Oh thank the Moon Goddess that my holiday home has wifi. I've been on a complete writing spree and have four chapters ready in advance! Now I might even get to thirty chapters before the Wattys :D

Zach didn't even deign to look at me, but his group weren't shy with their glares. One of the females was watching Kyle with obvious concern, and I safely assumed that she was his mate. Dark hair and eyes — his polar opposite. But I thought I detected a mischievous undertone which would fit right in at Last Haven.

We reached the treeline and returned to our standoff as if we hadn't been interrupted. Except, this time, I would prefer a verbal argument to a physical one. At least, until Leo arrived with backup.

"So, Zach, what are you doing so far from home?" I asked. He ignored the question and asked one of his own.

"I'm at a disadvantage here. You know my name, but I don't know yours. Who the hell are you?"

"This is Kyle, Kevin and Fion," I introduced them first. "And I'm Skye Llewellyn."

He shrugged. "Never heard of you."

I smirked at that. "Lucky you. But you'll know my father. Rhodric Llewellyn."

Disbelief turned to suspicion. "Rhodric doesn't have any daughters."

"Yet here I am." I wrinkled up my nose in distaste. "And you happen to be trespassing on my land."

"First of all, only packs can own land, not upstart rogue girls. Secondly, what the hell kind of a name is Skye, anyway?" Zach spoke with the level of arrogance that only Alphas can possess. It was already making me want to bash his smirking face in.

"She named me, so kindly direct all your criticisms at her." I jerked a thumb towards Fion. "Oh and my bad. I must have forgotten to mention. We're from Last Haven Pack."

"No such thing," he scoffed.

I cocked my head to the side. "Isn't that what they said about Shadowless a few decades ago?"

He accepted that with a grudging nod. "Okay. Fair enough. But explain something to me. You're a female. Even if Rhodric's not in charge anymore, he had two sons. Who died and made you queen?"

"Rhodric actually. Then Brandon, and most likely Rhys too." My tone was stone cold and as indifferent as I could force myself to be.

My dad and brother weren't dead, of course. But it was beneficial to pretend they were. If the Alphas caught wind that Rhodric was drifting and isolated, they would hunt him like a stray fox. And Rhys would be safer as an anonymous rogue prisoner.

For the first time, some emotion flickered across the young Alpha's face. "Shit, really?I'm sorry to hear that. Rhodric was a friend of my father's — saved his life a while back. I even met Rhys once or twice. He was ... brave, I guess. What happened to them?"

I snorted because his definition of meeting was chasing Rhys off his territory. I remembered all too well Rhys's description of Zach after that occasion: 'a hothead.' How remarkably accurate, judging by the café incident.

"Brandon happened, then I happened to Brandon," I muttered darkly. It suddenly struck me that I was having the first civil conversation with an Alpha since ... well, forever. Maybe Zach wasn't as bad as I had thought. After all his pack had been a group of rogues once, same as us.

Zach was approving. "Good for you. How'd he get the jump on you in the first place?"

"Ferals."

"Ferals," he repeated, as if trying to make a connection. "Oh, shit. Please tell me Rhys wasn't with the Ferals."

"Yes, quite possibly," I admitted, narrowing my eyes at him. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"My cousin has been trying to identify a feral prisoner. Described him as uncooperative and insolent. That sound familiar to you?" Zach asked.

Yes. Yes, it did. Zach's cousin would be Alpha Jace, which meant New Dawn Pack. We had been right. So much for anonymous rogue prisoner status. But if they thought he was a feral, then even being a Llewellyn was safer than that. And now we knew where he was, I could initiate negotiations for his release.

"He's alive?" I asked quietly. So much radio silence had instilled some doubt in me. It wasn't like Rhys to disappear — that was more Rhodric's forte.

"For now. But he's not cooperating, and Jace doesn't appreciate that. Another few days of resistance and he'll condemn himself."

