“It was here,” he growled, fingers piercing the grains to produce a luminescent scale he held aloft, one too large to have come from a mermaid of Harlow’s stature. He stood in a fluid motion and vanished in a blur of flexing muscle.

The calm waters mocked me. A jump down to the sandbar would save me time chasing him, but I couldn’t do it. Instead I turned on my heel and bolted for the picnic area. Splashing noises interrupted the still night. I followed the ruckus, keeping a few yards between me and the edge of the lake.

I stepped on a pinecone camouflaged by decaying leaves and rolled my ankle. My back hit a nearby tree, but this time there was no one to catch me. I grunted on impact and leaned against the trunk, shifting the weight off that foot. I lifted my leg to inspect it, and the ground roiled under my heel. More pinecones emerged from the detritus, shaking off their spiny backs while marching toward me, circling me.

“What the—?”

Tiny eyes gleamed in the faint light. For the love of pancakes. Those weren’t pinecones. They were igel, and the twerps had learned from our run-in in Wink. This time they hadn’t come alone. Two dark shapes glided forward. Only the glittering rims of their outlines gave them away. Umbras. Shadow servants. Light bent around the figures, blurring their features into masklike smoothness.

A throaty howl raised gooseflesh down my arms.

Graeson.

“Can we talk about this?” I asked the nearest umbra. He rustled a response that probably meant no, because he swung a long arm at my head. I ducked then popped up kissing-close to its maw. “Graeson?” I shrilled. “Feel free to jump in at any time.”

One of the shapes peeled away from the other and drifted into the shadows. Great. I had set him on the warg’s trail.

I struck out, but my fist shot through the smoky creature. Perfect. It was going to be one of those nights. The billowing mass inched forward. I backed up a step, stumbled on an igel that was quick to burrow under my heel, and lost balance. The blackness enveloped one of my flailing arms in a chilling embrace and hauled me closer.

Snarls rippled over the water. Limbs snapped and leaves rustled as the second shadow located its prey. A yelp sounded, and the creature billowed toward me with a silver and white wolf writhing in its stomach.

“Graeson,” I breathed, and his golden eyes lifted to mine.

“Tonight just keeps getting better,” a sultry voice announced. “Who have we got here?”