by Jenna Kernan
Moon Shadow
Jenna Kernan
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter One
Luisa Marshall glided along the ridge on her cross-country skis, anxious to scout the denning location of one of her research subjects. The temperature and snowfall in mid-December were finally sufficient to send the last of the black bears into hibernation. This route did take her near the den of the huge male grizzly that had eluded her all year but grizzlies were known to be light sleepers so she steered clear, anxious to avoid him.
The very last thing in this world she wanted was to face that particular bear. One up close and personal with Goliath was more than enough.
Technically, the male grizzly was Bear T116, but she had her pet names for many of her research subjects and this bear was no exception. Sometimes she could swear he was mocking her. She’d even darted him once, but damned if he’d go down. She didn’t dare use more juice, for fear she’d harm him. On two occasions after that she’d begun to suspect that Goliath was studying her.
Silly idea.
The final straw came when she had arrived home to find him tearing the bedsheets from her clothesline and rolling in them. When she’d tried to chase him off by blowing her truck horn, he tore the passenger door off the cab, forcing her to bail out the other side and roll under the bed. The bear had sniffed around a few minutes and then left her. But there was a moment when she thought he would roll the pickup. After she could breathe again, she collected his hair samples. She’d considered listing him as a nuisance bear, but he hadn’t been around since that close call.
The cold air whipped across her cheeks as she weaved between the trees on the western boundaries of Yellowstone National Park at the higher elevation where the bears denned. She worked the poles and skis in smooth, rhythmic motion, nearing the place where she’d observed the bear digging in.
She slowed as she crossed the tracks of a snowmobile and the smile of anticipation dropped from her lips.
“Damn it!” She lifted her goggles to study the cuts in the snow.
Recreational vehicles were permitted only on the park roads, but that didn’t keep all the riders out of the back country.
Luisa stared at the direction of the riders. They were heading right for the spot she suspected the sow—the female black bear—had chosen to den. Coincidence or did they have some help?
It had been only two days since the break-in and the only thing missing from her home concerned her greatly—her research maps, identifying the location of many bear dens. Dens were hard to find and Luisa couldn’t shake the nasty suspicion that these tracks and her missing maps were connected.
The Feds thought the robbery and hate mail were also connected. But they wouldn’t go so far as to link the bear shootings to them. The threats frightened her and that made her madder than hell. Quitting was not even an option. Damned if she would! She was going to find these bozos and see them brought to justice. After that she might consider the position in Idaho. It was a great opportunity and she’d have her own team. But Luisa didn’t like to leave unfinished business.
She radioed in her position and discovery, strapped on her rifle and a tranquilizer gun and then turned to follow the tracks.
The area the sow had chosen was deep in the roots under a large Douglas fir. The cover of the forest made it nearly impossible to find, if you did not know where to look, but these tracks made straight for the sow like a bee to a hive. Couldn’t be a coincidence.
“They have my goddamn maps.”
Luisa pushed off on her skis as her sense of dread deepened. She saw the unnatural glimpse of metallic red between the trees. A sled was parked just before the den.
Her outrage flared, and she unclipped the flap over her pistol and then slowed her pace. Fortunately, her skis allowed her to make a nearly silent approach. As she glided down from the ridge, she spotted the second snowmobile an instant before she saw her bear.
She took in the scene at a glance. The bear had been dragged from her nest by a noose around her hind leg, which was stretched taught and secured behind the second bike. Black bears were deep sleepers and the rude extraction had not yet roused her or, Luisa gritted her teeth, was she dead? Two men stood before the bear, their faces hidden in ski masks and their bodies cloaked in matching blue coveralls. Each man held a rifle poised, taking aim at the bear’s pregnant middle.
Rage billowed inside Luisa as she let out a shriek and hunched over her skis, flying down the steep incline with vengeance. From within the owlish gaps in the masks, their watery blue eyes bulged as they realized she wasn’t stopping. One spun a rifle in her direction as she swung her ski pole, colliding with the barrel as the gunshot exploded in her ear.
He never had time for a second shot as she plowed into him with enough force to knock him and his partner flat. They sprawled in the deep snow as she went airborne, tumbling over them and ended up skidding on her side before coming to rest near the giant fir tree, minus both skis.
She rolled behind the cover of a large trunk before reaching for the rifle strapped to her back. The men scrambled to find cover behind their sleds. One lifted a rifle caked with snow while the other expelled the used cartridge and sent a new round into the chamber.
Luisa had her weapon aimed and ready. “Drop ‘em, you bastards or I’ll shoot you dead.”
Both men hesitated, raising their barrels slightly. Luisa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at their easy compliance. The hairs on her neck prickled a warning.
She scanned the area for a third rider.
“Drop it, Bear-lady.” The voice came from just behind her and was punctuated by the draw of a pump-action shotgun.
Luisa clenched her rifle and turned toward the voice.
He stood, mostly behind a thick pine trunk, dressed in camouflage, right down to his boots. His face was masked in a green ski hood. She stared at him past the business end of his double-barreled shotgun.
