She’d heard that sound before. He knew. And whatever that sound meant scared the living daylights out of her. What in the hell would scare her? He listened to the vocalizations and noted the tonal quality was so different from big predators he’d heard before. He’d heard bears, wild cats, bald eagles, and coyotes cry in the night before.
But this—
Amanda’s gaze was riveted to Kiera’s still form. Bobby fidgeted and dripped sweat. Dodo gazed to the east with a rapt expression on his face. Kiera still hadn’t moved.
After several minutes passed, Ben strode over to her and put his arm around her. She jerked as if he’d shocked her and snapped, “What are you doing?”
“I’m…” What was he doing? All he knew was she seemed stunned, shocked, unable to move, and he had to help her. Confused, he tried to answer. “I’m helping you.”
“I’m fine.” Her voice was dry and cold. “I’m just fine.” She eased away from him and sat down on the log.
Dodo glanced at her. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, kiddo?”
“Yes. A while.” She sounded like a robot.
“I’ve missed it.” Dodo said very softly.
Kiera said nothing, and Amanda stared at Dodo with the same intensity she’d given Kiera. “Is that Bigfoot? Is it, Rupert?”
“That’s Bigfoot. I’ve heard that vocalization hundreds of times.”
“We could never prove it,” Kiera said.
“But we knew, didn’t we?” Dodo kept his gaze towards the eastern mountain range. “We knew.”
“There’s no smell.” Kiera stated. “It’s a fake.”
Dodo finally stared at Kiera. “You know what we saw.”
“I was a kid.”
“You believed once,” Dodo said very gently.
“When I was young and stupid.” Bitterness covered every word. “It’s a lie. Like everything else.”
Ben gazed at both of them. Again, their conversation was obscure, but he thought he could translate. “Like the photograph?” He broke in and Kiera started. She stared at him with an expression he’d seen on a wild horse once. He didn’t like it.
“Why did you bring me here?” The desperate agony in her voice tore at him.
For a moment, he didn’t have an answer. Being here, in these mountains, searching for something that destroyed her father, seemed like torture for her. Why had he insisted she come with him? “To save your mother,” he said.
Her face shuttered, and the agony was replaced by absolutely nothing. The vocalization continued providing a musical background.
Amanda glared at him. “That’s where the legacy went. You’re paying the hospital bills. We all wondered how Kiera could afford the University Hospital.”
“Up until two days ago, Kiera paid for it with money she’d saved after college. Did you know that?” Anger colored his words, but he was tired of everyone pushing Kiera around.
Amanda snorted. “She has all the money from the photograph. Doc McConnel made a ton of money every time that picture was used.”
Ben lost his temper and his hands clenched into fists as he faced the reporter. “That money is still there, just sitting there.” His tone sliced through the air. “Don’t you people do any research? Did you know that she had an annuity left to her by her grandmother, and she used it to pay for her mother’s bills? Did you know her mother was dying because she didn’t have the hundred grand to pay for an expensive operation? No, you didn’t know. You didn’t ask. You just tortured her with her mother’s health to get a good story.”
“Ben.” Kiera laid a hand on his arm. “Stop.”
The only sound was the mournful vocalization as it floated across the mountains. He glared at her. “Why won’t you defend yourself? You defend your drunken father but not yourself. You’ll go to the mattresses over abstract ideas about truth, but you don’t tell anyone the truth about yourself. Why?”
She gazed at him as if he was crazy. “It wouldn’t do any good. Do you think anyone would believe me? Or even if they did, why would they care? People made up their minds about me a long time ago, Ben. I can’t do anything about that.” She squeezed his arm. “But, for the record, I appreciate you doing it.”
Amanda glared at both of them. “How was I supposed to know any of that?”
Kiera sighed. “You weren’t.”
The vocalization stopped.
After the silence stretched for several minutes, Kiera let go of his arm. “We should hit the sack. We have another eight miles to trek tomorrow.”
Amanda groaned.
