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I LET MYSELF OUT AND looked down at Delta. “Take me to the base in Maine, girl,” I requested. I couldn’t feel her rummaging around in my head for the location, but we descended into the soil a moment later. We surfaced in front of the base I’d only been to once before. The trees were mostly pine here, so it was comfortingly similar to home.
I sent Uncle Mark a message that I would be staying here for a few days to get a break from Nick’s emotions, so he would know why I was here. The Cleanup Crew visited our other bases monthly to clean them. We tended to look after our home ourselves due to our territorial natures. Shifters didn’t like intruders poking around in our private rooms.
The first thing I did was carry my bag up to my bedroom. None of us kept any clothing in the other bases. We always had to bring our own clothing and buy food. That was the second thing on my to-do list.
Heading to the garage, I chose one of the black SUVs and scanned the map on the GPS. It had been several years since I’d been here and I wasn’t familiar with the area. I found a small town half an hour away and drove there to buy supplies. The fridge and cupboards would be stocked with enough food for a few days. I also filled the SUV with gas, since I had a long drive ahead.
I drank a cup of coffee and made a snack when I got back. Then I retrieved my gun from my duffle bag. Today would be a reconnaissance mission and I hopefully wouldn’t need any spare ammo. Then again, I could never be too careful, so I stuffed a couple of magazines in the pockets of my cargo pants. One of the magazines had silver bullets, just in case I ran into some dangerous vamps, rogue shifters or something from another dimension.
Since I’d be gone for at least a few hours, I made sure to take a backpack from the closet in my bedroom. I filled it with bottled water and snacks, then headed to the garage again. I felt strangely lonely as I plugged my destination into the GPS and drove away from the base. I’d never been on a mission alone before. I’d only been gone for a short time, but I already missed my team.
The radio played softly in the background as I drove the two-hour distance to Red Creek. I stopped a few miles short of the town when I saw the sign for the hiking trails. Pulling into the dirt parking lot, there were no other vehicles in sight. I got out, locked the car, then swung my backpack over my shoulder. My jacket hid my gun from view from anyone who wasn’t trained to see it.
I took a few deep breaths and picked up on the scent of several people. They led me to a trail to the left and I stopped to read a sign. It told me the trail would take three full days to complete and warned me about the danger of wild animals. Black bears were common in this area. I was advised to keep my food stored in an airtight container, so the wildlife wouldn’t smell it and forage through my campsite.
“You could win a fight against a bear, couldn’t you, Delta?” I said to my mouse. Her head was poking out of my pocket and her whiskers twitched in response. “I’ll take that as a yes,” I said with a grin. “Hold on, girl. I’m going to run along the trail to the spot where the hikers sensed something weird.” Her eyes slitted against the wind when I took off.
Running through the woods with the wind blowing my hair back, smelling the fresh air and hearing the wildlife fleeing in terror was the closest I could get to my wolf in my human form. I ran for an hour, then stopped to take a rest. I guzzled a bottle of water and ate a snack. When I was done, I put the trash in my backpack rather than littering like some people did.
It had taken the hikers five hours to reach this spot. I was getting close to the area where they’d sensed the ominous presence. I walked at a normal pace for another half an hour, then the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “Do you feel that?” I whispered to Delta. She looked up at me and her whiskers didn’t move. “I’ll take that as a no,” I murmured.
The ominous sense of danger grew stronger with each step I took. I wished I’d had Alex’s ability to sense magic, because I was pretty sure a spell was causing the fear that was rising inside me. After a while, it became hard for me to continue. The enchantment was apparently far stronger when a lone man was hiking the trails. If I’d had a woman with me, I probably wouldn’t have felt it at all.
It was getting hard to breathe from the terror that was choking me, so I stopped to take another break. I drank a bottle of water and became aware that I was being watched. Sweeping my gaze around the area casually, I couldn’t see anyone, but I knew I wasn’t alone.
A campsite was just ahead, so I veered off the path and sat down at one of the picnic tables. A curious squirrel approached me when I took a bag of nuts out of my backpack. He sat up on his hind legs with his paws held to his chest. He looked so much like Emma that I took pity on him. I poured a few nuts into my hand and crouched down. “Here you go, little guy,” I coaxed him. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The squirrel looked at me unblinkingly for a few seconds, then darted over. He snatched up the nuts and stuffed them into his mouth until his cheeks were bulging, then he took off.
“I guess he was hungry,” I said with a grin and wiped my palm on my pants. Finishing my snack, I tried to catch a glimpse of whoever was watching me, but they remained hidden in the trees.
I was just about to stand up when Delta poked me with a claw. I looked down at her to see her pointing off to the side. Without moving my head, I shifted my eyes and peered into the foliage. For a moment, I saw a young woman watching me, then she disappeared. I’d only had a glimpse of her, but her face had been breathtakingly beautiful.
My wolf stirred and came to attention. He’d never done that with any of the female shifters I’d bedded. The thought he sent me chilled me to the bone. Mine.
“No!” I refuted quietly. “No way! We didn’t come here to find a mate. We came to investigate a case.”
Mine, the wolf insisted. Then he hit me below the belt. She is our mate.
My wolf had never spoken directly to me before. He should have been dormant until the full moon, which was still a couple of weeks away.
“Go back to sleep,” I ordered him dourly. “You’re delusional.”
Whoever the girl had been, she was able to move without sound through the woods. She had to be a shifter, but I could barely detect her scent when I approached the spot where she’d been standing. Maybe she was using something to hide her trail. I frowned, mulling it over. It was possible she was a lone wolf and that she was hiding out in the forest. She might even be using the spells I could feel repelling men to keep herself safe. If so, then she could be on the run from someone.
Calling up the glimpse I’d had of her, her hair had been a startling shade of amber that matched her eyes. Her skin had been paler than I’d have expected from someone living in the woods. I hadn’t seen her body, so I couldn’t tell if she was malnourished. The thought of a frightened woman living all alone in the wilderness didn’t sit well with me.
“Should we try to find her?” I asked my zombie companion. Delta twitched her whiskers, which meant she was in agreement with my plan. “It won’t be easy if she’s masking her scent,” I murmured. If this was her chosen territory, then she wouldn’t like another shifter being on her turf. She would probably keep her eye on me while I performed my mission. “I’ll track her down once I’ve figured out what’s hiding in the woods and warn them that the hikers are coming back with some hunters,” I decided.
Returning to the trail, I took off at a sprint again. I ignored the fear that tried to force me to return to my vehicle. Eventually, it faded away as I moved out of its range. I stopped at the next campsite to check the map. Just as I’d figured, the being lived in the center of the woods. When the trail curved closer to the center, the spell would no doubt kick in again.
There were no pathways leading deeper into the forest and now I knew why. The enigmatic being had lived here since before the area had become populated. Their spells had kept anyone from discovering their home, but I had a feeling their protection wasn’t going to keep the hunters away.
