It had been an entirely agonizing day. I was sick thinking about where Gabby was and what might have been happening to her at that moment. My best friend was out there; I hoped she was alive and unharmed.

Hunter and his team had arrived very early in the morning. I hadn’t even gotten to see him before they all headed out to start their search. I was annoyed about that, and then, to make things worse, I found out later that the whole clan had gotten to meet with Hunter and his team briefly over lunch—while I ate a dry peanut butter and jelly sandwich alone in my office. When Cooper texted me to see why I hadn’t come, I was confused, and by the time we realized his text inviting me never went through, it was too late and they’d all gone.

I was already aggravated when Becca started texting me.

OMG, you missed it! One of Hunter’s team members is this uber-hottie polar bear, Quinton. Swooooon!

Hello, what about Ian? I responded, rolling my eyes as I tapped the screen. I didn’t have time for her games that day.

I may be married, but I can still look!

Well, she could look if she wanted to. I had enough to worry about with the Jace thing, and I wasn’t even trying to think about that at the moment. Gabby was my focus.

I was working my second late night in a row. The night before, I’d stayed because I was worried about Gabby then found out she was missing. That night, it was about me doing all I could to help the investigation. I couldn’t be out there on patrol or running to find scents, but I could make sure all the paperwork was processed quickly and smoothly. I filed, stamped and transmitted for hours.

I’d been looking over the case file again, my chin resting in my hand. I was so tired, and it was so late that I caught myself jerking awake after drifting off for a second. I stretched and rubbed my face, then started reading again. If only I could find something in the reports that had been missed, something that would give us a better lead—anything that would help the investigation.

At first, I thought I might have been hallucinating. I hadn’t slept well or eaten dinner, and it was late. There was a good chance my mind or ears were playing tricks on me. But then I heard it again: a brief crackle across the airwaves.

I reached for my radio, looked at the channel and my heart leapt. It was Gabby’s channel. I turned up the volume all the way and held it to my ear. It made another crackling sound, but I couldn’t make out a voice.

I pressed the button to talk back. “Gabby? Is that you?”

No response.

“If you’re there, press the button twice.”

Nothing. I set the walkie back down. Once it connected to its base, the information from the call was uploaded. I waited a moment until it populated and gave me an approximate location, which was nowhere near where anyone had been looking.

A shot of adrenaline rushed through my body. We had her. Maybe we even had them all. We just had to get there. Fast. I called Cooper first. He didn’t answer his phone, so I left the most official message I could manage and started down the chain of command, calling every Ranger on the list.

By the time I reached the fifth one, I was getting panicky and desperate. Where was everyone? Lots of Rangers were supposed to be on call that night.

The only Ranger on the list that I hadn’t called was Jace. And there was just no way.

As soon as I set my walkie down, I picked it back up. How stupid could I be? My friend’s life might be in jeopardy, along with the lives of several others, and I’m going to do nothing because I don’t want to talk to Jace?

But as I reached for the walkie, I had a thought. I didn’t have to call Jace if someone else could go. Even if I couldn’t get a hold of someone on the list, there was still another Ranger available.

I walked outside and drew in a deep sniff of the night air. Nothing unusual. No hint of Gabby. But then again, the walkie call had come from a good distance away. I looked in the direction I’d pinpointed as if I might see something on the horizon that told me where Gabby was.

There was nothing else to it. I couldn’t put it off any longer if I was going to go. I let out a long sigh and looked around one more time. No one was around at that hour. I made my way to my car and opened the door, standing just beside it.

I pulled my shirt over my head, trying not to freak out over what I was about to do. I took off my shoes and wiggled out of my pants, struggling to ignore the stabs of pain rushing up my leg. I threw my clothes in the car and closed the door, standing naked in the frigid night air.

Tears streamed down my face. How badly is it going to hurt? I thought of Gabby and knew I had no choice. I shifted as slowly as I could, but it was excruciating. Usually, shifting hurt no more than a muscle ache after a good workout; we were all used to that. But my first shift since the accident was far from normal.

First, there was the pain. It radiated through every inch of my skeletal system. I let out a cry, attempting desperately to stifle the sound and to stop the pain. My scream became strangled as the change hit my chest, and the sound morphed into a growl. When the transformation was complete, I dropped to the ground, panting and whining.

The pain had come in waves, but miraculously, it was lifting in waves, too. In bear form, I’d felt better than I had in months. I stood and stretched. My muscles moved and my bones felt strong. I jumped and hit the ground to see if there was pain. In human form, jumping like that would’ve been so awful, I would have crumbled to the ground. In bear form, I didn’t feel a thing.

I couldn’t understand the difference, but it wasn’t the time to try. Later, I could figure it out, but for now, I had to get to Gabby. And, if I felt better in bear form, I could certainly run. I did one final, long stretch and pushed my back paws into the ground, taking off at lightning speed.