I’d just made Eve swear not to do anything risky. One mile from Birch Haven, I did the riskiest thing of all. I let my wolf out. The beast tore from me, fueled by lust, passion, and blood rage. I wanted to kill. I wanted to rip out the throat of any shifter who got in my way.

They’d taken my sister from me. I would not let them take Eve. Running so fast my paws barely touched the ground, I stayed to the wild places letting the trees shield me. When I hit the town line to Shadow Springs, my heart beat more evenly. The pull of the Pack receded. I was safe here. For now.

The tall poplars edging Mammoth Forest called to me like a beacon of sanity and freedom. I belonged here now more than I did Birch Haven. Except, I didn’t feel that in my heart anymore. Everything in my life seemed split in half. Before and after. Before Eve, I didn’t know what I was fighting for. Lena. Yes. But now, I was fighting for myself.

I burst through the secret cavern hidden by rotted leaves and gnarled tree roots. Down and down I ran into the darkness, letting miles of earth and rock walls shielding my scent from the Pack. They hadn’t followed. This time, I’d been lucky.

I went to the deepest part of our cave settlement. Here, three springs joined to form a vast reservoir underground. As I reached the water’s edge, I shifted back, curling my toes over the hard rock. I launched into the air, folding my body into a pike. I carved my way through the cool water, kicking down with all the force I had. My lungs burned, but still, I swam down. The well here was so deep, none of us had ever touched bottom. Not yet. Today I might try.

My body screamed for oxygen. I denied it, seeking clarity only the watery darkness could provide. A voice from above finally broke through. I didn’t find the bottom. Not this time. Kicking off from a shelf, I rose to the surface.

Gasping for air, I broke through. Liam and Gunnar stood at the water’s edge, eyes flashing. They’d sensed my return to the caves. Treading water, I nodded to them.

“You okay, man?” Gunnar asked. His silvery eyes glinted as he drew closer to the water’s edge. We weren’t pack, but I knew he could sense my blood rage. It called to his own dark nature. Liam’s hand on his back kept him from shifting. A light bobbed behind them and Molly emerged from one of the passageways holding a flashlight in one hand and a towel in the other.

She waved the towel at me and I swam to the side. She averted her eyes as I pulled myself out then wrapped the towel around my waist.

“We need to talk,” I said, jerking my chin toward Liam.

Molly cleared her throat. “You’re welcome. Good to see you too, Mac. I’ll see myself out.”

“No,” I said, feeling sheepish. She was the last person I ever wanted to offend. “I meant Gunnar should leave. It’s you and Liam I need to talk to.”

Gunnar let off a gruff chortle, but shrugged. “We’ll talk later,” he said. “Count on it.” Then, he turned and disappeared into the darkness, leaving me alone with the only two fated mates I knew.

We sat at the water’s edge, dangling our feet. Molly had rolled up the legs of her jeans. Liam kept a protective hand on the small of her back. Unfamiliar jealousy poured through me. Sure, we all had wished for fated mates of our own. But, until now, it had seemed like a fairytale. Something sweet, but unattainable. Liam and Molly had been a fluke like Jagger and Keara before them. I think it’s something I told myself to make it easier to bear.

“You’ve found her, haven’t you?” Liam said.

“Lena?” Molly jumped up. She’d never met my sister, but she cared so deeply about all of us. She knew how much Lena meant to me.

Liam’s eyes grew dark. He and I were having a different, nonverbal conversation. As my half-brother, he understood me better than most. It was almost as tight as a pack connection. Almost.

“Wait, what?” Molly looked from Liam to me then back again. She sank slowly back down, dipping her toes into the water.

“How did you know?” I asked. “The both of you. How was it for you?”

Even in the dim light, I could see Molly blush. “Maybe I should leave you two alone to suss this out.”

“No,” I said. “I want you to stay. I have questions.”

“I can’t explain it,” Liam said. “Wait, that’s a copout. Yes, I can. There’s no one thing, Mac. It’s something that’s obvious. Innate. When I saw Molly for the first time, it was like my heart had never been beating until that instant. It was something I didn’t even know I was missing until I had it.”

Molly brought her knees up, resting her chin on them. Liam put his hand in the middle of her back, drawing her close to him.

