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monotone as he plotted the fastest way back to his mate.
    “How would you know?”
    “Huh?” He turned to his friend again, trying to focus. “Oh, I slashed their tires.”
    Johan stood, his head tilted in disbelief. “You slashed their tires? I thought you wanted them gone? You do realize you’ve sealed their fate. If they can’t escape, those fucking wolves will rip them to shreds.”
    He didn’t stand around to converse, but dropped down to all fours as his body shifted. His bones snapped and morphed as he went from man to beast in seconds. The change hadn’t caused him pain since puberty. It was as seamless as diving in the fresh water lake east of the cabin. In the blink of an eye, the change enveloped him, caressing his flesh, bonding all the facets of his mind into one. Once fully transformed, he leaned down and snatched his jeans into his mouth and bounded off into the forest.
    * * * *
     

    After an hour of hiking through near impenetrable forest and over downed trees and numerous obstacles, the group split up. Bella was too exhausted to argue when Keith led Amanda one way and told Dave to split up and go the other way with Sara. Nobody questioned the fact that Bella would be on her own. Like she’d raved, she was a queen in the forest. All her stories came back to bite her in the ass. She’d only been a kid when she got her survivalist awards. It was just one of the few things she had to be proud of in her life. The summer months spent away from her parents’ control were her best childhood memories. Those days had been about fun and innocence. The forest and potential danger around her was all too real, and she felt smaller than an ant in the center of awe-inspiring nature. Bella accepted her insignificance as she tried to make sense of the greenery around her.
    She was lost. The distant footsteps and the sounds of the two couples arguing had vanished long ago, and every moss-covered tree trunk looked the same. If she knew for sure she’d come across Ben’s camp sooner or later, she’d have the energy to plod on, but only God knew where she was. She could be traveling in the opposite direction and deeper into oblivion. The sun was no longer high in the sky, and the thick forest canopy above her gave a sinister shadowy effect to the world below.
    When the first set of glowing yellowish eyes stared at her from the thick tangle of brushwood in front of her, she stepped back on instinct. She held her breath when the second set appeared a few feet from the first. By the time she saw the third pair of eyes focusing on her every move, she’d resigned herself to a gruesome death. She had nothing to protect herself with, not even a utility knife.
    Her voice failed to work when she attempted to scream. It was like a nightmare where nobody could hear her cries for help, but this was all too real. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears and heaviness of her breathing as she gasped for air. As she mentally tallied the odds and all possible avenues of escape, nothing gave her hope. She was trapped, alone, and helpless.
    “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be walking around the forest alone?”
    Bella whirled around, a voice the last thing she expected to hear in her last minutes of life. A very naked man leaned against a tree, casually raking his gaze up and down her body, unfazed by the wolves moving in around her. When she turned to watch her back, the eyes that had been watching her were gone.
    “Who are you?” Her entire body was tense and on guard. She felt surrounded and vulnerable, not sure if the man in front of her was more of a threat than the wolves or a saving grace. Where were his clothes, and why was he so comfortable with his nudity? He leaned casually with one broad shoulder against the tree, his arms crossed over his muscled chest. Keep your eyes up, Bella. For the first time since the sun began to go down, she was thankful for the thick shadows surrounding them.
    “My name is Draco. The