Faith pointed the spoon she'd been stirring the cocoa with at Cameron. "What if the guys in the hot tub were the ones who stole our snowmobiles? You said that the man yelling was a distraction that drew you from the cabin so that while you were gone, they could steal the machines."
"Because you were the weaker sex." Cameron smiled when Faith did. He turned to Gavin. "You should see what she did to my snowmobile."
"You mean that huge dent in the backside?" Gavin asked. His expression showed even more admiration for Faith.
"She wields a heavy cast-iron frying pan like an Olympic disc thrower."
"Ha! If I could do that well, I would have hit the driver, not the vehicle."
"Probably would have killed him. I take it you had another theory about them stealing the machines?" Cameron asked.
"Yeah, what if they were afraid you were going to find the body, and so they took off with our machines to divert our attention. That way if the man was still alive, he would have frozen to death overnight. The police came in the morning and asked us where we'd been during the night. After the men stole our machines, they get in the hot tub with us, and voila! The machines are around the backside of the shower building. They probably had… wait! I was thinking, what if they were staying at one of the cabins while it was closed for renovations. But I didn't want to check it out without you being there. Then we got distracted when Charles said he'd take us to see Trevor."
Cameron rose from his chair. "Where did Leidolf go, Gavin?"
Gavin motioned to his cabin down the trail. "He said if we wanted his help, to come get him. He was up a lot last night and went back to the cabin to take a nap."
"Let's go. Weapon reloaded?"
Gavin nodded. "When I was listening to Trevor. I wanted him to know that I was armed and dangerous if he was on the wrong side of the law."
That's when Cameron wondered if Kintail knew yet about Gavin shooting Hilson. He set the mugs in the dry sink and poured water into them. "I'll wash them when we return." He pulled on his parka while Faith got hers on.
Gavin looked again at Cameron's sleeve. "Faith, the wolf, wouldn't have had anything to do with the way your sleeve looks, would she have?"
"No," Faith said, walking out ahead of the men. "She's the one that saved Cameron's butt."
Cameron shrugged at Gavin. "Actually, you're looking right at her. Faith, the woman, clobbered the wolf with a healthy swing of a snow shovel. That little lady is not someone you ever want to piss off."
Gavin chuckled. "Sounds like you've met more than your match." He climbed onto his snowmobile and turned to Cameron. "So what's the real story about David and Owen?"
Kintail had barely returned Hilson to his own lodge when six of his people hurried to greet him, everyone of them looking like he was going to beat them within an inch of their life. "What's happened?" But he suspected it had to do with David and Owen and that they hadn't recaptured them.
Well, that was one bargaining chip he'd lost. Although he hadn't intended to give them up, ever. They were much better off with him since he knew the ropes and could keep his people safe. Normally. The lupus garou killers were another story though.
"Lila's gone. They came through the kitchen. You can smell their scents," Whitson said, limping around in a walking cast, one eye blackened, but at least Cameron hadn't killed him.
"Wait, what? Some damned human came here and Lila went with him?"
"No," Whitson said, his expression more than concerned. "From the smell of them, it appears there were three of them, all male. One of them was the same we smelled in your offices in Millinocket where Sutter died. Lila was alone while the rest of our people were trying to track down David and Owen when these men took her. And Elizabeth went with David and Owen, if you didn't get word."
Kintail stared at Whitson, shook his head, and stormed down the hall to the kitchen. He walked into it, lifted his nose, and smelled. The humans' scents were unmistakable, sweaty with fear, doused with heavy spicy colognes, mixed with the lingering aroma of roast and gravy still clinging to the air.
His voice fierce, he growled, "Where'd they take Lila?" He stalked back into the great room where Hilson was sitting on one of the couches, still looking pretty beat up from the gunshot wounds.
Whitson shook his head as he hurried after him. "We're not sure. A couple of our men think maybe they grabbed Cameron's partners and Elizabeth also. They saw some snowmobilers, not any of our own people. So our people backed off when they saw these guys had guns. Immediately they worried they might be the killers and if they were, their bullets would be silver. Since the wolves they were after weren't part of the original pack, and Elizabeth chose to go with them, they didn't feel any need to go getting themselves killed over them."
