Prologue
13 years ago…
The hunger pains were back. She tried to ignore them, but they were gnawing at her insides. When was the last time she had food—real food? The small creatures the she-wolf hunted were disgusting, but they kept the pangs at bay. But she wanted an actual meal today. A hot meal. Or a sandwich. But she needed money for that.
She hunched in on herself, wrapping the too-big jacket around her. Clothes were hard to come by, especially in her size, so she made do with what the she-wolf found. Eyes scanned the busy pedestrian street, looking for an easy mark. The woman with the baby stroller. Naw, she didn’t look like she carried cash. The man in the headphones? Hmmm, based on his ratty shoes, he probably didn’t have money either.
Ah, there he was.
The old man wearing a hat. He just left the cafe, paper cup in one hand and a newspaper under his arm. And a fat bulge in his back pocket meant a wallet full of cash. He seemed distracted, too, as he stopped at almost every window display on the shopping street, looking at all the holiday displays. Was it almost Christmas? She didn’t know. The air was much colder, but there was no snow yet.
A rush of people went by, and she used the crowd to blend in, slowly making her way to the old man. She followed him, staying a good distance away. Finally, he stopped at a display outside a toy store, his eyes glued to the window. Picking up her pace, she drew nearer, until she was just close enough.
She brushed past him, bumping slightly against the man’s pants. Deft fingers slipped inside, liberating the wallet from the back pocket. Prize in tow, she ran, her oversized shoes clomping on the concrete. Her heart was pounding, and she looked back, just to make sure he didn’t see her or was following her. A quick glance told her he wasn’t on her tail, but he was gone from his spot in front of the toy store. Seemed strange, for a man his age to move so quickly, but she didn’t care. She could probably get a couple of hot meals from the bills in the wallet.
“Ow!” she cried as she bumped into something. “Watch where you’re—“ She stopped short when she looked up and saw who she bumped into.
Brown eyes looked down at her, the corners wrinkly and turned up. “Watch what, little she-wolf?” the old man in the hat said.
Her eyes widened, she pivoted to run away, but he was inhumanly quick and grabbed her by the collar of her jacket. She struggled to get away, but he hauled her into a back alley and then shoved her against the wall.
“I believe you have something of mine,” he said, putting his hand out. When she tried to protest, he clucked his tongue. “C’mon now, little she-wolf, hand it over.”
She grumbled and fished the wallet out of her jacket and slapped it on his palm. “Now get out of my way, old man,” she rasped, as she tried to get around him.
“Tsk, tsk,” he said, blocking her as she tried to sidestep around him. “Hmmm…your technique wasn’t too bad, and your hands were pretty light, but I supposed that has to do with their size. But, you were too sloppy. Not only did you look suspicious when you walked away, but you also fell for my trap.”
“T-t-trap?” she stuttered.
“Why, yes,” he chuckled. He opened the wallet and tossed out the wadded pieces of blank paper from the inside. “Doddering old man, big fat wallet in the pocket. You must learn that sometimes, the easiest pickings aren’t always what they seem. And you need to challenge yourself to improve continuously.”
“Oh yeah, old man?” she asked, puffing up to her full stature, at least as full as a 12-year-old girl could get. “Who’s gonna teach me?”
He sighed. “I suppose I will have to tutor you. I did go to all this trouble to chase you down.”
Her big brown eyes, much too big for her face, widened. “What?”
“Come along now,” the old man gestured for her to follow him. “We have much work to do.”
***
Present Day
The three Lycan Alphas sat around the conference table, waiting for the large projector screen in front of them to turn on.
“Do you have any idea what they want to talk to us about, Grant?” Liam Henney, the Alpha of San Francisco asked the man in the middle.
Grant Anderson, New York Alpha, shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”
“The Lycan High Council calling all three of us for a meeting can’t be good news,” the woman to his left said. Francesca “Frankie” Anderson (née Muccino) shook her head, her lovely mismatched blue and green eyes turned dark. She was Alpha to New Jersey, but as Grant’s wife, she was also his consort and the Lupa of New York.
Jared, Grant Anderson’s faithful admin, called their attention. “Alphas, Switzerland is online.”
“Put them up on the screen, Jared,” Grant said.
The screen flickered to life. Five people showed up on the screen, all of them sitting around an oval table.
“Alphas,” the woman in the middle greeted. “I trust you are all doing well?” Lljuffa Suitdottir was the oldest member of the council and their de facto leader. She wore her white hair in a severe bun and wore a crisp white suit jacket.
“Lljuffa, Council,” Grant addressed them. “Under the circumstances, I supposed we are all well. So, to what do we owe this honor?”
Lljuffa’s lips curled into a smile that didn’t reach her piercing light blue eyes. “Straight to the point, Grant?”
Grant’s hands curled into fists under the conference table. “We’re all very busy, as I assume you all are as well.”
“Fine,” the Lycan woman said. “We’re here to discuss all the events in the past year.”
“And which events might those be?”
“Let’s not be glib, Grant,” Lljuffa replied.
“Ah, are we finally going to discuss the mages and Stefan?” Grant asked, referring to their enemies and their leader. “Well, we’ve been talking about them and our alliance with the witches for the past few months now and yet nothing’s moved on that front. So, I naturally assumed this was about something else.”
