He was still Pack, even if he answered to a different Alpha and not his uncle anymore. There were reasons why a wolf needed space, and the fact our Northwest Pack alliance was strong enough and tightly bound enough to allow that to happen meant we had grown far stronger than others thought possible.

  I just wasn’t sure we were strong enough to fight against pure evil.

  “Are you off to go do some scouting?” Chase asked as Blake walked off with Skye—his cousin and Chase’s mate.

  “I was thinking about it. How’s the baby doing?” I asked, and Chase winced. “Skye refuses to take any time for herself. Doesn’t matter that she is about to give birth to our first child, she wants to do everything that she used to do.”

  “She’s a wolf. She can handle anything.”

  “You keep saying that, but you will rue the day when you realize that your pregnant mate has no concern for herself and keeps putting everybody else first and refuses to just lie down when you ask.”

  I tried to hide my smile, ignoring the ache in my chest. “Well, that’s not going to happen anytime soon, as I have no mate and don’t plan on it.”

  “You’re cute thinking you’re going to have a choice.”

  I flipped him off. “And Skye is heavily guarded at all times. I noticed the way that Blake is watching her every move. He’s protecting his cousin, just like everyone else. I also see Novah and Cassius walking towards them. What are they doing, ensuring that the precious Alpha’s mate doesn’t fall and trip?”

  “I might have persuaded Novah to walk towards them and ensure that she’s safe.”

  My lips twitched. “Cassius and Novah still trying?” I asked. We began walking towards the perimeter because I needed to do a patrol soon. Chase looked over his shoulder one last time before putting his attention back on me.

  “So far. I know that the Healer’s working with them, I just hate to see it. Novah wants a child, and Cassius would do anything for her. But you know wolves—we’re fertile as hell, unless we’re not. There’s no middle ground.”

  I nodded. The Redwoods seemed to have three or more children per family, sometimes up to six. The Talons were slowly following along, as well as the Centrals. We Aspens were taking our sweet time, but then again, we had been scorned by the moon goddess for our past transgressions, much like the Talons and Centrals had. They had overcome it, and we were too. Our Alpha was about to be a father. Adalyn, our former soldier and now Alpha to the Central Pack, was a mother as well.

  Our families were changing, our Pack was growing stronger.

  “Is anyone placing bets on when Gavin and Audrey start?”

  Chase laughed. “Audrey told me that they’re waiting until my child’s a bit older. They thought that two pregnancies at the top of the leadership might be a bit much.”

  That made me throw my head back and laugh. “Trust Audrey to try to keep everything on a timeline.”

  “Hence why the betting pools are increasing. Dara and Cruz are waiting,” Chase said, speaking of the Heir of the Pack and our harvester death witch.

  “Really? So, it’s going to be a while before you are an uncle then?”

  Chase grinned. “I hate our father, hate him with every ounce of me, but damn it, I got a brother out of the deal. Took me too long to realize it, but it’s pretty damn great.”

  I smiled as we walked. “Yeah. Our Pack’s changing, but we’re growing stronger. Hell, we’re even working side-by-side with a coven.”

  Chase raised a brow. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t usually bring up the witches. Not that I was prejudiced against magic—the exact opposite. No, it was more the fact that one of their coven leaders grated on me beyond all reason.

  I did not want to think about Jade though, or her little human friend that was always around. Things got weird when I thought about them. And I didn’t want to go there.

  “I need to head back, things to do.”

  “Mate to watch?” I teased.

  “My mate is about to whelp a pup, let me be the growly Alpha father here.”

  “Please use the phrase ‘whelp a pup’ in front of her. I want to be there when she rips off your balls,” I said with a laugh.

  He pushed at my shoulder, my wolf yipping in happiness, before he walked off.

  One of my lieutenants came forward soon after, tablet in hand. “Were you just lurking around?” I asked, and Hazel beamed.

  “Maybe. Seriously though,” she continued. “He’s all growly and about to be a dad. I’m going to let you deal with him.”

  “You’re a dominant wolf, you can handle him, Hazel.”

  “You say that, but then he gets overprotective and forgets that I’m a strong dominant too.”

  She was all of five-feet, pure strength, and could take down a grown man with her pinky. There was a reason she was one of my top lieutenants, and a good friend.

  “I have the latest control reports, as well as information from the Centrals about a potential new kiss.”

  I sighed and took the tablet.

  Demons made vampires. That much we knew. When a demon had slid through the crack from their dark realm nearly thirty years ago, it had created a new being. Bloodthirsty monsters who were either controlled by other vampires or the demon itself. When they gained their own control, and weren’t red-hazed and flailing weapons, they were conniving, brilliant, and far more dangerous than any other foe we had ever faced.

  When vampires hid together, the groups were called kisses. We would have to find them before they found us. My wolf wanted to stop this. This endless fighting wasn’t good for our Pack, and our Healer had said time and time again we needed to find a way to make friends with the vampires, to find the good ones.

  Only the man in me wasn’t quite sure I believed they were a thing.

  “Thanks for the report, are you off shift?”

