Her mother narrowed her eyes on her. “You would sacrifice all of us for a hybrid orphan without clan?”

Maman was talking about Wren and while he held Aimee’s loyalty as a friend, it was Fang’s life that mattered most to her. “Never. But I will not stand by and see an innocent condemned for nothing. Can you not see the lie that is being told, Maman? I know Wren. I talk to him. He’s no threat to anyone but himself.”

Still her mother’s face was angry and cold. Her family, and in particular her mother, wasn’t stupid. She had no doubt that her mother and father knew she’d left voluntarily with Fang. Given the way he’d been protecting her these months past, they had to know he would have never really harmed her.

“You betrayed us all.”

Aimee sighed. “If doing the right thing is betrayal, then yes, I suppose I did. So what are you going to do now, Maman? Kill me?”

Her mother growled ferociously at her, but Aimee stood her ground.

The air around them sizzled an instant before something shattered in Wren’s room.

Aimee followed her mother who rushed to the door and slung it open. She half-expected to find Wren there even though they’d told him to stay away until this was settled. She could tell by the scent that it was a tiger all right, but the blond man searching the room wasn’t Wren.

“What are you doing here, Zack?” her mother asked.

The tiger curled his lips as he opened a drawer. “The bastard escaped us. I need something with his scent on it to disseminate to the Strati who seek him.”

Aimee arched a brow at that. The Strati were elite Katagaria soldiers who were carefully trained to hunt and to kill. Her brothers Zar and Dev, along with her father, were technically Strati warriors even though they shouldn’t have been. But the Peltier clan was all about keeping up appearances.

“You need nothing of his,” her mother said to her utter shock as she defended Wren. “Get out of my house.”

Zack didn’t listen. He moved to open another drawer.

Her mother used her powers to slam it shut. “I said for you to leave.”

The tiger turned to confront her. “Don’t screw with me, bear. You have as much to lose by this as I do.”

“What do you mean?”

But Aimee already knew. Her powers painted a perfect image of what was going on here. “You’re the one who spoke out against Wren at the Omegrion… you lied.”

Her mother jerked her head to look at her. “Do not be foolish, cub. I would have smelled a lie.”

Aimee shook her head. “Not if the animal makes a habit of lying. He could easily mask his scent.”

Zack took a step toward her only to find his path blocked by her mother.

“Is Aimee telling the truth?”

Zack answered with a question of his own. “Were you?” He arched a brow at her mother. “Do you really think Wren’s gone mad? Honestly? You just wanted him out of here and you seized on any excuse to expel him. Admit it, Lo. You don’t want anyone here but your family and it galls you to have to play nice with the rest of us.”

Her mother growled low in her throat.

It wasn’t the truth. Her mother would protect most of them with her life, but there were those like Wren her mother didn’t trust at all. And those, he was right, Nicolette hated having here under her roof. Thanks to Josef.

Her family was too scarred by the past. By the one they’d trusted who had killed her brothers. And for that, she couldn’t blame her mother at all.

Zack narrowed his gaze. “If Savitar ever learns the truth, he’ll come for you and all your cubs. There won’t be a brick left of your precious Sanctuary.”

Her mother seized him and threw him against the wall. He landed with his back against it, but it didn’t appear to faze him at all.

Zack actually laughed at her. “What happened to the rules of Sanctuary, Nicolette?”

Aimee caught her mother before she could attack the tiger again.

“Get out, tiger,” Aimee snarled. “If I let go of my mother, there won’t be enough left of you to worry about Savitar or anything else.”

Zack pushed himself away from the wall. He glared at them both. “You have even more to lose than I do. Give me what I need to cover both our asses.”

Now it was her mother who laughed. “Are you completely stupid? Wren has never left his scent on anything. Look around you, idiot. There is no personal item here. As soon as an article of clothing comes off his body, he has always washed it or destroyed it. He even keeps a monkey here so that its scent camouflages his own. You will never be able to track him. Face it, Zack, the cub has more intelligence than you and your father combined.”

Aimee was suddenly impressed by her mother. Her mother had known that and still she’d allowed Wren to keep Marvin. How unlike her. And it caused a new wave of respect to fill her heart.

Zack’s nostrils flared in anger. “This isn’t over.”

“Oui, but it is. You come here again and code or no code, I will see you dead.”

Growling, Zack vanished.

The tension in the air eased considerably.

Maman let out a slow breath as she turned toward her. “Aimee, call your wolf and warn him what has happened. I am sure he knows where Wren is and he can warn them that the tiger is cornered and desperate. In his position, Zack is capable of anything.”

She frowned at her mother’s sudden reversal. “I don’t understand. Why are you being unbelievably understanding? No offense, Maman, it scares me.”

Her mother gave her a harsh stare. “I have no love of Wren, this you know. But I respect the predator within him and I do not appreciate being manipulated by another. Nor do I relish being made a fool.” Her mother shook her head. “I should have questioned why Zack and his father continually called to check on Wren after he was sent here. I allowed them to plant seeds of doubt in my mind and I saw in him what they wanted me to see. I can’t believe I was so foolish.”

Her gaze softened as she touched Aimee’s cheek. “I give you credit, cub. You weren’t blinded. Now we must repair this before the weight of Savitar’s wrath comes crashing down on all of us.” She urged Aimee toward the door. “Go warn them. You, they will listen to.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I am going to speak with your father and brothers. I fear we are on the edge of a very dangerous situation and I want them all prepared.”

Aimee took a step toward the door, then paused. “I love you, Maman.”

“Je t’aime aussi, ma petite. Now go and let us make this as right as we can.”

Fang clutched the locket in his fist that Aimee had given him right before she left while he stared at the rain that was pouring down outside. Alone in his room at Vane’s house, sitting on his bed with his back against the wall and one knee bent, he could hear Bride and Vane downstairs, laughing.

That sound made him want to put his fist through the wall.

Even though his body kept wanting to shift into a wolf due to the injuries Papa Bear had given him, he refused. As a wolf, he couldn’t hold on to this one piece of her. And right now, he needed to touch it.

He pressed the locket to his lips so that he could inhale the scent of her and remember the last sight before she left. They’d been on Jean-Luc’s ship. Tears had been streaming down her beautiful face as she’d kissed his lips, then left him alone. Her hands had lingered on him as she pulled away from him and vanished.

The pain of it was more than he could stand.

No wonder he hadn’t been able to leave Sanctuary.

His phone rang. He started to ignore it until he realized it was Aimee. Reaching for it, he lost his balance on the bed and went slamming onto the floor. Afraid he’d miss her, he flipped it open and ignored the pain in his injured shoulder and arm. “I’m here.”

“Are you all right?”

He ground his teeth to keep from groaning as he made his way back onto the bed again. “Absolutely.”