We walked into a storm of raised voices as each Alpha fought to control the conversation.

“We have to strike now, while there is still the element of surprise.” Eva sat forward, fists clenched on the table.

“It’s foolish to provoke a war. Over a human woman no less.” I didn’t see the idiot who’d spoken those words.

A growl reverberated through the room.

“Declan, I meant no disre—”

I cleared my throat, and all eyes swung my way. Caynen, the Alpha for Clan Big, met my gaze, and I knew he’d been the one to speak up.

“Hi,” I said with a wiggle of my fingers. “Human woman here and ready for action.”

His thick, dark brows drew together. “My apologies,” he said. “I meant no disrespect.” His voice dripped with mock sincerity

I snorted and saw several brows raise around the table.

"Look, Caynen, I might not be a shifter, but I can spot a lie a mile away. You don't have to like me." I already don't like you. "But we're going to need to work together."

Declan caught my attention, growled softly, and waved me toward the seat on his right.

I turned back to Inarus, and he gave me a quick nod before angling in the opposite direction and taking the only other empty seat at the table. Hostile eyes fell on him.

Crossing the line from foe to friend was never easy, and it was no secret that the Pack weren’t fans of his.

Inarus had conspired against them with the H.A.C. to start a war between the Pack and the Coven, and he was personally responsible for at least one shifter murder.

My mother was smart. Pit the Pack and the Coven against one another, and when the dust settled, the victor would be too weak to thwart her next attack.

Inarus had come to his senses shortly after his involvement with the death of a shifter woman and a vampire and realized he was just another pawn being used by my mother in her deathly bid for power, but forgiveness from those you wronged never came easy.

He ignored their sneers and took his seat across the table as I took mine next to Declan.

Butterflies danced in my stomach, and Declan placed a large, comforting hand on my knee beneath the table, causing warmth to suffuse me.

I avoided eye contact with him but met the gaze of every other shifter in attendance before I cheerfully asked, “So what did I miss?”

Robert chuckled. “We’re glad you could join us, Aria,” His sincerity took me by surprise. “We were just discussing the best course of action for dealing with the matter of your mother.”

I rolled my eyes. “Despite the fact that she’s my mother, she is a direct threat to the Pack,” I told him.

Robert offered a sardonic smile. “Indeed.”

Declan squeezed my knee below the table, encouraging me to speak.

“You can’t wait for her to attack. She’s the head of the H.A.C., and she controls PsyShade. You’ve all seen what I can do, but I’m untrained. Her men are all experts in their abilities. A battle against the entire PsyShade forces will result in significant losses for us.” Us. The word rolled naturally off my tongue, and I saw the smile of satisfaction that crossed Declan’s face when I said it.

There were murmurs around the room as everyone digested my words.

“What would you suggest?” Caynen folded his hands atop the table and leveled his gaze with mine.

“My mother doesn’t fight fair,” I told him. “I suggest we don’t, either.”

I turned to Inarus. On our way here we’d discussed the best course of action. We’d both studied shifters since the Awakening, when all things paranormal had decided to come out of the woodwork and play.

It’d only been six years since paranormals had integrated with everyday society, so there wasn’t much to glean from their behavior yet. However, Inarus and I agreed that shifters tended toward battle with honor. They preferred to fight one-on-one and face-to-face with their enemies.

Viola Reynolds had no honor.

I nodded my head toward Inarus suggesting that he take over and sat back in my chair. Declan gave me a questioning look, and I shook my head.

He frowned and pressed his lips into a thin line but nodded, acknowledging that Inarus had the floor.

Inarus cleared his throat. "If the Pack is to have any hope of preventing a war with the H.A.C., you'll need to get to Viola and cut the head off of that snake before she can wage a full-scale attack."

Furtive glances flicked my way. I’d be the first to admit that Viola was a snake. She may have given birth to me, but that was as far as her mothering skills went. She considered me an abomination, and had not only kidnapped me, she’d nearly killed me.

I had a hard time connecting the malicious woman to the nurturing mother in my memories, but they were one and the same. I needed to continue to remind myself of that.

Declan turned and captured my attention.

“You’re okay with this?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. There wasn’t an alternative. My mother needed to be dealt with.

“Inarus knows the location of most of the H.A.C. strongholds. We can’t afford a direct confrontation. The Pack is strong, and we outnumber PsyShade. But one psyker can easily combat a handful of shifters, especially if they’re a skilled telekinetic.”

It wasn’t that long ago that Inarus had demonstrated his telekinetic abilities to the Pack. In an attempt to sway me to the side of the H.A.C., he’d come to the Compound to reason with me. When members of the Pack had attempted to intervene, he’d dangled their bodies over the roof with the threat to drop them to their deaths. He could have killed nearly a dozen men with little more than a thought had he been inclined to do so.

“I propose concentrated strikes until we’re able to capture her. We want to weaken her position and force her out with as few casualties to the Pack as possible.”

