragon had moved on, too. A paragon, a power above each country's controlling organisation, shouldn't have been worried about Esther—unless she was about to start a chain of events. Even I might be at risk, given that half the country already thought I was a danger because of my heritage. Mixtures involving human, angel, and vampire gave everyone the heebie-jeebies.

I forced myself to turn away from the man as Breslin continued. "Not only was this search in dangerous territory of being illegal, further damage was done to other properties owned by Ms. Delaney. An office building was covered in graffiti of a decidedly misogynistic slant, and the contents of an apothecary shop were completely destroyed. Most dangerously, might I add. We could have been dealing with a serious toxic cloud. These acts of destruction by the shifters in the name of the Senate cannot be allowed to continue."

"There's no way to prove that anyone was acting on behalf of the Senate," Daimhín said dismissively.

"Except for the fact the shifters provided documentation given to them by the Senate," Breslin said.

"That's true," Callista said. "And any damage done to those particular premises will be repaid by the Senate, with our apologies." Her eyes glinted with fresh fury.

"But you cannot prove that the shifters were the perpetrators of the other attacks," Layla said.

"Actually, there is evidence at the scene of the apothecary shop," Breslin said apologetically, holding out his hands. "In their eagerness, they appeared to... mark their territory. It wouldn't be hard to run tests to determine which species was responsible. In fact, we're happy to even absorb these costs ourselves. It so happens I have an acquaintance who—"

"Fine," James said grumpily. "We'll take care of that, too. But the graffiti—"

"Ah." Breslin smiled. "Coincidentally, we are currently in the process of installing CCTV at all of Ms. Delaney's premises. The world is such a dangerous place, after all. We began with the office building, as it happens, so the cameras there picked up the entire night's events prior to our discovery of the graffiti. I haven't had time to peruse the footage myself, but my niece is a journalist with a major tabloid. She's been gracious enough to offer to go through the recordings herself and compare it with footage that the media has picked up over the last year. She informs me that it won't take long to compare, and she's confident she'll be able to pinpoint exactly who the attacker was and who they work for. Of course—" He gave another apologetic smile. "In exchange for her hard work, she has requested a scoop." He held out his hands and shrugged. "Can any of you tell me what that means exactly? I'm not familiar with the lingo of the young."

I bit down on my laughter and returned Peter's nudges. Breslin had just gathered the entire Senate into his net without even raising his voice. I needed him to tag along more often, for sure.

James turned a little purple. "Fine," he said through clenched teeth. "We'll pay for all damages incurred."

"You're not serious," Daimhín said.

"We can't afford another media explosion," he said. "Mac will have a lot of explaining to do, but we need this to stay under wraps."

I turned in my seat to give the stranger a triumphant look, but he was already gone.

"We're done here," Layla said. "The matter is resolved."

"What about Esther?" I asked. "Mac can't be allowed to hunt her down."

"It's not just Mac who's looking for her," Callista said. "She's a danger to all of us."

"How can you, of all people, say that?" I asked. "Your own sister trusted Esther with her life. Esther's not dangerous. She's injured."

"An injured animal can be the most dangerous," Daimhín said. "Tell her to join a pack, for her own sake."

"If she returns to the pack, Mac will make her take Aiden's punishment," I said, horrified.

The vampire queen shrugged. "We all have sacrifices to make." She left the table, but as she passed us, she gave Breslin a long, hard look. "If you're ever in need of employment, I'm always interested in a mind like yours."

Breslin gave her a polite smile. "I'm afraid I only have room for one client."

Daimhín shot a glare my way. "And that's her, I suppose."

"She's stuck with me," Breslin said.

The vampire queen moved on, followed by Layla and James. Callista and Willow hesitated near us after the others left.

"I truly had no idea that Mac's actions had escalated so," Callista said.

I avoided looking into her eyes or getting too close to her. I nudged Peter when his jaw dropped open. He tried to shake off the siren's unintended lure, but I expected him to be afflicted for hours. Breslin was looking very interested in his shoes, but Callista seemed not to notice how uncomfortable the rest of us were. The siren's personal space was way too inviting for the average person.

"You must be careful," Willow said. "Mac has proven himself to be quite hotheaded, but other factors are at play."

"You mean the paragon," I said.

"Regis? You know why he's here?" Callista asked.

"I didn't know his name, but I was warned about him a year ago," I said. "I thought he had left."

"So did we," Willow said. "Yet he kept returning, for no obvious reason, and now he sees us when we're at our worst. That makes me worry."

I didn't have to think too hard to realise she was worried about me. "I haven't done anything to risk his attention on me." I winced. "Except this meeting."

"It's enough that he's aware of you," Callista said. "I must leave. I have a meet-and-greet tonight." She air-kissed me before leaving.

Willow sighed. "It's exhausting being around her. But that was a good move you made tonight." She looked at Breslin with interest. "And quite a bluff."

He smiled. "I have no idea what you're referring to."

"Where's Mac?" Peter asked, after recovering a little once Callista had left the room.

"I don't know," Willow said. "That's troubling in itself, although it likely points out his guilt some. I do hope he doesn't get his hands on that poor girl."

"Any idea what exactly will happen to Esther?" I asked.

She shook her head. "The shifters are intensely private about their traditions. All I know is that Mac has been claiming ancient rites and customs in a bid to get what he wants." She held up her hands. "I know the country expects us to make a new world here, but we can't completely ignore the history and culture of an entire species, either. We're in a difficult position, and Mac has been slowly taking advantage of that since Phoenix left."

"I've been hearing rumours," I said. "Free shifters have been disappearing. Once Mac sets his gaze on someone, nobody hears from them ever again."

"You think he's murdering his opposition?" Willow asked, aghast.

I shrugged. "Or holding them close, taking their freedom. What if I found evidence of that? Would that make a difference?"

"We need to step away from things like slavery," Willow said coldly. "If the media gets hold of this, it would cause riots in the streets." She cocked her head to the side. "Again."

"Say we kept it quiet, and instead we brought it to the Senate... could you do something then?"

"We could put Mac on trial," she said excitedly. "He might lose his place on the Senate. But what of the shifters? Without Mac to control them, they might run wild."

"The vampire queen tipped me off about a new shifter who might be challenging Mac's position. Apparently, this could be causing his frantic searches." I smiled. "It would be an easy solution, all the same."

"Unless they're worse than he is about ancient rites." She tapped her chin with her pen. "If you find anything, bring it to me personally. I'll organise a proper investigation through the appropriate channels." She winked at me through her glasses. "We'll make an excellent team, Ava Delaney. Just give me a little time."

"Well," I said. "If anyone needs an advocate, it's shifters who are being forced to stay in a pack by a Senate member, right?"

By the time we left, I'd started to believe we actually had a workable plan.

Chapter Five

I sat across from Anka at her kitchen table and tried to ignore the rank smell coming from the pot on the stove. Anka's tastes were a little beyond mine sometimes, and I couldn't tell if she was stewing dinner or a potion for the shop. Val, Margie, Peter, and Carl completed the circle. The children were all at school, and Carl, who worked at the school part-time, had taken the afternoon off so we could all talk unhindered. Peter and I caught everyone up on what had happened at the meeting.

"So," I said. "We'll all be reimbursed eventually, but Breslin is ready to throw his smarts at them if they try to slow things down."

"It doesn't make up for the loss of time," Margie said.

"No, it doesn't," Peter said, "but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing."

"So we wait," Anka said. "And if we restock our shelves, are our products safe?"

"Breslin's organising surveillance over all of our properties, including the cul-de-sac. I know it's a little too Big Brother, but maybe we should have gone down this route a long time ago."

"That sounds pricey," Carl said.

"It's worth it for our safety." But inwardly, the cost was making me queasy. Being a landlady had turned out to be expensive. "And that's another thing. They destroyed property, but I think we're safe from bodily harm in here. I've been chatting to Breslin, and he's promised to go through everything with me later, but he's confident we're still protected from physical violence."

"Why do I feel like there's a 'but' in there somewhere?" Carl asked.

"Because there's always one," I said with a smile. "As the protection has been transferred to me, it might take a while to stick."

"What? It has to get used to you?" he joked.

"I'll find out. That's all Breslin said. The other issue is this paragon person."

"What is the purpose of a paragon?" Val asked.

"The paragons are sort of like a higher power. When the Senate fails, the issue goes higher, and the paragons seem to be the next rank up. They watch over the world, basically. I don't know much about them, to be honest. I'll find out if Breslin has information on them. This Regis person gave me a bad vibe."

"In what way?" Carl asked.

"Something about him stops me from really... seeing him. And when Jess was here last year, Phoenix made it sound like she could have been in danger from Regis. Jess is considered as tainted as I am, which means I'm in danger, too. The normal, natural species are okay, but anything a bit... conflicted is fair game. I think it's the paragon who's pushing this untethered nonsense, and I'm starting to think it's just an excuse to set a precedent here."

"To do what?" Val asked.

"To take care of us oddballs, I suppose," I said. "So keep your head down, Val. Just in case. It could be nothing at all, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. Phoenix mentioned something to me about the paragons having the right to judge the werewolves. If that goes badly, they could try to force him to make them extinct for real this time. We don't need you getting in the crosshairs, either."

"Phoenix would never do that," Val said with confidence.

"Exactly," I said. "Which is a problem in itself. Anyone who wants to get rid of Phoenix can just target the werewolves and give him enough rope to hang himself with."

"Almost feels like the old days," Peter said, "what with all of this intrigue."

"Yeah, well, let's hope we don't need a good old war or two to sort matters this time," I said.

"What do we do now?" Anka asked, lighting a cigarette. That spelled danger; she had given up a while back.

"We act as normal as possible," I said. "Go back to work. Peter and Val will check up on the missing free shifters to see if there's any dirt we can dig up on Mac. And I'm almost certain there will be. We'll keep Esther out of this as much as possible. I'll find out more from Breslin, see if there's anything we're missing when it comes to protection. It might be time to find ourselves a good witch, for that matter."

"Not a witch," Carl said with a groan. "Not again."

"I said might."

"And if Mac shows up again?" Margie asked.

"Then call Shay first. I hate to drag him into this, but we might as well keep things as official as possible, as much as we all want to tear Mac limb from limb."

"I hear you," Peter said. He nodded at Val. "You up for heading back to work?"

"I'm eager to get this started," Val said in a distinctly growly voice.

"I should head back to the school, too," Carl said. "We have a meeting later this afternoon, and it's not going to be fun."

"Problems?" I asked.

"Nah, somebody just underestimated the power of the natural witch from the children's home. Maybe we could use her, slip her a little contraband in exchange." He grinned. "I hear sugar has been banned for an indeterminate amount of time after one of the kids broke into the stockroom, overdosed on a year's supply of sweets, and accidentally fried everything with wires."

"Wires?" Peter asked.

"Apparently, he has some kind of latent techno ability. They're still trying to figure it out."

"Poor kid." I made a face of disgust. "I hope they aren't punishing him for it."

"More like they're freaking in case something even weirder happens." Carl rose to his feet. "Anka, if you need help with stirring, I'll be around this evening."

"And I'll be sending Leah over. She can help," Val added.

"Thank you," Anka said. "It'll take some time, but we'll get back on our feet. I'm just sorry to have lost so many rare ingredients."

"Need a lift?" Peter asked me. "We can drop you in to Breslin."

I checked my watch. "Yeah, okay. He'll be around. If he's busy, I'm sure I can find something to read in there." Breslin's office held many ancient papers, treaties, and books, as well as a secret room where I could meet with the rest of the Eleven. I still didn't consider myself one of them, but I was pretty sure I needed to figure out where we stood with the paragon.

On the drive to my solicitor's office, Val and Peter discussed where to start on the search for the missing shifters.

"The human who Mac's ex left him for would be a good place to start." Val cracked her knuckles. "Let's see if he's heard from her, or if any of the neighbours remember when they last saw her. We can get in touch with Moses to find out if Esther knows about names or addresses of the free shifters she's heard of. Don't call her directly in case the Senate goes through with the phone-records threat that Mac likes to bring up on occasion."

"Might be better if we drop in or meet Moses somewhere then. Keep the phone contact to a minimum," Peter said.

She nodded. "I'm not opposed to bumping into some shifters, either."

I thought about it a little more. "You know, Daimhín has a pair of shifter bodyguards right now. Maybe if you visit the coven during the day, you could persuade one of them to talk to you."

"Why would they tell us anything?" Peter asked.

"They won't tell you a thing," I said, "but Val is technically a shifter, too. If she reached out to them, enquiring about joining their pack, they might let a few things slip. It could be nothing, but you never know."

"That might be smart," Peter said. "You up to doing that alone?" he asked Val.

She nodded. "I doubt they'll give me anything important, but they might give something away, however small."

"Don't fight any shifters," I said hurriedly. "We can't afford to give anyone else ammo against us right now."

"I'm not entirely foolish," Val said in a dry tone. "However, this might go the way so many things have before. It's a power play, and they often come to blows. I want to be ready if that day comes again."

"Fine." I breathed deeply. "But try to be attacked first before you destroy the alpha." I grinned. "Unless you want to be alpha yourself, of course."

"Not funny," she said.

But I couldn't help thinking that she would make a far better alpha than Mac did. "Try not to dominate Daimhín's bodyguards too much then."

When we reached the office building, we said our goodbyes. I headed inside to see Breslin.

His secretary was sitting in front of a fan, looking as though she might pass out from heat I couldn't feel.

"Sorry," she said, moving slowly as she made to get up.

"Stay where you are," I said. "Are you due soon?"

"Not soon enough." She blew her hair away from her face. "I feel like I'm being punished for something terrible."

"I'm sure it'll be worth it." I tried to ignore the blister of envy that bubbled in my chest. "Is Martin around?"

"He's on a call," she said apologetically. "He'll be a while."

"That's all right," I said. "I'll head downstairs."

She looked frightened at that prospect, and I wondered how much she knew.

I travelled down the steps to the basement room. I still felt weird going inside, but if I had to go up against a paragon, then I really needed to know where I stood in terms of power.

The room was dark, apart from the milky glow of a crystal ball. As soon as I touched it, I would find answers, but I was reluctant. For the past year, I had been so engrossed in figuring out the normal side of my life that I had almost forgotten about the Eleven. I was surprised to find myself nervous at the thought of facing them again.

Before I could chicken out, I slammed my hand on the crystal and kept my eyes shut as I spun into another place. It was like a void between time and space, and only my soul entered at any given time.

"Here again," Judge said impatiently.

"It has been a year." I opened my eyes. The figures around me were misty, but I could almost make out the shapes of some of the forms. Judge was tall and slender in her high-backed chair while Slave was unexpectedly petite. I looked around for Shepherd. Strangely, his form was still indistinguishable, yet the mist around him had lessened significantly. What the hell does that mean?

"And is there a reason we're here?" Judge asked in a sharper voice.

"I'm not sure if I have a problem yet or not," I said. "The thing is, there's a paragon hanging around."

"That's not new," Knowledge said.

"The shifters have been moving against me," I said, "and I'm afraid it has something to do with the paragon. From what I've gathered, there's a chance he'll come after me if he succeeds in what he's doing right now. Where do I stand against a paragon?"

A murmur spread around the room. "We're beyond the reach of a paragon," Slave said. "A paragon is not our keeper."

"She's been one of us for a brief instant of time," Silence warned. "That might not be long enough to protect her and, in turn, this circle."

"They wouldn't dare," Warden scoffed.

"If the paragon reaches for her, it's for a reason," Death said. "How do we know it's not an attack on us? If we lose her, we lose strength. There isn't another alive who can take her place. Not yet."

"More likely, this paragon fears the tainted," Wisdom said. "There's no reason for us to panic."

"He wouldn't be the first to reach for us," Shepherd said.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It was almost six hundred years ago," Birth said. "A paragon wished to turn the balance in her favour. She used her power to attack us."

"What happened then?"

"My predecessor died in a final battle against her," Warrior said.

"The Eleven won, but at a cost," Knowledge added.

"And if he does make a move..." I said.

"Attack," Warrior said. "Fight back. Do not lose yourself to a paragon. They may consider themselves a higher power, but we are balance."

"But the shifters have been able to harm me. Not physically, but in other ways. If this paragon turns the Senate against me, I'm screwed."

"I'm sure you'll figure out a way," Birth said. "You're meant to survive."

I thought of my conversations with Adam, the only living angel I knew. According to him, his daughter and I had survived the circumstances of our births for certain reasons, but it seemed as though those reasons had run their course. Maybe my good luck was running out.

"Have patience while dealing with this paragon," Knowledge said. "It's not enough to win."

Then they all vanished, and after a second of distortion around me, I was back in the basement of the office building.

"Yeah, helpful, arseholes," I muttered and turned to leave. Breslin startled me on the stairwell.

"Everything all right?" He looked me over with worry in his eyes as he did every time I'd met with the rest of the Eleven.

"Just another unhelpful conversation," I said. "Do you know anything about paragons and what kind of power they have behind them?"

"I have some old documents that might shed some light. Come upstairs. You wanted to know about the protection over you."

I carried on the conversation in his office upstairs. "The Eleven made it sound almost as though the protection over me might not count if the paragon comes after me because I haven't been a part of the group long enough."

"I've gathered from my research that the longer you spend as one of the Eleven, the stronger the protection becomes, almost as if it slowly becomes a part of you. And then when you get old or injured, it dies a little with you. It's fascinating really, almost as though the protection is a sentient being. I know we've been aware of some of the details, but most of it's been forgotten, most likely," he admitted. "I wasn't around for Baba Yaga's early days. Not even close. She lived a very long time. She had probably forgotten what it was like to become the Matriarch by the time she passed the job on to you. And she didn't have to deal with her own fear very often. She was a hag, a particularly infamous one. The world feared her."

"I really need to get scarier," I said, flipping through a book on his desk. "If the Senate turns on me, things will get bad quickly. I wish Phoenix or even Elathan would come back and just... fix everything."

"You think they would side with you?"

I shrugged. "Elathan has a soft spot for Esther. He would at least speak for her, and he's pretty scary himself when he feels so inclined. I definitely think he could help her. And Phoenix is..." I thought about it. Phoenix had been kind of a friend until he'd distanced himself. I knew that if Lorcan wanted to help me, Phoenix would back him up, but if the paragon gave Phoenix an ultimatum—maybe by saying he had to choose me or the werewolves—I was pretty sure I would instantly earn myself a new enemy. "I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm feeling a definite lack of friends on the Senate right now. The regular government is just happy to not have to deal with the crap the Senate covers."

"What about Shay?" he asked. "He's a useful ally."

"Shay quit the Senate for a reason." I wasn't exactly sure what that reason was, but I could guess he wanted to get away from the intrigue, not be dragged back into it. "He's my last-resort ally for now. I don't want to put him between me and the Senate if it comes to that."

"Does it have to come to that?" Breslin asked, adjusting his glasses. "Does it always have to be you versus whoever?"

"It just works out that way sometimes," I said. "Willow asked me to be an advocate for those without a voice, to speak for those the Senate won't listen to. That just goes really well with being the Matriarch. Maybe that's how I meet my next lost soul."

"Still waiting?"

I frowned. "Maybe I'm not doing it right. Should I go looking? Do I track them down?"

"They tend to come to you," he said. "When it's time, it'll happen. And perhaps I can serve as a hand to you when you're dealing with this advocacy idea. The notion appeals to me, I must admit."

"I'd be happy for the help. You know, that supernatural register still exists, and people have been turned away from the country for being too dangerous. If that register had existed when I first came into the light, I wouldn't have passed muster."

"And you want to make sure everyone has a fair shot."

I pressed my lips together. People like Esther and Val would never have had a chance, either. And Jess had told me about the way people secretly helped and protected each other on the streets of Dublin. How many other people were still in hiding, terrified of the register and terrified of being exiled? Willow and Vega were both on the right track. The vampires and shifters didn't need our help. Those without a pack were the ones who really needed help.

Breslin helped me dig through his dusty old books for answers. We didn't find much we didn't know already. The paragons had been set up for almost two thousand years, and they had an army behind them, stationed all over the world. I wondered if any were in Ireland, just waiting for a call to arms.

The untethered were another story. We found stories of feral shifters with nobody to tether them, nobody to keep them sane. Most of them were injured in some way. Many of the stories seemed to involve a kind of madness, as though the shifters degenerated without a pack to support them. But I couldn't imagine Esther ever ending up that way. Despite her injury, she had no trouble living amongst humans. And Val had spent years alone with Leah, keeping them both safe. The untethered agenda was a blatant fabrication.

But a nagging feeling in my gut made me wonder if it wasn't right for a shifter to be alone. Maybe Esther would eventually succumb to madness without her brother to keep her safe. And then there was the fact that Esther's heritage came from a different continent. Was her existence an upset to the balance? And if I was actual balance, did that put me at odds with her?

For the first time, I felt a pang of fear that I would end up facing the kind of ultimatum that I imagined Phoenix would be forced to fulfil. If it came to balance versus any of my friends, I worried the Eleven would expect me to reset the balance at the cost of my friend's life. Or worse, they might deal with the imbalance themselves and come for her in the dead of night, without warning.

My stomach bottomed out. The very things that protected us might one day be the thing that separated us forever.

Chapter Six

A couple of days later, Willow called to inform me that Mac still hadn't reappeared, and the Senate were starting to show concern. "I'm sure the silly sod is just hiding out, but we're already down so many seats right now that it's worrying."

"Nobody's heard from Phoenix or Elathan, either," I reminded her.

"It's likely a panic over nothing. I just thought you should know."

But it played on my mind until Peter called me later that afternoon.

"Got some news. Thought you might wanna know," he said.

"What is it?" I asked. "Has Mac shown his face yet?"

"Not to me. Val got an address out of those shifters. They were a bit cold to her when she approached them, but this morning, one of them contacted her."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

I could hear his amusement over the phone. "He said Daimhín confirmed Val's story. Apparently, she confirmed that the hellhound has been looking for a way to escape you for ages."

"Escape me? What, like moving onto fae territory?"

"Whatever Daimhín's game is, it worked," he said. "She helped us, whether she meant to or not."

"She doesn't help for free, which is something we should probably worry about."

"Worry tomorrow. Wanna come with? We're checking out a farm in Meath. It's supposed to be a favoured hangout for new pack members, but Val didn't like the vibe she got from Daimhín's bodyguards, so it could be trouble."

"Sounds interesting. Yeah, I definitely want to see this for myself. No luck on any of the other leads?"

"Turns out there are no other leads. Nobody's seen any of the free shifters, or those closest to them, for quite a while."

That took me aback. "They're all missing?"

"Not necessarily. From what I hear, all of their belongings are gone, too, so they could have decided to run. I'm sure we'll find out what's really going on soon enough. We'll pick you up in an hour. Be ready."

I changed while I was waiting. I was curious about the farm. Was it a hideout or a meeting place, what had made the shifters decide to help Val, and why the hell had Daimhín suddenly decided to pitch in? Likely her perverseness kicking in. I couldn't get in touch with her until night, anyway. Her current assistant was a volunteer, and I didn't trust the man's word. Humans could be manipulated—and unfortunately, they weren't the only ones.

When Val and Peter arrived to pick me up, I sensed the anticipation in the car. The scar on Peter's chin deepened as he spoke, and his hazel eyes glistened with excitement. He'd rolled up his sleeves, displaying muscular, hairy forearms and the occasional flash of the crosses tattooed on his wrists.

Val was barely containing her hellhound half. Her shoulders bulged into a half-shift, and the bumps that ran from her forehead down to the nape of her neck kept sharpening and disappearing again. They were both looking for trouble, and I would have to be the boring one who kept them both on a leash, especially if we bumped into Mac. He had likely wound us up in the hopes that we would attack first and give him a reason to get rid of us for good.

After well over an hour of driving, we pulled up outside a massive gate surrounded by thick, unkempt hedges on an isolated country road.

"This is it," Val said.

"There might as well be a sign outside calling this a trap," Peter said.

I got out of the car and stood inside the open gate. A winding dirt track led toward several buildings, which were more barn than farmhouse. Beyond those were empty, sloping fields, and I barely made out the outline of a small cottage on the horizon. Most importantly, there were no cars and no signs of life nearby. So why did the shifters send Val here?

Peter leaned out the window. "Might as well do this properly."

"And when we get done for trespassing?" I asked.

"The gate's open, and Val was invited." He grinned. "In for a penny."

I got back into the car, and we drove through the gates and up the dirt track to the first barn.

Peter slowed then cut the engine. We all got out of the car. The barn was locked. The padlock and chain seemed excessive, given that the farm was in the middle of nowhere. It was decrepit, too. The only sign of life was the well-trodden path of flattened earth leading up to the doors.

Val pushed Peter out of the way and gripped the chain and lock. With a grunt, her shoulders expanded. I knew without looking that her eyes had turned red. She yanked the chains apart in one swift movement then flung the pieces aside. I gaped at Peter, who shrugged in a helpless gesture.

Val pulled open the doors before I could stop her, but the barn was completely empty. Still, something bothered me. I reached out with my other senses and spread out, trying to find signs of life. Many lazy spots of energy clustered beneath us.

"Underneath," I said after a moment. "There are people underneath the barn. Shifters. Be careful," I warned as the others immediately began their search.

The barn was full of dried-up hay and old tools, but I caught sight of footprints in the dust. I followed the trail to where it ended at a pile of musty-smelling sacks. I kicked them out of the way, revealing a trapdoor. I pulled it free, hearing the others make sounds of surprise behind me. The way below was dark, but I could make out steps.

"One of you stay and keep watch," I whispered then nodded when Val made to follow me. Peter looked impatient, but he didn't complain.

We descended the damp-smelling stairs until we reached the bottom. After a moment, my eyes adjusted to the weak lights illuminating a wooden hallway.

"This way," I said under my breath, taking the lead. Something pulled me onward, telling me I was supposed to be there. Maybe a lost soul needed me. I crossed my fingers. Please let me be in time.

Partway down the hallway, we began to find heavy wooden doors with crudely cut narrow openings large enough to see through. Behind the doors, people lay on beds, weak and unconscious, but breathing.

"Shifters," Val said.

"Free ones, once," I guessed. "Go upstairs and tell Peter to call Shay immediately. He needs to see this. Ask him to get in touch with Willow. She'll want to know about this."

Val left at once, and I carried on the search. The doors were all locked, and I could have easily found a way to unlock them, but the people within were safe for the moment. I needed to make sure Shay saw the entire scene as it I'd found it. If the makeshift prison was Mac's doing, and he'd intended to keep Esther there, then he was in trouble. Our find could solve all of our problems. But then I remembered that the shifters had willingly sent Val to the farm. To ambush her? Being held captive would kill Val. I made a mental note to punch Mac right in the nose next time I saw him.

At the very last door, the occupant was stirring, moaning as if waking from a disturbing dream.

"Don't worry," I said. "We've found you. You're safe now."

She blinked a couple of times and found me at the door. She seemed to understand I wasn't a shifter or a risk to her because she nodded then murmured, "Others. More."

"I'll find them," I promised her, and she fell back asleep.

I raced back to Val and Peter, my stomach turning. "I'm going to check out the other buildings," I said. "One woman was starting to wake up. Keep an eye out for Shay, and be careful in case the shifters planned for Val to come here and get locked up herself."

"Scumbags," Peter said hoarsely. "They deserve—"

I squeezed his arm. "They're found out now. They won't get away with this anymore. This is a win, Peter. Nobody can defend this crap."

Val went to check on the women while Peter stayed at the front door to keep watch. I took his car and drove out to the next barn. It was falling apart, apparently succumbing to the last storm. There had been a trapdoor inside, but it was completely collapsed. I really hoped nobody had been in there.

I travelled on to the final barn then, dreading what I might find next. The door was already open, and a sack of rancid meat had toppled over outside. Wary, I crept into the barn and found the trapdoor. It had been ripped open.

"Weird," I whispered. I felt as though I were walking into a trap, but a desperate need to know made me keep going. Shay was on his way. No matter what happened, I would free those people.

Downstairs, there were more cells. My stomach sank as every cell I passed revealed female occupants—all heavily pregnant.

"What the hell?" I said under my breath. Then I heard movement from one of the cells. I chanced a look within. The pregnant woman inside looked deranged. She screeched when she saw me and flung herself at the door. Her scalp was visible under many bald patches, and her face was full of scratches. Her claws were present, as though she couldn't quite stop the oncoming shift. I backed away, terrified that the woman might harm herself because of me. If so many of the shifter women were pregnant, then it had to be by design, but that one poor woman looked absolutely insane.

I swallowed hard. Was that what untethered really meant, or had she been tormented?

I made my way upstairs again, sickened by what I had seen. I sent Peter a brief text, describing what I had encountered, but I switched off my phone, unable to stomach talking about it or saying the words aloud. Mac was sick, and he would pay.

Just to put the barns behind me, I moved on toward the run-down cottage in the distance. Filthy off-white net curtains hung across the broken windows. I got out of the car, needing to breathe fresh air. But I caught the scent of death instead.

A shiver of fear ran down my spine as I moved toward the cottage. The stench only intensified. The cottage hid death in its midst. At the doorway, I hesitated. The door had been torn off the hinges. And the distinct smell of old blood surrounded the frame. Splashes of it decorated the dirt, drying in place in a strangely hypnotic pattern.

I forced myself to step into the cottage. My eyes watered as the worst of the smell hit me, and my stomach roiled. The decaying body on the dusty floor before me had been there for days, probably since the meeting with the Senate. Mac's eyes were wide open and glassy, the only part of him unmarked. His mouth was distorted into a frozen image of terror, and a chunk of his cheek had been ripped away completely. Or eaten.

Somebody had tortured the shifter alpha. He was almost naked, his potbelly relaxed in death. I lifted the collar of my T-shirt to cover my mouth and chin in a vain attempt to stave off the smell as I moved closer to the body. Most of his body was bitten, scratched, or otherwise injured. His chest was bruised and covered in deep scratches and some kind of friction burn. Purple welts marked his wrists and ankles. His arms and legs were broken badly. The bite marks looked savage and many had ripped flesh free, too.

How many of my friends had wished him harm over the last week? We were in trouble. A killer was out there, torturing men and leaving women trapped underground. Had Mac been the perpetrator at all? Or had he caught the true criminal in the act? I couldn't make sense of the scene.

The smell overwhelmed me, and I had to run outside. I dry-retched, barely noticing a car approach. I assumed Shay had turned up to view the scene, but when I looked up, I saw a group of shifters.

The leader sniffed the air, puzzled. "Death," he said, and ran into the cottage.

The other four surrounded me.

"Relax." I held up my hands. "It wasn't me."

"Mac's dead!" came the shout from inside the cottage.

Strong hands gripped me from all directions. I struggled against the muscular arm around my neck, but it was no use—I was outnumbered. I really hoped Shay was on his way.

"It wasn't me," I said. "It's not a fresh kill, and he's covered in bites."

"So you came to relive the crime," a voice hissed in my ear. "And we all know you have fangs."

"You're being stupid," I said. "And I saw all those women you have locked up underground. The whole world's going to know what you lot have been up to."

A sudden blow to the side of my head made me dizzy. The tallest shifter, a mean-looking skinhead, gripped my ponytail and held me in place. The redheaded twins yanked my arms tightly behind my back as something was attached to my wrists. I managed to swivel my head enough to see they were the old Council's tags.

"What's this? Can't afford your own equipment?"

"Shut up." The skinhead pulling my hair kicked the back of my knee, forcing me to the ground. "We need to lock her up before she manages to escape."

"But she's tiny." The youngest of the group danced from one foot to the other in front of us, casting hesitant glances toward the cottage. He was likely in his early twenties, and for a shifter, he looked incapable of growing more than a few tufts of fuzz on his chin and upper lip.

"Never underestimate the tainted," the skinhead argued.

"Nobody's ever been able to keep her in the cells," one of the twins said.

"We could keep her here," his brother replied.

The first twin snorted. "If Fionnuala couldn't keep her in the Council cells, then what chance do we have at holding her in a barn?"

"Not much," I said.

"Quiet, you," he ordered.

The skinhead gripped my hair a little tighter. "You know where we have to take her. We'll just watch her constantly. We lock her up, and then she can go on trial."

"Are you kidding me?" I managed to choke out a laugh. "Somebody out there killed your alpha, and you're talking about my trial?"

"You hate him. You and your people," the leader shouted from the doorway of the cottage. "Now you finally get what you deserve."

"We hated him because he treated us like shit. He was a total arsehole. But just because we don't like someone doesn't mean we torture them to death! What are you even thinking? His killer is walking free because you're wasting time on me."

"M-maybe she has a point," the youngest shifter whimpered.

"Enough!" the leader said. "I'll stay here and tend to the body. Haul her into the car and take her to the old Council cells. It's the only place that'll keep her. Watch out for her buddies. She might not be alone."

So they had missed Val and Peter. I bit my lip, hoping the pair of them knew better than to get involved.

The skinhead shoved me roughly into the back of the car, likely leaving bruises in awkward places. The twins argued over who had to sit in the back with me. The youngest shifter, apparently accepting his fate, meekly climbed into the back as the skinhead jumped into the driver's seat.

I ended up squashed between two sweaty shifters in the back. I tried to breathe through my mouth and not panic. My arms were already burning, my shoulders hot from the position. How the hell am I going to find a way out of the cells this time? Nobody would know where the shifters were taking me, and I was pretty sure the so-called trial was mostly of the fictitious nature.

The car pulled away jerkily, sadly avoiding getting stuck in the mud. As we left the farm, more cars approached the gates. The twin next to me swore and pushed me down so my face rested against my knees. The car sped up and got away, but the shifters remained tense.

"This isn't comfortable in any way," I complained.

"Quiet," one of the twins said.

"Let her sit up," Skinhead said. "We've a lot to do, and I don't want her complaints to interfere with that."

The twin to my right yanked me into sitting position by my ponytail. I had cramps everywhere by then.

"There'll need to be a ceremony," one of the twins said.

The youngest chewed on his fingernails. "Who's next to be alpha?"

"I meant his death, not his successor, idiot."

"We need an alpha." The boy sounded whiney, maybe even afraid, and the twin next to me made a sound of disgust.

I moved in my seat in an attempt to get comfortable. I had to think. There were four shifters in the car, and I didn't fancy my chances in a fight, what with my arms tied behind my back. I could cause a problem, and we might crash. But I was the only one without a seatbelt and would probably shoot right out of the window. I cocked my head to the side. On second thought, that might not be a terrible idea. I contemplated my chances for survival as the car turned onto the motorway.

The boy thumped my arm. "I'm talking to you!"

I blinked up at him. "Huh?"

His blue eyes looked watery, and the stench of his anxiety filled the car. "I said, did he suffer?"

"I didn't kill him, dumbass. And did you see his body? He was tortured. Of course he suffered."

A collective growl went up around me.

"He was never meant to be alpha," I continued.

"What do you know?" the twin next to me said a little too forcefully.

"I know that it took me an effort to look Aiden in the eye. I had no such problems with Mac, so maybe a stronger shifter took him on."

"Like Esther?" the young shifter asked, but he sounded more scared than angry.

"She's injured, and she's not stupid or cruel. Whoever did that back there either doesn't have a heart or owed Mac a serious debt. Maybe one of those women managed to escape." I was just fishing, but by their expressions, that was a possibility, which meant they knew about the women. "So Mac was in charge of that, eh?" I said lightly. "And is that what he planned for Esther?"

"What else is she good for?" the skinhead in the driving seat asked caustically.

"And do all the shifters agree with the new regime?" I asked.

"They're learning what happens to those who disagree with the alpha," he replied in a dark tone. "Those women made their choices. They could have taken an honourable death, but they chose to be breeders instead. There's no law against that."

The twin to my right nudged me. "They learn to love it, too."

His brother roared with laughter and turned in his seat to give him a high five.

My stomach turned. There was no hope for the shifters anymore. Aiden might have been an arrogant fool, but as far as I knew, he wasn't trapping females for breeding purposes. I dry-retched again. The shifters on either side of me moved away as best they could.

The car drive seemed to go on forever, and the nervous little shifter to my left grew more anxious by the second.

"We're in trouble," he said, his knee jerking up and down. "The cars belonged to those agents. The police. They'll find those girls and—"

"This is our right," the driver said harshly, silencing the boy. "This is what the shifters have a right to do to our women who run free."

"So that's all it is?" I said, wishing I could spit on him. "It's not about being dangerous or untethered at all; it's just plain old misogynistic crap. Well done, boys. You haven't reinvented the wheel after all. So, what? Are you scared of women? Do you just hate them? Does it piss you off when they pass you by for humans?"

A low growl came from the driver.

"Stop," the boy pleaded. "Please, stop."

I looked at him. "Did they do this to your mother? To your sisters? Did you stand by and let them? Did you help? Sick little puppy, what kind of man are you at all?"

He whacked the side of my face. "Enough!"

"Because I'm a woman?" I blinked back the pain in my anger. "Am I not allowed to talk? Should I be tied to a cooker somewhere until I learn my place?"

He hit me again, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I spat it onto his leg. He recoiled in horror.

"I need to get sick," he said. "I need air, or I'm going to shift."

"You're not going to shift," the twin in the front passenger seat said scornfully. "Stop letting her bait you. She's fucking well right. You're no man."

"And you're any better?" I said.

He whipped around in his seat and punched me in the stomach. I coiled over, wanting to get sick if I could just manage to suck in one pesky breath.

"Oh, you're a brave one," I managed to wheeze out.

