The stench of L.A. disappeared as the convoy sped down Highway 101, finally turning onto a road called Highway 280. Piper rapped her finger on the dashboard of the passenger seat, every fiber of her being alive with anticipation. After decades of hope and longing, she was finally with her children, but she wondered for how long. One was barely clinging to life, the other was out of her mind.

The ragged crew of survivors shared a common thought that seemed to hang in the air—home. They all dreamed of reaching it, resting, regrouping, and rethinking their plan of attack against the growing feral abomination that was spreading toward them like a rash. The ocean came into view, and soon they saw a large body of water, the name of which was labeled on various faded metal signs.

“San Francisco Bay,” whispered Rathbone, now at the wheel of his Jeep. “Been ten long hours. We’ll take shelter for the night just up the road.”

“Is there a new safehold in this area that I don’t know about?” Piper asked.

“Under-bay storage,” said Rebecka, who was sitting in the back. “Across the bridge and up just a ways by a little town that used to be called Strawberry.”

The group crossed a bridge and skirted Richardson Bay, just above San Francisco Bay, and reached Strawberry soon after. A huge cargo warehouse, still fully intact, stretched along the water. The warehouse was an eyesore, rusted and covered with decades of dirt. Piper was surprised when Rathbone brought his convoy to a halt behind it.

“Honey, we’re home,” Rathbone said with a chuckle.

“This place? You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Even ferals wouldn’t swarm this old rust bucket. Besides, you’re seeing the outside, not what’s important.”

Rathbone took a small pen from his pocket and pointed it at a dark opaque circle attached to the side of the building and centered above a set of massive gates. He clicked the pen, and the rusted doors slid open with a high-pitched squeal. Rathbone drove inside the old building, whose nearly spotless interior had been modified into a military safehold.

“Brilliant,” Piper said, smiling at Rathbone.

“Told you so.”

The other vehicles entered the warehouse until more than six hundred men and women were safely inside. Rathbone exited his Jeep and nodded to Rebecka, who disappeared into the crowd to give orders. Soon a group of armed men was stationed at the opening, and other groups were patrolling the perimeter. Piper smiled as she watched Rebecka take command. She had come a long way since their younger days together, when Rebecka was an occasionally rebellious and always unpredictable teenager.

Rebecka rejoined Rathbone, and they made additional assignments, sending groups to perform various tasks, including checking the bunkers below the warehouse, preparing meals, and tending to the injured.

“Rathbone Hayes, it’s nice to see you’re still on top of things,” Rebecka said to him.

“Hush,” he whispered. “No one knows my last name except you, and maybe a few others. Let’s keep it that way. The name Rathbone is legendary enough.”

“Your secret is safe with me, cousin,” she replied.

“The hyenas have arrived, sir,” a young woman said, interrupting their conversation.

“Let them in, but spread the word to keep an eye out,” Rathbone said. “I don’t trust a one of them.”

The young woman went to the door to let in the hyena men and women, who had returned to their human forms.

Piper began to search for the flatbed that carried her daughters. She found it and entered through the back flap. “How are they?” she asked the hollowed-eyed doctor and the two teenage boys beside him. A hand touched her shoulder, and she flinched.

“It’s just me,” Rebecka said from behind her. “Figured you’d be here.”

Abby was calmer, worn out from fighting against her restraints, but she growled under her breath at the sight of Piper. Pippa was still unconscious, but her breathing had stabilized.

“Can I touch her?” Piper whispered. Jack nodded. Piper knelt beside her daughter and took her hand. Pippa’s palm was moist, but the top of her hand was smooth. As Piper rubbed her daughter’s skin, she started to cry softly.

“Who are you?” Abby whispered.

Piper turned to meet her gaze. “I’m your mother,” she said before Jack could stop her.

“You’re lying!” Abby screamed, and she began to struggle against her restraints.

“No,” Piper whispered, but Abby continued to rage. Her violent movements, even with the restraints in place, rocked the flatbed.

“Come on, Piper, let’s go,” Rebecka said.

Piper nodded and stood up. She took a final glance at the daughters she’d lost more than fifteen years earlier—who were still lost to her—and left the vehicle with Rebecka.

That night Piper curled up in the backseat of an abandoned Jeep that was parked close to the flatbed. Her mind spun as she second-guessed every decision she had ever made regarding her daughters, but she finally fell into fitful slumber. She was awakened by the sound of someone exiting the flatbed, and she got out of the Jeep to see if there was any news about her girls. Jack Tanner, the doctor who had become a black-eyed nocturnal, was standing there sniffing the air.

