A long hallway stretched out in both directions. Corrugated metal rusted through in many places made up the walls. Every twenty feet or so, long florescent lights hung from the ceiling to illuminate the hall. They emitted a quiet, but horrible, buzzing noise that nagged at my canine hearing. Without pause, Einstein turned right and began to jog down the hallway. Declan limped along as fast as he could, stumbling and cursing as he went. I couldn’t muster up any sympathy for this man who abducted women and sold them into the sex trade without the slightest hint of remorse.

  Up ahead, the hallway turned to the left. But the click of claws on concrete made me stop in my tracks. “Einstein, wait,” I called in a loud whisper.

  He pulled up short just before the corner. I let my claws extend. My mother took one look at my hands and moved up to touch Einstein on the shoulder. “I’m out. How many do you have?” she whispered.

  He mouthed the word, “Three.”

  The amount of claws clicking sounded like more than three. Mother shrugged the rocket launcher from her shoulder, laid it on the ground, then tugged her boots off, and set them next to it. The urge to ask her what the holy hell she was doing grew so strong, I almost opened my mouth despite the need to keep quiet. Creeping up on the corner, Einstein peeked around it and fired off a shot. A yelp echoed, followed by something heavy collapsing to the ground.

  So hot nerd boy was a badass shot, damn. I did not see that coming.

  “Five,” Einstein announced to us. “Minus the one down.”

  More gunfire popped, followed by the ping of bullets slamming through the metal walls. Footsteps fell behind us.

  “Stop firing or you’ll hit us, you idiots,” came Halona’s voice. She clutched her right arm, which hung at more than one wrong angle. Smoke crept along the floor behind her, licking at her stilettos. The stench hurt my nose, but the taste of it made me close my mouth.

  Right behind her, Muscles strode from the billowing smoke like a creature out of a nightmare in his huge gray and black wolf form—more black than gray now, and most of it smoking slightly. From beneath scorched eyebrows, brown eyes filled with a burning fury bore into me. His lips curled back from fangs sharper than they had any right to be by the laws of nature. Did he file them to points? Maybe it was just the fear building in me. What chance could my mother—sans rocket launcher—an inventor nerd, and myself possibly have against six other canine shifters?

  I scanned the ceiling, but it was unmarred. No chance lightning was getting through that to me. Worse, flames licked out from the room I’d been held in, reaching for the wooden supports of the hall ceiling.

  Claws clicked from around the corner. Four red and white snarling foxes came up behind us. So many sharp teeth ached to take a bite out of me. But I couldn’t let Ty down. He was trusting me to handle my mess on my own.

  Hands held up in what I hoped came across as a placating gesture, I turned to Halona. “See now, Councilor. I told you it’d be easier on you if I cooperated. You ready to listen to me now?”

  “Clearly the whole being Frigg’s chosen thing has gone to your head. You are outnumbered, and now you have pissed my men off. The time for listening is over,” she said in a deceptively calm tone.

  Humming, I tapped my chin with an elongated claw. “Did I miss the first time for listening? Because I don’t recall it.”

  A furious growl ripped from her. Bits of fabric flew like confetti as her clothes exploded in the midst of her shifting into a coyote. Gunfire popped, echoing against the metal walls loud enough to make me wince. Halona went down in midleap. Another pop sounded and down went Muscles. Claws clicked and scrambled as the four foxes behind us charged. One more pop echoed, but no one dropped this time. A surprisingly powerful urge to protect my mother and Einstein swept over me. Claws and fangs springing, I braced myself to meet the charge of the foxes.

  My naked mother—when the hell had that happened, and by the Gods, why?—leaped past me. As she did, her body burst into that of a black bear. I stood transfixed, unable to process what my eyes were trying to tell my brain. The moment she collided with the fox and a second one lunged at her, my paralysis broke. Faster than I’d known I could move, I ran at the second rӓv. I grabbed it off my mother’s furry black backside, claws digging into its ribs to get a solid hold. It yelped and struggled. Fangs reached around, trying to bite me. Before it could get purchase, I threw it away. In a tumble of white and red fur, it crashed into another rӓv fighting Einstein. By sheer luck, it swept its companion’s rear legs out from under it. Wasting no time, Einstein slammed the butt of his handgun into his downed opponent’s head. The fox dropped unconscious on the spot.

