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“Oh, sure. Back behind the school. The whole town pitched in to build it. Monkey bars, teeter-totter, swings … even a climbing wall. But they keep it fenced off so nobody uses it after school.”

Claire let out a small laugh. “Fences never kept me out when I was a kid. I'd climb over, slip under. Nothing could keep me from the swings. Made me feel like I was flying.”

The owl shifter flicked a glance her way. “Oh, swings feel
nothing
like flying. Trust me.”

There wasn't anything to say to that, and Claire was grateful beyond measure she would never know. Her life would have been totally different if she'd gotten wings instead of fur. Totally, frighteningly different. She fought to keep from shuddering. “But the kids had never shifted, right? So they couldn't just hop over the fence?”

“
Puleeze.
” Danielle's voice held scorn. “Sazi designed the fence. We have birds of all sorts, cats that can jump two stories high, wolves that can dig through near-solid stone. You can't just
hop over
. It's no ordinary fence. You'll have to see it to understand.”

Danielle slowed the car, flipped on the blinker, and made a turn onto a much narrower paved road. There were no shoulders and no striping. But there was a sign, the only indication of where they were. They would arrive in Luna Lake in ten miles.

Claire asked, “Why bother to block off the playground? It's not like the kids will get hurt. They'll heal.” It was the long-standing saying among their kind. Nearly anything would heal. No wound was too bad. Head and heart both had to be damaged to kill.

Danielle's voice was surprised, but the underlying scent that rode the air to Claire was haunted, filled with sorrow, fear, and pain. “Nobody heals since the plague. Where have you been? Hardly anyone heals better than full humans. We're really cautious because we lost our healer last winter. We don't know why she died.”

Wow
. Claire struggled to wrap her mind around that. When the Sazi were attacked, nearly a decade ago now, by family members who had created a magically-charged chemical that “cured” shapeshifters and made them human again, it became a plague, devastating their kind. Exposure to the cure was like a toxin and had killed many and caused madness in others. But what would it take to kill a
healer
short of major injuries? “In Texas, the kids run around like wild animals. It's a rare day someone isn't digging cactus spines from their legs and arms, or getting treated for snake bites.” Like Luna Lake, the Tedford Compound was remote, but they had the luxury of several healers nearby and most of the pack was healthy. “Have you applied to the Council for a new healer?”

Danielle let out a snort as she turned on the wipers to knock a layer of dead bugs from the windshield. “You must have some sort of magic potion down there then. That's not how it works up here. We've applied for a new healer dozens of times. I don't think the Council even remembers we exist. We haven't had a Councilman visit or call in years.”

Again Claire felt a moment of shock. A member of the Sazi High Council was through her town every few months. Was it really that different up here, or were the townsfolk in Luna Lake being fed a line? She couldn't smell or sense any deception from Danielle. On first impression, it appeared she really believed that they had been set adrift by the Sazi hierarchy.

“Of course,” Danielle continued. “It's not that different from the human government. The area struggles. So we have to be pretty self-sufficient. We're on the only road close to town that doesn't need repairs. You need a jeep for some of the back roads. We do the best we can with the money we have.” She paused and then sighed. “But it would be nice if we could get a doctor. We can't take the kids to the hospital in Republic. What if they did a blood test?”

We'll check into it. Count on it.

Claire faintly heard the voice of her pack leader, Adam Mueller, in her mind and it made her feel better to know they were there and could still hear through her ears, even though the contact made her temples throb sharply.

She knew both Adam and Cara would take action on what she observed. But Danielle … in fact, none of the people in Luna Lake could know it was being worked on. She steeled herself for the pain that made nerves scream through her skull and replied to her pack leaders the same way.
Please be discreet. Otherwise, it did no good to send me here.

One word rang through her mind, bearing the distinctive Tejano accent she'd come to know from her surrogate mother.
Duh
.

