‘Sylvia said your location is still blocked. She thinks a spell has been put over the building which would live on even after Prudence’s death. Spells put on people or living things die but not objects. I don’t understand it. How are you? Are Sadie and Tara still okay?’

I sighed. Okay, I was stuck in a room, being watched by a camera, I had no weapons, back up wasn’t coming and Tara was being used as a very clever way to keep us all in line. Shit. Think, Think. This was all up to me.

‘Sadie is fine. She’s with me.’

He noticed I hadn’t mentioned Tara. ‘And how is Tara? I can’t reach her. It feels like she passed out.’

I sighed. This would kill Max. Kai would never forgive himself for not being able to protect her. ‘To be honest, Tara is being used for torture if any of the females act out.’

Kai’s rage shot through the mate bond. I had expected that.

‘I have a crazy plan, Kai,’ I told him nervously as I chewed a fingernail and kept my eyes on the red dot in the air vent.

‘Okay,’ he said with trepidation, waiting for me to explain.

I looked around to all of the girls, and nodded, this was the only way. We could be stuck here for years if I didn’t stop this sick game, if I didn’t do something drastic.

‘I love you, Kai. I promise to get all of these females out of here safely and kill Layla. I’ve got this, it’s my destiny. Don’t worry about me,’ I told him confidently.

‘Aurora, why are you saying goodbye?’ His energy bristled and I felt him border on panic. God, I hated this.

I didn’t want to tell him my plan, for fear that somehow with his Alpha power, he could stop me. I also didn’t want to give him a chance to talk me out of it.

‘I love you, Kai. Do you understand that? Do you know how much you mean to me? You made me trust men again. You’re everything to me.’ Tears began to well in my eyes. It was true, after my father’s abuse, I never thought I would trust again.

‘Aurora, don’t scare me!’ Kai said weakly and I felt him grab hold of our pack bond and pull tight. He knew what I was planning so I needed to act quickly.

I wasn’t sure if we would be able to communicate after I did this. Closing my eyes, I felt for my pack bond, my mate bond to Kai, my Alpha, my husband. It was a strong, thick, glowing white rope. I yanked at it and it pulled taut.

‘No!’ he roared as I pulled harder and felt his Alpha power saturate me, trying to gain control of me.

‘They need an Alpha if we are going to survive this; they need a pack. It’s the only way.’ I told him and pulled as hard as I could, ripping the bond and snapping it in half. A scream ripped from my throat as I fell to the ground panting, pain saturated my being. My skin felt as if it was on fire. Oh God, it hurt. It hurt like hell! I felt hollow, empty, vulnerable, alone. It was like an instant depression took hold of my body. My hands shook with the strain of going rogue. I tried to take small, deep breaths and regain composure. Holy Shit. I was a rogue wolf.

I listened in my head. Nothing. Static. I felt for Kai; he was there, the mate bond was still there, but it was damaged. I felt his horror at what I had done but I couldn’t hear him, only feel him. Wiping tears from my eyes, I turned to face the females who were all staring at me. No doubt my scream had gotten their attention. Sadie was watching me with yellow eyes.

“You wanna be my second?” I asked her cryptically, hoping the vampires watching the cameras didn’t know enough about werewolf packs to know what I was up to, or to care.

She looked at me incredulously as it dawned on her what I had done. Finally, she grinned. “I’ve always wanted to be a second,” she said and closed her eyes.

The other females were looking at each other in confusion.

Sadie was quiet for a few moments and then suddenly cried out and grabbed her chest, bending on one knee. Her eyes watered as she took a shaky breath. It said a lot to me that Sadie was willing to rip her pack bond away from Shamus and Brett and join me. She knew I was more dominant than her; we had already worked that out in our pack with Kai. She extended her arm to me wordlessly, giving me the power of the Alpha and asking to join my pack.

I smiled and gripped her forearm with my right hand, pulling her in for a hug to disguise what I was doing from the vampires watching on the camera.

“Blood of my blood,” I whispered as I transformed my left hand into a werewolf paw and swiped her arm, drawing blood. Then I swiped my own and pressed them together between us. Closing my eyes, I saw a floating white wisp of energy in my mind’s eye. Reaching out and taking hold, I grabbed it as it slithered past me. It was strong and pulsing in my hand. Sadie was very dominant, a good second. I pulled the wisp closer to me and bound it with my own white wispy cord, braiding it like a thick rope. Pack. I let my wolf take charge, she knew instinctively that this was how you created a pack.

All of Sadie’s feelings for me rushed through the pack bond. She was jealous of my relationship with Kai at first. She wanted me to know that she had loved him first, longest. She had always wanted him as her mate, but now that she had Brett, she wouldn’t want it any other way. She respected me and wanted Kai and I to be happy together. Now that she had gotten to know me, she thought Kai and I were perfect for each other. I pulled away from her embrace as our arms healed.

‘Alpha,’ she said, using our newly formed pack bonds to communicate, her lips quirked in a smile.

I nodded. ‘Second.’ I never in a hundred years thought Sadie and I would be head of our own pack. The universe had a funny sense of humor.