Legend of the White Wolf

Chapter 9

HOLDING THE LOG IN HER CLUTCHES LIKE A WEAPON, FAITH whipped around, her face white with fright. Then she let out a frosty breath as if she'd found an angel instead of the devil.

"What are you doing?" Cameron asked, closing in on the porch. He'd followed her trail here, although a stop at Leidolf's place had given him the information that she had gone to see Hilson at the next cabin on the path around the lake.

He assumed she might have decided to return to the ex-boyfriend to renew her relationship with him, which didn't sit well with Cameron, even though he shouldn't have cared one way or another. On the other hand, he thought she might be planning to have words with Hilson. And although it wasn't any of his business, he wanted to make sure she was going to be all right. That this Hilson Snowdon wasn't a violent type. But he never expected to see her like this.

She lowered the log and frowned at him. "What are you doing here?"

He chuckled darkly and joined her on the porch, then took the log from her. "Apparently, I'm here to stop a breaking-and-entering criminal trespass in progress. What's going on, Faith? What's the deal with you and Hilson and Trevor Hodges, your father, everything?"

"I thought you were pissed off at me and didn't want to talk."

He tossed the log into the snow bank off the side of the porch and reached out to run his gloved fingers over her cheek, red again now from the cold. "I want to know what's going on. Maybe I can help."

"The… the man who was dead that you went to see, he wasn't one of your partners?"

"No. I have to think they're both fine." But he appreciated that whatever issues she was dealing with, she was still concerned about his situation, even if it meant she tried to sidetrack him about her own troubles. For some reason, he wanted to talk to Faith about the strange way he was feeling, and about the odd conversation he'd had with Charles. Something about Faith made him want to share with her things that he didn't even want to disclose to his partners. Not even with his former girlfriends. "Faith, we've got to talk. Hilson doesn't appear to be here, so why don't we head back to your place and get warm and discuss this?"

"You were angry with me over Hilson." Her eyes flashed annoyance along with the accusation.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her tight as he guided her off Hilson's front porch. Angry, yes. He couldn't help thinking she had unfinished business with Hilson that meant she might end up going right back to the bastard. The first girl Cameron had dated had done the same to him. He sure as hell didn't want to fall into the same trap again

But somehow this whole scenario was different. He wasn't willing to let her go back to Hilson, if she had half a notion to get sidetracked in that direction. And why he was even thinking along those lines, he wasn't sure. Maybe that he figured the guy didn't deserve a second chance.

He noted the wolf tracks all over the place and eyed the woods, looking for any sign of the wolf or wolves now. Nothing. Yet, a trickle of concern wormed its way into his blood, the feeling that any second now the wolf that had bitten him might materialize out of the snow-filled scene and attack. But he didn't worry about himself, as much as he worried about protecting Faith.

As they crunched through the snow back toward her cabin, Cameron kept an eye out for trouble, trying not to alarm her. But he wanted to know what her deal was with Hilson, so he figured he might as well share his own story first. Maybe that would encourage her to talk. At least he hoped so.

"One evening, my girlfriend, Marjory, was talking to me about a vacation we'd planned to Canada, and then the next morning she called it quits."

"I'm so sorry, Cameron."

He shrugged, although he hadn't gotten over the hurt. Not exactly. "My fault."

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.

"Ah, Faith, I didn't want to upset you." He figured she must have been through the wringer with Hilson recently and the parallel was making her feel badly, but he wanted to get this out in the open. "Later that night when I was on a stakeout of a house where a guy lived who'd been skipping child support payments, he grazed me with a single shot fired. Marjory decided she couldn't deal with the life-and-death dangers I might be involved in. I could understand that to a degree. But, there was someone else."

Faith shook her head. "Like my mother."

Cameron looked down at Faith, not expecting that. She didn't say anything more, just watched her boots as she navigated the trail of tracks they'd left in their wake the first time.

When she didn't speak, Cameron figured he'd have to coax it out of her later and continued. "Gavin, one of my partners, discovered the truth. He'd just happened to see Marjory at Starbucks with another man. He didn't think anything of it at first, but the guy was acting a little too intimate, hand on her thigh, head leaning in toward hers to whisper something in her ear. So although I didn't know it, Gavin began following her, assuming I'd be pissed if I learned of it. But he's like that, can't let a notion go. And he wanted to prove to himself she wasn't being unfaithful. He didn't want to see me going down the same road again."

