With the new prisoner as quiet and secure as we could make him, we stepped outside in spite of the cold, to keep from discussing the rest of our plans in front of him—another lesson learned from TV bad guys.

Behind the shed, out of sight from the lodge, I debriefed the guys. Figuratively. “Okay, we need to get rid of the guns before this new pile of shit hits the fan, although from the look of you both, I’d say finding a couple of coats is also a priority.” I would have handed over mine, but I wasn’t sure which one to offer it to. And neither of them would have taken it, anyway.

“Yes, business is obviously pressing, but first of all…” Marc looked like he wanted to hug me, even if just for my warmth, but he wouldn’t let himself. “Are you okay?”

I couldn’t resist a little laugh. “For once, the double standard worked in my favor. I got a warm room, hot stew, and an idiot guard. You guys were the ones freezing your butts off in cages.”

“We’re fine,” Jace insisted through clenched his teeth, probably to keep them from chattering. “You took out three of Cal’s men by yourself?”

“Brains over brawn, baby.” I grinned. “If they ever stop underestimating me, I might actually feel challenged.”

Jace returned my grin. “Or dead.”

“So I guess this means we’re moving against Malone sooner than expected?” Marc asked, arms crossed tightly over his chest for warmth, obviously unwilling to take part in the post-jailbreak levity.

“We have no other choice, unless you guys want to crawl back into those cages.”

Jace’s grin faltered, but couldn’t be completely extinguished. “Not even if you crawled in there with me.”

Marc gritted his teeth, but remained focused on the business at hand. “So…the guns. I’m guessing Malone’s keeping them close. Probably in his bedroom.”

I shrugged. “Actually, I’m thinking they’re in the shed behind his cabin. Alex said they’re locked up, and to my knowledge, none of the bedrooms have locks.” At least, the ones in our cabin didn’t.

“Alex told you about the guns?” Jace asked, through blue-tinted lips.

“Just that they have twenty of them, and brought ten here. But there are three fewer now.” Grinning, I pulled the second gun from my waistband and handed it to him.

Jace looked impressed, but he accepted the pistol hesitantly, no doubt remembering the recovery period from his last gunshot wound. “I don’t know how to shoot.”

“Me, neither, but it makes a damn good threat, and I’m guessing that, up close, your aim doesn’t have to be that good. Just make sure you know how to turn off the safety, or they’ll figure out pretty quickly that you’re bluffing.” While Jace turned the gun over in his hands, I glanced at Marc, who remained stoic against the cold. “Okay, we need to get you guys warmed up and let Dad know we’re out. Let’s go through the woods.” That way we’d be out of sight, and blocked from the worst of the freezing wind.

“So, this is going to go down without backup…” Marc whispered, as we picked our way carefully through the woods. The guys had both Shifted their eyes, too—they were among the first of my Pride members to master the partial Shift—and seemed much more adept hiking in their human forms than I was in mine, even with their limbs surely half-numb from the cold.

“There’s no time to call in the rest of our guys, much less the thunderbirds.” Who had to be contacted in person, thanks to their discourteous lack of a phone. And any other modern convenience beyond a few worn video cassettes and an old television for their children.

“We’re all strong fighters,” Jace said. “And getting rid of the guns will help even the odds.”

But even if we managed that, war wasn’t fought without casualties. We would lose someone. Maybe more than one someone. And that was not okay.

Fifteen minutes later, we peered between the trees at the back of our own cabin, listening and looking for anything out of the ordinary. If Malone knew we’d escaped, he’d have someone watching the cabin, and while we were more than ready to fight, we couldn’t risk starting something big before we’d gotten rid of the guns and warned everyone else. And warmed Marc and Jace up.

“I think it’s clear,” Jace said finally, and I nodded. I’d neither seen nor heard anything weird, and I knew every figure who’d passed by the window. But my father hadn’t been among them. Was he still at the lodge, unwilling to leave me there alone?

My heart ached in both gratitude and frustration, and I would have given just about anything for a cell phone at that moment, so I could fill him in.

“Let’s go.” Marc stepped through the tree line, then ran for the back steps. Jace and I raced after him. By the time we got there, Marc was knocking on the door. “It’s locked,” he explained, when I stopped on the step below him, uncomfortable standing exposed in the porch light.

The sheer curtain parted, and Teo Di Carlo’s face appeared. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he recognized Marc in the porch light, then saw me behind him. He fumbled with the doorknob, and a moment later ushered us inside.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I love central heat?” Marc headed straight for the coffeepot, still dripping with fresh, hot caffeine.

“And roaring fireplaces…” Jace made a beeline for the stone hearth. “Anyone got marshmallows?”