My cell phone stayed quiet. What was happening outside the studio? Dare I ask?

Then it came. The first hornet left the nest, stinger all ready to go.

Matt cut in over my headset. "Kitty, line three's up."

That was the private line, in case someone had to get through the rest of the phone chatter to talk to me. Only a few people knew the number. But I had a good idea who this one was.

I punched the line. "Hello," I said carefully.

"Katherine, I have no idea what you think you're doing, but you will pay for this. Do you understand me? I would have left you alone but you've chosen sides and now—"

Bingo! Bait taken. Now time to set the hook. I switched the phone line over to live. "Hello, Arturo! Thanks for calling. You're on the air here at The Midnight Hour."

"Oh, no," he said. "No you don't. I won't be a party to this." His fury made his accent thicker. It lost some of its aristocratic edge, making me wonder: What had Arturo been before he'd become a vampire?

"I've got Ricardo here," I said. "Wanna talk to him?"

"Rick," Arturo said darkly, "this will win you nothing, you know that."

"Think of it as an opening salvo," Rick said.

I sat back to watch the fireworks.

"You weren't able to take over when you had an army at your back. What makes you think you can do it using a radio show?"

"Because you weren't this angry when I had an army," Rick said.

"You'll regret taking this fight into the open."

"I'm not the one who left a warehouse full of bodies for the police."

"Katherine will regret taking this fight into the open."

"She understands the risks as well." Rick and I exchanged a glance, of understanding and resolve. I felt like we were soldiers on the same battlefield. Once more unto the breach, dear friends…

"I don't think she does," Arturo said, his tone sharp. I could imagine him spitting as he spoke. "You haven't told her all that the Masters do. Yes, we control the vampires, yes we keep order. But you haven't told her everything, have you? You haven't told her about the stakes, about what else is out there, hungry for these cities—" Rick looked uncomfortable, and I knew Arturo was right. Rick hadn't told me everything. The rant reached a fever pitch. "When Denver falls because you couldn't hold them back—"

"Why are you so sure I won't be able to protect this city?" Rick countered.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" I interrupted, dumbstruck. "Hold what back?"

They both fell silent. Oh, this was the big story. This was the secret lives of vampires coming to light for all to see. "What are you afraid of?" I prompted. "What are vampires afraid of?"

"Losing control," Rick said softly.

"Control," I said. "Is that it? Like, freaking out, going nuts, singing show tunes, that sort of control?"

"Vampires are about control," Rick said.

"Power," Arturo added. "What kind, and who controls it."

"I have news for you, guys. That's what everyone's about. Most people only aspire to having the power to control their own little lives, but there it is. The only difference is how completely enamored vampires are of their own perceived importance."

Rick started to interrupt. "Kitty—"

"You, too, Rick! You're not exempt from this. You may be better than most but you're still sitting here talking about how you know what's right and you know what's best. Well I'm sorry, but you're going to have to start taking the rest of us into account!" Whoa, that rant had been building for a while. I managed not to apologize for it; it needed to be said.

A pause hung for a moment—dead air. My thoughts had scattered, and I quickly marshaled them to try to follow my diatribe with something clever.

But Arturo spoke first. "Rick. You do not have the resolve to play this part. You want a salvo, I will show you a salvo."

He hung up.

That was when I noticed Matt waving over the board, pointing at his watch. I hadn't been watching the time, and I'd almost missed the end of the show.

I talked fast. "Right. I have about twenty seconds to explain what just happened. I'm not sure I can, except to say that yes, Ricardo here's a friend of mine and he's got some rivals out there. Any of you looking to vampirism to solve your problems, keep that in mind. You'll only trade one set for another. Stay safe out there and I'll return next week. This is Kitty Norville, voice of the night."

The on-air sign dimmed, and I could see Matt's sigh of relief from here.

"You're right, of course," Rick said quietly. "We've spent centuries ruling our worlds at the expense of others. It's a hard habit to break."

I tried to make my smile friendly. "Nice of you to say so. But we'll have to discuss the political philosophy of the whole thing later. Remember, that was only phase one."

Matt came in from the booth. "Kitty, what's going on?"

Rick and I were already on our way out the door. "I'll let you know when it's all over."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Good. You shouldn't. Matt—do me a favor and if anything weird starts happening around here, you see any people who don't look right, anyone who shouldn't be here, or if anyone turns up missing unexpectedly, call 911. Don't wait, don't hesitate. Just call."

"Kitty, what the hell—"

"I'm sorry. I can't explain. I'll see you later." I hoped. My heartbeat felt like a jackhammer in my chest. Carl and Meg wouldn't have to lift a claw to kill me. Stress would do it just fine.

We left the studio with about four hours until dawn and waited in front of the building. Not much time for what I wanted to do. Ben was already waiting in the parking lot. Shaun pulled up in his car right on schedule, just after the show, like I told him to. My pack was growing, I thought with trepidation.

We'd ruffled Arturo's feathers, now it was time to ruffle Carl's. I had to keep moving, plowing ahead as fast as I could, before I had second thoughts. It wasn't too late to back out of the whole thing, was it? As Ben and Shaun approached, I said, "Hi, guys."

They eyed each other warily, and their gestures were uncanny. Their wolves were speaking in their sideways glances, the way they avoided staring at each other directly, the way they made sure not to approach each other, but to approach me in parallel, not coming near each other. They were sizing each other up without offering a challenge. Did they even realize they were doing it?

I made myself relax, to keep the tension in the air from spiking any more than it already had. I needed these two to cooperate. To trust each other. I needed them to be a pack, even though they'd never met each other.

"Ben, this is Shaun. Shaun, Ben." They didn't offer to shake hands. Just nodded in acknowledgment, keeping their gazes down, maintaining an easy distance between them. Their noses were working, though, their nostrils flaring.

"He's yours?" Shaun said, and I heard an unspoken question in his tone: He's your mate, your alpha, and I must defer to him as well?

"That's right," I said. He nodded, then moved a step back, giving Ben precedence. Making way.

God, this was weird.

"All right," I said. "Let's get a move on."

"Kitty, good hunting," Rick said, moving off to his BMW. He was going to the hospital to keep watch over my mom, at least until dawn. "And be careful."

"You, too."

The three of us piled into my car.

"Where we headed?" Shaun finally asked as I turned onto Highway 6 toward Golden. I hadn't told him the details. I just said I needed a warm body for an expedition. He'd been trusting enough not to ask any more questions.

"We're going to the Park and Ride on 93. We'll drop the car off and head into the hills. Then we start marking territory."

"You're kidding," Shaun said.