"This happened to you before?"

"Yeah, guess I'm just a magnet for cheating women." Cameron squeezed her tight as they trudged through the snow, loving how her body warmed his, wishing that he hadn't upset her though. He wondered if this was what rebound was all about. He supposed that Marjory had been the reason for such a whirlwind romance after Katie had dumped his butt. Now was Faith the same to him? There to fill the void in his life, but when he had his act together and she did, too, they wouldn't suit?

Getting way ahead of himself, Cameron cleared his throat. "Gavin followed Marjory and her boyfriend to the guy's apartment. And after that, every time she said she was supposed to be one place or another, Gavin would jot down exactly where she'd been. With this guy."

"Who was he? Anyone you knew?"

"Gavin wouldn't tell me at first. But I warned him I'd find out myself. So he explained who it was, but only on the condition I wouldn't kill the bastard."

"Someone you knew?"

"Former police officer friend."

"That sucks."

Cameron kissed her forehead. "Yeah, so she was trading me in because she was afraid I'd get shot in the P.I. business when this man is still on the police force."

"He can't be half the man you are, Cameron." She smiled up at him, her expression much brighter.

"No. He's a loser. But then I guess that's what she needed. Someone she could boss around, and I'm not very bossable." This time he smiled down at Faith, feeling much more lighthearted than he had since Marjory left him several months ago.

He hoped Faith would feel like sharing her story with him. But when she opened her mouth to speak, she was back to being concerned for him. "Did you see Leidolf? He's staying at the Eagle's Nest cabin. He said he was bitten by a wolf, too, and wanted to talk to you about it. He seemed real nice."

Cameron gave her a heart-warming squeeze. "He didn't say a word about it when I came looking for you. He seemed a little amused, but not surprised that I was chasing you down. He also was worried that you were alone and so didn't say anything except where you were headed, and that he'd tried to talk you into letting him go with you to keep you safe."

"I told you he was a nice man."

As long as he wasn't too nice. As they neared the Eagle's Nest cabin, Cameron suddenly thought back to what Faith had been saying. "Did Leidolf tell you one of Lila's wolves had bitten him?"

"No. Just that a wolf had bitten him." Faith's eyes grew big. "You think he might collaborate our story, that the same wolf bit him that attacked you? Or one of Lila and Kintail's other wolves?"

"Yep, that's exactly what I'm thinking. Let's pay Leidolf a visit." He led her up the steps to Leidolf's deck, but when he knocked, there wasn't any answer.

"Maybe he's gone to the lodge." Faith glanced at her watch. "They should be serving early lunch there now."

"Okay, let's go. You can talk to Charles about finding Trevor, too."

Faith didn't say anything and he got the impression she had other things in mind. "You still want to go, right?"

"I… thought if I could talk to Hilson, I might not bother with Trevor."

Cameron stopped walking and pulled her to a stop. "So what's really up, Faith?"

She let out her breath. "Hilson stole my father's flash drive containing his research. Hilson's been gone for a couple of days now, but I located him in the area by discovering his password and finding his itinerary."

Research, like the police officers had mentioned her father was doing. Cameron shook his head. "Breaking into someone's computer and…"

"Hey," she said, poking his chest with her gloved finger, feigning annoyance, "did you hear what I said? Hilson stole my father's research paper. And Hilson's computer was at my place and he abandoned it, and me. So fair play."

Cameron took her hand and wrapped her arm around his waist, then hugged her tight, looking down into those sparkling green eyes. "What am I going to do with you?"

She gave half a shrug. "Treat me to lunch."

"We've got some other business to take care of first." He didn't often use his lock picking kit, but every once in a while, a situation justified the use. He turned her around and headed back toward Hilson's cabin.

"What are we doing now?"

"We're going to see if Hilson has your father's flash drive."

Faith frowned at him. "But the place is locked tight. I didn't think you believed in breaking and entering."

"Not the way you were going about it. That would add charges of destroying property."

She tightened her hold on Cameron and gave a relieved smile.

"So, Faith, what's the research about that's so important Hilson wanted it?"

"I have no idea why it would be so important. But something Dad had witnessed while he was on his sociology research project with Trevor Hodges was what spurred him on to write the paper. He's supposed to be speaking on it in just a week. So I have to have it to him before then."

