Kelsi stood on her porch, arms wrapped around her torso as Riley waved goodbye to Alpha Lee. The instant the alpha was out of sight, all the tension that had been building since his episode by the elephants released, leaving her feeling exhausted.

"Okay, Ri, time to get ready for bed," she said. Although the zoo closed at 7, they didn't leave until after 9 since someone desperately wanted to look around the gift shop.

"Awr, Mom!"

"C'mon, we have to get up early for camp tomorrow," Kelsi told her, beckoning her daughter forward. "You can play with your new toys later."

Riley huffed, swinging the large gift shop bag back and forth. "All right," she allowed, trudging up the porch steps as if carrying the world's weight on her shoulders.

If only she knew, Kelsi mused, brushing hair back from her face.

"How was the zoo?" Mom called out when they entered the house.

"Awesome!" Riley exclaimed, dropping the gift bag on the floor. "We saw elephants and rhinos—and I got to pet an alligator! Oh, there was an area with deer and I got to feed them too ..."

Dad rose from the couch and approached Kelsi as she kicked off her shoes. "How was it—really?" he asked softly as Riley continued to talk a mile a minute.

Kelsi sighed and tilted her head back. "It was okay—until he had some kind of fit."

Dad's eyebrows rose. "A fit?"

She picked up her shoes and put them on the rack. "Yeah, something to do with him and Alpha Ryan being in the same area." She turned around and folded her arms. "I won't lie—it was scary, Dad. He was freaking out until the elephant snapped him out of it."

"The—elephant?"

Kelsi tossed her hands in the air helplessly. "I—I just don't know. He promised me he has it under control and it'll go away once he's out of the city." She turned to look at her father. "I don't know if I can do this, Dad. Maybe he's right, but I don't know." She shook her head helplessly. Everyone was telling her that she had to marry Alpha Lee, that she had no choice in the matter because of the bond. But there had to be a way to get out of it. If not for her, then for Riley's sake.

Her father stared at her, jaw clenched. "Put Riley to bed, then we'll talk."

"Uh, okay ..."

Riley, of course, was still wired and it took a good hour from the time she showered to the time she finally fell asleep, clutching the giant plush rhino Alpha Lee bought her. When Kelsi emerged from Riley's bedroom, Dad was standing in the living room, wearing his work boots and Hecate City DPW cap. The keys to his truck dangled from his left hand.

"Is there an emergency, Dad?" Kelsi glanced at her mother, but Mom merely looked back silently.

"We're going for a ride," he said.

"Where?"

"Clan Bloodmoon."

Kelsi's eyes widened. "Clan Bloodmoon? Why?" She could only imagine the abuse the clan guards would hurl at a pair of omegas for daring to cross their sacred land.

"We're going to talk to the clan leader. Now, put on your shoes."

Was her father insane? "But—"

"Now, Kels."

Everyone in this family was descending into madness, Kelsi thought as she stuffed her feet back into her shoes. "I don't think they're going to like visitors at this hour," she told her father as they left the house.

"Well, that's tough shit," he replied. "Their son chose you for his luna. I think it's perfectly reasonable for in-laws to meet."

At a reasonable hour, she muttered to herself, climbing into the cab of Dad's truck.

Her father was silent on the drive there, so Kelsi turned on the radio and leaned against the window, watching shadows lengthen and shrink on the side of the road. What did her father hope to accomplish by speaking with the Bloodmoon clan leader? Maybe the betas had a way of breaking the mate bond and setting her free. Her father wasn't usually that hard to read, but tonight, Kelsi had no idea what was going on behind his eyes.

Gradually, the traffic lessened as they approached the outskirts of the city. The congestion of the metropolitan area gave way to sprawling tracts of forested land dotted here and there with massive homes. Tall stone and iron fences separated the betas from everyone else who wasn't privileged enough to be born into a high rank.

"Here we are," Dad said, glancing at his GPS.

