I shot from my seat and ran through the dining room. My parents were already throwing themselves through the doors to the patio, and I followed right behind them.
All three of us stopped so abruptly, we stumbled into one another like dominos. I stepped to the left to see around Dad's body and almost wished I hadn't.

In front of us was the edge of a disaster. Most of the writhing fur-covered bodies were at the tree line, away from the yard. But parts of the newly sprouting hedge was crushed and flattened, and one of the beams holding the trellis up was splintered so the whole thing sagged on its weight.

I didn't understand who the other wolves were, or where they had come from. Was it rogues? That was the most likely explanation. But they looked just like our wolves, and in the mess it was so hard to differentiate.

Mom sucked in a breath, as if she suddenly remembered she had to breathe. "Kota, we have to stop this."

After only a moments more of hesitation, he shifted, leaving scraps of clothes behind him. His powerful hind legs stretched as he threw himself over the balcony in one bound, not missing a step when he landed on the concrete below us. He took off towards the woods, and soon his black pelt was engulfed by the other splotches of moving balls of fur.

Before I joined him, I glanced at my mom to make sure she was okay. She didn't take her eyes off the fight, just stood there with a hand wrapped around her waist and her elbow digging into her stomach. Her mouth was still covered by her palm.

"Mom." I knew she heard me, because she blinked and clenched a hand around her shirt. I sighed. She seemed to be lost in another world, and I didn't have time for her to explain what her deal was.

I shifted into my black and white wolf and took the same route as dad. I landed on the basement patio much harder than Dad did, and the impact sent a strange stinging sensation through my paws. Shaking it off, I ran into the fray, latching my teeth into the first wolf that passed, praying it was a foe.

The mottled tawny wolf rounded on me, swiping a paw that sent me sprawling across the dirt. My left shoulder stung, but I had to ignore it as I leaped back to my feet. I sprang at the wolf, bowling it over so I landed on top. I snapped at its face, my teeth grazing its whiskers. But its front legs held me too far away for me to reach its face. Its back paws pummeled at my underbelly until they finally broke skin and I was forced to retract my claws from its shoulders and be thrown off.

Landing squarely on my paws, I spun to go again, but it had disappeared. So, I sprang at the next wolf that looked like it needed something to do. This one was gray, it's pelt matted with dirt and burrs from rolling in the woods. It lifted its lips and growled. The growl turned into a snarl when it realized I was coming for it. The wolf reared to meet me with a blow of its own, and we clashed into a heap, snapping and pawing at anything we could even attempt to sink a tooth or claw into.

I had never met a rogue before. But comparing the two wolves I had fought today, I would say the one I was clawing it's side right now was what I pictured a rogue looking like. The grey pelt, hard eyes, snarling teeth. Almost rabid.

With a roar, it found a surge of energy and flung its shoulders forward off the ground, taking me by surprise. It managed to snag a tooth into my lip and when the wolf fell back down, it pulled a chunk of my flesh with it. I howled in pain, letting go of my opponent as if its fur had been set on fire. It spit out blood, and I saw the piece of my lip fall to the ground. I arched my back in a dry heave, wishing my wolf's stomach had anything it could throw up.

The opponent wolf licked its chops to rid of the blood while looking me in the eye and then spun on its paws and disappeared between two trees.

I licked my own chops, disgusted as my tongue fell into the notch my lip now sported. I spit out blood-filled saliva, but I knew a wound like that wouldn't stop bleeding so fast. I dry heaved again at the thought of what my lip looked like now. Hopefully my wolf healed it some before I had to shift back. I would probably have at least a puffy mouth all week.

Spitting at the ground again, I turned in a circle, looking for someone to take my anger out on. But then I couldn't move, not even an inch. I strained, but all I managed to accomplish was gaining the ability to blink. Blood dripped from my mouth onto the floor below me, but I couldn't even lick it away.

Then my eyes twitched and I saw her. Then I heard her.

