When the pressure finally disappeared, I dropped at least twenty feet into leaves and dirt and branches, landing hard. Everything hurt. Panic and pain rolled through me and the hyena seized control, and we started running. It didn’t matter where. Being trapped in that gray place, unable to leave... It was a nightmare I wouldn’t soon forget.

My lungs dragged in huge drafts of air as I bolted through the trees, fleeing from something or maybe racing toward something else. I couldn’t tell. I just needed to run.

Nothing else disturbed the forest, and I wondered if it was the same place that I’d been taken from. What if the djinn dropped me somewhere else and I had to find my way across half the country to reach my pack? I slowed enough to look around and scent the surroundings, uneasy at the thought. It seemed familiar, but I couldn’t be sure.

I couldn’t find traces of hyenas or any other shifters. Just nothingness.

My breakneck run slowed eventually and I started to limp, my legs aching at the burst of exertion. I looked around, shaking off the feeling of being pursued, and tried to think rationally. I needed a place to shelter for the night and gather my composure, and figure out what the hell to do next. And food. Food would be good. Clothes. Water.

The list continued to grow as a clawing hunger ignited in my stomach, and along with it came a sinking feeling that maybe I’d been gone longer than just the hour or so it felt like in the gray place. At least the hyena didn’t mind eating raw rabbit, if we could find one in the oddly still forest.

A hint of wood smoke finally trickled through the air and made me sneeze, and I started to search for the threat. Wood smoke meant people, and depending on what kind of people they were, I was either in luck or a whole lot of trouble. As much as I searched, though, I couldn’t find a campsite or cabin. Just a gross pile of old branches and leaves that smelled faintly of smoke, as if it burned from the inside.

I stayed a good distance away as I watched the pile, trying to discern whether it would burst into flame or continue to smolder, when something crunched in the forest behind me. I froze, trying not to breathe, and hoped my hyena form camouflaged me from any hunters or threats.

At least I didn’t have to wait long. A semi-familiar voice croaked, “Lacey?” and someone ran toward me.

I bolted, fearing an ambush, but didn’t get far before I recognized the scent. Nick. He stood in the trees—half-dressed and with a wild beard—staring at me as if he feared I’d disappear into thin air. He breathed raggedly and held his hands out, a few fish dangling from a string. “Lacey. You came back.”

I waited. He looked like he’d been out there for months, not hours. Not days. Months. My throat closed as panic set in. What if I’d been gone for months? What happened to the cackle? How could I just pick up my life again?

Nick pointed behind him at the tangle of branches. “This is a cabin. I have clothes and food and water. You should come in. When you’re ready. I’ll just leave—I’ll leave clothes out for you. Please come in.”

A hint of the wolf gleamed in his eyes, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who struggled with control. At least he could still form complete sentences. That was always a good sign. I stepped out of the undergrowth and paced closer, taking a deep breath to see whether he was on something or not. Maybe he’d finally snapped and the bears sent him to the forest to live by himself.

But he just smelled like Nick, although unwashed and with hints of deer blood and dead fish. Not entirely unappetizing to the hyena, all things considered. All of a sudden, I needed to feel human again before I got lost in the hyena’s thoughts. Then we’d both be crazy and uncontrolled. No good would come of that.

I shifted and staggered, almost falling as my balance shifted, and Nick jumped forward to catch me. I didn’t mind being naked in public, after growing up in a shifter family where nudity was just a part of life, but being naked around him made me suddenly shy. I tried to walk, to get out of the forest and away from prying eyes—or at least to where he said clothes waited, but grunted as my foot slid in mud and ended up even more tangled. Staying in the hyena form until I was on even ground would have been a much better idea.

Nick didn’t hesitate and scooped me up, carrying me over the brambles and deadfalls to the squat little cabin. The dead fish, still warm, slapped against my thigh, but the thought of freshly grilled fish made my stomach rumble and my mouth water. Nick shoved the door open and maneuvered me into the small, dark space. He set me down next to a bed, waiting until I could stand on my own, then blew through the cabin like a tornado—tossing clothes at me, then pulling a basin of water from a spigot on the wall and handing it to me with a towel, pouring more water into a glass, grabbing a board and a knife before returning to the door with a wild look in his eyes. “I’ll gut the fish outside. You can clean up.”

“Thanks,” I said, when nothing else came to mind. My head spun as I tried to keep up with him.

The wolf stared at me, his eyes flashing gold, and my heartbeat grew loud and slow in my ears as I started to feel cornered. He was just too intense. Nick shook himself and a growl escaped his clenched jaw, but he backed up a few steps. “It’s good to see you. It’s very good to see you.”

I had so many questions, I almost wanted him to stay. But the cool, clean water called to me instead, as did the comfortable sweats and T-shirt that landed on the bed behind me when he tossed them my way. The cabin creaked and I looked up to see the door shut behind him.

Nothing seemed to work right as I cleaned up and pulled on the sweats, then found some cheap flip-flops under the bed. I took a deep breath and downed the glass of water, refilling it twice before I finally felt like I could swallow and talk normally. My legs barely held me as I shuffled to where piles of canned food waited near the fire, and debated clawing one open with my bare hands before my stomach ate through my spine. Before I could commit, the door creaked and Nick glanced in, making sure I was dressed before he squeezed through the narrow opening.

