“Up here!” I jabbed my finger at the dirt road leading into the forest. Luke yanked the wheel hard around. The car bounced up the path, the headlights illuminating dense bush and towering larch and Scots pine.

I hated being back here. Seeing the forest after nearly nine months away, after everything Angus and Robbie had put me through, made me feel like a failure. The scent of my former clan clung to the whole area like after hours at a Cross-fit gym. They had all come to witness Angus’ return.

Here I was, crawling back to the Macleans with my tail between my legs. At any moment, I expected a wolf to leap from the bushes, or a bullet to blast my brains out.

But if Rosa was here, then I was damn well going to march right in and take her back.

My inner wolf clawed at my skin, begging for release. At any moment, I would lose my battle against him. I barked directions at Ryan, who yanked the car so fast around the dirt road I thought for sure we’d come off in the ditch. As we neared the meeting place, the scents grew stronger. The whole forest stunk of rotten, despicable wolves. Ryan had the windows down, and the wind roared around us, blowing the scents of my clan all over me, until they invaded my whole body.

“What’s that noise?” Marcus yelled over the roar of the wind.

I strained to hear. He was right; there was a low humming sound carried on the wind.

Hang on, that’s not humming.

“It’s howling,” I cried, straining to hear what they were saying. “The Macleans have called the whole clan together. They know we’re on our way. They’re waiting for us, and they have Rosa.”

“Are you going to go postal?” Ryan yelled, indicating with his chin the moon poking between the branches.

“Not yet,” I growled, tipping the rest of the pills between my teeth. “We still have to—”

“Pull over,” Luke yelled. “I can’t hold on.”

“What?”

“I said, pull over!”

Ryan slammed on the brakes. I pitched forward, my head slamming against the windscreen, before being flung back against my seat. I glanced Luke in the rearview mirror as he swung the door open. His face had already contorted into a wolfish snout. As his hand shoved the door, it transformed into a paw, the long claws scratching against the glass. Just as I turned around to help him with the door, he threw his weight against it, and toppled out of his belt, landing on all fours and dashing to the trees, a bushy tail flapping wildly behind him.

“That’s one down,” Ryan said wryly, frowning at the damage to the door. “You boys owe me a new interior.”

“We’d better keep driving,” I said, gritting my teeth as my wolf clambered to follow Luke into the forest.

“No need. I think we’re here.”

He pointed up ahead, and I realised he was right. The taxi my stepbrothers stole was parked just up ahead. I recognised the bent trees, the cairns of rubbish scattered at intervals along the road. We were here, at the main meeting place of the pack, our centre of operations.

“How do we approach this?” Ryan asked, as the three of us got out of the car. “They’re all going to be in their wolf forms, and they know we’re here. They’ll overpower us in a heartbeat.”

“I know.” I gritted my teeth.

“The Maclean’s aren’t the only ones here. I can smell Bairds all through these woods. They must’ve heard I was coming, too. They’re here to make the exchange – my mother, for me.”

“That’s just wonderful,” Marcus grumbled. “We’re like foxes to the bloody slaughter.”

I raised my gaze to the moon. The light hit me square in the eyes, and my face exploded with fur. My skin felt as if it were crawling with insects, so insistent was my wolf to be unleashed. Soon, soon, I’d be able to resist no longer. But first, I needed to make sure my pack was safe.

A bird flew across the face of the moon. A black raven. It swooped down and landed on the boot of the taxi, transforming into the same black-haired, tattooed man I’d met on top of the bakery.

“They’re in a clearing just up ahead,” he said. “The wolf Angus has claimed Rosa as his own.”

“That’s impossible. Douglas would never agree—”

Cole leapt off the boot and flipped it open, revealing a man stuffed inside, dried blood caked to a wound on his head. Barry the taxi driver, I guessed. From the smell of him, I guessed he’d been dead some hours.

“He has agreed to support Angus’ claim. It seems he hasn’t taken kindly to you establishing a new pack, and abandoning your mother to her fate. Angus has given Rosa his mark.”

Rage shuddered through my body. How dare they touch Rosa like that? How dare they try to mate her without her consent? My hands shook violently. I tried to curl them into fists, but my fingers had become short toes with long claws.

“It’s no good.” I gritted my teeth. “I can’t hold it any longer. Listen, I’m going to the Bairds. It’s my only hope. Follow me in your animal forms, but stick together and don’t go near the clearing—”

My words turned into barks as my mouth transformed. I pitched forward as my knees snapped back, landing with my paws in the dirt. Seams tore as my body transformed, my clothes no longer fitting. Luckily, though the leather cord tightened around my thick neck, it stayed on.

Instantly, my wolfish senses kicked in. The scent trails through the forest lit up like a carefully constructed map, new smells and sensations assailing my body. My mind reeled, drinking it all in.

The man who was Caleb faded from my mind. I no longer had any sense of my human identity. Now, my veins thrummed with raw energy ready to be unleashed on my enemies.

I whirled around to face my pack. They had transformed, too. Cole sat on the bonnet, his black feathers resplendent in the moonlight. Where Cole and Marcus had stood were two large foxes, one a deep reddish brown, the other a lighter tan colour. Their bushy tails thumped against the fallen leaves as they waited for directions. From the edge of the forest emerged Luke, his head bent down as he trotted toward me.

I stared back at the two foxes and the raven. Instinct told me they would be an easy meal, and my stomach growled with hunger. But they carried my smell, the scent markers I had placed on them to identify them as friends. They were my pack. I wouldn’t eat them.

Rosa. You have to save your mate.

I sniffed the dirt, seeking out the trail I wanted. I led the way into the forest, Luke close at my heels, and the foxes following some distance behind. Cole darted from branch to branch, keeping an eye on things from above.

I could tell from the way the paths crisscrossed that Bairds had been here several times in the past month, although they hadn’t clashed with the Macleans. I guessed they’d been monitoring the area, figuring out when the best time to strike would be. Another strong smell wafted across my nostrils, a familiar scent that brought up the few good memories I had from this place.

Mother.

She’d been here recently, with the last few hours. That meant that, for now, at least, she was still safe.

The Baird smell grew stronger, overpowering the other scents of the forest. I followed the main scent trail until it emerged into a clearing right on the edge of the Maclean territory. The smell of the Bairds swirled all around it, and there were fresh tracks heading off in all directions. But I couldn’t see any wolves in the trees.

They should be here, I said to my pack as I paced around the outside of the clearing. Stay back, it could be a trap—

A wolf stepped out of the darkness, directly into my path. His eyes glowed, his front legs spread apart, ready to pounce. He pulled his lips back revealing rows of long, sharp teeth.

Caleb Lowe, the wolf growled. I’ve been waiting for you.