Nik froze. “Pen?”

The witch stepped forward, her eyes flickering with silvery light.

He growled in frustration. Damn, had the doppelgänger gotten to everyone?

As he did in any potential fighting situation, he pushed his weight to the balls of his feet, prepared to flee.

Or fight. But he really didn’t want to fuck with Penelope. For one, she was a friend. For two, she could flick her wrist and fuck him up six ways from Sunday.

He was so not in the mood for that right now.

“How did you—” he started.

“Know you were here?” she finished. She pointed to the doorway. Nik hadn’t noticed it before, but the frame glowed faintly with silvery light. “You tripped my alarm. I set it before I left to convene with the Council.”

“And I’ll bet that creepy-ass monster had you tell them everything’s fine, right?”

“Yep. Everything is fine and dandy, as they say. Nothing to see here.” She smiled tightly. “Shall we begin?”

“Ladies first.” He ducked as she shot out a hand and sent a net of pure-white light hurtling toward him. As he’d done so many times, he tucked his head in and rolled along the floor, coming up onto his feet and taking off at a dead run through the storeroom.

“You can’t hide from me, Nik,” Penelope called lazily. “Come out. Together, we can stop Mistress Black. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Not like this,” he muttered to himself, hiding behind a large metal bookcase full of spellbooks.

Fuck. This wasn’t going according to plan. Looking at the rows of stocked shelving in front of him, he frantically scanned them for anything remotely useful. Shit. Why hadn’t he taken potions more seriously, really taken the time to come down here and learn what the hell all this stuff did? Some of it he couldn’t even pronounce.

“Marco?” Penelope called. When her voice was met with silence, she laughed. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

Her footsteps were getting closer.

“Fuck,” he swore quietly. Grabbing a bunch of shit and praying it was useful, he shoved the little bottles in his pockets and peered around the corner of the bookcase. Penelope came into view, idly looking around, as if she were shopping and not trying to capture him or kill him or whatever she’d been charged to do.

His heart pounded as he braced himself, waiting. Once she’d stepped in front of the bookcase, he said, “Sorry, Penelope,” and shoved hard.

The bookcase creaked and fell, right on top of a shrieking Penelope.

Nik didn’t wait around to see if she was all right. He knew she would be. Pen had started off her magical career by serving in the DPI for twenty years, after all.

Taking off at a run, he bolted around the toppled bookcase and mess of broken bottles and books and ran for the exit.

Something whooshed through the air, lassoing around his foot and yanking him forward. He fell, knocking the wind from his chest and banging his skull against the cold concrete floor. His body slid across the floor, away from the exit and toward a very pissed-off witch.

Nik didn’t think he’d ever seen Penelope with a hair out of place on her head. Her hair was in disarray, and her blue dress was stained with an assortment of colored liquids. Cuts marred her skin, which were rapidly healing thanks to the regenerative powers of White Magic. “That was a low blow, Nik,” she seethed, pulling on the lasso she’d created from white light. “I was going to take it easy on you, but now you’ve just pissed me off.”

As he fought to make his lungs work, he struggled for the knife he always kept tucked in his pocket. There. Flipping the switchblade out, he cut at the lasso, only to feel as if he’d stuck his hand in a light socket. “Fuck!” His palm glared bright red, and he was about to fling the knife with another curse when he thought better of it. It still might come in handy. Tucking it back into his pocket, he grabbed one of the bottles randomly and uncorked it. “Here goes.”

He threw it at Penelope.

A boom shook the room, rattling the potions on the shelves and making his teeth sing. Penelope screamed as thousands of tiny spiders crawled from every nook and cranny of the room, covering her with their spindly legs and tiny bodies.

Penelope was terrified of spiders. Perfect.

The lasso of light vanished as she shrieked and clawed at them. Feeling sorry for her but knowing he’d be a fool if he stayed, Nik staggered to his feet and stumbled toward the exit.

He lumbered through the halls, steadying himself on the wall whenever he got dizzy. The back of his head hurt.

Not really knowing where he was going, he blindly ran, trusting his body’s instincts. A remote hallway in the far corner of the manor came into view, where he knew a secret exit lay hidden behind a tapestry.

If he could just get to it—

“Going somewhere?”

“Fuck me,” he growled, stopping and turning around to glare at Ralph.

The woodsman stood there with his shotgun in both hands, a mean glint in his silver eyes. “Prick.” Ralph pumped the barrel. “I’ve put up with your shit because you’re my Alpha, but not anymore.”

“So you’re, what? Gonna shoot me? That’s taking the easy way out, isn’t it?” When Ralph stilled, Nik went on. “Oh, what’s the matter, Ralphie? Afraid to fight me by yourself? Terrified I’ll kick your ass?”

Ralph spat and set the shotgun down on the floor. “Bullshit. You might’ve caught me off guard back in the dungeon, but that won’t happen again.” He stalked forward, and the fight was on.

Ralph led with a punch Nik saw coming from the next county. “Poor form,” Nik said, blocking him easily and giving him a love tap on the jaw. “You’ll never land a punch, not throwing those haymakers.”

“Shut up!” Ralph swung again, too slow, and Nik deflected his punch and elbowed Ralph squarely between the ribs. The other wolf’s eyes watered, and he swore. “You opened yourself up to that one. Always block your insides,” Nik said, standing with his hands at his sides.

