* * * * *
Taylor spent the afternoon in the woods with Cliff, doing meditation exercises and visualizing herself as a wolf. It was hard to concentrate, though, because she was worried about the trials. The next morning, bright and early, Cliff would be headed out, and he’d be gone all day. He and the other contestants would be working their way through an enormous obstacle course that had just been completed by the pack. There would be climbing, leaping, running, crawling…and they had to finish within a certain time or be disqualified. They would go one after the other, with the order picked at random.
They headed in for an early dinner. The table was crowded, as always, but Grant wasn’t there; Mandy sat next to Taylor. She seemed to be in a great mood.
“How’s Grant taking the breakup?” Taylor asked Mandy.
“Awesome,” Mandy said cheerfully, digging into a rare steak. “He’s taking his new girl out to dinner.”
Austin let out a low growl of disgust.
“Since yesterday?” Taylor looked at her in shock.
“Yep. I’ll probably be headed back to my pack soon. They’re in Northern California. I might as well stick around for the Alpha Trials, though.”
The door to the dining room opened, and Richard rushed in, out of breath.
“What?” Cliff said abruptly, setting down his fork.
“Jerrold captured a human prisoner,” Richard said. “A female. She was sneaking onto the grounds, and he and his pack pounced on her, but she started yelling for Taylor. He’s trying to drag her back to his house, but a bunch of our men are blocking him. For now. He’s called for the Elders.”
“Chantelle!” Taylor cried out, leaping to her feet.
“How would she find you here?” Cliff demanded as Richard led them out of the house. “We’re not on any map. For a reason. A very obvious reason. And I’ve listened to every call you’ve made to her.”
Oops. “I texted her a copy of the map Truman gave me before I came here.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?” Cliff growled.
“In my defense, I didn’t think I’d show up here and find out that you were allwerewolves,” Taylor said irritably. “And it was pretty freaking weird that you took all my stuff and demanded that I deliver myself to your house. I was just looking for a little insurance.”
They hopped into Cliff’s BMW so they could get there quickly. When they arrived near the guesthouse where Jerrold was staying, one of Jerrold’s men was holding a struggling, cursing Chantelle, his hand clamped tightly on her arm. Twenty of Cliff’s men were blocking him from taking her to the house. There was a large group of Jerrold’s pack shouting threats, and the Elders were yelling and trying to calm everyone down.
Grant roared up on the back of a motorcycle.
Several other cars pulled up just then. Anita and James scrambled out of one, and Mandy leaped out of another.
Cliff and Taylor and Richard piled out of their car and ran over to Jerrold and the Elders. Mandy hurried after them.
“This is your fault!” Jerrold snapped at Cliff. “Her human friend followed her here. Now we all risk exposure.”
“It is not Cliff’s fault,” Maurice said coldly. “Cliff could hardly have anticipated this. It is the fault of whoever turned her without her knowledge or consent.”
“Of course you’d say that. We’ll see what the real story is. I caught her, and therefore she’s my prisoner.” Jerrold cast a gloating glance at Taylor. “I’m going to enjoy interrogating your friend. Don’t worry, I’ll really take my time with this one. She’ll be begging to tell me everything by the time I finish with her.”
Taylor glanced at Chantelle, who’d stopped struggling.
“Don’t,” Mandy whispered to her. “Pack politics. Leave it.”
She ignored Mandy, and hurried forward before Cliff could stop her. She got right in Jerrold’s face. “How could you?” she wailed. “You’re a monster! Chantelle is the sweetest, most innocent person I’ve ever met! She’s as soft as a kitten! She would never hurt anyone!”
“Oh, I like them soft.” Jerrold’s eyes shone with malice.
Taylor looked over at Phineas. “You can’t do this!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “You can’t let them torture an innocent woman!”
Phineas’ lip curled in disgust. “She climbed over our fence and broke onto our property. She’s hardly innocent.”
“What about the fact that he’s interrogating her because he’s a pervert who gets turned on by torturing females? Is that okay with you?” she shouted.
