“He’s in the back!” Marcus shouted from behind the customer service counter at Wild Lake Outfitters. I dodged around construction workers and yellow caution tape to get to him. The hammers pounding behind me matched the thundering of my pulse.

“I can’t believe these people still want to shop with all of this going on,” I said. When the expansion was finished, W.L.O. would be the largest hunting and camping store in Michigan, measured by physical space, at least. Half the packs thought Jarred was about to lose his shirt on the renovations. Jarred ignored every one of them. Judging by the scores of people pushing carts around the orange cones, I knew he was on to something.

“Tell me the truth, Marcus. How mad is he at me?” Along with Charlie Devane, Marcus was the last of the “old guard.” He’d been there when my father took over as pack leader. As his most loyal lieutenant, I knew some factions on Wild Lake assumed he’d be the natural choice to take over as Alpha instead of Jarred. If Marcus had that ambition, he never showed it. He’d pledged his life and loyalty to my brother, just as he’d done to our father.

Marcus paused to scratch his chin. He had a day’s worth of cinnamon-colored stubble growing there. If his wife Maggie were still alive, she’d be the first to give him trouble for that. Human, she’d died almost three years ago giving birth to their son, Asher.

“Lucia, he’s not mad. None of us are. We’re just worried about you is all.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “I can take care of myself.” I swatted at Marcus as he mimicked me and repeated the last bit right along with me. I suppose he had heard me say it often enough.

“Look,” he said, turning to face me square on. “I don’t want to get into your business, but what were you thinking the other night, huh? The Backwoods? That place is crawling with shifters on the make. It’s not like it was a few years ago. You know everyone in there is looking to hook up. I’m not saying you don’t have every right to come and go as you please. And I know you can handle just about any situation you’re in. But, why invite trouble, you know?”

Marcus’s words stung. He was generally stoic and had been more so since losing Maggie. For him to get this personal meant he was really worried. I appreciated it but didn’t know quite how to handle him.

“I just...I don’t know.” That was as honest an answer as I could give him. Something drew me to that bar that night. I was only just now starting to process what that might be.

“Your brother’s just got a lot on his plate right now besides...uh...your situation. Some of the packs are putting up some resistance about the highway plan.”

I peered out the front window. Wild Lake Outfitters sat on the prime real estate a half a mile from the interstate. Only, the closest exit was a mile and a half either north or south. Jarred was working on getting approval for construction of a new exit that would bring people to the store’s literal doorstep. But the property he needed to build it cut across lands belonging to five of the other packs.

“Which ones?” I asked, grabbing a store apron from under the counter. There were lines forming at all four registers. We were short-staffed already.

Marcus let out a sigh that cut through me. I knew the answer before he said it. “Lanier, Monroe, Matthews.” My stomach flipped. Marcus at least had the decency not to look away when I met his eyes.

“He didn’t,” I said, barely able to get the words out. My inner wolf buzzed. “He wouldn’t!”

“Lucia, wait!” Marcus tried to put a hand on my shoulder, but I dodged him. White haze clouded my vision as I leaped over the counter and headed for my brother’s closed office door at the top of the stairs. I’d moved with enough violence to draw the attention of half the people in the store. To hell with them. This was Wild Lake. They were used to this kind of thing.

I heard Jarred talking on the phone, but the door was locked. Fueled by rising anger, I broke it open and pushed my way inside. Jarred’s wolf eyes flashed a warning as I slammed the door behind me.

“I’ll call you back,” he barked into the receiver. “Five minutes.” Slamming the phone down, he rose out of his chair.

“Lucia…”

“Don’t,” I said, putting my hand up in warning. I hadn’t meant for this. I didn’t want another fight, but it felt like all the puzzle pieces had finally fallen into place.

“Am I the carrot?” I asked.

Jarred jerked his head back, eyes wide. “What?”

“The carrot. Lanier, Monroe, Matthews. You need them to sign off on your stupid highway exit plan. You’re not strong enough yet to be the stick. You’re too new. They don’t respect you like they did Dad. But you have something else they want. You have me. So, is that the scheme? They get me for getting on board?”

Jarred dropped his head. He dug his clenched fists into the desktop, trying to control his breathing. I could smell the blood where his claws dug into his palms.

“Stop it,” he said, his voice a low, furious monotone.

“Jarred, I swear to God, if…”

“Stop it!” He pounded his fist on the desk hard enough one of the front legs broke. Papers slid down the side. Jarred’s fiery, silver eyes never left mine.

“Lucia, I am not going to have this same fight with you. But you’re driving yourself insane. You can’t even see it.”

“See what?” I took a step back, pressing against the doorjamb. The lights buzzed in and out as it got harder to control my wolf.

