Deception Pass State Park, an hour later…

Rhiannon parked the car on the far edge of the lot, behind an oversized camping trailer, and they got out.

"The plan. Let's go over it again," Lucas said, and she rolled her eyes.

"I know the plan. I hide in the woods, which I still don't like, by the way, while you somehow invisibly grab my daughter out from under their very overdeveloped noses."

He stopped, scanned the deserted area around them, and then suddenly he…changed. Not like a shifter. No, this was pure magic. One second, Lucas stood before her, all dangerous man in full-on warrior mode, and the next second all she saw was a shimmer of light sparkling off iridescent droplets of mist.

And then she saw nothing at all.

A shiver ran through her. "Lucas! That's amazing! But…how can you rescue Stevie like that?"

She heard his deep, low, laugh. Then she felt—actually felt—his arms lift her into the air and she levitated five feet off the ground before he gently lowered her back to her feet and reappeared next to her.

Her jaw dropped to her knees. "You—I—holy crap!"

A rustling noise in the trees behind them jerked her out of her stunned amazement, but before she could pull her gun out of her jacket pocket, Lucas had pushed her behind him and was somehow holding a spear that looked like it was…made of ice?

"Come out. Now," he demanded.

She pulled out the gun, turned the safety off this time, and walked around him despite his attempt to stop her. "She's my daughter," she reminded him. "I'll be damned if I'll hide when she's in danger."

Three men and a woman walked out of the woods, all of them looking like they were escapees from the Island of Sexy Badass Warriors. They all wore black leather pants and dark shirts, and they were all carrying weapons. A sword, several daggers, and the woman carried a bow. They all looked almost as scary as Lucas.

And they were all smiling but one.

"Hey, Lucas," the non-smiling man said. "I thought I told you to keep in touch."

Lucas dropped the ice spear, which vanished before it hit the ground. "I was busy, Denal. Hello, Flynn. Griffin. April, welcome to the team."

April, who must be the striking redhead with the bow, winked at him. "I see you found a friend."

Lucas sighed. "Rhiannon, meet my fellow warriors. April is the chatty one. Denal, our leader. Flynn," he said, indicating first the unsmiling man and then the dark-haired man on the left. Finally, he pointed to the last man. "And Griffin, a mage."

The mage, who had an astonishing waist-length fall of pure white hair, studied her with silver eyes—not gray, like Lucas's, but silver—and then inclined his head. "Rhiannon."

"Right. Cut the chatter and tell us why we're here," Denal said, almost casually, but Rhi could feel the sheer power emanating from the man.

She stepped closer to Lucas but raised her chin. "We're here to rescue my daughter. I have no idea why you're here."

April laughed. "Oh, I'm going to like you."

Griffin nodded. "I agree."

The leader didn't smile, but a look of what might be respect crossed his face. "Fine. Let's go rescue a little girl. I had nothing else to do today, anyway."

"You're going to help me?" She didn't know how to believe it.

Flynn shrugged. "You're his, so you're ours. We stand for our family."

Rhi, stunned, followed Lucas and Denal as they headed into the woods, Lucas explaining the situation to his teammates. She was family? She didn't know why, but she believed him—believed them—and the warmth of that belief carried her forward, stronger and surer, step by step.

April fell back to walk next to Rhiannon.

"So. You and Lucas. Hard to imagine him with a human, but okay," the redhead said, shrugging. Then she stepped into Rhi's path and stopped, her eyes narrowing. "I grew up with Lucas. He's like a brother to me, and she didn't deserve the crap that his idiot father rained down on his head. If you hurt him, I'll kill you."

Rhi eyed the woman and considered shooting her but decided Lucas might not like that. "Fair enough. Now get the hell out of my way."

April grinned and got the hell out of her way.

When they'd walked for ten more minutes, Lucas called a halt. "Wolves have superior hearing. I suggest you all wait here while I go after Stevie in mist form. Even if they see me take her, they won't dare attack for fear of injuring her."

"I still don't like this plan," Rhi said, her heart in her throat and her breath coming too fast.

"Then why don't we change it?" the mage, Griffin, asked in a reasonable tone. "There are six of us now, not two. We can adjust accordingly."

Flynn nodded. "Why don't we just walk in and take her?"

"There are probably at least fifty wolf shifters in there," Rhi told them. "If this turns into a battle, my daughter could get hurt."

"There are five of us, including a powerful mage, and you have a gun," Lucas pointed out. "The shifters are vastly outnumbered."

April ran a hand down the smooth arch of her bow and smiled. "I'll go up in the trees and get a good vantage point," she said, before soundlessly running off.

Rhi looked each one of the men in the eyes, one by one, finally turning to Lucas, who nodded. "Okay. Let's do this. It's time to get my daughter."

A few minutes later, Rhi led them out of the woods into a bustling gathering of people who, surprisingly, must have been too occupied to notice them approaching. The moment Rhi stepped forward, though, all sound and motion stopped.

She immediately saw Brock, at the exact second he turned around and caught sight of her.

"You!" He raced toward her, still in human shape, but skidded to a halt when she raised the gun and pointed it at his head.

"Where is my daughter? Bring her to me, now, if you want to live to see tomorrow." She was proud that her voice didn't shake under the weight of the stares of fifty sets of glowing, pre-shift eyes.

"I'll rip your head off and eat your heart right out of your chest," Brock snarled, his face starting to contort into the shift.

"I don't think so," Lucas said, stepping up beside her, carrying ice spears in both hands.

"Nope," Denal said, on her other side, a sword in his hand. "If there's going to be any heart-eating today, I'll be the one doing it. I could use a snack."

