If Jackal wasn’t the kidnapper, then someone else was out there threatening the life of my sister. And that someone had left me a very small window in which to reach the South Street bridge.

  There was no world in which I chose to ignore the mandated meeting. And, given the contents of that note, it was safer to do so without being trailed by even a friendly wolf. So as Jackal’s army leapt up onto the dumpster one after another, I backed away rather than raising my sword and diving into battle. Gunner growled at the intruders, protecting me with his body...and I took advantage of his lapse of attention to slide through the cracked window behind us and leave my overprotective companion-at-arms behind.

  I WAS USED TO TRAVERSING the city in solitude. So why did I suddenly feel so queasy as I left the alpha to fight off a dozen werewolves with nothing but his claws and teeth?

  “Gunner can take care of himself,” I muttered under my breath, guilt dogging my footsteps as I ran down graffitied steps and entered the nearest subway station. I’d evaded Pickle Breath and three of his cronies along the way, the teenager’s presence suggesting he’d been dogging my footsteps earlier as a paid lackey of the werewolf I’d recently fought against. But neither shifter nor human would be able to follow after metal wheels and the press of humanity eradicated my trail.

  I pulled out bills to feed the fare machine...then inhaled sharply as I realized what I held within my hand. Ma Scrubbs’ doorman hadn’t presented me with a big wad of twenties this afternoon the way I’d expected. No, these were hundred-dollar bills, far more than I would have expected to rake in over the course of a month, let alone from a single night’s work.

  I hesitated, but a far-too-close howl returned me to my senses. There was a train incoming and I needed to be through those doors before anyone caught up and followed on my heels....

  So I pushed the bills deeper into my pocket, zipped the closure, then rushed through the turnstile at a sprint. And twenty minutes and two transfers later, I was emerging from the underground maze with the breeze off the river ruffling through my hair.

  I’d made it. Ten minutes early even, the brightly lit bridge arching over water that flowed endlessly underneath. And sure, I lacked a game plan. But I trusted my fox senses and my star ball to get me out of any pinch.

  Plus, there was always the Arena windfall to consider. Maybe Kira’s kidnapper would be willing to trade my sister for cold, hard cash?

  Padding away from my destination rather than toward it, I took in the bridge a second time out of the corner of one eye. The kidnapper would have arrived hours earlier, I suspected, both to scout the area and to ensure I didn’t appear at the head of an army of werewolves. So I wasn’t surprised when flickers of movement materialized into dark-coated figures scattered hither and yon across the open expanse...wasn’t surprised but was prompted toward deeper stealth.

  There were half a dozen of the watchers. One pretended to read a newspaper on a bench by the bus stop, one walked a dog down the sidewalk, and two lingered on nearby rooftops.

  It was the sixth waiting figure, however, who gave me the clue that my initial read of the situation had been dramatically off kilter. His sedan idled down by the river, the glow of a cigarette lighting his stubbled face. The male looked like any hardened criminal, but his car was too blocky and well-maintained to mesh with that disguise....

  I took a step back, adrenaline flooding my bloodstream. Because while I’d thought I was walking into one kind of trap, it appeared I had instead nearly stumbled into another.

  These men weren’t aligned with Kira’s kidnapper. No, these figures keeping eyes peeled for newcomers were instead entirely human. They were city cops.

  Chapter 28

  It was one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I turned on my heel and walked away from the only clue I possessed pertaining to my sister’s current location. I maintained a disingenuous saunter until I rounded the corner, then I broke into a slightly superhuman run.

  The note on the door. I saw the small, white square in my mind’s eye as vividly as if I was actually standing on the well-worn carpet in the apartment building’s third-floor hallway. I’d read the kidnapper’s missive, had hurried inside to hunt down forged identification documents...then had forgotten all about the scrap of paper when Simon’s presence sent me scurrying down the fire escape to beat my retreat.

