"Wakey, wakey, love birds," Tally shouted at us very early the next morning. The sun was still rising, casting an orange glow over the interior of the tent. I blinked rapidly at the sudden light, adjusting to the glare. "Can't you two spend a single night apart?"

"You're one to talk," Leo grunted. We were speaking to someone who had been inseparable from her mate ever since they had met. Much like every other mated couple.

"Do you see Kyle now?" she scoffed.

"No, only 'cause he still ain't supposed to be walking," I retorted.

Kyle had been shot while causing a diversion at the police station. As it turned out, the bullet had become lodged in his spine, which annoyed our surgeons to no end. After something like a twelve hour surgery, they had extracted it with some serious complications. Now Kyle was bed ridden for months, so his wolf could heal paralysis in his lower legs. Sounds fun, doesn't it?

"Get up already!" Tally complained, dragging me out of the covers. Her nose wrinkled up when the blanket slipped off. I was decent, but I wasn't exactly dressed to go outside. "And get dressed."

Leo took advantage of the extra space to snuggle further down into bed and turn away from us. Maybe he hoped Tally would forget him if he was really quiet. No such luck.

"You too, sleepyhead. Jace is here, and he isn't in a waiting mood."

I frowned. "Why's Jace here?"

"You sent for him last night! Remember that?"

I groaned loudly. "I do now."

"You have five minutes at most before Rhys and Alpha Douchebag come to blows," Tally said seriously.

I took notice of that and pulled on a flannel shirt. "Rhys is up?"

"Oh yes. I woke him myself," Tally said proudly. "He was sleeping shirtless and all, and I gotta say that your brother is one fine-"

"No thanks, Tally. That's quite enough information," I interrupted.

She shrugged, giving me a rueful grin. "Anyways, he had fallen asleep in Fion's room, lying across the doorway. Those two are the most adorable couple I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well. You'd better not say that to them. They're both confused ... and conflicted," I said.

We got up and dressed in record time, aided by Tally's 'friendly' encouragements. Ollie had sent a pair of bodyguards to escort me to the castle, but I dismissed them. Having bodyguards was an admission of fear. My final act before arriving in the courtyard was to remove the dressing from my ear to display the thin scar.

Jace stood alone in one of the quieter corners, against a backdrop of ivy-covered crumbling walls. Rhys lounged on a block of stone a few feet away, and whatever he was saying seemed to be winding Jace up, if the look on his face was any indication. Rhodric, also nearby, wasn't helping the situation. He was wearing his antagonist grin. Dammit.

I took my place between my two family members. Leo had been diverted along the way by the smell of breakfast. Tally stayed, though, probably out of curiosity.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," I told Jace.

"Do I?" Jace asked blankly. It looked like we were going to be playing the game of who could be the most emotionless all over again. "I'll try my best to help you, of course. Will your father be joining us?"

"He's literally right next to you, Jace," I said, not sure whether to be amused or exasperated.

His face was a picture, and his gaze snapped towards Rhodric with unmistakable wariness. He looked him up and down a few times. He recovered quickly, all things considered, murmuring, "We haven't been introduced."

"Well, he knows you," I said dryly. Rhodric had first recognised Jaden because he looked so much like his half-brother.

"It's true," Rhodric added. "I've seen you quite a few times while trespassing on your territory and stealing your possessions."

Jace sounded like he was holding back a growl. "Thank you for clearing that up."

"We've also had entire conversations," Rhodric went on, smiling now. "But perhaps you don't remember. That's okay. I won't take it personally."

"What?" Jace demanded, eyes wide. "When?"

"Look," I cut in, beginning to lose patience. "You two can chat all you like later. Right now, I want to know why you went to war with Keith without telling me."

His focus was back on me now. "How do you know about that? I've had all my pack members sworn to secrecy for weeks."

"So you were trying to keep it a secret. Any particular reason why?" I inquired.

"Yes, actually. I didn't want you to join in, pretend to help, then go behind my back to poison all of Keith's pack just out of spite," Jace said amiably.

"Shots fired," Tally whispered behind me. I elbowed her in the ribs discretely.

"What makes you so sure I want to help you? Believe it or not, you're more than welcome to start a pack war," I retorted.

"Then what's your problem?" Jace snapped.

"My problem is that somehow you've dragged me into it. Keith tried to kill me yesterday." I watched closely for his reaction, checking if he had anything to do with it.

Jace swore. I would guess it was directed at Keith rather than me, but Rhys leapt to his feet, his eyes darkening. He'd certainly taken it the wrong way. "Watch your mouth."

