“Oh, nothing really. We were just speculating about what my brother was up to. Has he come to his senses yet?” “That again? I told you we’re here for you and to have fun. Let’s not talk about my pity party. You still haven’t told us what you wished for. Come to think of it, you’ve not told us about much of anything. I think you’re holding out on us.” “You buy the next round of drinks, and I’ll see if I can squeeze a few interesting stories before we have to leave.” Trisha looked down at her watch and frowned. Kiera sighed she’d been ordering the drinks all night because she received a discount on them. “Maybe one story. Dean’s insisting on hosting a weekend gather for other pack to come here and mingle. You know the whole talk politics and find a little action. If a few matings happen along the way, it’s a bonus. The problem is, he can’t host it. He and James have the two packs fighting each other.” Trisha realized the time and how late it was getting. She mad

“Hey, Kiera, where are you going? I think you’re going in the wrong direction, sweetheart. My truck is that way. Let me take you home.” Dean hated every single word he uttered. He tried to threaten her earlier to go with him. Why? Why was he screwing with her again? She’d been through enough already and she was drunk. Talk about kicking her when she’s down. “Alpha Duncan, would you kindly shove it up you’re ass? I’m tipsy, not stupid. Take me home.” Kiera snorted at that. “I work here to remember. I’ve heard the pickup lines. That one has the girl asking, ‘Yours or mine?’ Screw that. I’m walking home. Please get out of my way.” Dean was thankful she at least kept her manners while drunk, even if she was still rude about it. He had to admit it was interesting to see James’ reaction to being shot down. The two alphas could be mistaken for brothers they were so close in colouring and size. They were a year apart in age as well. So they ended up in the

Now Dean couldn’t reach Trisha. What was it with these women? He didn’t have time for this. Oli stayed right beside his alpha, and had prudently kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know half of what was going on, and what he knew he couldn’t be sure what was lying. Oli still thought that Kiera was a Lycan now and she should stay with her people. When he’d posed that to Dean, he’d reminded Oli that her people were far and few. None of them were secure. No one could point to a place and say that’s Lycan territory. Just because they are the first shifters to possess a third form didn’t mean they weren’t a form of shifter. They even spoke of the violent streak the Lycan appeared to have as well. Dean’s views were definitely food for the thought Oli needed. They traumatized the Lycans in those labs. They knew wolves and many other shifters had a strong fight-or-flight response. With that viewpoint in consideration, fighting could be the first response because the lab tried

Oli made the arrangements to get the neutral zone cottage fixed. It was more difficult than first thought. He needed to find tradesmen who would work for a Lycan and then assign a security team because of the neutral zone’s lawless reputation. It was all a pain in the butt. What if she was dead? Or they never found her? It was better to find a way to force the Jasper Sounds Alpha to hand over Trisha. Oli was completing the work orders when an enforcer entered the study. “Aren’t you supposed to be on front gate duty, Joe?” “I drew the short straw. This was delivered to the front gate a few minutes ago.” Joe held out an envelope and a dagger to Oli. “You can give it to Alpha Jonas.” The enforcer seemed eager not to be the deliverer of this news. “What’s with the dagger?” Oli took the two items from the dark-haired enforcer with his confusion clearly clear on his features. “We figured the mode of delivery might be important. A silver SUV stopp

Dean and Oli looked at each other over the phone in horror. “Keith, you have to get him calmed down. We didn’t send that message. In fact, we have one here right now. It says we have to take our copy of the deed to, and get this it’s weird, Elderswoods. We wouldn’t have called it that. It’s Jordan’s Run these days, not Elderswoods. I think we have a third-party trying to force a war between us.” “Oli, I’m his Beta and I can’t get near him. Look, it’s chaos over here. I have to go. I don’t know what’s going on, but Trisha is down here. I need to go intervene. If I can, I’ll call you later to tell you what happened.” Keith hung up there, leaving Oli and Dean in a state. Go find out who sent the note? Or rush in to save Trisha? * * * Keith dropped his phone on his desk, and it bounced before it landed on the floor. He didn’t care. He could hear the woman’s voice as James, and she yelled at each o