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if he might find patience there. “We’re going to the Brecks’ backyard. Into the woods, right here in Illinois, where most of us are quite mortal.”
    “Illi-
noise
,” Jeff said with cheeky enthusiasm. “Because the wolves will howl.”
    Gabriel shook his head but clapped Jeff on the back good-naturedly. “Settle yourself, whelp. We haven’t even gotten started yet.”
    I had a sense they weren’t going to settle themselves anytime soon. And since I was playing bodyguard, I took it upon myself to act like one. If we’d be staying on the Brecks’ property, we’d be as safe (as we’d ever been) from Mayor Kowalcyzk’s troops. But that didn’t necessarily mean we’d be safe around the Pack. Not if they shared the Brecks’ attitude.
    “Does the Brecks’ protection extend to the woods? And the rest of the shifters?”
    Gabriel smiled at me. Keenly. “If you’re here, Kitten, you’re safe. That goes for both of you. Frankly, most Pack members don’t give a rat’s ass about politics in Chicago. And even if they did, they aren’t going to choose a bullying politician over friends of the Pack.”
    “And I’ve got your back, Mer,” Jeff said with a wink, earning a dark look from Ethan.
    The shifters and sorcerers filed into the night, but Ethan stopped me with a hand. “Dagger?” he quietly asked.
    “In my boot,” I said. Vampires usually preferred not to employ hidden weapons, but these were special circumstances. “You don’t share Gabe’s confidence?”
    “Gabe knows what he has planned. I do not. We have allies, certainly. Him, Jeff, Nick. A Pack member would have to be, as you might say, wicked ballsy to commit treachery under Gabriel’s nose.” We’d seen it before, and with unpleasant consequences. “But clearly many of the shifters aren’t fans of vampires, and like Michael, they won’t be glad to see us here.”
    “I would never say ‘wicked ballsy.’ But I take your point.” And I hoped we hadn’t escaped Diane Kowalcyzk only to fall into a new kind of drama. But in case we did: “You’re armed, too?”
    Ethan nodded. “A blade, like yours. A matched set,” he added with a smile, tugging on the end of my ponytail. “And we’ll see what we’ll see.”
    He slipped his hand into mine but, when we started toward the door, glanced down at my booted feet.
    “Color me surprised, Sentinel. Your shoes appear to be appropriate.”
    I rolled my eyes. “It was icy that night, so I wore galoshes.”
    “With couture. Very expensive couture.”
    “It was Chicago in February. I made a practical decision. And I pulled it off.”
    Only to have him carry me to my parents’ threshold and fake a marriage proposal on one knee. So I’d managed to avoid falling in stilettos—but had still nearly had a heart attack.
    “Children,” Mallory said, peeking into the doorway. “I believe we’re waiting on you.”
    “Sorry,” I said, stepping outside as Ethan followed behind me. “Just debating the finer points of fashion.”
    “Only vampires,” Gabriel muttered, and moved forward into the darkness.

Chapter Three

    LONE WOLF
    T he night was cold but uncommonly still. No wind at all, which was a blessing in Chicago in February.
    With Gabriel in front, the frozen ground crunching beneath our feet, we played follow the leader around the house and toward the estate’s back lawn. It dipped down to the woods, which made a dark curtain at the edge of the visible world, a black sea beneath a blanket of stars. They twinkled above us, cold and unfeeling, and a sudden ominous shiver went through me.
    Sentinel?
Ethan silently asked, taking my hand.
    I squeezed in response and dismissed my fear. I wasn’t a child; I was a vampire. A predator, and with allies around.
    “Dark out here,” Mallory said with a nervous laugh ahead of us, hand in hand with Catcher.
    “Could be worse,” Catcher said. “You could be a vampire on the lam.”
    “Yeah, I don’t recommend it,” I said. “Although it