Had I missed it, or had it been closed before? The frame was up only an inch or so, but both Kodo and Podo were peeking at me through the glass, and it wouldn’t take them more than a minute to chew through the screen and wriggle through the gap.

I stepped forward and stopped, catching a scent, something on the shifting breeze that smelled familiar. I lifted my nose, trying to catch it again, but all I got was the reek of garbage and compost.

I was about to go back in the house when something bit into my back. Pain lanced through me, every muscle in my body locking up. I hit the ground, twitching. For endless seconds, my entire existence revolved around the agony.

As quickly as it started, the pain ebbed, but I still couldn’t move. It was all I could do to breathe.

Boots appeared in my vision. Then a cold prick in my neck.

That’s when I placed the smell.

Werewolf.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lou

The second I woke up, I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t feel Declan. Not next to me, and not in my head. He was gone.

I panicked, snatching my phone from the bedside table. No calls. I pulled up his number and hit it. It rang. And rang. Voicemail. I tried again. And again.

No answer.

Okay. I took in a deep breath. Panic wouldn’t help. I would panic later when everything was fine. For now I would get dressed and search the house.

I was hopping on one leg, trying to pull on my jeans, when Van burst into my room. “Kodo and Podo are gone!”

I stopped, my jeans only half on. “What?”

“They’re gone!” She threw her arms out. “I can’t feel them. They’re not in the house.” She crossed her arms, hugging herself. “I should have taken them with me. Now they’re out and lost—”

“Declan’s gone, too.”

Van blinked at me. “What?”

“I can’t feel Declan either,” I said, pointing at my head, before yanking my jeans on and zipping them up.

“Any chance they decided to run an errand together or something?” Van asked, but I could tell from her tone she already knew the answer.

“Declan wouldn’t leave me right now,” I told her firmly. “And he wouldn’t take the ferrets without letting you know.”

Van dug into my drawers, grabbing me a pair of socks and tossing them to me. “What do we do?”

I sat on the bed and pulled on the socks. “When did you last feel the ferrets?”

“At work,” Van said, biting her lip. “It’s within the radius. I only stopped in for a few hours to cover Noah so he could go to his study group. After, I went to the store to pick up a few things.”

Van’s familiar bond had a radius of about five miles. Anywhere in that area, she could feel them. So they were at least that far. I had no idea what Declan’s and my radius was because we’d never tested it.