“Do not leave,” Ansel whispers. “Got it?” His voice is a command.

I shake my head.

Ansel opens his mouth to argue when we hear a cry. The hair stands up on the back of my neck and my stomach lurches. It’s Charles.

Without another second, he is out of the room.

Ada’s pacing, urging me to go. She pushes against me with such a force, I can’t ignore it.

Quietly as I can, I slip out the door and begin to slink down the stairs. As I do, I pick up on the scents of multiple Weres.

The alarm bells are ringing, but Ada keeps edging me closer.

I hear Ansel’s voice as I continue creeping down the stairway. “Go on,” he shouts. “Give me the ‘bad guy’ exposition, Edwin.”

As I tiptoe around the corner, I see Charles, lying still on the ground.

Where I would have panicked, Ada is an intense calm. Ansel’s eyes dart over, likely picking up my scent. We make eye contact before he whips his eyes back, so as not to give me away. Then, he mindlinks with me.

“Go upstairs.”

I don’t argue back.

How much closer can I get before my scent is strong enough for the intruders to recognize that I’m not just in the manor, but down here with them? Maybe the fact that Ansel is basically wearing my scent will help.

“What did you do to my gammas,” Ansel growls.

Charles is rousing. I have to get to him.

Slowly, slowly, I move closer. Prince Edwin is focused like a laser beam on Ansel. Henry, on the other hand, looks demoralized. I don’t know where his head’s at, but he may pick up on my presence.

My heart races when I finally glimpse more of the room. Edwin is flanked by half a dozen of his guards. The three manor servants are bound and gagged nearby.

“Your guards are fine. Just under a very deep sleep,” Edwin says. “It’s a simple potion. I have no intention of harming anyone here.”

Ansel makes a face. “How big of an idiot do you think I am?”

“Don’t get me started,” Edwin says. “This is called a ‘show of force.’ For too long, you’ve underestimated me. Well, guess, what? I’m not scared to face you. I am a very real threat.”

“You’re real brave with all your guards and my beta by your side,” Ansel says.

Ansel and Henry give each other a look. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not contempt like I expected.

I wonder if Henry and Ansel can still mindlink, but how could they? Wouldn’t attempted murder be enough to sever that link? He stepped too far outside the group.

Edwin’s face goes red with anger. “Henry’s a real asset. A treasure.”

Ansel looks revolted. “Get to your goddamn point, or just kill me already.”

“I want you to ‘bow out,’ of the election.”

“The one you’re losing,” Ansel smirks.

“That was an unexpected side effect of your getting shot.”

Ansel shrugs. “I’ll take it where I can get it.”

“You’ve put me in a precarious position,” Edwin says. “Detectives came to interview me today. You obviously pointed a finger in my direction. Maybe not your best idea. Becoming the next Alpha King went from exceptionally desirable to an absolute necessity.”

“So you can quash any investigation,” Ansel says flatly.

“Drop out,” Edwin says. “You go about your life. I’ll vow not to harm you further.”

“Funny how I don’t exactly trust you,” Ansel says.

“You don’t have a choice,” Edwin says, snarling. “You’re a little outnumbered.”

Ansel narrows his eyes. “Why even give me the choice, Edwin?”

Edwin purses his lips. His nostrils are flared.

“Here I am,” Ansel says, holding up his hands. “Alone and outnumbered.”

Edwin’s gammas are poised to attack. Though seething with anger, Edwin remains locked in step.

“The problem is,” Ansel says in a low growl. “You put yourself in a bind when you got Father to go along with your charade of an election. It became real. And now, you have a world full of Weres, all hungry for it. Ready to have a say.”

Ansel walks closer to his brother. “The election is almost here and the wind is in my sails. The police are already on to you, and don’t think for a second the public wouldn’t suspect you, too, if something happens to me.”

Ansel’s eyes are piercing. “If you kill me openly, or in secret, everything you want crumbles. You can seize power, but you won’t hang on to it. You’re not the true alpha.”

Edwin’s face is growing redder and redder, till it’s a purplish tint. His eyes are the blood red of his wolf. “Just because you were father’s favorite, doesn’t make you better than me.” His face is twisted in rage. “I’ll have you snuffed out, just like your bitch of a mother.”

All at once, he’s morphed into his wolf, but instead of attacking Ansel, he veers immediately toward Charles, who’s still lying in a heap on the ground. Edwin’s eyes flicker with devilish, cruel delight.

I shift into Ada and barrel toward Charles. I snap my jaw around one of Edwin’s legs as he leaps to get to Charles. He swipes and claws at my face.

Then, he gives a cry, Ansel’s golden wolf lunges at him and sinks his teeth into Edwin’s back. Ansel doesn’t get time to do much damage. Three of Edwin’s wolves tackle Ansel to the ground and begin to shred into him.

I surge towards Ansel, but I’m hit with a thud, and sharp fangs grip my neck. I’m caught by an enormous, silver wolf.

I’m a moth pinned to the wall. His jaw is too strong. I can’t move.

The wolf begins to shake me. In a moment, my neck will snap.

“Get off of her!”

It’s Charles’ voice. He shifts into his wolf and collides with my attacker.

The Were reflexively lets go.

