Nash’s words sink in and I close my eyes. Suddenly, the bright sky doesn’t seem so bright. He’s right and I know it. Jeffrey has some evil plans. Neither one of us knows what his end game is, but we both know it can’t be anything good.

  The time has come to fight.

  And fight we must.

  Right now, though? Right now, I just want to think about me and Nash. I just want to think about how good he makes me feel. I just want to think about how this week, I’m on top of the world.

  “You’re it,” I whisper suddenly, and tap his shoulder. Before he can move, I hop up and start running, laughing as I hurry into the woods. I’ve gotten to know my way around pretty well since I moved into Grandma’s old cabin. When she invited me to spend a few days with her here, I wanted to.

  I thought we could both use the break.

  I was so caught up with work and trying to get ahead that I wasn’t slowing down to just enjoy life. She knew that, though. She could tell. There was a part of her that was still looking out for me even when I was struggling to make it through.

  While I don’t admit it to myself, my job was sucking my soul away one day at a time. I was good at it, for sure, but did I love it?

  Not really.

  Now that I’m running freely through the forest, hopping over twigs and dodging bushes and listening to tiny animals scamper away, I finally feel free.

  And when Nash catches me and pushes me against a tree to kiss me hard, I realize there’s really nowhere I’d rather be.

  17.

  Nash

  Scarlett makes me question everything. Is that what love is? I don’t want to even start thinking about that word, but knowing I might die trying to save her doesn’t bother me. I’ve only known her a short time and already, I would do anything for her.

  Anything.

  Elise used to tell me that when I met the right girl, I’d know. She used to say that all my flings, all my one-night-adventures, all my youthful indiscretions would be pointless when I met “her.”

  I never believed her.

  And then Scarlett, my darling Red, walked into my life.

  She’s wearing her cloak with her hair down over her shoulders as we walk to the meeting place. It’s time to finalize our plans. It’s time to make sure this thing is going to work.

  I knew I would try to fight Jeffrey one day, but I didn’t realize that day would come so soon or mean so much. I’m the only one who can take him, but I can’t do it alone. My pack needs me and I need them now more than ever.

  There will always be those wolves who don’t want to take sides, who don’t want to choose between the Alpha and the new guy, but I’ll win them over eventually.

  Tonight, though, all I want to do is figure out how I can take him out quickly without losing Red.

  “When we get there, don’t talk,” I warn her. “My guys are going to be nervous enough without trying to figure out what to tell you.”

  “Okay,” she whispers, and I squeeze her hand in what I hope is a reassuring gesture.

  “Don’t be nervous,” I tell her. “You’re going to be fine. We’re just getting together to finalize plans. There’s nothing you need to worry about. Not yet.”

  “I’m not,” she says. “I know you’ll take care of me.”

  My heart soars when I get her vote of confidence. I’m starting to fall hard for Scarlett and part of me hopes she’ll decide to stay if I can actually beat Jeffrey. I don’t want to get my hopes up when it comes to this fight because I know it won’t be easy.

  But if I do it?

  If I win?

  I want her by my side.

  We settle in by a small group of trees near a creek.

  “Where are they?” She whispers, but I press my lips to hers to silence them. They’ll be here They have to. They let me down last month, but I know these guys and I bet they have a damn good reason for sticking close to the pack. What trouble is Jeffrey up to? What has he done now? I hold my girl and I wait, quietly, for my friends to arrive.

  Soon we hear a rustle and I know they’ve shifted. We never would have heard them in wolf form. Red is the only one dressed as we peer across the little creek at the two men who are standing on the bank.

  Ryder and Thorn have shown up as promised.

  “Where’s Markus?” I ask, wondering where my former best friend is. Markus and I were always close, but my last few months in the pack, he’d been distant. I could sense him pulling away, even though I wasn’t sure how or why he was doing it.

  Ryder and Thorn exchange heavy looks before Ryder speaks up.

  “He isn’t coming,” he answers. Ryder glances at Red, then back at me. He raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything else.

  “Where were you last month?” I ask, suddenly feeling like we’re playing twenty questions.

  “Trouble at camp,” Thorn says. His eyes are heavy.

  “Alpha trouble?”

  “What else would it be?” Ryder spits and crosses his arms over his chest. “Things have gotten bad, brother. Worse than they’ve ever been. You think we had it bad before Elise? Things are ten times worse now.”

  “What did he do?” I ask, knowing I don’t really want to know the answer, knowing it’s going to push me over the edge.

  The two men exchange weary looks again, communicating silently without words to one another. I know whatever they’re going to say is going to be heavy, but they need to just spit it out. I can’t take much more of this. I need answers and I need them now.

  “Who’s the girl?” Ryder stares suspiciously at Scarlett. He eyes her up and down and even though she’s covered up with that damn cloak of hers, I want to leap in front of her and tell him that she’s mine. I can’t go all caveman or full-on wolf right now, but I want to.

  Thorn chuckles and jabs Ryder in the side.

  “That’s his girl, man. Damn, what a growl. Haven’t heard you get like that in a long time, Nash.”