  Hazel nodded. “I have a date,” she teased.

  “What’s her name?”

  “Sandy. A cute human with blond curls. She is going to be fun.”

  “Well, that makes me happy. It’s about damn time.”

  “I leave the den, do you?”

  “I left the den last week.”

  “To what, fight a vampire?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You should go out to the town, to the city. We’re not locked in. You’re allowed to go out and find a willing wolf or human or witch to tumble.”

  “Are you telling me I need to get laid?”

  “All of our wolves need touch, they need that sensory action. And you, my Enforcer, need to get laid.”

  She winked, then moved off.

  I sighed and thought about the one person my wolf seemed to want these days.

  It wasn’t going to happen, we had both said as much, but damn it, that witch just wouldn’t leave me alone.

  My wolf pushed at me suddenly, clawing at my chest as the bonds that connected me to the wards as Enforcer pulsed.

  I whirled, moving towards the Pack line before any of my lieutenants or other Pack members noticed.

  Then the siren went off, a sentry having noted what I had already felt.

  I slammed through the wards, the familiar magic tearing at me. It was welcoming, yet harsh and brutal. Because it knew what was coming, and it knew it needed to be strong.

  The wards were filled with the blood and magic of shifter and witch and human. That was what protected us, and I was what protected it.

  A single vampire slid out of the shadows, a smile on his face.

  “The Enforcer. It’s good to see you.”

  This was a sentient one, strong enough and old enough to fight against any control from its master. I didn’t know what set it off, what could change it to be this being. Part of me wanted to see if there were those so-called good vampires out there. Ones that protected. Sawyer told me they existed, but I wasn’t sure if I believed Jade’s friend.

  I wanted to, but the idea of that wasn’t quite real.

  “What do you want?” I asked as I felt the other members of my team moving around in silence. They were hidden, though I was sure with the vampire’s heightened senses he knew they were there. It didn’t matter that they were downwind, we all were filled with blood, the vampire’s nutrients. He would be able to see us, feel us.

  “I’m just here as a warning. I mean no harm.” The vampire held up his hands and I growled.

  “The demon is coming. Malphas, our master, wants you. Wants your entire Pack. He wants the witches and their power. And he wants the brat about to be born. I would be on the lookout. Because this is only the beginning, he is only the beginning.”

  At that threat, I threw my head back and howled. The vampire grinned.

  We moved at the same time, claws out, but the vampire slid into the darkness, running back to where he came from.

  I gestured towards my lieutenants as I ran, but a voice stopped me.

  “Steele!”

  I whirled at Dara, her eyes wide, magic radiating from her in dark, smoky pulses.

  “What is it?” I snapped, the hunt still having me on edge.

  “It’s Jade.”

  I paused, the others moving in pursuit of the vampire. I wasn’t sure they would be able to catch him, as the vampires were faster than us most of the time when it came to running, not fighting.

  “What happened?”

  “Her entire complex has burned down, they killed the humans, the children,” Dara said quietly.

  Cruz was behind her, hand on the back of her neck as he steadied her. My wolf howled, raging at the injustice of it all.

  “Dara, where’s Jade?”

  “The humans and vamps have her. And they left a note.”

  It felt as if the world crashed around me. “Is she dead?”

  Dara shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “If they have her, we’ll find her.”

  It was a promise I made as Enforcer, and as the man that wasn’t Jade’s.

  Because my wolf refused to mourn until I knew for sure.

  I had no link to Jade. I wouldn’t know if she were truly dead or not. But there was potential.

  Jade, the fire witch full of secrets and flame, was my potential mate, a bond that could be blessed by the moon goddess.

  And yet, neither of us wanted the bond.

  Only now I was afraid that that one choice might have cost Jade her life.

  And mine.

  Chapter

  Two

  Jade

  Water dripped onto my face, one drop after another. I blinked, annoyed. Had I left the water on? No, that didn’t make any sense. Why would the water be dripping on my face if I had?

  I frowned, blinking the droplets off my eyelashes as I opened my eyes, wondering if maybe I had had a little too much wine the night before.

  Which would be very unlike me because I never got drunk. Letting myself lose control like that? No, that wasn’t me.

  I slid open my eyes, carefully, because the light burned, and I froze.

  Oh. Flashes came back to me, and things started to make sense though I wished it didn’t.

  The fire, so hot, as it burned my skin. It shouldn’t have been able to do that. I was a witch of fire. An elemental witch, though there was nothing purely elemental about me. Hence why I had never joined the original coven. But we had made a new one from the ashes of those who had perished before us, we had come together with the rejects, the ones that didn’t conform, and created a coven. I was a fire witch. I could hold flame in my hand and use it as a weapon.

  And yet the fire had burned me when it engulfed my home. The screams of my neighbors echoed in my head, and I remembered them calling out for help. I hadn’t been strong enough to save them. Nor strong enough to save myself, it seemed.

  I tried to sit up fully and groaned at the pull at my arms.

  I blinked again, taking in my surroundings.

  Someone had chained me in a stone basement.

