Jesse entered the study shortly after my phone call with Amelia ended.

“Jesse, I need to ask for something big,” I began, my body tense with the gravity of what I would ask.

“I am at your service, Luna. Whatever it is,” he replied.

“Abigail is here. Her magic is cloaking the scents of the intruders. I have some powerful witches on the way. They’re going to need your blood,” I gave it to him straight and observed him carefully for any sign of reluctance.

“You got it, Luna,” he answered without hesitation.

“Is this going to be hard for you? You can say no,” I added.

He sighed in resignation, “I ceased to be her father long ago. I will do anything to protect the pack,” then he looked straight into my eyes, “My loyalty is to my Alpha.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed, “Thank you, Jesse.”

The phone rang, and I picked it up to Kendra’s voice on the line saying, “Go out to the drive, Jane! We won’t fit in the study. Transporting in sixty seconds!”

Then she hung up.

Jesse and I ran out to the front porch just as a loud crack sizzled the air outside.

I had to blink to register what I was seeing.

Kendra and Amelia were there with a dozen other witches. Fine. Sure. Got it.

It was what was behind them that both startled me and brought me a great sense of relief.

The entire Entropus family stood behind them, along with about 400 wolf warriors.

Tristan! Gabriel! I mind-linked, “Divine Moon Pack is here: Alpha’s family, witches, warriors! They came!”

The dozen witches scattered and disappeared into the woods.

I embraced Kendra, “You amazing woman. I adore you!”

Kendra grinned, “The Old Man insisted. He said he made a promise to support your pack when the time came.”

I stepped forward to Alpha Clovis and hugged him gingerly, “Thank you, Alpha.”

He chuckled and patted my back softly, “Don’t worry, Luna. The day shall be ours!”

I stepped back and smiled at him and then turned to Luna Megan, holding my hands out to her. She enveloped me in a warm hug and then whispered, “You stay strong, Luna. We’ve got this!”

I was more grateful to them than I could even express.

Amelia cleared her throat, “First things first. We have to neutralize the magic. If we use blood that flows through her veins, then her ability to cloak scents will have no power here. Are you the father?”

Jesse nodded and stepped forward.

“Hold out your hands, palms up. I’m going to slice them both open. You have to squeeze them into fists above the bowl. Do it quickly, you will heal fast,” she instructed him.

Jesse obeyed.

By the time the blood hit the bowl, the dozen witches that previously disappeared into the forest had returned with items they had gathered: grass, bush leaves, moss, pinecones, rocks, dirt, bark from trees, etc. They placed the items they brought back into the bowl, and each item touched a part of the blood. Amelia chanted in a language I didn’t understand and then the blood turned a glowing blue and consumed the gathered materials.

Amelia nodded with satisfaction, “It’s done. Her cloaking magic won’t work within view of any of these forces of nature.”

I nodded and sent the information to Tristan, Gabriel, and the security team through the link.

Tristan linked back, “Got it. We can scent everyone now. You did it, Jane!”

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I listened to a few short instructions from Tristan to relay to Alpha Clovis.

“Alpha, Luna, Tristan says he’s glad you’re here,” I began.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Clovis said with a grin.

“Tristan wants you and your daughters with him. He’s tracking MacKenzie and his witch. Gabriel is with Tristan.”

Clovis nodded and said, “There are five Alphas here besides Tristan and me. As soon as the magic faded, I could scent them.”

“Five?” my eyes went wide.

“MacKenzie, Martin, Trent, Fillmore, and Kline. These are the Alphas who have been against progressive values in the packs and the council. They defy the council and continue to treat humans, their subordinates, and women like property.”

I frowned. This was serious.

“We can handle it, Jane, but you have to make sure everyone is safe,” Clovis said.

“You let the non-warriors and children know they have to lock themselves indoors.”

I nodded, and he turned to run. His wife and daughters followed him, all of them stripping at the edge of the south forest and shifting as soon as they entered the woods.

That was a sight to behold. Seven of the largest wolves I had ever seen besides Tristan’s and mine. They could probably strike terror into the hearts of every non-Alpha wolf in the forest today.

