Hunter's Trail

“Oh,” Jesse said. He didn’t really know what else to say.

Scarlett took one last hopping step to Jesse and held out the gun without a word. He accepted it. A glance passed between them, and then Scarlett looked away. Jesse realized how much it must have cost her to get the gun out of the glove compartment, knowing she might have to use it against someone. “Thanks,” he said quietly. Meaning it.

Without meeting Jesse’s eyes, Scarlett looked down at the alpha. “Will, you okay?” she asked. The concern in her voice made Jesse squint at Will again. The alpha was still breathing heavily, and he had a long, shallow tear down his side that was oozing blood.

“I thought you healed when you changed form,” Jesse said stupidly.

Will smiled briefly, obviously in pain. “A normal change boosts my magic, which boosts the healing.” He tilted his head at Scarlett. “But this time she forced the change—thank you, by the way.” Scarlett nodded. “So I didn’t get the extra healing.”

“Oh,” Jesse said again, feeling like an idiot.

Will rose unsteadily to his feet. “Detective, if you would please take Scarlett inside,” he said. “The back door’s unlocked. I’ll grab some clothes and join you shortly. We can talk then.”

“Do you need help, or . . . ,” Jesse began, but he noticed Scarlett trying to suppress a smile. “What?”

“He wants us to go ahead so he can heal, dummy.” Scarlett held out her arm. “Be my cane,” she commanded.

Jesse holstered his Glock, keeping his service gun in his injured right hand after making sure Scarlett had put the safety back on. His fingers could barely close tight enough to hold it. He slid his left arm around Scarlett’s waist, bending awkwardly to compensate for their height difference, and guided her through the unlocked back door, which opened right into a kitchen. It was tidy but well used, and surprisingly homey: shining hardwood floors and rustic cabin-type accents made the room feel like the kind of place where you could have a cup of coffee and share secrets. Jesse helped Scarlett to the solid oak table, which was clearly used hard, often and lovingly. When she was settled in a chair, he went back out to put the Beretta away in his car’s glove compartment, retrieving Scarlett’s cane from where she’d dropped it just outside the sedan.

“How’s your arm?” Scarlett asked him when he returned. She looked shaky and a little pale.

“It’ll be sore as hell tomorrow, but I don’t think she broke it.” He took the chair next to hers and held open his good left hand. She took it without a word, wrapping both of her hands around his.

They sat in silence for another moment, and then Will entered the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a simple blue pullover. Scarlett drew her hands back into her lap. If Will saw it, he didn’t comment.

“Did you guys want anything to drink?” he said tiredly. “Coffee, beer, water?” They both accepted a glass of water, and Jesse took a long gulping drink from his, feeling dehydrated after all the soda.

“What happened tonight?” Scarlett said to Will. “Why did Anastasia attack you?”

Will sighed heavily. He showed no signs of injury now, but he still had the strung-out weariness that Jesse had noticed earlier. He sat down in an empty seat next to Scarlett.

“It wasn’t our most constructive pack meeting,” he muttered.

“You met with them tonight?” Scarlett asked, raising her eyebrows quizzically. “On New Year’s Eve?”

Will shrugged, wincing at the movement. “You saw how things have been; it couldn’t wait. The bar started clearing out a little after midnight, so I just put out the Closed sign and told the pack to meet in the woods.” He tilted his head in the direction of the national park that met his backyard. “There’s a clearing about a mile in, which we consider the beginning of the pack’s territory in the park. That’s where we start to run on full moon nights.”

“Why not just meet here at the house?” Scarlett asked.

Will hesitated, searching for words. “We don’t . . . we try not to have too much conflict here, partly because the house is a place of peace, and partly so if someone loses their shit, they’ll be far away from humans. If it seems like there’s going to be some kind of big argument, we go out in the woods.”

“What happened at the meeting?” Jesse asked.

“There was a lot of tension,” Will admitted. “I tried to explain that Eli was unavailable without going into too much detail. Some of them believed me, I think, or just didn’t care either way. Eli’s made calls to them, but Ana’s got them all stirred up that he’s being forced to lie or something. She’s got half of them convinced about this cure, and we kept arguing, getting nowhere. Finally she challenged me to a fight for alpha.”

Jesse’s jaw dropped, and he saw Scarlett looking just as incredulous. “But . . . ,” Scarlett began. “I mean, Ana’s not a delicate flower or anything, but did she actually think she could win?”

“No,” Will said flatly. “Ana’s not stupid. Even if I wasn’t the alpha, I could take her. This wasn’t about winning, though. She knew I wouldn’t kill her, so she put me in a position to look bad. If I refused the challenge, I was weak. If I fought her, I was beating up on a weakling.”

“That’s kind of brilliant,” Jesse observed.

“Yes, it is,” Will said matter-of-factly. “So I told her I would fight, but the rest of the pack had to stay human, so they couldn’t interfere. And as soon as we changed I moved the fight away from them.” He shrugged. “I was going to just let her tire herself out, and then change back and try to have a serious conversation with her. But she went after you.”