She lifted her nose slightly and smelled. Her heart beating frantically, her blood ran cold. Both were hunters, both wearing scruffy beards, camouflage gear, and olive-drab caps. For a second, she feared they would shoot her, thinking she was a wolf, being as paranoid as anyone else looking to kill a bunch of feral predators and expecting anything that moved to be one of them.
At first, the hunters stared at her slack-jawed and moved toward her even more slowly. She imagined that, because of the lack of moon or stars on the overcast night and the shadows of the woods, they hadn't seen her until she'd moved. That's what had given her away.
Suddenly, they stopped cold and observed her. As if they were seeing a ghost, unsure of what they were actually observing. Thankfully. So they weren't going to just shoot her without checking her out further.
But did they recognize she was a woman, hiding in the woods and not doing a very good job of it? They wouldn't know she could see them, too, but they had to realize she would have heard their approach. Maybe they figured she got scared then and stopped dead in her tracks. If they had been wolves, lupus garou, or those who studied wolves like she did, they'd know she was ready to bolt. She doubted they'd recognize that. And she didn't think they'd catch her if they gave chase.
"Holy moly, Ben. She's not one of those red wolves," the man whispered to the other. "What would she be doing out here?"
Ben responded in a hushed voice, shouldering his rifle. "Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd say she was that wolf biologist I told you about that talked real pretty about wolves."
Crap, it couldn't be the man who hounded her when she lectured at the town hall.
"I dunno, but she's got to be in some kinda trouble. You move around that way, really quiet like so's not to spook her."
Ben gave a thumbs-up and began to circle slightly to Cassie's left.
She let out her breath in exasperation. Then she had another thought. What if she could get hold of the men's goggles and ditch them? The men wouldn't be able to see in the dark without them and follow her, and they couldn't look for the female wolf or her pups, either. Cassie kept a smile to herself. Then how in the hell was she going to get the goggles away from the men?
"Are you... Dr. Roux, miss?" Ben asked, drawing a couple of steps closer. "Are you hurt?"
She stood up: no sense in pretending she couldn't be seen.
He lowered his binoculars as he looked down her legs to her feet where the socks rested in a puddle at her ankles.
She hadn't expected wolf killers to express concern for her safety, as normal humans would. But even though they seemed human in that respect, the hunters still were dangerous for the lupus garous and the wolves she'd made it her calling to study. She dashed for the cover of the forest, figuring she could outrun them. Ben took a couple of hefty strides and snagged her wrist.
Chapter 17
Leidolf's cell phone jingled and he jerked it off his belt, flipped it open, and saw Sheriff Whittaker was calling again.
"Yeah?" Leidolf said, wholeheartedly expecting that the sheriff had Cassie and the Jag, that he'd learn if Sarge was with her, and that everything was well under control.
That misconception was instantly shattered when the sheriff spoke over the phone, huffing and puffing, half-winded. "Got the Jag in good condition, Mr. Wildhaven."
Hell, Leidolf didn't care anything about the Jag. It was the former pack leader's chick magnet. Leidolf didn't need anything that flashy, and the car was the next item on his agenda to get rid of.
"The woman?" That's all he cared about. Well, and Sarge. But Cassie was his first priority.
"The little lady nearly wrecked your car after jumping out of it while the brake wasn't set, and the Jag drifted down a hill. I dashed for the car, never thinking she'd run into the woods, but that's exactly what she did.
"At least I think. I was too busy saving your Jag. And the guy with her? Sarge? He was trying madly to get into the driver's seat. I figured he'd planned to tear off, but I managed to jerk the keys out of the ignition. When I finally returned the Jag and him to the scene, she had vanished. Unless someone picked her up."
Leidolf swore to himself. He didn't figure anyone would have picked her up along the isolated road without the sheriff noticing it, even as busy as he was trying to stop the runaway Jag. The way she was dressed in this cold, she'd never make it far. And changing into the wolf and running on all four legs with an injured shoulder? She'd never manage that way for very long, either.
He jammed the gas pedal down even more. "I'll be there shortly."
"I've got this guy in bracelets. He wasn't very cooperative."
"He's a friend's cousin who needed a good job and someone to watch over him to keep him out of trouble. He'll adjust eventually to life on the ranch. I'll be there in a few." But in truth, he was ready to terminate Sarge for taking Cassie hostage, because he knew she wouldn't have permitted him to leave with her any other way.
Minutes later, Leidolf saw the lights flashing on the sheriff's vehicle, his Jag parked in front of it. The sheriff was waving a flashlight into the woods, but it was too dark to find anything. As soon as Leidolf pulled in behind the sheriff's vehicle, the sheriff rushed out of the shelter of trees and waved at him.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Wildhaven. I wouldn't have thought in a million years she would have run off like that."
Several pickups parked behind Leidolf's. "We'll take care of it," he said, climbing out of his Humvee.
"She mentioned someone named Alex Wellington. Know the man?"
Leidolf frowned. "A friend of hers." Although from what Leidolf had seen, the wolf biologist was more of a nuisance than a friend.
His men and Evan gathered around them.
"All right if we take Sarge with us?" Leidolf asked.
"Yeah. As long as you don't want to press charges, he can run along with you."
Leidolf nodded to Elgin, who hurried to the sheriff's vehicle to move Sarge to his truck.
"She said Alex was a friend, and at first she thought he might have reported the murderers' whereabouts in the 911 call. She changed her story, protecting the guy, I'm sure, once she learned none of us knew his name. We need to know what he heard exactly and what he might have seen," the sheriff said.
Leidolf ground his teeth. Hell, what if she'd been with this Alex Wellington and one of the murderers had shot her when she was in her wolf form? All along, Leidolf had thought a hunter had shot her. "We'll find her, Sheriff."
"Are you sure? I could arrange a search-and-rescue mission."
"No. I've got enough men with me. I'll take care of it." Not wanting Evan out in the woods on a mission like this, Leidolf waved at the teen. "Take the Jag back to the ranch, will you, Evan?"
Evan's whole face lit up. "Sure thing!" He hurried toward the sports car.
"Drive safely," Evan's father said, coming up behind Leidolf. "No speeding."
"I'll follow him back to the ranch," the sheriff assured him. "Let me know when you have the girl safely back, will you?"
"Yeah, I'll do that, Sheriff." Leidolf waited until Evan was behind the wheel of the Jag and headed back to the ranch with the sheriff following him. Then Leidolf turned to his men to give orders. "No wolf coats. It's much too dangerous. Create enough noise so that if any hunters are out here, they'll know you're just a bunch of men like them. And, Fergus, make sure one of our men takes Sarge back to the ranch--and sits on him, if he has to."