burning through the dark. Low sn

pulse hammering. Fear would only sharpen

abric from her tattered dress

. The lighter must have fallen ou

st effective de

Her mind raced, sear

and hurled it with all her m

lped in pain and took a step back, letting out a furi

d leg carried a faint hitch, a near-inv

h steadied. T

, aiming at the alpha's head. "Come on, then,

g the valley, a man in black tactical

ington and silent respect in the criminal underworld alike. This mountain range, along with half a dozen others across

de it past the outer pe

he girl cling to the pine trunk. She

rest

uth tugged upward. T

deliberately drawing its attention away from the pa

me. And she kno

st stirred behind h

nraged the pack. They began circli

ging deep marks in the bark, less th

r. She scrambled higher, her e

before she froze or her st

t, and utterly unlike a wolf's cry. It ro

flattened. Tails tucked. The

hell was that? It sounded like a big cat, but n

seconds before retreating, me

nsion left Chloe's body in a rush, an

under the tree. Spotted white

once before sitting back on its h

d. In a Monta

le. But the animal was real, its stare p

not daring to move, locked in a s

ed its head, let out a lazy yawn, and then lay down a

lute limit of her endurance. And this a

d, and slipped sideways. Her fingers uncurl

jarring thud, but the pa

figure emerged from the trees-broad-shouldered, sil