  Of course Kira’s pesky social worker would have found the note. His broad shoulders had no chance of fitting through that window, which meant Simon would have left via the more traditional route. When he closed the door, the square of paper would have been staring him in the face, adding mentions of werewolves and artifacts to my earlier evasions about Kira’s current whereabouts. No wonder he’d contacted the police department and set up an amber alert, then sent out a net of officials to scoop me up.

  It all made perfect sense...and, unfortunately, turned Kira’s future even murkier than it had been before. Because human authority figures sniffing around my trail meant that the one open channel of communication between myself and my sister’s kidnappers had just slammed shut in my face.

  Inhaling deeply through my nostrils, I reminded myself that I wasn’t entirely out of resources just yet. The city was dark but far from sleeping as I angled my way into the red-light district, planning to hit up acquaintances who kept their ear trained to the street. Unfortunately, a string of prostitutes and black-market thiefspawns slammed their doors in my face one after another. And at the end of the block, the fear widening Joe Sly’s face as soon as I entered his establishment suggested my usual resources had a more unified reason to clam up.

  “Just let anyone who’s interested know that I’m willing to negotiate,” I told the bartender rather than bothering with a question he was clearly unwilling to answer. “I won’t be reachable through the usual channels. But they can call me on this cell.” I rattled off the numbers of a newly bought burner phone then waited impatiently as Joe failed to write even a single digit down.

  “I don’t know who I’d give this to,” the vertically challenged old-timer muttered, glowering up at me from beneath bushy brows. He was lying through his teeth, I noted...which confused the issue further. After all, as best I could tell, Joe was entirely human and didn’t have a clue about shifters’ existence. If it wasn’t sharp-toothed werewolves putting the fear of death into him, then what sort of terror would keep this leathery survivor from even passing along a measly note?

  Kira’s round face rose in my mind, and this time I succumbed to the urge to beg. “Please,” I said. “I’m hunting for my sister....”

  Joe gave me the fish eye, but the male did eventually write down my digits. Still, I had a sinking suspicion he was going to ditch the napkin as soon as I turned my back.

  The pulsing neon lights strobed behind me as I stepped outside, tucking my chin deeper into my coat. It was turning colder by the minute, so I wasn’t entirely surprised to feel the soft chill of snow landing atop my cheekbones as I turned my face up toward the sky.

  “Now would be a good time for vague hints, Mama,” I whispered starward, figuring the drunken teenagers behind my back were too engrossed in whooping it up to notice I was speaking to nobody but myself. Unfortunately, I really did seem to be talking to snowflakes only. Because no answers were forthcoming even from inside my own head.

  I WANDERED FOR HOURS after that until the first glint of dawn overcame the glow of half-strength streetlights. A businessman had offered to pay me for sex, two frat boys had made an even less successful attempt at pushing me to the pavement, and I’d been roundly ignored by all permanent residents of my home turf. All told, I was exhausted, frustrated...and scared to death that Kira’s kidnapper would harm my sister due to circumstances beyond my ability to control.

  “Don’t make this poor child suffer...” The polished nature of the written words didn’t lower their threat value one iota, and I shivered as I remembered the homeless guy hidden beneath the bridge with the imprint of Mama’s medallion frozen into his chest. That could be Kira if I didn’t find her quickly....

  But I’d twisted metaphorical arms all night, and now my contact information was almost certainly flowing down the grapevine between myself and whoever held my sister hostage. Which meant I might as well take cover and ensure no nosy cops found me while I waited for the kidnapper to call.

  To that end, I ducked into a dank public bathroom, tucking clothes and personal belongings into a star-ball-created yoke around my stomach before donning the body of my fox. Nosing out from under the stall door in red-furred splendor, it was easy to hop up onto the sink then slither out the broken window placed just underneath the eaves.

  For half a second, I teetered there atop the chipped concrete, breathing in the freedom of becoming a fox. Snow was falling harder now, the white blanket covering up grime and making the city appear both clean and new. And I couldn’t help thinking how much Kira would have loved the snow storm, how her eyes would sparkle while her cheeks turned pleasure-pink.

