KAT POV
I sat up in the tree, my down coat tucked around me. It had taken me four days to make it this far north. I didn’t want to use any sort of traceable transportation, so I shifted and ran at night, carrying a backpack of supplies and finding caves to curl up in during the day. Despite the massive snowstorm, I had finally made it to Cornelius’s old compound.
I was in a lodgepole pine, forty feet in the air. It was high enough that I had a huge vantage point, but low enough that the branches weren’t too sparce. The branches provided some coverage so that I wasn’t easily seen, but I could still see everything.
Below me I watched the movement in the compound. I had heard rumors that someone was running Cornelius’s old business, but I hadn’t believed it until now. It looked like someone had moved in and taken over, expanding. I needed to figure out if they were any threat
IZZY POVCaleb put his arm around me and I shivered at his touch. I loved that even after all these years, my mates could arouse me with just a caress. I leaned back into his bare chest, and he put his arms around me.“It’s beautiful here,” I said, watching the kids play in the water. The triplets were ganging up on Zaria but she was holding her own, swimming like a fish. Most wolves didn’t swim well, but since I grew up human, I did. I made sure to teach our children to swim and Lucy had asked me to include Zaria in the lessons as well. She was a much better swimmer than my boys.“Yes, you are beautiful,” Caleb murmured, kissing my mark. I laughed and reached up to hold my hat on while I tipped my head back so that he could attack my lips with his. He obliged, bumping his head on the rim of my hat. Chuckling, he pulled it off.“This makes it hard to kiss
REESE POV Three planes later, we landed in a small village. We started out in a tiny sea plane to leave the island and ended with a tiny sea plane landing us in a remote area in Canada. We were all appropriately dressed for the weather, thanks to Izzy’s foresight to call and have clothing picked out and ready for us. The plane took off again, leaving us on the dock. The north wind was fierce, chilling me to the bone despite the thick coat I wore. Izzy shivered next to me, and I protectively put my arm around her. “Let’s go talk to the magistrate,” I suggested. “Maybe one of them has seen Kat.” Griz was already forging ahead, his huge coat trimmed in fake fur and looking a little farcical on his big body. “She wouldn’t have stopped to talk to anyone,” Griz said with finality. “I know her. She traveled up here alone. She would be worried about leaving a trail that someone could follow.”
GRIZ POVThe radio of one of the men squawked and a question was asked. I recognized the language and held out my hand. Reese put the radio in it and I answered.“Vse khorosho,” I answered, hoping that my accent was right. There was a response, and I lowered the my arm.“We got a half hour, tops,” I said. Everyone was looking at me.“Were they speaking Russian?” Reese asked. I nodded.“Were you speaking Russian?” Izzy asked. I nodded again.“That’s where I’m from,” I said by means of explanation. “But it’s been a long time. My accent is off.” They all looked at me, saying nothing. Finally, Alessia broke the silence.“Half hour tops,” she repeated. I ignored everyone’s look and turned, striding into the compound’s territory, raising my head and sn
KAT POVI slowly regained consciousness and I was surprised by two things.First, that I was alive.And second, that I was warm.I didn’t know how either of those were possible. When the men had found me in the tree, they took turns laughing and shooting up at me. I dodged, trying to keep the trunk between me and them but a bullet caught me in my side and I fell to the ground, hitting most branches on the way down. They had left me, thinking I was dead. I almost was.I drifted in and out of consciousness, cold every time I woke up. I was able to pull part of my coat over the top of me, but it wasn’t enough. I was bleeding from my wound and freezing to death. One of the times I woke up I could feel my cell phone vibrating and knew that Griz was trying to get ahold of me. I sent up a silent apology to my friend for not keeping my promise. He was going to be pissed when he found o
IZZY POVI was shocked at how much making a decision to be proactive instead of reactive was in raising our morale. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off from all of us. Griz quit being mad at Kat and even Reese softened towards her, though I could tell he was still mad that she had gone off on her own and been irresponsible.“I think we should just storm the compound,” mom said, peeling a piece of roasted rabbit off the bone. Kat eyed the decimated carcass and I noticed she had completely eaten her portion already. I slid the rest of mine over to her, winking. She took it with thanks.“And do what when we’re there?” Reese asked reasonably. “We did that when we rescued Izzy and they just built another compound and came back stronger.”“That’s not really what happened, though,” Kat pointed out. Reese stiffened when she spoke but at least he wasn&rs
