The vault was hidden within a manufacturing plant owned by the Zovic family. I arrived with about a dozen COBRA members backing me. Six Elites and six Enforcers. By choice, Devin and six of Caedmon wolves from his Pack joined me. We didn't know what we were up against, so we came prepared.

When we arrived, employees were actively working out of the plant. They paid no mind to our arrival which told me that they were no stranger to having a group of men in the plant to visit the Zovics. Or perhaps, they just didn't give a shit. The Zovics always paid well in exchange for silence.

A big, buff guard came out into the parking lot.

"Which one of you is Arnou?" he asked.

"I am.” I stepped forward.

The buff guy looked me up and down like I was a snack. I wasn't fond of getting beat up by guys that looked like Hulkie Hogan on steroids, but I would light his ass up if he became a problem.

"Zovic only wants to see you," he said.

"My men are with me. So, he can either come out here or allow my men in," I told him.

He spat on the ground and then walked off to the side and spoke something into his cell phone. After turning back around, he said, "You can bring five men. We're under the fire marshal's rules. And we don't wanna reach the max."

"What the fuck does he care about the fire code and all that shit?" I exclaimed. "But whatever, we got five here," I said, picking a mix of Caedmon and Arnou wolves. "Lead the way."

Devin caught my arm when I didn't pick him. "I'm coming with you."

"I need you stay here. If something goes down inside, you'll need to be out here to lead the rest of them."

"I have someone out here capable of leading them. I'm not letting you go in there alone. I came out here with you for a reason. I'm not going to let you do this shit on your own."

I sighed. "Alright. Come on. But don't say I didn't warn you."

When Hulkie noticed that I added a sixth man, he turned around and proclaimed, "I said five men."

I pulled out my gun, lining the barrel right between his eyes. "Five…six. What difference does it make? I said lead the fucking way or I'll blow your head off."

Hulkie turned around, opened the door, and led us through the manufacturing plant. The noise inside was almost deafening. About a dozen workers milled around a production line, assembling small gadgets. I had no idea what business the Zovics had gotten themselves into now, but then again, I really didn't care. They were a family who did what they had to in order to make money. I hadn't exactly thrown them out of the network on their ass. They left with several sizable, profitable companies.

"This way," Hulkie said, leading us through another long hallway which appeared to be where they kept the product, whatever it was.

We entered a huge room in the back of the factory. There was only one door in and one door out, which led outside. In one corner of the room, two men were loading up an object that resembled a brick in plastic boxes. Jovan Zovic was in the center of the room seated a desk with two laptops opened out in front of him. I hadn't seen the man in a long time. It appeared that he had gained a good twenty pounds. All of it was muscle. Good for him since he was a little more than a tall stick the last time I saw him.

A mix between a grin and a grimace spread across his mouth. "Tristan," he greeted.

"Jovan," I replied.

"It's true. You made an alliance with the Caedmon wolves," Jovan commented. "Well, I hope you stick to your end of the agreement this time."

"Cut the bullshit, Jovan. You've been entering my territories and picking off my men. I'm over this feud and I want to settle it like men."

He rose from the chair. "Like men? Settle it like men? We can't settle anything like men for we are not men. We can settle it the old way…on the battle field."

I laughed. "You don't have the numbers to settle anything on any battlefield."

Jovan raised an eyebrow. "You can always find out."

"Where's your daddy? Out fucking whores?" I asked.

Jovan wrinkled his nose. "He's a non-issue."

"Non-issue? You couldn't have acted alone when you offered Chancey Elliot and others lucrative positions to kill and destroy me," I said.

"And look what happened, he couldn't even prove that he was worthy enough," he replied.

"Here's what's going to happen. You're going to stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. You're going to mind your own damn business. You're no longer a part of this network. No longer a part of COBRA so just cut the ties already. Tell your father it's over."

"You want to tell my father it's over. Here, come on. Tell him yourself."

He walked over to a corner of the room where the vault was located. The door and handle were made of steel and iron. He pushed some numbers into the keypad and spun the dial.

"You can tell him yourself. It's fucking over. Go on…"

As soon as he opened the door, the smell of a rotting corpse filled the room. It was Goran Zovic.

"What the fuck?" one the Caedmon wolves exclaimed behind me.

"What the hell happened to him?" I asked.

Jovan smiled. "Can't you see it? He lived by the gun. He died by the gun."

The vault was empty, which contradicted the Zovic family's earlier statements that it was filled with Zovic family gold, jewels, and cash. I forced myself to look at Goran's rotting body slumped over on the floor. There was a gunshot wound at the back of his head. It was obviously the cause of death.

"Who did this?"

"I did this."

"Why?"

"As you can see, he traded his life for that of the money. We were supposed to split the cash, but he used it all up. In the end, the money was more important to him than being loyal. More important than power.”

"And you shot him? You shot him because he used money that didn't belong to you in the first place…?”

