I continued my pacing in Sebastian’s office.

“Is there anything I need to know about the Aufero?” he asked, his phone in hand.

He wanted to know if we’d killed anyone Marcia cared about. I shook my head. “Sky retrieved it on her own.” His eyes widened in surprise as I continued, “There’s no liability for the pack. Marcia will try to blame us, but she is now aware that Sky is a Moura. She can’t deny her right to the orb.”

He nodded and made the call. To say that Marcia was furious was an understatement. After several minutes of accusations and threats, he made our position clear; we recognized only the Moura’s right to possess the Aufero. Marcia had no inherent right to it, but if she was interested in obtaining the Aufero legitimately, the Moura was willing to trade. She agreed to meet us, but under specific and insulting conditions. Under the pressure of time, we had no choice but to agree.

A short time later, Sebastian, Sky, Winter, and I approached a windowless dark van in a shopping mall parking lot. I recognized the driver and his passenger, who had accompanied Bernard on his visit to the retreat. Once locked in the van, we were blind and trapped. Only Sky seemed comfortable with the situation.

Once the van was underway, I started the timer on my phone. Winter and I both made digital notes of the stops and turns and time taken between actions, until the van finally came to rest ten minutes later. After the meeting, we’d compare notes and attempt to plot Marcia’s secret location.

The van door opened and we emerged into a windowless garage. From there, we were led down a dark hallway, through an empty room toward an open door. Sebastian crossed the threshold first. Even before he gasped, I’d felt the powerful magic emanating from the room. As I entered behind him, I felt the weight of the oppressive magic engulf me, forcing my wolf into retreat. Glancing around the room, I saw the source of the magic, dozens of powerful runes painted onto the walls. The stench of henna, tannin, and metal hung in the stale air.

All five members of the Creed were present, seated at a long banquet table lit by muted gas lamps on the wall behind them. Marcia sat in the middle, glowering from her ornate, rune-carved wooden chair that was raised slightly higher than the others in a gross display of authority. Several servants were in the room as well, Bernard among them. At a nod from one of the Creed—a dark-haired Korean woman—Bernard walked to the heavy metal door, closed it, and locked it.

Marcia waved toward the rune-covered wall. “You will not be able to change, we’ve assured that. Perhaps that will ensure our safety and prevent us from being accosted by animals that do not respond to our magic.”

Sebastian maintained a calm demeanor, but I recognized the hard set of his jaw, the thick cords of muscle in his neck. He didn’t like being cut off from his animal any more than I did. Winter chafed as well, while Sky was unsurprisingly calm; she’d spent a great deal of her life trying to hide from her wolf.

Marcia extended her hand toward Sky. “You promised me the Aufero if I met with you.”

Sebastian answered the childish ploy with an exaggerated sigh. “You said that you wanted the Aufero in exchange for meeting with us. I applaud the confidence you have in your presence.” He made an overt gesture toward the runes. “However, I made it clear that it is yours if you help us. Are we going to have a discussion, or should we leave?”

Sky drew the orb from her pocket, displaying it in her open palm. Greed flashed in Marcia’s eyes, but she remained still, posturing. The lustful drum of her heart betrayed her. Like all witches, she craved power above all else. After a moment, she tore her gaze from the orb and clasped her hands in front of her.

When she spoke, her tone was rich with contempt and scorn. “What can we do for you?”

“I need your help,” Sebastian said.

“I figured that much. At some point, do you plan to offer specifics?”

A hint of a smile creased his lips. “Samuel is in town.”

I watched the Creed closely, gauging their reactions. None of them were surprised or even concerned. Odd, considering the resources they spent attempting to monitor him, as we did.

“Yes, we are aware of this,” she admitted with an unexpected smirk. “I am sure when he has acquired whatever he came to town to retrieve, he will leave as quietly as he arrived.”

Does she know that he has my brother? I tensed, clenching and releasing my fists to calm myself.

“He has Josh and is threatening to kill him.”

Marcia eased back into her chair, her expression smug. “Well, that hardly seems any concern of ours.”

“He is a witch. It is your concern. Do you not have a duty to protect your own?”

