‘So why’d you hang out with the howler?’

‘Tom’s not like that scum chasing after you. Did you see his eyes?’

‘I guess,’ the boy conceded. ‘Didn’t look like howler eyes. Looked … normal.’

‘Tom is anything but normal. That’s why the ’wolves are chasing after us, too.’ Kate glanced about. ‘Come on. We’d better hide till it’s safe.’

She helped him scramble behind some prickly bushes, then they held themselves as still as possible, straining to hear any sound of the ’wolves coming back.

‘I’m Kate,’ she breathed.

‘Name’s Ramone,’ the boy replied. ‘Why’re the howlers chasing you?’

‘You ever hear of a scuzzball called Takapa?’

Ramone stared at her. ‘If you messed with Takapa I don’t want nothin’ to do with you. He’s the one screwing up this place. They say there ain’t no howler bigger than him.’

‘That big howler is actually just a scrawny albino freak with good PR,’ Kate told him lightly, but she couldn’t repress a shudder. Takapa was making a name for himself among the lupine community as some kind of freedom fighter. He believed that the ’wolves should come crawling out of the shadows to hunt and kill freely in the human world –and was working on ways to make it happen.

Ramone pointed a finger over her shoulder. ‘Look who’s back.’

Heart lurching, Kate twisted around.

It was Tom, human again, his pale skin laced silver in the moonlight. He’d reclaimed the tatters of his jeans and was leaning heavily against a tree, soaking wet and shivering.

Kate quickly pulled out the last of his fresh clothes from his backpack. ‘Are you OK? What happened?’

‘There’s water back there, a reservoir or something,’ Tom said, gesturing behind him. ‘I took a swim. They lost my scent and went off the wrong way.’ He gratefully pulled on a sweater. ‘Lucky for us they’re slow and stupid.’

Tom nodded at Ramone, and Kate made some hurried introductions.

‘We should get out of here.’ Tom eased his arms through the straps on his rucksack. ‘Ramone, do you know a safe place we can stay tonight?’

Ramone shook his head. ‘No way, ’wolf. You’re mixed up with Takapa.’

‘This ’wolf just saved your life,’ Kate said tartly. As she spoke, she could hear far-off sirens drawing closer.

Ramone winced like they were going off in his ear. He tried to stand and gasped with pain. ‘OK,’ he said, scowling. ‘You can hide out at my place tonight. But then you’re gone.’

‘Very generous of you,’ Tom observed wryly.

Together they helped Ramone up. His clothes reeked of sweat and cigarette smoke, and Kate nearly gagged. But after a few stumbling steps, they managed to fall into a kind of limping gait that allowed them to move at a pretty fast pace.

‘I hope the police don’t find those ’wolves – for their sake,’ Kate muttered.