65

I paced the living room until the ache in my side forced me to sit in front of the unlit fireplace. I shifted back into my human form and wrapped my arms around myself as I stared at the old, blackened remnants of the fire. Soon, it would get so cold that I’d need to light it, but I felt so numb with worry, it felt wrong to enjoy any comfort.

After all, how could I relax when this cabin was so far off track? I could find my way back to where we were, but there were ferals waiting for us. We would lose too many wolves if we attacked directly like that again. And that meant the path I’d seen was as close to useless as it could get. It felt like I was back to square one.

I leaned my head against the brick fireplace and inhaled the scent of soot and wood. I listened for any sound outside, but something told me I was safe. It was snowing hard enough that my tracks would be hard to follow. But I took little comfort in that because it meant Night would have a hard time finding me—if he was