* * * *
The lantern barely lit the two feet in front of Kiera as she stepped toward the two tents Dodo had set up for them. Before Amanda and Bobby had joined them, they’d planned on splitting into two groups with Kiera in her own tent. Now, she’d have to share with the Pink Monster. Nothing like a little female bonding.
Once in her tent, she stripped off her jeans and jacket. Amanda’s sleeping bag, inevitably pink, was already tossed in one corner of the tent, so Kiera unrolled hers in the other and propped her lightweight jacket under her head. She left the lantern on so Amanda could see when she came in.
Ten minutes later, the woman stumbled into the tent with her flashlight and low muttering. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t let me have their tent.”
Kiera said nothing. The woman cursed and shuffled as she took off her designer jeans and gingerly removed her boots. In the low lantern light, Kiera watched her wince as the boots slid over the raw blisters.
The mutters continued as Amanda slathered antibacterial cream over her sores and left them exposed to the air. Even though her eyes watered, Amanda didn’t whimper or moan. That got Kiera’s attention. She’d had blisters like those before and cursed like a sailor.
Impatient, Kiera flipped over to face the tent wall rather than her reluctant tent mate.
“What’s the matter? Am I keeping you awake?” Amanda’s tone was bitter.
Kiera sighed. “No. I just want to keep not liking you. It’s better that way.”
Amanda snorted. “Back at you.”
“Fine. We agree then. You keep getting on my nerves and we can continue to dislike each other.” Kiera kept her back to the woman.
“Right. And you keep acting like a know-it-all and I’ll remember why I don’t like you.” Her tone was amused.
She couldn’t help it. Kiera turned over and stared at her, flabbergasted. “Is that what I do?”
Amanda nodded briskly. “Oh, not all the time, but mostly. I think it comes from being born and raised here. Those of us who dared to move here from somewhere else don’t know shit according to you.”
“I see.” Kiera frowned. “I never meant to do that.” She couldn’t deny it, though. It was easy to believe she knew more about the place she loved.
The other woman rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “I thought we had an agreement.”
Kiera grinned. “Somehow, I think we’re going to find that agreement hard to keep.”
Amanda’s lips twitched. “You’re probably right.” She clicked off the lantern. “It will make hating you difficult.”
“Back at you.” Kiera snuggled into her sleeping bag.
The noises of the night surrounded them and the calm serenity of the mountain breeze rustled the branches of the trees. Soon Kiera dropped off in a relaxed slumber.
* * * *
Early the next morning, Kiera awakened before everyone else. The sun hadn’t made a full appearance yet, and the light was grey and muted. Everything was quiet.
With a minimum of movement, Kiera had her boots on and unzipped the tent flap to the cold morning air. To her right, she noted Ben had slept outside next to the dying fire. The other tent broke the morning silence with muffled snoring.
First things first. She managed to fire up the small backpacking stove and began to heat some water for that camping elixir of life.
Coffee.
Then, she found some wood and used the coals from the n
ight before to stoke up the campfire. It wasn’t easy with Ben sleeping so near, but Kiera got it going without waking him up. When the fire danced and jumped, she studied his sleeping face.
His face was all angles, and his chin jutted out even in sleep. His brown hair was askew from sleep and his large hands were tucked beneath his jacket that he’d used as a pillow. His knees were pulled up inside his sleeping bag but he unbent as the heat of the fire reached him.
Steam rose from the water on the stove, and Kiera mixed the water with the coffee grounds and poured a cup out. She sat on the ground and leaned against one of the logs around the fire and closed her eyes.
She loved this time of morning. The small sounds of nocturnal animals coming home after a long night of hunting and the gentle stirrings of the early risers reached her ears as background noise. Nothing took the place of the sound of silence in the hills. As a child, the wilderness provided a refuge, a school for her to learn about herself and how she fit in the world. Even when her father’s moral compass disintegrated in front of her, it was here that she escaped.
