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Hazel was right about it, but I’d never admit it to her.

I didn’t need Ember. I couldn’t.

“There are at least twenty wolves to the east,” Matt said. “About ninety percent of our warriors are still alive, but only five at most can continue to fight. All others are too injured to shift back into their wolves. Even you.”

I shoved him away. “I can shift into my wolf. I just need a second.”

“You shouldn’t,” Linda said, running over to us, her wounds healing within seconds. She had always been a quick healer. “Send me out there. Let me prove to you that I am the best choice for luna of this pack. When this is all over, we can⁠—”

A howl erupted through the forest, and I spotted twenty wolves running toward us, but not in aggression. No, they were running away from something … or someone. Pumping their legs hard. Fear written across their faces.

“What the fuck is going on?” I snarled, shifting back into my wolf.

As they ran in our direction, I took out the three biggest ones up front. Linda killed two to the left. Silas slaughtered five smaller ones near the back. Almost all of them were dead by the time we finished them off. And the last one?

The last one was being crushed under the weight of that goddamn asshole.

Cade.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growled between my teeth, spitting out a wolf’s throat from my mouth and shifting into my human. The taste of his blood sank into my gums, and I glared at that fucker in front of me. “Get off my property.”

“Where’s Ember?” he asked, shifting.

I grabbed my abdomen again. “How should I know?”

“Because she’s known for sneaking over to your property.”

“Well, she’s not here,” I said, gesturing to the battleground in front of me. “If you could open your fucking eyes and see the sea of blood in front of you, I’ve been busy fighting off three packs today.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you were doing,” Cade growled. “Where is she?”

“My Goddess, blind and deaf too?” I asked. What the fuck is his problem?

“Ember is not at the house,” Cade said.

“Not my problem,” I snarled, yet my chest tightened. “Find her yourself.”

“I can’t.”

“You have a nose like a fucking tracker.” I tightened my hands into fists and stepped toward him. Had he lost her?! “What the fuck do you mean, you can’t find her? Did you even try? She’s probably scouring the trash for banana bread at Java.”

“She’s not.”

“Did you check?”

“You think I’d come here, asking you, if I could pick up her fucking scent?”

With blood all over her hands, Hazel hurried out of one of the houses that we had turned into a medical center because our hospital was too far away from today’s battle. “What the hell is going on out here? I said that I need more⁠—”

Before she could finish her sentence, she spotted Cade. “What are you doing here?”

Cade turned to Hazel. “Please, tell me Ember’s safe.”

Hazel furrowed her brows. “What are you talking about? I haven’t seen Ember since I left your place this morning. She was painting—or at least trying to. I left a couple of minutes after you did earlier.”

“Fuck!” Cade shouted, one hand on his hip, the other running through his sweat-drenched hair. He turned around and scanned the forest. “Where the fuck did you go, Ember? Are you really that mad?”

“Wait, she’s really gone?” Hazel asked. “Would she really just leave?”