Chapter 43
CADE
Sweating with exertion and weariness, I stumbled, falling to one knee in the deepening snow. I managed to keep hold of Barney, whom I was cradling in my arms. The dog whimpered loudly, a sound that wrenched my heart. But it reassured me that he was still conscious.
Gently, I set him down, speaking softly to him. Barney kept trying to lick his injured leg, which had swollen to twice its normal diameter and must have hurt like hell.
I tried to get my bearings, but it was difficult to recognize any landmarks. The poor visibility combined with the snow-shrouding of trees to make everything look the same. I could only estimate, from the time I'd been hiking, that I'd made it back about half the distance to the road where I’d left the Jeep.
I was fucking tired. My back and shoulders were aching from Barney’s weight. My legs were leaden. Worse, although I felt hot while tramping, it took only a couple of minutes of standing still in the wind for me to start feeling cold. At least the wind had been behind us. If we’d had to walk straight into it, we probably wouldn't have gotten this far.
I thought about shifting, but it would expend energy that I needed to save. Although I’d be warmer as a wolf, I’d be unable to carry Barney.
Barney stopped worrying his leg and curled up into a tight ball. He was shivering. I figured we had less than an hour of daylight left—if you could call this snow-gloom daylight. Not enough time to find my way out of here before conditions really got bad.
"Guess it's time for Plan Number Two, boy.” The dog lifted his head to the sound of his master's voice, a good sign. "We gotta get ourselves into some shelter. See any caves around here, fella? Or maybe a nice big boulder slanted so it has an overhang? We find something like that and we can make ourselves a little hut. You stay here, boy. I'm going to scout around."
As soon as Barney perceived I was leaving him, he let out a piercing series of yelps that didn't stop even as I pitched my voice to its most reassuring tones. "I'm not leaving you, Barney. No way I'm leaving you. No, boy, stay. Good dog. Stay. You usually do the sniffing around for me, but now I'm doing it for you. Watch me. I'm moving in a circle, I'm keeping an eye on you. I'm hunting for a downed tree, or a large rock, or anything that we can use as a buffer against the wind. Take it easy, boy. I'm trying to save your life.''
The yelps devolved into whines of pain that tore at my heart. This is all my fault, as usual, I thought. Me, the big hunter, the alpha wolf, the skilled woodsman, storming out into a goddamn blizzard. Smart. Real, goddamn sensible.
“Maybe I deserve to freeze. But you don't, dammit, so keep your chin up. I'm going to get us out of this mess, don't worry."
I'd do the worrying for both of us.
JESS
As I watched the snow fall thicker and heavier, I began to worry. Cade didn’t usually hunt all day. Why wasn’t he home yet? What was the point of hunting birds in heavy snow? Didn’t they all take shelter like any sensible creature?
I called his cell, but as Jake had indicated, there was no answer.
I tried to remember how he had been dressed when he'd left. Was he warm enough? Dry enough? Did he have anything to eat or drink? The wretched storm was turning into a blizzard. What if he was lost?
Don't be silly, I yelled at myself. He's a shifter. A wolf with a warm layer of fur. Storm or no storm, he wasn’t going to freeze.
Yeah, he was probably sitting in a nice, cozy bar somewhere, drowning his sorrows in a bottle of whiskey.
By the time it started to get dark, I’d begun to imagine all sorts of dreadful things. I ruined my fingernails, chewing on them.
Something about this whole thing felt wrong. Someone had been murdered last night, possibly by the shifter who had killed Cade’s brother. Now Cade had not come home. What if the same person who had shot Aaron had now gone after Cade?
Find him, a voice deep inside me said. He needs you.
The voice was insistent, and I usually trusted my intuition.
Go out and look for him.
Fine. Where?
I could search for his Jeep. If I found it, I’d know what part of the wilderness he had entered.
So where might it be? There were several roads to search, and I didn't know where to begin. With the snow falling and the hours of daylight limited, I’d have to narrow it down somehow. Was he hunting in the fields or in the forest?
I went into the room that was now serving as Cade's office and opened his glass-fronted gun cabinet. Four of the five weapons that were kept there remained. Thoughts of Jonathan flashed. I felt a little dizzy. Get a grip, for God's sake.
I knew guns. I didn’t like to think about that now, but I’d grown up with them.
The 12-gauge, with the bigger barrel and the bigger shells, was for shooting pheasant, a relatively large bird. There were two 12-gauge, double-barrel shotguns in the case.
One of the other weapons was not a shotgun at all—it was some sort of automatic rifle. Not a hunter's gun.
The last gun in the case looked old and beautiful. It had only a single barrel, which was the same diameter as the other two. Another 12-gauge. Which meant the missing weapon was Cade's 20-gauge shotgun. It had a narrower barrel and would be used for shooting smaller birds like grouse.
I remembered what he'd told me—grouse hunting was usually conducted on hilly terrain. Forests, woodlands. If he’d stayed in this area, there were only a couple of places where he could be.
I called the compound before going out looking. I wasn’t sure what time the Council meeting was scheduled for, but it would be stupid not to check to see if he’d simply gone there directly instead of coming home. I hoped someone else from the pack besides Lorna was there. I didn’t want to worry Cade’s mother.
It was Suzanne who answered. Shit. She was the last person I wanted to speak to. I forced myself to remember what Cade had told me—that there was bound to be some rivalry and that I’d just have to suck it up.
But I knew it was more than simple rivalry. Susanne had wanted to be alpha female. She still wanted it. And it pained me to have to admit to Suzanne that I didn’t know where my husband was.
Plus Suzanne was Brandon’s mate, and if there was anyone I could envision as a killer, it was Brandon.
“I was wondering if Cade was there? He went hunting this morning and he’s usually back by now.”
“Haven’t seen him all day. Where did he go to hunt, do you know?
“He didn’t say. I suppose he might have hit a bar on the way home,” I said, trying not to sound as if I was really worried about him. “Only thing is, he had his dog with him. He couldn’t take Barney into a bar. Nor leave him for long in a cold car.”
“That is odd,” Suzanne’s offhand tone told me that I’d sparked her interest. “Do you know what he was hunting?”
“Grouse, I think.”
“There are only a couple of prime grouse spots around here. I guess I could ask Brandon to check them out for you.”
“Is Brandon there with you?” I asked, trying to make the question sound casual.
“Yeah, he’s here? You want to talk to him?” There was an edge to her voice now.
“No need to bother him. Is Jake there yet, by any chance?”
“Nope, not yet. There’s a Council meeting tonight. Cade’ll be late if he doesn’t get home from his hunting gig soon.”
“Is Lorna there? May I speak to her?”
“I wouldn’t want to worry Lorna.” She sounded falsely solicitous. Man, didn’t anyone else see how fake this bitch was? “After all, she’s already lost one son.”
“And she’s not going to lose another,” I snapped. “If Cade is late to the meeting, please alert the pack and send out a search party.”
“Absolutely. I’ll do that now. We should be able to track him down and make sure he’s safe.”