  Thorn jumps across the narrow creek and holds his hand out to Scarlett. He’s completely nude, but she manages to do an amazing job not looking at his junk. She has no idea how much I appreciate that, how much it means to me that she’s not oogling my buddy. She wouldn’t do that, I don’t think, but I appreciate it just the same. I’m not insecure about my body, but Thorn is hung.

  Like, really hung.

  “Thorn,” he says, and she shakes his hand.

  “Red.” Her voice is sweet and sends a jolt of heat straight between my thighs. I want to get her back to the cabin and run my hands all over her body. I want to touch her, play with her, lick her. I want to-

  “You okay, Nash?” Ryder’s voice brings me back to reality.

  I look at him, but he’s eyeing my dick. I glance down. Sure enough, little me decided to say hello to everyone.

  Scarlett just giggles.

  “We’re ready to move forward,” Thorn says, turning to me.

  “When can we make this happen?” I ask.

  “There’s a gathering tomorrow,” Thorn says, his deep baritone voice sounds heavy and weighted. “Everyone is getting together for the big announcement.”

  “What big announcement?” I ask. I haven’t been gone from the pack long, but I’ve been gone long enough to be completely out of the loop. It’s amazing how fast things can change before you even realize what’s happening.

  Ryder raises an eyebrow.

  “About Nightfall.”

  “What about Nightfall?” The other pack is known for being quite tame compared to the Silent Canines, but the leader of the pack, Jordan, is no one to be trifled with. I’ve known Jordan since he was just a kid. Jordan’s father was the Alpha before him, and like his father, he ruled with a heavy hand and a kind heart.

  He isn’t the kind of guy you should mess with unless you know, without a doubt, that you can win.

  “He wants to merge the packs.”

  “You mean he wants to attack them.”

  “Basically.” Thorn says gruffly. “He’s got this idea that he’s going to get everyone all riled up and head over there.”

  “It’s going to be a bloody massacre is what it’s going to be,” Ryder adds.

  “You have to stop him,” Scarlett places her hand on my wrist and looks up with pleading eyes. “You can’t let him do this.” She’s insistent, and both Ryder and Thorn look at her.

  “Uh, by the way, guys, she’s the Alpha’s little sister.”

  Ryder and Thorn both start talking at once, both to each other and to me. One of them makes a move to grab Red, but I punch him in the face. It’s Thorn, and he goes straight down.

  “What the fuck, Nash?” Ryder says angrily. “When were you going to tell us this? Why the fuck are you hanging out with the enemy?”

  “Fuck me,” Thorn mumbles, climbing back to his feet, rubbing his nose, which is bleeding angrily. I shrug as I look at him, not really feeling as bad as I should. He was about to touch my girl, and nobody touches my girl but me.

  “I just found out he had a sister,” I tell them, which is sort of true.

  “Don’t worry,” Scarlett tells them, crossing her arms over her chest. “We aren’t close.”

  “No offense, kid,” Thorn says, still wiping at his face. “Do you expect us to just take your word for it? How do we know you aren’t going to try to screw us over.”

  I glare at him and he shrugs again.

  “I said, ‘no offense.’”

  “He killed my grandmother in front of me,” she says, and I’m so proud of her for being bold and blunt. That’s my girl. She’s been through hell, but she keeps moving forward. “And he wants me dead for money.”

  “How much money?” Ryder says with a smirk, and Scarlett slaps him in the face. “Hey!” He rubs his cheek. “That hurt.”

  “Good,” she says with a little growl. Oh yeah, that’s my girl. “Don’t be a dickwad.”

  “That’s not a real word.” Thorn looks proud of himself for that one.

  “We don’t have much time,” Scarlett turns back to me. “We need to stop him before he hurts that other pack, Nash. We need to beat him before he can hurt anyone else.”

  She seems desperate, and I don’t blame her. Not one bit. Jeffrey has hurt a lot of people and now there’s the chance that he’ll hurt even more. She’s right. We have to take him down before it’s too late, but now I have something to lose, and I desperately don’t want to.

  Scarlett is perfect and I won’t let anything happen to her. Jeffrey has already taken everything else important to me. I won’t let him take her, too.

  I won’t.

  18.

  Red

  Nash and his friends have a plan. I know they’ve been waiting for the right time, but I also know that Nash was putting off dealing with his pain. Now he doesn’t have a choice. This accelerated timeline means he has to face his cousin’s killer and it’s not going to be pretty.

  Is he going to be able to cope with that? I don’t know.

  We’ve both lost so much, come so far, hurt so deeply. It pains me to know that the man I love has been hurt just as much as I have, if not more.

  Unfortunately for both of us, the time for mourning has come and gone. We don’t have the luxury of continuing to feel sad or wounded. We have to fight and we have to do it now.

  We travel with Ryder and Thorn through the forest.

  “There aren’t any paths over here,” I comment. “How do you find your way around?”

  “There aren’t any paths at all in the forest,” Thorn mutters.

  “Yes, there are,” I say. “The stones.”

  They all look at me like I’m crazy, including Nash.

  “You’ve seen the paths,” I tell him. “With the little yellow stones. What about the ones that lead to the cabin?”

