“You sure you’re ready for this?” Payne asked. He shifted the duffel bag across his back. His muscles corded with the weight of it.

“What I’m ready for is a dip in the hot springs. And some of those donuts Molly brings from the place down by the vet clinic. Plus, you stink. I’ve been trying to be nice, but two weeks traveling by tunnel and through the woods has made you ripe, my friend.” I wrinkled my nose to prove my point.

Payne narrowed his eyes at me, letting his wolf out enough to make them shimmer green. I squealed and dodged as he made a playful swipe at my ass. Desire flared and I couldn’t deny that either. Smelly as he was, I couldn’t get enough of him. He slid his arm around my waist as I kissed him.

“I almost don’t want to go down there,” he said. I knew exactly what he meant. Our trek back to the caves had been peaceful paradise compared to the way out. For a while, I wanted to dare to hope it meant Able had been wounded far worse than we realized. But, he was down, not out. The Pack had closed ranks around him though, protecting him while he healed.

Even now. Even covered in days’ worth of tunnel dirt and sweat, I wanted him. Payne’s mark flared hot at the base of my neck. It was a good heat this time. It anchored me to him at the same time it set us both free. Able was gone from my mind. He would never find purchase there again. For a few dark moments in the borderlands, I thought he had won. I thought he had finally forced me to give up the fight.

He hadn’t. A new dark secret burned inside of me. I hadn’t yet told Payne about it. I was afraid if I had, he’d want to try and take Able out all by himself. I wouldn’t risk losing him. Never again. When we fought, we’d do it together with the strength of our friends behind us.

“Come on,” I said. “You know they’ve probably known we were coming for the last hour. I’m surprised we haven’t run into the welcoming committee already.”

Payne lifted his nose. A tiny spark of fear went through me. Had something happened? Is that why the woods near the cave entrance had felt so quiet?

A low growl went through him and I felt his wolf stir with alarm. We weren’t alone. Payne put himself in front of me and dropped the duffel bag to the ground. It landed with a metallic thud. The branches of the maple trees in front of us shimmied. The wind kicked up.

A pair of silver eyes flashed and Jagger stepped into view. Deep lines cut through his brow as he looked at us. His hard, menacing stare sent a chill through me. Of all the wolves of Mammoth Forest, Jagger stayed the most feral even in his human form. I knew now it was just easier for him that way. Grief made him hard.

I went to him, relief pouring through me. Payne put a hand out to stop me, but I was already gone. I threw my arms around Jagger. He stayed still as granite, but didn’t push me away. My heart ached for him in a new way. Until Payne marked me and took me for his true mate, I hadn’t fully understood Jagger’s pain. When his mate Keara died, it had torn away part of his soul. I couldn’t even let myself think about what it would do to me if I ever lost Payne.

Jagger let me hug him. I knew it was the closest thing to genuine affection he could manage. It was enough. I reached up and smoothed a wild hair away from his eyes. He looked from me to Payne and back again, setting his mouth into an even grimmer line.

“He’s going to kill you,” Jagger said, his voice hoarse from lack of use.

Startled at his words, I locked eyes with Payne. Whatever their meaning, Payne seemed to understand completely. His face fell and he nodded.

Before I could ask them what the hell they meant, I got my answer in the roaring fury of my brother. Mac came out of nowhere. He stepped into the clearing. His gaze rested on me for a split second, then went to Payne. Realization dawned on him in that same split second and his eyes glinted silver as his fangs came out.

Jagger pulled me back as Mac went for Payne. The two of them squared off. Man to man, their wolves raging to get out.

“You’re dead,” Mac said. “You’re fucking dead!”

“Whoa,” Payne said, hands up in surrender though I felt his wolf ready to attack if he needed to.

“Mac, stop it! Bloody hell. Payne didn’t do anything wrong!”

But, my brother’s protective instincts wouldn’t let him see reason. A part of me loved him for it. Except he looked about ready to rip my lover’s face off.

“Come on,” Jagger said. He kept a firm grip on me as I tried to get to Payne. “They’ll sort themselves out. You’ll only make it worse.”

“Worse? They’re both out for blood!”

Jagger led me away over my protests. He grabbed the duffel bag filled with arms. We ducked into the caves together as I watched Mac and Payne circle each other. When Jagger got me out of view, I heard Mac growl with fury.

“Let it go,” he said. “Payne can take care of himself and he’s got it coming anyway. You should have stayed gone.”

My heart dropped. I wanted to tell him he didn’t understand. Things were different with Payne. But, when I looked into Jagger’s hollow eyes, I knew he understood perfectly.

“You sure they won’t actually kill each other?” I asked.

Jagger shrugged. “Reasonably sure.”

The rest of the welcoming committee met us in the main rotunda. Molly got to me first. She flew across the room and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug that would have toppled me over if I didn’t outweigh her.

“You suck!” she yelled. “You weren’t supposed to come back here. But, I’m so glad you did.” Tears streamed out of her eyes as she hugged me again. She knew. They all knew.

