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I slowly uncurled ers and forcedafter all I pondered, half hoping - and half chafing at the thought that they had so little regard for my pack that they couldn’t even show up on tih? I alroup’s fear of ould happen to them all if rief that , they were all on tenterhooks about the imminent arrival Would the Brethren like them? Would the Brethren find out who killed John? Would the Brethren save the world? Would we be honoured enough to be allowed to wait hands and feet on thenored him Screw the Brethren Part of one and then wouldn’t have to be witnessing the pathetic displays ofat the bit to do anything to please the sodding Brethren Idiots

I’d confirmed that none of them other than Julia had ever had cause to come in contact with the Brethren before now – well, let’s face it, we lived in a backwater town in Cornwall for chrissakes, nothing had ever happened before that would have warranted the Brethren’s attention – but the crèrave;me of the shapeshifters’ reputation still preceded them They were known to be bloody, ruthless and entirely withoutstandards And still, the pack sighed over the in to save the day

And, as it was, I’d have to stay throughout the ceremony, so that the shifters who had taken me in when I was all alone wouldn’t be faced with any hard questions, or harder punishments because they were one ‘shifter’ short We couldn’t afford to have the heroes looking for me as a suspect for John’s murder when the real culprit was still out there In three days’ time I’d be free to find the bastard ant to think that they would solve it that quickly and with that much ease, or if they just didn’t care and didn’t want to spend any hts of London than was absolutely necessary It didn’tto die a slow and agonising death at ht conversation with Julia preyed onthe truth and that they all actually did indeed need htened their shoulders and puffed out their chests as if they were one I did the complete opposite and tried to hunch down The wooden doors at the right of the hall swung open and twenty or so people, all dressed fro in

As if they owned the place, I thought, grittingdoer

The Brethren stopped and lined up in front of us All of their hands were resting lightly on weapons that hung frolint of steel Flexing their authority, no doubt I looked fixedly down at the floor instead

A tall gray hairedover all of us The room was so quiet that I fancied I’d be able to hear Anton’s balls finally dropping behind lance up at their new leader He wasn’t what I’d expected No obvious outpourings of power or charisma He didn’t look weak physically but neither would I have thought that I couldn’t beat hiuy at that I studied hiance surrounding hiestion of strength but still…I didn’t see it Maybe it was a shapeshifter thing

He started to speak "The Brethren brings condolences for the loss of the Cornish pack’s alpha We know that he was a good leader who kept the Way and held you together Do not fear that ill not uncover the truth of what happened" His slate gray eyes slid over the room "His death was untimely and – unexpected"

I blinked at the sudden unexpected rise of tears and ht John had kept us safe, all of us safe He had never treated me differently, despite my non-shifter status, and had even spent a ridiculous aht so that I could hold ainst the rest of the pack should they suddenly decide that having a puny hust them was theht that way – Anton behind me for one

A memory rose unbidden of my ten year self and John outside the keep

I had been crouched down, throwing dagger in hand, shaking in fear

"Mackenzie Sive into fear then it will rule you Take the fear and turn into focus Use that focus wisely Feel for the creature and prepare youra s local fare in s caht) but John had insisted that this was the tihtened up slowly and targeted hts towards the clu sound had vibrated towards us I had blocked out everything else and focused on the noise, willing the wyvern to leave the safety of the brush and come out

"That’s it," ca the dagger tighter and taking a step forward, probing the trees with my eyes until I spotted a sudden movement on my far left I took a step forward, and then another Without warning the wyvern had burst out of the copse and flown like a dagger towards round I kept hold of the fear and, as the creature swooped close, I swung up, gripped onto its leathery neck and hung on with one aredto shakeround to scrapeand snap kicked the claws out of the way I felt hot inside and knew that the fire, if I let it, would burn out of control With my free hand I felt for the soft space in between the beast’s shoulder blades and sank the dagger in Of course once the wyvern tail-spinned down I had belatedly realised that I was far too high and that hitting the ground was going to be very hard and very painful

"Focus the fear and fan the flao of the wyvern’s neck at the lastsquished just in time

My technique had been sloppy and careless but John had run towards athered

"See? See? I knew you could do it You ot skills, and power You’re a" His eyes had shone down atelse mattered I had killed the wyvern and he was proud It didn’t matter that I was human, I could focus my mind with more skill than on when half of the pack would have been too scared to try I belonged

Later we had stripped down the carcass together and burnt it I still had a tooth froer valuables John had not let– but noas dead and I had failed him

Not without some effort, I zoned back into the present and realised that the gray eyed erous times and you are without an alpha For thirty years we have left you in peace We respect the Cornish pack and the work that you do keeping this corner of the country safe, however we also offer you an opportunity to brighten these sad days We will aid you by conducting the cere a new alpha, as is our responsibility We will hold evaluations and intervieith every single pack member to ensure the appropriate alpha is chosen

And we also extend you an invitation The best and the brightest ast you may join us, come to London and become part of the Brethren, the shape-shifter elite We have spaces for new recruits This is your opportunity to join in the battle to keep all of this world, not just Cornwall, safe froh the asse Not only would the individual pack members be able to leave and join other packs around the country but they now could also become part of the so-called elite I knew that just as there would be e, just as many would rise to it and demand it My brow furrowed No doubt the Brethren were really just looking for cannon fodder I felt e that this could be a good thing As ht despise theression, the Brethren could be doing eas in place, and the Brethren’s recruitment drive would surely allow me to see off the backs of all those troublesome shifters who still couldn’t acceptat the bit to show off anyway I was still contentedly sure that Julia would be named alpha – otherhy else would her Voice noorking?

Without false s, Julia was right and the pack benefited froht not able to shift but I was pretty ht To the extent that since I’d turned into a teenager and gone into defense full ti Apart froht away before it overwhel like a puppy, patently desperate for approval I wouldn’t have been surprised if he ju, "Pick e to convince hi that I was supposed to be keeping my head down, I scanned the ranks of the other Brethren shifters I was curious now about what their feelings were about taking in some of their distant country bumpkin cousins My eyes travelled down the line There was a bored looking blonde haired woested predator –wolf perhaps – then a slight darkin his eyes, then there was…uh-oh