by Terry Spear
Cameron shook on it, although he didn't know what he'd do when the time actually came. The idea of just killing the men in cold blood didn't appeal. Yet if he and his kind were exposed now, he was sure that they would have an even worse nightmare.
Kintail whipped around and headed out the door, slamming it behind him.
Faith let out her breath and wrapped her arms around Cameron's neck, her gaze worried. "What do we do first?"
"We're going to have a problem with Gavin." Cameron stroked his hands down her sides, attempting to reassure her. "We can't tell him what we're exactly up against. He'll think these bastards are crazy, and he can help us locate them, but beyond that, it'll be too easy for one of us to slip up and show our true nature now."
Someone walked up onto the deck and knocked at the door. "Yes," Cameron hollered.
"It's me, Gavin."
"Come in."
Gavin opened the door, smiled when he saw Faith and Cameron in a hug, then closed the door. "I don't understand what's going on. Trevor said David and Owen are still hunting and that communications are just not available where they are. Which is understand able. I researched the place and read where the owners of several lodges told guests to leave laptops and cell phones behind because they don't work out here. No land phones, nothing. Now, this Kintail has asked us to search for serial killers, but from what I gather, he's a winter resident here, not even a permanent year-round resident. He's not a police chief or anything. So what's the deal?"
"Which as private investigators is why it's right up our alley," Cameron said smoothly, offering Gavin a chair. "The two men who were killed were employees of his. That's why he's so concerned. He's afraid someone is targeting his people, and if we don't catch these bastards soon, there'll be more deaths."
"Want some green tea or cocoa?" Faith asked, moving to the kitchen to turn on the stove.
"Cocoa," both men responded.
"So it's not an official investigation?" Gavin asked.
"The police are definitely looking into it. They've had two murders, one out here by the lake and one at Kintail's office in Millinocket. But they don't have the resources to analyze all the clues or find the killers."
"Then it must be connected to his hunting business." Gavin looked in Faith's direction. "What about the little lady? Isn't this kind of out of her area of expertise? I mean, this could get dangerous, and I wouldn't think you'd want her involved."
Faith didn't look in his direction, but smiled a little.
"She's a forensic scientist, works for the police in Portland."
Gavin stared at her. "Well, hot damn. Beauty and brains all in one package. Send you on a rescue mission and instead… hey, wait, so what was the deal with the guy in the gray pickup stalking her?"
"Just Kintail's people wanting to get in touch with her about her father's research here."
"Which was about Bigfoot?" Gavin smiled. "Did Cameron tell you we went on one of the Bigfoot hunts in Washington State once?"
"You did?" She raised her brows at Cameron.
He shook his head and joined her at the stove, resting his hands on her hips and kissed her cheek. "Yeah, but they're not real, you know."
"All four of us went," Gavin continued. "We were actually tracking down a deadbeat ex-husband who owed child support. We heard he was on one of those Bigfoot hunts so we hoped to catch him."
"Bigfoot or the deadbeat husband?" she asked.
Cameron wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her snug. "The deadbeat husband. We always catch our man… or woman."
She smiled back at him. "And Bigfoot?"
Gavin cleared his throat. "Missed him completely. But you know, hunters can go on hunts looking for known prey in an area and still not run across them. Even if the prey really exists. So what's the plan now? Trevor said you'd already been to both crime scenes, so what's the verdict?"
"I've only been to the one at Kintail's office." Faith stirred the cocoa into the mugs, then handed them to Cameron. "At least that one appeared to have been killed by silver poisoning."
When Gavin stared at her in disbelief, Faith shrugged. "Lots of silver remedies claim all kinds of health cures. So you can get them either online or in health food stores. When people ingest silver, the condition is called Argyria. But it's not a good way to kill someone. Slow silver poisoning can permanently turn skin gray."
"Sounds like you've got a keeper, Cameron," Gavin said with a wink.