“Josh is no more a witch than you all are Homo sapiens. The world sees one face in the daylight, but when the moon is full, Mercury rises, or the world is eclipsed, your true being is exposed. He is not one of us. When I was being brutalized by that”—she glanced scornfully at Sky—“where was Josh to muzzle the rabid dog?”

Sky licked her lips, trying to let the insult slide. She seemed oblivious to the faint glow that arose from the orb in her hand, but the buildup of magic there wasn’t lost on the Creed. They rose from their chairs in alarm just as the banquet table slid into their stomachs, forcibly pressing them against the wall.

Sebastian and Winter turned agape to Sky, who stared at the glowing orb in equal surprise.

At a gesture from the Creed, the table flew across the room toward us. We just ducked beneath it, letting it clatter to the floor at the back of the room.

Marcia’s cheeks flushed as she roared, “That is unacceptable! You come here for favors and you allow one of your were-animals who is able to control magic to come here. Now you see what happens when an animal is given gifts that belong to those that have a civil nature.”

“I apologize,” Sky stammered, genuinely taken aback. “That was unintentional. Please do not let my poor manners be a death sentence for Josh. I am sorry.” She lowered her head in supplication, but I saw a slight smile tug at the corner of her lips.

Another time and place, I would’ve enjoyed her display of power, but there was too much at stake.

Marcia remained on her feet, fuming, while Bernard hurriedly picked up her chair and placed it behind her. The rest of the Creed picked up their chairs as well. After a long, violent glare at Sky, Marcia sat with regal finality as she declared, “This meeting is over.”

Bernard approached Sebastian, gesturing toward the door, but he remained firmly planted, as did I.

“Samuel has the Clostra,” he announced.

There it is, I thought, finally catching a hint of surprise and fear in Marcia’s expression. She didn’t know as much as she thought she did.

“That isn’t an issue we care about,” she announced disingenuously. “According to my knowledge, the spells in that book don’t affect us.”

I stepped forward. “That is where you are wrong. We have it on full authority that the book has spells that will strip magic from all that hold it. You do not believe that with the books in his possession he will fail to seek to control you all as well. You want him dead as much as we do.”

Her expression hardened. “We will stand against him if needed. His grievance isn’t with us, but the existence of your kind.” Is that his plan? “I assume you have the other two books. Once he has them, I am confident we will not hear from him. So tell me, why should I help you?”

Sky stepped forward, raising the Aufero in her palm. The Creed tensed, wary. “You want the Aufero,” she said. “It’s yours if you help.”

Now it was Marcia’s turn to offer a hint of a smile as she clasped her hands in her lap. She remained quiet for several uncomfortable minutes, relishing our impatience. Aware that she was gauging whether she could demand more from us, I did my best to hide my anxiety, but the clock was ticking. Josh’s safety was at stake. An undeniable rage slowly built in me like a volcano, the pressure building toward a violent explosion when Sky spoke.

“It is a difficult decision,” she announced, “but one you need to make quickly.”

“Let us discuss this for a moment.”

The Creed chanted in unison, casting a dampening field around us. The effect was an enforced deafness. I tried to read their lips, but they were too animated, talking too quickly. After a lively debate, the dampening field collapsed, bringing a welcome onrush of sound.

“Okay,” Marcia announced. “We will help.”

Sebastian was about to accept the offer when Sky declared, “First, you will help us find Josh. As you stated, he isn’t one of you, therefore he can no longer be governed by your laws. You are not allowed to sanction him under any circumstances. He now belongs solely to the pack.”

I remained stoic, resisting the urge to look at Sky. Buying Josh protection from Marcia’s jealousy was a reasonable request, given what Sky was giving up—as long as she didn’t push too far.

“No,” Marcia snapped. “That is not acceptable. In the event Josh requires discipline, I doubt that the pack will ever do it justly. He is coddled because he is the brother of the Beta and you all need him.”

“Well, I worry about the fact that you conveniently and often punish those whose powers mirror if not exceed yours. I am not confident that he would not be punished far too severely for a minor infraction.”

Marcia bristled at the rebuke. “No.”

