Present

“Explain bringing the Omega into this.” Julian’s attention wasn’t on Mason, but focused instead on the bench outside where Dallas sat with Chrystal. Four Hunters had taken positions around them, but ranged to give them a modicum of privacy—all save for Dylan. Chrystal’s mate let the women talk, but he was right there, protecting her back.

“For this to work, they have to think this is a real meeting.” No apology existed within his voice. “As pack Omega, she would attend a meeting in my territory just as Sovvan would in Cassius’ or Johan in Delta Crescent. “Dylan has his orders. No matter what happens, when the fighting starts, he and two of the Hunters break her out of here and keep going.”

“Your family is safe?” Keeping his mask firmly in place, he allowed no emotion to discolor his words. Cloaking his scent and his concerns protected his investment in the pair who talked at length—well, Chrystal talked at length, her face animated and full of life. Dallas’s unfathomable expression guarded her thoughts, but her daughter held the full weight of her focus.

“Yes.” Mason offered no further explanations, nor was any required. The previous incursions included an assault on his home, where his pregnant mate and children had been present. If it had been Julian, he’d have taken the same gamble and put himself directly in harm’s way to slaughter those who threatened what he loved. It was why he was here. “Dallas isn’t going to be a problem, is she?”

“No,” he said, giving Mason the same amount of explanation for his answer as Mason provided. “You briefed the others, correct?” Assuming surveillance tracked all of them meant putting on a show.

“It’s taken care of. I know what I’m doing.” Mild offense flared around him.

“Perhaps, but you’re still young.” Impulsive, given to following his instincts and his heart without concern for the fallout.

The house they stood in had belonged to Toman Carlyle. Over ten-thousand square feet, it had a dozen bedrooms, a lounge, a game room, a swimming pool and more. It was ideal for an alpha’s house, plenty of space for entertaining such as their ‘meeting’ and the previous alpha summit.

When Mason defeated Toman during Alpha Challenge, he’d been willing to allow the previous alpha to live, but Toman chose death. Selfish prick. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Fortunately, Mason kept Felicia alive and had taken bold steps since then to secure Willow Bend and restore it to a healthy, vibrant pack. The rising birth rate paid homage to his efforts.

Birth rate. Julian’s gaze fixed on Chrystal. When she’d first gone running to her mother, he’d had the perfect vantage to read the shock, then quiet delight Dallas experienced pulling her child close. Her gaze had tracked to him, and the guards were gone. Raw, vulnerable, and open, she’d not contained the question in her eyes.

Did she tell Chrystal? It steadied him that she was willing to tell her immediately, to clear the slate and allow them to get to know each other. Yet, he’d shaken his head. He needed his focus on protecting them, not making nice.

Not yet.

If all went as planned, they would have plenty of time.

“Being older doesn’t always make one wiser.” The choice of using a minor challenge as an opening gambit proved Julian’s point.

“Not at all, but it does make one more impetuous and given to tackling situations an older wolf would avoid.”

“Just because something hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it can’t. Being open to new ideas and new methods is called adapting. Adapt or die.” Cogent, but a fair point. “I get that none of my elders care for what I’m doing. I don’t care. Willow Bend is healthy again.”

“Do you think I’m one of your elders who disapproves?” Outside Dallas laughed, the sound open and throaty. Chrystal blushed, but she was glancing from her mother to Dylan then back again. The need for approval radiated in the air around her.

“Truth be told, I have no idea what you think.” Another interesting choice. Alphas pretended to know everything even when they didn’t, better than revealing a weakness. “If I did, I wouldn’t question when it became okay for Enforcers to mate.”

Chrystal held out her phone, putting her cheek to her mother’s, then snapping a selfie. The corners of his mouth kicked up. Chrystal’s personality stumped when he met her. How could she have survived so long and yet remained so innocent and open to experiences? Watching her with her mother answered that question. The struggles they’d faced hadn’t been struggles for Chrystal. As long as she’d had Dallas, Dallas sheltered her, providing her with a safe cocoon to turn into a butterfly.

“Enforcers aren’t Lone Wolves,” Julian said, a ghost of a conversation whispering in his ear. A conversation, which haunted him until the moment he finally understood William’s real question.

“Since when?” Surprise brought Mason across the room to stand at his side. The only thing keeping them out of the garden was the closed french doors.