“Drop it or I drop you,” he growled.
“Moving up from shooting pregnant bears?” Luisa asked, still retaining her gun.
“Consider it a two-for-one.”
She wondered if she had time to dive across the fallen log, but realized that would put her in the line of fire from his partner who now aimed at her as well. Luisa dropped her rifle. Camo-man lowered his shotgun and stepped forward.
Man, she would have given anything to wipe that cocky-ass smile from his thin lips. She still maintained the tranquilizer gun at her hip, but it was sheathed in a leather holster and flap. She reached for the weapon and he grabbed her by the hood of her jacket and yanked, dragging her to her knees before pressing the barrel into her back. She lifted her hands.
“Look, Taylor, I caught me another little sow.”
Luisa saw a flash of motion and then the man’s fingers slid from her and he was tumbling through space, landing twenty feet away.
“Duane!” screamed his buddy, but Duane was now head down in a snowdrift, struggling to regain his footing. Luisa turned to see a giant of a man standing right behind her. His lips pressed into a thin grim line and his dark eyes glittered with rage as he turned toward the two men cowering behind their sleds.
Luisa was glad that she was not the recipient of that deadly gaze.
Who was he and what was he doing here with no sled, no skis, no snowshoes and wearing only a brown leather bomber jacket, faded denim jeans and work boots? The man didn’t even have gloves on his hands, now balled into fists.
The stranger ran toward Taylor and his partner on powerful legs. Luisa gaped at the speed and fluid grace of his movements. Taylor had time only to lift his rifle before t
he man had his fist around the barrel. The shot went wide as he wrenched the gun from Taylor’s hand. Their attacker brought the stock down across his knee, snapping the wood like kindling then clouted the other man with the jagged end of the shattered stock. Blood sprayed across the white snow an instant before the poacher dropped face-first.
Taylor staggered backward, but the guy had him by his coveralls, lifting the rider over his head before throwing him against the closest tree. The crack of his head striking the wood made Luisa wince.
She looked away in time to see Duane regain his feet, but instead of coming to his friend’s rescue, he jumped on his sled and gunned the engine.
The stranger roared and charged after the snowmobile, catching the rear of the sled and yanking back. Luisa expected him to be dragged off his feet, but instead the snowmobile tipped, spilling the rider.
“How the hell’d he do that?” she wondered aloud.
But he did one better, lifting the sled over his head and throwing it against a tree. He had the screaming man by one arm now, shaking him as if he were a dirty carpet. The poacher took a swing at his attacker and received a clout to the head that caused him to go instantly limp. The stranger tossed him aside and turned to her.
Luisa lifted her radio, barking her position and a mayday.
She scrambled back, but fell. The deadly dark eyes now pinned her. He stalked forward and then paused, inhaling deeply.
He reached and she ducked, but he caught her ski hat and goggles, dragging them off her head. Her dark brown wavy hair spilled over her parka.
His murderous expression turned to astonishment as he lifted her to her feet using the front of her jacket. This brought her toe to toe with the menacing stranger, now looming to study her. She pressed her lips together and stared right back. This caused him to cock his head, as his brows dipped and his eyes narrowed.
He had beautiful proportions, with coppery skin, elegant high arching brows and a broad, straight nose. His sharp cheekbones looked as if they were carved of stone and thick, spiky lashes framed dark, fathomless eyes. His wide, sensual mouth parted as he drew closer, his nostrils flaring as he breathed her in.
“Why are you here?” he growled.
Luisa pointed at the bear. “For her. She’s hurt.”
He glanced past her, noting the bear. All beauty vanished as his features changed to something primal and dangerous.
He released her and she dropped several inches to the snow.
“How did you do that?” she asked, pointing at the ruined sled.
He glanced at her again and the contact of his stare seemed to immobilize her. Her heart pounded like machine gun fire as he determined her fate. She found her legs held her and so she inched back a step. It was from this distance she again took note of his odd clothing—a leather coat, with nothing beneath it, but an unusual necklace. It glinted and she recognized the long curved claw of a grizzly fitted in gold. Fury erupted inside her.
She pointed at the claw, her anger spilling into her words. “Where did you get that?”
A smile quirked his full lips, showing her a smooth, prominent jaw and strong white teeth. His smile faded as he stared at her jacket sleeve.
He reached out, capturing her wrist. “What’s this?”
She followed the line of his sight, noting the tiny tear in the nylon fabric and the small tuft of white polyester filling protruding from the gap.
“I must have torn it.”
He fingered the hole. “You’ve been shot.”
Chapter Two
The stranger’s scowl deepened. In a move too fast for her to track, he grasped the front of her jacket in two hands and pulled. The seam beside the zipper failed as he tore the coat open and dragged it from her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Hold still,” he ordered.
The authority of his voice achieved his purpose. She froze in terror before him and then glanced down at her arm. Blood soaked her shirtsleeve. It looked as if someone had painted the fabric crimson. She balled her hand in a fist and felt the warm, sticky fluid filling her glove.
