“Yes, but I’m sleeping with his sister now, so I’m sure Dane’s glad he got that in while he could.” He swore and shook his head as he pointed east. “Ross couldn’t be this lucky.”
They went east, following the scent.
“Outside of your parents, you don’t have any Lycan family alive, right?” Travis asked as they walked through the trees.
“Yep. I have some distant relatives I’ve never met, but my parents were only children, and I’m the only Lycan they had. I’m hoping when Christa and I have kids the ratio isn’t so far off. You’ve seen what it’s done to my brothers and me. My parents act like they’re not Lycan when we’re all gathered, to keep the peace.” Travis had heard as much. Jordan had moved from a different pack to alpha Glacier Peak just so his siblings wouldn’t take it wrong. “Christa’s hoping to change that. Garret seems to like her…as a brother-in-law does. So we’ll see. He left here the other day with Carly from the Olympics pack.” He snorted. “It’d be funny if he ends up with a Lycan after all the crap he’s given me.”
“None of your brothers has the abilities of a Lycan, even though they’re not?”
Jordan stopped and looked over his shoulder at him.
It was a stupid question. LeAnn was a Lycan. She was a crazy Lycan, but she was a Lycan.
“Like what?” Jordan asked as he went back to walking.
“This…the ability to track.” She might have been wrong about everything else, but she’d recognized him when he was a wolf right away. Maybe that was the scent-match, maybe it wasn’t, but he tended to think she had the ability to track scents.
“Not that I’ve noticed. Not to this extent, anyway.”
“What about their hearing?”
“Normal. The two-footers we’ve got in our pack seem to have been skipped over, too. Either they’re Lycan or they’re not.”
“So if someone has the abilities of a Lycan—they’re definitely able to shift, right?”
Jordan snorted. “I don’t think we’ve had a normal conversation yet today. I think you need more sleep and to get laid.” He crouched down to the ground and narrowed his eyes.
Squatting down beside him, Travis said, “It’s really strong here.”
“Because they both were here. Ross, you stupid bastard, either you got really lucky or you’re a lot better at tracking than I gave you credit for.” He stood up. “You know, if I were in a panic, running for my life, no way in hell would I have been able to follow that wolf’s trail.”
“Do you think that runs in families?” he asked, standing up. If it did, maybe LeAnn wasn’t quite as crazy as he’d been thinking. She was still crazy, but possibly not quite as crazy.
“Maybe. My father could track a scent blindfolded. We all knew better than to sneak out at night.” He glanced at Travis and said, “It’d still just be among the Lycans, though.” Peering out into the distance, he shaded his eyes. “If you’re asking all this because LeAnn isn’t a Lycan, you shouldn’t even be here. Challenges don’t take into consideration not being able to shift. A Lycan versus an unarmed human…”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think LeAnn is ever unarmed, but…she’s got to be Lycan.”
“You mean you don’t know?” And Jordan was back to being amused.
“Oh, I know, but she keeps telling me she’s not.”
“Why?”
“Hell if I know.” That made even less sense than the rest of it. She had nothing to gain by claiming not to be Lycan. And she’d seemed genuinely amused when he’d mentioned it the first night. She had to be Lycan…which meant that she was delusional for not realizing it.
Her sanity was really highly questionable, which didn’t bother him as much as it should. Even the fact that she’d held a knife to his neck didn’t bother him as much as it should. Not even after running her license and discovering she likely had a criminal history.
She looked awfully comfortable holding that knife. That should cause him some concern.
Especially since she’d found and moved his gun.
And two of his knives were missing.
“I really need more sleep,” he said.
“A scent-match doesn’t really improve that.” Jordan grinned. “I’ve barely been getting any sleep.”
“Christa doesn’t let you take naps? I should tell her, an old dog like you…you’ve probably only got a few more good years in you.”
“I remember when you used to respect me.”
“Oh, I still respect my elders.”
Jordan ignored that. Their relationship had changed since Travis had become Alpha. A year and a half ago, he’d have felt the weight of deference. Now Jordan was his equal. In fact, he felt more like an older brother than a friend.
They hiked farther into the woods. The scent of other Lycans had joined in, and they had to move slower to make sure that they weren’t missing Ross or the wolf escaping.
Five minutes later, they both stopped and stared. Blood. A lot of blood.
Jordan wiped both his hands down his face. “This was so not how I planned to spend today.”
“Getting ripped to shreds by a pack of Lycans is not on my list of ways I want to go.” He’d seen a lot of nasty and vile things as a cop. This took it. He wasn’t sure if he wanted it to be Ross or not. Knowing this might be a Lycan activated his gag reflex. It was a good thing all he’d eaten today was LeAnn’s oatmeal. He inhaled and squinted. “I can smell something new, too.”
“Mountain lion. A mountain lion came from the north and dragged off some of the kill. That’s why we’re not seeing bones or…a head…or…yeah.”
Well, that was a mixed bag. Seeing a wolf’s head would feel like a slasher film moment, but maybe they’d have been able to tell if it was Ross. There’d have to be money on the table for him to examine a severed head, though. He might have been able to goad Jordan into doing that. Ross had been in his pack at one point, too.
