I was still on cloud nine hours after dropping off Mattie back at the library. I checked on a few businesses, while in my head I was trying to come up with date ideas. I never worried about dates before, but it mattered with Mattie. I was never going to be able to beat the lighthouse in a thunderstorm moment, but I was going to try. She brought out a new side in me, one that involved caring a whole lot more and feeling grumpy a whole lot less. My entire outlook was changed, and I couldn’t wait to spend more time with her.

I walked the town accountant through how his new firewall worked and headed out. The rest of my work could wait another day.

I walked down the block to where I’d left my truck. The rain had stopped a few hours before, but the thick clouds in the sky hinted at another round of storms heading our way.

All excited thoughts disappeared when I spotted the figure leaning against my truck. It had been years since I last saw him, and the timing couldn’t be coincidental.

"What do you want, Brent?" I stopped a few feet away from my cousin. He’d left town with the rest of his brothers and sisters, and I’d been waiting ever since for one of them to return. No one in my family left Willow Harbor forever. It called to them, the way the sea called to a sailor. It was a pull impossible to deny forever.

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "Is that any sort of greeting for your favorite cousin?"

"Kendra is my favorite." She was the only one my cousins I kept in contact with, and even that was minimal. When someone leaves because they are angry at you, it’s hard to keep the lines of communication open.

He smirked. "Favorite male cousin then."

"Still not right." Not that I really liked any of them. Once they found out I was the one shapeshifter of our generation, they turned on me. Part of me understood, but another part of me knew I’d have treated them differently if the tables were turned. Blood was blood.

"I'll stop while I'm ahead."

"Great idea.” Although he’d never be ahead when it came to me. "Why are you here?"

"You know why I'm here." He pulled something out of his pocket and closed his palm around it. It looked like a jewelry chain, but I couldn't tell what, if anything, was on it. "I wish it hadn't come to this."

"I still have time, why are you angry?" I didn’t think he cared about our family line anymore. If he did, he wouldn’t have left.

"Time." He laughed. "Not anymore you don't."

"What's the problem? I'm doing my part for the family. Isn’t that what you always wanted?" He had to have known about Mattie. That was the only explanation.

"No, it's what everyone else wanted. I found myself a better deal."

"A better deal." This couldn’t be good. Any deal he was talking about was dangerous to all of us.

"And don't worry, you don't have to die. Play this right, and you can go on living your pathetic life here as long as you want."

"Pathetic?" I was running out of patience. Brent’s presence made me nervous, and I wanted to get to Mattie.

"You hide here like little weaklings." He spit on the sidewalk between us.

"We aren't hiding. You used to love it here." We had fun together as kids, before everything changed.

"Used to. Before I learned how much was out there." He spread his arms out wide.

“I assume what else is out there is the reason you’re back here threatening me?”

He smiled. “You do catch on.”

“I’ll ask again. What do you want?”

“From you?” He laughed. “All I want is for you to stay out of the way.”

“The way you worded that implies you are in town for other things.”

“Of course I am, Cuz.” He patted my shoulder.

I shrugged him off. “And what are those other things you’re in town for?” I was buying time while I formulated a plan.

“You’ll have to come with me to find out.”

“And why would I do that?” Trusting Brent was out of the question.

Brent opened his hand revealing a black metal key. My mom’s key. I tensed.

“Where did you get that?” There was no way my mom gave it up willingly. The key unlocked even the restricted areas of the library.

“Like I said, you need to come with me.” He grinned.

“If you hurt her…” My blood boiled. I needed to shift, I needed to embrace the animal nature inside of me before the shift happened outside of my control.

“You will what?” He closed his palm around the necklace again. “You’ll do what, Pierce?”

I felt pressure inside me, willing me to give in to my animal nature. “I am stronger than you.” I reached for his hand. He pulled it back, but I caught it. I pried his fingers open and took the key back. He couldn’t be trusted with the kind of access the key provided.

“Than me?” He opened and closed his fist, likely still stinging from the way I wrenched his fingers. “Technically, yes. But you aren’t stronger than him.”

I calmed myself down. I had to think clearly and logically. “Who?” I hadn’t sensed anyone else with Brent.

Brent craned his neck to look up at the sky.

I followed his gaze and watched a large hawk swooping in through the still stormy sky.

The hawk landed on the tailgate of my truck. I didn’t recognize his markings as any of the hawk shifters in town.

In a haze, the hawk turned into a black lab. I froze, staring at the large dog in front of me. Another true shapeshifter? And one that could change between animals instead of returning to his human form first?

“You aren’t the only one out there, Cuz.”

“Who is this?” I waited, needing to know what kind of mess Brent had brought into Willow Harbor.

“I’ll introduce you later. Get in the truck.” Brent swung the car key in front of my face. “Unless you are willing to let your own mother die in your place.”