  Today, though, Kira would enjoy neither snowmen nor hot chocolate. Instead, she was caught in the grasp of a shadowy force dark enough to make even Joe Sly run scared. No wonder focusing on my sister resulted in a sharp pain within my gut.

  But...wait...was that ache merely remorseful wallowing? Or was something else going on?

  Because between one gust of snow-laden wind and the next, the burn had gained a direction that tugged my vulpine feet forward. Merely swiveling my body to face north lessened the agony momentarily. And when I hopped to the ground and took one tentative step in that direction, my stomach warmed and the pain lessened...only to bubble back to burning agony when I planted my furry feet rather than continuing along the indicated route.

  It was never a good idea to get caught up in unknown magic. But I’d been wandering aimlessly for hours and was glad to be pulled in any direction, even a bad one. So I didn’t try to resist the tug further. Instead, I sprinted north out of the Warrens, twisting and turning down curvy alleys guided by the compass within my stomach.

  I stopped only once to bite ice balls out from between my paw pads. The snow was growing deeper now and the day had warmed just enough for the heat of my skin to melt fluff into ice. But my muscles tensed and I barely managed to pause long enough to catch my breath before the tug in my gut yanked me forward. And I somehow wasn’t surprised when Mama’s voice sprang to life with yet another warning I couldn’t puzzle out.

  “Hang out a sheep head to sell dog meat,” my mother’s voice noted. And as I panted, pressed against the side of a building, I realized I knew exactly where I was for the first time in over an hour.

  The nearby houses had turned huge several moments earlier, but my tired brain hadn’t made the obvious connection until I recognized the cavalcade of parked cars half-covered by blankets of white. In my defense, snow stifled scents and blowing particles obstructed vision, so it was hard to tell I was walking directly into danger until werewolves rose out of the white haze before me while the overwhelming scent of Atwood finally filtered into my nose.

  So that’s what Mama meant. Walking up to the ruling werewolf’s den in the body of a fox was a recipe for disaster, and I could only hope it wasn’t already too late to hide whatever secrets I had left. So I pushed upwards into humanity then shivered as bare feet froze upon contact with an ankle-deep layer of snow and ice.

  Chapter 29

  “Tank, Allen, Crow,” I greeted the trio, tension melting off my shoulders as I took in the identities of the males emerging out of the swirling snow. Unfortunately, my relief was short-lived because none of Gunner’s pack mates returned the greeting. Instead, Tank and Crow shifted into fur form without bothering to remove their clothing first, while Allen lunged sideways on human feet to cut off my easiest avenue of escape.

  They know what I am. To my eternal chagrin, I neither fled nor attacked in the face of this culmination of my recurring nightmare. Instead, I stood there, naked save for the not-quite-fanny-pack around my waist, trying to decide whether I could get away with yanking a sword out of the ether without sealing Kira’s fate as well as my own.

  After all, it was still possible the trio hadn’t noted my white-tipped tail and vulpine whiskers when they first came upon me in the snow....

  While I hesitated, the pack’s accountant cleared the air. “The boss was disappointed you ran off and left him,” Allen informed me, his words a rough growl backed up by the hard knock of his shoulder against my own. And maybe the night spent scouring the city in search of my sister had exhausted me more than I realized, or maybe I was just shocked by the bitter violence emanating from a once-gentle shifter. Whatever the reason, Allen’s blow threw me off balance...then a wolf to the back of my knees sent me toppling over into a drift of snow.

  Frozen water crystals molded around my body like a not-so-warm trenchcoat. But it was the increasing pain within my gut that left me doubled over...that plus a realization of why I’d been drawn to this mansion in the first place.

  My debt to Gunner. Of course. I owed the alpha three bucks plus interest. And whether he’d called in the tab intentionally or by accident, I still found myself crawling away from my attackers and toward the building’s rear entrance rather than saving my skin by beating a hasty retreat.

