We pass a shoe store that’s been turned into barracks and a tuxedo rental shop whose leftover mannequins have been set up for what looks like training exercises. The nude torsos are beat to hell along with what can only be stab wounds marring their plastic exterior.

  I turn to Jadick with raised brows.

  “Necessity is the mother of invention,” he explains with a shrug.

  His careless attitude trips a switch inside me. I think of the bombs waiting for those scouts, and my anger blots out reason.

  “What is wrong with you? You’re leading these people to slaughter.”

  “I’m leading them to war because that is what Kari has declared.”

  “She’s declared war on you, not them.”

  “She wants to rule us all with more control than my own father did,” he says. “If we’re going to stop it, we must come together.”

  I stare at him. “Have you brainwashed your own psyche so that you actually believe these things you say? Or are you that good of an actor?”

  “I am not like my sister,” he says. “The Jades see that. I wonder why you can’t.”

  “No,” I say, “On that, we agree. You are not like Kari. She doesn’t bother to hide her self-serving agenda.”

  His eyes twitch, narrowing a fraction before his expression smooths out again. “I have just learned the Mafia pack refuses to ally with us for our cause.”

  He changes the subject so swiftly it takes me a moment to catch up. I blink, surprised to learn he’d even asked them.

  “The Mafia pack doesn’t ally with anyone,” I say.

  “Yes, well, I’d hoped your mother’s relationship with Franco—”

  “Gross, do not say relationship.”

  His lips twitch. “Very well, connection?” I nod. “As I was saying, I’d hoped her connection to Franco would prove useful to us in our request, but they’ve refused.”

  “And the Lone Wolf pack?”

  If he’s asked the Mafia pack, I know damn well he’s asked others. It’s the reason he claimed we needed to wait before Levi and I decided to say fuck it and storm in on our own.

  “They’ve also opted to remain un-involved.”

  “You mean they turned you down.” I snort. “How does it feel to be rejected?”

  He doesn’t answer, but from the ticking in his jaw, I can tell I’ve struck a nerve. “We’re waiting on another strategic project to come through.”

  The hexerei. Rina.

  I have no idea what he wants with her, but I can’t come out and ask, either. I need more information.

  “Can I go now? I have things to do.”

  “Your mother has missed her check-in,” he says, and again, I’m caught off guard by the swift change in topic. It takes a minute for his words to process. Not to mention everything he isn’t saying.

  I stop walking. “What do you mean missed her check-in?”

  “Protocol is a check-in every four hours when on a high-risk mission—”

  “I thought she went against your orders by trying to see Kari.”

  “She knows how I felt about the attempt,” he says in a clipped voice. “But we agreed she would check in with me directly for safety reasons.” His gaze flicks away from me toward the beaten-down mannequins. “I knew you’d be worried, and I wanted to be able to reassure you.”

  His eyes find mine again. There’s an authenticity to the concern in his eyes that startles me. I find myself tempted to believe him. It would be so easy to accept that he cares about me this much. But then I remember his proposal—and the terms. Not to mention that conversation with my mother the other day.

  “One missed check-in doesn’t mean anything,” I say, refusing to give in to the panic he so clearly wants me to feel.

  “She’s missed three.”

  I blink.

  Panic claws its way further into my chest. My heart squeezes as I try to shove aside mental images of my mother subjected to Kari’s true nature.

  “We’ll send a team after her,” I begin, but Jadick’s expression hardens, and I know that’s not where this is going.

  I bite back a scream as he says, “We can’t spare the men, Mac.”

  His voice is gentle and full of regret. It’s such a lie.

  “My mother is worth twenty of your men, at least,” I snarl, but it’s no use. I can already see he won’t budge. Not because he doesn’t agree but because saving her won’t help him win.

  It’s all a game to him.

  And we’re all pawns.

  “She knew the risks, Mac. I can’t—”

  “You can, but you won’t,” I say viciously. “Just like with Levi.”

  “Unfortunately, even Levi is out of reach,” he says.

  I step back, eyes wide. “Does that mean you’re rescinding your offer?”

  “I have to be realistic. We lost too many at the compound, and our numbers aren’t enough—”

  “If I can get us more men to fight, will you send a team for her?”

  I expect him to refuse outright. Or worse, dismiss me as silly or stupid. But he cocks his head, studying me thoughtfully. Jadick is a lot of things, but he takes me seriously, and in this moment, I am glad for that at least.

  “How?” he asks.

  I cross my arms. “Do you agree?”

  Amusement flashes in his eyes. “If you can get us more men to fight, I’ll send a team for your mother.”

  “What about Levi?”

  “You know where I stand on that.”

  “You’re telling me that if I agree to marry you right now, you’d rescue Levi but leave my mother to rot?”

  “I’ve told you what I want from you, Mac. And what I’m willing to negotiate to get it.”

  He’s asking me to choose—Levi’s freedom for his happiness. We both know even after Levi’s free from Kari, he’ll never be happy again if I marry Jadick. It’s a lose-lose for us all.

  I want to scream.

  Or to bury a knife in his dead, dark heart.

