Devlyn’s attention was rooted to the ground. “Fresh bear tracks,” he warned. Looking around, he spied movement in the trees about twenty yards away. “Over there.” He pointed to the striking cinnamon-colored black bear lumbering in the woods.
“We’re upwind of him. I can’t smell him.”
“You’re right. He’s gotten wind of us,” Devlyn said, his voice raised. He knew from experience to always keep upwind of a bear and to make noise so that he wouldn’t startle one. Although a wolf could take on a bear, bears were known to have killed wolves, too. Certainly as humans, they didn’t stand a chance if the bear decided to attack and kill.
“He was foraging in the blackberry bushes,” Bella added, her voice just as loud. “We need to give him a wide berth.”
The bear rose to stand on his hind legs.
“He’s checking us out,” Devlyn said, moving Bella away from the beast.
The bear lifted his nose and smelled the air and then exhaled a series of several sharp, rasping huffs.
The wind shifted and now they could smell him.
“He’s agitated.” Bella took hold of Devlyn’s hand.
The bear’s long snout curled up and he snarled.
“He’s really not happy.” Bella took a few steps backward. “I think he’s going to charge.”
As unpredictable as bears could be, humans usually couldn’t tell what they intended to do. But as lupus garous, they could smell the bear’s fear and agitation.
“Keep moving backward,” Devlyn said in a firm, controlled voice. “Keep talking and moving away from him.”
Bella stumbled over a broken tree limb behind her, and the bear dropped to his feet and charged.
Devlyn yanked Bella to her feet and shoved her behind him, but the bear stopped a few yards short and roared.
“We’re going!” Devlyn yelled back at the bear. “I sure as hell wish I had my wolf teeth about now.”
The bear stood facing them, either getting ready to charge again or waiting for them to withdraw.
Another fork of wicked lightning smacked the ground a mile away and deafening thunder boomed a second later, unleashing the rains.
Unruffled, the bear stood his ground despite the rain pelting all of them.
Devlyn maneuvered Bella back toward the edge of the forest next to the creek. “Ready to ford it?”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice, although I hadn’t really planned on wading today.”
“Come on, let’s go.” Devlyn hurried her across the stony bank and pulled her into the icy water.
They started to cross the creek, taking it easy over the moss-covered stones while the bear lumbered toward them. As soon as Devlyn felt his feet slipping out from under him, he released Bella so he wouldn’t pull her down with him, but she lost her balance anyway and they both fell into the creek.
“Damn, sorry, Bella honey.” Both soaking wet, Devlyn scrambled to his feet, helped Bella up, and then moved her as fast as he could to the other side.
Her lips were turning blue and her pace was sluggish.
“He’s not following us across the creek,” Bella said, casting a glance over her shoulder, her teeth chattering.
“No, but we’ll have to make a wide sweep north of him, where the land’s not as steep, and head back toward the... “ Devlyn pulled Bella to a stop on the opposite bank, and his gaze searched the woods for signs of anyone. He thought he’d smelled the murdering red. He thought he’d caught a glimpse of a dark green jacket, nearly blending with the Douglas fir, withdrawing deeper into the forest. But the rainfall was so heavy and the water ran down his face so hard that he could barely see.
“It’s him,” Bella whispered, her voice on edge.
“Did you see him, too?”
She cast Devlyn a fearful glance. “Did you see him?”
“Not sure. Come on. We need to head north.”“You smelled him, didn’t you, Devlyn?”
“Might have been an old scent.”
He thought he heard her snort, but the sound was muffled in the rain.
For a good half hour, Devlyn and Bella moved through the forest. Although the woods impeded their progress, he didn’t want them exposed along the rocky bank of the creek. And the trees helped deflect some of the pounding rain. But he couldn’t help feeling that the red was following them.
He thought he heard a branch snap behind them once, but the rain poured down in such a torrent that it was hard to hear anything else.
“I think we should cross here,” Bella said, her teeth clattering. “The terrain isn’t as steep on the other side of the creek.”
Holding her hand with a titan grip, he helped her across the creek and up on the opposite bank. When they reached the shelter of the Douglas firs, he pulled her to a stop and watched for any signs of movement in the woods they’d left behind.
Silently, they observed the sheets of rain pounding the branches and the creek bank while he tucked Bella under his arm and held her shivering body close.