He carried a pile of fish filets on the board, and tossed them onto the heated grill pan on top of the stove, and the heavenly smell of cooking fish filled the cabin. My stomach growled loudly enough he jumped, looking for the threat, then smiled very faintly as he recognized me as the source. Nick handed me a bag of nut and trail mix without a word; I almost broke his hand snatching it from his grip, and managed to inhale it on the three steps back to sit on the bed.

The trail mix dented the hunger that ripped through me, enough that I could actually breathe again. “Thank you.”

“It’s almost ready,” he said, flipping some of the fish. “I ate at the river. This is all for you.”

“How did you know I would be here?” I focused on the fish until my head ached, willing it to be done faster. Woodland sushi had to be just as good as the restaurant stuff, right?

“I didn’t, not for sure.” Nick frowned as he sprinkled salt and some pepper on the fish, flipped it one more time to check the crispy side, and slid three of the filets onto a plate. “But I was hopeful.”

He handed me the food and all I cared about was eating. Well, eating and not choking on the small bones that still hid inside the filets. The only sound in the cabin was the crackle of cooking fish, the snap of the fire, and the contented hum that Nick made as he fiddled around in the kitchen. I wondered when he’d ask me what happened, where I’d been, but he didn’t press. I had many more questions for him. Breaking the silence meant going back to reality, though, when I could just enjoy the quiet companionship and the first meal I’d really savored in months.

When I finished all the fish, Nick reached for a can of something from the shelf, but I held out the plate. “No more, thank you. That was very good.”

“You’re sure?” He eyed me, then held out the can. “I have stew.”

“No, thank you.” I wanted to smile at the earnest way he offered the food, crouching there by the stove. “What are you doing out here, Nick?”

He put the can away and added more wood to the fire, frowning as he dumped the dirty dishes into a basin and refilled my glass with fresh water. “Looking for you.”

“You can’t be serious.” I winced as I shifted my weight on the bed, one of my legs tingling with pins and needles. “How long—how long have I been gone?”

“A week, I think.” Nick picked up a battered phone on the shelf to check, then nodded. “Eight days.”

Eight days. And it felt like no more than an hour. I shivered and rubbed my arms, horrified at the thought of being stuck in the in-between place for any longer. The whole world could have changed and you’d never know unless someone dragged you out. I cleared my throat. “What happened with BadCreek? The cackle? Where are my people?”

“I don’t know much,” he said. Nick stayed on the other side of the small room, still almost within reach, and gestured around at the cabin. “I was looking for you. A couple days ago, Kara showed me this place so I could clean up and help if you returned. Your pack—everyone thinks you’re dead. That’s what the other hyenas said.”

“Dead?” I lurched to my feet. “That’s bullshit. Cassidy was right there. I floated away, but I definitely didn’t die.”

“I know,” Nick said. “But no one could find you. The bears think that BadCreek got you.”

“And yet no one is out there,” I said, remembering the silence in the forest. My knees wobbled and I sat heavily on the bed. The cackle gave me up as dead in a matter of days. They didn’t even bother to search. And the rest of the shifters... My so-called friends... They left me to my fate. Only Nick kept watch. What would I have done if he hadn’t been out there? I shook my head, trying to process the betrayal. Unbelievable. “They didn’t look for me? Why couldn’t they find me?”

“You disappeared into thin air,” Nick said. “No trail, no tracks. You just disappeared. BadCreek started hunting through the area as well, so they didn’t have free rein. I kept looking because I... well, because I had to.”

He had to. I couldn’t stop shaking. “The djinn took me out of there; he wanted to make a deal. It felt like I was only gone an hour, and yet I get back here and... everyone gave up on me. They walked away. My friends, my pack... What does that say about me, Nick, that I disappeared and no one noticed?”

“We noticed.” Nick moved forward to sit by me on the bed, though he gave me as much space as the narrow frame allowed. “I noticed. Eloise is out of her mind, apparently. They won’t let her out of the mansion because they’re afraid she’ll start freezing people. And half your hyenas tried to rebel, apparently, before your successor took over. People wanted to search for you, but there were no trails.”

My successor? I frowned at him, distracted by the way he touched my knee. “What successor?”

“Cassidy something. She took over.”

I’d never named a successor. And certainly not Cass. She wasn’t well-suited to being queen—she was too ruthless, and she held grudges. Much like my mother. And we’d all seen how that played out for the cackle. I tried to stand. “She can’t be queen. It’s not right. I’ll go back, and—“

I made it two steps before my vision turned red and the hyena took over as rage brewed in my chest. That bitch. She’d probably plotted all of it somehow. Dragged me into the raid to make sure she could take over—either leave me to be killed by BadCreek or kill me herself. My fist connected with the tree trunk and pain ignited in a blaze all down my arm, but I didn’t care. They didn’t bother to look for me. I disappeared out of my life in a blink and no one cared. I howled in fury and fought harder, wanting to break everything in the world. I searched for something else to knock over or splinter or just hurt, but my fist collided with something soft instead and I looked up, nose-to-nose with Nick.

I growled at him, ready for a real fight as his hands squeezed my shoulders, but as I braced to knock him down and throw him over my shoulder, Nick leaned closer. His lips brushed mine in a glancing kiss, and I sucked in a breath. He couldn’t mean to—

Nick growled back and then his mouth sealed to mine and I was drowning.