I was beyond sense. Beyond reason. Beyond thought. Payne seized as we got him to his feet. His eyes went from red to green then back again. Gunnar slapped him hard, rattling his jaw.

“You don’t feel it?” Payne said, stabbing his fingers through his hair. Thankfully, his eyes stayed emerald green. “He’s here. The Alpha.”

Two words shattered my world. If the Alpha was here, there was only one reason why. He’d come to sanction a mating. We were out of time.

I don’t remember making a conscious choice to breach the boundary line of Birch Haven. I only knew I had one chance to get to Eve. She was close. I sensed her immediately, heart pounding with fear. She was surrounded by other shifters. I couldn’t even stop to try and sort out who. It didn’t matter. I’d kill them. I’d let them kill me. Whatever I had to do to keep her safe.

“Mac, don’t!” Payne called after me. I couldn’t stop. I headed straight through campus. Full night had fallen. It should have registered that the place was deserted. No guards. No police. Only a handful of shifters. The majority of the Pack members were on the other side of town, beyond campus.

I headed for Eve’s dorm, even though I knew she wasn’t there. She was further away. A big, square, red brick building loomed ahead of us. I saw the white paddy wagon parked behind and only then did I stop in my tracks.

Eve had been led out, her hands bound behind her. Lena was in that van. Her familiar scent hit me at the same time I saw Eve.

“Payne!” I turned to him as he and Gunnar caught up with me. “You got your shit straight?”

I grabbed him, making him meet my eyes. His blazed green; his wolf simmered, but he was in control. He nodded.

“Lena’s in that van.” I pointed. Payne’s eyes narrowed. The Pack was closing in, but the Alpha was moving away. Cold realization snaked its way through me. This whole thing had been a trap. I’d been right that Eve, Lena, and the others were bait, but for us.

Payne and Gunnar knew it too. It was Gunnar who shrugged. “Fuck it,” he said. “We’re in this now. We go out, we go out raising hell.”

One shifter had a hold of Eve. She pleaded with her eyes and my heart shredded. If he hurt her...God.

Two other shifters emerged from the side of the building. Instinct told me one of them was Chris Woods; the other had to be that fucker Joel. Behind them, five other shifters dressed in campus police uniforms came forward. The Alpha had put out the call for reinforcements.

“Mother fuck,” Mac said. “Eight on three. I like the odds.”

But, behind us, three more Pack members made their approach.

“You had to open your fat mouth,” Payne muttered. I flicked a glance toward him.

A black SUV screeched to a halt on the far side of the parking lot. My nerves jolted. I tried to still my heart and my mind as the driver side door opened and the biggest shifter I’d ever seen got out. He had a blond crew cut, a real muscle head, but they looked enhanced somehow. Like he’d been genetically altered. He opened the passenger side and my heart dropped.

“Fuck me,” Gunnar whispered. “Is that him?”

Only Payne knew for sure on sight. The rest of us knew it in our bones. This was the Alpha. He was ancient, just like the rumors I’d always heard. But even from here, his cold, black eyes cut across the distance.

The big meathead stood a little in front of him, shielding the Alpha from view. But, there was no shield from his power. My knees buckled.

“Mac!” Eve’s cry cut through the fog. She tethered me to my own soul. I would not, could not give in. If I did, we were both lost. Payne shuddered beside me, but he still had control.

“We are seriously fucked,” Gunnar said.

I let out a warning growl. Joel and Chris returned theirs. Driven by the telepathic commands of the Alpha, Joel signaled to the wolves behind him and those behind us. They moved in, forming a circle of threat around us.

“You got any bright ideas?” Gunnar whispered to me from the side of his mouth.

We had one huge advantage. The shifters around us were deprived of their own instincts. They couldn’t move without the Alpha directing them. I only hoped that would buy me the time I needed. I knew in my heart we couldn’t all make it out of this alive. Hopefully, it wouldn’t matter.

Payne got closer. He dropped his head and signaled with his eyes toward the Alpha. My own widened in shock as I realized what he had in mind. Gunnar did too.

“It’s suicide,” I said. “You’ll never make it.”

“Just have to drive him off,” Payne said. “The Pack will move to protect him. Might be all the time you need.”

I dropped my head and clenched my fists. Gunnar was so keyed up beside me, his shoulders rolled as he tried to hold back his shift.

“Fuck it,” Gunnar said, cracking a wicked smile. “We’re never going to get this close to that son of a bitch again. If I go down, I’d rather do it taking a bite out of him than being controlled like these poor assholes.”

“Are you sure?” I said through gritted teeth. My heart was torn. We weren’t pack, but Payne, Gunnar, and I shared a brotherhood that might even go beyond that.

Payne and Gunnar nodded in unison. “Won’t take long,” Payne said. “Might buy you a minute or two. You better make good use of it.”

I dropped my head and nodded. “Fucking A. Try not to die.”

With that Gunnar and Payne committed. They would go after the Alpha head on. With any luck, the chaos would buy me enough time to get the girls away from the Pack. It was insane. It was the only shot we had.

Gunnar shifted first. When he did, the other shifters’ attention was drawn straight to him. Smart, but risky as hell. Payne stayed human, broke from our little circle and ran straight for the big dude guarding the Alpha.

Just as we figured, most of the shifters surrounding us broke away and gave chase, sensing the threat to their leader. As Payne leaped and shifted in midair, I hoped to God it wouldn’t be the last I saw of him. I didn’t get a chance to wonder. Joel, Chris, and two other shifters stayed behind and came straight for me.

