Rowan helped me up from the floor, and I ripped the front door open to find chaos. There were at least fifty rogues, and they had my family surrounded. My mother was holding her own. She was standing in her wolfman form, swinging at a few rogues that were trying to surround her, as the others—Rick, Shelly, Ternin, and Alannah—were standing together with their backs to each other, swinging at anyone that got close. Alannah was bleeding from her arm, but she was still holding her own.

I started running for them, as did everyone else, and I felt Nix push forward, shifting my body to our wolfman form. The first man I reached was clueless. They weren’t expecting to be attacked from behind. His yelp as I ripped his arm from the socket had the next few spinning.

“More are attacking from the back!” One rogue called as we reached the back of the pack. I fought towards my mother, Rowan working beside me. Toya and the girls followed the path we made through the men until we ended up in the middle with everyone else.

“Mom,” I called, and she turned. She nodded once before turning back to the fight at hand.

“Amy!” Rick called as two rogues tackled him. “Protect Shelly.” I ignored his demand as I kicked the first rogue off of him and snapped the neck of the second. I caught the tip of a dagger, hissing as Rowan struck out, slicing through the neck of the man that had cut me.

“I got you.” I pulled him from the ground and pushed him back towards his mate as I turned again. I heard another scream, and I spun, but a rogue jumped in my way. “Rowan, save her!” I pointed to Alannah, who was kicking out at two men, as another had his arm around her throat. He nodded once after a brief hesitation, then he was gone.

I swung, catching the man by surprise, slicing down his arm, but he was fast. He kept dodging every hit. He wasn’t even attacking, just doing his best to dodge my attacks.

Something clicked in my mind, and I spun, barely catching the rogue slicing a sword towards my back. I had just enough time to swing a leg, catching the man in the stomach and sending him spinning into the group of rogues. I heard one scream as the sword sliced through his leg and he went down. Blood arced up as he fell back, catching my face. “You stupid bitch.” The first rogue snarled behind me, and I jumped, watching the man dive for where I was just a second ago. I landed on his back with a crunch, my wolf-man form bigger and heavier than normal. I slashed down as I hit the ground, severing his neck at the base. His body went limp as I jumped away, turning to the next attack.

Attack after attack, men and women—it didn’t matter, they just kept coming. There was no rest, no way to take a breath. I was surrounded by blood, gore, screaming, and death. So much death. I tried to see how many rogues were left, but two attacked at once.

I ducked as one swung at my head, but I was tired. The second one tackled me to the ground, and I grunted as I hit the dirt. The one that tackled me crawled up and perched on top. She was surprisingly young. Her red hair was pulled back in a tight braid, but I recognized her face. The hair was different, but the cruel, knowing smirk on her face was familiar.

“Thora.” I growled as she punched my side.

Her eyes widened at the mention of her name. “Who are you?” She growled as she struck me again. “And how do you know my name?”

I felt Nix recede. She was exhausted, and she couldn’t hold on to her wolf-man form. It takes too much energy.

You aren’t supposed to shift when we are in danger, I called back, a little perturbed.

She chuckled softly. Thora isn’t strong enough to hurt you.

Megan trotted over to Nix. Foolish female. It only takes one fluke.

Thora snarled as my shifting finished. “It’s you.” She swung her fist at my face, but I caught her hand.

I smiled up at her. “What are you doing here?”

She screamed in my face. “It’s your fucking fault I’m here. You turned me away when I had done nothing wrong. I wanted to be your friend, so I turned my back on Nina and the council that backed her.”

I frowned. “So you decided to join the rogues and attack us…because I didn’t want to be your friend? Come on, Thora. Stop making excuses for yourself.”

She tilted her head and giggled. Her eyes flashed to her wolf. “Ning told her uncle about how I turned, so he targeted my pack, my family. Our alpha sold us to Garith. And Garith needed females to keep the men happy. My sisters, my mother, all dead at their hands. I only survived because I bit my attacker’s tongue. You are the reason my entire family is dead, Amy. And I’m going to fucking kill you.”