now. He didn't make it any further before Ian began growling at him, stepping slowly toward the end of my yard. Roman just ducked his head and kept coming, refusing to be deterred.
It was Kim who rushed him, the boy's own mother. Before Ian could get close, she was on him, going after her own son. The snarls and snaps were like any dog fight I'd ever heard, but in the daylight, I could see the difference. She wasn't actually biting him. The clacks were from her teeth snapping shut on nothing more than air. It still made the boy drop and roll. It also wasn't enough to make Ian look away.
"Go check on Gabby," Henry told me. "I'll make sure that boy knows he's not welcome anymore."
I didn't need to be told twice. Leaving Olivia behind with her wolf-shaped mother, I hurried back to the front door, pausing when I grabbed the handle. It was one of those curved bar types, not the round knob kind. This was the kind that a paw or a chin could manage, and I'd never even thought about it. Pushing it open, I decided it didn't matter anyway.
But the inside of my house looked like a nudist colony. Ashley was getting dressed over by the kitchen. Seth was at the foot of the stairs, just pulling on his jeans. At the top, by the balcony railing, were Pax and Trent. All of them were shaped like men, and they were all in the middle of putting on their clothes. I pushed past them, not sure what to say, but they seemed to understand.
And there, lying on her bed, was my darling daughter. Lane had already pulled on the workout pants he'd worn yesterday, but he wasn't very far from her side. Thankfully, he was smiling.
"Is she ok?" I asked, then I looked at her. "Are you ok?"
"I'm so tired," Gabby mumbled. "And hungry."
"She's fine," Lane told me. "About halfway through the night, she started thinking. Then she started playing."
"I tried to change back," she said. "I knew it was getting late, and I tried to change so I could come home, but I couldn't."
"So I ran her ass out," Lane explained. "Until her body was too tired to fight her. Then Ian made her shift."
"Oh, Gabby," I breathed, moving to sit beside her on the bed. "How did this happen?"
She ignored that to look around me, her eyes on the door. "Where's Roman? I didn't see him last night."
Lane huffed. "Home. He's in a lot of trouble. He'll be lucky if Ian doesn't kick him out of the pack."
"He'd do that?" I gasped. "But he's a kid!"
Lane slanted his head from side to side. "He'll be allowed to stay until he graduates. After that? He'll have to make some serious changes or he'll be looking for a new pack."
That was enough to make Gabby sit up, pulling the blanket with her to stay covered. "But it's not his fault!"
So I grabbed her arm and turned it, showing her the bite. "It's not? Did you do that to yourself?"
"I made him, ok? He said it could be dangerous, but I wanted this, Mom. Why can't you understand that? Why can't you just be happy for me, and stop trying to make me be like you?"
"Because you, young lady, have made some very bad decisions lately."
She groaned. "I didn't know I'd get so sick."
The response came from the doorway. "It's a virus. What did you think would happen?" Ian asked.
My daughter glanced away. "I thought I'd just change."
"Then you thought wrong." He took a step farther into the room. "Lane, out. Elena, she needs some clothes." Next, he looked at my daughter. "You're going to have a hot shower, then you will come downstairs and eat. Do you understand, pup?"
She nodded.
"The answer is, 'yes, Alpha,'" he corrected. "You want to be a wolf? Fine, but first you need to be accepted into the pack. That means you get to learn the rules. The first one? I am in charge. Second to me is your mother, my mate. After her are my betas. Do you understand, Gabby?"
"Yes, Alpha," she breathed.
"And the next rule?" He moved to the edge of the bed. "You will not turn anyone without asking me first. If you do, accidental or otherwise, I will throw you out. You will lose all of your friends and all of the prestige you get from being my mate's daughter. You will be alone, Gabby. Out