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T here was a second of silence, and then a roar that shook me to my core as Luke shoved past Gabe and launched himself across the room. Papers, tables, and chairs all became flying debris as he ripped through the room to get to his target.

A cry tore from Tate’s lips, and she was on her feet as well as the room exploded into chaos.

Luke managed to make it to the other side of the room where he shoved Damien and Linden apart before settling his hands around Grant Brandon’s throat and lifting the smaller man into the air. Karen shrieked, scrambling backwards so fast she fell flat on her ass.

“Alpha Lucas! Control yourself!” Vincent was shouting into the pandemonium, and no one was paying him any attention as Gabe struggled to push through the Alphas, Remy and Dante flanking him.

Several Alphas grabbed a hold of Luke, prying his hands off of Grant finger by finger. Damien snarled, shoved at the wall of Luke’s immovable chest.

Across the room, Linden’s eyes met mine.

And he smiled at me.

“Take him into custody!” Vincent shouted, thrusting a finger at Luke, who was being restrained by no less than five Alphas.

Gabe, Remy, and Dante were currently being held back by the rest of the room, keeping them from helping Luke.

“No!” Tate started for her father, but Daniel and I quickly grabbed her.

“Tate, stop!” I hissed, my fingers digging into her arm as I held her back.

No good would come from her joining the fray. We needed a plan. We needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

She turned, her hair flying in her face. “They’re lying!”

“I know,” I said. “But we can’t do anything right now, and if your dad sees you with them, he’ll shift and lose it.”

Luke was finally starting to stop struggling against the men that held him.

“Remove the Brooks Ridge Alpha,” Vincent ordered. “Lock him in the cells until we hear more on this matter.”

“Oh, God,” Tate gasped, shaking her head as Luke was pulled to his feet and dragged out of the room.

I met Remy’s gaze across the room. He was just as stunned as I was by this, and definitely as furious. His entire body was tense, pulled tight like the over extended string of a bow, ready to snap at a moment’s notice.

“Find your seats or we will clear the room!” Vincent’s voice boomed across the room. Someone had clearly turned his microphone all the way up. The sharp screech of feedback made me wince.

I sat down, pulling Tate down with me.

“Skye, I need to get to my dad,” she hissed, perched on the edge of her seat.

“And we need to figure out what the hell they’re trying to pull,” I countered firmly.

Tears filled her hazel eyes, but she nodded and focused her attention back on the room.

“Mr. Brandon, do you require medical attention?” Vincent asked as the room settled and people went back to their seats.

Dante was the last one to sit down, his neck craned to look back at Tate to make sure she was okay.

Grant cleared his throat, gingerly rubbing the already bruising skin as his wife simpered on his arm.

“I believe I will be all right, Alpha,” he called, his voice raspy. “I simply wish to tell the Council, and these Alphas, what this man has done to my family. I cannot allow another family to be ripped apart the way ours was.”

“You claim that Lucas Davis, Alpha of the Brooks Ridge pack in Alaska kidnapped your daughter?” Vincent clarified.

Tate’s hand squeezed mine as her body shook with rage and fear.

Grant nodded, his head down. “I am embarrassed I was unable to protect my daughter, but he was an Alpha who made it known that if I spoke against him, he and his friends would kill my wife and I, as well as our daughter.”

“Liar!” Tate yelled, getting to her feet.

Aw, shit.

I moved to grab her, but she was already ducking under the rope that separated the gallery from the rest of the room.

“You tried selling me to the highest bidder!” Tate raged. Across the room, Dante stood up and started making his way to her. “I was a child, and you only cared about making as much money off of me as you could.”

Karen let out a low wail, leaning heavily against her husband.

“You were a small girl,” Grant said sadly. “I can only imagine the lies they filled your head with.”

“You son of a—” she broke off as Dante reached her side, pulling her against him and whispering something in her ear.

“Please, sir.” Karen turned to the Council and fell to her knees.

Actually dropped to her fucking knees.

“We have lost so much time with our beloved daughter.” Karen’s voice shook with emotion as she spoke, and, if I didn’t know the whole story of Tate’s childhood, I might have believed her.

But I did know.

Tate had explained, in detail, how her parents never wanted a kid. When they had her, all they saw was a lottery ticket. A beautiful baby girl they could sell to the highest bidder in a world where girls were in short supply. They tricked countless shifters into believing they were buying a child bride until they attempted to sell her to Luke.

It had been a trap. Luke, Gabe, and several other shifters had been working to dismantle the illegal selling of shifter females and saved Tate. Luke had brought her home and raised her as his daughter.

Luke had saved Tate from these vile people, who were now spinning lies that supported Norwood and Long Mesa, our enemies. No way was that a coincidence.

“She is still a minor by Pack Law,” Grant added, kneeling beside his wife with his head bowed in deference to the Council. “We humbly ask the Council to return her to our custody.”

“Only by a few months,” Gabe spoke up, on his feet. “Luke Davis saved Tate when she was a child from parents who were trying to sell her, capitalizing on the fact that she was female.”

Vincent held up a hand. “Were the proper adoption documents filed? Is there a transfer of custody to clear this up?”