Eve and Jett were waiting too. Eve looked twice as big as the last time I saw her and alarm flared through me. She looked pale and tired. But, maybe that’s what happens to all women when they’re a few weeks away from delivery.

“Payne is...uh...on his way,” I offered. Liam and Gunnar came down the corridor.

“Holy shit!” Liam said. He rushed to my side and hugged me. “How did you...why did you?” But, when he pulled back, I think he saw the change in my eyes. My cheeks heated with a new blush.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said. He pulled me into a hug. “I guess that makes you kind of my sister. Shit. Mac’s not going to like it.”

I opened my mouth to answer him, but there was no need as Mac and Payne came down the passageway more or less together. Mac pressed his hand to his eye. It was already swelling shut and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek.

“Holy mother of hell,” Molly said as she went to him. Payne walked into the light sporting his own newly blackened eye and a tear in his ear.

But, whatever else happened, Mac and Payne seemed to have made their grudging peace. I felt it through Payne. His heart swelled when he saw me and I gave him a slow, solemn nod. Then, I went to my brother.

“It’s over,” I said. “Able Valent has no hold on me anymore. I’m okay. And I want to be here.”

Molly handed me a bandage and I pressed it to Mac’s eye. He gave me a sheepish look and I had to hold my free hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. I loved him deeply. I also had the urge to go to work on his other eye for being so stubborn.

Mac pulled me into a hug and my heart went into my throat. He was big, solid, real. In some ways, this felt like a more meaningful reunion than when he brought me out of Birch Haven. I hadn’t been fully awake then. I was now.

And I had just begun to fight.

Payne sensed the change in me. He gave me a quizzical look as I stepped out of my brother’s arms and went into his.

Payne and I gave the group the highlights of everything that had happened since we left. We filed into the map room together. It had the best light and we could spread the weapons and ammo on a large stone table Payne and the others had carved out of the rock when they cleared one of the eastern passageways.

“It’ll help,” Jett said, lifting one of the AR-15s. She already knew how to use it. She checked the scope and counted the magazines Payne spread before her. “It’ll help a lot. Give me two weeks and I’ll train the women. And anyone else who needs it.”

“Tinker Lyle says this ammo is an improvement over what you had before. He made them out of dragonsteel. Even without the neurotoxin, he thinks they’re lethal,” Payne said.

“The one Pat Bonner put into the Pack border patrolman sure dropped him quick,” I added.

Jagger alone stood away from the group as he always did. He leaned against the wall, eyes gleaming and his expression hard. “You think they’re going to line up and just let you shoot them?”

“Jagger,” Liam started. Jagger’s low growl kept him back.

“Won’t make a damn bit of difference if we can’t get to Valent,” he said.

“He’s hurt,” Payne said. “He’s weakening. He can be killed.”

“So why didn’t you?” Jagger asked. “You said yourself you had him. What stopped you?”

Payne slammed the magazine he was holding on the table. His eyes flared hot and he thrust his chest forward. For a moment, it looked like he was headed for his second brawl of the day.

“She stopped you,” Jagger answered for him. “And I don’t say that as a criticism. I would have done the same thing if I could have saved…”

His voice trailed off. He still couldn’t say Keara’s name. He took a breath and started again. “I’m just saying. It’s one step up two steps back. You’ve got Able on his heels. Terrific. But it means he won’t be so careless the next time. That’s twice now he’s let someone close enough to push back. We’ll never get that close again. He’ll keep the Pack around him.”

“So we find out where he’s hiding,” Liam said. “He’s old. He can’t stay on the move all the time. We focus our efforts on finding him. Then we make a new plan.”

I squared my shoulders. “Actually, that’s what I wanted to tell you,” I said. Squeezing Payne’s hand, I smiled up at him. His eyes narrowed with alarm and confusion. We hadn’t talked much about what happened after Able touched me. Payne thought it hurt me too much. That wasn’t it at all. I’d been afraid if he knew, he’d try to take matters into his own hands. I knew in my heart this wasn’t a fight he could win alone.

I went over to the wall. Jett’s tunnel map was drawn on one section over a grid. On the opposite wall, we had a map of Kentucky. “I saw it,” I said. “When he tried to control me, Able took me there. It’s unique. There was a big, yellow house along a river. There was barbed wire all around and watchtowers. There can’t be that many places in Kentucky that look like that. I think I can draw it out. And I think I know what it was.”

Payne came to me, his eyes sparking with the need to fight for me all over again. “It’s okay,” I said, touching his face. “I can do this. I want to do this. I think fate works on more than just mates, my love. I think this is what I was brought here for. This place, Able’s hideout. I think it used to be a prison. And we can find it.”

I turned to the group. Each of them had moved without even thinking. Liam went to Molly’s side. Mac put a protective arm around Eve. Gunnar and Jett stood side by side. Only Jagger stood alone, his silver wolf eyes shimmering with fresh hunger and the promise of vengeance.

“We can find it,” I said, raising my voice. “And when we do, we can win.”