I ignored him. It was really the only thing I could do. I knew that I'd choke on a sob if I opened my mouth. It was unfortunate that Jace didn't really appreciate me turning my back on him. He grabbed my shoulder before I even knew he'd moved, and he wrenched me around to face him.

Rhys was predictable. When he moved, I was ready for him, and it wasn't hard to put myself in the way. His chest slammed into my back. So it was Leo who shoved Jace away from me. We were all a little on edge, to say the least, but I was too stunned to do anything except stare.

"Answer the question," Jaden warned me.

Somehow, we'd managed to avoid a fistfight. Jace wasn't in any hurry to close the distance again, let alone take a swing at Leo. No — those piercing blue eyes were fixed on me, and boy did he look pissed.

"I saved all of your worthless flockie arses," I replied tersely. My hand had slipped into my pocket of its own accord, and I could feel the smooth wood of my knife against my palm. It was a tiny bit of reassurance. "That's what I did."

Jace used that extra foot of height to stare me down, and the anger simmering behind his eyes was a palatable thing. I could smell it in the air between us. "Maybe. But that's not why you killed them."

"I didn't do it for you, no," I agreed. I was having to wrestle my wolf down to keep meeting that stare. She wanted to shift. The stench of death was making her uneasy. "But you should be glad I did. A lot of your pack members will go home to their families alive because of it."

"Poison," Jaden practically spat out the word, "is not honourable."

"Oh, right. My bad. I didn't realise we cared more about honour than people's bloody lives," I snapped. I had taken a step forwards as I said it, putting me dangerously close to the trio of Alphas. But with that knife hilt still resting against my palm, they were the ones in danger, not me.

Zach let out a heavy sigh. "She's got a point."

"No, she does not have a point, Zach," Jace told him. "She has just murdered hundreds of people. We found the cure. None of them needed to die, and yet she took it upon herself to do ... this."

Something in his tone really got my hackles up. "Oh yeah? And how were you going to cure them? How were you going to take them all prisoner while they were behaving like rabid dogs? How were you going to track down all their mates? How were you going to hold them in the meantime? Please do tell, Jace. I'm curious."

"I'm curious, too, Skye," Jace retorted. His eyes were darker than I'd ever seen them. "You don't think any of that was worth trying? You don't think there are ways we could have achieved it? From the sounds of it, saving their lives was just ... too much effort, in your opinion."

I looked back at Luke, swallowing hard. His eyes were open and so horribly empty. I opened my mouth, trying to defend myself, but I had nothing. Selfishness wasn't an easy accusation to deny. Luckily, my brother was only half a pace behind me and equally pissed off.

"Leave her alone," he told Jace. "We all helped drug them. We could all see it was the only option. So you can sod off, as far as I'm concerned."

The words 'sod off' seemed to resonate with Jace very strongly. He moved his stare from me to Rhys, and then he began to close the distance. I'd noticed this about him. He was forever trying to get my brother to back down — like he thought it was possible he'd get a submission from him at some point. It was true Rhys wasn't like me. He could actually put his eyes down when he wanted to. But it was rare that he wanted to, and I doubted he would ever do it for a flockie.

I moved between them as much as I could. I ended up even closer to Jace than I had been. But they were still perfectly capable of staring at each other over my head, and I got the sense that both of them wanted this to come to blows. I didn't. They'd fought before, and as far as I was concerned, it was my turn.

"Jace," a girl's voice murmured. It was a warning, almost. It was his mate — Emma — approaching with a handful of other pack members. I found it hard to believe that he was planning to let her fight, but she wasn't even the only woman here. Jace's Beta was standing with a girl who looked a lot like me, and I wondered when New Dawn had started embracing female fighters. It seemed unlikely that I was the inspiration behind this, and given the circumstances, now didn't feel like a good time to ask about it.