CALEB POVThe first order of business was to recruit volunteers. Ethan and I sat down, and we came up with a list.“How about Adam?” I suggested, looking at the roster of warriors that I had on my computer.“He just found his mate,” Ethan said. I crossed him off the list. We were only asking unmated warriors without families who relied on their income to meet with us, and we were giving each of them the full option to opt out. There was a very real possibility that this coup may not end well and that they would either be killed in action, or they would be prosecuted by the Council.“Joel?”“He’s good. What about Mary?”“Her mom is widowed. She lives with her and her sisters.”We came up with a list of approximately forty, hoping that two dozen warriors would agree to join us. I printed out the list and handed i
REESE POV I disconnected and then turned to Alessia. “Well, that’s done. Ethan and a few warriors are on their way here along with supplies. Caleb has fine tuned our plan and is working on calling in favors to get some satellite feed for when this happens.” Alessia nodded but didn’t seem pleased. I frowned. “What’s wrong?” She shrugged. “I’m concerned about the prophecy,” she admitted. “Why?” I asked. “We’ve decided it’s not worth it to us to sit and wait for it to come to pass. We all agreed we need to take action on it.” She nodded. “I still believe that,” she said. “But it’s a prophecy, Reese. You can’t just get circumvent a prophecy.” I shrugged. “We can try.” “I think it will still come to pass,” she said, glumly. I didn’t say anything. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that she said it, she could be right. “I want to bring Caleb in on this conversation,” I said. I hated to admit it, but my brother was so much better at the details of things than I
IZZY POVI lay on the bed and stretched. It was nice to be back on a mattress after a few days on rocks. Reese and mom had taken the gas out of one of the snow machines and put it into the other so that they could make it to the nearest the village. They were back a day later with two snow machines and lunch.That night I slept in a room in the only hotel in the little town that Reese and mom had found. They had four rooms and we had rented three. We were most definitely an oddity, and I was sure it would be a matter of time before word got to Toby that this was where we had ended up. So be it. I was ready for a fight.Reese came in and his eyes dilated. “Do that again,” he ordered.“What?” I teased. “This?” I stretched again, pointing my toes and stretching my arms, my back cracking. Reese pounced and the bed creaked before the legs gave way and we were
EPILOGUE TALIA POV “Coming!” I answered my mom, looking in the mirror and tucking my hair behind my ear. Today was my eighteenth birthday and I was officially going to introduce my wolf to the Pack. I had technically been able to shift since I was a baby, but we had managed to keep that a secret from almost everyone, though it had been a close call a few times. My brothers were coming back from Mongolia with their mate, Zaria, and their friend, Leo, to help celebrate my birthday. They were on some sort of a mission for the Council, but they got permission to come home for this event. They were twelve years older than me and I liked to tease them about being old. They didn’t think I was as funny as I knew I was. They were cool, though, and all my friends loved my brothers. Their mate was also pretty awesome. She was the daughter of our Beta and one heck of a warrior. She went to the same camp my grandmama was accepted to. Only the best warriors are allowed to go. I ran
IZZY POV I rubbed my swollen belly and sat down behind my desk with a sigh. Baby girl was seriously a week overdue, and I was over being pregnant. I wanted to meet my Talia and that moment couldn’t come soon enough. A lot had happened in the three months since the Summer Solstice Celebration. Elder Voltaire had officially asked permission to join our pack and he put in his retirement notice to the Vampire Council. Apparently, serving as head Council Member for three hundred years was enough for him. We gave the Blood Moon Pack to Griz and Destiny. We talked a long time about it and had first asked Leo if he was interested in taking over for his father. He had vehemently turned down our offer, insisting that he never wanted to see the Blood Moon Pack again. When we had gone to visit, I could see why. The pack needed a lot of work and there was a general sense of discourse. Griz and Destiny agreed to take on the Pack with Griz being named the first non-wolf Alpha of a Pack.