  Einstein and I nodded and smiled at each other.

  The fox I’d thrown his way regained its feet in a blink and launched itself at me. I sidestepped, only to feel jaws as strong as an iron trap snap around my left calf. A cry erupted from me as my leg gave out from the blinding pain. Smoke stung my throat. As I started to go down, the second rӓv lunged for my face. Instinct had my body twisting in preparation to dodge and grab it by the neck. But it never reached me. The biggest eagle I’d ever seen landed on it and dug talons into its eyes and face. A pitiful sound issued from it as it dropped in midleap.

  Ignoring the weirdness of the save, I punched the fox latched onto my leg in the snout as hard as I could. It let go with a yelp, and I scrambled back on all fours away from it. The eagle that had taken out my other attacker turned its attention on the ankle biter. One flap of its massive wings sent the last rӓv standing fleeing around the corner. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that the bear was gone.

  I watched in wordless awe as the eagle drew in on itself, feathers melting back into it, turning to chestnut-hued skin and long black hair. Moments later, my mother stood in its place, naked as the day she was born. Mouth moving but nothing emerging, I stared at her as our attackers bled out onto the concrete around us. Finally, I remembered how to form words, sort of.

  “You…a bear…then an eagle… What the actual fuck?”

  Einstein retrieved my mother’s clothes from where they lay in a neat pile on the floor and handed them to her. Shaking her head, she dressed quickly.

  “Seriously, Sonya. You should consider remedial English courses if you get around to going back to college,” she said through a smirk, tone playful.

  The gentle pull of my claws and fangs retracting now that the immediate danger had passed shook me from my stupor. Without thinking, I stepped forward and embraced my mother. She stiffened at the uncharacteristic show of affection. I didn’t care. She was alive, whole, and…

  “You’re a skinwalker,” I said as I pulled back.

  Expression going serious again, she nodded and coughed into her elbow.

  “How did I never know this?” Looking at the smoke now spreading along the entire ceiling of the hall in all directions, I held up a hand. “Later. Right now, we need to help free the others before this place literally burns down.”

  Mother looked to Einstein, who checked his watch again. “The teams are on their way to the rendezvous point now with the freed captives. Team…” His mouth quirked up into a crooked grin. “Incredible Quartet sent a message checking to see if we need backup.”

  “Tell them we’re all clear and on our way,” Mother said.

  This take-charge, shit-together, skinwalker version of her puzzled me to no end. Who was this woman?

  She looked down at our attackers, a few of which still moved and groaned. “The others are out and safe. Let’s go before any of these guys decide they have fight left in them,” she said.

  After shoving her feet back into her boots and giving a nod to Einstein, they took off at a jog. Following, I fell into step behind them, alongside Declan, who stumbled more than ran. I wasn’t about to put my back to him. Every now and then, the rope tethering him to Einstein pulled tight and yanked him forward.

  My mother shot a glare back at him. “Keep up, or I’ll just kill you. There is no scenario where we leave you behind alive after what you did,” she warned him.

  We ran around corner after corner, hopefully growing closer to an exit. Smoke now filled every hallway we turned down, creeping lower until Einstein had to duck to stay below the worst of it. I held the torn sleeve of my flannel over my mouth to try to filter the nasty-tasting air. It worked, a little. One more turn brought us face-to-face with a handful of soldier-looking men and women and two foxes.

  Shoes squeaked on concrete as my mother and Einstein ground to a halt, spun, and started back toward me. But when I spun around to lead the way, five more soldier types blocked our retreat.

  “Son of a bitch!” my mother cursed.

  I couldn’t see the ceiling through the thick smoke, which meant no hole and no access to the storm.

  The smack of flesh on flesh, the snap of breaking bones, and cries of pain issued from behind us. I glanced back. A tall, blond Norse God of a man—my man—punched, kicked, and clawed his way through the people. Equally as tall, but contrastingly dark, and grinning, Vidar fought beside him. To his right, Ayra’s pure white wolf form made quick work of one opponent and moved to the next, blood marring her snout.

