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Colton Kane grumbled internally as the old SUV driven by his second-in-command, Silas, bounced along the rough-cut road as they left their territory. Behind them, the herd’s homes went up in flames, destroying any evidence of who’d lived there.

He was furious on a number of levels, the least of which was losing so many of their people during the damn rescue mission. He hardly cared that among the casualties was his father, but he sure as hell cared about losing their home.

He glanced in the side mirror at the car his younger brother was driving. The passenger? The only female in their herd now, and of course, it had to be the one female who was a constant thorn in his side. Zara questioned everything he did. She’d been far too independent for his liking when his father was alpha, but now he’d bring her to heel. Fortunately, she had no family to support her and nowhere else to go, so he’d take joy in breaking her spirit.

He wouldn’t mate her, of course, but she could be fun as a distraction.

He rubbed the space between his eyes.

“You okay, boss?” Silas asked.

Colton snarled and ignored him. He turned his phone over and opened the contacts, finding his second cousin Avi, who’d left their herd with his mother years ago. Colton had a vague notion that they’d connected with her family’s herd and she had died at some point, but Avi hadn’t come back to the Valley Herd. Instead, he had joined up with a herd in New Jersey.

He thought for a few moments about what he would say to Avi to sound just desperate enough to not be seen as a threat to whoever his alpha was. Once he met the herd, he could figure out how to go about taking it over for his own people.

“Hello?”

“Cousin! It’s Colton,” he said, grimacing as he realized how over-the-top cheerful he sounded. Dialing it back a bit, he continued, “It’s been a long time.”

There was a pause, then Avi said, “Colton? Well, no shit! How are you?”

“I’m in a bind, and I apologize that the first time we’re speaking since you left the herd is when I need your help, but I’m desperate.” Damn, he hated that word. Made him think of damsels in distress or some nonsense like that.

“You are? What happened?”

Colton shared the events leading up to them abandoning their territory.

“Holy crap,” Avi said. “How awful. How many of you are left?”

“Six including myself.” Unless Zara got too lippy, and then there would be five and he wouldn’t miss her for one millisecond.

The pause that followed was significant. “What can I do for you, cousin?”

“I was hoping your alpha would be willing to give us sanctuary until we can find a safe place for our herd.”

“I don’t know.”

The hesitation was real, and Colton felt like he was going to lose a chance to easily get into the territory. If he had to, he’d go in by force, but it sure as hell would be a lot simpler if he was invited.

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t in a bad place right now,” Colton said, turning on the charm. “We just need some time to decompress. Hell, we haven’t even grieved what happened to our herd.” They’d buried their people in a mass grave away from the homes they set on fire, and they’d covered the bodies with acid to ensure they decayed swiftly. “We need a fresh start, and we need time to figure out where to go. We can’t live out of our vehicles; there’s too many of us and we’ll attract attention.”

“Let me talk to my alpha. I’ll call you back.”

“Sure thing, thanks.”

The call ended and he put the phone in the cup holder.

“Do you think they’ll let us stay with them?”

“Probably. Avi was always family-first. If I’m remembering right and his mom died, then he doesn’t have family except for me and Weston, so he’d want to do right by us.”

“You wouldn’t.” Silas glanced at him knowingly.

“True.” In fact, if his cousin had come asking for help, he probably would have attacked him and driven him, and his people, away. But Avi was compassionate when it came to family, and that was going to be the way he got in with the herd.

His phone buzzed a few minutes later. “Avi?”

“Yeah, listen, my alpha would like to meet with you and the herd members, but not in our territory. I’ll send you a pin to a public park and we can all meet there.”

“Sure, that’s fine,” he said. “We’re still in Virginia, so it’ll be a few hours.”

“Of course, see you then.”

The pin appeared and he put it into the GPS. As he looked at the screen, he minimized it until he could see the surrounding towns. He wasn’t sure where Avi was exactly, but the herd would be somewhere with a lot of land so they could shift and run. A farm, perhaps.

“What if his alpha says he won’t help us?”

“Then we’ll follow them to their territory and take him out.”

“Okay, boss.”

Dropping his phone into the cup holder once more, he settled back in the seat and closed his eyes. “Do me a favor.”

“Yeah?”