  Instead, I say, “I know where we can get more people to fight on our side. And we can hit Kari where it hurts at the same time.”

  “I’m listening.”

  I sigh, hating my choices—the ones I’m making now and the ones I’ll make before this is over. First, I’ll save my mother because it won’t cost me my self-respect or my soul.

  “The scouts,” I say. “Don’t blow them up.”

  He opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “Set the explosives on another location as a decoy. But only after we’ve captured the scouts and brought them in. Kari will think they’re dead, and she’ll have the wrong location, which will give us the advantage of enough time to gain their trust.”

  “And what do we need their trust for?”

  Dread crawls through me as I outline my idea for him. It’s a solid plan. One that could win us back the pack before we’ve even faced Kari again. But that’s what scares me. Handing this strategy over to Jadick all but ensures his victory, and I’m not sure he’s a better choice than Kari. But I do it. For my mother. For Levi.

  “Once we have the scouts on our side, we use them to get the rest of the pack,” I say.

  I watch as Jadick realizes what I mean. But skepticism clouds his excitement.

  “You really think they’ll turn against her and fight with us? Just like that?”

  “I think you have no idea how much our pack hates your family.” He scowls, and I roll my eyes at that. “That hatred will work in your favor now. The Jades are Black Moon pack. Or they were before they defected. But the people here aren’t the only ones sick of the way things have been for us.”

  “And what way is that?”

  “Being forced to reject our mates,” I say. “Being forced into everything. No one gets to choose their own lives anymore.”

  My voice rises because it’s beyond irritating that I should even have to explain this to him. Is he so buried in his own self-involvement and twisted ego that he can’t see the pack’s suffering?

  “You’re asking me to rescind the law.” His expression darkens as he realizes where this is going.

  “I’m telling you what you need to do to win the people’s favor,” I say. “It’s the only way everyone will rally behind you.”

  He’s quiet. Brooding.

  Not thinking it over. Not really.

  I can practically see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to find another solution. Another political promise he can make to these people that will get them to choose him. But there’s nothing. We both know it.

  Finally, he says, “And if I do this, the pack will turn against my sister?”

  “Everyone back home wants change. If they believe you are that change, they’ll fight. Hell, they’re fighting already. The difference is now they’ll do it with actual hope.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Jadick assures me he’ll think about it. With nothing but his tone of voice, he manages to acknowledge I might actually have a good idea while still making me feel inferior. Prick. By the time he leaves me alone, the food sits heavily in my stomach, and exhaustion weighs down every movement. Back in the atrium, I watch Jadick and his entourage disappear inside their offices, my heart squeezing as I think of all the power he has and all the things he’s choosing not to do with it.

  He will if I marry him.

  Ugh.

  Not happening.

  “Are you okay?”

  I whirl at the voice and find a girl around my age watching me with concern. She’s tall and slender with blonde, spiky hair. The pizzeria cashier from earlier. Lauren, someone called her, I think.

  “Fine,” I say and start walking.

  I have no idea where I’m going, but I know I’m sick of standing in this fishbowl where all eyes are on me, hoping I’ll do something interesting—or worse, humiliating. To my surprise, Lauren falls into step beside me.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “You look like you could use a walking partner.”

  I study her, trying to decipher what that means.

  “Your limp,” she explains. “I heard you were shot with a venom-laced bullet.”

  I glance back and see Grey shadowing us. His perma-scowl remains, but I’m fairly certain he’d intervene if someone tried to kill me right now. And he hasn’t carried me off to my room yet, so this moment is suddenly the closest thing to freedom I’ve had in a very long time.

  I start walking again. “The bullet hit my shoulder. The limp is from the stab wound,” I say wryly.

  “No shit?”

  I glance over to see her eyes widen. She looks down at my leg then back at my face. “You should have that looked at.”

  “Right.”

  My closed expression and flat tone make it clear how I feel about that. And her.

  “I can take you to the doctor if you want.”

  I sigh, exhausted by this whole exchange. “Look,” I say, pulling to a stop and turning to face her. “Maybe you haven’t been paying attention, but the doc here doesn’t want anything to do with me. This,” I say, yanking the collar of my shirt down so she can see the shoddy stitches on my shoulder, “was done by the only one of you who actually cares if I live or die, and the only medical training he had came from an elective we took in high school so we wouldn’t have to take band or home ec.”

  She frowns. “Doctors take an oath,” she says, clearly ready to argue with me.

  I roll my eyes. “If you think it’s as simple as that, you’re more naïve than you look.”

  Her expression tightens. “If you insist on judging all of us based on a select few douche nozzles, you’re more naïve than you look,” she shoots back.

  I don’t answer.

  Arguing would be futile, but also, we’ve begun to draw attention. A few Jades nearby have stopped their own conversations in favor of listening to ours. Though, as I consider Lauren’s words, I realize they don’t all look hostile either.

  The moment from lunch comes back to me. When they all paused to hear my ideas for what to do with this war. It’s unsettling. And more than that, I’m unsure of myself. It’s a foreign feeling, one I don’t like. So, I turn away and begin limping again—back toward my room.

  Lauren remains beside me.

