If he kissed her like that again Mel was in trouble. She shook her head as he drove off on a very nice looking motorcycle. There was work to be done. But her fingers drifted up to rest on the smeared lip gloss on Katie's lips. Mel wasn't the type to wear something so bright or sticky, but Katie Jenkins, one of her more fun identities, absolutely loved it. And both of them clearly had the hots for a certain dashing werecat.

But that was neither here nor there. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. Including the time it took to travel to his place, Krista and Bob should have had at least twenty minutes to get started, just like they asked. And with Luke only leaving now, there was probably a little time left.

A part of her wanted to call them and make sure that they got out safely, but that would compromise the mission and put them in even greater danger. Besides, they wouldn't appreciate the interruption. They were adults and she knew that Krista had been doing all of this at least as long as she had. Who knew how long Bob had been in the business? No use checking in; she just needed to get back to the cabin and wait. Then they'd plan.

Mel itched to shift into her other form and cover the distance on foot. She hadn't run as a cat in weeks for one thing, and the roads out here were so bad that it would be much faster to journey through the forest. But a leopard would bring far more attention to her than the gray sedan she'd acquired for this job. At best she'd scare the shit out of someone if she was seen, at worst she'd alert the local pack. And she didn't need Luke Torres to have any idea that she was coming.

She drove out of town on the state highway keeping an eye out to make sure she wasn't being followed. Even though it wasn't that late, there were almost no other cars on the road. After a dozen miles she pulled onto a heavily forested road. The trees hung over the street, blocking out all sight of the moon and making it unnaturally dark. She could only see by the glow of her headlights. With the help of her GPS she found the second road, this one somehow even darker than the last. She saw no houses, no mailboxes, nothing to indicate that anyone lived out here.

The incline grew as she went higher up the hill. This wasn't a mountain, there weren't any so close to the city, but this foothill offered just enough wilderness for summer travelers to truly feel like they were escaping civilization. Her final road was more of a dirt path. Only one vehicle could go in a direction at a time, but since the only place on this road was their cabin, that wouldn't be an issue.

The trees gave way to open land and the bright moon illuminated the quaint wood cabin that she'd rented. Unlike the car, she'd come across the property through relatively legitimate means. There was no reason to be surprised by vacationers.

Neither Krista nor Bob were back yet, so Mel set about making dinner. She'd meant to eat something at the restaurant, but the stress of speaking with her team once more, and then the little distraction with Torres, had put a damper on that. She preheated the oven and pulled a plastic bag filled with premade chicken fingers out of the freezer. After a moment's thought she set out enough for the three of them. Maybe Krista and Bob wouldn't be hungry, but it seemed callous not to be prepared.

The oven had barely finished preheating when she heard the gravel crunch outside from another car coming up the road. Mel shoved the food in the oven and waited for her teammates to join her.

She heard the muffled sounds of Krista and Bob talking before they reached the door, but once they came into the cabin, they were silent other than a brief greeting. "I'm making food, if you're hungry," Mel offered.

Krista smirked, "Let me guess, chicken nuggets?" She set a large canvas bag down on the coffee table and plunked herself down on the couch. Bob joined her. Together the two of them occupied most of the couch space, leaving Mel no choice but to bring in a chair from the kitchen. Neither Krista nor Bob seemed apologetic.

"How did it go?" If her partners didn't want to make small talk, she'd be all business. Simple as that.

Krista dug around in her bag and pulled out four small red stones. She moved the bag to the floor and set the stones up as the corners of a large square on the table. With a wave of her hand and words that Mel couldn't quite understand, Krista's enchantment lit up, and light shot out of each of the stones forming a square. Slowly a picture filled in: it looked like a three dimensional blueprint with furniture layouts and shadows darting around representing people inside of the building. The enchantment was hazy, incomplete. Mel had seen Krista use this spell to create something as substantial looking as a dollhouse. What they had now was disappointing.

"It's bad." Krista said.

"Bad how?" Mel could deal with bad, hell, she loved dealing with bad.

"Very bad." Bob added.

"Their security is at least double what it should be right now. The vault is only accessible through three checkpoints where someone is sure to catch your scent, and even if we can get you in, there's no way to get you out." Krista detailed everything up to the vault, but made it clear even their magical reconnaissance couldn't get inside.

"But you can get me in?" If she could get in, she could get out. Even if she had to drill a hole through the wall to do it.

"They'll have your scent. You won't ever be able to work this area again. And that's if they don't kill you." Concern laced Krista's words. "This is bad, Mel. If we had three months and a team of seven, maybe we could pull this off. But not in two weeks, not with just us."

"If this is the only way closer to Ava, we have to take it." Mel didn't pace the room, but she tapped her fingers against the seat of the chair. Just the thought of Ava had her ready to fight.

Krista and Bob exchanged a glance. After a moment Bob excused himself. Mel heard the door close when he went outside. "Mom has done this shit to you before. Remember the Rialto? Do you even know if the stone is scry-worthy?"

Now Mel did get up. "She wouldn't lie about that."

Krista leaned back and crossed her arms. "Have you met her? She started lying to me about when my birthday was when I was three years old. She has no concept of honesty."

"She won't lie about this because she knows that I'll never work for her again if she does. This is too important." The map on the table blinked and a new display showed up. "What's this?"

Krista gave it a look. "Alpha's quarters, far as we could tell. Directly above the vault, well, three stories above it, but there's nothing the rest of the pack can access."

Luke Torres in his own quarters, now there was a delicious thought. But Mel pushed it aside. "Does he have direct access to the vault?"

Krista picked up one of the red stones and the picture dissolved. She shoved her hand in her pocket and gave Mel a hard stare. "There isn't a plan that gets you out of that freaking fortress. Bob has been thinking about it all night. If he can't think it, it can't be done."

"Remember Phoenix?"

"That ended with you half on fire, me with a broken leg, and Bob nearly bleeding to death." Krista crossed her arms, "Of course I remember Phoenix. You're not thinking clearly about this."

"No!" Mel didn't mean to yell, but it ripped out of her. "Ava killed my parents, she killed everyone I loved. And she made me become this—this thing!" Mel bit off the rest of the thought. Krista didn't need Mel's shit piled on her own. "What I mean is this. I'm doing this job. I will succeed. But I need you and Bob if I'm going to get out of this thing. For real. So, please, help me."

Krista reached out with one hand but pulled it back before it was even fully extended, curling her fingers into a fist. "It takes two weeks to make a transportation charm that probably won't kill you. A month to make one that definitely won't, and three to make one that will ensure all of your parts end up in the right place after you use it. Without that charm, we can't get you out, they'll have your scent and running will be useless."

The problem started turning over in Mel's head. "We have to think of something. I'm doing this job, and I'm not going to kill myself getting it done."

Krista rested her head on her hand and let out a sigh. "Then let's talk to Bob. But I'm telling you, we're screwed."