"He didn't have any other copies?"

"On his hard drive, but Hilson stole that also, and Dad wouldn't tell me what it was about. Super hush-hush. All I know is that initially he went on a hunt for Bigfoot out in this area with a group who really believed in the elusive creature. My dad didn't. He was just doing a study of the group's behavior, how they goaded each other on, how that affected what they might find. Of course they didn't know he was a nonbeliever and that he was studying them. But something happened while he was out here. He was shaken when he first came home, wouldn't talk about what he'd seen, thought he was being followed even, and then dove into writing the paper with such enthusiasm, I was thrilled to see him interested in his research again. But no matter how many times I asked, he just wouldn't tell me what it was all about."

"But Hilson must have known."

Faith didn't say anything in response and that's when it dawned on Cameron. The guy had used her to get to her father's research. Then again, maybe not. Maybe he'd just learned of it while he was seeing Faith and thought he could make a quick buck off it if he could find a buyer.

"How long ago did you say Hilson stole it?"

"A couple of days."

Cameron frowned.

"I know. Hilson's probably already sold it. But I still have hopes I can find it. And if not, Trevor's my next best bet. Maybe he can help me reconstruct what had happened. I thought if I learned what happened from Trevor's perspective, I could help my father put the pieces back together in time for his lecture if I couldn't get the flash drive from Hilson."

"I'll help in any way I can."

She looked up at him, her smile dazzling. "Thank you, Cameron."

He shook his head. "That's another of my problems. Helping women in distress."

She chuckled, the sensual tone triggering another bout of deep-rooted need. "Seems I have the same problem, except I help men in distress—rescuing my father from failure, and you from a wolf."

"For which I'm grateful." He didn't think his friends would ever let him live the fact down if the word got out that a petite lady like Faith had saved his butt from a big, bad wolf attack.

When they reached Hilson's cabin, Faith acted as lookout, and Cameron used his lock pick to unlock the door. But, inside, the place was empty. No bags, nothing out of place. Either Hilson had already vacated the place, or he hadn't actually moved in. Faith's shoulders slumped forward slightly.

Cameron rubbed her back. "Come on. Let's get some lunch and talk to Charles about leaving to see Trevor."

He locked the place up and escorted her in the direction of the lodge. But they hadn't gone very far when they saw Charles stalking toward them on the path. "I've gotten word that Trevor is at a campsite about three hours from here and wishes to see you, Faith, concerning your father's trip."

Faith took in a deep breath, exhaled, and smiled. "When can we go?"

"Now, if you want to grab a bag." Charles looked at Cameron. "Still going?"

"Yep."

"Are you certain, Cameron?" Faith asked, looking worried, but he noted a hint of hopefulness in her expression that he truly wanted to go with her. "What about your partners?"

"Trevor works for Kintail as a guide, and maybe he knows something about David and Owen. Plus, I can help you gather information about your father's research while we're at it." He just hoped Trevor would enlighten him and not give him the runaround like Kintail and Lila.

"Are you a friend of Kintail's?" Faith asked Charles as they trudged back through the snow, and Cameron wondered why he hadn't thought to ask. Faith was really good at this investigative work and he couldn't help but admire her for it.

"I… respect him. He's taken a rag-tag group of people and given them purpose, jobs, an income. I do business with him from time to time. He takes hunting groups out, but sometimes he has inquiries from people looking to go dog sledding. Since he has a bigger operation and much more business, he directs interested clients my way. Nothing more than that." He looked at Cameron's torn parka sleeve. "But sometimes one of his wolves gets a little cantankerous."

"Cantankerous? He could have killed Cameron. He would have, if I hadn't clobbered him." Faith folded her arms. "Kintail's wolves might be okay where some people are concerned, but not with us."

"You hit the wolf?" Charles stroked his chin. "I'm not one of Kintail's men. I respect what he does, who he is, but I don't work for him. But he's super-protective of his wolves. I wouldn't want to be on his bad side and…" Charles just shook his head, as if he thought better of saying anything further. As if he wanted to warn Cameron of trouble, but he was afraid, or maybe just loyal to someone who sent business his way, who he respected, and lived nearby.

But the connotation was there. Cameron was on Kintail's bad side. He smiled a little. No one wanted to get on Cameron's bad side either.