“Ah!” Ralph’s face red with rage, he came swinging at Nik like a wild man. Nik snorted, slapping away the punches and kicking out toward Ralph’s gut.

To his shock, Ralph just grunted and dove for him, taking them both to the floor. The man had about fifty pounds worth of gut protecting his belly, which Nik definitely felt now. The man outweighed him by at least that much, maybe more. Nik’s feet struggled to find purchase, to buck Ralph off or at least get a good punch to the face in so he could distract him enough to get away.

Fuck. He shouldn’t have gotten cocky. Stupid arrogance, always getting him into trouble.

The two men grappled for dominance, Nik squirming like a worm while Ralph chuckled. “Doesn’t feel so good not being the big dog on top, does it?” He pressed his elbow into Nik’s windpipe, and Nik choked.

Shifting his nails into claws, he stabbed at Ralph’s meaty arm, shredding his flesh. Ralph didn’t seem to feel a thing.

Son of a bitch.

Nik started to see stars.

Alara’s face burst through his mind, giving him renewed strength. He had a mate to save.

Gathering his power, he head-butted Ralph. The wolf yowled, his hold loosening enough for Nik to buck him off and roll to the side. He bumped into the gun, and he grabbed it as he rose to his feet.

He aimed the barrel of the gun at Ralph, who slowly rose.

Blood ran down his lip from his nose, which was set at a crooked angle. He spat onto the floor near Nik’s feet. “Go ahead,” Ralph rasped. “Pull the trigger.”

Nik kept his index finger pressed against the trigger, ready to fire should the need arise. “Revenge.”

“What?”

“That was the reason you killed Malachite’s family. He killed your pup, so you killed his.” He needed to know the truth, needed to hear it from the mouth of the accused party.

Ralph’s eyes flashed with pain. He still mourned the passing of his daughter after all these years. Nik couldn’t blame him. He’d be eaten up with grief inside if his only pup were brutally murdered like an animal.

“You may think I’m a monster, but he deserved it,” Ralph said, bitterness making his words brittle.

“He was a farmer. And a hunter. He had to have been provoked,” Nik said, playing off of what Gage had given him earlier.

“We didn’t provoke him.”

“You trespassed on his land. Killed his livestock. Made him think he had a wolf problem, which he set out to resolve.”

“We were starving! We didn’t have a choice! That fool Alpha Byron pissed off a Green Warlock, who bewitched the game on our land. Drove them off. Damaged all our crops too, and the edible shit in the forest.”

So it really was just one big tragic misunderstanding. Nik’s shoulders slumped. What a waste. Another senseless, bloody battle that could’ve been prevented.

He started to lower the gun. “I’m sorry. For your pup.” He damn well meant it too.

Gold mixed with the silver in Ralph’s eyes. “Not nearly as sorry as you’re gonna be. You really should’ve shot me.” With a growl, he Changed into a large wolf the color of smoke.

Nik barely had time to toss the gun and Shift before the other wolf was upon him. In a tangle of fur and claws, they rolled, knocking holes into the walls and sending picture frames crashing to the floor. The two tore at each other, biting and ripping flesh until blood soaked their paws.

Ralph was tough, but he was no Alpha.

And Nik had both seen and been in plenty of dogfights.

Ralph was slow, just as his punches had been. What he had in brute force, Nik had in speed. As Ralph growled and reared back to slam his weight on top of Nik, with the intention of crushing his throat, Nik rushed forward. One rip was all it took.

Ralph’s throat now gone, the other wolf sputtered and rolled on the floor until at last he lay still. As he lay dying, Ralph Shifted back into a human, no longer able to hold onto his wolf form. A smile crossed his lips. “Release,” he sputtered before his chest went still.

Nik swiftly Shifted once he felt Ralph’s presence leave his mind. Attacking your Alpha was an offense worthy of death.

And as Nik mulled over Ralph’s last word, he suspected the other wolf had baited him so he would give him that death.

So he wouldn’t have to live with the agony of knowing he’d caused the death of his only child.

Nik’s fists shook on his lap.

Preventable. That was what he thought as he stared at this dead wolf, whose loss felt like a blade to his gut. Preventable and sad.

With a cry of rage, he punched a hole through the wall, not feeling the sting of splintering wood against his knuckles.

His whole body shook.

“Dammit!” he roared.

Footsteps approached, and red dots lined up on his chest.

He looked up to see Penelope and about ten armed guards from both the pack and the DPI standing nearby.

Penelope silently regarded him with those spooky silver eyes. She nodded, and the guards stepped forward.

When Nik growled, snarling and snapping at them, they paused.

“Don’t make this any harder than it has to be, Nikolas,” Penelope said.

“Depends on your definition of hard. And you should know better than to corner a savage beast. A wolf in bloodlust is one of the most dangerous creatures in the Underworld.”

“No matter.” Penelope snapped her fingers.

It felt as though someone had hit Nik upside the head with a baseball bat. Stunned as he was sent flying into the wall, he tried regaining his senses and found he couldn’t move. Something burned at his wrists and ankles—silver cuffs.

They’d bound him in fucking silver.

Hissing as they hauled him to his feet, he glared at Penelope as they walked him past. “I know this isn’t you, Pen, but you’re a real bitch sometimes.”

She smiled. “Only when I have to be. And don’t worry, love.” She tapped a nail under his chin. “This will all be over soon.”

Then she vanished in a puff of smoke.