The driver slammed on the brake, jerking me forward so my shoulder knocked into his seat. The shifters on either side of me pulled me back into sitting position.

The skinhead kept driving, eyeing me in the rear-view mirror. "That's enough out of you now. You're a murderer, but that's not surprising, given that you're a tainted one. Now if you're lucky, the Senate will judge you. And if I get my way, the shifters will judge you. And trust me, you don't want to fall foul of our punishment. We're holding on to our culture and heritage because we're proud of it, because we know from generations of experience that it works. Aiden may have been about unity, but we must be about control, or we'll descend into wild animals. This is the way we were made, and this is the way we'll continue. The Senate let the werewolves be, let them do as they must. Their nature rules them, and that's good enough for us, too."

"And if my nature rules me?" I asked, glaring at him.

"Then you'll be put down before any of us will," he said simply. "That's just the way it has to be."

Chapter Seven

Realising we were travelling on a familiar route toward the old Council cells, I groaned. The shifters really were taking me back to that pit. As far as the world knew, the place had been deserted, but I had it on good authority that the worst kinds of criminals were still held captive there.

"Come on," I said as the car screeched to a stop outside one of the secret entrances off the motorway. "Even you Neanderthals aren't this stupid. It wasn't me!"

Skinhead hauled me out of the car by my shirt collar. "That will be decided by someone other than you."

I ducked out of his grasp and made a run for it. One of the twins growled then threw himself at my back, knocking us both to the ground. I scraped my cheek on the gravel and groaned. How heavy was the pig on top of me?

A car pulled up, and I thought I heard a familiar voice shout at us to stop. I managed to manoeuvre my head around and saw Shay approaching. Relieved, I took a deep breath, well, as deep as possible while a ridiculously heavy weight was grinding me into the ground beneath us.

"What the hell is going on?" Shay demanded.

"She killed Mac," the boy said sullenly.

The shifter on top of me lifted, and I could finally breathe again, but I didn't have the energy to get up.

"Any proof?" Shay asked, his gaze hard. He was surrounded by a number of his very own recruits, the pairs of supernaturals and humans who investigated supernatural threats.

"She was found with the body," Skinhead shouted.

"Not good enough," Shay said. "The body is at least a couple of days old. Are you trying to tell me that she hung around for days with a decaying body?"

"She's tainted! Who knows what she's into!"

Quinn called my name softly. "I'm going to remove the tag now. Try not to move." She released me and rubbed my arms to help the blood return.

"Thanks," I said when she and her human partner helped me to my feet. The tall, freckly man didn't look at all intimidated by the raging shifters.

"You doing okay?" she asked.

"On top of the world."

"Did you kill Mac?"

"Sadly not. I might have hidden the body before the stupid shifters showed up."

She smiled. "You've dirt all over your face."

"I had a nap on the ground. It was nice. You should try it sometime."

Her partner looked at me as though I were a lunatic. I wasn't exactly feeling sane, so that was fair enough. If Shay and his troops hadn't been there to bear witness, I might have channelled some hellhound rage and smashed the shifters' heads together.

Shay looked at me and pressed his lips into a tight line. He pointed at the shifters. "You hurt her."

"We arrested her," one of the twins said. "You can't hurt what's already half-dead."

"I am not half-dead," I protested. My heart beat, I felt, I empathised, I cared, I loved—I was more alive than the shifters glaring at me were.

"Ava, get in my car," Shay said. "I'll take you home. Peter and Val are helping the rest of the recruits with the removal of those captives back at the farm." He eyed the shifters. "And my colleagues with me will be taking every one of you in for questioning."

"What about Mac?" Skinhead demanded. "Does nobody care about him? Or are you all too busy protecting the true threats?"

"I'll find out what happened to Mac," Shay said. "And I'm sure the perpetrator will get what they deserve, but if Mac was responsible for those women back there, then I'm just surprised it took them this long to take care of him." He hesitated as the shifters protested noisily. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about how justice will treat you."

I heard a scuffle behind me as I reached Shay's car.

"Get in," he told me. "We saw the car leave and decided to break away to follow. Didn't realise you were tagging along until I got a panicked call from Peter, saying they couldn't find you back at the farm. There's been some miscommunication."

"I turned my phone off," I said with a groan. "I probably missed his warning to get out of the shifters' way."

I waited until we had driven away from the scene before quizzing him. "Did you see the body?"

"One of the recruits sent me a picture." He winced. "Nasty stuff. You don't know anything about it, right?"

I whipped around to shoot a death stare his way. "We haven't turned into a bunch of torturing psychos since the last time we spoke, no."

"I just needed to check. As far as I'm aware, Mac's had it in for you lately. There's a lot of motivation to commit a crime against him—put it that way."

"If you seriously think I'm capable of that, then you might as well let me out of this car right now. Vampires tortured me, Shay, and healed me just enough to torture me some more. I'm not that fucking depraved."

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "but it's my job to ask."

"Well, then, no, I don't know anything about it."

"Are you okay? You've seen a lot of evil today. That has to affect you."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'll have a few nightmares." I blew out a breath. "Mac held those women underground for who knows how long. He was a sick man, and he suffered a painful death. Maybe it's a kind of justice. After seeing those women..." I looked at him. "The only reason we found them was because the shifters were trying to set up Val for the same fate. How can things like this happen?"

"The shifters have been trouble under Mac for a while now," he said. "People vanishing, old traditions being restored. Neither of us were part of this world when it was normal for people like Mac to be in charge."

"It's just crazy in this day and age. I don't understand how anyone can have so much hatred for another person based on something genetic. We're supposed to improve and evolve, not end up like this."

"Quinn tells me that Aiden radically changed the way shifters worked together, even the way the pack dealt with things. That's why they put up with so much from Aiden, by the way. Most shifters were happy under his direction, despite his shadiness. But there were small groups talking on Internet forums about how amazing the good old days were when everyone knew their place, egging on each other's rage and frustration."

Will my stomach ever stop turning? "And this is what they do about it?"

He shrugged. "When the truth came out, and Aiden was revealed to have been a fraud, too many of those keyboard warriors became gung-ho isolationists. They want shifters to breed with shifters, that kind of thing. They've been segregating themselves, pushing the pack toward a more-restricted future. It's hard for the Senate to get a handle on something like that."

"But not you."

"I'm free," he admitted. "I can see a lot of things clearly now." He patted my arm. "I'm sorry you got hurt. The shifters are unstable, and they were led by an unstable man. Mac wasn't an alpha, as far as I've learned about what an alpha actually is."

"You're right," I said. "I think the alpha is supposed to be the one who protects the pack and the young, not the one who punishes them. A true alpha wouldn't force them into something like this."

"Phoenix once told me something eerily similar," he said. "He told me he cared about the werewolves because they protected their own to the point of detriment to themselves. I think he was sort of in awe of them."

"They are kind of awesome," I said dreamily.

Shay cleared his throat. "Have you heard from Phoenix lately?"

"Nope. Nor Lorcan and Lucia, except for a postcard. Why?"

"Just curious. I'm starting to worry that he's not coming back."

"Yeah." I stared out the car window. "There's a lot of that going around."

"What do you think really happened to Mac?"

"If I hadn't seen the body and you'd asked me that question, I'd say it was an alpha challenge gone wrong. But he was tortured, which makes it seem a lot more personal." I turned in my seat to look at him. "The thing is, Mac has a huge number of enemies. Pretty much everyone I know hates him, and I mean really hates him. He's been bribing some Senate members and not bringing his issues to others in order to get votes, and then we find out he's kidnapping shifters. The Senate is going to have to admit that one of their own did this. Mac's fucked everything up."

"Do you think it could have been Esther?" he asked frankly.

"There's no way." I hope. Esther was changing, and her headaches made her angry, but I still couldn't imagine her being capable of torture, not the girl who had cried on my shoulder after failing to reunite a baby with her mother.

"I just can't believe so many shifters would willingly let this happen," he said.

"Who says they were willing?"

He made a face. "Shifters can fight. I mean, really fight. There are plenty of women in Mac's pack who weren't trapped in those barns. How could a shifter possibly be afraid of anyone enough to keep quiet about that?"

"They would have had to betray their whole pack, if they even knew about it. Maybe they were taught to be afraid."

"What do you mean?"

I shifted uncomfortably as memories I kept hidden resurfaced. "I know they're strong, and that seems like maybe they could have stopped what was happening to them, but sometimes, being physically strong isn't enough."

He waited patiently for me to finish, and I knew I had to, if only to make him see that there were different types of victims, but that didn't mean they were to blame for what had happened to them.

"In my case, when I was growing up, I knew I was strong. But I had to act normal, or so I was told, because if I didn't, all kinds of horrendous creatures would come for me and take me away. My grandmother literally put the fear of God into me. She made me understand that men were supposed to be stronger than me, so that I wouldn't fight back even if I got the chance. Revealing myself was worse than anything anyone could do to me. She made me afraid. She made me cower. And even though I was strong, I wasn't strong enough to stop her or any of the..."

"You don't have to tell me any of this."

I sucked in a shaky breath. "I'm just saying that people can get into your head and make you think a certain way. And if it goes on long enough, it's hard to break. Maybe Aiden changed things, but he was around for only a few years. This is an entire species' go-to response to life. Thousands of years of a certain mind-set. This is hard to break, and the ones who did escape, the ones who did break the mould, they were the ones trapped in those barns. They were punished for having the strength to leave, and who knows what they've been through since, because the women in the second barn didn't even seem human anymore. They lost themselves completely."

"How do you even deal with that?" he asked. "Your grandmother and... all of that."

"I made her forget me."

"That's not dealing with it."

I wrinkled my nose. "Maybe not, but it freed me from her anyway."

"I'm so sorry," he said after a moment. "I didn't mean to drag up bad memories. I wasn't blaming the victims. I just meant... if this can happen to a powerful group of shifters, then what hope is there for the rest of us?"

Sometimes I had the exact same thoughts myself. I glanced at Shay. I'd met him while I was looking for answers, and little about him had changed since then. He had a few more lines around his dark-brown eyes, and the lack of March sunshine had kept his sallow skin too pale to look healthy. But despite his worries, our world hadn't ruined him. It hadn't made him bitter or twisted. He still had an easy smile for anyone. He still worked tirelessly to reach those who needed help.

"I think I get it now," I said. "Why you suddenly left the Senate."

"Ah." He smiled, completely relaxing. I hadn't even noticed how tense the conversation had made him. "The big question."

"Some people think it had something to do with Phoenix. He left shortly after you... resigned."

"He did, but that was just a coincidence. I was glad he left. It didn't give him a chance to talk me around." Grinning, he glanced at me. "I can do more where I am now. I'm out of the public eye, and I don't have to waste my time on niceties and press conferences."

"You're always nice to people."

"Yes, but now I don't have to be."

I smiled. "You're full of shit. Still helping out at the boxing club?"

"More regularly than when I worked on the Senate. A couple of the young 'uns from the children's home come out once a week. Alanii brings them. It's good. They're mixing with other kids, and they seem to be enjoying it."

"I'd love to run a kind of halfway house for the older ones," I said. "Help them get out of the children's home. A few of them have jobs now. They need to feel more independent. I have an empty building that would be perfect, actually."

"Quite the little entrepreneur of late, aren't you? I wouldn't have expected it from you."

"What did you think I was going to do? Hunt bad things forever?"

"Sort of, actually. But I agree on the halfway house. Maybe if Phoenix ever returns, we can both hijack him and persuade him it's a good idea."

"It's a deal," I said. "And even if—"

Shay's phone rang before I could finish the sentence. His face drained of colour as he listened. The speaker on the other end of the call mentioned a dead body, and I immediately went into high alert. Another death?

He hung up and looked at me. "I take it you heard that."

"Dead body. Check. Sounds like your people are suspicious."

"Yeah, I got that, too. I don't have time to drop you home. Will you stay in the car if I go take a look?"

"Hell no."

"Ava."

"Would you rather I lie? Seriously, I can help. Mac's body was dead too long for me to pick up on anything about his killer. And I might not be as good as a hellhound, but I can pick up a scent from a fresh body." I winced. "And now that I've actually admitted something so awful, you have to let me come with you."

He had an inner argument with himself before sighing. "Do not touch anything. Do not say anything to anyone. Do not do a thing unless I tell you to. Are we agreed?"

"No."

"Ava!"

"I'm not going to screw up anything, Shay. Calm down."

"If you can scent the killer, you will not go after the killer."

"Not even a little bit?"

"If you're not going to take this seriously—"

"I'll be good. Now hurry up."

He spun the car around, screeching tires and all, and drove in the opposite direction. "We're going to Kildare," he said. "An anonymous tip mentioned a suspicious amount of blood. One of my teams was sent out to a house just past Naas. The body is in the garden, but the home is surrounded by a high wall, so no passersby can see it."

"How did the anonymous tipper know about it then?"

"There is blood on the front gate, as far as I know, but we'll see soon enough. I really hope this isn't something weird."

I pointed at myself. "With this lucky charm hanging around? Not a chance."

He offered me a small smile. "We haven't had much violence lately. At least, not as much as this time last year. But every single time I get a call about an anonymous tip, I start imagining ritual sacrifices and the like."

"Life is screwed up enough without your imagination adding to it. They didn't say the body was human, did they?"

"They weren't specific. I think they were afraid someone would hear. If the anonymous tipper heard something rather than saw it, then they could still be hanging around, listening in."

"Well, that's not creepy at all."

For the rest of the journey, I kept up the job of trying to steer Shay away from dwelling on the dark side. It wasn't too far, but every minute counted when the media had a habit of hanging around, trying to figure out Shay's every move. He might have been the press's golden boy for a while, but half of them currently spent their time trying to figure out what nefarious deeds had gotten Shay kicked off the Senate.

"How's Emmett doing at school?" he asked. "And Dita and Leah, of course."

He genuinely cared about Emmett's welfare. He had been on the scene the night Emmett had gone missing as a baby, and he had been one of the few Gardaí to believe that Peter was telling the truth about finding the bodies of the rest of Emmett's family. Peter's longstanding respect for Shay had somehow been twisted into a weird rivalry that Shay seemed oblivious to, but I was pretty sure they both thought a lot of each other.

"He's doing really well," I said. "The school itself has been surprisingly effective. It's weird what having a little focus does. They split the day in two: human studies then supernatural. I think that's cool. They give the kids a chance to catch up on everyday skills, and a normal education in some cases, and then in the afternoon, they focus on their powers and heritage. A lot of people have lost too much by hiding away. I think it's great that both the human and supernatural worlds are given equal weight."

"The next generation might have a choice of schools," Shay said. "Or better yet, every school will incorporate a little something from different cultures."

"When I was growing up, the thought of people knowing what I really was became my worst nightmare. I never imagined we'd get to this place so fast."

"And yet, here we are." He nodded at the road signs. "Nearly there. Sorry about this, Ava. I should be taking you to hospital, not dragging you to see a dead body."

I rubbed my tender jaw self-consciously. "I was too mad to be hurt at the time. Kinda stings now, but Anka will sort it out when I get home." I grimaced. "If she has anything left."

"I heard about the shop," he said. "Why didn't you call the police at the time?"

"What would be the point? Besides, Breslin persuaded the Senate that they were responsible for damages."

"Breslin?"

"My solicitor."

"Oh." He glanced at me. "You sound like a grown-up. Stop making me feel ashamed."

"Blame my old landlady for leaving me in charge. I haven't quite grown up yet."

He pulled the car down a side road and drove around to the front of a large house surrounded by concrete walls.

"Kind of an eyesore," I said.

"Yeah, well, people want to feel safe. Let them." He shook his head. "It wasn't safe enough though."

"Come on," I said. "Let's get this over with. It's already been a long day."

As usual, he embarrassed me by opening my door for me, then he made me wait at the gate while he went inside and spoke to a pair of stern-faced integration agents. The IAs both glanced at me and shrugged. Shay waved me over. I could already smell the blood. Yes, there were traces on the gate, but not enough that someone without a particularly strong sense of smell would notice. The female recruit was human, and the male, a shifter. He didn't react when I reached them. My head swivelled as the smell of blood gripped me anew.

"Wow," I said. "This is..." I shook my head and made my way over to the pulpy mess that might have been a body. I couldn't even tell if it was a man or woman. Only the shredded clothing scattered across the blood-stained grass told me the form had been a human. The female recruit was looking a little green.

"This is awful," I whispered.

"It's been a pretty grim day all round," Shay said.

He and I leaned over the body. Mac's death seemed tame in comparison.

"Think it might have been vampires?" the brunette asked, covering her mouth.

"No way," I said instantly.

"How can you be so sure?" the shifter asked, but I could tell he agreed.

"The blood... it doesn't call to me," I said. "The vampires have specific tastes. Blood like this was protected generations upon generations ago. It made it less..."

"Tasty?" the brunette offered.

"Something like that," I said. "And the vampires are supposedly overrun with human volunteers lately. They don't need to attack like this." I thought of Jules going hungry. "Even if they were starving, vampires don't actually eat flesh."

"I noticed that, too," the shifter said. "The organs appear to be missing also."

I moved around the body and noticed lumps of flesh flung across the lawn. Gross. I shuddered in disgust. When I sniffed the air, the smell of blood overwhelmed me, but underneath it was a trace of something else.

"It smells like wet fur. Did you pick that up? It is like fur, isn't it?" I asked the shifter.

He nodded. "I don't know anything furry that's this vicious," he admitted.

I glanced at Shay. "I've seen creatures who have been ripped apart before," I said reluctantly. "I mean, it almost looks like—"

"A werewolf did it?" a male voice called out from the gate.

I turned, ready to defend myself, only to see the paragon standing there casually, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

"This kind of death has been seen thousands of times in the past," Regis said. "The werewolves were ordered into extinction for a reason."

"The werewolves didn't do this," I said. "They wouldn't. They couldn't."

"You almost said it yourself." Shay sounded worried. "Do you know anything else that can do this?"

I shook my head. I didn't, but I didn't know of every species on the planet. "There has to be some other explanation. We know the werewolves. They haven't harmed a single human since they were given land of their own."

"That's not true," Regis said. "A human was slaughtered by werewolves last month, as it happens."

Shay's flinch told me that was the truth.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A man was... ripped apart. He had gotten drunk and gone out with a shotgun, tried to hunt himself a werewolf skin."

"What an idiot," I whispered. "Is that why you left the Senate?"

He gave me a sharp look. "I had left by then. It wasn't a meaningless kill. One of the young werewolves was grazed by a bullet, and the pack destroyed the human in the attempt to stop the man from killing the child."

"Shit," I said. "Why haven't I heard about this?"

"Because certain people want the werewolves to live," Regis said.

"What are you even doing here?" I demanded. "How did you know about this?"

"You think I am not informed when something goes wrong in this country?" he barked. "I know all. I see all. And I will deal with the werewolves this time. They are untameable killers, and they will all be put to death if I have any say in the matter." He sneered at me. "And what are you doing here, tainted one? Are you, too, capable of such destruction?"

"Okay." Shay stepped in front of me. "You two," he said to the IAs, "escort the paragon out of here. I'll get the rest of the crew in to deal with the crime scene. Ava, I'll take you home in five minutes, tops."

The recruits immediately moved forward, blocking the paragon from coming any closer.

I gave Shay a worried look. "This is bad, Shay."

"I know," he said. "But what can I do? You said it yourself—you've seen this before. So have I."

"I've seen werewolves tear the heads off vampires and beasts," I said. "I've seen them rip apart our enemies. I haven't seen them harm any humans."

"I have, Ava, or at least witnessed the aftermath. Don't you see?"

"Then why this man?"

"Maybe he did something to the pack, to their land, whatever. They're not far from here, Ava. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility."

"But if he did something, they would have dealt with it there and then. And I highly doubt yet another looney went after werewolves with a shotgun. Why would they follow him here and deal with him where anyone could see?"

He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. "What do you expect me to do, Ava? I don't know how the werewolves think. Maybe they wanted to hunt. Maybe that's how they ended up here. Maybe he doesn't live here. Maybe he ran for help, and they got to him first. All I can do is focus on the clues in front of me, and they're all pointing toward another werewolf attack. We can't cover this up a second time, Ava. Not this. The first man's family was so embarrassed by what happened that they asked us not to make it public. Mac was in the newspapers for harassing a woman, and it seemed like keeping the death quiet was the best thing to do at the time, but I wasn't happy with it."

"And you think leaving the Senate is the best way to deal with the dodgy things they do?"

"I did what was best for me," he snapped. "The werewolves are dangerous, and if you're not careful, the paragon will decide that you're too dangerous to live, too." He gripped my shoulders. "Now don't give him what he wants."

"I can't just stand there and let him kill them all! It could be a lone werewolf, one who isn't with the pack."

He raised an eyebrow. "You mean an untethered wolf?"

I swallowed hard as bile rose in my throat. "What if it wasn't a werewolf, Shay?"

He held my gaze. "But what if it was?"

Chapter Eight

Things grew tense after that. Shay asked one of his teams to drop me home. They were young and excitable, and I envied them. I hoped the things they saw didn't twist them into cynics.

The werewolves were in serious trouble. Esther and everyone who cared about her were in serious trouble. Both murders were similar and yet not close enough to have been perpetrated by the same person. I didn't even know how to confront the werewolves, or warn them, about what had happened. Phoenix had said he could communicate with them, but I had only seen Icarus in his animal form except for the first time, when he was caged in a tiny cell. I wasn't even sure if he could actually speak in his human form.

I didn't know how to warn the werewolves, but I could certainly warn Esther. The shifters would be on the warpath, and that alone put my friend in danger. I had called Moses and Carl at the second crime scene and given them both a quick heads up about Mac. Neither of them had sounded surprised, and both seemed even a little pleased. That worried me. What if I know the murderer? Or torturer?

When the recruits dropped me home, a crowd had gathered on the road. I waved goodbye to Shay's recruits after thanking them, hoping they didn't see anything suspicious, not that I suspected anyone. But still.

The crowd parted, and I saw Esther standing there, her mouth twisted in a grimace of pain. Carl seemed to be holding her up. For some reason, she always brought out his protective streak.

"Did something happen to you?" I asked, panicked by her appearance.

She shook her hand and waved off my attention. "Just a migraine. It's over now. I'm fine. I'm sorry, but I had to come back. The shifters showed up at the flats. I just... I didn't know where else to go. I thought maybe Val could take me to the sanctuary." She gave Val an apologetic look. "Sorry." Her eyes were glassy, and I knew she could never have taken down the alpha in that state.

"That's not a problem," Val said. "Anyone who wants to can stay in the Sanctuary for as long as they please."

"Maybe you should all pack up," I said. "If the shifters went to the flats, they'll be here next."

"I ran while they were searching the place," Esther admitted. "They could have picked up my scent. Moses had already called Shay to come and help. He'll move them on soon, in any case."

"Don't worry about it," I said.

"So he's dead," she said flatly. "Mac is gone."

"And now the shifter pack is leaderless," Peter said. "That's not so good, right?"

"They usually replace an alpha through a challenge," Esther said tiredly. "Whenever an alpha seems weak, he's replaced. And that's because he needs to be strong to hold the pack together."

"I think Mac was already falling apart," I said. "And he was keeping free shifters locked up in barns."

She nodded. "Peter told me. Breeding from them, though? That's beyond sick. My brother might have been a traitor, but at least I can say he wasn't involved in that."

"Mac suffered before he died, if that's any consolation," I said.

"Shifters are coming," Val said, transforming instantly. Her eyes glistened red, and her voice deepened. "Everyone get inside."

Carl and Peter ran to get weapons, but Esther refused to go inside.

"You're too weak for a fight," I said.

"This place is protected," she said in a small voice.

"It's supposed to be, but I can't trust it," I began, but something shifted inside me, something that made me step closer to Esther.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "You've gone all intense."

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realised she was my next lost soul. She was mine to protect. That meant she was part of the balance, after all. "It's nothing," I said. "Just been a weird day."

A group of shifters approached the mouth of the cul-de-sac, shouting and jeering when they spotted Esther.

"Murderers and cowards!" one of them said.

The defeated look on Esther's face made my blood boil. I stomped ahead, closely followed by Val. "Look who's talking," I quipped. "You have to drug women to get them into bed."

"That's a lie!" the bulkiest shifter shouted. I had seen him a couple of times with Mac, but he hadn't been at the farm.

"I saw it myself," I said. "They found Mac's body on his farm, the place he was holding the free shifters captive."

"Bull," he said. "And there's no such thing as a 'free' shifter."

"There's one standing right next to me, you eejit," I said.

"Didn't you hear?" he said. "If you're not tethered, you're not free to live."

"He is—was—Mac's second," Esther whispered. "If he doesn't know about the farm, then it's not common knowledge to the pack."

One of the shifters made a run at the cul-de-sac, growling loudly. I braced myself for his attack, but at the very last second, he was flung backward as if a giant hand had batted him away.

"Wow," I said. "So it is working after all."

Val grunted. "It's a little too temperamental for my liking."

"Good job, protection," I said under my breath in case it really was some kind of living thing. Well, I'd heard of stranger things by far.

"Give us the shifter bitch," Mac's second in command said.

"Take me then, Greg," Esther shouted. "If you can."

He refused to look at her. Instead, he focused on me.

"Fine," he said. "You've proved yourself. You're in charge here. This is your territory. No big deal. But she killed one of us, and now she has to pay."

"I thought you were blaming that on me."

He shook his head. "I sniffed out the area myself."

"Then you must have caught the scent of the captives," I accused.

"There were lots of scents," he said. "The agents have overrun the place. I'll save my judgement for when I have the entire truth. Your scent is there, but it's only a fresh trail from today. The old scent smells like her." He nodded at Esther. "She was there when he died."

I turned to look at her in surprise. She looked about as shocked as I felt.

"I wasn't there," she said. "I didn't kill Mac! I'd remember if I killed him." She stuttered something else, but by the horrified look on her face, she was reconsidering her innocence.

"When you have proof she killed him, then we can talk," I said. "Besides, I thought she was one of you, too."

"She was never one of us," he scoffed. "She's not of our kind. We've heard of her kind. They're feral. Only something feral could have tortured Mac so. It was her, and I'm not leaving without her."

"In case you hadn't noticed"—I waved at his stunned friend on the ground—"you can't get in here, and you can't do us harm. This place is protected, and I'm not giving her to you. You'll kill her just to satisfy your need for revenge, and you'll be killing the wrong person. She said she didn't do it, and I believe her."

"This is a mistake," he said calmly—too calmly.

"That's for me to decide," I said.

"Ava Delaney, you are an enemy to our pack. If you step foot on our territories, we reserve the right to kill you on the spot. You are not permitted to look us in the eye or interfere in our business. And when we take this girl, you'll follow in her wake. You're another monster who doesn't deserve to live. And when I wrap my hands around your neck and crush your windpipe, you'll remember this moment, and you'll wish you had pushed her into my arms instead."

"I really doubt that," I said. "Now fuck off, you impotent little shits. Go home and play with a chew toy. Get that aggression out."

With a collective growl, the shifters left at the urging of Greg, who seemed more in command of himself than the rest of them did.

"Oh, no," Esther said. "I'm so sorry, Ava."

"About what?"

"You're an enemy of the pack! That's bad. Really bad! They just targeted you. You're fair game for the entire pack. For every shifter!"

I took out my phone and called Shay. "Hey, Shay, any shifters with you?"

"Um, yes?"

"Okay, tell them I'm an enemy of the pack and then ask them if they're planning on killing me the next time they see me."

In a bemused tone, he asked the shifters and got back to me. "They say no."

"Great, thanks, bye." I hung up. "See? Not every shifter."

"That's... different. Ava, you're not taking this seriously!"

I gripped her shoulder. "I'm taking everything very seriously today, I promise. So, what occurred to you when the shifters were playing the blame game?"

She bowed her head, embarrassed.

Carl wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "What is it?"

She avoided all of our eyes. "It's just... when I have migraines, I black out. A couple of times, I've left the flats without even realising it. I wake up on Moses's sofa, and he tells me I've been gone a few hours. I have no idea what happens, and sometimes, he doesn't even notice I'm gone. In the middle of the night... what if I really did go after Mac?"

"You've been blacking out?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was embarrassed, and Carl said it wasn't a big deal, that I was probably just sleepwalking."

I gave him an accusing glare. "You knew?"

"Well, I didn't realise somebody was going to torture our sworn enemy to death, Ava!" He held Esther closer. "She didn't do this."

I snorted. "Of course she didn't do this. She can barely stand on her own two feet. The problem is that the shifters probably don't care. I mean, they wanted me dead for the same crime a few hours ago. They'll get over it. We just need to find out who did it." I sighed. "And who's getting the werewolves into trouble."

"What's happened now?" Peter asked.

"On my way back here, we stopped off at a crime scene, and the paragon showed up. A body was... ripped apart. I mean, torn apart in chunks."

"Like the werewolves do," Val said with a frown. "But they haven't attacked humans before."

"Apparently, they have." I winced at the gasps of alarm. "Some drunkard with a shotgun decided it was werewolf-hunting season a while back. He got his throat ripped out for his trouble."

"Not good," Peter said.

"The paragon's on a mission to have the werewolves put down, and now the shifters are all over Esther. This is not the best timing," I said.

"What are we going to do?" Carl asked, looking Esther over.

"Let's go inside before Esther drops," I said.

"I'm fine," she complained, but she let us lead her into my house.

"In good news, the protection worked today," I said brightly as we settled into my living room. "But Shay's doubting the werewolves, and I'm sure it won't be just him. The paragon's probably doing whatever paragons do already."

"They generally mount armies," Carl said.

"Stop trying to scare me," I said.

"It's true, though. The shifters are the least of our worries."

The thought of Esther being my second lost soul overrode that line of thought. "I need to get the shifters off our backs long enough for me to figure out what to do about the werewolves. Damn Phoenix for running off just before the shit hit the fan."

"What if the werewolves did it?" Peter asked. "It wouldn't be the first time, according to you. Maybe something needs to be done. We all know how ferocious they are. If they go on a rampage, plenty of innocent people will die horrible deaths."

"It can't be the werewolves." I just couldn't connect the horror I had seen with the sometimes-gentle and always-protective Icarus. But I had watched him literally bite the head off a foe. "Even if it is, they'll have to prove it first. They can't just kill them because they're the best fit."

"The paragon probably can," Carl said.

"Well, he'll need time to gather his army and bring them here. In the meantime, I'm going to meet with the Senate. They have a public meeting tonight in town. I'll go and state my case, and we'll see what happens. I'll ask for their interference in the shifter issue with Esther, and I'll try to make them agree to a proper investigation into what happened to that human."

"Thanks," Esther said, and she yawned.

"Do you need to sleep?" I asked. "You look wrecked."

"Maybe I should have a nap," she said. "The migraines take a lot out of me."

"I'll come back over tonight to keep an eye on her," Carl said. "The last thing we need is for Esther to sleepwalk right into the hands of the shifters."

"Yeah, okay," I said. "All right, everyone out. We'll keep each other updated on what's going on."

"I'm going to go find out how the rescued shifters are doing in hospital," Peter said.

"I'll join you," Val said. "You wouldn't want to be set upon by a gang of angry shifters."

"A pack," he was saying as they left. "They're called a pack."

I helped Esther upstairs to bed. I sat on the edge as she tried to find a way to relax.

"Head still hurting?" I asked.

"A bit. It's easing off," she lied.

"You need rest. I'll let you be."

She reached out and held on to my arm. "Stay. Just for a little bit. Please?"

"Of course." I stared down at her. I couldn't believe my friend had turned out to be my lost soul. But why was she lost? Was it because of the shifters and Mac? Or was it something else?

"I'm scared," she said in a small voice.

"I won't let the shifters take you," I said firmly.

"I'm scared of myself," she admitted. "These headaches are getting too much for me."

"We need to get you back into that clinic."

"The shifters would just take me out. I can't go there. I'm only safe with you."

"That's not true," I said. "You're strong, Esther. You're safe anywhere."

"What if they're right about me being untethered?" she asked hesitantly.

"Why would they be right?"

"When I broke away from Aiden, I felt so... so lost for a while. Then I realised that I could have a family of a different kind here. And that's still true, but I'm like a shadow on this place, bringing danger everywhere with me. What if family just isn't enough? What if Mac had those shifters drugged and tied up because they really were dangerous?"

"What the hell has gotten into you? Mac did the wrong thing, even if we can somehow make believe he had the right reasons. He wanted power and control. That's all. He didn't care about the untethered being dangerous. He cared about owning them. And not being able to control you drove him crazy. Well, crazier. You don't deserve to be chained up, Esther."

"And if I really killed him? If I was really there the night he died?"

"The shifters were bluffing to see our reactions," I said, panicked by how easily she'd believed in them. "You weren't there, and you didn't kill him. Trust me, Esther, I would have known."

"How?"

"Because... I just would! I know you. You're not that kind of person. You're not feral or a monster. You get migraines, and you're sick sometimes, weak more often than not. That weakness can't kill even a shitty alpha like Mac."

"What if the weakness is just a side effect?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if..." She bit her lip. "What if, when I blank out, I really let my animal side through. What if it uses up so much energy that I'm left exhausted the rest of the time?"

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Nobody can prove it, not even us. We're going to watch you carefully, okay? We're going to see what happens when you sleepwalk. And we're going to prove to you that there's no way on this planet that you could ever have tortured Mac to death without remembering it. You didn't see the blood, Esther. You would have been covered in it."

"If I was a bear?" She looked up at me, desperate for reassurance. "If I washed in a river afterward? If I left my clothes somewhere else?"

"I would have noticed if Mac was covered in bear hair." I tried to smile. "And I'm pretty sure somebody would have noticed if you had been walking the streets naked on a regular basis."

She grinned then. "You're an idiot. Have I ever told you that?"

"Possibly once or twice." I patted her cheek. "I'm going to get us out of this mess. Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "You sometimes take the scenic route, though."

I laughed and stood. "Go away out of that. You get some sleep. And just you watch. I'll go see the Senate later. Maybe I'll even take my trusty solicitor along with me. If he can't scare off the Senate, nobody can. We'll get the shifters off your back until they find the real killer. And when there's a new alpha—"

She moaned. "They'll be after me to take Aiden's punishment, too. I can't win, Ava. I just can't. What's the point?"

I reached out and held her hand in mine. "I promise you, Esther. I won't rest until I've sorted this out. You didn't do it, and I'm going to find out who did."

And that was exactly what I needed to do for the werewolves, too. My gut told me neither party was guilty, and that just meant there were murderers running free—and that had to change.

Chapter Nine

Carl arrived before I left for the Senate's public meeting. "I'll keep an eye on her when you leave," he explained.

"She's still asleep," I said as I pulled on my jacket.

His face tensed with worry. "I hope she's going to be okay."

I laid my hand on his arm. "She will be."

"She doesn't deserve any of this mess. She didn't cause it. Not any of it." He punched his fist into his palm. "This all started with her bloody brother."

"I know." I heaved a sigh. "I have to go. And, Carl, just... be careful with Esther, okay?"

His eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know." I gave him a sympathetic smile and left the house. I could see him slowly falling deeper into something with Esther. She relied on him in ways she couldn't allow herself to with anyone else, but I had a horrible feeling he had been friend-zoned and just didn't know it yet. He deserved a little happiness; I wasn't sure if Esther was the one to give that to him, though. But I had vowed to keep out of his love life, and that's what I would do.

I felt eyes on my back as soon as I left the cul-de-sac, and I tightened my grip on the dagger hidden in my sleeve. Nobody approached, but I sensed someone nearby, waiting. As long as no one attempted to stop me from reaching the Senate's meeting, I didn't care much who watched. I was confident that the cul-de-sac really did protect us from harm, and a lot of my questions about other incidents had been cleared up in one fell swoop.

The night was eerily dark, the moon a tiny crescent in the sky. I felt the pull all the same, as most creatures of darkness likely did. Once, night had been a signal that atrocious beasts were coming back to life. At least that one threat had completely gone from my life.

I upped my pace as I took a shortcut through what had once been a market street. Not all of the changes had been positive once we switched governments. The riots and looters from the worst days had run businesses to the ground, even sent families from their homes. Many shopping streets were boarded up and neglected, while rows of houses gutted by a fire had been deserted because the repairs would have cost too much.

Sections of the city that had once been full of life were empty, except for the occasional drug deal. No one had the money to pump a renewal into Dublin, not when the funds were needed for just about everything else. The old bustle was gone from those forgotten districts, and that saddened me.

That was why I walked those routes. The area was quiet, and if the shifters did attack, innocent victims wouldn't be in the way. But although someone was following me, nobody made a move, and I eventually left the dead streets, turning a corner onto a well-lit street that housed the new meeting place.

An unruly queue had already formed outside the old courtroom. A couple of protesters were hanging around at the corner. I pushed through the crowd, determined to get in early enough to grab a seat, not that I minded standing. I just needed to be inside before they closed the doors. One of Shay's recruits spotted me and made way for me.

"Thanks," I said gratefully.

"Thought you might need a hand."

"Wait, I know you. You're Anto's brother." Anthony May and his partner, Layne Corcoran, had died on the job because of my enemy. She had left behind a young son, while Anto had a large number of siblings to mourn him. I still felt guilt over their deaths, but the families had never even thought to blame me.

"One of them," he said with a smile. "I'm Terry."

"I didn't recognise you in the uniform. You're working with Shay?"

He nodded. "When Anto died, I felt like I had to carry this on for him. At first, I just wanted... I don't know, my own kind of vengeance, but Shay made me get over that pretty early on. It's been a good experience, though. Better than I thought."

