Page 26

When Faith re-entered the house, everything was strangely quiet.

It reminded her of nights when she had gone to a concert with loud music, then returned back home to a silent house.

The constant interaction with Tala’s big, boisterous family had been a steady background noise for the past thirty hours, and Faith realized only now how quickly she had gotten used to it.

For the first time since Faith had gotten here, no one seemed to be around. Even Sutton was no longer sitting on the stairs.

Now would be the ideal moment to plant the bug, which she had taken from the robe pocket and hidden in her toiletry bag after the mouse scare this morning.

But Faith made no move to head upstairs and get it, nor did she search the house for evidence, as she had initially planned.

She had made that plan a few days ago, before meeting Tala’s family—back when they had just been anonymous creatures to her. But now they were real people with feelings, painful pasts, and—for the most part—big hearts. People who didn’t deserve to have their privacy invaded by a stranger they had invited into their home as if she were one of them.

Tala’s pack members weren’t saints. Like most human families, they had their fair share of problems and conflicts.

But they weren’t criminals, monsters, or co-conspirators in her mother’s death, and Faith could no longer treat them as if they were—as if some deep, dark secret was lurking beneath the surface.

Faith would not prove Tala’s grandmother right by continuing to spy on them. There had to be a better way to find out what had happened to her mother. Maybe once the festivities were over, she could ask Tala’s family if they had heard anything about it.

Of course, her father wouldn’t trust their answer, no matter what they said. But one thing was sure: she was done spying. She just had no idea how she was going to break it to her father. However, that was something she would worry about when she was back in DC.

A sigh from the sunroom made her steer that way instead of heading upstairs.

Sutton was curled up on the love seat, morosely staring at her iPad.

So far, Faith hadn’t entered the sunroom. It was glass-enclosed and surrounded by dense trees on three sides, making it seem almost like a clearing in the middle of the woods. Even though it was completely dark outside, the lights in the backyard illuminated the edge of the forest, making the trees appear tall and imposing.

It was probably what drew the Wrasa to this room and exactly what made Faith stay away.

“Hey, Sutton,” she said from the doorway.

The teen looked up. The tablet cast a bluish light over her sad expression.

Faith gave herself a mental kick and crossed the room toward her. “Do you mind some company?”

Sutton shook her head and quickly moved to the side, making space for Faith on the love seat instead of gesturing for her to sit on the other side of the low table.

It was as unexpected as it was touching. When Faith sat down next to Sutton, her side was instantly enveloped in toasty warmth. It seemed Wrasa teenagers were walking, talking heating pads too. “Still sad you couldn’t go?”

“No,” Sutton muttered, but her tone said something else. “I’m fine. The yasi makamar isn’t that exciting anyway.”

Faith smiled at her. “Maybe when you can finally join them, you’ll find ways to make it more interesting.”

Sutton raised her chin. “Yeah. For sure.” She lowered her head and stared at the iPad on her lap.

Faith glanced at it too.

Google Maps was open. A little red pin marked a location surrounded by a large green area, probably all woods.

“Planning your escape to somewhere more exciting?” Faith asked with a grin.

“No. That’s our ritual spot. Where we go for the yasi makamar.”

Faith tried to gauge how far it was from Silver Falls. She traced Skyline Drive south—and then froze.

She would know the spot with the little red pin anywhere.

Not that she had ever been there. But she had looked it up a thousand times.

It was where her mother had died…or at least where her body had been found.

Cold dread seeped through her bones. The trees surrounding the house seemed to close in on her.

“Faith?” Sutton’s voice was filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

Faith struggled to form a reply. “I—”

“There you are!”

A voice from the doorway made Faith jump.

Tala’s grandmother swept into the room. “Time for bed, Sutton, and no more screen time.”

The girl grumbled under her breath but put the iPad down. “Okay, Grandma.” She offered Faith a small smile before trudging from the room.

Tala’s grandmother pierced Faith with a cool glare before swiveling around.

Faith didn’t watch her leave. Her full attention was on the iPad, which now sat abandoned on the low table. Its screen still displayed the map.

With shaking fingers, she zoomed in.

There could be no doubt. The little red pin was in the exact spot, not far from a small, hidden waterfall.