Declan gave me a nod of approval. “Do we all agree?” he asked the now-silent room.

A flicker of light in the far corner of the room caught my eye.

Alarm bells immediately screamed inside my head. I shoved away from the table and stood, drawing my daggers from their holsters at my waist.

“Aria?” Declan quickly stood, snarling when he saw what had me in a fighter’s stance.

All heads turned just as a man appeared out of nowhere, in the darkened corner.

Between one second and the next, he launched himself at Inarus, a wicked blade in his hand.

Inarus quickly ported across the room. The newcomer whirled, his eyes flashing with menace.

Before the shifters next to him could react, the man ported out of the room, only to immediately port back in, this time less than a foot from me.

He slashed his blade in my direction, and I narrowly dodged his strike.

Adrenaline surged throughout my body. I called my fire and felt the lick of heat as it rushed to respond. I shot my hand out toward the enemy, but the ball of fire missed, crashing harmlessly into stone when he disappeared again, only to reappear behind Derek and Teagan.

The wolf brothers both launched themselves at the newcomer, but he ported again and neither could slow their trajectory as they crashed into one another.

Inarus whirled to halt an attack to his back, and both men vanished again. I struggled to track their movements as they popped in and out of existence.

There, then gone, then there again. Damn telekinetics.

Snarls filled the auditorium, and two Alphas executed partial shifts as we all waited for the newcomer to reappear.

Each time the man appeared, I took in something new about his appearance—young, thirty at most, clean-shaven jaw, ice-blue eyes.

The black tactical gear and the white emblem of a moon pierced by a dagger with drops of blood was all the indication needed to label him a member of PsyShade.

I frowned. Was my mother so reckless that she’d send one of her men in alone? What could she possibly hope to gain?

“We need him alive,” I shouted to Declan.

"Easier said than done," he grunted. I looked down to see three-inch claws extending from the tips of his fingers.

The PsyShade soldier came into view again, and without conscious thought, I slammed a ball of fire into his back, driving him to his knees.

Declan didn't hesitate. He dug his claws into the man's stomach, eliciting a blood-curdling scream of agony before he disappeared.

His weak attempt to port only managed to move him three feet away, and Brock was next to fall upon him.

The assailant threw Brock into the wall with a push of telekinetic power, but Teagan in wolf form was swiftly upon him, knocking him back to the ground and ripping into his throat with his fangs.

“Dammit. Alive! we need him alive!” I shouted.

Inarus suddenly ported in beside me. Face awash with strain and sweat dripping down his brow, he struggled to stay on his feet.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Fucking peachy,” Inarus said through clenched teeth.

I looked down and saw Inarus’ hand clutching his stomach as blood seeped through his fingers.

Shit. “How bad is it?” I asked as I lowered him to the ground.

“I’ll live.” He angled his head toward our assailant’s unmoving body. “Dead?”

I nodded. Teagan prowled around the body. Angry snarls came out of his blood-coated muzzle.

“I don’t think they like being ambushed in their own territory,” I said.

Inarus nodded and then pitched to the side. I barely caught his head before it crashed into the stone floor as he passed out.

I checked his pulse and released a breath of relief when I found the strong and steady thrum in his neck.

“Can we get him to a healer?” I looked at Declan.

Declan frowned but nodded his head toward Brock who’d been guarding the doorway. Brock came forward and, slinging one of Inarus’ arms over his shoulder, hefted him to his feet and dragged him out of the room.

I turned my attention back to the assailant. I bent down and retrieved his weapons—a thin dagger from an ankle holster, a sword from his back, a palm dagger from his right hand. I handed two of the three to Robert, deciding to keep the smaller dagger. I slipped the thin blade into the strap of my boot and ignored Robert’s raised brow.

To the victor go the spoils. I patted our intruder down once more to make sure I hadn't missed any more weapons or possible clues as to why he'd come alone.

“These fuckers attacked us in our own den?” Eva snarled, rage radiating off of her as she bent and ripped the PsyShade insignia from the dead man’s shoulder and threw it to the ground at my feet.

Snarls filled the room as everyone worked to calm down. The tension and battle rage filling the room was overpowering. It was making me anxious.

Everyone was hopped up from the fight. The surprise attack had played out quickly and bloodlust was still running high.

Declan stepped forward and placed a hand around my waist, his claws now retracted.

He looked at Robert. “Get with Brock after he drops off Inarus with Frankie and see what the two of you can uncover about our assailant.”

Robert nodded as Declan turned me away from the scene.

"Come on. Robert and Brock will see what they can figure out," he said. "For now, let's let him clean up this mess."

Declan led me out of the room as I reeled with the repercussions of this attack. If the Pack had wanted to avoid a full-scale battle with the H.A.C., any chance of that had gone out the window. My mother had drawn first blood and the Pack wouldn't let this go unanswered.