“Unless he knows we’re coming, and then he’d take the longest,” Callean argued.
“Then that would mean we’d have to check the entire woods, and these forests stretch across most of northern Scientia,” Emily pointed out.
I shook my head. “Not really, at least not if we could get a tiny sniff of their boots.” All eyes turned on me, and I shrugged. “Just think about it. If they had guys out here spraying this stuff everywhere then they’d spray most of that stuff near the road they were going to drive. We could find where that is by following their boot tracks from their finish to the start. Their boots should have the strongest smell because they walked in all this stuff.”
Callean and Emily’s mouths dropped open, Adam raised an eyebrow. Luke’s eyes lit up. He leaned over and pecked a quick kiss on my cheek. “That’s my mate,” he commented.
I blushed and shrugged. “You just gotta know how these scents work.”
Callean snapped his jaw shut and frowned. “But there’s one flaw in your suggestion. As Laughton mentioned, our noses are too sensitive to follow any trails that exist inside the spray area.”
I grinned. “A werewolf can follow the trail if their nose is as worthless as mine.”
“Inexperienced,” Luke corrected me.
I turned and bowed my head to him. “I accept the correction.”
Emily glanced between us and pointed a finger at me. “So we have to follow a novice werewolf’s nose in the hopes it will lead us to Lance where we can stop his plans to avoid the destruction of our world?”
I thought about it for a moment and nodded my head. “Yep, that’s pretty much it.”
Emily leaned back and slapped her hand over her face. “We are doomed.”
“Possibly, but it’s the best chance we have,” Luke argued. He nodded out the windows at the setting sun. The orb no longer shined above the trees, and in a half hour it wouldn’t be shining anywhere. “The power of the spray doesn’t last very long. If Lance intends to drive the convoy out under cover of darkness then he will do so this night.”
“If she can manage to follow the trail then our best option would be to abandon the trucks and go across country to the road,” Adam suggested.
Callean frowned, but gave a nod. “Then we will follow your mate, Laughton, and see if she has enough limited talent to ensure our victory.”
Suddenly this plan didn’t sound so great. “Surely somebody else in our group is as big a novice as I am and can take part of the blame-er, glory for our victory when we find Lance,” I suggested.
“My men are all highly trained, older werewolves. Their noses are too sensitive to follow the scent,” Callean replied.
Luke wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him. His voice was so low I hardly heard the words he spoke to me. “You led Rick and Steve through the woods. I have faith you can lead us to the main road,” he told me.
I sighed and nodded my head. “All right, I’ll do it, but don’t expect this to be a straight trip. My sniffer isn’t all that great and we might be in for a hell of a hike.”
“I could use the exercise,” Emily spoke up.
Callean turned to Tracker. “We’ll stop here.” Tracker nodded and pulled the vehicle over. The convoy followed suit and the men piled out of the vehicles. They, too, had masks over their faces.
Callean turned to Luke and me. “First we should see if she can find and follow the scent,” he advised us.
I grabbed Luke and led him off toward the trees. “Could we have a chat about me saving the day?” I asked my mate.
“You don’t have faith in your abilities,” he guessed.
I stopped us three dozen yards from the convoy to avoid any prying wolf ears. “Let me see if I have things straight. We’re relying on me not being good at sniffing things to lead all of Callean’s men through these unfamiliar woods?”
“That would be correct,” he agreed.
“And if I epically fail and get us lost, and Lance really does move out tonight and leave us behind, then we’re all doomed, right?”
“That is possibly correct,” he replied.
I threw up my arms. “So why are we following my stupid plan and trying to get us lost?”
Luke gently grabbed my hands and held them between us. His eyes looked into mine and there was a smile on his lips. “I know you can do this. You only need to focus on what I taught you in the woods and what you learned on our journeys. Most of all, you need to believe that you can do it.”
I sighed and looked away. “All right, I’ll try, but you’d better be thinking of a Plan B in case this one has us hearing chopsticks clicking together before we hear Lance’s convoy driving down the road.”
Luke chuckled. “I’ll try my best if you try your best.”
