The longer they tracked, the more Dewi struggled not to get her hopes up. It was looking better all the time. Ken had followed her instructions, apparently, to stay safe.
Trent pulled out his cell phone and activated the flashlight feature, playing the beam over the ground and up the southern wall of the ravine. “Looks like one of them, probably Nami, from the scent, fell trying to get out.”
“And the wolf’s gone,” Beck said. “Second time he left them.”
Peyton threw back his head and let out a long howl.
They listened, finally hearing Joaquin’s reply soon after, to their west and downhill.
“I think they’re down by the river,” Trent said.
“Let’s keep moving,” Dewi said. “We’re wasting time.”
It wasn’t long before they smelled the wolf following Ken and Nami’s trail again.
Dewi and Beck shifted back.
Badger shook his head. “It’s impossible.”
That’s all he’d say.
“Look, whoever it is,” Peyton said, “he could have hurt them at any time and didn’t. Let’s stay focused on that.”
It was nearing dawn when they heard a total of four gunshots in the distance, ahead of them and to the south.
Dewi and Beck shifted back, staring at Peyton for a judgment call.
He looked grim and finally let out a howl.
After a moment, Joaquin howled back.
Peyton frowned. “That’s weird.”
“Who the bloody hell did the shootin’, then?” Badger asked.
“I don’t know,” Peyton said. “Ken and Nami were unarmed, weren’t they?”
“I didn’t give him a gun.” Dewi looked to Beck.
He snorted. “Are you fucking kidding me? The way she wanted to neuter Joaquin, do you honestly think I’d give her a paring knife, much less a handgun?”
Dewi and Beck exchanged worried glances, shifted, and took off at a run after the scent trail.
* * * *
Heading downhill—obviously—would be easier.
“The river crosses a road down aways,” Duncan said. “I don’t know exactly how far. Less than an hour for me at full run.” He realized what he’d said. “Shifted.” His voice sounded less creaky, less strained, more sure.
After putting out the fire, they got Nami to her feet, then Duncan squatted so she could climb on his back. Ken watched as the man effortlessly stood, carrying her piggy-back, and started walking, heading downhill.
Ken followed, carrying the bundle of clothes, and still carrying the tire iron even though he had the guns now. “It wouldn’t be better for you to go try to get help?” he asked Duncan, even though he really didn’t want the wolf to leave them again.
“No. I won’t leave you two now. The main danger is past. We’ll take a break at the river so you can drink. Dehydration won’t be an issue. While I’m sure you’re both hungry, you won’t die from that in the next twelve hours or so.”
“You think we’ll be back home in twelve hours?” Nami asked.
“I hope so. Once we reach the road, depending on what time it is, I’ll decide what to do then. We don’t know where the rest of their men are.” He glanced back at Ken. “Yet another reason I don’t want to leave you alone. We have no idea where the rest of them are, or if they’re still alive.”
Ken checked his phone. No signal, of course. It was a little after seven in the morning. With the sun rising over the mountains, the day was warming despite the cool breeze. The clear sky promised more sun, no precipitation, and hopefully a far easier journey than the day before.
They didn’t talk as they walked. Ken listened to the trees, the birds, the noises that were different than in the woods surrounding their Florida house.
He also had an idea he couldn’t wait to float past Dewi once he was reunited with her.
If he was reunited with her.
Chapter Thirty-Four
When they hit the ravine, it was Dewi who suddenly stopped and made Beck trip and go rolling as he ran into her. When he stood up, he’d shifted.
“Dewi, what the hell?”
She chuffed at him and jumped into the ravine, finally shifting back to two legs.
Beck followed her down into the ravine, pulling up short when he realized what had her interest. “Oh…shit.”
Dewi and Beck frantically started pulling rocks and debris off the bodies, relief surging through them as they realized they were not Ken and Nami, despite Ken’s scent and the other strange scent all over them.
“What the…what the hell?” Beck said.
