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Before we can decide whether to answer, a sigh ripples through the silence.
“I know you are there. You can hardly expect to follow my path without Nero alerting me to a stranger. If you do not step out, I will presume your intentions are hostile, and I will respond accordingly.” She pauses. “Or Nero will. He is somewhat more formidable than I.”
I glance at Dalton, and then I step out and lift my hands. “I come in peace.”
I can’t see her reaction. I can’t see her face at all, hidden in the shadow of that hood. She turns her gaze to the spot beside me.
“I see you are unarmed,” she says. “At least, not readily armed. I cannot say the same for the person with you.”
When I lift my brows, she sighs again. “I know you are with your dog. Nero caught her scent first. As I do not see her, thatmeans either someone is holding her back or she is a very poor companion indeed, hiding in the shadows while you encounter a stranger.”
Dalton steps out. He has his gun in hand but raised over his head, letting her see that heisarmed. Storm brushes my side and growls.
“Is that a Newfoundland dog?” the woman says. “What a pretty girl she is.”
“Storm. I’m Casey. This is Eric.”
“Storm? Please tell me that is for the white streak on her ear. I will be terribly disappointed if it is not.”
I smile. “Yes, she’s named after the X-Men character.”
The woman raises a hand and pushes back her hood. As it falls, I blink. Well, that isn’t what I expected. When I saw the cabin and then realized it belonged to a woman, I’m afraid my brain jumped straight to fairy-tale land. The forest witch or the ancient healer, at one with the wilderness around her.
This woman isn’t much older than me. Mid-thirties. Maybe late thirties. White skin. Dark hair swept back in combs. A stylish pair of glasses. Bright blue eyes.
She looks… Well, if it weren’t for the home-tanned clothing, she’d look like any well-groomed professional woman I might meet on a Vancouver street.
“Lilith,” she says. “That isn’t my real name, but up here, we get to reinvent ourselves, and I’ve always like that one.” She nods at the wolf. “This is Nero, as you may have guessed. Yes, he’s a wolf. No, I didn’t work fairy magic and entrap him. Found him as a pup, raised him and he decided to stay.” She looks at us. “There, that’s me. Your turn. Oh, wait. No. I think I know everything I need to know about you already. You’re the ones building that… whatever it is.”
“A mining outfit.”
Her brows shoot up. “Oddest-looking mining town I’ve ever seen. I don’t suppose you’ll take the advice I left for you.”
“No, sorry.”
“It was worth a shot. Mysterious messages from wolf-taming forest denizens. If you were the superstitious sort, you’d already be gone. Since you are not, that leaves us with a quandary.” She meets my gaze. “I don’t want you here.”
“I know. I apologize. We scouted the region as best we could, and it seemed uninhabited.”
“Really? That’s odd. Not that you scouted—I believe that—but if you’re a mining operation, do you not simply build wherever the gold is? Or the copper or silver? If that is the story you plan to tell, you’re going to need to do better.”
“Whatever we are doing,” I say, “I can promise that it is no threat to anyone out here.”
“Or to the environment,” Dalton says. “We’ll hunt and gather in our area, and if you have a specific region you’d like us to avoid, it will be avoided.”
She peers at him, shifting to the side as if to get better lighting.
“Do I know you?” she asks.
“Don’t think so.”
“No, I’ve seen you before. Or I think I have.”
It’s possible she’s seen Dalton’s brother, Jacob, who tipped us off to this place as a good potential area. Dalton only shrugs.
“Born and raised out here,” he says. “So maybe.”
“Born and raised?”