Uh oh. As much as I hated it, Rhys needed to start talking. I had been in similar situations in the past, and stubborn pride tended to win over self-preservation. Once someone began demanding rather than asking, it became twice as hard to give in. At least, that was the case for rogues. Sitting us down, giving us food, and starting a pleasant conversation could get information where torture failed, I had often found. But of course, that wouldn't even occur to an Alpha. So they used pain to achieve their ends, which was more effort and more mess. Worse for everyone.

"Rhys will die before he breaks," I began very slowly, as if talking to a child. "But he might bend. Tell your darling cousin that snacks are bound to work. I'd suggest walnuts — his favourite."

It was a subtle message, I hoped. Rhys would remember an incident with a picnic bench and start to wonder how I had managed to involve myself. It might be enough to loosen his tongue, or just remind him that I was expecting him home in one piece. And Zach wouldn't have any idea that we were communicating through food, which was exactly the way I liked it.

"Walnuts? Do I even want to know?" Zach asked with obvious amusement.

Kyle coughed, and I suddenly became aware that everyone else was watching the exchange with amazement. It wasn't often you saw an Alpha and a rogue making friends. If that was even what we were doing — I wasn't sure.

"Probably not," I replied as our back-up made their arrival known with lazy yips. Leo's wolf emerged from the trees to our left. He tossed his head and stalked forwards to stand between Zach and me. I let it get as far as that before I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head. Leo's mouth — which he had opened to snarl at the Alpha — closed abruptly. A pair of dark eyes regarded me with curiosity.

"Relax, Leo. He's going to help Rhys. So, for now, I need him. When we're doing using him like a tool, you're welcome to let rip," I told him through the mind-link.

"He's going to— Wait, what?" The muddle of his thoughts was only confusing me, too. It was mental turmoil in there. "What exactly happened since you mind-linked for help?"

It appeared that he wasn't the only one with questions. Zach's eyes narrowed. "And I thought we were getting along so well. People don't need guard dogs when they're being friendly. What's this?"

His gaze was flickering between the trees and the timber wolf at my side. That drew my attention to Ollie, who was also present now. A dozen Last Haven wolves stood at his heels. Nice work, Leo. Bring the whole army, why don't you?

I decided to answer out loud, for the sake of my sanity. There was only so much mental conversation I could stomach in my human form. "Zach, this is Leo. Leo, meet Zach. His father knew Rhodric." That was the only explanation necessary.

Zach nodded at Leo, who wrinkled up his muzzle in response, but seemed to accept that there wasn't an immediate threat to my safety. The 'guard dog' lay down beside me, all stretched out, and let his tongue hang out the side of his mouth. Adorable, but more appropriate for a Dentastix advert than a werewolf face-off.

Just then, the dark-haired girl darted away from her packmates to speak quietly to Zach. Kyle's eyes didn't leave her the whole time, not even to blink. I could have eavesdropped, but it didn't seem worth the effort. So, with just human hearing, I only caught the word 'mate.'

Zach grimaced in annoyance. He looked Kyle up and down several times before shrugging at her. "Don't get what you see in him, but whatever floats your boat, I guess." Then, to me, "Tally wants to abandon civilisation for a life of debauchery. That okay with you?"

"Er, the whole point of debauchery is not asking permission," I pointed out.

"Let me rephrase that. She wants to join your 'pack' to be with her mate."

"You still don't need my permission," I laughed. Like, What the hell? Was free will not a thing anymore? As if she needed my say-so to be with her mate. Last Haven wasn't and had never been exclusive. Anyone could walk in and pitch a tent, and that was exactly the way we liked it. What right did I have to tell someone they couldn't spend their time with certain people or stand in a certain place? None at all.

"Rogues," Zach muttered as if it was an insult. "Let's just take it as a yes. Enjoy, Tally."

She took a few hesitant steps towards us, offering me with a half-smile. Kyle was either hyperventilating or turning into a fish out of water, I couldn't quite tell which. I was aware of his wolf freaking out from metres away. The mind-link was crammed with gifs of backflipping meerkats. I assumed it reflected his feelings about his mate. Right. Okay.