Lljuffa’s eyes narrowed. Behind her, the four other council members looked at each other.
“Yes, well, Alpha,” Rodrigo Baeles, the youngest member of the Council spoke up. He was a handsome man, with dark hair and olive skin. “There are other matters, as you know.”
“The Creed Dragon,” Jun Park interjected as his eyebrows drew together into a frown. “Are you in control of him? Has he pledged to your clan?”
Grant let out a laugh. “Sebastian Creed will never allow himself to be under anyone’s control.”
“But he could expose all of us! Or kill us all,” Oded Khan protested, shaking her head and sending her her dark curls bobbing around her pretty face. “You must have him pledge to your clan.”
“I cannot force anyone to pledge to me,” Grant said.
“Ah, but you didn’t stop the warlock from pledging to you,” Adama Amuyaga countered. The African council member was the second-oldest of the group, and also one of the fiercest opponents of the alliance with the witches. “And you accepted his oath of allegiance. A warlock pledged to the Alpha of a Lycan clan! No one’s heard of such a thing.”
“I’ll take care of the warlock,” Grant said. “But, I suppose you have other reasons why you wanted all three of us here?”
“Alphas,” Lljuffa began. “There’s been a lot of…talk.”
“Talk about what?” Frankie interjected.
Lljuffa’s light blue eyes trained on Frankie. “Well, for one, two Alphas marrying?”
“There aren’t any rules against that, are there?” Grant inquired.
“No,” Lljuffa said. “But, there have been a few rumors going around that the two of you are planning to merge your clans and possible claim more territory.”
“And if we were?” Frankie challenged, her voice raising. “Look, I’ve got less than 50 Lycans under me, many of them retirees or young families. If anything, joining my clan with New York would be more of a burden on them.”
“Your close ties with San Francisco could be suspect.”
“Could or are?” Liam spoke up. “We have a few thousand miles between us. I doubt we could take over the entire United States.”
“But you are married to a witch, no?” Lljuffa said. “And your child…do you know if it will be a witch or a Lycan?”
Liam’s face remained calm. “As you know, we can’t determine that yet. Lara is my True Mate,” he reminded them.
“And that’s the problem.” Lljuffa shook her head. “Do you know how many other True Mate pairings there have been around the world?”
“How many?” Grant asked.
“None,” Park answered. “Nowhere in Asia, Europe, Africa…nowhere else except New York, New Jersey, and San Francisco.”
“Surely that’s a coincidence,” Frankie said. “And maybe more will be popping up soon.”
“And why would this be a concern anyway?” Liam asked. “Shouldn't you be happy that we are reproducing easily now? Five pairings, all in all, two full Lycan children already born.” The San Francisco Alpha remained cool and collected, but he seemed to struggle for control, especially since Lljuffa mentioned Lara and his child.
“It is not a concern. Yet.” The Council leader straightened in her chair and she squared her shoulders. “But, going back to the warlock. You must turn him over to us.”
“Daric is not a piece of property to be bartered or sold,” Grant said.
“But you keep him detained at Fenrir,” Lljuffa countered.
“We are keeping him here now to help him recover from his injuries,” Grant corrected.
“And after?”
“The crimes he committed were against us, and now he is also pledged to me. As his Alpha, he is my responsibility, and that includes punishment for his crimes. But, seeing as he is not a Lycan, you cannot order him to make atonements or serve us, nor do you have jurisdiction over him.”
Lljuffa’s eyes narrowed. “Very well.” She turned to the other council members. “We will talk this over and contact you again. Good day, Alphas.” She turned away, and the screen went black.
“So, what do we do?” Liam asked as soon as Jared disconnected the call. “We have the mages trying to kill us, and now we have to worry about the Council too?”
Grant let out a deep sigh, and Frankie took his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. “Well, Sebastian shouldn’t be a problem. He says he can control the dragon and he’s very careful now. He won’t risk anything, not with Jade being pregnant and all.”
“And Daric?”
“Well, that’s the wild card here. But I have a plan. Daric is our greatest asset right now. With what he knows, surely we can use it to defeat Stefan.”
“But you would need him to cooperate. Are you going to use his mother?”
Grant shook his head. “I can’t. I mean, I could, and I’ve thought about it, but we all know doing that would make us all just as bad as Stefan.” Frankie nodded in agreement.
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I haven’t figured out that part of the plan, yet,” Grant said. “But, I suppose we could strike a bargain. Get him to trust us. Help us defeat Stefan. Daric wants the same thing we do.”
“As far as we know,” Liam added. “You’d trust him not to betray you?”
“Of course not,” Grant said. “Daric will have to be kept on a tight leash.”
“How are you going to do that without using his mother against him?”
Grant shrugged. “We'll keep an eye on him.”
“That still doesn’t answer how you’re going to get him to work with you,” Liam pointed out.
“The only thing I can do is give him our proposition. I’ll need your support in this, Liam.”
The San Francisco Alpha nodded. “Of course, whatever you need.”
“Good. I’ll speak with Daric today and let you know what he says.”