Behind them, Peyton, Trent, and Badger finally caught up. “What is it?” Peyton asked.
“They’ve been shot,” Dewi said. “Executed.”
“And they’re still warm,” Beck said. “They haven’t been dead more than a couple of hours, if that.”
Noises approaching caught their attention. They all stood, Peyton, Trent, and Badger drawing their guns as Joaquin and the other group of shifters emerged from the woods.
Joaquin threw up his hands. “Whoa! It’s us!”
“Did you shoot these guys?” Dewi asked.
“What?” He jumped down into the ravine to get a better look. “Fuck, no, I didn’t. But we tracked their scent trail here.”
Badger sat on a large rock, first chuckling, which soon turned into long, deep, belly-busting guffaws as his amusement roared off the mountainside and the trees, rolling down the ravine.
Dewi and Peyton exchanged a confused glance. For the first time in her life, she was seriously doubting Badger’s sanity.
“Um, ya want to clue us in to what’s so funny?” Dewi asked.
Tears rolled from the old wolf’s good eye and down his cheek as he shook his head and dragged himself up off the rock. He was still snorting with laughter as he quickly located the still-warm remains of a campfire, and then another nearby outcropping where it appeared Ken and Nami had temporarily taken refuge.
He tossed Beck the bundle of clothes. “Get dressed. Both of ye. The worst is passed.”
“What?” the two of them asked.
Badger took a deep breath, finally letting it out again. “We won’t be needin’ yer noses. If I’m not wrong, and I really don’t think I am, all we have to do now is catch up wi’ them. And since they both smelled like they were alive when they left here, I doubt we’ll find ’em in serious straights when we catch up.”
* * * *
When they reached the river, Duncan eased Nami off his back and down onto a large, flat rock at the river’s edge so she could lean over and scoop water into her mouth. Without having to be on guard now, Ken stuck his whole face in and greedily drank.
When Ken sat back he shook his head, flinging water everywhere and making Nami weakly laugh. “Stop that, you shaggy dog.”
“I feel like we got a reprieve from a death sentence.”
Duncan, who’d squatted by the river’s edge to get a drink, nodded. “You did. They were going to question and kill you, I have no doubt about that.” He looked at Ken. “How did you survive that car crash?”
Ken shrugged. “I don’t know. I just let instincts guide me.”
“They didn’t run you off the road,” Duncan observed. “I didn’t see scrapes on the sides of the car from an impact with another car.”
Heat filled Ken’s face. “No.”
“No, the damn fool drove us off the side of the mountain, if you can believe that!” Nami lightly scolded.
“They blocked the road,” Ken said. “If I’d stopped, they would have killed us.”
“True,” she agreed. She stared at her swollen ankle and, after kicking off her shoes, she eased her feet into the cold water. “Oh, that feels good.” She frowned. “How am I supposed to finish everything I have to get done for the weddings with a bum ankle? I have so much to do.”
Ken playfully held up three fingers and wiggled them at her. “Three weddings.” He was glad she was focusing on that now.
He didn’t want to bring up the fact that they might not totally be out of the woods yet, literally and figuratively.
Or that their mates might not even be alive.
She scowled. “You just had to remind me of that, didn’t you?”
He grinned as Duncan’s brow furrowed. “It’s a long story,” Ken told him.
“I’m gonna skin that wolf’s hide clean off his body, I swear I will! He best be glad I cain’t walk! He gonna need to be able to outrun me!”
Duncan stared at her for a long moment. “What’d this man do?”
Ken snorted. “He mated with her little sister.”
Duncan’s expression darkened. “How little?”
“She’s an adult,” Ken quickly amended. “Malyah’s twenty-four. And he didn’t force her. They had a mate bond.”
“Oh. General principle outrage, then?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, that happens.”
If Nami hadn’t been sitting right there and shooting daggers from her eyes, Ken would have burst out laughing. Duncan seemed to have immediately grasped the nuances of the situation.
