The barn door banged open, and a shifter stomped in, leashes gripped in his fists. One of them connected to a wolf. Zoey. The other to a woman. Sid. He had them on leashes, like pets.

My wolf stilled as rage flooded us both. He was dragging Zoey and Sid. The lantern wasn’t throwing off a lot of light, but it was enough for me to look them over. Sid’s dark, curly hair was pulled back from her face so I could see the yellowing bruises on her skin. Long rips and streaks of dirt and blood on her clothes told me she’d been wearing them for a while. They’d bound her hands but hadn’t done anything else. Sid was human, and therefore not a threat in their minds.

“Hey, Declan. Looking good.” Sid’s mouth quirked, like she hadn’t a care in the world, but I could see her eyes and they shone with anger.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ve been eating more vegetables.”

The man shoved Sid, pushing her down until she sat in the dirt across from me on the other side of the fire pit. Next to her, Zoey padded on silent paws. Without me around, had Eva bonded with Zoey? Was that why Sid was beat up—to make Zoey shift?

It didn’t matter why, I decided. It was unforgivable either way. All of it.

“Hey, Zo.”

She moved toward me, only to be yanked back. Anger burned through me, a hot flame on dry grass. I had to close my eyes and breathe. They wanted me angry. Angry people made mistakes.

They were succeeding, too. Lou’s crash. Her pain. Her screams. Sid’s bruised face. My sister on a leash. Rage pulsed in me like a second heartbeat. I was breathing hard, nostrils flaring. If I hadn’t been wearing the collar, I would have shifted.

My father’s low chuckle washed over me, and I hated him so much in that moment that I felt the wolf surge forward, only to have the inhibitor collar snap him back into place. He was leashed as surely as my sister and Sid were.

The wolf snapped his jaws, his eyes blazing. He growled, long and low, only to stop abruptly, his head snapping up. His body language changed completely, going from rage to joy, his tongue lolling out in laughter as a cool wave flooded my mind. Before I could wonder what was going on, Lou was there, using our bond to take my anger. Lou had our back, letting us know that no matter how awful Angus and Eva got, I wasn’t alone.

Lou was here for me.

Oh shit, Lou was really here for me. She was close. I could feel her. Fuck.

I tried to tell her to go, to make her run, but she wasn’t listening. Lou was going to save me whether I wanted her to or not. A shiver of fear ran through me, and I knew that Angus could smell it. He wouldn’t know what actually caused it, though. Eva would, if she’d been paying attention, but she was too busy gloating over Zoey and Sid.