  Unfortunately, the werewolves around me must have thought I was trying to flee rather than accepting my comeuppance. Because snarls tunneled through the snow clogging my ear canals, then wolf teeth scraped against the naked skin of my calf.

  In response, my star ball pulsed against frozen fingers. The magic wasn’t subtle enough to understand the consequences of forming armored long johns or spiked garters when I was currently buck naked. Instead, it pushed me to provide guidance. Should we attack or defend?

  “Neither,” I began, the stab of agony spreading from my belly into my temples making it nearly impossible to speak. But the word didn’t entirely materialize since my cheek was now pressed against a snow drift. Instead, I coughed as I inhaled a mouthful of solid snow.

  I lay there spluttering, unable to twist aside as a second wolf pounced upon what little bit of my face was currently accessible. Foul breath wafted into my nostrils even as the wound in my leg deepened sufficiently to impinge upon the pounding in my head and gut. These weren’t the same cheerful pack mates who had ferried me around the city yesterday. Instead, I was facing angry werewolves out for enemy blood....

  Which is when I lost track of self-preservation and let instinct take over. Yanking at my fox nature in terror, I prepared to disengage and flee in my agile vulpine form.

  But my shift was blocked by the debt dragging me toward the now invisible mansion, and I wasn’t able to so much as twist out of the duo’s tightening grasp.

  “I’m sorry, Kira,” I murmured as I stopped straining against the impossible. It was finally time to admit defeat.

  “LET HER UP.”

  Gunner’s command would have been more welcome if his tone hadn’t been as cold as the snow packed between my butt cheeks. So it wasn’t terribly surprising that his underlings obeyed the spirit rather than the actual letter of his order. Tank and Crow did let me go long enough to regain their own humanity, but Allen took advantage of the lull to haul me up by my hair. Then naked two-leggers regained the holds recently relinquished by lupine jaws, this time grabbing my arms in a vise-like grip that was no more yielding than their teeth had been.

  Meanwhile, the snowfall was easing up around us, which made it easier than it would have been previously to see the tall male figure stalking down the mansion’s rear path toward our circle of trampled snow. And I cringed as I took in the bandage crossing Gunner’s cheekbone, the bruises around his throat, and the way the alpha walked with an ill-disguised limp.

  The odds had been badly stacked against him back by my apartment, especially after I’d abandoned the male to duke it out alone. Gunner was lucky he’d made it out of that dog pile alive, and his current existence was no thanks to me.

  “I’m sorry,” I started...only to lose track of apologies as the phone in my fanny pack buzzed angrily against my belly. Of all the moments for my trails of bread crumbs to finally bear fruit, now was not the time for Kira’s kidnapper to call.

  Unfortunately, the hands gripping my arms only bit in tighter as I attempted to reach for the potential lifeline. And there was no warmth in Gunner’s eyes as he watched me struggle in silence for one long second before I accepted the futility of the attempt.

  “Someone more important you need to talk to?” the alpha asked as I stilled, proving that his shifter ears made him well aware of the call that would soon be shunted over to voice mail. He stalked one step closer until I was sandwiched between so many male bodies my breath caught within my throat. And, despite everything, my skin still tingled as the alpha’s warm breath blew miniature tornadoes through my ice-streaked hair.

  “I was wrong about Jackal,” I answered as quickly as I could while trying to remember how many times the phone had buzzed at me already. Three, four? Would Kira’s kidnapper try again if I didn’t pick up, or would this be my second strike that knocked my sister’s rescue off the table for good? “This call is...”

  I didn’t even manage to get out the rest of my sentence before Gunner reached toward my belly, feeling for the zipper that didn’t actually exist. Open, I bade the star ball, and the alpha’s scent sharpened as the cell jumped out into his extended hand.

  Then the screen was glowing between us, “Unknown name, unknown number” filling the small rectangle. I stretched toward it even though I knew Tank and Crow wouldn’t release me. And secretiveness or no secretiveness, if I’d been able I would have pressed the appropriate button with the power of my mind.