They took the kids with them, and waited in a clearing by the lake. Anyone passing by might have thought it was just a group of young people having a nice picnic by the water with their children. They weren’t wrong, really. Ian had made some sandwiches, Clarissa had baked some stuff and tagged along, because Daunte had - privately, when she was out of hearing range - insisted that she was too close to them to be left behind. All in all, they were actually having a lot of fun.

Ace knew her brother; he liked the girl - a lot. Watching that unfold was going to be a lot of fun. Daunte wasn’t normally serious with women, so he was going to mess up. Epically.

Now that Ace had shifted, she felt more comfortable doing so again. No one had said a bad word about her being what she was: an animal. No one seemed disgusted, either. She hadn’t realized just how frightened she’d been of never being accepted because of her nature, until they’d made it a non-issue.

Although now Daunte called her ‘sis’ ever other second, making up for all the times when she hadn’t let him.

To get even, Ace secretly smirked, glancing at her brother before asking Clary, “How was your date yesterday, by the way?”

If she wasn’t mistaken, there was a low growl coming from her left. Hilarious.

“Ugh, the worst. The guy wouldn’t stop talking about how important his work is. He’s a damn bank clerk, for Christ’s sake!”

She was laughing when, suddenly, the atmosphere around them changed. Aisling got up, alongside the rest of her pride.

Holy shitty fuckity hell.

They approached as one, appearing at the other end of the clearing all of a sudden; they’d obviously had a witch cloaking them. A good one.

She knew that there were hundreds of Vergas wolves, but she hadn’t expected them all to come, leaving their territory undefended. But they had, which was telling her how serious they were about their insane cause.

Ace immediately spotted the Alpha. A middle-age, handsome man with salt and pepper hair, walking like the world belonged to him. He was completely naked, and hard, too- he liked this. The idea of destroying a small pride with children excited him.

She recognized the woman standing at his left. Ace didn’t feel one way or another about it, but from the unanimous growl coming from her pridemates, she was the only one who didn’t take offense.

Kim - Jas’ twin. She’d betrayed them. That explained how the scouts had made it past their security. They hadn’t changed the security codes, and they’d even gotten Rain to allow her to pass through her wards like the rest of the pride, using some hair they’d found on her pillow to make sure she could come back if she wanted to. With her blessing, the wards wouldn’t have had any effect on the wolves.

“I can’t believe it.”

“I can,” Jas spit. “From what she told me over the phone when I talked to her last, she was pretty pissed when Rygan refused to fuck her. I thought she was going to get over it…but she’s just not that mature.”

Now Ace was growling, too, and also baring her teeth. The plastic Barbie had wanted her mate? That was another matter altogether.

“You realize we’re going to kill her for this, right?” Daunte asked.

Jas laughed. “Get in line.”

The humongous pack stopped fifteen feet away, at their Alpha’s wave. The man then advanced, flanked by two younger men, both of whom looked like him.

Power stayed in the family, then.

They walked right to Ace and Rye, appraising their marks.

“A mated pair.”

The Alpha wolf seemed approving. Of course he would be: being dominant and mated made them strong, and that was the thing that mattered most to him. Ace wondered what he’d say if he saw her shifted.

“I’m Arthur. These are my Beta and Head Enforcer, as well as my sons, Jason and Hunter.”

Ace wanted to roll her eyes. Hard. Really? They were exchanging civilities? She had to give him that, though, the man did hide his psychopathic tendencies pretty well.

One of his sons, however? Not so much. The idiot Arthur had called Hunter winked at her. Ace had to physically restrain Rye.

Arthur had the decency to scowl at his Head Enforcer.

“Look, there’s no need to fight here. All we want…”

“We know what you want,” Rye replied as conversationally. “It’s not going to happen. Lola is one of us.”

“Lola, is it?” the Alpha laughed. “You see, I actually understand you. She just looks like a little kid now, but, in ten years, when she shifts… do you know what she’ll look like then?”

Rye shrugged.

“An animal. Like the rest of us.”

