I felt both of the bindings give just as I heard the unmistakable sounds of footsteps. I hissed a warning at the ferrets, but they had already scampered off, burying themselves in the hay. I turned on my side, making it look like I was still bound while also placing my arms and feet away from the light. If anyone examined me closely, the jig would be up, but hopefully they would just assume all was well.

My stomach dropped as two people entered the barn—the very last people I ever wanted to see again. My dad had aged well, but shifters tended to. He’d put on more muscle since I’d seen him last. Angus had always been tall, with lean muscles on a medium frame. He’d bulked up in prison. His brown hair was short with no sign of gray, his face cleanly shaven.

I looked like my dad and I hated it. The differences were small—the shape of my mouth comes from my mom, as do my ears, which stick out a little. I’m bulkier, or I was before he put on the muscle he had now. Otherwise, we could be photocopies of each other.

Zoey always told me we had different eyes, which I ignored, because they’re the exact shape and color as Angus’s. It wasn’t until she explained that looking into them was different that I understood. When you look into my father’s eyes, there’s no warmth. No joy. Just an ice-cold dominance that freezes your insides.

Angus stopped a few feet away, his wife, Eva, at his side. Eva was a tiny slip of a thing, her black hair cut short, accentuating her pale skin and big, dark eyes. She looked like an evil Snow White, right down to the blood red of her lips. Putting all the details together, she should have been pretty. But her eyes were like my father’s, cold and powerful. The air around her almost crackled with magic.

Angus dropped down to his haunches, reached out and grabbed my hair, drawing my face back and exposing my throat. He examined me critically for a few minutes, making sure to catch my eyes at the end. He sneered, his lip curling back to reveal teeth. “You think you can challenge me now, pup?” When I didn’t answer, he let go of my hair in disgust. “Worthless.”

Worthless? my wolf chuffed. But he had to cheat, didn’t he?

My wolf was right—they’d used a stun gun to take me down. My dad hadn’t even wielded it himself. As far as my wolf was concerned, my dad was showing his fear. His weakness. He hadn’t come at us directly. He had cheated. But if I said anything, my dad would only say he was delegating because I wasn’t worth his attention. It would also antagonize him, which I didn’t want to do yet, so I held my tongue.

My wolf was watching now, though. We’d seen weakness once. Maybe we’d catch it again.