Kelsi's pulse spiked as they pulled off the road and approached an ornate, wrought-iron gate. A small guardhouse stood off to the left, light spilling from the open windows. A male beta wearing blue jeans and a white shirt with a nametag over his left breast pocket exited the guardhouse and held up a hand.

Dad rolled down his window and leaned out. "Hey there."

Kelsi bit her lip and watched as the beta approached the truck.

"State your business," the male said, shining a light into the cab.

"I'm Mark Kohl, this is my daughter Kelsi. She's Alpha Lee's luna. I'd like to speak to the clan leader, please."

Whatever the beta was expecting Dad to say, that wasn't it. He pulled back, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline.

"What's going on?" his partner, a smaller beta female inquired.

"Call the main house," the male told her. "Lee's luna showed up and wants to talk to the clan leader."

Correction—Lee's luna's father wants to see the clan leader, Kelsi thought. She braced herself for pushback—a sneer, a superior sniff—but the beta female shrugged and retreated into the guardhouse.

"DPW, huh?" the male beta said conversationally to her father. "What do you do there?"

"I drive a garbage truck," he replied.

"Huh." The male nodded. "Bet it gets smelly in there."

"In the cab? No, not really. We clean it regularly and spray a lot of Febreze."

The male beta laughed. "I'll bet." He glanced over at the guardhouse. The female stuck her head out the door and made a motion toward the gate.

"You're good to go," the male told them as the gate pulled back into hidden recesses in the pillars. "Drive straight, then take a left at the fork. Look for number twenty."

Dad nodded. "Thanks."

"No prob. And congratulations," the guard said, waving at Kelsi.

She smiled tightly at him and wiggled the tips of her fingers in return. Congratulations my ass.

Dad rolled up the window and drove through the gate. "Well, that was easy, huh, Kels?"

"Very," she agreed slowly, tucking her hair over one ear. And unexpected. They just let two omegas roll into beta clan territory without any pushback.

Although it was nighttime, each of the houses was lit up in some form—either by spotlights or with tiny twinkling lights woven through the branches of massive oak and maple trees. Through the shadows, Kelsi could see some houses had playscapes, but many had smaller cottages or pool houses on the land. Some homes had a few lights on, but others were dark.

"Twenty," Dad said, snapping Kelsi out of her contemplative state. He pulled the truck onto a wide driveway and parked behind a massive F350. "Let's go, kiddo."

A ball of nausea formed in the pit of Kelsi's stomach as she opened the door. Swallowing hard, she dropped down from the cab and walked up the long driveway to the front entrance. In the open doorway stood a woman with thick, curly black hair tied up in a bun. She wore a pink "World's Best Grandma" T-shirt and a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms. Due to how slowly werewolves aged, she could have been anywhere between forty and ninety, but Kelsi was fairly certain this was Alpha Lee's grandmother.

"Good evening, Clan Leader Bloodmoon," Dad said, hovering several feet from the front door. "I'm sorry to bother you so late."

"Well, Mr Kohl, this isn't how I expected to meet my future granddaughter-in-law, but these are uncommon circumstances. Please, come in."

Dad glanced at Kelsi and tilted his head toward the door. Taking a deep breath, Kelsi followed her father inside.

A blond, bearded beta male met them in a massive kitchen that was almost as large as their entire house. He wore grey sweatpants and a worn, faded black T-shirt with the logo of a tool company over his heart. A chopping board sat on the counter and he was cutting up cheese into thin slices.

"My husband, Gerry," the clan leader said, nodding at the man. "We can talk in the living room."

Gerry waved at them and continued slicing cheese. Kelsi lifted her hand and gave him a hesitant wave.

They followed the clan leader into a large living room. She sat down on a giant white sectional couch and gestured to a love seat placed diagonally to it. Kelsi gingerly sat down, trying not to rubberneck. Everything in this room seemed to cost more than her family's combined salary and here she was in a dirty pair of sneakers, old shorts, and a T-shirt. Dad took off his hat and laid it on his knee.

Clan Leader Bloodmoon picked up a mug off the coffee table and took a sip. "So, what can I help you with?"