But he knew from the slight sarcasm in the tone of his voice, Gavin didn't think Cameron had what it took to make this relationship work either. But he and Faith had more in common than they ever thought possible. And he planned to hang onto her. The problem was, retaining Gavin in the partnership. He wondered, too, if David and Owen had changed any personality-wise after being turned. Would they be able to stay together as a team after all this was over with? If his friends were even all right?
"So what's next?" Gavin asked.
"I think the three men who were in the hot tub with us the one night, are the ones who killed the men," Faith said.
Again, Gavin looked surprised.
Cameron smiled a little. "Like you said, she's a keeper."
"What makes you think the three men had anything to do with it?" Gavin asked her.
"They said so, in so many words. If Trevor didn't tell you already, the killers are werewolf hunters. They believe that werewolves exist just as much as Bigfoot does. So they injected at least the first of the two men with silver, believing that he was a werewolf and it would destroy him. The only thing is, it can kill anyone, so his death isn't really proof that the guys are werewolves. They've seen Kintail's Arctic wolves and believe they're werewolves and anyone who has anything to do with them are, too."
Gavin switched his attention to Cameron. "Did you ever find your wolf?"
"She's back with Kintail's pack."
Gavin leaned his head back and opened his mouth to speak, then looking as though he thought better of it, he closed his mouth and said, "Hmm."
Yeah, that would take some explaining. First, Cameron's frantic about "his" wolf, and now he didn't care anything about her because she was back with Kintail's pack. He could see how complicated things were going to get without telling the whole truth of the matter.
"So then what do we do first?" Gavin asked.
Faith pointed the spoon she'd been stirring the cocoa with at Cameron. "What if the guys in the hot tub were the ones who stole our snowmobiles? You said that the man yelling was a distraction that drew you from the cabin so that while you were gone, they could steal the machines."
"Because you were the weaker sex." Cameron smiled when Faith did. He turned to Gavin. "You should see what she did to my snowmobile."
"You mean that huge dent in the backside?" Gavin asked. His expression showed even more admiration for Faith.
"She wields a heavy cast-iron frying pan like an Olympic disc thrower."
"Ha! If I could do that well, I would have hit the driver, not the vehicle."
"Probably would have killed him. I take it you had another theory about them stealing the machines?" Cameron asked.
"Yeah, what if they were afraid you were going to find the body, and so they took off with our machines to divert our attention. That way if the man was still alive, he would have frozen to death overnight. The police came in the morning and asked us where we'd been during the night. After the men stole our machines, they get in the hot tub with us, and voila! The machines are around the backside of the shower building. They probably had… wait! I was thinking, what if they were staying at one of the cabins while it was closed for renovations. But I didn't want to check it out without you being there. Then we got distracted when Charles said he'd take us to see Trevor."
Cameron rose from his chair. "Where did Leidolf go, Gavin?"
Gavin motioned to his cabin down the trail. "He said if we wanted his help, to come get him. He was up a lot last night and went back to the cabin to take a nap."
"Let'
s go. Weapon reloaded?"
Gavin nodded. "When I was listening to Trevor. I wanted him to know that I was armed and dangerous if he was on the wrong side of the law."
That's when Cameron wondered if Kintail knew yet about Gavin shooting Hilson. He set the mugs in the dry sink and poured water into them. "I'll wash them when we return." He pulled on his parka while Faith got hers on.
Gavin looked again at Cameron's sleeve. "Faith, the wolf, wouldn't have had anything to do with the way your sleeve looks, would she have?"
"No," Faith said, walking out ahead of the men. "She's the one that saved Cameron's butt."
Cameron shrugged at Gavin. "Actually, you're looking right at her. Faith, the woman, clobbered the wolf with a healthy swing of a snow shovel. That little lady is not someone you ever want to piss off."
Gavin chuckled. "Sounds like you've met more than your match." He climbed onto his snowmobile and turned to Cameron. "So what's the real story about David and Owen?"