“This. You. If you could see yourself right now. You’re barely hanging on. It’s the Rise, Lucia. Haven’t you talked to Camilla about it?”

The Rise. I shook my head as if I could clear the words right out of the air. The Rise was something that happened to female shifters before they went into a kind of heat.

Jarred dropped his head, drawing a deep breath he calmed himself and stepped around the desk. “You need a mate, dammit.”

“Don’t take another step,” I said. Thundering rage poured through me. I wanted to smash stuff.

Jarred froze, respecting my wishes. He knew me well enough to know how close I was to shifting right there in his office in front of all the customers in the store. I wanted to argue his point but knew I wasn’t helping myself one bit.

“Just talk to Camilla, will you? She knows. She’s been through this. She can help you.” His eyes fluttered. “At least, I think.”

“I asked you a question.”

“No. You’ve just been bitching at me.”

I tore a piece of paneling off the wall behind me. “Did you make a deal, Jarred? Me for your exit?”

Jarred’s face went white. He opened his mouth then clamped it shut. God, he looked just like Dad. He had that same twitch near his eye when he got truly angry.

“No,” he answered, the word a sharp staccato.

“Whether you did or not, the answer is no. Do you understand? I do not want to mate with any of the Alphas of Wild Lake. Not now. Not ever.”

Shock put color back in my brother’s cheeks. He took an unsteady step backward. He looked as if I’d just gut punched him. For a moment, I existed outside myself. This wasn’t the reaction I expected. We’d been here before. Jarred would yell, swear, sometimes break something like I just had. But, he never went quiet like this.

Then, the hairs rose on the back of my neck and I knew why. We weren’t alone. In the heat of the moment, I hadn’t sensed the audience forming behind me. I did now, slowly, I turned. Peter Matthews stood in the corridor flanked by his entire pack. Roy, Grady, Stephen and Tony.

Peter Matthews was one of the biggest Alphas I knew. He matched Jarred in height. But, where my brother was leaner, more athletic, Peter was thick like a tree trunk. His cold, blue eyes burned through me. Pure rage simmered through him and I felt his wolf just below the surface. Lust coursed through him just as strong. God help me, it heated my blood. Was Jarred right? Was this the Rise?

“Then, we have a problem,” Peter said, his voice booming.

“Peter, this is between my sister and me,” Jarred said. “Please go. We’ll talk later.”

“No. I’d say this is more between your sister and me.”

Jarred’s wolf strained to get out. My own tore at me. This was bad. Catastrophic. I read Peter Matthews’s need just as clearly. The men behind him strained against their own wolves, forming a line of threat behind their Alpha.

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Not here. Not like this. Peter curled his fists and widened his stance, signaling a clear challenge.

Marcus rose up just behind the Matthews pack. He stayed human, but his fangs dropped and he bit the air behind Roy. Locked in Peter’s mind, Roy stayed stone still, his eyes focused straight on Jarred.

Where was the rest of the pack? I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. They were too far away, hunting near Jarred’s house. I sensed Charlie the strongest. Jarred put out a preternatural signal. Charlie would guard Camilla with his life. Then, another presence rose up, drawn by the energy around me.

Clint. In my mind’s eye, I could see his tiger, pacing along the lakeshore. He felt me. How was that possible? He knew I was in danger. My senses overloaded with his. My blood boiled and my breath came hot.

Peter sensed the change in me and misread it. He moved, reaching for me.

Jarred struck. He pulled me behind him and dropped his fangs. Curling his lips back, he snarled; his eyes blazed white.

Peter went deathly still. Only a bulging vein in his neck indicated the fury simmering just below the surface. “Consider this a formal challenge, Jarred,” he said, mustering more calm than I knew I could.

Jarred snapped his jaw. I put a hand on his back, trying to settle him. It only made his skin flush redder. If he shifted now, Peter’s pack would take it for the threat it was and all hell would break loose. Tuned in to his Alpha, Marcus was losing control too.

“Peter, don’t do this,” Jarred said.

“Pack law,” Peter said, his lips curling into a sinister smile. “I’ll give you until the next full moon.”

“Jarred?”

My brother reached back and gripped my arm hard. He was beyond words.

“In front of all these witnesses!” Peter shouted. “Here and now, as Alpha of the Matthews pack, I challenge you for the right to mate with Lucia!”

“The hell!” I said. I strained against Jarred’s grip but today he was stronger. “And I reject your challenge!”

Unfazed, Peter just kept on smiling. “Then your brother shall pay with his life and his pack.”

Before I could even respond, Peter turned and shifted on a dime. The rest of his pack followed. Six full-blooded wolf shifters bounded out of the store, fangs bared and fur flying, while what seemed like half the population of Wild Lake stood slack-jawed watching.