“No,” she said, then again, firmer. “No. It’s okay. Everything’s okay. We’ll just let it leave.”

The wolf growled again.

The girl’s voice rose. “I said we’ll let it leave, Derek. It’s not attacking us and I don’t want it getting hurt if we can help it. You, either.”

The werewolf—Derek—snorted and gave me a look that said he considered personal injury highly unlikely. My hackles rose and I drew back my lips. He seemed to take that as a challenge, shifting forward, almost swaggering, like a schoolyard bully, certain his smaller target will back down. I considered it. For the sake of making nice, I should retreat. Surrender. Submit. But that was weakness and everything in me rebelled at the thought. So I held my ground.

“Derek.”

The girl’s voice was low, annoyed now, and it was almost comical when he shot her a sheepish look. He turned back to me. Considered. Took another slow step—

“No!”

The familiar shout hit with an equally familiar sonic boom of force. It knocked the werewolf off his feet. The girl let out a shriek and ran forward. Daniel raced through the trees. The wolf scrambled up and swung around on him.

I sprang between them. I lowered my forequarters and let out a snarl, fur standing on end. That made the wolf stop. He stared at me. Then his gaze lifted to Daniel behind me. I snarled again.

“The cat—” the girl said.

“Is not a cat,” Daniel said. “Like that’s not a wolf.”

“Y-yes. I mean, no, he’s a hybrid. Part-wolf, part-dog. I—”

“He’s a werewolf,” Daniel cut in. “And she’s a skin-walker, another kind of shape-shifter.”

“She . . . ?”

“A friend of mine. Like he’s a friend of yours. And I’m going to ask you to back him off. Can you do that, Chloe?”

The wolf’s head shot up at the name.

Chloe. The necromancer. That made sense. The other girl was a witch and would have tried a spell by now.

“So you understand me. Derek, right?” Daniel moved up beside me as his voice took on that special tone. “I’m going to ask you to take a step back. Maya will do the same. I’m sure she hasn’t attacked you or tried to attack Chloe, so there’s no threat here, right?”

The wolf snorted and looked at me.

“Don’t even think about it,” Daniel said, an edge creeping into his voice. “You attack her? You attack both of us.”

The wolf snarled. They locked gazes. When it was clear neither was backing down, Chloe came forward and grabbed Derek by the scruff of the neck.

“Come on,” she said. “Please. Just step away.” She looked at Daniel. “You’re on his territory, which is never good with a werewolf. Your friend—Maya—startled him, even if she didn’t mean to. Plus he really doesn’t like you knowing our names.”

“Well, I do know them, which shouldn’t come as that big a surprise. Do you really think a couple of kids with supernatural powers are going to accidentally stumble on you? We were at the house earlier. I’m sure Derek smelled us. We were waiting in the forest until morning to make contact, so we wouldn’t spook you.”

I chuffed.

Daniel shot a smile over at me. “Yeah, that one didn’t work out so well.”

“All right,” Chloe said. “We’re backing up. Right, Derek?”

He snorted, but took a step back. So did I. We both retreated a few more, until I was at the clearing’s edge.

“I don’t suppose you remember where you left your clothing,” Daniel murmured to me.

Chloe gave a soft laugh. “That’s always a problem, isn’t it? Okay then. You two go find that. We’ll meet you here. Hopefully everyone will be in human form.” A wry smile. “Though I’ll warn you, he’s not a whole lot more pleasant that way. At least as a wolf, he can’t talk.”

The wolf growled, but she only laughed and gave him a pat, then tugged him away as we went to retrieve my clothing.

THIRTY-NINE

AS HAD HAPPENED BEFORE, after I’d passed out, I’d seemed to sleep-undress, which was handy. So my clothing was where I’d left it, still intact.

When I stepped out from my hiding spot, Daniel rose and came over to me. “You didn’t get bitten or anything, did you?”

I shook my head.

He exhaled. “Good. I was worried. I don’t know if that’s how you really do become a werewolf.” He paused. “It could be kind of cool, though. A werewolf and skin-walker hybrid. Time to shift? You pick your form.”

He grinned and I managed a soft laugh. “My luck, it’d be a mix of the two. A shaggy, brown monster with retractable claws and an irresistible urge to chase sticks.”

“As long as it’s not an irresistible urge to hump legs and sniff crotches.”

I laughed again, a real one now. “This is why I’ll stick with feline, thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. Seeing you facing off with that monster was scary enough. I can’t imagine what it was like to be the one facing off with him.” He shook his head. “We need to have a little chat with your brother about werewolves before he decides to challenge one.”

“Nah. I say we let him try. Take his ego down a notch or two.”

We both laughed and I looked at him, and I felt . . . okay. I looked at his expression and listened to his laugh and I saw nothing more than I’d always seen. My friend. My best friend.

“Everything all right?” Daniel asked.

I smiled up at him. “We should hurry back and talk to them, and hope the others stay sleeping for a while.”

“Rafe’s looking after that.”

I looked up.

“I saw him while you were shifting back. We talked. He agreed to make sure the others stay put if they wake up. You and I will handle this first encounter. He seemed cool with that.”

No, he probably wasn’t cool with it at all. I didn’t care. Well, yes, I did, but I didn’t want to. Even if Rafe hadn’t ruined my friendship with Daniel, he’d sure as hell tried. He was supposed to care about me. That wasn’t something you did to someone you cared about.

“You guys had a fight?” Daniel asked.

I nodded. “Lousy timing, I know. Sorry.”

“I’m sure the timing has a lot to do with it. Everyone’s on edge. Whatever it was, he seemed sorry.”