I can’t believe we’re at a real fucking party,” Troy laughed, holding up a beer he shouldn’t have. Gabe howled, like a fucking animal at the bonfire they were at.

“Cheers to being free, my brother!” Gabe grinned, and they were suddenly laughing like fools.

Earlier in the day, Brenton had qualified for emancipation and taken control of the Kingson Pride. Troy no longer had to answer to the sniveling bitch lynx shifter that’d had control over them before. Brenton was now their ‘guardian,’ and there wasn’t shit anyone could do about it.

“Freedom!” Troy roared, then took a swig of his beer. He looked around the party, all shifters from his age to a bit older than Andrew, like the twenty-three-year-old hotties who had brought the beer and liquor.

It wasn’t that the guys never got to go to parties, but this was the first time they didn’t have someone at home to berate them and tell them they were all failures. There was nobody to tell them they would never amount to anything.

He took another large swallow and grinned at a female that walked over. Her hand ran down his chest as she stood in front of him.

“I’m Sasha,” she whispered with a smile.

“Troy,” he chuckled. “Troy Walker, and this is my brother Gabe.” He pointed his bottle at Gabe, who gave a sly smile. “And before you get started, do you have a friend for him?”

“I believe I do,” she laughed, looking away and Troy watched her wave someone over. When Troy saw the dark-haired beauty move towards Gabe, he went back to the hot blonde in front of him.

“So, can I help you with something?” Troy whispered to her, touching her waist.

“I was hoping we could flirt, and then you could take me home,” she whispered back.

“Well, babe,” Troy sighed. They always asked, and he always had to tell them no. “We don’t bring company home. I’m more than willing to play, here.”

“A pity,” she pouted. “I heard the Kingson Estate was a pretty swanky place.”

“It is, but we don’t do company,” Troy blew her a kiss, and she backed away from him. They never wanted to fool around, unless it was on their terms. Which told the Pride exactly what these women were looking for. A way in to their home. They never offered their own pads or places to crash. They just took the rejection and moved on.

The rule was only humans. Humans weren’t as dangerous as shifters, weren’t out to kill them. And after several brutal years, no amount of alcohol could convince Troy to trust any woman at this party to be in the Estate while he and his brothers slept.

“Yours fuck off, too?” Gabe groaned, adjusting his pants. “Mine fucking nearly gave me a handy, until I told her she couldn’t come home with me. Then she fucked right off.”

“Yeah,” Troy said, a bit perturbed by it.

They hung out for hours, chatting with different shifters, talking about the future. Troy had no plans. He didn’t fucking care. He and Gabe were rich as shit, trust-fund babies to the extreme. He just wanted to have a good fucking time and fuck the rest of the world. Once they turned eighteen, the only person they would answer to, willingly, would be Brenton.

And Troy debated on that, as he drank his fourth beer. He was feeling it now, and it felt fucking good. Gabe was next to him, smoking a joint, laughing at something Zachary said.

“Fuck,” Gabe moaned, with a grin. “I think it’s time to head home.”

“For you two?” Zachary growled with a smile. “Yeah, it is.”

“Where’s Brenton?” Troy mumbled, bumping into Gabe as he turned around to look for their Alpha.

“Hooking up,” Andrew answered with a smile. “Zachary, help me drag these fucks into a truck.”

“Can do,” Zachary replied with a solid nod. Troy groaned as Andrew took his arm.

“What do you mean he’s hooking up?” Troy asked with a slur.

“He’s taking his own ride home, since he’s sober. We’ll have company tonight, but it’s cool. He needs a break for once,” Andrew answered. Troy frowned. He didn’t like that. Even fucking wasted, he knew ladies didn’t come home. But Andrew was the second, and that was that. He was the end-all unless Brenton stepped in.

“He shouldn’t do that,” Troy mumbled.

“I’ll be fine,” Brenton said, walking over to them. “You just get some sleep, my man.”

“Brenton, that’s a bad idea,” Troy pleaded.

“She’s eighteen, she’s hot, and she has no ties to a major Pride,” Brenton whispered. “It’ll be okay.”

Troy didn’t believe him.

* * *

It was nearly five in the morning when he rolled out of bed. Literally. He had rolled too far and hit the floor. He groaned and pushed himself up. After he stood, he wobbled a little bit. Gabe was passed out, on who knew what. Gabe knew how to fucking party, Troy thought with a chuckle.

“I need some fucking water,” Troy groaned, realizing how bad his head hurt.

