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She tensed next to me, the slightest muscle in her calf, the whitening of her knuckles against the tree trunk. But she brokered no argument, simply nodded.

The hours droned on, long and uncomfortable. We shared a canteen of water Diana brought. I was grateful for the occasional swallow that quenched my dry mouth.

By evening, the insects of the forest buzzed with life, and the slivers of sky through the trees were streaked with the glowing light of a dusty orange sunset. To the east, that sky filtered purple as small pinpricks of stars began waking up for the night.

Still, there was no movement from inside the tents. Diana and I exchanged a look, and I could tell she wondered about the same thing.

“Should one of us check to see if they’re still in their tents? Maybe they left when we met with Clara and Jesse,” she suggested.

I immediately straightened from my crouch. “I’ll go.”

Diana’s eyes grew wide before darting back to the human campsite. “You should go in wolf form, just in case.”

I shook my head. “I can’t risk it. If I run into one of them, I’ll just pretend I’m a hiker on the nature trail.”

Her frown made her look unconvinced, but since she didn’t argue the point any further, I took a step toward the camp.

A firm hand caught my wrist, igniting several sparks across my vision, swelling my tongue. I turned back to see Diana’s wide eyes narrowed slightly in hard determination. “Be careful,” she growled at me in a low voice.

The command, the sheer authority with which she spoke to me, thrilled me. The withered part of my chest soared, and I would do anything to see this side of her again. This concern over my well-being.

Not trusting myself with words, I swallowed one last time from her canteen and nodded.

The campsite was quiet, almost too quiet for human inhabits. Even in human form, my hearing was far superior to theirs. I crept closer and pressed my ear to the weather-proofed canvas, listening for any telltale signs of humans—whispered conversations, snoring, noisy eating. But there was nothing.

There were no screens to look through, no transparent part of the tent I could peer inside to determine what was within. I circled the perimeter of the tent, coming across its entrance but found it zippered up, secured with a small padlock on the zipper. For a moment, I considered slipping into my wolf to break it, but I continued further into the campsite to check for any signs of life.

A small fire pit remained at the camp’s center, a clear meeting place. The pit was surrounded by makeshift seats—buckets and crates, some folding chairs. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for human campsites. Human campers had a weird thing about roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.

But something about the fire pit was off. Nothing smoldered. The charred logs were cold to the touch. This campsite had been abandoned for some time, and we hadn’t seen anyone leave or arrive. But the padlocked tent indicated they had something inside. Would they return for it?

I turned around to relay this information to Diana but suddenly found myself faced with an enormous, snarling werewolf I’d never seen before.

DIANA

Ikept my eyes trained on Orion from the moment he ventured toward the human camp. I was so focused on him that I didn’t notice the other wolf until it was practically too late. There was only the flitting shift of gray and black fur, and then I saw him silently racing toward Orion.

For a moment, I was stunned. I’d never encountered another werewolf that moved so silently, undetectable by my sharpened senses. At first, I assumed he was one of us.

But then I saw the flash of teeth, the shine of spittle dripping from his fangs. I realized, whoever this wolf was, he was vicious. I sprang into action. In a single smooth motion, with my first step, I shifted into my wolf, racing toward Orion.

My claws tore up the earth and grass as I hurtled myself across the clearing. When I reached Orion, my heart sank. He hadn’t heard the intruder either, so he had no time to shift. Orion was sprawled in the middle of a nearby collapsed tent, large streaks of scarlet scored across his face and chest, blood pouring from his gaping wounds.

My vision went red. Growls ripped from my throat, vibrating through my entire body. I cleared the distance and slammed into the beast. From somewhere came a clippedyipas we tumbled through the trees.

Nettles and branches clawed at my skin, stinging with fresh scrapes. Before we rolled to a stop, I managed to leverage my weight and land on top. I leaned heavily onto my front paws, pressing them against his neck. He snapped in my direction, but I held him back, a growl rumbling through my throat.

I searched his mind, but could not hear his thoughts. I concentrated and thought clearly,Who are you?

Nothing. It’s like there was no one home, but he was definitely a shifter. Did he not hear me? Or maybe he just could not understand me. He continued to jerk violently beneath me, trying to wriggle free.

I held him where he was. This wolf attacked Orion without provocation. He was on our land, but had not introduced himself to our council or Nathaniel. He could not be from any OA pack in the OA or he’d never ignore protocol that way. But there was something else unsettling about him, a bizarre scent that bristled my fur. It was unnatural, nothing of the earth or woods or animals. It smelled artificial, human-made, like the noxious stuff I’d smelled Selena procure from Half Moon Bay.

“Diana!”

I looked up at Orion’s voice and saw him limping through the trees toward me. Why was he still in human form? Was he too injured to shift?

The brief distraction was enough for the intruder to slip out from under me. I caught my balance quickly enough, but he found some momentum and barreled into me. We rolled and tumbled again, and I struggled to comprehend his lightning speed. I felt his fangs nip at my throat, teeth just scraping through my fur. My long legs kept him far enough at bay to deal any real damage.