Nothing was out of place in the masculine wood panelled room. Same soft throw rugs, same desk their father had used before Kade. No changes because his brother was a fanatic about traditions. Traditions he was breaking by sending his wolf shifter brother to go live with the lions.

Maybe he fell asleep after his heavy meal and he was dreaming. Yes, that must be it. Surely his brother wouldn't sell him off to a bunch of fur balls. He could see maybe another canine pack, wolves or coyoteshell, he'd even take the group of dog shifters that lived in the alley behind the ice cream shop downtown.

But cats!

He was in hell.

Adrian examined Kade carefully hoping to see some external sign that his brother and alpha had completely lost his fucking mind.

Nope, the man still looked the same. Dark hair, green eyes identical to Adrian's, and a dimpled smile, but he'd obviously lost his marbles.

Adrian sighed.

His day had started out so marvellously too with a nice run with his fellow pack mates that resulted in taking down a wounded deer. He couldn't think of a nicer way to start the day.

Now his evil brother had ruined it.

"What? It makes perfect sense." Kade looked innocently back at him. A look the powerful alpha wolf totally couldn't pull off.

"You sold me to the pussycats!"

"You're exaggerating," Kade protested. "I made a peace agreement between two packs."

"Well Mr. Peacekeeper. Lions packs are called prides," Adrian sneered. "If you're going to sell me out at least know something about the creatures you're sacrificing me to."

"Sacrificing is such a strong word," Kade said with an infuriating smile.

"Who's sacrificing?" Helen, Kade's mate, asked walking into the room.

As usual the alpha mate was dressed in a pair of paint splattered denim capris and a loose white smock top. Adrian always thought of that outfit as her work uniform. As an artist Helen almost always wore some version of the same outfit. She said in order to create she had to be comfortable. Before she mated with Kade she used to work in the nude, but the protective alpha had put an end to that practice. A fact she complained about daily just to give Kade a hard time.

"Brain trust here made a pact to give me to the lion pride in exchange for peace between the lions and the wolves."

"Have some respect for your alpha," Helen snapped. Her golden brows formed a frown on her smooth forehead as she looked from brother to brother.

Kade flashed him a smug smile. The impact was lost when his mate smacked him across the back of the head.

"What were you thinking?" Helen demanded.