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  “I need to leave. Don’t follow me or you’ll get me into more trouble.”

  Archer shook his head. He shot off the bed and beat her to the door. “I won’t allow it.” His heart thumped inside his chest, beating too fast for him to keep up.

  She looked up at him with mixed emotions. He could see that she wanted to listen to him, to stay hidden in the Vancourt house while he did whatever it was he wanted to do, but there was a darkness, too. She thought of her pack and what remained of it. Her duty was to them, before anyone else. Even herself.

  Archer reached forward, grasping the sides of her face. His lips were tender on hers. He couldn’t kiss away her fear or wariness, but he could give her some small amount of comfort. When he finished, she was holding his arm as if afraid to let go of him. His heart swelled, and he had the feeling that something in his life was about to change. It was the kind of moment where the world shifted beneath your feet and rearranged itself before you could see which direction it’d moved in.

  If Archer went in there and openly challenged Killian, he could do exactly what Joanna was afraid of. He would use the rest of her pack as a shield, threatening their lives if Archer didn’t back off. It was the move of a weakling, but Archer didn’t doubt he would try it.

  He rested his forehead against hers and let out a breath. “Do what you need to do,” he told her. “Go back and get your pack members out of there. Take them somewhere they will be safe and let me know when you’re done.”

  Joanna paused, her hand tightening on him. She’d been alone for so long, trapped in a situation where she could trust no one. Could Archer convince her to trust him? She’d already punched her way though his walls and burrowed into his soul. He wasn’t ready to let go of her, but he wasn’t about to drag her down with him.

  “I’ll do what I can,” she replied. “No promises.”

  Her tone was cold, as if she’d pulled back from whatever lay between them. It hurt, but he knew it was as close as he was going to get. She shook off his hands and shoved past him, boldly walking through the house with nothing on. Below, Archer could hear Gage’s whistle.

  He stuck his head out the door and snarled. He would punch in his brother’s face if he dared look at her again.

  “Don’t worry,” Gage called back from the kitchen below. “Everyone in town knows you tapped that after this morning.”

  Archer’s body flooded with cold fear until he realized Gage was exaggerating. They had been quite loud. He couldn’t exactly control himself when he was buried inside her. His words had exposed the shift he’d felt. Archer had laid claim to Joanna. If anyone found out and brought it back to Killian, she was in trouble.

  But, what they’d done would stay in the Vancourt house. Neither Gage nor Cohen would ever threaten her in that way. While the two of them didn’t trust one another, he knew he could trust them. There was far more to this family than either of them could see. Archer had to bring them back together before he left this world.

  So, Archer threw on a pair of old sweat pants and joined his brothers for breakfast. While they shared coffee and bacon, he told them of his plan. Neither of them would like it, but neither of them could change his mind.

  As they were descending the stairs, the house shook. Archer’s arm snapped out and braced Joanna. She grabbed him and held on, her eyes wide and wild. They looked to one another. Nausea surged through Archer. After he made sure Joanna was alright, he leapt down the stairs, taking them three at a time until his feet hit the ground floor.

  Gage threw open the back door and stomped into the open air. Archer saw his elder brother appear out of the corner of his eye, face grim.

  “Ballsy little shits came to us?” Gage said from the other side of the doorway. “To Vancourt house?”

  “What could have made them this cocky?” Archer asked to no one in particular. He was about to follow Gage outside and begin the hunt when Joanna appeared beside him.

  “I can think of a few things,” she confessed. She ran one hand through her messy hair. Cohen threw her the clothes she’d left in the lawn and she began tugging them on. “When they ambushed the grocery store the other day, Killian noticed that Sampson didn’t show up. He must know there’s something wrong with him.”

  “The monster thought he sniffed weakness on us,” Cohen said with a sneer. His eyes were glued to the door, the windows, tracking movement.

