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lay sprawled out on the ground. Taylor stepped back several feet, not bothering to check for a pulse. The wolf—Penny—had had her midsection torn open. Her insides lay spilled on the ground and her glassy eyes stared out into nothingness.
    Taylor’s grip tightened on her bow. She felt no nausea at the sight of her dead guard, only a cold trickle of dread that ran down her spine. She had to get out of the forest.
    As her eyes scanned the area, searching for the quickest route back to the den, she heard another sound. This one was far more distinct. Shouting.
    She cautiously proceeded in the direction of the voices, hoping to see one of the alphas or, at the very least, Glenn. She found none of them.
    In a small clearing were four shifters, two men and two women, all in their human form and all arguing. She recognized the two women, but without any measure of relief. The first, predictably, was Tulip. The other was the Whiteriver wolf that had confronted Taylor and Alder on their trek across Mount Ezra. Taylor only spared her a brief glance, as she was more focused on the slight girl that the she-wolf was holding by the throat.
    Snow .
    Swallowing hard, Taylor stayed as low to the ground as she could, peering at them from over a cluster of shrubbery. As she was downwind of them, it was unlikely that they’d be able to catch her scent, but as close as she was, even the smallest sound could alert them to her presence. Provided they could hear her over the sound of their own arguing.
    “You never said they had a sister,” one of the males said to Tulip.
    She gave a weak shrug. “I didn’t know.”
    “They don’t have a sister,” the dark-haired woman snapped. Taylor saw her grip tighten around Snow’s thin neck. “Who are you?”
    Snow, bless her heart, served the woman a glare. “I’m the daughter of Alder, alpha of Halcyon, and if you let me go, I might ask my father to at least kill you quickly.”
    For all her bluster, Taylor could see that Snow’s courage was hanging by a thread. Her skin was pallid and tears streaked her face. With a stab of remorse, Taylor noticed that on the far edge of the clearing, a large, black wolf laid motionless, blood pooling around him. Had they gotten him first, or had he been trying to protect his sister?
    Taylor was tempted to notch an arrow and send it flying right for the she-wolf’s face, but she knew that the situation was hopeless, at least for her. Even if she could manage to hit one of the wolves, the others would converge on her before she could notch the second arrow.
    As much as it sickened her to leave Snow behind, there was only one real solution. She had to go get Alder as quickly as—
    Large, rough hands grabbed her from behind, one over her mouth and the other around her waist. She was dragged to her feet unceremoniously and pulled against a hard body. Her captor lowered his mouth to her ear. His foul-smelling breath clung to her skin.
    “Hello there, mommy.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    “Caught her snooping around in the bushes,” the burly male declared as he hauled Taylor into the clearing.
    At the sight of Taylor, the dark-haired female passed Snow off to one of the males. She sauntered up to Taylor and gave her a quick once-over.
    “Nice of you to join us. Thanks for saving me the trouble of finding you.”
    Taylor said, “I don’t know what your plan is, but—”
    “You’re right. You don’t know anything. So shut your mouth.”
    In a quavering voice, Tulip said, “Olivia, we have them both. Let’s just go.”
    Olivia scoffed. “Not a chance. We don’t need them both.”
    The male holding Taylor asked, “Want me to gut her? String her up for them to see?”
    For a moment, Taylor completely detached from herself. The situation—listening to the talk about killing her—it was all too unreal. In the next few seconds, one of them could rip her apart and there was nothing she’d be able to do to stop them.
    “We should just take them both,”