“Since it’s my decision.” He dropped the verbal grenade and waited for the alpha’s response. When he’d told Dallas he knew what he planned to say to the alphas, he’d meant the changes the Enforcers needed. All of them. They sacrificed a great deal to protect Lone Wolf and pack alike—they were not pack and they weren’t Lone Wolves. They were Enforcers.

The change had been gradual, but it had existed within him for years. He just hadn’t been able to reconcile need versus want versus law. A knock at the door announced A.J. Buckley, Mason’s Second, before he stuck his head inside. “They’re on their way.”

“Put the word out,” Mason said. “Everyone is in the shelters?”

“Locked down tight. Claire and Tyler are with Alexis, Vivian, and the kids. We have a dozen Hunters on point. We’re as ready as we’re going to be.”

“Alert Dylan.” Blowing out a breath, Mason rubbed the back of his neck as the door closed behind A.J.

The plan took a little tweaking, but the alphas of the other packs would arrange to leave, then use decoys in their place. Each decoy had been handpicked by their alpha. Though they needed the appearance of a summit, the loss of even one alpha could create a vacuum. To lose them all at once?

Unacceptable.

Mason wouldn’t retreat and use a decoy. They’d come after his family directly, and there was an open threat to his Omega. He wouldn’t leave the battle to everyone else. Not when he set the terms and the location.

“Dallas won’t go with Dylan and Chrystal. He is aware of this, correct?” If the fight came, and it would, Dallas would be in the thick of it. There lay the rub. Protecting her had been a goal from the first time he’d met her. Yet that very desire to keep her safe drove him to isolate her from every part of his life.

They hadn’t reached this part of their relationship alone. They’d fucked it up together.

“I figured. She’s an interesting problem to have.” Whether Mason intended to fish or not, Julian swiveled to face him.

“She is not your problem. Or anything else.” Dallas was his. She’d always been his. He merely forgot that when he didn’t take care of what was his, it could just as easily fade away.

Raising his hands, Mason grinned. “She is the mother of my Omega.”

And the mother of my child… More, she was Dallas. All he said was, “Then don’t get between her and her target.”

The next hour passed slowly. The SUVs bringing the decoys in would travel a circuitous route. Every Hunter and Hound involved, alongside those Enforcers Julian handpicked, would remain wary as they sat in the center of the mobile bullseye.

Mason’s phone buzzed, alerting them that their guests were moments away.

Pushing open the french doors, Julian strode outside as Dylan’s head snapped upward. The whooshing of a helicopter’s blades filled the air. Three steps out into the garden, and a spray of bullets tore up the turf. One Hunter took a bullet right through his thigh.

Behind him, Mason cursed, but Julian ignored the chaos and hurtled across the field toward Dallas and Chrystal. Squealing tires and the slam of metal on metal echoed around him. Dylan and Dallas each flanked Chrystal as they hustled her out of the open.

A wolf slammed into Julian’s side. The scent wasn’t Willow Bend or any pack he recognized, so he rolled with the tackle, wrapping his arms around the wolf’s neck then snapping it.

More rushed him. He flowed into the fight, trusting his instincts even as his wolf raged for blood. Death was never the only answer. They believed in second chances. Yet, in this battle, he had run out of all fucks to give. Their enemy offered no mercy and would be shown none.

Blood trickled from his ear as he cracked the spine of the wolf in front of him. Another latched to his back and sank his teeth in. Twisting, he flipped the wolf over him, gripped his arm and twisted even as he slammed his foot down on the man’s ribs just above his heart.

A bullet grazed his shoulder as the helicopter made another pass. Around him, war raged. A.J. and Mason fought back to back. Nothing got past either wolf as they held their ground. Bodies littered the ground. They were not alone in the fight—roars and shouts echoed from all around.

When a brute charged him, Julian raced to meet the assault. The other wolf’s strike of fist to jaw jerked him around, and blood filled his mouth. Ducking the next blow, he chopped with the flat side of his hand straight to the trachea. Coughing then gagging, the wolf stumbled. Dallas appeared in his periphery, and she cut around him, sliding between the wolf’s legs as she hit him in the groin. A strangled yelp escaped the brute. Bouncing to her feet, she struck at the back of the brute’s knee. When he collapsed, Julian caught his head in an armlock then twisted the man’s head violently to the right.

When his neck snapped, Dallas had already engaged another. Moving like lightning, she cut through her opponents, a merciless tempest, destroying anything in her path.