Emma had come and laid a hand on Jace's arm. If she was trying to calm him down, it wasn't working. I could feel his wolf and mine clashing every time either of us dared to take a breath. But he did look at her when she first touched him, and that broke the staring contest. I took my chance.

"Look," I said. "We hate it as much as you do, but it's done. There's no point arguing now."

"Well, you didn't give me a chance to argue beforehand, did you? You went behind my back. I trusted you when you asked me to exchange the prisoners."

"I'm a rogue, you dumbass! At what point did you forget that?" I was shouting by now, but I didn't care. I was tired and emotionally drained, and I had the guilt of hundreds of deaths hanging over my head. If I didn't get some sleep soon, I was definitely going to say something I'd regret.

"She has a point," my lookalike commented. "If you trusted her, it's your own fault. That's literally how trust works."

Huh. I kinda liked her already.

"Thank you, Kara, but we don't need your input," Jace said coldly.

"Asshole," she replied under her breath, but she did stop talking. Yup, definitely someone worth getting to know.

"Are we done here?" I asked Jace. "Satisfied? Or do you want to yell at me some more?"

"Of course we're not done here," he said in exasperation. "You haven't really solved much, have you? The hunters are still breathing, and they know how to make more ferals."

The Beta gave a vigorous cough and stepped forwards to nudge Jace's arm. I got the sense that he'd been waiting, not very patiently, to do that since he'd arrived. "Um ... actually ... we were coming to warn you..."

He handed over a phone, and I waited impatiently while the Alpha read whatever it was that was so important. I didn't really appreciate being ignored.

Instead of saying anything, Jace tossed me the phone when he was done. If it was possible, he looked even more angry than he had been before, although maybe a little relieved. It was a news article, reporting with a live commentary from somewhere not too far from here. I recognised the town name, even if I didn't know exactly where it was. It took me quite a while to puzzle out the rest, because my reading skills were a little lacking.

'Early reports indicate that there was a serious incident at a disused warehouse in North Wales this afternoon. There are multiple emergency vehicles in attendance, including several ambulances. The police chief has refused to comment on what is currently an ongoing investigation, but an inside source tells us that there may be as many as ten casualties. There are also unconfirmed rumours that the warehouse contained a stockpile of weapons and pharmaceuticals.

The man shown in the surveillance image below is a person of interest in the investigation. He is armed and extremely dangerous. Any sightings should be reported to the police immediately, and the public are advised not to approach him.'

Pharmaceuticals and weapons? That sounded a lot like some kind of hunter base. Whoever the 'suspect' was had already earned my respect.

I looked at the blurry image and couldn't help my proud grin. Rhodric.

You're not the only one fighting a war, he had said. It hadn't just been bullshit, after all. I hoped he'd had some help, and that he hadn't decided to take on the warehouse full of weapon-wielding murderers all by himself. Even if he was, in my opinion, impossible to kill. He seemed to have nine lives. Possibly more.

Jace was watching me expectantly. "I think I can guess who that is. Another manoeuvre you neglected to tell me about?"

"Actually, no. We had no idea. Do you see us complaining?" Rhys asked. He was looking at Jace in a way that made most people throw the first punch.

For whatever reason, Jace wasn't rising to it. I reckoned he had looked around himself and seen how many of his pack members were watching our argument and remembered that he was supposed to be setting the example of reason and civility.

"That's enough, I think. This isn't getting us anywhere. You and your rogues can go home. We'll bury the people you killed before the police get wind of it," Jace said slowly. "Just don't expect the packs' help next time you're in trouble, because I am not going to forget this in a hurry."

He was trying to dismiss me, like a parent sending a naughty child to their room. With all the events of the last few hours taken into account, this proved to be the last straw. It was time to remind Jace that he wasn't quite as all-powerful as he seemed to think.

"If you think you can order me around, you're very wrong," I told him, making sure the words were laced with threat.

He didn't flinch from it. We were back to staring at each other again. "And if you're trying to start a fight, I should warn you that you will lose."

