The early morning light streamed into our room through the partially open curtains. Azalea slept soundly on my chest. I gently played with her soft hair, watching her chest rise and fall. I hadn't slept well, but I didn't want to wake her. Her alarm would go off in an hour; she had a busy day ahead, getting the kids ready for school and caring for Azly.

I tried to savor the peaceful moment with my mate. The weight of current events pressed heavily on me, but too many lives were at stake for me to falter. I had to find and kill Warwick before he reached us. Yesterday, an Alpha from a small pack called to report that they'd caught and killed a vampire near their borders. They believed he was scouting the pack for a later attack. What troubled me was that this pack was far from the direction Maddox and Langston had taken. It made no sense.

Azalea rolled over, off my chest and facing away. I extended my arm as she moved, so she remained lying on it. I rolled over to spoon her petite frame. I loved how her body nestled against mine.

We lay there for a few minutes, cuddling peacefully, until Lily startled me with a mental link.

"Liam, you better tell him no!" she said loudly.

"Lily? Tell who no?" I replied. Then, a pounding on the bedroom door.

"Liam!" Damien called from the other side. Azalea stirred, waking.

"Is that Damien?" she murmured sleepily as the pounding continued. I groaned.

"Liam, let's go!" Damien shouted.

"Liam, you better not go train with him!" Lily linked me again.

"What's going on? Why is Damien here so early?" Azalea asked, sitting up. I flopped onto my back, running my hands over my face.

Azalea clicked her tongue, climbed out of bed, and hurried to the door. I watched from the bed as she opened it. "Damien," she said, placing a hand on her hip.

"Good morning, Azalea," he said. "I need your mate."

"What you need to do is quiet down," she retorted. I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I smirked, anticipating her dressing-down. "I have three sleeping children in the hall, one of them just weeks old. So, if you don't mind lowering your voice."

My best friend's face paled slightly as he looked down at little Luna. I chuckled, wrapping my arms around Azalea from behind. "Haven't you ever heard, 'don't wake a sleeping Luna'?" I joked.

"Very funny," Damien said. "Sorry, Azalea, I didn't mean to. I need Liam." His eyes returned to me.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Training grounds," he said. "I need a workout."

"There's a problem with that," I said. He looked at me, confused and ready to argue. "Your mate is threatening me."

"Damn right I am! Damien Hale!" Lily's voice echoed down the hallway. We then heard crying from Azly's baby monitor on our nightstand. Azalea threw her hands up in frustration.

"Really, guys? It hasn't been that long. And I remember something about Lucas being a colicky baby who never slept," she grumbled. She pushed past Damien and headed down the hall to Azly's room. Lily peeked past Damien, watching Azalea storm off.

"Whoops," she said before turning back to us. "No. No. No. No. You've been awake for less than two days and out of the hospital for less than one. You need to relax!"

Lily was already rebounding. She was still in her pajamas, but looked much healthier than a few days ago. Her skin was closer to its normal color, and the bags under her eyes were almost gone.

"Come on, Lil. The doctor said I could resume activities as I felt ready. There's a war on! I need to get back in shape as quickly as possible!" Damien argued. I watched with mild interest. I was on Lily's side, especially after being interrupted mid-cuddle so early in the morning.

"But you came for Liam, meaning you intend to go hard. You would have gotten scrawny little Jacob if you just wanted a workout buddy. You can throw him around like a doll. But you came up here and woke Liam, meaning you want a real opponent," she said pointedly. I stifled a laugh, earning a sideways glance from Damien.

"We've been training together forever. I need him; he won't let me get hurt. You trust him, don't you?" Damien said. Lily looked to me for support.

I threw my hands up in surrender. "I'll only agree if she does," I said. "I'd love to spar with you again, but not until you're ready."

"I'm fine!" he growled. "Will you all stop doubting me?"

That broke Lily's resolve. Her face softened, her shoulders slumped. She let out a breath before turning to me. "You won't let him push himself too hard? Lots of breaks? Only the basics?"

"Sure, Lil. I can do that," I said reassuringly. Damien smiled triumphantly.

"Unless you want training to start with a tired Luna chasing you with a stick, get out of the packhouse," Azalea said, returning looking grumpy. Azly was fussing in her arms.

"I'll take that," I said as she joined us. I happily took Azly from my mate. "Good morning, beautiful," I cooed.

"Let me feed my pup, and I'll meet you outside," I told Damien.

"I'll warm up," Damien said, turning. Lily slapped his arm.

"You will not! You will wait for Liam!" she said, following him. Azalea rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you miss it?" I teased.

"As soon as he feels 100%, he'll stop bugging her so much," she sighed. "I'm going to get dressed while you feed her. I suspect we'll be seeing the boys soon." She kissed Azly's head and went back into our room. I knew it was going to be a long day.

