They took her! Before Alpha wolf shifter, War Vox could explore his odd infatuation with Nora, before he could even consider the implications of his inexplicable draw to the she-wolf who’d been dumped in his territory, she’s ripped away from him. Calling out War is a huge mistake, but taking something from War’s wolf is tantamount to suicide. Nora isn’t War’s to claim, hell, she’s not even a member of his pack, but she is his responsibility and War takes his responsibilities very seriously. War. Wants. Her. Back! Whether Nora wants him or not, War has decided the Imperial pack’s Alpha will pay the price for touching what War and his wolf have decided is theirs. Battle is coming, and it’s coming fast and hard! \\\* Heart hammering, War debated alerting his men. It looked like Nora was about to spring her trap, and eyes darting up to the guards, War wondered if they were keeping a good enough eye out. Is Castamere out there? Is that what she’s waiting for? Jealousy ripped through him, but War forced himself to remain hidden. If Nora was going to betray him, he wanted to see it with his own eyes. She was eyeing the burn can that was still smoking from the day’s chores. When she kicked it over, War felt his heart plummet. This was it! Nora was making her move. Ready to sound the alarm for his men to prepare for battle, the howl died in War’s throat as he watched Nora slink into the shadows and shimmy along the wall before she tore out of the compound. On the wall, one of his guards let off a call. Stepping out of the shadows, War watched as his men pour out of the keep, their evening meal forgotten as they split up to tackle the fire and to chase Nora. Chase Nora. His men were chasing Nora, and that didn’t sit right with War’s wolf. Rolling his head on his shoulders, he took two steps, and then his animal exploded from him. As he barreled toward the gate, the other wolves sensed his dominance and cleared a path. Through their pack ties, Tallius pressed, “War?” His command was simple. “Hold the line!” He didn’t want any more of his men leaving the Fortress. It could be a setup. Nora could be trying to get free before Castamere and his Imperials attacked, and if that was the case, War didn’t want his men caught outside the Fortress walls. The fortified towers and curtain wall were their vantage points, and abandoning them to get caught out in the open was foolish, but War had to know. His wolf was easily twice the size of any other shifters, which meant his gait at a dead run ate up the ground at an incomparable rate. In a short burst, he left most of his pack behind, and that’s the way he wanted it. He was Alpha, and he should be the point of the spear. Ears pricked, senses honed in, War zeroed in on his surroundings as he ran. Following Nora felt like muscle memory. Expecting an attack, anticipating a trap, War was confused when none came. The closer they got to the pack perimeter, the less sense everything made. Castamere wouldn’t attack so far out. The trees thinned in just a few short miles, and then there’d be no cover at all. No one would instigate a battle out there. No one! Unless . . . unless there was no battle. What if Nora wasn’t laying a trap? What if she was just trying to escape? Tossing his head back, War loosed a howl and instantly heard the forest fall silent behind him.

Enemies! Mira has hated Tallius from the moment she watched the War Gods Beta kill her pack’s own Beta. The War Gods attacked in the night and annihilated her pack, and while Mira has grown a lot since that day—even working her way up to Beta status in her new pack, the Fury—memories of Tallius still haunt her. She’ll have to hide her fear and use every ounce of her newly acquired Beta skills when she’s forced to meet with him at a secluded location to discuss a possible pack alliance. Tallius knows Mira hates him, and he knows he deserves every ounce of her loathing. She thinks he’s a monster, and maybe he is, but something in him is determined to make her see him in a different light. She’s seen the worst of him and believes that’s all he can be, but she’s wrong, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to prove it to her. Their Alphas ordering them to a mutual meet is the perfect opportunity for him to show Mira that he’s not the monster she remembers. \\\* “Alright!” Tallius threw his hands up and muttered quietly, “Why does everything have to be a fight with you?” “It doesn’t.” “Yeah”—he plowed a hand through his hair—“it does. From the second you pulled up in your army-green sports car”—lifting his hands he made air quotes around the words army green—“you’ve been nothing but a challenge.” Whipping his head around he narrowed his eyes on the car as his face lit at something. “Wait! Is that why you drive a Challenger?” “Jesus!” Mira rolled her eyes and turned back for the cabin. “You’re impossible!” “Mira! Hold up!” But she didn’t want to hold up. Nope, she wanted to change out of her winter weather gear, get into some traveling