Payne and Gunnar carved out their fight. I had mine.

“Mac!” Eve’s scream gutted me.

Now, my fight was three against one. Chris, Joel, and a third shifter threw Eve behind him and came for me. I couldn’t hold my wolf back a second longer. Fists became claws, my vision tunneled, and I gave in to the blood lust.

The other wolves shifted in unison. I could feel the thrum of the Alpha’s command, but Gunnar and Payne’s gambit had worked so far. The Alpha wasn’t focused on me, for now.

Joel threw Eve to the side. She hit the ground hard, but scrambled to her feet. It took everything in me not to go to her. My place was by her side, but these three fuckers were coming fast. I took a blow to the side and tumbled end over end. I dug my claws into the flank of my attacker, drawing first blood.

Joel’s wolf yelped as his silver fur turned crimson, but he kept on coming. The black wolf beside him bared his teeth and leaped for me, landing on my back. This was Chris. The rage inside me bubbled over. He wanted to kill me for Eve. I got my paws up just in time and sank my claws into his belly.

We rolled again, landing hard against the curb. I felt a rib crack but didn’t have time for pain. In the distance, I heard a sickening yelp as Payne and Gunnar’s battle raged.

I was torn in half. Gunnar and Payne were outnumbered and within ten feet of the Alpha himself. They needed me. But, Eve needed me more. As Chris’s wolf rallied, he came at me again, swiping his front paw in a murderous arc. Had he landed it, he would have torn my throat open. I rolled just in time. My head felt like it had exploded as Chris’s glancing blow still ripped my ear off.

The third wolf, big and brown, hung back from the others. He swung his head low, growling. From the corner of my eye, I saw his fade from red to silver and back again. It was as if I was suspended outside of myself for a moment, watching the battle rage. Why didn’t the third wolf charge? He lifted his head and let out a howl that split the air.

I got to my feet and looked for Eve. She’d run to the van and pulled open the back doors. Good girl, I thought. Run.

Lena came out and my heart broke. She looked gaunt, scared and scarred. If I lived through this, there would be a blood price to pay.

Joel came at me again, barreling into my side. More ribs cracked, but I sank my fangs into his neck. He was strong enough to break away, but left a chunk of skin behind.

Chris and Joel got their heads then. Whether the Alpha commanded them through the melee, I don’t know. But they did the one thing I knew would turn the tide. They stood shoulder to shoulder, ready to coordinate their attack. I got my feet under me and stood my ground, but they had me backed up against the wall.

I snapped my teeth, making a deadly threat. But, I knew in my heart this was the end. When Chris and Joel’s wolves sprang, I couldn’t hold both of them off at once. I dropped my head low and growled. Precious seconds. It was the only thing I had left to give. In the distance, Eve stood at the back of the band. Everything seemed to play out in slow motion. Eve screamed my name, but it was as if no sound came out. She tried to run toward me, but another one of the girls had a firm grip on her shoulders, pulling her back.

I wished I had marked her. God, I should have. Because then, I would have been able to tell her goodbye. She would have been able to hear my voice thundering in her mind and know it would be all right. As long as she made it to safety, I wasn’t afraid to die.

Joel moved first. He was no Alpha, but he was the strongest of the shifters left to guard Birch Haven. Still, in that split second, I made a choice that probably made all the difference. It was Chris who had targeted my Eve. So, I would spend my last few seconds ripping his throat out.

I dodged at the last second, gunning for Chris. Springing up on powerful hind legs, I bared my fangs and sank them into Chris’s throat as he leaped along with Joel’s wolf. I felt Joel’s fangs in my side but there was no pain. Not then.

Chris’s lifeblood filled my mouth. I’d hit my target. His heart betrayed him, pumping blood through the frayed artery in his neck. Then, I waited for Joel’s bite to take my life.

It didn’t.

Instead, the third, brown wolf plunged his fangs into Joel’s side, tearing him away from me. Joel was bigger, stronger, but the brown wolf had the element of surprise. As Chris’s eyes glazed over and lost sight, I turned and arched my back, ready for one last kill.

But, Joel was already dead. His companion had betrayed him. He took one last deadly swipe with his paw, nearly ripping Joel’s head off before he threw his own head back and howled.

I shifted in one breath, standing on unsteady legs. The other wolf shifted too. Blood poured from a deep gash along his temple. Joel had managed to claw him just before he died.

“There’s still time,” Joel’s betrayer said.

At first, the shock of the last few seconds made it hard for me to process his words. Then, I looked behind him. Women were pouring out of the dormitories and running across the quad. The bulk of the Pack had moved off toward the north boundary of Birch Haven. God, Gunnar and Payne had held out longer than I could have hoped.

“Mac!” Eve’s scream cut through the din. She was alive. She was whole; she was heading straight for me.

She came to me. I don’t know what I must have looked like to her. Blood poured from the side of my head. My ear was torn clean off. But, I felt none of it. I only felt Eve’s warm skin against mine as she threw her arms around me.

“Baby,” I gasped. “You’ve got to get out of here. You’ve got to run.”

“Trey?” she said, staring at the third wolf. “Why?”

Trey was young, blond, skinny for a shifter with a haunted look in his gray eyes. He lifted them slowly and focused on her. “Because we aren’t all like Joel and Chris.”