"Wow. And your family are okay with it?"

"Ah, it drives me ma demented, especially when I tell her I'm going to marry my human partner someday." He snorted with laughter, completely losing his professional air. "I haven't mentioned she's a lesbian yet."

I grinned. "You're so mean."

"Serves her right for being so old-fashioned." He jerked his head. "Go on in. I'm closing the doors in a minute. Try to steer clear of the admirers. They can get a little twisted."

The crowd surged behind me as people heard his words. Ninety-five percent of the crowd was almost certainly there to ogle Callista, but if anyone had any real business, they could bring it to the Senate during a public meeting. The Senate had vowed to hear them, and some people took advantage, but most just wanted to have their say.

Inside, the room was packed. It stank of old rain for some reason. I kept pushing through the crowd. There were no seats, but I managed to grab a space close to the Senate, where I could stand without being knocked over by the men and women trying to catch a closer look at Callista, who obliged with a queenly wave every now and then.

The doors slammed shut, but the desperate knocking continued on for at least five minutes. When the crowd outside finally gave up, two recruits strode right through the crowd and stood before the Senate.

James stood. "This session of our public meetings begins. Who is first to bring a query forward?"

Half the people raised their hands as if we were schoolchildren. The recruits picked people at random, but the first three questions were all about Callista's favourite perfume, chocolate, and music. Anything with jasmine, as dark as possible, and the music of her people were the answers. I watched with scorn as several listeners took notes.

Daimhín caught my gaze and rolled her eyes. She hid a little yawn and stared at the crowd with open dislike.

Willow drummed her fingertips on the table. "Perhaps we can move on from the personal questions."

"I have a problem," an old man said, standing up and ignoring the recruits who bade him to wait his turn. We weren't taking numbers anyway.

"What's your issue?" Willow asked kindly enough.

The old man rubbed his chin. "Well, I have a family farm that's been attacked numerous times lately. An entire herd of cows, gone. Only thing left are bones and a little flesh. Something's eating my herd, and I need to know why and how to stop them."

The Senate members exchanged knowing looks. My stomach sank. They were going to blame the werewolves for the cows, too. I just couldn't imagine the wolves being so careless out of the blue. Unless Phoenix had been the one keeping them in line all along. But then why leave? It made no sense.

"It's been happening over the course of a few months, but I'm going to have to sell up. I can't make a living on a dairy farm with no cows. I mean, I—"

"Take his details," Layla told the recruits. "He's to be reimbursed immediately." She leaned forward and gave the man a predatory smile. "Not to worry. We'll be dealing with this matter shortly. The animals destroying your livelihood will be put down very soon."

He thanked her profusely and made his way over to a desk in the corner to give his information.

The next question was a proposal of marriage, and that just sent me over the edge.

"Oh, for the love of..." I barged my way to the front of the room. "Are you kidding me?" I asked the man, who was down on one knee. I looked up at the Senate, all of whom looked uncomfortable or angry to see me, even Willow. "I'm here for a reason," I said. "The shifters came to my home and tried to attack me. They want to kidnap my friend, and after we found so many kidnapped female shifters already, I thought it would be a bad idea to hand her over."

The crowd behind me instantly burst into a song of accusation and disgust.

"Oh, pipe down," Daimhín said. "And stop exaggerating, Ms. Delaney. The shifters have their own crude set of rules and traditions, and we have promised not to interfere unless we have to."

"Well, you have to," I said. "The alpha is dead, and they're trying to kill my friend in retribution. The girl can barely stand on her own two feet. How the hell is she supposed to have taken down an alpha, of all things?"

"It is unlikely," Callista said. "The nature of her injuries are well known. She needs medical care, Ava."

"She can't get that if the shifters are waiting outside my home, ready to pounce as soon as she leaves."

"If they were going to attack, they would have already," James said.

"There's protection over my properties," I said snidely. "If anyone means us bodily harm, they can't enter. And if they try, they get flung into the air, just like a shifter did today when he ran at us." I shrugged at the impressed sounds around me. "It's pretty cool."

A young woman asked me where she could get the same protection.

"You can't get exactly the same thing, but I could set you up with some supernatural security measures." I handed her my card. "I sell that sort of thing."

More voices joined hers, and that shouldn't have surprised me. Of course people needed to feel safe from my world. Maybe I could help them.

"The shifters are out of control," Willow interrupted. "They can't just kidnap people off the street and get away with it."

"We still don't know who's responsible for that or the alpha's death," Daimhín said.

The crowd was listening intently. Mac's death hadn't hit the papers yet, but it surely would after this meeting.

"So put a leash on them until you do know," I said. "Please."

James snorted. "Please, she says."

"If you don't stop the shifters, you're going to spark something you can't stop," I said coldly, advancing on the Senate. My voice changed, somehow, and I felt the presence of the Eleven at my back. This wasn't just me talking. It was all of them. It made me queasy, but I couldn't shake it off. I had just invoked something I couldn't take back.

James flinched, and the others looked disturbed. Daimhín, on the other hand, looked impressed.

"We'll calm the shifters," Daimhín said. "For now," she added, giving me a wry look.

"Thank you," I said, relieved.

"There are worse animals to deal with," an annoyingly familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned, infuriated, to see Regis striding through the parted crowd. I felt the Eleven again—and they were truly angry. They saw the paragon as a threat. I did, too. But was that impression really mine, or was it the Eleven's influence?

"Are there?" Daimhín asked in a bored tone.

"Your so-called heroes, the werewolves, murdered a human in cold blood," he continued.

The room burst into shouts of anger again; the rage was proportionately stronger than before. The paragon held the crowd in his hands. Damn him.

"What are you trying to do?" Willow asked. "Cause a stampede?"

"Are these poor, defenceless people supposed to walk around unprotected?" Regis asked.

"The werewolves haven't hurt anyone," I began, but the paragon held up his hand to shush me.

"Haven't they? We know they recently killed a man, and the entire tragedy was covered up by the Senate."

James's face turned puce. "How dare you?"

"I'm merely presenting the truth in front of the public," Regis said, looking completely relaxed. "That's the purpose of these meetings, is it not?"

"You can't prove the werewolves did this," I said.

"You cannot prove that they did not do this," he replied without looking at me.

I sensed Warrior growl in frustration, and it started to freak me out.

"Clear the room," Daimhín commanded. "Of everyone but those two. Now!"

Amidst complaints and protests, the recruits emptied the room. The Senate stared down at us, me with a likely red face, and the paragon looking as though he were taking a leisurely break.

"It cannot go on," he said. "These creatures are supposed to be extinct. They aren't meant to live now. Take care of them before anyone else gets hurt."

"They helped us in the war," I said. "They saved all of our lives. We would be kneeling to the British Vampire Association by now if it not for the werewolves. And what the hell are you going to tell Phoenix when he comes back, looking for the werewolves, eh?"

"Phoenix isn't here," James said, but he looked a little unnerved. "He has no say in this."

"They don't deserve to die," I said. "And you know it. If anything else attacks us, they're our greatest line of defence."

"She's right," Daimhín said. "They do give us a certain kind of protection."

Regis tutted, showing his first signs of frustration. "The tainted shouldn't exist to influence you, either."

"If you want to try to take her out, be my guest," Daimhín said. "Just don't try it anywhere near me."

"Try?" he spluttered. "You think me incapable?"

"I think you should take care not to underestimate a being on this soil," she said, her voice rising slightly. "And perhaps we do not take too kindly to orders from a paragon."

He smiled. "Should I prepare an army instead?"

Daimhín's tight-lipped smile didn't cover her discomfort. "Is that an official threat, Regis?"

He gestured toward the Senate. "It shouldn't take an army to replace you all." He glanced at me. "And my personal army would be more than adequate to deal with Ireland's biggest problems."

My hands balled into fists. "Why should we listen to you? Where are the other paragons, if you're so concerned about our werewolves?"

"Perhaps they're gathering our army to attack," he said sharply.

"Perhaps they're not," I said. "Perhaps this is your agenda, not theirs." I looked at the Senate. "I only have two requests. One: that the shifters back off until we know for sure who killed Mac. Two: that the Senate make no concrete decisions on the werewolves until we have real evidence that they perpetrated this attack."

"Who else could it be?" Regis asked scornfully.

"I dunno. You, maybe?"

He made a face. "I do not eat cow flesh."

"Goody for you." I gazed up at Callista pleadingly. "You know this is wrong. The werewolves at least deserve a little time after everything they've done for us."

"I can agree to that," Callista said.

"Me, too," Willow said.

"We can't risk the public outcry when another human is murdered," Layla said. "I'm sorry, but I can't agree to the risk."

"And what if the paragon army comes after us?" James said. "We're not equipped to deal with an army."

"With a werewolf pack, we might even win," Daimhín said with a wicked smile. She had been observing the paragon the entire time. "I don't think the paragons will bring an army for this. I'll give the werewolves time. I'm keen to find out what they're capable of. Perhaps they just need their trainer to return."

"This is insolence," Regis shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.

I couldn't resist retorting, "This is how we do things here."

"This isn't the end," he said as the Eleven showed their triumph before disappearing from my head, or whatever had just happened. "The werewolves will die." He strode out of the room, leaving me unsettled.

"Now look what you've all done," James said. "We can't afford to piss anyone else off."

"What if they just want us defenceless?" I said. "Why would the werewolves suddenly start eating everything in sight? It doesn't make sense. I can't even imagine the werewolves killing that human last month. It just... it doesn't sound right. Kill him? Okay, maybe. But tear him apart so his body can't even be identified? That's not an animal instinct."

"Then they're more intelligent than we gave them credit for," Layla said. "But that just makes them even more terrifying. Do you not see what this paragon has done tonight? He has taken our heroes and destroyed them with a sentence. The people will turn against them, against us, and there's nothing we can do but give them blood and retribution."

"Like the shifters want to do? That's not how we coexist. It just can't be."

"What are we to do?" Callista asked. "Truly, how can it end in anything other than blood after that display? We are lost and outnumbered, and we're at the mercy of this paragon, whether we make a show of disagreeing with him or not."

"It isn't fair," I said.

"Nothing's fair," James said. "Grow up, would you?"

"He's playing you," I said. "Can't you see that?"

"Don't think us ignorant," Daimhín scoffed. "I've seen enough games to know when I've been dragged into one. And you're no more innocent. You see what you want to see. Esther may not have killed Mac, but one of your friends surely did. The half-hellhound perhaps. When the paragon is done with the werewolves, he'll come after her next."

"There's no reason to go after Esther. She's not a murderer!"

"But she's untethered," Layla said calmly. "And that's what started this entire fiasco. And perhaps the werewolves are untethered without Phoenix around to lead them. I don't know."

They all prepared to leave, but I wasn't done yet.

"I need your word," I said. "Are the werewolves safe?"

"For now," Daimhín said sharply.

As Willow passed me, she touched my arm. "Try not to worry so much. You can't save them all."

"I thought that this is what you wanted from me."

"Oh, it is. It is. But you've tried your best, and I can't expect anything more."

I frowned. "Well, I expect more from myself."

Her smile faltered. "Oh. Well, good luck then, I suppose."

I bit back a smart remark. What was the point in having leaders who gave up while there was still hope?

Callista raised her arms as though to hug me then dropped them by her sides when I flinched. "I'm sorry we can't do more, but it's likely the werewolves are guilty. There's nothing else as savage here, and we always knew this day might come."

"I didn't."

She patted my cheek. "That's because you have a better heart than the rest of us."

James stalked past me without a word.

To my surprise, Layla hesitated by my side. "If you're going to do something, do it quickly," she said under her breath. "We can't keep the paragon off our backs forever. They've been known to wipe out civilisations who disagreed with them in the past. We can't allow the same to happen to us."

I thought of the Eleven and shook my head. "It won't come to that."

"Then hurry."

Daimhín dismissed the recruits when the rest of the Senate left.

"Sit," she said, taking a seat on a bench. She sniffed as though personally offended. "It truly stinks in here. What are humans? Animals?"

"What do you want?" I asked, cautiously sitting next to her. "And where are your bodyguards?"

"Outside. The stench of them is even worse than human sweat. Did you know that some of them smell like an actual wet dog?"

"I've noticed. And again, I'll ask: what do you want?"

"Impatience is not a virtue, you know." She sighed. "The paragon is not to be trusted, but if Eloise speaks the truth, there won't be a paragon army marching against us."

"Did she say that specifically?" I asked. "An army or a paragon army."

She looked troubled. "She... said a paragon army. She was very specific."

I tried to shrug off my own disturbed feeling. "Well, then, he's bluffing. If she's telling the truth."

"I watched Regis very carefully tonight," she said. "And I believe I have no reason to doubt this vision."

"Why does he really want to get rid of the werewolves? Vampires have killed who knows how many people over the years."

She sniffed, looking offended. "Don't think us weak merely because we aren't currently as popular as other species. Our numbers may have dwindled, but we are still a massive worldwide force. He would be a fool to try to wipe us out."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop purposely missing my point. Why is he focused on this one death?"

"Technically, it's two deaths, although I had my own concerns about that first one. It didn't make sense. I should warn you, though, despite our efforts to calm the shifters, they are without an alpha, making virtually all of them untethered right now."

"So what does that mean?"

"They'll do what they want, without concern for reputation, law, or anything else. If they want Esther, they won't stop until they take her."

"They named me an enemy of the pack," I said.

She hissed. "Then you should hide from the shifters. They are not to be trusted. For now, my pair are contained, but the weight of the power and the pack is too much for any shifter but the alpha. He alone keeps them sane."

"Then how come Esther hasn't lost her mind yet? She hasn't been with the pack for a long time now."

"Perhaps she's stronger than she looks." A smirk twisted her lips upward. "Or perhaps she's found an alpha of her own to depend on."

I frowned. "I don't see how. Are my friends safe? Will the shifters strike at anything that moves, or is it specifically me?"

"In their demented state—which will deteriorate, by the way—they'll have a focus, and it'll be the only thing that helps them survive this turbulent time. Of course, many shifters have family to rely on, and that will keep them in line, but others are truly dependent on the pack's alpha. Those are the ones to worry about. You kept something they wanted badly. You were there when their alpha's body was found. And now you've thwarted their attempts all over again. If I were you, I'd be very concerned, but in a twisted way, this focus on you will likely protect others from harm. Still, we need to find a new alpha as soon as possible."

"Shay's recruits don't act like this," I said. "Are you exaggerating?"

"I am not! But Shay's recruits have Shay and their teammates. When they were Guardians, they had their circles. Others are more family or community oriented. But shifters cannot exist alone. They need to tether themselves to something."

"I can't believe that."

"You can't believe millennia of history?" she asked with a laugh. "Go on, then, tainted one. Do things your way. Don't say I didn't warn you." She stood then hesitated. "Just remember that one shifter is not like the others. They all have their own levels of strength and focus. It's the weak ones you have to worry about most, but all shifters will be a problem until Mac is replaced."

"Mac wasn't in control of himself."

"He was rapidly losing himself. Alphas keep their sanity through strength of will and strength of the pack. He was so concerned with gathering more shifters into his pack that he failed to realise the truth. He was never a true alpha."

With that, she swept away from me, leaving me with a lot to think about. I sat there awhile longer before I called Carl with a brief update. He put me on speakerphone so Esther could speak, too.

"They pretty much agreed to put a leash on the shifters, but Daimhín had a quiet word with me afterward," I said.

"Oh, no," Carl groaned. "That's never good."

"She said that without the alpha, the rest of the shifters are slowly losing their minds and their control, some faster than others."

Dead air.

"So that's happening to me," Esther said dully.

"No," I said. "Absolutely not. You've been free for a long time. You know how to handle it. You got past the worst ages ago. Don't think you're anything like them."

"I'm a shifter, aren't I?"

"You're a free shifter," Carl said firmly.

"It's true," I said. "But you're still not safe. The shifters might be told off, but that pesky lack-of-control thing might lead them to renew the only focus they have—finding you." I chose not to tell her that I was probably in worse danger from the insanity of untethered shifters because she had enough to worry about.

She blew out a shaky breath. "And if the cul-de-sac isn't safe from me? What are you all going to do if I go crazy, rabid even?"

"We'll shove the biggest sleeping pill Anka can make down your throat," Carl said.

Esther managed a brief laugh.

"Seriously," I said. "You didn't have a pack growing up, just Aiden, and you turned out great. The rest of the shifters have just been too used to being told what to do, is all. They'll find themselves again. And eventually, an alpha will step up. They're probably having some challenges as we speak. They're weak until they have a leader, so we've nothing to worry about, but just in case, I'd prefer it if you hung around in the cul-de-sac. When things have calmed down, we'll reassess. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah," she said after a pause. "I think that'll be okay."

"I'll tell you both everything that happened when I get home. Want me to pick up some food?"

They did. After I hung up, I left the courthouse and started walking home. I remembered Daimhín mentioning that a new alpha would soon arrive. Just hurry the hell up, whoever you are.

The shifters were more of a menace than the werewolves were, but the werewolves had killed before. The niggling doubt at the back of my mind turned into a simmering growl that I realised was coming from behind me. I whirled around to see a hulking figure stagger into the light of a streetlamp. Greg, Mac's second in command, lifted his lips to reveal fangs. I wondered what he shifted into, then I realised that didn't matter. He wasn't likely to be alone.

When I reached out with my other senses while backing away to put distance between us, I couldn't find any shifters. Greg was hunting me alone.

"The Senate decided to neuter the shifters," I said. "You're supposed to back off and leave us alone. Don't beta shifters do what they're told these days?"

He growled again, more menacingly than before. He approached me, his gait awkward as his legs were stuck in a partial shift, which wasn't pretty.

"You should really get that looked at," I said, still stepping backward.

He punched a lamppost and left a dent.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I demanded, tired of the cat-and-mouse game he was playing.

"I want to kill you," he said, his mouth full of fanged teeth made to rip flesh from bones.

Chapter Ten

These shifters are really starting to piss me off. They had already thrown a few digs while trying to plant me in the old Council cells, and I'd had just about enough from them.

"I'm going to start losing my temper soon." I circled him. "This is out of order, and it has to stop."

"Can't... stop," he growled, a flash of panic in his eyes.

"Look, I know you're having trouble without your alpha keeping everyone under control, but you're just going to have to man up and deal with it. You can't have Esther, and you can't have me."

"Esther is... weak."

"She's strong enough to do fine without an alpha leading her by the nose," I shot back. "Now cut it out. I have a lot of very specific shifter-related aggression built up this week. I'm going to unleash hell on your arse if you don't leave me alone."

"Never." He lurched forward and grabbed at me.

I quickly stepped aside, forcing him to reach for empty air, then pushed his back to use his weight against him. He toppled forward, as unstable as a newly born deer. I almost felt sorry for him, but then I remembered the mess in my house and how Anka's face had looked when she'd stood outside her trashed shop. Then I wasn't feeling pity anymore. I kicked the back of his thigh, and he landed on his knees, but he was up again in a flash as if he had suddenly remembered how to control his body.

"I'm warning you." I jumped on the balls of my feet, secretly excited. I hadn't fought much of anything in a long time, and I hated being out of practice. My old injuries were healed, and I felt better than ever. I was pretty sure I could take a Lurch-sized shifter anytime.

When he threw a punch, I almost laughed at how slowly he moved. But it was just a feint, and he caught me in the gut with his other hand. I jumped back, eyes watering with pain.

"Nice comeback," I said, then I moved in close, palm-struck his nose, and backed up again.

He barked out a laugh through his streaming nose then straightened and moved toward me scarily quickly. I double-punched his gut, but he wrapped his arms around me, trapping my arms, and lifted me in the air. I kicked out ineffectually, and he threw me on the ground. My forearms skidded against the concrete beneath me.

Greg made to stomp on me, but I rolled over and easily avoided him. I swung my legs around and tried to kick his feet out from under him, but he was too steady.

He lifted me again, gripping the back of my jacket and jeans, lifting me precariously high in the air. When he dropped me, I managed to slow my fall by gripping his jumper on the way down. I flipped, bounced on my feet, and twisted my body back into the air to wrap my legs around his neck in an upside-down pose. I almost squeed for joy. I had been practising that move for months with Carl.

But then the shifter kneed me in the head as he pulled my grip free. I toppled, barely avoiding landing on my head. He kicked my stomach, and I flew straight into a nearby lamppost. I winced at a sudden sharp pain in my spine, but I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself. Greg ran at me again, and I had to jump to my feet and run to get out of his way. He did a weird, awkward movement as though trying to shift again, and he tripped and whacked his face against the very same lamppost I'd struck.

But even that didn't slow him down for long. He came at me again, his pain apparently fuelling his rage.

"Cut it out!" I shouted as I struggled to keep out of his reach. "Stop trying to pick me up like a doll, you arse!"

"Enemy... of the... pack," he grunted.

"Just listen to yourself for a minute." I backed away from him. It had occurred to me that I couldn't fight the entire pack, should I encounter them, so I needed a better idea for dealing with angry shifters. "You don't need Esther anymore. Mac's dead!"

"Shame," he said. "Somebody has to take the shame."

"So what are you going to do? Torture Esther?"

"I would never." His face contorted. "That was Mac's idea." His expression cleared. "That was his tradition, not mine."

I avoided half-hearted strike. "So what was your tradition?"

"A fight," he said. "A proving. She has to fight for her good name, for her freedom."

"But she's injured," I said. "How is that fair?"

"Family," he said. "Family fights in your place." He growled and lunged at me again.

I punched his face and put distance between us. "Snap out of it, Greg!"

He looked pained. "I can't."

"Concentrate! You said someone can fight in her place?"

"Be her champion, her second." He trembled and rubbed the side of his face. "It's so hard to control the shift when there's nobody else there."

"The rest of the pack is there," I said. "You can all rely on each other."

"No, it's too noisy. No control. No ties. I can't take the pain. There's so much pain." He sank to his knees, clutching his head.

I approached him warily. "So be the alpha then."

"I'm no alpha. There is no alpha."

"There's one coming," I said. "Or, at least, one coming home."

He looked up at me, blinking rapidly. "Really?"

"The vampire queen told me. Her seer said one is on his way. It's going to be okay. You can forget about Esther, and—"

"Alphas never forget. He could be like Mac. Esther's dead."

"Unless someone champions her first," I said. "You told me that. Somebody can take her place."

"Aiden's gone. Nobody will take her place."

"It's Aiden's punishment," I fumed. I helped the shifter to his feet, forgetting about the fact he'd been trying to kill me five minutes ago.

Then he was the one who put distance between us. "Aiden's a coward," he said, panting. "He will never come back to champion her."

If Aiden hadn't come back to save his sister already, then he likely never would. "Okay," I said. "I'll do it."

Greg's face screwed up with confusion. "Do what?"

"Be Esther's champion."

He tried to laugh, but it sounded like a hacking cough instead. "You're no shifter."

I flashed my fangs. "There. I just shifted."

"You're not her family."

I bristled. "I've been more family to her than her brother ever was. She's mine, and I'm responsible for her."

He staggered back a few steps. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll contact you with a time and place."

"You seem less... rawr all of a sudden."

"I feel better. More... controlled. You made me focus on something else." He gave me a puzzled look. "I will speak for you, urge the others to accept you as Esther's champion. Expect to hear from us soon."

"And this isn't a trick?" I asked. "You're not trying to fool me?"

"You have my word."

"So when I fight in her place, win or lose, she'll be free."

"It'll be forgotten, but you'll still be an enemy of the pack... if you survive. Only an alpha can remove that stigma. But you show courage and strength. I won't be the one to cull you as an enemy of the pack."

He'd been the one to name me an enemy in the first place. Ignoring his shifter logic, I gripped the hand he held out to me. He nodded, squeezed my fingers, then lumbered away. For an instant, I thought I heard something close by, a footstep or a heartbeat maybe, but when I checked, nothing was there.

"Paranoia," I whispered. On the walk home, I gingerly touched my spine, expecting to feel pain, but it was fine, probably not even bruised. In fact, I felt great, as though I had released months of tension in one little scrap with a crazy shifter.

I paid attention the rest of the way, but I didn't get a sense that anyone else had followed me. Even the Chinese takeaway was quiet for a change. Still, I was relieved to see the cul-de-sac. I waved at one of my neighbours as he headed out for a night shift. Our little community was pleasant to be a part of.

I headed into my house, where Carl and Esther were waiting, and left the food on the coffee table in the living room.

I threw myself onto the sofa and rested my legs across Carl's lap. "I'm bloody well wrecked."

"That's pretty much your usual reaction to an evening with the Senate," Carl said.

Esther was sitting cross-legged on the floor at his feet, leaning against him as she chewed her fingernails.

"It's been a weird night," I said, yawning. "I went to the public meeting, witnessed a marriage proposal, and had to listen to the paragon outing the werewolves as human-killers."

"Uh-oh," Carl said.

"But! I did manage to persuade the Senate to ask the shifters to back off, and I at least begged off a little time for the werewolves. So that counts as a win, right? The paragon is really into extinction right now, and he's trying to pull other people into his buzz. There's going to be a full investigation first, so maybe something will come up."

"And if the werewolves really did do it?" Esther asked.

My stomach turned. "Since when is death met with death, officially speaking? Anyway, the paragon's not going to let this lie, but I feel like it's a personal agenda. When he left, Daimhín said that Eloise reckons we've nothing to worry about from a paragon army, so that's a bonus, at least."

Esther did a weak fist pump into the air. "Oh, yay, I suppose."

I reached out for the Chinese food and found a bag of wontons to snack on while I spoke. "The big news is that Greg confronted me on the way home, and it looks as though Daimhín was right. The shifters are seriously dopey right now. For a minute there, he could barely remember how to stand. Then he seemed to focus on, you know, killing me, so that helped him."

"Ava," Carl said warningly.

I leaned back my head with a grin and closed my eyes. "Anyway, we got to chatting, and he calmed down enough to make sense. Apparently, Mac's idea of making Esther take a punishment is actually a bit of a sore point. Even the shifters have opposing traditions, it seems. Greg said that where he's from, the shifter in question has to fight for their good name, their honour, I suppose."

"I have to fight for my life then," Esther said. "Honour is life with the shifters. Shame is what kills us, but only figuratively speaking. Our shame is put to death by killing our bodies."

"You have some sick traditions," Carl said.

"It's not my fault," she protested. "Loyalty, trust, and honour are the three most important things for a shifter, according to Aiden."

"He had none of those," I murmured.

"Ideally, then," she said snappishly. "But for Mac, he swapped out trust for power. And the loyalty didn't work both ways. Honour is honour in any language, but we obviously find opposing things honourable."

"I'm pretty sure Greg didn't know about the captives," I said, "even though he was second in command. Looks like Mac was pushing people only as far as he could." I reached for another wonton. I hadn't eaten for ages, and my throat was starting to feel achy in the I-heart-blood sort of way. "Except for you, Esther. He couldn't get anywhere at all with you."

"That's because of you," she said softly. "You and Carl and everyone else. If I didn't have you, I would have stayed with Aiden, would have been sucked into Mac's pack."

"Why can't there be more than one pack, though?" I asked. "Why is there one big alpha? When things go wrong, they go really wrong, and nobody has the power to stop him."

"The one true alpha contains all of the individual packs," she said. "They aren't true packs, more like families within the pack. They stay close to other shifters because we rely on each other for survival, and we turn to the alpha to sort out disputes and such. But most importantly, we stick together."

Something in the tone of her voice made me sit up. "What is it?"

She shrugged and curled up into a ball. Carl reached out to rest his hand on her shoulder, and she leaned in to his touch.

"I don't do that," she said. "I don't stay close to the other shifters. Aiden took us to stay with shifters originally to protect ourselves, but we did without them for so long. In hindsight, perhaps a pack would have helped Aiden through his tough years, but part of that problem was that he didn't know what was going on. I mean, our mother died before she could tell us the truth, but even she kept us away from the pack. She purposely avoided the shifters, and now I'll never know why. Are we supposed to be loners?"

"Maybe she had experience with a Mac of her own," Carl offered. "Maybe she came here to escape a terrible alpha. Whatever the cause, she must have had her reasons."

"If I could just know why, maybe I would be able to understand the pack here a little better. When I think of how hostile they are now," she said, "I can see why Aiden kept me so separated from them, even when he was alpha. They were never going to accept us because we're so different from them. And now Aiden's gone, they're happy to take their pound of flesh from me."

"I'm not going to let them," I said. "I'm going to be your champion."

"You can't!"

"Greg and I shook on it," I said firmly. "I'll fight this fight, earn you back your honour, and then it'll all be over."

"You can't keep saving me, Ava," she said.

"I'm defending my entire family," I said, and when she smiled, I continued. "And everything's almost back to normal—don't worry."

"Well, I'll heat up the food," Carl said. "Be right back."

He and Esther went into the kitchen together, and I dozed off until they returned with the food. I was about to dig in when I remembered something I had been meaning to ask. "Hey, Carl, have you met Melody Love?"

"Melody Love?" He screwed up his nose before his expression cleared. "Oh! The medium? Yeah, we met."

"What do you think of her?"

"She seems nice. Peter met her on a case of his. Emmett loves her. Why?"

I violently stabbed my food with my fork. "No reason." But there went that pesky pang of jealousy once again. I just wasn't sure who I was jealous of Melody spending time with. Peter or Emmett.

***

Sometimes, I wished I could take back the things I'd said, or at least knock on wood more often so that I didn't jinx myself. But I didn't, and when a pair of recruits knocked at my door the next morning, I knew that it had happened again. My bad luck.

"What happened?" I asked, worried by their grim faces. "Is everyone okay?"

Shay stepped between them. "Leave us alone for a minute," he said. When the recruits moved off, he examined my face. "Did he hurt you?"

I frowned. "Who?"

"The shifter last night."

"What? Greg? No, of course not. Well, I might have a couple of bruises, but that's nothing. How did you know about it anyway?"

"Before we go in," he said, "make sure your story is straight. If you're going with self-defence, then—"

"Shay! I have no freaking clue what you're on about."

He licked his lips and held my gaze. "We found his body."

My mouth dropped open. "Oh, my God. No! We made a deal. He said I could champion Esther, and the problems with the pack would be over. How could he do something so stupid like dying?"

Shay breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God it wasn't you. But you're the suspect right now, Ava. The Senate wants to see you."

"Why am I a suspect again?" I demanded. "I'm getting really sick of this. I don't just wander around killing people on a whim, you know."

"I know," he said. "But after last night, the papers are awash with how the Senate are allowing dangerous supernatural creatures to get away with murder, while on the other hand, they can't even protect their own members. They have to be seen to act."

I held up my fingers. "One: I'm not a dangerous supernatural creature. And two: why would I kill Greg?"

"He told other shifters he was going to confront you. It's hard to tell, because they seem to be having trouble speaking right now, but he was determined to deal with you once and for all."

"So it's okay for him to try to murder me? How is that fair?"

"It's not. But they're angry."

"Damnit, Shay. I didn't kill him. But even if I did, they've already admitted he was trying to kill me."

"I know," he said. "Trust me, I've had this exact same conversation. But apparently, some shifters are holding information over the Senate's heads. I don't know if they're going to spill sensitive information to the press, or if the Senate want to know something that shifters have gotten hold of, but it makes no difference. They've called you in, and I'm the one who is supposed to do it. Now can you come quietly before the entire neighbourhood realises what's happening and protests about it?"

"Fine," I said reluctantly, knowing that avoiding it would just prolong the process. "But why do you think Greg was killed? I mean, first the alpha, and now his second in command. Why would anyone wipe out the chain of command like that?"

"Revenge? Punishment for the captives? An attempt to be the newest alpha?"

"But Greg didn't know about the captives. Most shifters are extra honest, Shay. I would have known if he was faking it. The captive situation was news to him."

"Then somebody wanted him out of the way so they could take the lead." He shrugged. "That's the most likely explanation."

"But Greg wasn't alpha material. He told me so himself. And the pack wouldn't accept an alpha who cheated. That's why Aiden had to leave. The alpha has to win a challenge honestly. It's about honour and trust and stuff."

Shay frowned. "That turns the heat back onto you, Ava. You just destroyed our best motives so far. That only leaves us with a motive for you killing him. Self-defence, and a way to protect Esther."

"But I didn't need to protect Esther anymore. Greg was going to fix everything. He told me to expect to hear from him. I offered to be Esther's champion, to fight for her honour, and he was happy to agree. He promised that the issues between Esther and the pack would end. He left me to organise it."

"It's just your word." He gave me a pitying look. "I'm afraid Greg didn't make it home last night, Ava. He was found close to the courthouse."

"But I... I saw him walk away. I watched him leave. He confronted me outside the courthouse, but then he left. I swear it."

"If that's true, then somebody is trying very hard to make you look like the guilty one."

"It's the paragon," I said immediately. "It has to be. He hates me, and he hates Esther and the werewolves, and I persuaded the Senate not to listen to him last night. He has it in for me. He has to be the one who set this up."

"Why would a paragon bother with all of this? Why wouldn't he just attack you himself?"

"Because he can't." I clamped my mouth shut before I said too much.

"Is this another secret that I'm not supposed to know about? Fine. If you're sure, I'll confront him. But you're still coming with me this morning."

"Okay, but it has to be him." I grabbed my jacket. "Who else have I pissed off lately?"

He gave me a bemused look.

"Oh, shut up," I said.

As we left my garden, we spotted Peter having an argument with one of the recruits.

"Ava!" he called when he saw me.

"It's okay," I said. "I'll be back later."

"I'll call Breslin," he replied as I got into Shay's car. I really hoped I wouldn't need my solicitor.

Chapter Eleven

"Where are we going?" I asked when the car took an unfamiliar route.

"I told you," Shay said. "To see the Senate."

When I gave him a nasty look, he sighed. "They take important meetings in a place outside of the city. It's safer there."

"For them?"

He shrugged. "I'm just the messenger boy, remember?"

"More like the courier." I sat up straight. "Am I being arrested? Because I can't sit in a cell again, Shay. I just... I can't."

His expression grew wan. "I know. They just need to speak to you. It's for your safety. The shifters are on the warpath. There'll be destruction if they go up against you. The Senate are afraid that a minor war will break out. The press will be all over it."

I huffed in response. The Senate cared more about its media presence than anything else lately. "You do believe me, though, right?"

"Very few people are stupid enough to kill twice while the suspicion is still on them from the first time," he said, but he was smiling.

"I just find it unsettling how everyone wanted me to kill things during the war, and now that it's over, I've to fit into all of these rules."

He glanced at me. "Wars aren't supposed to last forever, Ava."

"I know that. But sometimes it's hard to fit into that mind-set again. The one where everything is black and white. It just bothers me sometimes is all."

"What, exactly?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. It's okay to kill some things and not others. Like, who draws that line? I can kill a mouse, but not a dog. I can kill a vampire, but not a shifter. And the werewolves can kill birds and deer, but never humans."

"If lines aren't drawn, how does anyone know where to stop?" he asked. "You've got to put your trust in the laws, or everything falls apart."

"Do you?"

"Huh?"

"Do you put your trust in the law? It wasn't so long ago that a vampire called Reuben was a consultant to the old Council, and he was allowed to kill the occasional virgin. Who does that law protect?"

He gritted his teeth. "That law is gone." He looked at me. "Right?"

"I don't know what laws still exist. I never knew the shifters would be allowed to punish Esther, did I?"

"The more people who know about that, the easier it will be to stop it from happening again," he said. "You've said it to me many times, Ava. It takes a long time to change ancient laws. I'm sure the Senate will do the best they can."

"Mac was bribing people. Daimhín, at the very least. A year in, and the whole thing is a corrupt farce."

"Mac's dead, and Daimhín can be replaced."

"And who's going to replace her? You can't trust a vampire. They thrive on self-survival."

"Plenty of people think of you as a vampire, and you're not like that."

"Does that mean it's legal to kill me? I mean, that's what the shifters thought, right?"

He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. "Why is it every time I have a conversation with you, I feel a little dirtier about associating with the government?"

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I swear, I'm not. I'm just trying to make sense of a lot of things that have been bothering me."

"I've been doing that myself. For some reason, it's easier when I'm not anywhere near the Senate."

"I'll bet." I leaned forward, instantly uncomfortable as we turned off down a dirt track. Barren trees hung overhead as though ready to pounce. "This is creepy."

"Just another entrance to the rabbit warren that is the old Council hideouts. Out-of-the-way places like this are the only safe place for the Senate sometimes," he said, but he looked uneasy, too.

"I don't like it in there," I said as the dirt track suddenly ended. Nothing but uneven grass lay beyond the path, but I knew that a secret entrance had to be nearby. And if we went inside, we would walk down endless white halls until I felt seasick.

"Nobody likes it here." He got out of the car and waited for me to work up my courage.

When I got out of the car, he nodded. "Let's get inside. Daimhín's obviously not around during the day, but the others should all be there by now."

We walked across a field until we came to a very stiff-looking female who glared at us then moved aside, pulling a carpet of grass up to reveal stairs down that ended in a single white door.

"Come on," Shay said, stepping down.

I took one last look around before following. At the door, he had to show his ID before escorting me inside.

"There are none of your IAs here," I whispered, seeing unfamiliar faces guarding the doorways inside.

"The Senate have a protection crew," he said. "My people weren't needed today. They have their own routines anyway."

We walked down only one white corridor, but that was enough to spark some bad memories. "Everything changed here," I murmured. "It's too weird coming back."

"You'll be fine."

We entered a stark-white room without knocking. The Senate members were sitting around a table, an eerie representation of the old Council and consultants. Behind them stood burly bodyguards, all of them wearing the same uniform, which I didn't recognise.

