The red brake lights on Al's car flared and it turned onto a narrow, unpaved road. I'd thought it was dark, but as the trees closed on either side of the car I realized I'd been wrong. This was darker, and I knew it would be even darker under the trees themselves. I'd been raised in the country going camping and hunting with my father. I knew night in the woods. I'd never been afraid of the dark in the woods as a child, only in the house at night. The monsters of my imagination had lived under the bed and in the closet, not in the woods. As a grown-up, I could think of few things I hated more than hunting rogue shapeshifters, or vampires, in the woods. I was just glad we weren't on a hunt tonight. The thickness of the night on the road where there was still some moonlight and starlight overhead let me know that under the trees was going to be thick black night.

I wasn't the only one thinking it, because Ares said, 'It's going to be damn dark under the trees.'

'You have better night vision than I do,' I said.

'Better, but in human form not that much better.'

'You can be the kitty on a leash, then,' Nicky said.

'Hyenas aren't cats.'

'More closely related to cats than dogs,' I said.

He glanced in the rearview mirror again. His face was just a darker shape this time. 'Most people think we're related to dogs.'

'Actually, more closely related to mongoose, meerkats, and civets, isn't it?'

'Yes, it is. How do you know that?'

'Biology degree, and honestly, I read up on hyenas when I realized that it was the second or third largest animal group in St Louis.'

'Better to know your enemy,' Ares said.

'Yes, but you said it yourself, Ares, I don't have metaphysical ties to the hyenas. I don't ken them the way I do lions, or leopards, or wolves, or any of the wereanimals that I can call as mine, or carry a piece of their beast inside me. The werehyenas and wererats are what taught me that a lot of my way with shapeshifters is just another flavor of vampire power. I have to study harder on the beasts I don't carry.'

'Why study? Why not ignore the groups that aren't yours?'

'Micah believes that the Coalition can help all the shapeshifters come together and be a stronger lobbying group, and so do I. It's a good idea, and the only way it's going to work is if we all try to find the things that make us alike, not the things that divide us.'

'That's a politician's answer,' Ares said.

'Maybe, but it's still the truth.'

I got another of those dark glances in the rearview mirror, and then Nicky said, 'I think we're here.'

Ares and I both looked ahead. Al had parked his cruiser. We were here, wherever the hell 'here' was.

CHAPTER 23

We were in the Arapaho National Forest. The air smelled like pine, with the ghostly paleness of aspens scattered throughout the darkness of the evergreens. The air hadn't felt that thin down in Boulder, but up here it did. It made me wonder how those of us who had just stepped off a plane from St Louis, which was four hundred fifty feet above sea level, would do above eight thousand feet if we had to run, or fight.

We'd planned on Nathaniel changing shape and just going after the missing men, but I'd forgotten that these were officers who had never worked with shapeshifters before, and they had the western state attitude that allowed varmint laws to still include people like my lovers and friends in the same list as any nuisance animal. Which meant instead of looking for the lost men, we were reassuring the locals that Nathaniel wouldn't eat them the moment he shapeshifted.

'Everyone knows that werewolves have to eat fresh-killed meat as soon as they shapeshift. None of us want to be that fresh kill.' This from Ranger Becker, who was as tall as Nicky and Ares; with her pale brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and the bulky jacket hiding her figure, she'd looked just like the other three forest rangers until I heard her voice.

'It's an old wives' tale that all shapeshifters need fresh meat after they shift,' I said.

'Was that "old wives" comment aimed at me?' she asked, her voice belligerent.

'No,' I said.

'You can make all the girl comments to me you want, but I'm not the one standing on the mountain in the woods in hose and high heels.'

'I've got jeans and boots in the back of the car with my execution gear.'

'And why did you bring your execution gear if you were just here for emotional support for Sheriff Callahan's son?'

'Legally, I have to keep my kit reachable even when I travel for personal business.' I turned to Al, who was standing beside me. 'I thought you cleared this before we came up here.'

'I did,' he said.

'Then these guys didn't get the memo,' I said.

'Look,' Al said, 'do you really think if I didn't trust Mr Graison to shapeshift and help us that I would have brought him up here? He's our best chance at finding the Crawfords tonight, and I don't know about you, but I want to know what could have taken out Henry and Little Henry.'

'Ask Mr Graison,' one of the uniforms called out.

'Who said that?' I called out.

There was a shifting among the men in the dark clearing, and then one of them stepped forward. He was tall, maybe six-five, or even six-six. 'I said it,' and there was that arrogance in his voice that some really big men have, because they've spent their life being the biggest dog everywhere they go.

'What's your name?' I asked.

'Travers,' he said.

'Okay, Travers, do you really think that my men had anything to do with this?'

He mumbled something.

'I'm sorry, when you're making unfounded accusations you're loud enough. If you're going to admit you're wrong, that should be loud, too.' Yeah, I'd about had it with the attitude.

I didn't have to see his face clearly to know he was glaring at me. He stood up very tall and gave me the look that went with the deep, unhappy voice. 'I said, I guess not.'

'Since we have two men lost, maybe hurt, or worse, maybe you should stop wasting time saying shit you don't mean.'

Nathaniel touched my back, lightly, reassuring and probably trying to help me calm down. I didn't always like to be touched when I was starting to get angry, and I had to fight the urge to step away from his hand. When I realized I was thinking about stepping away from Nathaniel's touch for any reason, I knew I had to calm down. For so many reasons I couldn't afford to lose my temper.

'Little Henry and I go back a long way. I want to find him and his dad,' Travers said.

'Then help us find them,' I said, and my voice was calmer now, less likely to up the ante on the attitude.

Sergeant Michael Horton, one of the state troopers we'd met at the hospital, stepped out of the group and said, 'If you'd brought Mike Callahan, then he'd be Sheriff Callahan's son and the head of the Coalition. We've all seen him on TV and know that he has control of ... the animal inside him, but Mr Graison here is an unknown. I trust your reputation, so if you trust him for this, I'll just go with it, but some of the other men here need a little more reassurance before he changes into something big and carnivorous. He's not one of us. He's not even ex-military like Mr Ares.' Apparently, Horton had assumed that I'd introduced the guards by last names. 'Mr Nicky's haircut isn't regulation, but he's a guy-guy.'

'Are you objecting to Nathaniel on grounds that he's not masculine enough or because of his sexual orientation?' I asked, and didn't try to keep the incredulity out of my voice.