by J. C. Diem
After reading the police file, we knew that the four men had pitched their tent on the west side of the camping area. Todd had seen Reggie heading towards the east when he’d stepped out to relieve himself.
“We’ll start our search over there,” Reece said and pointed at a faint path in the trees.
We skirted around the edge of the mud and entered the trail. I picked up a faint trace of a human and assumed that it belonged to Reggie. The trees were denser here, which had helped to preserve the scent from being washed away. “It looks like our luck is in after all,” I said to Reece’s back.
He sent me a sardonic glance over his shoulder. “I doubt that his trail will last very long,” he warned me. Far more experienced at tracking than I was, he wasn’t getting his hopes up.
He turned out to be correct. After an hour or so, the trail went cold and we stopped for a break. We ate a couple of energy bars and washed them down with water. Reece armed sweat off his forehead and his shirt rode up, giving me a flash of his tanned stomach.
I looked away before he could sense my rising desire. We were on a mission and we had to remain focused. We’d already allowed ourselves to become distracted once and we couldn’t let it happen again. Mark’s disappointment was something I didn’t want to face.
“We’ll be able to cover a lot more ground if we split up,” I suggested when we’d finished our snacks.
“You’re right,” he said reluctantly. He didn’t want us to become separated, but he saw the sense in it. “Keep your cell phone handy and call me if you pick up the scent again. I’ll check in with you every fifteen minutes.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” I barked, pretending to be Kala and saluted him.
“Smart ass.” He spared me a grin before loping off into the trees.
Reece continued eastward and I angled towards the north. I had little hope that either of us would find the trail again. The rain had masked Reggie’s scent and we were now fumbling around with no clear leads.
Two hours later, I’d just finished reporting that I hadn’t found anything when I felt eyes on my back. Someone was watching me and they were being very stealthy, which probably meant that they didn’t have friendly intentions.
Continuing my hike, I gave no sign that I knew I was being followed. My pursuer kept his distance and I could only faintly hear his passage through the trees. Tense and expecting to be jumped at any moment, I wasn’t about to let myself be grabbed like a helpless civilian.
Ducking behind a dense bush, I removed my backpack and knelt down. It only took me a few seconds to put my rifle together. Standing again, I eased around the bush and peered through the scope. I spied a man making his way through the trees almost two thousand yards away. Even at that distance, I could tell that he was well over six feet tall. I was surprised that he could move so quietly at his size.
Shifting my attention to his clothes, I recognized his dark green pants, grey shirt and distinctive hat. Instead of the crazed hiker I was expecting, he was a Park Ranger. He was armed, but his handgun was tucked into a holster at his waist.
Lowering my rifle, I stepped back behind the bush just as he looked up. I caught a flicker of motion far behind him, but the person disappeared before I could make out much about them. It was probably a second ranger acting as backup.
Now that I knew who was following me, I relaxed slightly. My rising sense of danger had to be paranoia. A ranger wasn’t likely to harm me. Kneeling again, I broke my weapon down and stashed it in the backpack. Hearing the ranger closing in on me, I half turned and took my water bottle out. From the corner of my eye, I saw him step out into the open. Spotting me, he melted back into the trees again. He had no idea I knew he was there.
Taking a sip of water, I put the bottle away and continued on with my fruitless search. It wasn’t the designated time to call Reece yet, but I called him to give him an update. “It’s me,” I said unnecessarily.
“Tell me you’ve found something.”
“Not yet. I’m being followed by a Park Ranger.” I was speaking so quietly that even a shifter would have had trouble hearing me if they were on my trail.
“He probably thinks you’re growing marijuana somewhere in the forest and is planning on following you to your crop.”
“He’s in for a big disappointment then. What do you want me to do?”
“We can’t let him know what we’re really up to. We’ll have to get rid of him. Look confused and upset. He’ll think you’re lost and he should help you. Tell him we became separated and let him lead you back to the campsite. I’ll meet you there.”
“Okay. I’ll see you soon.” The rest of the afternoon was going to be wasted when we should have spent it searching for the victim. Letting out a quiet sigh, I put my phone away and turned around in a confused circle. The ranger stealthily moved in closer. I spied him hiding behind a tree as he watched me through binoculars.
Putting my hands over my face, I pretended to be near tears. My ruse worked and he came to assist me. “Are you alright, miss?” he called when he drew closer, wisely alerting me that I wasn’t alone.
Playing the part of a damsel in distress, I let out a startled sound, dropped my hands and made to run.
“I won’t hurt you,” he called out. “I’m a Park Ranger.”
Turning to him fearfully, my eyes widened in genuine amazement at his size. He had to be six and a half feet tall with a barrel chest, wide shoulders and a bushy beard that hid the lower half of his face.
“I know I look scary,” he joked, “but I promise I don’t bite.”
I changed my expression to relief when I pretended to notice his uniform. “Thank God,” I said in a shaky tone. “My boyfriend and I became separated. I’ve been lost for hours.”
He moved closer and we both went still when we smelled that neither of us was human. He was some kind of shifter, one I hadn’t met before. Just because he wasn’t a werewolf didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. For all I knew, he might be involved in the plan to lure our squad to West Virginia.