Ken touched Duncan’s shoulder. “Can I ask you something?”
He nodded.
Ken did his best to keep his tone gentle and without recrimination. “Why did you fake your death?”
It took Duncan a long while to answer. He stared at the river, not meeting Ken’s gaze. “I didn’t,” he quietly said. “I thought at first I was in hell. I awoke naked on the riverbank and I shifted because I was wet and cold. Then I eventually made my way back to where Louisa died.”
His heavy sigh nearly made Ken cry. “I never shifted back until now. I let my mind dissolve and tried to follow her voice in the wind. It wasn’t until later part of me realized I wasn’t dead, but I couldn’t bring myself to go back and decided to stay…wolf.”
Ken squeezed the man’s shoulder. “You need to come back with us. Dewi, Peyton, Trent. Their families. They will want you back.”
He sighed again. “I hope so.”
Ken let the quiet of the morning envelope them.
After a few minutes, Duncan stood. “Let’s go. She needs medical attention, and you both need food.”
“We don’t know what happened at the compound,” Ken whispered to him, trying to avoid Nami hearing him. “For all we know, it could have been a bloodbath.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that we need to get you both out of here.”
After a little more water, and after Ken shook the bundle of the men’s clothes loose and tossed them into the river, Duncan hoisted Nami onto his back again and they continued trekking south. They made faster time, both because Duncan apparently had no problems carrying Nami while walking at full speed, and it was a little easier walking down by the river.
At least something is finally going right.
* * * *
Dewi didn’t like being forced to wait and stay with Badger.
She liked it even less when he Primed her into following him, letting him take the lead as he hurried through the woods after the scent trail.
The strange wolf was with them, and had shifted to two legs. More disconcerting was Nami’s scent being far harder to pick up now, but Badger assured them it was fine.
Dewi liked it least of all when Badger Primed all of them—including Peyton—not to shoot unless he gave the command to do so.
It was her mate at risk, not his.
Still, she also knew Badger didn’t do things without a reason, but he wouldn’t tell them what his cryptic comments about a ghost meant.
Her own crazy suppositions couldn’t be accurate, so she tried to let it go and focus on the trail.
At least now Ken, Nami, and the wolf had headed down to the river and were following it south. They found where they’d stopped for a little while upon reaching the river, Nami’s scent once again strong on a large, flat rock next to the water before her scent vanished again.
Beck worried about that despite Badger waving it off.
After another hour, they caught a glimpse of figures ahead of them and it was only Badger’s Prime order keeping her and Beck back.
Badger let out a pleased cackle before he threw his head back and unleashed the most joyous howl she’d ever heard emerge from any wolf’s throat.
When the three figures stopped and turned, Dewi realized whoever the strange wolf was with Ken and Nami, he was carrying Nami piggy-back, explaining why they’d had a hard time scenting Nami. Nami waved at them, looking happy to see them but not the least bit scared.
Dewi guessed he couldn’t be too dangerous if she was doing that.
Although a low growl rumbled from Beck’s throat when he saw it.
“Down, lad,” Badger cackled. “Wait here, all o’ ye.”
He walked forward as Ken and the strange wolf waited. Badger looked up at the taller wolf, slowly shaking his head. “By the Goddess meself, I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Hello, Badger,” the stranger said.
“Are ye really here?”
His wild beard and mustache couldn’t hide his wry smile. “Apparently, I am.”
Badger finally waved them over. Dewi and Beck raced forward, Dewi throwing herself at Ken, trying and failing not to cry with relief as he held her and whispered in her ear, “I’m okay, babe. I’m fine.”
She watched as Beck took Nami from the stranger, who gently set her down and didn’t let go of her until he was sure Beck had a good grip on her. Beck swept her up in his arms and kissed her, stepping away from them as he talked to her.
Badger grabbed the man by the arms, still staring up at him. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to be happy to see ye, or rip yer throat out for what ye put me through.”
