I jerked my narrowed gaze toward him. “I forgot my wallet. If someone has PayPal, I’ll wire them the cash right away.”
“Here.” Liam extended a green bill. “Get the guy out of here.”
I took it from him, mumbling, “Thanks.”
I ran back to the cabdriver and tossed the bill through his window, then waited for him to leave. Once his tires spun, spitting dirt and pebbles against my ankles, I made my way back to the others.
“You look like hell,” Lucas said.
God, if only I could bash his tiny skull in. Sensing he’d riled me up, his smile grew grotesquely wide.
“What’s your PayPal account, Liam?” I asked.
“I don’t have one.”
Why did no one freaking have a PayPal account? “I’ll pay you back later.”
“Sure.” He shrugged without looking at me. He was entirely focused on Frank, who was traipsing back up the hill that led into the thick woods. “Should we get started?”
Frank nodded, slipping his phone into the holster hooked on his belt. “Get into your wolf forms.”
Matt ripped off his t-shirt then pulled down his pants. Soon, Lucas and Liam, too, stood there only in their boxer-briefs.
Lucas leered at me. “Planning on ogling us or joining us?”
I went pale. Unless I wanted to tear my clothes apart, I would need to take them off also. My pride was dying a slow, agonizing death.
“Why don’t you go change behind the building?” Liam offered as my fingers rolled up the hem of my tank top. “No one’s inside.”
“Alphas change with their packs,” Matt said.
Liam glowered at him. “Ness isn’t an Alpha.”
I thought about turning around and going through the change with my back to them, but that had my stomach in knots.
As I hurried toward the back of the house, Liam’s voice rose. “Watch out for the grate. It’s pure silver.”
A silver grate? I turned the corner, stepping lightly, carefully. I caught the metallic tang of silver before I even saw what Liam had mentioned. There, flush against the squat building was a grate twice the size of a sewer cap. I peered through the sturdy metal netting, at the excavation that was as deep as a well.
“Ness? Are you ready?” Frank’s voice made me jerk away from the hole.
I put some distance between me and the silver grate, then chucked off my sneakers and clothes and concentrated hard.
Nothing happened.
I tried harder.
Still nothing.
After everything I’d gone through to get here. And now this! Traitorous body.
“Please,” I begged.
But apparently beseeching my wolf was pointless. Minutes ticked by, and I remained pale flesh and taut human limbs.
Iwasn’t the type who gave up, but it had been ten minutes, and I was still in skin. Why the others hadn’t rounded the building to find me yet was beyond me. I reached for my underwear just as a howl pierced the buzzing air.
And then another wolf howled.
And another.
The base of my spine tingled, and then my bones began to shift underneath my skin. Tears of relief coursed down my cheeks as my ears migrated to the top of my head and my mouth elongated into a muzzle filled with teeth that could scissor through bark and bone. The dusting of hair on my body thickened to summer fur. I fell onto my forepaws as my hind legs shortened and readjusted, as the wolf in me replaced the human.
In my four-legged form, I jogged around the house.
A large gray wolf with sharp blue eyes-Lucas, I imagined-howled, and this time I understood him. Did you have to take a shit or what?
I snarled at him.
Matt was more bear than wolf, butter-colored with vivid-green eyes. Next to him, I looked like a scrawny pup. Liam was much larger up close than he’d seemed in the woods. His glowing yellow-amber eyes raked over my unimpressive body before settling back on Frank. The elder crouched beside us, a strip of crimson fabric gripped in his hands.
“You’re going to head south.” He pointed toward the thick forest coating the side of the mountain. “We’ve spread pieces of this throughout the woods. Follow the trail until you find Eric. The rest of this shirt is tied to him. He’s your finishing line.” He passed the piece of fabric around so we could soak in the smell-sweet cigar smoke and cedar. “Now, the quickest way is straight down the hill, but it’s also the most hazardous. If you get stuck in a trap, we will free you at the end of the race. Remember: do not turn back to skin. I will feel it if you do.” He tapped his wrist as he straightened and rolled the cloth up into his palm.
I was glad for the blood oath then, glad someone could track my whereabouts and vitals. I rotated my withers then crouched low, the tall grass tickling my thumping chest.
“Ready. Set.” Frank’s voice rang out like a starting pistol. “Go!”
We sprang into action.
Lucas’s hind paws sprayed dirt into my eyes. I blinked wildly, slowed, then switched course. Frank had mentioned the shortest path was the most treacherous. Was it true or a trick?
Lucas dashed through the tree line, vanishing into the forest that spilled down the flank of the mountain. He was apparently not worried about the traps, or maybe he’d change course at a later point. Soon Matt and Liam were lost to the trees, too. Although I could hear the soft thuds of their paws and sense the hectic beats of their faraway hearts, I could no longer see them. Which was better. I needed to funnel my awareness onto the ground.
I ran almost leisurely, stepping lightly through the underbrush. Spooked raccoons scampered out in front of me, and birds flapped out of trees, wings dark against the dazzling sky.
At some point, I forgot this was a race and flew heedlessly down woodchip-covered trails. The distant rumble of a car reminded me to melt back into the forest. I cut across a billow of spiky ferns and came out crowned with a cloud of frisky black flies. I flicked my ears and swiped my tail, then growled until they buzzed off.
Dense brushwood raked over my chest and leaf litter snagged in my silky white fur as I jogged toward a stretch of glittering water. My muscles became greedy for speed, so I ran faster. When my paws hit the chilly stream, I halted and lapped my fill. And then I pounced inside to cool my flushed limbs. I bounded down the riverbank, hopping over rotting trees and smooth rocks.
I thought I saw a blur of black fur to my left, but when I looked, there was nothing but a giant boulder. If I hadn’t drunk water, I could’ve blamed my delusion on thirst, but my mind was clear. I was making up company to comfort myself into thinking I wasn’t lagging behind. WasI lagging behind?
I raised my face and sniffed the air, caught the musky scent of another wolf. I looked for him but didn’t see him. I sped up, slaloming through the trees, sliding over patches of dry dirt. I sniffed the air again. This time, it was the blend of tobacco and cedar that netted my senses. Sure enough, tied to a low branch, flapped a piece of red fabric. At least I was heading in the right direction.
I ducked past the branch but stumbled when my paws tangled on something. I backed up. Transparent fishing line glinted in the sunlight. Was this one of their traps or a vestige of a fishing expedition at the nearby creek? I bucked to unravel the plastic filament, but the knot tightened around my pastern.
I growled at the increasing jumble of thread, slid my fangs between it and my skin, and tugged. The fishing line sliced through my skin before finally ripping on my serrated teeth.
I moaned with relief then backed up to change routes. Another thread, this time taut, pressed against my hocks. I bounded forward, but not before hearing something click.