“A monster,” Arthur amended. “Twice the size of any wolf, quicker, more agile than any feline, and at war with herself. She’ll go feral, like so many of her kind have before - and she’ll kill. She’ll kill your children, your neighbor, you.”

Ace and Rye exchanged a glance. They didn’t know much about hybrids, but the rumors did say that they had a hard time adapting; harder than most shifters, which was saying a lot.

“We’ll worry about it when it comes to it.”

Arthur looked like he might pity them.

“It’ll never come to it. You don’t want to condemn your whole pride just for one kid that’s not even yours. You’re outnumbered - ridiculously so.”

Ace smirked, and tilted her head.

“Are we?”

They’d expected that the wolves would spy first; giving them enough time to report what they’d found before killing them had always been part of the plan - although they would have preferred if the wolves hadn’t stepped foot inside their home.

The Vergas wolves had come assuming that they’d have the upper hand. Now, she watched their expressions morph from casual amusement to gravity as Rain uncloaked herself and the rest of their allies.

Ace’s friends had all made it, with friends of their friends, too. There were two hundred loners of various species, a couple of vampires, as well as Rye’s allies - another two hundred strong.

Now they’d been revealed, Byron Wayland walked forward, his older son, Colter, next to him. They stood on Rye’s left side, just as her father, The Butcher, and her stepmother went to stand at her side.

“Rain, take the kids somewhere safe, would you?”

The witch snapped her fingers and smirked as their submissives, Clary, and the kids vanished.

Now Arthur’s pleasant demeanor had completely disappeared.

“I get that you’re not used to being told no,” Rye said. “But you’ll never get one of your fucking greasy fingers on Lola, or any other one of our kids. Ever. Now, it’s up to you. You can turn back, and stay out of our way, or we can end this here and now.”

She was pretty certain the man would actually choose the second option, before Rye added, “You might want to know, though, we also have a hundred people ready to burn the fuck out of your territory. That’s what you’d planned to do with ours, isn’t it?”

The Alpha blanched, making Rye smile.

“You’re welcome to burn our empty, fully insured house. We’ll settle down elsewhere. But moving five hundred and twenty-seven adults, as well as three hundred and four kids from the home they’ve inhabited for seven generations might be a little bit more of an issue, I’m sure.”

Coveney had come through with plenty of intel.

The Vergas Alpha stepped forward, but his sons grabbed his arms and leaned in to whisper, evidently attempting to reason with him.

Finally, he turned to them, rage evident in his eyes.

“This isn’t over.”

“Isn’t it?” Byron asked, his beaming voice full of humor. “Because I’m telling you right now: you attack my son again? I’ll take it as a personal offense against our crown. I’ll come down on you with everything I’ve got.”

Yeah… he might seem a little gruff and all, but Ace didn’t mind her mate’s father.

But, if she loved the dad, she completely adored the grandmother.

“Excuse me?” a sweet little frail voice interjected, as the Alpha wolf began to retreat.

They all turned to the petite old lady with long silver hair, who was pointing past the Alpha, towards Kim.

“That filthy piece of shit. We want it. Consider it our due for letting you go without declaring war on your ass, will you?”

The wolf growled, but he nodded towards Hunter, who went to grab the traitor, and pushed her their way.

“Why, thank you so much, you pack of savages.” Then, she smiled up at Ace and said, “I have a brilliant idea. We can chain her to a tree and get everyone to piss on her, before letting her twin rip her throat out.”

See? The lady was brilliant. But as entertaining as the visual might have been, Ace had a better idea in mind.

“Actually, I think we should let her go.”

Everyone turned to her, staring like she might have lost her mind.

She just smirked, recalling how hard it had been to make it out there on her own.

“We will, of course, notify the human authorities, and the Shifter Council, that she’s been accused of treason in her pride.”

In other words, she would be seen as a piece of trash by shifters, and as a convict by human authorities. The woman was going to be majorly screwed for the rest of her days, just like she deserved to be.

A quick death would have been too kind.