Legend of the White Wolf (25 page)

   She didn't feel any urge in that regard, though. Thankfully. Through her balaclava, she smelled the air, crisp, clean, and cold. Nothing unusual about it. Maybe the only time someone like Cameron had the wolf sense was when he was a wolf. That would be understandable. At least as much as turning into a wolf could be believable.

   But the whole time back, she worried about what they would report to the police. That a wolf attacked Cameron, changed him into something mythical? And maybe she was in the same boat, too? That he'd killed two wolves defending her who happened to be men also? That Kintail or one of his men had nearly killed Charles?

   Officers Whitson and Adams would believe every bit of it.
Right.

   In half the time it took to travel with the dogs, they arrived on the snowmobiles back at the cabins. As soon as they dismounted at the lodge, Faith hoped to under stand more of what they were up against. She asked George before he could run off, "What do you know about Kintail's wolves?"

   He cast a disgruntled look her way. "You're not one of the Cree and you're not an accepted member of Kintail's pack. If I were you, I'd do what my brother suggested. Get out of here before Kintail or his people make you vanish for good."

   "But Cameron
is
one of them," Faith insisted.

   George shook his head and took the keys to the snowmobiles from them. "Kintail hasn't made him part of his pack and none of his people will welcome him here while the leader wants him dead. My own people won't willingly take sides with an outsider who's one of Kintail's kind but on his terminal list. So Cameron will have to leave and…" He lifted a shoulder. "… maybe start his own pack. Since Cameron bit you…," George said, his lips lifting slightly, "for all practical purposes he's already claimed a mate."

   Faith's mouth gaped, and she quickly looked at Cameron.

   He cleared his throat and took her hand. "We don't know that you've been infected."

   George looked like he didn't believe she'd escaped Cameron's fate. "Kintail's pack rules this territory. The best thing for the two of you to do is return to your own region. Although blending in someplace else might be hard to do when the shift occurs. No Arctic wolves in the States, except for Alaska. Unless you manage to win the populace over like Kintail and his people have here, pretending that the wolves are pets."

   George's expression darkened. "The problem if you go to Alaska is it's the only place in the United States that animals can be shot from an aircraft through some loophole in the law. So, hunters will either kill from the air, or run the wolves or other hunted animals down until they're too exhausted to escape, land the aircraft, and shoot their prey. A magical wolf would then be just as much at risk of being hunted down while in its wolf form. Many hunters oppose aerial hunting because it violates the ethics of fair chase, but the ones who don't..." His jaw taut, George shook his head.

   "You can leave the keys to the cabins on the kitchen counters." Then George went inside the lodge and shut the door.

   "You might be all right, Faith," Cameron reiterated. "You might not have contracted my… condition."

   But she wasn't just concerned about herself. "What will you do? And what about your friends?"

   Cameron took Faith's uninjured hand, walked her past the shower facility, and headed for the path through the woods to her cabin. "I can't leave until I find them. It appears you don't need to stay here any longer though. Seems your father might have seen something of what I've become while he was doing his research. And I doubt that even if the flash drive still exists, Kintail will want your father sharing the information with the world. In fact, it's too dangerous for you here. Until I can get you on a plane out of here, you'll stay with me, but then you need to return home."

   She frowned at him. "I agree that my dad probably found out about Kintail and his people and that's what he wrote about. Maybe someone was following him like he thought because of what he'd known." Faith pulled Cameron to a stop. "What if Hilson is dead? If he tried to blackmail Kintail with the information, he or his people most likely would have killed him. Maybe that's why he's no longer at the cabin. Or maybe he's one of them." She took a deep breath. "But even so, I can't go, not now."

   "Listen, I've got to find my friends and free them from Kintail's clutches if they're still alive.
Somehow.
It's not going to be a walk in the park. But I can't be watching your back also. It's too dangerous."

   She "humpfed" and headed off to the cabin. "For your information, Cameron MacPherson, I may already have your, uhm, problem, condition, whatever. So I'm not about to get on an airplane and fly home before I know for sure. What if I changed in the middle of the flight? No pets allowed, and certainly no feral wolves.

   "I could see myself having an
episode
and having to hightail it to the bathroom. Then the seat belt lights go on, and I'm stuck in the privy as a wolf. The stew ardess is pounding on the door, trying to get a stubborn passenger to retake her seat. And I can't say a word. The stewardess uses a key on the door, afraid there's something terribly wrong. And there is. I've got big sharp teeth, an extraordinary sense of smell, and better vision—all the better to see, smell, and eat her with. So I'm staying here until I know the whole story."

   He didn't say anything for quite a while, his hand still tight around her arm as he held her close, helping to keep her warm from the bitter breeze. Then he cleared his throat. "Okay, but you continue to stay with me for the time being. And," he turned to look at her and added, "if you don't show any signs of what I have, you go home, pronto."

   She glowered at him. "It would be my pleasure." Although she didn't mean it in the least. Had to be a case of immediate rebound. Hell, she was ready to settle down with a wolf-man?

   "What if this
condition
affects people differently? What if I take longer to change?"

   Cameron let out his breath in a frosty huff and hurried her faster toward her cabin, but didn't reply. Then he mumbled, "I shouldn't have gone with you and Charles. I put you at risk."

   Surprised, she glanced up at him. He was feeling this was all his fault? "Right, you protected me from the big bad wolf behind the shower room."

   When he raised his brows at her in disbelief, she frowned. "He was coming for me. You got in his way. So you just delayed the inevitable. He still got me, only through you." She gave a half smile. "Besides, I've been in worse predicaments."

   He opened his mouth and she figured he planned to contradict her.

