Chapter 9
“911. What’s your emergency?”
I’d managed to escape Gracie’s second wild firing, but now I hesitated just inside the tree line, listening to the muffled voice on the other end of her cell phone and itching to return to the young woman’s side. It didn’t matter that Gracie was alive and alert enough to call for assistance. The poor child was alone in the forest, mauled by wolves, and likely terrified out of her mind. I shivered as my usual complement of empathy descended upon me with the weight of a dozen cast-iron skillets.
But the collar around my throat struck with electric vigor every time I ventured back in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Dakota’s pack closed in around me the way I’d expected them to do at the top of Radio Hill. They nipped at my flanks, shoved at my sho
