“And what do we have here?” Joe yelled, stalking up the aisle where Brick was carrying Ivy.

Matt took up the rear, holding his shotgun into the air and then firing off a blast.

Dropping her to her feet, Brick shoved her behind him and whispered, “Stay there and be quiet.”

“Vida! Is that you?”

“What do you want?” Ivy shouted, peering around Brick’s back.

“Come out here, girl!” He set the muzzle of his gun to the floor and leaned it against his leg. Motioning towards her, he said, “Don’t make me get ugly.”

“Stay where you are, or run to the back,” Brick said, ready to make his change and defend his mate.

He had no fear of the weapons pointed at him, and he was poised to take the men down.

“I named you ‘Vida’ as a triumph of our race over his. Are you tellin’ me that you turned into a shifter lover like your momma?”

“My emotions aren’t tied to what a person is. What I care about is who he is. I’ll be with whomever I want, and it’s none of your damn business.”

“You always did have a back-talkin’ sassy mouth. Just like Wanda.” Directing his attention to Brick, he lifted his weapon and pointed it up at him. “You’re a big one, ain’t ya?”

“His pelt’s gonna be massive,” Matt commented with a whistle.

I’m here, Alpha. Listening in. I’ve disabled their vehicles. Waiting for your orders.

Stay put for now.

“What do you want?” Ivy shouted, clutching Brick’s belt in her hand, as she tried to calm her trembling. “Take it and leave!”

“Is that any way to speak to your long-lost daddy, Vida?”

“That’s not me anymore. I changed my name, moved away, and started a new life! How did you find me?”

“I’m here for the book, and my hunt led… me… here.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“You expect me to believe that? Him and his whelp are around. They’re searchin’ for it, too.”

“If Braxton’s abomination is here, you’ll get it over my dead body,” Brick growled, his voice a mix of man and wolf.

“Speakin’ of, where is the other mongrel?”

Remain hidden, Duke.

“He’s at their hotel!” Ivy yelled. “Please let Brick go, and I’ll help you look for it... Daddy.”

“What’s this?” Matt asked, from where he was perched at her desk. “Stacks of notepads filled with information about shifters.”

“Bring it to me,” Joe said, training his gun on Brick.

“There’s nothing in them that will help you!” Ivy shouted.

Matt tossed down one of the notebooks. Joe caught it and then flipped through the pages.

“Don’t look to me like you’re doin’ all this research for fun, girl.”

“Don’t answer, Ivy.” Brick reached behind and patted her. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“We might not need the book, after all.” Joe gestured to Matt. “Come here. Take a look at this part.”

“Yeah, we can use that,” Matt replied, after glancing at a page.

“You can’t have it! That’s my property!” Ivy yelled, coming out from behind the protective barrier that was Brick.

He grabbed her arm, pulling her to his chest.

“Wait. Be patient. You’ll get ‘em back.”

Look out!

Just then, Brick was rocked by an impact to his side. Ivy was ripped from him, as Rex joined the group, yanking her behind him, as he went to stand with the TMD.

“What the fuck, Rex? Turning on your own kind?”

I’m gonna kill him.

“I’m not really a shifter. You’ve seen it yourself. I may have been born with the latent ability, but I’m more man than wolf.” Rex tilted his head to the side. “Though, I can hear you, Duke. You might as well come out.”

Duke emerged from the aisle from which he had watched the confrontation.

“I tried to help you develop your abilities!”

“And I appreciate it for what it was—useless. You see, as time went on, the clan’s calling me Omega, not letting me forget that I’m something lower than them, making me eat last, et cetera, made me realize that perhaps the TMD was right. We don’t belong. If I wasn’t made correctly, maybe none of us were. Maybe we are an evolutionary mistake, an abomination, and the Wolf Star story is nothing but a fable, a lie.”

“If that’s what you think, then, give yourself over to them. Don’t include us.”

