CACEY
I drove my elbow into the intruder’s gut, and his arm around my neck loosened. The wulfkin had attacked me the moment I stepped down into the basement, hitting me in the head with a piece of wood. Tianna wasn’t safe, because whoever this wulfkin was, he had to be working for Daan. I’d been wrong to believe it was Vincent. I trembled with the urgency to escape. My breaths were coming too fast, every sound pounded in my skull. The house wasn’t safe. Susi wasn’t safe. Tianna . . . my throat choked, and a desperate adrenaline kicked in to fight, kick, and do whatever it took to rescue my daughter.
Vincent’s weight hauled the wulfkin backward, but not before the intruder’s blade ripped across my collarbone. I screamed and stumbled out of his slackened grasp. Behind me, a scuffle, the coppery stench of blood, and growls. Vincent and the wulfkin exploded into a knitted tornado of shadows and snarls.
I scrambled away and tugged on the light rope near the steps. The sudden boom of yellow light blinded me at first.
Vincent, in his silvery wolf form, stood atop the wulfkin’s chest, snarling in his face. I hadn’t recognized the lowlife at first, but now that I laid eyes on Mark and his hooked nose, the truth crashed into me. He was Daan’s sidekick, and the world crumbled in around me. This was real. The letter from yesterday was Daan’s sick way of telling me to run because he enjoyed hunting me down. Once a jerk, always a jerk. But the bigger problem was Daan targeting Tianna.
At first I stood there, a dark void consuming everything within me.
Vincent morphed into his human form, his hands clasped around the wulfkin’s neck. “What are you doing here? Who are you?” His voice punched through the silence of the basement, sharp and hostile as he stared down the intruder.
Blood trickled over my fingers from the deep cut. It didn’t matter. I rushed toward the pair and laid a kick into Mark’s ribs. “How’d you find me? Where’s Daan?”
The wulfkin gave an awkward, half smirk, then nodded in the way he always used to back in Denmark after knowing that Daan had raised a hand to me. The kind of look that said I deserved it.
My body shuddered, and I threw another kick into his side.
“Want me to finish him?” Vincent’s comment jarred my attention in his direction.
I fastened my sights on Mark, gasping for air. “Is Daan here for Tianna?” I should have gone to Anja’s last night, should have braved the storm, should have ignored Vincent. Now, ice filled my veins.
Vincent smashed a fist into the wulfkin’s face, busting open his lip. “Answer her.”
“Daan has the kid and a message for you.” His response sliced my heart into a billion pieces. I froze, hanging on for his next words. “Don’t go near him or the kid gets it.”
Fear pushed against me, locking my stomach tight. For those few seconds, my life ticked like a time bomb. Helpless and terrified. Daan has Tianna. A shudder rattled through me. Tears prickled my eyes, and I spun around, running toward the stairs. I had to save her.
A strong hand banded around my wrist, stopping me mid-step. “Wait for me.”
I turned to Vincent, my limbs shaking and tears blurring my vision. “Tianna . . . ”
“Give me two seconds to tie up this guy; then we go together. Trust me, Cacey. I’m on your team, and you need bandaging.”
The kindness and concern in his eyes buffered my nerves. “I’m fine.” Despite blood trickling from my wound, time wasn’t on my side. “Every second is precious! Tianna’s life is at stake.” I wrenched free from Vincent’s grip and dashed upstairs. Outside, a knee-high wall of snow blocked the exit. With the sun not rising until eleven thirty in Susi, I was doing this in the dark. But I didn’t care. I had to get to my daughter. Now.
I undressed. The wintery frost snapped around me, but my wolf poured through, freeing herself. Limbs stretched, and my spine elongated. The change increased the effects of the knife gash. It stung like a branding iron to my flesh. I collapsed on all fours. Golden fur coated me, sealing out the icy conditions, and encasing me in warmth.
Tianna.
With determination to fight death itself, I leapt over the snow barricade. The powdery stuff along the front veranda swallowed my paws.
Tianna, I’m coming.
I pounced into the woods, faster with each leap over trees downed from the storm. My heart beat fast beneath my ribs. My chest hollowed out. Please be all right. Please.
The distinct scent of wild muskiness rushed up behind me on the wind. Vincent, who stood half a foot taller than me, sprinted in rhythm. We picked up speed, zipping from one tree to the next.
Just knowing a powerful Varlac stood by my side injected me with a new surge of energy.
Forest debris and snow were tossed beneath my paws. Quick breaths escalated even faster as the forest became a blur on either side of me. Adrenaline propelled me into a race against time. My mind went numb. Tianna, I’m coming.
Up ahead, a wolf broke cover from the dense woods and halted in our path. When I caught a glimpse of white ears, I knew it could only be one wulfkin—Anja.
My heart slammed into my ribcage. I shoved my wolf back as I ran toward her, shifting into my human form. She transformed too.
One strangled word poured from my mouth. “Tianna?”
Anja’s eyes were frozen, robbed of their usual merriment. Pale cheeks, glistened eyes, trembling lips said it all.
My knees hit the snow as my world dissolved. If I lost Tianna, I’d die. My shoulders sagged. I gasped for breath. “No, please, no.”
Tears covered my cheeks. Darkness gathered into my mind, blackening my thoughts. I should’ve come for her as soon as I saw the note. Why hadn’t I? I could’ve borrowed winter coats for her and me from Anja. Questions jumbled in my mind, each one slicing through me.
Vincent was there, a hand around my waist, lifting me to my feet, but I could barely feel his touch.
“Where is she?” Vincent asked Anja what I couldn’t. My focus was the rawness beneath his words. Anja’s hiccupped breaths. Eight months we’d lived in Susi. Tianna fit into the pack family. I adored my job, our easy life, and the friendliness. How had Daan tracked us?
My body shook as I stared at the sharp indents of our footsteps in the surrounding snow. The drum of my heart pounded in my ears, and something cut into my hands. My fingernails had dug into my palms, drawing blood.
Anja wiped her red eyes. “Sh-she went missing this morning. My girls came for breakfast while Tianna slept in, but when I went to check on her, she wasn’t there. The window was open. Why would she run away?” Hugging herself, she sharply drew in her next inhale. Her words were a train, linked to one another, shooting past at lightning speed. “I was searching the forest and making my way to you since the phones aren’t working. So sorry, Cacey. We’ll find her. Kids, they take off sometimes when they’re scared.”
My insides twisted into a warped knot of thorny vines, scraping me raw. “She didn’t run away. Daan took her.” And my body folded over, last night’s meal resurfacing. I stumbled away from the pair as everything came flooding out. Why didn’t I follow my instincts last night? “It’s my fault.”
“Who’s Daan?” she asked.
“It’s her ex. She’s been hiding from him.” Vincent was near me in an instant, holding my hair, his hand rubbing my back. But I felt like a ghost, like nothing around me was real.
Anja gasped and sniffled, wiping her eyes. “Shit, Cacey. We’ll find her. I promise.”
“Daan will pay.” With Vincent's attention back on Anja, he said, “Take me to your house. I’ll find tracks. A scent.”
“It’s good to have you home, Vin.” Anja’s words quivered.
Vincent offered me a strained smile, something I doubted I’d ever be able to do again.
I brushed past them both and threw myself into wolf form, sprinting for Anja’s house. Maybe Vincent was right, and I’d find a clue. And when I got hold of Daan, I would make good on my promise to rip out his spine.