clothes, load up her suitcase, and try like hell to get down off this mountain. At this point, she wasn’t even averse to skipping her two weeks at the ski resort and heading straight back to Fury territory. “Why you dressed like that?” Tallius asked from behind her. “Wait! Were you . . . were you coming to look for me? Were you worried about me?” His teasing tone pissed her off mostly because she had been worried. She didn’t tell him that though. She didn’t tell him anything. Nope, she just stomped her way ungracefully back to the cabin as her boots slipped on the snow and ice. Halfway to the cabin, the silence of the mountain was interrupted by a great rumbling noise. At first, she thought it was Tallius grumbling behind her, but the sound was heavier . . . bigger. Stilling, Mira’s head lifted as she strained to listen. Behind her, Tallius’s feet fell silent too. Mira heard the noise again, and it had an eerie feeling pressing up against her skin. All the fine hairs on her body stood on end as she tried to place the rumbling. “What the is that?” she snapped as the sound grew louder. It sounded like an army was pounding down the mountain toward them. Head whipping around, Mira pinned Tallius with hard eyes. “Is this an ambush? You set me up!” Tallius was frowning at up the mountain too. “Please!” he snorted by way of denial, but his eyes suddenly shot to the front of the cabin. The porch swing started rocking, and then the earth started trembling, and the whole cabin started to shake. “What the...

Briar can’t hide the wreckage on her face, but it doesn’t matter. She’s only at the Fortress to deliver her Alpha’s message. That’s it. All she’s got to do is complete her task and get the hell out. But when Briar comes face to face with Matese “The Beast” Lawson, things change. She remembers him. He used to be part of her Yellowstone pack, but he left after a falling out with the Alpha. In her eyes, he’s a traitor. You didn’t walk away from pack; you just didn’t. The fact that he now dares to try and take her prisoner, declaring her as the enemy is outright galling. Matese Lawson left the Yellowstone to get away from his pack’s callous Alpha and his brutal dictates. Hoping a change would heal his bloodthirsty wolf, Beast, Matese walked away from all he knew. In doing so, he thought he’d left Briar Nolay in his past, but when she shows up in his new pack’s territory, it feels like old ghosts are haunting him. He doesn’t trust her. He should kill her and be done with it, but Beast isn’t having it. \\\* Briar could feel eyes on her and knew it was him. He was watching her. He was always watching her. Angling her head, she silently cursed the battered side of her face. Her cheek was so puffed up that her eye was swollen completely shut. Even after a day and a half, it still felt like her heart was beating in the wounded side of her face rather than in her chest. The damage prevented her from being able to spot Matese, but she didn’t need to. She felt him there, just beyond the shadows. It was unnerving, mostly because it was the first time in months that her wolf roused from her depression and took notice of something. And wasn’t that just typical. Briar had done everything she could think of to cheer up her wolf and get her excited about life again, but after weeks of nothing, she’d given up hope. Honestly, she couldn’t blame her animal. Their life had gone from bad to worse in a rapid succession of horrifying events, and there were days when even Briar had difficulty mustering the will to drag herself out of bed to pretend she still cared. That little surplus of will she’d been hanging onto had slowly dwindled day by day, and now she and her wolf had a plan. They weren’t going to have to live like they had been much longer because they weren’t going to be alive at all. Lifting a hand, Briar rubbed absently at where the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Matese! He had no right to be dredging up her old wants and torturing her wolf with his presence. They’d been playing this game ever since she’d come to War God’s pack territory and their castle-like compound called the Fortress. Matese didn’t trust her. He thought she was there to bury a landmine and then scurry away before it detonated. He was wrong. “Well, what are we going to do about her?” She could hear the War Gods Beta, Tallius, talking to Reign. They were discussing her, and while she felt a slight hint of shame at eavesdropping, her need to know her fate overrode it. Tallius’s response was immediate. “Send her back!” Relief and disappointment flooded Briar in equal measure. Part of her had hoped these War Gods would be the ones to pull her out of the fire, but she hadn’t come expecting it. Sighing in the hall, Briar couldn’t help the wave of helplessness that crashed over her. She’d be going back to Cray and his hideous Yellowstone pack. It was what she’d expected. The WG owed her nothing, but deep down she’d hoped there would have been a way out for her.