  There was no way of knowing how many of them surrounded the house, but they knew the shifters came with more than just their own claws and teeth. Archer spun toward the parlor. The outside wall was cracked, and the window shattered, as if some sort of explosive had been set off, something small enough to just cause mayhem.

  The shifters were trying to split the brothers up before they drew them out. Archer looked over his shoulder, Joanna in the doorway with guilt written across her face. He wanted to say this wasn’t her fault. Killian was a monster. He would have done this to someone sooner or later.

  “How many shifters does he have working for him?” Archer asked her.

  Her lips pressed together as she calculated. “About fifteen now, I think. Normally, he doesn’t send them all out at once, but he might for the Vancourt brothers.”

  Archer nodded. He ran back to his brothers. “We work together, or we lose. They might be smaller shifters, but they have the numbers on us. If we separate, it’s five to one. More if they try to focus on us one at a time.”

  Cohen took a step back. His eyes hardened as the darkness beneath them grew. “I can do this alone.”

  “Are you batshit?” Gage shoved his brother. Despite his actions, it was clear Gage was worried.

  But, a smile twisted Cohen’s lips. “If anyone of us got the old man’s bear, it was me. You Aren’t going to want to be around when I let him out. Now, why don’t you two take Jo somewhere she’ll be safe.”

  As Cohen bent and shifted, his body growing larger than Archer remembered, Joanna backed up.

  “I can’t stay,” she said, panic in her eyes. “If Killian realizes I’m here of my own free will, my Pack is dead.”

  Pain sliced Archer in two. Another boom shook through the house. The shifters set off another explosion. He knew he should stand beside his brothers, the urge to protect what had once been their home nearly overwhelming him, but the idea of letting Joanna walk into Killian’s den on her own terrified him. It set the bear on edge, making him claw his way out to protect her.

  Protect what is yours.

  Archer wanted to tell the bear to shut up, but he didn’t. He stopped and stared at Joanna. Her panic had calmed and there was a resolute look on her face. She straightened her spine, her lips pressed together. When their eyes met, Archer knew what she had planned.

  But, before she could act, an earth-shaking roar erupted from behind them. Cohen’s bear, the biggest beast Archer had ever seen, crashed through the back door. It splintered and gave way just as Archer reached the kitchen again.

  The bear hungered for violence. They could see it in the way he prowled through the yard. Cohen reared back and roared, taunting the coyotes with a menacing sound. A small shape darted out at him, faster than anyone expected. But, it didn’t take Cohen by surprise. The bloodthirsty beast swiped at the small blur of an animal and sent it careening through the air. It slammed into the outside wall of the house and fell to the ground.

  Before it could catch its breath, Gage leapt upon it with rope in hand. He hog-tied the coyote shifter and chuckled as he watched it struggle against the bindings.

  “Where did you learn to do that?”

  Gage shrugged. “I’ve worked a lot of jobs.”

  “You mean you’ve been fired from a lot of jobs.”

  “Same thing.” Gage stood back and watched Cohen take on a handful of coyote shifters. Archer wondered if the beast would recognize his own brothers when they stepped in. There was a crazed look in the bear’s eyes as he swiped and snapped; one that said everything was potential prey.

  Archer w
as about to tell Joanna to get into the basement when he realized she was gone. He found her already halfway to the front door.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Where I belong,” she hissed as she spun on him. “With my Pack.”

  For the first time, Archer wished his animal was something smaller. He wished he could sneak in with her, remain unnoticed until she needed his help. A bear of his size was far from unnoticeable. It meant he couldn’t walk beside her without setting off serious alarms.

  They had no way of telling how many shifters Killian had sent to Vancourt house. Not in the moment. Another boom shook through them. Rocks tumbled to the ground in a clatter. The house was falling apart around them. The bear growled inside him.

  “Let them take me back,” Joanna whispered.

  Archer reached out, taking her hand in his as if he might pull her back into his arms. “We can take on his shifters. If we hurt his numbers, we hurt him.”

