I leaned back, moving all my weight to my hip, and then swung out my left leg. Toby caught it with a single hand. I braced myself to be flipped, but instead felt a shock of cold water splash against my face. And then it happened again. And again.

“What the hell?”

Another blast of water shot towards me, this time finding its way into my eye.

“You will watch your language in this house, Jase Stewart,” Mrs. Matthews said, spray bottle in hand.

Toby wiped a stream of water from his forehead. “We’re not cats.”

“Well, you’re certainly hissing around on the floor like a pair of kittens.” She resettled the bottle on the side table where it had resided most of my life. Although, once I thought about it, I had no idea why. It’s not like she owns any pets. “Now, get up the both of you. This may be the way some packs settle things, but not us. You will talk this out like civilized human beings, or you will leave my house. Do you understand?”

With a muttered “yes, ma’am”, Toby and I peeled ourselves off the floor. I probably should have said something to Toby in the way of an apology, but there was no way I was doing it. I still thought he was wrong, and no one was talking me out of that belief. I didn’t care if they were Alpha Pack or Alphas themselves, I didn’t like the Coles. They didn’t belong here, and I would rip their faces from their heads before I let either of them touch Scout in any way.

“In the event it matters to anyone,” Charlie said, stretching back and taking his life in his own hands by throwing his feet up on Mrs. Matthews’s coffee table, “I’m on Jase’s side here.”

“You’re always on Jase’s side.” To the ultra-observant eye, which I was in possession of, Toby limped slightly as he moved back to his chair. I made sure there was no stiffness to my own movements as I climbed back onto the armrest. It wasn’t hard. I just had to bite my lip until I could taste blood to divert my attention from the bruise forming on my spleen.

Charlie and I didn’t need words or hand signals to communicate. With one glance he asked if we were cool after our argument from earlier, and I told him we were. I still wasn’t thrilled that he thought he was in love with my sister, but it was Charlie. He thinks stupid things all the time. He always eventually realizes he’s a moron, so I wasn’t really worried about it.

“Just happens this time his side is the right one,” he said, sounding reasonable for the first time in hours. “There is something about those guys that isn’t right. You should have made them leave.”

Toby slid down in the seat. The light shone off of something, and after a few moments deliberation, I decided it was a grey hair. “I swear, you both were dropped on your heads as babies.” For at least the tenth time in thirty minutes he rubbed a hand over his face. “Do either of you have any concept of what the Alpha Pack is?”

“A bunch of guys with a lame tattoo?” I guessed.

“The people we write a check to twice a year for no good reason,” was Charlie’s answer.

“Our ruling body. The strongest of the strong.” Talley looked straight at me. “They are the people who could sentence you to death for insubordination. Toby didn’t just do the right thing; he did the only thing he could have. What did you want him to do? Get himself killed? Get you killed? Is your pride really worth that much?”

“This isn’t about my pride--”

“Of course it is.” Talley threw back her shoulders and made some sort of ridiculous face that was probably supposed to be righteous indignation or some such thing. “This is my land. Go away,” she said, her voice pitched low. “She’s my sister. Don’t talk to her, or I’ll punch you in the face.”

My fists clenched. “You’re the one who said they’re going to kill her. She’s your best friend. Don’t you think she’s worth it?”

“You know I love Scout and would die if anything happened to her,” she said, “but you’re overreacting. For one thing, I don’t See the future. I shouldn’t have said anything to Toby about it. It was just that all of a sudden there was this Shifter in my class, and then I remembered that stupid dream I had over the summer, and I just panicked. I freaked out a little then, and now you’re freaking out a lot.”

“I am not freaking out.”

She cocked her head to one side and blinked her too-blue eyes at me. “Jase, your face is almost purple, and you’re shaking so hard I can feel it all the way over here. You’re freaking out.”

“You don’t understand!” No one did, and that was the problem. I could feel it in my gut. The Coles were bad news. They were going to ruin everything and everyone I loved. It wasn’t pride or dominance issues or anything else Talley might argue. It was instinct, and I’m a coyote. My instinct isn’t to be ignored, especially on this. And I knew I wasn’t alone. Charlie felt it too. It was written all over his face when we were standing in their pitiful excuse for a yard. And Toby… Toby was acting like a worn out old man. That’s not who Toby is. No, the wrongness of this situation was getting to him, too. We all felt it, but I was the only one demanding we do something about it.

“I do understand,” Talley said in a clearly patronizing voice. “But I promise you, Alex is as far from the enemy as you can get. He’s a good person. I Saw it. And he would never hurt Scout. He loves her.”

Charlie growled low in his throat. “He doesn’t even know her.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I think he does.”

“You know what’s crazy?” Toby asked. “The three of you thinking you have any say in this matter whatsoever.”

Before I could say something that would’ve contained more than a few words Mrs. Matthews would take offense to, Charlie said, “You invited us to come along, not the other way around. If you didn’t want our input, you should have left us at home.”

“Next time I will.”

“No, you won’t,” Mrs. Matthews said, getting up. Once she was lording over us all, she continued. “These children are the future of our pack. One of these two will one day take your place as Pack Leader, and my Talley will step up to be the new Pack Seer.”

“Ummm… Aren’t I already a Pack Seer?”

“Until then…” She turned her attention to the couch where we three “children” sat. “You will follow your Pack Leader without question. He made an arrangement with the Coles, and you will adhere to it or face the appropriate discipline. Do you understand?”