He tore off the sleeve. A black, ugly hole punctured her bicep. Blood coursed from the wound with each rhythmic pump of her heart. The bullet had nicked the artery
Luisa went cold as a wave of dizziness threatened to topple her.
“Sit.” He pressed her down to rest on the side of the toppled sled. He used the ragged sleeve from her shirt to make a tourniquet and then aimed a long finger at her nose. “Wait.”
He turned to the bear, kneeling beside the great furry mass as he rested one hand upon her. He closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sky. After a moment he stood and tried to remove the noose from her rear leg, but it was stretched taut to the second snowmobile, so he chose instead to stand, clasp the line with two hands and yank.
The sled snapped back several feet.
Luisa’s eyes bulged.
He fingered a small hole in the back of the sled, leaning close to examine the puncture then drew back his fist and punched a hole in the metal fender of the snowcat. He retrieved something, examined it and tucked it away.
The radio on her belt crackled to life.
“Luisa! What’s your situation?” It was her partner, Buck Clark.
She reached for the radio.
“Don’t answer.”
“I have to.”
His eyes narrowed as he took a step toward her.
She lifted her uninjured arm clear of the radio. He turned back to the bear.
“Is she hurt?” asked Luisa.
“Just the rear leg. This will heal without my help.” He stood, staring down at the bear. “She’ll live to birth her twins.”
How the hell could he know by looking that this sow was pregnant with twins? Before she could ask, he slipped his arms under the bear and lifted her. Luisa pressed a hand to her forehead as the scene unfolding before her clashed with her concept of reality.
This can’t be happening. That bear weighs at least eight hundred pounds.
But he carried her like a child, ducking to restore her to her den.
The radio crackled. “Help’s coming. Thirty minutes out, do you need medical?”
The man emerged from the den and dusted the snow from his jeans. Luisa fingered the radio and stiffened as she wondered what he would do.
His cold stare and aggressive stance made her start to shake. She glanced at the others that this man had felled like saplings. “They have my research maps. That’s how they found the den.”
He moved with purpose as he searched them but found nothing. “Not here.”
“Are they dead?” she asked.
He pointed to the man laying face down in the snow. “Yes.” Then he pointed at the two by the tree. “And, not quite.”
“What happens now?”
“If I leave you, you’ll bleed to death before they get here.”
Just when she didn’t think she could be any more frightened. She looked down at her bloodless arm, seeing the tourniquet had not succeeded in stemming the flow of blood. She was on her feet now, the panic taking hold.
He reached for her and she scrambled away. The battle was short and one-sided. It took him only a few seconds to subdue her, wrapping her in strong arms that stilled her thrashing.
“Stop.”
The radio barked to life. The man shifted her to one arm without loosening his grip, removed the walkie-talkie from her holster and held it out to her.
“Tell them, you see three men near this den and that you’re turning around. You’ll check in later.”
He held down the button and she repeated his words, ending with “Luisa out.” He clicked off the radio and buried it in his coat. She did not know why he did not also confiscate her dart gun, holstered to her opposite hip.
Luisa glared. “Let go!”
He did, staring with troubled eyes. “You have to come with me.”
“No chance.”
“Your only chance.�
� He looked unblinkingly into her eyes. “I don’t want you to die.” He offered his hand. It was broad and long and smeared with her blood. “Take it and live.”
She hesitated only an instant before clasping her palm to his. His grip radiated heat and power. His eyes sparkled with life, menacing her senses and filling her with irrational urges.
He used their joined hands to reel her in and slid an arm around her back, stooping to lift her. He cradled her as he raised his face to the sky. His chanting call sent a shiver over her.
In the distance thunder cracked. A cold wind swept down the mountain and a moment later hailstones rained upon them, bouncing off the branches and skidding on the thick crust of snow.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked, staring in terror at the violent storm bearing down on them. The high-pitched call of an eagle screeched above the howling wind. She clamped one hand over an ear and turned away, trying vainly to shut out the deafening shriek. “What is that?”
He grinned. “That’s our ride.”
The wind sent shards of ice crystals stinging Luisa’s exposed skin and lashed her hair across her cheek. Above them, a vortex in the black clouds yawned open.
The stranger clasped her tight and pressed his lips to her ear. “Take a deep breath and close your eyes.”
She jerked her head back to see if he were serious. One look told her he was—deadly so. She drew a lungful of freezing air just before the temperature dropped. His leather coat flapped about him like wings. He grasped the edges and drew them around her, protecting her from the worst of the needles of ice. Light poured down from below. She opened her eyes.
Mistake.
Below their feet, the earth fell away. It was falling or they were rising. She looked down on the tops of the old Douglas firs lining the ridge. Her scream was lost in the howling wind.
She tried to draw another breath, but the air was too cold and she choked. Luisa struggled irrationally against the immovable bonds of his arms, fighting for her life and the air she could not draw, fighting against the darkness that charged toward her like a herd of buffalo.