  “What does that matter if he slaughters the rest of my Pack? What then?”

  Her hand slipped out of his. She was right, and he knew it. This wasn’t about them, as much as the bear would like him to think so. It was about keeping their packs safe. Only then, once Killian was gone and the Vancourt Pack found stability, could they explore whatever lay between them.

  His chest tightened. If there was even time after. The sound of chaos still played in the back yard, crazed bear versus feral animals while Gage shouted with whoops of victory. Those sounds slowly turned into alarm, then into the sounds of shifting. There were more shifters than they had anticipated and only three bears.

  Archer knew what needed to happen. It wasn’t his place, but he was about to make it his. There was no way he could allow this to go on and, if he could, he would try to solve two problems at once. He pulled his phone from his pocket as sounds of the war outside made his stomach twist.

  Joanna slowly backed away from him, but her eyes remained on his. There were a million things he saw in her eyes, the girl she’d once been, the woman she’d become, the steel she’d been forced to become, the need to protect her pack. And a huge amount of distrust.

  While the phone rang in his ear, he asked her to wait. Just a few moments.

  ***

  The brothers had walked away from Stonefall and the Vancourt pack years ago, but they fought like they’d never left. Joanna lingered just long enough to watch a black bear and a small pack of wolves burst from the tree line. They joined in the fray, keeping clear of the massive grizzly that was Cohen, as they brought Killian’s force to heel.

  She couldn’t believe Archer succeeded in summoning the Vancourt shifters, but a small part of her was proud. Maybe, just maybe, the brothers would decide to stay after all. They would become greater than their father ever wanted them to be.

  She sucked in a deep breath and steeled herself for what she had to do. Archer would have to understand. She hoped he already did. There was nothing he could do to help her, not when it came to her Pack. She’d learned that the hard way over the past years. This was up to her.

  While the shifters were busy with the Vancourt brothers and their pack, for it would be their pack again, she would take advantage of Killian’s weakened force. Her hands flexed by her side, courage bolstering her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Outside the Vancourt house, there’d been three shifters waiting to pull her into her car. They grabbed her like she might run, but she knew where they were going. That was exactly where she needed to be. Her thoughts brought her back to Archer. She knew he was safe, surrounded by his brothers and his pack. Killian’s shifters were no match for Sampson’s sons.

  The shifters pulled into her driveway. Outside the windshield was the house she grew up in. When she once saw hope and happiness looking at the house, she now felt dread.

  Coyotes lay on the front porch as if they were lazy dogs. She bit her lower lip to stifle the growl that rose through her. This was her territory. Killian only occupied it for now. His reign wouldn’t last much longer.

  Archer asked her to make sure the remaining members of the Bart Pack were somewhere safe. She had no idea what he planned, what he thought he could do for her. Sex was one thing, but trusting him with the people who relied on her was something she wasn’t sure she could do. This was her Pack. This was her mistake.

  He’d said, several times, that he would take care of her problem. Joanna didn’t know what that meant, but she did have an idea. Her stomach clenched when she thought about it. No, he wouldn’t do something like that. Sure, he’d promised to help, but that was…

  Her body flashed with cold fear. She wanted to tell herself the man she knew was too selfish to do something like that.

  Was he? Archer had left her with no explanation, but the man who’d come back was still the man she’d thought he was. There was a sense of duty propelling him forward. Even if he didn’t believe in love, he believed in doing the right thing. That meant protecting her against Killian’s goons. Hell, that meant protecting his good-for-nothing father from those in his own pack who wanted him dead.

  If Archer did one thing, it was always the right thing. His hands might be full, but she knew he wouldn’t be long behind once he realized she was gone. She glanced at the feral shifters guiding her into the house. They were weak, using fear as a shield from what could hurt them. But they had numbers.

