Legend of the White Wolf

Faith was too quiet as she packed up her snowmobile, and he figured it had something to do with the fact she was just like him now. The concept still hadn't completely sunk into his own brain that he was now a werewolf. He could imagine how she was feeling. Or maybe not. Being a woman, she might feel a little differently. Especially the part about how a bunch of werewolf males might be after her, and Kintail was leading the pack at that.



Before Cameron could say anything to her, she got on her snowmobile, pulled her ski mask up and her ski glasses down, then headed down the road toward the trailhead.



All he could think of on the way here when they first ventured to the resort was how he wanted to ensure his friends were all right. Now he was pretty sure they weren't. He was a werewolf, the woman he'd traveled with was one, too, and werewolf hunters had killed two of his kind. He shook his head at the whole nightmarish and unreal concept and hurried to keep pace with Faith. At least this time, they weren't traveling in a blizzard.



But only a few miles from the resort, Faith suddenly sped off into the woods. That's when he saw that a tree had been felled across the road. Hell. Cameron veered into the woods to follow Faith. She'd slowed down some to maneuver between the trees. And that's when he heard the snowmobile in pursuit of them.



What next? Kintail's men? The Dark Angels? Only one thing he could think of to do, set a trap to stop their pursuers. He slowed his snowmobile, turned it around, wished he could flip off the headlights—but he dared not turn off his engine and waste even more precious time—and waited, hoping Faith wouldn't get too far ahead of him. The sound of the engine grew closer, the halo of light widening in scope.



After removing his outer gloves, he readied his gun— time to terminate the pursuit. Thankfully, he had plenty of bullets. At least enough to put an end to this madness. Not that he wanted to kill anyone. A minor injury would be enough to make his pursuer cease and desist. At least he assumed.



But then the sound of two more snowmobiles pelted the vicinity, much farther off, headed this way. Cameron ground his teeth. Damn. Well, he could get rid of the first driver and then take down the next two. Good thing they weren't any closer to the first one. All three at once could take some fancy maneuvering. The sound of the snowmobile's roaring engine drew closer. And closer. He aimed his gun straight ahead.



The engine sound grew louder. The vibration in the ground sent shimmers of the stalker's pursuing vehicle through Cameron's snowmobile and up through every one of his nerve endings. He responded by tightening his grip on his weapon, his finger poised on the trigger.



"Let's get this over. Come to Daddy."



He hated the delay—every precious moment he idled his vehicle, the sound of Faith's machine faded away. "Come on, damn it."



The stalker didn't deviate from his course. Cameron gave a bitter smile. As soon as he appeared in his sights, Cameron would have his man.



Fearing whoever had felled the tree wished them harm, Faith tried to find a way back to the main road around the downed spruce, but the forest of trees didn't coop erate. The farther into the woods she drove, the farther it seemed she was headed away from the unplowed road. She glanced back for a second to see if Cameron was keeping up with her, but all she saw was her tracks in the snow, trees laden with the white stuff, and no sign of Cameron. Although she could hear him in the distance. She slowed to a stop and waited.



That's when Faith heard the snowmobile headed for her in the opposite direction. "Shit."



She glanced back Cameron's way. Still no sign of him. If she drove off in a different direction she was afraid she'd lose him, not to mention she might lose her own way. Navigating by street maps, no problem. Navigating her way through woods was not her forte.



The snowmobile in front of her grew closer. She reached into her pocket and gripped the pepper spray. And waited, praying Cameron would hurry up and join her.



That's when she heard a snowmobile behind her, but still too far away. And she thought a couple more were behind that one. Damn it, they were being hemmed in from all sides.



The snowmobile appeared in front of her, moving slowly, the driver male, tall, bulky, and if she wasn't mistaken… But no, the ski mask and hat hid his hair color and face. It couldn't be.



The man pulled in front of her with several feet sepa rating them. She tightened her grip on the pepper spray still in her pocket.



"Faith, honey. What are you doing way out here? Looking for me?" His voice was deep, dark, and full of warning.



Hilson. Come a little closer. But she was afraid while he was wearing a mask and goggles that protected his face, the pepper spray wouldn't have any effect on him.



"Hilson?" she asked, trying to sound clueless, as if she truly didn't know who he was in his wintry gear. Although she didn't recognize the clothes. But then again, he'd never worn winter clothes like that before. Suits, yes, as a stock broker. In fact, he'd never worn anything much casual. Jeans were out. Sneakers? No way. She wondered now if he wasn't even a stock broker though, or something else.