Shenandoah National Park stretched over two hundred thousand acres—a sprawling wilderness where nearly any point could have been chosen for the pack’s ritual spot. What were the chances Tala’s family had picked the site of her mom’s death by complete coincidence?

She tried to come up with an innocuous explanation, but none came to mind. Was she just not thinking clearly? She needed some air!

On shaky legs, she snuck out of the house and paced the driveway, where no one could hear her. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and stared at it.

Should she call her father? She wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He couldn’t help her anyway since he was almost eighty miles away, and as far as Faith knew, there weren’t any HASS members in the vicinity he could send either.

Not that she wanted him to because they might shoot first and ask questions later.

But he and Jon were the only two people who knew of her secret mission to spy on the Wrasa, and she needed someone to help her make sense of this confusing mess and decide what to do.

Calling Jon wasn’t an option since Chloe was with him, so that left only her father.

Her pulse raced as the call connected.

“Faith.” Her father’s voice filtered through the phone almost immediately, as if he had spent the entire weekend waiting for a call. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She tried to speak calmly so she wouldn’t scare him or make him overreact, but she could hear that she was failing. “Hopefully. I don’t know. Tala’s pack went out, doing some kind of ritual, and I just got a glimpse of a map that showed the location. It could be a weird coincidence, but…it’s the exact spot where they found Mom.”

A thumping noise reverberated through the phone, as if her father had hit something—or dropped onto a chair. “I knew it! It’s true what profilers always say: killers often return to the scene of their crime.”

That made no sense to Faith. The Petersons weren’t killers…were they? There had to be an alternative explanation. Maybe the map was off and their ritual spot was not the place where her mother had been killed after all. But the location was burned into her memory, and it was exactly where the little red pin had been.

“I bet their ritual involves human sacrifice, and they went out to kill someone else.” Heavy footfalls indicated that her father was pacing too. “That’s why they were so secretive about that damn ritual!”

True, Tala hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with information about the ritual, even though it seemed to be the most important part of the twere. But that couldn’t be the reason…could it?

Acid burned up Faith’s throat. She remembered the comment she’d jokingly made to Tala about sacrificing a human on a moonlit clearing during the ritual.

Tala hadn’t laughed.

She didn’t laugh because it’s not funny—not because it’s true, she told herself, but that didn’t stop the horrible images from flashing through her mind.

Her father’s steps paused abruptly. “Get out of there, Faith. Right now. I’ll send Noah and Violet to that location so they can catch them red-handed.”

“They’ll be long gone by the time Noah and Violet make it there from DC.”

“They’re not in DC,” her father said. “They’re already in Silver Falls. You didn’t think I’d let you spend an entire weekend with those monsters without making sure you have some backup nearby, did you?”

Faith should have known. “That’s not a good idea, Dad. Noah is a hothead; you know that. If you send them in, things could escalate.”

She had no idea what was going on, but she knew one thing: she didn’t want anything to happen to Tala or her family.

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take,” her father said, voice fierce. “This might be the only chance we’ll ever get to catch your mom’s killers—and to stop them from murdering someone else! And it’s not like we can call the police. The shifters might have infiltrated them. It’s on us to bring them to justice.”

“Then I’ll follow them,” Faith blurted before she could think about it. She needed answers, once and for all. “But I’m going alone, without Noah and Violet.”

“Over my dead body! I’m not letting you face a bunch of these monsters alone!”

“They won’t even see me, Dad. I’ll keep my distance and get just close enough to see what they are doing.” If she stayed downwind, the Wrasa couldn’t catch her scent. Even if they did, they might think they were smelling Tala, since she was still wearing the mate scent perfume.

“No!”

For the first time in her life, Faith didn’t back down and do whatever her father wanted. “If you send in Noah, you know it won’t end well. I’m not letting innocent people get hurt.”

“They’re not people, Faith!” her father spat. “And how can you call them innocent after what they might have done to your mother?”

“There are teenagers in Tala’s pack, Dad. They weren’t even born when Mom died. It’s impossible for them to have anything to do with her death. Mom wouldn’t want anyone to harm them.”

Her father was breathing harshly, as if he had just run a marathon. “Fine.”

“Fine?” Faith hadn’t expected him to back down so fast. “You promise you won’t send Noah and Violet?”

“I promise—if you agree to take a weapon,” her father said. “Check your suitcase.”

