“And the mighty warrior Prince Adam and Princess Ava ruled the land,” I say as I finish my bedtime story for Tally’s kids. I didn’t get Cade on the phone earlier, so I left a message telling him that Nate and Dirk were fighting over Bridget and to please call me so we could talk.

“Bella,” asks Ava.

“Yes, Princess?”

“Why don’t you have any kids?”

“Because I don’t have a good daddy for them yet.”

“Maybe Daddy can find you one,” says Adam. “He’s in charge of the warriors, and Mommy says they make good daddies.”

I chuckle and pat Ava’s smooth hair. I gaze at her round face and long for the day I’ll do this to my daughter. “She’s right,” I say. “They do.” I get up from my chair and lean down to kiss Ava’s forehead. “Now it’s time for you two to go to sleep.”

“Good night, Auntie Bella,” the twins say as I kiss Adam too.

“Good night, little treasures.” I step out into the hall and shut the door, leaving a crack of light for them, before I go downstairs.

I walk into the living room, where Marcel, Tally, and Dawn are. I smile and say, “Your kids just told me I need to find a warrior to be the daddy of my children. Did you put them up to it?”

My friends laugh, and Marcel says, “I hear all signs are pointing that way. I know Cade, and I approve, if that helps.”

“Don’t you think it’s crazy that all this time, we never had witches and werebear mixing, and now, just a couple years after you and Tally are allowed to be together, we find I might have a bond with one too?”

“No,” he says. “I think the bond is probably something that has always existed in clans, but it was so taboo nobody ever did anything about it.”

“That,” says Dawn, “or the universe has decided it is something we need.”

“Well,” says Tally, “that’s not a bad theory. It won’t be long before hunters will find a way to attack again. Perhaps we need the secret weapon of magical werebear to keep the clans alive.”

She’s referring to the fringe groups of people who are aware werebear exist and believe they should be wiped from the earth. At the moment, we’re not in much danger from the groups, but Tally’s right that they could be building their militia in preparation for attack.

“We live in interesting times, for sure,” says Marcel. He slips his arm around Tally’s shoulders.

“Oh, hey,” says Dawn to me. “Your phone was buzzing earlier. It might have been a call from a certain smoking-hot warrior.”

“Thanks,” I say as I get up to go in the kitchen and check my cell. I like to leave it there when I’m with the kids so I’m not distracted. When I get there, I find that I have multiple messages, but I barely get time to see who they’re from when my phone buzzes in my hand again. My heart stops for a moment because it’s my alpha’s husband, Richard Robichaux. “Hello, Richard. What’s wrong?”

“Bella. We need you at home. There was an attack and several warriors are injured.”

“I’ll be right there. Should I bring help? Dawn is with me.”

“Yes. Kimi is here, but you might need Dawn too.” He pauses. “This one is bad. Multiple gunshots.”

I want to ask if Cade is okay, but it wouldn’t be wise for me to arouse suspicion with the alpha’s husband. Instead, I focus on the emergency. “On my way,” I say as I walk to the living room, and I click off my phone as I keep moving. “Dawn, we have to go.” My feet pound up the stairs to the guest room as I whisper in case the kids are awake. “There was an attack, and they need our help.”

Dawn rushes after me along with Tally. Once we’re in the guest room, I grab my bag and move to the bathroom. Tally asks, “Should I come too?”

“No,” I say. “It’ll leave your clan vulnerable.”

She hurries out of the room again. The Ouellettes are the only clan for miles in this area, while there are three clans in my kingdom, which means we try to leave one witch on call most of the time. Although to be truthful, we’ve been lax about it since we haven’t had any trouble in a couple years. My toiletries clatter into my bag as I swipe my arm across the counter. My mind is racing as I wonder how badly my warriors are injured. The image of Cade comes to mind, but I push it away and tell myself he’s never been hurt before so it’s ridiculous to believe he would be now.

When Dawn and I get back downstairs, Tally hands us a grocery bag. “I figure you don’t have much time to get supplies at your house before going to the alpha’s, so I gathered some for you.”

I lean in and kiss my friend. “Thanks, Tally.”

“Bella.”

I glance over at Marcel.

“Cade’s fine. He’s too good to get hurt.”

I give him a quick smile. “Thanks.” But there’s no way to know that for sure until I talk to Richard again. Or maybe I can get information from the messages left for me.

When we get outside, Dawn says, “I’ll drive. You have phone calls to make.”

I nod at her and walk over to the passenger side of my car. As Dawn backs out of the driveway, I check to see who else called me. I have one from Marion, the alpha, and another from Richard. I click on the voicemail of Marion’s to listen, and she tells me what I feared. “Oh god,” I say when it’s finished.

“What?” asks Dawn.

“They were ambushed, and at least five warriors are hurt with multiple gunshot wounds.” Werebear have incredible healing powers and can recover from simple cuts in minutes and more serious wounds in days. But gunshots present different problems. If the bullet doesn’t go all the way through, the werebear heals around it, and it’s important to get them out if they’re interfering with vital organs. While we have trained medical doctors to deal with surgery, magic is usually necessary to interfere with werebears’ natural defenses and let the doctors do their work.

I listen to Richard’s message, which is pretty much the same thing Marion told me. Since I’m sure Marion is with the warriors, I call Richard with the hope he can give me more information.

“Bella,” says Richard, “are you on your way?”

“Yes. Fill me in on the details.”

“This was a well-thought-out plan we didn’t see coming. The perimeter of our territory was attacked at four points all at the same time, making it difficult for our warriors to figure out where to go.”

My stomach knots up with worry. “How many, and how bad?”

“A few superficial wounds, six fairly serious ones, and one warrior who might not make it.”

Cade. Every once in a while, my powers allow a truth to penetrate my shields and slam into me like a freight train. The dashboard is hard on my hand when I press against it as if I’m bracing myself for impact.

I ask, “Which warrior?”

“Cade.” A loud bang comes from his end, and I think Richard may have punched something. “He’s the best damn warrior we have, and the fool jumped in front of a rookie to save him.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

When I hang up, I say to Dawn, “I don’t care how you do it, but we need to get back to Maine as fast as possible. Cade--” My heart feels as if it’s being ripped from my chest. “Cade is dying.”

“Oh my god,” Dawn says as she jams the gas pedal down to the floor and the engine whines. “Be prepared to cloak us from the police, Bella. We’re about to see just how fast your car can go.”