Then had begun the split. Lachlan wanted to go back to the old ways—why should they follow human rules if they lived far from cities and towns? Shifters should be Shifters.

Kendrick had calmed things down and for a while there was no violence, but it simmered under the surface.

Then came the mate Challenges. Females were scarce and males who were lucky enough to make a mate-claim had to face Challenges from other males. Lachlan did not like the new rule that females could refuse the claim—their group didn’t have enough cubs for females to be choosy, he said. Males claimed, and other males Challenged, whoever won the Challenge kept the mate, and that was the way it was.

Lachlan, of course, Challenged the first mate-claim that came after that. Being dominant, he won the fight, killing the other male, and Kendrick had to send the defeated Shifter to dust. The female, a feisty Feline, had refused Lachlan’s claim, vowing to kill him instead. So, Lachlan abducted and imprisoned her, along with the cub he’d previously taken.

Kendrick and the Shifters he trusted most, including Seamus and Dimitri, went after him.

They cornered Lachlan in the mountains as a storm was beginning. Lachlan attacked before they could reach him, shooting one of the trackers with an automatic pistol. They’d been shocked—Shifters didn’t use human weapons—which had allowed him time to shoot another.

Kendrick had gone tiger and attacked him, so swiftly that Lachlan had been forced to drop the gun and meet Kendrick as wolf. Seamus and Dimitri had joined in, and Jaycee had circled around them to find the female Shifter and cub.

But both were dead. From all evidence, they’d tried to get away from Lachlan, probably when they saw help coming, and Lachlan had killed them. The female had been holding the cub, trying to protect him, the child of another.

When Jaycee had shouted this information to him, Kendrick had thrown off any control and gone for the kill. Lachlan understood that and prepared to fight to the death. Seamus and Dimitri had let Kendrick lead, standing back to interfere only if necessary.

In the driving snow, Kendrick had slashed Lachlan to bloody shreds. Lachlan had fought to the last, finally falling in a bleeding, dead mess, staining the white ground around him.

Kendrick had been so furious that he’d violated his vow as Guardian, and instead of dusting Lachlan after he killed him, left the man for the animals to feed on. If Lachlan wanted to return to wild ways, let him return to nature as they’d originally done. If his soul was stolen by a Fae, he’d pay for the torment he’d given to the Shifters he’d killed.

Kendrick had sent the female and cub to dust, blown their ashes to the wind with a prayer to the Goddess, and gone home.

Later, Kendrick had second thoughts about not sending Lachlan to dust—not for Lachlan’s sake, but so the Fae wouldn’t be able to claim a Shifter. Kendrick’s job was to not allow Fae to take even the worst of the Shifters—though Kendrick wondered if he shouldn’t feel more sorry for any Fae who got stuck with Lachlan’s soul.

But when Kendrick went out into the night to complete his task, he couldn’t find Lachlan. The blizzard had been a bad one, covering all traces of the fight. Kendrick had never been sure whether animals had dragged Lachlan away to feast on him or if the heavy snowfall and ice had simply buried him. Either way, no one had ever found trace of him.

Kendrick had moved the Shifters after that, relocating farther south, near the Canadian-US border, and taking over as leader. Even the Shifters who’d agreed with Lachlan welcomed him as leader, and everything calmed. Or so Kendrick thought.

Kendrick finished the tale and bowed his head in the silence of the room. Remembering the details of Lachlan’s crimes had dredged up memories of death and fear he’d wanted to forget.