I guess this is the effect it has— the Alpha’s voice. Except, Amanda’s eyes bounce back up. It doesn’t surprise me— I’ve always felt that there was something sturdier about her relationship with Koen, something that comes from her being his closest friend. Maybe that’s why she’s the one with the guts to push against him. “Koen, this is not some dumb final girl running upstairs plan. Serena knows that Irene is unlikely to harm her. She’s too important to the cult.”

“Can you guarantee it?”

Amanda looks away, but mutters, “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee that Irene’s weapons secretly aren’t embalmed gerbils. But I can make an educated guess.”

“No, you can’t. Not in my pack.” Koen’s voice is harsh, and a hollow, terrible silence follows, in which everyone, including Amanda, performs one of those weird eye genuflections.

I rise to my feet, cross the room, and walk up to him. “It wasn’t Amanda’s idea. It was mine. So if you have something against— ”

“You fucking know I do, killer.”

We’re the only two in the kitchen area, which gives an illusion of privacy. But that’s just it— an illusion. Everyone can listen in. Everyone is. “Do you have a better plan?”

He glares. My heart flutters with fondness, and a bit of sorrow for what I’m about to do to him.

“Clearly, you don’t. This is the best way to keep the pack safe.”

“I’m not letting you— ”

“That’s the thing, Koen. You don’t have to let me. I can do whatever I want. I could walk across the Human border right now, and you couldn’t stop me.”

His jaw tenses. “I am the Alpha of this pack.”

“You are. And everyone else in this room is going to follow your orders. But I won’t.”

Suddenly, he seems larger. Angrier. He towers over me in a new, unfamiliar way, and hisses through clenched teeth, “You are under my command. If I say that I want you here, you’ll fucking stay here. Your plan would put you in danger and out of my protection, and that’s unacceptable.”

“Koen.” I smile.

He leans forward. I should be scared. I’m just not.

“I love you,” I say simply.

His eyes close. “You are mine. My mate. My— ”

“More importantly, you love me. And that’s why you have no authority over me.” I reach up to caress his face with the back of my hand. Let my arm fall limp at my side, suddenly cold.

When I turn around, I meet Amanda’s eyes, and we nod at each other.

THE PLAN FALLS INTO PLACE LIKE A WELL-CHOREOGRAPHED DANCE.

The following day, Amanda and I are escorted to the territory of the easternmost huddle. Anneke, its leader, meets us under the tall trees on the riverside and welcomes me with a curious tilt of her head. “I hope you know what you got yourself into,” she tells me. When Koen and Saul get out of the front seats, she bows her head. “Alpha. I’ll take her from here.”

“Yeah. Give us a minute.”

Anneke and Amanda take a step back, and Saul feels my upper arm for the GPS tracker embedded in my flesh. “Still doesn’t hurt?”

I shake my head.

“Good. It’s a little bit reddened, but that’s for the best, since it’ll make it easier to notice for Irene. If it hurts— ”

“Shut it, Saul,” Koen grumbles. “She’s an adult Were and doesn’t need you fussing over her.”

Saul’s eyebrow perks up. “Excuse me, Alpha. I must have misheard when you threatened to chain her to the radiator to prevent her from stubbing her toe.”

“She is my mate,” Koen snarls. “I get to treat her like she’s made of mother- of- pearl. You do not.”

Saul hugs me, wishes me good luck, and disappears from Koen’s sight at record speed. Then it’s just us. Across the sky, a bird of prey calls in a loud, descending pitch.

“I should have,” Koen mutters. In the sunlight, his eyes look darker than usual.

“What?”

“Chained you to my fucking radiator. I still could. I will.”

I laugh. “No, you won’t. But I’ll be all right. They don’t know I can shift again. If things get dangerous, I can always run.”

He clenches his teeth. “If anything happens to you, I’m going to— ”

“Kill me, yes. I know the drill by now.” I would love to hug him, but Anneke is right behind me, and she’s part of the Assembly. I don’t want to make things harder for him. “I think it’s gonna work, Koen. We’ll get rid of this threat, and we’ll . . . move on.” I smile. More or less. “Consider it my parting gift to the Northwest.”

“You already gave the Northwest enough.”

I swallow thickly. “I like to think that I simply didn’t take away one of its most attractive features.” It’s not funny. Neither of us is laughing. The pangs in my chest feel more like stab wounds.

“Sure.” He exhales. “I have to go, Serena. Before I chain you somewhere for real.”

I nod, willing away the full, prickling feeling at the back of my throat. Watch Koen spin around and put some distance between us.

But he stops.

Takes a deep, shoulder-heaving breath.

Turns again and marches back to me, taking my face in his palms and pressing our lips together.

It’s a simple, bruising, marking kiss. My fingers grip his wrists, and he smells like we never left his cabin. We’re still in our nest, measuring each other’s breathing. Marveling at how quickly we fall into rhythm.

“Whatever you need, you have to come to me. It’s a fucking order.” His voice is strained. “I don’t care where you are. I don’t care what it is. I want you to promise me that for anything you— ”

“I promise, Koen.”

He nods. Fills his lungs with air. Shakes his head. “Fucking nuisance,” he mutters, and then he’s walking, driving away.

Amanda and I enter Anneke’s car.

MY GRANDFATHER’S HOUSE HAS BEEN EMPTY FOR NEARLY FIVE DECADES. The outside, however, looks surprisingly intact, and no one seems to have initiated a stone-throwing contest toward the living room windows.

“Could I claim this property?” I ask, standing on the balcony. “Does it belong to me?”

“Technically, everything on pack territory belongs to the pack itself,” Anneke’s assistant tells me, a little pedantic. We should introduce her to Jorma, Amanda whispered to me earlier, after she offered us a croissant and pronounced it like we were fine dining in Toulouse.

“Is anyone taking care of this place?”

“Yes. People will stay here occasionally, mostly when they are between residences. They would be welcome to move in, but . . .”

“They know it’s the house where Constantine’s father was born and don’t want to commit?”

She nods.

“Fair enough. There’s probably lots of black mold in those walls.” It would certainly explain the family history.

“It’s also very close to the border,” she points out. “Over there, that line of trees? That’s Human territory. Very well patrolled, and we haven’t had issues in a long time. But . . .”

“Interesting.” I pretend to be learning something new. “Thank you for showing me.”

“No problem. I have to say, I was surprised when Anneke said you’d want to visit your grandfather’s home, but . . . I guess it makes sense.”

I smile. Ten minutes later, I lie in the grass with Amanda, staring up at the cloudy sky. My fingers play with my mother’s necklace. Put it on, Saul suggested before I left. It’ll make the lie that you’re all about reconnecting with your ancestors even more believable.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Amanda says, but my mind is on something else.

Someone else.

“Did I ruin it for him?”

She glances at me. “What? Who?”

“Did I irreparably undermine Koen’s authority?” When I publicly stood up to him, his seconds’ faces covered the not-small gamut from shocked to scandalized.

Amanda laughs. “Oh my God, no. Believe me, we’re all very clear on our respective roles in Koen’s life. No one would dream to assume that because you get away with bitching at the Alpha, so would they.”