Tristan looked between Luke, Ethan, and Anton, and then finally let his gaze fall on me once more. Luke’s hands were clenched at his sides and I could tell there was more than a small part of him that wanted to take a swing at this guy. I couldn’t say I blamed him. But I pulled him aside and took a step towards Tristan, staring at him, taking in every inch of him as best I could, as though he might blink straight out of reality at any given moment.

“Seriously…what are you doing here?” I repeated, a little more forcefully this time, and Tristan forced himself to look up and into my eyes. There was an apologetic look on his face, one that I was firmly owed.

“I’m so sorry, Arianna,” he began, the words tumbling out of him as though he had been sitting on them for weeks. “I didn’t mean to – I shouldn’t have let them – ”

“You care to explain who this asshole is?” Luke snapped, not taking his eyes from Tristan once. “Because he won’t tell me but he sure as fuck knows who you are and I don’t like one bit of that.”

“He’s a…friend from my former pack,” I replied, taking Luke’s hand and squeezing lightly, letting him know that I was more than capable of handling this situation as it unfolded in front of me; he had nothing to worry about, not from Tristan.

We had grown up together, raised in the same cluster of kids, side-by-side all those years ago. I would have recognized him anywhere. There were about a half-dozen of us, of the kids who were taught and raised in the same little group, including me and Cora. Even though we had mostly drifted apart as we had gotten older, and I hadn’t seen him face-to-face in years, I’d long considered him a friend.

What was he doing so far from the Kellum compound? And why hadn’t he come to my defense when I’d been on trial and needed a champion?

Still, he must have known how much danger he was in at this moment. Surely, against the wishes of his alpha and surrounded by my lovers.

Yet, here he was. His eyes were still that dark brown, the dark brown I’d had that crush on when I was an awkward teenager. They were cast aside now, as though he didn’t even want to look at me for too long in case it sparked the anger that I was doing my best to quell.

“A friend?” Ethan demanded. He looked about as impressed as Luke did, though he wasn’t being quite as pointed about it.

“Yeah, we learned to shift together and hunt together and…all of it,” I explained as quickly as I could. I didn’t want to linger too long on those thoughts, given how badly they stung me. Just imagining the rush when the group of us had first been allowed out to run together, it brought back this wave of joy that had been sullied by everything that had come after it.

“And what the fuck does he think he’s doing here, now that your pack turned its back on you for a second time?” Luke demanded, pushing his face right up to Tristan and making Tristan flinch.

He had never been one to cower, but his face was full of trepidation and I couldn’t say that I blamed him. Luke could be scary as hell when he wanted to be, and, right now, he certainly wanted to remind this incomer who was boss around here.

Anton grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back roughly.

“Let him talk,” Anton ordered, and turned to Tristan expectantly, nodding at him as though to let him know that now was the time to jump in and state his purpose.

I wasn’t sure how much time the three of them would give him; after all, he could still be loyal to my father. But in that case, why would he look so damn scared, like he was worried the whole world would come crashing down on him at any moment?

No. My gut told me that Tristan had come to help, and I had to trust it, one last time.

He ran a hand over his face and inhaled deeply; there was a smattering of stubble on his chin and he looked exhausted, as though he’d been running at top speed to catch up with us. And then, at last, he began.

“I wasn’t there for the trial…I was on a hunt, but I heard about you getting exiled.” He turned to me at last, addressing me directly, not sparing a glance to the three men clustered around him, looking at him as though they were primed to attack. “I felt bad, but I was also sure…” He swallowed hard, his lean throat working as his gaze filled with regret. “I was sure that if your father had thrown you out then there had to be a good reason for it, right?”

I didn’t want to say anything that might spook him away right now, but I could hardly contain my sadness that he believed I truly might have done something to intentionally hurt the pack. He had known me so well for so long. Was that how he remembered me?

“But then I found out what happened with the boy and I knew it had been a mistake. I put my head down and carried on. No one knew where you went and I hold no power within the pack. I had no choice but to accept things. Then, today, I overheard the guards telling Malcolm that you were back. That one of our pack had been captured by the MacLarens.” His expression went tight. “I was sure he was going to make it right. Prove that he was still the leader we had all placed our trust in so many years ago. When I saw you leaving, I – fuck, Arianna, I don’t know what you did to get tossed out like that, but I know that your father has been growing darker and crueler with every day this war stretches on. He’s not right in the head. I can’t just sit by and watch him do this.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. There was something unbelievably validating about hearing someone else from inside the pack telling me something like that. I knew I had done the right thing, and someone else--someone I had long respected--now knew it, too.