"Here you go again with that bullshit. You don't know who owned the money. You weren't fucking there when they made that alliance," Jovan said.

"You're foul," I spat.

"No better than you. You killed your own father too." He shrugged.

"You aren't me. You'll never be," I said, backing out. "I said what I said. If you come in my territory or send anyone else in my territory after me, my soldiers…anyone who has pledged their loyalty to me, I'll fucking kill you myself and put you in the vault next to your father."

He shoved the door to the vault closed. "We'll see about that. You're not the only one with Caedmon blood in your veins."

"What was that?" This time, Devin asked the question.

"Alpha's blood. There's magic in it." He smiled.

"What fuckery are you talking about now?" I demanded.

He flexed his arms and his hands began forming into wolf paws. “I never believed in the way he ran things, you see. But I agreed with him on one thing: to know your adversaries, you must become them…”

I reared back, shocked at what I was seeing. Jovan was no wolf shifter. He was Other. Then what the fuck was this? Was this an illusion?

Jovan's hand changed back into human's hand. "Sometimes we make alliances that benefit us. Sometimes we make alliances that don't. Me…well, I decided to make an alliance that was very beneficial to me."

"What have you done?"

"I know you've heard of the Osbornes and how great their powers are. Well, all of its true. With the right elements and resources, they can do great things. All they needed was someone strong enough to sustain the conversion."

I shook my head. "Conversion?"

"I'm like you, Tristan. And like Devin. Only better."

"And here I thought you'd somehow converted Caedmon and Arnou wolves to serve you with this Osborne magic. Just like they were kidnapping Caedmon and Arnou wolves and stripping them of their spirits."

Jovan gave a smug look. "I can't say if the two of those things go hand in hand or not, but to become the top dog you must eliminate all the doggie packs, right?"

"You're a fucking jackass. You can refer to yourself as a dog, but I'm no dog!" I told him. "You don't deserve this. You can't be top anything running around like an idiotic maniac in the streets. There have been sightings of animal attacks all over this city. Was this your work?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Sometimes my wolves get a little carried away. I'll have to fix that. Won't I, Sunny?" He looked behind us at Hulkie standing guard by the door. A look of guilt crossed Hulkie's face and he looked down at his shoes.

They were all wolf shifters. Converted wolf shifters. We couldn't scent them…yet. Because they were different. The new breed. No wonder the place reeked of fear and uncertainty.

"They've been converted too? How?" I asked.

"I bit them."

"You can change them?"

Jovan nodded. "Yes…see? I'm better than you."

"Where did you get Alpha's blood?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"The Osborne family still thrives…?"

"Why would I tell you that?" he repeated.

"You son of a bitch!"

"What?" Jovan held up his arms. "Are you jealous now? Did you two really think you could be the only breed of wolf shifters that ever exists? I might not have been able to destroy you as Other, but now…now the sky's the limit."

He called all the men in the room together and ordered them to shift. They followed his orders without questions. To show off his new form, Jovan shifted last into this new wretched form.

I don't know who took the first shot or first bite, but all hell broke loose. Jovan took off running for the back door while his wolves lunged forward in attempts to attack us. We mowed all but one of the converted wolves down with guns. None of my men were injured.

The injured converted wolf slipped back into his human form and tried to get up and run off. One of my men captured him and hog-tied him to a chair.

"When were you bitten?" I asked him.

I had a gun to his head and he began talking instantly.

"Five weeks ago. By Jovan."

"Did you ask to be bitten?"

"I joined his group and I made the cut. He bit me to see if I would convert," he said.

The guy wasn't anywhere near death, but the wound in his side leaked profusely—just like a normal human.

"Where's the rest of your Pack?"

"Pack?" he asked, confused.

"Yes, Pack."

He shook his head. "I don't know anything about any Pack. We just do what he says. He says we should call him Alpha."

"Jovan Zovic is no Alpha," I said and pistol-whipped him across the face.

"He's not healing," Devin said.

"Because he's inferior. They don't heal. They're not like us. I wonder what else they can't do."

"Manuel has reported that Jovan slipped through a tunnel and got away," Devin said.

"He won't last out there. Not as a wolf," I said.

"No, he won't."

"Bring this one," I said, pointing to the converted wolf. "Put him in the Arnou cells until I figure out what to do with him."

"Then it's true. There are converts now among us. We aren't the only ones," Devin said.

"It was only a matter of time," I said, repeating what my grandfather had told me. "We could hunt them all down, kill them one by one until his little converted pack is no more. Or…"

"Or we could focus our resources on strengthening our Packs rather than running behind a non-existent pack of converteds," Devin said.

"I like that idea. He seems to think he's better than us."

"Let him think. Let them exist if that's what they want," Devin scoffed. "If there are others out there that want to become us, that want to become the converted, they can be my guest. But the moment they step foot on my territory causing any problems will be the moment they wish they had never existed."

"I'm with you, Devin. If he comes for us. If they come for us. As one united Pack, we'll be ready."