The pack readied to move, each of them taking on their werewolf form that was closest to wolf. It would give them an advantage, but they were outnumbered and could use all the help they could get.

Just then, there were sounds coming from the left.

“An-gel-i-na!” came a cry from somewhere deep in the forest.

Even the wolves stopped to listen.

Searchers, thought Tora. They couldn’t possibly witness this fight. And if they left the girl now so the searchers could find her, the wolves would have her, and the searchers, for a meal. No, the fight was on, and the searchers had to go.

She turned to Harlan, changing her form ever so slightly. “Keep them away.”

Harlan, to his credit, didn’t complain or question Tora’s instruction. Acknowledging that she was the leader now in Noble’s absence, he simply nodded, and darted off in the direction of the voices.

That left just two of them, Tora and Argus, to fight four wolves.

Tora didn’t like their chances, but Argus had no such reservations. “At least now it’s a fair fight,” he said in a gravel-throated voice.

Fair? she wondered.

“You take the small one,” he said. “I’ll handle the rest.”

Here we go! thought Tora, following her brother into the clearing.

Chapter 19

Harlan had been in this type of situation before. Once, he and his brothers had been forced to scare away a couple of television people who had helped a crazy scientist capture their sister. Another time, the four of them had convinced an entire logging crew that a certain part of the forest was haunted, and perhaps it would be a good idea if they conducted their business someplace else. Both of those operations had been tricky because the people they’d scared away didn’t really want to go. This time, however, he’d be spooking a couple of searchers who would probably be just as happy to turn back and leave the forest to the wolves.

For that reason, Harlan didn’t try to hide his movements through the forest. The more noise he could make and the more visible he was, the sooner the searchers would see him and, he hoped, decide to go back in the direction they’d come.

He first caught sight of them through the trees, slightly downhill from his position. There were two of them, a man and a woman, each dressed in proper hiking clothes and walking up the slope with walking sticks in their hands.

Obviously they had experience traveling the forest, which was probably why they had made it so far from the start point in so little time. They also had to be fairly good trackers to have come so close to finding the girl. Unfortunately for them, the search was already over, and they would only be in the way if they stayed in the area for very long.