Kintail swore under his breath and gave the men gathered a steely eyed glower. "We're a damned pack. So act like one. One for all and all for one. Whether we have new men or women, or we were born that way. Hell." He stared out the window. "Did you see any bodies afterward?"
"No bodies," one of his men said. "After they left, we searched the area and found where the wolves had lain in the snow. We think they carried the bodies away this time. Maybe thinking they have proof we're were wolves? The tracks led toward Millinocket. We didn't want to get too close. We heard gunshots, three of them, and figured the men and Elizabeth were dead. They shouldn't have run off."
Unable to shake loose of the misery he felt, Kintail said, "It wouldn't have mattered, it seems. They took Lila."
"Because they ran off, we were out looking for them. That's how they got Lila."
Kintail didn't think it would matter to him one way or another as detached as she'd been toward him ever since he'd brought her into the pack. He knew she'd had difficulties from where she was from, but she'd never discuss it with him, and he'd never wanted to pry. But after what Trevor had told him, he was rethinking her plight and now, he couldn't help worrying about her. She didn't deserve to die at the hands of these lunatics. She was a member of his pack, to protect always, even if she didn't want to be his mate. "Where did they take her?"
"The snowmobiles reached the trailhead, then the tracks disappeared. We really think they're somewhere in Millinocket."
"Gather all our men. Send word to Cameron and his partner, Gavin, whoever's doing the killings has either taken his men hostage or killed them. And make sure they know they've got Lila and another of my females, too, that they're probably alive and hostages for now."
Hilson held his side where Gavin managed to shoot him all four times. "I'm going."
"Like hell you are. Just stay here and recuperate."
"You can't have her, Kintail," his brother growled.
"What? You never changed her, never mated with her. It's too late for you to have her."
Hilson gave him a sour look. But Kintail knew his brother well. If he really had wanted her, he would have taken her. Which meant the woman was up for grabs. Although, he was seriously considering giving her to one of his other bachelor males, any of whom would be eager to have the woman. "You shouldn't have gone after Cameron against my orders."
"I couldn't let him have her. But damn it, someone had already turned her."
Kintail suspected Cameron had done it, but of his own free will, or by accident?
Whitson limped over to the couch. "What do you want me to do?"
Kintail shook his head. "Babysit my brother. The two of you are a pair." He stalked out of the house, hoping to hell he could end this nightmare once and for all in
short order, and Lila would be so grateful, she'd have a change of heart concerning him.
Owen woke from the worst nightmare he'd ever had about being pursued by wolves on snowmobiles, to a nightmare he was still living as he realized he, David, and Elizabeth were caged and locked in a basement. Not Kintail's either. He poked his snout at David, who looked up sleepily at him. Then they both considered where they were, a large cage in a moldy wet basement. David hurried to nose Elizabeth's face, trying to wake her.
And Lila?
Eyes widening, Owen stared at her. How the hell did she get here?
Sitting on the bottom step of the stairs leading out of the basement, she leaned against the wall, her eyes closed. It looked as though she was every bit as much a hostage as they were. Which was probably good. Kintail would want her back, even though they seemed to share a lot of animosity. Still, she was his pack member, and he seemed really protective and possessive of everyone in the pack.
Everything was dark in the room, but they could see as if it was a cloudy day. Traffic noises could be heard, not a lot, but a horn blew, and cars speeding up at a traffic light, slushing through melting snow on the roadways rushed nearby. They were in town. Maybe Millinocket? It wasn't far from the cabin resorts, maybe an hour and a half at most.
What they needed was a window. Well, that and a crowbar. Too bad their pursuers had taken only Lila hostage. She had some wicked teeth when she was in her wolf form, but they needed a couple of more guys with muscle instead.
Owen stood, stretched the kinks out of his wolf's body, then walked over to the padlock on the cage. Looked like an old one, slightly rusted, and… it was a combination lock. Like an old school lock. If he could shapeshift, although he was rather reluctant in the event he couldn't shift back before the killers returned, he figured he could decipher the combination. But if they caught him in his human form, he'd have proved their theory if they had any doubts. But also, he'd be naked and freezing.
He made a little woof sound. Lila didn't stir. He did it again. David and Elizabeth joined him and looked at the padlock.
Lila's eyes snapped open. "Jeez, it's about time you three woke up."
Owen poked at the padlock. She stared at him, then the lock. "I can't open it. I tried."