And it's update night again! Bringing this chapter to you from a holiday cottage in Cornwall.

We are going to have a mass dedication session for all the commenters the day after this is posted, so if you have a favourite chapter between 1-7 and 17+ make sure to let me know, otherwise I'll do it in alphabetical order.

The next day was all about party preparations. Before dawn, I was up and dressed, astoundingly, ready for a supply run into town. We'd decided to take the Mercedes from New Dawn Pack, just because teenagers appearing out of the woods might seem odd to the local humans. And I couldn't be bothered running anywhere at this time of the morning.

"Kyle and Kevin! You have thirty seconds before I ask Sophie to drive!" I shouted at the blue, stripy tent where the twins slept.

As you might remember, none of us had a licence or any idea how to drive a car. Leo was the exception, but he was having a well-earned sleep in, and I didn't have the heart to wake him up. Kyle and Kevin, despite their slightly immature behaviour, were both seventeen with licences.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I heard one of them yell back. Kyle, perhaps?

"Don't forget me. I'm coming too."

"I wasn't forgetting - I just wanted to let you speak for yourself."

"Oh, come on, even you know you're making that up."

"Oi!" I bellowed. They fell silent immediately. I had no idea I had so much influence over them. "Less talking, more getting ready. Please."

A few minutes later ... Kevin? (yeah, we'll go with Kevin) stumbled out of the tent with one shoe on and his hair ruffled up wildly.

"Where's the car?" he asked sleepily.

I jerked a thumb behind myself, where the Mercedes and Fion were waiting. We had decided to make it a small trip. Too many strangers arriving in such a small town attracted too much attention, especially when all of them were bulky, well-built teenagers.

If it had been up to my friends, I wouldn't be going at all. They insisted I deserved rest, and the chores could be left to someone else. But after, like, a whole day doing nothing, I was already bored to distraction. Which was why I had volunteered for the supply run.

Kevin hopped off in the general direction of the car while trying to unlace his missing trainer. I shook the tent and started yelling again.

"Kyle! Get a move on."

The twin I'd decided was Kevin turned and looked at me, full of confusion. Oh well. It was a fifty-fifty chance.

"Kevin, get a move on. Kyle, you just carry on. Ignore me."

My wolf was laughing at me again. She called me an idiot and told me that I could just identify them by scent. I reminded her that it wasn't my fault. I hadn't thought of that because human instincts don't encourage you to sniff your friends whenever you see them.

Sure enough, when I checked their scents, they were slightly different. That would have been nice to know years ago. It would have saved me a lot of embarrassment.

Kevin finally came out of the tent (when I say came out, I really mean tripped in the doorway, brought the tent down around him, panicked, and had to be rescued from the huge sheet of fabric). I'd like to say that we all piled into the car without argument, but of course, that was out of the question for the twins.

"Why do you get to drive?"

"I got here first."

"So how come you got to eat the last trifle when I had it first?"

"You're seriously bringing that up now? It was a totally different situation!"

"The principles were the same."

"Why do I feel like a nursery teacher?" I muttered. "Kyle can drive on the way and Kevin can drive on the way back."

"But -" they said in unison.

"No buts," I scolded sternly. They started sniggering like the immature children they were.

"She said-"

"-butts."

"Oh, come on. I don't believe you two are seventeen." I was on the back seat next to Fion, waiting impatiently for one of them (and I really didn't care which one) to start the engine.

"Neither does our mother," Kyle agreed.

"And she gave birth to us," Kevin added.

"Well, that is the usual definition of mother."

"I was emphasising that she should know how old we are."

I sighed loudly. "Here's an idea. How about we play a game? Who-can-be-quiet-the-longest is my favourite."

"I'm great at that game!" Kyle exclaimed happily. He had finally put the car into gear and set off, to my delight. Who knew shopping could be so difficult?

"So I am. What does the winner get?" Kevin asked.

Fion rolled her eyes. "You really need a prize? Oh, wait- don't answer that. I got an idea. The winner gets to pick the music for tonight. The loser has to look after the car while we shop."

"Okay! Are we starting already?" he asked.

I pressed my finger to my lips and gave him a pointed look. Kevin clamped his mouth firmly shut.

The car journey was long and quiet. I took the time to ring every single number for Rhodric I possessed. And there were quite a few of them. I even tried his old contacts, checking if they had seen him. No one had - at least, no one admitted they had. Fion prodded at the mind-link and came to the conclusion that he was blocking her.

Bastard.

