The older wolf rose to his feet and bared his teeth. “This wouldn’t be an issue if your family hadn’t attacked a pride. You invaded their territory first, not the other way around. You brought this on us.”

Anton moved so fast that Raymond didn’t even have time to flinch before he landed on his ass after being punched. “They invaded our territory first to take my mate. They had no right to come here.”

The older man on the floor coughed, rubbing his injured chest. “Your mother invited them to take that she-cat back where she belonged. They had her permission to cross into our territory.”

Rave grabbed his brother’s arm and hauled Anton back. “Easy,” he hissed, shooting a glare around the room. “Our mother had no authority to allow them here and has been banned from our pack for treachery against her own family. She’s paying for her crime. Her mate shunned her. That she-cat you’re speaking of is a Harris now, a member of this pack, and considered one of us. This is where she belongs. Anyone who betrays this pack will face the same fate as my mother. She gave birth to me but I packed her bags myself. Remember that, if you think you’re immune from our wrath just because we’ve known you all our lives. This isn’t a democracy. Your acting alpha just gave you an order.”

Braden inched closer, shooting him a meaningful glance. It reminded Brand that he was usually the one who calmed tensions at pack meetings, with his humor. He didn’t have any at the moment where prides were concerned or the pack’s stance on she-cats mated to werewolves. It affected Charma. It wasn’t a joking matter that someone thought they shouldn’t be defended because they weren’t bitches. He stood, knowing he needed to say something.

“You can whine about why this happened later,” he stated gruffly. “Right now our pack is in danger. The pride males are going to be looking for small groups of us to attack but we won’t give them that.” Something his mate said surfaced in Brand’s memory. “We’re a pack. We stick together and back each other up. We work well together as one unit.” He stepped forward and bent, offering a hand to Raymond. “They are pride. They fight amongst themselves and won’t be able to spend much time together. Let’s show them why we’re to be feared—unity.”

Raymond took his hand and Brand pulled him to his feet. He released the jerk as soon as he could and resisted the urge to knock him back on his ass. Brand glanced around the room, looking for more trouble, but didn’t see it.

“You’ve got your orders,” Anton growled. “Move out. Enforcers, stay.”

The room cleared. Brand waited until the door closed before he frowned at Anton. “Where is Von?” His cousin wasn’t present, something he’d taken note of when he arrived. It concerned him. Anton, Rave, Grady, Von and Braden always backed each other up. It was odd that one would miss a mandatory pack meeting.

Grady ran his fingers through his hair. “We don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Braden’s alarm was evident. “Did those damn cats grab him?”

Anton closed the distance and gripped his youngest brother’s shoulders. “He’s fine. He called my cell and left a message early this morning. He said something came up. It was an emergency and he had to leave town for a few days. He used the safe word. He wouldn’t have done that if someone forced him to make the call. The pride doesn’t have him.”

Worry hit Brand hard. “Didn’t he hook up with someone for mating heat? Is she with him?”

“He had Debbie staying at his house.” Kane, the pack’s lead enforcer, spoke. “He didn’t take her with him. He called me and had me go tell her how sorry he was for leaving. I escorted her to her parents after stopping at a store on the way.” He actually blushed. “She needed some supplies.”

“Supplies?” Braden cocked his head. “What? They didn’t have enough food?”

Anton chuckled and released his brother to smack the side of his head. “She’s in heat too. I’m thinking what Kane isn’t saying is she needed lots of batteries for her vibrator.”

Rave chuckled. “He blushes.”

Kane flipped him off. “Screw you. It was uncomfortable, okay? She’s like a kid sister to me.” He stared at Anton. “Von refused to tell me where he was going or what he needed to do. I’m worried.”

“Me too.” Anton frowned, glancing around the room. “Does anyone know anything?”

Silence reigned.

Anton studied Kane. “You were on duty with him last night. Did something happen?”

“Nothing weird. We picked up the scent of a couple of humans by the pack graveyard. Von said he’d deal with scaring them off and sent me home.” His cheeks colored slightly again. “The heat was getting to me. I was sweating bad and he told me to go take care of business. He was fine when I left him. He’d taken some drugs to dull the desire. He said someone should keep a clear head, considering the state of the pack. Tension is high since your father shunned your mother and had to go on medical leave to survive cutting the bond with his mate.”

“Fuck,” Rave groaned. “It has to be something major for him to take off while in heat without one of our women with him to keep him sane. How bad does it have to be for him not to tell us what’s up?”

“Call him,” Braden demanded.

“We have,” Grady offered. “Many times. He’s not picking up and it goes straight to voicemail. I have no idea what’s up but right now we have other shit to deal with.”

“Nothing is more important than finding Von,” Rave growled.

“You think I don’t feel the same?” Grady held his gaze. “We’re worried but he’s tough enough to handle himself.”

“Grady is right.” Anton sighed. “We’ll deal with finding Von later. Right now we need to protect the pack. Von had no idea of the seriousness of the threat we’re under or he’d be here. We left messages so hopefully he’ll hear them and show up soon.”

“This is a clusterfuck,” Braden groaned. “Von is missing and we’ve got a pride about to attack.”

“We’ll handle those pussies and then track down Von.” Rave glanced at his brothers. “Where are we staying?”