"I, too, am hungry," Griffin said, materializing next to Denal with energy balls floating just above his hands. "I prefer kidneys, myself."

"Dibs on the liver," April cheerfully called out from above them.

Rhi and everybody else looked up to see the warrior standing on a tree branch, aiming an arrow at Brock.

"Brock? What's going on?" The sound of Tannis's voice wrenched Rhi's head around like a magnet attracting steel, but all she could see was her daughter.

"MOMMY!" Stevie screamed so loudly that Tannis flinched, which gave Stevie the chance to yank her hand out of the woman's grasp and start running. Some of the other wolves reached out to try to stop her, but she easily dodged them and barreled straight for Rhi, who was racing to meet her.

They met in the middle, and Rhi fell to her knees and threw her arms around her daughter, both of them crying and laughing. She covered Stevie's face with kisses until finally her daughter squirmed and crinkled her nose.

"Mommy! Stop squeezing me. Can we go home now? I want french fries!"

Brock, whom she hadn't noticed skulking forward, lunged toward them. "You are home," he snarled, but then Lucas was suddenly between them, the tip of the spear digging into Brock's throat.

"You will move back from her. Now. Or you will die."

Brock growled, but he moved back a step.

Rhi stood, lifting her daughter in her arms. "I'm leaving, and I'm taking my daughter with me, now Brock."

"She's my daughter, too!"

Stevie's eyes widened, but then she buried her face against Rhi and started to cry. "Want to go home, Mommy."

Rhi patted her back and glared at him. "You forfeited any right to her when you broke my arm. And when you slammed my head against the wall. And when you choked me to unconsciousness the night before our wedding."

Lucas jerked his head to look at her, and his eyes had gone darkly, brilliantly crimson. "He has to die, Rhiannon."

She shook her head. "No. This is mine to do."

She shifted her daughter to one hip, stepped forward, and punched her ex-fiancé—her ex-abuser—in the face. "You're nothing to me, and you will never see Stevie again." She turned to face Lucas. "It's time to go."

His gray eyes warmed, and he nodded. "Whatever you need."

"Anybody else have a problem with us leaving?" Denal scanned the shifters grouped around and behind Brock, most of whom either shook their heads or held their hands up and backed away.

A tall, bearded man stepped forward. "Hey, man, we got no problem with you. We've been tired of Brock for a long damn time. Looks like today is as good a day as any for an alpha challenge. We've already got my feast ready." He started to unbutton his shirt, his face remaining calm when Brock snarled at him.

Tannis, though, who'd stood as if frozen since Stevie ran away from her, broke out of her trance at that and screamed. "That's my granddaughter, you bitch!"

"No. You gave up your right to be a grandmother when you let your son beat me and told me it was my fault. You think I'd let my daughter grow up with you? When would he or some other wolf start beating her? Would it be her fault, too?" Rhi slowly shook her head. "And I think we know who the bitch is, here."

"Time to go," April called out, leaping down out of the tree in a tight somersault and lightly landing next to Griffin, who was still bouncing the energy balls from side to side.

"I couldn't agree more," Rhi said.

Stevie, who'd peeked out just when April jumped down, squeaked. "Ooh! I want to do that. Mommy ask the lady to teach me to do that!"

April leaned closer and patted Stevie's curls. "You bet, little one. Now, can we get out of here? I'm suddenly hungry."

The bearded shifter who'd just called an alpha challenge against Brock walked toward them, his admiring gaze fixed on April. "You're welcome to stay for the feast, gorgeous."

April laughed. "Aren't you adorable? Maybe later, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Furry."

Denal touched Rhi's arm. "We should leave."

"Not with my granddaughter," Tannis shouted, and then she pointed a gun at them. "Or I'll kill you all."

"Ah," Griffin said. "I finally get to join the party." With that, he hurled his energy balls toward Tannis so fast that Rhi could only see a blur of light. Tannis shrieked and jumped back, dropping the gun, which was now nothing but a hunk of melted metal.

Another woman suddenly appeared from behind the cabin and grabbed Tannis's arm. "We've got this," she told Rhi and the Atlanteans. "You should go."

The bearded man stepped between Brock and Rhi and nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't know what he was doing to you. I'll make sure he never does it to anyone again."

When they walked back into the woods, Rhi covered her daughter's ears so she didn't hear the angry, snarling sounds of the fight.

"I don't think we'll all fit into the car," she said, almost lightheaded with relief.

Lucas stopped walking and pulled her and Stevie into his arms and exhaled slowly. When he looked up at her, his eyes were gray again. Stevie reached up and patted his cheek. "Pretty eyes! Will you teach me how to turn my eyes red, too?"

Lucas blinked, looking as stunned as if she'd hit him with a hammer. "I—you—"

Rhi laughed and rescued him. "She likes to learn things."

A few paces away, Griffin made a graceful motion with one hand, and a silver shimmer appeared and formed into a large oval.

"Are you attached to that car?" Lucas asked, grinning at her. "It has fond memories and another bag of Doritos in it, after all."

"Not even a little," she told him.

"Then let's go."

Stevie suddenly launched herself at Lucas, who caught her in mid-air.

"I wanna go! Where are we going? To McDonalds?"

"No, princess," he told her, holding her as if she were made of the most fragile glass. "To Atlantis."

Rhi looked at the shimmering oval, at the other Atlanteans, who were walking through it, and then back at Lucas. "There's no place I'd rather be, and no one I'd rather go with."

He put his free arm around her waist and pulled her close, and the three of them walked out of the woods and into Atlantis.