A double upload to say sorry for being away so long. Hope you enjoy and if you see typos, can you please point them out for me? :)

The next morning I was woken by Leo. He decided to accomplish that by stealing my sleeping bag. Shivering and uncomfortable, I didn't want to stay in bed long after that.

It was time to leave for New Dawn. Apparently, Brandon had managed to get permission to raid their territory. Although I hadn't expected to be included, Rhys and Fion had kicked up one hell of a fuss. Brandon was also taking Leo and Callum, because he wanted some of his own men to back him up.

We would be running there in wolf form, and driving back in a new sports car with the loot. I didn't understand why Alphas bothered buying expensive, flashy cars when most wolves didn't drive. And mobile valuables were always so easy to steal. We usually sold them and spent the money on equipment or food.

I grabbed a quick breakfast and begged sandwiches from Maggie to eat later, then shifted and met up with Rhys and Fion at the camp entrance. Now it was light, I could see a jagged mark on Fion's neck. The teeth marks were bigger and messier than they should have been, which could mean only one thing: Brandon had marked her by force. That's not all he had done, but I only found out the rest much, much later.

To say I was pissed off would be an understatement. And my wolf was even more pissed off. She took control completely, and I didn't argue about it. Brandon chose the wrong moment to walk over to us in human form. I leapt at him, bowling him clean over, then snapped at his arm. Before he could shift or my teeth could take a chunk out of him, Rhys intervened.

My adopted brother, who didn't even bother shifting, tackled me. I was knocked clean off Brandon, and pinned down by an oppressing weight on my abdomen and shoulders. No matter how much I wriggled, I couldn't quite escape unless I was willing to do some permanent damage.

Brandon leapt to his feet and was met by Leo and Callum, who wisely held him back. Fion had little choice but to go his side and calm him down. Because if he shifted, the fight would be twice as bloody.

Rhys frowned down at me and said, "Skye, while I have no doubt my brother earnt that, you can't go around killing people when they're defenceless."

I finally regained enough control to lie still, and he cautiously eased off me but stayed between us.

"Look at her mark! Don't you see something wrong there?" I shouted through the link, keeping my stormy eyes fixed on Brandon. He scowled at me, completely oblivious to the mental conversation.

Rhys's gaze flickered between the angry red welts and his brother, he swore and strode right up to the four of them. Brandon's rage faded to annoyance as Rhys asked in a dangerously low voice, "Is that a forced mark?"

"Of course not," Brandon scoffed. "She let me. And why wouldn't she? We're mates."

Rhys just continued to glare at him. "I'm not asking you, prick. Fion, is it?"

By the glazed look in his eyes, I could tell Brandon was mind-linking her and I could take a wild guess at what he said because Fion swallowed, averted her eyes and said no very quietly. If that hadn't given away the lie, then the tell-tale shake in her voice would have.

Rhys realised that as well. He dragged Brandon away from Fion by his collar, and threw a punch at his jaw. Brandon's head flew backwards with the force of the blow, and smacked against the tree trunk. He sank down half a metre or so, dazed and defeated, and the other rogues managed to get between the brothers. Leo put himself in Rhys's way with some reluctance, while Callum checked on Brandon.

But the older Llewellyn was incredulous. The back of his head was bleeding, which was no more than he deserved for a forced marking. He spat out a stream of curses and demanded, "What the hell was that about? You heard her - she said no!"

Rhys ignored him. His knuckles were no doubt stinging, perhaps even broken, but he didn't cringe like his brother. He said gently, "Fion, you can shift. You're coming with us." His voice filled with disgust as he regarded his victim. "And you are staying right here. I don't want to see you near her ever again."

Fion seemed dangerously close to tears, so I went over to lick her hand. My winter fur coat pressed against her side, full of reassuring warmth. She placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a grateful squeeze.

"We're sisters, Fion. I'm with you, come whatever," I said through the mind-link, and got a grateful feeling in return. It wasn't helpful to berate her for not telling us now. She just needed to feel a little less alone.

"You can't tell me what to do. She's my mate and she belongs at my side, whether she wants to be there or not," Brandon growled. His possessiveness was almost unnatural. This had to be his wolf speaking, even if his eyes were their normal shade of hazel.

