Liam nodded. “Guns usually won’t stop us either unless they hit our heart, but how many people know that?”
Tawny gave them a half smile. “Let’s hope humans never learn how to take down one of our kind.”
Since the females of the species couldn’t shift, killing her would be easy.
“Lead the way,” Liam said.
With her eyes watching where she was going, Tawny forged ahead. As much as she wanted to move as quickly as possible to find her brother, if she ran out of energy climbing one of the mountains, they’d actually lose time. Slow and steady had to be her motto.
CHAPTERTHREE
Alex admiredTawny’s strength and stamina, but she would tire eventually if she didn’t take a break, and they’d been hiking for more than two hours. “How about we stop for a bit?”
She turned around. “You tired?”
“I might be.” Alex lifted his water bottle from the backpack’s side pocket and took a drink. He then pulled out some trail mix and held it out to her. “Want some?” Tawny hesitated. “Don’t worry. I have plenty.”
“Then thank you.” She grabbed a handful, ate it, and followed it with some water.
“How much farther to the rock slab?” Liam asked.
“The climbing site is about twenty minutes or so ahead. I don’t know where the person was injured, but the climbing area isn’t very big.”
“I imagine we’ll see some evidence of people having been there.”
“That would be my guess.” She looked up at the sky. “We need to keep moving. The clouds are rolling in. It could get ugly.”
At least he and Liam could shift into wolves and hide. While the cold wouldn’t bother them much, Tawny would be at risk, despite wearing her warm gear.
As he hiked, Alex watched to make sure she wasn’t pushing herself too hard, but her steady pace reassured him she was fine. When they came to a fork, she headed left where the path rose quickly. The rocks were dry, thankfully, so the chance of Tawny slipping would be less. She was smart to hold on to the trees for balance.
Tawny looked back over her shoulder. “The climbers usually start up ahead.”
“Zach, can you hear me?”Alex telepathed. Since he’d never met her brother, the chances of them successfully using telepathy was slim, but he wanted to try.
He concentrated but received no response. He hoped Zach was at their family cabin either healing or relaxing. It was always possible that one of the other wolf clans—such as the Franklin Clan—had attacked Zach. They’d tangled with the Grangers before, and since two of theirs had been killed, they might be out for revenge.
Even if that were the case, would it take Zach three days to heal? The only way for that to happen would be if he had been near death and couldn’t shift. Heaven help them if Zach was dead.
Gusts of winds swept down the mountain, pushing Tawny off balance, but she recovered quickly. Thankfully, she managed to pick her way around the boulders without falling during the remainder of the way to the rock face. They then traveled parallel to the granite slab for a few minutes. No ropes were dangling from the top, implying that if someone had been climbing, they’d managed to remove them.
She stopped, cupped her mouth, and yelled, “Zach?” Tawny blew on her hands to keep them warm. “Can anyone hear me?” she yelled again.
The silence was deafening, which caused his heart to ache for her. “How about we check that cabin of yours?” Alex suggested.
“I have a better idea,” Liam said. “How about I shift and do a more thorough check? It will be faster if I look around. Just let me know if you spot any humans. From the speed with which the clouds are moving in, we can’t afford to dawdle.” He then looked over at Tawny.
“I’m good with that, but don’t stay out too long.”
Liam smiled. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
He removed his backpack, shifted, and took off. She stepped up to Alex. “No one has ever been able to explain to me how you are able to keep your clothes on when you shift, but you need to take off a backpack.”
He moved closer. “Do you really expect me to divulge the werewolf secrets on our first date?” Okay, this wasn’t a date, but he hoped she’d sense that he was interested in her. Actually, more than interested, but she needed to get to know him better before he brought up the notion of them being mates.
She lightly punched him. “Seriously? It can’t be a secret. I am a fellow werewolf, after all, albeit one who doesn’t shift. How does it work?”
“You have four brothers. You’ve never asked them? Or your dad?”