Mace snorted. You needed both hands to count that high?
You secretly envy me. I know you do.
Pike was sliding stealthily through the trees. His ability to get beneath Mace’s skin was rivaling Fallon’s.
Mace wiped at the snow that caught in his blonde hair, melting in icy rivulets down the nape of his neck. The others aren’t in place yet.
Can’t wait.
I’d been relieved when the team separated, and sent quick orders, mind-to-mind, for what I wanted. Mace glared but didn’t argue. Pike moved like a Cariboo ghost. He would circle the camp, take out the wandering guards. Mace would clear any watchers in the trees behind the tent. I’d go in alone. Put down the wolf near the front of the tent, go inside, get the hostages out through an opening I’d cut in the canvas, meet them both in the trees.
Mace didn’t move when Pike disappeared. Instead, shadows lurked in his eyes, like he’d worked through the strategy and didn’t like it.
“You sure about this?” he bit out, his voice pitched low.
I matched the quiet tone. “Trust me.”
“I’ve always trusted you. Why would this time be any different?”
“Call off Pike the minute you have the hostages. Send them back to base while you follow my trail. Keep Pike with you. He’ll get you through the Cariboo passages.”
“You fucking planned this, didn’t you?”
“The easiest path to a goal is a straight line.”
“She’s got an army standing between us and her fortress.”
“I am aware.”
Mace’s mood shifted into dangerous. I knew he understood and resisted. “And? After we let them take you—what’s the plan?”
“I’ll be on the direct route home. Straight into her heart. Right through her passages and into her castle. Bypass her army. All you have to do is follow.”
“And keep Noa safe?”
“Do I have your word? Your blood promise, Mace?”
Mace met my gaze a final time with an emotion that I needed to deflect. Time slowed, as if all the years we’d shared were flashing past in a blur that led to an ending.
But hadn’t the High Sorceress said, Make it a good death, wolf?
When his canines flashed, it was another warning against last words. Then Mace snarled and disappeared into the dark.
I looked around. Muted light from the campfire danced across the snow. The night air had a bite that sank clear to my lungs. I speculated on where Amal’s fighters were hiding—in a passage somewhere close. Primed and eager to spring the trap.
A sentry pretended to be asleep in front of the hostage tent. I left him alone and circled to the back. With the claw snicking from my knuckle, I sliced through the canvas. I’d already alerted Levi through the pack bond, and he was silently rousing the others. They were crouched and waiting to push through the opening. As each paused, I snapped the zip ties that bound their wrists and pointed to the trees where Mace waited.
The girls were dirty with their hair hanging in lanky mats, but at least the thick wool they wore kept them warm. The bruising marring Levi and Pond revealed the beating they’d taken, but I sensed no serious injuries that would slow them down. Adriel paused long enough to sign her thanks. Then Catrina crouched in front of me, threw her arms around my neck.
“I knew you’d come,” she mouthed against my shoulder while her thin shoulders shook with suppressed sobs.
A little longer, I told them through the mental connection. Mace is in the trees. Go.
What about you?
I have trash to take out.
Gray—