The lovebirds exchanged a few words, which must have involved an offer to wait in the car, because the next thing I knew, the younger twin and the Shadowless girl were ditching us for each other's company. Unfortunately, that only drew Zach's attention to our stolen blue Mercedes.

"That's the same model as my cousin's car," he muttered. I pulled a whoops face at Fion when he wasn't looking. He squinted at the number plate and scowled. "No — never mind. That is Jace's. What are you doing with it?"

I stayed silent, trying and failing to muffle a sheepish expression. Fion shuffled on the spot and the boys exchanged worried looks. It didn't take much intuition on Zach's part to figure it out.

"Ah. I see. You know what? Because I like you guys, I'm going to pretend I didn't see it. Jace has plenty of cars anyway."

The conversation lulled as I basked in relief. It wasn't like Zach could do anything to us — he was outnumbered now. But Jace could. He had Rhys at his mercy, who happened to be one of the car thieves in the first place.

"Ask him what he's doing here," Leo suggested through the link. Oh yeah. Trespassers. Almost forgot.

I repeated the question only to see Zach's smile vanish instantly. "Scouting for ferals, actually. They're everywhere — like vermin. Attacking packs, murdering loners. We find new decomposing corpses daily. Haven't you seen any?"

No. Not since Brandon died and they left Lle o Dristwch. We had heard jack squat about any of this. But how, when Rhodric had left so many contacts (his fancy word for spies) around the place? They should have warned us. I wondered if it was considered such common knowledge that no one thought it worth explaining. If so ... that didn't bode well for anyone.

I raised an eyebrow, not satisfied at the explanation. "And Alphas lead scouting missions now?"

"When we get bored of sitting in my Jacuzzi," he teased. "What else is there to do all day? Packs pretty much govern themselves. I do more of the grunt work than you assume."

"More like you blew off a meeting to join the adventure squad," I muttered (correctly).

"Well, if we're back to blatantly insulting each other..." Zach smirked. "I think I've outstayed my welcome. Here — let's open a line of communication. I'm a good neighbour."

He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and scribbled a phone number on it, then tossed it in my general direction. As I didn't try to catch it, it fluttered down to land on Leo's nose, making him sneeze.

I watched the Shadowless wolves shift and disappear into the forest. Zach didn't say goodbye, because he was such a polite person like that. I didn't care much. I was just glad that it hadn't come to a fight (again). We needed allies, not enemies, if we were going to survive as a pack.

When they were out of earshot, I nudged Leo, whose wolfy head was now resting on my foot. He was so chill about it all — I loved it. "Would you stay with them? Make sure they get out of the territory safely, just in case the patrols finally decide to do their job."

He got up slowly and made a huge show of yawning and lazily stretching. Ollie moved forwards to join him, ever the eager little worker. The two of them padded after Zach on silent paws.

My wolf was annoyed at me. She wanted to exact revenge for trespassing. It took several reminders that if I killed Zach, Rhys would annoy his captors into an early grave. My brother had many talents, but getting on with Alphas wasn't one of them. Hence why she had to rein in the bloodlust for now.

We all piled back into the car, and Kevin drove, as I had promised earlier. Fion quickly called shotgun, which left me in the back seat as an awkward third wheel. After some inappropriate fondling, I reshuffled the seating arrangements to be between them. Kyle's mate kept shuffling about nervously, like I was about to bite her head off.

"Tally, right?" I asked.

She tore her eyes away from Kyle for a moment. "Yup. That's me."

"If you ever need anything, just come find me," I told her. Anything to make her feel welcome. It was hard enough leaving your family behind, let alone going to live with strangers. I had been alone and friendless before, and I wasn't in a hurry to leave anyone else to the same fate.

"Thanks." Tally seemed to relax. "And I have to say — props to you. The whole Luna thing you've got going on is impressive. Not even to mention how brave you have to be to attack an Alpha."

"I'm not a Luna," I denied immediately, without even pausing to consider how wrong I was. "Not brave either. Just stupid and impulsive."