"Well, I'm here," I said, taking a seat. "And I didn't kill anyone, so would you mind telling me why I'm here?"

"Safety reasons," Callista said, sounding apologetic.

"I'm not in danger," I said steadily, but panic had started to rise at the tone of her voice.

"Not your safety," Willow added, refusing to look me in the eye.

"Can one of you get to the point?"

"There's been another attack by the werewolves," James said coldly. "This time, a jogger was found. She left her house at seven a.m., and when she didn't return, her husband went looking for her. He found... a mangled mess, and he's about to sue the state for damages. His wife is dead, and he wants to sue. Immediately. That's the kind of person we're dealing with. So excuse me if we didn't want to take chances."

I glanced at Shay. He looked confused, to my relief. I hated to think he, too, had betrayed me. "What kind of precautions?" I asked as calmly as I could manage.

"We couldn't afford to have you getting in the way," Layla said. "It would have only complicated things. We did this for your sake, too."

"Did what?" Shay barked.

Layla clicked her fingers. A pair of so-called bodyguards stood to attention. "Take her to the cells," she said. "Until further notice. Afterwards, you can follow the rest of your colleagues to werewolf territory."

"What?" I exclaimed as each guard took one of my arms and held on tightly.

"What's happening on werewolf territory?" Shay asked.

"We're tranquilising the werewolves," Layla said. "And then we're going to finish this once and for all."

"You can't do that," I said. "You can't just wipe them out!"

"You wiped out an entire species last year. Who are you to talk?" she snapped, then shook her head. "I'm sorry. This wasn't an easy decision to make."

"You could have fooled me," I spat.

"You'll be freed as soon as the werewolf pack has been taken care of. We've hired professionals to deal with them, and then it'll be over."

"You told me the shifters were the threat," Shay said accusingly. "You lied to me to get her here."

"We're sorry," Callista said. "But we can't afford anything that even resembles a civil war right now. The paragon is insisting, and he's right. We can't let any more innocent people die."

"But the werewolf cubs are innocent!" I shouted. "They're just children!"

"And they'll grow up to be ferocious hunters that we just can't handle," James said, but all of the Senate members looked queasy.

"You're murdering children over one wolf's actions!" I cried.

"The actions of the first werewolf to decide they're sick of being controlled," James corrected, and with a wave of his hand, the bodyguards dragged me out of the room.

I sucked in a deep breath once we were out of the room. I could escape two unsuspecting men. I could maybe make it to the wolves before anyone else did. If I were lucky, I would find a werewolf and be able to communicate with him. But the wolf wouldn't be in human form on werewolf territory. So how could I even talk to him? Carl had already told me how hard it was to keep two cubs from going furry at school–staying in human form wasn't natural to them; it reminded them of captivity. Persuading an adult to turn into his vulnerable form was likely beyond my abilities.

But I couldn't think that far ahead. I couldn't doubt myself. I walked obediently toward the cells I hated before abruptly dropping to the ground, weighing the guards down before they even realised what I was doing. I tumbled out of their grip, twisting out of their reach. I swung out with my leg and tripped one, who knocked into the other in the narrow hallway. I could use the space more efficiently than they could, but if they pinned me, I was screwed.

As one reached out to me, I jumped, grabbed his hair, and used him to heave myself up on his arm with one foot. I threw myself over their shoulders, and as they were still trying to grip air, I grasped both of their collars then banged their heads together. One shoved the other, who knocked against the wall, unconscious. Lucky. The steady one caught me in the jaw with his fist, but I was already twisting away from the full force of the strike. I pushed back, using my spine to pin him against the wall. Gripping his arm and shoulder, I bent and threw him over. In the tiny space, he inevitably slammed against the hard wall and collapsed atop the other bodyguard.

I heard footsteps and looked up in alarm as Shay came running around the corner. He stopped and stared at the guards in a heap on the ground.

"They're not dead," I said defensively.

He nodded slowly as he met my eyes. I could only imagine what he saw: red hair falling out of my ponytail, my crumpled and bunched clothes, sweat beading on my brow, and a manic look in my eye.

I bent over to catch my breath. "And if you're here to stop me, I'm going to have to take you down, Shay. Don't make me do that. I like you and all, but I can't let them kill the werewolf children."

"I wasn't going to help them, Ava." He held out his hand and jangled his keys. "I was going to let you use my car. I'll keep the Senate distracted long enough for you to get out of here."

I gripped the keys before he could change his mind, then I ran off.

"Ava!" he called out after me.

I hesitated at the corner.

"Use the siren," he said grimly. "And hurry up."

I nodded and sprinted up the hallway. I heard the Senate having an argument behind one of the doors, but I didn't linger. The team the Senate had hired was already on its way to tranquilise the werewolves. The territory they owned was massive, but I had lost the head start, even if I used the siren. I wasn't even sure if I could find a werewolf on so many acres, but I had to at least try.

I somehow made it out of the old Council's headquarters without drawing any attention to myself, but I would feel sorry for Shay when the Senate realised what had happened. I was infuriated at the thought of them using Shay to get to me and that the few had made such an arbitrary decision without the say of the rest of the Senate members. Phoenix was going to freak. If he even cares anymore.

I jumped into Shay's car and started the engine with shaking hands. My heart pounded, and my breathing grew heavy. I could be out of time already. The car cut out, and I swore and tried again. This time, it stayed running. I pulled away from the old Council headquarters and sped on, struggling to remember how to put on the stupid siren.

When I finally figured it out, I jumped from the noise, but at least I was able to speed up on the motorway as cars flowed out of my way as if I were in a dream. The roads were so clear that it might have been a lovely morning to drive if people's lives hadn't been depending on me.

Maybe a werewolf had committed the murders, and it was likely one had—even I had to admit that. But the actions of one shouldn't justify the extermination of the entire species. Even humans punished only the perpetrator of a crime instead of wiping out entire families. And if the Senate set a precedent for taking out an entire species when one stepped out of line, then who knew what it would lead to? I hadn't fought the Council only to have something worse come along.

The fight wasn't just about Esther anymore. It was about our country, our future. I didn't want Emmett, different because he could see and control spirits, or Dita, a descendant of a boginka, to grow up in fear that they might be next. People like Val, and me, would be at risk. I just had to reach the werewolves before the Senate's goons did. I had no choice anymore.

The drive took too long. I pushed the car as hard as it would go without it spinning out of control. I wasn't the world's greatest driver, but something steadied my hands, an inner confidence that I was doing the right thing. Maybe keeping the werewolves alive was a balance of sorts. But a lot of people had wondered aloud whether we needed the werewolves once the Beasts they had helped to destroy were gone.

Yes, I thought. The world needed to keep them alive to understand them. A species who kept their own traditions and cultures while thriving in a brand-new, ever-changing world was something we could learn from.

I felt as though I had taken hours to reach the edge of the werewolves' territory. I pulled onto a dirt road, my heart sinking as recent car tracks led my way. The tracks eventually turned right, so I moved left instead. I knew not all of the werewolves would be in the same place, but I needed to save Icarus. It was the least I could do after everything he had done for us.

I eventually had to leave the car after spinning the wheels in muddy earth until the car was completely stuck. I got out and kicked the tires then set off at a run, trying to figure out scents as I ran. I pushed out with my other senses, and with those, I caught a lot of different energies. The place was teeming with wildlife.

A loud rumbling sound in the distance sent a tremor across the ground. Some kind of large vehicle, perhaps. I rushed to the nearest copse of trees then started to climb. I blew out a sharp breath and squeezed my eyes shut as the world spun. Clinging to a branch, I counted to fourteen before opening my eyes again. I couldn't afford an instance of the severe vertigo my fear of heights sometimes wrought upon me.

I counted my heartbeats as I climbed, trying my best to calm my frantic thoughts. Fear made me panic. I didn't need to count to soothe those nerves, I told myself. But sometimes, the numbers were a kind of meditation.

I counted to fourteen five times in total, then I reached a branch high enough to get a good view of my surroundings. Far off in the distance, a line of large transport trucks were coming over a hill. I wanted to cry. If they were ready to transport the werewolves, then I was too late. But surely, they couldn't have found all of the werewolves so far. They had to be getting rid of them in batches.

And maybe that meant that other werewolves would investigate. They would run straight into the tranquilisers' path. But would the werewolves even realise what was happening to them? Were they capable of warning each other?

Swearing, I slowly climbed down from the tree, debating which direction to go in. I finally decided to run parallel to the path of the trucks while maintaining a good distance between us. There was a chance I could warn off investigating werewolves who came that way, and if worse came to worst, I could steal a truck full of intoxicated werewolves and let them sleep off the drug somewhere safe. The pack would be smaller, but at least some wolves would survive.

With that in mind, I sprinted on, veering away from the trucks until I could barely see them. I was on a clear stretch that was regularly frequented by werewolves if the well-worn trails in the grass were any indication. I kept running, despite the painful stitch in my side, until I came to a set of half a dozen massive flat rocks. I wondered if the werewolves sunned themselves on them.

I thought I heard a sound and reached out with my other senses. Just as a vivid red energy showed up, the head of a man popped up from behind one of the rocks.

"What are you doing here?" he asked impatiently. "You can't be here today. It's too dangerous."

"Just going for a jog," I said innocently, pretending not to notice the tranquiliser rifle in his hands. "What's going on?"

"We're just transporting some wild animals," he said. "You need to get out of here in case one escapes."

"Escapes?" I wheezed out a fake laugh. "What are you talking about? Oh, my God!" I pointed over his shoulder. "What the hell is that?"

He spun, instantly alert, his tranquiliser gun aimed at nothing. "Where?" he asked, just before I hopped over the rock.

Startled, he tried to elbow me, but I had already wrapped my arm around his neck. Even as he struck, I squeezed. He struggled desperately, but I was desperate, too. I waited until he fell unconscious, then I let him drop to the ground.

Wheezing from exertion, panic, and adrenalin, I bent over and tried to catch my breath. I spotted the rifle and picked it up, and considered shooting the man. But I wasn't sure if the dosage was deadly for anything smaller than a werewolf or if the sleeping shot was really a killing shot.

Instead, I aimed the gun at the flat rocks and lashed the weapon against stone until it started to break.

"Stupid sodding thing," I shouted. I hadn't seen one werewolf yet, and idiots with tranquilisers were hiding all over the place. It made me furious. I was too late, and I had failed.

"Fucking Senate! Bloody paragons! Idiotic rules!" Tears were rolling down my cheeks, and my knuckles were bloody from hitting stone accidentally. I didn't care anymore. I threw pieces of the gun to the ground and kicked them away, still swearing loudly.

I thought I heard a sound. I wiped my face with my sleeves and looked around. The meadow was clear of people, but there were plenty of woodlands that could conceal people with weapons. I had never had a chance to save the werewolves at all.

A twig cracked, and I spun around, instantly alert. And there, from amongst the dense trees, stood an intimidatingly large werewolf.

Chapter Twelve

The werewolf wasn't Icarus, and Icarus was the only one I could claim to know. As the werewolf trod softly in a ring around me, I turned, suddenly unsure of myself. If the werewolves really had been killing humans, then they would think little of killing someone like me. They had been bred to kill vampires; the taint of vampire ran through my veins.

"Good werewolf," I said. "Please don't eat me. I'm here to help."

A rustling from behind drew my attention away from the werewolf long enough for him to pounce. I ducked behind the stones and prepared myself to run for my life. But a harsh growl and a snapping sound made me peek over the stones. Two werewolves were grappling on the ground, ferociously biting at each other's throats. The fight continued, and when they rolled over, splashes of blood stained the grass.

"Please don't be fighting over who gets to eat me," I whispered.

Eventually, the larger werewolf pinned the other by the throat. The loser showed his belly willingly, whining as he did so. The winner licked the submissive wolf's wounds before letting him to his feet. The loser ran into the woods and out of sight.

The remaining werewolf turned to me, his huge golden eyes expressive as they locked on to mine. It had been a while, but I was sure this wolf had to be Icarus.

"Icarus?" I said tentatively.

The werewolf cocked his head to the side and sat down, looking as unassuming as a gigantic wolf could. I slowly came out from behind the rocks. The werewolf sniffed the air and growled.

"Icarus, the werewolves are in danger," I said hurriedly. "I don't know if you can understand me like this, so it would be really great if you could look like a man and have a conversation with me for five minutes."

When nothing happened, I pointed at the man lying prone on the ground. "His people are after you. They're using tranquiliser guns to knock you all out and take you somewhere to put you down. All of you, even the children."

He didn't respond in any way.

"Do you understand?" I picked up the broken gun and waved it around. "This is going to help make the werewolves extinct."

He growled; the deep, terrifying sound made me sure the earlier fight had been more playful than serious. I thought the growl was directed at me until I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around to see two men and a woman jogging toward us, carrying tranquiliser guns.

Ah, crap. I dropped the broken one.

"Get out of the way!" the woman screeched at me while aiming her gun at Icarus.

He rose to his feet, his bristling fur making him appear even larger than usual, but she didn't appear cowed.

"No!" I moved in front of him and stretched out my arms. "I'm not letting you do this."

"Then I'll hit you first." She took aim at me instead.

The male to her left reached out to stop her. "What the hell are you doing? Those tranqs are too powerful for a human!"

"Then it serves her right. And it might teach some soft-hearted do-gooder fools a lesson. You can't keep wild animals as pets."

"They aren't pets," I snapped. "And there's no way I'm going to stand here and let you murder them."

"Oh, I'll just put my gun down then," she said snidely. "Shut up." She cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.

Icarus pounced on me, knocking me down. I fell heavily on my side, momentarily stunned. Icarus took a protective stance over me, his teeth bared. And then I noticed the tranquiliser dart stuck in his chest. For a second, he appeared poised to pounce away from me, but then his eyes rolled, his tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he collapsed heavily, almost suffocating me. I struggled to get out from under him, but he was a dead weight.

"Are you crazy?" the man said. "You could have killed her."

She lifted the gun again, aiming at me. "She must be the one they warned us about." She advanced on me.

I was stuck under Icarus. I met the woman's gaze; she didn't care. I waited for the shot, but something sharp and bright spun through the air toward her. A glass kylie knocked the gun right out of the woman's hands.

She squealed and spun to find the source. Her two companions stepped back in alarm as Phoenix strode toward them, a tranquiliser rifle strapped to his shoulder. He spun it around and shot neatly three times, hitting each one of the werewolf attackers.

"That could kill them!" I called out, still inelegantly struggling to free myself.

He didn't look at me as he inspected their unconscious bodies. "I don't care." The man I had first encountered began to stir, and Phoenix shot him, too. He came over and hauled the sleeping werewolf off me. "It's not strong enough. The werewolves won't be out for long." He reached out and helped me to my feet. "Sorry I'm late."

I was so happy not to be tranquilised that I hugged him. He had the means to fix everything. I almost relaxed—when I remembered that if he hadn't left in the first place, none of it would have happened.

Just as he wrapped his arms around me, I pulled away and thumped him in the gut. "Where the hell have you been?"

He held his stomach in confusion. "Why are you striking me?"

I furiously poked him in the chest. "Because you disappeared, and everything fell to shit. The Senate tried to lock me in their cells to stop me from helping the werewolves today, you know!"

He took a step back as I advanced on him. "But I'm here. They didn't need you after all."

"Is that supposed to make it okay?" I demanded, poking him again. "Mac is dead, and it turned out he was keeping free shifters captive. His second in command was murdered, too, and everyone I care about is a suspect. The Senate are bribing each other and forgetting to let every member vote on a decision, and the stupid paragon is insisting the werewolves be put to sleep. Permanently! Not to mention the fact the werewolves are running around slaughtering humans. Humans, Phoenix!"

He gripped my wrists and held me still. "I can see you're under some kind of stress, but—"

"Some kind of...?" I spluttered. "Are you kidding me? Are you actually kidding me? I almost got hit with a freaking tranquiliser!"

He smiled then, softening his sharp features. The fae prince's long black-and-platinum hair was plaited away from his face, somehow making him look younger, not that the fae ever looked their ages.

I looked around. "Wait, where are the twins?"

His smile disappeared, and he looked uncomfortable. "I believe Lucia is planning on travelling home soon, but Lorcan is... he wants to travel some more."

My face fell. "He isn't coming back. Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He just... needs his space."

I pulled myself out of his grip and folded my arms across my chest. "What did you do to him?"

He spluttered himself then. "Me? Why would I have done anything?"

"I can see the guilt written across your face. What's going on?"

"We may have clashed." He sighed. "It was a misunderstanding."

"Well, at least you're back now. If either you or Elathan had been around, then none of this would have happened. The only one capable of leading anyone is Daimhín, and she's easily bribed with nice, muscular bodyguards."

"Haven't you finished berating me yet?"

He sounded so earnest that I laughed. "Yes. When did you get back?"

"Today." He sounded relieved. "Lucia had a vision that the werewolves needed me, so I came straight here. Speaking of the wolves—" He pulled a whistle out of his shirt. It hung on a chain with a key and a second whistle. He blew hard. I couldn't hear a thing.

"What's that for?"

"It's a warning signal," he said. "It's on a frequency that only the wolves should hear. They'll run to their dens and hide."

"What about the ones they've already taken?"

"I've slashed the tires of the trucks. It'll slow them down long enough for the wolves to start waking. I don't want to leave Icarus alone, though, and I need to give the Senate a call and force them to call off these idiots." He sneered at the unconscious humans. "I'll just be a moment."

"What if the Senate refuse?"

His smile turned dark. "I know enough secrets to ensure they don't."

I shivered as he turned away to find a signal. I sat on the ground next to the sleeping werewolf and scratched behind his ears.

"It's going to be okay, Icarus," I said. "The pack is safe now. Phoenix is here, and he's going to force the Senate to call off the madness. And we'll figure out a way to deal with the paragon. Trust me." I continued talking to him in a soothing voice. He looked ill. His eyes kept opening and rolling, and his tongue was hanging out as if it were a dead weight. I found his pulse, and his heart was racing. "You're going to be fine," I murmured.

"He can't hear you," Phoenix said, approaching us.

I pretended I wasn't embarrassed. "You never know."

He sat on the grass on the other side of Icarus and crossed his legs, managing to look completely relaxed. My back was killing me, but that might have been partly because an unconscious werewolf had landed on me.

"I take it things haven't been good of late," he said.

"It's kind of blown up this week," I admitted. "You're not going to leave again, are you?"

He shook his head. "My business has been dealt with."

I was dying to ask him what his business had been, but if he wanted me to know, he would have told me.

"Any ideas on how to deal with this paragon?" I asked. "He seems to have a vendetta or something. I doubt he's going to leave this be. He caused mayhem, and people are terrified of the werewolves now. There may be attacks on this place from people who don't know any better. They're just too scared to let the werewolves be."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually," he said. "I think you can help me."

"With what exactly?" I had to admit I was curious.

He blinked a couple of times, apparently surprised that I didn't already know. "Finding the real murderer, of course."

Um. "Wait, Mac's killer?" I asked hopefully. I really did need a powerful fae prince to be the delusional one.

He frowned. "The one who's been killing humans and making the werewolves get the blame," he clarified. "Once we can prove the truth, the paragon will have no choice but to quiet his accusations."

"Phoenix," I said softly, "these werewolves have been killing humans. They did it weeks ago, and you covered it up. And I saw one of the bodies this time. It was torn apart. Actually, that doesn't even come close to how badly it was destroyed. No ordinary animal would have done that. I've seen the werewolves rip things apart before. This was way too similar."

"But you've been defending the werewolves." Confusion creased his forehead. "Yet you thought them guilty?"

I held up my hand. "One werewolf might be out of control. One shouldn't condemn the entire pack. And now that you're here, you can make them stop."

"I'm not their god," he said with a sharp laugh. "I don't control their minds. I help them. And a werewolf didn't kill those humans."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"Yes, actually, it would."

"What are you talking about?"

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before meeting my gaze. "You can't breathe a word of this to anyone, Ava."

"What is it?"

"It's true that there was an incident. And yes, a human was killed, but the werewolves didn't kill him. They did rip his body apart afterward, but that was simply to cover up what had happened to him."

My mouth fell open. "What the hell has been going on around here?"

"It's not my secret to tell," he said. "The one who killed that man did it to save a werewolf cub, and they have left the country since."

Then it dawned on me. "They left with you," I said slowly. "You took them away. Why? Was it Lorcan? Is that why he's not coming back?"

"It wasn't Lorcan. Or Lucia."

That took me aback. Who else did he care about more than the werewolves? "I don't understand. Why did you let the werewolves take the blame?"

"It wasn't my choice. I brought this... person to see the werewolves, who agreed to offer their protection. The incident with the human was a surprise. The child was saved only for the quick actions of this creature. The werewolves owed their thanks; it was their idea to cover up the death and take the blame. The creature is at a greater risk of being exterminated than even the werewolves, and I thought it deserved a fair chance at life. It was only in the position of danger in the first place because I brought it to the werewolves, looking for answers to questions I had." He rubbed his face as though trying to wipe away his guilt.

"Well? Don't leave me hanging. Who is it?"

"More like... what." He avoided my eyes. "We don't know for sure, but it may have been a demon." He chanced a glance at me. "From the book."

I jumped to my feet. "Are you serious? You set a demon free? A human-killing demon from the book that caused the sun to disappear? What the hell is going on, Phoenix?"

He joined me, looking agitated. "It wasn't... it was a different kind of demon. Not at all what you think."

"It went on to kill a human. That's exactly what I would think a demon might do."

"I'm serious, Ava. Think bigger. Everything was pulled into that book, higher and lesser demons alike, as far as we know. And the problem is that we don't know enough."

"The problem is that I know too much! The Eleven claim responsibility for those books. It was supposed to keep balance, and now you're saving monsters from it?" I curled my fingers into fists. "What if they say I have to kill it, Phoenix?"

"I took the creature away. There's no need to panic. I've brought this demon to an expert who believes she is a protector of sorts."

"She?"

"Yes, she. She is not humanoid, not like anything else I know, but she helped save more than one life on more than one occasion, and I owed her a chance. I'm confident that she's not a danger to anyone, but if it makes you feel any better, she's currently being watched over by the expert who believes this demon either lured the others into the book or was accidentally trapped while helping track them down."

I didn't know what to think. "This is just mental. How can you be so sure about any of this?"

"Sure? I can't. But I have good reason to believe in what I've told you. If you had met the creature... but I couldn't tell you about it. I had to leave so abruptly because of the death. I heard the paragon was returning, and I needed the demon to be out of the country before he did."

I blew out a whistle. "Does anybody tell me the truth anymore?" For some reason, that question made him more uncomfortable. "Is there anything else I should know?" I demanded.

"Anything else is not my secret to tell," he said, looking as though he meant it.

"I could sleep for a week," I said. "I'm tired, Phoenix. I'm getting too old for all of this madness."

"You are very young," he scolded.

"Well, all of this drama is aging me. Badly. My back hurts. I'm covered in bruises. I've avoided the old Council cells twice in a week. I've been made an enemy of the shifter pack. I've been squished by a werewolf and narrowly avoided a tranquiliser dart. I've been in a fight with a shifter, who mysteriously died in the same spot after I left, even though he was supposed to let me champion Esther's cause with the shifters. I've been called a murderer one hundred times. I've seen the Senate way too many times lately, and it doesn't make them like me any more than usual, and I..." I sighed. "I'm glad you're back. It takes some of the work off my load."

He snorted, reminding me of his son, Lorcan. "As if you were responsible for any of this in the first place. And you'll have to catch me up on the drama, but for now, I'm taking it that you're willing."

"Willing?"

"To help me find the true murderer."

"Oh." I thought about it and grinned. "I'll make a deal with you."

He looked stunned. "What sort of deal?"

I closed the space between us. "If I help you with the werewolves, then you find a way to get the shifters off Esther's back for good."

He smiled down at me and held out his hand to shake. "It's a deal."

I shook his hand, feeling relieved. Powerful allies were the best. "So how are we going to track down this murderer anyway?"

"Go to the previous crime scenes and hope we can pick up something." He nodded at Icarus. "He will help."

"Phoenix, what if it really is a werewolf?"

"It's not."

"But what if?"

He sighed. "Then Icarus will deal with the traitor himself."

I shivered, wondering what a werewolf's punishment looked like.

He looked over my shoulder and smiled. "There's Icarus's mate. She must have worried when he didn't return to the den."

I looked around to see a relatively small werewolf running toward us. She loosed a pained howl when she saw Icarus's body, but when she reached us, she sniffed him. Reassured that he was okay, she chuffed happily and lay next to him.

"She'll watch over him until he wakes," Phoenix said. He ran his hand across her back. "I'll be back for him tomorrow."

She acted as though she were alone with Icarus, and Phoenix held his hand out to me. "Come. We'll give them their peace."

He led me away from the werewolves. We wandered toward the campsite of the trucks and grinned at the shouts of dismay and frustration.

"We should probably unlock those trucks," he said, "before the waking werewolves tear them apart getting themselves free."

We ran to the camp. A couple of the hunters tried to stop us, but Phoenix soon put them in their place. "This order has been cancelled. Didn't you get the word?"

"Yes, but we've already loaded five of the animals into the trucks."

"Then I'd advise you to leave the trucks and get out of here before they wake up," Phoenix said in his cold, authoritative tone. "They won't be held responsible for the people they eat."

I hid my smile as the man swallowed hard and nodded. "Come on!" he shouted at the rest of his people. "It's over. Let's get the hell out of this shithole."

We waited until they'd left then opened all of the trucks. I felt bad for the sleeping werewolves, but at least they would wake up safe.

"And I think we should heed our own advice," Phoenix said wryly. "They won't wake up peacefully from a sleeping agent. In fact, I can't imagine what the Senate were thinking. The wolves would have woken up en route and destroyed everything in sight until they found safety again. Or at the very least, until they woke up properly."

"Maybe they were nudged in a certain direction," I said.

"By whom?"

"The paragon." I seemed to be the only one who could see the truth—there had been no werewolf problems before the paragon arrived.

"You think he led them astray? Gave them bad advice to make a terrible situation worse?"

"I do," I said. "And I don't think he's going to stop there."

"No." He studied me. "He won't stop with the werewolves, either. Have you ever considered the idea that Mac originally held those shifters captive to protect the entire species from the paragon? For the greater good, as it were. A lone shifter can get into trouble, but if the pack as a whole does as it's told..."

That made me uncomfortable. Maybe the paragon was an even bigger source of trouble than I had imagined.

Chapter Thirteen

"Thank you," Phoenix said when he pulled up outside the cul-de-sac after driving me home. "There's nobody else I can trust with this. I should have known I'd come back to find you fighting my battles."

The atmosphere grew intense for no other reason than the way he was looking at me. I held his gaze with great difficulty. "It's not like I'm not going to benefit. The werewolves are just the initial target, right? We're all in trouble if we can't save them."

His searching gaze continued for a moment longer, and my cheeks burned. I had missed him, and I couldn't hide how glad I was that he was back.

"You should get inside," he said softly. "Ready yourself for our investigation. It could get rough."

"See you later then."

We both hesitated before I reached for the door handle. I let myself out and waved him off, taking a deep breath to clear my head. Then I caught the stench of ammonia outside the cul-de-sac.

"What the hell?" I walked around to take a look. The walls outside were drenched with urine. "Those little shits." Shaking my head, I headed toward my house.

Peter was standing at his gate, waiting for me to pass. "Was that Phoenix?"

I froze to the spot, suddenly feeling as though I had been caught doing something terrible. "Yeah. He turned up today, got me out of a tight spot, and gave me a lift home."

He stared at me in silence, a suspicious frown marring his features.

"Right, well, I've a lot to catch you all up on. Meet me in my house if you're interested."

"Val's inside. I'll bring her with me."

"And Emmett?"

"He's with Melody."

"Oh." My cheeks burned again. "See you in a few minutes then." I turned and shoved my hands in my pockets. What the hell is wrong with me?

Carl and Esther were watching a DVD in my living room.

"Lots to say, waiting for Peter and Val to arrive before saying it," I called out as I hurried past them to the kitchen.

Carl followed me. "You okay? Your voice is all high-pitched and weird."

"I'm fine. It's just been a fucked-up day. I'll tell you about it when the others get here. Want some tea?"

"I'll make it," he said, shoving me out of the way. "Your tea could clear drains."

I lightly thumped his side and walked over to the fridge to get milk. "Phoenix is back."

"Is that what's wrong?"

"No. Peter's just acting like—"

The door slammed shut.

"That must be him," I said brightly. "Looks like you're in charge of everyone's tea."

I left before he could ask me any more questions. I couldn't explain why I was feeling so weird. It had occurred to me that I might have a slight crush on Phoenix, and I definitely had a lot of history with Peter, so when one asked about the other, I tended to feel... off balance.

Once everyone had their tea and biscuits, I caught them up on the day's events. Talking business helped get my head back in gear.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Peter asked.

"To be honest, I'm not even sure there is. Unless..." I tapped my chin. "You could try to find out more about the deaths of Mac and Greg. I promised Phoenix I'd focus on the werewolf problem, but we still need to find a stopgap to the shifter issue until the new alpha turns up and settles things. As long as the shifters are on our backs, we're not going to get a moment's peace. I smelled the whole marking-of-territory thing going on outside the cul-de-sac, and I'm not impressed."

"That was a pack of teenagers messing around," Carl said scornfully. "It was no big deal. Anka chased them off. They took one look at her rolling pin and scarpered."

"I wish I had arrived sooner," Val said. "I would have made them scared to urinate in their own homes, never mind ours."

"They're just kids," Carl said.

"But it's not like they'll stop there," Esther said. "And if they get in Ava's way, they could make the situation worse for the werewolves."

"I just can't believe Lorcan's not coming back," Peter said. He glanced at Val. "At least Lucia's bound to come back soon, eh?"

But the hellhound didn't exactly look pleased.

"And I'm just relieved that the werewolves have never killed a human." I cocked my head to the side. "That we know about anyway."

"I thought they did weeks ago," Peter said, looking confused.

"Oh, they just covered it up for, um, some other creature that Phoenix was taking care of. But it's out of the country now, so that's... are you okay, Peter?"

He nodded, but he had just choked on his drink, and his face turned red as he hacked up a lung. Carl thumped him on the back until the coughing fit passed.

"I'm okay," Peter said at last, but his cheeks remained red. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck at the idea that he was hiding something from me, too.

"I don't get why the paragon is so opposed to the werewolves," Carl said. "He has to be the one committing these murders."

"That's what I thought," I said. "But I don't think he is. I think that he's just using tragedy to suit his agenda. And the thing about the werewolves covering up a death for someone else has me thinking. What if it's happening again, except this time, whatever's doing the killing is trying to make it look like a werewolf attack?"

"What if you're wrong?" Esther said, looking worried. "What if the murderer is really that savage? You're in danger if you look into this, Ava."

"I'll be with Phoenix."

All of them looked doubtful.

"And Icarus."

The room relaxed.

"Besides," I said. "If I do this, then Phoenix has promised to get rid of the shifter annoyance for good."

"How is he going to manage that?" Peter scoffed.

"I don't know, but he said he would, so I trust him," I said.

"Well, I don't," he retorted.

"Well, I have to," I snapped. "He's our best chance."

"But the werewolves aren't your responsibility," he said. "And what's happening to them is shitty, but you're throwing yourself in the fire alongside them. When are you ever going to learn?"

"Learn what?" I asked coldly. "To be like you and not give a shit about anyone else?"

Peter's face fell.

I rubbed my temples. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," he said. "I should head on anyway." He got up from the chair and left the room.

I followed him outside my house and tugged on his arm. "Peter, wait."

"It's cool," he said. "I understand."

"No, you don't." Keeping my hand on his arm, I sighed. "It's been a rough week, and I took it out on you because you keep voicing the things that I'm scared of. I'm scared that helping the werewolves will bring a fire on us, too. I'm scared that Phoenix can't be trusted, and I'm worried that the shifters will never back off and leave us alone. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"I'm okay."

"Great, but what I said wasn't true."

He hesitated then.

"I know you care about other people," I said. "And I've seen you make changes to your life. Not just for Emmett, but for you, too, and that's healthy. I picked at a scab because I was being a bitch. I just wanted you to know that I noticed, and I think it's great that you're getting your life together."

He heaved out a sigh as though a heavy weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. "I'm trying to give you your space, Ava, but I'm getting tired of waiting around. Are we ever going to go back to the way it was?"

I gave him a puzzled stare. "But that's impossible, and why would you want to go back to that? Neither of us was in a great place, and we clung on to each other for support in all of the wrong ways."

He swallowed hard. "Are you saying this is it? That there will never be a me and you again?"

I hesitated too long, and pain reared in his eyes.

"I can't see the future," I said at last. "But I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of heavy relationship. Everything we do affects Emmett, and that's a lot of pressure on us when we both care about him so much." I couldn't read his expression. "Stop looking at me like that. I'm not perfect, Peter, and I don't know if I'm ready."

He pressed me against the wall, one hand on my hip and the other on my cheek. He stroked my skin, and my heart rate increased. I did miss him, but being with him had worn me out in a lot of ways. The thought of going back to that filled me with just as much dread as excitement. If I went back, that might mean throwing away the last year of progress I'd made. Was it going back or forward? I just didn't know, and I couldn't tell if my own intentions were good or right.

He pressed his lips against mine briefly then pushed harder, forcing my mouth open with his tongue. I held on, stunned by the memories that resurfaced.

He pulled back. "Okay," he breathed. "I can take the idea of not going back, but I won't give up on a fresh start."

I just still wasn't sure what I thought about that.

***

Phoenix knocked loudly on my front door. By the way he knocked, I could tell he had an actual reason for being there for a change. I had to be honest and admit that I had missed the way he used to show up.

My troubles had brought him trouble; the first vampire had taken Phoenix's daughter, Lucia, to get to me. After Phoenix had raged at me—and I'd seriously feared for my life at the time—our easy friendship had seemed to die a little. Maybe it hadn't died, but it'd definitely grown sickly. He said he didn't hold it against me, even after he had persuaded his children to leave my safety and join him in his.

I realised later that when he'd said his goodbye that day, Phoenix had decided I wasn't worth the trouble and that he had other priorities. I missed having that friend, the one everyone else was scared of, the one who showed me his vulnerabilities. It had been nice to feel... trusted, I suppose. Phoenix was an enigma, and I had missed trying to figure him out. That I found him attractive was just a bonus.

So maybe that was why my heart leapt in my chest at the confident knock at my door. I wouldn't have to coax him out. When I answered the door, he was all business, despite looking more way more casual than usual. His hair was tied back into a loose bun, and he was wearing jeans, a vintage T-shirt, and a brown leather jacket.

"Been shopping lately?" I asked.

Ignoring the question, he gripped my arm and pulled me outside. "Come," he said. "We're going to get some protection."

"From who?"

He seemed to realise he was taking me outside without a coat on.

"Sorry," he said, suddenly grinning. "I'm eager to move on today. But as we're going to be busy, we'll need to leave those who depend upon us with a little extra protection in case something happens while we're gone."

"And we'll do that how?" I turned my back on him and went inside.

He followed me. "There's a natural witch in the children's home who will be more than happy to leave, even if she has to help us to do it."

"What can she do?"

He hesitated, and I turned to look at him. I laid my hands on my hips. "What can she do, Phoenix?"

"Plenty of things. She can provide a temporary protection with little effort."

"So what's the problem? I can hear the but in there, so you might as well spit it out."

He sat straight-backed on my sofa, looking too big for the room. "She sometimes can't control her magic. When she can, it's supremely powerful."

"And what happens when she can't?"

He gave me an innocent look. "There can be side effects. And she has a bit of a temper. That can sometimes manifest."

"Wait a second," I said, freezing to the spot. "Are you talking about Noah's girlfriend? The girl who tried to destroy Parker and Jess with magic? The little—"

"Parker was about to burst into flames," he said, interrupting my fury.

"He was not! Anyway, I thought the natural witch was much younger, as in, a little kid."

"I still have my suspicions about another child, but it's hard to tell for sure sometimes. They like to play... tricks or claim responsibility for other people's talents." He sighed. "It can be tiring, but I hear they've made strides in my absence, and I'd like to see for myself."

"I don't think she likes me very much."

"She's a teenager," he said. "She'll get over it."

But I wasn't so sure.

"Trust me," he said with a surprisingly charming smile. "It'll be worth it."

"Fine," I said reluctantly. "But if this goes wrong, you owe me a drink."

He laughed. "It's a deal."

Grumbling, I pulled on my jacket and followed him to his car. I groaned when I saw it was his official Senate car that made people stare when we drove by.

"You know I hate being a spectacle," I complained as I sat in the cushy passenger seat. It was more comfortable than my armchairs.

He started the car. "It appears that some people need to be reminded that I'm a part of the Senate."

"That's what you get for running away," I said lightly.

He slipped off his jacket. "I didn't run. I had a secret mission. There's a difference."

"If it looks like running, and it sounds like running..." I trailed off, staring at his T-shirt. He looked so much younger all of a sudden, and almost... normal.

"Something wrong?" he asked. "Why are you staring at my body?"

"I'm not... I am absolutely not staring at your body. I'm looking at your shirt, and—"

"The shirt that is on my body," he deadpanned.

"Seriously, what happened to you on holiday? You've come back all weird."

He gave me a startled look. "A lot happened, Ava." He cleared his throat. "I'm hoping the protection will ensure we're not interrupted on the hunt. And that nobody gets any ideas into their heads about taking down the werewolves while we're on the road."