Charles looks dazed. His jet black eyes are moving in a funny way. There’s a knot on his head from where he was hurt before Ansel and I came downstairs.

I need to get him out of here.

In the mere second I’m granted, I push him with my head to direct him away.

We race down the hall. I’m going to barricade us into an office and call emergency dispatch.

The other Were is after us, snapping its jaw. Charles is slowing. I use my body to herd him and shield him from the silver wolf after us. I run as fast as I can, pushing us to the nearest office, when knife-like teeth make contact with my hind leg.

I’m sprawled on the floor, my leg still caught by the attacker.

Charles turns around and charges at the silver wolf, but just as he reaches at him, the Were pulls back on my leg with such a force that he snaps the ankle bone with an audible pop. The pain is searing. My foot dangles, useless.

It’s the same ankle I injured when I went to the sanitorium those years ago. The one that still gives me some trouble. My life as a ballerina has likely just been destroyed.

Charles and the silver wolf are rolling over each other, clawing and biting. I scramble to get up. The silver Were tackles him and holds Charles down. In a second, he is eviscerating him, flinging his body around like a rag doll.

I rake my claws through the Were and bite his chest, clamping down so hard I can taste the meat of him, but he doesn’t stop. Charles’ black fur is flying in the air, and I can see, and smell the blood. Charles’ eyes are blank and lifeless.

Horror and anguish flood me. I’m frozen. The silver wolf’s eyes look up at me. His snout is covered in red blood.

I fall back, trembling and terrified.

Ahead of me, Ansel’s wolf is fighting off multiple Weres at once. He’s ripping through them, left and right, but as he is, he’s being backed into a corner and surrounded.

The silver wolf growls. He steps over Charles’ body to get to me.

I can’t do this. I can’t.

The silver wolf leaps through the air.

Ada unleashes a rage I didn’t know possible. I hurl myself towards him. He bites my shoulder and begins slicing his fangs into me. The weight of him puts too much pressure onto my hind legs, and while I don’t really register the pain in my ankle, it knocks me off balance. My legs slide out from under me. He makes a go for my neck, but I use the moment. I push myself forward, wrapping my jaw around his neck. I twist it with all the force I have and it snaps.

He falls to the floor, dead.

I don’t even stop to think about it.

The animal inside me is the only me. And she’s strong.

I run as fast as I can, limping into the main entrance. I look at the scene unfolding before me.

Henry’s gray wolf is fighting Edwin’s last remaining guard. The servants look to have been cut free, but they’re lying dead on the ground, still gagged.

Ansel is standing in a pile of bodies. He and Edwin are both fighting in their human forms, and it’s all the more brutal to see. They are pummeling each other to death.

Ansel’s eyes are cold. There’s no sign of him in them. He may not be in wolf-form, but he’s all animal, too. His chest is heaving so rapidly, it shoots a fresh wave of fear inside me.

Ansel catches sight of me and freezes. I rush towards him and Edwin, dragging my leg.

Edwin shoves him against the wall. “I’ve waited a long time for this,” he screams, spit flying from his mouth.

Ansel’s skull bounces off of the wall in a sickening way. While he’s reeling from it, Edwin slams a punch into his head.

I jump up and clamp my teeth around Edwin’s wrist and start to shred it. He gives a mangled cry and swivels around, stomping on my head. Then he kicks me, striking me in the belly so hard I fly across the room.

Everything is a dim blur around me. I feel very tired, but I try to stay awake. I can’t seem to move. I can’t even lift my head off the ground.

I hear Edwin scream. I refocus my eyes. Ansel’s on top of him, probably seconds from killing him, when the Were Henry’s been fighting breaks away and jumps at Ansel. Henry lies injured and motionless on the ground.

Ansel shifts into Jeff, and he and the last guard struggle against each other in a frenzy of violence.

I watch Edwin seize his moment. A blade is lying in the corner of the room, next to the dead servants. It shines in the light.

“Ansel!” My voice comes out in a croak. He looks up.

Edwin races toward Ansel with the knife. Ansel gets the upper hand and kills the wolf he’s fighting. In nearly the same second, Edwin throws back the hand that’s gripping the knife to stab it directly into the side of Ansel’s throat.

A gray blur shoots by, sending Ansel tumbling. Edwin slams the knife down and Henry gives a yelp.

“Henry!” Ansel morphs back. Henry is bleeding heavily. Ansel looks frantically between both me and Henry.

“I’m okay,” I say in a mindlink to him. But we both know Henry’s not.

Edwin still has the knife and he rushes at Ansel with it.

Ansel’s on the ground with Henry. I mindlink to him, screaming a warning.

With golden eyes full of fury, Ansel kicks out his legs. Edwin trips and the knife flies out of his hand. Ansel pushes himself up, grabs the knife, and kicks Edwin in the head.

I don’t think he’s dead, but he’s definitely unconscious.

Ansel looks around the room, grabs a piece of rope used on the servants, and ties Edwin’s limp hands behind his back.

Henry’s face is white. Ansel kneels beside him. Henry seems to be trying to speak, but it just comes out in gasps.

“It’s okay,” Ansel says, his own voice choked with emotion. “I’ll take care of Maggie.”

Tears stream down Henry’s cheeks.

“I never had a real brother,” Ansel says. “Until you.”