I remembered Rhodric warning me about Jace, a few weeks ago. That I shouldn't underestimate him, or something along those lines. I wasn't going to make that mistake, because he was bigger and heavier than me and a bit older, too. But I reckoned it would be very easy for Jace to underestimate me, and that was no small advantage. Before I even took my first step, I knew exactly how I was going to take him down.

When I moved, so did Jace. Our wolves had been making a lot of noise in the link — a growling like thunder as they clashed with each other. They relished the prospect of taking that battle into the real world. I threw the first punch if only because I knew he wouldn't. It wasn't a good look to pummel a girl half your size.

He let it land against his chest. And it probably hurt me more than him. He took the chance to grab my wrist, twisting it while I was already off-balance, and I realised then that he didn't intend to punch me at all. He would have done it already. He was trying to win and look like a gentleman while he did it — perhaps because his mate was watching.

Evidently, he hadn't noticed that I'd punched him with my left hand instead of my right. If he had, he might have stopped to think about why I might have done that.

He kept twisting my wrist until my entire arm was forced to turn in its socket. It burned and made me skip a breath, but I ended up with my back to him. He had one hand on my collar while he tried to get me in a proper arm-lock. We were pressed together, and there was nothing — absolutely nothing — to stop me pulling a knife on him with my free arm.

The idiot had fallen for it. It hadn't even occurred to him, I didn't think, that I wouldn't mind playing dirty. I held the blade backwards in my palm, letting the point dig into his stomach. He tensed up when he felt it, and then he went very, very still. One good push, and I'd open his guts.

"Let go," I told him quietly.

He did. I let my poor arm fall back to my side, trying not to wince. He had nearly pulled it out of the socket, I'd wager. My collar was released a moment later. He held his hands up in a placating gesture, which was much easier to see once I had turned myself around. The knife traced its way up his chest and came to rest at the base of his throat. There wasn't any fear in those cold blue eyes, but I could have killed him if I had wanted to, and he knew it.

I didn't really want to take my eyes off him, but I did it anyway. Just for a cursory glance. Rhys and Leo were keeping Jaden Lloyd from clouting me from behind. I doubted he had reacted very well to me pulling a knife on his brother. Zach had made no effort to involve himself, but his stare made it very clear that he would not take kindly to me spilling Jace's throat on the forest floor.

Jace's mate hadn't moved either. Her eyes were very wide — pleading, almost. His Beta and fighters didn't dare try anything while I could kill their Alpha with a twitch of my wrist. The few rogue faces I could pick out of the crowd were invariably smirking or grinning or delighted.

In short, everyone in the clearing either wanted to kill me or applaud me. Mostly the former.

"Here's how this is going to go. You speak, you die. You move, you die," I told Jace. "Do you understand?"

He didn't nod, and he didn't say yes, and that was probably sensible, given what I'd just told him. I realised I had drawn blood and relaxed my grip on the knife a fraction. It would be embarrassing if I killed him by accident. And then I began my spiel of commands, knowing for once that they'd be followed without question.

"There are still ferals out there who didn't drink the water. We're going to send men to round them up — rogues and flockies together. There should be few enough of them to keep alive. We'll hold them in the Silverstones, between our territories. Tomorrow, every female who's unmated or missing a mate will turn up, and we'll see how many we can cure."

I paused to take a breath and watched Jace's eyes go vacant while he linked. Seconds later, his Beta moved off with a large portion of fighters. I waved a hand at Emmett, who was the closest rogue. He gave me a slight nod and left as well, hopefully to gather some rogues to join the search.

"Anyone who isn't hunting the ferals will be burning bodies. Build several pyres to speed it up. And you—" at this point I prodded Jace roughly in the chest "—are more useful to me out there than as a hostage. So Emma can stay with me instead. Just to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

Jace looked like he wanted to say something, but I didn't need to let him speak to know what it was.

