He lowered himself, allowing me to slide off him and relish the feel of solid ground beneath my feet. Catching my breath, I looked at him and asked, “Why? Why did you wait so long to escape? You said we’d leave the moment the sun set.”

He frowned at me, as though the answer was obvious. “Because you slipped off to sleep,” he said. “And from the look of you, you needed as many hours as possible.”

I gaped at him. I really, really don’t understand this wolf.

Grace

I was not sure how many hours we had been traveling when Micah finally stopped again. We had arrived at the bank of a river. The group was crowding at the front, staring down at something on the ground. Heath and I slid off Jeriad’s back, hurrying over to them to get a closer look. Arwen and Brock followed us too.

There were bloodstains smeared all over the grass. And then there was a bloody object that looked horrifyingly like an ear. The ear of a werewolf.

“This blood is still fresh,” Micah said, sniffing. “Which is a good sign.”

“What? Whose blood?” Vivienne stammered.

“Oh, it’s werewolf blood, don’t worry. Some incident took place here, obviously. I scent at least four different wolves in this clearing.” He paused and moved around a bit more. “Victoria and the man’s scent picks up again over here. Deeper into the trees. Which means they must have escaped… We need to keep moving, but while we’re by a river I think it would be wise to stock up on water and rest for a quarter of an hour. We don’t know when we’ll next get the opportunity.”

Everyone agreed that this was wise. We headed to the water and knelt, lapping up the crystal water and refilling our bottles. I also washed my face and hands.

A hand closed around my uninjured shoulder. Heath hovered over me.

“Will you be my accomplice?” he asked in a low voice.

“Huh?” I narrowed my eyes in mock suspicion. “Accomplice in what?”

“Come with me,” he said. I took his hand and he pulled me upright before leading me away from our group. We walked through the trees for less than a minute before he stopped and pointed to a tree with trailing branches that resembled a willow tree, except they were deep purple in color. It stood about twelve feet away. Through its long but thin branches, I could spy Arwen and Brock beneath it. Arwen was sitting on Brock's lap, his arms resting around her while they talked.

Once Heath had verified that I had spotted them, he led me away and stood with me behind a tree. He proceeded to inform me of an idea—something he wanted my help with. It was a plan too delicious for me to reject.

“I’ll be your conspirator,” I replied.

I could hardly keep my face straight as we moved back into view of the rest of the group. Heath gestured to Corrine, who was talking with my grandmother, and then to Kiev, who was sitting in conversation with Aiden and Micah.

“I’ll fetch Kiev,” he said, “you fetch Corrine.”

“Got it,” I whispered.

And so the two of us parted ways. As I approached the two women, they turned to me, raising their brows. “Have you seen Arwen anywhere?” I asked.

Corrine frowned, even as she looked around the clearing. “No.” Then she tensed. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” I said, mimicking her frown. “Brock is missing, too. Last I saw of them, they were over there,” I added, pointing vaguely toward the direction of the willow tree. “We should look for them.”

Barely a moment later, Heath had finished talking to Kiev, and the two men made their way toward us.

“I won’t worry Ibrahim about this yet,” Corrine murmured. “Hopefully she’s just nearby.”

“I’ll do the same with Mona,” Kiev grunted.

Perfect.

“I’m guessing we shouldn’t shout either, if we can help it,” Heath added, his face amazingly serious. “Probably best to not disturb these woods at night… As Grace said, we last saw them over here.”

Heath led us into view of the willow tree. I could no longer hold back my snigger as Corrine and Kiev’s eyes shot to it at once. Watching the metamorphosis of Corrine’s expression was like witnessing the falling of an avalanche. Her eyes widened at first, then narrowed, as though she doubted her vision. Then the truth came crashing down on her all at once. Her jaw dropped so starkly, she looked like a dead fish.

Kiev only looked mildly less shocked.

“Of all things good and evil,” Corrine gasped. Then her voice strengthened into a bellow. “Arwen!”

So much for not disturbing the woods…

Arwen and Brock jerked apart as if jolted by an electric current. They gasped for words as their cheeks heated to a deep tomato red.

“What in the name of all that is holy is this?” Corrine stormed toward them. “Brock? How long has this been going on?”

I stole a glance at Heath. His chest was shaking with silent laughter.

“Augh, Mom! I was going to tell you, okay?” Arwen cried back.

“I really hope you treat my daughter right, mister,” Corrine rampaged on. She was now standing in front of Brock, gripping his collar. “Because if you don’t—”

“Hey,” Kiev interrupted. “What are you insinuating?”

Heath and I backed away before Arwen and Brock noticed us, although it was clear the entertainment would have lasted a while longer.

As we returned to the rest of the group, I thought of Victoria with a twinge in my chest. If only she could have been here to see that.