“Fine,” Sky conceded. “All possible sanctions must be agreed upon by you and Sebastian.”

“He and I would never come to an agreement. You are wasting our time with your unreasonable request.”

I felt a rising tide of panic. Sky was going too far. Marcia was on the verge of backing out of the deal.

“Then all sanctions will be handled by you, Sebastian, and an agreed-upon third party,” Sky countered.

Marcia’s eyes narrowed. After a moment’s hesitation, she accepted the terms with a half nod, but Sky wasn’t finished.

“And you have to help us find Samuel and retrieve Josh. If he isn’t retrieved safe and unharmed, then the agreement is void.”

Marcia scoffed. “We can’t guarantee that he is unharmed. That isn’t in our control.”

“He’s been gone for two hours now. The longer he is gone, the greater the chance that he will be harmed or even killed. If I were you, I would agree, climb down off your high horse, and go find Josh to make sure this deal isn’t voided.”

Marcia glared at Sky with a stony gaze. Gasps and murmurs erupted from the servants and some of the Creed, until Marcia brought them to a sudden end with a raised hand. “We will need a minute of discussion.”

The dampening field was cast once more, but the conference was brief.

“Agreed,” she announced with a sober expression. “However, a restriction will be placed on the Aufero. The Aufero is drawn to you, therefore it will continue to seek your ownership as long as you are near it. You must agree to stay away from it and allow us to place a restraint that will force it to return to us even if it must be over your dead body.”

My jaw clenched along with my fists. Sky had pushed too far. She’d gotten a good deal for Josh—more than I’d thought to ask for—but now she was going to have to pay an even higher price. I glanced at Sebastian, wondering if he would accept such a condition. He was calm, reflective. I knew there was an anger in there, but he wouldn’t give the Creed the satisfaction.

“Restriction?” Sky asked.

“A curse that will not only sever the tie, but if you are ever in possession of it, will return it to me.”

Winter’s disgust was naked. “But not without killing her first.”

Marcia smiled.

Sky took in the news with a calming exhale. “Okay.”

“Very well.” Marcia turned her gaze to Sebastian. “My final condition—I want Samuel. You are not allowed to kill him; preferably, I would like him unharmed.”

Finally I saw the anger flash in Sebastian’s eyes. My own fury was barely contained. Marcia didn’t care about Samuel. If anything, she considered him a rival. On any other occasion, she would welcome the news of his demise. Protecting him was just a means to punish us, to twist the screw deeper by denying us our revenge, but the pack wouldn’t be denied. We would get it eventually, against Samuel and Marcia.

After some discussion, Sebastian and Winter were returned to the pack’s SUV in the mall parking lot. They would gather as much of the pack as they could while Sky and I led Marcia and her witches to Josh’s house.

I gestured to the knife on the floor. “That’s Samuel’s blood, and that …” My brother’s name choked in my throat. I cursed myself, refusing to put my worry on display for the witches. “That is Josh’s.”

“I am aware,” Marcia said.

Samuel would expect us to track my brother. Very likely, he would’ve arranged a trap. Tracking Samuel made more sense. “Although Josh is our priority,” I said, “if we find Samuel, I am confident Josh will be near.”

Squatting over the knife, she drew a pouch from her belt and sprinkled tannin on the blood there, followed by a dull white powder. Her fingers flickered over the blade as she whispered her invocation. In response, a golden smoke rose from the blood to form a cloud just above the knife. Within the cloud, an image appeared of a house. A few more words from Marcia and the image zoomed in. Just before we could read the address, the image quickly dissolved into a dissipating cloud of smoke.

Marcia cursed under her breath, but there was a crafty smile on her lips. I recognized some of the words as she performed the spell once more, but there were variations from the first attempt. The smoke rose. The cloud formed, but the image quickly burst in a display of sparks and flashes. Samuel was blocking the tracking spell, and he was doing a damn good job of it. If she can’t locate them, Josh is lost, I realized with a desperate hope, but Marcia appeared confident, amused even.

“His skills have improved.” She smiled.

