The sight of him, strong and capable, calmed her. The relief made her knees wobble for a second.
“Any trouble with the Galanises?” Mitch asked, scanning their surroundings.
She flicked her wrist. “They think I’m staying home to avoid censure.”
He glanced at her with one eyebrow raised, then continued taking stock of the trees and underbrush.
A smile grew on her lips at his unwillingness to entertain that silliness. “Ididn’t say that. They came to their own conclusions.”
“Right.” He finished his study of the woods and snagged both her hands. “I want you to head to the dance hall—”
“What about you?”
He completed his thought, “—and find a way to lock the cellar door. A sturdy branch should do it for the outer doors. They’re on the north side of the building.”
Tasia blinked at him.
Humor shone in his eyes, but he clarified. “It’s the side opposite of the front doors.”
“Got it.” She nodded. Being at the dance would make it a simple matter to guard the punch bowl from unsavory characters. But she wanted to stay with Mitch, too, and help with the thugs hunting out stragglers, if she could.
“Wait, you said ‘outer doors.’ Is there a way to get to the cellar from inside?”
“I think so. You’ll have to figure that out on the fly.”
“What about you?”
The question barely left her lips when Mitch darted to the side, pulling her with him and nudging her behind a snowbank. He crouched next to her and prevented her from peeking over it with a hand on her head.
“How many do you think we’ll get to end tonight?” an unfamiliar voice asked. Tasia grimaced at the anticipation in the man’s tone.
“Ol’ Granny thinks it’ll only be a handful,” another man said. “But I’m hoping for at least thirty. Six for each of us!”
Horror froze Tasia’s eyes wide. She held up five fingers and turned to face Mitch, who looked grim.
“Can we play with ’em first?” yet another thug asked.
The second man scoffed. “Orders are to be quick. Unfortunately.”
“We can get started, yeah? It’s gonna be dark soon.”
Tasia couldn’t tell if the last voice was a fourth man or the third one again. Mitch mouthed “Stay here” and began transforming.
She nodded, then whispered, “I’ll go distract them.” As if that had been the plan all along.
Tasia stepped out before he finished shifting, not sure why she was doing so. It took several steps before the brutes eager to kill innocent villagers noticed her. She put on her most vacant smile and waved.
“Hello! Are you looking for stragglers?”
Four of the men put their hands on their weapons. The fifth thug tightened his grip on his lantern and took a step forward. “Who are you?”
Tasia opened her mouth, as curious as they were to hear what she had to say. “Grandmother thought a guide would make the process faster.”
From the eyerolls and disgruntled expressions, she knew she’d scored a point.Granny Dearestdidn’t have a lot of faith in her cohorts, and they accepted Tasia’s presence as a likely outcome of that distrust.
“Figures,” a thug at the back said. Decidedly the tallest, most brutal-looking man, he had facial scars and a menacing aura to support his claim. She noted that the others kept their distance, leaving a significant gap between him and them.
“Red—the twit?” the man who seemed to be in charge muttered to his neighbor. His neighbor shrugged.
