A week after Ruari’s heat, Bray still hadn’t figured out what it all meant. It hadn’t been mere sex. As much as Bray had tried to assure himself right after that it had been only sex, that notion was ridiculous. There was something much more, something far deeper going on than sex—though the sex had been phenomenal. Hell, he only had to think about it to get hard all over again.

But what did it mean? Ruari and Kean had made him feel part of it, not like they were a unit, a couple with him as a guest, but like an equal partner. But that was ridiculous because they were together and he wasn’t part of that. Right?

But you want to be, his alpha told him. And Bray was right back where he’d been all week, trying to answer that question. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about Kean and Ruari? As much as he wanted to convince himself he only wanted those two for the sex, he knew it was bullshit. With Ruari, he could tell himself it was because of Jax, because they shared a bond because of him, but that excuse sounded weak, even to his own ears. And Kean, that was the part he struggled with most.

He could’ve understood if it had been only Ruari he wanted, if his thoughts had been focused on the omega. Granted, he didn’t fit the picture Bray had of his future partner, but he could adapt. They already had a child together, so that was a good start for a family, right? 

But why the hell was his mind as fixated on Kean as it was on Ruari? Why did his stomach go all weak and mushy when he thought about how sweet and caring Kean had been with Ruari, how he had selflessly focused on him, putting the omega’s pleasure first? Did he have feelings for Kean? Was that why he’d been angry when the beta had broken things off with him? He’d thought it was because his pride was wounded, because he’d been pushed aside—for an omega.

He didn’t do feelings, or at least, he never had. Clearly, that had changed because fuck knew he had plenty of feelings now. Messed up feelings, complicated feelings, feelings he couldn’t figure out, but they were there all right. Maybe he should talk to them, bring things out in the open?

He considered that as he did his morning rounds, checking in with all of his guys along the perimeter and making sure all systems were working as they should. It was scary as fuck, putting himself out there like that, admitting he wasn’t sure what was going on. He hated not having the answers, but admitting that had to beat trying to figure it out on his own, because clearly, he sucked at that. 

He was checking in with Adar on the south perimeter, close to the cottage where Urien had lived with his daughter, when his alpha stirred. At first, it was an uneasy feeling, the tiniest of tingles down his spine, but when it persisted, he checked in with Adar. “Are you feeling it too?” he asked.

Adar nodded. “My alpha is uneasy. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out. Check in with the main gate.”

While Adar raised the main gate on his phone, Bray pulled up his and checked for any breaches of their security system. Everything looked green, and yet something told him they had a problem. He couldn’t explain it, but after everything they had been through, he trusted his instincts enough to take it seriously.

He called Palani, who picked up almost right away. “Code orange,” Bray said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but something is wrong. I’ll get back to you with more details as soon as I can.”

“On it,” Palani said, and Bray was grateful that the beta trusted his assessment without questioning it.

They had practiced this enough times that Bray trusted the system to work. Before he could say anything else, his phone dinged, proof that Palani had put everyone on a code orange, as requested. Okay, now he needed to find out what was causing his alpha to be uneasy.

Seconds later, his phone beeped, and so did Adar’s. Bray’s adrenaline spiked and his stomach dropped. The motion sensors near the main gate were going off. He pulled up the camera feed and started shouting as soon as he saw figures moving on the live feed. At least five men, dressed in black. Armed.

“Code red, code red!” Bray called out to Palani, who was still on the line. “Lock down the main house! We’re on our way.”

Angry signals from his phone told him there were more breaches of their motion sensors, then Palani’s code red came through, which should alert everyone. 

“Bray, main gate is reporting gunfire!” Adar shouted. “They’re not sure how long they can hold them off!”

This was it. This was what he had trained his men for, what they had prepared for. He hoped and prayed the drills and training he’d done with the pack would prove to be enough. 

Bray grabbed his gun, taking the safety off. He didn’t have to tell Adar what to do, both breaking out into a mad run toward the main house. That was the strategy they had decided on, he, his men, Palani and Lidon. If there was a code orange or red, everyone but Bray’s men would hunker down in the main house, which was the easiest to defend. They might lose some of the other buildings, but they wouldn’t lose people, and that was what mattered most.

As they ran, Bray scanned his surroundings, and saw everyone running to the main house. Thank fuck the clinic was closed today, so they wouldn’t have to worry about pregnant omegas getting to safety. He was most worried for Lars and Kean, whose workplace was farthest on the edge of the property. He couldn’t remember if he’d seen Lars that morning, what field the guy was working on. He hoped he’d been close to the main house. And Kean, he’d seen him an hour ago, and he'd been in one of the far fields with the cows. What if he couldn’t make it back to the house on time? He couldn’t think about that now, not when he needed his head in the game. 

He heard the gunfire when he had almost reached the main house, and he and Adar looked at each other with horror. Oh god.

“Do a headcount,” Bray ordered Adar. “Inform me if anyone is missing. I’m heading to the main gate.”

He was already running again when Adar called after him, “Be careful!”