Responding to her gesture, the other witches clasped hands around the knife. They joined their chant, casting the spell with their combined abilities. Once more, the cloud appeared, shimmering in alternating colors until it finally turned gold and the image of the house returned, crystal clear. Marcia zoomed in to get the address, then shifted the image to reveal a map of the house’s location. They were in a rural area, far from any of Samuel’s known properties.

I made the call to Sebastian, giving him the address.

We arrived with the witches, transporting in after the pack had arrived. Twenty-five were-animals, half in animal form in anticipation of magic, surrounded the farmhouse, assuring that Samuel could not physically escape. If he tried, the farm fields around the house were nothing but dry and barren soil. His most likely path of escape was magical transportation. For that, he’d have to lower the protective field that surrounded the house—the strongest field I’d ever encountered.

I’d never felt more uncertain than while I waited, pacing next to Sebastian, while Marcia worked her magic on the field. Samuel knew we were there. Because of his field, we couldn’t overwhelm him with surprise. If he wanted to kill Josh, he had plenty of opportunities. I could only hope he had enough sense to realize that harming my brother was a death sentence and gained him nothing.

I found myself putting tremendous faith in Samuel’s reputation as a rational man. As I paced, I felt my burner phone vibrate in my pocket. Caroline. I declined the call and pushed the phone back into my pocket.

As Marcia worked her magic, rolling waves of black and gold shimmered against the translucent barrier, but it didn’t break. Her expression was taut as she gestured to the rest of the Creed to join her.

Should’ve used your combined power in the first place. I snorted derision. It was just like Marcia to showboat.

The Creed joined hands, facing the house, and began their chant. Black and gold shimmered once more, this time in a violent pitched battle. For a moment, it seemed their combined strength would fail, but then the field buckled and collapsed.

Sebastian gave the signal and we approached the house, a slow strangling noose. With any luck, Samuel would see the futility of a fight and surrender, but I didn’t believe in luck. He was too powerful and too motivated to give up so easily. As we steadily closed the gap, my eyes flicked along the house in anticipation, cycling through the door and each of the windows. We were ten feet from the house when I began to wonder, Is it possible that this is a ruse, that Josh isn’t here? Were we walking into a trap?

A powerful wave of force burst from the house, knocking all of us onto our backs. It took the air from my lungs, as well. Along with the rest, I clambered back to my feet as I caught my breath.

Anticipating the next attack, Marcia and the witches quickly spread out, erecting a protective field in front of us just before another wave of power burst from the house. It struck the field in a savage eruption of sparks. The field bowed and dented at places, but it held.

The front door of the house creaked open and Samuel casually walked out onto the porch wearing canvas pants, boots, and a wrinkled t-shirt. “Marcia, this isn’t your fight. I urge you to not make it yours.”

She stiffened. “Samuel, release him.”

“Of course. When I have the books, you can have the witch. I can see why you were so distraught over losing him to Sebastian. But you should find comfort in the fact that he will never take your position in the Creed, although with more practice he will make your little dog and pony show look like mage magic.”

Josh is still alive!

He brought down the Creed’s field with a simple gesture. Six elven hounds rushed from the door and leapt off the porch. One of them clamped its jaws on to Marcia’s arm. She screamed, flailing at the hound with her fist until Gavin’s panther sank his teeth into its flank. The hound yelped, releasing her to defend itself, but Gavin ripped out its throat. Before the body collapsed into the dirt, he was charging another hound until Winter decapitated it with a swing of her katana.

The Creed rallied behind Marcia, making a V formation with her at the lead. She glared at Samuel, blood dripping from her wound, as the Creed advanced in lockstep. He stepped off the porch to confront them, giving Sebastian and me the chance to run past him into the house.

Wary of a trap, I pushed past Sebastian to be the first one through the door. Once inside, we split up, going from room to room and calling Josh’s name. At the end of the hall, I found him bound to a bed, struggling against his restraints with a rag crammed into his mouth and an iridium band around his arm. I froze at the sight of him. A large bruise swelled on his cheek, and his shirt was stained with blood seeping from a slash across his chest. A number of cuts on his hands indicated that Samuel had attempted to perform some magic on Josh—numerous times.