Faith chuckled nervously. “Um, I don’t think my nail clippers will impress a pack of Wrasa.”

“Unzip the inner compartment, where you put your dirty laundry,” her father replied. “I hid my Sig Sauer in there before you left. It’s fully loaded. Take it—and use it if you have to. I need you to stay safe.”

He had put a gun in her suitcase without telling her? She didn’t like that at all. What if the Wrasa had found it and thought it was a threat? But now was not the time to discuss it. “All right. I’ll take it.”

“And get out of there before anyone can see you. Don’t take any risks, do you hear me? If anything happens to you…” His voice broke.

“I’ll be fine.” She still hoped it would all turn out to be one big coincidence.

“You’d better be!” Her father’s voice shook. “If I don’t hear back from you within the next three hours, I’ll send in every member of HASS within a hundred-mile radius.”

Faith’s palms went clammy. “I’ll call or text as soon as I know more. I’m going to get the gun, then leave right away.”

“Stay safe, sweetie. I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad.” She ended the call and stood there for a moment, her heart pounding. How on earth had she become a special ops soldier heading out on a high-stakes mission?

~ ~ ~

The headlights of Tala’s Subaru cut through the darkness ahead of Faith as she drove south.

Every now and then, their beam caught a pair of glowing eyes at the side of the road, and once, a deer darted across Skyline Drive ahead of her.

She’d been driving for nearly half an hour, and with every minute, her tension rose.

There!

A small parking lot appeared to the right. Even though it was nearly midnight, it was filled with cars.

That had to be it.

Faith pulled in behind the car she recognized as Arlyn’s and shut off the engine. Parking here might not be the best idea, but there weren’t exactly a lot of options. Hopefully, she would be back before the pack. One quick peek at the yasi makamar, then she would head back before anyone could discover Tala’s SUV.

But instead of getting out, she sat behind the wheel in the eerie silence, interrupted only by the ticking of the engine as it cooled off.

What was she doing? She hadn’t dared to set foot in a forest since her mother’s death. It scared her even in broad daylight, and now she was about to head into the woods in pitch darkness, not knowing what she would find?

But this was the only way to find out if something sinister was going on at the pack’s ritual spot—or to prove the Petersons’ innocence. Either way, she needed to know.

Faith got out, her phone clutched in one hand, her dad’s Sig Sauer in the other. She flicked the safety off with her thumb but kept her index finger off the trigger, as her father had taught her. The chilly air made her shiver. Or maybe it was her nerves. The soft thud of the car door sounded overly loud in the quiet night.

She switched on the flashlight on her phone and adjusted it to maximum brightness. Its beam didn’t reach very far, illuminating only the area immediately in front of her.

Faith wished she had a regular flashlight, but she hadn’t packed one, and she hadn’t wasted time searching the Petersons’ house for one. She had a feeling they could see in the dark, like the foxes they turned into, so she doubted they even owned a flashlight.

Her phone would have to do. It was better than nothing and would at least keep her from stumbling.

She crossed the parking lot to where a sign said, Fire road. No trespassing. That had to be the road she needed to follow. Other signs pronounced, Hunting prohibited and Caution: Black bears in area!

Faith swallowed against her dry throat. She gripped the gun more tightly, its cold metal reassuring in her hand.

Her pulse thudded in her ears as she stepped onto the gravel path that led downhill.

The forest seemed to envelop her from all sides. The night air was thick with the scent of damp earth and pine needles. Her fingers trembled, making the weak beam of the phone flashlight dance erratically along the trail. It revealed only a small patch of ground at a time, while the rest of the forest remained an impenetrable darkness.

To her left, the terrain sloped upward; to her right, the land dipped down sharply, but she couldn’t see how far it went.

The cacophony of sounds from the dense woods was unnerving. Gravel crunched, and a twig snapped under her boots. Leaves rustled as a small animal darted through the underbrush to her left.

Faith jumped and walked faster.

The faint glow of the moon through the canopy made the trees appear like lurking beasts reaching for her with their gnarled limbs.

Something brushed against her cheek.

She bit back a scream. Calm down. Just a low-hanging branch.

Faith felt as if she was trapped in one of the nightmares she’d had as a child, in which she’d stumbled through the forest trying to find her mother. She never did. But this time, she had the chance to at least find out what had happened to her.

The thought made her press on.

