Wild Night Road(34)

“You’re just saying that because you want something from me.”
“True, but least I’m being honest. Besides, neither of us wants him mad, but if that happens, I’ll take the fall. I’ll tell him I made you tell me.”
Crispin sniffed. “That’s not a story. It’s the truth.”
“All the better.”
“All right then.”
“Good,” Lilith said. “I’m glad we agree.”
“Well, what do you know,” Crispin said, “you’re right.”
He hopped to the ground, and Lilith followed him into the cave.



Tasha dreamed of ice cream.
Dreamed she held a giant cone of raspberry chocolate chip. She opened her mouth to take a lick, but instead of making contact with her tongue, a huge dollop fell and landed on her bare foot.
She shivered and shook her foot. Something cold and wet dislodged.
Her eyes flew open. She blinked, taking in the golden glow cast by the table lamp and stretched. Her left leg was cramped from being curled underneath her, but her right foot was on the floor. Cold. She leaned forward and looked down to see the damp kitchen cloth she’d placed on Erin’s forehead laying next to her foot.
She looked up to the piled mass of the quilt on the sofa.
Erin was gone.
A cold breeze swept through the cabin and metal creaked against wood.
Tasha jumped to her feet and ran to the open door and peered into the night.
There was no sign of Erin, but the silver Kia remained where she’d parked it.#p#分页标题#e#
Pulling the throw tighter around her shoulders, Tasha ventured onto the porch and shouted Erin’s name.
Wolves howled in the distance.






 
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


The heavy wooden door to the cabin opened, flashing a wedge of light across the dark porch that vanished when the door closed. Remy faded deeper into the trees ringing the clearing around the cabin and watched a feminine shadow trot down the steps. She paused there; still and intent, turning her head right and left. After a moment, she set off at a slow jog, crossing the clearing and taking a narrow trail into the forest.
Where was she going? And did it matter?
He could solve a list of problems if he simply took Tasha McNeil now. She might protest, but he was good at soothing irate females.  His car was parked five miles back down the twisting mountain road at a scenic turnout, but he could use Tasha’s car and come back for his later. He could deliver her to Gideon with two days to spare before the full moon.
Gideon had demanded Lilith, as well. Taking Tasha alone would simply piss off Lilith and make her that much more difficult to handle. Never a good thing with a powerful witch. Plus, it ensured she’d never explain why she’d failed to return with Tasha as she’d promised. Or why she’d retreated up here.
Remy didn’t suppose Gideon gave a shit about the whys and wherefores, but he did.
Damn his miserable soul, Remy cared.
He figured it was only a matter of time before Lilith Darke cut out his heart, dried the hunk of dead muscle and used thin slices of it in her magicks.
Still, he would protect her as long as he could, and she would need it this night.
Weres roamed the mountain.
Strange ones, from their scent. He’d sensed their presence as soon as he’d turned off the highway and started up the twisting, narrow road that led to Lilith’s cabin. His ability to smell wasn’t anything close to that of weres, but he could hold his own, and his years of proximity with the beasts had increased his awareness of them.
After leaving his car and setting off on foot, he’d counted ten or fifteen, a mix of males and females, all hunting on four legs, but there were far more, judging from the howls. Very few weres like Gideon Black were powerful enough that they could shift at will at any time of the month. Most were restricted to the days surrounding the full moon. The span of days in which weres could shift varied from month to month and from one were to another. To have enough warriors who could shift three days away from the full moon, Gideon’s pack must be the size of a small army.
He wanted to believe these weres were simply out for a wild night run in anticipation of the full moon.
Random weres who happened to be in the area.
He snorted at his wishful thinking.
The simplest answer was that they were Pacific Range pack weres sent by Gideon to track Lilith and Tasha. But Remy didn’t believe Lilith had planned ahead of time to go to the cabin, so it didn’t make sense that Gideon would have sent them after the women unless he was covering all bases.
Which sounded like something Gideon would do.