Neva pointed to where she'd seen the brief flicker of light, and mentally passed the image and the information on to Savannah. "About half a mile in." How she'd managed to see the light from such a distance she didn't know. Nor did she care. Not if it freed Duncan.
Zeke looked at Savannah. "How do you want to do this?"
"Neva suspects Betise will try to perform the ritual of promising. If that's the case, they'll more than likely be in a clearing. We need to get René free first, then we'll surround the clearing and get Duncan out." She hesitated, her green eyes narrowing. "No accidents, Zeke. I want these two women alive."
Zeke raised his hands. "We have no weapons."
"A wolf doesn't need a weapon to kill."
There was nothing warm in Zeke's sudden smile. "I will protect my sons, Ranger, no matter what your rules say."
"You can protect all you want. Just don't kill."
Zeke's gaze flickered to Neva, studying her so intently she shifted uncomfortably. After a moment, his smile became warmer. "Perhaps I won't need to. There are other emotions, and other players, here tonight."
Heat touched Neva's cheeks. She had a horrible feeling this man saw far more than normal men, and in her case, that he saw the feelings she was trying hard to ignore. She pulled her gaze from his and glanced at her sister. "You want me to lead?"
"You take Ronan and the Sinclairs and head to the right. The rest of us will head left."
As she nodded she glanced at the sky. The moon was bright, and magic was beginning to stir the night. If they didn't hurry, they'd be too late.
She shifted shape and lunged forward through the soft snow.
* * * *
It was the cold that woke Duncan. It surrounded him, filled him. He frowned but didn't move, allowing awareness to surface fully as he listened to the night. Someone breathed close by, someone whose scent was all too familiar, and relief surged. René. He cracked open an eye. They were in a small cave. Warm shadows danced across the walls, flickering shapes that indicated a fire was close. Naked, his brother leaned against the opposite wall, his eyes closed, though he wasn't asleep. The tension riding René's bruised and cut shoulders told Duncan that much. René's hands and feet were tied with chains that gleamed silver in the night, and the bandages over the gunshot wound were bloody, an indication that the wound had opened again.
Anger surged through Duncan, but he thrust it away. Right now, anger wasn't going to help either of them. He glanced down at himself. He was also na**d, though he couldn't have been undressed for long, because he could still feel his fingers and toes. Hypothermia was a ways off yet. But he had a fair idea why they were both na**d, and what Betise intended to do. Tonight was the night of promises, and that mad bitch was undoubtedly going to try to raise the magic.
Worse though was the fact he was also tied with chains, and if the warmth against his skin was anything to go by, those chains didn't just look silver, they were silver. Which meant neither of them could shift shape until the chains were off, as silver was the one metal immune to magic of all kinds. He moved his arms, trying to find some give in the looped chains and work them loose.
"I wish you luck," René said quietly. "Because I certainly haven't had any."
Then the two women had been less careful about tying him, because the chains weren't as tight as they had been.
"Are you all right?" Though Duncan asked the question softly, his words seemed to echo in the cave, and outside, someone stirred.
"Yes. Though I have to say the moon dance is not much fun when you're just a body and not a willing participant."
"It could be worse, Brother." And probably would get worse, unless he could find a way out for both of them. He very much doubted that René had been taken just as a hostage. There were two women and two of them, and this was all about revenge. Revenge for past wrongs. Revenge for promises never made.
And what better revenge was there than to bind yourself to a man who hated you?
A shadow loomed across the wall, shifting from wolf to human shape. He craned his neck to the left and watched Betise enter. Like them, she was na**d. Oddly enough, her body was covered with a white powder, and he couldn't smell her. He couldn't smell Iyona, either, though she was undoubtedly just as close.
Betise's gaze met his, green eyes glowing like ice in the darkness. "The time has come to keep your promises, Duncan."
"Tell me first why you killed those women." Not that it really mattered now. He just needed to buy more time. Time to loosen the chains some more. Time for his father and brothers to track them down.
She shrugged. "Kill the competition, give the dance a bad name, and my chances of catching a Sinclair mate rise, don't they?"
Only a crazy woman would believe that. "So why make it look like they were raped?"
"To confuse the rangers. Worked like a charm, too, didn't it? They were so convinced it was one of you Sinclairs they didn't even bother looking for other possible culprits."
"So why attack yourself?" It was a guess, but a reasonably safe one.
"Neva told me her sister was waking. I knew if the ranger remembered the attack, she'd know it was a female who attacked her, not a male." She shrugged again. "I was hoping it would throw everyone off, but it didn't. You suspected me, didn't you?"