The whoosh of helicopter blades alerted him a split second before the next wave of gunfire. Even their attackers crouched whenever the vehicle buzzed them. A minute later, more combatants entered the fray.

“Helicopter,” Julian shouted as he took down another. “Mason, they’re bringing them in by air.”

The flybys were intended to distract and disorient. It had been working. Yet every time they took down a wave of Volchitsa scum, another wave arrived. Shock. Awe. Overwhelm. Their enemy employed a strategy designed to wear them down. It had also effectively divided Mason’s forces with the majority fighting on the far side as they fought a duel-pronged war.

Duel-pronged.

Flinging away another body, Julian searched for Dallas amidst the melee. She danced with a wolf in human form as he raked the air with his claws. Leaping, she snapped the wolf back with a kick to his jaw. The moment he was down, she grasped his hair then slammed his head into a rock, crushing his skull. Seeing the attacker coming for her, Julian raced and intercepted. He took the wolf down. As he grappled, she pivoted to face off against another.

Rising, he covered her back. When the helicopter buzzed by, bullets hit the turf around them. As with every other flyby, the combatants went into a crouch, but Julian shielded her.

“Stop.” A voice echoed around them. Overhead, the helicopter hovered, then spun around revealing a figure leaning out with a bullhorn. Julian didn’t recognize him from Adam. “You will surrender Dallas Dalton to me.”

“Or what?” Mason snarled, his shout muted some by the helicopter’s blades.

“Or the girl dies.”

When he pointed, Julian rose to his feet, and Dallas let out a hiss. Two wolves had Chrystal. Her eyes were wide, shocky, and her face pale. Blood ran from her nose and the corner of her mouth. Those details weren’t what arrested his attention, though—it was the blade at her throat. Dylan was nowhere to be seen. If they’d killed her mate, it might very well kill his child.

Icy rage poured through him. Neither he or Mason were in close enough range to take out her captors. Around them, those few remaining Volchitsa struggled to their feet and ranged into a circle.

“Fine,” Dallas called as she stepped away and spread her arms. “I surrender. Let her go.”

Julian snarled, but she continued to move from his side. “Dallas…”

“No.” The single syllable carried the weight of desperation. They had a knife to her daughter’s throat. Nothing would stop her—

The helicopter lowered as the wolves holding Chrystal dragged her toward it.

“Take her,” the man ordered in his clipped British accent. Julian started forward, but Chrystal let out a cry as the blade at her throat drew blood. “You will remain where you are Enforcer or you will be the one who slit her throat.”

“Then take me,” he yelled. “I’ll go in her place.”

“I want her,” the Brit said. As the helicopter touched down, two wolves leapt from out, shackles in hand. “So, behave yourself Enforcer. You have been playing out of your league from the beginning.”

It was like being trapped in a nightmare. Heavy shackles clipped onto her wrists, then a second chain extended up to her throat where they added a collar—over the leather one he’d placed there, which she hadn’t removed.

The frost in his veins began to spread. Most people thought rage was like fire, that anger fed its flames until it blazed. They forgot that ice burned.

A second set of shackles went around Dallas’s ankles, and she stood for the manhandling without a word. Her gaze wasn’t on Arkady—the Brit had to be him—but on Chrystal. Her captors had her almost to the helicopter.

“Bring her,” Arkady ordered with a motion toward Dallas.

Shuffling forward, Dallas kept her chin high. Hobbled and chained didn’t mean a damn thing to his fierce wolf. Surrender or not, she still had fight in her.

Halting in front of the helicopter, Dallas elbowed one of her captors in the face when he tried to shove her forward. “Let her go.”

The other wolf pulled out something that looked like an Epi-pen and pressed it against Dallas’ neck. When she swayed and Chrystal cried out, Julian started forward. Bullets sprayed the ground in front of him.

They hustled a groggy Dallas into the helicopter, and Julian locked in place. If he went for them, they’d kill Chrystal. He couldn’t save one without putting the other in danger. Committing Arkady’s face to memory, he studied every other detail. Then they dragged Chrystal into the helicopter.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Mason’s growled words boomed through the wash of the blades beginning to accelerate.

“Call it insurance.” With that bland farewell, Arkady settled back in the seat then closed the door of the helicopter. It began to lift off, and the Volchitsa seemed to realize they were being left behind.