Kintail had barely returned Hilson to his own lodge when six of his people hurried to greet him, everyone of them looking like he was going to beat them within an inch of their life. "What's happened?" But he suspected it had to do with David and Owen and that they hadn't recaptured them.
Well, that was one bargaining chip he'd lost. Although he hadn't intended to give them up, ever. They were much better off with him since he knew the ropes and could keep his people safe. Normally. The lupus garou killers were another story though.
"Lila's gone. They came through the kitchen. You can smell their scents," Whitson said, limping around in a walking cast, one eye blackened, but at least Cameron hadn't killed him.
"Wait, what? Some damned human came here and Lila went with him?"
"No," Whitson said, his expression more than concerned. "From the smell of them, it appears there were three of them, all male. One of them was the same we smelled in your offices in Millinocket where Sutter died. Lila was alone while the rest of our people were trying to track down David and Owen when these men took her. And Elizabeth went with David and Owen, if you didn't get word."
Kintail stared at Whitson, shook his head, and stormed down the hall to the kitchen. He walked into it, lifted his nose, and smelled. The humans' scents were unmistakable, sweaty with fear, doused with heavy spicy colognes, mixed with the lingering aroma of roast and gravy still clinging to the air.
His voice fierce, he growled, "Where'd they take Lila?" He stalked back into the great room where Hilson was sitting on one of the couches, still looking pretty beat up from the gunshot wounds.
Whitson shook his head as he hurried after him. "We're not sure. A couple of our men think maybe they grabbed Cameron's partners and Elizabeth also. They saw some snowmobilers, not any of our own people. So our people backed off when they saw these guys had guns. Immediately they worried they might be the killers and if they were, their bullets would be silver. Since the wolves they were after weren't part of the original pack, and Elizabeth chose to go with them, they didn't feel any need to go getting themselves killed over them."
Kintail swore under his breath and gave the men gathered a steely eyed glower. "We're a damned pack. So act like one. One for all and all for one. Whether we have new men or women, or we were born that way. Hell." He stared out the window. "Did you see any bodies afterward?"
"No bodies," one of his men said. "After they left, we searched the area and found where the wolves had lain in the snow. We think they carried the bodies away this time. Maybe thinking they have proof we're were wolves? The tracks led toward Millinocket. We didn't want to get too close. We heard gunshots, three of them, and figured the men and Elizabeth were dead. They shouldn't have run off."
Unable to shake loose of the misery he felt, Kintail said, "It wouldn't have mattered, it seems. They took Lila."
"Because they ran off, we were out looking for them. That's how they got Lila."
Kintail didn't think it would matter to him one way or another as detached as she'd been toward him ever since he'd brought her into the pack. He knew she'd had difficulties from where she was from, but she'd never discuss it with him, and he'd never wanted to pry. But after what Trevor had told him, he was rethinking her plight and now, he couldn't help worrying about her. She didn't deserve to die at the hands of these lunatics. She was a member of his pack, to protect always, even if she didn't want to be his mate. "Where did they take her?"
"The snowmobiles reached the trailhead, then the tracks disappeared. We really think they're somewhere in Millinocket."
"Gather all our men. Send word to Cameron and his partner, Gavin, whoever's doing the killings has either taken his men hostage or killed them. And make sure they know they've got Lila and another of my females, too, that they're probably alive and hostages for now."
Hilson held his side where Gavin managed to shoot him all four times. "I'm going."
"Like hell you are. Just stay here and recuperate."
"You can't have her, Kintail," his brother growled.
"What? You never changed her, never mated with her. It's too late for you to have her."
Hilson gave him a sour look. But Kintail knew his brother well. If he really had wanted her, he would have taken her. Which meant the woman was up for grabs. Although, he was seriously considering giving her to one of his other bachelor males, any of whom would be eager to have the woman. "You shouldn't have gone after Cameron against my orders."
"I couldn't let him have her. But damn it, someone had already turned her."
Kintail suspected Cameron had done it, but of his own free will, or by accident?