"Good plan," I said, but I still wasn't sure about the natural witch. And why did he change the subject anyway?

"And your own place could use an extra touch," he said.

"Mine? Why?"

"I know that Esther is staying there," he said. "The Senate could interfere on the shifters' behalf. Or worse, the shifters themselves could find a way in. If we're ever going to find out what's going on, we'll need as little distraction from the shifters as possible. I need your head in this completely, and if you don't have to worry about anyone you care about, then I'll have you."

"That's... okay, fine. I won't turn down a little extra protection."

We drove in silence after that, mostly because I was distracted by thoughts of Peter's kiss. I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about it or why I would even think about it while in a car with Phoenix, on a serious mission. I kept sensing the fae glancing at me, and my cheeks burned. Maybe one day, I would stop being a big kid about my love life. Obviously not today.

We finally arrived at the children's home. On the basketball court alongside the building, a number of young people were screaming, laughing, and throwing basketballs at Alanii, who managed to dodge every single one of them. I jumped out of the car and hurried over.

"I don't think that's quite how it's played," I said when she spotted me.

Alanii's purple-and-black hair was tied back into a cool multi-coloured French plait. She grinned and called out for a break. "We make our own rules around here." She nodded at Phoenix, who was slowly making his way over to us. "Is it just me or did he get hotter?"

I looked at her in surprise and found her checking Phoenix out. "We are so not having this conversation, Alanii."

She grinned at me and greeted Phoenix when he grew closer. "Nice to see you again."

He gave her a warm smile. "I need help from a witch. Is she around?"

Alanii rolled her eyes. "She's sulking in the common room. Be careful. She booby-traps everything in sight since she started school."

"Not happy?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not even Noah can cheer her up."

"Is he around?"

"Just got in from work an hour ago, and he's still buzzing from it. Which doesn't help."

"We'll find her," Phoenix said, laying his hand on the base of my back to lead me inside the building. "She'll never stop talking otherwise," he whispered in my ear when we reached the front door.

"I heard that!" Alanii shouted after us.

We headed to the common room, where Noah, his hair falling into his eyes, was leaning over a bunch of screws and parts. A box full of bits and pieces stood next to his feet. Working in the garage had apparently given him a fever for taking things apart to see how they worked.

"Busy?" I asked.

He looked up and beamed, a distinct change from the violent, unhappy boy I had once felt sorry for. "Not for you." He dropped his screwdriver and wiped his palms against his jeans.

"Working man," I said, lightly thumping his shoulder. "How's the garage? Dave treating you okay?"

"Yeah, it's great. He says I'm a natural. I love it."

"You'll be moving out next." I glanced at Phoenix. "I have a building that would be amazingly good as a kind of halfway house. The ones with jobs could stay there, with supervision, until they're ready to go it alone."

"You want him to move out now!" a female voice screeched from across the room.

Noah rolled his eyes. "Here we go."

A blond teenage girl I had once found in an... awkward position with Noah strode across the room. The television flared in volume then completely shut down.

"Hey!" somebody protested.

"Calm down, Ari." Noah sounded bored.

Phoenix frowned. "Ari?"

"She changes her name every month," Noah said scornfully.

"Shut up!" she shouted, but when she reached him, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. She glared at me. "Stop trying to take him away from us."

"I'm just trying to—"

"I hate it here," Noah said, his face darkening. "Why can't you be happy for me that I get to be free? Do you expect me to just wait for you to come home from that school every day? I can't stay here forever."

"We're supposed to be a team," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "All of us. I can't take care of them all without you."

He gripped her shoulders and shook her. "We don't have to take care of them anymore!"

I tapped his shoulder. "Noah, come outside for a minute. Take a break."

His grip tightened then loosened. He nodded. "Fine."

I gave Phoenix a questioning look, and he nodded. He would stay with Ari and calm her down.

Noah and I wandered outside.

"That was a bit intense," I said.

"She wants everything to stay the same," he complained. "But it can't. It's not supposed to. And I just want to... explore."

"She's scared," I said. "Of losing everything she knows. She must have depended on you when you all ended up here."

"Yeah, but that's the point. I don't want to be depended on. I couldn't sleep properly for a long time, Ava. And now I look forward to every day. You don't get how different that is for me. I'll always be grateful to you. If you ever need somebody killed, I would do that for you."

I laughed until I realised he was serious. My laughter died away abruptly. "That isn't your job anymore, Noah."

"I know, and I'm glad. I just need to repay you somehow."

"But you don't have to. You have a choice how to live now. It doesn't have to be all about power or fear or deals. I don't need thanks. Dave needed help, and you needed an escape. It worked out."

He shrugged. "It's just good to get away from here. They all expect me to tell them what to do. Why can't they think for themselves now? I have to."

"They'll learn. They're still adjusting."

"Did you mean what you said about the halfway-house thing? I mean, I don't want to be living here with little kids for the rest of my life."

"I know. And I did mean it. The Senate might need some persuading, but you have to grow up sometime, right? It's part of normal life to move out and find your own way. You need more of the normal."

He kicked a stone. "A kid ended up here a few weeks ago. The parents sent her here because they didn't want her anymore. Is that what people are supposed to do?"

"No," I said. "But if her parents couldn't look after her, then maybe she's better off here. At least you all get cared for by people like Alanii."

"She's kind of cool," he said. "It's not like I wouldn't visit or anything. They're the only family I have. I wouldn't desert them."

"They'll understand that. It's just because you're the first. It's hardest the first time, I suppose."

A few minutes later, Phoenix came outside with Ari and sent Noah back in. Ari tossed her hair, her arms folded across her chest, but she at least looked a little sorry.

"I'll help," she said, giving Phoenix a sharp look. "But you better keep your end of the deal."

"I will," he said. "The books are yours."

"They better be good," she snapped. "Fine, what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Stop people from harming those we need to keep safe," Phoenix said.

"Yeah, but there are a million ways to do something like that." Her face brightened. "I can make them invisible. Not forever, but to prying eyes. I've been practising."

"It's a lot of space to make invisible," Phoenix said doubtfully.

"It's not really invisible," she said after a moment. "It's more like the wrong eyes can't see it. Like, if I wanted to hide something in the house, I might use magic so that only the grownups couldn't see it." She flipped her hair over her shoulder with a mischievous smile. "Not that I would ever do something like that."

"So you can hide the werewolves?" Phoenix asked. "And Ava's neighbourhood?"

"Piece of cake."

"Won't you get tired?" I asked. "I mean, drained because of using so much magic?"

She snorted derisively. "Like you'd know. I have power, and it's limitless."

"There's no such thing," I said. "Nothing is limitless. Everything has consequences. Everything requires some kind of payment. Are you sure you can do this, Ari? Are you sure you understand?"

"Oh, look at her. Because we lived in Hell, we don't know anything. We're just the idiots whose families let them get taken."

"Whoa." I held up my hands. "Nobody ever said that. I just wanted to let you know that magic isn't given freely. It takes, and there's a cost."

"Well, maybe I'm different," she said, pouting.

Somehow, I doubted she was.

Chapter Fourteen

I had to sit in the backseat on the way to the werewolves' territory because Ari was being a spoiled brat about everything in existence. If Dita ever acted even slightly similar, Anka would have dealt with her quickly. But I had to feel at least a little sorry for Ari. She had been through a lot. Still, something told me she would only get worse if her behaviour wasn't quashed every now and then. She played a horrendously bad radio station on the way, ignoring Phoenix's pointed looks when she sang along off-key.

She turned in her seat and narrowed her eyes at me. "Why are you so obsessed with Noah anyway?"

"I am not obsessed with anyone. He needed help, and I was able to give it to him."

"Hmm." She kept staring at me.

"What, Ari?" I said when it grew too unnerving to bear.

"It just seems like you really want him to move out."

I held her gaze. "Noah really wants to move out."

Her eyes glittered with anger. "Tell me, because I'm still behind on the terms humans like to use, but would that make you a cradle-snatcher or a cougar?"

"Phoenix," I said warningly.

"Enough, Ari," he said. "Stop trying to make enemies."

She settled in her seat and folded her arms. "I'm just saying. How would you feel if you caught her getting it on with your little boy?"

"Oh, you little—"

"Ari!" Phoenix said sharply. "Two weeks with no common room privileges. Do you really want to continue with this?"

Pouting, she raised the volume on the radio and was soon singing at the top of her lungs again. The car journey felt endless, and by the time we arrived, I was ready to strangle the girl.

"Are we going to actually see the werewolves?" she asked as we got out of the car. "Because I don't really like them."

"They won't hurt you," Phoenix said wearily.

"The cubs are weird at our school," she said. "Always biting and sniffing each other. It's creepy."

"People think you kids are weird and creepy, too," I snapped. "So give it a rest if you're not going to give them a chance."

"You can't tell me what to do," she said. "I can hurt you with magic before you ever touch me."

"Try me," I threatened.

"I will when you're least expecting it," she said with a toss of her head. "And you'd deserve my worst."

"Enough," Phoenix said. "If you don't want to help, you can go back home with the other little children, Ari."

She shrugged. "I said I'd help, didn't I?" She made a face. "You two aren't any fun."

"You have to be at least seventeen," I couldn't help saying. "Why are you acting like a tween gone wrong?"

She looked furious, but Phoenix got between us and urged us forward. "This is the start of their territory. How do you want to do this?"

"I'll need to make points at the borderlines," she said. "It'll stop people from accidentally wandering in. It's so big that there will probably be gaps, but it'll take all day to do it properly."

"We have all day," Phoenix said.

She made a face and slipped off her shoes. "One every mile should do." She stuck her toes into the grass and dug her heels into the earth. "This is a good place to start." She moved to an old oak tree and wrapped her arms around it.

I sensed a surge in the air, and the world seemed to vibrate a little. She really had been practising.

"It's done," she said. "Let's go."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I can feel it. The magic is already there."

"There's magic in that tree?" I asked doubtfully.

She looked at me as though I were the dirt from her shoe voicing a question. "There's magic everywhere. I see it, and I use it."

"Just like that?"

"What's your problem? This is what I do. It's why they call me a natural. There's magic already present; I just focused it. Anyone other than the werewolves and us three won't see past this tree anymore. They won't even try."

"That's impressive," Phoenix said.

"I told you I can do it," she snapped.

We got back into the car and drove for about a mile until Ari, who had been dangling her arm out the open window, barked at Phoenix to stop.

Intrigued, I got out to watch her work again. This time, Ari caressed a flower. Again, the same spark of power filled the air. She was very powerful, and I was likely a fool to have pissed her off, but the perverse side of my nature didn't care at all. I watched her carefully for signs of tiredness, or even pain, but she seemed flawless.

Why does nothing work that way for me? When I tried to use my own power, half the time it almost killed me. That's why I had to be so careful. But this kid seemed able to run all day, with her magic permanently switched on.

"I could probably help her strengthen the power," I said to Phoenix while Ari was busy planting another magical point in the earth. "I am a conduit."

"We may need you later," he said. "Besides, she seems to be handling it." He sounded awestruck.

"But what price is she paying?"

"Maybe a natural witch doesn't pay a price."

But I knew that couldn't be true. It wouldn't be balanced.

In fact, the longer the day went on, the less comfortable I felt with the whole situation.

"There's something wrong," I said a couple of hours later. "No one person has endless power. It's not balanced. It doesn't feel right."

"Nothing feels odd to me," he said. "What do you feel?"

I screwed up my face and rubbed the back of my neck. "Itchy."

He raised both eyebrows in concern. "Itchy?"

"It's making me feel uncomfortable. Something she's doing is making me feel... not good."

"Are you all right? You're sweating."

"I think we should stop," I said in a panicked voice. "It's not right."

"Ari," Phoenix said coldly. "Are you doing something to Ava?"

She turned around with a smile on her face. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to sit in the car," I said, feeling ill. Either the girl was purposely doing me harm with magic—which I doubted because I tended to make sure I knew what magic felt like when it was being used against me—or my distress was a side effect of her actions. Could that be the payment? If she didn't pay, maybe somebody close to her always would. That was an unsettling thought.

The same niggling worries haunted me all day. When we left the werewolves and moved onto the cul-de-sac, I went inside my house just to get away from the girl. Esther and Carl were hanging out in my living room.

"You look terrible," Esther blurted. "Are you okay?"

"Teenage witches abound," I said, rubbing my temples. I threw myself onto a chair. "I feel gross. She can go on forever, just throwing magic all over the place. She's not even tired."

"How can that be?" Carl asked, looking confused. "There's always a price to pay."

"Duh!" I held out my hands. "That's what I keep trying to tell them. But nobody ever listens to me until it's too late."

The pair exchanged a bemused glance.

"Oh, shut up," I said. "I've been feeling weird all day. I don't know if I'm the consequence to her magic or if..." I let my voice trail away, unwilling to bring up the balance. Phoenix was the only one who knew the truth about my indentured slavery for one hundred years, and I really wanted to keep it that way. It came with its benefits, and it wasn't really slavery, but I still didn't want to share that kind of information with my friends.

"Or if?" Carl continued.

"Or... if she's purposely trying to drive me mad. Parker's fire was a part of him, like it existed because he did, and he got tired from burning fires. How can she be okay after using magic all day? Magic that's still continuing, for that matter."

"Where is she now?" Esther asked.

"Oh, making this place invisible."

"Invisible?" Carl looked worried. "Is that what it's come to?"

"Phoenix told her to make the shifters avoid it. I probably should have asked for the Senate to avoid the place, too, after what happened."

"They're not going to be stupid enough to try to lock you up again," Carl said.

"Yeah," Esther agreed. "They're too afraid of Phoenix for that."

"But are they more scared of the paragon than Phoenix?" I said. "It really seems like they were more scared of the paragon than the werewolves."

"That was just panic," Esther said. "It's going to work out, Ava. Stop worrying."

"People are dying," I said, "and nobody can agree on who's doing the murdering. All it's done is turn everyone against each other. I keep thinking about Mac's body, and I just don't know how it's connected to the werewolf killings."

"Maybe it's not," Carl said.

"It's some coincidence, though," Esther said.

"Mac's death was very... it just seemed personal," I said. "Like, I don't know how somebody could do that to another person without there being a serious amount of vengeance behind it. The other murders seem more like... hunger than vengeance. I don't know what kind of person could do both."

"Doesn't have to be a person," Carl murmured.

"Don't you start. Everyone's so hot on the werewolves being guilty that they aren't even looking for an alternative."

He smiled. "Then it's lucky the werewolves have you and Phoenix to watch out for them."

"It's not all charitable," I said. "After all, if the paragon gets his way this time, the werewolves will just be the first species to figuratively burn. Val or I could easily be next."

"I wish he'd go home," Esther said viciously. "Why is he even here?" Then she clutched her head as another migraine came over her. Her hands turned into paws, and the claws dug into her skin until I gently pried them away. The migraine lasted a long time, too long for anyone to suffer such immense pain, but Esther didn't complain. She could barely do more than grunt anyway, but she looked determined to get through it. And that was the difference between her and the other shifters. They needed somebody to get them through tough times; Esther was tough enough on her own.

By the time Phoenix came back inside to tell me that the witch was done and he was taking her back home, Esther's migraine had passed. But I still worried that something was wrong with her, something that could be fixed by the right doctor. But leaving her in the clinic was almost the same as leaving her outside to die alone. The shifters would come for her as soon as she left the cul-de-sac.

Chapter Fifteen

Phoenix asked me to meet him at the courthouse after dark. I secretly couldn't wait to give the Senate a smug smile. I was a few minutes late, and when I entered the room, Phoenix was already in full swing.

"I leave for a couple of weeks, and this is what goes on? Extinction? What were you thinking?"

"We were thinking we didn't need a civil war on our hands," Layla said.

"Have you been reading the papers?" James demanded. "It's anarchy out there. The public are freaking out about this."

"So you decide to take away the single best reason why we aren't being invaded?" Phoenix paced in front of them as I slipped into a seat. "Do you think the British Vampire Association was the only group with such aspirations? We are a tiny country. The werewolves are our life force, the only thing stopping higher powers from stomping all over us. And all this because you panicked?" He stopped walking and glared at them.

"In case it's escaped your notice," James said snottily, "one of the Senate was murdered. You don't even seem bothered, never mind worried, that one of us will be next."

Phoenix waved a hand dismissively. "That's shifter business. It has nothing to do with the Senate. If someone wanted to attack the Senate, they would pick off those of us who aren't supported by a massive group of people. They would have chosen you first, James."

I had wondered if the Senate members were truly at risk, or if maybe the werewolf attacks and the shifter murders were one and the same—a way of removing power from the situation. But why wouldn't they go harder, like trapping the Senate inside the courthouse then setting it on fire. That kind of scheme had been tried before; I glanced over my shoulder, wondering if the building had an emergency exit.

As I was looking, the main doors burst open, and the paragon strode in, as confident as ever. No, cocky. As if he knows plenty we don't.

He gave me a brief sneer before striding past me and toward the front of the room. He relaxed into a seat then waved a hand at Phoenix. "Oh, did I interrupt? Go ahead. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. I have a newspaper interview to finish tomorrow."

Phoenix's face turned thunderous. The paragon hadn't been invited along to the festivities, and there had been a lot of backlash in the newspapers over Mac's unsolved death, the way the Senate had changed their minds so rapidly on the proposed werewolf extinction, and the fact that they weren't making an obvious attempt to protect humans. People were scared, and I couldn't blame them. Phoenix and I had to do everything we could to solve the murders before something worse happened.

"What are you trying to do to us?" Phoenix demanded. "Do you want to scare humans into murdering everyone they suspect is supernatural?"

The paragon smiled. "Now why would I want to do something like that?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Phoenix said. "And for your information, I'm going to track down the real killer, and I'm going to personally punish them."

"I'm sure you will," Regis said, keeping his face blank. "That's all any of us want, isn't it? To punish the werewolves for their crimes."

"The werewolves didn't do this."

"They've done it before. Or was there some other explanation?"

A war was fought across Phoenix's features, but he didn't tell the truth. I just hoped he was right to protect a demon, of all things.

"Well," the fae prince said at last, turning back to the Senate. "I invited Ava Delaney here so that the Senate could give her a full apology for trying to lock her up in the old Council cells, and—"

"I wasn't there for that," Daimhín said.

He gave her a stern look. "And to let you know that she will be joining myself and a werewolf on the hunt for a real killer."

"And if it turns out to be one of your precious werewolves?" James asked angrily.

Phoenix looked sad. "Then one of my precious werewolves will pay the price. But not all of them." He scowled, dots of colour spreading across his cheeks. "And never the young ones."

James looked chastened. "We ran out of options, Phoenix."

"If I had been here—"

"But you weren't here," James persisted. "Even now, we're being hounded by complaints. The public have turned against the werewolves. Emergency services are overwhelmed with terrified calls. Any large dog is suspected of being a werewolf. Even people who know better are scared. I'm scared." For the first time, James sounded sincere. "I've heard about Mac's body. I don't want to die like that."

"We'll find all of the people responsible for all of the recent deaths," Phoenix said gently, and my heart warmed. "I think we're done here for the night."

The Senate members all rose from their seats, looking relieved that Phoenix had stopped lecturing them. Some of them mumbled embarrassed apologies to me as they trailed out of the room. I didn't care. I was used to being treated by those in charge as though I were disposable, and I had a new mission.

The paragon followed Phoenix up the aisle toward me. He gave me a steady look but smiled at Phoenix. "Quite a collection of pets you're building up there, my prince. Be careful none of them bite back."

He left, his chin high in the air.

"Did he just call me your pet?" I asked. "I'm at least a sidekick."

"He... disturbs me," Phoenix said. "The paragons are not our friends. They're not anyone's friends."

"People in power don't have friends," I remarked.

He looked down at me in surprise. "I thought we were friends."

"Friends don't suddenly leave the country for weeks without as much as a goodbye, Phoenix."

He smiled. "You're incredibly human sometimes."

"Is that an insult or a compliment?" I asked. "You know what? I don't want to know. Is Lucia back yet?"

"She'll arrive tomorrow," he said. "Val promised to pick her up."

"Val and Peter are looking into the shifter murders," I said.

He nodded. "Val said. Can you meet me at the first crime scene tomorrow at around noon?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Good." He walked off without even a goodbye. Fae.

I headed home, walking without even thinking about it, until I came to an abrupt start and realised the cul-de-sac wasn't where it should have been. Thinking of myself as an idiot, I retraced my steps and actually paid attention to where I was going. And yet, I still couldn't find the cul-de-sac.

What the hell? I gaped for a few moments before realising what had happened. That little brat had made me blind to my own home! I really hoped Carl or any of the others weren't standing in their gardens, looking at me standing outside like an idiot simply unable to find the entrance.

"Fuck!" I kicked at gravel, and it skittered across the ground. Inspired, I found a large stone, picked it up, and threw it where I thought the cul-de-sac might be. If the rock went invisible, then I would know for sure. Maybe.

The rock flew into the air, landed on the ground, rolled, then stilled.

"Damn it!" Feeling immensely stupid, I glanced all around me then raised my voice. "Carl? Carl!"

There was no answer. I might have been somewhere completely different. She might not have made me blind; she could have sent me on a wandering path whenever I tried to go home.

"That stupid little witch!" I muttered every insult I could think of under my breath as I called Phoenix.

"What's wrong?" he asked when he answered. He was still on his way home.

I squeezed my eyes shut, embarrassed to even tell him my problem.

"Ava? Are you there?"

Unfortunately. "I can't find my bloody house, Phoenix."

There was a pause, then the sound of choked laughter. "Are you... sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You get that little witch out here before I kill her."

"I'll..." More muffled laughter. "I'll go fetch her. Meet us at the courthouse."

"Good. I can't wait to get my hands on that little—"

"On second thoughts, I'll meet you back at the courthouse after Ari has undone her little trick."

When he hung up, I headed back to the courtroom and waited for him, fuming. It was cold, and the courthouse had been locked up, so I had to stand outside on the street, blowing warm air into my freezing hands. When Phoenix finally turned up, without Ari, he couldn't contain his mirth. I knew there was a reason I hated witches.

"Get in," he said. "I'll drop you home. She's promised not to play any more pranks on you."

"Oh, why don't I feel safe?" I said, feeling grouchy, as I got into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. "And it's not funny."

"It's a little amusing," he said. "We probably should have seen this coming."

"I don't know how Alanii hasn't killed the little brat yet." I folded my arms crossly. "That's not acceptable behaviour, Phoenix. I know she did something to me before."

"I will deal with her," he promised.

"Emmett and Dita would never do anything like that."

"Well, they're not teenagers, are they?"

I grumbled the rest of the way home. When Phoenix pulled up outside my house, he hesitated long enough for me to invite him in.

"Want me to make you a coffee or something?"

He immediately agreed, making me think he was lonely in his house without the twins. Maybe he was ready to talk about what had happened between him and Lorcan.

As I was unlocking the front door, he ran back to his car to get his phone in case "somebody" called. I headed inside, took one look at my hallway, and screamed, nice and shrill.

Phoenix came running in. "What's happ—oh. That's... oh."

I gazed in horror at a full-length painting of me hanging on the wall. Painting-me was seductively posed and dressed in skin-tight leather while holding an obscenely long sword in one hand. Waist-length red hair was flowing behind me. My midriff was bare, my lips were pouty, and I had cleavage, for heaven's sake. The painting looked like the cover of a bloody novel.

I swallowed hard then managed to squeak, "What the hell is this?"

"You haven't seen this?"

I whirled around to glare at him. "Do I look like somebody who wasn't surprised by this?"

He held up his hands as Carl walked in and started laughing. He gave a low whistle, and I punched him in the arm.

"It was my turn!"

"Oh, no." He nodded approvingly at the picture. "It was so my turn."

"What's going on again?" Phoenix asked.

"We buy each other stupid gifts," I said. "But not... this monstrosity. I'm going to burn it right now."

Carl wrapped his arms around me and held me still. "But it's so beautiful."

I elbowed him and broke free. "You're insane."

"You're not burning it. Commissioning this cost me a fortune."

"Thanks for proving my point!"

"It was a joke," he said soothingly. "Come on. It's pretty funny. I knew I should have set up a video camera."

I thumped his arm. "Carl!"

"Oh, chill out. Where's your sense of humour?"

Hands on my hips, I advanced on him. He had the sense to back away.

"Let me see," I said. "The shifters want me dead, the paragon wants me dead, and somebody's trying to frame everyone. The Senate are against us, the vampire queen chose the other side, an annoying teenage witch hid my home from me, Peter kissed me out of the blue, and I—"

Carl cleared his throat and nodded at Phoenix.

Shit. I had forgotten he was there. That deflated my temper. I screwed up my mouth, took a breath, then turned to Phoenix with an embarrassed smile. "Maybe another time for that coffee?"

His lips twitched. "Of course." He headed to the door then hesitated. "Don't burn the painting."

I wished I had something to throw at him. I heard him laughing as he shut the front door behind him.

"I'll take the painting away," Carl said. "Now let me feed you chocolate before you kill me."

I gave him a small smile before following him into the kitchen.

"So, Peter finally went for it then?" He put on the kettle.

I took cups out of the press. "Oh, yeah."

"And what did you do?"

"Kinda let him."

"Gonna let him again?"

I bit my lip. Was I? "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"But do you want to?"

"I'm not made of stone, Carl. It's been a while."

"Yeah, we know. You've been getting progressively grumpier as the months go on," he teased.

"Shut up, or I'll start thinking about that painting again."

He laughed and finished making the tea before raiding the presses for chocolate. He found more than my fair share, but his kitchen likely resembled a sweet shop, too, no matter how much he liked to deny it.

My mood turned pensive. I knew nice men, decent men, like Carl and Shay, but they just didn't set a fire inside of me. People like Peter and Phoenix, both broken and dangerous in so many ways, were the ones who appealed to me.

"Do you think there's something wrong with me?"

Carl pushed a cup in front of me. "Now that's a loaded question."

"It's just... do you think it's weird that I kind of gravitate toward flawed men? I mean, does that say something about me?"

"Isn't that a woman thing?" he asked lightly. "Trying to 'fix' men."

I threw a biscuit at him. "I'm being serious, Carl."

He sobered. "You always talk about your ex like he was perfect, how much you needed him back then. Well, maybe you want to be needed for a change. Maybe that makes you feel more powerful, more in control. Maybe you feel more whole if the person by your side is a little... broken."

I stared at my cup morosely. I wasn't sure I liked the person Carl had just described.

"But what do I know?" he said breezily. "I've been known to make, oh, about a million bad choices when it comes to my love life."

"I'll never one-up that painting," I said to change the subject.

"Kind of the point. Now don't kill me, but what are you going to do about Peter? You need to either cut him off or go all in. He's not the fling type."

"I thought I cut him off already."

"Yeah, you did." He frowned. "With Peter, you'd probably have to cut his heart out to make him realise you're done with him."

"Bit harsh."

"Not literally. But seeing you move on with someone else might do it."

I squirmed. "Can we not? My nerves aren't up for this conversation tonight."

"No worries." He reached for a biscuit. "So, what was all that about teenage witches?"

"Ari, the girl who put protection on the place, also decided to prank me. Must be the week for it. She made it so I wouldn't find my way home."

"I'm kind of impressed." He shivered. "She's intense, though. I see her walking around the school like she's planning to blow the place up. Don't make enemies of scary teenage witches with chips on their shoulders; they grow up to be scary powerful witches who've lost their souls."

I needed more than chocolate to make me feel better about that.

***

I had wondered how Phoenix was going to sneak a massive werewolf around with us, but aside from a couple of kids staring and pointing from across the road when we met up at the crime scene, Phoenix could have been walking an ordinary dog on the leash. The lead itself was just for show, but the sight of the werewolf straining against it made me uncomfortable. They had gone from mindless animals to people in my head, but the rest of the world appeared to be a few steps behind.

I greeted Icarus then nodded at Phoenix. He looked completely still as he waited for me.

"Feeling better?" Phoenix asked hesitantly.

"Let's just... not talk about it." I jerked my chin toward the house. "This is it. The first body, the one I saw. It turned out to belong to the owner of the house. He lived alone, no witnesses."

He turned to stare at the building. "It's a nice house."

"I suppose," I said. "But the walls say, 'Keep out, world.'"

He shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with a little privacy. But it sounds like his walls didn't protect him."

"I know what that's like." At his puzzled look, I shook my head. "Never mind. Shall we go in?"

"Icarus is eager to begin." He moved ahead of me, opened the gate, then removed the leash from the werewolf's neck. Icarus bounded into the garden, and Phoenix followed. I took a quick look over my shoulder before joining them. I kept getting the feeling someone was watching me, but it was probably just the kids across the road, or a shifter. Not that I needed to worry with a werewolf on my team for the day.

Once the body had been removed and the crime scene cleared away, very little remained—only a dark, purpling stain on a patch of earth.

Icarus, however, found interest in the many scents in the garden. He eagerly sniffed the dark patch then abruptly ran off to the other end of the garden.

"Think he's picking up something?" I asked hopefully.

"It's hard to say." Phoenix frowned. "Describe the body to me."

I sucked in a breath. I really didn't want to remember. "It was... messy." I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the scene forever etched into my memory. "It was quiet, very still. Shay's recruits were waiting for us when we got there. The wind wasn't strong, and the scents didn't hit me until I reached the gate. It was splattered with a little blood, but not enough that a human walking by would likely notice." I let out a shaky breath.

"What was the body like?" he asked softly, and I jumped, startled by how close to me he was.

I kept my eyes closed. "It was torn apart. There were a few chunks of flesh scattered around, but not enough to account for what was missing from the body. It was completely destroyed. The attack looked frenzied, and I think..." I frowned. I hadn't noticed that at the time. "I think the body was dragged to the spot. From..." I opened my eyes and pointed, realising Icarus was already sniffing around at a gate in that direction. "From over there, actually."

"Very good," Phoenix said, sounding pleased. "Shay told me they figured that out after you left. Beyond that gate is a small orchard, and it was there that they found a shed awash with blood. That's where the man was killed, violently but efficiently. They believe he died after the first strike to his heart. He wasn't eaten until after he was dead."

"When he was torn apart." I reached up my sleeve to rub the sudden goose bumps on my skin. "You don't think somebody killed him and fed him to a werewolf, do you?"

"I didn't see the body, and there is nobody out there who can get close enough to the werewolves to find out if their teeth match the marks on the body."

"Nobody but you."

His back stiffened. "May I see?"

I hesitated, feeling shy about the idea of him dipping into my memories. But if it helped him identify the bite marks, then perhaps it was the right thing to do.

"It's all right," he said. "I understand if—"

"No, it's fine." I sucked in a deep breath. "It might be important."

He held my gaze for a couple of seconds and gripped my arms. "You must relax. Your mind will fight me when your body is so stiff."

"Sorry. I'm just... nervous."

He ran his hands up to my shoulders and squeezed. "It won't hurt. I just need to see the body. Can you show it to me? It might be easier for you if you feel in control."

I nodded, holding his gaze as he sank his fingers into my hair. I closed my eyes. He touched my scalp, a tingle of magic caressed my skin, then I felt him in my mind, a traveller clinging to me.

That wasn't so bad. I could do it. I thought of the memory and brought it to the forefront of my mind. I felt the mild breeze, caught the scent of blood, and paid more attention when Phoenix made me hang around in that memory. I wasn't a hunter, but surely a werewolf wouldn't have been tempted by scents on such a still day. And the lack of noise was disturbing—no birds, no rustling, nothing. How could someone have died so violently in such quiet without anyone hearing? Even the local wildlife must have been terrified. That didn't happen when the werewolves were around.

As I observed the wounds, paying attention to the bite marks, I felt Phoenix's triumph. They didn't belong to the werewolves. The paragon was going to be pissed—and that made me think of the Eleven. I saw them sitting around me and panicked that I had shown Phoenix something that was supposed to be a secret. I ran from the memory and straight into one of Phoenix the first time he had delved into my memories. We had been close enough to kiss, and I had wanted to. Now he knows that. Memories switched as I desperately looked for something safe to remember. Why isn't he going away? Peter was kissing me, and—

I broke away from Phoenix as he finally released me.

Mortified, I backed away from him. "Why didn't you let go?"

"I'm sorry." He stepped forward, holding out his hands in a placating gesture. "I didn't do that on purpose. I swear it. You panicked, and I got stuck, and I..." He shook his head. "I'll never touch your memories again. I promise you."

I covered my cheeks with my hands. "Let's just forget it. It's less embarrassing that way."

He gave me a pained look. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Ava."

I walked around him, unable to face him anymore. "At least we know for sure that we're not looking for a werewolf."

"We need proof that comes from an unbiased source," he said. "Nobody's going to believe me when I say that a werewolf bite is shaped differently than the murderer's."

"Okay," I said, bucking up. "We'll just find more proof."

He hesitated. "We should probably check out the second murder site."

"What about the farmer?"

"Farmer?"

"At one of the Senate meetings, a farmer came and explained that his entire stock of dairy cows had been eaten. The Senate seemed to think the werewolves were the culprits, but it might be worth checking out."

"All right, then. There are two other crime scenes that we know of. The farm with the lost cattle, and the place where the murdered jogger was found. I'd like to speak to the farmer. He might be a witness."

"I've no idea where the farm is," I said.

"I'll have the address with one phone call. Are you still interested in... accompanying me?"

I turned to face him. "I'm in this as much as you are. I want the murderer found, Regis gone, the shifters put back in their box, and everything else to go back to normal. I'm in, Phoenix."

He smiled. "Great. I rented a pickup so Icarus could ride in the back. It's holding well so far."

"You really know how to reassure a girl," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Icarus!" he called out. "Let's go!"

Icarus had been lying on the grass, looking bored. He hadn't picked up any clues. It was a pity he hadn't been at the crime scene on the day the body was found.

"They should bring werewolves to crime scenes," I remarked as we walked to the pickup. "It would make things so much easier."

"I'm not sure how well the police would adjust to having werewolves trampling their crime scenes."

We got into the truck. "Do you think the werewolves will ever live like shifters and only transform when they have to?" I babbled, thinking of anything to avoid discussing the awkward scene from before. "I mean, will there ever be a detective who just happens to be a werewolf?"

"The werewolves love their wolf form. Someday, perhaps one of the children who learn to fit in well enough will want a normal job," he said. "But not anytime soon."

He made a quick phone call to get the farm's location. "It's not so far," he told me. "We should be there in less than an hour."

I gazed out the window as we drove, lulled into sleepiness by the movement. We may have needed more evidence, but Phoenix's reaction to the bite marks had been real. The werewolves were innocent, and I was certain Esther was innocent, too. But I couldn't connect the two similar events, no matter how I looked at them.

I jumped when Phoenix woke me gently to tell me we had arrived. We were parked outside a large farmhouse, and as we left the car, the old man from the Senate meeting approached us, along with a younger man I took to be his son.

"Can I help you?" he asked. "Are you here to double-check the amounts?"

Phoenix shook his head. "Actually, we're here to investigate the crime."

"There's a werewolf in the back of their truck," the younger man said. "They brought one of those killers here, Dad."

"It wasn't the werewolves," I said sharply. "And we need him to help us track down who did this." I looked at the old man. "We want to stop this from ever happening again, but that won't happen if we continuously blame the wrong species just because it's convenient. May we please take our werewolf friend across your land to see if we can pick up clues, anything at all, that might lead us to the real killer."

The old man held my gaze for a moment before nodding.

"Dad," his son pleaded.

"Nobody saw a werewolf commit a crime. These people saved us from being enslaved to vampires," the old man said. "Have you forgotten that already? The least we can do is give them permission to protect us again." He nodded at me. "Go ahead. Take as long as you need."

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

Much to the younger man's consternation, his father opened a gate for us and gave us a brief description of his land and the areas where they'd kept the cattle.

"You did well with him," Phoenix said as we crossed a muddy field.

"Don't sound so surprised."

"You can talk to people," he said. "You're capable of being truly persuasive, but you never bother with the Senate or others with power. Why is that?"

"I hadn't noticed," I lied. "What kind of thing should we look out for here?"

"We'll follow Icarus's lead," he said, gesturing to the werewolf, who had already bounded off. "If there's anything to be found, he will find it for us. You slept through most of the journey, but I believe this farm in its entirety is large enough to be close to both crime scenes."

"It just doesn't make sense to me," I said. "There are plenty of farms around the country. Why clear this one of its cattle, only to move on to a single human in two separate attacks?"

"The cattle for hunger, the humans to send a message?" he offered.

"Maybe it was just bad timing. The killer roams, and for whatever reason, something about these humans triggered its hunting instincts."

"It's a possibility." He sounded doubtful.

I couldn't blame him—I was reaching for an explanation.

We kept moving, growing muddier by the minute.

"I think I'd like this," he said as we inspected a broken fence. "Toiling the land, growing my own food, trying to be self-sufficient."

"Not me." I avoided a puddle. "I like sitting in my kitchen, drinking tea with Carl while we consume vast amounts of pre-packaged confectionaries."

"You must want more from life than that."

"Staying alive has kind of been my top priority for a while now."

We strolled to the next field. We hadn't seen Icarus in ages. I hoped he wasn't scaring any farmers. Phoenix's face had gone intense and brooding, and my legs were restless. My conversation with Carl about flawed men kept running through my head and making me want to run. Phoenix viewing my memories made me want to never come back.

Icarus let out a sharp bark from somewhere nearby.

"He may have found something," Phoenix said.

"Oh, joy. We get to run through muddy fields together."

