Kyle fell backward, clutching his mangled wrist and hand to his chest. He stared at me with wide, unbelieving eyes and shifted.

It was possibly the worst idea he’d ever had.

His front forepaw was twisted at an angle and couldn’t support his weight.

When he tried to lunge for me, he yelped and fell to his side.

Something in me, some ancient genetic memory of my wolf, took over. Seeing him like that, writhing in agony and kicking his back legs to get back up, thrilled me. Prey, cornered and injured, unable to defend itself. It was more than my wolf could have hoped for.

We leapt forward. Paws slamming into Kyle’s chest, we rolled him to his back, exposing his belly and neck.

Backed into a corner, Kyle did his best to fight his way out.

His three good paws clawed, kicked, and scratched at me.

His back left paw found purchase, tearing a gouge in my hip.

It didn’t matter. I was stronger. I was angrier.

I was the fucking alpha. I pressed my muzzle forward beneath his snapping jaws and closed my teeth around his throat.

The growling and grunting sounds stopped, and his movements became frantic, feverish in their desperation.

Instead of trying to hurt me, he was now trying to escape.

For a moment, I held him there. I recalled all the pain and terror he’d put us through, the things he said he’d do to my mate, the way he’d stolen my child, and the friends he’d murdered.

I knew what would happen if he went free.

There would be no peace. I would always be looking over my shoulder. My family would never be safe.

With one deep, angry growl, I bit down harder and yanked my head to the side with more force than I’d ever used on anything in my life.

Flesh ripped, arteries tore, and cartilage broke as I tore out a massive hunk of Kyle’s throat.

Blood spurted and arced through the air, coating my face as I pulled away.

Spitting out the hunk of meat and fur, I watched him kick the dirt.

His wolf eyes looked at me with a mixture of horror and surprise.

Even in the end, he couldn’t comprehend that he’d lost. The crimson puddle grew steadily larger as his movements became more sluggish.

Then, with one final kick, his eyes became lifeless orbs, staring at nothing.

It was over. Finally .

Langston and Trent rushed around the side of the building at the same moment I shifted back. They saw the scene and stopped short.

“Dad!” Ashton cried and crashed into me. Avery hit me next, wrapping her arms around both of us and sobbing.

Ashton shook, and when I looked down at him, I saw him scrunching his face up, obviously fighting back tears. Did he not want to cry in front of me?

“Let it out, son,” I said. “Real men cry.”

He began to sob, his body shaking as he clutched me.

For an instant, he wasn’t the big, tall teenager I’d gotten to know.

Instead, he was the small child whose life I’d missed out on.

In that moment, I experienced fifteen missing years of comfort.

I could hold my son and let him cry. Between him and Avery, I held my entire life in my arms.

I gave Kyle’s dead body one final look. He lay there, forever in wolf form, blank eyes staring up at the night sky. The girl who’d helped save us was nowhere to be seen. I wanted to ask where she’d gone, wanted to thank her, but the shouts picking up around us demanded my attention.

The mansion was on fire.

Ashton, Avery, and I stepped back and gazed up at the house. Orange flames peeked through the shingles like demon tongues tasting the house before devouring it whole. From the far side of the house, a deafening boom erupted.

“I think that was the natural gas tank,” Langston shouted. “Get the hell back!” He waved his arms at everyone to move away from the house.

“Probably a good idea,” Ashton muttered.

We’d only gone a couple feet when I remembered that Dallas was hurt inside. Maybe dead, but maybe not.

After everything my brother had done, in the end, he’d saved my family. He’d risked his life to see them to safety. I had to try to save him, I had to.

“Langston? Trent? Watch them.” I shoved Avery and Ashton at them.

“What?” Avery cried out in surprise as Langston took her under his arm. “You can’t go in there,” she said, pointing at the house. Flames flickered in nearly all the windows.

“I have to,” I said.

Before she or Ashton could argue, I sprinted to the rear of the house.

The coal chute stood wide open. That must have been how they’d gotten out.

Sliding in, I landed on my feet in what looked like a basement.