“I’m sorry.” He looked down. “I was chasing her in the wind. I don’t know how you survived it.”
Badger hugged the man. “I know. But we need ye now. Time for ye to come home to yer pack where ye rightfully belong.”
The man slowly embraced Badger, both of them going to their knees as the man started crying.
Dewi turned to see Peyton and Trent both wearing stunned looks. “Who is he?” she finally asked as her relief eased its grip on choking her voice.
Peyton stepped forward and knelt next to the two men. He put a hand out and shook with him. “Grandfather Duncan? I’m Peyton.” He pointed to his brother. “That’s Trent.” He pointed at Dewi. “And you don’t even know about her, she’s—”
“A miracle, is what she is,” Duncan hoarsely said. “Ken told me.” He finally rose and walked over to her. “Chelsea always wanted a baby girl, and you look just like her.”
She finally forced herself to release Ken and turned to the man whose grave she’d sat at for countless hours as she grew up.
“He saved us,” Ken said. “He helped us find shelter before he even revealed he was a shifter. It wasn’t until I showed him family pictures and he realized who we were that he shifted back. He built a trap and—”
“That’s how you guys were able to kill Segura’s men.”
“Yeah. The trap took out two of them. After I questioned the other two, I shot them, and the two the trap caught.”
She turned. “You shot them?”
He wore a grim expression. “They were after Joaquin.”
“They ain’t the only ones!” Nami shot back from where Beck was still fussing over her. She jabbed a finger at Joaquin. “You.” She pointed at the ground in front of her. “Come here, boy.”
Joaquin stepped behind Peyton. “Um, no offense, Nami, but I think I’m good right here.”
Duncan looked at Ken. “Is that him?”
Ken nodded. “Uh-huh. He’s a good guy. He’s the Enforcer Segura’s men were hunting.”
“Dewi’s Enforcer.” Duncan looked down on her with an almost embarrassing amount of pride.
“Babe, please,” Beck begged Nami.
Nami finally let out a huffy sigh. “Y’all ain’t gonna let me castrate him
, are ya?”
“No,” most of them replied.
“Nami, honey, remember what we talked about,” Dewi said. “He loves Malyah as much as—”
Nami gasped. “Malyah! How are they?”
“Is everyone okay at the compound?” Ken asked.
“Everyone’s fine,” Trent said. “Safe. We got all of the cartel members except Manuel Segura himself. He stole a truck and got away before we realized it.”
“Dammit,” Ken said.
“Let’s get moving,” Peyton said. “Now that we have our two missing loved ones safely back—make that three—I could use a damn steak.”
“Me, too,” Ken said.
Everyone—except Duncan—looked at him in shock.
“Metaphorically speaking,” Ken clarified.
“Another story?” Duncan asked him.
“Um, yeah.”
* * * *
It was easier for them to keep heading the same direction along the river and make their way to the bridge. Beck took over carrying Nami while Peyton and Trent practically tripped over each other trying to talk to Duncan as they walked.
Once they reached the bridge, Joaquin and four others took off, armed with vehicle keys, to go get help. No one’s cell phone had a signal there, and considering there was no traffic in either direction to flag down for a ride, they sat in the morning sun and waited.
“Sooo, let me get this straight,” Dewi finally said to Ken. “You deliberately drove down the mountain?”
Ken shrugged. “It was the only option. I saw them following us and turned around, but they blocked the road.”
“Thank the Goddess you didn’t stop,” Beck said with Nami perched in his lap. “They absolutely would have killed you.”
“Don’t ever let anyone make you think you aren’t a tough guy,” Peyton said. “I know I’d never have the balls to do what you did. And you kept yourselves alive and safe. That was damn good.”
“Woulda been better I hadn’t busted my ankle,” Nami groused. “I cain’t believe how clumsy I was. You know I tried to get him to leave me and go get help, and he wouldn’t?”
A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) Page 31