I wished I could talk to him about that. I couldn’t. Not now, obviously, and probably not even when I’d shifted back to human form. It wouldn’t be a topic he’d discuss. Not with me. Probably not with anyone.

We waited. I could still hear sirens and shouting. At one point, a couple of cops looked down our alley, but it was only a cursory glance.

“When you’re ready, we’ll get in farther.”

I chuffed. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that—all I needed was to shift back and we could walk out.

When a familiar scent wafted down the alley, I bristled. Ash noticed and looked over.

“You hear something?”

I shook my head and lifted my nose to make a show of sniffing the air.

“You smell someone. Daniel?” A split-second pause. “No, you’d be a lot more excited if it was him. So it must be . . .” He cursed. “Someone from the Cabals?”

I nodded.

“I’d ask who, but I don’t think you can manage charades. Doesn’t matter anyway. If they’re here—”

Words drifted in from the street, seeming to rise above the others. “—dark patch on her flank.”

We both heard it and went still, straining to pick that one voice from the chaos.

“Yes, that’s her,” the voice said. “Juvenile female with that distinctive dark patch. She escaped earlier today. I notified animal control. They said they’d pass on the message to the city.”

“We never got it,” a woman’s voice said.

“My apologies, then. We aren’t local, and we were uncertain of proper protocol. We’ll deal with that later. She needs to be found promptly and handled with care. She’s a very valuable research subject. It’s critical that we get her back safe and sound.”

“I’m a lot more concerned about the safety of our citizens.”

“You needn’t be. That man said she attacked him, but you don’t escape a cougar attack without a bite. You usually don’t escape alive. She’s accustomed to people and poses no danger to anyone except herself. My men have tranquilizer guns, as do the animal control officers. We need help locating her, but we can take it from there.”

Ash looked over at me. “Is that . . . him?”

I nodded. It was Antone. I thought of how fast they must have heard the news of a loose cougar and how fast they’d mobilized. Not to mention how easily they seem to have convinced the authorities to let them take point on this operation. They were insanely organized. Insanely experienced. Insanely well funded. How could teenagers hope to outwit them?

I closed my eyes and slowed my pounding heart. We’d done it so far.

At what cost? How many are left? Maybe just you and your brother.

I kept breathing, struggling for calm. I could do this. I had to do this.

“We need to head out,” Ash said. “Down the back way.”

I nodded and took one last sniff. Antone’s scent was gone. I must have caught it as he’d walked near the alley mouth, but he’d passed now, and even his voice had faded.

As I crept out, Ash stayed by the recycling bins, watching down the way we’d come. Guarding me again. I appreciated that. I’d have to tell him so when I could—and once I could figure out how to say it in a way that wouldn’t embarrass him.

“All clear,” he whispered. “Now go, go, go!”

He jogged along behind me and nearly smashed into my hindquarters as I leaned to peer around the corner. When I backed up, he said, “What?” then looked for himself.

There was nowhere to go. The alley was really just a walkway for the adjoining businesses. It went around to a rear door, then stopped at a fence. Beyond the fence were more walls.

I considered. Then I rounded the corner and hunkered down. The alley was bounded by two buildings and a two-meter solid fence. While I didn’t like the feeling of being cornered, if anyone approached, I’d have time to get over that wall. It was wood and I had sixteen razor-sharp climbing spikes permanently attached to my feet. Ash, however . . .

When he followed, I nudged him back. I used my head and then my paw to gesture around the corner. He didn’t get it.

I head-gestured for him to go back to the street, then I pantomimed climbing the wall. He understood then. I think. But he refused to leave. Just told me to lie down and be quiet and no one was going to come back here. Wait until I shifted and we’d sneak out together.

So we waited. After about ten minutes, I heard a woman’s voice say, “I’m picking up a presence back there.”

“Probably homeless guy number four.” Moreno. “Look, we know she’s with her brother, so you need to detect two bodies. She’s probably shifted back by now and they’re long gone.”

I waited, tensed, hoping they’d decide Moreno was right. I was guessing the witch only detected one form because we were huddled together. I inched closer to Ash.

Footsteps started down the alley.

“Does anyone listen to me?” Moreno said.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Antone replied.

I leaped up. Ash started jogging toward the voices, his footfalls silent. I froze, panic filling me. But he only went a couple of meters, then turned around and ran at the wall.

I twisted, unsheathed my claws, and grabbed hold. As I scaled it, he took a running leap, grabbed the top and swung onto it with a gymnast’s ease. Instead of going over, though, he crouched on the top, looking around. I scrambled up and perched awkwardly beside him.

On the other side of the fence was a tiny courtyard with a picnic table, a bicycle stand, and a tin half-filled with cigarette butts. A place for employees from a neighboring store to have a smoke and store their bikes. The only way out of there was a door into the shop. A solid metal door with no handle.

Ash wasn’t looking at that, though. His gaze was turned upward, to a window on the building beside us.

“If we hide down there, she’ll find us,” he whispered. “We gotta go through the window. Can you make it?”

I nodded and cast an anxious glance at the alley. I could hear them coming slowly, checking behind every box and bin.

“I know,” he whispered. “We need to move fast, especially since I have to bust that window to get in. They’ll hear it.”

I motioned for him to go. He jumped. He landed on the ledge easily enough, but it was only about ten centimeters of concrete, and he nearly lost his balance. He caught himself, turned his face away, and rammed his elbow into window, shattering the glass so expertly that I knew it wasn’t his first break-in.