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go to bed and read a book. As she turned back towards the hall, a flash of white by the back door caught her attention. She'd forgotten to take the trash out. For a second she hesitated—surely it could wait until morning? But, no. If she left it, despite the cold weather, it'd be sure to attract mice, and it had taken her weeks to get rid of them when she first moved in.
       Shivering before she'd even opened the door, she drew her wrap closer with one hand, the fingers of the other securely entwined in the knotted top of the plastic garbage bag.
       And she'd thought it was cold when she'd been standing by the window inside. Sheesh. She should have known better and grabbed an overcoat rather than just ducking outside to dump the trash in the bin by the side wall. Even through the solid soles of her fluffy slippers, she could feel the chill of the partly frozen ground. The cold snap was going to be worse than she'd thought.
       A light mist was wending its way through the trees, stray tendrils floating around her ankles, but it hadn't fully thickened yet. Gina stopped for a second, fascinated by the way it billowed out towards her, eddies of wind she couldn't even feel shifting it into amazing patterns—there for an instant, then gone again. It was quite beautiful, yet eerie too, and it didn't take much imagination to see werewolves and vampires, monsters and fairies, as the fog suddenly swirled around her, enveloping her in a clammy white world.
       She shivered again, her cold feet reminding her it was winter and that she was outside wearing nothing more than a light wrap over her nightgown. The bin was only two steps away; she could cope with the aching cold for a few seconds more.
       The bin lid was in her hand, the bag lifted half way, when a sharp crack, totally out of place in the softness of the mist, caught her attention. For a second her breath hitched, then she relaxed as she realized it was the snap of a tree branch, nothing more. In this fog, it wouldn't be surprising to find more than one little creature's senses not quite as accurate as usual. It was probably an owl, she reasoned even as she tried to force her numb fingers to move more quickly.
       A surge of movement in the fog behind her caught her attention and she swung to meet it, wryly aware that she was being much jumpier than usual. There were no bears in the area, she reminded herself sternly, and there was no such thing as werewolves. Anything smaller couldn't hurt her. Therefore, there was nothing to be afraid of.
       Nothing but humans, she realized as disembodied arms reached from the fog, grasping her wrist. The rest of his body was shrouded by mist, almost invisible, but the strength in his grip was very real, as was the way he was drawing her inexorably closer.
       She tugged sharply and tried to spin away, her mouth opening on a scream. A thudding blow to her stomach had her doubled over, gasping for breath before she'd managed to make a sound, and she'd barely straightened to meet the new threat when her vision went dark. There were soft voices, unrecognizable, but still she struggled. From a distance, almost like it was happening to someone else, she felt the pain in her temple and saw the bright colors flash behind her eyes. Then nothing.

Chapter Ten

    Nate hadn't really planned on going out that night. The forest would be crowded with betas, especially in the more easily accessed areas, and it really was bloody cold. Even with a thick fur coat, it wouldn't exactly be a comfortable evening out. But since the only alternative seemed to be staying home alone brooding about Gina for the rest of the night, he didn't really see that he had much choice.
       He and Sebastian had shape-shifted early in the evening, but while Sebastian had stayed in the forest closer to the towns, Nate had loped off into the thickening fog. He liked it deeper within the forest, all the areas the humans rarely ventured into. Although his