“He’s going to leave Cora behind.” Tristan looked at me intently. “Are the MacLarens as bad as they say?” he asked, touching my shoulder lightly, as though he could sense whether or not I was telling the truth. I nodded.

“Worse,” I admitted. “I don’t know how long we have. And even if we succeed, the Cora we get back might well not be the Cora that you last saw, Tristan, you understand that, right?”

He paled and then nodded. “Yeah, I do.” I could see that flash of terror in his eyes, as he no doubt tried to figure out precisely which Cora would walk through the door back to the Kellum compound when we retrieved her.

“So, what, you want to come fight with us?” Anton demanded, frowning. Tristan shook his head.

“Me going missing for days on end will be noticed, and then all they have to do is track my pack scent to the four of you. I’d do more harm than good.”

“So, what are you doing here, then?” I pressed him, disappointed that I’d misjudged his intentions. It didn’t make sense to me, what he’d be doing in this place if he didn’t intend to help us.

He glanced around the place furtively, like he was expecting to find dozens of people listening in to what he was telling us. “Shit, I don’t know…I’ll get cast out of the pack if they catch me outright aiding you after your father refused to help.”

“You shouldn’t let him define how you live your life,” I implored him. “I did that for so long, and my life is a thousand times better now that I’ve let go of all of that.”

“Arianna, can you look me in the eyes, and tell me with any truth at all, that if you had the choice you wouldn’t have stayed at the Kellum compound with the rest of us?” he shot back, his voice terse.

I blinked. I hadn’t even considered that question, not in a long time, but it was a fair one to pose to me given the circumstances. I fell silent for a moment, trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy all the men around me. But Tristan softened before I could come out with anything too damning, and shook his head.

“I’m sorry. It doesn’t matter,” he admitted. “Look, I can’t come with you, but I know some shifters who can,” he explained, speaking urgently, like he knew he didn’t have much time left in this place. “Mercenaries. They passed through the compound a few weeks back, asked if there was any work that needed done. They heard about the war and they assumed that they would be recruited by one side or another, and decided to put themselves out there first. Your father balked at their price and their alpha said that they would be in the area for another month or so looking for work if he changed his mind.”

“Mercenaries?” Anton furrowed his brow, looking unimpressed. “If Malcolm didn’t want to pay their price, what makes you think we can?”

Tristan pulled a small pouch from his pocket, heavy and clinking.

Gold. I could smell it on the air, metallic, sweet and dangerous. To my surprise, Tristan pushed the pouch into my hand, closing his fist around it quickly to make sure that no more people than was completely necessary saw it.

“Take this,” he urged me. “It should be enough.”

I stared at him. The bag was heavy and must have had a year’s wages in it, maybe more. He fumbled in his pocket once more and pulled out a small scrap of paper, which he also pressed hurriedly into my palm.

“This is the name of the man you need to talk to,” he explained. “Ask around here. I’m sure someone’ll have an idea of where they are and if they can help.”

My heart had begun to pound at the thought of increasing our numbers, with trained professionals, no less. This could be huge.

This could be everything.

“Tristan, thank you-”

“Just make sure that Cora makes it back to the compound in one piece, alright?” he pleaded. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him, tight and brief.

“I will do my best,” I promised, murmuring the words into his ear and he nodded, seemingly satisfied by what I had told him. He leaned away, and glanced around at the three men still glaring him down.

“Just please don’t tell anyone that I was here,” he instructed as he straightened. “I have to leave now. If they notice I’m gone…”

“Go, get out of here.” I waved my hand. “I won’t forget this, you know.”

“If you can get Cora out of there, I won’t, either.” He smiled at me, and then ducked his head down as he made for the exit of the bar and left the four of us standing around, a name in one hand and a purse of gold in my other one. We had just become substantially richer, and with wealth, came power.

“Well, shit,” Ethan muttered, a grin stretching his lips. “So what now, people?”

“Now, we get a fucking drink, a meal and a good night’s sleep,” Anton said, flagging down the barman. “And then we go find ourselves some mercenaries.”