Katalina smiled. “Maybe, and maybe I don’t need a guard.” The only bit of enjoyment she’d had tonight was sneaking out undetected.
Cage muttered under his breath as Anna laughed softly.
“Katalina!” Jackson barked. “We’re on high alert. Now is not the time for evading your guard detail and taking a midnight stroll.”
“I’m sorry. Shall I get into the cage with Anna? Will that make you all happy?” Sarcasm dripped off every word, her arms crossing.
Cage looked up from his task. “She has a point, even if I don’t like it.”
Anna patted him on the head with a smile. “I knew you’d come around.”
“I might not be throwing you behind bars, but I’m also not letting the powers that be have full access again.” Cage glared.
“Either way, I need to let Bass know you’re here,” Jackson said.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Katalina warned.
Bass was suffocating her with his increased protection. After the gun shooting, which nearly killed Logan, he’d deemed both the human world and the shifter world unsafe and increased her protection. She’d gone from having Nico as her constant shadow to a whole group.
“I have to,” Jackson argued, reaching for his phone.
To Jackson’s surprise, Katalina snatched it from his hand and held it hostage behind her back. “Come on, Dad,” she pleaded. “I can’t breathe as it is. He’ll only worry unnecessarily if you call him now. I was within the patrolled borders. I was safe.”
“Don’t use the dad card on me, Kat. It’s not fair.”
“Why? You’re my father. Why shouldn’t I get to use the dad card?” He melted as Katalina knew he would. The truth was, Jackson was her dad, not just biologically but in all ways. Their bond had deepened, and it was both a strange and lovely thing.
“Fine, but I’m escorting you home myself.” His words might have been gruff, but his gaze was soft as he studied his daughter.
Smug, Katalina smiled. “Thought you needed permission to enter our inner lands?” She raised a brow teasingly.
Jackson crossed his arms. “If you can break the rules, so can I. Besides, you’re not the only one who can evade guards.”
“You two are as bad as each other,” Cage retorted, laughing as he glanced between the two. “Matching evil grins and all.”
“Are you all good here?” Jackson asked, ignoring his comment.
“Yep. Nearly finished wrapping her foot. Then I’ll help her to bed and retake my post.”
Jackson waved him off. “Luke’s already taken over. Stay with Anna upstairs. I’ll be back soon to keep watch.”
“Thanks, Jackson. And Kat, thanks for bringing her home.”
Katalina shrugged. “It was kinda my fault she was out there to begin with. You’d think the almighty powers would learn to pick up a phone.”
Anna giggled, the effects of the vision all but gone. “Night, Kat.”
Cupping Anna’s cheek, Katalina met her gaze. “No more midnight walks, okay? I’ll take it from here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jackson rumbled. “You still haven’t told us what Anna learned.”
Turning away, Katalina headed for the door. “Not everything is meant for your ears, Jackson.”
“Oh, I’m back to Jackson, am I?”
Her grin widened. “Come along, old man.”
Ignoring his insistent arguing, Katalina shifted, allowing her clothes to disintegrate in the air—she’d get more—sometimes she’d learned it was easier to shift and ignore confrontation altogether. After all, she couldn’t speak if she was a wolf.
And no amount of conversation was going to change reality. Anna had foretold her doom, and there was no escaping her fate.
They were at war. At the brink of no return, and sooner or later, Katalina was going to have to make a choice.
Human or wolf?
Fight or die?
And her choice, it didn’t affect just her. For if she fell, so did the packs.
Chapter 1
Eva
Eva pounded down the road, trees blurring as she ran. Sweat coated her skin, her breath a heavy rasp as it rushed in and out of her lungs. With each step, Eva’s muscles screamed in protest, her mind becoming consumed with the effort to keep one foot in front of the other. Every day she jogged the route from her motel to the cult her little brother, Zac, had joined, and every day she chased to the point of complete exhaustion—for that one moment of peace when she was nothing but strained muscles and fiery breath.
It wasn’t a cult, of course, but cult sounded far saner in her head than a wolf pack. And the fact her little brother turned into a wolf was something she didn’t even want to think about. Every time he shifted in front of her, she was filled with equal parts awe and fear. It should have been an impossibility. It shouldn’t have been real, yet it was, leaving Eva with no choice but to learn to cope or risk losing her brother forever.
Her father had taken to the change far easier than Eva, or maybe he simply found his son turning into a wolf far simpler to handle than the death of his wife. Eva could only wish she had the same ability. Instead, she was consumed with the loss of her mother, the changes to her brother, and add to that the uncivil wolves they spent a lot of time with, Eva was hanging on by a thread.
A prickle of awareness slivered down her spine as the rumble of an engine filled her ears. Slowing her pace, Eva glanced over her shoulder to find a van coming up behind her. Cold fear washed over her skin, locking her legs, but as the van drove harmlessly on, Eva dragged in an uneasy breath, shaking her head at her jumpiness.
Paranoid much.
Bending over, she rested her hands on her knees, catching her breath as she mentally berated herself further. It took her a moment to register the soft