She followed the fire road as it wound downhill through the forest for about a mile. Maybe it was less, but the path seemed to stretch on forever.

A stream gurgled somewhere.

When the path twisted sharply to the right, she followed it.

The sound of rushing water grew louder with every step.

A creek passed beneath the trail.

Faith knew there was a small waterfall somewhere to her right, but she couldn’t see it.

She had to be getting close now.

Senses on high alert, she let the beam of her flashlight dart from side to side as she walked.

Wait! She backtracked a few yards, moved closer to the edge of the trail, and swept the beam to the left.

An overgrown path intersected with the fire road. It seemed to be an old, abandoned route that went up the side of the mountain and led deeper into the forest. Only traces of it remained, so she had almost missed it in the dim light.

She knelt and brought the phone closer to the ground to examine it more thoroughly.

Small branches had been broken and greenery pushed aside where it had obstructed the old path.

Someone had been here! This had to be the route the pack had taken.

She glanced at her cell phone to make sure she had plenty of battery. It was at seventy-nine percent.

Her knees felt rubbery as she stepped onto the overgrown path and began the uphill climb to wherever it was leading.

~ ~ ~

Leaves rustled somewhere above Faith, followed by faint, rhythmic thuds.

Faith froze in the middle of the old path, breathing hard—partly from the exertion of her uphill climb, partly from fear of what might lurk in the darkness. She strained her ears and scanned the pitch-black areas beyond the beam of her phone flashlight for any signs of movement. Had that been…?

Another sound came. Not quite a howl or a bark, but definitely something emitted by an animal—and it was coming closer.

Her heart pounded against her ribs. She fought the urge to bolt. Instead, she crouched behind a tree and shut off the flashlight, leaving only the moon to cast its light through the canopy.

Was the animal still heading toward her? Or had it changed direction? Was it a fox? Maybe Tala or a family member?

When she didn’t hear anything, she peeked out from behind the tree.

~ ~ ~

Her paws pounded the earth as she charged through the forest. Around her, the two packs ran as one, their two alphas leading them side by side.

Her muscles coiled and stretched with each leap and bound. The tang of pine and damp earth trailed on the night breeze that ruffled her fur. Exhilaration surged through her, and she let out a yip that was echoed by others.

Then a familiar scent cut through the forest’s aromas.

Her mate!

The sharp odor of panic mingled with her gentle scent.

With a fierce growl, she veered off course and charged toward her mate.

Protect! Protect!

She ran down a hill so fast that the trees blurred on either side of her. Her ears pricked forward, and her eyes pierced the darkness in search of her mate. All her senses were so focused on her that she could taste her panic, hear her frantic heartbeat.

She burst into a small clearing.

There!

Her mate’s familiar face peeked out from behind a tree, her eyes wide with fear.

With a loud growl, her brother charged ahead. Despite his lolloping gait, his three paws propelled him forward with surprising speed and carried him past her, toward her mate.

The other pack members weren’t far behind. With their longer legs and stronger bodies, they quickly gained on her.

No! Get away from her! Mine!

She pushed her muscles harder in a desperate race. Just as she had nearly closed the distance to her brother, a scream pierced the night air.

~ ~ ~

A scream tore from Faith’s throat as a pair of glowing eyes broke through the underbrush directly above her.

Then another.

And another.

Dozens of them were charging toward her!

She didn’t stick around long enough to take measurements, but even in the dim light of the moon, they seemed too large to be foxes.

Faith jumped up from behind the tree, whirled around, and ran.

Her breath came in ragged bursts as she sprinted down the hill. The cold air sliced through her lungs. Even though her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could barely see a thing. She slid and slipped, her boots scrambling for traction on the rocky terrain, but she didn’t dare slow down.

Wild animals snarled behind her, closing in.

Faith let out a shriek and tried to run faster.

Branches clawed at her as if trying to hold her back. One hit her in the face like the lash of a whip.

Her foot caught on a root, sending her sprawling.

She crashed hard onto the forest floor. The impact drove all air from her lungs. Her phone skidded across the damp earth, and for a few feet, so did she. Pain flared through her hand and knees.

Pure adrenaline made her roll over and scramble backward like a crab.

A tree against her back stopped her.

Her right hand still had a death grip on the gun. Fingers trembling, she pointed it into the darkness. She tried to aim, but the barrel wavered.