Dad cleared his throat. "My daughter has some concerns about Alpha Lee," he said, glancing at Kelsi.

"Oh?" The older woman tilted her head. "What is it, dear?"

Kelsi felt herself pinned by the clan leader's blue eyes. She had to be careful with what she said—not only was this woman the leader of Clan Bloodmoon, but she was also Alpha Lee's grandmother. There were so many ways Kelsi could offend her.

"He—" She paused and swallowed, nails digging into the flesh of her kneecaps. "He had a fit at the zoo today. It scared me."

The clan leader blinked but said nothing. She simply took another sip from her mug.

"I have a seven-year-old daughter, Clan Leader. I understand that your grandson and I formed a mate bond, but I'm concerned ..." The words stuck in her throat, pinned there by the beta woman's tolerant gaze. "I'm worried he might hurt us."

"I see." The clan leader set her mug down and drew her legs up so that she was sitting cross-legged on the couch. "And that's a very valid concern, my dear. As I'm sure you know, I am Lee's grandmother and as such, I'm biased, but I am also his clan leader. Or, I was, until his ascension." She smiled wryly. "Regardless, I know him well enough to tell you that what you saw today is not indicative of his real character. Is Lee impulsive? Yes. Does he have a temper? He most assuredly does, but that temper has never led him to strike out at a woman. Believe me when I tell you that what is happening now scares him as much as it scares you."

Kelsi looked down at the warm golden brown wooden floor and laced her fingers together. Dad reached over and laid a hand on her knee. "But will it go away?" he asked.

Clan Leader Bloodmoon nodded. "Oh, yes. This happens all the time when alphas visit each other's territory. Once an opposing alpha has left, everything goes back to normal."

A beta would know these things, right? Especially a clan leader of Mrs Bloodmoon's standing.

"I see you're not convinced, Kelsi."

Kelsi's head came up and she felt her cheeks redden. "It's not that—well, it's partly that, and the fact we don't know each other. As I said, I have a daughter."

"And you have to protect her—as your father is protecting you." The clan leader nodded. "Ah, thank you, Gerry."

The blond, bearded beta male entered the living room and placed a tray filled with cheese, crackers, and sliced meats between them. "In case you're hungry," he said in a deep, rumbling voice, setting down bottles of water. "So, what did I miss?" he asked, sitting down beside his wife.

"We were discussing Lee's alpha rage and Kelsi's concerns with marrying him." Reaching forward, the clan leader took a piece of cheese and popped it into her mouth. "Do you have a picture of your daughter?"

"Uh, yes." Kelsi opened her phone and found a picture of Riley working on her science camp race car. She handed the phone over.

"Oh, look at that!" Mrs Bloodmoon exclaimed, showing her husband. "How precious! Does she enjoy building things?"

"Yes, she's very science-minded."

The clan leader smiled and handed Kelsi back her phone. "She and Lee should get along very well, then. He loves to make things, too. He made this coffee table for us as an anniversary present."

Kelsi glanced at the table, which she had assumed had come from Ikea or some other high-end store. "That's ... wow, very cool," she told them. As much as she hated to admit it, a man who was good with his hands was a turn-on.

"Now, what else can I tell you about my precious grandson that will embarrass him?" the clan leader continued with a smile.

Dad looked over at Kelsi. "Is that everything you wanted to know, Kels? We don't want to take up any more of Clan Leader Bloodmoon's time."

The beta woman chuckled, at the same time her husband chimed in, "Once you get her talking, she doesn't stop."

"Enough out of you," the clan leader said, laughing. "And you can call me Leslie—or Nana, whichever you prefer."

This wasn't the environment Kelsi had expected to walk into. She thought all betas believed themselves to be superior, and would talk down to anyone of lower rank than them. But the Bloodmoons were friendly and open, and their home, while beautiful and organized, definitely looked lived-in.

She did have to go to work in the morning, but she did tell Alpha Lee she needed to know him better. So she leaned forward and picked up a piece of cheese. "Tell me more, please."

Leslie beamed. "Best get some coffee, Gerry. Now, then ..."