“Josephine?” a familiar voice called to her through the hazy fog filling her head. “Open your eyes, let me know you’re alright,” the man demanded hoarsely.

“Sir, she’s taken a pretty hard bump to the head,” another voice cut in. “She’s bleeding from her nose and ears. We have an ambulance en route, ETA fifteen minutes.”

“Copy that,” Roman barked back. “Tell Major Scott he has command.”

She heard footsteps retreating as the other man moved away from them.

Groaning slightly, she forced her eyelids open. Although his image was muddled and distorted at first, Josephine recognized Roman instantly. But instead of the normal suit and tie, he was clad in head to toe black combat gear.

She sat up and winced when the world around her swam like a whirling vortex of shadows and light. She felt like she’d drunk an entire case of wine.

“My head,” she croaked.

“You have a concussion,” Roman murmured softly and placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her to lie back down. “Try not to move,” he advised. “But don’t pass out again, okay?” he added a bit more forcefully.

She reached up to probe at her throbbing temple and stopped short when she realized she gripped something tightly in her hand. She opened her palm and on seeing the crumbled document, she sat back upright, and immediately regretted the action.

“What the hell are you doing?” Roman barked. “I just told you to lie down.”

“Read this,” she insisted and shoved the Scroll toward him. Slumping back down on the ground, she winced when another explosion shook her entire body. “Who are those soldiers?” she asked and turned her head to watch the battle going on in the distance.

What had once been a dilapidated farmhouse was now a roaring ball of fire with flames reaching high into the night sky. Wolf howls rent the air along with gunshots and shouts. Roman had initiated a full-on raid.

“They’re my men,” he answered and turned the parchment to study it from a different angle. “My clan runs a special ops program for the government. I didn’t tell you the whole truth when I said the government contracts us,” he continued almost absently.

“So what, you’re a super-soldier shape shifter?” she asked sarcastically.

“Something like that,” he responded and tilted the paper another direction. She sighed in exasperation and reached out to snag the Scroll and turn it right side up for him.

“Where did you get this?” Roman demanded after glancing at the symbols.

Sliding her eyes back to him, Josephine shifted uncomfortably.

“A bear shifter by the name of Christopher Williams,” she explained softly, but not without a hint of anger. “Apparently, he used my friend Clara to introduce you and me. Clara said she dated him in high school.”

“Chris?” Roman echoed in a voice raw with emotion. “Chris was here? I haven’t seen him in ten years. He’s one of my younger cousins.”

“I’m sorry,” Josephine murmured. “I hate being the one to tell you this, but he not only had that Scroll, but he also wanted to use it to usurp the leadership.”

Roman’s face ran a gauntlet of emotions as he processed the idea of his own family betraying him. After a few moments, he simply nodded in acceptance and tucked the Scroll into an inner vest pocket. Bringing his wrist up toward his face, he began barking orders and she realized he had a communications piece on his wrist.

He ordered his men to look for Christopher and then frowned when an immediate response came. Josephine knew he’d been in the foyer when they’d found her, but she inhaled sharply when she heard the man tell Roman that the bear was gone.

“We aren’t that easy to kill,” Roman murmured when he noticed her widened eyes. “He was probably just knocked out.”

“Roman, you have to find him,” Josephine urged. “He’s working with the werewolves. They cursed your father and now they plan on killing you inorder for Christopher to take over.”

“And so the war continues,” Roman growled and stood. “Did you decipher this Scroll?” he asked and patted his pocket to indicate the one she’d given to him.

She nodded in response.

“But you now have both Scrolls, you can take the other one to the doctor and let them cure your father,” she argued. “You don’t have to worry about the one Christopher had.” She gestured towards his vest pocket.

Roman’s face settled into a frightening mask of rage.

“Always have a plan B,” he advised. “My men have taken this pack, but as you pointed out, there are many more out there who agree with these barbarians. We can’t afford for my father to die without the necessary rituals, so you’ll just have to translate this one for me and we’ll perform it just in case.”

* * *

Josephine refused to get into the ambulance once it arrived. No matter how hard the EMTs tried, she simply wouldn’t leave Roman. It didn’t matter that he’d said they’d won this particular battle; she wouldn’t leave his side until they were both able to go.

He’d officially released command to Major Scott, but chose to hang around when word spread that they’d intercepted the pack’s leader, Rafe.

Within ten minutes or so, two soldiers approached, dragging the body of a naked man between them. Even though his long hair hung in wet clumps around his face, she recognized him as her captor immediately.

“Clothe him and secure him,” Roman ordered and watched with emotionless eyes as they nodded and turned to drag the shifter to a nearby SUV. One pulled a blanket from the back and wrapped it around Rafe before the other one put a pair of antiquated, silver cuffs on the wolf’s wrists and ankles.

“Silver,” she murmured.

“All shifters abhor silver,” Roman acknowledged. “Wolves especially. Some of the old tales are true,” he relented and turned toward her, opening his arms. “But most of them aren’t, it’s how we’ve survived so long in the human world.”

Tearing her eyes away from the soldiers as they shoved Rafe into the back seat of the vehicle, she moved toward Roman and allowed him to crush her in a warm embrace. Closing her eyes, she laid her cheek on his chest and exhaled deeply. She was safe again.

“Let’s go,” Roman whispered against the top of her head. “We still need to get you looked at and bandaged up; you have quite a few scratches and scrapes.”

Nodding at his request, Josephine allowed him to lead her to the ambulance where the EMTs quickly sat her down and began probing and prodding.

She answered enough questions about herself that Roman could write her autobiography and then grumbled while they went about cleaning and bandaging her wounds. She hadn’t suffered anything more serious than a concussion and even now, the effects were quickly fading.

When they finally relented and told Roman that she could go home, he helped her into the black SUV and then hopped in the back seat with her. Looking toward the driver, which she wasn’t shocked to see was Leo dressed in matching tactical gear, she simply smiled and settled back against the plush leather seat.

Within minutes they were back at Roman’s country home and she realized that Rafe had been keeping her dangerously close to his enemy.

“What are you going to do with Rafe?” she asked as they pulled through the front gates.

Roman shrugged nonchalantly, and turned cold, almost dead eyes on her.

“Depends on whether my father lives or not,” he answered gruffly and then swung his door open when the car rolled to a stop. Turning back, he offered her his hand and helped her from the car, up the steps and into the house.

“Why don’t you go enjoy a nice, long bubble bath,” he suggested and urged her toward the stairs. “I’ll be up shortly,” he promised.

Josephine nodded hesitantly and turned to start up the stairs when the front doors burst open and Rafe charged in still wearing his chains. He was held by two guards with three others bringing up the rear.

“In the cellar,” Roman barked and then slid his eyes back to Josephine’s. She couldn’t suppress the shiver at seeing how his beautiful gray eyes had gone fathomless black.