The animals hunting her slowed their dash and stalked closer.

In the moonlight, Faith caught glimpses of dense fur—some gray, some black—and long, sharp canines.

Oh God! Wolves!

A huge pack surrounded her, their eyes glinting like those of demons.

It was her nightmares come to life.

No, no, please, no! Panic surged through her. Her finger twitched on the trigger, but there were too many of them. If she shot one, the rest would tear her apart.

A blur of motion leaped between her and the wolves, facing them down. This animal was smaller than the others. Moonlight shimmered on bristled orange fur.

A fox!

“Tala?” Faith whispered.

A throaty rattling sound rose from the fox’s chest. Its ears flattened themselves against the sides of its skull, and its pointed snout opened wide, revealing sharp teeth.

The big wolf closest to Faith paused. One of its front paws was missing, but that didn’t seem to hinder its movements or make it appear any less dangerous as it growled at the much smaller fox.

Wait! Was that…Rey? No, that couldn’t be!

The fox didn’t back down. Hackles raised, it stood between Faith and the wolf until the bigger animal let out a noise that sounded like a huff as it sank onto its hunches.

The other wolves followed suit. They sat in a semi-circle around Faith, cocking their heads as they studied her.

The fox gave one last warning snarl before it trotted toward Faith. It sniffed her boot, her calf, the shaking hand that still clutched the gun. Then it put one paw on her knee and tapped it as if to ask: “Hey, you okay?”

“What the fuck?” Faith slumped against the tree. No, she was not okay at all.

A tremor rippled through the fox.

Was it…she…all right?

The fox let out a low whine, nearly drowned out by the crunching of bones and popping of joints. The bristled tail shrank and then disappeared entirely. Her limbs lengthened into arms and legs, and her muzzle separated into a human nose and full lips. The once oval pupils became round, and her eyes lost their eerie glow.

The rusty-red fur receded until Tala crouched next to her, stark naked.

Faith gaped slack-jawed. Of course she had known Tala could shape-shift, but her brain still struggled to grasp what she had witnessed.

Tala blinked twice, as if having to adjust to human eyesight, then zeroed in on her. A deep line etched itself between her brows. “What in the Great Hunter’s name are you doing here—with a gun?”

Faith lowered her gaze to the weapon. She had almost forgotten she still held it. Its muzzle pointed straight at Tala.

She lowered it and slid her finger off the trigger but didn’t put the weapon away, too aware of the wolves hovering nearby.

Tala’s head snapped around. She stared into the darkness. “Someone is coming,” she whispered.

Please, not more wolves!

“Humans!” Tala hissed. “They smell aggressive—like they’re out for blood!”

Humans—here, in the middle of the night? That could only mean one thing: her father had sent Noah and Violet after her, even though he’d promised not to.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Go!” Tala shouted at the wolves and made a swiping motion toward the forest.

A large wolf, his fur black with a gray-tinged muzzle, gave a short bark and shot off.

The wolf who had threatened Faith whirled around and lolloped after him with surprising agility.

The rest of the pack followed, quickly disappearing into the forest.

“Give me that and run!” Tala wrenched the gun from Faith’s hand and gripped her upper arm. She yanked Faith in the opposite direction that the pack had gone. But instead of making a stealthy escape, she stomped on fallen branches and let out occasional short howls.

She was luring their pursuers away from the pack, keeping her family safe!

Faith’s boots slid and skidded down a steep slope, kicking up loose dirt and pebbles with every step.

Unlike her, Tala was barefoot. Sharp sticks and jagged stones had to hurt, but she didn’t slow down or show any sign of discomfort. Her iron grip on Faith’s arm never wavered.

The pounding of Faith’s pulse drowned out any other sound so she couldn’t hear whether Noah and Violet were hot on their heels or falling behind.

After a while, Tala halted and listened into the dark.

Abruptly, she shoved Faith off the overgrown path and behind a tree. What little air Faith had left whooshed out of her lungs as Tala pressed her against the knotted trunk with her own body.

The heat of Tala’s bare skin seared into Faith, reminding her that Tala was stark naked. Her slim but strong frame pinned Faith in place, leaving not even an inch of space between them. She covered Faith’s mouth with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun. The movement lifted her small breasts and pressed them more firmly against Faith.