The roar of an enraged beast shrieked as Dylan appeared on the edge of the garden. Blood poured from his forehead, and he cut through the wolves between himself and the helicopter. Julian surged forward, following him. Above, the door opened and Chrystal hurtled out even as the helicopter jerked. A flash of chain appeared in the door then it shut and the helicopter flew.

Chrystal landed on bent knees then tumbled. Meeting his mate, Dylan pulled her into his arms. His daughter was safe. The remaining Volchitsa were easily contained, but Julian couldn’t take his gaze off the helicopter as it continued to fade away in the distance.

Montague Arkady was a dead man.

Decades earlier…

Returning to the Oregon house, Julian felt like he trudged through mud on an uphill climb. Even his muscles trembled from exhaustion. The last three months had been a nightmare. Members from a Russian pack had declared Alpha Challenge in Hudson River, but instead of meeting with the old alpha directly, they got into a brawl resulting in bloodshed and death. Dallas’ cousin along with a friend had killed the challenger in self-defense, unaware of his challenge. The action drew the attention of the Russian wolf’s pack, and they’d sent a Krysha to extract revenge.

Julian found the Krysha first, and prevented the Russian Enforcer from trying to assassinate the newly-minted Alpha of Hudson River. Old man Dalton had been holding on by his fingertips for years, and his pack adored him. None wanted to challenge him, and the old man finally accepted Dallas wasn’t returning.

Maybe the revelation would make it easier for Dallas to contact her family. Perhaps enough to let her go home or open up options for her. While he didn’t know what she wanted, not yet, the only thing he longed for was to see her. They hadn’t even had time to talk.

The interior of the house was quiet. Too quiet. Pausing in the entryway, he listened. Worry filtered through him or maybe paranoia. A group of hotheaded young wolves had struck out from Sutter Butte with the intention of starting their own pack. It had led to bloody, unfortunate consequences and had taken him a month to clean it all up.

“Dallas?”

It took him a few minutes to verify she wasn’t there. Annoyed, he checked his messages, but they were all from his Enforcers and one from Toman. It was a few months old, but he’d ignored it the first time, and he planned to ignore it now. Toman’s arrogance never failed to piss him off further.

Where the hell was Dallas? Sitting down, he scrubbed his hands over his face. Had she finally taken another job? When she’d quit her job with the cruise lines, she hadn’t told him. In fact, he’d only figured it out when he realized how much renovation work she’d been getting done.

Running his finger along the edge of the desk, he grimaced at the dust. Later. He would deal with it later. His SUV was the only vehicle in the garage, but her bike was still parked on her side. Maybe she bought a car in the meanwhile and had gone to town. Not impossible.

First things first, he’d shower. He hadn’t warned her he was coming—not that he needed to warn but he’d hoped to surprise her. An hour later, he still sat on the side of their bed staring at the single page letter.

She was gone.

Not just gone from their house but his life. Lifting the letter, he read it again.

Julian,

I wrote this five different times. I almost didn’t leave a note at all. Then I realized that wouldn’t be fair. You’re the Chief Enforcer. I know you didn’t tell me, but I did figure it out. Staying here, living with you, being with you—it’s wrong. We had a great affair. How many people can say they balanced a non-work friendly relationship for that long? Do us both a favor. Don’t look for me. I won’t look for you. Be safe…

Dallas

Be safe. She signed off her Dear John letter with a be safe? The anger flooding him couldn’t compare with the crushing disappointment and the hurt. His exhaustion evaporated.

She was mad at him for having to cancel on her one too many times. Sometimes reckless and always impulsive, maybe she returned to the cruise line for one of their around the world jobs. She’d mentioned wanting one…but why say goodbye like this?

His gaze went to the line about being Chief Enforcer. He hadn’t told her because that was the life he lived when he wasn’t with her. The life he had out there, it had nothing to do with what they shared.

Except he’d had more responsibilities and it interfered with his being with her. Fuck that. He crumpled the letter. If she wanted to tell him to his face that she had moved on, then so be it. But a letter?

No. She was not running away from him the way she had Hudson River. He didn’t demand every ounce of her attention or responsibility. No, he’d worked his ass off to build her as string free of a life as he could manage. They were lovers, and they shared this house, but they didn’t get to live there together. It was a fine line to walk with the rules, but he understood them.

A month later, frustrated and angry, he sent word out to his Enforcers to keep an eye out for Dallas Dalton. His orders were specific—identify, then contact him. They were not to approach or try to capture, and under no circumstances was she to be harmed.