Fion twisted around to thump me and joined in. "I apologise for her, Tally. She doesn't know how to take a compliment. I suppose that's our fault though. We don't give her any practice accepting them. Rhys would have laughed at her for letting Zach get at her throat, and to be honest, I would have joined in."

"He sounds a bit like Zach," she mused. "With less of the Alpha-ego-nonsense."

"Whoa, insulting your old Alpha minutes after leaving his pack? You little rogue — I like you." I decided.

"Why thank you."

"See?" Fion asked. "That's how you take a compliment. Graciously and without any of the irritating modesty."

I rolled my eyes at her. Personally, I found modesty less irritating than arrogance. But back to the reason for our shopping trip... "Did we get everything, do you think?"

"We got food, drinks and music. I'd say everyone will love it," Kyle replied dryly. It was true that we didn't have treats or parties very often, so our group was easily satisfied. I could have just put on the radio and thrown cheese puffs at the dancers without too many complaints.

Even as I was dragged into discussing the arrangements for the party in a lot more detail, Kevin pulled up outside the castle. The pale walls looked oddly shiny, as if someone had gone around with a power hose (or more likely, buckets of river water and scrubbing brushes) to finally remove the dried bloodstains. How considerate of them.

In the autumn sunshine, the camp was bustling. I was sure there were more people than there had been before. Maybe refugees, fleeing the feral attacks which Zach had mentioned. Rogues tended to band together in times of misfortune.

For example, at least a hundred shifters were dotted around in the shade of the trees, chatting and making something, by the looks of it. I wandered over to find out what was going on, but before I even got that far, I found Sophie carrying an armful of the finished product.

They were tiny lanterns, crafted of wicker branches and candles. Over her shoulder hung a length of bunting with painted banners, which must have been a group effort. They displayed everything from a smiley face in a child's shaky hand to a delicate wolf howling at the moon. I was amazed, to say the least. We weren't this organised, let alone artistic.

"We're making decorations for tonight," she explained.

"What?" I sputtered. "How? When?"

Sophie smiled faintly, the first I had seen since Davies died. "I know, I know. It's unusual. But everyone was bored, and Maggie suggested it. She showed us how to make these" —she held up a lantern for me to admire— "and Ollie organised the rest."

At first, I was surprised that he was back already, before I realised that the roads we had to take looped and doubled back on themselves horrifically. A running wolf, heading straight home, would get here far faster than Kevin's gentle cruise around the scenic route. He must have been here ten minutes at least.

Speak of the devil, Ollie sidled up to my shoulder. "All good. Zach's on his way home."

"Thanks. So where's Leo?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Beats me. He stayed in town when we came back through — told me to go ahead. But I waited long enough to see him go into a shop. He also told me not to tell you what he was doing."

I could sense my second-in-command's confusion and stubborn loyalty. Leo obviously didn't realise that bro code didn't apply in these situations. Ollie would tell me anything, especially if he had been explicitly told not to.

So. What was Leo up to? Treachery, or just innocent secrecy. In my experience, the latter didn't exist. And why me specifically? Because that made me even more suspicious. I was drawing a blank, so I just shrugged it off.

"Cleared the courtyard yet?"

Ollie nodded, of course. He never failed to carry out an order. "It's been ready for hours. We're starting to decorate now. Don't worry about it — just enjoy."

"You're amazing, you know that?"

He flushed bright red and averted his eyes. "Uh— Um..." Then he abruptly changed the subject back to what I had tried to avoid. Even if I had let the Leo situation go, Ollie wasn't about to. "You think he was loyal to Brandon after all? Or a feral?"

"No," I said firmly. "Ferals don't offer you a shoulder to cry on. He's been acting odd lately, but I reckon it's about his mate. Once she's here and safe, we can all chill."

I could have sworn I heard a throaty cackle behind me. It reminded me of long winter evenings listening to Rhodric's stories, for reasons I cannot explain, because it was not Rhodric's laugh. I span around but saw nothing except trees and shadows. One whiff of the air told me there was no one within a mile that direction. Yet a glint of gold flickered at the edge of my vision — one eye perhaps, throwing back the light like a cat's.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my skin prickled. There was a disturbing sensation of being watched, but Ollie beside me, seemed to notice nothing. Then before I could even panic, a presence enveloped my mind.