Hilson fell for her ploy and drew the mask under his chin and pulled up his goggles to rest on his ski hat. "It's me, honey. In the flesh. Missed me, eh?"



At least her glower was hidden behind her mask and ski glasses. But she was sure her voice would give away her ire once she spoke. He had to know damned well that she was madder than hell at him.



"You weren't supposed to follow me here. I would have come back for you eventually. Didn't you get my note that said I would return in a couple of weeks? That I had some important brokerage deals I had to handle?" He folded his arms and leaned slightly back on his machine.



Thankfully, he didn't approach. Maybe because he thought she looked ready to bolt.



"I must have missed the note." She'd found it all right, but she hadn't seen it until she'd discovered he'd stolen her father's flash drive and hard drive. So she hadn't believed for a minute that he would return.



As much as she wanted to take another glance in the direction of the trail off to her right, she didn't want to give away that she was considering detouring in that direction. She figured if she kept heading that way, she'd end up at the frozen lake eventually. Probably not the direction she wanted to go.



"How did you manage to find me so quickly? Break into my computer? I left it there so you would know I was returning to you. But I hadn't expected you would learn my password. Kintail says you're an investiga tive genius."



She didn't care what Kintail said about her, and she didn't say anything in response, stalling for time, hoping Cameron would hurry and arrive with the backup weapon. Even though the bullets he had weren't silver. Not that she wanted Hilson dead, just stopped in whatever he had in mind to do.



"You've really caused some problems coming here, you know?" Hilson leaned forward, his amber eyes narrowed, the same look he'd give when he caught some guy hitting on her, and he meant business. "Lila wants you dead. Kintail wants you, period."



"What do you want, Hilson? I thought I meant some thing special to you." It sounded like Hilson had given up all claims to her. She desperately wanted to look behind her. Wanted to see if Cameron was nearly there. Had to stall Hilson before he did anything she'd regret.



"I know. Whirlwind romance. Three months of great times. You're lucky I didn't just eliminate your father. That's what we do when someone learns what we are. We terminate them or turn them. There wasn't any good reason to make him one of us."



Her father. She felt sick to her stomach. They hadn't killed him, had they? "My father," she said half angry, half choked with emotion.



"He's not the one to worry about right now. You know about us, don't you? Kintail says that prick Cameron told you." He sighed. "Damned newbie lupus garou. Don't know when to keep their mouths shut. It's supposed to be instinctual, preservation of the species type of thing." He shook his head. "I knew it would come to this eventu ally." He pulled off his ski mask and goggles.



"What are you doing?" She tried to sound scornful, but her armor was slipping. She guessed what he was doing, just as soon as he began unfastening his coat.



He was getting ready to shift. And then he would bare his teeth before the bite.



The snowmobile roared around the bend in the trees and slid some distance to a stop. Goggles and a black ski mask hid the driver's expression, but Cameron could pretty much guess the gun was a deterrent in the man's pursuing them. Cameron hadn't heard Faith's snowmo bile in sometime now and hoped to hell he could locate her quickly once he dealt with their pursuers.



Then the driver of the snowmobile jerked up his goggles and pulled down his mask and grinned like a lunatic. Gavin. His red brows raised, he motioned behind himself, and Cameron instantly lowered his gun.



"Cavalry's coming. Where's the little lady?" Gavin asked.



"Up ahead."



"Let's set up a roadblock. They're not far behind." Gavin hurried off his idling snowmobile, and Cameron did the same. Gavin glanced at Cameron's shredded parka sleeve. "You all right?"



"Yeah." Switching the subject, Cameron warned, "No ax."



"Looks like we have enough fallen trees that together we can create a makeshift stopgap."



That's what Cameron always liked about Gavin. He was an optimist extraordinaire, and he could MacGyver anything together if he had the time and resources. Sometimes even when he had neither. Their current predicament reminded Cameron of some of the missions they'd been on.



"So what's she like, Cameron?" Gavin asked, as the two of them hauled a heavy tree onto the trail behind Gavin's snowmobile, but he glanced again at Cameron's torn coat, and Cameron figured he'd have to start making up stories to appease his friend, as much as he hated doing so.



Looking at the mess they were creating, Cameron hoped to hell they wouldn't have to backtrack this way anytime soon.



Gavin dumped another armload of branches on the trail. "Faith O'Malley, the woman you've hitched up with this trip. Believe me, I was surprised as hell. She must really be something."