He broke into a broad grin. “You won't be sorry. It's a nice house, and I know my aunt will love you. She'll give you a home-cooked meal, and you can take a hot shower and change your clothes.”
He cast his eyes at her bag. She didn't even have a change of clothes. He could see that. He only said it to put her at ease.
He set off down the street, but he always checked over his shoulder to make sure she kept pace with him. He scanned the town, but no other people accosted them. The whole town slept in the mid-afternoon sun.
He turned a corner and opened the gate of a trim little house with gingerbread trim around the roof and lace curtains fluttering in the open windows. Marla's heart went out to the place. It reminded her of Dunlap Homestead. He opened the door and led her into the carpeted hall. “Just wait here, and I'll go get my aunt. Have a seat in the living room if you want. Then I'll get you something to eat.”
He hurried away and returned a minute later.
“My aunt isn't here right now, so we can make ourselves at home. What do you want to do first? Do you want to eat, or do you want to go to your room?”
She thought it over. “I guess I'd like to go to my room. I never thought sitting on my backside in the bus all day could be so exhausting.”
He laughed and led her down the hall. He opened a door under the stairs and stood back. “There you go.”
Marla stared through the opening. A rickety wooden staircase disappeared down into pitch dark. “What's this?”
He motioned her through the door. “This is the room you asked for. It's the basement.”
She stared at him. His eyes flashed under his black bangs, but that congenial smile vanished into an ugly mask of pure malicious hatred. She couldn't speak.
“Go on,” he growled. “Get in there. This is what you wanted, and this is what you got.”
“But I...”
She never got a chance to finish the sentence before he grabbed her by the back of the neck and hurled her through the door. She hit the stairs on her side and tumbled down into the dark. He slammed the door, and the golden square of light shut out.
Chapter 11
Walker parked his pick-up in the supermarket parking lot and shut off the engine. He left his bag on the seat and set off down the street toward the far end of town. When he came to the road leading up to Bruins' Peak, he took a deep breath and smelled all the smells of the town.
He didn't dare get down on his hands and knees and smell the pavement with so many humans around, but he didn't have to. He caught Marla's scent even here. She didn't have a car, so she must have come into town on foot. Aiken said he and Boyd tracked her to Park Street, and he picked up the trail here, where she must have entered the town.
He set off in the direction of town. Where could she have gone? Everywhere he went, he smelled her. She went behind the supermarket. She went down the alley. When she came to Park Street, she paused. Her scent mingled with a thousand other smells. Bodies surrounded her on all sides—human bodies. He ventured out into the middle of Park Street, and there the scent died, just the way Aiken said it did. He couldn't follow it any further.
He peered into every face in the crowd. How could a Bruin want to leave the Peak to come here, to be surrounded by humans? Marla must be truly desperate to leave her Bruin nature behind. Where would she go? What would she do?
She wanted to get away from the Peak, and she wouldn't stay in Iron Bark where dozens of Bruins could recognize her on sight. She must have left town. She either caught a ride with someone, or she…
He went back to the supermarket, down the alley…and stopped. There was the bus station. She took a roundabout route to avoid being recognized. He crossed the street and went into the station. Her scent came stronger here, especially near the counter. She bought a ticket. She left town by bus, but going where?
He moved into the waiting room and strolled between the benches until he found one that smelled the strongest of her. He sat down in the next seat and inhaled a deep breath of her scent. He closed his eyes and drifted away to that glorious day in the woods when she sat on his hips and rode him to her screaming climax. That scent spoke to his blood, his cells. He swam in delightful pools of her sweet scent.
He shook himself awake. Sitting here dreaming about her wasn't getting her back. He stood up, but when he headed for the door, he detected another scent. He smelled that scent before, but where? He rifled his encyclopedic memory for it. It sparked a nagging warning of danger approaching.
He left the bus station and went back to his truck. He got out his bag and went down the street to the bank. He withdrew several thousand dollars from his personal bank account and headed back to the bus station.