Memories of that harrowing trip when she was thirteen flooded her. She knew now she’d been a little fool. To believe that she was ready to challenge the Trinity Mountains on her own was folly. Armed with a mule and a week’s worth of food, she investigated the clue she’d found. In her young mind, she believed if she found the truth, it would negate the fraud her father created.
But the creator of this wilderness fashioned it too well. The very first night, a storm poured over Kiera and her mule on the steep stretch of trail. On this very spot, she’d raged at sky and cried until she thought her heart would break. The wind blew over trees and blocked the trail home.
Kiera wouldn’t give up. She made it to Fanning Creek and headed for her ultimate destination; the western slope of the Trinity Mountains. All the while, the storm buffeted around her and bent trees almost in half. In the valley below, a small pine snapped at its roots and collapsed on top of Kiera’s mule. The poor animal cried out in agony and died quickly.
So determined to reach her goal, Kiera had climbed the western slope weary and soaked. She caught a chill. Misery dogged her every step, but she wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t turn back.
Four miles up that brutal trail, Kiera fell, and didn’t get back up. She slipped and careened down a ledge, bruising her body and knocking any determination out of her. The rain pummeled her and mud covered her face. She didn’t care. At thirteen, she was ready to pack it in. What was the point? Those desperate feelings rolled over her as if they were happening again. Death was a welcome friend.
She distinctly remembered passing out. When she awakened, she was miles down a back trail that led out of the wilderness. She stumbled to feet and headed home, delirious and stunned.
But out of the dark morning storm, Dodo found her on that trail. She never knew and never asked how he’d known to look for her there. Like she was precious china, he’d lifted her into his arms, mud and all. He’d wiped the mud from her face and murmured “Its okay, angel. I’ll get you home.” Somehow, he’d carried her to his truck and laid her in the front seat.
She didn’t remember the drive home. But the events that followed were clear. Despite protests, or maybe because of them, her father berated Dodo in private and in public. The ugly whispers that Dodo had done more than just put a thirteen year old at the mercy of the elements began with Doc McConnel. He never even asked her questions about Dodo’s rescue or why she’d gone to the hills. Her father’s entire focus was on destroying anyone who challenged his authority as a Legend Hunter.
When Kiera finally realized the rumor surrounding Dodo and his relationship with her, she denied it vehemently. But the damage was done, and Dodo moved away from Willow Creek. Her relationship with her father could not survive so many blows. He once shouted at her, when they were fighting over some trivial matter, that he drank at the bar because he couldn’t stand being in the house with a judgmental bitch.
So he escaped in his bottle and his notoriety. Kiera could only watch as he did interviews on talk shows, wrote a book on his fraudulent discovery, and made a shit-load of money off of gullible people who didn’t know him like she did. His drinking was covered up. His neglectful behavior was excused by his wife and everyone else.
Yet, even though he’d done horrible things, he gave her the gift of the outdoors. And there were the moments he’d spent with her out here where lies and deceit didn’t touch them.
It was hard to admit, but she still loved her father. Even after everything that happened and all the people he’d hurt, she kept his secret. What other reason could she have for doing that other than she loved her father? None. He left her with a pile of messes to clean up and she spent a lot of time making her own.
She sighed. Her bitterness seemed to extend to others who had nothing to do with her father’s deception. Amanda, who only reported the erroneous facts she was given. Ben, whose crime seemed to be that he did what her father did and did it better. Even Dodo, whom she clung to, yet kept at a distance.
“For someone who has coffee, you don’t look very happy.” Ben’s gruff voice broke into her thoughts.
She waved her cup towards the stove. “There’s more if you want some.”
“You’re kidding, right?” He slid out of his sleeping bag and stretched. Over the rim of her cup, Kiera had to admire the wall of muscle and lean lines of the man’s body. He was fit and solid. He’d kept pace with her easily. He was distracting and, at that moment, she needed a distraction as much as she needed her cup of heaven.