I assumed Alpha Clovis linked his pack because they all shifted, splitting into four groups, each heading in a different direction.

I turned back to Amelia, “Everyone has already been asked to shelter in place. Can your witches put barriers around the buildings to keep the children safe?”

Amelia turned to her coven and motioned to one of the witches, and the dozen ladies vanished with a crack of the air.

“Come,” she said to me.

I followed her into the house, and she headed to the study, where she placed a hand on the hidden bookcase door and spoke a few words. A blue light seeped from her fingertips and covered the door before retracting behind it and disappearing.

I linked Diane to let her know it was a protection spell so the children wouldn’t be afraid.

Amelia walked out of the study and up the staircase to our third-floor apartment and walked inside.

She hurried across the living room, and the balcony doors flung open for her to step out into the night air.

The balcony that wrapped around our apartment offered 360-degree views of the entire ranch. It was really a rooftop patio since it sat atop the part of the second-floor roof that wasn’t covered by our apartment.

Amelia crouched down and put her hand on the patio to the left of her feet, then stood slowly, stretching her arm up into the air to draw a magic blue light arch over her body and completing it by touching the patio next to her right foot.

She then opened both hands wide and pushed at the arch. The arch turned into a growing bubble that eventually formed a barrier over the entire main house.

We were currently facing south, where I knew Tristan and Gabriel were trying to deal with MacKenzie and the witch Abigail.

Amelia stretched out her hand towards the south curve of the barrier and pulsed it three times. A point of a more vivid blue light appeared on the bubble and began to draw.

It drew the forest beneath us and then wolves all in miniature like a map. Lots and lots of wolves. They were running through the trees. I could make out the seven massive wolves running towards another large wolf and a man who were being surrounded by dozens of smaller wolves.

It played out like a movie that was translucent with glowing blue lines showing the outer shells and motion of the creatures. I understood this was like a live feed of what was happening, and it was Gabriel and Tristan who were being surrounded.

When Amelia was satisfied with the reach of her view to the south, she began to walk around the entire wrap-around patio, pulsing her hand toward the barrier as she walked. More points appeared and began to draw the forest and the creatures moving inside of it.

She came back to the south where I was watching Tristan anxiously.

Amelia walked closer to the bubble and tapped the seven large wolves running towards Tristan and Gabriel, and they began to move faster. She had somehow boosted them to an otherworldly speed.

She finally gestured to the bubble and said to me, “Command Central. You are the mind-link to First Montana, and I am the link to Divine Moon. Speak your communications aloud so that we can relay information more efficiently.”

“Got it,” I replied.

Amelia walked around the circle, scanning, and watching the other movements in different directions while I stood, my eyes fixed on my family as they were surrounded.

The detail on the feed was excellent. I could see how Tristan shifted his face towards MacKenzie’s stench, and Gabriel had turned his back to Tristan, facing the witch’s direction.

“Alpha Clovis and his family are almost there, Tristan. Hang in there,” I linked aloud.

Seven wolves on the front line broke through the trees and lunged at Tristan and Gabriel.

Gabriel moved at vampire speed, snapping the necks of four of them while Tristan crushed the throats of the other three, one after the other, with his jaws and tossed them aside.

Amelia mind-linked aloud, “The 700 plus to the east are half rogues!”

“Divine Moon Pack is here to aid us. Half of the army to your east are rogues,” I repeated through the link for my pack.

I glanced at the feed to the east and saw a large crowd of Clovis’s pack joining up with half of our warriors waiting at the forest’s edge. The wolves greeted and intermingled, loping to sniff one another until they could recognize their allies by scent.

There was a chorus of “Yes, Luna” in reply.

The combined army of First Montana and Divine Moon dove into the woods at full speed towards the invading army. The invaders caught scent of them and began to run towards them, though they were some distance apart.

We were four hundred wolves to the east against 794 invaders, half of which were rogues.

I took several deep breaths and sent up a prayer to the goddess that she would protect our packs tonight. I didn’t want to lose a single wolf.