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friend.
    Rebecka hugged her back and then smiled at her. “You’re not going to believe who we found.”
    Rathbone grabbed Rebecka by the shoulder. “Let her find out for herself.”
    The fighters regrouped and headed out toward Highway 101 to join the small band of people, now the hope of the entire planet, hidden twenty miles away.
    â€œI can’t believe we survived,” Rathbone said. “You know what this means, ladies. Heaven is on our side, and things are about to change.”
    â€œHumans, werecats, and nocturnals, and whatever the hell Aiden is,” said Rebecka. “I’d say that’s some tapestry of sorts.”

Rathbone watched the sun come up. He didn’t see the nocturnals disappear, but when he scanned the sky, they were gone. He was glad they had come to the rescue, but he wasn’t sorry to see them go.
    Rathbone thought about what he needed to tell Piper Reyes, who was sitting in the rear of the vehicle. He’d known Piper nearly twenty years, since she’d returned after three years missing in action during a sweep across the continent for werecat survivors. She was a crucial player in his strategic alliance between humans and werecats, and also one of his best friends. He’d spent countless nights consoling her over her lost children.
    Rathbone turned to look at her. She had been meditating, but now she opened her eyes and saw him. “When did you get back?” he asked.
    â€œA few weeks ago,” she replied. “Gabriel and I made it to New York, but it took us months. When we arrived, the girls were gone. The Library was burned to the ground, and word on the street was that my daughters had been killed outside the gates. So we sneaked into Alex’s compound, and Gabriel held a knife to his throat while I questioned him.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œHe said it’s true. The girls had fallen in with some young street thug named Aiden.”
    â€œReally? Aiden, you say?”
    â€œAlex said they accidentally set fire to the Hunter Library and left the city in fear they’d be thrown into a cellar for life. Alex said he sent a group after them, but before they could get to them, the girls and this Aiden boy were attacked by a band of hyenas. But I just can’t believe it. In my heart, I know they’re still alive.”
    â€œHyenas, eh? Never did trust them. In some ways, I think they’re more conniving than ferals. But it sounds to me like this Alex is even more conniving than hyenas and ferals put together.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œYou’ll find out soon enough. But how didyou get back here, and how did you end up in L.A.?”
    â€œWe were holed up in New York for weeks as Alex and his men hunted us. Alex wasn’t just going to let us walk out, regardless of what truths he pulled out of us, so we stole his biplane.”
    Rathbone chuckled. “Stole a plane, eh? That’s the Gabriel I know.”
    â€œYep, that’s my Gabriel,” she replied. “Unfortunately, by the time we made it back across the continent, the northern fog was so heavy that we couldn’t make it to the mountains. We had no choice but to turn south and land in L.A.”
    â€œWhere’s Gabriel?”
    â€œWhen we landed, we reported back to Olympia. Gabriel was given orders to lead a group of scouts back north. They needed me here to prep against a growing group of ferals from the east. We never realized how bad the feral infestation would be or that it would happen so fast. The feral population has quadrupled since we left, and that was less than a year ago. Now I know we should’ve stayed. We were needed here. I knew better than to go, but my heart just couldn’t let go of my girls.”
    â€œPiper,” Rathbone said, reaching his right hand backward to grab hold of hers. “You don’t have to let go.”
    â€œWe’re here,” Rebecka said as she spotted the