"Damien, let's take a breather," I said. I wasn't winded, but he looked ready to collapse. We'd started with exercises we use on the young pups, but he'd insisted on cardio drills after finding those too easy. I'd given in, but less than four minutes into the first one, I regretted it.

Damien shook his head, gasping for air. "I'm good," he said between breaths. "Let's keep going."

"No, break time," I said. I went to the edge of the training ring and grabbed a cold bottle of water. I tossed it to him; his reflexes were still sharp as he caught it with an irritated glare. I sat down in the grass, grabbing my own water. My stomach growled, reminding me I should be having breakfast with the kids before school.

Damien lumbered over and collapsed beside me. "You know I don't care if we have to go back to pup workouts, right?" I said, irritated. He knew Lily would have my head if he pushed himself too hard.

"I'll be okay," he huffed. I eyed him skeptically as he drank his water.

"You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?" I asked.

"We've been best friends for over twenty years, Liam," Damien deadpanned. "Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you implicitly," I said. "But I also know you'll do anything for this pack, including getting bitten by a vampire. Plus, you don't like to lose at anything physical."

Damien finished his water, crushing the bottle. "Come on, break's over," he said, getting up. He was being evasive, and I was worried. It made me think there was something he wasn't telling us, possibly a side effect of the vampire venom.

"Why don't we shift and go for a run?" I asked, standing. "I bet your wolf would love to stretch his legs."

Damien's shoulders tensed. "Maybe we should just keep this up?" he said, his back to me.

"Gavin could use the exercise too," I said. "I barely get out lately. I'm either in my office or down here. Plus, the morning group won't be long, and we'll have a crowd."

"Uh," he stammered. "I, uh, guess. Let's go."

He headed toward the treeline, his posture stiff. We stripped off our clothes and tossed them in a pile. I shifted quickly, landing on all fours. Damien remained motionless, fists clenched at his sides.

"Damien?" I linked, unable to speak. He didn't respond. I watched his muscles tense as if he were straining. My stomach churned; could he not shift?

Damien let out a pained yell and hunched over. His body slowly shifted into his wolf form. It was agonizingly slow. When finished, he stood panting.

"Damien?" I tried again. No answer. "Cage?"

His head snapped toward me. He growled. Without warning, he ran into the trees. I followed. Was Cage in control? Why couldn't Damien talk to me? Cage was running fast, but not as fast as usual.

I continued to link Cage, but he either couldn't hear or ignored me. Gavin tried as well, with the same fruitless result. I let Cage run for a while, trying to see where he was going. He seemed directionless, just running.

After about twenty minutes, he showed no signs of stopping, and I was reaching my limit. I sped up, catching him quickly. I hit him with my weight to get his attention. Cage snapped at me before trying to run faster.

I easily kept up, hitting him again. He snarled, warning me. I was his Alpha; he wouldn't disrespect me. Finally, I tackled him, and our wolves wrestled for dominance.

Had Damien been healthy, this would have been a struggle, but recovering from his coma, I easily took control. I stood over Cage, my paws on his chest.

"SUBMIT!" I roared mentally, using as much Alpha authority as possible. Cage froze, no longer fighting. "SHIFT!" A strange expression crossed his eyes before his body obeyed. I stepped back, shifting myself as well.

Moments later, Damien lay on the ground, breathing hard. He groaned, bringing his hands to his face. "What the hell was that?" I asked loudly.

Damien didn't answer at first. He struggled to sit up. "I don't know," he panted.

"No, Damien. No more bullshit. What the f*ck was that? Cage was almost feral, and you had no control! What aren't you telling me?" I demanded.

"I don't know—" he began.

"Bullshit. I'm not just the Alpha; I'm your best friend, damn it. Tell me now!"

"I can't connect with Cage!" he shouted. I stared, shocked. He turned away, taking a deep breath. "I haven't been able to talk to my wolf since I woke up, maybe even while I was asleep; that part's hard to recall. I wasn't even sure I could shift; I was afraid he was gone."

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked. "That's important."

He gritted his teeth. "I don't need your pity, and I don't need Lily to worry more. I've put her through enough!"

"You shifted and had zero control. What were you going to do? Test that theory by yourself? What if Cage took you away from the pack, or hurt someone?" I asked.

"I don't know, okay!" he yelled. "I don't know. I was going to figure it out. I wasn't going to let Cage hurt anyone, and I wasn't going to let you or this pack down."

"Damien, could you hear me at all? Could you see where Cage was going or what he was doing?"

Damien was silent. He looked down before shaking his head. I threw my arms up in frustration. "Sh*t," I muttered.

"Liam, I need you," Azalea's voice echoed in my mind.

"What's wrong?" I asked quickly.

"Luna Jessalyn just called. Please, come back to the packhouse quickly," she said.

"Stand up," I said calmly. "We need to get back to the packhouse now."

He stood. "I don't know that I should shift…"

"Wasn't an option. We're running on two legs," I said. "Let's go."