It turned out that in addition to a rental that hadn’t even hit the American market yet, Nicolae also had access to a private jet.

Fucker.

I sat as far from him as the plane would allow, even though I probably should have used the opportunity to get answers. His energy made it clear he wasn’t in the mood to give them, and the truth was, I didn’t want to know.

A few hours wasn’t enough time to process all the bullshit he’d dropped on me. Hell, a few years wasn’t enough, but sixteen? That might have started to make a dent in my disbelief, and yet Franny hadn’t uttered so much as a word about what she was. Not even, “Hey, honey, my car’s due for an oil change, and while you’re at it, let’s talk about how I turn into a giant furry nightmare on full moons.”

It would’ve been something.

A shadow fell over me, a bit too all-encompassing to be the petite stewardess. I looked up to find Nicolae watching me with an unreadable expression on his annoyingly chiseled face. He sat down, leaving a single seat between us, but his long legs stretched out and made it feel like less space. “There are some things you need to understand before we land.”

“Okay,” I said warily. He hadn’t talked to me for the first five hours of the flight, not even to tell me where we were going. When I’d asked, he’d simply grunted and opened up his smartphone to do whatever the fuck werewolves did online. Probably stalking vampires on Tinder, because why the hell wouldn’t those be real, too? Of course, he’d taken my phone before we even got into the air.

“I am the Alpha of the Ursache pack. It’s a title that comes with many responsibilities, and a reputation to uphold.”

So here it was. We were finally going to have the “other man” talk. I just wasn’t sure which one of us the label applied to. “Alpha. What is that, like the wolf king or something?”

He snorted another laugh. I wondered if he was capable of actually producing a chuckle. “It’s more like the president of a large company.”

I looked around the luxury jet. “Yeah, that figures.”

“There are rules of behavior that all members of the pack are expected to follow. Being a human, the expectations for you are of course lower, but I need you to at least try to conform.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You turn into a crotch-munching hell monster and you’re worried I’m gonna embarrass you?”

“That kind of talk is exactly what I’m referring to,” he said in a tone of disapproval. “You are the consort of an Alpha she-wolf and the father of the heir to the Majerus pack. I can’t have you talking like a drunken sailor.”

“Consort?” I echoed, holding up the hand that wore my wedding band. “I was her fucking husband.”

“Human law means nothing in our society,” he scoffed. “You are a consort.”

“And that somehow embarrasses you less?” I asked in disbelief.

“Our society is matrilineal. It’s not uncommon for Alphas of either sex to take consorts.” His eyes flitted over me disapprovingly. “Less common to take a human as one, but I suppose it can’t be helped.”

I sat up straight and pulled down my shirt, because I didn’t like the feeling I got that he was looking at me like I was a slob. “And does the consort schtick come with a title?”

“I suppose you could go by Sir Mullins at formal events, if you like, but we’re all on a first name basis.”

I’d been kidding about the title part, but I decided not to tell him. “And when we land, what are the chances I’m gonna be ripped apart by your wolf buddies?”

“If you weren’t under my protection? One-hundred percent,” he said, leaning back against the padded seat.

I gulped. “Seriously?”

“We’re not normal wolves, Jack. The ones who aren’t Alphas may look normal, but we have all the predatory instincts of human beings in a package capable of doing damage to the furthest extent. Our hierarchies are rigid because they have to be. Without law and order, we would not be able to exist in secrecy.”

He didn’t need to expound more for me to know that was because they’d leave a path of destruction that was more than noticeable enough to end up on the nightly news. “So you… eat people?”

“We don’t have to, but we often do. It’s common for us to get worked up on the hunt, the younger wolves especially, if they’re not kept in line.”

“What keeps them in line?”

“Me,” he answered.

“Message received. ‘Fuck with me and you’re dinner.’”

The amusement in his eyes pissed me off, but I was newly afraid of getting on his bad side. “I will not allow harm to come to you, but it is in your best interest to make my job as easy as possible.”

“Why wouldn’t you allow it? And don’t pretend like you don’t hate me, ‘cause I sure fucking hate you.”

He stared boredly at his nails. They were a normal length again, but I’d never forget the blades they grew into in his wolf form. “You see me as a threat. Competition. I see you as the collateral damage of Francesca’s tragic decisions. Is that clear enough?”

“Perfectly,” I muttered. “And Ellie? How do you see her?”

His gaze softened in a way I didn’t want to acknowledge. “She is all I have left of Francesca, and I will do whatever it takes to protect her. You can count on that, if nothing else.”

I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to count on anything from this prick, the guy who’d held onto a big enough piece of my wife’s heart that she’d held onto his letter to the very last. It was infuriating to know that he was my only shot at saving our daughter, but I couldn’t deny the sincerity in his words or the way they resonated with me deeper than anyone’s words ever had. Even deeper than Francesca’s halfhearted professions of love.

Whatever Nicolae’s reasoning was, I was finally starting to believe that we shared a common goal. Keeping Ellie safe. Bringing her home, wherever the hell that happened to be these days. As long as he kept his word, I’d follow his rules and try not to tarnish his precious reputation. My daughter’s life was worth far more than my pride.