This wasn't the mind-link, not really. Whoever it was had a degree of Fion's talents for turning the link into telepathy. That should have left their mind open to me, but the culprit was hidden from sight. If I didn't know better, I would assume they were being shielded by yet another person.

"How can someone so smart be so blind? Step back, Skye. Take a look at the whole board and every piece on it. You've forgotten one." The voice was deep — defiantly male. Ghost laughter echoed in my mind, before the presence receded. They withdrew fast enough to make my head spin.

I looked around wildly and prepared to shift. No sign of life, let alone the gold speck. Powers like that were unheard of. Hiding your scent and holding an anonymous mental conversation. As the mind-link catered to clear communication, if I didn't know better, I would say those weren't werewolf abilities.

Ollie steadied me, his eyes wide with concern. "Skye, are you..?"

Twisted in my thoughts, I didn't even think to answer. The message was certainly cryptic enough to be Rhodric, and I seemed to remember receiving similar advice when he was teaching me how to play chess. But the meaning in this context... It escaped me.

"Search the woods," I ordered. "Keep it quiet. I don't want to alarm anyone, but I need a mile radius scoured. Shut down the borders until it's done."

"Can I ask what we're looking for?" Ollie asked quietly.

"I honestly don't know," I murmured.

I tried to busy myself while I waited for the search to finish, with manual labour which left my mind free to puzzle it over. Along with a small army of willing helpers, most of whom were children, we strung up miles of bunting around the battlements and hung lanterns in every crevice. My injured leg didn't appreciate the exercise, but it didn't overly complain either. The muscle must have finally finished healing.

Fion later listened to my account and explained her own abilities as best she could. She exploited the mind-link to get all the way into people's heads as well as communicate. But once inside, the possibilities were limited to hearing the person's current thoughts, as far as she knew. There was a scientific explanation for that which I didn't really pay attention to (something about radio wave frequency conversion).

In essence, she couldn't understand what had happened any more than I did. But Fion did offer some clarity: if I was right and it had been the work of two people, they would almost certainly have to be related to reach that level of connection.

So, if the speaker had been Rhodric, the man in the trees must be a relative. Not Rhys, who was rotting in a dungeon. Not Brandon, who was dead. And who did that leave? The Anglesey shifter with the surname Llewellyn? Other than that, I didn't know anyone. But Rhodric must have had parents, cousins, maybe even siblings, judging from the family photograph I had found. Where were they?

Ollie found me half an hour before the party was due to start. He was worn out and mud-splattered, having chosen to lead the search personally. Bless his soul. "Nothing much to report. Smudged footprints which look the wrong shape and a shaky eyewitness testimony from a patrol fighter who saw an animal cross the border. He wasn't even clear on a species, let alone a name."

"Any description at all?" I inquired. I was determined to find whoever it was who thought they could come onto our land with impunity, and shove their way into my mind so casually. Skye, he'd called me. So he must know me, but I knew no one except Fion with such a talent for mind-linking. Did I have a stalker?

He shook his head. "None that makes sense. I'm half convinced the guy was drunk on duty. Sorry."

Someone that talented could deceive the minds of anyone watching them, I reckoned. Nudge their thoughts into confusion. This had Rhodric written all over it. But why he didn't just pick up the phone and call us, I had no idea. Why would someone hide from their own children?

Unless he's dead, a small part of my brain offered. I smothered that thought very quickly. I wanted to believe he was alive, with all my heart. I also didn't want to believe that he'd abandoned us the first chance he had got.

So, short of that, one theory came to mind. He was trying to keep us away from something dangerous. Maybe the 'old prey' which Brandon had mentioned. The letter had never explained exactly what happened to Jessie and my parents, or who was responsible.

Could there be another secret he had neglected to tell us?