  Trusting my back was well covered, I turned my attention to the group in front of us. One hand pressed to her bleeding side, Halona stood and glared down her long nose at me. The four with her unfortunately looked fresh and ready to fight.

  My mother cursed something in Cherokee. It struck a chord deep inside. I rarely heard her speak her native tongue—or one of them, rather.

  I slid into a bladed fighting stance and took a step out of Declan’s reach—just in case.

  Numerous feet pounded on the concrete behind Halona’s group.

  “Dammit,” I grumbled. Five had been bad enough. Reinforcements were so much worse.

  Heads bobbed in our direction, coming up behind Halona’s group. Metal flashed and blood flew. Two of the burly soldier types at Halona’s back dropped. She and the remaining men turned to face the new threat. Was that a doubled bearded ax swinging through the air? Three men and a woman had come up behind them and were systematically and effortlessly taking them out.

  Halona held up the hand not clutching her bullet wound and started to say something. Claws slashed, blood sprayed, and down went Psycho Doc Councilor.

  “No!” I cried out.

  The next thing I’d been about to say fled from my mind as I laid eyes on those “helping” us. I’d expected law enforcement, IIA, or whoever else Sandalius might have brought with her. What I saw was a man who looked hauntingly similar to my dad, ducking down to keep his head out of the smoke, flanked on one side by a hunching, big blond guy with a battle-ax, and a fierce-looking blond woman on the other. I shook off my stupor and fell to Halona’s side.

  Behind me, I heard my mother curse in Cherokee again, this time the words sounding choked and filled with emotion. Clearly I wasn’t the only one who thought one of the men who’d come to our “rescue” looked like my dad. But I had more immediate problems.

  Halona clutched at her throat, blood coating her fingers and running over her hands. Her eyes had rolled up into her head. A rattling gasp tore from her. Foaming blood bubbles filled her mouth. I put my hands over her hands, trying to stanch the flow, even though deep down I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I didn’t think even a shifter could survive such a wound. Blood flowed over my hands in moments. The councilor started to twitch in the last throes of death.

  “Dammit. No!” I cursed.

  No amount of medical training could save her. They had gashed her carotid. Still, I didn’t let go until her body stopped twitching. When it did, I noticed Declan’s body lying against the wall a few feet away, his throat slashed, eyes wide open and unseeing. Staring at my bloody hands, I rose to my feet. Extending fangs pushed my jaws apart as I turned my gaze to the five strangers who’d “helped” us.

  The woman with a long blond braid draped over her shoulder stepped forward. Tears shone in her robin’s egg blue eyes—eyes the same shape and color as my dad’s, sitting beneath the same brow as his. The slightest hint of gray at her brows and crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes were the only indicators she might be over thirty. But the density of her energy told me she was much older, and definitely an alpha werewolf.

  “Sonya Michaelson, at long last,” she said through a gasp, voice breaking on the final word. The thickness of her accent took me no time at all to place—Swedish. “My great-granddaughter,” she said, and then promptly sobbed.

  Recovering quickly, she slid forward crazy fast and took hold of my hands. Preservation should have made me step back, get out of her reach, but her words immobilized me. The radiant smile on her face made me think she didn’t even notice the blood coating my hands—or didn’t care. That thought brought my anger surging back. I yanked free of her—my bloody fingers slipping easily away.

  I bared my fangs at her. “She had information I needed,” I all but yelled. Doing so got me a good, deep breath of smoky air, which promptly made me cough like a chain smoker. A familiar, comforting energy approached me from behind a moment before a hand came to rest on my shoulder.

  “We need to get out of here,” Ty said softly in my ear.

  Relief at him being whole and unharmed warred with guilt at having gone vigilante on my own. I reached back and found his hand, needing to touch him.

  The woman claiming to be my great-grandmother took a long, calculating look at Ty. I didn’t like that look. It made my skin itch. She nodded as if this were her decision. “Mr. Viðarsson is right. The fire will consume this place soon. We need to get you to safety,” she said.