“Who is this?” I repeated my question, my worry multiplying each second I waited for a response.

I held onto the key tight. “You want this key, you give me answers.”

Brent laughed. “We don’t need the key anymore.”

The dog barked once before he took off running down the street. With a sinking feeling I knew where he might be headed.

Brent gestured to my truck. “Get in. We are wasting time.”

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a lone grey wolf running down the sidewalk across the way. This wolf was a shifter I recognized.

I wasn’t exaggerating what I could do to Brent, but he had my mother. He was involved with another shapeshifter, and obviously a more powerful one. I had never heard of a true shapeshifter who could switch between animals that easily. I knew that meant he was likely more powerful than I was in more ways than one.

I reluctantly got into the driver’s seat, admittedly surprised he wasn’t asking for the keys.

Brent got in the passenger’s seat and slammed his door. “Drive.”

I backed out of my spot, surprised by how quiet downtown was this time of the evening, but I knew it was the least of my problems. I had to come up with a plan. An unknown shapeshifter was running around town, which meant everyone—including Mattie—was in danger. Brent claimed someone else had my mom. And I had to believe him. That key was one of a kind, and there was no way she’d give it up without a fight.

I was stuck. I couldn’t be in two places at once. My phone was in my pocket. I could reach out to Delpha, but that would only draw attention to her if they didn’t already know where she was. I hoped with everything I had that Delpha would keep Mattie safe. She’d sworn to look out for her, and I had to trust Delpha at her word.

“Step on it. We don’t have all day.” Brent’s voice was icy, nothing like the way I remembered.

“Why not?” I watched everything out the windows, searching for someone I could send a message through. “What’s the rush?”

“Your mom’s life is the rush.”

“Why do you have her? You already got the key.” My mother was not someone anyone wanted to mess with. Brent knew better. Her revenge would be painful.

“Because she’s the only way we’ll get you.”

The only way? Did that mean they didn’t know about Mattie? Were they here because of my birthday but hadn’t realized I’d found her? I allowed myself to feel a small amount of hope even though I knew it was unlikely.

One thing I knew for sure was they stole the key to retrieve the codex. Was this other shapeshifter looking for his mate too? Was it history he wanted? The only copy of the book was left in Willow Harbor for safe keeping. If the book got into the wrong hands, all true shapeshifters would be in danger.

“Turn here,” Brent barked when I reached an intersection.

I turned, surprised he was pushing me toward the water rather than toward the woods.

“Where are we going?” I would have preferred the woods. I knew the woods; I had an upper hand there. The water on the other hand had a mind of its own and was home to creatures I never wanted to cross.

“You’ll see.” He tapped his foot nervously. “Park as far from the road as you can.”

So this was really the plan? Take me to the beach? Brent was up to something, and it couldn’t be good. None of the possibilities were good. If it weren’t for the shapeshifter on the loose I would have been glad Brent was moving further away from Mattie, but I knew that the shapeshifter wasn’t coming this way too. Life didn’t work that way.

I parked the truck and waited.

“Get out,” Brent ordered

“Where are we going?” I stared out at the angry ocean.

“I already told you you’d see.”

“Why are you doing this, Brent?” Had it really come to this? He was choosing another shapeshifter over his own family?

“Get out of the car. You aren’t in the position to be asking questions.”

“You can’t hurt her. You are from Willow Harbor; you are bound by the same rules I am.” He might have left home before, but he wouldn’t risk severing his connection forever. Killing another creature while in town would violate the original treaties. He would be mad to do that…. Unless. A horrible thought came to me.

“I am not bound by anything.” He sneered. “Get out of the truck now.”

I opened my door, wishing I had some sort of backup. I was strong, but I needed to know what I was up against so I could decide what to change into.

“Move it, Pierce. You are going to make this harder than it needs to be.” Brent appeared on my side of the truck.

“You are the one making it harder.” I couldn’t just go along with it.

I swung at him, my fist making contact with his face, sending him flying onto the sandy ground with blood flowing from his nose.

I needed to change. I went with a wolf, my go to shape, and the animal who made me strongest.

I couldn’t kill him, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t go down fighting.

Something pierced my flesh. I felt weak and struggled to remain standing.

I heard female laughter behind me, but I was in such a daze, it was an effort to turn around. “Hello, cousin. Nice to see you.”

Kendra pulled a metal blade out of my side. I needed to shift back, to stop the bleeding, but before I could reach out for my human side, hands grabbed me roughly. I bit at the hands, but I was too weak. My vision started fading as I was carried out onto a boat.

I was an idiot to take him to the beach. Even my mother would have told me not to come after her. The rules of Willow Harbor didn’t apply in open water. They wouldn’t be violating anything if he killed me outside the boundary territory.