Finders Weepers
Page 20
Once I got some trees between me and the hunters, I changed direction and headed back for the falls and Rebel. Creator, please let him be okay. I no longer felt or smelled Mason. Which meant if he was still alive and following me, he was in Luparii mode. As he didn't have undress to become wolf—as evidenced by his instant change—he could take off the skin and become a man complete with clothes. The hunters wouldn't stop him from taking up his shotgun and coming after me in skin form. And if he was Luparii, I'd never smell him coming.
It seemed like hours before I reached the small cave, even though it was only a few minutes run. As I got there, Rebel was starting to come around. I said a prayer of thanks that for once in his life Mason had spoken the truth.
With much nudging and a few nips, I encouraged him to follow the small tunnel and get into the tiny rock room. He was too out of it still to fight, and he would be safe there while he recouped his senses. The thing that Mason had become could never fit through the tunnel. I grabbed my spare clothes and backed out of the room.
Out on the narrow ledge, I glanced and sniffed around hurriedly. Nothing but me and Reb. At least that I could smell. Changing to skin form, I dressed as quickly as I could. Then I rummaged through my pack for my Lady Smith and headed back out.
THE WEATHER HAD TURNED warmer than usual, reaching an almost record breaking high during the day. That was lucky for me because I hadn't changed out my spare clothes to winter wear yet. It was still chilly, but bearable.
I had mixed feelings about having chosen a red shirt for my stash. On the plus side, no hunter totally at himself would mistake me for a wolf. On the minus side, well, maybe I'd just watched too much Star Trek as a kid.
Forcing myself to walk rather than run, I made my way silently back down the trail, saving my lagging energy and strength in case more bullets started flying. Or Mason appeared.
Passing the coyote that had fallen from the bullet I was sure was meant for me, I paused to touch his head and say a very brief prayer of thanks. Closer now, the wolf-not-wolf smell was still strong. He hadn't changed back. Or if he had, he had not yet had the chance to replace the skin in his overly scented briefcase.
My heart sparked. If I could find and destroy the skin, Mason would be trapped in human form. Yes, he could still hide his scent, but I had more senses than just that of smell. I could Find him. I needed that wolf skin.
In skin form, I had advanced scenting abilities. In fur form, I was unmatched. But hearing the hunters crashing through the woods a good distance away kept me in skin. I couldn't risk a stealthy, straggling vigilante.
The coppery smell had been growing ever stronger along with the wolf-not-wolf scent. Before long I was at the scene of the battle. Four coyotes lay dead surrounding a mound of fur. Swallowing I reached out and lifted the lifeless fur. Nothing. I was holding Mason's wolf skin, but Mason had disappeared.
I stood and turned in a circle, testing the air. There. Human blood scent. The Luparii may be able to cover their outside scent, but it must not work for their insides. I took a good whiff of his blood scent, memorizing every detail. I could find him now. I'm a Finder. It's what I do.
Chapter 32
Mason didn't make it back to his rental car, but he came close. He was crawling the last few yards when I Found him. The coyotes had led the hunters in the other direction, so there were no witnesses when I changed and did what had to be done. I'd never again be able to boast a rabbit as my largest kill. On the plus, I don't see it as having taken a human life. Mason was a monster.
Rebel, now running on all eight cylinders, as they say, met me at the body with my backpack. I changed back to skin, dressed, and called Sheriff Dunwood. Once more we waited with a body for him and his men to arrive.
Dunwood must have been close because he got there within minutes. The hunters must have already alerted him before my call. He took a short look at the body, then turned to me. He took in my shivering body and took off his jacket and handed it to me.
"No arguments. Put it on," he said.
I didn't argue. The shivering was more from the aftermath of taking a life than from the cold, but I couldn't tell him that. Besides, it felt nice. The warmth helped more to calm me than I would have thought.
The scene went pretty much as I'd expected. Mason went down as the third fatality of the wolf attacks. Cyrus had survived after all. The sheriff organized another hunt for the rogue wolf, but Rebel and I didn't join in this time. We knew the hunt was over. Besides, Dunwood threatened me with having Jeffries personally escort me home if I didn't head back to the cabin and stay there. As it was, he walked me back to my car and watched me leave before rejoining his men.
The wolf skin that I had stuffed into my pack burned nicely in the small fire pit outside my cabin. My backpack followed it. I would never have been able to get the smell out. We watched the fire burn down to embers, then went back inside and built a friendlier fire with the very last of the firewood Jed had stocked for us.
Reb opted to call it a night and fall asleep by the fire, sleeping off the last of the drugs. Still too keyed up from adrenaline to sleep, I decided to take a preemptive strike on the soreness I was sure would hit after the night's exertions. Changing into my one piece swimsuit in deference to Rebel still being in the room even if he was sleeping, I set the Jacuzzi and stepped in. As the bubbling water and forceful jets massaged my overworked body, I laid my head back on the cushioned side and closed my eyes.
That odd feeling of someone watching me brought me awake with a start. Roy, the Trickster Coyote, sat Indian-style on my bed looking at me. I grinned at him. He grinned back, shrugged, then disappeared. I figured good and evil was one thing, but vengeance was another altogether. After all, Mason had shot him.
Heavy pounding on my door brought me awake the second time. Feeling a bit like a prune, I yelled to the door as I stepped out of the hot tub and dried off. Pulling my fuzzy robe around me, I looked out the peephole. Jed. Pleasantly surprised, I opened the door.
I started to ask how he had come to be here instead of on the road to Cherokee but found it difficult with the other set of lips planted on mine. Not that I complained. In fact, I'm not sure either of us said a word over the next two hours. We made plenty of other sounds, but none that could actually be called speech.
Lying in Jed's arms afterward, we traded details of our night. He had made it to Nashville Tennessee when a frantic Rose had called his cell phone. It seems long distance Calling works after all.
My to-do list was now complete. Number four being the most satisfying of all. I may still be a lone wolf, but I have a pack now. I'm no longer alone. It feels right.
And just for the record, I didn't howl.
He did.
DON’T MISS BOOK TWO, Sister’s Keepers, coming very soon. Available for pre-orders now—will be live in the Amazon Store on July 23rd.
A Note From Belinda
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR reading Finders Weepers. I hope you enjoyed it! Please check out my website at BelindaWrites.com for updates on the Benandanti Series. (And for news of my other writing ventures as well.)
Sister's Keepers: The Benandanti Book Two will hit the virtual shelves very soon. (Fingers crossed for August 1st, if not before!) The third book, Demon Peepers, will be available shortly after that.
Also, if you can spare a few minutes, please consider giving my book a review. I'd really appreciate knowing what you thought of it.
BELINDA WHITE
June 2018
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