It nearly made her laugh and Claire had to struggle not to let her amusement show in her face or scent. So she immediately concentrated on what it would feel like to have a child in the house who was injured where they couldn't go to a human doctor, and a Sazi one was days or weeks away. “Sorry to hear about your healer. Are there a lot of elderly in town? How many kids?”

Danielle nodded. “A fair number. We just have one school in town, K through twelve. There's about fifty students. There's probably two hundred total Sazi in and around Luna Lake, scattered around. About half of the adults are over forty. It was bigger right after the first attack, but not everybody's suited to life up here. The people who came from big cities wound up moving to other compounds, closer to sewer systems and grocery stores.”

Claire nodded in agreement. “Yeah, same problem at the Tedford Compound. Not everybody is up for the heat and cacti, or boiling well water to drink and wash in, or using outhouses where we can't even put in septic systems.”

A flash of light outside the car caught Claire's eye and she pointed out the windshield. “What in the world is
that
?” The green glow seemed to pulse with a life of its own. It swooped and danced in the black sky like dragon dancers at Chinese New Year. It disappeared and reappeared through the towering treetops along the road.

“Ooo!” Danielle slowed the car and moved to the side at a spot where there were fewer trees and they could see the sky. “It's the northern lights. We don't see them often, and they always seem to be green when they appear this far south.”

Claire had seen videos of the northern lights, but had never seen them in person. It was surreal. Once the car was fully stopped, she opened her car door, which made Danielle nervous. “We can't stay more than a second. We really need to get to town soon.”

“A second is all I need. I just want to see it without the glass.” The image drew her, pulled her to stand up, one foot still on the floorboards of the car. The scents of the night hit her nose in a rush, adding to the frozen moment. The air was so incredibly
clean
. Crisp, powerful, filled with pine and apples, and with a hint of far distant snow on the wind. A variety of animal scents made her turn her head this way and that, but she never took her eyes off the dancing lights. Deer in the deep brush, birds in the trees, along with musky plant eaters she had no name for yet. Possibly elk or moose. Or maybe even bear. She'd never smelled them before.

After a few moments, she was satisfied and started to get back in the car. But movement in the darkness caught her eye. Whatever was pushing against her senses was large—as big as the car, at least. But though she tried, flaring her nostrils and inhaling deeply, she couldn't smell a thing. It was as though the rest of her senses were lying to her. Claire hadn't been born a Sazi; she'd become one after she'd learned to rely on senses other than her nose. And what her eyes and the prickling hairs on her neck told her was she needed to leave. Now. She slid back inside the car, grabbing her seat belt on the way down. “We need to go. Hurry!”

“Wha—” But apparently the look on Claire's face, her scent, or maybe she'd accidentally pressed onto the owl shifter a bit of her own urgency … something was enough to silence Danielle. She slammed the gearshift down and hit the gas, hard enough that it threw Claire back against her headrest.

The car lurched sideways when something impacted the back door on the driver's side. Danielle let out a small screech and tightened her grip on the steering wheel until her knuckles were white. The car leaped forward. Claire felt her own fingers tighten on the armrest. She kept checking the rearview mirror, but there was nothing to see in the darkness behind them. That didn't stop her heart from racing or a low growl from building in her chest. The wolf part of her wanted to turn and fight. The human side knew that anything capable of making a moving car swerve was nothing to mess with. She glanced at the instrument panel. Their speed was sixty and increasing. The little car's engine wasn't very powerful and eighty was the best they could hope for. That should have been plenty fast enough to outrun any animal on the planet, and any Sazi short of a Council member.

It wasn't.

The tires squealed against the pavement when an unseen something hit the back bumper, pushing them forward and then sideways. Danielle turned into the skid as though on an icy road and they shot forward again. They were only a few miles from town now. Most predators, human or otherwise, wouldn't risk continuing an attack where they could be seen. “C'mon, c'mon. Move, you piece of junk.” Danielle was whispering but the words seemed loud to Claire.

The landscape whizzed by as seconds passed. The sour, bitter scent of panic burned her nose every time Claire inhaled.