Kyle and Kevin were as quiet as mice. We didn't hear a single peep out of them until the car pulled into a tiny café carpark. We weren't the only people there, even though it was well before lunchtime. Another sports car sat adjacent.

"When does the game finish? Is it when we get out the car? Or just when someone speaks?" Kyle inquired jovially. He only realised what he had done when Kevin burst out laughing, and he face-palmed.

"Have fun sitting in the car for hours," Fion told him.

We had finally come to a stop, so I eased open the door. When I was about to get out, I noticed something in the side pocket - the corner of a photo peeking out. I reached forwards to grab it, and couldn't help smiling when I saw the beaming faces.

There was a group of people crowded by a lake. In the centre was a dark-haired young man with his arm around a girl. Judging from who this car had belonged to, I guessed they were Alpha Jace and his mate, Emma. She was beside a grinning boy, while on the other side was someone I recognised instantly: Dan Rutherford. He had fallen in with our crowd during his rogue years.

When my eyes slid left, their diameter doubled. A blonde girl, with grey eyes. The mirror image of me, yet I had never seen her before. What-?

Just a coincidence, I insisted. Must be. I didn't have any real family, as far as I knew. And surely Rhodric would have told me if I had a sibling or cousin. Though, judging from her looks, we could have been twins. Just imagine that - a pack version of me. It was laughable at best, ridiculous at worst.

Everyone in the picture looked so happy and comfortable with each other that I felt a pang in my chest. My own family was scattered to the wind, separated and in danger. We weren't safe apart. It was just not in the nature of wolves. Every day, I missed them more.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my own photos. They were Rhodric's little collection, folded into the letter he had left for me. Last night, I had shown the whole lot to Fion. She was about as baffled as I was, yet still found the spirit to tease me about my other identity, and how she was far better at naming kids than my parents, obviously. Skye or Lauren? It was an easy choice.

After a few nostalgic moments, I slipped all of them into my pocket, resolving to return Jace's to him if I ever got the opportunity. Cars and money, I was fine with stealing. But memories have a different sort of value. The emotional sort: impossible to replace and painful to lose.

I climbed out of the car, ignoring Kyle sulking in the front seat. Only when he had harrumphed loudly and scowled twice did he bother to lower his window for a conversation. "So, I just sit here?"

"Yes. If we aren't back by lunchtime, you can eat in the café. Just keep your head down and your ears open. This place is notorious for shifter activity. Other than that, just look after the car."

"As if the car needs guarding," Kyle grumbled under his breath. "Crime rates in country villages are non-existent."

He was right - this was unnecessary. But when the twins were separated, they weren't half as bad. So I left him to his perpetual brooding to join the others. They were already halfway to the supermarket by that point. The village was just big enough to have one, along with a pub that was the favourite haunt of our rogues, and a cinema which I had often enjoyed sneaking into.

The supermarket was an Asda, which was fortunate, because the prices were low. We were broke most of the time. Any money earned from raids was invested in food and equipment as soon as it appeared, leaving our funds permanently depleted.

For this trip, I had scraped together a few hundred pounds to feed a few hundred people. A renowned raider named Syd Jacobs had done a number on the Shadowless Pack's bank account and donated the profits to our party. How unusually nice of him.

Inside the supermarket, we had to split up to finish the shopping in a reasonable amount of time. I pushed a trolley around lazily, throwing in handfuls of everything cheap and cheerful. It didn't even matter if I was buying coconut flavoured marzipan - someone would like it.

In all of my years with the rogues, I had never done the supply run before. I had tagged along as a guard and sat in the Wi-Fi café by the carpark on multiple occasions. But I had never actually bulk-bought food before. It was surprisingly difficult.

There was a small shopping list to fulfil - Maggie's requests. She would be catering the evening, along with the other kitchen staff. But having never seen most of the food on it before (glacier cherries don't grow on trees in the forest), I had to commandeer a nice employee called Steve to explain what the hell those words meant.

I got to the till at the same time as Fion and Kevin, and it quickly became apparent that our meagre funding wouldn't pay for three overflowing trolleys. The bill came to over five hundred pounds, according to Fion before we went through the checkout. She was right. I dumped the wad of notes on the counter and fished around in my pocket.

There was a credit card in there. Alpha Jace's, which I had stolen along with his car. It was contactless, so I wouldn't even need a pin. He might have frozen it by now and it could certainly be traced, but it was a risk I had to take.

The transaction went through. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not.