I glanced up, grinned, and gave his hand a firm shake. “It’s a deal.” I pulled loose from his hold and rubbed my hands together. My eyes swept over the foggy ground and I wrinkled my nose. “This stuff really does smell bad. You older werewolves must think it’s like a rotting corpse.”
“And a landfill full of used diapers,” Luke agreed.
“Well, let’s see if I can’t sniff my way through this stuff and get us to stopping my crazed brother-in-law,” I commented.
I lifted my nose to the air and turned my head this way and that sniffing for signs of tracks. There was the horrific odor of decayed compost, too much garlic, and a hint of sardines fresh off the trash heap. I snuffed through the scents and my nose hit upon a focused point on the ground. I hit the ground on all fours and slunk my way in that direction. The trail led me to a path of focused smells that led into the area and back the way they came. I’d hit upon the boots of the scent sprayers.
I stood, turned to Luke and pointed in the direction. “We need to go that way.”
He smiled and gave a nod. “Good. Let’s tell the others.”
23
We hurried back and reconnoitered with our companions at the Hummer. “Was there any luck?” Adam wondered.
“There better have been with all that sniffing around,” Emily commented.
“Becky found the trail. Now we need only to lead your men,” Luke replied.
Callean’s eyes flickered from me to Luke. “You’re sure this is the scent?”
I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you want to sniff through all these smells and find it yourself?” I suggested.
Callean grinned and shook his head. “No, I don’t believe I would.” He climbed atop our Hummer and his personal army crowded around him. We stood on the sidelines and I was glad for Luke’s arm around my shoulders. Callean’s voice boomed over the whisperings and mumblings of his men. “Organize yourselves into four columns. Take as much as you can carry without making yourself into a target for gunfire.”
“Where we going, sir?” one of the men called to him.
Callean gestured to me. “This girl is going to lead us through the scent screen to the main road Connor intends to use to transport his men and supplies.”
One hundred pairs of eyes turned to me and I shrank against Luke. I gave them a weak smile and a wave. “Um, hi.”
A hundred pairs of eyes turned back to Callean, and some of the men were not amused. Others burst out laughing. “Sir, we’re supposed to be fooling the enemy, not ourselves,” one of the men shouted.
“Why’s she so special?”
“She’s not even smart enough to wear a mask!”
“She’s a girl!”
Emily took umbrage with that last shot. She secured all the straps of weapons an ammunition that criss-crossed her body and jumped onto the hood of our Hummer. “What’s wrong with that?” she growled. The sight of the weapon-clad woman quieted some of the louder laughs.
Callean stepped to the edge of the Hummer’s roof closest to his men. “She’s a novice, but that’s our advantage. Connor won’t expect us to find his convoy until it’s too late, but we’ll give him a surprise.”
Emily pumped her fist in the air. “Here here!” she agreed.
Tracker jumped onto the hood and mimicked her motion. “Here here!” he yelled.
Their enthusiasm rippled through the crowd like a highly contagious disease. Everyone pumped their fists in the air and chanted the mono-word slogan. Callean waved his hand and everyone quieted. “Stop the celebrating until we’ve got that fool beaten, and then we’ll dance over his corpse!” The crowd ate up his pep-talk and cheered to his words.
I felt Luke stiffen beside me and looked up at him. His face was firm but ashen, and his lips were tightly pursed. “You okay?” I whispered.
He didn’t look at me when he replied. “I am fine.”
I rolled my eyes. “Uh-huh, and I’m the High Lord of the werewolf regions.”
A grin curled onto his lips. “You may be, if we survive this.”
I stuck out my tongue and wrinkled my nose. “Can you really imagine me being a politician?”
“No, but I can imagine you being a good leader,” he replied.
I glanced over Callean’s men and sighed. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Callean’s men stopped their applause and gathered as many of their supplies as they could carry while still able to dodge gunfire. Everyone followed Luke and me to the tracks I’d found, and I fell onto all fours to follow them. I transformed a little to make my hands rougher for the hard ground, and we wound our way around the trees and under bush southeastward. The sun set behind us and the moon rose above us as I led the way onward to victory, or death. I really wanted the victory option. I wouldn’t look good in a dress and coffin.