Just when the lights of the town appeared around a bend, an unearthly howl filled the car and the world upended in a rush of metal, glass … and pain.

 

CHAPTER 2

The phone rang once, then twice, dragging Alek from a deep, dreamless slumber. He slapped around on the nightstand until he found the portable and pulled it to his ear. “'Lo?”

The tired baritone that spoke made him groan and want to hang up. “I'm sorry, Alek. I am. I know you're tired, but is there any chance that—”

“This is the first night I've had off in a week. I'm not tired, Lenny. I'm
exhausted
. I know you're busy and I know the kids need to be found, but if I don't get a few hours' sleep, I won't be any good to anyone. I spent the last two hours working on Mrs. Wilson's computer and I still don't have the spreadsheets run for the city Council meeting.” Alek yawned so wide his jaw popped painfully. He buried his head back under his pillow, taking the phone with him. He wanted to hang up. A quick press of the button was all it would take. But his finger wouldn't move. He had to find out what the problem was first. Was this going to be his life after the police academy too? Never a moment's rest? Always responding to everyone else's problems?

“It's not the search, Alek. It's Denis.”

Crap. He really should have hung up. Whatever it was would serve his stupid, egotistical brother right. But … “Is he hurt?” He bit his tongue before he added
this time
to the sentence. He threw the blanket and sheet off and swung his feet to the floor. He wouldn't be able to close his eyes tonight. No chance.

Lenny's sigh sounded frustrated over the speaker. “He's fine. But he was picked up about an hour ago, tagging the wall of the bathrooms at the lake.”

Alek ran fingers through his hair and padded toward the closet, feeling sick to his stomach—both from the lack of sleep and the knowledge of what lay ahead. “Which means a curfew violation too. You going to charge him with vandalism?”

“I don't have any choice, Alek. He wasn't arrested by us. A county deputy was on a call of nature and startled him … got a face full of paint for his trouble.” Alek winced and groaned as Lenny continued. “Denis was caught red-handed. Well, black-handed. Literally. He was still holding the spray paint. He's damned lucky he didn't get a charge for assault on a police officer.”

Alek's mind started working at top speed. Curfew was a pack regulation, not a county one. The vandalism was on town property. But the lake was a county recreation area. So … was it county or town property? It could at least be argued to be town. But if the deputy pressed for assault … yes, it was only a Class C felony. But it would mean time in a county jail. At least a couple of months, with
humans
. And while Denis hadn't yet shifted for his first time, he came from strong wolf genes. He was sixteen, so his first shift was overdue. It could happen anytime. Especially if he was under a lot of stress. Like being in jail.

Crap.

“Was he taken to the county jail? Is he in Republic?”

Lenny's sigh was one of relief. “Thankfully, no. Their jail is full right now from the big festival this weekend. They didn't have a cell to spare. I got the impression the deputy didn't have time to do the paperwork for such a minor offense, so he turned Denis over to me and told me there wouldn't be any
county
charges.” There was a pause, where Alek started to feel his heart beat again. But then his hopes were dashed.

“But I can't sweep it under the rug this time, Alek. The deputy actually stressed the word
county
. They're going to be watching to see what I do. You know everyone has been watching us more closely, especially with all the rogues lately. They're starting to believe there's something odd going on here. I'm going to have to bring at least misdemeanor charges against him. You can bail him out, but he'll have to go to court, and have a few weeks in jail to think about things. But I can keep him locally and seal the records since he's a minor. We'll make sure nothing …
unfortunate
happens.”

“You want me to come down and pick him up?”

“He told me to call
you
. Not John or Asylin. Told me you'd drop everything to come get him.”

That spoiled brat
. The worst part was, he'd been right every previous time. Alek had promised his mother as she was dying that he'd take care of Denis. He hadn't anticipated it would be an all-consuming lifelong task. Alek looked up at the clock. It was nearly midnight. “Yeah. I'll get him. But tell him you couldn't reach me. Let him stew for a bit.”