We’d all been against their match. Now, as I sat watching them, I felt like an intruder. They shared something sacred and primal. I’d known Liam my whole life. Sharing the same mother, we were raised together. In that, I was even closer to him than I had been to Lena. I never really knew our father. Lena’s mother and mine had an awkward relationship, having shared the same man. In both cases, it had been an arranged pairing. The Chief Alpha had been hoping Lena would be a shifter herself. All shifters had been cursed by witches eons ago. Female shifters of any species were extremely rare. When I was just a kid, I thought that made Lena lucky. She couldn’t be controlled by the Pack the way Liam and I were. I’d been so stupid to think that. Lena’s fate was in some ways far worse. She’d been carted off like some prized cattle, offered up to a mate she didn’t choose. Just like my mother.

“I owe you an apology,” I said, directing it to both of them, but my gaze settled on Molly. “I didn’t understand what it felt like to find your fated mate. They were just words to me. I mean, with Jagger and Keara, I saw it. But, I still didn’t believe in it.”

“It was easier not to,” Liam said. “Believe me, brother, I know.”

Mating with Keara had made Jagger the most wanted outlaw shifter in Kentucky. If he were ever caught, the Alpha would use him as an example, probably keeping him alive to torture and let the Pack members feel his pain through the telepathy that binds them. Now, with Keara gone, that horrible honor passed to Liam if anyone ever found out about Molly.

“I know the risk I put everyone in,” Molly said. “Keara knew it too. I’m connected to Liam in ways that could be dangerous for him. But, we’ve been as smart as we can be.”

We had. With Keara, she’d been in on every decision our little band of resistance made. Hell, she made half of them. With Molly, we kept her walled off from a lot. I knew it hurt her sometimes, but she’d been there when Keara died. She, more than anyone, understood what was necessary.

“What’s her name?” Liam asked.

“Eve,” I whispered. “Eve Dawson. She’s a student at the college. She’s helping me find out what she can about Lena.” The picture she gave me had blown away in the wind the instant I’d shifted into my wolf. I regretted that now. It had been so long since I’d seen her, sometimes it got hard to conjure her face in my mind.

“She must be something very special,” Liam said. “Is she safe?”

I swallowed hard; it felt like I had nails in my throat. “None of them are safe. There’s a shifter there. He’s shown interest in her. As far as I can tell, no high ranking members of the Pack have much to do with the day-to-day happenings in Birch Haven. Thank God for that. It allows me to patrol the perimeter without being scented. I think Eve’s got some time. If the Alpha or any of his generals show up, I suspect this asshole is going to make a bid for her. If the Alpha sanctions the match…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence. Molly leaned forward, putting her arm around Liam’s shoulder. She peered at me with her wide, brown eyes. “Then we can’t let that happen, can we? You’ve got to come up with a way to get that girl safely away.”

“God, I want to. It’s all I think about. Almost to the point of…” Again, I couldn’t complete my words. It was too awful. I hated myself for it.

“Mac,” Liam said. “You’re not going to leave Lena behind if there’s any way to bring her out of there. It’s just instinct that’s making you want to take this Eve and run. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“I know. But it’s what scares me the most. I’m having trouble thinking straight where Eve is concerned.”

Liam cleared his throat. A look passed between him and Molly. “Look,” he said. “We may not be pack, but we’re brothers. Lena may not be my sister, but she’s yours. I know you followed me into Mammoth Forest and away from the Pack because of her. I’ll never forget that. We’ll take it to the others. Maybe Payne or Gunnar has an idea. Gunnar’s been doing recon in the north. He’s made some new contacts, new allies.”

Liam’s voice dropped. He couldn’t say any more in front of Molly. She smiled and tweaked his nose.

“Don’t forget Jagger,” she said, her tone almost chastising. Of all of us, she spent the most time with him. In fact, she was the only one Jagger would let get near him. If any of the rest of us tried, he lashed out. Payne had gotten his nose broken by Jagger just last week.

“We never forget Jagger,” I said. “Promise. He’s just not in a condition to give much advice on strategy these days.”

“You should go see him anyway,” Molly said. She gave me a stern look that made me hate myself a little. She was right. Avoiding Jagger was often the easiest course of action. But, it wasn’t fair to him.

“I’ll go first thing in the morning,” I said.

“Good,” Molly answered, standing up. Liam followed her. “He’s better when you all talk to him. I know you can’t see it, but I can. It’ll do you both good.”

I brought a hand up to touch her cheek as she leaned down to give me a peck on the head. God, I understood so much more what Liam felt for her. And I also understood what it would mean if he lost her.

---

There was a time I thought Jagger Wilkes was the fiercest shifter I knew. I thought if anyone could ever defeat the Chief Alpha someday, it would be him. It’s why I chose to follow him and Liam out of the darkness of the Pack. It would have been so easy to keep things as they were. The Pack made all decisions. I moved...we all moved…for the Alpha.

