The Were growled, and I couldn’t help but shriek, “I’ll do it!” when his grip tightened.

“Randy, get your wormy ass off her!” the first voice exclaimed. “She’s right. They aren’t dead; they’re knocked out. Stand down!”

The pressure on my shoulder increased, then vanished. Hand on my shoulder, I sat up, trying not to shake as I took in the clearing. It was full of downed wolves and Weres, all but one in their people shift.

Jenks was surrounded by three Weres in brown fatigues holding conventional weapons. I didn’t know what they were, but they looked big enough to leave holes. He still hadn’t lowered his arm with the slingshot on it, and it was pointed at a fourth Were standing a little apart from everyone else. He didn’t have a drawn weapon, but it was clear he was in charge since he had a shiny little emblem on his cap instead of a patch like everyone else. He looked older too. There was a pistol in a holster on his belt, and brown face paint marked his skin. Swell, I’d fallen into a freaking survivalist group. Just peachy damn keen.

The Were that had pinned me was nosing the three downed wolves. In the nearby distance a wolf howled, and I shivered, pulling my legs straight. “Can I stand up?”

The Were with the emblem on his hat snorted. “I don’t know, ma’am. Can you?”

Funny, funny man. Taking that as permission, I sullenly got to my feet, brushing the sticks and leaf mold off. He had a twang to his voice, as if having grown up in the South.

“Your weapon?” he said, eyes tracking my movements. “And the bag and any charms.”

I debated for all of three seconds, then emptied the chamber and broke all the balls underfoot before tossing it. He caught it with an easy grace, an amused smile on him. His gaze lingered on my neck and the clearly Were bite marks, and I made a face of exasperation. God! Maybe I should have worn a turtleneck to storm the rebel fortress.

“Witch?” he said, and I nodded, throwing him my pack and two amulets. I could have given them to Marshal, for all the good they had done me.

“I came for Nick,” I said, shivering in the new cold. “What do you want for him?”

The surrounding Weres seemed to relax. Jenks jerked when one reached for his slingshot, and I did nothing when they wrestled him to the ground and took it and his belt pack away, looking like bullies falling on a kid after school. Jaw gritted at the grunts and thumps of fists into flesh, I watched the leader instead, wanting to know whom we faced. He wasn’t the alpha, I decided, while his men smacked Jenks into a temporary submission. But by his clean-shaven face and his bearing, he was high up in the pack.

Standing my height in heavy-looking military boots, he made a good-sized Were, well-proportioned and tidy in his fatigues, with narrow shoulders and a body that looked like it was used to running. Trim, not blocky in the least. Maybe late thirties, early forties—his hair was cut too close to his skull to know if it was gray or simply blond.