He lifted his hand in acknowledgment, but never broke pace. By the time he’d reached the main gate, the gunfire had stopped. His breath caught in his lungs when he saw the main gate was open. Oh fuck, this was not good. Not good at all. How many attackers had come in this way?

Seconds later, a gunshot rang out, sending fragments of asphalt flying into his body. It was close, too close. Should he keep running or to take cover?

He couldn’t take cover, not here out in the open. Instead, he kept running but with irregular zig-zag movements so he would at least create a harder target. That decision turned out to be wise, as another shot rang out, again inches from hitting him. Dammit all to hell, who was shooting at him? Focus, he told himself. Stay alive.

He increased his speed and sprinted until he reached the guard house, which was quiet, too quiet. He didn’t go in, but took position behind it first, scanning his surroundings. There were trees and bushes here, but not a lot, so it wouldn’t be easy for attackers to hide.

At first, he didn’t see anything or anyone, but after a few seconds, something rustled up high in the tree maybe thirty, forty feet away from him. He did a quick assessment and concluded the shot that had almost hit him had come from that direction. It made sense for the attackers to leave a sniper here to take out any men who would come to check in on the main gate—like him. Anyone hiding up in a tree right now was not one of his men, he reasoned. If they had been, they would’ve made themselves known to him.

He mentally cursed himself for not having a rifle while raising his gun and scanning the tree until he found what had caused the rustling sound. Not a professional sniper, then. The guy made way too much noise. He didn’t hesitate but fired at the dark shadow in the tree. A muffled cry sounded and then a loud curse. Good. It meant he’d hit his target. 

“Show yourself,” he called out. “Or the next bullet will be in your brain.”

Sure, that was a bluff since he could only see the shape in the shade and thick leaves of the tree, but he’d fire his gun into the damn tree until the clip was empty. He’d be sure to hit something vital, right?

Another curse, then a voice called out. “Don’t shoot. I’m coming down.”

Bray kept scanning his surroundings, not convinced he was dealing with only one shooter. He hadn’t heard anything else, and his phone had stayed silent, but you never knew. 

Wait. 

His phone had stayed silent. He’d asked Adar to inform him when his head count was completed. Either he’d missed a notification, or Adar hadn’t messaged him, and the latter meant that he hadn’t had the opportunity, which meant shit was going down at the main house. Bray’s stomach revolted at that thought. That was where the omegas were, where Ruari was and Vieno, Sven, the babies. Oh hell, the babies. His son was there. How many attackers were there? Would they be able to fight them off? It all depended now on whether the pack would be able to take a stand as they had practiced.

As he watched a man in black fatigues carefully climb and slide down the tree, favoring his right leg, Bray realized with a sickening clarity that the stakes had been raised far higher than before. There were babies in the house, and not just any babies. That was his son. Someone was attacking his son. 

His vision went red, and he was on the guy before he even reached the ground, pinning him against the tree with a smack that rattled the guy’s teeth. Bray’s gun pressed against his neck.

“Who the fuck are you, how many of you are there, and what’s the objective?” he snapped.

When the guy didn’t answer immediately, Bray grabbed his throat with his left hand. “Listen, fucker, I am not joking around here. I don’t have time for games. Either you answer me, or I shoot. What’s it going to be?”

He increased the pressure on the guy’s throat with his hand, and apparently that was enough of a signal he meant business, because the guy started talking. Fast.

“The baby,” he said, his voice quivering with fear. “We’re after the baby.”

His son? They were after Bray’s son? His blood ran cold. “What do you want with him?”

“I don’t know,” the guy said, his voice almost whining. “They told us to grab the alpha’s baby and get out.”

It only took a second before the truth hit. It wasn’t his son they were after, but Hakon. They were after Lidon’s alpha heir. 

“How many?”

“Twenty.”

Bray pushed down the panic that rose up. Twenty? How the hell would they manage to fight all of them off? They'd counted on ten at the most.

He had so many questions for the guy, but they would have to wait until he was sure the threat was neutralized. He didn’t hesitate but found the guy’s carotid and pressed until he passed out, sagging against the tree. Bray would’ve loved to tie him down, but he had nothing to use and he wasn’t wasting anymore time. If the main house was under attack, they needed him. 

He took a moment to check his phone, and when he saw Adar hadn’t texted, sent out an alert to all his guards to defend the main house. He sent up a quick prayer that Kean, Ruari, and Jax would be safe. God, he’d die before he let anyone hurt them. 

The gunfire started just as he broke into a dead run.

Kean was on his way back from checking on the cows when his phone beeped. He recognized the tone from the drills they had done. Code orange. That meant something was wrong, and they had to convene at the main house. After a moment of shock, Kean started running, which wasn’t easy considering his heavy-duty work boots weren’t made for sprinting.

This was it. This was the attack they had been fearing. What were they up against? 

 At least he was certain Ruari was in the main house. Now that his heat had passed, the omega spent his entire day there, hanging out with Vieno and Sven, helping wherever he could. He still slept in Omega One, but he only went there at night. That meant he had to be there right now, so at least Kean wouldn’t have to worry about him.

