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The next morning dawned bright and sunny, a welcome change after the rain and clouds from a few days before. The morning air was cool, though, so Jax had a lightweight jacket on, along with a baseball cap, jeans, and tennis shoes.
Marco and Nicky led the way on a big six-wheeled vehicle, painted in camo colors. It had a bench seat that accommodated two passengers, with a cargo rack on the back that now held their camping equipment. It was designed to even go across shallow ponds and streams, and in the winter, Marco had told Cade, they could add tracks to it for deep snow. It was a real workhorse, and they would use ATVs like this one to transport some of the building materials when the time came. From time to time Nicky would glance back at the others, a big grin on his face as he bounced along on the rough trail. Jax began to use him as a kind of barometer for the roughness of the trail. Whenever he saw Nicky bounce up and grab the handrails he knew to tighten his hold on Cade’s waist.
Cade and Jax rode on a smaller, four-wheeled vehicle, with Jax perched up behind him, and Zack and Gabe followed in one of the sixwheeled ones much like Marco’s, only painted a bright blue. Gabe was dressed more like Jax and Nicky this morning, forgoing the eyeliner and gloss. He still looked exotic though, with his almost blue-black hair and icy blue eyes. He had an arm tightly wrapped around Zack’s waist, and he’d been quiet all morning. Jax suspected he’d had a bit too much wine to drink the night before at dinner and was paying the price this morning.
They traveled up a wide mountain trail for several hours, and it got steeper and narrower as they climbed. Thick undergrowth lined the path, rambling over rocks and fallen trees. The trail grew more rutted than before and it was muddy under the deepest shadows of the overhanging trees. Marco hit one of these muddy spots once and spun around a hundred and eighty degrees. Cade put on the brakes to avoid running into them and slid off to the side of the trail. Behind them, Zack was able to slow down and come to a stop as Marco straightened out and got going again.
Another mile or so up the trail, Marco pulled off into a wide clearing. Cade pulled up beside him. “Y’all go on up to that tree and pull off, and we’ll be right behind you. We’ll stretch our legs a little. Maybe have a little lunch. ”
Cade nodded and pulled up the trail, angling the four-wheeler over by the tree and turning off the engine. Jax hopped off the back and they waited for the others to join them. Marco arrived and pulled some sandwiches and water out of one of the bags on his ATV, passing them around. The fresh air had given Jax an appetite, and he bit down into his turkey sandwich and moaned with pleasure. Cade bumped his shoulder, leaning over to speak softly in his ear. “Don’t make that sound, or I may have to take you behind one of those trees. ” Jax laughed up at him, thinking he’d never been this happy before. He saw Nicky watching them, an odd expression on his face.
After eating, Nicky stretched out on his back on the grass, and Gabe flopped down beside him. Jax drifted over to them while Cade, Marco and Zack talked in low voices by one of the vehicles.
Nicky glanced up when Jax sat down beside him. “I like to watch you and Cade together. It’s sweet. Reminds me a little of me and Marco a few years ago. Marco and I used to be in love like that. ”
Jax looked at him in surprise, and Gabe punched him in the arm. “Don’t say that. I know you’re crazy about Marco. ”
Nicky sighed. “Am I? Sure, of course I am. But it’s not the same, is it? They have the bloodlust, and we don’t have anything at all anymore. ”
Gabe sighed dramatically. “It’s kind of a long story, Jax, but Marco and Nicky lost their blood match and even separated fora while. Marco’s crazy about him, but sometimes Nicky gets like this. Don’t pay him any attention. ”
Nicky smiled and punched Gabe good-naturedly, but then stared off into the distance, looking out through the trees where the tops of the mountain ridges could be seen, rolling out in a blue haze for miles. The other men drifted over to them and sat down beside them, Cade stretching out his long legs next to Jax. Zack sat down behind Gabe and let Gabe use him as a backrest. He started rubbing Gabe’s temples, murmuring in his ear, confirming Jax’s suspicion that Gabe was suffering from a bit too much indulgence in the wine the night before. Marco fell down beside Nicky and whispered in his ear. Nicky nodded at whatever he said, but continued to stare off distractedly at the mountain vista. Jax felt a little uneasy, but he wasn’t sure why. Nicky said he lost the blood match? Was such a thing possible with him and Cade? If it happened to them, would Cade even stay with him?