Whitson limped over to the couch. "What do you want me to do?"
Kintail shook his head. "Babysit my brother. The two of you are a pair." He stalked out of the house, hoping to hell he could end this nightmare once and for all in
short order, and Lila would be so grateful, she'd have a change of heart concerning him.
Owen woke from the worst nightmare he'd ever had about being pursued by wolves on snowmobiles, to a nightmare he was still living as he realized he, David, and Elizabeth were caged and locked in a basement. Not Kintail's either. He poked his snout at David, who looked up sleepily at him. Then they both considered where they were, a large cage in a moldy wet basement. David hurried to nose Elizabeth's face, trying to wake her.
And Lila?
Eyes widening, Owen stared at her. How the hell did she get here?
Sitting on the bottom step of the stairs leading out of the basement, she leaned against the wall, her eyes closed. It looked as though she was every bit as much a hostage as they were. Which was probably good. Kintail would want her back, even though they seemed to share a lot of animosity. Still, she was his pack member, and he seemed really protective and possessive of everyone in the pack.
Everything was dark in the room, but they could see as if it was a cloudy day. Traffic noises could be heard, not a lot, but a horn blew, and cars speeding up at a traffic light, slushing through melting snow on the roadways rushed nearby. They were in town. Maybe Millinocket? It wasn't far from the cabin resorts, maybe an hour and a half at most.
What they needed was a window. Well, that and a crowbar. Too bad their pursuers had taken only Lila hostage. She had some wicked teeth when she was in her wolf form, but they needed a couple of more guys with muscle instead.
Owen stood, stretched the kinks out of his wolf's body, then walked over to the padlock on the cage. Looked like an old one, slightly rusted, and… it was a combination lock. Like an old school lock. If he could shapeshift, although he was rather reluctant in the event he couldn't shift back before the killers returned, he figured he could decipher the combination. But if they caught him in his human form, he'd have proved their theory if they had any doubts. But also, he'd be naked and freezing.
He made a little woof sound. Lila didn't stir. He did it again. David and Elizabeth joined him and looked at the padlock.
Lila's eyes snapped open. "Jeez, it's ab
out time you three woke up."
Owen poked at the padlock. She stared at him, then the lock. "I can't open it. I tried."
He poked his nose at the lock again and looked at her.
"All right, but it won't work."
She crossed the floor and lifted the lock, then twisted the knob around real slowly. As soon as he heard the telltale click of the tumbler being in place, he nudged her hand with his nose.
She smiled, then twisted it in the opposite direction for the next number. Closer this time. He nudged her hand again. "Good boy," she said.
He growled and she chuckled. She turned the knob in the same direction as the first time. When he heard the click, he pushed her hand, but he was afraid either he'd moved too slowly or she was a little too enthusiastic and moved too quickly this time, not allowing him time to react.
She paused and looked at him. He shook his head, but she pulled on the lock anyway. Nothing.
"It's okay, I've got the first two numbers down, and the third was just a couple before that I think." She tried again, but twisted the knob even slower on the third number.
He bumped her and this time when she pulled, the lock opened, and she jerked it off the cage. He wanted to howl! Howl. That's how they could get word to the others. If anyone heard them it would most likely be Kintail's people, but only if any of them were nearby and could hear a wolf howling from a basement without windows. If the men who took them prisoner heard them? Either they'd shoot them with tranquilizers or shoot them with silver bullets. Neither a good scenario.
She pulled the cage door open and motioned for them to come out. "I haven't really been a good pack member as far as the two of you are concerned, but believe me right about now, all of you are the closest thing to a dream come true." She gave each of them a hug, and they licked her cheeks in response.
One thing about wolf pack members is they make up easily enough, and since she was the one with the human hands, Owen felt pretty good that she was in the same boat with them. Well, served her right for being one of the ones who kept them in captivity, too. Now she knew what it felt like.
"Except to bring you here after they dumped me here, I haven't seen any of them. I don't even want to think about what they plan to do with us."