- Riven The healers make quick work of their assignment. The girl is laid out on the cot in front of me. Her short black hair sticks up in a million directions as her head lolls back and forth. If it wasn’t for the subtle rise and fall of her chest, I would have already thought that she was gone. The truth is that she would have slipped away if I hadn’t arrived when I did. I work my fingers into the stiff and sore muscles on my neck as I slip out of the cabin. I can hear the healers tittering behind me. “Such a shame. A beautiful wolf was just wasting away in that camp.” “I hope the leaders find the man responsible for this and toss him into the river.” I smirk as I make my way to the leaders’ cabin. Leaders or not, we still have to have a conversation. Niles is the first to see me. His eyes narrow as the friendly act that he put on in the woods seems to quickly melt away. “Riven. We need to have a chat.” “I agree.” He falls into step beside me. “I know that you’re n

- Riven I press my fingernails so far into my palms that I can feel small trickles of blood spilling over my knuckles. I breathe deep and make a conscious effort to relax the muscles in my face. I smooth out my expression. I can’t let Niles see that he’s getting to me. More importantly, I can’t let Kate think that this will deter me from being with her. I don’t know what he’s got planned, but it’s not going to work. I clear my throat. “I’d heard that Kate had gone to the river. I came to discuss our hunt. I figured that she’s well enough now to join us.” I turn to Kate and bounce my eyebrows. I’m confident that she’ll want to get as far away from Niles as possible, especially if she can get back into our hunt. She cares about this too much to let Niles stop her from joining us again. Kate glances at Niles. Her expression is grateful as she takes a step back from him. She waves a hand toward me. “Riven is right. I’m feeling much better, a little bit of a sting still, but I don’

- Kate We practically sprint to Willie Lake. I haven’t been anywhere near it in ages, and I wish I were returning under better circumstances. My feet slam against the dirt as we power through the woods. If we make it in time, we might be able to save some of the girls. We might be able to kill Marcel. I’ve never taken a life before, but he’s probably ended numerous lives since all of this started. We make it to Willie Lake, and sure enough, there’s an operation here. I don’t know if it’s anything like Riven described, but there are dozens of trucks like the ones that we saw back in the woods. Riven transforms, and so do I. He points at the trucks and says, “What’s our angle? We could go in on a rescue mission, or we could go straight for Marcel. What do you think?” “He’s going to have people keeping watch, maybe even some wolves. We can’t save all of those girls, we’re going to need the rest of the pack for that.” “Damn it,” Riven sighs as we look at the people shuffling b

- Riven I’m used to being in charge. There’s been a few times in my life where I’ve had to fall back and listen to my superior wolves, but this is the first time in my life that I’ve ever had to take orders from a human, and it’s the highest insult. Humans are far more disorganized than they would have you believe. Over the last day, I’ve watched at least a half dozen humans shuffle in and out of this cabin, exchanging information with Cody that he’s already said at least three times before. Why are they so stupid? More importantly, why am I allowing myself to be held captive by them? I look to the right of me, where Cody is sucking down a to-go bowl of soup that he got from a local restaurant. Steam rolls off the plastic bowl, and he clamps his fingers tight around it, as if he’s concerned I’ll lunge forward and take it from him. Taking it from him wouldn’t be out of the question, though. I can’t remember the last time I ate. I clear my throat. “Hey. I’m hungry.” Cody loo

- Riven Kate sends me a nervous glance, then looks toward the door. “I should get going. If Monica is out there, she’s going to kill me.” I ignore the pain shooting through my side. Talking to Kate has been a welcome distraction from the pain I’ve been feeling ever since Monica rescued me. “I’ll make sure that they don’t.” I lean forward and brush my lips against hers. My muscles relax as I watch the way her eyes flutter shut. Kate heads toward the door and pulls it open. I walk to the door, and Monica is standing in front of Kate. Monica’s lips curl in disgust. She crosses her arms over her chest. “What are you doing here? I would have thought that you would be asleep.” To my surprise, Kate stands up straight and boldly says, “I can think of other things to do than sleep. After all, we’re in the middle of a crisis.” She does a poor job of containing the scathing look that she gives Monica, and slides past her. I can feel the heat radiating off of Monica, but I can’t