Rathbone watched the sun come up. He didn’t see the nocturnals disappear, but when he scanned the sky, they were gone. He was glad they had come to the rescue, but he wasn’t sorry to see them go.

Rathbone thought about what he needed to tell Piper Reyes, who was sitting in the rear of the vehicle. He’d known Piper nearly twenty years, since she’d returned after three years missing in action during a sweep across the continent for werecat survivors. She was a crucial player in his strategic alliance between humans and werecats, and also one of his best friends. He’d spent countless nights consoling her over her lost children.

Rathbone turned to look at her. She had been meditating, but now she opened her eyes and saw him. “When did you get back?” he asked.

“A few weeks ago,” she replied. “Gabriel and I made it to New York, but it took us months. When we arrived, the girls were gone. The Library was burned to the ground, and word on the street was that my daughters had been killed outside the gates. So we sneaked into Alex’s compound, and Gabriel held a knife to his throat while I questioned him.”

“And?”

“He said it’s true. The girls had fallen in with some young street thug named Aiden.”

“Really? Aiden, you say?”

“Alex said they accidentally set fire to the Hunter Library and left the city in fear they’d be thrown into a cellar for life. Alex said he sent a group after them, but before they could get to them, the girls and this Aiden boy were attacked by a band of hyenas. But I just can’t believe it. In my heart, I know they’re still alive.”

“Hyenas, eh? Never did trust them. In some ways, I think they’re more conniving than ferals. But it sounds to me like this Alex is even more conniving than hyenas and ferals put together.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. But how did you get back here, and how did you end up in L.A.?”

“We were holed up in New York for weeks as Alex and his men hunted us. Alex wasn’t just going to let us walk out, regardless of what truths he pulled out of us, so we stole his biplane.”

Rathbone chuckled. “Stole a plane, eh? That’s the Gabriel I know.”

“Yep, that’s my Gabriel,” she replied. “Unfortunately, by the time we made it back across the continent, the northern fog was so heavy that we couldn’t make it to the mountains. We had no choice but to turn south and land in L.A.”

“Where’s Gabriel?”

“When we landed, we reported back to Olympia. Gabriel was given orders to lead a group of scouts back north. They needed me here to prep against a growing group of ferals from the east. We never realized how bad the feral infestation would be or that it would happen so fast. The feral population has quadrupled since we left, and that was less than a year ago. Now I know we should’ve stayed. We were needed here. I knew better than to go, but my heart just couldn’t let go of my girls.”

“Piper,” Rathbone said, reaching his right hand backward to grab hold of hers. “You don’t have to let go.”

“We’re here,” Rebecka said as she spotted the tarp-covered flatbed truck. It was partially hidden behind a clump of brush near the entrance ramp to Highway 10.

Rathbone and Rebecka glanced at each other, then Rathbone turned to Piper. “Piper, your girls aren’t dead.”

She stared at him. “How could you know that?”

“They’re here, Piper,” Rebecka said. She reached back and took Piper’s hand.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Piper said.

“It’s true,” Rathbone said. “But before you see them, we need to explain a few things and … prepare you.”

Aiden and Salvatore restrained Pippa, who was convulsing as she fought against them. Aiden guided Jack as he injected a needle into the line of tubing that fed into her arm. He had offered up his blood to give her a fighting chance, as Pippa had done for him weeks earlier, but the doctor said he couldn’t risk tainting her blood—it held the secrets to humanity’s survival. All they could do was keep her hydrated and sedated.

Abby continued to scream, even after she’d been injected twice. There was nothing to do but put up with it.

Aiden heard a vehicle approach and got down from the flatbed to wait. Jack joined him as a truck pulled in and parked. Rathbone, Rebecka, Salvatore, and a woman Aiden didn’t recognize got out.

“This is Piper Reyes,” Rathbone announced. “She’s Pippa’s and Abby’s mother.”

“I’m assuming you’ve filled her in,” Jack said to Rathbone.

“Yes,” Rathbone said. “I gave her the short version and tried to prepare her.”

Aiden immediately took the woman’s arm and led her to the back of the flatbed. Tears streamed down her face as she looked from Pippa to Abby. She fell to her knees, crying uncontrollably. Rebecka boarded the flatbed and put an arm around her. Then she led Piper off the flatbed and into the crowd of hundreds of humans and werecats that were now gathering.