"I won't hurt her if you hold up the alliance," I said. "You've got my word on that."

"Your word as a rogue," Jaden Lloyd spat. "Which as you've just reminded us, means absolutely nothing."

"My word as a mate," I corrected, throwing Leo a smile. I wouldn't have cared about hurting Emma before I met him, but now I knew exactly how Jace would feel if anything happened to her, and my conscience wouldn't let me. Plus, she hadn't actually done anything wrong, and I wasn't in the business of hurting innocent people.

Rhys knew without a word what I needed him to do next.

"Back up," he told Jaden.

The Alpha glowered at him. His eyes swirled black and blue as he wrestled with his wolf, but before long, he was edging backwards. He didn't want me to kill his brother, after all. Zach was already moving, without even being asked, and he was actually smirking while he did it. He was easy to amuse, that one. Clearly, he had realised by now that I had no intentions of actually hurting Jace.

"Emma. You come over here now," I ordered. "You too, flockie. You can keep her company."

I was looking at the mouthy girl when I said that. I was a little curious about her. Firstly because she looked a lot like me, and secondly because she had talked back to Jace.

They both came without complaint, picking out Rhys from the crowd to stand beside. Probably because they already knew him from his time in New Dawn. He could be the one to watch them if it made them feel more comfortable — I didn't really care either way.

It felt safe enough to let Jace go. I didn't give him any warning beforehand, though. I just lowered the knife and retreated to where Leo and Rhys were standing. I didn't bother to put the blade away — my wolf was still a little edgy, and we were still surrounded by pack wolves, after all.

Jace returned his hands to his pockets. He looked very calm, for someone with blood dripping down their neck, but I didn't think he knew how to panic, in all honesty. And the way he was staring at me now ... was not entirely hostile. It was closer to satisfied.

"What?" I demanded. "What's that look for?"

"Now I understand," Jace finished quietly. "Rhodric may be the worst kind of rogue, but he knows what makes a leader. The girl who just ordered all my men around wasn't another gutsy rogue, she was a Luna."

The sudden warmth in my cheeks was an unwelcome sensation. I grunted, trying to pretend it hadn't affected me. There was every chance he had said that just to soften me up. "Yeah, whatever. Just get your ass over to join the fight. Personally, I'm heading back to camp to have a nice long, hot bath."

***

When I opened the flap of my tent, I blinked twice. No, I was not dreaming. Fion was sat where we had left her, but she was no longer alone. A tall, heavily built man was lying back on my bed, flicking through one of Fion's boring factual books. It didn't actually look like he was bothering to read any of it. I could only see the back of his head, but that was all I needed.

"Hello again," I greeted him.

"Hello, Skye," Rhodric replied without even turning his head.

Rhys was still several paces behind me with Emma and Kara, but when he heard that familiar voice, he was at my side in seconds. The poor kid had been half delirious the last time Rhodric had deigned to show his face. Apart from that brief meeting, it must have been weeks since they'd had a proper conversation — back before Brandon had tried to take over.

"Dad," Rhys said. It was quiet, but I knew exactly how relieved he was.

"Rhys," Rhodric replied in a sad sort of voice. He obviously had not enjoyed their recent lack of communication. He had turned around to look at us all properly. "And is that Leo out there?"

"Yes, sir," Leo called back. There wasn't really room for him to enter the tent, but I could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Be a good lad and find yourself something to eat. I need to talk to my kids."

Once my mate had gone and taken the 'hostages' out of earshot as well, Fion gave the pair of us a hurt glare.

"Well, don't bother saying hello to me," she growled. "I've only been worried half to death since you all left."

"Hi, Fion. We're both fine," I said with a smile.

Rhodric finally put down the book and stood up. He loomed over me and still had an inch of height on Rhys. Then he wrapped us both in a long overdue hug. After a few seconds, I felt Fion push her way in on one side. And just like that, our little family was reunited.