He didn’t bother putting clothes on, since they threw everyone out of the house, the staff and the damn legal adults. It was only the Pride now and if he wanted to walk around naked, he was going to. He stumbled down all the damn stairs and into the kitchen. That’s when he caught a scent he didn’t recognize. A lioness shifter. He growled.

“Oh, shit,” she gasped, turning towards him.

“Who the fuck are you?” He growled, stepping closer.

“I… I’m Nicki. I, uh, came back with Brenton last night,” she told him, quickly. “I’m just looking for a snack for us.”

Troy bared his teeth but ignored her after that. He wished Brenton tied his women to the bed like Zachary did. Not that Troy wanted to think about what either did in their bedrooms, but if Brenton was going to start bringing women home, he’d like if they didn’t wander around.

“Um, do you know where I can get a knife to-”

Troy growled and opened a drawer, shutting her up. He grabbed one at random and handed it to her. Then he grabbed a glass and went to the sink. He filled it up and began swallowing. Once it was empty, he did it again.

He continued to ignore her as he walked out of the kitchen. Wasn’t his business. She wanted to make Brenton a cute little breakfast in bed to see if that bought her a morning of play time, then that was her business.

He made it all the way to his room before feeling that uncomfortable itch. He didn’t like that she was in the house. He put hit glass on his desk and sat down with another pained groan. Beer. Beer always did this to him.

He hit play on some anime and watched it quietly until he heard it.

A roar. A clatter.

He didn’t waste time. He jumped up and began running. He ran all the way to Brenton’s room, only to find the door locked.

“Brenton!” He roared. “Brenton!”

Were the other guys going to wake up? Gabe wasn’t going to, that was for sure, but where were Andrew and Zachary? Why hadn’t they gotten here yet?

He heard more banging from Brenton’s room and pounded harder on the door. His fucking Alpha was in there, damn it. He knew what this was. He knew none of those women at the party could be trusted. He fucking knew it.

Zachary pushed him aside, finally, and began shouldering the door open. Andrew was there only a second later to help. Troy watched the two bigger shifters destroy the door and the three of them flooded into Brenton’s room.

He stood over the girl, whose head was twisted unnaturally to the side. He was pale, and there was a knife in his shoulder. One of the kitchen’s knives.

Troy had given that to her.

“I was asleep,” Brenton whispered, in shock, “and she tried to fucking stab me. I woke up to this.” He pointed at the knife in his shoulder, and Troy wondered if he could even feel it.

“Why?” Zachary growled. “Fuck.”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Andrew murmured, and cautiously began to approach Brenton. “Zachary and I will take care of that.” He pointed at her body. “Troy, get the knife out of him and collect her things. Maybe Gabe can do some magic and find out who she is.”

“I don’t know shit about removing a knife,” Troy hissed. “What if it kills him?”

“We will take that risk,” Brenton growled. “I cannot go to a hospital. They’ll wonder who fucking stabbed me.”

Brenton winced as he walked to his bed and sat down. Troy walked to him slowly. He bit back the ‘I told you so’ and just stood in front of him. Brenton would need to say something first.

“You were right,” Brenton growled, long after Andrew and Zachary were gone with the body. “And after tonight, we’re fucking leaving this town. Could take months to plan, but we’re doing it. And only humans from here on out. Well… you already follow that rule…”

“Really?” Troy asked, frowning. “Why do you want to leave? This is our home.”

“Because I’m fucking done with it. We’re going to go somewhere else and make a name for ourselves. Convince people to stop trying to fucking kill us. Then, we’ll come home again and just fucking hide out. I’m tired of being attacked here. I’m tired of having nowhere safe, nothing safe.”

“Okay,” Troy whispered. “Let’s get you to the kitchen, and I’ll try and pull this out of you.”

“Where’s Gabe?” Brenton asked, wincing as he stood up.

“Dead to the world,” Troy mumbled.

“Of-fucking-course he is,” Brenton growled. “Why aren’t you?”

“I accidentally rolled out of the bed and decided not to go back to sleep…”

“Thank you for getting here so fast,” Brenton sighed as they walked from the room. Troy shrugged.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You got here first. That’s something,” Brenton reminded him.

Brenton leaned on the counter as Troy used his phone to look up how to treat a knife wound. He had no idea what he was doing, and if there was a time to learn, this was not it.

“I’m going to train to be a medic before we leave town,” Troy told Brenton as he put the phone down. His head hurt like a mother fucker and everything sucked. “And hopefully, if this happens again, what I’m about to do won’t hurt so fucking bad.”

“Good idea,” Brenton huffed.

Troy pulled the knife out.