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“We bit their tires and my van’s tires so they will have to be on foot. We can probably track them down without any trouble if they run off through the woods, unless they call for someone to come pick them up,” Nate said.
“Are you going with us then?” Darien asked.
“He and Kayla are supposed to be sharing mated bliss,” Lelandi said.
Kayla smiled. “We will as soon as we can take back our cabin.”
“You’re going to still stay there?” Lelandi sounded surprised.
“Yeah. Once the bad guys are rounded up, we won’t have any more trouble, and we’re going to enjoy our stay at the cabin no matter what,” Kayla said.
“I need to go to identify those who broke into the cabin if they’re not wearing any ID or have a false ID. I know them by scent, while none of you would.” Nate kissed Kayla, glad she was ready to persevere. He felt the same as her, but he would have made other arrangements if she hadn’t wanted to return to the cabin so they could still have fun together for the rest of the week. “But you’ll stay here for now, won’t you?”
“Yeah. I’m not all army-trained like you. You cancome back for me when the place is clear, and we can return to the cabin.”
“All right, honey.” Nate hugged and kissed her again as they heard other vehicles gathering outside Darien and Lelandi’s house.
“Be careful,” Kayla said.
“Yeah, and you stay safe.” Then Nate went with the others to drive to the cabin. He hoped they wouldn’t be chasing down the bad guys all night. He wanted to be snuggling with his mate and spending the rest of the week just enjoying it with her. Though he couldn’t believe he might be able to help the police solve the murder mystery—if that was what this was about—once they captured these men.
He rode with Darien, Jake, and Tom, as Sheriff Peter and several others led the pack. When they finally arrived at the cabin, Nate really expected to see Randy and the rest of his friends had returned there, but a search of the cabin revealed everyone was gone. He smelled Everest’s scent but also Randy, Ann, and Sarah’s scents. The whole gang, except for Gerald and the missing Phil. Nate was glad he had gone with Darien and the others so he could help catch them.
“They said they were going after us,” Nate said to Darien and his brothers and Peter. Some of the other men had managed to unlock Randy’s truck and were searching it. “I’m certain they wouldn’t believe we could run through the dark woods andreach help, so they’re still looking for us in the forest. They probably think we’re hiding in the woods.”
Darien nodded. “Most likely they’re still close by the cabin. They probably don’t know the woods like we do, and as humans in the dark, it will be hard for them to go very far without getting themselves lost. We should be able to find them easily enough.”
“Unless they had someone pick them up and they’ve left.” Nate didn’t think they’d leave their truck behind though.
“I also called the auto body shop to get replacement tires for your van,” Jake said.
“Ah, hell, thanks. It killed me to have to tear up my tires like that when they were brand new.”
“Yeah, but it was good thinking on your part, or they might have just taken off with your new van,” Darien said.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I wanted them stranded here so we could easily pick them up.”
Tom said, “The tow truck is coming to confiscate Randy’s pickup. We’ll have to impound it.”
“If I hadn’t been worried about getting Kayla to safety, I would have hung around to try to learn what they had to say,” Nate said. “Though I needed reinforcements to apprehend all of them.”
“I believe some of us need to turn into our wolves anyway. Easier for us to run and locate them now that we’ve gotten their scents,” Darien said.“We’ll howl if we see any of them to pinpoint their locations for those who are in uniform or others searching in human form.”
“I’ll run as a wolf.” Maybe Nate could sneak up on them as a wolf and hear some of them talking, revealing just what they had been up to.
“I will too,” Tom and Jake said.
Peter raised his brows at Darien. The pack leader smiled. “You know me. I’m up for the hunt in my wolf coat—always.”
Peter told the other searchers what they were going to do, and in the meantime, Darien, his brothers, and Nate stripped off their clothes and shifted.
Then the wolves raced out the door and the other men followed them and began to systematically search for scents in the woods, no need for flashlights aslupus garous. They all moved quietly, not noisily like the humans they were hunting would, especially traveling through unfamiliar woods at night. No one in the search party spoke a word.
They were also all listening for sounds—talking, stepping on underbrush, or snapping branches and twigs. And they were watching for any sign of movement—flashlights or cell phone lights or the lighting of a cigarette. They especially smelled for scents. From what Nate had smelled of them already, the housebreakers were sweaty, aggravated, and frustrated that their prey had given them the slip.
Nate and the other wolves didn’t plan to showthemselves to the people when they found them. They didn’t want to get shot, and Nate was certain the men would carry guns. When they found the people had split up, Nate split off from the other wolves. After walking about a quarter of a mile, he heard someone say, “Shit!” A snap and a thud followed, sounding like someone had tripped over something and fallen—the hazard of traveling in the dark woods at night.
He saw a faint light off in the distance and headed for it, still hidden in the darkness himself, safe unless he ran into someone else closer to him who he had missed. Then he saw Randy and Ann together, both holding cell phone lights up to search the darkness.