Reece, I screamed mentally as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my gun. The ranger leaped into action. Sprinting over to me, he caught my wrist then grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off my feet.
“Drop it!” he ordered, as if I was a bad dog that wouldn’t let go of his newspaper. I felt an almost overwhelming urge to laugh at the command, wondering if he knew he was speaking to a werewolf. He squeezed my wrist when I didn’t comply. The bones ground together and I clamped my lips shut to hold in a scream.
What’s wrong? Reece’s panicked thought was faint with distance.
The Ranger is a shifter! I didn’t know what kind he was yet, but there was no question that he was dangerous now. He was going to choke the life out of me if I didn’t do something to stop him.
Staring down into dark brown eyes that were nearly the same shade as mine, I pulled on an inner strength that I’d once used against Kala. “Let me go!” I commanded him in a strangled voice. Both of his hands instantly sprang open and I dropped to the ground. Landing on my backside, I gasped for air and pointed my gun at him.
Puzzled rather than angry, he peered down at me. “How did you do that?”
“I’m an alpha,” I explained in a raspy voice as I climbed to my feet. My legs were shaky with reaction, but my hands were steady.
“You’re a wolf. You shouldn’t have any power over me.” His bewilderment was almost comical.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before. What are you?” I sensed that the danger had passed, but Reece was already sprinting towards us. I sent him a thought that I was okay, but he wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw me in person.
“Can’t you guess?” he asked with a grin. Hooking his fingers into fake claws, he bared his teeth in a mock snarl.
With his size and bushy beard, an animal sprang into my mind. “A werebear?” I hazarded.
“In the flesh.” He bowed without taking his eyes off me. “Why are you here?”
“My partner will be here in a couple of minutes,” I said. “He can explain it to you.” Reece’s clearance was far higher than mine and I wasn’t sure what I was allowed to tell the ranger. It would be safest for me to keep my mouth shut.
Reece arrived several minutes later and skidded to a stop next to me. Eyeing the strange shifter warily, he examined the already fading bruises on my neck before turning to the ranger. He was furious that my flesh had been marked, but he was wise enough not to act on it.
“I’m Ranger Bruce Delgado.” He offered his hand and Reece shook it.
“I’m Reece and this is Alexis.”
“What are two alpha wolves doing in my woods?”
“We’re hunting a succubus,” Reece replied. That made the ranger blink.
“I knew something bad had taken up residence around here,” he said. “Is she responsible for the missing camper?”
Reece nodded. “I can’t tell you who we work for, but our job is to rid the world of creatures that are dangerous to humans.”
“Doesn’t that include us?” Bruce asked wryly.
“Have you killed any people?” I queried.
He shook his shaggy head. “Bears are smart enough to stay away from humans when we change.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about from us.”
He seemed relieved and the tension eased. “How far did you manage to follow the camper’s trail?”
“We lost it a couple of miles from the camp,” Reece replied. “The rain has washed his scent away. We figured that splitting up to search would give us a better chance of finding him.”
“How long do you think he has left before she uses him up?”
“Five or six days at the most.”
“Then we’d better be methodical about this.” Ranger Delgado pulled a map out of his back pocket and we gathered around it. “We’re here.” He pointed at a spot to the east of a vast forest. “The campsite is here.” His finger shifted to a spot that wasn’t very far from where we were standing.
“Do we have any hope at all of finding him?” I asked in despair. We’d been out here for hours and we’d barely made a dent in the search area.
“We’ll find him,” Reece said. “But I’m beginning to doubt that we’ll find him alive.”
It was useless to keep my hopes up. By the time we stumbled across Reggie, he’d probably be in pretty bad shape.
“Can your partner help us search?” I asked the ranger.
Bruce looked at me in surprise. “What partner? I work alone.”
“I thought I saw someone behind you when you were following me,” I said with a frown.
“It was probably a deer,” he said with a shrug.
I doubted that very much. Deer didn’t usually wear clothes and I was pretty sure I’d caught a flash of dark blue. Whoever they were, I hadn’t seen or heard them again. Maybe they’d just been a curious hiker.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seventeen
Bruce chose a small section of forest for us each to focus on and we split up again. Reece and I continued to search the same areas that we’d already been combing. I picked up the scent of deer, raccoons, squirrels and dozens of other woodland creatures near the old hiking trail. No humans had been here recently.
Aware that someone else was out here with us, I remained on high alert. Now that I was alone again, this would be the perfect time to ambush me. A noise from above startled me into reaching for my weapon. Pointing my gun upwards, I eased off on the trigger when I saw it was just a squirrel instead of the succubus. I slipped the gun back into my pocket. I was glad that Kala wasn’t here to witness my jumpiness. She’d never have let me forget it if I’d blown away a harmless animal.
Reece called a halt to our search while there was still enough time for us to backtrack to our cars before it became dark. The trail that I’d followed had taken me on a wide loop. I figured it would be much quicker to head in a straight line back to the campsite, even though that meant I’d have to fight my way through the foliage.
