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with the new pack after Pietr did his best—sacrificed the wolf within himself—to be rid of him …
    We did not answer her. The chance she was right was too frustrating to put even in monosyllabic words.
    Max rolled down his window, sticking his face into the biting cold. The breeze tore at his eyes and turned his cheeks pink. “Maybe I’ll pick up her scent when we get closer,” he finally said, closing the window and slumping down, his eyes on the landscape rushing by.
    “What will we do when we find her?” Pietr asked me.
    I gave him a sidelong glance. “Whatever is necessary,” I said with a coolness my racing heart betrayed.
    “Hurt Marlaena? Kill her?” Pietr asked, peering out the window.
    “Whatever is necessary.”
    He nodded and mimicked Max, slouching down in misery. “And if there is no scent to find—if they’ve covered their tracks so well there is no trail to discover? If Jess is gone—forever?”
    I pulled the truck over so fast we skidded, everyone jerking against their seat belts. “There is something you are not telling me.” I studied his impassive face. “Why would anyone kill Jessie? What else is going on here, Pietr? Kidnapping Jessie I understand to an extent. It seems nearly standard operating procedure in Junction. Things run smoothly, everyone feels comfortable and plans for a better future, and then it is time for someone to endanger a nearly average girl who lives on a wonderfully unremarkable horse farm. I think it is time to consider getting Jessie her own personal bubble,” I concluded.
    Pietr looked at me in the completely dramatic-hero fashion he had cultivated and—I peered closer at him to confirm my suspicion— da, he had perfected since meeting Jessie.
    “It is completely logical they would take Jessie. It makes us come against Marlaena and engage a foreign war strategy. But killing her … Why would Marlaena want Jessie dead? How does she benefit?”
    He shook his head, the mop of his hair falling into his eyes. “I have a feeling,” he muttered. “There is something more here—something deeper … like someone wants to get at me by hurting Jess.…”
    “Dmitri is far from your biggest fan,” Amy said.
    Both Pietr and Max looked at her and then away again. None of us wanted to believe Dmitri had returned, regardless of how likely it seemed.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
    Marlaena
    “Gabriel, you are truly something,” Dmitri said with a smile. “Taking the Gillmansen girl to lure Pietr to us…”
    I didn’t like how the smile twisted on his face. Yes, having Jessica Gillmansen as my prisoner gave me a bit of a high, but knowing Dmitri agreed with it made me question every bit of that amazing sensation.
    Gareth slipped out of his room and onto the breezeway to stand beside me.
    Our conversation ended.
    Gabriel looked down into the parking lot; my gaze followed his, focusing on an old muscle car in the third row. In my peripheral vision someone hurried into the space beneath the extensive balcony and out of sight.
    Huh.
    Gareth’s hand was on my arm, and I spun to face him. “Good to know my presence is so influential. Gareth, destroyer of conversation.”
    I smiled, even though he wouldn’t approve of what we had been discussing. I needed to keep him in the dark a little longer.
    He was so kind and compassionate, so willing to be the cowboy in the white hat, or the knight, coming to everyone’s rescue. He was the best of us. And I was going to keep dragging him down into the gutter with us. Just like Kyanne said. I pulled them out of one gutter to get them shot in another.
    Some alpha I was.
    I’d use the gift Gabe had given me, persuade Pietr to—what was I trying to persuade him to do? Let us stay in Junction? He didn’t care if we didn’t make any trouble … or have any fun.… What did I really want from Pietr? My palms pressed against the banister so hard the metal bit into me.
    Did I want his pack to join ours? Yes. Why? It’d be an upheaval if he