“She didn’t.” I whirled to face them again and my eyes went wide as I stared at my Alpha. “Kaci didn’t even know she could Shift back. She had no idea what was happening to her, and she wasn’t in her right mind. You can’t possibly hold her responsible for this.”

Silence closed in on me, but for the trilling of what few birds hadn’t yet flown south for the winter. The weight of my father’s gaze was suffocating, and those few seconds seemed to last forever. When he finally spoke, his solemn words did nothing to set my mind at ease. “Go talk to her. Find out what happened, and we’ll go from there.”

Fair enough. I’d ask Kaci, and she’d tell me it was a horrible accident. I’d report back to the council and they’d bury the body, clean up the mess, and forgive Kaci, who no doubt knew not what she’d done. I felt horrible for the poor hiker and his still-missing wife, but he was dead, and she probably was, too. There was nothing I could do for them. But the tabby was alive and in need of my help. And my protection. What kind of enforcer would I be if I didn’t help her?

“One hour.” Uncle Rick glanced at his fellow Alphas to confirm, and they each nodded silently. “We have decisions to make and work to do.”

“Fine.” I blinked to clear the fog of shock and confusion cushioning my shiny optimism from the sharp edges of reality.

On the way upstairs, dread slowed my feet as if I were wading through knee-deep water, rather than fear for the poor, lost kitten upstairs. And really, fear is just as hard to negotiate as water—and in this case, it was a damn sight colder and more numbing.

At the end of the hall, I ignored the guard and knocked on Kaci’s door.

“Faythe?” she asked from the other side, and I smiled in spite of the purpose of my visit. Either she’d come to recognize my footsteps, or she’d discovered that a quick whiff of the air would tell her who was at the door.

“Yeah, it’s me. Can I come in?”

Soft footsteps approached and the door swung open slowly to reveal a teenage girl I barely recognized. Kaci wore tan hiking boots, a pair of slim, faded jeans and a soft pink sweater I’d known at a glance she’d love. She’d found the brush and ponytail holders and had twisted her hair into a long, thick braid on one side of her head. It trailed nearly to her waist.

“What do you think?” she asked as I pulled the door shut behind me. “There’s no mirror in here. Can I go look at the one in the bathroom?”

“Sure. In just a few minutes.”