The Alpha just stared at me, ignoring him. "I'm sorry. That was my fault. I may have told Keith that you were joining the fight ... and bringing several hundred rogue fighters with you. It was supposed to be a deterrent."

I was officially pissed off. "What's wrong with you? You have Shadowless, New Dawn and Riverside on your side. That's three packs! Why can't you deal with Keith without dragging me into it?"

"Because it's not just Keith," Jace sighed. "He allied himself with the three other northern packs."

"Even Ember?" I frowned. "We saved their lives. The Alpha seemed like a good guy."

"Alpha Lewis was murdered by his uncle shortly after you left. I'm sure you remember Jackson from the Alpha Council?"

Murdered? That was a pity. I had somewhat liked that kid.

"Vaguely," I muttered. "He was Keith's friend."

Great, the good guy who owed us a favour had lost his position, to be replaced with an evil Keith minion. Just my luck.

"Exactly. I'll put Lewis back into power if he isn't already dead. It's three against four now, but those are odds I can win. There's no need for your involvement."

How? I wanted to ask. Total bullshit, that Jace could win without destroying most of werewolf kind.

"It's partly my fault that you're at war in the first place. I won't send rogues to fight in a pack war for obvious reasons, but I can make your life a little easier."

Even as I said those words, I asked Ollie through the mind-link to get a few people on the phone. The many small rogue groups who moved around continuously and raided the packs weekly had to answer to me, even if they didn't want to.

"I don't care what you do as long as you stay out of the war," Jace told me.

"Screw you, Jace. She's only trying to help," Rhys interrupted. He took a few steps forwards so he was level with me.

Jace gave him a flat look. "I'm not doing this with you again, Rhys. You need to learn when to keep your mouth shut."

Again? Why did I always miss the drama?

I had to seize Rhys's arm to stop him starting a punch up in the courtyard. I dragged him behind me, only managing it because he stopped moving the second I growled at him.

"Go home," I told Jace.

He didn't argue, but he did cast a lingering look in Rhodric's direction before he left. He had clearly wanted to talk to him — about what, I wasn't sure, but he had asked before, so it was clearly important.

Rhodric was watching the Alpha's retreating back. "Don't worry, Rhys. The pup meant to say that he knows our family secret. He's running because he doesn't think he can beat you in a fight."

"What family secret?" Rhys demanded at the same time as I asked, "We have a family secret?"

"It wouldn't be a secret if I told you, now would it?" Rhodric teased. "Training time, I think."

"It's court day today. I don't have time for training," I said.

"Then make time."

It was true that I needed some training. Even my little wrestling match with Rhys yesterday had proved that. And the court cases could wait, at least for a few hours. It was about time I made some time for recreational time.

"Fine," I conceded. "Two hours."

***

I landed heavily on my back. Again.

This time I didn't bother getting up or snapping at Rhodric and Rhys. I just lay there and glared at them both. How were they doing it? I had thoroughly kicked the ass of every other opponent Rhodric sent at me, sometimes several at once. I decided it wasn't my lack of talent but rather their abundance of it that was causing me to lose every single fight.

I had beaten Brandon, a Llewellyn who had been both older and stronger than Rhys. But he had been careless — a mistake Rhys was sure to never make. And Rhodric ... well, he was just in a whole different class.

"Get up. We don't have all day," Rhodric mind-linked me.

"How do you do that?" I asked causally, bringing one paw up to lick it clean of mud.

"Your entire fighting style relies on your opponent underestimating you, Skye," Rhys explained.

"And for good reason," I retorted.

I climbed onto my feet with a degree of resolution. How many times could I be completely and utterly defeated in two hours? It seemed that the only way I could win was if I tricked Rhys into complacency.

Rhys circled me with his usual wariness. He always attacked first. Maybe it was time to change that. I rushed headlong at him with all the brazen idiocy of a young werewolf. It took me back to the time when I thought fighting as wolves only consisted of biting and knocking your opponent over.

He sidestepped easily and gave me an expression that said something along the lines of please tell that was deliberate. I grimaced in reply to say sorry, I'm tired.

Rhys wheeled around for his own attack. I let him knock me over and only made a half-hearted attempt to roll out from underneath him. This time I got an expression of pure disbelief. Seriously?

Then almost inevitably, confusion turned to suspicion. "We literally just talked about underestimating you, Skye. Too soon to try that on me," Rhys told me through the link.

