On the porch, I wiped away tears, and took a deep breath to clear my head. The pack didn't notice. They were listening intently to Mark. I skipped quietly down the wooden steps, then crossed to Dakota. He slipped his hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze, while giving his full attention to Mark.
"We still have a few hours of moonlight left," Mark continued his speech, most of which I'd missed. "We'll need to split up to cover most of the forest."
"But how can we do that?" Raina asked sarcastically. "The forest is huge! There is no way that we can cover it all!"
"So you say," Austin interjected.
"Oh, go to—"
"Raina!" Mark warned, shaking his head.
Austin narrowed his eyes at Raina, and then turned back to Mark. "I don't know about you, but we can cover a lot of territory in one night with nine of us."