He ran ahead then turned to grin at me. "I'll race you."

I made as if to run, and he sprinted away.

"Sucker," I muttered, strolling behind him. At the fence by the next gate, something caught my attention. On the barbed wire that kept the cattle away from the fencing, something fluttered in the wind. I looked closer and winced. It was a patch of skin, fur and all. "Gross."

Phoenix found me. "Why didn't you follow?"

I pointed at the patch of grey matted fur.

"Unpleasant," Phoenix said after he whistled for Icarus. "But it may have been one of the cows trying to escape in their panic."

"That hair doesn't exactly look bovine. What did Icarus find?"

"Some bones. The teeth marks were distinctive, and not like a werewolf's at all."

"If we could just see this thing or at least know what we're looking for," I said. "Do you think it could be a shifter gone mad?"

He gazed at the hair. "I don't know of any shifter in Ireland who is quite so dangerous in animal form." He gave me a meaningful look.

I nodded at the ugly patch of hair. "Esther does not look like that in bear form. And she's never alone, so stop hinting."

Icarus bounded over and immediately sniffed out the patch of skin. His ears pricked back, the hair on the back of his neck puffed up, and his tail went between his legs. He growled and paced impatiently next to us as Phoenix took a closer look.

"This could be our killer," he said. "Although that doesn't tell us much other than the fact this thing is hairy and perhaps injured."

Icarus refused to leave the patch of skin alone. If he wasn't following a trail, then there was none left. It was time to move on to fresher evidence.

"Icarus is done here. We should get to the final crime scene. Do you know how to get there?"

"Shay gave me directions. It's at the base of a mountain, apparently, and a popular spot for hikers, joggers, and dog walkers."

"Well, we sort of have a dog, so we'll fit right in."

He raised a brow. "You have a curious sense of humour, Ava Delaney."

"So I've been told."

In the pickup, we rode in silence, not even listening to the radio. My fingers itched to turn something on to break the silence, but Phoenix's quiet mood had unnerved me.

When we arrived, I stared at the wooded area in surprise. "You were right. All of these locations are close together, and near open ground. So how come nobody caught a glimpse of this thing?"

"Perhaps it's marking its territory." He pulled a map from under his seat and pointed. "This is the first scene, and here is the second. Between those is the cattle farm. The killer must be close. Perhaps it has a den nearby." He frowned. "But that depends on how far it can run. The werewolves take up a significant amount of space, but there are a lot of them. I can't see any of them coming all the way out here and none of the other werewolves noticing they were gone, or failing to scent the blood from their fur. The way that human was killed must have been extremely bloody." He looked at me, his eyes bright with excitement. "I'm growing even more certain that we can prove it's not a werewolf."

"That's not good news," I said. "At least we know about the werewolves and how to deal with them. This is something different, maybe even something new. And it's big, strong, and bloodthirsty."

His face fell. "The problem is that you've just described half the supernatural population. So many are capable of this kind of violence."

"But most won't actually want to do this, right?"

"There are human criminals, Ava. Why not supernatural ones?"

"A supernatural serial killer," I whispered. "That's really bad."

"Then let's move on," he said. "I'm not sure where the scene is exactly, but I have a rough guide, and Icarus will easily find the place. Shay said to keep to the south. So that's what we'll do."

We got out of the truck. Phoenix called Icarus, who leapt out of the truck bed and immediately tried to run northwest.

"This way," Phoenix said, but Icarus seemed reluctant to follow. "The new scents likely overwhelm him," Phoenix explained. "He rarely leaves his own territory."

We made our way south on a jogging trail, and eventually, Icarus followed then ran ahead.

"He'll be there before we ever will," Phoenix said, but he was walking so fast that I was practically jogging to keep up.

He glanced down at me. "Sorry. I'll slow down."

"I can keep up."

"You're quite short. You have to walk three times as fast to keep up."

I frowned. "I'm not that small. And I can keep up."

"I don't want you to be out of breath when we get there. You won't be able to talk."

"Oh, shame," I said, rolling my eyes when he exaggeratedly slowed down. "Hey," I said after a few minutes of silence. "Have you ever had any dealings with mediums?"

"Mediums?"

"You know, people who see the dead."

"Oh. Not that I can recall. Why?"

"You know how Emmett can see spirits sometimes? Well, Peter ran into this woman who claims Emmett needs a guide, and apparently, she'll do."

"I see." He thought about it for a minute. "I can see why a child would need a guide, to help them separate what is real and what's not. It must be confusing for a small child to see spirits and living people together and not have either acknowledge the other."

"I can sense spirits sometimes," I said sulkily. "I could guide him."

"But you're not a medium. If this woman is a medium, then perhaps she has experience with..." He gave me a curious look. "Are you upset about it?"

"Upset? No. But I don't know her. She could be weird."

He blinked a couple of times. "Peter told me that I'm weird."

"Nobody's letting you babysit Emmett, though, are they?" Then I realised what I had said and how foolish my concerns even sounded. "Just ignore me. I'm feeling... odd about it, that's all."

"Left out?" he asked.

"When did you get all perceptive and shit?"

He shot me a steady look. "I've had experiences, too, you know."

"Yeah, but you're very removed from them. You are weird, but you have a right to be after the life you've had."

"Because I can't remember my wife or because I can't remember my children?"

"Both, obviously. But this woman is a human who happens to see ghosts. I mean, that's different."

"Do you think Lucia had difficulties as a child? Being unable to talk and having visions? That must have been terrifying for her."

I realised too late that we were on a bad subject. "She had Lorcan to look after her." Seeing his crestfallen face, I took his hand and stopped walking. "It's not your fault, Phoenix. You did everything you could to be with your family. Your mother took your memories, took everything away from you. You can't feel guilty about that. Lorcan did a great job of caring for himself and Lucia, and she did a great job of giving Lorcan the strength to do all of that. They got that from their parents."

"He's angry with me," he said. "Lorcan will always resent me in some way. I don't think even he knows why. Not completely."

"He was so busy surviving before that he never really had a chance to process how his life turned out. I think maybe he feels like he's wasted a lot of years as a vampire slave, then more hiding and fighting in the war here. He needs to spread his wings a bit and figure out who he wants to be before he can get to know who you are."

His expression softened. "You're quite good at that."

I was confused. "At what?"

"Making sense to me. It's easy to be on top of things when it comes to the Senate, but with my own family, I feel slightly lost. Then you say a few words, and everything seems better. How do you do that? It's a skill I'd like to use on Lorcan."

I bit my lip to stop from laughing. "That sounds like you want me to teach you to manipulate Lorcan. Just show him you care, and it'll all work out."

Icarus howled suddenly, and Phoenix blinked and took a step away from me. "He's found it. We should go."

As he headed on along the path, I was struck by the similarities between Phoenix and Peter. Each had lost his son early. Neither had thought to find a family again. Neither knew quite how to connect with his son. And I was the one they both turned to for help. Me, who would never have a child of my own, who had never had a loving family, either. I wasn't certain if I was giving them advice or telling them what I would want from my parents if I somehow met them—if they turned out to have been alive all along. I shuddered. I had never realised how hard it must have been for Lorcan and Emmett to reunite with fathers they didn't really remember.

Lorcan's memories came from Lucia's visions, he had once admitted to me, and Emmett had been so young when he was kidnapped that he hadn't even realised he had a father. The misery that had filled their lives was over, but the desire to forget the past and move on was just that: a desire. Nobody had actually taught Lorcan or Emmett to deal with the past or how to move beyond it. Emmett couldn't even talk about his past.

There had to be something I could do to help everyone. Weirdly, Peter and Emmett were suddenly getting along a lot better than before, while Phoenix and Lorcan had moved farther apart. Who was I to say what was right or wrong in that situation?

I trod through the trees, wondering why exactly Phoenix would turn to me for help. He could go anywhere, find anyone, and boss the world if he wanted to, but when he came to me for help, he was as fragile and innocent as a child. Carl had once warned me that Phoenix couldn't be a replacement for Peter, that I couldn't go from trying to fix one man to the next. At the time, I had been annoyed, but I had begun to wonder.

Chapter Sixteen

The second crime scene didn't resemble a crime scene at all at first glance. Aside from a patch of flattened grass near a tree, the area was as it should have been. But Icarus was beyond the spacious glade, standing next to a dense grouping of trees and guarding what I imagined was the real scene of the murder.

"This is where the body was dragged," Phoenix said. "It's almost as if the kills happen away from view and then later are dragged into the light."

"That's creepy," I said, trudging into deeper undergrowth.

Icarus moved on, leading us to a narrow clearing that had obviously seen some action. The grass and plants had been torn up, blood splattered the trunks of the trees, and the air still held the scent of death. "This is it," I said. "This is where it happened."

"Did she try to fight back?" Phoenix asked as he paused next to a distinct bloody handprint on a tree.

"It's messy, but it's not..." I whirled around in a circle, trying to figure out exactly what was bothering me. "You know what? This is a pretty small space. Icarus is just sitting there, and he practically takes up all the room. How would a werewolf fight or kill something here without, I don't know, knocking a tree down or something?"

Icarus chuffed as though he agreed.

"It's possible a werewolf could have killed here," Phoenix said, "but very unlikely if the attack was as frenzied as the evidence leads us to believe. The Senate can't possibly believe the werewolves did this when I tell them everything we've found."

That was a bit naïve. Unless we found the perpetrator, most people wouldn't care about the details.

"Why don't they clean up this mess?" I asked, desperate to get out of the death site.

"Is the blood bothering you?"

"No, it's dead." I shivered at his surprised glance. "That sounded wrong. Since I joined the Eleven, I haven't had as much trouble with my thirst issues." Or the counting issues, for that matter. "It's just that anyone could walk by and see all of this."

"They don't want people to come here again," he explained. "If something is hunting nearby, the fewer people around, the better. The main routes that lead here have been blocked off. One would have to travel a mile off the tracks to find this."

"That'll just intrigue those who shouldn't be here," I said. "The thought of kids being curious about the crime scene and coming across the killer instead is going to haunt my dreams."

"Not many people know the exact location." He looked around. "We have to find this creature before anyone else does."

"It'll take luck or else a lot of time spent searching."

"The farmer we visited," he said. "What was the Senate's response to him?"

"They said they'd reimburse him." I made a face. "They're going to be broke if they have to keep reimbursing people for stuff like this."

He sighed. "We're going to be broke. You have to stop thinking of it as us and them."

"We would never have put the werewolves to death."

"You're the only person who tried to do anything to stop it. That makes me sad."

"Shay did help in the best way he could. And most people didn't actually know about it."

"But you're the one the Senate chose to lock up. You were their biggest threat. Or the werewolves' biggest advocate."

"That's what Willow asked me to be. She didn't seem to like it when I advocated for the werewolves, though. The Senate have been keeping their heads in the sand, big time."

He glanced at me. "This is why you should be on the Senate."

I groaned. "No bloody way."

"You could help me do a lot of good."

"Nope. I would lose my mind within a week and kill the rest of the Senate."

He shrugged. "Would that really be so bad?"

"Yes! Besides, I'm not a leader. I don't want to have to deal with stupid politicians and annoying paragons."

"Don't remind me. You know what the scary part is, Ava? That paragon could go on a killing spree, and I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it."

"What? Why?"

"The paragons are a higher power. As in, they have more power than I ever will, and they're above our laws."

"They're not above the Eleven," I whispered. "And the Eleven hate the paragons because they came after them before. When I confronted Regis, I felt the Eleven with me, as though they were watching me, adding their power to mine. It was... disturbing, and it's just another reason why I couldn't be on the Senate—there's no way I could remain fair."

"You're just making me want you on the Senate all the more. Imagine having another kind of power with us. That could be useful." He sounded interested then deflated. "But the paragons have armies. These armies destroy their enemies. And we have rapidly become Regis's enemy. Do you know how one becomes a paragon?"

I shook my head.

"They claim to have a noble proving, one that will fit the right person to the job, but it's a lot simpler than that. The one thing all of the paragons have in common is their own personal armies. Those with power... rule."

"Why don't they turn on each other then?" I asked. "Get rid of the competition."

"They do. They won't admit it often, but they spend more time conniving and looking for weakness in their peers than they do actually influencing Senates and Councils."

"See what I mean?" I shook my head and unthinkingly reached out to pet Icarus while he was sniffing at something. "I couldn't—ow!"

Icarus had snapped his head around and laid his fangs on my arm. He pulled back at the last second, leaving bloody red stripes behind. If he had meant to bite, I likely wouldn't have had an arm left.

"You shouldn't disturb him when he's following a scent like this," Phoenix scolded as he approached.

The werewolf licked my wound once before turning his back on me.

Phoenix moved my other hand out of the way and pressed a stark-white handkerchief against the wound. "It's not so deep. It'll be fine."

"Hey, thanks for the bucketloads of sympathy," I remarked, only half-joking.

He blinked at me in surprise. "But you're strong. I know you can take it."

That set off a weird whirlwind of emotion inside me. On the one hand, I wanted him to show concern for me for what was likely a completely childish reason. On the other, I felt good knowing he saw me as somebody who could take care of herself, as someone on par with him. That was oddly gratifying, and my chest warmed.

I smiled up at him, and he cocked his head to the side, a curious look on his face.

"What?" I said, faltering under the intensity of his gaze.

"When you smile like that, I want to smile back."

I rubbed the nape of my neck self-consciously. "Smiles are catching."

"No, it's different." He tipped my chin to force me to look at him. "Do it again."

I brushed him off. "I'm not a toy."

"No, I didn't mean..." He tutted. "I'm sorry. I'm not good at... being normal."

"I know," I said softly. "That's okay. I wouldn't know normal if it slapped me in the face with a fish."

I did laugh then, at the look on his face, and he grinned back, his face softening.

"This is what I mean," he said, and he moved noticeably closer. "I'm able to smile. It's not a chore. It's real. Is that what friendship is, Ava? Or is it..." He bit his lip.

He had nice lips. I mean, it wasn't like I was constantly checking him out or anything, but I wasn't made of ice. I had thought about what it would be like if Phoenix and I took things in another direction, maybe more often than was healthy. I didn't need another stunted relationship, and Phoenix wasn't ready for anything closely resembling a relationship anyway. But sometimes I got lonely.

"When I was away, I discovered some things about my past," he said in a low voice. "I saw memories of Helena and me. I saw my own happiness, joy, anger, and pain, and none of it felt real. Not like this. You're the only one who doesn't judge me. Even Lorcan can't..."

"All Lorcan needs is time."

"He looked at me like he hated me."

"He doesn't hate you. Family is important to him." I caught sight of a ring on his finger. "Is that new?"

"Only to me."

I took his hand to take a closer look. His fingers were cold and covered in my blood. My wound had stopped bleeding, but it was deep enough to make a mess. I ran my thumb over the surface of the silver ring to wipe away a crimson smear, and a shiver crept up my spine. I had been around enough relics to know when I was in the presence of one. "It feels ancient."

"It is," he whispered as though in awe himself. "It's a family heirloom. It was my father's, and it was brought to me by some of his kin who returned to Ireland after Fionnuala's death. They've told me stories of him."

"That's so great." I glanced at him. His cheeks were flushed with colour.

"They want me to lead them properly," he said. "To tell them what to do, to lead them, to build an army of our own."

"Slightly more ominous."

"They're old-fashioned," he said. "But they want things to be different than before. My mother gave up on a lot of our ways in exchange for things she needed to personally grow in power. All the fae want now is for me to help them restore their pride once again."

"So they accept the twins?" I made to let go of his hand, but he held mine instead.

"Most of them do, yes."

"And they don't mind that you just up and leave them?"

He covered my hand with his. "I'm sorry if that made you unhappy."

"I barely saw you even before that. Ever since the whole thing with the first vampire kidnapping Lucia..."

He squeezed my hand. "I'm no longer angry about that, but I felt... uncomfortable around you. I was so angry at the time. I recognised the distress in your eyes when I blamed you, and it made me fear I was becoming my mother."

"You'll never be her," I said fiercely.

He hesitated before brushing strands of hair away from my face. "Peter told me something about you that's been playing on my mind."

"Oh?" I tried to sound light-hearted, but dread dragged my tone down. "Care to share?"

"He's very angry with me still. Over my anger about Lucia, and from before. The time when I used the whip on you to convince my mother I was still on her side."

I froze. "Peter's a very angry person."

"He told me you still have nightmares about that day."

"How would he even know that?" I snapped, letting go and turning my back on him. My breaths grew ragged. Does everyone know I have nightmares? They didn't know that Phoenix never wielded the whip in my dreams—other people did. The dead, my past tormenters, all of my fears held a whip in my dreams. But never Phoenix.

He rested his hands on my shoulders. "You said he kissed you. I assumed you and he were..."

"No, not since he left."

The grip on my shoulders tightened. "You don't like it when people leave."

I refused to answer. I had been alone for so long that losing my friends and returning to a solitary life had become my biggest fear. I didn't want to be that lost soul ever again.

He slid one of his hands upward until his fingertips touched the bare skin on my neck. "I had to leave, but I've been having trouble figuring out some things. Things to do with you. Feelings that I... I'm very confused, Ava. I had a life I don't remember, and when you touch me, I wonder how I felt before. I'm not sure I'll ever recover enough to share my life with another person. Not again. Not after everything that happened."

I turned to face him. "I know that. It must feel crazy for you, but I told you that you could see my old memories of Helena if you wanted, and I'm sure Lucia is willing to show you more memories about how much you loved your wife."

"But nobody can show me how I felt," he said, looking frustrated. "Seeing isn't the same as feeling. Nobody can help me feel that way again."

"No, they can't. And I'm sorry for that. The only thing that can fill in the blanks is your imagination."

"But I don't even know how to picture it," he said mournfully.

"If it were me, I'd imagine the perfect love, something that couldn't be broken. If nothing will compare to that, then there's no point trying to make anything else the same, so it's okay when whatever comes next is different."

"Is that what you do to yourself? To get over your ex?"

The one whose memory you took away at my request?

"I used to," I admitted. "But that love was perfect for a different version of me. You said it yourself—I'm strong, and I can take it. But I wasn't strong then, and I needed somebody to help me see that people could be trusted. Now I know that there's a good mix of all kinds of people in the world, and none of that matters as long as I'm comfortable being me. And I am. This is who I am, and I'm glad of it. But I get lonely, too."

"Yes," he said. "It is lonely. But the thought of burdening another with what goes on in my head is even more terrifying than being lonely forever."

"So don't do that part," I said. "But that doesn't mean you can't share a little comfort sometimes."

"A woman kissed me while I was away. It was a surprise."

I grinned at the tone of his voice. He sounded like a teenage boy after his first kiss. "What was that like?"

"Nice."

"Nice?"

"Pleasant."

I couldn't resist the giggle that popped out of my mouth. "My surprise kiss was better," I teased before I ducked under his arm and walked on.

He gripped my arm and pushed me against a tree, his body pressing against mine. My heart raced so hard, he could probably hear it. I could hear his pulse, after all. His hand slid across my cheek and into my hair, tilting my head upward. I couldn't break away from his gaze. I gripped his shirt, unable to do anything else. I wasn't sure what I thought about what was happening, but my body was ready to go with it.

He ducked his head and dropped a soft kiss on my lips before pulling back to give me a questioning look. I pulled him to me, and he moved eagerly, his other hand around my waist to move my body closer to his. He was too tall for it to be comfortable, but that was okay with me.

His mouth was surprisingly warm, and after a moment of me taking the lead, he grew hungry, his tongue slipping against mine as if it had just remembered to dance. I leaned against his chest, feeling the comfort that only another lost, lonely person could provide. I didn't have to think about anything but the need and warmth and—

Icarus howled in the distance, but there was something angry in it, a warning. Then someone screamed.

Phoenix and I instantly broke apart. My hands moved to my lips, and I felt a note of horror. We had been basically making out like teenagers against a tree while a poor human was being attacked by... Icarus? Or something even worse.

To my surprise, Phoenix held my face in his hands. "You were right. Yours is better."

I actually cringed.

He brushed his nose against mine. "And thank you, but we have to go."

I ran after him, bemused that he'd thanked me for a kiss. But I supposed he was thanking me for a kiss with no strings attached. Icarus's second inhuman howl totally turned me off that line of thought.

We rushed through the forest, but we couldn't find Icarus anywhere.

"Either sound travelled, or he's chasing something," Phoenix muttered. "He's farther away than I thought." He took a GPS tracking system from his pocket.

"You put microchips into the werewolves?"

"It was a concession in order to give them their freedom," he explained, taking long strides back in the direction we had come from. "And it's a good thing, too. Or we would never find Icarus in time. Back to the truck. It's too far to walk."

We made it to the truck and set off, neither of us referring to what had happened before.

"I'll wash your hanky thing," I said to break the silence as he drove at breakneck speed.

"Keep it," he said dismissively.

I felt a little dismissed myself, but I was too eager to find Icarus to worry about it. After about fifteen minutes, Phoenix had to slam on the brakes when a woman ran out into the road in front of us, screaming for help. Her top had been ripped to shreds, and claw marks stretched from her shoulder to her breast. We couldn't make sense of her words because of the hysterical sobbing, so Phoenix put her in the truck between us while I called Shay for help. The woman cried harder when Phoenix warned her she would have to stay in the truck alone. When Phoenix stopped the truck and we both got out, the woman curled up on the floor like a child.

"Poor woman," I said, hurrying to keep up with Phoenix's long purposeful strides. "Shay shouldn't be long. Where's Icarus now?"

He pointed away from the woods and toward some kind of farmland. There was a barn in the distance. And when the barn door appeared to explode away from the building, I knew that was where he meant.

I squinted as a ball of fur rolled out of the barn. Icarus's form flew out afterward, then they both disappeared inside again.

"He's fighting something," I said.

"Yes, but what?" Phoenix upped his speed across the muddy field. The pickup wouldn't have made it.

"I don't think it's a werewolf," I gasped, at least a couple of feet behind the fae prince.

He ignored me and kept running, but closer to the barn, he stopped and held an arm out to keep me still. "Wait," he whispered. "They're right at the door."

And then the pair barrelled out of the barn again. Icarus gave a triumphant bark as he drew blood, but if the creature was still standing after ten seconds in a fight with a werewolf, then it was doing better than pretty much anything else I had ever seen. They drew apart and circled each other.

The second creature was smaller than Icarus and had a more human shape. On its back two legs, it stood about as tall as Phoenix, and compared to a werewolf, it was a runt, yet it was holding its own. Its grey hair was long, shaggy, and matted, and the hair at the back of its hind legs dragged along the mud. It smelled like death, poison, and rot. I coughed a little at the stench, and the creature looked at us for an instant.

It had golden eyes with huge black pupils, and its claws were even longer than its weird paw hands. Its back was hunched, and somehow, that made it seem more intimidating. And it was fast, way faster than Icarus. He could barely get a hold on the thing, and looking closer, I saw that the werewolf was covered in bloody strips where the creature must have scratched at him, or maybe bitten. The new monster had a bitten leg, likely from attempting to leap out of Icarus's reach, but other than that, it looked mostly unharmed. The creature opened its mouth impossibly wide. The fangs were long and wiry, like barbed wire fashioned into the shape of teeth.

I shuddered, horrified by its appearance. "What the hell is it?"

"I have no idea," Phoenix said, to my surprise. "But I wouldn't try to stake it, Ava." He flinched. "Watch out, Icarus!"

But the creature's great big leap at Icarus turned out to be an escape route over the werewolf's head. Icarus looked slow next to the nimble creature, and right then, I realised it was running straight at me. Phoenix shoved me aside, and the creature went for him instead. Claws first, it ran into him, lifted him in the air, then flung him away. The creature sprinted away faster than any werewolf could have.

I hesitated, waiting for Phoenix to get up, but he remained on the ground, and the scent of his blood quickly filled the air. I scrambled over to him. "Icarus! The woman's in the truck!" I shouted.

Icarus wavered for only an instant before chasing the fleeing creature. His howl a few seconds later sounded furious, and I realised the creature was probably going to get away.

I knelt by Phoenix. His T-shirt was soaked with blood. I tore apart the fabric. The wounds slicing his chest looked deep. Burgundy blood flowed freely. Too much blood.

"No, no, no," I whispered, checking his fading pulse. "Wake up, Phoenix." I slapped his face then realised I was going to have to do something fast. I pulled off my jacket then yanked my shirt over my head, ripping away a thick strip of fabric. I somehow managed to get it under Phoenix and across his chest, pulling it tight in an attempt to slow the worst of the bleeding. I tried holding the wounds together, but my hands were too slippery. Panicked, I pressed the remainder of the shirt against the bleeding wounds, but even if Shay arrived, help wouldn't come in time. Phoenix's heartbeat was fading, and he had a deathly pallor.

I had no choice—I had to try something drastic. He was going to die anyway. I bit my wrist, opening the veins with an awful tearing sound. I knelt on the shirt to keep pressure on the wound then forced Phoenix's mouth open with one hand. I laid my wrist against his lips and let the blood trickle into his mouth. I concentrated, willing my blood to help him. Blood trickled down the sides of Phoenix's face. He didn't respond, but I kept trying, unwilling to give up. I couldn't just let him die.

I prayed it would work, prayed it wouldn't hurt. I had done the same thing for Carl once, but I had fed on blood myself beforehand. The incident had strengthened our old unwelcome bond, but Carl was just a human while Phoenix was powerful in his own right. I remembered how powerful fae blood had tasted, and I hoped mine would do even a smidgeon to help him.

But perhaps I alone wasn't enough. I reached out for another, more recent, bond. I sought out an untapped part of the world around me, that connection with the Eleven. They had come to me; maybe I could bring them, too. I didn't sense their presence, but I pulled on their energies, their power, and I tried to push it all into my blood. If I was a conduit, then balance could at least help me save a life.

Phoenix's lips had turned blue, and I was feeling weak myself, completely drained. But suddenly, he coughed, then his eyes flickered open. They were filled with confusion, surprise... and disgust before closing again.

I couldn't worry about that yet. Icarus bounded back over, whining as he nosed Phoenix's face.

"He'll be okay," I said as the werewolf licked my wrist. "But I need to show them the way, to make sure help gets here. They might get scared off if you go, but I need to put pressure on the wound, or he'll bleed out first." My voice had grown high-pitched. The werewolf nudged me out of the way and planted a heavy paw on top of the bloody, crumpled shirt on Phoenix's chest.

"Try not to break him," I said breathlessly then grabbed my jacket and ran. I pulled my jacket on over my bra as I ran, trying to remember the way we had come. I reached out with my other senses, and suddenly, a bunch of human energies came into view. I kept running until I saw the ambulance and Shay's car.

"Help!" I shouted. "We need help!"

A paramedic ran toward me, running his hands over me to find out where the blood was coming from.

"Not me," I said impatiently. "Shay. Shay! Phoenix is bleeding out! Icarus is with him, but we don't have much time. He needs help."

"Stay with the victim," Shay commanded one of his recruits. "Everyone else with me. Paramedics, bring whatever you can to help."

I ran, forgetting about letting them catch up with me. I was halfway to Phoenix before I turned around and realised how far everyone was behind me. But they could still see me. Phoenix was mumbling incoherent words to Icarus as I knelt by the fae prince's head. I licked my jacket sleeve and did my best to wipe the blood from Phoenix's mouth before anyone saw what I had done.

Icarus whined, and I wasn't sure if it was in protest or because he sensed the life leaving Phoenix's body.

"It's okay," I said, more to reassure myself than the werewolf. "We're going to be fine. They'll help him, and he'll be fine."

The werewolf nudged me away from Phoenix's prone body with a low growl. I surreptitiously glanced at Phoenix's still-red mouth.

"I didn't hurt him," I said. "I wouldn't hurt him. I was trying to help."

But Icarus refused to let me near Phoenix again, even when the others reached us. The paramedics surrounded Phoenix, working quickly to staunch the blood flow.

"What happened?" Shay asked as Icarus sat next to me.

At least the werewolf didn't want to eat me.

"There's something out there," I said. "I've never seen anything like it before. The werewolves haven't been killing anyone, Shay. This thing is fast and lethal. It could cause even more havoc now that we've interrupted its feed."

"What did Phoenix say about it?" he asked.

I glanced at Phoenix and shivered as the paramedics prepared to take him back to the ambulance then on to the supernatural clinic. "He didn't have a clue what it was. It's smaller than the werewolves, and its hair is longer. It stood on its hind legs until it had to run. It's ugly, and it has some serious fangs and claws. But it's definitely not native to Ireland if Phoenix doesn't know about it."

Shay nodded. "I see. I'm going to head over to the hospital. Do you want to come with me?"

I inwardly recoiled at the idea of Phoenix waking up, knowing what I'd done to him. "Uh, no. I should probably try to get Icarus back to the werewolf zone without causing a national incident."

"All right." Shay hesitated. "Are you okay?"

"I didn't get hurt. Only... Phoenix. Is that woman okay?"

"She was a little hysterical, but her injuries aren't life threatening. She'll be fine as soon as we catch whatever her attacker is."

"I'll get Carl to help me with some research. Maybe something from Eddie's shop will help us figure it out."

"Well, you're the only one awake who can recognise its image, so I suppose that's for the best."

"Let me know how Phoenix gets on," I called as he started to walk away.

He turned around to smile at me. "Looks like it was lucky for him you were here, eh?"

Shivering, I beckoned Icarus away from the scene. I expected him to get into the back, but he transformed into his more-human form and sat silently in the passenger seat. He might have been more vulnerable, but he still looked powerful and intimidating. His body was covered in bulky muscle threaded with pulsing veins, and his gaze was intent and piercing, full of purpose. He sat still but alert, poised for action at a second's notice. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to be expected to drive properly with a naked werewolf staring at me, but I tried anyway. Icarus didn't say a word until we were a good distance away.

Then he suddenly lifted my arm and inspected my cut wrist. The wound had quickly stopped bleeding after I'd fed Phoenix, but the smell of it must have been bothering the werewolf. He held my gaze as he drew his dry tongue across the wound. I shivered at the look in his eye.

"Wrong," he said in an unexpectedly clear voice. And then he opened the door and jumped out, transforming into a wolf in mid-air. He bounded over a wall and out of sight before I could even think to slow down. I stopped the truck to close the door and laid my head on the steering wheel in a panic. Phoenix is going to kill me this time.

Chapter Seventeen

Lucia was home, and as her father was in hospital, she stayed away from the cul-de-sac. Surprisingly, Val didn't join her as often as I'd expected, choosing instead to help me with research.

"He's awake," Val said abruptly when I enquired about Phoenix. "But he's weak. They're keeping him in. One of his relatives offered their blood, and he's doing as well as can be hoped."

My cheeks reddened. "Oh."

"Why do you look guilty?" she asked in a curious tone. "You've been antsy for the last two days."

I bit my lip. "It's kind of my fault he got hurt. He pushed me out of the way of the creature's path, and he got in the way instead."

"That's what happens," she said. "How is that your fault?"

I shrugged, unwilling to share with anyone what I had done next. Going home in just a bra and a jacket, covered in other people's blood, had been bad enough. Panicked and incessant questions had followed, and I had distracted everyone only because I had details of the as-yet-undiscernible creature. Nobody on the Senate knew what it was, and I had provided the same description numerous times, one that Phoenix had likely seconded as soon as he awoke. The heat was off the werewolves for the present, but that didn't mean it was over.

"A shifter spat on me in the hospital," Val said. "They truly hate us now."

"Maybe you should keep away from there then."

"It's not my favourite place anyway," she said, but I could tell the lack of respect hurt at least a part of her. She was proud, and if a shifter didn't fear her enough to be afraid to spit on her, then something was very wrong.

She and Carl were sitting in my living room, reading through a stack of books he had borrowed from Eddie's shop. After two days of pure research, we hadn't found a single clue to what the creature was.

"If it's not from Ireland, then there may be no old records of one ever being here before," Carl had guessed. "Many of Eddie's books are focused on Irish literature only." That had given me the idea to raid Baba Yaga's collection, and Peter had promised to drop a box over on his way home.

Val slammed a book shut. "This is useless. I have no idea what I'm even looking for here."

"Just..." I shook my head. "Anything hairy or clawed. That's a wide-enough net, I think."

"That covers half of everything that's ever stepped foot in the country," she complained. "What if this thing is a new creation?"

"Then I don't know!" I shouted. "We'll just have to wait for another army to fight against, I suppose."

"Calm down," Carl murmured, barely looking up from his book. "Val, go take a break. You deserve it."

Muttering under her breath, the half-hellhound left for next door, where Anka was cooking dinner for everyone.

"Okay," Carl said. "What the hell is your problem? What are you worried about?"

I picked at my thumbnail. "Nothing."

"Liar, liar."

"Shut up." I sighed and shook my head. "I'm just worried about Phoenix is all."

"He's fine. He needs some rest. Then he'll be back on his feet, and you two can take Icarus and go hunt this furry arsehole down."

I shifted uncomfortably. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Okay." He dragged out the word. "That's obviously not the problem. What happened that you haven't told me about?"

"Like I'm supposed to tell you everything?"

He got up and sat next to me on the sofa. He held my gaze. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I may have done something silly. A bit stupid. Maybe a little dangerous."

He looked confused for a second. Then his expression cleared, and he covered his laughter by clamping his hand over his mouth. When he recovered, he lowered his voice. "Holy shit, Ava. Did you get it on with Prince Ice-cold?"

"Fuck, Carl!" I thumped his shoulder. "How did you... it was just a brief kiss, and that's not what I meant anyway."

"So that wasn't the mistake?" He grinned and leaned back. "Interesting."

God, this is embarrassing. "Just forget that for a minute. Okay? When he got hurt, he was bleeding out. I was on my own, and I panicked. I was trying to stop the bleeding, but he was going to die before anyone got there to help me."

His face drained of colour. He grabbed my arms and pushed up the sleeves. One thin pink scar remained. "You didn't," he whispered. "You fed him with your own blood?"

"I know! I know that's completely stupid, but I panicked! He's going to kill me, Carl. Icarus came back and realised what I did, and he wouldn't even let me touch Phoenix after that. This is bad, isn't it?"

"When you drank fae blood, you ended up looking like you had been electric shocked for weeks. And when you gave me your blood, I..." He shook his head. "That's a big deal, Ava. Massive. What if changes him?"

"What if it doesn't?" I hissed. "Listen, fae blood is way more powerful than mine, and we don't even know if mine actually does anything."

"A witch drank your blood to give her the strength to perform a powerful spell, Ava!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do? He was dying! I had to at least try to stop that from happening."

"I know," he said softly. "Calm down. You did the best you could at the time. Do you think it helped him?"

"I've no idea." Something struck me. "But, wait—Val said that Phoenix got a blood transfusion from another fae. That would sort of cancel my blood out, right? And, I mean, it was only a little bit. It's not like I gave him much. Just enough to keep him going long enough for the paramedics to get there." That might not have been strictly true. I had been dizzy and exhausted until the following evening.

"Does he know what you did?"

"He opened his eyes, but I don't know if he was really aware. I mean, he might not care."

He gave me a knowing look. "Are we both talking about the same thing?"

Voices at the front door sent us inching apart and trying to look innocent. Peter arrived with a box of books, and Esther had walked him in.

"Anka says dinner is ready," Esther said.

"And here are some books," Peter said. "Breslin had already prepared a box of the ones he said were most likely to help." He dumped the box on the floor. "I'm starving. Let's eat."

"I'm not hungry," I said. "I'm just going to start looking through the new books. You all go on, though."

Peter and Esther left. As Carl prepared to follow, I whispered. "You won't tell anyone, right?"

He looked back and grinned. "About you making out with your friend's daddy? I'll think about it."

I hadn't even considered Lorcan's reaction. I covered my burning cheeks until he left. Carl could be such an arsehole sometimes. And he was always too quick to read me. I really hoped that had nothing to do with him drinking my blood that time. I didn't think I could quite cope with Phoenix being that familiar with me.

When they left, I knelt on the floor beside the box and starting sorting the books. I flipped through a couple of pages of one before getting engrossed. It appeared to be a bestiary. It looked handwritten and ancient, but the words were as dark as fresh ink, probably due to magic of some sort. The leather cover didn't even have a title, so I started at the index. All kinds of creatures were in there, some I had felt sure had been made up in Hollywood. And it was more like a list of the most vicious creatures that had ever existed in the world. Somebody should really have come up with an international database already. Just typing "hair and claws" into a search field and hoping for the best would have been so much easier than poring over an index.

I leaned back against my coffee table as I read, fascinated by a creature with five hearts that all needed to be pierced before the thing would just die already. I wondered if there had been hunters who did nothing but travel around, trying to figure out the weak spots of dangerous creatures.

I flipped through page after page of terrible creatures, each one uglier and scarier than the last. When I read about a two-headed monster that had a habit of playing dead, only to come back to life, I felt like closing the book, going to bed, and covering my head with my duvet. But I kept going because I needed to know about everything out there to ever have a chance of being one step ahead. One creature was almost an exact physical description of someone I felt sure had recently returned from exile, but I tried not to think about that too closely.

And then I found it. I yelped as the creature's face stared up at me from the page. The artist had done a great job, but without colour, those eerie golden eyes had been difficult to recreate. At the top of the page, in swirling letters, was the word Wendigo.