   She shook her head. "Okay, maybe not anything worse than this. Although I did have a mad killer after me once."

   He snorted.

   "I did. In my line of work, sometimes the crazies go after the forensic scientists. He didn't want me to learn how he'd murdered three of his victims."

   A look of admiration crossed Cameron's face for a second, then he was back to being annoyed. "Okay, so that was one mad killer. This is a pack of them. And I'm serious about sending you home." Cameron took Faith's hand and continued walking her down the path to Black Bear Den cabin. But as soon as he stepped on the deck, he paused to smell the air, and frowned.

   She smelled something, too. A hint of spice, and something else.

   Cameron pulled the door open.

   Leidolf Wildhaven, his brows lifted, stood in the middle of the cabin amongst Faith's colorful bras and panties, which were strewn about the floor.

"WHO THE HELL TOLD MY MEN TO GO AFTER CAMERON and the woman at their campsite?" Kintail asked Lila, suspecting she had everything to do with it as he glow ered at her, and then he switched his deadly look to the rest of his pack.

   Twelve males and six females stood around his great room, their expressions wary, looking rebuked. The only two who didn't seem that way were David and Owen. But then they wouldn't have had anything to do with it. And if anything, they seemed pleased to hear that things went so well for their partner and friend.

   Kintail growled. Two people murdered at the hands of fanatical killers and two more dead because of this damned Cameron MacPherson. Although Kintail didn't blame him. The newly turned wolf was protecting what he felt was his property. But she wouldn't be for long.

   "Who?" Kintail asked again, his voice just as hard. No one spoke. He motioned to one of the older women. "Katina was the only one who did what she was told. Well, she and Vance and Luke." He bowed his head slightly to them, glad they'd been so quick thinking when Charles appeared out of the blue with his sled teams and Cameron and Faith. Katina locking Cameron and Faith in the barn while they were snooping around couldn't have been better planned, and Vance and Luke guarding the building in their wolf forms was the perfect touch. Even if it didn't work to keep his hostages where he wanted them, at least some of his people were making the right
effort.

   "Despite that he's newly one of us, Cameron is an alpha, folks, if any of you are too shortsighted to see that. He's not one to mess with. But from what I could see of the track marks at their campsite, Baker targeted Faith. To kill her? Or to have her? Since he's dead, the case is moot. But if anyone else tries to touch the woman, you won't only have her newly turned protector to deal with, but me. Understood?" He gave Lila a hard look.

   Her expression sulky, she lifted one brow, not to be cowed.

   David and Owen exchanged glances.

   "As to the ones murdering our people without provo cation, I want them brought to me alive. Understand?"

   Officer Whitson and Adams shifted a little in their stances. Hell, why have a couple of his people on the police force if they weren't going to learn who the murderers were pronto? Except for getting his wolves out of hot water when need be, this was the first real test of trouble, and they hadn't been able to do anything about it.

   Although Kintail suspected Faith might have a clue. "Get the woman to share her theory about the killings, Adams."

   "But you said not to involve them."

   "They're involved up to their hairlines, damn it. Find out what Faith suspects. Maybe as a forensic scientist, she can uncover the truth."

   "She'll cause problems," Lila said, sounding as if she hoped the woman would.

   Kintail suspected she was going to be trouble, but in a different way than Lila was. He had every plan to keep Faith under his control better than he had Lila.

   "And Cameron? He's a private investigator and former police officer. We checked his credentials and he's been at this a lot longer than we have," Adams said.

   Kintail should have gotten Adams and Whitson on the force and trained a long time ago instead of just six months ago. "How long has he been in the business?"

   "Eight years."

   Hell, no way did he want to solicit the outsider's help. On the other hand…

   Kintail nodded. "Yeah, see if he can shed any light on the situation." Once they located the murderers of his people, Cameron wouldn't be needed any longer.

   "What about that nosey red?" Adams asked.

   "Leidolf? You were supposed to question him. What did he say he was here for?"

   "He explained he was on vacation. But he wouldn't say anything further."

   "Vacation, my ass. And where's Hilson?"

   "He's around. But making himself difficult to locate." Adams looked back at David and Owen. They both perked up. Adams turned his attention to Kintail. "We have another situation."

   Before Adams said what it was, Kintail knew.

   "Their partner, Gavin Summerfield, booked a flight and is on his way to Bangor."

   Owen shook his head. David raised his brows at his friend.

   Kintail pondered the situation before he spoke. "Where are Cameron and Faith now?"

   "Michael Roux told us he sent his brother George with them to return to their cabin rentals. Charles wants them gone. He figures he's upset you."

   "None of my people better have injured Charles." Kintail looked over at Trevor. "Faith wants to speak to you about her father's work. They won't fall into the same trap twice. Go to her. Make up a Bigfoot story. Appease her. Unless she's learned what we are. Then tell her what ever satisfies her. I want Cameron and Faith to stay right where they are. It's easier to monitor their movements than if they're back in Millinocket. Until we have some answers about the murders committed recently, I want their help. Gavin's, too, if he can provide it."

   "What about them?" Adams asked, motioning to David and Owen.

   "They stay here, out of sight, and away from harm. The four men together would be too much of a risk. Not when they're still learning pack rules." Kintail cast a small smile at Owen.

   The guy was trouble, but at least he had David in line.

   "Don't be so hard on yourself. You were only trying to save Cameron's ass. You can't help it that commu nications are so spotty out here. And you know Gavin would have come out anyway if he never could get hold of Cameron. Besides, together, they'll be able to do more." He sighed. "You know the more you create problems, the more they watch you though."