“Sure it’s not just the mist?” Neal asks. “Could be playing tricks on you.” He points to the clouds of soft mist rolling across the forest floor, dampening everything in their path.
I watch it for a second. Maybe he’s right. Itdoeslook a little like smoke, and I don’t see any evidence of a fire anywhere. But why would I smell it? Could it be my hunger messing with me?
Neal shifts back to a wolf, and we begin walking again. Confused, I walk slower, watching the mist as it moves. Every few steps, I inhale, but the scent never fades. If anything, it’s becoming stronger.
Maybe if I put some distance between myself and the wolves, they won’t scare the prey away. I linger back, creating more and more space. Every sound, every rustle in the wind catches my attention. I need food.
I become so caught up in the hunt that I don’t realize I’ve lost track of Taren or Neal. I can’t even see them through the trees. I must have strayed off the path. I don’t recognize where I am, and when I look around, I can’t see the house anywhere.
It doesn’t matter. I can just follow their scents back to the house.
Closing my eyes, I focus harder on the sounds, taking in the babbling stream, the rustle of branches, the crunch of dead leaves. Somewhere, over the hill… is that scuffling? An animal, maybe?
I run towards it, fangs bared. I need to be fast to get back to the house before they worry. But as I reach the top of the hill, I stop in my tracks. That smell…
Not fire. No.Blood.
Suddenly, a shrill, panicked cry tears through the cold morning air. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I snap my head to the left. Hollow Cliff.
“Please!” someone cries, their voice full of agony. “Please stop!”
Instinct kicks in. I rush over, crouching low as I come over the edge and hide behind a boulder to survey the scene. Two vampires stand twenty feet away, looming over their prey—a young male with dark skin and even darker hair.
Justice.The teen from the other pack.
Blood pools from a wound on his left shoulder as he cries, each broken whimper a tiny dagger to my heart. But I stay hidden, trying to figure out my next move.
“Tell us!” the vampire snarls, shoving Justice’s face into the packed earth.
“I told you, I d-don’t know anything!” Justice says.
The vampire digs his heel into Justice’s thigh, snapping the bone like a twig. Justice screams.
“We know he was from your pack. His scent is all over you!”
“If he w-was there, I don’t know w-why!” Justice says. His teeth clatter, whether from exertion or fear, I can’t be sure. “My p-pack doesn’t tell me anything.”
The vampire turns toward his companion to say something, giving a good view of his face, and my stomach sinks.Rip.
White-hot rage burns under my skin.
The other vampire gets to his knees, holding Justice’s arm. There’s a moment of silence before he says in a horrible, raspy voice, “Last chance, mongrel. And don’t bother lying. I’ll know. Tell us what the mutts are doing in that apartment, or we’re going to eat you for breakfast.”
“I told you, I don’t know! They don’t—” Justice screams as the vampire sinks his teeth in.
No!
Lunging for the nearest vampire, I pull him off Justice and snap his neck. It startles Rip, who gets to his feet and growls, blood spilling down his chin.
“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise? Come to join the hunt, have you? What’s wrong, your little shifter friends aren’t feeding you enough?”
“Leave him alone,” I say.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a gray wolf lying still, too still, about thirty feet away. I have no idea who it is, but judging from the gray on the muzzle, I’d say it’s one of their elders.
I have a moment of panic. Am I really this close to their property? No. I recognize these hills.Theywere on Clearwater’s land. Were they trying to come to us? Towarnus?
I risk a glance at Justice, trying to read his body language, but the young shifter seems oblivious to anything going on. He struggles and writhes, whimpering and asking to be set free.
