“Welcome to the Warkshire Pack’s new headquarters.”

Ripper stood at the head of a tall oak table coated in several layers of tough lacquer. His dark hair was slicked back as always, looking like he’d dragged some sort of heavy duty titanium comb through a can of motor oil before saturating his scalp with the vile stuff.

The Alpha always seemed to think it made him look distinguished. But to Luna, it just made him look like the sort of greaseball who runs an under-the-table gambling operation. His name could as easily have been Vinny Two-Shoes or Johnny Small-Dick. Ripper didn’t suit him, really; he’d never torn into anything in his life other than bags of crisps and other shifters’ souls.

Standing in a semi-circle around him were the twelve members of the Warkshire Pack, most of whom stood with their faces pointed at the distant ceiling arching some forty feet above their heads.

Surrounding them were the cold, grey remnants of a subterranean gathering place that shifters had long ago used as a large pub known as the Underground Club. A long system of winding tunnels hidden beneath London’s streets, the strange structure was situated even deeper than London’s famous train system known as the Tube.

“This place was carved under the city before the twentieth century had begun,” said Ripper. “Many of our ancestors hung about between these walls. They drank, fucked, schemed. The club’s been abandoned for decades, but it belongs to us now. I put in a bid before we left Bonham, and signed the lease yesterday. My hope is that it will be the gathering point for all London’s shifter population. We’ll be opening its doors tomorrow night, and you’ll be pleased to know that each of you will have a job between its walls.”

So, thought Luna, this is what you’ve been up to, you bastard. She’d known ever since Ripper had announced their pending move from Bonham to London that he had something up his sleeve, but she hadn’t quite realized how monumental it would be.

She exchanged a quick look with Silver, who seemed preoccupied, just as he always did these days. Her brother had lost the cocky bluster of his youth. No longer did he thrust out his chest or stride around like a man with a purpose. He’d changed, and not for the better.

But perhaps the move to London would be good for him.

Luna was the only one who wasn’t studying the architecture of the space around her. Instead, she watched Ripper intently, her piercing blue eyes focused on his own. For a man who’d just announced what should have been happy news, he didn’t look nearly so excited as the other Pack members seemed. In fact, the expression etched on his features was uneasy, as though he were working rather hard to put on a confident face.

But he was failing. His agitation couldn’t have been any clearer if he’d scrawled Something’s got me shitting my trousers in Sharpie on his forehead. Some scent, some presence in the city had him riled.

Luna hadn’t seen him like this in years. Not since the night so long ago, when the Dragon Kirith had wreaked havoc on the woods so close to the Wolf Pack’s home turf. She’d never forgotten the look on Ripper’s face when he’d escorted the Pack out of their territory. The nervousness as he’d looked over his shoulder, sniffing the air, his body tight with terror, as though he was just waiting for his impending doom.

It had taken him some months to settle down and realize that Kirith wasn’t coming for them after all.

There was no doubt in Luna’s mind that their Alpha was somehow behind her brother’s altered state. The question was how. Ripper had always been cruel and abusive, but Luna couldn’t imagine Silver losing his soul over a bit of nastiness. He’d always been too strong for that.

Well, it didn’t matter now. Fuck Ripper. They’d be rid of him soon, if she could just come up with an escape plan.

In London, she and Silver had a chance to start a new life. A chance to flee from Ripper’s all-too-tight clutches. Now that the city was swarming with Wolf shifters, maybe they could even look for a new Pack to join. Surely one couldn’t swing a dead cat in this town without hitting a better Alpha.

“Many of you have asked me what my plan is for London,” said Ripper, tearing Luna away from thoughts of escape. “Well, I intend to see to it that we Wolves regain the footing our kind once had in this great city.” The Alpha’s broad jaw set in a grimace that betrayed his lack of fondness for most of his Pack, who simply stared blankly at him.

“How are we going to do that, then?” asked Derek, a large, lumbering dark-haired man, one of the more obtuse of the Pack’s shifters. Luna had always liked him for his sort of general oafishness.

“Simple. As Alpha of the Warkshire Pack, I plan to get hold of strategic territories in London before other Alphas try to lay claim to them. We’ll branch out from here, using the club as a home base. Your job, aside from working for me, will be reconnaissance.”