A wendigo was in Ireland, causing deaths that were being blamed on werewolves. A paragraph on the page had been crossed out. Apparently, people had once thought the wendigo were a slighter cousin of the werewolves, but the truth was worse. Each wendigo had once been human, and nobody knew how many existed. The humans had accepted demons into their bodies, but in order to prove they were worthy, they had to become cannibals. They had to eat their own families to prove themselves before the demon would give them their full power. But the wendigo were aimless without a master, and if the demon died, the wendigo remained monsters that ravaged the countryside until death. Their weak spot was a small space at the base of their spines. Tiny words were written next to the picture: The wendigo are considered one of the darkest, most dangerous creatures in the human realm. Extermination advised.

What the hell does that mean? I wondered if Mrs. Yaga had written that and if she had been the one to face a wendigo and figure out its weak spot. A part of me was desperate to go to the Eleven for help, but I would seem weak if I kept running to them.

I read the page again, trying to memorise the information. The front door opened, and I called out excitedly, "Carl? I think I found it! It's called a wendigo, and it's a—"

"A wendigo?" Phoenix asked. "What's that?"

I dropped the book with a fright and gazed up at Phoenix. He towered over me, making me feel small. I crawled backward before getting to my feet.

He looked puzzled, then his expression hardened. "Well?" he barked. "Show me what you found."

I picked up the book and handed it to him before stepping back.

Ignoring me, he sank into my sofa with a wince.

"I thought you were in hospital."

He held up the book. "There's a wendigo running around that needs to be dealt with. Rest can wait until we're safe."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"Nothing," he said as he skimmed over the words. "Have you read this? It's interesting."

"Do you think that happened here? That a demon offered a human his power, I mean. He would have to eat his family. We'd hear about something like that by now, right?"

"Perhaps it was already fully a wendigo when it arrived," he said slowly. "It doesn't really matter. This says it can never be satisfied. There could be other bodies that haven't been found." He looked up at me. "And more cattle we haven't heard about yet. Why is it even here? Surely a far more densely populated country would be a better hunting ground."

"Maybe it was in danger. Somebody wrote that the wendigo should be exterminated. Maybe this one managed to get away from the exterminator."

He tapped his chin. "It says here that they can't exist in packs. They will kill each other. It could have been running from a more powerful wendigo."

"And they don't need to breed because a demon makes them. So is this about the book? Could another demon have come through the book a year ago?"

He flinched. "It's possible, but would it have done this?"

"And where has it been for the last year?" I said glumly.

"There's a theory," he said, "that the reason we haven't noticed much activity from these demons is that they're recovering from the abrupt change."

"Gathering power?" I swallowed a sudden rush of fear. "That's not very comforting."

He shrugged. "It's just a theory. Of course, this creature could have existed for years, roaming from one country to another. It could simply be coincidence that it's here right now."

"So," I said when he continued to read, "how are you feeling?"

"Sore. We need to get back out there and hunt this wendigo down. This creature's hunting ground is not so large right now, and that gives us an advantage."

"What, you, me, and Icarus?"

"And Shay's recruits. We can send each pair out with a werewolf now that we've proved a wendigo is the true culprit. I've already filtered out enough information to the press to reassure the public that the werewolves are still their saviours."

I smiled. "And if they stop this threat, then nobody can argue."

"Least of all a paragon with an agenda," he agreed.

I decided he couldn't remember what had happened and relaxed. "It's so fast, though. Think a lone werewolf will take it down?"

"No, not alone. But if a werewolf can antagonise the wendigo and keep it in battle for long enough, one of the recruits might get a chance to sink a sword into the base of its spine. We're relying on an ancient book, but at the very least, the wendigo will be badly wounded."

"It sounds like you have it all planned out."

He frowned. "Lucia has been with me in the hospital. You didn't visit."

"I didn't want to get in the way." I avoided his eyes. "And, you know, research. I was the only one who could identify the thing."

He cleared his throat. "I think I understand. Ava, there's no need for any tension between us."

He was talking about the kiss.

I forced out a laugh. "Of course not! I'm just stressed about this wendigo. When do you think you'll be able to hunt it again?"

"As soon as you're ready," he said, looking surprised. "That's why I'm here."

"You want me to come with you?"

"Of course."

"I don't think Icarus is fond of me anymore." I hesitated, afraid to say too much.

"Nonsense. His bite wasn't out of aggression. It was a warning. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

I shook my head. "No, but maybe I would be better off teaming up with one of Shay's recruits."

He looked puzzled. "They're already teamed up. You and I going with Icarus is the best solution, but Shay's organising his recruits as we speak in case we come up with something."

"You really get things moving," I joked.

He hesitated. "I heard that your quick actions likely saved my life," he said. "I know I lost a lot of blood. So thank you for not panicking."

"Oh, I definitely panicked. And it was Icarus who helped hold the shirt over your wound while I ran to get the others. It wasn't a big deal. And it was kind of my fault you got hurt in the first place."

When he frowned, I shook my head. "I'm going to run next door and tell the others that it's a wendigo. Feel free to stay here and give Shay a call to update the recruits."

"We'll need to take this book to the Senate to convince them to help me set up this search," he said.

"I'll be right back." I left him, feeling like the biggest liar on the planet. I should have told him. Even if he didn't remember, it was only right for him to have all of the information.

Esther, Val, Peter, and Carl were sitting at Anka's table with Emmett and Dita when I arrived. Anka got up to prepare me a plate of food, but I refused.

"I'm not staying," I said. "I just came to tell you I found the creature. It's a wendigo."

Anka dropped the ladle. "Sorry," she said. "I've heard of those. They're evil, disgusting creatures. I thought they were all hunted down and killed."

"Apparently not," I said wryly. "I have to go with Phoenix to the Senate to convince them to organise a proper search for this thing before it kills anyone else."

"That bad?" Carl asked.

"It used to be human until, well, I'll let Anka tell you about it. I don't know when I'll be back, but you're all off the hook with research."

"Are you okay?" Esther asked.

"Just hoping we don't waste too much time on the Senate," I said. "See you all later."

Drained, I left the room, but Peter followed.

"Hey," he said, stopping me at the front door. "Do you want me to come with you?"

I shook my head. "I'll only be there as a witness. Shouldn't be too bad."

"Those people tried to lock you in a cell. You probably don't want to see them again anytime soon."

"It has to be done." I sighed. "Thanks anyway."

"You going to start looking me in the eye now?"

I stared at my feet and heaved a sigh. Between Peter and Phoenix, I felt as though I were being dragged all over the place.

"Listen," he said, lowering his voice. "I'm sorry if kissing you messed up your head, but I—"

I met his eyes. "I'm just too tired for serious, Peter, and you can't give me casual."

"Try me." But his gaze was already too intense.

"Emmett changes everything we do," I said. "Our history makes everything between us serious. I'm not prepared to jump into that again."

"Well, maybe I'm not interested in waiting around anymore."

"Fine." I held up my hands. "You've just proved my point. We can't even have a casual conversation together."

"Ava..."

"I'll see you around." I left him there, feeling uncomfortable. In my late twenties, I should have been capable of figuring out what I wanted, but my emotional growth had been so stunted for so long that I was still mentally in my teenage years. I had one hundred years of servitude ahead of me. Do I really need something else to tie me down?

Back in my house, Phoenix was preparing to leave. "I've found some references in a couple more books, but this one is the most informative. Well done on finding this, Ava."

Phoenix never gave his praise so freely. I gave him a suspicious look, wondering if he would have praised me had I not forced him to feed on my blood.

"The Senate have agreed to meet us to hear how our investigation is going," he said, pulling on his jacket. "I didn't tell them about the wendigo."

"Why?"

He grinned. "I want to see their faces."

I couldn't help smiling back. "Me, too, actually."

"What if the rest of the Senate don't believe you about the wendigo?" I asked as we travelled to the meeting place in his official Senate car.

"I'll just have to make them."

That was good enough for me. If anyone could manipulate the Senate with words, it was one of their own.

"The newspapers have been going on about the lack of a funeral for Mac. Of course, nobody cares about Greg," I said. "Even though he was a better man."

He shot me a questioning look. "Greg tried to kill you."

"He couldn't help himself," I explained. "The shifters aren't used to having no alpha."

"But Esther isn't trying to kill people, is she?"

"Of course not. Esther's never been like the other shifters."

He fell silent for a moment before saying, "There was a funeral. It was quiet and rushed and better than he deserved. What he did to those shifter women was unforgiveable, no matter how his accomplices try to sugarcoat it."

"What happens to the shifters who helped him?" I asked.

"They will be imprisoned until their new alpha arrives and decides what to do with them."

"And if he's like Mac?"

"Then he won't get the option to decide."

"What about the women?"

"Many of them are in the clinic. Some are... too feral to be taken care of in a normal hospital."

I felt apprehensive. "Where are they being taken care of?"

"Somewhere safer," he said. "The doctors caring for them are hopeful that the next alpha will be capable of bringing them to their senses before the babies are born."

I shivered. "The whole situation is sick."

"It's opened the channels to something we didn't know how to address," he said. "The shifters may be out of control, but some have come to us with names. We're weeding out the monsters in the pack, and we will have justice."

The coldness in his tone chilled me. What kind of justice would he have wrought on me when he found out what I had done to him? The average person didn't want to wake up to a mouthful of blood. Nobody but a vampire wanted a mouthful of tainted blood.

When we arrived at the courtroom, a handful of protesters were waiting outside, holding up signs telling us we should exterminate the werewolves and the shifters before the end of days befell us.

Terry was guarding the door. He nodded at us. "Go right on in."

"Demon." An old woman spat at me. "You're as bad as those murderous animals."

I recoiled from her hatred. I had ended the lives of many creatures in the war. Perhaps I really was the same as every bloodthirsty being I professed to hate. Except I didn't hunt down the innocent, and I certainly didn't wake up every day wanting to hurt anyone. So why let this woman make me feel less than anyone else? I'd had enough of that as a child. Something inside of me cracked. What happened to me being strong?

"That's enough out of you," Terry said. "Don't have me move you on again."

But I held the woman's gaze as her companions cheered. "How are you any better? Spreading your hate and bitterness into the world because an ego the size of a mountain is telling you you're always right. At least I've saved lives. At least I've helped people. What have you ever done?" I turned my back on the group and marched into the courtroom.

"Media training would help you ignore those types," Phoenix said as he followed me.

"Maybe ignoring them lets them get away with being massive pricks," I snapped.

"Or perhaps all they want is attention, someone to listen to their worries."

I gritted my teeth and took a seat at the front of the room. For a change, the Senate was already waiting, even Daimhín. She must have hurried to make it so soon after dark. A shiver ran down my back when the doors opened one last time. I didn't have to look to know that Regis was behind me. Who the hell keeps calling this guy?

Phoenix obviously agreed. He glared at the Senate. "This is a closed meeting."

"The paragons have a right to attend," Layla said apologetically.

"Unless there's something you'd prefer to keep secret," Regis said in a smug tone.

"On the contrary," Phoenix said, his demeanour completely shifting. "I have good news."

Daimhín let a little sound escape that might have been relief. "What have you found?"

"You all know we were attacked by an unidentified being," Phoenix began.

"You were in hospital, I believe," Regis called out. "You must be very confused. Besides," he continued, "just because a werewolf attacked a creature who fought back in its escape doesn't mean that creature is responsible for any of the murders."

I turned in my seat to give him a disgusted look. "Are you kidding me?"

Regis gestured toward me. "I thought this was a closed meeting. Why is the defected nephal always here?"

"Ava may be tainted, but she's my witness," Phoenix said. "May I continue, or are you planning on interrupting every sentence? This could go on all night."

"Go on," Regis said, waving his hand as though he were the bloody queen.

"He is right," James said. "Just because you got in the way of a fight between a werewolf and something else doesn't make the werewolves innocent."

Phoenix flexed his fingers. "I'll start at the beginning then. We have searched all of the known crime scenes and come to some conclusions based on what we discovered. We found bones with strong bite marks on the farm with the missing cattle, and those marks do not resemble those made by werewolves. In that same location, we also found a patch of hair and skin that does not belong to a werewolf."

"It could belong to a cow," Daimhín said. "What of it?"

"The hair was a good match to that of the creature who almost killed me."

"That puts the creature at the farm," Callista said. "Killing cows isn't quite the same crime as killing humans."

"Both murders happened in closed, tight locations that a werewolf would never attack in. And both bodies were dragged to a more-open space afterward." Phoenix beckoned me forward. "My testimony of the attack may be easily dismissed, but Ava Delaney was there, too. She saw everything, and she delved into the belongings of an ancient hag to put a face to the name. Show them the book."

I handed the book to Willow, who grimaced. "It's a wendigo," I explained. "Dangerous and violent, it can't stop killing because it never feels satisfied. If it doesn't have a master, then it's all the more dangerous." I watched the expressions of the Senate turn to horror and revulsion as they passed the book along. "They're supposed to have been exterminated, but this is what attacked us, and this is a better candidate for the deaths than any werewolf I've ever seen. No matter what you think of the werewolves, we need to organise a search for this wendigo before anything worse happens."

I looked back to see the paragon's reaction, but Regis was already gone.

Daimhín pushed aside the book in disgust. "I don't need to see it. I already know what a wendigo is. I just never imagined it possible for one to turn up here." She leaned forward. "We must eliminate this threat as soon as possible."

"How are we going to find one creature in an entire country?" James asked.

"Shay can organise a search," Phoenix said.

"But the logistics of it will—"

"We don't have a choice," Daimhín said briskly. "My vampires will help."

"I don't think that's a great idea," I said.

She glared at me. "Are my people not good enough to help now?"

"It might get messy with the werewolves there."

"The vampires could guard the surrounding areas, make sure that innocents don't wander onto the wrong path," Callista offered.

Daimhín relaxed in her seat, appeased.

"What if the creature flees?" Willow asked.

"We'll make sure we keep it contained," Phoenix said assuredly. "Based on the attacks, this creature's lair must be close by. We've come up with an approximation of its territory, and with Shay's recruits and the werewolves, we'll have a better chance of tracking the animal down."

"I just have one question," Layla said. "Did it come through the book?"

"I've no idea," Phoenix said. "All I know is that it's dangerous and fierce enough to fend off a werewolf. Every group who searches must be accompanied by a werewolf to have any chance at success, and there may not be enough werewolves at that. We'll need to call in reinforcements from all over the country to take on this search."

Willow glanced at the others before nodding. "I'm sure we're all agreed that this is our priority right now. We may never know how this creature arrived, but it's up to us to remove it. If it's as awful as this book makes it sound—"

"It's worse," Daimhín interrupted.

Willow cleared her throat. "Well, we'll just have to find it before it causes any more damage. We'll send for help tonight, and by tomorrow night, we should be ready to start the search."

I heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, the Senate had agreed on something sensible. As the Senate left to make arrangements, I noticed that Daimhín was accompanied by the female half of her shifter bodyguards.

"Hey," I said. "Where's the other one? I have a bone to pick with him after he tried to get Val kidnapped by Mac's disgusting little breeding program."

Daimhín's lips twitched. "She beat him up and dragged him to Shay to be arrested."

I looked at the shifter woman for the first time, a little impressed.

"My sister ran from the pack," she explained. "They found her in those barns."

"Oh. Well, then. Good job," I said.

"I acted as my father would have, had he been alive. He was the last true alpha, before the fraud came with his magic tricks. The pack will destroy itself unless a true alpha leads us."

"Right," I said slowly. "Let's hope a new one shows up soon."

She nodded then escorted Daimhín out.

Phoenix was in the middle of a conversation with Callista, so I decided to head home. Terry was still outside, and, thankfully, the protesters were gone.

"Werewolves are off the hook, I take it," he said.

I shoved my hands deep in my pockets. "We've a new monster to track down. A wendigo. The Senate's organising a massive search."

"I had an uncle who used to tell us horror stories about wendigo. Nasty things. My family will be up for helping in the search."

I smiled at him. "Your family is a pack of daredevils."

"Nah, we just live to drive Ma crazy."

I walked down the road and ruminated on the night's events. The werewolves seemed to be in the clear. And if the Senate called in bodies from around the country, then surely, we would easily track down a solitary wendigo.

Goosebumps rose on my skin as I heard a growl, but a car pulled up next to me before I could decide if it was a wendigo or my imagination.

"Don't you want a lift?" Phoenix asked from the driver's seat.

"I'm fine. I could do with some air after a stuffy Senate meeting."

He narrowed his eyes at me. I was about to ask him what he was staring at when I realised he was looking behind me. "Did you realise you were being stalked by a pair of shifters?"

I blew out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God! I thought it was the bloody wendigo!"

Phoenix stepped out of the car and addressed the shifters. They wore hoodies that covered their faces, but the scent of the shift was strong in the air. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Not Senate business," one of the shifters said in a suspiciously growly voice. Greg likely hadn't been the only one having trouble controlling his shifts.

"You know what? I think I'll take that lift after all," I said breezily. "Let's go, Phoenix."

We got into the car and left the shifters behind. "What's that all about?" he asked.

"I told you—I'm an enemy of the pack now. Their focus on killing me is the only thing stopping them from turning animal completely. They can't reach me in the cul-de-sac."

"Why on earth would you walk home alone when you know they're out there?"

"Compared to the wendigo, I'm so not scared of the shifters. I'm keeping their minds off Esther. It works out."

He shook his head in disbelief. "If you say so. Get some rest tonight. We'll have a lot to do tomorrow."

Hunting a wendigo was going to take a lot more than just a good night's sleep.

Chapter Eighteen

The Senate had been working hard, and on the morning of the big search, television stations, radio stations, newspapers, and blogs all warned the country to stay indoors that night. A wild wendigo wouldn't exactly browse blogs, but if it had a master, we had just informed it of our plan.

All kinds of people were offering their services to the Senate in the hopes of tracking down the wendigo, from the brethni and Moses's crew to the older children in the home, like Noah and Ari. Of course, I had high hopes that the latter's help would be politely refused.

Phoenix turned up earlier than I'd expected. "Are we starting early?" I asked at the door.

"Shay and others like him are setting the search up as we speak. You and I need to make a quick stop first."

"Where to?"

"You'll see. Meet me at the truck. I didn't want to bring Icarus into the cul-de-sac in case anyone here still believes the werewolves are the killers." He turned and left before I could respond.

I hurriedly got ready, wondering exactly how awkward my night with Phoenix and Icarus would be. I had to tell Phoenix the truth; I knew that. I just didn't know how to begin. He'd kissed me, and then I'd almost forced him into a blood bond. That wasn't going to go down well no matter how I presented it.

I left the cul-de-sac and found the truck outside. Icarus let out a warning growl as I approached.

"I did the best I could," I barked at him.

The werewolf snapped at air in response.

I ignored him and got into the truck. Phoenix drove away as I pulled my seatbelt across my body.

"How is this working then?" I asked.

"We'll be starting the search at the south point with Shay and Callista," he explained. "There will be other bases manned by Layla and James, and Willow and Daimhín. Each pair is in charge of organising those they're responsible for, and hopefully, we won't all get in each other's ways. Each pair will set off at different times in a bid to flush the wendigo out. If we're lucky, it'll be us who comes across it."

We did have experience, but I couldn't believe he actually wanted to face the creature that had pretty much impaled him. "Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked. "You were in a pretty bad way last time we confronted this thing."

"I healed quickly," he said.

I fell silent as I imagined how my confession would go. Every attempt ended in my death at the hands of an angry fae prince.

"Where are we going?" I asked when I realised he was driving in the wrong direction.

"I told you. We have a stop to make first."

"I was thinking it was like a stop for supplies or to pick up Shay or something."

"No. We have other business to take care of."

I stared at him. What does that mean? He turned on the radio as if to end the conversation, and I settled into my seat to wait.

We eventually drove into a massive car park, where a dozen shifters were waiting.

"What's going on?" I asked nervously.

"Come on," he said. "I told you I'd help you with the shifters when you helped me with the werewolves. You cleared the werewolves of the crime by finding the identity of the true culprit. I owe you."

He jumped out of the truck. I followed as Icarus leapt out and landed next to me.

"I'm going to tell him," I whispered. "So you better stop glaring at me like that."

The werewolf growled again. I pretended not to notice. If Phoenix didn't kill me, then Icarus surely would.

I strode after Phoenix as the group in front of us gathered, eyeing me with hate and distrust. Something about me always provoked such strong reactions in people.

"I called you here to warn you," he said. "This woman is off limits."

"She's an enemy of the pack," a young man shouted.

"She's a friend of the werewolf pack," Phoenix said.

I groaned inwardly. Icarus would not be happy about that proclamation.

"That has nothing to do with the Senate," a middle-aged woman said. "Pack rules apply."

"I'm not here as a Senate member," Phoenix said coolly. "I'm here as prince of the fae."

My stomach turned. It had to be a blood bond. There was no way Phoenix would go out on a limb like that without some encouragement from my pesky blood.

"Phoenix, wait," I whispered. "I have something to tell you."

Icarus growled; Phoenix ignored me.

"Your next alpha will decide if she remains an enemy of the pack or not," Phoenix called out. "And if you choose to target her in the meantime, then you'll have to go through me, the fae, and the werewolves, first."

The crowd murmured, exchanged cowed glances, then shuffled away like a horde of zombies.

"There," Phoenix said brightly. "That should keep them out of the way for a few weeks."

"Phoenix, you don't understand." I winced. "I really need to tell you something."

Icarus's growls grew menacing.

"Oh, shut up," I said. "Keep out of it, werewolf. I'm trying, here."

"There's a problem between you two," Phoenix said slowly.

"No, it's... I did something I probably shouldn't have, and Icarus wasn't impressed, and I've been too chicken to tell you, but after that, I have to. You wouldn't have said that to the shifters under normal circumstances because—"

"These aren't normal circumstances."

I swallowed hard, ignoring the furious werewolf. I held Phoenix's gaze. "When the wendigo attacked, I thought you were dying, and I panicked. I fed you my blood because I thought I had no other options. I know that was wrong, that I had no right to make that choice for you, and I'm sorry about that, but it really was my last option. And now I think it must have affected you if you're going around telling off shifters for me."

He stared back at me, his face blank. "We made a deal. You help with the werewolves; I help with the shifters. That's what this was today."

"Oh, God." I ran my hands through my hair, completely stressed out. "I think I must have accidentally bonded with you. You're taking this too calmly."

"Ava." He took a step closer. "I already knew what you did."

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish, unable to form words, never mind sentences.

"You saved my life, and I thanked you for it. I wasn't aware we had an obligation to discuss the details. There is no bond. I awoke briefly during the process. Your blood helped me survive long enough for a transfusion and likely helped my recovery process in the meantime. That is all." He walked past me and got into the truck.

Icarus huffed and jumped into the truck bed. Dazed, I got into the passenger seat. Phoenix drove us away from the shifters. It took me a while to find my voice.

"You looked disgusted," I said.

"Are we still on this?" He flashed me an impatient glance. "I'm not repulsed by what you are."

"But are you angry? I mean, it was dangerous. It could have gone wrong."

"You did what you thought was best at the time. There's no point going over this."

We drove to our meeting point in uncomfortable silence. It was at the edge of a forested area, and the place was full of people already. Phoenix left us abruptly to speak to Callista and Shay, so I sat on the truck bed with Icarus.

"You know I wasn't trying to hurt him," I said sulkily. "You could cut me a little slack."

The werewolf leaned against me in answer, pressing me against the side of the truck.

"You arse," I said, gasping for breath.

"Making friends with the werewolves again?" Shay called out.

I waved at him, and he came over to chat for a moment.

"You've obviously been busy lately," he said.

"We all have. How are the shifters who were held captive doing?"

"Better, I'm told. It's a delicate situation, but we've been rooting out anyone who might have been responsible. Most of the women we recovered have been helpful."

"I'm glad. And thanks for helping me back at the old headquarters," I said. "Sorry I assumed the worst."

He shrugged. "They fooled me, too. I wasn't going to let children be murdered, no matter what else has happened."

I swung my feet. "Glad I can count on you, at least."

He eyeballed the werewolf. "Yes, well, the way you dealt with those bodyguards was pretty impressive. Think I could persuade you into helping me set up some more classes at the boxing club?"

I grinned. "Maybe I'll think about it."

"Great. I should get back to work." He took a few steps before looking back at me. "Think hard."

When he left, a familiar car pulled up a few feet away. Val and Peter got out and approached me. Great, another person who's mad at me.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked, shoving the werewolf back onto his side of the truck bed.

"The same thing you are," Val said. "We volunteered, and they accepted our help."

"Oh." I looked at Peter, who was looking anywhere but at me. "Well, good luck, you two."

Val clapped me on the shoulder. "Same to you. Don't look so worried. This creature will be ours tonight."

Peter finally met my gaze. "Good luck, Ava."

Callista came over. "Good, you're here. Here are your packs. Torches, food, water, medical kits, and, most importantly, walkie-talkies. If you see the wendigo, call the closest team for backup. Val, Peter, head over to Shay to find out your position."

The pair thanked her and left.

Callista beamed at me as she handed me a bag. "Phoenix should be ready to leave soon. It's been exciting, setting the werewolves up with partners. This will go a long way toward repairing the damage the paragon did with his little interviews."

"Any experience with a wendigo?" I asked her.

"I've heard old stories that I never really believed," she said. "You should be extra careful. I'm told I had a great-great-great-grandmother who was speared to death by a wendigo claw."

"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry."

"Catch this wendigo for me to make up," she said with a grin. She moved on to gather up more victims.

I hefted the bag over my shoulder, ignoring Icarus's heavy panting in my ear. Phoenix returned to us after the sun had set.

"Let's find this wendigo," Phoenix said. "This way. We're up next." Icarus eagerly bounded after Phoenix.

I followed them both into the darkness.

Chapter Nineteen

Phoenix barely managed to hold on to Icarus's leash. The werewolf panted as he struggled to move faster. But Phoenix had warned everyone not to let go of the leashes unless faced with the wendigo itself, and apparently, he had listened to his own advice.

"It's somewhere out here." He sounded excited. "We're going to find it tonight."

"I'm not sure that's the best plan anyway," I said. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

He patted the sword hanging from his hip in a sheath. "I'm prepared this time. Besides, if we don't kill it, someone else will. The woods are full of searchers."

"How sure are you that we're in the right place?"

He nodded at Icarus, who whimpered. "Very. All of the attacks circled this area. It stands to reason that the creature is nearby. And if not, we'll keep looking until we find it."

"I wonder if the demon dies when the wendigo does," I said. "I don't think any of the books said."

"Maybe it returns to the place it originally came from."

"The thought of demons roaming around, persuading people to turn cannibalistic, doesn't make me feel safe."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't have thought this would worry you so much."

"You almost died already. You. And the werewolves were almost exterminated because of it. What next?"

"It's just a little bad luck."

"It's some run for a little bad luck," I retorted.

"Besides," he continued, "the wendigo didn't cause much real damage to me. The blood loss was the problem, and that was dealt with quickly."

I rolled my eyes at his idea of real damage. I had been convinced he was going to die on the ground next to me as I watched. I moved closer to Phoenix. Icarus whirled his head around and snarled until I stepped back.

"Icarus, enough," Phoenix said sharply. "It's done. No more reminders."

"I'm sorry, Icarus," I said. "I can't change the way I was born."

Icarus stepped toward me and nosed my palm as if in apology. I kissed the top of his head and laughed when he yelped in alarm. When I looked up, Phoenix was gazing at us both as if he had just seen everything.

Tension lifted, the werewolf strained to move on, and I gripped my dagger to make me feel better. If it did a special kind of damage to vampires and angels, then perhaps it worked well on demons, too. I walked parallel to the others, listening and watching with my other senses.

The search parties were spread out at a good distance, but not so far that a wendigo might get between them and escape. Shay was excellent at the logistics of arranging the teams, and we had to be careful not to go too far ahead, or we would mess up the entire system. In the distance, I heard voices joking and laughing. Others spoke rapidly in worried tones. Phoenix and I maintained an uncomfortable silence.

Every time I heard a twig crack or an extra strong breeze made the tree branches wave noisily, I jumped a little. A part of me was desperate to chase down our prey. Another part said that if the wendigo could take Phoenix down and a werewolf hadn't managed to rip its head off in three seconds, then I didn't have much of a chance, either.

"Are you worried?" Phoenix enquired in a polite tone a few minutes later.

"No. Yes. Maybe a little. If we don't get this thing tonight, somebody else might die tomorrow. And whoever is going around killing shifters is still out there. Esther's a shifter. What if she's next on the hit list?"

"I brought the witch in to stop this worrying," he chided.

"Yeah, well, Bratty the Teenage Witch didn't do much to ease my nerves. And I'm still going to push for that halfway-house idea, by the way. After all this help I'm giving the Senate instead of working and earning an income like a normal person, it's the least they can do."

"Oh," he said. "I didn't think—"

"It's fine. The shifters destroyed everything worth anything already. I have to start over. Again. I'm going to have the worst reputation ever as a..." I stopped walking and turned in a slow circle. "Did you hear that?" I whispered.

Icarus began to growl, and I knew something was near. I hadn't heard footsteps, though. A shiver ran through me as I reached out with my other senses. The energy close by was a mass of dark, bubbling evil. Whatever had been human about the wendigo was long gone.

"This way," I whispered, beckoning Phoenix after me and wondering why Icarus hadn't tried to attack yet. "Maybe let go of the leash."

But Phoenix held on. I raised a hand to stop him and pointed upwards, into the trees. The wendigo was hiding and watching—I wasn't sure from where exactly. Icarus couldn't climb trees, as far as I could tell. That made us sitting ducks.

"Back," I said, but Phoenix was already moving, pulling a reluctant Icarus along with him.

"Wait," Phoenix whispered, and he quietly let go of the leash.

In a quick burst of noise and movement, Icarus moved at the exact moment the wendigo leapt from the trees and bounded right for me. What the hell is its problem with me?

I aimed my torch's beam right in the wendigo's eye then skipped out of the way and used my dagger to stab at the creature's back. It recovered quickly then dropped to all fours and ran around me, straight into Phoenix, who whirled his sword in front of him. His weapon sang through the air, but the wendigo barely reacted before dodging quickly out of the way. Icarus howled, and a couple of distant werewolves joined in.

He grappled with the wendigo as Phoenix and I sought out a clean strike at the wendigo's spine. In the dark, even with the aid of a clear night and torches, visibility was poor. The creature was almost camouflaged as it fought back against Icarus.

Finally, it found enough space to run, and once it started, it was out of our sight within seconds. We ran, Icarus leading the way. I struggled to keep track of the creature's energy with my other senses. I picked up some werewolves zoning in on us, but the wendigo was already long gone. Icarus disappeared into the trees without us. The hunt was on.

After a few minutes of running, Phoenix bade me to stop. "There's no point exhausting ourselves. We'll never catch it. It's like the wind."

"The werewolves won't be able to kill it."

"No, but they hunt together as a pack, Ava."

"And?"

"So they're well versed in rounding up their prey. They'll find a way to drive it back toward us. There are enough werewolves out here tonight that they'll be safe. The wendigo will keep running, and the werewolves will keep cutting it off until it has no choice but to run back into our path."

Or the path of one of the other teams, I couldn't help thinking.

"What now?"

"We keep looking," he said. "We can follow the werewolves' tracks and see if we can figure out what direction they're heading in. I'll call Shay and let him know what's happening. He's back at base camp, probably worrying."

As he made the call, I wandered around, trying to pick up a scent. A couple of drops of blood were scattered here and there, but it was hard to tell who they belonged to. Something had been nicked, but it could easily have been one of the werewolves. As the scents closed in on me, I had trouble identifying any of them.

"Do you see anything?" Phoenix asked abruptly, making me jump again.

"Not really. Shay have any news?"

"Not yet. He wants us to continue on our paths. If the wendigo doesn't come back this way, it'll run into another group eventually."

"It's scarily fast, though."

"I hope it's the same one," Phoenix said.

"I think it is. It had a mark on its leg in the same place Icarus bit off a chunk. Didn't slow it down any, but still."

For the next hour, we moved on, and the more time that went on, the less confident I felt. I was about to ask Phoenix if he thought the wendigo had gotten away when I heard a shout nearby. I recognised the voice and broke into a run.

"Ava, wait!" Phoenix cried, but he followed me.

I thundered into the undergrowth, my heart threatening to burst with worry and fear. I forgot all about being careful or afraid for myself. I lost time and awareness—my only focus was making it to my friends before the wendigo hurt them.

The smell of blood filled my nostrils, and a werewolf howled close by.

I burst through the trees, almost tumbling over a root, and into a clearing. Peter was standing over an injured Val with a sword that looked small in front of the wendigo. Its bloody mouth was salivating, and its golden eyes glowed as it circled its prey. I flew over to Peter, getting in front of him to tackle the wendigo myself. He pulled me back and stabbed with the sword as the creature pawed at us, almost playfully. It was playing with its food, and that never failed to piss me off.

I bent down, grabbed a clod of earth, ran across the clearing, and flung it at the wendigo. Distracted by the movement, it came after me. I braced myself for battle, but a glass kylie spun right in front of me, nipping the creature's nose. It yelped and spun back, its own blood dripping. Then it froze, and just as Peter moved close enough to stab it through the base of the spine, it ran again. Seconds later, a couple of werewolves ran into the clearing, one of them barrelling right into me and sending me to my knees. Without stopping, they loped after the wendigo. Peter helped me to my feet. Phoenix was already checking over Val with a grim look on his face.

"She tried to antagonise it to give me a clear shot," Peter explained. "But it jumped right over her and turned back long enough to take a bite out of her shoulder."

"I'll be fine." Val grimaced. "It wasn't deep, but I barely kept it off us until I couldn't hold my weapon any longer."

"Not deep, just plenty painful," I said. "You can't stay out here."

"Of course she can't," Peter said.

"We don't have time to wait with them," Phoenix said.

Peter glared at him. "What do you want me to do, Ava?"

"Go back. Protect Val and let Shay know that she's hurt. You have your medical pack, right?"

When he nodded, I let out a sigh of relief. "Clean the wound and try to stop the bleeding. If you think the wendigo is coming, shout. Somebody will hear you. There are at least three groups near enough to hear with the whole supernatural hearing going around. You'll always be close to help."

"We have to hurry," Phoenix said.

I squeezed Val's hand then Peter's. "Thanks," I whispered. Then I broke into a run after Phoenix.

"There's blood all over the path," I called out as he ran ahead. "I think it's the wendigo's."

"Good," he said. "It might slow the thing down."

As we ran, the tracks we were following told me the werewolves had split up again. But I was pretty sure we were gaining on the creature. It had gained a deep cut to an already-injured leg. We had to have slowed it down enough to catch it, or at least for a werewolf to delay it until backup arrived. I had never been sure about the plan, but it was working in its own slightly messy way.

I thought I couldn't run anymore when we finally found the wendigo again. It was fighting with Icarus, and both were bleeding badly. The other werewolves were nowhere to be seen, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. They had to be nearby. They wouldn't let Icarus fight the wendigo by himself. So where the hell are they?

Phoenix and I circled the fighting creatures, both of us panting. For the millionth time, I mentally thanked whoever had decided to keep some werewolves alive all of those years ago.

The fight was deadly, but neither party seemed ready to lose. Every time I thought I had a clean shot at the wendigo, the pair would roll over, and I would barely avoid stabbing Icarus instead.

Phoenix almost managed to strike the wendigo, but it rolled out of Icarus's grasp and ran off, limping.

"Ever feel like we're the ones being driven somewhere?" I shouted at Phoenix as we made the chase with Icarus.

He grinned at me and wiped sweat off his forehead. "Enjoy the hunt instead of worrying so much!"

But a few minutes later, I almost tripped over a werewolf's body. "Oh, my God!" I cried. "Phoenix!"

He joined me with Icarus, who sniffed his packmate's body and let out a howl of rage. He dashed off, ignoring his own injuries.

"Wait," Phoenix said. "He's not hurt. There's no blood." He made a sound of surprise as he felt for a heartbeat. "There's this, though." He pulled at something and held it into the air. It was very familiar.

"A tranquilising dart?" I said. "What the hell is going on?"

He rose to his feet and flung the dart away in disgust. "Somebody doesn't want us to catch the wendigo, Ava."

"Then we had better hurry up and piss them off properly," I snapped, irritated beyond measure. A mindless wendigo that couldn't bear its own hunger was one thing; to actually want the creature to feast on innocent people was another.

"Be careful," Phoenix said as we hurried after Icarus. "If they're so desperate, we could be next to be hit."

"We broadcasted this plan," I said. "This wendigo's master had to have known we were being here. Whoever it is might just be hunting us, Phoenix."

His expression hardened. "We're not so easy to kill."

We passed yet another sleeping werewolf, soon followed by another.

"There might be more than one wendigo out here," I said. "We could be led right into their den."

"We'll just have to kill them all," he said coldly, and he was no longer Phoenix the kindly fae prince and Senate member. He was a fae hunter, a seeker of justice. I had watched him mete out that justice on his own mother without pity. I could only imagine what was going through his mind after finding out that we were being played.

For some reason, the anger rejuvenated me. I had been exhausted, but I hunted with fresh vigour. If we found the wendigo, we might actually find who had put the werewolves to sleep instead of helping us catch the real monster.

"We should have gotten the witch to make the bloody werewolves invisible," I grumbled after a few minutes.

"Too hard, according to Ari. Maybe we'll find somebody to teach her for next time."

"'Next time,' he says," I called out with an exaggerated groan.

Phoenix looked back at me with a beautiful smile, and my heart sang a little.

We soon found the wendigo again—or perhaps it found us. We came upon it shortly before Icarus did. We tried to corner it, but it kept trying to jump over our heads. When Phoenix managed to slice its undercarriage with his sword during one jump, the wendigo stopped trying. With blood seeping from the wound, the wendigo grew desperate to escape, but Icarus was furious. He moved sharply, catching the wendigo whenever it tried to run. The wendigo avoided the fight, but it was clear we had to be the aggressors.