Gabe’s hard gaze turned glacial as he glared at the Brandon’s. “No. They turned and ran, abandoning their daughter. Luke raised her as his own.”

“We were threatened!” Karen argued shrilly. “I demand—”

Vincent stood so fast his chair fell over. “You forget your place, woman.”

Everything in me flinched at his tone. He was pissed off less because she was questioning him and more because she was a woman. I had no love lost for Karen, but Vincent was clearly in the ‘females should be seen and not heard’ camp.

Which meant he likely wasn’t on our side.

Karen dropped low, her forehead to the floor.

I sucked in a sharp breath, looking away before I actually growled.

“Easy,” Daniel murmured beside me.

“Are there any other witnesses that can verify your claims, Alpha?” Vincent drolled, actually looking a little on the bored side.

Gabe’s jaw flexed. “Not here. They can be contacted for confirmation.”

“You may submit their information to the Council and we will investigate,” Vincent replied. “For the interim, the girl is a minor and will return to the custody of her birth parents and their Alpha.”

“No,” I whispered, starting to push to my feet.

Daniel clamped a hand around my wrist and kept me down.

“I’m not going anywhere with them,” Tate said, her voice shaking as she backed away. Dante pulled her behind him.

Vincent’s gaze narrowed with interest. “You will release her, Dante. Your pack has no valid claim until we can confirm the... story .”

“Not a chance in hell,” Dante growled.

“We can always add you to the holding cell your Alpha is in,” Vincent snapped.

My breath caught as Remy stood up and walked to Dante. He put a hand on Tate’s shoulder, and lowered his head to speak to them.

It was clear Dante wasn’t having it, but Tate was on board with whatever Remy was saying. She nodded and took a step away from Dante, but he wasn’t letting her go.

“Very well,” Vincent said, sighing. “Take him into custody.”

Three men moved from where they stood against the wall, intending to forcibly remove Dante.

“No,” Tate said, pulling away from Dante and Remy. “I’ll go with them.”

I held my breath as Tate crossed the room, weaving between tables and chairs with her head held high. She stopped a few feet from Karen.

“I hate you.”

She said the words softly, but her voice carried in the silence. She moved around them and stalked out the side door, not waiting to see if her newfound parents followed.

Karen and Grant exchanged a long look and headed after Tate, followed by Damien and finally Linden. Gabe had joined Remy and Dante, along with Griffin and Nero. They were trying to get a still furious Dante out of the room, but at least the guards had backed off.

“I need to get out there,” I said as Vincent moved on to the next order of business.

Daniel nodded, getting up behind me. I grabbed the small purse Tate had left in her seat and stood. We moved silently through the rows of people until we made it to the back doors.

“This way,” Daniel said, jerking his head to the side.

We hurried out the side door to see Dante shove Nero to the ground as Tate kept walking away between Grant and Karen, Linden and Damien walking slower behind them towards the opposite side of the resort where our cabins were.

“Get off me!” he roared, moving to charge through the line of Alphas. “Tate!”

Tate hesitated, yards away, and turned. Damien reached out and grabbed her wrist to physically pull her along. Tate tried jerking out of his hold, but Damien held fast.

Which made Dante even crazier.

“Shit,” Daniel muttered, jogging away from me to help Remy and Gabe hold Dante back.

I glanced down at the purse in my hand.

“Wait!” I yelled, taking off for Tate and the others.

“Skye!”

Remy’s sharp voice stopped me. I turned and looked at him, begging him to trust me.

“Give me a sec,” I said softly.

He winced as Dante tried to jerk away before giving me a short nod.

I had to run to catch up to Tate and the others.

“You left this,” I said when I caught up, thrusting the purse at Tate.

Her hazel eyes were glazed with tears as she took the purse. “Skye—”

“We need to go,” Damien said. I followed the line of his arm down to where his fist was curled around Tate’s wrist. That was going to bruise.

“Give my niece a moment,” Linden ordered quietly.

Damien glared at him, but didn’t stop me from moving closer.

“Stop him before he gets arrested, too,” Tate pleaded, her voice breaking. “I’m fine. I’ll be okay until this gets sorted out.”

“We’ll keep Dante with us,” I promised, reaching out to hug Tate.

Damien jerked her away from me at the last second.

Tate hissed a sharp breath, flinching at the sudden pain. Her parents didn’t seem to give a single shit that their daughter was being manhandled. If anything, they looked completely disinterested in what was happening.

“If you wish to visit Tate, you can,” Linden told me, his voice smooth and cold as ice. “Of course you will have to come to our cabins to do so. And you’ll need to do so alone.”

“No,” Tate argued, but she broke off, nearly going to her knees as Damien tightened his already brutal hold.

“Don’t hurt her,” I snapped, barely restraining my wolf.

Damien smiled coldly, and it was easy to see where Trace got his cruelty from. His grip tightened once more in defiance of my order, and Tate let out a soft whimper that made my chest ache.

“I’m taking my new charge to our cabin,” he announced. “Trace is looking forward to meeting his new packmate.”

“I told you,” Linden said, grinning, as he walked backwards away from me, “you have no idea what the rules of this game are, sweetheart. If you want to see your friend, you’re welcome at our cabins any time, as long as you come alone.”