If Jace was smart (and I had a sneaking suspicion he was), he could have the police on our tails. Unhelpful, and annoying to deal with. But if I hadn't used it, my rogues wouldn't eat tonight. And tomorrow we would be back to squirrels and pigeons.

The cashier gave me an odd look, as if wondering why three teenagers in ragged clothing were buying so much food, and how we could afford it. I was suddenly aware of a security camera moving around to focus on us, and I ducked my head to pack the shopping bags. Dammit. Someone, somewhere, suspected something.

We gathered up the handfuls of plastic bags, and several of them split. As food spilled out and rolled into inconvenient corners, I cursed under my breath. A nearby woman threw me a filthy look and covered her child's ears. Too late, I remembered that most parents didn't deliberately teach their kids swearwords (cough, Rhodric, cough).

"Next time we're ordering online," I grumbled loudly. Fion rolled her eyes and bent down to gather the escapees.

We struggled outside, munching on starbursts and Cadbury's chocolate. I had at least four bags in each hand, and to eat, I had to lift them all the way to my face. It was like a workout. Why bother with the gym when everyday chores were just as gruelling?

By the time we reached the car, my hands were stinging. We had overpacked the bags and the thin handles exacted their revenge. Fion muttered some explanation about force and surface area which no one really listened to. I opened the boot of the Mercedes and began loading multipack cans of cola and sprite. Damned sports cars and their lack of space. Most of the shopping would end up on my lap, I suspected.

"How was it?" Kyle asked quietly and somewhat dreamily. It was a drastic change from his usual argumentative tone that I stood up too quickly and cracked my head on the boot.

Even Kevin looked concerned. While I rubbed the back of my head and winced, he went over to peer at his twin. "What's going on?"

"Well, Kev. There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time," Kyle said sincerely. "I shouldn't have ever kept it from you, but I swear it was for your own protection."

"What?" Kevin's voice was full of panic and betrayal. Gullible idiot.

He still refused to crack a smile. "You see, I'm a ninja."

Kevin scoffed. "No, you're not."

"I can prove it," he replied confidently. "Did you see me do that?"

"Do what?"

"Exactly." Now Kyle finally let himself smirk.

"Seriously," I joined in. "What's up, Kyle? And stow the ninja crap. If it was true, I wouldn't have put you on your ass in training last week."

Kyle's face broke into a dreamy grin. "I stayed here like you said. For hours, by the way. How long does it take? Anyway, when I went to get lunch, the café just smelled so good. I think I found my mate."

"The ... café ... is your mate?" Kevin asked slowly.

"No! My mate is inside!"

The three of us looked at each other and somehow spoke simultaneously.

"How did you know?"

"Is she human?"

"There's a shifter on our land?"

Of course Fion was the one to ask the sensible question, having already assumed that she must be an adult shifter to recognise Kyle when he was underage. Kevin and I were too caught up in the excitement for logic.

Kyle shrugged, uncaring about this minor detail. "Um ... yeah. I guess she is on our land, with half of Shadowless Pack."

"What?" I demanded. And without waiting for an answer, I marched around the car to punch his shoulder through the open window. "You found wolves trespassing and you didn't mind-link? I understand that your mate is a tad distracting, but don't you still have half the common sense you were born with?"

"Alright, it wasn't quite half of Shadowless. There's six of them in there," he said defensively.

Kevin was more concerned about Kyle's well-being than I was. "Didn't they try anything? I mean, flockies don't take well to rogues."

Especially when we actually close to their territory. This town had been neutral ground a long time ago but, as Last Haven grew in numbers, we had pushed out our boundaries to include it. Shadowless Pack, who unofficially considered the village theirs, hadn't liked that. We had been bickering over it ever since.

"She came to me - pretended to go to the bathroom so she could follow my scent. I don't think they even know I'm here yet," Kyle explained.

"Then they're about to find out." I had transcended from incredulous to pissed off. Shadowless killed trespassers, full stop. They were the only pack to hand out such harsh punishments, so they weren't about to get away with the same trick on my land. I had lost friends to the ruthless Alpha Vik and, more recently, his son Zach

I shoved the café doors open and walked in, hands in my pockets and looking undeniably innocent. I saw half a dozen people snap to attention out of the corner of my eyes, and blatantly ignored them to lean on the counter and order a lemonade. I said they weren't going to get away with it, I didn't say I wasn't going to mess with them first. And Brandon said I wasn't a rogue.

