's

ust as I'd instructed. She was a perfect silhouette

ar even from my perch high in the branches of an old oak tree

true mind-link, but with a focused pro

ve it, but I saw her shoulders r

on. Beyond the northern edge of the trees, a narrow deer path curved toward the forgotten cottage by

ng her, isolating her, turning her grief into silence. But I had left a door open,

rom the trees, a predatory smirk plastered on his fleshy face. He wa

lingering on the cloaked figu

hick with a slimy familiarity. "Couldn't w

perfectly, remained silent and

k like him. He abandoned all pretense of caution and lun

was m

dow descending from above. I landed on

rn, his eyes wide with surprise, my hand chopped down in a single,

is head, and his large body went completely limp.

h had taken less

scious form, her hand flying t

t before she could run and pressed a torn strip of my silver-gray ribbon into her palm. I had already tied it into the old

u pass my mother's cottage, leave this on her windowsill. Do not knock. Do

t to involve Danita. Everyone in our Pack k

" she w

an I meant to. "If she find

fingers around the ribbon, turned, and fled,

arms-he was heavier than he looked-and dragged his dead weight to a

lt of the real ceremonial dagger. I pulled it out. Just as I remembered, a small, de

lips. I slipped the real

I walked to the center of the clearing and placed it on the ground,

uid. I wedged the cloth into Preston's mouth as a gag, ensuring he'd be groggy and silent for a whil

, erasing my tracks, leaving only the signs

. The false evidence was in place. Th

ere, I could also see the faint break in the far trees where the northern deer path met the clearing. If Hazel was fast, if the ribbon reached

as to wait for the