It took more concentration than I’d expected to race through the trees. I moved far faster than a normal human as I dodged and leaped over obstacles in my way. It was exhilarating to be outdoors rather than to be cooped up inside. Animals froze when I sprinted past them. They knew I wasn’t human even if they didn’t know exactly what I was. Right now, I was closer to my inner wolf than my human nature and they picked up on it.
Bruce whirled around when I crashed through the trees and came to a stop in the muddy dirt of the camping area. He dropped his hand away from his weapon without drawing it. It was good to know I wasn’t the only one who’d been spooked by searching the woods alone. Knowing that a succubus was somewhere in the area helped to keep us focused.
“You’re a mess,” the ranger said with a grin.
I looked down at my arms to see them covered in scratches. They faded away even as I watched. My clothes were stained with mud and leaves were caught in my hair. “I took a more direct route back here,” I explained.
Reece joined us a few seconds later. He was covered in scratches as well, but his clothes had fared better than mine. Glancing up at the rapidly darkening sky, he ushered us towards the trail that led back to the parking lot. “We’d better hurry. The sun will go down soon.”
Bruce took the lead and sprinted along the trail. He moved quite gracefully for a big man. Even at his top speed, he was slower than us. Wolves would always be able to outrun a bear, it seemed.
Gasping for air, he emerged into the parking lot and bent over to catch his breath. A dark green jeep was parked beside ours. It had a Park Ranger emblem on the door. “We still have a lot of ground to cover,” he said when he had his breath back. “I’ll meet you back here at dawn.”
“We’ll be here,” Reece promised. The ranger squeezed himself into his jeep and drove away.
Groaning at how early we’d have to get up to make it to the lot by dawn, I climbed into the SUV and dumped my backpack at my feet. I’d eaten all of the energy bars and had finished off four bottles of water. “I’d kill for a cup of coffee,” I sighed.
“You have a serious addiction to that stuff,” Reece accused me as he sped off. I was well used to his reckless driving techniques now, but I still buckled myself in out of habit. We’d probably survive a car crash, but it would still be a painful experience.
“I know and I’m not at all ashamed by it.” Everyone on the squad needed their daily intake of caffeine. It was something that we all had in common.
I glanced at the road that led to the abandoned house where Todd and his friends had been taken when we drove past it. They should have been returned to their hotel hours ago. I was curious to see how well the mind wipe had gone and hoped I’d get a chance to see the results.
Glancing into the rearview mirror for the fifth time in as many minutes, Reece frowned and I picked up his concern. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I think someone is following us.” I turned to look through the back window, but saw no one behind us. “Their lights are off, but I keep catching flashes of movement,” Reece explained.
I saw what he meant a moment later when a dark shape appeared in the gloom far behind us. The car was too distant for me to make out any details. “I wonder if it’s the person who was following Bruce and me?”
“He’s staying too far back for me to be able to read his license plate,” Reece said. “Whoever he is, I doubt he’s friendly. He must have excellent night vision to be able to drive along these roads without headlights.”
“You could always pull over and wait for him to catch up so I can put a bullet through his brain,” I offered.
Sending me a quick grin, he shook his head. “You are your father’s daughter alright. Shoot first and ask questions never must be the Levine family motto.”
My smile was crooked and bordering on sad. “How did you guess?”
He put his hand on my knee when he felt my pain. I’d been trying not to think of my fath
er at all lately. To do so brought up fresh sorrow at his inability to accept me for who I was.
As if sensing my intent to cause him harm, our pursuer stayed out of sight for the rest of the journey back to town. We parked in the lot behind the hotel and waited for the car to appear.
“Maybe it was just a couple of kids trying to work themselves up into scaring us,” Reece decided when no cars appeared after several minutes. My answer was a shrug. “Let’s go and get cleaned up.” That was something I could definitely agree with. Linking my arm through his, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and we headed inside.
We shared the elevator with a couple in their fifties. They smiled indulgently at our disheveled appearance. “Have you been camping?” the wife asked.
“Yes,” Reece lied.
“You should be careful,” the husband warned us. “I heard a camper went missing somewhere in the woods near town.”
His wife shuddered, all amusement vanishing. “Even experienced hikers can sometimes disappear without a trace.”
“We’ll be careful,” I promised and I meant it.
They got off on the floor below ours and we rode the rest of the way in silence. Safely locked away in our room, I took a shower while Reece updated Mark on our progress. I couldn’t hear Mark’s response with the water running, but he didn’t seem happy that we’d teamed up with another shifter.
“He doesn’t know who we are,” Reece was saying in our defense. “I only told him our first names and that we’re hunting the succubus. He doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the werewolf pack that we’re hunting. Speaking of which, have you found them yet?”
I switched off the water in time to hear Mark’s reply.
“Not yet, but I’m narrowing the list of properties down. Keep your cell phone handy. I’m going to run a search on the Ranger.”
Reece took a shower while I dressed and blow dried my hair. I was starving by the time he shut the water off and I waited impatiently as he dressed. We headed to the same restaurant that we’d eaten at last night.