The kids who’d come to take the test this Saturday morning were all about ten years younger than Maria, excepting a few adults who, like her, were hoping to go to college for the first time. America was a fine place, she thought as she walked. Here, a person of eighty years old could decide it was time to get a college education and go. It cost money, but there were ways to find it and people who would help. Maria had explored every avenue and put together a plan to combine scholarship opportunities with working. It would be tough, but she would do it.

An air of anticipation hung over the building Maria entered. She checked in, following the directions to the room where she’d take her test. Kids who knew each other talked excitedly, hiding their nervousness, while others found seats, eyes wide with anticipation.

The current of anxiousness was palpable. Maybe Maria had lived with Shifters too long, because she picked up every nuance of worry, fear, and excitement.

She chose a desk near windows that overlooked the parking lot. Maria could see Connor lounging in the truck fifty yards from her, the sight of him reassuring. Connor had been such a help to her ever since she arrived. She couldn’t imagine surviving this long in Shiftertown without Connor. Or Ellison.

Ellison. No, Maria needed to focus. She’d suck it up, do the test, and then relax on Dylan’s porch with her friends, and let thoughts of a bare Ellison run through her head all she wanted. He’d been beautiful as his wolf, his fur itself quivering with his strength. She’d loved stroking him . . .

“You may start,” the man who was proctoring the test said.

Maria jumped, watery fear running through her, and opened the test booklet. She looked at the first question with numb eyes, and let out her breath again.

She knew that one. She could do this.

Maria answered a few more questions with confidence, then looked up and out the window to reassure herself with Connor’s presence again.

And saw him slumped over in the truck, his body limp. She also saw two men she didn’t recognize climb into the front of the truck and drive it away.

Chapter Eleven

Maria jumped out of her seat. The other test-takers looked up and around in irritation.

“You need to sit down,” the proctor said.

Maria remained standing, watching the truck speed up and out of the parking lot. She turned around, blindly afraid, and made for the door.

“You can’t leave until the break,” the proctor said, rising and following her.

“I have to. This is an emergency.”

The man looked annoyed. “If you leave the room, you’ll need to turn in your test and forfeit your fee.”

Meaning she’d have reschedule the test for who knew when and save up more money for the fee. But someone was busy abducting Connor, and all thoughts of tests, university, and the rest of her life went away.

“Sorry,” she said. She shoved her incomplete test at the proctor and ran out of the room.

Outside she stared at the parking lot from which Connor had disappeared in dismay. He had her cell phone, and she was in a building whose offices were shut up for the day, and the campus was deserted, everyone here today focused on testing. The proctor might have a phone she could borrow, but he’d decidedly locked the door after she’d run out. She needed a phone and needed it now.

An ordinary person might have given up. But Maria had grown up in a tiny town with few luxuries in the middle of a desert, and she’d learned to be resourceful. She started jogging down the street, heart in her throat, wishing Ellison was with her, and knowing she needed to find him.

***

Ellison held down his sister’s wolf, growling at her. He was dominant. She needed to obey.

Deni snarled and fought. She’d woken up out of a bad dream this morning, confused and forgetful again. She’d charged out of her room in wolf form, attacking Ellison as soon as he’d walked in the front door after standing guard over Maria all night.

Deni and Ellison had fought a silent battle on the floor for a long time before Deni had suddenly gone limp, giving up. Ellison had carried her back to bed and turned to get dressed again to go with Maria and Connor to where she’d take her test, only to discover that Deni had been playing possum.

As soon as Ellison turned to leave Deni’s bedroom, Deni had come out of the bed and leapt onto his back. He’d heard Connor and Maria drive away while he’d fought off several hundred pounds of wolf.

Will and Jackson had already left for the day, their jobs starting at first light. Ellison and Deni battled it out alone, she too strong and swift to give him time to call for help.

Ellison pinned her with his large wolf’s body, Deni swiping with claws and teeth, a mad light in her eyes. Both their Collars snapped sparks, the pain biting Ellison deeply.

This was insane. And heartbreaking. One day Deni would go too far and seriously injure Ellison or her own cubs, or Ellison would have no choice but to kill her.

The idea sent a wash of pain through him at the same time he staved off her attack, she trying to rip out her older brother’s throat.

The phone pealed into the rumble of growls and snarls. Deni jerked, her attention diverted, but Ellison didn’t dare let go of her to answer it.

He knew, though he didn’t know how, that the person on the other end was in danger. Jackson and Will were out there, neither wanting to stay home from jobs they liked. Connor was out there too, with Maria . . .

Ellison tried to get up. Deni used his distraction to attack, jaws open, fangs bared.

Ellison caught her as he shifted, hands digging into her fur, swung her around, and threw her across the room.