Finally, she shook her head. “He knows we’re watching for him. He won’t move out of the safety of the woods.”
“Maybe. Or he might have hightailed it out of here already.”
She looked up at Devlyn and her expression told him she knew differently — that the killer wanted her. That he would stop at nothing to have a real red lupus garou.
Devlyn squeezed her hand and then hurried her through the woods as fast as they both could manage, hoping the rush in their pace would warm her up some. They were a good mile north of where they’d been, and everything was gray, from the sky to the ground, as the rain continued to pour; the visibility was dismal.
Devlyn was so intent on returning Bella to the SUV and watching for signs of a trap the murdering red might have rigged that he wasn’t thinking of anything else. But, suddenly, Bella yanked him to a stop. “The odor’s faint, Devlyn, but do you smell it?”
No matter how frozen she had to be, she was still searching for clues of the killer’s movements.
Feeling waterlogged as the rain penetrated every inch of the clothing he wore, soaking him clear to the skin, Devlyn took a deep breath. The girl’s blood. He went into search mode. His gaze glanced at the pine needles and leaves matted on the ground beneath woodland ferns. He breathed in the wet, clean air but also smelled signs of the girl. She’d worn a flowery perfume, and he smelled blood — her blood.
Bella had separated from him, inching along, searching for clues, her eyes glued to the ground, barely breathing, then taking a deep breath, trying to find the source of the smell. “Here, Devlyn!” she shouted.
But something buried under a fern a few feet away caught his attention. Using a stick, he snagged a blood-soaked bra out from underneath the plant. He lifted the lacy garment to his nose and took a deep breath. Her blood, her fragrance — beyond a doubt.
Bella came up behind him and stared at the bra. “You knew he killed her out here, didn’t you?”
“He probably took her ‘camping,’ wanting to sequester her away from civilization. But his plan to change her and make her his mate didn’t go as expected. He cared enough for her that he took her back to her apartment, cleaned her up, and dressed her in a nightgown before he laid her to rest in the bed.”
“Then stayed with her until we scared him off.” Bella’s voice sounded choked with tears and she couldn’t look Devlyn in the eye.
“I thought he was there because he needed a place to hide. But now I think he didn’t want to leave her until he was forced to.”
“But you knew she died out here.”
“He’d washed her body, but her hair smelled of the forest and wood smoke. They must have had a campfire and she was in the path of the smoke.” Devlyn glanced at the gold necklace in Bella’s gloved hands, finally taking notice of it.
“Hers,” Bella confirmed, shoving it into her jeans pocket. “Same perfume, traces of wood smoke, too.” She pointed at the bra. “You aren’t going to take it with us, are you?”
“No.” He buried it underneath the leaves beneath another fern. “The necklace will be proof enough as far as the red pack is concerned. I wouldn’t want anyone catching us with her bloody garments.”
He wrapped his arms around Bella and pulled her tightly into his embrace. She was shivering; not wanting to prolong their staying here, he whispered against her ear, “Let’s go home, Bella. We’ve found what we came here for. It’s time to go home.”
Bella knew she was close to being hypothermic again and, even though Devlyn wanted to return to her cabin first, she wanted to go home instead. “I don’t have any dry clothes for you, and I used the last of the wood for the fire. The rest of the firewood is too wet to use. And firewood is the only kind of heat I have at the cabin.” She couldn’t say a word without her teeth rattling together and she clenched them tight, but the shivers continued to shake her to the core.
But when she saw the SUV, her spirits lifted and her pace quickened. Devlyn opened her door in a flash, and cold, wet, and tired, she somehow managed to climb into the vehicle with his help. How he could not be shivering, she couldn’t imagine.
He slammed her door shut and hurried to the driver’s side. Then he turned the engine on and switched the heater on high, the first cold air chilling her further until they were halfway down the gravel road and the car began to warm up.
She peeled off her gloves, her hands shaking and numb, and held her icy fingers up to the vent. “If we show the necklace to Alfred and his buddies, one might react to the sight of it,” she said, her whole body still trembling. She struggled with her jacket zipper, annoyed that her fingers still weren’t working right. “I know none of them are the killers, but they might know who is.”
Glancing over at her, Devlyn gave her a worried look. “Are you going to be all right, Bella?”
“Yeah, I just need to remove these wet things.”