I bowed my head and sat down, leaning my chest into the dirt in a sign of respect. Behind me, Luke did the same.

You have a pack of your own now. Irvine’s thought landed in my head. t wasn’t a question. Irvine Baird didn’t ask questions, he knew everything that was going on in shifter circles. I wondered how long the Bairds had been watching me.

Irvine was the Baird alpha. He’d come into the job quite young, being only a year or two older than me. His father was quite unexpectedly shot by a local poacher, who then had to be silenced so he wouldn’t reveal the existence of wolves in the forest. I remember Irvine going to take care of the poacher himself, then coming back and telling his pack that they would no longer kill without good reason. I’d dealt with Irvine on some occasions, running errands for Douglas. I always found him to be level-headed and fair, and he would never hurt or kill unless there was a direct danger to his pack. Which was why the kidnapping of my mother was so odd.

The Lowe territories are mine now, I answered. I control them, and I needed a pack to help me defend them.

And the Lowe treasures, what of those?

Bingo. So our suspicions were correct. Irvine did think I had the Benedict Ring. I decided to feign innocence. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.

This isn’t a time for lies, Irvine growled. I can see the ring around your neck.

Right. I’d forgotten about the leather cord hanging there.

I understand the Macleans have your fated mate. We must stop them before they do something they’ll regret.

Why the ‘we’? You have my mother.

She is unharmed. You’re the one we want.

Now we were getting somewhere. I stood up, showing him I was his equal. What do you want with me? You can’t just take the ring, you know. Only members of my pack can use it.

I know. We want your pack to join with us.

Excuse me?

Irvine tilted his head to the side. His eyes deadly serious. Let the Bairds and the Lowes become allies. You will keep your alpha status. You will retain your ancestral lands in the Crookshollow Forest. But you will have the full power and protection of the Bairds behind you.

His words threw me. What he was offering was completely unprecedented. Wolf packs were highly territorial and rarely made alliances, unless there was some huge local threat to overcome.

A wolf darted up beside me. It was Luke. He thought, Why are you offering this? You’re infinitely more powerful than us.

Because, as Caleb has pointed out, both the Lowe territory and the Lowe treasure are useless without a Lowe, Baird thought. My jaw dropped open as the wolf sat down across from us, his stomach touching the ground in the ultimate sign of respect.

This is for real, I thought. He wants an alliance. But why? What does he want to do with all the power of the ring?

If you want an alliance, why take my mother? Why did you not just ask me?

Irvine turned around and beckoned into the forest.

“Hello, my son.” A warm voice echoed from behind the trees.

My mother stepped out from the forest, her red hair bouncing around her shoulders in loose waves. She wore her city clothes – a narrow pencil skirt and long-sleeve blouse. Dead leaves crunched as her heels sank into the soft earth. Her smell overpowered me, and I rested my head on the ground.

She patted my head. “I know you think it’s dangerous for me to be here with the Bairds during the full moon, but don’t fear. I’ve been meeting with Irvine in secret for months, ever since I discovered the existence of the Benedict Ring.”

She discovered it? Of course. My mother was a librarian at the University of Aberdeen. She was responsible for the medieval collection. If anyone would stumble across our name in some long-forgotten tome, it was her.

“I went to Douglas first, of course,” she explained, still stroking my head. “But the stubborn old git wouldn’t have anything to do with the Lowe family. So I came to the Bairds for help.” She took a step back, so she was standing beside Irvine, and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Luckily, Irvine has the same vision as me.”

What vision? Why didn’t you talk to me before coming to your enemy? I pawed the ground. I wished I could transform into a human and talk to her, but I hoped she knew me well enough to answer most of my questions without me needing to ask. Above all, I wanted to ask her why she hadn’t told me, but I suspected I knew the answer already.

She confirmed it. “I am sorry I kept you in the dark. I couldn’t tell you, my son, because you weren’t powerful enough. If we’re going to put my plan into motion, we need the loudest, youngest, toughest voices in the shifter world to get onside. Of course, I was going to bring you in once I had all the pieces in place, but then the old Lowe caves were discovered and you ran away before I got the chance.”

