“We?” Chase pulled a soda from the fridge and popped the tab with a pointed glance at Abby. “Are we sure that’s a good idea?” He looked more hesitant than usual to question my judgment, so I made a conscious effort to relax, because my mood influenced all of theirs. No Pride was a democracy, but any good Alpha would listen to advice from a respectful and knowledgeable source, and my enforcers needed to feel free to advise.

Though so far, my newest hire had had no problem voicing her opinion.

“No, taking Abby along is a horrible idea,” I admitted. “But we’re going to make the best of it, because I’m not letting her out of my sight until every one of those bastards is in the ground.”

“She won their first fight,” Warner translated as Chase tossed him a soda.

Abby caught the next one. “It wasn’t our first.”

“And no doubt it won’t be our last. Let’s round everyone up. I’m taking Teo, Warner, Lucas, and Abby. Chase, you, Isaac, and the others will stay here, and I want at least two of you in the lodge with my mother and sister at all times.” My half brothers would be there as well, but they were untrained because neither of them wanted to serve as my employee. “Respect their privacy, but keep them safe. Got it?”

“Loud and clear.”

“And double the patrol. If there’s a foreign scent in the woods, I want to know about it. Abby?” I turned to give her instructions, but she was gone. Based on the echo of her boots in the hall, she was headed for the great room, where the displaced west cabin residents had probably camped after their patrol. “Damn it, Abby, you can’t just walk out when I’m…”

Chase and Warren laughed as I stomped after her.

I got to the great room just in time to see her launch herself across the room like a cat in human form. She landed on the couch on all fours, and Lucas made a pained oof sound beneath her. “Damn it, Abby!” He pushed her over and sat up. “That was only funny when you were four.”

“Get up!” She grinned in response to his scowl. “We’re going to ki—I mean, catch Hargrove. Warner found… Hey,” she said, with a glance at the three empty sleeping bags on the floor. Two of them belonged to Warner and Chase. “Where’s Isaac?”

Luke tossed back the blanket, which wasn’t long enough to cover his feet anyway. He always got the couch, because there wasn’t a sleeping bag invented that was long enough or broad enough to fit him. “Isaac?” he called, standing to stretch.

“He’s probably in the bathroom.” My sister Melody appeared in the doorway in a halter top and short sleeping shorts.

“Go put on some pants,” I snapped when she flopped into a chair and propped her bare feet on the coffee table. “It’s twenty degrees outside.”

“Well, it’s plenty warm in here,” she purred, stretching just to provoke me. Or to catch Lucas’s attention. She was successful on both counts.

I growled, and Lucas blinked, then looked away. They’d all seen her naked, of course, but this wasn’t nudity for the purpose of a shift or a run. This was flesh intentionally put on display because she lived for attention. “Go!” I shouted, and she jumped, startled.

Her eyes narrowed as she stood, moving as slowly as possible to obey my order, and as she passed Abby, Melody’s focus took on a riling gleam. “So,” she whispered, loud enough for the whole planet to hear, and I realized what she was going to say an instant before the words came out. “Are you sleeping with my brother?”

I was about to start shouting when Abby pulled herself up straight and propped both hands on her hips. “Would that make us even?” she asked softly. “Since you’re sleeping with my brother?”

“Whoa, what?” Lucas snapped.

A murderous growl rolled up my chest.

Abby slapped both hands over her mouth, as if she wished she could take the words back.

“You!” I glanced from Luke to my vindictive little sister. “She’s only nineteen years old!”

“Okay, wait, that’s not the point.” Abby stepped in front of me and turned my head by my chin until I looked down at her. “Only nineteen is nineteen enough,” she insisted gently, and I knew she was right, but I found it really hard to give a damn in that moment. Melody was nineteen in chronological years, but psychologically, she was as stunted as my remaining half brothers, who’d been raised by their psychotic father.

Calvin Malone had ordered Alex, his second-youngest son, to murder Brett, his oldest and the closest thing I’d had to a real brother. Four years under my leadership were nowhere near enough to mop up the mess Cal had made of their lives.

“Hold on.” Lucas held both his hands out, palms facing me, as if to show me he was unarmed. “Nobody’s sleeping with anybody. Right? I’ve been on the couch all night. Alone. And Abby would never…” He glanced at his sister, waiting for her to fill in the blank with the expected denial. “Because she’s engaged to…”

And that was when I realized he’d slept right through the rumors about me and his sister.

Abby frowned at Luke, and I read the impending subject change a second before she spoke. “Not you. Isaac. He’s in the bathroom, probably brushing his teeth in the shower. To wash off her scent,” she added, with another glance at Melody.

“Isaac? But that doesn’t—” Luke was the Wade brother Melody always flirted with, and he’d clearly spent the night on the couch. Abby was mistaken. Simple enough.

My temper began to cool as I turned to Lucas, trying to figure out the best way to tell him that I was, in fact, sleeping with his sister, even if he wasn’t sleeping with mine.

Abby rolled her eyes. “Your sister’s window lit up as soon as I knocked on the back door,” she said. “And the shower came on while we were in the kitchen. Melody’s still wearing yesterday’s makeup, and she just brushed her teeth. She hasn’t been to bed yet tonight.” Abby shrugged. “Well, she’s been to bed, but not to sleep.”

An angry pressure began to build up in my jaw until I realized I was clenching it. I turned from Abby to Melody, who suddenly looked terrified. “Mel?”

“Okay, Jace, don’t freak out.” She backed toward the staircase, and I realized that Abby was right—the shower was running. Specifically, Melody’s shower was running. Her bedroom and mine were the only ones on the second floor.