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“You don’t think—” His throat tightened as he continued to stare across the expanse of water. “You don’t think they caught her… do you?”

Peterson snorted. “Hell no! She would fight like a she-devil and we would have heard the men howling like babies. You saw what she did to Brennan. No, I hate to say this, but if I were a betting shifter, I would say she let the river take her downstream.”

His eyes were studying the swiftly moving water. “Why do you say that? It’s cold as hell and higher than normal because of the recent storm.”

“I didn’t say I liked the idea, only that I bet that is what she did. She’s smart. She wouldn’t have gone in if she didn’t think she could handle it. Remember, humans have had centuries to learn how to hide. Jayden knows her blood would be easy to track. What’s the best way to cover it? By going in the water. It would also make it harder to catch her,” Peterson reasoned.

“Bloody hell,” Van replied in a low voice before he released a huff. “She could be anywhere downriver. There’s no telling where she might come out,”

“She would’ve wanted to give herself ample space before coming ashore to put as much distance between herself and the shifters.”

“That’s if she knows she is being followed,” he pointed out.

Peterson grunted in agreement. “There are a series of waterfalls downstream. She’ll have to come out before the third one. Which side is the question? I suggest we split up. I take the far side and you take this one.”

Van nodded in agreement before a noise behind them had both of them swiveling with alarm. Peterson cursed when a large barred owl launched into the air from a nearby tree. He shaded his eyes and followed the owl’s flight. It was headed along the river.

“For once, I wish I spoke owl,” he muttered.

Peterson chuckled, stripping out of his clothes. “I’ll meet you downriver.”

He gathered Peterson’s clothes and stuffed them into the waterproof bag. He remained in his two-legged form while Peterson shifted into his wolf. Minutes later, Peterson swam across the river and emerged on the far side.

He waited as Peterson shook the excess water off his fur and sniffed the ground, searching for the other shifters. After several passes, Peterson stopped and shook his head back and forth. No scent meant one of two things: either the men had floated down the river like Jayden or they had circled around. It was hard to tell as the scents were already fading.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he sprinted along the jagged shoreline of the river. Across the river, Peterson’s red wolf kept pace. As he moved, he inhaled deeply, hoping to identify any abnormal odors. Twenty minutes later, his attention was drawn to the barred owl when it swooped past him and landed on a boulder fifteen feet in front of him.

The owl didn’t move until he wove around several boulders. He was forced to climb up in order to traverse the narrow section where the boulders had formed the first set in a series of short waterfalls. There was no way to get around it without going back into the forest for a short way. Peterson appeared on the pile of boulders across from him. He returned his focus to the owl when it made a series of clicking noises before it took off again. Peterson’s ears twitched, perking up as he watched the bird.

“Let’s keep going,” he called.

The red wolf dipped its head before jumping from one boulder to the next then disappearing from sight. He scrambled down over the boulders and climbed along the wooded bank. He wondered if it might have been easier to dive into the river and let the current take him after a section of soft soil collapsed and almost sent him tumbling onto the rocks below.

Grabbing a young sapling, he pulled himself up onto stable ground and breathed deeply, hoping to catch the familiar scent of Jayden. A mile farther downstream, he reached the second set of falls. A light breeze picked up and with it a tease of something carried on the wind.

He picked up speed when he heard Peterson’s low howl. Breaking through the forest to the river bank again, he climbed the series of boulders until he reached the top. There was a ten-foot gap where the water was funneled through the narrow opening over the second short spillway. Backing up, he calculated the distance before he jumped the gap, joining Peterson on the other side. He shrugged the bag free and retrieved Peterson’s clothes as his friend’s body shimmered and he shifted back to his two-legged form.

“She’s close. She came ashore before the falls,” Peterson murmured, drying off and dressing.

“Did you get a good scent of her trail?”

Peterson nodded. “Yeah. I found some tracks as well. It’s the strangest damn thing. I would have missed the spot if it wasn’t for that damn owl. It landed right in front of me and scratched at the ground before flying into the tree above.”

His eyes lifted to the sky above. It would be dark in less than an hour. The temperature plummeted quickly as the sun went down. The scent of Jayden’s blood lingered in his thoughts. She would be wet and possibly hypothermic after spending so much time in the river. Concern pushed him forward with a brisk nod to Peterson once he was dressed.

Peterson pointed toward the tracks he had found leading into the shadowy forest. Van gritted his teeth when they had to stop and double-back a few times. Even wet and injured, Jayden didn’t take any shortcuts in hiding her tracks. Darkness had fallen by the time they were sure they were close.

When they finally caught up with her, Van estimated they had covered close to eight grueling miles over treacherous terrain. He had cursed every step of the way. Halfway from the river, Peterson had surged ahead of him, taking the lead.

The sight of a fire, its flickering glow and dancing shadows on the rocks, filled him with a sense of relief. After almost three hellish weeks, they had finally caught up with Jayden. He didn’t know which he wanted to do first: kiss her or throttle her for causing him to age a hundred years from worry.

As the breeze shifted, a subtle smell of burning wood wafted through the air. He sniffed the air, his senses heightened, alert for any trace of the other shifters in the vicinity. Peterson’s eyes scanned the area, taking in every detail.

“It looks clear, but I’ll do a perimeter check once I know she is safe. At least she found shelter from the wind in the rocks. You take the right while I go up on the left. Whatever you do, don’t spook her,” Peterson murmured.

He nodded in agreement. Together, they moved in unison, each taking a side, and emerged at the same time on the flat outcrop of rock. Van carefully scanned the area, noting the overhang that protected Jayden from the wind and any rain that might fall. She had built a small fire using dried wood to keep the smoke down. A pair of leather boots were positioned upside down on twin branches, still damp from her earlier swim.

A frown creased his brow when he noticed that Jayden was lying on her side with her back to the fire. She was tucked between the wall of rock and the flames. Their mate was lying on a thin, silver emergency blanket and had another covering her. The crinkle of the blanket and a low, muffled whimper mixed with the crackle of the fire and wind blowing through the trees.