  I consider punching her. Whatever she sees in my expression makes her smile brilliantly. “I’m pissing you off.”

  It’s not a question, but I grunt my agreement.

  She glances back and then whispers, “We have a shadow.”

  I glance back too. Grey.

  “Keep your enemies closer,” I say.

  “Ah.”

  I shoot her a pointed glance. She laughs.

  Laughs.

  We’ve passed Jadick’s offices and are basically alone in my hallway now.

  “Look, I don’t really do friendships,” I say uncertainly.

  “You were friends with Kari,” she says.

  “Exactly.”

  Her smile drops. She lowers her voice. “Look, you need allies, that much is clear.”

  My brows go up. “Maybe. But why should I trust you? I don’t even know you.”

  She cocks her head. “You don’t remember me?”

  “Should I?”

  I wrack my brain, thoughts whirling now, but I can’t place her.

  Her expression softens. “Eight years ago, your mom brought in a drifter who’d wandered onto pack lands. He had a wife—his fated mate—and a daughter.”

  “They were living in their car.” The memory comes back along with a vague recollection of the child. A blonde. Small features, way too skinny. Holy shit. “You’re the daughter.”

  She nods.

  Small world.

  “So your parents are here?” I ask, trying to make it all fit together. My mom was already training me back then, but there were certain aspects of the job she wasn’t ready to show a twelve-year-old. She waited until I was at least thirteen before she let Crigger know I was her little protégé. I was fifteen when he hired me for my first solo job. My mother had been so proud.

  Lauren’s expression falls. “My mother’s here. She stays out of the spotlight. Helping in the kitchen mostly.”

  “And your dad?” One look at her expression and I know it’s not good.

  “Four years ago, Crigger killed him for being a Romantic. Levi got us out. Helped us find the others. Eventually, we became…this.” She gestures to the mall around us, but it’s not just the mall she’s talking about.

  The Jades.

  This is what Levi created. Not Jadick.

  “I’m sorry about your dad,” I say. “But… doesn’t that mean you should hate me? I helped get him caught.”

  And killed.

  “I don’t hate you. We were starving. You helped bring us into the pack, and those first four years in Blackstone were pretty great. I mean, I started eating regularly. Made friends. My point is: I owe Levi my life. And I want to help you get him back.”

  I hesitate, mentally listing all the reasons this is a terrible idea.

  Finally, I feel my resistance crumbling right along with what’s left of my strength. My vision blurs, and spots dance. I need to get off my feet. Damn this venom.

  “Come on,” I say.

  Lauren smiles again, this time at full wattage.

  She talks a mile a minute at my back as I lead us through the empty store and down the short hall to my room. All about her pet iguana Harry who’s here somewhere because she couldn’t bear to leave him behind when they fled Blackstone. And her short stint as a dental assistant before one of the patients freaked out and bit her and she punched him for it.

  If I weren’t so damn suspicious of anyone wanting to befriend me, I’d laugh right along with her when she tells the story. Including the part about getting fired and then the patient himself asking her out while still bleeding from his busted lip.

  Lauren is easy to like.

  Considering Grey’s lack of a scowl as he pretends not to listen in, I think he likes her too.

  My head swims as I push open the door to my room. At some point, I’m going to have to admit the anti-venom isn’t working and give in to the need to rest. Even as I think about it, my stubbornness refuses. If I don’t stop Jadick from whatever he’s really doing, who will?

  The swing comes out of nowhere.

  One second, I’m walking into my tiny room, and the next, a figure steps out from behind the door and cracks my skull with some kind of blunt weapon.

  Pain explodes, and I land on my face—hard.

  The chair beside my cot crashes to the floor as I land on top of it. Someone screams. Behind me, there’s a grunt and then another crack!

  By the time I roll over, Lauren’s already lying beside me. Her eyes are open but frozen. Lifeless.

  Blood trickles from her nose and ears. Only a small drip that’s already slowing to a stop. I stare at her already pale face with a sick feeling in my gut.

  She’s dead.

  I know it even without my full wolf senses.

  In the doorway, a masked figure is swinging his bat at Grey. He misses cleanly as Grey ducks, but the second attempt lands clumsily against Grey’s upper arm. Grey uses his other hand to punch the guy in his jaw.

  I try to get up, to lend a hand, but my muscles give out before I can even manage to sit. The venom inside me screams beneath my stitches and stab wound.

  Grey roars, his fist slamming into the face of the masked attacker.

  The asshole drops his weapon. It clatters as he staggers backward into the hall. Then his knees give out, and he falls onto his back. Grey is on him in seconds, pounding his fists into the guy’s face. He doesn’t bother to remove the mask until blood is oozing out from beneath the eye holes.

  I finally manage to sit up, wheezing and in pain. “Grey,” I call out sharply.

  It’s not a yell but it’s enough to get his attention.

  “We need him alive,” I remind him.

  He finally stops pounding the guy, and his shoulders sag. He peels off the mask and stares down at the face of the guy who just tried to kill us.

  No, me.

  With Lauren, he succeeded.

  I don’t look at her. I focus only on Grey and the man he’s just put down.