Legend of the White Wolf (10 page)

   "You saw him around here?" Faith asked, at once her body stiffening with interest, surprising the hell out of Cameron.

   He really didn't think she'd be interested in hearing about fairy tales, since she was a forensic scientist, dealing in scientific fact.

   "North of here. Toward Baxter Park," Mary said, nodding vigorously, as if she'd gotten a live one to listen to her tall tale.

   The black-haired man of the three shook his head and looked over at Faith. There was something about the way he observed her, not as if he was interested in her sexually, but something else. Almost as if he were a cop, watching for her reaction. "Not Bigfoot this time," the guy said. "It's one of those others, and we need to take care of business."

   "One of what others?" Faith asked, sounding a little too interested.

   Don't encourage them, Cameron wanted to say. Hell, next they'd be talking about little green men and being poked and probed on a spaceship from a galaxy far, far away.

   Chris smiled at her, then looked at his friends, but the expressions on their faces said that this was still a secret and they weren't about to share their findings with a couple of strangers.

   Cameron was just as glad. But Faith persisted. "What was it you saw?"

   Chris cleared his throat and gave her a half smile. "Maybe we can talk about it in private sometime."

   "Ah, Chris, can't you see the two are together?" Mary teased.

"Her loss," he said, grinning at Faith.

   Cameron wanted to wipe the grin off Chris's face, and although he wanted to take Faith out of here pronto, he couldn't now. It had to be her call, or he'd look like a possessive, overbearing lout.

   Chris turned to the black-haired guy who was patting the bubbles on the surface of the water, his nearly ebony gaze still on Faith. "Should we tell her, Matt?"

   Matt shook his head. "Privately, if she wants, just like you said." His voice was cold and calculating, and Cameron didn't like it one bit.

   Faith stared Matt down, and then turned her head and looked up at Cameron with the most adoring expression. He thought it was faked just for their audience's benefit, but he was willing to believe. "Ready to call it a night, honey?" she asked, her tone seductively enticing.

   Well past ready, but his heated gaze wasn't in the least bit false.

   "It's about that time. Wait, and I'll get your towel." What he wanted to do was kick the men's asses out of here while Faith got out, and he would have, too, if she'd agreed.

   He climbed out of the hot tub, grabbed her floral towel, and held it down close to the water so she could leave without showing off her wet bra and panties. No one said a word, and he suspected the guys were watching her in rabid fascination, but he was too busy trying to shield her from them to see. With the towel wrapped around her, she headed into the women's shower room, and he entered the men's room.

   Once he was dressed, he left the changing room, out of view of the hot tub to wait for her near the path they would take to her cabin, when he saw three feral looking white wolves in the trees near the main lodge, the blowing snow almost disguising them. Lila stepped out of the forest to join them, her red lips turned up in a half smile. "Kintail told me to bring you to our hunting camp. You can see Owen and David there."

   He wanted to speak to them. But not like this. Not off in the wilderness somewhere that he couldn't communi cate with authorities if need be. Not without some kind of backup.

   "I'll take your suggestion under consideration. In the meantime, I've told the police about my missing friends."

   Her lips curved up even more. "Good for you. I imagine they were readying the search parties right away."

   The woman had him there.

   She snorted. "Didn't think so. See you around, Cameron."

   She turned and took a few steps in the direction of the snow-cloaked spruces, and he swore, dressed all in white still, she evaporated into the snow-filled wonder land. Her wolves eyed him longer, then one by one, they whipped around and vanished, too.

   "Cameron!" Faith hollered from around the backside of the shower and hot tub building, sounding distressed and in need of his help.

   In full rescue mode, the adrenaline pumping pell-mell through his blood, Cameron dashed around the building to save her.

FAITH WAS POINTING AT THE SNOWMOBILES PARKED BEHIND the shower and hot tub building, the one snowmobile's back end dented. But that's not what got Cameron's full attention. The wolf lunging in their direction, material izing out of the snow without any warning, made his heart nearly stop. He wasn't sure which one of them the wolf was aiming for, but he didn't have time to do anything but block Faith's body with his own, and throw his arm up to protect his throat. She screamed. The wolf bit through his jacket and into his arm.

   "Your gun!" she shouted.

   "In the cabin." He never thought he'd need it at the hot tub.

   He tried to shake loose of the wolf as if it were a friendly old dog with a big bone, playing tug-of-war, growling, eyes narrowed, hair on the back of its neck standing on end, but just in good-natured fun. Only Cameron's arm was the bone and it hurt like hell as the pain radiated up and down through every nerve ending. Plus he felt the blood seeping from the wound, the tear in his parka letting in the chilled air.

   Suddenly, Faith swung a snow shovel, striking the beast in the hip. He yelped, released his hold on Cameron, and jumped back from Faith. For a second, his eyes stared at hers as if he was reading her inner soul and every thought she had.

   She stomped at him and swung the shovel in an effort to hit him again, and this time Cameron swore the wolf smiled. Then the beast bent down, whipped around, and melted into the snowy woods before she struck him again.

   Faith dropped the shovel and grabbed Cameron's good arm. "We've got to get you some help."

   The pain in Cameron's arm throbbed even harder now. "You mean, ask for it from those clowns in the hot tub? When Charles Roux returns, we can get him to send for help. Just take me back to your place for now."

   She didn't listen to him and instead helped him to the hot tub. Everyone had left. She opened the door to the changing room, letting some of the heat out. The place was empty. "No one here," she said.

   "Guess when you left, the party was over."

   "Oh, Cameron, your face is so pale. I'll get you to my place, but I don't have any first aid kit, and I didn't see any in the cabin. What about you?"

   "Bandages for blisters, but nothing for wolf-sized bites."

   "Then we'll have to check out the main lodge."