"Stop this!" Mom shouted into the sudden silence. She walked down the path, past the trellis and into the woods. She stopped in front of a midnight black wolf. Dad.

"Kota." She urged, and I could only just see her twitch a finger from here. Dad's wolf was unfrozen and he shook out his pelt. The wolf next to him was also pitch black in color, but the difference was it had amber eyes in contrast to Dad's green ones. Another twitch of Mom's fingers and that wolf was able to shake its pelt out too.

"Shift." She commanded. Immediately Dad was human again. The other wolf was slower to follow, but ultimately shifted all the same.

It was a man, with long hair that was honey colored and eyes that matched. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at my mother, who was trying so desperately to ignore the fact that both men were naked while they just stood there.

"So the stories are true!" The golden-haired man said. His voice was deep and authoritative, and he had to be older than my parents by at least ten years.

But I couldn't focus on him. What stories was he talking about? I knew Mom had powers, and I knew she didn't use them often, and didn't like to talk about them. But I just figured she'd been born with them and hated the center of attention using and discussing them would bring.

"Alpha Meyer." Dad greeted instead of really replying to the man's statement.

Alpha. These weren't rogues, they were part of another pack! Meyer. Meyer. Meyer. I ran the name through my head, trying to recall the pack geography crash course Dad ran through with me when I was thirteen. But I couldn't remember which pack this was or where they were from.

Meyer ignored the formal greeting, his eyes remaining on my mother. I could tell Dad didn't like that.

"You!" Meyer said, eyes like fire. "You could fix everything!"

Mom recoiled, and I felt the hold on me slacken ever so slightly. Enough that I could lick the blood from my lips and breathe normally. Not enough to return to human form. That was okay, though. I wanted my wolf to heal my lip, and being in this form helped the process a little.

"What are you talking about?" Dad growled at the alpha.

Meyer didn't pay him any attention. "Your wolf is still white, isn't it? Your mother hasn't given up. She's punishing the packs until you go home!"

Dad lunged, a growl catching in his throat as Mom's hand flashed out and he was frozen again. "Kota." She barked. "No."

My eyes widened. I had never seen my mom like this. She always acted so helpless without Dad. I didn't understand why she hid her power, and not just the telekinesis; her authority.

"Please explain." She told Meyer. But I caught the slight waver to her voice. Holding this many wolves was draining her, I wished I could help her somehow. There was nothing I could do but watch.

"We have rogues," Meyer started, all too eager to speak. "And when we don't have rogues, we have hunters."

"I don't understand why this has anything to do with me." Another shaky breath, this time her hands quiver once.

Meyer shook his head, as if she were being ridiculous. "I have gone to the Menai Moon Pack. Twice. Both times the queen has turned me away, claiming her pack has no business saving everyone else's pelts. She's not sane."

Mom snapped, "I know that!"

I looked at her. She did?

"Then you know why." Alpha Meyer's voice slowed down, and he just got ten times more intimidating. He leaned closer to Mom—I saw Dad fighting her restraints to the side—and lowered his voice. I was close enough to hear, but only barely.

"She's waiting for you. She won't do her duty as head of the royal pack until she gets her heir."

Mom growled. "She has her heir! She just doesn't want to admit that her own daughter hates her."

I swear I stopped breathing, needing to catch every part of that conversation. Because I was so confused. I'd gotten pieces of my mother's story growing up, but not all of it. Obviously not even close.

Mom was supposed to be the heir to the werewolf throne? Where did Aunt Tally come into play? Why did I know nothing about my grandparents?

"If you give the queen what she wants, everything could change. You have a good head on your shoulders, and have led your pack decently over the years. It's time you lead every pack and fix the mistakes of your mother." Meyer was barely breathing the words and I had to strain as far as I could to hear it all.

"She has Natalia."