“What’s the plan?” Salvatore asked.

“We head north, as soon as we’re organized,” Rathbone said. “You three will stay here on the flatbed with the girls, and I’ll leave a few soldiers with you. Doc, your pet bats have gone AWOL, and we can’t wait for them to show.”

“They’ll catch up,” Jack said. “They’ll nest through the day, but they’ll find me at night.”

“Not sure how they’ll be accepted in the safehold,” Rathbone said.

“If they’re to accept me, they’ll accept my brothers and sisters.”

Jack’s black, hollow eyes seemed to press against Rathbone’s mind. “We’ll leave within the hour,” was all he said to Jack before he left.

As he walked away from the covered flatbed, he felt Jack’s mental grip loosen. He liked Jack Tanner, but he didn’t like being controlled.

The recent battle had left the troops exhausted and stressed. They struggled to pull themselves together. Rathbone knew he had six or seven hundred tired and hungry men and women, but there was no time for rest. They had to distance themselves from the Pits before what was left of the ferals came back to kill them.

Rathbone and Rebecka pulled the massive team back together, and the convoy headed out onto the highway. Rebecka drove Rathbone’s Jeep while he rested in the back. Piper reluctantly rode shotgun, but she wanted to be with her daughters. Rathbone said it was best to let the doctor treat the girls unimpeded. Then he drifted off to sleep.

He was awakened hours later by the sound of Piper screaming, “Ferals!”

Rathbone reached under the seat for the automatic and locked it in its metal holster. He swung the gun to the right and scanned a group of shadows. The shadows looked like werecats. Rebecka hit the brakes, and the Jeep skidded to a halt. Spanning the highway were more than a hundred hyena werecats, fully morphed. One of them stepped forward.

Rathbone got out of the Jeep, automatic in hand, and approached the beast.

“You have one of our own held captive,” he said.

“You mean Salvatore,” Rathbone replied. “He’s not a captive, he’s one of us now.”

“The boy has no name,” the creature said. “The men, women, and children of our pack are known by scent alone. We smell his scent strongly and have been following him since he disappeared.”

“Kind of odd you’d follow a boy who claims to come from across this land.”

“The pack sticks together. That is how we have survived since the Fallout.”

“You should’ve stayed back east. Out here your chances of survival are less likely.”

The creature began chittering, a sinister laugh that spread among his pack. The hyenas reverted to human form.

“We are not here to oppose or threaten you,” the leader said. “We only came to collect one of our own.”

Salvatore jumped down from the flatbed and went to stand beside Rathbone. He nodded to the alpha leader of his pack. The man sniffed Salvatore and then hugged him. “We are happy that you’re alive. Where is your mentor?”

“He was killed by ferals back east,” Salvatore said. “I had no choice but to continue on. The ferals were too thick. I could not return home.”

“The ferals have grown in numbers,” the alpha leader said. “We cannot return, either, so we will take you and find a new home for our pack.”

“He’s not going anywhere with you,” Aiden said, appearing from the growing crowd behind Rathbone. With a quick gesture, he exposed his clawed hand for the alpha leader to see. “We need him here with us.”

Rebecka and Piper appeared. Soldiers had begun exiting the vehicles, and some of them had guns pointed at the hyenas.

“Though his place is with us, if he chooses to stay with you, we won’t interfere. Still, we must find a home, and, should he so choose, he can live among his family.”

“Why don’t they come to the safehold in the mountains with us?” Piper asked.

Rathbone turned and shot her a look of surprise. He was shocked that she’d trust a hyena.

“You couldn’t be speaking of the mysterious safehold of the werecats, could you?” the leader asked. “We’ve heard the tales of a great land in the west, safe from ferals and home to our own kind—and apparently humans as well?”

“You’re welcome to come,” Rathbone said, “but you’ll have to follow behind. We haven’t enough room in our vehicles for your pack.”

The alpha leader smiled, and took Rathbone’s hand. “We accept, dear brother. We’ll travel on foot. There’s strength in numbers, and we’ll be of great use in case of a feral attack.”

Rathbone nodded and then looked at Rebecka. “Spread the word that we’re taking a break to eat,” he told her. “We all need our strength.” He turned back to the alpha leader. “Your hyenas are welcome to join us. We’ll be back on course in two hours.”

As Rathbone walked away, he wondered how he was going to ditch a pack of hyenas.