Marla was on the run. She would go as far away from Bruins' Peak as she could get. How much money did she have? How far could she go? He couldn't track her scent on the bus. He would have to use his brains to figure out where she went.
He glanced both ways to cross the street when a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder and yanked him back onto the curb. He spun around with his hackles raised when he came face to face with Sheriff McPherson. “What do you want?”
“I'll ask the questions here, Mister,” he snapped. “I just spotted you, so I came to ask you about Bain Campbell.”
“What about him?” Walker shot back. “I don't know anything about Bain Campbell.”
“Have you seen him at all in the last few days, or maybe in the last week?” the Sheriff asked.
“I haven't seen him in months,” Walker replied. “I don't associate with him. Why don't you go look for him at his house?”
“I already did that,” the Sheriff countered. “No one has seen him in days. The last anybody knew, he was on his way up to Bruins' Peak, but he never came back. Would you know anything about that?”
“I don't know anything about it,” Walker snapped. “I never even knew he was on the Peak, but if he was, he was on private property.”
“Whether he was on private property or not, his disappearance is my business and that makes it your business.” He jabbed Walker in the chest with his forefinger.
“I can't help you. I gotta go.” He turned away.
The Sheriff grabbed Walker by the shoulder again. His hand crushed Walker's shoulder in a powerful grip. “You're not going anywhere until you answer my questions.”
“I can't answer your questions.,” Walker insisted. “I'm in a hurry here.”
“Then I suggest you answer my questions in a hurry,” the Sheriff boomed, “and then you'll be free to go. You wouldn't want me to think you're making yourself scarce because you had anything to do with his disappearance, now would you?”
Walker smacked his lips. “What do you want to know? I haven't seen Bain Campbell.”
The sheriff glared at him. “You people have a bone to pick with the Campbells, don't you? Are you sure he didn't meet with an accident?”
“Who cares if he met with an accident?” Walker sneered. “Personally, I hope he did meet with an accident.”
As soon he said it, Walker regretted losing his cool in front of the Sheriff. The Sheriff pulled himself up and glared at Walker. “Now, I know you had something to do with Bain disappearing. I think you better come down to the station with me. We can have a talk in my office.”
Walker's shoulders sagged. “Listen, Sheriff. Everyone knows there's no love lost between the Bruins and the Campbells. The hunters have been after us for years. If Bain Campbell came up to Bruins' Peak, he was up to no good. I'll do what I can to help you find him, but I can't promise you'll find him alive and safe.”
“If you really expect me to believe you had nothing to do with bushwacking him in the middle of the night, you better come with me. I know you're a crackerjack tracker. You can help me find out where he went and what happened to him.”
Walker took a deep breath. The sooner he helped the Sheriff find Bain, the sooner he could get on his own way finding Marla. “All right. What do you want me to do?�
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The Sheriff nodded over his shoulder. “Come back down the block to my car. Bain's friends say he left the Beater the other night on his way up Road X10.”
“What was he doing there?”
“Who knows?” The Sheriff pulled open the door. “Get in the car.”
The Sheriff held the squad car passenger door open for Walker to get in. At least it wasn't the back door. Walker put on his seat belt, and the Sheriff started driving out of town, back toward Bruins' Peak where Walker just came from. This could take a lot longer than he anticipated. By the time he got back to the bus station, Marla could be long gone.
The Sheriff drove out of town and circled the Peak. He turned off onto Road X10. They hadn't gone very far when they came across two trucks stuck together on the side of the road. The Sheriff parked, and the two men got out.
The Sheriff inspected one truck and wrinkled up his nose. “This is Bain's truck.”
“Who does the other truck belong to?” Walker asked.
The Sheriff cocked his head. “I was hoping you could tell me that.”