All he wanted was one damn conversation. He’d left messages for her on the service they’d used for years—no response from her and, when pressed, the service revealed she hadn’t called.

Every day there was something new that demanded his attention, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Where the hell was she? Had something happened to her? It ate away at him, gnawing on his soul. John Nelson showed promise as an Enforcer, and Julian had taken over his training personally. It took him away from the West Coast, allowed him to spend time on the Eastern seaboard and Tennessee. John wasn’t talkative like some of the Enforcers.

He received word about her when they’d been in the Smokey Mountains handling part of the census, which included checking in on Lone Wolves, their living conditions, and mental states while also providing them with contact. Some liked seeing them coming, others merely resented their presence while they endured it.

Leaving John to finish the task, Julian left for Seattle immediately. Calitri reported Dallas had been seen in the company of Carlo Cruz, a Lone Wolf from Sutter Butte. Julian knew the name, though he’d never met the wolf in person.

It took him ten hours after the first message to get on the ground in Washington state and arrive outside the address Calitri had for Cruz. The Enforcer had lost sight of Dallas, but Cruz was enough.

Julian would get the answers from him on where Dallas was.

The door opened before he even achieved the steps. The wolf staring at him was a thick fellow with dark scruffy hair and a hint of a beard. A combination of onions and meat filtered out of the house, but beneath it all—Dallas. Increasing his pace, Julian strode up the stairs toward the other wolf.

“Hey, man…”

Using his forearm as a wedge, Julian drove the other man back several steps. “I’m not your man,” he said, power lashing out of him. The other wolf’s eyes went gold. “Dallas!” Pressing Carlo to the wall, he scanned the areas of the kitchen and living room visible from the entry hall. “Dallas.”

Her scent lingered. Once he was inside, he could definitely taste it—only it had altered somehow.

“Lay off, man. She’s not here.” Carlo tried to dislodge Julian’s arm, but Julian didn’t want to be moved.

Focusing on Carlo, he leaned into him, pitting his weight and strength against the other man’s struggles. “Where. Is. She?”

“How the fuck should I know? She got spooked and took off. Which sucks, because she’s got a great ass, and it was fun to have her here.”

Possessive fury devastated reason and logic within him. Julian slammed him against the wall. “Do not discuss her ass, do you understand?”

“What the fuck is your…?” Carlo trailed off as his gaze locked on Julian’s. The wolf was tough, but he didn’t have the dominance to match him. The more he fought, the worse the other man’s temper became. “Who are you?”

“My name is Julian,” he said slowly, enunciating every syllable. “Where is Dallas?”

“I. Don’t. Know.” At least he had the sense to blanch. “I swear…” Sweat broke out along his forehead.

Cocking his head to the side, Julian raised his eyebrows. “What do you swear?”

“Nothing.” But the word stank of a lie. The strong odor of food would have occluded Dallas’s scent if she had been gone for a long time, yet it remained present. Leaning forward a fraction, Julian’s eyes narrowed.

Her scent was on Carlo.

“I’m going to guess you’re the one she’s running from.” He wasn’t helping his case. “For what it’s worth, I don’t know how you Enforcers do things, but leave her alone. Whatever her crime was, she’s pregnant now, and that should give her some leeway.”

The word hammered him. “You let her run, pregnant?”

“Bitch wants to do it, that’s on her. I didn’t tell her to get pregnant.”

He didn’t tell her…

Carlo dug his fingers into Julian’s arm, still trying to get free. “Let me the fuck go…you want to chase her, go after her. Like I said, she’s gone.”

He got her pregnant, then he just let her run. Alone? What kind of a selfish bastard did that?

“How long was she here?” How pregnant could she be?

“A few months,” Carlo gasped out the words, as though he were having a hard time taking a deep breath. “I found her sleeping in a park, decided she was too pretty to leave there, and…fuck man…”

“Lone Wolves are not allowed alliances.” He repeated the law, it was the only thing he had to tether his sanity. “Lone Wolves do not live together.”

She left Julian to sleep in a park…then to move in with this scum.

“I know…the law…” His face went red, and a bone crunched beneath Julian’s arm. “But…she…”

Then his breath stopped as the bones in his chest gave. One of them must have perforated the heart.

The wolf collapsed, and Julian straightened. He would take the apartment apart piece by piece. She should never have been here. What did he expect? He hadn’t exactly enforced the rules with her.

Now one wolf was dead and she was running…pregnant.