Ahead, I saw a heavy door sitting open. The air was hazy with smoke, and it tickled my lungs as I ran, praying my brother was in that room.

Even if he was dead, I was getting him out of here.

He didn’t deserve to burn to dust in this fucking place.

To my right, an orange glow shimmered up a set of rough steps.

Two-by-fours nailed together with a simple handrail that led up to the upper levels of the house.

The flames had already begun to envelop the floor above.

I needed to move quickly. This house was old, mostly wood and flammable paint.

It was going up faster than I’d thought possible.

Dallas lay in a pool of blood inside the strange room.

It contained shelves of canned food, five-gallon jugs of water, and random chests with locks.

One chest was open and looked like it held an entire armory within.

This place was some sort of bunker or safe room.

That didn’t matter, it was going to be ashes soon. What mattered was Dallas.

Kneeling beside him, I felt a rush of joy when he blinked lazily. When he saw my face, he made an almost comical frown. Blood smeared his lips and dribbled across his cheek as he spoke.

“Why are you here?” he croaked.

“To save my dumbass little brother, that’s why,” I said as I slid my arms beneath him.

“You should leave me,” Dallas said, and there was a heartbreaking misery in his voice. “After the shit I’ve done, I deserve to burn. First here, then in hell.”

“What I need,” I grunted as I stood with his body, “is for you to shut the fuck up until we’re safe.”

The flames had already rushed down the stairs and were flickering across the plywood walls.

The temperature was skyrocketing, and sweat beaded my face and arms as I carried Dallas toward the coal chute.

Wincing, I shoved him upward, until he tumbled onto the grass.

Flames licked at me, singeing the hair on my arm.

Wood creaked as beams behind me broke and succumbed to the fire.

Had the floor not been concrete, we wouldn’t have made it.

I managed to scramble out of the hatch moments before a massive fireball swept through the basement, sending a burst of flames, swirling ash, and debris across us. I did my best to shield Dallas from it, then lifted him again and hurried back around the house to my team.

“Has anyone called the cops?” I asked, collapsing to my knees with Dallas. “He needs an ambulance.” I let out a volley of racking coughs. The smoke in my lungs made every breath a challenge.

“Looks like someone did,” Langston said.

Red, white, and blue flashing lights threw chaotic arcs of illumination into the night. Fire trucks, ambulances, and police cruisers careened toward us at high speed.

“See that, little brother,” I said, smiling at Dallas. “You don’t get to die yet. You gotta get better, so you can give me a real apology.”

Farrah fell to her knees beside Dallas, tears spilling from her eyes. “I should wring your neck, you dumb fucker,” she said, but she smoothed his hair tenderly from his brow.

Dallas managed to roll his eyes. “Shit, are you going to try and baby me now, sis?”

“Maybe,” she said. “If you’ll let me.”

The emergency vehicles pulled up, and the men went about their work.

Firefighters uncoiled hoses and began unleashing streams of water on the flames, but even I could see it was no use.

The EMS teams sifted through the battlefield, doing their best to give aid to those who were only injured, and putting sheets over the dead.

“I swear to God, as soon as the call came in, I knew you’d have something to do with this.”

A disheveled Chief Milbanks strode toward me, his face unshaven and hair mussed. He must have rolled out of bed and into his cruiser. He stood chest-to-chest with me, even as an EMS tech tried to strap an oxygen mask on my face. I waved the tech off.

“We only did what you weren’t able to do,” I said. “Besides, weren’t you the one who didn’t want to get involved in pack stuff?”

Milbanks jabbed a finger into my chest, and it was all I could do not to grab it and snap the offending finger in half.

“That was before I had a motherfucking war.” He swept his arm around. “Look at this shit, Cole! There’s dead bodies everywhere. Do you have the slightest fucking clue how much paperwork this is gonna?—”

“Hey, Chief,” one of his deputies called. “Incoming.”

Milbanks, face ruddy with anger, turned. Sure enough, a convoy of giant black SUVs rolled down the driveway. Milbanks shoved his fists into his hips and stared the vehicles down as though they’d arrived to offend him in some way.