“Then we won’t have any problems.”

Nicolae nodded and stood to go back to his original seat. I took out the magazine in the pouch in front of me and tried to look like I was reading, even though ergonomic luggage was the furthest thing from my mind. It was another two hours before we landed, give or take, and by the time I stood up, my legs felt like jelly. I grabbed the bag that now held my every possession that wasn’t holed up in a missing moving truck somewhere and slung it over my shoulder.

When I followed Nicolae off the plane, I was surprised to find a car already waiting for us just off the runway. Everything else about the werewolf lifestyle was still a mystery to me, but I could probably get used to the expedited travel.

The man waiting in front of the car nodded in deference to Nicolae, but it was hard to tell if he was another werewolf or just observing the formalities of whatever the hell country we’d landed in. I knew we’d passed over the Atlantic, so we had to be in Europe somewhere. “Where are we?” I finally asked.

“Romania.”

Of course.

“Get in,” Nicolae ordered, opening the backseat door. I hesitated, even though it felt more like he was bossing me around than getting the door for me. Reluctantly, I slipped in and pulled the door shut, reminding myself that I was playing nice for Ellie’s sake. Even if it meant letting Nicolae treat me like his bitch.

God, this was gonna be hell.

Nicolae talked to the driver for a few minutes, looking down at his phone every so often like he was confirming plans. He finally got in next to me and I caught a glimpse of the driver’s eerily blue eyes in the mirror before he took off.

The odds that he was a wolf were looking better by the minute. Nicolae stayed silent, working on his phone for the entire ride, and something told me he wasn’t trying to upgrade his farm. I watched the city pass by through the tinted windows. I knew next to nothing about Romania, but whatever city we were in was sure active at night. Part of me was afraid to ask if vampires were real, too. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know.

I’d never been more than a couple of hours outside of Clarksville until our recent move, and a high school trip to Nashville hardly counted as being well traveled. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times Francesca had taken this route. If the glimmering neon lights set like eyes in the mountain range were the home she’d been dreaming of whenever she’d get that nostalgic smile on her face as she gazed out the window on a rainy day. The city was beautiful and cosmopolitan, just slightly ethereal in a way that made me question if I was dreaming. Just like her.

The car finally came to a stop in front of one of the highest buildings in what had to be the downtown district. I’d expected us to keep driving out into the mountains. After all, didn’t wolves like forests?

“This is it?” I asked doubtfully.

“What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know…not a luxury condo,” I said, looking up at the numerous floors.

Nicolae snorted and got out of the car. “We only have to shift on full moons, and living in the city keeps our instincts in check.”

“In other words, you live among food because it’s a good test of will.”

His head was turned just enough for me to see his smirk before he walked into the building. The driver stayed behind, so I followed Nicolae into the lobby. The woman at the front desk immediately leaped to her feet and bowed her head.

“Sir,” she said in a tone of reverence.

I stood frozen, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Nicolae ignored me and nodded to her on his way past. “At ease, Marie. Call Mason and let him know that we’ve arrived.”

“Yes, sir. Welcome home.”

Nicolae walked over to a glass elevator and I stepped in, my stomach tangling into knots as the elevator car climbed the floors. “You guys not a fan of metal or something?”

“We’re not a fan of being trapped in enclosed spaces and not knowing who’s waiting on the other side,” he answered.

“Fair enough.” I followed him out onto the top floor, which seemed to be a single apartment. Just a huge one. “You live here?”

“These are my personal quarters where I sleep and do most of my work, yes.”

“Fancy,” I said, looking around. Everything was stainless steel and glass and every room other than the bedrooms could be seen from the entryway. It was the exact opposite of the modern home Franny and I had shared for sixteen years, and yet again, I found myself wondering what the hell she’d been thinking when she made the decision to come slum it with me.

It was one thing when our life had been this thing we’d both built together. Our house was cramped and kind of crummy when you got right down to it, considering all the leaks and paint that seemed to peel in a new room as soon as we’d painted the last, but it was our house. Knowing this was what she had given up made me feel all the more inadequate in retrospect. I’d hoped that maybe I would find the ghost of her here in this place she’d run from, because I had stopped feeling her in Clarksville from the moment she died, but the only echoes I felt were of a woman I didn’t know. A stranger who belonged to a strange world I had no hope of understanding and wouldn’t have ever wanted to, if it hadn’t been for Ellie.

“This will be your room,” Nicolae announced, opening a door at the end of the hall.

I peered in to find a surprisingly normal room equipped with a bed, a desk and a TV. It was posh, like the rest of the place, but there was no sign that a wolf pack called this condo home. Maybe they saved the weird shit for the bottom floors.

“I’m staying here? With you?”

“I need to keep an eye on you,” he said, as if that should be obvious. “I’m going to let you have the run of the place, so don’t make me regret it. There’s an ensuite bathroom in your room, and food in the refrigerator. If a door is closed, assume it’s closed for a reason.”

“Got it. Now, when are we going to go after the Majerus bastards?”