IZZY POV“So what do you do, Elias?” Reese asked. I could see his nostrils flaring a little to see if he was a wolf. I didn’t sense a wolf in him, but I wasn’t going to ask. It was kind of like asking someone’s religion or income. If they offer the information, we could talk about it. But only if they offer it.“I’m a bounty hunter,” he said. Kat was clinging to his arm.“A supernatural bounty hunter,” she corrected. “He works for the Council, believe it or not.”Elias smiled. “Kind of. They hire me on occasion. I work for myself,” he corrected her gently.“Sorry,” she said, smiling. He leaned down and gently kissed her on the lips. I grinned. I was so happy for my friend.“Tell us about one of your captures,” Destiny asked. She was next to Griz,
IZZY POV“How are you doing?” I asked Destiny. We were busy hanging decorations around the backyard, and it was the first time I had a moment alone with her in a week. I knew she was feeling really guilty about Kat leaving.She shrugged. “I’m okay. I just feel awful every time I look at Griz. I never intended for her to leave. I just wanted her to be more careful.”I dropped the streamer I was holding and put my arm around her. “I know. And so does everyone else, including Kat. She just needed a change. She spent so much time and effort making sure every part of Cornelius was destroyed that she doesn’t know what to do now. She’s just trying to find her place.”Destiny sighed. “Tell Griz that. He is worried about her.”“She’s moving around pretty quickly,” I offered. “I think sh
IZZY POVThey say a Luna’s work is never done. They’re right.I got back and had my bath and some alone time with my mates, but the pack business didn’t slow down. I was involved in the planning of the half-way house we were building as well as another youth center. I approved budgets and began working on the nursery upstairs, a room we hadn’t used in eight years. And then I began to plan the summer solstice celebration, a tradition that we had upheld since we first started it thirteen years ago.“Black and white this year?” Destiny asked. “I hate black and white,” Lucy said. “It makes everything look so formal and this should be fun.”“Okay. Black and gold?” Destiny was relentless. Lucy threw a wadded up napkin at her.“You only want black because you love it,” Lucy accused her.Destiny shrugged.&
IZZY POVThe gavel dropped and the room exploded. I turned and Kat flew into my arms, hugging me. She wasn’t normally demonstrative, and I was pleased. I needed someone to hug right now, and Kat was perfect.She was also a great bodyguard. She pulled me through the reporters at the door and only got tripped up by one of the fae reporters who used projection to try to block us. Kat pushed him over and got me out of there and into a taxi without further incident.“Keystone Airport,” she told the taxi driver, naming a private airport. I was guessing that my mates had communicated with her.“I can’t wait to get back to the pack,” I said, leaning against the back seat. “I’m exhausted. I just want a bath and an uninterrupted night of sleep.”“I’m not going back with you,” Kat said suddenly. I sat up.“Why?
IZZY POVThe twenty-four members of the Councils filed out, leaving me standing at my table, still in the handcuffs. Thanks to Johan, the handcuffs were the normal ones that they used in the human world which meant I could break them if I needed to, but I wasn’t going to. I wanted the shifter world to see what was going on.After the council members left, Kat walked over to me bringing a couple of chairs. She plopped them down and I gratefully sat. “Did you have a vision earlier?” she asked.I nodded, rubbing my forehead. “Was it obvious?”“To me,” she answered. “I know you. I was about ready to create a diversion.”I chuckled. “You’re a good friend,” I said. A look crossed her face for a second but then disappeared. I had said something that bothered her. Curious.Her phone chirped and she looked at it.&n
REESE POVThere was an outburst from the spectators in the viewing area. The main werewolf and main vampire council members were banging their gavel, telling people to be quiet. We all exchanged grins.“We are not the ones on trial here, Luna,” the main vampire council member said fiercely.“No. You’re not. I am. And I am telling you why I had to do what I did,” Izzy said. She turned to the werewolf council again.“Who among you believed that the prophecy from Nehum thirteen years ago was about me?” She kept eye contact until all twelve members had their hands raised. “And who among you thought that the prophecy was also about my sons?” The same twelve hands were raised.“And the same on the vampire side?” she asked, turning. Reluctantly, some of their heads nodded. The others resolutely ignored her, keeping thei
REESE POV“This session will now come to order.” We were watching the trial on television. The Council, in their infinite wisdom, had decided at the last minute to broadcast the trial on a special encrypted channel that Packs would have access to. We had turned it on first thing this morning when we woke up, looking at an empty room somewhere in Salt Lake. We were watching when the members from both Councils filed in, twenty-four in total. Johan was part of the werewolf council. Alessia had gasped when she saw him take his seat.They had brought Izzy in with handcuffs on. I had roared, losing control of my wolf, but Alessia had wrestled me down. “It’s for show,” she had soothed me. “They’re not silver. Just look. She’s fine. She can break them in a second.” Vin was not convinced but at least he gave me control back.“Isadora Killian, Luna of the Moonstone Pack, you were called before the Council today to answer to an entire list of charges. But you were not the only one