Fine. If I couldn't make him underestimate me, I was going to go the complete opposite way. Before the fight was over, I was somehow going to make him overestimate me. If that was even a thing. Maybe I was just clutching at straws now. The proud werewolf leader in me didn't want to admit that her little brother could kick her ass.

A plan began to form in my mind. The plan was so sneaky and underhand that any rogue would be proud to pull it off. I decided that it was the most brilliant thing I had come up with since running under Brandon's stomach, and it couldn't be wasted on Rhys. Oh no, I was saving this one for Rhodric. The undefeated warrior himself.

Which meant I needed to finish my fight with Rhys quickly, otherwise my ADHD would win and I would do The Plan out of sheer impatience. What weakness did my little brother have when fighting me? Wasn't it obvious?

I ran at him in full berserker mode, biting and clawing so much that Rhys had no choice but to throw me down and keep his jaws on my scruff. Then I felt out the most pained, heartfelt yip my voice box could muster. The type puppies let out when their littermates were being too rough.

Rhys released me and jumped back as if he had been burned, a look of real concern in his eyes. I took the perfect opportunity to strike at his unprotected throat. Harsh and evil, yes, but it worked. My brother went down and realised that for the first time in his life, he had been beaten by someone other than his father.

A stunned silence fell over the training ground. Shifters were stopping their fights to gather and watch their leaders train. Soon, there were dozens in the audience, all standing in loose groups. Some were pretending not to watch. Somewhere amongst them, I noticed Leo beaming proudly.

When the shock wore off, cheers and applause boomed out from the crowd. It wasn't every day they had such high-stake entertainment. I backed off Rhys, who remained lying on the ground, wagging his tail and baring his throat. I was offered a rueful grin to say no harm done.

One down, one to go.

Rhodric gave me a challenging stare and moved into the ring of spectators. For the first time in my life, I noticed just how similar his wolf was to Brandon's. The only real difference was Rhodric's eyes were smiling and Brandon's had been full of anger.

I was getting competitive. The problem was that rogues followed the strongest leader. Rhodric had handed over Last Haven to me. Maybe I had earnt that when I defeated Brandon, but I had never defeated Rhodric. Now that he was back, I could never be quite sure whether the rogues would listen to me or him.

As leader, I had destroyed Brandon's uprising and the ferals. I had allied with the packs to make a lasting peace. I had built a lasting home for all of us. So as much as I appreciated everything Rhodric had done for me and loved him like a father, I needed to know that I was the Luna of Rogues because I deserved it, not because he was letting me.

We circled each other in the way every fight starts. The stage of carefully watching and waiting. I made sure to move stiffly on my right hind leg. Let him see an imagined old injury. It would only help to hide any real weaknesses.

Everywhere I placed my feet was carefully calculated. I wanted him to see me building up to a complicated move we had been taught only a few years ago. In reality, I was going for something a lot simpler. A sort of double bluff.

Totally going to work.

I made my first move, lunging left and low. It was like he knew what I was going to do before I knew myself. Teeth closed around my shoulder, and suddenly we were tangled in close quarters with nothing to do except snap at each other. All the time, I kept my weight on my back legs to let him think that engaging was the last thing I wanted to be doing.

I withdrew the first chance I got and ran a few circles while he gave chase. The crowds laughed and jumped out of the way as our two fully grown wolves crashed through them. Rhodric couldn't quite catch up with me at full acceleration. The advantage of his giant wolf was countered by my speed.

Weaving back to the original ring, I set myself up in the perfect position to charge his right side, where he had a bullet lodged in his shoulder blade. Rhodric knew I knew that, and he would be fully expecting me to exploit it.

By now, if he hadn't worked out that I was going for the graceful and elaborate twist tackle, then I had overestimated him. In one last diversion, I feinted and leapt back to my original position. Rhodric let out a low growl, his wolf fed up with games. Mine was too, incidentally. She was only giving me control because of a bribe to go for a run with Leo later.

Rhodric let his stance slack, inviting an attack. And for all my scheming, I fell for it. Instincts over brain, the hope of an advantage had me charging straight towards him. I just had time to remember that the twist tackle wasn't really going to happen when my shoulder bone collided with flesh.

To my delight and extreme surprise, Rhodric wasn't paying as much attention as he should have to what I was doing. Since the first few steps of our fight, he assumed I would be going for a twist tackle and didn't think any further than thwarting that plan. So while he crouched low to dodge my attack, I cut across an obvious opening to touch my teeth to the base of his skull, where a single bite would paralyse any werewolf.

And much like his son, Rhodric Llewellyn froze.