  There were basements in the Pacific Northwest, though they were still a novelty to me. I lived in South Texas for a few years, on the run from my own demons, and there weren’t any basements there because of the limestone and clay. But up here there were basements galore, which didn’t make sense to me because there were mudslides and rockfalls due to the constant rain.

  And if I kept thinking about the weather and this stone basement, I wouldn’t have to focus on the fact that I was chained up. That someone had burned my home down, killed the humans and strangers I had been meant to protect, kidnapped me, and chained me up.

  There was only one kind of fire that could burn me, and only when I wasn’t prepared.

  Demon.

  A demon, or someone who had siphoned their powers, had come to hurt me.

  I let out a breath, trying to calm myself. I was one of the most powerful witches in existence. I could handle this. I could get out of this myself. I didn’t need anyone to come rescue me.

  I had been doing things on my own for long enough that I didn’t need to worry.

  I huffed in annoyance with myself.

  No, that wasn’t quite true. I had friends now, a coven. I had Sawyer, my best friend who had been through hell and back with me.

  They would notice I was gone. They would try to come get me. But as I sucked in a breath, inhaling the magic around me, I knew I had to get myself out.

  There was no way I could allow them to be hurt because I’d found myself in this situation. I protected them, not the other way around. I pulled at the chains, trying to break free, but I knew there was something larger at work.

  This wasn’t just someone trying to take me and my powers.

  This had to be a demon.

  The same demon who had killed so many, who had created a new fucking species to try to take us all out. Who had sent countless souls to their deaths to try to break through the wards and magic of their enemies. The same demon who was consort to the traitor Lily—who had been a friend to the Aspens for so long. She’d broken her word and her bonds and had killed for her twisted sense of life.

  This had to be the same demon. I didn’t want to think about the possibility of there being more than one.

  Because no matter how strong I was, no matter how strong the Packs and the witches around us were, we were no match for a demon.

  To take out the previous demon over thirty years ago had required sacrifice, and they hadn’t even killed the damn thing. No, the other demons had taken him back, because apparently he had broken one of their laws.

  The fact that one of those demons had apparently stayed behind and begun this war only made things worse.

  Before my thoughts could spiral any more than they already had, the door creaked open.

  Three men walked inside, their boots stomping along the stone floor. They had large guns pointed down, not at me at least, so I counted that as a win. They wore hunting vests that looked military-like, with sunglasses on even in the dingy light.

  I let my senses trickle out, the magic within me draining slowly thanks to the demon-powered bonds at my wrist.

  Humans.

  These were humans that held me.

  Not vampires, not the demon who had infused his magic into these metal shackles.

  Humans.

  I mentally spat the word.

  My best friend was a human. I lived among them. I protected and loved humans.

  But these in front of me? No, I wasn’t going to be their friend, and from the way that one of them glared at me as he lifted his sunglasses, I knew the feeling was mutual.

  I stared at the three men as each of them took off their sunglasses, glaring at me as if I were something stuck on the bottom of their shoe. Only I saw the hatred and knew that if I wasn’t careful, I was going to end up talking myself right into the end of their bullets.

  They feared the magic within my veins, I could scent it on them.

  Magic was real, and it wasn’t something men said that women with strong opinions used.

  No, it was something they feared much more than a woman with an opinion.

  “Well, hello, boys,” I purred and could have kicked myself. So much for trying to act innocent and not like I had any power, because the demon magic in these shackles took my power from me.

  “Shut up, bitch,” the man on the right spat, while the man on the left just smirked at me.

  The man in the center, however, smiled softly.

  It was that smile that worried me. Not the glares, the sneers. Those I expected.

  The absolute joy of having someone captive in their basement was what worried me.

  “You sure do have a lot of spunk in you for a bitch who is chained with no help. So odd to think that you believe you have any power here,” the man in the center said gently, so softly it was hard to hear him. But I heard, I heard the pleasure in his tone, and knew that if I didn’t start acting smarter, I wasn’t going to find a way out of this.

  “Let me guess, HOG?” I asked, thinking of the Humans Only Group.

  Their leader had worked with Lily. But from what we had been able to ascertain from the vampires in our last major clash, HOG—the acronym usually put a smile on my face—hadn’t realized they were working with their own enemy.

  HOG was a group of humans who believed that humans needed to be put first. First in life, in choices, and in power.

  They were so afraid of the power that witches and shifters and vampires and demons held, that they thought we belonged in cages or needed to be killed.

  But the hatred behind HOG’s message ensured that nothing good could come from them.

  The two flunkies snarled at me, saying words so quickly that it was hard to keep up. That’s when I realized I must have a concussion. Whoever had knocked me out had rattled more than my nerves.

  Damn it.

  “We are the Human Union, HU,” the man in the center clarified.

  “Brand change. That’s pretty good. Your other master wasn’t really thinking too hard when they thought of the name HOG.”

  “Shut up, bitch,” the man on the right snapped.

  I lifted my chin, trying to find some sense of bravado.

  I couldn’t get my hands free, but maybe if I annoyed them enough, they would set me free just so they could move me to another location. And then I would get out.