The sun was still high, though evening was coming on. Not much traffic out here now. Deni opened the bike up all the way, the high-powered machine taking her swiftly down the road. Shifters weren’t allowed to buy new vehicles, but Deni always thought Harleys were better once they were broken in. Ellison had tinkered with this one until it purred like a lion, or maybe a snow leopard.
Deni ran it so fast she almost missed the 55, which jogged from this road west and a little north. She sped down it, squinting against the bright sun, nice and hot still in late July.
The 55 ended in a T junction with the 277, one leg of the T going north, the other going south. Deni stopped at a little pulloff at the crossroads and looked around. One truck rumbled past south, and a car sped north, its headlights turned on against the gathering twilight. No road went west from here except for a dirt track that headed off into the wilderness.
But Ronan had said they were west of this intersection, and so that was where they were.
Deni waited until the road was clear, then she glided the bike across the highway and onto the faint dirt path that led into nothing. Her wolf senses kicked in as she rode. She’d taken off her helmet at the crossroads, and now she could see, hear, and smell as a Shifter while her human body navigated the bike.
As the sky darkened, the huge arch of it brushed with stars, Deni saw a tiny orange light far to her left. The narrow dirt road bent to her right, taking her away from it, and she had no way of knowing whether the track would curve around again to where she wanted to go.
Deni shut off the bike, stripped off her clothes, stretched her limbs, and changed to her wolf.
Once in wolf form, she smelled the greasy smoke from faraway burning fuel, the scent making her gag. Deni trotted into the empty land, homing in on the fire. She passed oil wells, stark metal giants against the twilit sky, their heads moving up and down, clanking as they pumped. But they were insignificant, an affectation of humans. Deni was wolf now, nothing more, and the night flowed to her.
After a long time of unceasing trotting, she made it to what she now saw was the smoldering wreck of a small airplane. Inside the perimeter of the fire’s light, she saw the hulking forms of Ronan and Tiger and the tall one of Spike bending over a heap on the ground.
Jace? Deni’s heart pounded as she sped up. No, Deni saw and scented as she neared the others. The man on the ground was human, probably the pilot, Marlo. She smelled no stench of death, so Marlo was still alive. Ronan and Spike were lashing him onto a stretcher, preparing to load him into a pickup that was parked nearby. Tiger saw her and gave her a long look then he turned back to helping with Marlo.
Another wolf ran out of the darkness and straight to Deni—Ellison, large and gray, his wolf’s eyes meeting hers. Ellison showed sorrow but also anger.
What the hell are you doing here? his body language said. What part of ‘don’t you dare come out here’ didn’t you understand?
Where’s Jace? Deni snapped back, stopping herself from throwing herself at him and howling in anguish.
Don’t know. Lost his scent.
Deni growled and rushed past him. She heard Ellison snarl a curse behind her and follow.
Deni dashed into the firelight, earning a startled look from the Shifters there. Sean, sword on his back, started to step in front of her, but Deni ran around him to Tiger. You’re supposed to be so good at search and rescue, she growled up at Tiger. Where is he? Deni glared at him, willing him to understand, but she was a wolf, and he a tiger, and who knew what got through?
Tiger watched her, his brows furrowed over his golden eyes. “You have to find him,” he said.
Why haven’t you?
Tiger kept staring at her. “You have to.”
“Tiger, a little help here,” Ronan called to him.
Tiger locked gazes with Deni a beat longer then he turned away to where Ronan was doing something near the burning debris, Deni had no idea what. Deni growled in frustration and ran from the firelight, searching the perimeter of the crash site for Jace’s scent.
She picked it up a little way beyond the wreck, when the wind blew the smoke from her face—Jace, loud and clear. She started off after him.
Already tried that, came Ellison’s growl. Lost it pretty quick.
Deni wasn’t listening. Each species of Shifter had an advantage over the others. Felines could see brilliantly in the dark, and they were fast. Bears had great strength and also stamina, probably because they slept so much, Deni had always privately thought.
But wolves beat both bears and Felines in the ability to follow scent. No Shifter could outdo a Lupine on a scent trail. A wolf’s second prowess was communication. Wolves howled from hill to hill, passing information, warning, claiming territory. Their nonverbal skills were the best of any Shifter.
Right now, Deni needed only scent. Let Ellison howl at her—she had a mate to find.
She lost Jace’s trail fairly soon, as Ellison had warned her, near another oil well, this one capped. The metallic stench of old oil and rusting machinery cancelled out the warmer scent of Shifter, and Deni sat down on her haunches, bereft.
Jace had come this way, though, that was certain. Whether he’d doubled back, or was lying hurt somewhere, Deni couldn’t tell.
But Jace was her mate. They shared the mate bond—no doubt about it. Deni felt it inside her, its warmth around her heart, filling her with strength.
Deni’s accident had robbed her of most of her confidence. She’d gone through episodes where she’d forgotten who she was and didn’t know anyone around her—she’d attacked Ellison, and she’d turned on her friends and sometimes her own cubs. Terrified of hurting those she loved, she’d locked herself into a tiny world, where she went out little, and kept herself from fighting, or even enjoying herself too much. She’d not been able to ride a motorcycle, even behind someone else, as she’d explained to Jace, after she’d been run down, growing terrified even at the thought. Seeing the dangerous man who’d hurt her die had helped her begin to find closure, but the lingering fears died hard.