The young alpha hated Monday meetings.

Nobody liked Mondays to begin with, so to sit in an uncomfortable seat at the end of an ancient table, surrounded by even more ancient council members, wouldn't be a great start to anyone's week. Especially when her opinion to remove the older pack members was denied, and the only people she could bring in to join in on her meetings was Ronan, as her protector, and her family.

The urge to slump in her seat had never been greater until that moment, but she knew she couldn't. Not while the elders were talking and her father leveled his hard gaze on her whenever she'd look away from the conversation. Setting her jaw, she rolled her shoulders back and gave Elder Moors her attention for the last few minutes of the meeting.

His thin, withered lips moved in a frenzy, creating a stir among the rest of the council members as they grew more and more alarmed by whatever he was sharing. He pushed his alabaster braid over his shoulder with a sharp flick, irritated with the subject at hand. It wasn't until he finally stopped talking that Rayne Vance stopped daydreaming and pulled her alpha hat on.

"Our deepest apologies for the death of your livestock, Elder Moors," Rayne said, keeping her tone calm and serious. "My brother, Ezra, and Ronan will scout the area for any rogue animals."

"I don't think it's just a rogue animal, Alpha Vance," another council member, Elder Ryland, spoke up. Everyone's attention turned to the graying member. "We found another body this last week, didn't we? Without a scent to follow? That brings us to five Moonshine pack members dead since Tvnup."

Rayne fought the urge to close her eyes as the anxiousness rose with the chatter around the room. She wanted to remind them of all the positives they've experienced since the end of Tvnup, but she knew it would pale in comparison to the concern of rising deceased bodies that have shown up on the perimeters of their newly combined pack.

Due to two other packs losing their alphas, before and after Tvnup, Moonshine adopted more people into their growing pack. Despite the children adapting, and the adults and teenagers training, death was something that took precedence over any joyous occasion. Especially when five of her night patrol scouts had ended up dead in the last month.

"Our army is on the mend, council, and we're working harder than ever on distributing pack responsibilities. I promise you that our newly formed outreach group will get to the bottom of this, and we'll find who's responsible for our losses," Rayne said. "The bodies aren't drained, and the nail marks on their chests suggest an animal. If it's the same animal taking your livestock, then finding it will help with your problem too, Elder Moors."

Elder Moors bowed his head. "Thank you, Alpha Vance."

Elder Ryland, however, wasn't finished. "And what of . . . the body? Has it moved?" he hesitated, shifting in his seat. The attention moved back to Rayne on that one.

Her eyes sought her father's, and he offered only a subtle nod. She relaxed her shoulders just a bit.

"The body hasn't moved and is still under investigation. He's being watched as we speak, so we know it's not him," Rayne reassured the older man. "Ezra and Ronan are our best trained fighters aside from myself. While I meet with the king, they will be in charge of patrols, as I mentioned before. In the meantime, there's to be no extra patrols after dark, and no one's to be out later than eight until we get to the bottom of this. Ome?"

"Ome," everyone responded, bowing their heads. Ezra and Nashoba offered her subtle nods of approval, and her mother shared with her a tiny smile.

Rayne stood up from the council's table with her head held high, spun around, and left the room without another word, Ronan hot on her heels. She was anxious to get out of there as fast as her legs could carry her and wanted nothing more than for her day to be over already. Though she loved being alpha, she still struggled with solving other people's problems and answering questions she didn't know how to respond to. How could she know the answer to everything, when she'd only been alpha for a month? Sure, she grew up training for it. But training for the position and actually being in the position were two different things.

It wasn't until she made her way out of the council's temple that she was able to finally breathe again, and the pressure building on her shoulders eased for the first time in the last few hours. She rolled her neck with a sigh.

"Don't trouble yourself, Raynie. You did good," Ronan spoke up behind her, pressing a comforting hand to her shoulder.

"But not good enough," she breathed, running her fingers over the curls dangling in front of her face. "I need to be better than good, Ronan. I need to be great."

"But you are great," he argued. "You just became alpha to not one, but three total packs, all in a month. It's okay to give yourself some credit."

"I'll do that when I can actually solve one of their problems," she murmured. Soft grunts and cushioned hits made her turn her gaze to the young fighters training with a stoic Amira, whose deep brown shoulders glistened with a coat of sheen sweat. Her hard brown eyes met Rayne's over the sea of students and she nodded once in respect, before commanding her group to swing forward again.

"How are they?" Rayne questioned, tilting her head.

"The young? As good as can be expected," he snorted. "Ours are faring much better of course than Shining Peak's pack—"

"They're Moonshine pack members now," Rayne corrected, interrupting him. "And we all have to start somewhere. I mean, it took you how long to catch up to me?"

He scoffed in exaggeration with a wounded hand to his chest, and Rayne broke out into her first real smile of the day. Hell, it could have even been her first smile of the week with the hell she's been in. And the humored grin didn't go unnoticed, as Ronan's hazel eyes softened.

"There's our Raynie," he teased, nudging her shoulder with his.

"Shut up," she muttered. "We have one more stop to hit before seven. You up for some more unnecessary guarding? Or is it your turn to take over for Amira?"