“Be sure Zara doesn’t find out that I’m planning to take over and claim the territory for the Valley Herd. She’s just the type of nosy bitch to spoil my plans and warn them.”

“She needs to be mated so her male can bring her to heel,” Silas said.

“What, you volunteering for the job?”

“Hell no! She’s not my type. Too independent.”

“She’d be fun to break.”

“Then you do it.”

Colton opened his eyes and growled softly.

“Sorry.”

“Focus on the road. I’ll figure out what to do with Zara in time. For now, let’s just get to fucking New Jersey.”

* * *

Crew sat at the kitchen table with the herd. Tris and Nancy had shown up with their mates, set up a light lunch, and then joined the rest at the table.

He’d been surprised when Avi came to him to tell him about his second cousin’s request. Avi didn’t talk much about his former herd. He and his mom had left the herd and joined up with the herd she’d grown up in. Then she’d passed away and he hadn’t felt like staying in her herd without her was right, so he’d floundered a bit on his own and then found Dexter and joined the Little River Herd.

“All right,” Crew said, leaning on his forearms and clasping his hands. “Avi, tell everyone about your cousin’s call and then we’ll discuss.”

As Avi told the herd about his cousin Colton, Crew mused on the situation at hand.

“So,” Crew said when Avi was finished sharing what he could recall of the male who was now alpha of the Shenandoah Valley Herd, all of whom were currently homeless because of human poachers, “Colton has asked to meet with me to request what is essentially sanctuary so they can find a new territory for their herd.”

Ford hummed. “You didn’t say if this Colton is a good guy or not, Avi.”

Avi shrugged. “I was a teenager when my mom and I left and he’s older than me. I remember him as being pretty typical for a next-in-line alpha’s son, egotistical and charming, but I don’t recall anyone having a real problem with him.”

“We do have the storage barn,” Tris said. “Where I stayed when I first took the caretaking job.”

“It’s only a studio apartment, though,” Crew said. “Colton said there are six of them including a female.”

“A female stallion?” Nancy asked, her eyes wide. “She must feel so alone among all those males.”

“We could get cots for the others and set up in the main area of the barn,” Grey said. “We could give them a place to stay until they can get settled somewhere in their own territory.”

“We definitely don’t want to have them join us,” Crew said.

“If I can ask?” Tris said. “Why is that?”

“Because you can’t have two alphas and two combined herds,” Dexter said. “Herds run best when there is one alpha, and this Colton fellow just took over his herd after his father was killed, so I very much doubt he’d be willing to step down and defer to Crew. That means our herds need to stay separate.”

Crew looked at their only elder. “Do you think it’s wise to even help?”

“I think it behooves alphas to be kind to other herds, especially in a situation where they were displaced by humans. Imagine losing Little River and the farm because some poachers thought you were wild horses?”

Crew shivered internally. It would be a hell of a lot easier if humans knew shifters existed, but that was not the case. If he lost everything, he would hope another alpha would take pity on him and his people and give them a place to rest so they could figure things out.

Something tweaked in his chest like a little flutter as he thought about the six stallions headed their way.

He wasn’t sure what it meant, but he was curious about their people.

“Let’s vote,” Crew said.

“You’re alpha,” Grey said.

“I know that,” Crew said. “But this affects all of us. If Colton wanted to meet with me for a chat and wasn’t asking for sanctuary, I wouldn’t need to vote. But we’re talking about bringing six unknown stallions into our territory to live.”

“For how long?” Khyle asked, putting his arm around Tris and drawing her close.

“I don’t know,” Crew said. “Thoughts?”

“A week seems good, doesn’t it?” Dexter asked.

“Agreed,” Crew said. “We’ll share our food and supplies with them, and give them a firm date of a week before they have to head out and find their own territory. All in favor?”

He lifted his hand and watched as the rest of the herd did as well.

“Then we’ll invite them to stay with us in the barn,” he said. “Grey, you, Tris, and Nancy get the barn kitted out for them, then stand watch. The rest of us will go and meet with them.”

They parted ways to get ready to meet with Colton and his people in a park outside of Little River. Something in his gut churned and he wondered if this was a good idea.

He was intrigued by the female, but that could just be his loneliness piping up.

But more than that, he wondered if he was making the right choice for his people.

He certainly hoped so.