"She belongs with us, and that's exactly where she's going to stay," I snapped through the link. Rhys shifted and Fion followed his example. I led the way into the forest at a slow lope, with the others following close behind.

Brandon, who knew the time for fighting was over, just shouted after us, "Siding with pack mutts over your own blood? You'll regret that, Rhys."

There are any number of names he could have called me, and I wouldn't have given a shit. But pack mutt? That stung.

When that failed to achieve a response, he snarled at his mate. It was full of sickening possession and dominance, an unspoken order to return to him. I let my own wolf out in answer, calling to hers. It sheltered her from the force of the order, and Fion hardly even hesitated before carrying on.

"I'm sorry, Fion. I really thought he'd changed," Rhys mind-linked us, and the hatred in his voice made my heart ache. We'd done that. Eight years of separation and now the Llewellyn brothers were at each other's throats over a girl.

"You don't have to apologise, Rhys. It's not your fault," Fion replied. "You know, he really still cares about you."

"How do you know that?" Rhys asked doubtfully.

"Because I'm older and that means I'm always right," she answered smugly.

"It does not," I scoffed.

"Ah, ah, ah. The rule nullifies your input." She smiled slightly. This was more like Fion, not the shy, skittish creature Brandon had reduced her to. That smile settled all my worries about her. Fion would be okay, as long as she stayed the hell away from her mate.

We reached New Dawn territory just after midday and quickly crossed the border. There were no wolves at home who could even pose a challenge to us, so it was only numbers we needed to worry about.

"I can't believe we're doing this..." I muttered mentally, looking at the pile of wolf droppings in front of me. "There's no way it's hygienic."

"Oh, it's not. But we ditched our back-up, so if we don't hide our scents we're screwed," Rhys sighed, then bravely set an example by rolling in the droppings.

I wrinkled up my nose in disgust, trying to muster up the will to copy him. A minute later I was thoroughly miserable but camouflaged to enemy noses.

"How's that?" I asked with a cringe.

"You stink of flockies. It's vile," Fion replied with an odd degree of fascination. "I need to look at the science behind this. Do their just scents mask ours, or is it replaced entirely?"

"Great...I guess," I muttered. "Let's just get this over with so I can wash this shit off."

We trotted straight into the heart of the territory without encountering any locals. The alarms weren't even raised - our scents were indistinguishable from the packlings. We had to take a few detours to avoid patrols, because the ruse wouldn't hold if they saw us covered in droppings.

This pack house was surrounded by a village. New Dawn were a very social pack, who believed in safety in numbers. They lived together for the most part, although there were a few scattered houses. The settlement was protected by a stone wall, almost twice my height. They took security seriously.

We shifted in the trees just outside, pulling on clothes from one of the hollow trees which littered the forest. Even without fur, the droppings were dried on. It made my skin crawl, but I could now safely wipe most of it off. We were wearing New Dawn clothes, which would help to mask my scent.

Using the main gate would draw the sort of attention we could do without, so I pulled myself into the branches of an apple tree, then climbed until I was within jumping distance of the wall. While my siblings scrambled up below, I leapt for it.

My body slammed against the bricks, and all the breath left my body. For a while, I gasped and struggled to find a grip on the smooth surface. It was more slippery than I had anticipated, but eventually I managed to perch myself precariously on the top. Fion came next, and Rhys last. When we were all safely up, I lowered myself over the side so I was dangling off the wall. Rhys lay down and took my arms, and I sank even further.

"If you drop me, Rhys, I swear I'll-" I started threatening, but he cut me off.

"Don't tempt me, Skye."

When I was as close to the ground as I could get, I let go of his hands and jumped the last few meters to the ground, landing in a bone-jarring crouch. Once again, Fion was next to join me. Rhys, with no one to lower him, fell heavily. He didn't seem too badly hurt, though.

We found shelter behind a brick cottage and caught our breath. It was just starting to drizzle, a fine mist that was more annoying than problematic. Rhys pulled up his hood and raised a buff over his nose and mouth.

"Because that doesn't look suspicious at all," I muttered sarcastically.

He scowled but grudgingly uncovered his face. "Spoilsport."

We made our way through the village painfully slowly, ducking behind houses whenever we saw a shifter. Instead of going through the very visible front doors of the pack house, we crept around to the back door, which happened to be locked. Damn the packs for their common sense.