   He was going to object, but Faith had a mind of her own and helped him to the main lodge porch, then up to the door. She tried the handle.
Locked.

   He could have told her it would be. Otherwise, people like him might just wander in and make themselves at home.

   "Sit here, for a second, Cameron. I'll see if any of the windows are unlocked." She helped him to one of the knotty pine rockers, put her ski cap on his head—which reminded him he should have brought his own—then she started tugging on windows.

   Watching for any sign of the wolf that attacked him, he let out his frosty breath, cradled his injured arm against his body for warmth, and tried to ignore the streaks of sharp pains like needles jabbing into the muscle.

   Faith tried to open the rest of the windows on this side of the lodge.

    When she began to venture around the backside, Cameron said, "No, Faith. I don't want you out of my sight."

   She frowned at him. "It'll only take me a minute. If I can find an unlocked window, they might have antibi otics and better bandages inside. I have to try."

   "No, it's not worth it. If the wolf's still lurking out there… it's just not worth it to me. Come on. Take me back to your cabin so we can get warmed up." His blood had soaked his shirtsleeve and sweater and it had chilled him even further. Now, due to the shredded parka sleeve, everything that had been wet was coated in ice. Shivering uncontrollably, he didn't think he could get any colder.

   Still frowning, Faith helped him down the steps and back to the cabin. "I can use my towel maybe, to stop the bleeding. How bad does it feel?"

   "Not too bad," he lied, afraid she might still try to go after the windows on the other side of the lodge once he was settled in her cabin. "With as many layers of clothes as I'm wearing, he didn't hurt me too much."

   "A German shepherd can crush a bone. I imagine a wolf could do even more damage. Are you sure you're not too bad?"

   "I
was
feeling better."

   She chuckled, a little hysterically.

   "Sorry. I guess I shouldn't have told you that."

   As soon as they reached the cabin through the path to the woods, she assisted him inside and helped him to one of the dining room chairs, then locked the door. After removing his coat, she pulled off his sweater and stared at the blood and rip in his shirt.

   "Not too bad," he said. "It's not even bleeding any longer."

   A flitter of concern slipped across Faith's face, but she quickly removed his shirt and wrapped the towel around the wound without saying a word.

   "Tetanus shot up-to-date," he said. But he knew that probably wasn't what was worrying her. Rabies. What if the animal had rabies, and that's why he'd attacked?

   "We have to go back to town tomorrow if Charles doesn't return to the lodge by then."

   He agreed with a nod. Now that their snowmobiles were back and if the weather had cleared up by then, he figured that was the best move.

   "Wonder why the men stole the machines, then brought them back," Faith said, as if she was trying to get his mind off his injury. "Really bizarre."

   "I don't know. What made you go around that way when the way I went was closer to your cabin?"

   "I was drying the edges of my wet hair when I looked out the window and saw the snowmobiles. I didn't really think they were ours. How weird would that be? But I had to check it out. Do you think it might have been somebody joy riding who doesn't have a snowmobile here at the camp?"

   "Who first threatened you with a gun?"

   "Well, then, maybe somebody stole them from these guys and brought them back." Faith helped Cameron into bed, pulled off his boots and socks, and covered him with his sleeping bag.

   "Highly unlikely," he said.

   "Well, you're a former cop. What do you think?"

   He gritted his teeth against the pain in his arm, but when Faith caught his action and glanced out the window, he started talking to distract her from leaving him to seek help. "It's hard to say why anyone would do what they do. I rode around with some petty criminals once while I was undercover. Their reasoning for not stealing a young woman's purse? She had a kid. Not that morality had anything to do with it. They figured the kid would scream and attract too much attention. Another scenario? A woman was carrying a big purse. Which to them meant she had lots of money."

   "You're kidding? A woman with a big purse might not have a bit of money, just lots of useless junk."

   "Right. So you see, it's hard to predict what goes on in the criminal mind." He patted his sleeping bag on the mattress. "Are you going to join me?"

   She rubbed her arms, her brows furrowed. "I'll add some more wood to the fire."

   "Don't go outside."

   "Enough wood is stacked in a basket by the stove. Just sleep, Cameron. I'll get you help as soon as I can."

   "Don't leave the cabin, Faith," Cameron reiterated in his police officer's voice, obey or else. No way did he want her to risk going outside alone to get help for him. But they needed to get word to the other guests also. Later though. He figured no one would run around much in this weather, and he wasn't in any shape to go anywhere, nor did he want Faith out in it by herself.

   Faith's cold hand touched his forehead. She gave him a worried smile. "No fever."

   "No, I'll be fine. I just need some rest." Tired beyond belief, he closed his eyes, a dull pain throbbing from the wound and radiating down to his fingertips, the thought of cuddling with her still lingering in his thoughts despite the pain.

   She moved away from the bed, added firewood to the stove, paced across the wooden floor a bit, her footfalls muffled when she walked on the braided rugs. He wished she'd join him in bed, still worried she might leave, but then he drifted off into the world of snow and wolves. The wind howled and then the sound shifted, changed, morphed into the howl of a wolf. One, the alpha male, deep and low and long. Then another joined in, and more until a whole chorus of wolves sang their lonely song. One part of him longed to join them, but part of his conscious mind warned him the consequences could be deadly.

"Hmm," Lila said, lounging before a roaring fire in the great room of Kintail's lodge, her bare foot rocking up and down off the sofa, her manner an attempt at seductive, and Kintail wished she really was up to seducing him.

   The woman was a master manipulator when she wanted her way, or just plain sarcastic and antagonistic when things weren't going her way. He noted the subtle change in her demeanor since he'd had the run-in with Cameron earlier today.

   He knew sarcasm was her ploy this evening before she even spoke further. "So you bit Cameron but you didn't kill him. And his feisty girlfriend struck you with a snow shovel."