Walker shrugged. “I don't recognize it, but that doesn't signify. I don't know every car and truck on the Peak. It could be anybody's. There's nothing to say it even belongs to a Bruin. It could be an outsider. It could be another hunter. Maybe Bain came up here with one of his friends and they crashed into each other.”
The Sheriff smacked his lips. “Come on, Cunningham. You know you're making up stories to excuse your own people. Someone crashed this truck to stop Bain from reaching the Peak.”
“Well, I don't recognize it. Can't you run the plate number through your database?”
The Sheriff pulled out his phone and twiddled with it for a minute. “This truck is registered to Austin Farrell.”
“That explains why I didn't recognize it.”
“Why is that?”
“Because the Cunninghams don't have anything to do with the Farrells,” Walker explained. “I've never seen any of their cars before. What was Austin Farrell doing out here, crashing into Bain Campbell's truck?”
The Sheriff walked in a circle around the two wrecked trucks. Walker followed a step behind him. The Sheriff kept going, but Walker stopped next to the passenger door of Austin's truck and stuck his head through the rolled-down window. A powerful Bruin scent came from inside that truck, and not a male one, either. Walker knew that scent like the back of his hand. It was Aurora.
The events of the last few days flooded back, and he remembered Aurora trying to talk to him about Austin. He was on another planet during that conversation. He heard her now for the first time. She wanted to marry Austin Farrell. She came to him for support, and he gave her the cold shoulder.
How could he turn her down, after everything he went through with Marla? Star married a Farrell. What could he possibly say to object to Aurora doing the same thing? Austin wouldn't be his first choice for Aurora's mate, but Fate didn't ask his opinion. Fate didn't ask his opinion about Marla, either. She wasn't his parents' first choice of mate for him. The rest of the Cunningham tribe would raise their eyebrows in surprise when he brought her home as his bride. None of that mattered. Only the heart mattered.
Austin and Aurora crashed Austin's truck to stop Bain setting traps on the mountain, and they made sure Bain Campbell never came down from Bruins' Peak to bother anybody else again in his whole sorry life. So much water under the bridge, and Walker was slacking on his duty as Alpha not to deal with it when it happened. Brody Farrell and Aiken Dunlap dealt with it in his place by warning the other tribes the hunters were on the mountain. Well, Walker wasn't Alpha anymore. All those problems rested on someone else's shoulders now. He only had one problem, and that was getting Marla back.
The Sheriff shoved his phone back in his pocket. “Austin Farrell must have whacked Bain. Come on. Let's go up to their Homestead and we can question him.”
“Come on, Sheriff. You don't know anybody whacked Bain. There's not a drop of blood or a body in either truck. That means Bain walked away from this wreck. Wait a few days. Bain will turn up in town in a day or two with some other wild story about how evil and dangerous the Bruins are, and everything will go back to normal.”
The Sheriff gave the wreck site one last inspection. “I suppose you're right. Let's go.”
The two men got back in the car. Neither said a word on the way back to town until the Sheriff parked the squad car on the corner again. “Am I free to go now?”
“You can go.” He wagged his finger at Walker. “Just make sure you stay out of trouble.”
“I always do. All Bruins do.”
The Sheriff threw the car into gear and grumbled under his breath, “Yeah. You people are too clean.”
Walker got out and shut the door behind him. He waited until the squad car rolled away before he took his bag under his arm and headed for the bus station.
Chapter 12
Marla sat on the cold ground in pitch darkness. How many days or weeks passed since Riley Faulkner threw her in this basement? She had no idea. Every now and then, a square of light opened in the ceiling. Riley came down the stairs to deliver a tray of food, but he didn't speak to her, and he retreated through the door quickly as he came.
That first night he threw her down the stairs, she landed unconscious at the foot of the stairs. She didn't wake up until he returned hours later. He punched her in the head a few times to make sure she didn't fight back. He dragged her across the basement and shackled her to a post with an iron ring around her leg. He left her there and only came back to feed her.