  My mother came to stand at my left, head high and back straight—and thankfully clothed. She stared hard at the woman before us, who studiously ignored her existence. I fought the urge to take a protective step in front of my mother.

  “We need to get everyone to safety,” I countered.

  The woman’s expression softened abruptly, and the kind of indulgent smile one gave a child pulled her lips upward. “Of course.”

  I turned. “Einstein.”

  “This way,” he said without hesitation, starting down the hall toward where Ayra and Vidar stood amidst several very still and very bloody bodies.

  In human form now, Ayra’s gaze shot from my great-grandmother to me, one white-blond brow raised ever so slightly in what I’d come to understand meant “are you good?” I nodded to her. She flung blood from her claws, spun on a bare foot, and jogged after Einstein and Vidar. Not taking the time to worry about the strangers at my back who might be relatives, I ran. My mother kept pace alongside me, but Ty dropped back a few steps. For the first time, him wanting to protect me didn’t trigger a “maiden in the tower” complex. He had my back, and that felt good. He didn’t want to rescue me—he wanted to help me. Why that had taken so long to get through my thick skull would take a few long necks and hours of self-psychoanalyzing to figure out.

  All the internalizing helped distract me from the choking smoke that pushed down on us more and more with each twist and turn through the hallways. Our pace slowed considerably, mostly due to my mother and Einstein hacking up lungs. I wasn’t doing much better. Another turn and the smoke looked thinner, higher. Another and it all but disappeared—right out an open door. Despite my burning legs and lungs, I increased my pace.

  With her T-shirt held up over her nose and mouth, it was hard to judge Ayra’s expression, but when she held her arm out to stop us all, I got the message. She motioned toward the wall. Ty flattened himself against it and touched my arm. I followed suit, along with everyone else. Together Ayra and Vidar flanked the door and peeked around it. Staying low, Ayra stepped out and disappeared around the corner. I started to move, not wanting her to face danger alone. Without even looking, Vidar held a hand up to still me.

  After a very long moment in which I thought my heart might literally be bruising my rib cage, Ayra’s white-blond head poked back around the corner of the door.

  “All clear.” She shot a narrowed, suspicious look at the woman claiming to be my great-grandmother. “It’s like they all vanished.”

  “They did not vanish. We cleared the way,” my supposed great-grandmother said.

  My mother made some kind of harrumph of disbelief, which promptly turned to a deep cough. I pushed away from the wall and touched her shoulder. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”

  “Stay low, just in case,” Vidar warned.

  Heeding his words, we filed out of the door at a slow jog. All the possible “just in case” scenarios ran through my head, making my skin crawl out of fear of snipers, or worse. But we made it into the forest without further incident. I looked back. A huge warehouse sat in a clearing, flames licking from its high windows into the night. Shapes lay here and there that might be bodies. I couldn’t smell much more than smoke, so it was hard to tell.

  Anxiety uncurled in my chest. “Did you find the other captives?” I asked Ayra.

  My mother looked up from where she had joined Einstein leaning against a tree.

  “Several. We got them out, Chooli included. Then pretty boy here insisted on coming back for you, so Vidar and I came to protect him.”

  One of Ty’s big, muscular arms slid around my shoulders. Ironically, I believed my petite friend truly had come back to protect my strapping boyfriend. In her case, big things really did come in little packages.

  “Ayra thinks I’m pretty,” Ty said with a girlish delight that made me smile.

  I chuckled. The urge to keep laughing until I broke into hysterics tickled in my chest, forcing me to stifle the laugh abruptly.

  “Where are the women?” my mother asked.

  Vidar gave her a warm smile full of comfort. “Safe with our people. We’ll take you to them.”

  My mother squeezed my arm and locked gazes with me. In her eyes, I saw everything she couldn’t say. I smiled. She let go after a long moment. Arm in arm, supporting one another, she and Einstein pushed away from the black and white tree trunk. I wasn’t sure what to make of their closeness, so I shoved it to the back of my mind to deal with later. Right now, we needed to get everyone somewhere safe in case any more of Halona’s people remained in the area.