Chapter 30
Chapter
Thirty
They drove for several hours before they stopped.
Rhaz was the first to climb out of the van and look around.
Emory had guided them onto a dirt road. They’d cut across the rancher’s land where the killing happened.
“Are we close?” Anon asked as he pocketed the keys.
“Yes,” Emory said and looked around. “As I understand it, the man was out here looking for strays, or so he says. The rancher didn’t seem very convinced. Personally, I think he came out here to do drugs or something.”
“Oh dear,” Anon said. “Well, that didn’t work out very well for him, did it?”
“Certainly not,” Jackson agreed.
Rhaz sniffed the air.
“I smell blood.”
“What’s left of the poor chap’s, no doubt,” Anon said. “Come along, people. Let’s head toward those rocks over there. Rhaz can shift. There is not a lot of concealment here, so we’re going to have to be careful.”
He had that right, Rhaz thought.
He studied their surroundings. They were in cattle country, Anon called it. The area reeked of the beasts. They’d passed some in a field on the way, and Anon had pointed them out and warned them that the smell would be potent.
He wasn’t kidding.
They headed for the rock outcropping.
The air was much drier here, and Rhaz found he felt more at home. He enjoyed the coast but preferred the more arid region where they were now.
The men went behind the rocks, and Rhaz proceeded to shift.
It was cloudy, thank goodness, and he was glad they’d have some cover.
He could see well enough, even through some clouds, if he had to, to spot the creature they hunted.
He just hoped they did spot it and that this wasn’t another wild goose chase.
It wasn’t long before he shifted, and Anon hopped onto his back.
“Caelen, Quill, get to work. We’ll start a perimeter check and return.”
With that, Rhaz rose into the air and they were off.
He climbed into the cloud bank and began circling.
There were no signs of humans below, and they should have no trouble doing their search. But one could never be too careful.
“The thing’s going to be easy to spot if it’s out in the open,” Anon shouted.
It would be foolish to do that, though.
Anon wasn’t voicing what they all thought: this was a waste of time.
But he didn’t want to leave without knowing they’d done a thorough job, and so the hunt began.
They covered a wide swath of land, and the only things they spotted were coyotes, some jackrabbits, and a thing called deer.
Ezrel liked the sight of those, and it was all Rhaz could do to keep him in line.
He kept apologizing that he couldn’t let him hunt and do what he wanted, but they had to continue the search.
Of course, Ezrel understood and left it at that.
By the time they were done, they’d come up with absolutely nothing.
“Well, dash it all,” Anon said as they landed. “That didn’t go like I thought.”
Rhaz shifted.
“Maybe we should head toward the forest again. Start from there and come this way.”
“Perhaps. Maybe the thing moved so fast it was able to return. Speaking of fast, I’d like to know how fast our dear friend Paul Bristow left town. Where is Emory?”
It didn’t take long to find him.
He was near some sagebrush, digging a hole to place some equipment in.
“Whatever are you doing?” Anon asked.
“I want to put some sensors in, in case it comes back. If it found food here, it might. I think that’s why it managed to do what it did with the hikers in the forest. It found a food source and, well, used it until it couldn’t. There were too many of us around.”
“Makes perfect sense to me,” Anon said. “Oh dear, oh dear. What about tracks? We didn’t see any. Did you?”
“No,” Emory said. “Well, except for where we, you know, found the body.”
“Show me,” Anon said. “I want to see for myself.”
Emory nodded, and they headed for the van.
When they reached the area, everyone hopped out and studied the ground.
“See those indentations?” Emory pointed.
“It’s just like the ones at the other door,” Quill said putting a finger into one indentation.
“Yes, how odd.” Anon bent to the ground to look at them. “Rhaz, what do you make of these?”
He joined him and studied the tracks. “These are strange.” They were indentations in the dirt, about three inches in circumference. “What is this?” He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. “Whatever it is, it smells foul.”
“That, my friend,” Anon said, patting him on the back, “is the smell of evil. I’d know it anywhere.”
“Since when do you know what evil smells like?” Rhaz asked him.
“When you get to be my age, you’ve learned the scent of many things.” Anon straightened and surveyed their surroundings. “Let’s gather round. Quill, Caelen, is there any sort of spell that would pick up the essence of what was here? I’ve heard of such things, but I’ve never seen it performed.”
Quill and Caelen exchanged a look. “There is such a spell, but it would take time to prepare,” Quill said. “I’d have to return to the manse.”
Anon gave him a nod. “No doubt you would. I don’t expect you to have everything on hand, but can it be done and ready by tomorrow night?”