"Fion, you take the Alpha's house. See if you can find his car keys," I suggested. She nodded and left to do just that.

I pulled a pair of picks out of my backpack and slotted them into the keyhole. Let me tell you, lockpicking was not as easy as they pretended in the movies. It took time and energy and practice. But less than a minute later, the door clicked open and we slipped inside.

I shrugged off my backpack and began to fill it with anything that looked remotely valuable. Ornaments, gadgets and anything remotely shiny fell victim to my magpie eyes. If it couldn't be sold, it would be used.

As I was rounding a corner, I heard the tell-tale scuffles of someone coming. There wasn't enough time for me to hide. All I could do was throw my backpack at Rhys and shove him into a side room before they saw me.

"Do I know you?" he asked suspiciously. This guy was muscular enough to be a Delta. Maybe even higher ranked. I could fight him, but it wasn't worth the time and effort it would take.

"No, I don't think so. I'm new here," I explained. Rhys was no doubt rolling his eyes nearby. He was the kill first, ask questions later type.

His eyes narrowed. "Why didn't we have a pack meeting to introduce you?"

I had to think on my feet. "It was an emergency placement. We're going to have one when the Alpha and Luna get back. Didn't he tell you? You can ring him and ask if you want."

"We have orders not to disturb him, but I'll ask the third-in-command when he comes back from patrol," he said dismissively, before carrying on down the corridor as if nothing had happened. These packlings didn't have very suspicious minds. Idiots.

Rhys didn't emerge from the room, so I went in. It was a roomy study full of laptops, no doubt the pack's command centre. We couldn't guarantee the laptops weren't traceable so, regrettably, we'd have to leave them. But I did take a credit card and a stack of cash from a drawer.

"Let's find Fion and get out of here," I suggested. Every unnecessary second we spent lingering was only a greater risk. Especially as that Delta had seen me.

Fion met us in the secluded parking lot where the cars were kept. She was carrying a bulging rucksack and standing by a blue Mercedes. It was by far the best of the rundown vehicles there. Jace was the first Alpha I'd ever known who didn't own a vast collection of expensive cars. Was he just economical, or wised up to the rogue raids?

"Get anything good?" I asked when we reached her. Rhys had jimmied the door open and slid into the driver's seat, and was now trying to hotwire the car.

"No keys, unfortunately, but there was plenty of cash," Fion replied. She slid into the back seat. I climbed into the front and noticed a slight flaw in our plan.

"None of us have a licence. We left Leo behind," I realised. We could either run out in wolf form or call home and wait for him. The latter wasn't really an option, so it looked like we'd have to ditch the Mercedes.

"Nah, it's fine - I'll drive. I mean, how hard can it be really?" Rhys volunteered cheerfully, with his ever-present grin.

Bad plan. Really bad plan.

That was when the sirens should have started going off in my head, but all I said was, "Just try not to crash, okay?"

Rhys winked at me and slammed his foot down on a pedal. It was unfortunate that the car happened to be in reverse. It shot backwards and sent a metal bin flying, which hit the ground with such a terrible clang that any shifter within a kilometre would have heard it.

He braked a second before we would have slammed into the wall, then wrestled with the gear stick. We finally sped out of the parking lot and straight through the main gate, breaking it in the process. Dozens of packlings watched incredulously, no doubt wondering when their Alpha had got home. They recognised the car and didn't pay enough attention to its occupants.

In such a fast car, Rhys managed to get us home in half an hour, although his driving was at best reckless and at worst suicidal. There were several close shaves with other cars and at one point, a petrol station.

Upon arriving home, we handed the rucksacks to the children for sorting and then went straight to our shelter to sleep, stopping only to report to Rhodric on the way. He had a guest, though - not unusual - and we were told to wait until morning. The man in the tent smelt and sounded unfamiliar, and I only managed to catch one word of their conversation. It was a name and not one I recognised. Malcolm.

I was tired enough that I didn't wake when Fion left to use the toilet ... and failed to notice that she only slipped back into her bed after midnight, shaking, with tear tracks on her cheeks.

We thought Brandon had given up on Fion - that we were safe from him now. Little did I know that as we slept that night, Brandon was exacting one sort of revenge, while plotting another. And the second, deadly plot would be put into action the very next day.