“Reconnaissance?” asked Luna. “We’re to spy on our customers, then?”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Ripper.

Rutger, who was standing to the Alpha’s right, narrowed his eyes at Luna. Over the years he’d grown to be a large, hulking beast of a man. He’d also evolved into Ripper’s right-hand stooge, serving as a sort of glaring goon who got the others to submit if they were getting out of hand. “You have a problem with spying?” he grunted.

“Well, not exactly,” Luna replied. “I do have a bit of a problem with Ripper talking about claiming territory in this city, though. He said before others take them.” Casually, she twisted her bright red hair into a braid in front of her right shoulder. “You do realize that the Dragons’ Guild pretty well dominates London now, not Wolves. Things have changed here since the glory days of our kind. We can’t just walk around claiming land that’s not ours.”

“Yes, Luna, I’m all too aware,” Ripper snarled, flashing her a narrow-eyed glare that made the fine hairs rise up on her skin. “But the Dragons don’t have the sole claim over this city. They never have, and they never will.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said Silver, who’d remained silent until now. Luna’s ears pricked up at the sound of his voice. It was so rare to hear him speak his mind anymore that her chest warmed with pride. “I’ve heard that the Dragons are more powerful than ever before. Rumour has it that they recovered some Relics of Power…”

“You know better than to talk to me about Dragons’ Relics, you little shite.” Ripper’s voice shot out in a hiss, just as it always did when he talked to Silver.

An insidious, inherent threat invaded their Alpha’s voice whenever he spoke to her brother. She’d asked Silver about it, but he’d only ever shrugged it off as Ripper’s way, as if that was any sort of excuse for being a manky douche-nozzle.

“Dragons can still be beaten,” Ripper continued. “They’re not immortal gods or some such, and they are by no means in charge of this city, whatever sodding fairy tales you may have heard.”

“Well, of course they’re not in charge,” chuckled Luna. “There’s also Scotland Yard, MI-5, the British military…” She tossed the braid behind her shoulder and smiled to herself as she watched the Alpha’s lip curl up in a snarl. He hated when his subordinates one-upped him by pointing out the obvious. Such an angry tosser, he was. Angry tossers made for poor Alphas.

“I’ve no interest in London’s law enforcement,” Ripper retorted, his tone softening to something he could almost control. “The humans’ laws don’t apply to us.”

“I rather think they do,” Luna said. “Try ripping a human’s throat out, and you’ll see how quickly they come at you.”

“I will do no such thing. I can’t imagine wasting my time or energy on their kind.” Ripper pressed his palms into the table and looked about at the motley assortment of Wolves surrounding him. “My interest lies only in others of our kind. The humans who are aware of us know well enough to leave us to our devices. The only rules that matter are those of shifters. If anyone has a problem with that, they can meet with Rutger and me in my office.”

“So, what’s next, then?” asked Sid, a quiet, blond-haired She-Wolf who rarely spoke. Aside from Luna, she was the Pack’s only female.

Ripper began to pace the floor impatiently, his eyes looking everywhere but in the direction of his Pack. Luna could tell feel his irritation nearing a boiling point. Good, she thought.

“My immediate intention,” Ripper began, “is to get this place populated with drinkers. There’s a fortune to be made between these walls, and as I said, there’s a job in it for each and every one of you.”

“Shifters only, I assume,” said Luna. “So, Dragons as well?”

Ripper tensed at the word. “Of course not. I don’t want their kind anywhere near here,” he replied. “As for Wolves, Grizzlies, Lions, Tigers, Bears? Perfectly fine by me. From a vantage point such as this, I can keep an eye on them. Learn their comings and goings, their plans. These walls have ears—or they soon will. The Warkshire Pack will run this town before I’m done with it.”

Ah, so that’s the real issue. You want control, as always, thought Luna, exchanging another quick look with Silver, who immediately pointed his gaze at the floor.

Luna leaned against the wall, taking in the Alpha’s expression. There was mischief in his eyes, but there was also something worse: cruelty. Whatever he was banking on would no doubt involve bloodshed.This whole thing was some master plan to get rid of the Dragons and take over the city like a fucking crime boss.