The entire pack had gathered

ng with excitement. Everyon

there had never been a quest

ike. Some had whispered th

he might shift into s

inside her as midnight appr

sing to the surface. The wolf

taste it.

th

. The power had receded li

re, still human, still trapped

onfusion, then pity, then bar

shock. But Fiona had seen i

ecognition. As if he'd known

g for it, d

out it in the days that follo

d said. "Sometimes the wolf

yes had said: I know what you

l y

ulled her from the memory. T

, wide and clear and constant

is place, at least, never j

she was less than

orite spot-a flat rock that

branches trailed in the cu

into the rock decades ago,

ti

nd pulled out her supplie

low. She'd have to ask Ki

er dependence, her us

ted to paint, all

nvas in sure strokes, capturi

the breeze, the distant moun

gift, the one thing she could

politics. When she painted,

daughter, not the wolf

sky in shades of orange and pink

n the meditation of color and for

f she too found peace

'd been painting when the fi

er s

hovering over canvas. The fo

s hummed in the grass. Even

ea

upward, suddenly alert. Da

danger

napped b

ing. Three figures emerged f

es in human skin. But these

e rogues-she could tell by

es, by the lack of any pack s

whe

showing too many teeth. He w

rms. "Well, well. What do we

on

k house was too far. Even i

ack, the rogues blocking her

seless-she'd neve

oud that her voice didn't sha

e here an

ike breaking glass. "Is that

l like..." He inhaled deeply,

like nothi

out, flanking her. One was

with madness. The other was

ds were already sh

d, her voice full of contem

olfless. Oh,

she was. Someh

ree. There was nowhere left t

before they caught her. The

inst the invisible barri

seemed to scre

the word even as it left her

on

. "Oh, we will. Eventually. B

bounty on Moon River Pack

eral. "You're worth double.

ck

lun