“Have you told her that?”

“I was on my way down to let her know when I stopped in to see you. Want to come see the party?”

“Oh, yeah. This I definitely don’t want to miss.” Maman didn’t like anyone disobeying her.

She followed him out of her room and downstairs to the parlor where Maman was saying good-bye to the women and children of their family as they left for the Peltier compound in Oregon. It was where they’d lived prior to coming to New Orleans. They maintained a place there and in Nice, France, where her parents had been born. But Nice would be too hard a trip on their pregnant females, so Oregon it was.

Alain, Cody, and Etienne were going with them to watch over and protect them.

Cherif, Quinn, Remi, Serre, Kyle, Griffe, and Zar stood at the bottom of the stairs with their arms folded over their chests. A united front against the world. Never had they looked more imposing. The twins and the quads were barely discernable from each other, but Aimee could tell them apart. Subtle differences that were obvious to those who knew them best.

Remi’s perpetual sneer. Quinn’s gentle eyes and overt optimism. Cherif who always stood with his weight on his left leg-an injury from childhood had damaged his right knee and so he always favored his other leg. Serre who was a hair thinner than Griffe and who always tucked his hands into his armpits. Griffe whose nails, because he was always tinkering with something, had grease under them.

And then Zar… he was Bastien’s twin and sometimes it was hard for any of them to look at him without feeling a new stab of pain at the loss. He never really spoke about Bastien, but Aimee had wondered many times how much harder that loss had to be on him. He saw his twin brother’s face every time he looked in a mirror.

The two of them had been closer than close…

She couldn’t bear the thought of losing another brother.

Ever.

Dev moved to stand with them while Maman kissed the cheeks of her grandchildren.

Once they were gone, Maman turned to the quads. “You will stay safe, non?”

“Oui,” Remi said. “But we’re doing it here.”

Maman’s face blanched as her eyes darkened with fury. “What?”

Zar stepped forward. “Nothing you say or do will change our minds. We’re not leaving you, Maman.”

“And neither are we.”

Aimee turned at the sound of Carson’s voice. He came down the stairs with Justin, Jasyn, Sasha, Max, and the Howlers: Angel, Teddy, Tripper, Damien, and Colt.

Tripper Diomedes, who was an Arcadian lion, spoke for the group. “You’ve given us shelter when no one else would and we’re here to stand with you no matter what.”

“As am I.”

Aimee gasped as she heard Wren’s voice. He’d flashed in not far from her brothers.

Maman was completely aghast as she saw him there. “You hate me.”

Wren shrugged. “You’re definitely not my favorite person, Lo. But your daughter means a lot to me and so I won’t stand back and let her family be destroyed. Even if I do think we’re all completely stupid for fighting for you.”

Maman shook her head as she looked around at all of them. “You do understand how many will be attacking us? How many enemies I’ve made?”

Remi snorted. “We’ve made, you mean. I think we’ve all had a hand in this fiasco. Me probably more so than anyone else.”

Angel nodded in agreement. “And to that, I say bring the rain. We are here and we won’t be defeated.”

An amen went up from the others.

Damien flashed a rare grin. “Sanctuary, Home of Howlers and stragglers of the Were universe.”

Nodding, Teddy clapped him on the back. “Sanctuary forever.”

Maman’s eyes were bright from her unshed tears as she surveyed the men who were willing to not only protect her home with their lives… they were willing to protect her. “Thank you. Your loyalty won’t be forgotten.”

“And all the free liquor you can hold,” Dev said. “We definitely don’t want to do this sober.”

That broke the tension as they all laughed.

Aimee shook her head. “Yeah, but you’re going to get your own drinks, guys, ’cause I’m not running it to you. There’s just too many of you.”

Maman did what she did best. She took charge. “Very well, mes fils du coeur. We shall keep to our schedules and run business as usual.”

Max stepped forward. “I’ll be the muscle. Not many can take down a dragon.”

“And make sure you ride herd on the humans,” Remi reminded him.

He inclined his head.

Maman smiled at them. Gratitude and pride were bright in her blue eyes. “Let’s show our enemies and doubters that Sanctuary will stand no matter what they say.”

She paused beside Wren. “And you were wrong about me, tiger. I’ve never considered the ones here as my dupes. I have bent rules for all of you at one time or another. If loving my children above all else is a crime in your world, then you can hang me for that sin as I would have it no other way.”

Wren didn’t speak until she was gone and Aimee could tell that even now he didn’t trust her mother. He walked over to her. “I’m only here for you.”

She squeezed him lightly on the arm. “Thank you, Wren.”

He inclined his head before he left.

Cherif let out a relieved breath. “Wow, Maman took that better than I thought.”

Papa laughed. “She knows how stubborn you boys are and you outnumber her.” He stopped in front of Aimee. “You, on the other hand, have to leave.”

“I won’t go, Papa. This is my home and you are my family. I won’t hide while all of you are in danger. I did that once and I’ve had to live with that cowardice every day since. I won’t do it again.”

He cupped her face in his large paw of a hand. “They gave their lives for you, mon ange. Don’t mock their sacrifice.”

“I don’t, but I’m full-grown now and I will stand and I will fight as they did.”

His eyes darkened with sadness as he let his hand fall. “I would argue. I know you have enough of your mother in you to make it impossible to win.”

She smiled. “You would be right.”

He scanned the others. “All right then. Let us all prepare for war.”

In wolf form, Fang lay in the sun, not far from where Anya had died. He didn’t know why he kept coming back here. Maybe it was the part of him that longed for the way things had been prior to her death.

Or maybe it was the need within him for some connection to someone else. Because right now, he felt absolutely alone. His relationship with Vane wasn’t what it had been and he’d been staying away from Aimee out of fear of hurting her. The demon was getting worse and more violent.

If anything happened to Aimee…

“Fang?”

He lifted his head at the sound of Varyk’s voice. The werewolf appeared a few feet away from him. “What do you want?” he snarled mentally.

“Savitar has issued a warrant out for you.”

Fang was aghast at the order. “For what?”

“Murder.”

“Are you serious?”

Varyk gave him a droll stare. “You don’t think I came all the way out here to joke?”

Of course not. Varyk had no sense of humor. “This is ridiculous. I didn’t do anything.”

“Regardless of that, Vane has been charged with bringing you in or his family and pack will be slaughtered.”

Fang jumped to his feet as rage darkened his sight. How dare Savitar threaten his family. “This is bullshit.”

“You know Savitar.”

Yes, he did. And right now, he wanted that bastard’s throat.

Varyk folded his arms over his chest. “And there’s more. Sanctuary lost its license.”

That was the last thing he expected to hear. “What?”

“Because of the complaints of Blakemore and the jackals you attacked, Savitar revoked Lo’s license for six months.”

Fang felt ill. He’d ruined everything.

Everyone…

“And I just found out something you might want to know.”