“They’re here,” Jack said, and then he turned and strode to the gates. “Open them,” he said to the soldiers standing guard.

The men refused. Rebecka appeared and approached Jack. “Are the nocturnals here?” she asked him.

“Yes,” Jack replied. “They want to see me.”

Rebecka told the guards to open the gates, and then she turned back to Jack. “You know our people are wary of them,” she whispered as the doors creaked open.

“I know, but there’s no need to worry. They’ll stay outside and guard the area until sunrise.”

The compound began to stir as people were awakened by the noise of the gates opening. Soon the area near the entrance was filled with people hoping to catch a glimpse of the nocturnals. Rathbone showed up and glanced at Jack. The two walked outside, followed by Rebecka and Piper.

“What’s wrong?” Rathbone asked Jack. “I can see in your eyes that’s something’s wrong.”

“The nocturnals have seen more ferals on their way here,” Jack said. “Thousands of them among several different groups. They’re tracking something.”

“How far off?”

“Hours. They won’t reach us before we leave, but there’s another problem. There’s a stench of ferals in the air coming from east of us.”

“I don’t smell anything,” Piper said.

“Your feline sense of smell, keen as it is, doesn’t match the nocturnals’ sense of smell. Or mine.”

“Or yours?” Rathbone asked. “Are you saying you’re not a nocturnal?”

“I’m something more.”

“Yet you didn’t pick up on the ferals’ scent sooner,” Rathbone said.

“I was inside, focused on Pippa and Abby. I shut those senses down because the interior of the building is rank with the stench of blood and wounded flesh.”

“How close are they?” Piper asked.

Jack sniffed the air. “Maybe an hour away.”

“That’s too close for us to begin evacuating,” Rathbone said. “We can either head into the bunker and hide under the bay and wait it out, or stand and fight.”

“I say we fight,” a voice called out. They turned and saw the hyena leader standing beside Salvatore. “If we hide, they’ll wait us out. I’ve seen it happen before.”

“Salvatore, I told you and Aiden to stay with the girls,” Jack said.

“I had him come with me,” the leader barked. “I know your men don’t trust us, so I figured the boy would be our buffer.”

“You don’t need a buffer,” Rathbone said. “Salvatore, head back to the flatbed. Those girls need you with them.” Salvatore looked at his alpha leader, who nodded. Salvatore nodded back and departed.

“We’ll fight to the death,” the hyena said. “My clan is brave. We’re not like other hyena packs who turn and hide. We’re skilled killers. We’ve fought hundreds of ferals.”

“Looks like you’re going to get a chance to prove it,” Rathbone said. “Rebecka, wake the camp. Time for round two.”

The ferals struck within the hour. Though the beasts were outnumbered, the battle raged for hours. As the sun came up and the nocturnals disappeared, the battle finally wound down. In the end, every feral was killed, but at a cost of seventy humans and werecats. They had won, but Rathbone knew that they couldn’t continue to sustain such losses. If it became a war of attrition, the humans and werecats would eventually lose.

“Good fighting,” the hyena leader said to Rathbone. “Though I apologize for our young one’s cowardice. He should have been out here fighting alongside us.”

“Let me tell you something,” Rathbone replied. “That boy did exactly what he was supposed to do—protect those two girls, who may hold the cure to this feral disease in their blood!”

Rathbone immediately regretted his words. The hyenas had fought well and had earned the respect and gratitude of his people, but he still didn’t entirely trust them.

“I will apologize for my words, directly to the boy,” the hyena replied. He turned and walked toward the bunker.

The alpha leader found Salvatore on the flatbed and told him they needed to talk. Salvatore got down, and they found a quiet area. “You’ve done well these months, leading us to a new home,” the alpha leader said. “And it’s even better than we imagined. But tell me—is it true the girls are special?”

Salvatore nodded.

“Good. Tonight, after the humans have settled, we’ll take the girls and escape. If they want them back, they’ll relinquish control of this new safehold to us. So, prepare yourself for tonight, boy.”

Salvatore couldn’t hide the resentment he felt.

“You know the consequences if you deny me, boy.” The alpha leader grabbed Salvatore’s shirt and pulled him close. “You tell Rathbone that you’re running with the pack when we pull out this morning. You need to remember where you came from.”