I pressed myself back into the shadows as one of the wolves twitched his ears toward us. After a moment, he shook his head, almost as he would have if he’d been in human form, and went back to circling. When it was clear again, it was my turn, and I gathered my strength and jumped. Mira scooted back to give me room to hoist myself up. I almost overshot, expecting it to be as much of a struggle as it had been for Mira, but I’d forgotten that I had a lot more training than she had. She gaped at me as I catapulted onto the roof with one great heave and then tucked into a silent roll.
“Where did you learn to do that?” she whispered, so quiet I could barely hear her.
"Kaden taught me," I whispered back.
Mira shook her head, a little smile on her face. I’d told her about training with Kaden, and she’d watched me warm up and go through a few basic routines a few times. I’d kept up my routine every day, just like Kaden had told me to. Even though he wasn’t here to teach me more, it still felt right. Like a promise. I’m coming back to you.
I turned and stood up once we’d gotten to the center of the roof, where Jordan’s guards wouldn’t be able to see us, even if they looked up. I tilted my face toward the moonlight and closed my eyes, letting the soft silvery light soak into me. A sudden rush of power went through me, infusing every cell of my body with magic.
I opened my eyes quickly, reaching over to grasp Mira’s hand. I didn’t even know if this would work, since I'd never tried to teleport anyone with me before, and it had been days—weeks?—since I'd used my magic…but I had to try. I gathered the power inside me and moved.
When I blinked, we were on the next house over. I could hardly tell the difference, except for the position of the trees and the sky. This roof was exactly like the roof of the house we were in, and there was a row of more houses just like it, forming a path for me. Like stepping stones.
Mira's hand gripped me so hard my fingers hurt. She'd slapped her other hand over her mouth, and her eyes were huge in her face. She looked like she might throw up, but at least it had worked.
“Thanks for not screaming,” I whispered.
Mira slowly lowered her hand and grinned at me. “That was…wow."
"Ready to go again?" I asked. She nodded, and I let out another burst of power, and then we were on the next house’s roof. Over and over, I hopped through the moonlight, dancing across unsuspecting shifters' roofs as we made our escape like some sort of midnight fairies.
Finally, we were two houses away from the edge of town, and no one had caught us yet. I paused as I glanced over at the last house. There wasn’t anything beyond it, just the endless stretch of desert, somehow even harsher in the moonlight than it was in the sunlight. This was where my plan got a bit murky. Mira believed that Phoenix was southwest of us, but wasn't certain of that, and we weren't sure how long it would take us to get to another town where we might be able to get help.
I saw a car parked on the street below us. That would be the fastest way for us to get out of here, with less of a scent trail to follow. “Do you know how to hotwire a car?”
Mira frowned at me. “Why would I know how to hotwire a car?”
"Fair point." I gazed out at the rugged landscape before us. "Wolf form it is then."
"This is a terrible idea." She was looking out at the desert as well, apprehension clear on her face.
I squeezed her hand tight. “We’ll get through this. We have to.”
She gave me a shaky smile. “Okay."
I made the final jump to the other roof, and we both started undressing in silence, shoving our clothes into our bags in tandem. I closed my eyes and shifted. It seemed like it had been years since I’d done this, even though it had been a few weeks. I settled into my wolf’s body with ease and nudged Mira's dark brown wolf with my nose. Since we weren't part of the same pack we wouldn't be able to communicate telepathically, but we knew each other so well it hopefully wouldn't matter.
We both picked up our bags with our fangs, and then prepared to leap off the roof. For a moment, it felt like I was flying, sailing through the air, and I wondered if I’d even hit the ground at all. Then it came up to greet me, and I rolled to avoid the worst of the impact. Mira landed a few feet behind me with a lot less grace. I glanced back at her, watching her get up and shake herself. She was okay.
Then I spotted something that sent a chill through me. A woman stood in front of the last house, the one we'd just jumped off, and I recognized her immediately.