Avery and Ashton put their arms around me. Langston stood off to one side, a knowing smile playing on his lips. That threw me off. Did he know who was in these cars?

The lead SUV parked directly in front of Milbanks, and the back door opened.

A white-haired but imposing older man extricated himself from the rear seat and straightened his solid black suit.

The guy could have been a professional football linebacker in his youth.

Even though he had to be at least sixty, he didn’t look like the kind of person anyone would want to mess with.

Avery burst out laughing, the sound filled with joy. Ashton whooped.

“You know that guy?” I asked.

“Who the hell are you?” Milbanks said, stepping toward the man. “Are you authorized to be here?”

The man gave a condescending little smile that withered Milbanks’s courage. “I have all the authorization I need,” he answered a deep, rumbling baritone.

He slid a badge and ID from his inner jacket pocket and showed it to Milbanks. The chief scanned the ID and paled.

“ Oh .” Milbanks backed up a step. “My apologies, sir. The scene is yours. Let us know what you need.”

“I need a perimeter set up, at least three miles out. Make sure we cast a broad net to capture any men who might have escaped. I want your team to set up roadblocks and assist the EMS teams with casualties. My men will begin collecting the surviving suspects.” He snapped his fingers in Milbanks’s face. “ Go .”

Milbanks strode away and began shouting orders at his men. I stood there, more confused than I’d ever been in my life, when Langston walked straight up to the man and embraced him. It wasn’t a friendly hug. It was familial. The pieces started falling into place.

“You did good, son. You did real good,” the man said, patting Langston’s back.

Langston sank into the man. He no longer looked like the powerful, larger-than-life man I’d come to know. He looked like a little boy. After a few moments, Langston straightened.

“Sorry. Dad, this is Cole Garrett. I told you about him.” Langston gestured at me.

“You have.” The man held his hand out.

Unsure what to do, but knowing I did not want to offend him, I shook his hand, and it was like having my hand wrapped in steel bands. The man was even stronger than he looked.

“Cole, this is my father, Archer Meadows. Alpha of the Des Moines pack, and director of the shifter branch of Homeland Security.”

My jaw dropped, and I glanced from Langston to his father. “Are you shitting me?”

Langston chuckled. “Told you I had big shoes to fill.”

Archer hugged Ashton and Avery. “I’m glad you two are safe.

I’ll be honest, when I found out what was going on, I made some calls, but—” his lip curled back in a snarl “—the wheels in Washington go too slowly, even for someone like me. I came as soon as I was authorized, but I knew my boy would do me proud.”

“It’s fine, Archer,” Avery said, hugging him again. “We’re safe.”

“I’m so happy you’re all right,” he said, rubbing her back.

“Hey there, old man,” Zayde said, slapping Archer on the back.

Archer grinned at him. “Careful who you call old, Zayde. I’ll have to show you how good an old man can kick ass.”

Archer turned to me, releasing my mate and son, and pointed at my chest. “You, sir, are relieved of duty. My team will take care of everything here. I suppose you and these two have a bit of catching up and relaxing to do,” he said, nodding to Ashton and Avery.

“That would be amazing,” I admitted.

“Take my car,” Archer said. “Give my driver your address, and he’ll get you home in bed.”

Smiling gratefully, I walked toward the car with my left arm around Ashton’s shoulders and my right around Avery’s waist. Before I climbed in, I saw Farrah helping an EMT get Dallas’s gurney into the back of an ambulance.

She scrambled inside as the doors were closed. Good. I didn’t want him to be alone.

Before getting into the SUV, I gave the battleground one last look, still wondering where the girl had gone. My brain only had so much processing power at the moment, and I wanted all of it focused on my family.

I sat in the middle, between Avery and Ashton.

As silly as it might look, I wanted to be close to both of them, and it was the best way to accomplish that.

Ashton and Avery seemed fine with that, and before we’d even made it down the driveway, all three of us fell asleep, my mate and my son’s heads on my chest.