  He looks at me for a moment, then realization dawns on him and he shakes his head with a smile.

  “Baby, wolves can’t see the color yellow.”

  “What?” Now I’m the one who is surprised. “Even shifters?”

  “Even shifters. Looks like your Grams was one clever broad,” Nash smiles. “She made sure you’d be able to find your way home, but that Jeffrey would struggle to find you. To shifters, yellow and green look the same. I’ve never seen a stone path. I’m guessing because the stones look like grass to me.”

  Looks like I really lucked out on that one. The thought that shifters might have some of the same colorblindness as “real” wolves never dawned on me, and I say a silent prayer, thanking Grams for all she did to help me.

  “To answer your question,” Ryder says, getting us back on topic. “We grew up in these woods. We know them inside and out.”

  “What about my cabin?” I ask.

  “What about it?”

  “No one knew it was there.”

  He shrugs.

  “There are little places here and there where wolves don’t tend to go. Obviously, the Alpha knows the general location of where you’re staying. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent his men after you.”

  My stomach clenches as I remember my encounter with Jeffrey’s men and how horrible it was. I never should have left the cabin without Nash.

  “That was a chance encounter,” I say, wanting to believe it. “Maybe they weren’t hunting me. I could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Nothing is chance when it comes to the Alpha,” Thorn says firmly. “Look. We’re here.” He stops behind a tree and points down an overlook. We’re at the top of a wooded hilly area and at the base of the hill is the entrance to a cave.

  The wolf cave?

  Looks like it.

  My stomach turns at the thought that we’re this close to my brother and that anything could happen. I want to enjoy this moment. I want to think about how I’m going to see my boyfriend’s childhood home. I don’t want to be afraid right now, but I am.

  I am.

  As we watch, I see a man stroll out from the cave, look around, and go back inside. Nash looks at Thorn.

  “Security?” He asks, and Thorn nods.

  “He’s got two or three guys patrolling at all times. Tomorrow, everyone will gather here,” he points out to the open area in front of the cave. “And he’ll talk about how he wants us to ‘merge’ with Nightfall.”

  “We all know what that means,” Ryder comments. “All hell is going to break loose. You think the youngsters are going to go for that?”

  Nash shakes his head.

  “Everyone is too scared of the Nightfall members,” he says to me. “A bunch of people will freak out at the mention of anything.”

  “So what do we do?” I ask, wrenching my hands together.

  The men exchange knowing looks, then Nash turns to me.

  “Not here,” he says, and he leads me away from the cave. We walk back into the woods until we reach a small clearing with another little cave. This was is much smaller. This one doesn’t look like it’s been inhabited, but there are a couple of sleeping bags inside and evidence of a fire.

  “What’s this?” I ask.

  “We’ll sleep here tonight,” he says. “It’s an emergency place some of us stay sometimes.”

  “Okay,” I say, wearily eyeing the cave. It’s not very big at all. It’s really more of a ledge beneath the stone. I can’t even stand up inside. Once I crawl in there, I’ll have to lie down. I’ll be okay because Nash and his friends are here, but I’m still a bit nervous and a little scared.

  “Tomorrow, at the gathering, I’ll challenge Jeffrey,” Nash says.

  “What does that mean?”

  “How do you not know what it means?” Thorn says. “Your brother is a shifter.”

  “Half-brother,” I whisper. “And he didn’t grow up in a pack. He grew up with me and my parents. My dad wasn’t a shifter. Jeffrey didn’t even know he was different until he hit puberty.”

  Thorn’s mouth hits the floor.

  “He went through his first shift alone?”

  I nod.

  “No wonder he’s so fucked up.”

  “Baby,” Nash says, gripping my shoulders. He looks in my eyes, strokes my cheek, and silently promises me that it’ll be okay. “It means I have to fight him. It means I’m going to kill your brother in front of the whole pack and then I’ll be the Alpha. I’ll be the one in charge.”

  “And you can…do that?” I’m in awe. “You can beat him?”

  Ryder and Thorn look uneasy, but Nash nods. “I can beat him, baby. You better believe it. I’m going to beat him, I’m going to win, and we’re going to live happily ever after, you and me. Got it?”

  “Got it,” I murmur. He kisses me then and the rest of the world fades away as I’m wrapped up in his arms.

  “Dammit, dude, get a fucking room,” I hear one of the guys say, but I’m too far lost in the kiss. Nash can do it. It’s a simple plan, but it’s the only one we have. It has to work. It just has to.

  19.

  Nash

  There’s no way it’s going to work.

  I can’t tell her that there’s a good chance I’m going to die tomorrow. I don’t want to. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that Jeffrey is Alpha for a reason: he plays dirty. In order to win, I’m going to have to be just as bad as he is.

  Ryder and Thorn know what’s up. They exchange weary glances as we settle in to camp for the night. I know they’ve got my back. They always have. Still, the idea that I might be letting them down stings. Part of me wonders whether there’s any chance at all of me succeeding. When I look at Scarlett, though, I know I’ll do anything to make sure I get just one more day with her.

  She’s amazing.