Page 119 of White Wolf

“Here we are,” Philippe said. “This is it.”

“You’re sure?” Nikita asked.

“Quite.”

The graveyard was crowded with stones and choked by weeds. Two ravens looked down at them from the gnarled branches of a tree that had just started to bud for spring, croaking at them, ruffling their wings and looking displeased by the interruption.

“Better fly off before someone eats you,” Feliks grumbled, flapping his arms at them.

They cawed and stayed put.

“Let me see, let me see…” Philippe kindled a small flame in his palm and held it up to gravestones like a candle, searching for the right decoy name.

Katya reminded herself that she was supposed to be on watch and put her back to the old man, pinning her gaze on the street beyond the wrought-iron graveyard fence, squinting against the haze of fog for signs of a threat.

A gentle huff of breath announced that one of the wolves had joined her, the strong beta male with the shaggy black fur. She spared him a scratch behind the ears and they watched together.

Behind her, she heard muttering and clanking as shovels were pulled from the footlocker and distributed.

“Aha!” Philippe said, triumphant. “This is the one. Here.”

Spades struck earth, and now it was a race to exhume the body.

No, not a body.Bodyimplied the spirit had passed on. What they dug up now was a sleeper, very much alive.

Katya shivered and the wolf pressed against her leg, offering comfort.

Sasha stepped up beside her, face hidden beneath the cowl of his cloak in the half-light, more wolf than boy. His voice vibrated, a low undercurrent of a growl. “Something’s not right.”

Katya swallowed hard. “What do you hear?”

He shook his head a fraction. “Ifeelsomething. Something wrong.”

“It’s a war zone,” she pointed out, but couldn’t quite manage to sound critical. “Everything’s wrong.”

“Yes, but–”

A long, rising wail filled the air all around them. Loud enough to hurt her ears.

Air raid sirens.

All the wolves immediately threw their heads back and added their howls to the din. Sasha did too, head tipped back, a purely lupine sound coming out of his mouth. It wasn’t a man mimicking a wolf – it was all wolf, and nothing human about it.

Katya’s scalp prickled.

Was that the drone of German bombers?

“Move!” Nikita shouted, as forceful as she’d ever heard him. “Dig, damn it!”

“I can dig!” Sasha spun around, and when Katya glanced over her shoulder, she saw that he and his wolves had fallen on the grave, digging with paws and hands, flinging dirt and weeds. All save the beta who stood guard with her, his ruff erect, growling low and threatening.

She caught Nikita’s gaze across the distance, his frightened but determined. She nodded, and he nodded back, and then she turned back to her watch duty, the sirens blaring.

She thought she heard shouts, the distant scuffle of feet across pavement. Behind her, the digging sounded rabid, furious.

The siren screamed, and every part of her wanted to lie on the ground, curl up, cry. The Nazis were coming, the Nazis were coming…

“Hide, Katya, hide!”Her father’s voice, echoing through her memory.

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