They circled the kill site going in opposite directions while staring down at the ground.
“Here,” Travis said. There was a set of prints heading north. Something had sprinted away.
Jordan met up with him and inhaled. He shook his head. “It could be either. They smell too damn alike with all these other scents.” Four hundred feet away they found where the survivor had hidden.
“Would an actual wolf hide?” Travis asked.
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. It seems like it’d get the hell out of here.” He inhaled. “It smells more like the wolf, but maybe that’s me, hoping, because otherwise this is a nightmare, and I’m keeping Christa hidden in my bedroom until she’s ninety or I’ve killed this bastard.”
“I can’t tell.” Travis pounded a fist against a nearby tree. “Dammit. I feel worthless. I should be able to tell whether we’re following a Lycan or a wolf. He’s my pack. I should be able to tell.”
Jordan pinched the bridge of his nose while shaking his head. “I should be able to tell. I’ve been tracking scents my whole life, but this place smells like it was sprayed with blood. It’s got to be the wolf here. It smells like the wolf. Maybe it decided to wait it out until the threat had left.” He circled the large bush, scowling. “I can’t tell where to go next. So either the damn thing backtracked…or followed the mountain lion.”
“Neither of those makes sense for a wolf to do.” He glanced at Jordan. “Do they?”
Jordan shook his head, but then also shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense for Ross to do it, either.”
“Unless he was trying to hide his scent.”
Jordan snarled.
That made sense. Obviously they both hated that it was a rational explanation. But it made sense. And made him want to snarl and punch something again. But he was in control. He was keeping his wolf in check.
He and Jordan walked back to the kill site and stood staring at the gore left from the pack.
“We’ve got a problem,” Jordan said, looking up.
“It’s going to rain, isn’t it?” The air felt he
avy and damp. Could nothing go right for them? Seriously?
“Yep. I can feel it. We’re a couple hours from a decent rain that’ll wash out any hope of tracking this bastard.” He shook his head and then dropped his gaze back to the bloody grass. “We’ve got to have somehow missed something. Did Miller say they lost sight of him?”
“Miller said there was no way he’d gotten away. He just didn’t see the tattoo.”
“It was light enough that a phosphorous tattoo might not be visible.”
“Yup.” Travis closed his eyes and leaned back against the trunk of a tree. “Up until we’d gotten here, I was ninety-nine percent certain he’d gotten Ross. I felt stupid even mentioning it to you and dragging you away from Christa.”
“Now?”
“Now I’m wondering what Ross might want with me that he’d have stopped by my place two nights ago.”
“Maybe he blames you and… Wait, what the hell am I saying? There’s no way!”
Travis opened his eyes and stared at Jordan.
Jordan pointed at the gory earth. “Look at that…there’s no way a whole pack of Lycans lost him long enough that he pulled this switch. We’ve got to be wrong. You’re wrong. I’m wrong. We’re both wrong.”
This was a nightmare. He’d really hoped LeAnn was imagining things. She was clearly crazy in every other way—why did this have to be the one point she was rational on?
“Ross is dead.”
“He’s got to be.”
Jordan snarled again.
“So, should we follow the mountain lion?”
“Until it starts raining and this whole thing is useless? Sure.” He pulled a satellite phone out of his backpack.
“If I get tossed out of my pack for hooking up with a murderer’s sister, can I come back to Glacier?”
Jordan was already dialing, but he said, “Sure thing, and maybe I can find some of Christa’s clothes for you to wear, you big baby.”
Chapter Four
She dragged Ross’s map out to the kitchen table and spread it out. Ross was with the park service here, and they had the best maps ever—not to mention she suspected Lycans had a thing with knowing their territory.
Things were not looking good for her brother.
She’d called his work, and Ross had up and quit all of a sudden.
That might speak to his claim that someone was out to get him, but her instincts were sour on this. And she had good instincts. The same gut feeling that had told her to stay the hell away from Clayton two years ago was telling her that Ross wasn’t acting defensively. Ross hadn’t acted scared on the phone. Something wasn’t right.
She should cut out of here—right now—right away. She wasn’t going to find anything that was going to help her sleep better at night.
On the other hand, Ross was all the family she had left.
And she didn’t like that he’d been by Travis’s place.
She was protective of Travis—like he was hers.
And she’d never been territorial about a guy before.
She had a sudden driving urge to find out who that she-wolf had been in the bushes yesterday and to know more about all the females in the pack. Along with that, she wanted them to know that Travis was off-limits. They’d had their chance.
Okay, take a deep breath. He’s not yours. You’re not staying. This is a weird blip in your life.
She’d spend a couple more days here and then she’d leave…and leave this whole thing behind. She could even pretend Lycans didn’t exist. Ross had said there weren’t many—that they were a dying breed. She might not ever meet another one in her lifetime. Which was fine. Because they were insane. Especially the Alphas.
If only every cell in her body weren’t screaming “mine” whenever she got within ten feet of Travis. If only his kisses didn’t make her senses blaze like she was on fire. He was bad for her.
Well, maybe not.
