Wolf-Speaker

Daine, a young woman whose 'wild magic' lets her speak with and command animals, gets an urgent call from an old pack of wolves she once knew: nobles are tearing up their territory around Long Lake, and the wolves want her help. Traveling with her mage mentor Numair to investigate under cover of a noble's house party, Daine finds more at stake than logging or land grabs -- a war-mage from the hostile empire of Carthak is present, hinting at a conspiracy reaching well past one lake's worth of wolves. Along the way, Daine's own powers keep surprising her. The second novel in Tamora Pierce's Immortals quartet.