Cade pulled Jax down on his chest. “Stop thinking so hard,” he complained softly. “I can’t even rest for all the chatter in that head. ”
Nicky stood up restlessly. “I think I’ll go back down to the stream, Marco. Stretch my legs a little. ”
Gabe stood up beside him. “I’ll go along. ” No one objected, so the two young men set off back down the trail some fifty yards to the stream they’d just come through as the others dozed in the shade.
Some ten minutes had passed when they heard Nicky’s voice calling out in excitement. “Marco, come quick!”
His voice had barely stopped echoing around the clearing before Marco leaped to his feet, followed closely by Zack. Jax jumped up too, but Cade grabbed his hand and thrust him behind him to slow him down as Marco and Zack ran back toward the stream.
“Slow down, bud. If someone’s hurt, we’ll be in the way. If it’s some kind of trouble, I don’t want you in it. ”
“I can take care of myself, Cade. ”
Cade tightened his lips as he looked down at him. “But you don’t have to. That’s my job now. ” He let go of Jax’s arm, but signaled to him to go cautiously.
By the time he and Cade made it to the others, Marco was crouched down at the edge of the stream with Zack standing behind him. Both men wore matching frowns.
“What is it?” Cade said curiously.
“Someone passed this way, but not too recently. Maybe a week ago, before the rain. This track is up under the leaves of this bush, so it was preserved. What bothers me isit wasn’t one of my pack. None of them have used the ATVs recently up here. All our land is posted and wellmarked, so there can’t be any mistake over boundaries. Someone is deliberately trespassing. ”
Marco pointed toward a tire mark at the edge of the stream. It was dried out and the edges were crumbling inward. It was mostly covered by some bushes growing by the stream. Nicky discovered it when he was picking some of the berries on the low-hanging bush. Not only was someone trespassing, but ATVs and all motorized vehicles were illegal on the public trails as well. A track like this was highly unusual since the Hunters had been eliminated. Anyone who was on an ATV up here was up to no good, and it was making the wolves uneasy. Their trails were wider than the public trails, which would have been way too narrow for the vehicles. Their gammas rarely used them to patrol the vast property they owned, however, preferring instead to run the property lines.
“Could be bear hunters or moonshiners. Even somebody trying to grow their own little patch of marijuana up here. I’ll send some men up to look around when we get back. In the meantime, keep your eyes open. ” Marco turned to Nicky and Gabe. “And you two stick close. No more wandering off on your own. ” He reached for Nicky, who went willingly to stand beside him where he knelt on the ground. “I knew I should have left you at home. ”
Nicky frowned, but fidgeted uneasily. “You don’t think it could have anything to do with Jeremy Tate, do you?”
Marco turned his head sharply, but stood up right away to sling an arm almost too casually around Nicky’s shoulders. “No, I don’t think so. No need to jump to conclusions. There’s been no sign of him for months. ”
Zack stood closeto Cade and Jax to explain. “Tate is a crazy son of a bitch who attacked Nicky and Tucker, the Tennessee alpha’s mate, a few months ago. He was a doctor down at the Brevard hospital and shocked the hell out of all of us. He escaped after the attack, but there have been rumors and trouble over in Tennessee with some rogues who may have teamed up with his group. At least the rumors were that they were headed this way. ”
Marco shook his head. “All speculation. We don’t know that for sure. I’m betting that neither Tate nor those rogues show their faces around here. ”
“Not if they’re smart,” Gabe said softly.