He gave me a severe look. “Ellie was taken by a pack of werewolves, not a group of amateur kidnappers. Getting her back is not going to happen overnight.”

“Fuck that! If I wanted to wait and see, I would have stuck with the FBI.”

“Fine. You want to go charging onto Majerus territory and get yourself killed, be my guest,” he said, folding his arms. “All you’re going to accomplish is ensuring that when I do rescue Ellie, I have to tell her that she’s an orphan now.”

I clenched my jaw, furious at his nonchalance when it came to my kid’s life, but I knew he was right. If Nicolae wasn’t charging in, I sure as hell didn’t stand a chance. “When?” I gritted out.

“I’m making arrangements now. This is a matter of strategy, not brute force,” he said sternly. “If you want to help your daughter, try not to get in my way.”

“And if they hurt her while you’re twiddling your thumbs?”

“Do you know why Francesca’s parents killed her, Jack?” His tone made it clear he thought he was speaking to a child. Someone so far beneath him I didn’t deserve respect. He must have realized I wasn’t dumb enough to give an answer I obviously didn’t have, because he continued berating me. “Because when Ellie was born, Francesca became expendable. She humiliated the family by running away, and in the interim, relations between our packs broke down. Ellie is their chance to start over.”

I frowned. “And that means…?”

“They need her to continue the Majerus line. She’s invaluable, and for that reason alone, no harm will come to her in their care.”

“Surely they had more kids,” I protested.

“Claire was deemed infertile by every doctor in her pack,” said Nicolae. “Damon took consorts and had other children, but only an heir from Claire’s line could be considered for the role of pack Alpha. Francesca was their miracle,” he murmured. “Ellie is her only hope of continuing the Majerus line and maintaining control. If she doesn’t produce an heir, the role of Alpha will go to one of Damon’s other children and the pack will splinter.”

That didn’t sound good. “So you’re saying they want to marry Ellie off the same way they did with Franny?”

His eyes clouded with anger. “Yes.”

“She’s trans. When they realize that —“

“They won’t hurt her, but she will be expected to take a female mate when she comes of age and produce an heir, the same as any other Alpha.”

“Well, that’s fucked,” I snarled.

“Mating is a political act for werewolves, and producing an heir is considered a duty, not an option,” said Nicolae. “She will be permitted to take a male consort, if she chooses, but neither love nor attraction is a requirement when it comes to these things.”

“My kid is not gonna be ‘permitted’ anything,” I said firmly. “Not by you or those freaks who killed Franny.”

Nicolae was giving me that look again. The look that said, I can’t believe I’m wasting time explaining this to an inferior life form. “It’s rather a moot point now, isn’t it? It’s not something that will be an issue for quite a few years to come.”

It wasn’t going to be an issue at all. As soon as I got Ellie, we were both out of there, so I decided it wasn’t worth it wasting what little energy I had arguing with this nut about his ass-backwards society. And he looked down on me for being a redneck.

“If you’ll excuse me, there is much I still have to do.” With that, Nicolae left and the implication that he expected me to stay in my room for the remainder of the evening was clear. Not that I was eager to spend any more time with him, either.

It took me all of five minutes to unpack my belongings and I finally decided to take a shower since I realized I hadn’t bothered to since Ellie had gone missing. Probably good to get in the habit of showering regularly again if I was gonna be surrounded by dogs. The less I smelled and looked like an item on the menu, the better.

By the time I got out of the shower, I could hear another deep voice conversing with Nicolae’s out in the living room. The one good thing about an apartment with few walls was that sound carried. I cracked the door to hear a little better and the fact that they were actually discussing security in the Majerus pack gave me hope that Nicolae meant what he’d said about getting Ellie out.

“And the human?” the other man asked after a lull.

“He’s human. Exactly what you’d expect.” I heard the sound of ice dropping into a glass as Nicolae spoke. Evidently, mention of me drove him to drink.

It’s mutual, buddy.

“I’m doing what I can to minimize talk of him in the pack, but they all know he’s here.” The man’s tone was troubled.

“Don’t bother,” said Nicolae. “He’s here and he isn’t going anywhere.”

“I still don’t understand why.” His companion sounded even more vexed about my presence than Nicolae was. “We need the girl, not him.”

“He’s necessary to ensure that her transition into the pack goes smoothly,” Nicolae answered. “Besides, I feel there’s more to him than meets the eye.”

Well, he was dead wrong about that.

“He’s a country miner. What more is there?” his companion scoffed. I decided he was to be known henceforth as the Prick.

“Surely something if Francesca saw fit to whittle away sixteen years with him.”

Ah, there it was at last. The bitterness. Funny how that was what put me at ease far more than any of Nicolae’s reassurances about his good intentions. At least it made sense that he was keeping me around because he was curious as to just what Francesca had seen in me.

That made two of us.

I closed the door softly and turned the TV on since the white noise was the only way I stood a chance at falling asleep. It still took me a few hours, according to the clock on the dresser. Every time I closed my eyes, the image of Ellie being dragged out of that apartment, her screams echoing through the halls as she cried out for me, kept me awake. When I finally did sleep, there was no escaping the fear, or the guilt.