But she was bad for him. She’d always been the one who didn’t belong, but her with a cop? No way in hell could that ever work. She’d broken the law enough times that her resistance to doing it again was tissue-thin. She’d fall back on old habits. This was simply a hot case of lust. It would burn out, and they’d be staring at each other with nothing to say one day.
She did not belong with Travis Flynn. End of story. No happily ever after here.
“Concentrate on the plan,” she muttered to herself as she rolled up the map. Time to find her brother and leave werewolves to their place in fiction—where they belonged. After this, she might not even believe in them anymore.
So, hah!
She drove slowly with her window down. LeAnn had nixed the first rental car they’d offered after turning it on. The exhaust was too strong, and she knew there was a good chance she’d be doing some scouting around when she couldn’t get a hold of Ross. The exhaust was still a freaking pain to ignore, but at least she could manage it.
Of course in the area around Rainier there were a million other scents to pick through, too. It was a nice change from all the places she’d bounced around lately, even if it was more interference when looking for the scent you wanted. Maybe if she stayed here longer, it’d become second nature to ignore the scent of pine trees and ferns and upcoming rain.
“Stop it. You’re not staying around. Even if you want to.” She blinked. “Not that you want to.” Dammit. It was that last kiss from Travis. He’d practically branded her with that heat. She couldn’t shake it.
Lycan packs tended to live near each other. She knew that from her runs to Travis’s place. She’d passed a dozen other cabins that smelled…furry. It was time to meet the neighbors.
When she pulled up to the far-too-cute cabin, she almost had second thoughts. The female Lycan here was putting off enough hormones that they were activating a primitive instinct in her she didn’t quite trust. But Ross had a bra of hers, back in the safe, and you didn’t usually collect a bra from someone you didn’t know well.
If she reminded herself around every twenty seconds that Travis wasn’t interested in this female, maybe this conversation would go okay.
The twentysomething woman opened the door in a silk robe and nothing else, and her overly-done-up eyes widened when she saw LeAnn. When the scent of her fear hit the air, too, LeAnn relaxed, even before the woman dipped her head and looked down.
That was weird.
“Hi. My name is LeAnn.”
The thin blonde in her twenties nodded, still not looking up. “You’re with Travis.”
Huh. Apparently she wouldn’t have to remind herself of that—this chick would. “He seems to think so. I’m only interested in figuring out what happened to my brother.”
“I didn’t even go to Glacier Peak.”
“Okay,” she said, drawing out the syllables. Odd response. “What’s your name?”
“Merilee.”
“Merilee, I’m not accusing you of anything. I want to find out if Ross did what Travis said he did and figure out if my brother is still alive.” She might’ve guessed it’d feel good to intimidate someone else, but this didn’t really feel all that great. “I, uhh…” And she felt it—that tingling on the back of her neck…someone was watching. LeAnn looked over her shoulder while inhaling shallowly. They were staying downwind of them, and the air was heavy with moisture so their scent wasn’t carrying.
“I didn’t even like Colby,” Merilee said.
LeAnn turned back to her. “Who’s Colby?”
Merilee actually looked up at her before shifting her gaze down again to their feet. “The person your brother killed.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders sank. It seemed like Merilee wouldn’t have much of a reason to lie. She also seemed quite certain that Ross had killed someone.
“Not that I blame him,” Merilee rushed to add.
“You don’t?” How could you not blame someone for murdering someone? LeAnn rolled her shoulders. Okay. This was just plain weird. She’d long ago accepted that Lycans existed. And she’d had
enough brushes with evil and death that murder wasn’t as creepy as it should have been. But Ross murdering someone? And someone being okay with that? Especially this slight-framed, nearly naked chick who looked like she’d scream if she broke a nail… Surreal.
“Well, Colby wasn’t really pack, and he was always looking for a fight, and he pissed off everyone.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t kill someone for pissing me off.” Fisting her hands, LeAnn fought the urge to shake this crazy woman. She wouldn’t kill someone period, but for being an obnoxious bastard? No. No way. No one would survive a bus ride with her if she did that.
“That’s good. Unless you have a reason to. In which case it’d totally be your right.”
This conversation was getting psycho. Especially since Merilee wasn’t meeting her eyes. And it still felt like someone was watching them. “Can I come in?”
Merilee nodded and stood back for her to enter. She gestured her back through the cabin to a couch where it looked like she had a studio setup of lights and then a high-end video camera. “They’re all turned off,” she said, waving a hand at the couch surrounded by recording equipment.
Alrighty then.
“I just finished.”
“That’s…uhh, good.” What was she supposed to say here? She should just stand. They could stand. The couch looked…dubious. The whole place smelled a bit funky—like too many sweaty bodies sort of funky. If this couch hadn’t seen some miles, she’d be very surprised. “How well did you know Ross?” Hopefully she wouldn’t go into details. Especially not details including the couch.
“Ross? Not Travis?”
“Not Travis.” If she mentioned Travis and the couch, LeAnn might have to kick someone for pissing her off after saying she didn’t resort to violence. It was up in the air whether that person would be Travis or Merilee, though. Seriously, how many people had gone to Funkytown in this room? LeAnn started breathing through her mouth. It was better not to speculate.
Crazy Over You Page 7