Shaya dashed over to Ally. “We didn’t even know they were on our territory.” She nodded in greeting at Dan, Brad, and Wyatt as she said begrudgingly, “You guys are good.”

“Why, thank you,” drawled Dan with a charming smile.

“I take it Cain doesn’t have all the facts yet,” Shaya said to Ally, sighing.

Shaking her head, Ally replied, “Cain’s too worked up to listen. And Derren seems happy to fight him.”

It pissed her off that Derren was fighting back rather than explaining the truth, but she had to wonder if her mate thought Cain deserved to get a few shots in, considering that Derren had pursued her before knowing they were true mates. Dumb but understandable for someone like Derren to whom loyalty was extremely important.

Or maybe Derren was fighting with Cain since he viewed the male as a potential threat to their mating and wanted to make his point that no one could come between them. She knew from her experience with Miranda that the need to ensure rivals understood a mate was off-limits was too strong for anyone to ignore.

Spitting out blood after a particularly hard uppercut from Derren, Cain pointed hard at him. “You shouldn’t have touched her.”

“Jealous?” taunted Derren, swiping the back of his hand over his bleeding brow.

Cain jerked back in abject horror. “What? No.” His tone said that being with Ally in a sexual sense would be like incest, but that only slightly mollified Derren’s jealous wolf.

Derren shrugged. “Then I don’t see how this is any of your concern.”

“Ally is family to me. That makes her, and this, my concern.” Then Cain was rushing at him again, his face a mask of anger.

Ally yelled, “Stop before one of you gets seriously hurt!” They didn’t. They continued to brawl like two drunken bikers in a bar fight. The only difference was that they were also clawing and biting each other—and they weren’t dressed in leather.

Pausing to snap his nose back into place, Cain grunted. “After today, I don’t ever want to see your ass again, you two-faced fucker. And you’ll stay away from Ally. I’m taking her away from here—”

Panting and sweating, Derren shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”

Cain stilled. “What did you just say?” It was a menacing dare for Derren to repeat himself. It made her uncles wince.

“I’ll rephrase. I won’t let you do that. Ally stays with me.”

“Do you want me to kill you, is that it?”

“You could give it a shot.”

“Don’t think you can stop me from leaving with—”

“You can go wherever the hell you like, I really couldn’t give a fuck. But Ally stays. She’s mine.” It was a possessive rumble that seemed to surprise Cain with its intensity.

Still, the male scoffed. “Yours?”

“We’re mates, Cain!” shouted Ally, her stomach hurting at the sight of Derren’s busted lip, swollen jaw, clawed chest, and the gash on his brow.

Cain completely froze, falling silent for a moment. “Mates?” The eye that wasn’t swollen shut darted repeatedly from her to Derren. Then Cain tipped his bleeding chin at Ally’s neck. “Show me.”

When she tugged at the collar of her T-shirt to reveal her claiming mark, she said, “There. See? He wasn’t betraying your trust or disrespecting your friendship. This isn’t some casual fling.”

“You’re mates?” He looked at Derren. “You aren’t using her?”

“We’re mates,” confirmed Derren. “That’s as far from casual as you can get.”

“So you didn’t touch her until you realized you were mates?” When Derren didn’t answer, Cain lunged at him again.

“Cain!” growled Ally. As the males wrestled each other to the floor, she threw her hands up in the air. “Goddammit!” She marched into the lodge, reappearing only moments later with a bucket. As she slung the contents over the two males, they both jumped apart and got to their feet.

“You drowned me in ice-fucking-cold water,” said Cain in pure disbelief.

“Yes, I did.” Ally strode over to him and forced herself to speak calmly. “Now listen to me, hear me out. I know you’re just looking out for me. I know you don’t want to see me used or disrespected. I appreciate all that, I do. But . . . you can’t hit him again.”

“Why not? I like it.” He sounded like a child sulking over his toy being taken away.

Smiling a little, Ally replied, “Because I kind of like him in one piece. Not bleeding and bruised.”

“He broke my trust.”

“Probably because on some level he knew I was his mate and the draw was there.” She’d felt the draw from moment one; she simply hadn’t understood the source of it.

It was clear to Derren that her attempts to placate Cain weren’t working well; he looked eager to pounce on Derren once more. “Come at me again if you want. But it won’t change anything. She’s mine and I’m keeping her. I’ll never let anyone take her from me.”

A muscle in Cain’s bruised jaw ticked. “She can do better than you.”

“I won’t dispute that.”

“Hey!” complained Ally, not liking Derren putting himself down in any way. A silence descended as both males stared at each other, their expressions inscrutable.

Cain spoke first, pointing his finger hard at Derren. “If you ever hurt her, I’ll shove a pole so far up your ass you’ll feel it in your throat. You got me?”