Now Bray, that was a whole different matter. Kean’s stomach clenched at the thought that the alpha would be in the thick of it, whatever was going on. It took his breath away, and he willed it down, knowing he couldn’t afford to waste energy while making it to safety.

His phone beeped again, and his adrenaline spiked. Code red. Something serious was going down, and he increased his speed, his feet already hurting and his breathing labored. He caught up with Jawon, Ori, and Servas as they closed in on the main house. When they turned the corner, they almost ran into four guys, dressed head to toe in black. Their leader let out a loud curse even as his men reached for their guns.

Oh god, this was not good. Kean didn’t think, but jumped on the guy closest to him, wanting to incapacitate him before the guy had pulled his weapon. He managed to knock him down flat on his back with such force that the man was gasping for breath. One of the advantages of being on the heavier side for a beta, Kean thought, even as he rolled his full weight onto the guy’s chest and tried to kick away the gun. 

He got an elbow to his midriff, which hurt like a motherfucker, then a knee to his thigh, which wasn’t pleasant either. God, how he wished he had taken some kind of martial arts training. He rolled away to avoid the punches, getting a good kick in that hit the guy in his knee. His boots sure came in handy now. He couldn’t look away, too scared to take his eyes off his opponent, but the surrounding sounds were all of fights. Fists meeting flesh, grunts, boots hitting, cries of pain. 

Gunshots rang out from elsewhere, and Kean’s heart stopped. That distraction cost him. He doubled over when the guy hit him full-on in his stomach, and even as he realized he needed to keep moving, another first to his cheek sent him flying. He crawled back up, determined not to give up just yet.

“Everybody freeze!” a voice called out. “You have three seconds to disengage, or I will shoot.”

Kean didn’t have to look to know it wasn’t one of Bray’s men. He didn’t recognize the voice so that said enough.

“We can do this the hard way or the easy way, but no matter what you guys will do, we will win. We will overtake this house.”

If the man had stopped talking after his first warning, Kean might have obeyed, simply because he had no desire to get shot. But now that the guy had stated his objective, all bets were off. There was no way he would let him into the main house without a fight, not when the most vulnerable people were there. He would die to defend Ruari, Jax. Hakon. 

“No,” Jawon said, apparently feeling the same thing. “We will not give up this fight.”

Kean pushed himself to his feet, standing up wobbly, but determined to fight. Before he could open his mouth to voice his agreement with Jawon’s words, the man who had been speaking calmly turned around, pointed his gun at Jawon, and fired.

Kean screamed in horror, as did Servas and Ori. Oh my god, he had shot him. He had point-blank shot Jawon. Who the hell were these men? With a sickening clarity, Kean realized they meant business and whatever goal they had, it wouldn’t be good.

Something rushed through him, a deep sense of justice, of pride, of being scared to death yet knowing this was when he had to take a stand. So he did, spreading his legs and inhaling as deeply as he could, despite the pain in his body. They couldn’t give up, not when people’s lives were at stake. Not when inside, two babies depended on their abilities to defend them. 

He felt it again, that power, and he pulled it in, using it to feed his resolve, then pushed it back out. He didn’t know how, only that he could and that he should. They were one, this pack. They would not surrender.

He took another deep breath, feeling his body grow stronger. Then a massive wave of power rolled through him, and he knew what had happened. From the corner of his eye, he caught Ori and Servas jerking as well. Jawon was on the ground, still moving. Kean had no idea how bad he was. But they would win. These guys had no idea what was about to happen, but Kean did.

When the howl came, so loud that it made his ears hurt, he threw his head back and much to his own shock, joined in. All around him, howls sounded, from inside and outside the house. 

And then, as one voice, they shouted. “Protect the pack! For Hakon!”

Kean’s body jerked again, his skin breaking out in goosebumps, his hair on end, his muscles itching and shaking. And then he appeared, behind them, but Kean didn’t have to look. The pure horror on the faces of the four men attacking them told him everything. That humongous gray wolf rushed right past Kean, growling with a deafening noise before he attacked. 

The assailants scrambled for their guns, which they had lost in fighting off Kean and the others. As the first shot rang out, Kean dove for the ground, where he encountered the guy had been wrestling with. He was done with this shit, Kean decided. The guy’s eyes were glued to Lidon, who was ripping his teammate to shreds, a sight that was almost too satisfying to look away from, but Kean made good use of the distraction. 

He pulled back his arm and drove his first straight into the guy’s jaw, then did it again for good measure. When the guy stopped moving, he gave him a last kick to make sure he wouldn’t get up anytime soon. The gunshots had stopped now, two of the men who had attacked them dead already, while the bastard who had shot Jawon tried to get away. The wolf went for his throat as he ran, and it was over in seconds.

On a rational level, Kean knew the sight of that gray wolf should terrify him, especially after what he had witnessed it was capable of, its muzzle still smeared with blood and other things Kean didn’t want to think about too much. But he wasn’t scared of the wolf. It was his brother, his master, his alpha. 

As the wolf, Lidon, howled in victory, Kean joined in.