One glance at one of the mouthy kids and the sight of anger boiling in Amira's flushed cheeks made Ronan gesture to the road in front of them with eagerness. "Hell the fuck no. Lead the way, Raynie."

Rayne hid another smile and turned up the stone path that would lead them to their final destination of the night. It wasn't uncommon for her and Ronan to make her rounds together, considering she needed a guard now that she was alpha, and she was happy she got to choose him as her protector. As a beta, her best friend, and head trainer, she trusted him completely. It only made sense to have him with her at all times. Plus, he was a great distraction when it came to missing the other half of her.

And in just a few hours, she won't need Ronan for that anymore.

"So, are you going to tell the fairy about this one or not?" Ronan asked as they neared the science lab. He wrapped his fingers around the cool metal doors and yanked it open.

"He's not a fairy," Rayne reminded him for the millionth time as she shuffled past him and into the stale building that stunk of formaldehyde, alcohol, and other odd smelling chemicals. Ronan waved her comment off.

"Eh, I know what he is. Fae, fairy, what's the difference? Anyway, are you gonna tell him or keep it to yourself like last time?"

Rayne furrowed her eyebrows and tucked her lower lip in between her teeth. "I don't know, he has a lot on his plate right now," she confessed, making her way down the back stairwell of the brightly lit science building. "I don't want to bother him with this until we get back to his kingdom. The last thing I need him to do is try to investigate it again and get into another argument with Ezra."

"Yeah, good point," he admitted.

"I'm full of those sometimes. You coming in?"

Ronan shook his head. "Nah, I'll guard the door. It smells like a funeral home in there."

She shrugged as they both stopped in front of two steel metal doors. "Suit yourself."

Taking in a quick breath to steady herself, she moved forward and entered the sterile environment she'd been avoiding for the past week. The syringes, needles, and sewing tools were always unsettling to her despite the hospital gear in the room. Her eyes didn't have to search the room for long, however, when she came across the pale, unmoving body on a long table. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and a shard of ice slid down the length of her spine.

"Alpha Vance," the cool, familiar voice of Dr. Reynolds greeted her in pleasant surprise. "I wasn't expecting you."

Dr. Reynolds, enveloped in a white coat that closely matched his curly, alabaster hair, came out of a backroom adjacent to Ambrosius' deceased body. In his hands were tools to take the vampire's vitals and a clipboard with private information. Though his dark brown eyes are drawn with seriousness, his lips still offered the slightest smile that she returned.

"How is he?" Rayne asked, voice soft in the soundless room.

"Still the same as the last time you visited us," Dr. Reynolds confirmed.

"No movement?"

"No movement, Alpha."

Rayne shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense," she mumbled.

Dr. Reynold's, who was leaning over Ambrosius' body, glances over at Rayne. In his gaze was a calculation, an uncertainty. His full lips purse. "Should we . . . perhaps . . . proceed then? With what we discussed?" he questioned, hesitating.

She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. She shouldn't . . . she couldn't. Not when she promised Jarrah that she wouldn't. But—how else could she be sure? How else could she keep her people safe if she didn't know for sure who was behind all of the recent deaths?

"As long as this stays between us, Dr. Reynolds. I don't want anyone else knowing until we get to the bottom of this," she breathed, pushing her curls behind her ear so he could see how serious she was. She may have been tired, but she needed him to understand she meant business; even if it wasn't the most humane.

Dr. Reynolds nodded. "I'll stay as discreet as possible, Alpha Vance. This'll stay between you and me."

Good.

Though the thought of keeping a secret nagged at the guilt in the pit of her stomach, she knew she'd have to keep it. Jarrah would never understand, and her father would never allow such experimentation to take place. But there was no harm in trying to understand the enemy, and trying to figure out if he was truly dead, or if he was alive again and wreaking havoc on her people.

After leaving Dr. Reynolds' office with more questions than answers, Rayne ignored Ronan's questionable look, and sped back to her house in time to finish packing up a week's worth of stuff. While Ronan was thoughtful enough to grab her bundle of hair products to tame her coily curls, Rayne focused on stuffing her clothes in the only luggage she had.

"Time?" Rayne called out, leaning her body onto the bag so she could nudge the zipper up even higher.

"I'd say five minutes, but your man is always earlier than he says he'll be," Ronan snorted, walking into her living room with her very packed, foldable toiletry kit. "And yes, I grabbed your bonnet from the cupboard."

"Do you have the list of things everyone needs to do while I'm gone? I went over it with my parents and everyone before the meeting, but I'd rather you keep charge while I'm gone."

"Everything's taken care of, Raynie."

It wasn't until after she closed her luggage that she turned up to look at him with a grateful smile already twisting her lips. "I hope you know I'd be completely lost without you."

He grinned, smug. "I know," he acknowledged with annoying arrogance. "And don't you forget that while you're over in fantasyland."

Rayne rolled her eyes and went to open her mouth, when a familiar, amused voice coasted over the two of them and interrupted their moment instead.

"Fantasyland? Now that's a new one," they said.

Rayne snapped her head to the front door, her heart leaping in her throat.