Taming His Montana Heart(28)

A weapon in his hands.

An enemy was out there, a threat the likes of which he’d never experienced, instinct instead of complex human emotion, instinct and fangs instead of hatred of law enforcement. He wasn’t sure which presented the greatest threat, not that it mattered because today might be about one of nature’s most perfect killers.

Wolves don’t see humans as prey or threat, he remembered Echo saying. Leave them alone and they’ll do the same.

“I don’t see him,” she said.

“Him?”

“The wolf.”

She’d made her point, not that he needed her to. He had no doubt that they were looking at the tracks of a predator that had claimed the Lake Serene area as his territory. Shaw tried to tell himself that she—all right, both of them—were being influenced by sightings and rumors of sightings along with a lot of misconception about the species but at the moment it didn’t matter because civilization was far away and his imagination was in overdrive.

At least Haley was getting some of her color back. Talking to him.

“Get my camera,” he said. “Take pictures of the prints while I—you know. We don’t want snow covering up the tracks before we have proof that the wolf was here.”

He hoped she comprehended that he was talking about the wolf in the past tense. The animal was gone.

However, it had been here not long ago.

She jerked her head at his Glock. “That thing won’t accidentally go off.”

“No.”

Looking as if she wasn’t sure she could believe him, she pulled off her right glove and slipped her small hand into his snowsuit’s chest pocket. He didn’t need to be distracted now, but it was happening. She gave him a sideways glance he wasn’t in a mood to try to deal with, then pointed the camera at the ground and took a picture. She followed that up by crouching down so the lens was inches from the print.

“It’s almost as if I’m touching him,” she whispered.

“You sound as if that’s something you want to do.”

“Maybe.”

Trees were everywhere. Shadows were stacked on top of each other and looking as if they had substance. He wished he had a machete so he could cut them away. Back when he was a cop, he’d taken pride in his marksmanship. He even had a couple of awards, not they meant anything because he knew all too well how different real life was from practice. He would fire if a wolf challenged them, which he doubted. That didn’t mean he’d hit what he was aiming at.

But he might. He once had.

The Glock felt both familiar and foreign, protection and an opening to something in his past he wanted nothing to do with. His arms were growing tired. The harder he strained to see what might be in the forest, the more it all blended together. Only one thing stood out, Haley.

“Stay close.” He warned when she started moving away while still taking pictures.

“I just want—yes, there’s another one.”

“Another?”

“Paw print. It’s so big, so impressive. There.”

He didn’t bother pressing for an explanation. She was recording all the proof she could of the animal’s existence, capturing its reality. From what he could tell, she was no longer afraid, if she’d been. At one point, she crouched and placed her hand no more than an inch above something.

She’d put more distance between them than he was comfortable with when, just as he was getting ready to tell her to return, she started back toward him. Her lips were parted, her eyes wide. Looking alive. Twice she glanced at his gun.

“I found some still-warm scat,” she said when she was within reach. “Shaw, I’m positive the wolf was here after we were.”

“I know.”

“The scat wasn’t steaming but—for all we know he’s still around.”

His heart started racing again. “Staying hidden.”

“Yes.”

Until now he hadn’t allowed himself to fully process the message behind the tracks. His sense of time might be off, but he figured they’d passed by this spot less than two hours ago. What did that mean? That the wolf had been watching them while they headed toward Grizzly Peak? Maybe the predator had waited until they were out of sight. Then he or she had stepped onto the trail so the creature could examine the tracks the snowmobile had made and investigate the human scents. Leave behind proof of his presence.

“I feel exposed,” she said. “But not scared.”

Her calm in the face of the situation had him admiring her in ways he hadn’t known were possible. He might have hired her to handle the snowmobiles, but her courage was undeniable. “Maybe we should be scared.”

“I don’t think so. Was he simply curious? Or—this is going to sound crazy but I’ll say it anyway. Maybe he was trying to decide whether to connect with us in some way.”

Despite what she’d said, he didn’t feel like laughing. “You make him sound human.”

“They’re intelligent creatures. Their survival depends on their comprehension and command of their world. Maybe this one’s DNA or something is telling him his ancestors had reason to fear humans. He needs to determine whether that’s still true or if…”

“If he can trust us.” Even as he finished for her, he wasn’t sure he believed what he’d said.