Lena was only part of the reason I found the strength to break free. Jagger was the other. We were cousins. Jagger’s mother had been mine and Liam’s mother’s sister. Jagger drew so much of his strength from Aunt Celia. That is, until her mate had grown tired of her. He killed her in a fit of rage while the Pack held Jagger back from interfering.

He would have tried to leave the Pack then, but he’d been so young. Then, he met Keara, his fated mate. It was the final blow that let him break free.

Free. Is that what we were? We hid in the caves, doing what little we could to help other shifters gain the same bit of freedom we had. They were mostly betas. They could make it to the borders and start new lives. We couldn’t. As Alphas, the Pack had bounty hunters looking for us everywhere. Someday, they would find us, one by one. We all knew it, even if we couldn’t admit it.

Jagger stayed in his rooms now, rarely venturing topside. He’d taken over a small cavern on the east side of our settlement. He liked it dark, cold, and quiet. He was sleeping on his side now, his bare back bunching and rolling as he took slow, measured breaths. I could almost believe he was drugged, as calm as he seemed. But, the minute he heard my footsteps, he rolled to his other side and glared at me through the darkness. His silver wolf eyes flashed and he sent out a warning growl. I entered his cavern anyway.

Jagger wore ragged jeans, torn at the cuffs. His bare feet were covered with grime. The welts around his ankles and wrists had faded. In the first few weeks after Keara died, we had no choice but to lock him up with shackles made of dragonsteel, the only metal strong enough to hold a shifter. Payne had stolen it from a Pack outpost near Lexington. He’d been so out of his mind with grief, he would have drawn the Pack to our location. Keeping our whole operation safe meant imprisoning our greatest friend.

“Jagger,” I said, ducking low to clear the overhanging rock. I stopped and stood about three feet from him. Further would be better, but I chose to trust Jagger for now.

He sat up. Tilting his chin, his nostrils flared as he sniffed the air. His eyes glinted brighter then dulled as he settled back, drawing his knees up on the stone shelf where he lay.

I had a plate of venison in my hand that Molly insisted I try to give him. I set it down on the floor near the wall, pushing it away so I wouldn’t step on it. Jagger followed my movements with his eyes but said nothing. He hadn’t spoken a word since the night Keara died almost eight months ago now. But, I knew he was in there. I knew he understood.

Leaning against the wall, I sank down until we were at eye level. “You look like shit, man. You should head down to the reservoir, take a bar of soap. You stink.”

He chuffed, but didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been down here for a while. I’ve been to Birch Haven. We found it. It exists. I haven’t found Lena yet, but I’ve got a few leads.”

He turned away, blinking hard. Jagger rested his forehead against the stone wall. His breath came in ragged pants. God, he was trying. I knew it. It was so much easier for him when he stayed in his wolf. But, the longer he did, the harder it would be for him to come back. I knew for a time he didn’t care. He’d lost half of himself when he lost Keara. His heart. Maybe even his soul. There’d been a time when I thought we were cruel for letting him live like that. Slowly, painstakingly, he’d come back to us a little more each day.

“I need you, man,” I said. “We all do. Shit is going to go down in Birch Haven. There are girls there. Hundreds of them. They don’t deserve the lot they’ve drawn. I don’t know how to get them all out. Hell, maybe I can’t. At least I know I can’t do it alone. You were good at this kind of stuff way back when, Jagger. Remember? Can you try? For her? You know Keara would want us to do everything we could to try and save some of those girls. Even...one.”

At the mention of her name, Jagger slammed his head back against the rock. If he were fully human, the force of the blow would have been enough to crack his skull. For a moment, I thought he was hellbent on doing just that. But, he went very still. Tears streamed down his grimy face and he turned back to me.

“Even just one,” I said. “I can’t imagine the agony you’re suffering.” It was a lie. A flicker in Jagger’s eyes let me know he recognized it too.

My mind went back to Eve. Her scent. Her touch. The feel of her heartbeat mixing with mine. Even now, being separated from her ached. If I claimed her, if I marked her as mine, that bond would be a thousand times stronger. If it were to break...if I lost her…I shuddered as the air in the cavern seemed to grow even colder.

If I lost her. My mate. My heart. My life.

Jagger thrust himself away from the wall. He got right in my face, tilting his from side to side as if he were trying to read my thoughts. He didn’t need to. In that moment, I realized he could sense everything I wasn’t saying. Eve’s scent was all over me.

Jagger reeled back. A growl ripped from him. “You will,” he said, his voice a hoarse, wrecked whisper. “She’ll die because of you, and you won’t be strong enough to stop it.”