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The woman ran forward, toward the door, but before she reached it, a familiar figure stepped inside and before of her.

Galen.

It was hard not to notice him. Not because of his looks—he actually looked a bit like a computer nerd, someone who might get glanced over at any time. Instead, a glance at his face showed the immense power at his disposal, the incredible will of his wolf, that he became so impossible to ignore.

“Wonderful,” Kelvin muttered, the word so soft that I doubted he’d intended for me to hear.

The woman skidded to a stop just before Galen, who stood as though entirely unworried. He didn’t prepare for a fight, didn’t appear any different from a man walking up to a stranger.

I took a step that way, wanting to warn him, but Kelvin held me tight. “Stay out of it.”

Sure enough, Galen’s voice rang across the lobby despite how quietly he spoke. “Stop this.”

The amount of power in that voice sank into me, demanding even I obey. I rarely heard him use his powers, rarely saw this side of him. It reminded me that he did in fact rule over all the Weres in this area of the country, that he could force any of them to his will.

And the immediate reaction from the woman told me something else—she was a Were.

She dropped to her knees, tears filling her eyes, the anger draining away, fear replacing it. She sobbed out broken words and I could only catchsorryamong them.

Galen crouched before her, balancing on the balls of his feet without effort. “You’re tired, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

“You knew you shouldn’t run. There is no help out there, not for people like you.” His words struck me as vicious, yet he said them without venom. Instead, there almost seemed a strange kindness in them, an acceptance, a truth.

“I don’t want to die,” she said.

“Do you want to harm others? Do you want to hurt those you care about? No? Then you know that the only place for you is in the pack.”

His brows inched toward each other before he lifted his gaze, finding me so fast it felt as though he knew I was there. A new tension entered his body, different from before. He’d shown no fear or worry before, yet now? Now he seemed on edge. He moved his gaze over me—was he checking for injuries?—and when he seemed satisfied, he returned his focus to the woman.

This time when he spoke, a sharp edge rested in his words. “You could have done serious damage. This proves your lack of control, that I can’t allow you to roam free.”

“Not the cage,” the woman pled.

He rose, then gestured toward her. For the first time, I noticed others behind him—three men in police uniforms—who came forward. Funny that he made it impossible to pay attention to anyone else. They grabbed the woman, who had started to fight, and hauled her out despite her screams. Another officer went to speak to a hotel employee, no doubt to smooth that over.

I’d known, of course, that Spirits had people in different positions of power to help keep our secret, but seeing it always unnerved me. I wasn’t foolish enough to not recognize how dangerous too much power was, so the idea that we could affect law enforcement concerned me.

Galen didn’t leave. He headed our way, his shoulders pulled back, his steps sure. Then again, he’d just faced off against a Were—he wasn’t that worried about me, and he knew Kelvin wouldn’t do anything here.

“Your strays are becoming a problem,” Kelvin said, skipping pleasantries. “You should keep them on a leash.”

“I’m taking care of my own. Last I heard, no Grave has gotten hurt by a stray.”

“Yet that one nearly mowed over this crow, and I doubt either of us would have liked that.”

Galen’s nostrils flared, the only show of temper.

Leave it to Kelvin to get beneath Galen’s skin.

“What was wrong with her?” I asked to derail whatever they had going on between them.

Galen turned his gaze from Kelvin and focused instead on me, his expression softening. “She’s a stray. She can’t control her beast, so she has to stay with the pack. She didn’t listen to that and tried to run.”

“She seemed afraid.”

“No one likes to face reality when that reality isn’t what they want and isn’t likely to change.” He shrugged, though a certain discomfort said he didn’t like it.