“Fuck. You’re right.”
“It could still work, if she thought they’d been spotted and needed to establish their story. I still don’t see someone sending three spies to prove fraud… and then killing two of them. Either we’re missing something, or we’ve got this all wrong.”
“All I know is someone is definitely out here. They stalked Lilith last night. Did you get a look at the boots?”
“Yep. They were all standard issue, and we’ve seen the prints for them.”
“So whoever was at her cabin wasn’t one of the miners or guards.”
“And doesn’t seem to have been Gretchen either.”
Someone discovered Lilith’s cabin. They circled it for hours, and it doesn’t take that long to realize you can’t get inside easily. They knew she was in there, and they were spooking her… until her guard wolf came home.
Why spook Lilith? I must consider the possibility she’s lying about why she’s here, and all this has been about finding her. I don’t think so, but I need to keep that theory on the page.
If it was a guy from the mining camp, it would make sense. Well, it would make sense in a disheartening way—a camp full of men, one discovers a woman living alone in the forest and decides to give her a scare, maybe to convince her that she needs a man in her life.
Couldit have been a miner? We can’t dismiss that based on the boot prints.
But what about the tracking implants? If one of the miners—not knowing he’s chipped—found Lilith’s cabin, wouldn’t Rogers know it?
That depends on how closely they’re being monitored.
I’m working through all of this as we get closer to Haven’s Rock. Normally, by this point we’d hear the town. We don’t, which means they are doing an excellent job of locking down. It’s still midday, and work is progressing, but all loud work has ceased, and all conversation is taking place indoors.
“They really do deserve a reward when all this is over,” I whisper to Dalton, after we’ve commented on the quiet. “Maybe—”
I stop. My voice is so low that when a twig crackles to our left, I hear it. We all stop and listen. Storm sniffs the air. We’re downwind, and the scent she catches has her whining. I look over, and she whines again. It’s a good whine—excitement, not fear or concern.
Someone she knows.
I smile at Dalton. “Must be the patrol.”
He nods. There’s another path just north of us, and it’s used for militia patrols. When I peer into the trees, I catch a glimpse of green clothing. Yes, it’s not easy to see green clothing in a forest, but this particular shade is familiar. It’s the emerald of Anders’s windbreaker, which I may have bought him after a tipsy female resident waxed eloquent on a green shirt he’d been wearing, how it brought out the green in his eyes. His eyes are brown. Just brown. So I bought the jacket and never fail to tell him it brings out the green in his eyes. He’d stop wearing it if it wasn’t actually a very nice coat, just the right weight for this weather.
Seeing it, I grin at Dalton and mouthWill. He nods, and when I motion that I’m going to sneak up on him, he only rolls his eyes and leans against a tree. I gesture for Storm to lie down, and she does not appreciate that, but she does so, with an accusatory huff.
Before I leave, Dalton touches my arm and murmurs, “Make sure.”
I nod. Obviously, I plan to be sure it’s Anders. I’m not taking the chance of play-pouncing on a dangerous stranger because he’s wearing the same color as Anders’s jacket.
I creep into the forest. For a moment, I don’t see Anders, but then he rounds a corner and I can make out his back. I continue on, walking as quietly as I can. He’s going in the opposite direction. He isn’t alone, and I think the other person is Kendra, but again, I want to be sure.
I step out onto the path. They’re about a hundred feet ahead of me and about to round another corner, but it’s definitely them. I take one long stride, prepared to break into a jog. Then something rustles behind me.
I spin just as a figure darts into the forest.
For a moment, I stand there, as if hitting Pause and Replay on the mental footage. What exactly did I just see? A person, yes. Definitely a human, not an animal. They’d been on the path behind me, and when I turned, they were already ducking into the woods.
A human figure.
Not noticeably short or tall. Wearing dark trousers and a dark coat with the hood pulled up.
I take out my gun and glance over my shoulder. Anders and Kendra have vanished around that corner. I could call them back, but if I do, I’ll alert whoever I just saw, and I have a feeling that the person I just saw was…
I let the thought trail off as I creep to where the person disappeared into the forest. I don’t see anyone there, which either means they’re long gone or they’re right on the other side of that wide tree ten feet away.
I adjust the hold on my gun. Then, slowly, I make a show as if putting it away, but only lower it, hidden by my side.
