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The hurt couldn’t be ignored. They’d never had secrets as children and Kodi couldn’t explain why he’d kept what he knew to himself. He laid a hand on Kari’s arm, squeezing.

“Now is not the time to hash out shit.” He glanced at Dad, inhaling a steadying breath. “What do we need to take with us?”

“All you’ll need is your animal.”

Kodi nodded jerkily, his wolf fully on board when it came to protecting their brother. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as they waited for the helicopter to arrive with Oakland’s men. Kodi went in search of Lennon and found him in the kitchen with Hollis, Frey, Bowie, and Ziggy. Popi sat at the table, the omegas surrounding him.

Popi looked at Kodi, hope sparking in his eyes for a brief second before Kodi shook his head, saying without words that there was no new information.

Lennon came to Kodi and they clung to each other. Kodi buried his nose in Lennon’s hair, inhaling his fresh scent.

“I’m going with Dad. A helicopter will be here shortly. I need you to stay here, okay? Stay until I come back.” Kodi did his best to keep the tremor out of his voice at the thought of not keeping his word.

Lennon clung a little tighter and sniffed, his sob cutting at Kodi’s soul. “You promise?” he whispered brokenly.

Kodi knew what he was asking, and it wasn’t just Jupiter Lennon was worried for. “I promise.”

We won’t break it, his animal assured him.

When the helicopter landed in the designated area they’d picked, Kodi wasn’t so sure they’d get to keep it. There were overwhelming scents of death that his wolf was scenting in the dirt as they got out and avoided the blades whirring above their heads. The men Oakland had sent with them, Callin, Ali and Damon, were sleek, deadly cats. He worked to assure himself they and Oakland would get to Jupiter and Wilder in time.

Callin and Ali, already in their shifted forms, were seeking their prey and preventing those with the jet that they’d found on the rough strip of land behind the house from alerting anyone to their presence.

The third cat, Damon, didn’t wait for the other cats to come back before stripping without preamble.

“Slip the pack around my neck, pointing the rifle down my back,” he shouted, loud enough to be heard over the blades whipping the air.

He shifted into a large, sleek cat and Dad followed his instructions. The cat prowled away from the helicopter and raised its large head, whiskers twitching as if it was using them to test the air. A second later, it was moving, no more than a blur in the darkness, its fur the perfect camouflage as it disappeared toward where they knew the house was.

“Be careful.”

Clothes thrown inside the helicopter, Kodi nodded at Dad, jaw clenching right as his shift happened. His wolf shook its large, golden furred body. Kodi receded enough to give his animal what it wanted. It stood patiently waiting for their pack alpha. When it took off, Kodi was on its left flank and Kari on the right, keeping pace as they ran into the maelstrom.

The wolf bared its teeth at the sounds of paws thudding on earth and a mean growl. It was pure disappointment at how the cats got to the wolves leaping the boundary wall first. Damon’s gun fire crackled through the air, bullets whizzing past at targets and not missing. Kodi didn’t breathe easy, despite Damon’s accuracy, when more wolves appeared.

Callin and Ali slashed and evaded as Dad’s huge gray wolf growled, pawing at the ground at the idiot in front of it. Kodi had no time to worry, his animal charging as Kari’s did. They moved with practiced ease, protecting each other by moving tail to tail, something they’d done as young pups.

Kodi’s wolf ripped at fur and tore at muscle, its fury unleashing with thoughts of every scar Jupiter’s body bore. It didn’t care that these animals might have had no part in what happened years earlier. They were here, now, defending the evil motherfucker who thought Jupiter was nothing more than a commodity to own and do with as he pleased.

An unholy roar of a bear sent Kodi into a tailspin at the possibility someone was attacking Booker.

Fuck. Fuck, is that Booker? We need to go see.

Dad’s wolf howled and bounded off in the direction of the sound. Distracted for a second, the wolf he was fighting caught his flank with its teeth, ripping at fur. Kodi’s wolf snarled, fangs dripping with blood, and it lunged and tore out the fucker’s throat.

Take that motherfucker.

Epilogue (two)

Lennon

May 16th

When Kodi headed out to the store to do the shopping after Lennon demanded he replenish the supply of ice cream he was constantly craving, Lennon had gone to sit in the garden with a book. Except he had found an old, padded reclining lawn chair that had a saggy middle in the garage. Lennon had a hairbrained idea about how his enormous belly would fit in the cushion without crushing the baby because of the middle sag.

He really missed being able to lie on his stomach.

Don’t do it. If we get stuck there’s no one here to help us.