“I didn’t bring a flashlight,” she said as she pulled out her backpack. “I hope your night vision is as good as a real tiger’s.”
“It is. Maybe better. Stick close.”
She slid the two hunting rifles out from under the back seat and handed one across to Vlad at the opposite door. Then she filled her coat pockets with additional bullets for her rifle and handed Vlad more ammunition for his. She left the handgun behind, under the front seat, because it would do her little good out here in the forest.
He looked at the weapon in his hands. “I’ll be of more use as a tiger,” he said. “I’m not the crack shot you are. But we won’t be able to talk if I shift, so I’ll wait until it becomes necessary. When I do, are you okay with both guns?”
She nodded.
“Let’s get moving.”
She settled her backpack over her shoulders. The pack was heavy with water, extra clothes, food, and ammunition, but nothing she hadn’t hiked with before. She stared into the forest as Vlad led the way, her every nerve ending straining toward her daughter, somewhere in these trees.
I’m coming, baby, she thought, and then went back to praying as they started the climb.
Vlad’s senses were stretched as far as he was able, looking for any sign of their quarry. He picked up the trail of a Tracker a half mile in and turned to follow. Rose was a silent presence at his back. Her comfort with hiking and her experience hunting made this a lot easier.
The scent of her fear and anger was so strong and pungent it was like a blaring red halo of light around her. A halo that smelled of forest fires and gasoline. His own fear and anger matched hers, creating a complicated mix of scents he had to force himself to ignore so he could focus on picking up signs of Zoe. She could be anywhere in this forest, and without being able to feel her like he would another tiger, he had to use his other senses.
After an hour, he picked up the presence of a tiger, roughly a quarter mile north of their position. He paused to scent to breeze. Another Tracker. Circling toward them.
He angled in the general direction the Tracker was coming from while still moving forward, hunting the area for signs of little footprints. When the Tracker caught up to them, he was in human form, but naked so he had obviously been hunting in tiger form. The man was vaguely familiar, his scent and his human form, and Vlad realized he was one of the Trackers who’d been guarding them on the way into the compound when they’d first arrived. That made things easier since they didn’t need to waste time confirming identities.
“One of my guys has picked up Jameson’s scent going farther east,” the Tracker said, “but Lei has left the area. We lost him about an hour ago and haven’t picked up his scent since.”
“Zoe?”
“We keep catching hints of her, but not being able to sense her isn’t helping.”
“Which direction?”
“Last point we caught her scent was another quarter mile that way.” He pointed the direction they were heading.
“Any…” Vlad glanced back at Rose. He didn’t actually want to say this out loud, but he wanted to know if Zoe’s scent indicated whether she was hurt or not.
The Tracker seemed to understand. “Pure scent. Nothing else.”
He spoke vaguely, obviously equally reluctant to talk about the three-year-old being injured in front of her terrified mother.
“She was still with Jameson as far as we could tell,” he finished. “I’ll update you if I find anything.”
Vlad nodded and continued forward as the Tracker started to shift back to tiger. Rose stayed with Vlad, not looking back.
“Zoe’s not hurt?”
He grimaced. “You picked up on that?”
“I’m not stupid. And I know you care about her. I was about to ask that very question when you did.”
“Sorry. Just didn’t want to scare you.”
“I’m already scared. Can’t get any worse and there’s nothing you can say that I’m not already imagining—or trying not to imagine.”
He dropped back to put an arm around her waist and hug her to his side for a brief moment. “She’s okay so far—alive and uninjured. She’s going to be fine.”
Rose nodded but didn’t look at him. Her gaze traveled over the trees and ground, looking for signs of her daughter in the darkness. She couldn’t possibly see very well at this time of night. The moon was full overhead, so when they came out into clearings, the snow sparkled with enough light for human eyes. But under the trees, the ambient light was barely enough for him.
They trudged on, the night getting colder as they went. He couldn’t help but think of Zoe without a coat or boots and only hoped the assholes who took her had seen fit to give her something warm to wear. Because they hadn’t just killed her, Vlad had to assume they didn’t want her dead. He couldn’t think of any other reason to kidnap her.