"Do you know Trevor Hodges very well?" Faith asked Charles.

"He's an old-timer who's worked with Kintail on hunting excursions forever. Get your bags and join me at the barn." Charles eyed Cameron for a minute. "You sure you feel all right?"

Cameron thought it odd he'd ask again. "Yeah, I'm fine." For the moment, he was ready to get this show on the road. Maybe just the notion he could get somewhere where his friends were concerned and help Faith with her difficulties was all he needed to make him feel right again.

When Faith and Cameron entered her cabin, she packed up a bag with a few items of clothing. "Do you really think you'll locate your friends through Trevor?" Faith asked, heading for her sleeping bag.

Cameron hadn't unpacked his bag, so he just set it by the door. "I think he'll have seen them and reassure me they're just fine." But he wasn't about to speculate any further than that. Before Faith could roll up her sleeping bag, he halted her. "We don't need to take your bag also, if you don't mind sleeping in mine again with me."

"Sure, stay warmer in the cold that way. Okay, I'm ready."

He handed her his sleeping bag since it was lighter and more compact, then he grabbed the bags with their clothes and other items and headed outside. She locked up the place, but way before they even reached the barn, the sound of dogs excitedly barking made them both smile.

"Sounds like the dogs are ready to go," Cameron said, but just their enthusiasm was making him feel the unfathomable urge to run again.

"We used to have a standard poodle, and when we said the word go, whether we were talking about taking her for a car ride or walk or anything, that dog would act crazy, hopping around, poking her nose at us, ready to go."

"Sounds like a Lab I had. He would sit by the truck if I mentioned taking a ride."

She smiled. "Someday, I wouldn't mind having another dog, but I'm living in an apartment right now and no pets nor children are allowed."

Cameron raised his brows a hair, wondering if he'd read Faith wrong. "A swinging singles place?"

She chuckled. "Not sure about the swinging part and there are a lot of couples… working couples."

"Ah. Just sounded kind of interesting." He winked and she grinned back at him. But again that strange feeling of possessiveness washed over him, of not wanting to hear that a ton of single guys were hitting on her where she lived.

Trying to quash the unreasonable feelings bubbling up inside him concerning Faith, he led her into the barn where Charles was harnessing one of the teams. "If you can, Cameron, just copy what I'm doing. I'll check to make sure you've done it right after I'm finished here."

Cameron strode across the floor and began harnessing the first of the dogs, but they were so excited about running, they wiggled and thrashed about so wildly, it was hard to do the job right. In the oddest way, Cameron knew the feeling of wanting to run so badly, he could taste it. As if he was a runner in a competition, and yet he'd never been interested in competitive sports before.

Nikki poked her nose at his bare hand and gave him a warm wet kiss on the cheek while he was working on aligning two of the males. "You get to be on my team, Nikki."

Faith rubbed one of the dogs between his ears. "Looks like you have a new girlfriend already." She raised a brow, her lips curving up slightly.

Cameron gave her a small smile in return. No way was a pooch stealing his interest away from the tantalizing woman.

"At least they're well fed and had a little rest." Charles hitched the first team to the sled.

When his dogs were ready, Charles came over to check the harnesses Cameron used on the team, then helped him to hitch them to the sled. "A couple of tips. When we start out the team, you say, 'Hike.'"

"In the movies they hollered 'mush.'" Cameron wondered if that was another Hollywood-ism.

"The sound is too soft, not a distinct enough command for the dogs. Make a loud kissing sound to get the dogs to speed up. 'Gee' means turn right. 'Haw' is for left turn. 'Whoa' means stop. 'On by,' to pass another sled team or some other kind of distraction. And just remember, to the sled dog, you're the leader of the pack."

Cameron didn't need to be told that. Dogs naturally seemed to want to please him, and these even more so. Plus, now that he had come to an agreement with the leader of the pack, Cameron was it.

"Also, we don't talk while we're sledding, unless giving orders."

The dogs were so hyper, the air felt electric with their zeal—ready to run, ready to gratify their masters. The thrill of the impending trip electrified Cameron's blood and in the worst way the craving to run with them grew.

"Faith will ride with me up ahead, so I can show the way, and if you take a spill, she'll be safe," Charles said.