"She won't step down for her, though." Meyer insisted. A series of tremors ran down Mom's arms and it was first Dad that was released and then the rest of us. Growls, roars, battle cries that had been cut short reinstated until their voices quieted. Meyer lifted a fist to halt his pack from any movement. It was almost as effective as Mom's mind.

Dad growled once at the other alpha and then stepped to his mate's side. I ran over to them, seeing Jaycee's and Dexter's and Cole's brown wolves coming from the other side of the yard. After a moment, I spotted Sydney's red-blonde wolf weaving through the crowd to reach us too.

Mom touched my head softly, acknowledging my presence. I didn't tilt my face up to look at her. I didn't want her to notice my busted lip yet.

Meyer chuckled in front of us, as if something was funny to him. What, I couldn't be sure. "Anderson," he addressed my father finally. Well, I supposed he could still be talking to Mom, but most alpha's called each other by their last names. It was a formality thing I didn't truly understand. "If you don't turn yourselves over, you will lose the Waning Moon Pack as an ally. At least while I am alive."

Dad didn't budge, just gripped Mom's hand in his as they stood their ground.

Meyer laughed again. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Other packs will start noticing the problem with the monarchy. And they'll all be coming after your pack here. You may be separated from any other territories, but everyone knows where you are, Anderson. I promise. And I'm willing to bet you don't want to be the one to start a war." His smirk was as calculating as his voice. "And that war will be fatal."

A shiver ran down my spine. Not really at what he was saying, but his voice made everything sound dramatic and eerie. Mom absently stroked my head with a two-finger touch. Like you would a rabbit. It was so light I barely could even feel it at all.

We watched as Meyer turned and shifted, leading his pack to the front of the house, where I am sure they had vehicles waiting. No way would an entire enforcer raid run all the way. Not just because of the distance, but because there was no way they wouldn't be seen by humans on the way.

When the truck engines reached our ears, everyone let out a breath we seemed to have been collectively holding. The gammas and betas shifted back, and enforcers crawled their way back towards the house from the woods.

"Anyone injured, see yourselves immediately to the pack doctor's infirmary!" Kota announced as they trudged by, slowly shifting back one by one.

There weren't too many with injuries as far as I could tell. A few scratches here and there, a torn ear, a ripped claw—that ultimately led to their human-form's broken finger. It was just blood stains they carried with them, but it must have been the opponents' because a lot of them didn't look to be in pain.

"I am so sorry, Kota!" Sydney said when most of the enforcers were out of earshot.

"What are you talking about?"

The gamma female hung her head, as if ashamed. "The alpha knocked on the front door. I think he came here just for a civil conversation with you. I knew you were having dinner with your family, so I tried to ask him what his business was here." She took a deep breath, "He didn't believe that I had any authority and called me a hot-headed she-wolf that was just being nosy. I snapped and we both shifted, starting the entire thing." Cole stepped up beside her and draped an arm around her shoulder. He didn't offer anything more to her statement, though.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Sydney, I'm not mad. You were trying to buy time. Besides, being 'hot-headed' is why you make a good team with Cole as head of the enforcers."

Cole grinned. "I cool you off."

Sydney elbowed him in the ribs, but managed to crack a smile and lift her head to meet her alpha's eyes. "I still think there didn't need to be any fighting, and I should have prevented it."

Mom shook her head, stepping in. "You really think he came here just to talk?"

"Yeah," Jaycee agreed with whatever Mom was hinting at. They seemed to finish each other's thoughts a lot. "He wouldn't have brought an entire fighting unit of enforcers here if he just 'wanted to talk.'"

"You're right." Sydney said finally. "I'm still sorry, though."

"Don't be." Mom told her. "Go clean yourselves up. All of you."

"You're not injured are you?" Dad asked before any of them could step away.

They all shook their heads so Dad let them go inside to find their children. Then my parents focused on me.

"You okay?" Dad asked. I licked my chops quickly to hide any blood that might still be flooding from my wound. But the effort was useless, because he crouched down and saw it anyway. "Ouch. C'mon, we're going to go see Holly."