“No, that wouldn’t be rational. You see, once I made my decision, I reached out anonymously to the remnants of the TMD, and Matt responded. I explained my plan, and he was onboard immediately, like I was certain he would be. I thought that surely, with three opportunities, as well armed as they are, they could take you both out.” He looked at Matt. “Not sure what happened, but we’re here now, and this is where it ends. Then, I will rise as the savior of the clan, take down the barriers, and allow the TMD on our land in order to negotiate with them for our peaceful surrender. Of course, the pack will need to be culled further, so as not to be a threat to mankind, but it will be done humanely. Any funds from the pelts of those put down will be donated to charity, supporting human causes.”

“You’re insane, Rex! Do you really think they’re going to let you live?”

“I have their assurances on the matter.” Rex looked at first Matt and then Joe, who nodded their agreement. “So, yes.”

“Duke and I trusted you! I defended you to the rest of the pack! Changes were being made in their perspectives of the Omega role in the clan!”

Rex nodded and said, “Too little, too late. You know, it’s almost comical, how easy it was to trick you.” He placed the back of his hand to his forehead. “‘Oh, the calamity!’”

“You’re not getting away with this treason,” Brick growled, his eyes turning yellow.

“Enough!” Joe wrenched Ivy from Rex. “Did you let him fuckin’ mark you as his mate?”

“Not yet.”

Ivy tried to jerk away, and Joe jostled her until she stopped fighting. As Brick saw how roughly Joe was handling her, a growl came from his throat, and then Rex’s head snapped up.

“I don’t believe it.” Rex gestured to Brick and then Ivy. “She’s your mate.”

“Well, ain’t that special!” Joe yelled, throwing Ivy to the ground in front of him. “My own daughter! A whore for mongrels!”

Matt lifted the shotgun, aiming it at her head.

“No!” Brick thundered.

At his alpha’s commanding tone, Duke flowed into his beast form, while tufts of hair sprouted on Rex’s ears and hands.

Pacing back and forth behind Brick, Duke bared his teeth, snarling and snapping at them. His height as a wolf was even with Brick’s thigh, and the width of his shoulders was similar to his as human. Matt changed his stance to track Duke’s movements.

Good. The gun’s on me instead of her.

“Private!” Joe called out, “Bring the other prisoner.”

A teenager came out, holding the hand of a small boy.

“Brick!” the child shouted. “They hurt my mommy!”

“Billy?” Brick exclaimed, and then he looked at Joe. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You took a child who only spoke to us in passing as a hostage?”

“Get this through your big thick dumb skull, dog!”

“Don’t call him that!” Ivy shrieked. Brick held a hand out for her to be quiet. “He’s educated at a university level, like me! He’s not an animal! He’s a better man than you ever were!”

“Shut up! Shut your college-degreed slut mouth!”

Rage trilled through Brick’s veins at how his mate—his beloved—was being treated, but the danger she was in with the weapons so close to her, sitting at the feet of a clearly deranged and murderous man, overrode anything else. Nothing was in his mind other than keeping her safe, no matter the cost.

“I’ll do what I gotta do to make sure the human race is cleansed!”

“You’d murder your own daughter?” Brick bellowed.

Dylan said, “Uncle Joe, you’re gonna kill your own blood? My cousin?”

Ignoring him, Joe yelled to Brick, “Listen to her, defendin’ you! No family of mine does that, sides with the enemy! Why am I even talkin’ to you? Goddammit, I’m done! It’s time for all of you to die.”

“You ready to get this show on the road, Joe?”

“I am.” Matt patted his military vest, took out a silver bullet tipped with a small vial, and tossed it to Joe. He caught it and loaded it into his firearm. And with that, he grabbed Ivy by the back of her head, jerking her up, as Matt pumped the forestock, aiming once again at her. Brick growled low in his throat. “I’m gonna do it. I brought her into this world, and I’ll take her out of it. Get the kid down there with her,” Joe demanded.

“My mother birthed me, you, idiot.”

Dylan pushed the child behind him and said, “With all due respect, Colonel... no. I’m not gonna let you kill him.”

“Are you disobeyin’ a direct order, Dylan?”

“No, sir. It’s like what you told me. I didn’t know any better when I was a kid. Billy doesn’t, either.”

“Mommy!” Billy cried, “I want my mommy!”