He poured a cup and sat down on the log just above where she sat. He spoke in a low tone. “This is great. I’m usually the first one up. It’s nice to have someone else make the coffee.”
“I like it.” She closed her eyes. “Morning in the mountains is my favorite time of day.”
He stared at the tree line. “Me too. I do my best thinking then.”
They were both silent for a moment. She asked him, “Do you ever find that everything makes more sense here? I get down the mountain and it all gets muddled.”
He nodded, his hands curled around his cup. “All the time.” He took a sip. “I live down there, but I feel at home here.”
She turned her head to gaze at him, shocked. “Really? I knew you spent a lot of time outdoors, but you don’t seem to settle in one place.”
He winced. “No. You’re right. ‘Home’ has always meant the Montana hills to me. That’s where my folks have a cabin.”
“Where do your parents live?”
“Now they live in southern California. They used to live in Billings, Montana. That’s where I grew up.”
“And they had a cabin in the Montana mountains?”
He nodded. “South of a little town called Big Timber near the border of Yellowstone Park. Some of my happiest moments were at that cabin.” He closed his eyes.
“What are your sisters like?” She asked. His life seemed so different from hers, so normal.
“Well, Reb is a very successful chef in Los Angeles. She’s a pistol.” He smiled. “She’s the youngest.” Ben stared at the morning sky. “And Lena is…well…very responsible.” He frowned. “I don’t know if I can really describe her. She’s three years older than me, but she always seemed to be a hundred.”
“She bossed you around?” Kiera wondered what that would be like. She’d been so lonely most of her life. Before, the idea of siblings appealed to her. Now, she wasn’t so sure. But Ben’s grin spoke of his love and respect for his sisters.
“Well, sure she did some of that.” The grin faded. “But I meant she always felt she had to fix everything. My Mom and Dad haven’t always been very supportive of my unique choice of employment, Lena wanted to protect me from their disapproval.” Ben’s shrug shook off his past. “There was no way she could.”
“That must have been difficult.” Kiera stared at her hands. For a moment she closed her eyes, imagining and wishing someone had stood up f
or her.
“Maybe that’s why I get so mad when I hear people say things to you.” His gaze pierced through her. “Lena used to go to bat for me all the time. I don’t think anyone ever did that for you.”
It was an eerie echo of her thoughts. “No. Dodo tried, but after what happened—” She stopped. “I couldn’t ask Dodo for help. You can see why.” She’d wanted to and couldn’t and that still sailed around her stomach leaving little drops of bitterness in its wake.
“Yes, I can.” He studied her face. “What about Jeremy?”
That was a complicated question and she wasn’t sure how to answer it. “He had his own problems.” She sighed. “He did a lot of listening, but there wasn’t much he could do to help.”
“I’ll make you a deal.”
“What deal?”
“I promise to stick up for you like a brother any time you need it.” He gave her a lopsided smile.
It was a sweet proposal. So why did she have a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach? Like a brother? Was that how he saw her? Her gaze dropped away from his face. She didn’t want to be anyone’s project. “And when this is all over and you leave?” She asked him with what she hoped was no expression on her face.
He didn’t answer until she glanced back up and their eyes met. “I’m not going anywhere.” His hot gaze burned her face. “Maybe brother wasn’t the right word…something more than that.”
Heat flushed her body, and she was glad for the dim morning light that hid the intense color she knew just flooded her face. She cleared her throat. “So, you want me to consider sleeping with you and in return, you’ll be my ‘knight in shining armor’?”
He cocked his head to the side. “That sums it up. I’ll tell you what.” He stood up and brushed the dirt from his jeans. “See if you like having someone on your side and then make up your mind.”
“You’d be on my side even though I keep secrets from you and irritate the shit out of you?” She stared up at him, shaking her head. This wasn’t something she understood.
He nodded. “That’s what a ‘knight in shining armor’ does, Kiera. No matter what.” His brown eyes were soft and understanding shone from them.
Legend Hunter Page 8
