ROBBY’S TEETH APPEARED, BUT he didn’t shift as he pulled me closer. We’d see just how effective his tattoo was in a matter of minutes. I conjured a pair of katanas and handed him one. He smiled down at me with the same glint he always had in his eyes when we stepped into battle.

We stepped out of the path into a larger intersection where multiple sidewalks merged, but neither of us were prepared for the nightmare that stepped out onto the path in front of us. She looked as though she were made of alabaster stone. Her features were more like that of an Egyptian goddess than a human, and her black hair lay straight with such precision that I thought it was a wig. Her eyes glowed red, like the taillights on a car.

She smiled with teeth whiter than her skin. “Stay still while my children feed,” she said with a voice as cloying as honey.

“I don’t think so, bitch,” Robby growled and raised the katana to his shoulder, giving me his back.

I adopted the same position, pressing against him while a grin formed with the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

She sneered at us in a way that clearly conveyed annoyance. “You are not supposed to be in these woods. Your agency made it clear we would be given full rein of the parks.”

“I assume you are talking about the Monster Defense Agency?” I asked with my hands tight around the hilt of my sword and prayed Robby would follow my lead.

She put her hands up and the advancing vampires halted.

A whisper of a command brushed by my ear, but her lips did not move. It was as if she were communicating with them silently.

“Yes.” She narrowed her eyes. “You are defying orders.”

I shrugged. “We were never very good at following rules.”

“Color me curious,” Robby said. “I mean, it isn’t every day that an ancient vampire visits our city.” His voice was steady, but his body trembled against mine as if trying to contain his wolf. “Why risk it?”

She tilted her head and stepped closer. He growled in response, and she halted. “If you think you can take thirty vampires, shift and see how long you last. I will personally enjoy draining you of blood.”

Robby’s back tightened.

“Stand down,” I said softly and lowered my katana, glancing back at Robby.

He met my gaze with a fiery rage in his eyes, but he lowered his blade.

The ancient being looked me up and down. “Since when do witches call the shots?”

I formed a fireball in my hand and tossed it in the air as if it were a baseball, catching it as I stared her down. “I’m a fire witch.” I smiled. “And if you threaten him again, I’ll burn every last one of you.” I batted my eyes, feigning innocence as I delivered my own potent threat. Fire was almost as effective as sunlight in destroying vampires.

She warily eyed the fireball I kept tossing, and stepped back.

“Why come to our city?” I asked, still playing with my fire in a way that had it growing inside me, itching to be let loose. But I kept it in check. The perimeter of the park was closer than I was comfortable with. If I went off, innocents would die, too.

“I’m looking for someone, and I was informed they were within this metropolis.” Her eyes narrowed in such a way that I suppressed a smile.

“And who would that be?” Robby asked. His voice still held a feral quality to it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but her answer startled me.

“The last phoenix.” She grinned. “The one who will allow me to reap my revenge.”

She knew about me, and I thought it was Cassius who wanted to use me to rule the world. But he was only doing this bitch’s bidding.

“The phoenix is a myth.” Robby repeated what we had been taught so many years ago, bringing me out of my momentary reverie. “By all accounts extinct.”

She scoffed at him.

“What revenge?” I asked, still holding my fireball as though I contemplated throwing it again. The vampires on my side of the circle backed up another step as I sent a side-eye their way.

“I am the mother of all vampires. I know when one of my children is murdered. My revenge will be very sweet.” She smiled in a dark manner that chilled me. “Go.” She pointed her scrawny finger in the direction we came. “Before I break my promise to your boss and deliver a bloody war to this city.”

Robby growled in a way that I knew he wasn’t going to just leave these vampires. He shifted and the entire circle of vampires reared back, including the ancient one.

All eyes surrounding us were wide enough to see the whites around their red eyes. And they were all glued to the massive werewolf by my side. The tables were surely turned, but we would likely be hurt if we took them on. And I could not let my fire go in the middle of the city. I could vaporize blocks of innocents if I did that. As tempting as this opportunity was, the risk of collateral damage was too damned great.

I jumped onto his back and tossed the ball of fire high into the air.

“Take me home.” I whispered the command in his ear and pulled his fur as if it were a rein. “I wouldn’t be standing around when that fireball lands,” I called over my shoulder as the group moved away from the golden-tipped wolf.

Robby let out a feral growl as he barreled through the line like a bat straight out of hell.

My hat flew off and my hair cascaded down my back, flying behind me like my own red cape as Robby ran. His growl filled the air until the end of the forest came into view. He skidded to a halt and shifted back to human form. He wasn’t as conspicuous as a dog anymore, and walking down the city street in wolf form would call unwanted attention to us. Same with him walking in the buff. That would almost get more notice than a massive wolf. Still, he let out a feral growl at me.

I waved clothing onto his naked form and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the street with me as I hailed for a cab. One pulled up, and I just about pushed him inside, rattling off an address on the road behind his home in case the vampires had followed and were listening.

With my heart still wildly beating in my chest, I swallowed the dryness in my mouth as Robby seethed next to me. I conjured money and threw it at the cab driver as he let us out, and I took Robby’s hand, leading him down another maze of side streets that eventually came out on his road a couple of blocks from his brownstone.

The minute we were inside, Robby turned on me.

“What the actual fuck?” he growled. “You could have wiped them all out with a wave of your fucking hand. Why didn’t you?” His voice rattled the walls around us.

I took a breath. “How many acres did I destroy in the forest?”

He snarled. “What the hell does that have to do with it?”

“There are apartment buildings surrounding the park.”

His eyes blinked rapidly, and his fisted hands slowly uncurled.

“How many acres?” I asked again, much more quietly as Johnson and Judy descended the stairs.

“Nearly a square mile of woods burned that day,” Johnson said.

“That’s more than the footprint of Prospect Park.” I pointed at Robby and raised my brow, making my point.

“You went to the park?” Johnson’s eyes widened, and considering the directive that the mother of vampires stated, his expression didn’t surprise either of us.

“Yes,” we both said and glared at him.

He paled. “And?”

“And we ran into a boatload of vampires,” Robby snarled. “Who the hell at the agency is working with those dicks?”

Johnson looked at the ground. “I don’t know,” he said. “But the pack and our partners do not agree with this ludicrous stand down order. The agency said all parks in the metropolitan area are off-limits at night. Don’t wander because that could be construed as breaking the temporary truce.” He glanced out the window with an expression as though he just bit into a lemon gone bad.

“Killing the ancient will kill all vampires,” I said. “Just like killing a master will annihilate all their children.”

Robby’s glare slashed to me. “You should have taken her out,” he snarled. “That bitch wants to use you to enact her revenge.”

“Revenge on who?” Johnson said.

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, yes you do.” I stomped my foot to make my point. “She wants to kill us for killing Cassius. She’s never set foot in New York before. His death had to be what triggered this.” I glanced at Johnson. “Did any of you tell the MDA about Robby’s larger, more ornate wolf?”

“No. Not to my knowledge. Why?”

“Because he shifted in the park, and if the MDA knew he had golden-tipped fur, they would know he was alive.” I took a breath. I didn’t know whether that was good or bad. If they were truly in league with the mother of all vampires, then it would be very bad for Robby. But if they weren’t, his father would possibly be less inclined to want to hunt me down. Either way, the news was likely to get back to the agency that there was a very large gold-tipped wolf on the loose who fucked with the truce.

With the mother of vampire’s assumption that we were MDA agents, they were likely to tear their contact a new one and start a very nasty reaction within the agency. Their agents ignored a command.

No one ignored a direct command and lived to tell about it.

Well, no one except Johnson and the Allegany pack members, it seemed.