“That fat bitch is dead!” Joe yelled, as he stomped over to Dylan.

“No! No! My mommy’s not dead! You better not hurt her!”

“Shut up!”

He grabbed Billy by his neck, forcing him to kneel beside Ivy. Wrapping her arm around him, she tugged him close, as he continued to wail. Then she looked up at Brick, whose anger was barely contained.

“Kill them,” she mouthed silently.

At that moment, Brick’s eyes met Joe’s and held. As he looked at the man, he saw the genetics that had passed from him to Ivy, the similarities in the tilt of their noses, the subtle yet present resemblances in their facial bone structure.

Joe broke the stalemate and directed his anger at Ivy.

“Before I shoot your fuckin’ head off, you’re gonna tell me where your momma is!”

“Fuck you!”

Blocking Rex from the link, Brick spoke directly to Duke.

I’ve got the crazy one.

And that is?

Her father.

Brick, he’s got a vial of that concoction.

I know.

You could die.

I’ll do whatever I have to do to save her. You know what to do if I go down.

They’ll have to kill me to get to her.

Thank you, my friend.

What about Rex?

I’ll take care of that.

With a thunderous roar that shook the items on the shelves, causing some of them to fall and break, Brick began to transform, revealing his strong beast, growing into a wolf so great in size that none other could compare.

Joe’s eyes went wide, as his hand holding the gun shook violently.

“Argh!” Rex shouted, as his wolf answered the call of the alpha, shifting completely, quickly, and fully, while his clothes fell in tattered rags onto the carpet around him.

As Brick’s paws hit the floor, his hackles bristled. With his eyes pinned on Rex, he bared his teeth, displaying his sharp and deadly fangs, as his lips curled into a snarl. Rex dropped to the ground, and his ears drew back as he whined, while he lowered himself in submission.

Duke lunged ahead of his alpha, leaping into the air, as Matt swung the shotgun in his direction. Duke snapped his jaws around the barrel of the gun, throwing his head back to toss it away.

“No!” Matt screamed, as Duke landed on him.

He sank his teeth into Matt’s throat and ripped it away, severing his head. Turning his glare to Joe, he crunched it between his teeth, as blood flew in arcs from the ends. He then swallowed the mouthful of flesh and bones.

“Heathen mongrel!” Joe screeched, as Duke tore into Matt’s chest with his sharp claws, breaking open the ribs. Settling on top of him, Duke pushed his muzzle into Matt’s chest and yanked out his barely beating heart. “You’re dead!”

Joe lifted his pistol, taking aim at Duke. Ivy screamed and rose, grabbing Joe’s weapon. He backhanded her across her face, and she fell to the ground.

“Bitch, give me my gun!”

“Run!” Ivy screamed. She shoved Billy away from her, and he stumbled to standing. “Dylan!” She pushed the gun underneath her. “Take him and get out of here! Call 9-1-1!”

Dylan took Billy’s hand and ran towards the entrance doors, dragging Billy behind him.

“Traitor!” Joe yelled, tripping over his feet, falling onto the ground. “You never had the guts for this! Pussy!”

After making sure that the boy was clear of danger, Brick dipped his head as he advanced, roaring once again to turn Joe’s attention from Ivy, back to himself.

“Give me my gun!”

“No!”

Jumping up, Joe kicked Ivy in the stomach, while simultaneously, Brick launched himself towards the man who was hurting his mate. Joe lunged for the pistol, which had come free after his foot connected with Ivy. Brick’s body slammed into him, sending them both sailing through the air to land across the room.

Joe yelled curses, and Brick snarled, as the two fought each other, while Duke approached Ivy, sniffing and nudging her with his nose.

“I’m okay.” She uncurled from the fetal position she was in and began rocking back and forth, as she prayed, watching the battle in front of her. She was saying the same words in repetition, “Please protect Brick from my father! Please! I know I haven’t talked to you since I was little, but please don’t let him die!”

“If I’m goin’ down, I’m takin’ you with me! A martyr for the cause!” Joe’s strangled words came out.

As Ivy closed her eyes, she heard a gunshot, and she screamed.