“Yes, I can do that,” Quill said. “If I need more time, I can let you know.”
“Perfect. Then let’s go.” They piled into the van and headed back.
Things just didn’t add up. Rhaz continued to think about what they found. What a grisly scene. It still didn’t make any sense.
The creature left no familiar tracks that they could follow, and he, for one, was becoming more frustrated by the minute. The tracks were there, then headed for rocky ground and disappeared.
If Rhaz couldn’t figure this out, he might not be able to protect Phin the way he wanted. Meaning, he’d like to kill the thing and eliminate the threat. The question was how. How do you fight something you know nothing about?
“Emory,” Rhaz said as they drove, “your boss. This Paul Bristow.”
“Yeah? What about him?” Emory asked.
“What happened to that letter he wrote?”
“I don’t know. It was gone the next day.”
Rhaz nodded as he thought. “Did he leave any other correspondence out?”
“No,” Emory said. “For all I know, he knew I was snooping around and, well, you know, put everything where it wouldn’t be... uh, how should I put this?... a temptation.”
“As much as I hate to say it, he’s a smart man,” Anon said. “That’s what I would do. I wouldn’t leave things out where people could see them.”
“So where would he put something like that?” Rhaz asked. “And who might know where he went? When will he be back?”
Emory thought a moment. “If he’s going to be gone a few days, I imagine he won’t be back until the day after tomorrow. Why?”
“Are you suggesting our dear Emory go snooping around?” Anon asked.
“Of course. Somebody has to,” Caelen said.
Anon laughed. “Prince of Dragons, what would Basil say?”
Rhaz smiled. “He’d say, ‘Do it.’”
Everyone laughed at that.
“Basil is a curious sort,” Anon said. “I do hope he behaves himself while we’re gone.”
“Oh, he’ll be fine. I entrusted him with protecting Hana,” Rhaz said. “You’d be surprised how vicious a gnome can get when protecting something he deems precious.”
“He deems my mate precious?” Jackson asked.
“Of course. She’s human. He’s fascinated by human females. They’re very rare where we come from,” Rhaz said.
Jackson growled low in his throat. “He’d best not get too close to her. I may have to relieve you of your chef, Prince.”
Rhaz laughed. “He’ll respect your mate if that’s what you’re worried about, and he won’t get too close. He knows you’re an Alpha wolf. He’s not about to cross that line.”
“And if you had a human?” Anon asked. “What then?”
Rhaz sighed. “Basil would probably throw himself off a cliff.”
Phin drove back from Coos Bay feeling more depressed than ever. She wasn’t one to get depressed in the first place, but all the places she checked weren’t hiring.
She still needed to put together a proper résumé for what she was trained to do now, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Part of her wanted to see what Rhaz was going to do. Would he return to his homeland? Would he tell Anon he planned to return, pack up, come back to the States, and live here?
If so, he would need to speak with Chief Morrison.
Phin thought about that outcome. He would become her fire chief. And then she’d have another complication.
She hit the steering wheel a few times. “Phin, you idiot!” Why did she have to like him? Why couldn’t she just keep him in the friend category?
“But no,” She sang under her breath. “You had to go and get attached, didn’t you? It was a kiss on the forehead, for Pete’s sake! Not a proposal.”
Phin grimaced. She was embarrassed by her affection for Rhaz, an affection that was quickly growing the longer she was away from him. She hadn’t seen the man in three days and hated every minute of it.
No phone call.
No knock on the door.
Nothing.
It even upset her mother. She followed Phin around the house last night after they got through baking cookies, asking her why Rhaz hadn’t called. Had he left town? Did she say something to upset him?
“No, Mom, I did not,” Phin said aloud, recalling the conversation. “I have no idea why he’s not contacting me. And frankly, I don’t care. I have better things to do, like find a job.”
She’d marched up the stairs after that and slammed her door.
That was a mistake. Her mother was banging on it the next minute.
All Phin wanted at the time was to be left alone, so she told her mother she was going to Jessica’s to play board games and left the house.
Of course, Jessica wasn’t much help either. She also kept asking about Rhaz and where he’d been, what he’d been doing. But Phin didn’t have an answer.
Phin turned onto her street, looked at her house in the middle of it, and stopped the car. She wasn’t ready to go home yet. She’d have to tell her parents that it was a rotten day, and she got no leads.
Rotten for her. They’d be ecstatic.
She backed up, turned the car around, and headed for the main part of town. Maybe an iced coffee would help.