Seeing me, Josh let out a raging muted scream.

Frantic to release him, I pulled at the ropes, but the knots were complicated. Thankfully Sebastian arrived with a knife and cut Josh loose. The moment he was free, he was tugging and biting at the iridium band, but that would have to wait. A dozen were-animals swarmed into the house as I pulled him from the room. They quickly cleared a path, eyeing Josh’s wounds with relief and rage.

We emerged from the house to find Samuel surrounded by the Creed, his arms bound to his chest by a ring of magical force that embraced his torso. An iridium brace was clamped to his leg.

Marcia glanced distastefully at the were-animals gathering around her as she told him, “This was one of the more distasteful dealings I will have to live with. I doubt you will ever understand my position, and I realize that. I don’t want to hurt you, but you will have to let this go. I need more than your word. We will need to perform a pacem fœderis mei to ensure that you won’t retaliate against us. We need a binding of peace.”

Snarling in contempt, he struggled against the magic that bound him. Josh struggled as well, obsessed with the binding on his arm that neutered his magic. The skin around his band was red and bleeding as he bit and pulled at it like a trapped wild animal. I swatted his hand away from it, then turned back to Samuel and the Creed as Marcia raised a knife against the skin of his throat, drawing small rivulets of blood. For a moment, I hoped she’d kill him.

“Do you really want it to end like this?” she asked Samuel. “Defeated by Sebastian and his pack because of your tenets? Agree to the pacem fœderis mei or we say our farewells now. Understand, I do not want you dead.” Her tone softened, almost pleading as she continued, “I needed to do this for reasons you will one day understand. It is not personal. Do not make it so.”

He glared down at her as she slowly withdrew the knife just enough that it was no longer touching his skin, but red glistened on the blade. “Will you agree?”

His jaw twitched before he answered with a bitter, reluctant, “Yes.”

At Marcia’s direction, the witches cautiously removed the iridium brace from his leg before releasing the power that had bound his arms to his chest. I tensed. If he fled, released from their hold, I would consider myself free to chase him down and kill him. Surprisingly, Samuel remained still, seemingly accepting his fate. The witches began their brief incantation. Once complete, Marcia pressed her knife across the palm of his hand, drawing blood. His gaze turned to Sky as he spoke his part of the spell. Once complete, he gave her the slightest smile, as if they shared some unspoken bond.

As the Creed walked away from him, he told them, “May you receive the true peace that you all deserve.”

Marcia turned and snapped, “If we find it, at least it will not be at your hands. Now that we are bound in peace, you can’t hurt us.”

He nodded to Sky, then disappeared.

Sebastian gave directions to the others while I guided Josh to one of the pack’s SUVs. I eased him into the backseat, then slid in with him while Sky scooted in on the opposite side, eyeing his wounds with a concerned look. Winter took the passenger seat while Sebastian wasted no time putting the car in motion.

The rest of the pack vehicles fell in behind us.

Until we reached the safety of the retreat, our fight wasn’t over. Samuel’s agreement to not retaliate applied to the witches, not to us.

Once we were underway, Josh returned to worrying at the iridium band.

“Does it hurt?” Sky asked.

He shook his head. “I just don’t like it on.”

I gripped his arm, trying to calm him, but he yanked himself free. “Josh, stop.” He was going to hurt himself. “Sebastian, will you pull over?”

He brought the SUV to a stop on the side of the road before glancing over his shoulder at Josh biting and pulling at the band as if his life depended upon it. By the time I emerged from the vehicle and reached the wayback, Sebastian had popped it open. I caught a worried look from Sky over the seat, then found the box of tools and brought it with me back to Josh.

“Hold still,” I said, reaching for the band with a vise-grip. Ignoring me, he continued biting and tugging. “Josh!” I pushed him back into the seat with my arm, then clamped on to the band. After some squeezing and twisting, it finally broke.

Josh tore it from his arm and threw it to the floor. His relief palpable, he leaned back into the seat, rubbing at his raw skin as he caught his breath. Sky and I exchanged anxious looks as Sebastian got us back onto the road.