Cameron's jaw tightened. He couldn't pinpoint why he was feeling so acutely possessive of her when he knew Charles wasn't interested in anything but her safety. Although no matter how much he tried to crush the feeling, the stirrings of wanting to protect her nearly strangled him.

"He's at a campsite located twenty miles northeast of here that will take us about three hours to reach. That's where Trevor is planning to be for the day and overnight. I've packed lunches, dinner, and food for the dogs for the trip."

"Good," Faith said, but the unsettled sensation that raced through Cameron's blood hadn't gone away, he had to admit, and he barely heard what Charles was saying.

Despite realizing how crazy the notion was, Cameron had the most awful urge to rip off his clothes and run through the snow, not as a naked human, but as a… wolf. As if something alien possessed him, or someone had slipped him a drug that was making him feel so strange. And yet the vivid dream he'd had during the night reminded him he'd felt the very same way before and then it was as if he had stepped into his dream and made it real.

He thought back to Charles's comments about this very matter. How had Charles known how he'd feel? Cameron's attention shifted to the way the dogs were bouncing around, which stirred his own compulsion to get on with business.

Faith climbed into the heavy canvas bag filled with wool blankets on Charles's sled and she looked warm and cozy, but most importantly, safe. He should have been satisfied. She looked over her shoulder at Cameron and smiled—sexy and siren like. He wanted her on his sled, and he couldn't conceal the annoyance he felt as he glowered at Charles.

Charles looked from Cameron to Faith and gave a slight shake of his head.

Cameron felt he could drive a sled well enough and that Faith's safety wasn't an issue, but he gave in to the older man's decision. Cameron climbed onto the two ski-like blades attached to the bottom of his sled and grabbed hold of the horizontal bar in front of him, his body tensed for the new experience. The dogs continued to bark, their muscles taut like tightly coiled springs, readied for when he gave them the magic word.

Charles glanced back at him. "Ready?"

Cameron bowed his head slightly and lifted it. Charles's eyes widened. Then Charles turned and yelled to his team, "Hike!" and his dogs took off.

Cameron shouted, "Hike!" and his team yanked the sled in the direction Charles was moving. A rush of adrenaline instantly flooded his veins. Losing his balance, Cameron quickly compensated for the sudden movement by crouching a little and gripping the bar tighter.

The sleds sped across the snow with a soft, creaking sound, away from the resort, down an unplowed road, the snow-laden spruces and pines stretching out to them on either side of the road. The dogs barked, bellowed, and yelped starting out the trip. But as they journeyed onward, they grew quiet, all business, the crisp sound of the sled runners whooshing, no noisy sputtering engine roar like when they rode the snowmobiles. The dogs' booty-covered paws thudded gently on the snow while their frosty breaths wafted in the air.

Every bump shot through the blades and up Cameron's legs to his hands, every dip, making his heart drop and rise again. Exhilarating. Then Charles picked up the pace and they practically flew over the snow. Cameron was glad his mask and ski glasses protected his face from the bitter cold wind.

One of the dogs turned and nipped another, and Cameron immediately yelled, "No, Trigger!"—glad Charles had introduced him to each of the dogs by name earlier. The dog instantly minded. "Good dog!"

As soon as he said the words, the whole team perked up. He smiled. The team was a dream to work with.

Then Charles made a sharp turn ahead of him onto a narrow path through the forest. Cameron tried to copy the maneuver, but he nearly tumbled off his sled. So much for thinking he could keep Faith safe. Quickly shifting his posture to lower his center of gravity, he regained his balance and again wished he was running alongside the team on his own power.

The soothing whispered sounds of the skis crunched on the snow, but everything otherwise was softly silent, filling him with awe as he thought about his friends and the next step he would take if Trevor didn't have any clues for him. He was sure Lila was right, that the police wouldn't do anything unless something clued them in that his friends were in real trouble.

But an hour and a half into their journey, Charles suddenly called out "Whoa!" and stopped.

Up ahead, a tree had fallen and blocked the path. Charles checked it out, while Faith climbed out of her snug sled bed and joined him. Cameron crunched on the snow to reach them as Charles had gone into the woods a ways. He looked up at Cameron and pointed to where the tree had been cut, the tree over forty inches in diameter and branches spread out several feet in every direction. "Recently," he said, touching the trunk. "Still warm from the chainsaw blade." He looked up at Cameron. "Can you smell who did it?"