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form to cover all our bases. Most of the others were slightly northeast of our location—each team spread out to fully encompass the property and offer no room for escape.
    Sandman caught my eye as we ducked underneath an ancient pine tree. “You ready for this?”
    I nodded once and bared my fangs. I kept my wolf close to the surface, ready to shift and take over if need be. Sandman was ready as well. I could see it in the way his eyes burned, hear it as he growled deep in his chest. The Wariksens might not have been our pack, but we were still ready to battle for them and for the safety of the women they cared about.
    We were less than half a mile from the mine entrance when all hell broke loose. A single yelp was the only warning we had before the air filled with the sound of wolves growling, barking, and fighting. Sandman and I stayed human, as was part of our plan. If anything went wrong, we would attack as men, fight with guns, and get the women out. No matter the cost.
    When we ran into the clearing at the front of the mine, what we saw was a full-on battle. Wolves of all sizes and colors running, jumping, biting, and wrestling. The members of our team that were to remain in human form were on the sidelines, carefully aiming and picking off our opponents one by one. Though the bullets fired probably wouldn’t kill one of us without a perfectly aimed shot, they would definitely put the wolf out of commission temporarily. Not to mention, being shot hurt like a bitch.
    I didn’t envy the shooters—with the amount of wolves in the clearing, it was especially hard to tell which side each wolf was aligned with. The only ones clearly from the Wariksen clan were the snow-white wolves racing through the melee. Those two were sons of the Alpha and could be spotted from two-hundred paces. The rest were harder to identify if you weren’t intimately familiar with their wolf form.  
    Blue smoke suddenly poured out of a small alcove to the west of the main entrance, the signal from Shadow that the women had been located. Sandman and I rushed toward it, skirting the battlefield and avoiding detection. My instincts flared with the adrenaline coursing through my veins, making me feel the urge to shift. I held it back—my body burning in protest, fur sprouting from my skin before I could control it. Get the women out; that was my mission. I would hang on to my humanity until I had done so.
    “Incoming!” Sandman’s warning came a split second too late. I spun and swung my arm around, but nomad knocked me off-balance. The wolf fell on top of me, clawing and tearing at my back while trying to get his teeth into my neck. I rolled and shoved my shoulder into his gut before reaching up with a half-shifted paw and using my claws to shred his throat.  
    With a roar, Sandman yanked the now-dead wolf off of me.  
    “You okay?”
    I wiped my bloody hand on my jeans and used my clean one to brush the mud off my face. “Yeah, sure thing. Fucker basically tried to mount me is all.”  
    Sandman chuckled as he offered me a hand and helped me to my feet. We continued forward, flanking the opening to the mine. With a quick hand signal, he let me know he would go in first and I should cover him. Seconds later, we were inside, our eyes quickly adjusting to the dark. I yipped once, my signal to Pup that we were close. He came bounding around the corner in wolf form, tongue hanging out, looking like a family pet greeting his master.
    “You are entirely too happy, kid.” I followed him back the way he came, rubbing at my chest where a strange burning grew stronger with each step.
    “You sure you’re okay?” Sandman whispered, glancing over at me. He had his handgun out in front of him, ready to fire should another nomad catch up to us.
    “Yeah. Just a little...”
    The smell of lavender and lime inundated me, making my chest burn hotter and my skin prickle. My knees nearly buckled as I lost all sense of time and space. On the second