I moved out of its line of sight, hoping to catch the creature off guard, but on high alert, it refused to keep its back turned to any of us for long. Phoenix impatiently dove in and tripped the creature with his sword, barely avoiding getting sliced open again. As though encouraged, Icarus flung himself at the wendigo, and the pair fought again. From the viciousness of the bites, I could tell it was a fight to the death.

Still, we couldn't get a clean strike at the creature's spine. To avoid the claws, Icarus kept trying to pin the wendigo by holding on to the back of its neck. When he pinned the creature, he used his weight to hold the animal down, leaving us with no room to make the killing strike.

Icarus shook the wendigo like a cat shaking a mouse. Although it appeared weakened, it still fought back, managing to slice at Icarus enough to loosen his bite. Phoenix flung another glass kylie into the air. Frightened, the wendigo sprang backward out of its path. It moved closer to me, and I ducked under its grasping claws. It moved on all fours and made to pounce again, but I sidestepped and kicked it right in the head. Dazed, it shook itself and dove out of the way as Icarus attacked again. For one of the few times in my life, I wished I were carrying a larger weapon.

Thinking clearly for a moment, I stuck my fingers in my mouth and whistled hard. Taking my cue, Phoenix repeated the action, and I hoped a werewolf was awake and close by to help. We were taking way too much time and energy trying to block the wendigo—it was time to finish the battle.

Phoenix shouted something unintelligible and wielded his sword to distract the wendigo. I jabbed with my blade to force the wendigo back. Icarus blindsided the wendigo, somehow tripping it and pinning the creature without using his entire weight. With his great big jaws, he flung the wendigo around. Dazed and stunned, the creature lay still long enough for Icarus to manoeuvre its form to make it easy for Phoenix to stab it. But as Phoenix moved in to join Icarus, a whizzing sound drew my attention. Before my brain could connect the sound to the cause, Icarus stiffened then collapsed to the ground in a slumber.

Chapter Twenty

When I turned around in horror, the paragon was standing there, a tranquiliser gun in hand. I wasn't even surprised.

"Come," Regis said to the wendigo. The creature obeyed, moving away from us and closer to the paragon. Regis was no demon. So what the hell did he do to earn his place as a wendigo's master?

I made to run at the paragon while he was sneering at Phoenix. But as soon as I took a step, Phoenix bellowed at me to stop.

"No, Ava! We can't kill a paragon. Not even you. It'll provoke a war."

Damn stupid rules. For a moment, I didn't care if an army came. The paragon deserved to be punished for his crimes. "I'm not part of the Senate," I said. "I'm part of something bigger." And the Eleven spoke with me.

The paragon pointed the gun at me. "Don't move," he said, but there was a brief look of surprise in his eyes.

"You're a murderer," I spat.

"Aren't we all? Like the werewolves who'll so tragically turn on their biggest supporters. And the Senate who'll panic at your deaths and execute the werewolves by morning." He made a low whistle through his teeth that drew the wendigo's attention. "Kill them both."

The wendigo limped forward, but a movement behind the paragon drew my attention.

A woman dressed all in black had managed to slink behind the paragon unnoticed. He finally heard a movement and turned, but she karate-chopped his throat, wrapped her arms around his neck, and with a loud snap, broke his neck.

I stared, speechless, as the paragon's body slumped to the ground. I hadn't expected that.

The woman dropped her hood, revealing golden curls, and stretched. "Oh, that felt glorious."

"You're not supposed to kill paragons," I said flatly.

She turned her curious gaze on me. "Well, as I'm a paragon, those rules don't apply to me. Watch out!"

I turned in time to see the wendigo bearing down on me. I bent to one knee to avoid its claws then crouched lower to avoid its back legs. With one jump, I was back on my feet behind the creature. Phoenix impaled it on his sword, barely missing the spine. I sank my dagger into the creature, finishing the job. The animal loosed an unholy screech then crumpled. I was almost certain I saw something dark leave the body, and for an instant, I wondered if I could have cleansed the creature instead. But then I recalled the human it had once been had willingly eaten its family to gain the power a demon would afford it, and I decided almost dying myself wouldn't have been worth saving a human that terrible.

"Rosa," Phoenix was saying, looking completely baffled.

"Bet you didn't think you'd see me again so soon." Her voice sounded flirty, but a hard glint sparkled in her eye. "But promises are promises."

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded, finding my voice again. "Thanks for the help and all, but who the hell are you? And how did you happen to be here tonight?"

A smile curved her lips. "I followed you. Well, technically, I've been following Phoenix."

"Since I left?" he asked. "You came here after me?"

"Home just wasn't any fun after all the fae went away," she said with a playful pout. "Besides, I needed to make sure you'd keep your word."

"What word? What's she on about, Phoenix?" I asked crossly. I bloody well hated secrets.

"I've been asking Phoenix for a little help," she said. "Although he agreed, he wasn't keen, but as he can see, he needed me. Now he owes me a favour. So the werewolves better be ready when I need them. I dealt with this fool, so he won't be bothering you again. Do we still have a deal, Phoenix?"

He refused to look at either of us. "Yes," he said in a low voice.

"Excellent. I'll have to clean up the body, but feel free to tell your Senate that there's been a few changes. I'll be the one they deal with from now on. And instead of the werewolves, however many other wendigo he has hidden away will die. The werewolves are no longer at risk as long as they remain a part of my army should I need them. Do you understand?"

Phoenix nodded, but he didn't look pleased.

"Oh, come on," she said softly. "We may have to work together soon. No point looking so glum. It's over. The werewolves are safe, and I did what you couldn't: killed the paragon who threatened them."

I breathed heavily, dying to ask more questions yet wanting to gather as much information as I could from the reactions of the pair in front of me.

Rosa nodded at the prone werewolf. "I'm sure the sleeping dogs will wake soon. She can watch over him while you and I get rid of the body. Let's be quick. We have a lot to catch up on, and I hear you have the best nightlife here."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Phoenix shook his head, and the look in his eye told me to listen, for a change.

When the two left, carrying the body of the paragon, I sat next to Icarus and used the walkie-talkie to let the others know the wendigo was dead. Shay organised a search for the missing werewolves in the meantime. Phoenix didn't get back in time to help, but I stayed with the werewolves as they were transported back to base camp.

It had been a very long night. Val was feeling okay, but I was pretty sure she should have gotten stitches. Still, I didn't want to argue with a pissed-off hellhound, half or no.

"Where's Phoenix?" Peter asked as he shared a flask of tea with me.

"He had something to do," I said.

"Must have been important if he left the werewolves alone to do it."

"I don't ask questions." When he shot me a bemused look, I amended my words with, "Okay, I do ask, but I don't get any answers. So we're both in the dark."

"I'm just glad the wendigo is dead," he said. "The idea of it being human once makes my skin crawl."

"Can you imagine? What kind of person would invite that darkness into their soul?"

He sighed. "I dunno. You heading home soon?"

"I was going to wait until the werewolves woke. They did so much of the work that it feels a bit shitty to leave them out here."

"Well, you did say that Phoenix warned they would go crazy when they woke up from a tranquilised sleep. It's better that we're keeping our distance."

"I suppose so."

"Are you hurt or anything?"

"I'm just tired. It's been a long week."

He leaned back. "Yeah, it really has."

"Ava!" Val called from the ambulance nearby. "Is your phone switched off?"

I checked my pockets and groaned. "I must have dropped it out there."

"Carl's been calling you. Esther's hurt. She needs to get to the clinic."

"What's happening?"

"She had some kind of a seizure. She's bleeding from her nose and ears. But the shifters are back outside the cul-de-sac. They might not know it's there, but they know it's somewhere close by, and they're in some kind of a frenzy."

Damnit. When Phoenix warned them off me, they must have shifted their focus back to Esther instead.

Quinn lifted her head from bandaging her injured partner. "Esther's hurt?"

"We need to get her past the shifters and to the clinic. Any ideas?" I asked.

She nodded toward the ambulance. "We could try stealing that."

Peter was already in the driver's seat before I could answer.

"Okay," I said. "I guess we're stealing ambulances now."

***

Quinn's human partner distracted the paramedics long enough for us to steal the ambulance. Val sat in the back with Quinn in case we were stopped. Her gaping shoulder wound would fool anyone past base camp into thinking that we were genuinely taking her to the clinic. I didn't tell Shay or anyone else in case the shifters somehow got wind of the plan first. The ambulance was fast and packed with medical equipment. After thinking about it, it really did seem like a safe bet.

Peter was getting too much of a kick from blasting the sirens. "It'll freak out the shifters," he explained. "Their hearing will work against them with this shit carrying on."

"It's bothering me, too," I said. "But at least we're less likely to crash into the back of something. Why do you keep veering to the left?"

"You try driving something this big for the first time," he snapped back.

"We might not make it in time," I said. "If Carl is this worried..."

"Anka and Margie will give her something to help in the meantime," he said calmly.

"Of all the nights for this to happen..."

"There's no right time for something like this," he said. "And there's no sense in you wondering what if all the time. She's not been well, and with the stress and everything else, something was bound to give eventually."

"I didn't think it would be her life!" I hadn't meant to sound so emotional, but I was terrified. Esther was already weak, and if the shifters attacked the ambulance, we were all screwed. The ambulance was basically leading them right to our hiding place, but the surprise might give us enough time to get back out and past the waiting shifters. But they were probably half-demented; they likely wouldn't even care if we knocked them down. And that didn't sound like a terrible idea when I thought of them waiting for Esther to show.

"At least we can say our lives aren't boring." Peter was babbling, trying to draw me out of my own head.

"I'd give anything to be bored," I said. "I swear, I will never complain of being bored again if Esther makes it through this."

"Carl called the emergency services for help," he said in a low voice. "None ever came. We have to be ready to fight our way past the shifters, Ava."

"Oh, I'm ready," I said with a growl. I banged on the partition behind me. "Val, Hulk out!"

"I do not 'Hulk out,'" she grumbled, but the van seemed unbalanced for a second, as if adjusting to her new size.

"Quinn, be careful of the doors. The shifters might make a grab for them."

"I'm ready," she said firmly. "Just get us to Esther and then head for the clinic. We'll do the rest."

We soon made it to the cul-de-sac after driving at top speed. As we passed, a dozen shifters wandering around near the cul-de-sac stopped what they were doing and stared at us, looking confused. They seemed to realise what was happening when we were almost inside. Their looks of confusion as they chased after us only for us to disappear were comical.

"Maybe I owe the witch an apology and a thank you," I said, jumping out of the ambulance before it came to a dead stop.

Carl was already carrying Esther out of Anka's house. The shifter was unconscious, and her blood was all over him. His face was white, but he was dead calm, calmer than I had ever seen him.

"We'll take her," I told him.

He shook his head. "I'm coming with you."

"The shifters—"

"I don't give a shit," he said. "I'm going with her."

I took one look at his determined face and nodded. I helped him put her in the back of the ambulance. He agreed to sit up next to Peter because of the lack of room. I sat in the back with Esther, Val, and Quinn, who looked horrified by Esther's appearance.

The ambulance jerked out of the cul-de-sac in a hurry, as Peter likely hoped to confuse the shifters a second time. It didn't work. They raced after us immediately. One, a falcon, flew over us as if keeping track of our path. One hulking male gripped the doors of the ambulance and leapt up to ride with us. He ripped at one door with a growl, pulling it wide open. He reached inside, but Quinn slammed the door shut, catching his hand. He howled in fury then punched on the doors.

Esther's eyelids fluttered open. The whites of her eyes had turned red. I held her hands as Val moved to the door. The second time the shifter opened them, she reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, shook him, then flung him onto the road. As the doors swung closed, I caught sight of a number of shifters chasing us—and thought they might catch us before we arrived. A squawking sound from above confirmed that particular fear.

I looked down at Esther and tried to smile. "It's okay. You're not feeling so good, so we're taking you to the clinic."

Her eyes widened, and she tried to shake her head, but she squeezed her eyes against the pain instead.

"It's fine," I said. "We're in an ambulance, and it's fast. Val's here. So is Quinn. I pity the shifter who messes with us." I tried to laugh, but a lump stuck in my throat. Esther's heartbeat was slowing dramatically. She wouldn't hold on for much longer if we didn't get help.

"We're almost there," Peter called out reassuringly.

Esther's eyes opened again.

"See?" I said. "We're just there, and the doctors will help you. And we found the wendigo. It's dead, Esther, so it's all over. As soon as Phoenix gets back, he'll put the shifters in their place for good. You don't have to worry anymore. You'll go to the clinic for a while, and they'll fix you up, and then you can come back home. You won't have to hide anymore. There's no wendigo or... or anything." My voice faltered as I remembered the shifter killer was still out there. The paragon might have killed the shifters, but it didn't add up in my eyes. Unless it was Rosa. I intended to ask Phoenix when I saw him again. I had a lot of questions for him already.

Esther tried to speak then, but something pounded at the side of the ambulance. I flinched, but the words froze in my mouth as whatever was hanging off the edge of the ambulance clambered onto the roof. We all gazed above us as footprints weighed down the metal. Then a fist pounded, once, twice, three times. Each strike felt like a punch in the gut. Either we hadn't outrun the shifters, or that bloody falcon was calling every shifter within hearing range to us. If they stayed with us, we would never get Esther out of the ambulance without a fight.

Esther made a noise, and after a moment's hesitation, Quinn began to speak loudly to cover the sounds. Val got to her feet, warily keeping her balance as she unsheathed her sword. She waited for the hand to pound again. It had almost broken through. Val sucked in a breath against her shoulder pain then violently stabbed upward, right as the fist pounded again. A howl of pain sounded; whoever was on the roof of the ambulance struggled to stay upright. The shifter moved to the other side of the ambulance, staying with us.

I swore under my breath. Peter swerved the ambulance, maybe to knock them off, maybe to avoid another shifter. Val grunted and stabbed upward again. At that moment, the ambulance lurched as it collided with something. We were all thrown to one side as the vehicle veered dramatically, but the shifter on the roof toppled off.

"They're still following," Peter shouted. "But we're about to pull in. Get ready to run in with Esther. You'll have about fifteen seconds to get her inside."

Val handed Quinn her sword and gathered Esther in her arms. The shifter looked tiny and defenceless being held by the hellhound.

The ambulance slowed, and I kicked open the doors. I jumped out, glanced left and right, then ran for the main doors of the clinic. I heard footsteps run behind me, but I couldn't focus on them. All I needed was to open the door. Quinn jumped out of the ambulance, wielding the oversized sword, her birdlike eyes as sharp as ever.

The ambulance stopped, and Val jumped down with Esther as Carl and Peter jumped out and ran around to join us.

"Help!" I shouted at the startled receptionist.

Quinn held open the door, but the fastest shifters had already reached us. They circled—five of them, plus one in the air. Val laid Esther on the ground by the door. The shifter struggled to say something, but she couldn't get the words out.

Quinn beckoned someone from inside the building, holding open the door with her foot as she took a protective stance next to Esther. Val stood at the forefront as Peter and Carl tried to fill the spaces around Esther. We might not have been badly outnumbered yet, but we didn't exactly have the upper hand. Val was injured. Peter, Quinn, and I had been running in a forest after a wendigo all night. And Carl was a human.

I willed a doctor to appear, but none dared to come outside while we were being hunted by the shifters. I gripped my dagger and made to attack the closest shifter. She tried to barrel past me. I barely held on, forcing her back into the other shifters. They glanced at each other and nodded, preparing to work together as a pack.

A strange animalistic noise made them all freeze, however. There was a roar that unsettled me, Esther tried frantically to sit up, and a cold feeling spread across my skin. A beautiful black panther leapt onto the top of the ambulance then took an elegant leap into the air, catching the falcon in his mouth. When the panther landed, the falcon was bloody and lifeless. Aiden flung the shifter away. In death, the falcon turned back into her human form of a pretty young woman.

The panther stepped in front of his sister protectively and let out another earth-shattering roar. Cowed, the shifters backed away. Aiden shifted into his human form, completely naked.

"Get her inside. Now!" he barked. "There are more on the way. I can't hold them all off. We have to fight."

A doctor came to the door. "Quickly, bring her in. We need to operate immediately."

"Will she be okay?" Carl asked.

"If she were human, she would already be dead," the doctor said snippily. "Now get her inside and bar the doors if you have any sense."

Carl carried Esther inside, but the rest of us remained by the door.

Aiden took one look at me. "Are you ready?"

I nodded and turned to look at the approaching shifters. I hated Aiden, but I loved Esther enough to fight by his side one last time.

Chapter Twenty-One

Everything moved quickly after that. Bodies collided in a blur, and the unspoken plan of ours was to defend rather than kill. The shifters, on the other hand, seemed intent on destroying or, at the very least, getting past us. But few of them shifted, which puzzled me. As I thought about it, I realised few shifters ever fought in animal form. I supposed that made Esther and Aiden stand out.

The shifters as a whole avoided fighting Aiden. They couldn't physically force themselves to fight their old alpha without a new one telling them to do it. So they came at the rest of us instead, backing off whenever Aiden got too close.

I knocked out a woman and moved on to an older man who gripped my hair when I deflected rather than attacking him. Aiden let out a roar that caused the closest shifters to flinch and lower their heads.

He jumped and pinned the strongest male, shaking him aggressively.

"Aiden, enough!" I shouted as the shifters backed away.

Aiden let go reluctantly and roared again. The alpha roar made me shiver, and I could see it had an immense effect on the nearby shifters. They refused to accept him as alpha any longer, but most of them still couldn't resist the pull of his power.

With their strongest fighters all wounded, the group slowly retreated, taking their injured with them. Aiden roared after them in warning.

Quinn tugged on my arm. "It's over for now. Let's go see what's happening with Esther." She knocked on the door and waited until somebody unlocked it. A couple of people ran out to attend to the dead shifter. I looked away sadly. Her death had been needless.

The rest of us went inside, leaving Aiden to do whatever he felt like.

He joined us in the waiting room a while later, dressed in an orderly's clothes. He sat across from me, an intense look of hatred on his face. "How is she?" he asked.

"Nobody can tell us anything yet," I said.

"They're prepping her for surgery," Carl said. "But it's still touch and go."

"Is the pack gone?" Quinn asked.

"They were scared off," Aiden said. "Now that they've seen me, they'll forget about Esther and hunt me instead. If there are enough of them, they might even get brave enough to face me."

"It was you, wasn't it?" I asked in a quiet voice. We were on neutral territory, of a sort, and I wasn't ready to battle it out quite yet.

"What was me?" He leaned back, a look of daring in his eyes. He knew what I meant, and he didn't regret a thing.

"You killed Mac. And Greg. You tortured Mac."

He gripped his chair with tense hands, but his face looked completely relaxed. "I protected my sister."

"She hasn't felt very protected since you ran away and left her to take your punishment," Carl said.

"I didn't run away. I had things to take care of." Aiden shook his head. "I didn't know they were serious at first. Nobody has taken an honour punishment in this country in centuries. And Mac was never that old-fashioned, no matter what he might have claimed. I didn't force the pack to change their ways. They modernised willingly. And he wanted to bring everyone back into the Stone Age, starting with my sister."

"So you decided to kill him," I said.

"I decided to find out what was going on," he said. "And I assumed she was with you and safe from harm. I know there's some kind of protection over you, and I know that she thinks you're her family now." His expression said he didn't agree, but I couldn't have cared less what he thought.

"So what changed your mind?" Quinn asked. "Why did you decide Mac needed to be tortured to death?"

He gave her a look that made me think he was disappointed she thought of him in that way. "Mac wasn't strong. He wasn't alpha. The pack was falling apart at the seams. Shifters were turning on each other. I could plainly see trouble coming. I had to do something. They're my pack, even if they don't agree."

"You looked like you wanted to kill that pack outside the clinic," Peter said sharply.

"Yeah, well, you know how it is, Peter. Survival first." Aiden gave a nonchalant shrug. "I tracked down Mac because I wanted to talk some sense into him, to help him find a dignified way to pass on the torch. He was terrified of losing his position, but he was never capable of holding it. A true alpha was going to come along and destroy everyone Mac put in his way as a shield. I wanted to find a way to prevent any of that nastiness."

Val growled. "How is torture a preventative measure?"

"Do you want to hear it or not?" He sounded as though he wanted to get it off his chest either way. "I followed Mac, and I ended up on that farm. I could smell the sickness on him. A weak mind in the place of an alpha can't cope, but he was diseased on top of that. He didn't stand a chance. He was dying, but he still refused to give up his place in the pack. He was a fool. He claimed he was bringing shifters there to protect them from the paragon, whether the shifters liked it or not."

"That sounds like you, actually," I managed to comment without a hint of anger in my voice.

"In theory, that's something I would do," he said. "But they took it further. They..." He swallowed hard. "They were forcing some of the women to breed."

"But why?" I asked.

"They thought they needed more numbers to stay safe. But some of them were just sick bastards desperate for a chance to dominate free shifters. And that's where he was planning on taking Esther. That was going to be her punishment. I could see it in his eyes, smell it in his fear. He wanted to do that to my sister to punish me, and it would have worked. I would have lost my mind. As it was..." He shook his head, looking a little disgusted. "I let go of my human side, let the panther choose. And I went a little demented when I saw those women. I couldn't think about saving them even. I couldn't see them anymore. All I saw was... I couldn't let Mac go after that."

"So you tortured him," I said, willing him to show even an ounce of regret.

"I killed a dying man," he said. "The pack is falling apart now without an alpha, but an alpha without a pack is in pretty bad condition, too. I couldn't take it, so I made sure Mac felt every ounce of pain running through my body. I gave him his punishment, and he squealed and begged for mercy—something he didn't give those women, something he wouldn't have given to me or Esther. He wasn't an alpha. He was a twisted man using fear and intimidation instead of power. I may have been bad, but he went way beyond those limits. Those people depended on him, and he turned his back on them in the worst ways. Protecting the pack was his only job."

"Then what about Greg?" I asked. "He didn't know about those women."

This time, his remorse was clear. "I know that now, but I assumed the second in command knew everything the alpha was playing. When I confronted Greg, we were both half-mad, and the conversation didn't go well. His death was needless, but if it hadn't been him, it would have been me. I didn't torture him. It was a clean kill. He died with honour."

"But you let everyone think we were responsible. Me, Esther, any number of our friends. You let the shifters try and run through us for a shortcut. You put Esther in more danger, and now look where we are."

He looked crestfallen, but that defiance still glinted in his eyes. "I told you. I let the panther out. And the panther took the risks it needed to take. And I was there when Esther needed me."

"You really weren't," Carl said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Don't start," Aiden said, a low growl simmering in the back of his throat.

"Enough," I said sharply. "This isn't the place to let the panther out."

After a few moments of struggling, Aiden eventually put the big cat back in its box. "It's getting harder," he said.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Peter asked. "Let yourself get further and further out of control?"

Aiden shook his head, giving Peter an earnest look. "I'm going to find my family. Esther won't come, so I'll go myself. I need to know how to live with myself, how to fit in without a pack now that none will take me. I'm ostracised amongst shifters, but if I can find out where we came from, where our mother came from, then maybe I can figure out the other missing pieces."

"Your mother might have run from wherever she came from," I reminded him.

"That's a risk I'll have to take. It's important to me to learn more about being this kind of a shifter. We never truly fit in here. It just wasn't going to happen that way for us. And I need an anchor, or I'm going to lose my mind altogether."

"So it's true?" I asked. "The whole untethered thing?"

"It's in our nature to stick together. We can't survive without a pack. I've tried, and I can't do it. That's why I'm leaving for real this time. I need to find a way to fit in or exist by myself."

"But Esther can do it."

He shook his head. "She isn't alone, though. And she's one of the few shifters in the country managing to live without an alpha. The only way to stop all of this trouble with the Senate and the other shifters is to put Esther back into a pack. It's the only way anyone will be sure that she's safe."

I thought about that for a long time, and I had a solution that could work. It would depend on Breslin and the Senate actually listening to what I had to say. We all hung around the hospital for hours. Eventually, I fell asleep on the chair in the waiting room, despite trying to stay awake when all of the others nodded off.

I woke up with a start when darkness had fallen. A nurse was passing by, so I stopped her and enquired about Esther.

"Oh, didn't he tell you yet? Surgery went well. There was some swelling from a badly healing scar, and a slight aneurysm, but she's going to be fine as long as we keep an eye on her. I thought her brother would have woken you with the news as soon as we told him."

I glanced at Aiden's chair. It was empty. He was gone again. I felt only relief.

***

I sat quietly in front of the Senate, avoiding their gazes. I was still exhausted, there was dried blood on my clothes, and Breslin was doing most of my talking for me.

"Aiden killed the shifters?" Layla asked, sounding surprised.

"And we think that the Senate should step in and stop the aggression coming from the shifters toward Ms. Delaney and her people."

"I've already agreed to do that," Phoenix said.

I sat up straight as Breslin carried on.

"Be that as it may, there's still the issue of paragons and untethered shifters and the Senate's stance on all of the former. We don't trust the Senate to put Esther's best interests at heart, and we don't feel as though she is a threat to anyone."

"But the entire shifter pack has proved that wrong," Callista said gently. "The shifters need each other to stay well."

"No," I said. "They need a pack, yes, but it doesn't have to be a pack full of shifters."

"What does that mean?" James asked.

"She's tethered to us, to me," I said. "So is Val and everyone else under my protection. We're a family, a pack, and we depend on each other just like the pack does." I cleared my throat. "We're a little further into the twenty-first century, but that's beside the point. Esther's not untethered, and she never has been. Since she left her brother, she's been tethered to me, and that's the way it's going to stay until Esther decides differently. The free shifters found their own packs. Some of them were human, others not, but that's how they survived away from the pack. It's always been that way, no matter what frightened people like to think. We're a community, and it doesn't matter what species we are. It works. So just... stop with the untethered-danger threats. The assumptions have cost us time and lives. The wendigo's actions were blamed on the werewolves, Aiden's actions were blamed on a whole bunch of us, and Esther was blamed for something that never even happened, some old-fashioned hysteria that has no place in this world. So you can tell your paragons and whoever else comes along that my people aren't a danger to anyone, and they're under my protection. If anybody wants to take them, they'll have to come through me, and that's going to cost them, no matter how important they think they are." I took a deep breath and waited.

"Well," Willow said, "the point's been proven enough for my liking."

"And mine," Daimhín said. "I'm sick to death of talking about shifters. Can we please move on?"

One by one, the Senate members agreed that the untethered issue was, in fact, a non-issue.

Callista beamed at me. "I'm preparing a new set at Gabe's—oh." She gave me an apologetic look. "I mean Finn's bar. You and your friends should come to celebrate everything."

"Maybe," I said. "Celebrations always go down well with my crowd."

Breslin and I made to leave, but James followed. I waited for a smart remark, but he looked impressed.

"I just wanted to let you know that I think you've handled all of this impressively well," James said. "For who you are, and what you are, I know I've made assumptions. Few people make me change my mind, but I've seen that sometimes a situation needs a second look."

"Is that an apology?" I teased.

"No, it's an admittance that I underestimated you." He gave me a curious look. "I'll have to be warier of you; that's for sure."

"Well, I'm just hoping I'm done with the Senate for at least another decade," I said. "And I really don't want to have to drag my solicitor out here again. He makes you all look kinda stupid."

And with that, I walked away, arm in arm with Breslin, who gently scolded me for not taking the higher ground. But it had been worth it.

Epilogue

Finn's bar was alive. I had never seen it as busy in Gabe's time. After Gabe's death, walking through the doors had been hard for me, but I was getting used to the place again. I waited for my drink at the bar, listening to Finn's terrible jokes as people shouted at him to hurry up.

"A good drink, like a good joke, takes time," the redhead said.

"You need more staff," I said. "Hire people, you scabby eejit."

"I keep forgetting I can do that," he said with a wink. "The boss man is probably looking down on me and shaking his head at everything I'm doing wrong." He pushed a glass in front of me. "On the house."

I raised the glass. "To the boss." I narrowed my eyes. "And this better be juice."

"I'm working on something new," he said. "I'll test it out on you sometime."

"No, thanks."

He nodded at my companions. "You really enjoy fuelling the rumour mill, eh?"

"You know it."

The fae winked at me, and I left the bar with my drink. Callista's new set had pulled in admirers from all over the city. On one side of the room, I spotted Peter and Melody Love, politely chatting together. She looked nervous, but I thought that might have been because she was sitting very close to a sweaty fellow with horns that kept accidentally bumping her chair. Peter saw me looking and raised his glass.

I nodded and turned away. In a darkened corner, Phoenix and Rosa were both looking in my direction as though they were talking about me, and their gazes sent shivers down my spine.

I pushed through the crowd until I found my table. Shay, Moses, and Carl were playing cards, arguing about the rules. I sat down and grabbed the cards to shuffle them.

"All right, boys," I said. "Let the games begin."

And with every card I dealt, a little stress left me. Once again, the world had taken us on. Once again, we were the winners.

***

I took a cup of hot chocolate and went out the back to sit under the moon. I relaxed under the glowing moon's gentle caress. The pub had been fun, but sometimes I preferred the peace and quiet of home. The moon had always called to me, but I had often avoided that part of my nature. It seemed dangerously close to the darkness that existed in the world. But since moving into the cul-de-sac, I had learned to relish the darkness—and the things that made me different.

When Carl had realised how much time I was spending out in my backyard, he'd secretly installed a swinging chair to replace the crappy old garden chairs I'd always used. It was probably one of the sweetest gestures of all time and reason seven hundred and two why he was my best friend without question—even when he commissioned horrific paintings just to torture me.

I sat on the chair and relaxed, swinging gently as I sipped the hot drink. The last few weeks had been tough, but satisfying. Life had gotten a little intense and dramatic, but I knew I had helped Esther, because as soon as the Senate agreed to drop the untethered rubbish, something inside of me had shifted into... balance.

Esther had been my second lost soul, and in the end, all I'd needed was a little common sense to help her. Not that she knew about that part. But the werewolf issues and the pack violence had all gotten in the way of something relatively simple, something only I could have done. And I wondered if it would always be that way.

The shifters were still half-crazed, but the Senate's reassurance that a new alpha was on the way kept them from going completely feral. Aiden had vanished, I'd heard nothing official about the new paragon, and we were all slowly getting back to normal.

A soft scuffling noise close by set me on edge. I quickly sent out my other senses then instantly relaxed. Phoenix flung himself over the wall and landed in my grass. As though it were the most normal thing in the world, he sauntered toward me then sat on the swinging chair next to me.

"This is new," he said. "It's nice."

"Carl's responsible." I nodded at the wall. "Are we not using the front door anymore?"

"I had a feeling you'd be out here, and I didn't want to disturb you by forcing you to open the front door."

I took a sip of my drink. "Some people would call that creepy and weird, Phoenix."

He hesitated. "But not you." It was almost a question, and I almost felt guilty for my answer.

I sank lower in my chair. "It's a little creepy."

"I apologise then."

"It's okay. I would have been pissed if you made me get up to answer the door."

"I saw you in Finn's bar," he said.

"I know."

"We couldn't speak there." He sighed. "I wanted to update you on... everything."

"Oh?"

"There's been communication from the... rightful alpha. He's confirmed he is returning to the country soon and wanted to stake his claim. Not one person has objected, so he is alpha by default."

"But is he alpha alpha?"

He thought about it. "From what I've gathered, yes. He's already responsible for a roaming pack of shifters."

"So a separate pack?"

"Yes," he said. "Separate from the others. They have a long tradition of travelling. They are reluctant to settle in the one place."

"So how is this alpha going to lead the pack?"

"He's confident he's strong enough to lead from afar. His family will be returning more regularly. They'll be staying on a campsite in Northern Ireland next month, I believe. And as the alpha doesn't want to have dealings with the Senate—he doesn't trust us, I'm afraid—he's willing to use a liaison to deal with us instead."

"That's different," I admitted. "So what's his stance on Esther? Should I expect trouble?"

"Quite the opposite. I'm not sure if Aiden appealed to him or what, but the alpha brought up the issue of Esther all by himself. He has forbidden any aggression toward her that has its basis in issues with her brother."

"So he's absolving her of Aiden's guilt?"

"Exactly. Although, he's inferred he would like to meet you before taking away the 'enemy of the pack' title from you."

"Figures."

He hesitated again. "The thing is, he wants Esther to be the liaison. And he wants you to accompany her when she visits him for the first time."

"Is he a control freak?"

"I think he wants to figure out the situation for himself. If he's a true alpha, he'll know if you're a threat to him or not."

"And if it's all a big trick to get me and Esther alone with a group of angry shifters?"

"He already knows that kind of action would have serious consequences. He seems quite reasonable."

"Fine." I sighed. "If Esther's well enough to go and if she actually wants to be his liaison, then I'll go with her. I'm hardly going to let her visit there alone."

"Well," he said with a smile. "As Esther's alpha, he probably thought it polite to invite you along, too. What on earth possessed you to claim her as your pack?"

"Because pack is just a supernatural word for family," I said. "And it's true."

He nodded. "I see. And how is Esther getting on?"

"Great," I said, brightening. The doctors had given us good news. "They think the swelling was causing the migraines, and the seizure was because of pressure on her brain. She's lucky she's a tough-headed bear, let me tell you."

He laughed. "I'm glad she's feeling better then."

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore. "So is Rosa leaving soon?"

A quick hiss was the only sign of his consternation. He didn't want to tell me.

"She's following Regis's body out of the country soon. She sent it as a sign to the other paragons. Apparently, being a paragon is a constant power struggle, and she and the other paragon were losing. One of them had to go, and she was determined it wouldn't be her."

"The werewolves," I said. "That's the reason both of them were here then."

He nodded. "I met Rosa when I was away, and she explained how the paragons... tick. I knew Regis was here to eliminate a threat. The werewolves were too risky to let live, and it was all because he had the wendigo. There were more wendigo, but Rosa assures me they are being taken care of."

"And you trust her?"

He shook his head. "No. Not even a little. When we met, she made sure she found an advantage over me."

I bit on my next question. Was she the one who kissed him?

"She warned me that she needed the werewolves and that she would take care of Regis in exchange. It was only a matter of time."

"It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, Phoenix."

"It's simple, really. Regis needed to get rid of the werewolves, who were the biggest threat to his army. Rosa needed something that could beat Regis's army. In the end, she got everything she wanted—an asset in Ireland and a way to rid herself of her rival. Paragons are competitive, and she just proved herself and established her place, thanks to the werewolves backing up her claim. If the paragons need them, the werewolves will be a great help."

"And if Rosa ever wants to rid herself of another paragon, she just has to show off her new pets? What were you thinking?"

"I didn't have a choice," he said. "What Rosa wants, she almost always gets."

"Sounds like there's a story there."

"Not a very interesting one," he said flatly.

I set down my empty cup and tried to relax again. But it was no use. The paragon problem would continue to niggle at me, even if none ever returned to Ireland.

"I should thank you," he said abruptly.

I looked at him. "What for?"

"For being... exactly what you say you are. There's no guessing, no game, no hidden agenda. I never grasped how comforting that was until recently. There are a lot of terrible people in the world, Ava. But I see you and your pack." He huffed out a laugh. "You were right. You are a family, a pack, and the care you have for each other is genuine and pure. I should have thanked you for letting the twins be a part of that, not felt jealous of it."

"Does that mean you're going to cut Val and Peter a little slack?"

He let out a low chuckle. "Only if they give me some first." He looked up at the moon. "I meant what I said before, Ava. I'm not scared or repulsed by what you are. It's who you are that counts."

I lifted my face to the moon and closed my eyes. The paragons could have their battles far away. I had everything I needed at home.

Thanks for reading Ava's new series! The next instalment in the Lost Souls series is due for release around December 2015.

For more information, check out Claire Farrell's blog or email the author.  Sign up to the newsletter to be notified of new releases and receive occasional coupon codes for free copies, or like the Facebook page for more regular updates.

Turn the page for more books by the author.

Books by Claire Farrell:

Chaos Series:

One Night with the Fae (Free Companion Prequel)

Soul (Chaos #1) – Free

Fade (Chaos #2)

Queen (Chaos #3)

Usurper (Chaos #4)

Blight (Chaos #5)

Ava Delaney Series (Completed):

Thirst (Ava Delaney #1) – Free

Taunt (Ava Delaney #2)

Tempt (Ava Delaney #3)

Taken (Ava Delaney #4)

Taste (Ava Delaney #5)

Traitor (Ava Delaney #6)

Awakening (Ava Delaney Volume I – Books 1-3)

Uprising (Ava Delaney Volume II – Books 4-6)

Lost Souls Series:

Tainted (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #1)

Tethers (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #2)

VBI Series:

Demon Dog (VBI #1)

Cursed Series (Completed):

Verity (Cursed #1) – Free

Clarity (Cursed #2)

Adversity (Cursed #2.5 – Free

Purity (Cursed #3)

Cursed Omnibus (Entire Cursed Series)

Stake You Series (Completed):

Stake You (Stake You #1) – Free

Make You (Stake You #2)

Break You (Stake You #3)

Short Story Collections:

Sixty Seconds

A Little Girl in my Room

Other:

Death is a Gift (A standalone banshee novel)

Zombie Moon Rising (A Peter Brannigan Novella)

Ghost Moon Rising (A Peter Brannigan Novella)

Upcoming Releases:

Sacrifice (Chaos #6)

Tithes (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #3)
