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hung up on him after that.
    My farmhouse wasn’t far from Lachlan’s, so I parked the truck in my drive and walked over. The lights on the lower floor were lit. After an abrupt knock, I let myself in. I knew he was expecting me, so I didn’t bother to wait for an invitation.
    I heard him moving around in the kitchen and headed straight toward the back of the house. When I saw Belinda seated at the breakfast bar, a steaming cup of tea in front of her, I paused. Lach would never allow the witch to witness private pack business. He might be willing to discuss peace with the vamps and coven, but he wouldn’t allow the High Priestess to sit in on a meeting between the pack alpha and beta.
    Belinda glanced over her shoulder and gave me a wan smile. “Hey, Calder. You made good time.” She smoothed down the collar of her shirt, drawing my gaze to her neck.
    There was a perfect imprint of Lach’s teeth, the skin shiny and still a little pink.
    My eyes narrowed. Lach had only brought Belinda to the compound today, but that bite was a week old, maybe a few days more. How had my alpha become so close with the High Priestess yet the rest of the pack remained unaware?
    I realized that Belinda was watching me with probing eyes and that I hadn’t responded to her greeting.
    “Hi, Belinda.”
    Her face was serene as we sized each other up. Though her appearance was conservative and very feminine, I could see a core of steel within her. It was in her posture, the way she held her head, and the steady gaze that never wavered from mine. Very few humans could meet the eyes of a shifter or vamp without looking away. It was natural instinct for prey to avoid direct eye contact with predators. Though most humans didn’t consciously recognize vamps and wolves for what they truly were, the innate knowledge was there. Direct eye contact was a challenge from the hunted to the hunter, guaranteed to result in a chase.
    “Calder.”
    So caught up in my assessment of the High Priestess, I hadn’t heard Lachlan approach. I turned. “Lach.”
    He angled his head toward the breakfast bar. “Grab a seat. There’s fresh coffee if you want it.”
    Belinda rose. “I’ll get it.” She smiled slightly at me. “Go ahead and sit, Calder.”
    I nodded and did as she directed. I watched as she poured coffee into a mug and added two teaspoons of sugar, exactly the way I preferred it. That was the sort of thing the alpha’s mate would do; attention to detail and small gestures such as those put other pack members and visiting alphas at ease.
    Considering the mark on her neck and her level of comfort in the kitchen, I didn’t argue when she set the mug in front of me and resumed her seat at my side. As Lach’s mate, she had every right to be in the room as we discussed pack business.
    However, I didn’t envy Lach’s position in having to explain her presence to the pack. While they might sneer at humans and consider them inferior, shifters were wary of witches and vamps. Up until fifty years ago, mating between the species was forbidden and punishable by exile or death. Lifting that ban had been a nightmare. One my father had attacked with gusto.
    As pack alpha before Lach, my dad was far more progressive than previous leaders. He openly encouraged pack members to mingle with other supernatural species and passionately argued with the old-fashioned attitudes of elder wolves.
    Dad felt that keeping the supernatural species separate weakened us. If accounted for all together, shifters, vampires, and witches only made up a small portion of the world population. Separately, we were vulnerable should humans ever realize we existed. Together, we were still outnumbered, but our strengths and weaknesses were complimentary. It would be much easier to defend ourselves.
    As I wasn’t much more than a newborn when dad decided to step down, he chose Lach as his successor. Lachlan held many of my father’s beliefs as his own and strove to continue forging