  She shoved her door open, resigning herself to whatever waited on the other side. In her mind, she built her lies. She would tell Killian that the brothers had landed in town and quickly caught her off guard, kidnapping her as a price for Killian’s reckless actions. She’d escaped through an open window to get back to him.

  Those were the words she planned to feed him, a cleverly built story that would be bolstered with tears and whimpering. He would eat it up. He would always eat it up as long as he felt stronger than her. Only she would know the truth.

  As she moved toward the door, her body sang with the truth. It ached with the pain of what she and Archer had done. It was satisfying and almost brought a smile to her lips when she should have looked afraid. Killian liked fear, she reminded herself.

  But, as she opened the door, a voice called out to her.

  “Looks like you had quite the night,” Killian said, his voice floating through the house from another room. There was a thread of anger sewn through it, and she hoped it was aimed at the brothers and not her.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t so lucky. As she rounded the corner into the living room, she saw a room full of familiar faces looking up at her with fear-filled eyes. Her heart stopped. This was her Pack. He’d gathered them, forced them onto their knees while his dogs sat on the couches with sublime smiles.

  Her Pack looked at her, some of the fear morphing into hatred. She couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t stand the thought that she’d caused this. She had to fix it. What she did next, she hated, but she also knew it had to be done. Joanna walked over to Killian, where he was perched on the arm of a couch, and dropped to her knees.

  “I couldn’t fight them,” she said, false tears burning her eyes. “They grabbed me and I couldn’t fight back. I’m so sorry.”

  Inside, she was seething. She hated herself, but she would always do what had to be done to save her Pack. Even if that meant finally submitting to Killian. She would give him what he had pestered her for, the final wall she’d refused to break. Once she gave it to him, she would kill him while he slept beside her.

  She knew her soul was still laying in bed with Archer. That was where her heart wanted to be. No matter what she did with Killian, she would remember the peace she had left behind with Archer, the young girl who’d been in love with him and the woman who found a night of solace in those very same arms.

  Killian looked down at her, one eyebrow raised. Her heart skipped. Skepticism was clear on his face. He leaned forward, his fingers grabbing her chin. His nostrils flared

  “Liar,” he whispered. “You thought you could hide
your indiscretion with cheap perfume, but it didn’t work.”

  A cry rang out through the small room. Joanna struggled to get to her feet, but Killian clamped a hand on her shoulder and shoved her back onto the floor. One of her packmates was crying. The smell of blood filled the air and made her stomach churn. The rest were stoically quiet. The sound of the whimpering cry tore Joanna apart. Her lynx struggled to get free. It would tear Killian apart, piece by piece.

  But, it was too small. He was larger than her, his beast, a cat, that could crush her.

  “You’re a shit liar,” Killian told her. His grip pulled her up from the floor. She fought to keep up with him before he hurt her. “Luckily for you, you’re my mate. I can’t hurt this pretty face. Which means, their faces will have to be lesson enough for you.”

  Another shifter cried out, half swallowing the sound. Joanna watched as one of the coyote shifters dragged a sharp nail down the cheek of a young man. He tried to take the pain in his stride, tried not to show how scared he was. Joanna wanted to promise him she would end this. She wanted to tell him it was almost over.

  One stupid night had caused all of this. If only she’d been stronger. If only she’d left Archer behind. She’d been too caught up in having him back in her life, wanting to pull him in again, that she’d cast aside what she should have been worrying about.

  Archer promised her he was going to make things right. She looked up at Killian, saw the hunger for terror and pain in his gleaming eyes. If she couldn’t cut those eyes out of his head, she would have to trust that Archer would.

  Because she had to admit, she loved Archer. Nothing had changed. Her heart had picked up right where it’s left off, as if always waiting for him and him alone. He was still the person she knew him to be. Nothing had really changed. There was still a force of good within him that would demand he do the right thing. He’d proven that in Paul’s Mart.

  When he could have walked away, Archer stepped in. He put a stop to Killian’s attack, saving lives before it could turn into something truly terrible.