Once the drink was in my hand, I picked out a booth and settled down, taking the time to arrange my jacket and check my phone. Only when I heard low growls did I finally bother looking up. It took a moment to identify the shifters. They were the biggest group in here, all muscular young adults. Three boys and three girls, and the tallest must have been an-

Oh shit.

Zach Lloyd, the Alpha of Shadowless Pack. Not someone you want to piss off without sufficient backup, which was Rhys or Rhodric where Alphas were involved. The ragtag backup I did have - two overgrown toddlers and Fion - entered the café as Zach regarded me, a smirk playing about his lips.

I stared straight back and even had the nerve to yawn. Waves of dominance and power washed over me without leaving a mark. I felt the Alpha's chilled amusement turn to annoyance as his wolf failed to have any effect on mine. His companions felt much the same way, by their increasingly frequent snarling.

My friends sat down around me. They were out of breath and giving me death stares. It was obvious we wouldn't win this fight. I could take the Alpha (maybe), but that still left my friends outnumbered. So we needed more rogues. I broke off a staring match to take a sip of my drink and browse the menu, using it to disguise a mind-link.

"Leo, get your lazy ass to town and bring as many fighters as you can round up. We have company. And not the nice sort."

His thoughts were slow and muddled, and I guessed I had just woken him up. Through the drowsy haze came coherence, which quickly turned to worry. "What have you done now?"

"I like how you assume it's my fault," I teased. "We ran into some flockies in the café. No big deal."

I cut off my link and turned my attention back to the Shadowless wolves. I didn't want to start a confrontation in a room full of humans, for the sake of our species. Somehow we needed to get them outside. The woods at the back of the car park would be perfect - close enough to get out of sight if anyone shifted.

Zach was watching us with dark, suspicious eyes. He suddenly decided he couldn't be bothered to make this subtle, stood up, and walked over to our table. The young Alpha stopped directly in front of Kevin (because he was the tallest of us, and by Alpha logic, the leader).

"Do you want to tell me what you think you're doing?" he asked in a dangerously low tone. If I wasn't so much of a rogue I might have been scared. But I was, so it was just amusing.

"No, I don't," Kevin replied nonchalantly, then nodded towards me. "But I'm willing to bet she does."

Zach glared at Kevin for a moment longer in an attempt to make him squirm (it really didn't work) before he turned to grin at me instead. "Okay, sweetheart. What do you think you're doing?"

He talked to me in the most belittling way I could imagine. Most Alphas were this way: females were utterly beneath their notice. Unless it involved mating, they couldn't care less about us. In pack society, my gender wasn't trained to fight or sometimes even allowed independence.

My wolf started to get pissed off, which was never a good thing. She tended to act impulsively. And before I knew it, I had stood up and slammed my knee between his legs. Zach made a choking sound and bent over. I had about ten seconds of his crippling agony to realise how screwed I was.

He grabbed my throat and slammed me against the wall. My back hit the bricks first, knocking the air out of me. As I gasped for breath, my head followed suit. My vision flashed black and white, as if my eyes had been invaded by zebras.

The pressure on my neck increased to a painful level. I was too dazed to move, but conscious enough to see that all the diners were staring at us with open mouths. The twins and Fion were on their feet, but blocked from reaching us by Zach's men.

I reached for my knife as subtly as I could. The metal felt icy cold in my fingers. Without letting the humans see the blade, I pressed it to Zach's abdomen, the only body part I could easily reach. As a wound there wasn't fatal, he refused to release me. The message was clear: Go ahead. See how quickly I can break your neck.

The owner of the café was brave enough to hurry over and looked at Zach despairingly. "Please let go of that young lady and leave my property. You have ten seconds before I dial triple nine."

The locals must have thought we were having some sort of gang face off (which in hindsight is exactly what we were doing), because now the Shadowless wolves were lining up against mine. One wrong move and a full-on brawl would break out.

Zach considered the humans, not bothering to conceal his frustration. But he was remarkably calm when he released my throat and knocked my knife-hand away from him. The blade slipped into my sleeve, ready if it was needed again.

"My apologies," he told the owner while straightening his jacket. "We'll be going."

"Thank you," the man sighed. His relief was obvious and understandable. The other diners were still gaping unashamedly at our exchange.

I resisted the urge to pant like a dog. He had been squeezing off the oxygen from my brain, which was excruciating. And maybe it had affected my ability to make decisions, because I followed him outside without a fuss. We walked as an awkward group to the fringe of the woods.

I could only hope that Leo would get here in time. Otherwise, I expected to be a decaying body before the morning was over.