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Outside, the lawn is crowded with other pack members. Marcus falls into step beside me. He doesn’t look at me. I don’t care. I know we’re both just happy to meet the friends waiting for us on the back lawn.

The estate grounds unspool in every direction, the groomed section giving way to long grass at the south end, long grass bleeding into the tree line where the old oaks press close. The topiary near the east wall. The flagstone terrace still damp from last night’s rain. A few birds going about their business in the gutters overhead.

We file along past the gardens. By the time I reach the back lawn, the whole patrol legion and estate staff have joined us. Dozens of wolves. The numbers shock me, and then I remember how Mia suggested they call all of their security home to protect Lexi and Grey. Most of my pack security is here too. I nod at them, and we all grin at each other, excited for the moment to come.

We all stop and arrange ourselves in the natural way of wolves, which is to say: instinctively hierarchical, each of us taking a position that has nothing to do with conscious decision.

I doubt this will come to a fight, but if it does, it’s a good morning for it.

He walks out of the trees unhurried. Even from here, I can see the expression he wears. It’s that same smirk he wore in the forest the other day; self-assured. Amused. His wolf rides close to the surface, palpable at this distance, all that lab-grown dominance filling the space around him like a morning fog.

I’m so glad to see him finally come home at last. He deserves to rule this place. A golden-haired god, this guy. I’m glad to know him.

“Ramsey,” a few people call out.

Others wave.

Everyone’s just glad he’s here. And beside him, Davina. I recognize her from the pictures in the file. She’s looking at us all like we’re a threat, which is ridiculous, but I don’t bother worrying about her. All I care about is Ramsey. Helping him take this city back is what matters.

Something in the back of my head recognizes the wrongness of that thought. Like an intrusive voice trying to cut through the seams of my mind. I shove it back.

I need to focus now.

Ramsey stops at the edge of the flagstone. His eyes move over us.

“Good morning,” he says.

“Took you long enough,” someone calls back. I think it’s Dutch.

Ramsey grins. He looks past Dutch to Razor and Crow. And Mia. He lingers on her. I don’t like it. But that thought is short-lived when his gaze moves to me. He holds it for a moment, something sharp underneath the pleasantness.

“Cross.” A slight tilt of his head. “No hard feelings?”

“Of course not,” I say.

And that’s true. I consider the fact of it from somewhere far inside myself; that I should have hard feelings, that a restaurant burned to the ground with an innocent man inside and a dead wolf was left at the base of a tree where I had to bury it, but the consideration slides away before I can hold onto it. Like water off stone.

His gaze moves back to Mia.

She stands slightly apart from the rest of us. Something in her posture is harder to read than usual.

Something is wrong.

The thought surfaces for exactly one second. Clear and bright.

Then it’s gone.

Ramsey looks at Mia with an expression of someone who has won a game against a difficult opponent.

“You were my final obstacle, you know.” He says it with a kind of professional admiration. “If not for the Null, I’d have been here weeks ago." He tilts his head slightly. “How long had you been taking it?”

“Long enough,” she says as if it doesn’t matter. “How did you know?”

He cocks his head. “I suggested it, don’t you remember?” When she doesn’t answer, he says, “It was that party Franco gave for visiting packs a couple of years ago. You mentioned crashing it. Trying to screw with the deal. I told you to take Null to dim your dominance so they wouldn’t sense you meddling.”

Mia’s been taking Null. For some reason, that feels significant to my wolf. I try to grasp the reason, but it slips away.

Mia’s expression shifts into clarity. “Ah. I’d forgotten.”