She followed the chain connecting the ring on her leg to the post. She couldn't budge it, no matter how hard she tried. She groped all over the basement floor she could reach, but she already knew she wouldn't find anything that could help her escape. A guy like Riley wouldn't make a mistake like that.
Whoever he was, he planned this. He spotted her at the bus station, and he stalked her and trapped her like a spider stalking a fly. He probably noticed how sheltered and gullible she was from the moment she sat down in the station waiting room.
What a fool she was! She didn't even know how to use the sense God gave Bruin kind to sniff out danger. She should have picked up the danger in his alien scent, but she didn't know how. Years shut up in the house took their toll. She might as well be human, for all her Bruinness helped her out in a situation like this.
Would she ever get out of this basement? Would she ever see her family again? What did Riley have planned for her? Would he keep her captive, or did he have something more sinister in mind?
How could she fall for his shallow flattery? How could she let him kiss her? If only Walker was here, he would know how to help her. She wouldn't let herself fall apart thinking about him. If only she could live the last few weeks over again, what a different choice she would make.
All at once, the door flew open. The tell-tale square of light appeared, and a man ran down into the darkness, but he didn't drop her tray in front of her and disappear. He stayed longer, and sounds came to her from across the basement.
The next minute, a thousand blazing lights blinded her. They banished darkness from every corner. Marla covered her face to protect her stinging eyes. Voices boiled on every side of her.
When her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw for the first time where she was. Flood lights glared down in a circle from the ceiling. The ring of bare dirt underneath her ended in rough wooden walls hemming her in. They rose to a balcony overhead, where people hurried back and forth beyond the light.
Riley came through a door in the wooden wall. He struggled to control a dog at the end of a chain. The animal lunged off its feet at Marla, jibbering and snarling and foaming at the mouth. It choked itself on its collar and dragged Riley forward one step at a time.
He managed to wrestle the dog and clip its chain to a ring screwed into the wall. He went through the door and came back with another dog. He brought in three dogs and chained them all inside the ring whe
re they could bark and slather and strain to get at Marla.
She shrank back against her post, but she couldn't stop staring at the spectacle unfolding before her. Men leaned over the balcony to point and stare at her. They shouted to each other and waved money clutched in their fists.
After he finished fighting the dogs into position, Riley appeared in the upper seats among the crowd. The men mobbed him with fresh shouts. They waved their money in his face. He found a place for himself and started holding court. One man after another came to him to place bets. The noise rose to a deafening pitch. More men rushed in from outside, and every one of them wanted to place a bet with Riley. They jabbered and pointed down at Marla and the dogs.
Marla's heart pounded. The dogs' barking sent her into a panic, but she couldn't get away. She struggled to her feet with her back plastered against the post. Her eyes darted around the ring from one face to another, but she couldn't find one hint of sympathy in that crowd. None of them would help her. What did they want from her? What would become of her when this was all over?
When she turned around again, she saw Riley coming back through the door. Three men followed him, each carrying a long pole in his hands. The dogs settled down at their presence, and the men arranged themselves in a line in front of the dogs. They faced Marla and aimed their sticks at her.
Dozens of feet stamped in the upper balcony. Voices screamed and shouted and cheered. Marla couldn't make out a single intelligible word, but she couldn't take her eyes off the men in front of her. She clung to the post for any scrap of stability. She couldn't breathe. Her heart fluttered against her chest.
Riley and his friends moved in. Marla searched their faces and saw nothing but cruel hatred. All at once, Riley darted forward and jabbed his stick at Marla. The stick poked her thigh, and something sharp embedded in the tip punctured her skin. She screamed, but he moved faster than she could react. He slipped back into his place before she could move.
Pain seared her leg, but she was too terrified to move. The men in the upper balcony cheered. Another man came forward along with Riley, and they threatened her with their sticks from both sides at the same time. This time, sheer panic took over. Marla rounded on Riley and batted his stick away, but the other man darted forward and jabbed her before she could swing around to protect herself.
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