She smiled. “When I heard you had reunited with your cousin and reclaimed your territory, I was so proud. I’ve wanted so badly to see you for months and months, but I couldn’t risk going down to Crookshollow without Douglas finding out. Instead, I had the Bairds ‘kidnap’ me, in the hopes it would bring you up here, and the final stage of the plan could come together.”

What is this plan? Why do you want the ring? I asked the wolf.

Because it is time, Irvine hissed. It is time the shifters of the world stopped hiding in the shadows. With the ring, we will be able to reveal ourselves at last. We need the ring to act as leverage for when we establish ourselves within the human world.

Whoah. That was their plan all along, to use the ring’s power to reveal the existence of shifters and gain a voice.

You can’t be serious, Luke said.

We are very serious, Irvine said. Shifters should not be hiding, living as criminals because that’s the only avenue open to us. I want a better life for my pack, and my children. I want a voice in government, and I want our rights recognised, and our culture celebrated. Don’t you want this for your people, too?

I thought of Rosa, of what she’d said about not being able to hide the way we did. Every day she walked down the street, knowing she was different, and that people hated her because of that difference, but she lived her life anyway. I thought of how brave she, and others, were to stand up for their rights in big and small ways, to be the trailblazers who would make life better for countless future generations.

For all our talk of bravado, shifters had chosen to hide because we were afraid of what would happen if humans learned we lived amongst them. It had never worked so well in the past. But we’d just given up, retreated back to the shadows, while people like Rosa blazed on. The world was different now. There was a culture of tolerance and understanding, even though it wasn’t always perfect.

I wanted to be brave, like Rosa. I wanted to show her that I was proud of who I was, as she was proud. I wanted to stand beside her and know I had done the best for my kind.

I glanced from Luke to my mother, before turning back to Irvine. Yes. I want this. I agree with you. It is time.

What? Luke cried. I ignored him.

Then let us unite, and take the ring to our government, Irvine said. We have no time to waste. We—

I don’t have it.

What’s that around your neck, then?

I broke the cord with my claw, and the ring toppled into the dirt. It’s a cheap goth trinket. We don’t have the Benedict ring. We only learned about it a few days ago. But we will make it our mission to find it.

But-but I don’t understand, Irvine spluttered. Without the ring, how did you make your claim on the Crookshollow forest? How did you dispel Angus and Robbie over your border?

I gave him a grin. Sheer brute force. There was no one down there except for a few vulpines and a couple of rogue wolves, who were easy to send packing. Then we just re-established the old boundaries and let the rumour mill do the rest. Shift in Focus really blew things out of proportion.

“What’s going on?” My mother tapped Irvine on the ear. “I hate not being able to hear what you’re all saying.”

Irvine snorted, shaking his head furiously. My mother’s brow furrowed. “He doesn’t have the ring?” She bent down and picked up the ring, frowning as she realised it was hollow pewter and a cheap glass crystal. She tossed it away and frowned at me. “Then why did you come here? How were you intending to set me free?”

At that point, I called my pack forward. Ryan and Marcus dashed into the clearing. Cole swooped down from the tree above and landed on my shoulder, his talons digging into my flesh.

My mother gave me a sad smile. “Oh, Caleb. That’s not a pack. It’s a joke.”

This is what the great Lowe family have sent to fight the toughest wolf gang in Scotland? Irvine growled.

They have my fated mate, I growled back. I can’t not fight, even if fighting is hopeless.

We stand by him, Luke added. What Angus and Douglas have done is inexcusable.

Irvine’s eyes blazed with anger. I agree. It is not honourable.

I pawed the ground. They are waiting for me, and they know I am outnumbered. I am willing to be allies, to return to Crookshollow and find the ring. Will you help me save my mate?

Irvine glanced at Ryan and Marcus, and his face twitched. His gaze fell on Cole, and his lips curled back in an expression of utter disgust.

I should never have showed him my pack, I thought. He’s an old-school wolf. The idea of aligning with other shifters, especially Bran, is abhorrent to him. The fact I even asked him means he’ll rip my throat out any second now.

But I had to try. For Rosa.

I poised, ready to fight Irvine off should he lunge at me.

Instead, the wolf lifted his head, and let out a mighty howl. I joined in, tossing my head back and lending my voice to the night. Irvine’s howl was answered from deep in the woods, and I heard the footsteps of several wolves running to meet us.

The Lowes and the Bairds were going to war.