Tala’s eyes, just inches from Faith, were wild and glowed eerily, and her hot breath fanned Faith’s cheek, sending shivers down her body.

Faith was acutely aware of the contrast between the smooth skin against her front and the coarse bark digging into her back. Heart slamming hard against her ribs, she stood frozen. She didn’t try to free herself or make a sound. They would shoot Tala if she did.

That was why her heart was racing—just because of the adrenaline pumping through her body. Not because Tala’s scent—a mix of the perfume and something muskier and wilder—made her lightheaded. And definitely not because of Tala’s bare thigh pressing between hers.

Branches cracked nearby. A male voice cursed. Flashes of light broke through the leaves.

Tala’s muscles tensed against Faith.

She could feel the erratic thud of Tala’s heart against her own chest.

“Dammit! These flashlights are useless,” a man grumbled. “I can’t see a thing!”

“Let’s turn around,” a female voice answered. “This is ridiculous.”

Faith recognized Noah and Violet, the two HASS members her father trusted most.

“Do you really want to go back and confess that we left Faith alone in the woods with those monsters?” Noah asked.

“She has a gun. If she’s in danger, why isn’t she using it?” Violet answered. “Why isn’t she calling for help? And why didn’t she want us to follow her? Something isn’t right here.”

Tala pressed her hand more tightly against Faith’s mouth.

Faith lightly shook her head, trying to tell her she wouldn’t call out.

Noah and Violet were right next to them now—not even two yards from the tree they were hiding behind. If they left the path, they would see them.

Tala’s bare chest, which had been rising and falling against her own, stilled as if she had stopped breathing.

One of the HASS members lifted their flashlight higher and directed the weak beam over the surrounding trees.

Oh shit. If that light hit Tala’s fox eyes, they would surely reflect like gleaming mirrors! She had to do something!

Faith managed to free one arm that was half-trapped between their bodies. She cupped the back of Tala’s head.

The heat radiating off Tala’s body seemed to intensify, searing Faith’s skin and scattering her thoughts.

Tala’s wide-eyed gaze snapped to hers. In the dim moonlight, something flickered in her expression—surprise, confusion, maybe even anticipation.

For a fleeting, wild second, Faith thought Tala expected her to do something reckless—like pull Tala’s hand away from her mouth and kiss her.

Kiss her? What the hell was wrong with her?

Of course she hadn’t been about to do that!

Instead, she pulled Tala’s head down against her collarbone.

Tala tensed for a heartbeat, as if suspecting an attack, but then her muscles softened, and she let Faith guide her head down. Strands of her hair tickled Faith’s neck.

Faith clenched her teeth and tried to ignore the confusing signals her body sent her. This wasn’t about attraction or whatever erratic ideas her adrenaline-fueled brain was conjuring up.

With her forehead pressed against the top of Faith’s shoulder, Tala stood still until Violet and Noah passed them.

Eventually, their voices and steps faded away.

Tala let out a quiet exhale. Her warm breath brushed against Faith’s collarbone, sending a tingling heat down her body.

Faith let her hand drop away from the back of Tala’s head.

Tala looked up and into Faith’s eyes. Emotions Faith couldn’t quite name darted across Tala’s face, then they were gone, replaced by a grim mask. With a barely perceptible nod, Tala slid her hand off Faith’s mouth and pressed her index finger to her own lips in a silent warning before pulling away.

Faith had just one second to take in a much-needed gulp of air before Tala gripped her arm again and dragged her deeper into the forest.

She changed directions, taking them away from the overgrown path.

The woods were dense here. No moonlight fell through the canopy. It was so pitch-dark Faith couldn’t see a thing.

Unlike before, Tala now moved quietly, avoiding roots and branches as if she could see every little detail.

Faith’s knees shook, and her lungs burned. She stumbled every few yards, and only Tala’s grip on her arm prevented her from falling.

She nearly sank to her knees in relief when the trees retreated and she found herself in the small parking lot where she had left Tala’s car.

“Keys!”

The authority in Tala’s voice made Faith reach into her pants pocket without thinking. When she pulled out the keys with trembling fingers, Tala snatched them from her hand and unlocked the car.

“Get in!” Tala tore open the passenger-side door and nearly shoved Faith into the car before rushing around and getting behind the wheel…still without a shred of clothing on.

Within seconds, they sped away from the forest.