Page 43 of Scarred Resolve

“We haven’t found a territory border yet. He could have slipped out of his territory on a hunt and doesn’t do that very often,” I theorized. While Niko and I were focused on what we thought of the scent, Davor was the one who walked around, sniffing to see if the werecat had led a trail somewhere else.

“He made a loop, as if he was turning around,” Davor concluded. “Doesn’t lead anywhere else.”

“Then we keep walking,” Niko said, moving once again, with Davor and me on his heels.

The tension ramped up in that second. When we had been hiking quietly, knowing this moment would come, there was something still relaxed in our energy. Now, we were all turning every time we heard something, seeing animals bound away as we came too close. There was a new jumpiness in all of us as we followed the werecat’s scent to the campsite.

For all the hiking we had done, this was by far the slowest and most agonizing section. I couldn’t tell for Davor, but my legs stopped bothering me as my heart rate jumped up a little, and something told me I had to keep moving.

“There it is,” Niko said, sighing softly, his voice low enough not to disturb any of the wildlife that hadn’t yet noticed us.

Once there, we put our gear down. I didn’t need the pictures to tell how the campsite had been laid out in the space now that I was here. I could see broken limbs that hadn’t been moved and areas flattened or disturbed by what had happened. The footprints of others were there, but their scents were faded. Icouldn’t identify any of the humans, but that didn’t matter to me. We weren’t there for the humans.

“Same thing as earlier… the scent is old enough to confirm it hasn’t returned since it killed them,” Niko murmured.

“With how many people have been in and out of this area since, would that be considered unusual?” I asked. I certainly thought it was, but I wasn’t the one with any practice in this.

“Very,” Niko confirmed. “If it hunted here, it would have killed any human that it saw. The park’s employees that found this, the BSA… I’ve been thinking about it, actually. The werecat would have run into at least one of those groups, and it didn’t.”

“We never entered its territory,” Davor pointed out, the obvious thing that was now weighing on our minds. “It never came back here.”

It’s the one thing we were most worried about…

“It’s a rogue,” I said flatly, knowing everything just went from bad to worse.

19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

We were quiet for too long, looking around as we let the reality of the situation settle in. Davor eventually opened up his case, grabbing the satellite phone.

“Hey, Jabari,” he said in a whisper. Loud enough for us to hear, the whisper was meant to keep from disturbing our thoughts and the world around us.

“What’s the news?”

“We’re inclined to believe we have a rogue on the run,” Davor answered, his words tired and worried.

Jabari’s curse was loud enough to make a little bird jump and fly off the branch above me, giving a cry to warn other animals.

“Okay. We’re still looking into the situation with that one Russian werecat who lives in the state, but I’ll pass this along. Maybe someone hasn’t heard from a rogue friend or family member recently. Do you think there’s enough time for us to head toward you to help?”

“Probably not. We’re at the initial campsite where the humans were killed. We have its scent, but there’s no way of knowing where it’s heading. We’re behind as well. Once we know more, I’ll reach out again. Maybe once we know somethingmore, there could be a case to try to herd it into a trap with family, but this area is too expansive, and we don’t know enough about its movements yet.”

“You let us know once you have an idea, and we’ll drop everything to help if you need us. A fucking rogue. Damn it.”

“Talk to you soon, brother.”

“You too, Davor. Be safe. Same goes for Niko and Jacky. I better not hear about any of you doing something stupid after this. If it gets too dangerous, don’t think this is something to throw your life away for. Just pull back and get our damn help.”

“Love you too, Jabari,” I said, chuckling softly, knowing if the phone could pick it up, he certainly did.

“Love you too, little sister,” he said, almost petulantly, after an annoyed snort.

“Go pass along the update. We’ll be smart,” Niko added as he came closer to us again.

A couple more pleasantries were exchanged, then Davor hung up. He packed the satellite phone back away and locked the case.

“There was probably more we could have talked about, but this case has a built-in battery that will die if we’re not smart,” he explained. “I have a battery for our phones, though. It’s solar-powered. Let me know if you want to use it.”

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