by Mac Flynn
"So no ninja moves?"
"Not likely."
I sighed and slid backward so my back hit the rear seat. "Well, a girl can hope. Anyway, you think your old mentor really didn't attack this guy in a drunken rage and kill him?"
"Positive. I have known Cain to become argumentative when he is intoxicated, but not to the point of violence. There must be something more to this murder than we are seeing," he mused.
"So all we have to do is get past a bunch of Disciples, a Judge, and the weather to snoop through a large old house for clues to a two-month old murder?" I guessed.
"Exactly that."
I snorted. "Oh, is that all? And I thought this was going to be hard."
Adam stepped out to fill the car, and Cain stepped inside after relieving himself. He half-turned in his seat so he could look at me out of one eye. "I have yet to congratulate you two on your coming marriage. It can't be easy to tear yourself from the prospect of such happiness to help a strange old werewolf."
I shrugged. "We've been through this before. Well, sort of."
Cain smiled. "You must love him very much to trust him to contain his wolf side. He can mark you at any moment and the life that you would know would be gone."
I snorted. "There isn't much there except my parents and my job, and I can live without the job."
Cain dropped his voice, and there was a tinge of sorrow in his words. "But a human life is a very precious thing. To grow old with your peers and experience the same joys and cares. That is something we of great age have difficulty sharing. You would know the same if you became as we are," he warned me.
I frowned and leaned forward so my arm draped over the back of his chair. "I don't know what you saw peeking through windows and listening in haylofts, but I'm not going to leave Adam. Werewolf or not, I want to be by his side until one of us kicks the bucket."
Adam opened his door and slipped into his seat. His eyes flickered between us. "Is there a problem?" he asked us.
Cain chuckled and shook his head. "Not at all. I was just discussing your future marriage plans with Liz."
Adam raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And you are very fortunate to have found such a human. She will make an interesting addition to our small community, if you will allow it," Cain told him.
My fiance pursed his lips together and started the car. "That is still to be decided."
Chapter 5
We drove down the road and the farther north we drove the more the cleared pavement iced over. Ten miles from the gas station I noticed Cain and Adam stiffened at the same time. They sat up and tilted their noses up to sniff the air. I coughed to hide my laugh. "Found something, boys?" I teased.
Cain looked to Adam and his eyes were narrowed. "Pull over."
Adam pulled the car over onto a maintenance shoulder and they stepped out. I whipped my head between them and scrambled for the driver's door. "Hey, wait for me!"
Adam's face appeared at my window. "Stay here. You will only get wet."
The pair crossed the road and dove into the deep snow in the ditch. "Oh hell no. Not this early. . ." I muttered as I opened the door and slid out. Literally.
The maintenance area was plowed so there was a thin sheet of packed, slick snow on the ground. My feet were swept from under me and I clung to the door to keep from falling. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, but as the men waded farther into the snow my stubbornness rose. I clenched my jaw, gathered my feet beneath me, and pushed off from the car. I slipped, slid, and ran in place a few times, but a few seconds later I was at the border between the road and the great white abyss of snow.
Adam turned and noticed me. "Stay there!" he commanded.
"Yeah, that'll happen the day after you change me," I quipped as I took a tentative step into the ditch.
It was impossible to tell the depth, so I tumbled face-first into Adam's path. I arose sputtering snow and with the sound of Cain's chuckle in my ears. "Your fiancee is as stubborn as you are, Adam," he commented.
"Unfortunately, more so," Adam replied.
"Damn right!" I crowed as I waded through the snow after them. I reached them and proudly stood before the two bemused werewolves. My pants and shirt were wet, I was cold, but by god, I was with them. I waved at them to continue. "Come on, move along. What are we waiting for?"
Adam sighed, but there was a ghost of a smile on his lips. "We have reached the spot we sought."
I blinked and whipped my head left and right. We stood in a small patch of emptiness twenty yards from the road. Ten yards ahead of us was a wilderness of trees, and all around us was unbroken white stuff. "Um, very scenic," I commented.
"And very informative," Cain spoke up. He pointed at a small depression in the snow. "Werewolf tracks."
I squinted at the indent and noticed there was a line of them like footprints. "That's what you guys smelled?" I asked them.
Cain nodded. "Yes. I smelled the same scents when they arrived at the manor during my-ahem, quick exit. They traveled through here only last night, and a fresh skiff of snow covered most of their tracks."
"So are these the deputy guys?" I guessed.
"Yes, and they are farther south than I hoped," Cain mused.
"Meaning what?" I asked him.
"Meaning they may be on my trail, and that is a greater danger to all of us," he explained.
I turned back to the car and wrapped my hands around my chilly arms. "So what are we waiting around here for? Let's hurry up before-before-achoo!" My sneeze was powerful enough to fling me back. A pair of strong arms caught me, and I sheepishly looked up into Adam's face. "Before they find us."
"And before you catch your death of cold," he added.
"That, too."
Adam and I made to leave, but Cain paused and swept his eyes over the white snow. His eyes narrowed and he frowned. "There is something amiss here. I can't see where one trail leads-"
Snow exploded upward and outward as something broke the surface some ten yards from us. A tall, beautiful woman stood waist-deep in the snow. I thought she wore a golden fur coat until I realized the fur was attached to her body and poked out through her cloth coat. She was beautiful with her long blond hair trailing down her back like a mane, and her skin smooth and chilled from the snow. Her yellow eyes, as cold as the snow from which she'd come, glared at us. Her gaze stopped on Cain.
"Cain Dayton, I am Miranda, deputy to Judge Gideon Hawthorne. The judge demands an audience with you. You will come with me," she ordered him.
Cain stepped back. "I'm afraid the judge will have to make an appointment himself, and my schedule is quite booked at the moment."
"This is not a joke. You are accused of murder, and the penalty for being found guilty is death," she reminded him.
Adam stretched out his arm in front of Cain and frowned at the woman. "We wish you no harm. We travel northward to find proof of Cain's innocence."
Miranda scoffed. "His guilt is already established. It is now only up to the judge to fulfill the role of jury and see that justice is served."
"He would only be performing an execution on an innocent werewolf," Adam protested.
Miranda's eyes narrowed and she crouched down. "If you choose to interfere than I must deal with you all."
She pushed off from her snowy hole and launched herself at us. Adam shoved me back so I fell into the deep snow drifts. I came up sputtering and was in time to see Miranda fall into Adam. Her hands were outstretched and I saw her fingers were lengthened into claws. Adam, too, had his arms outstretched, and his were longer than hers. He grabbed her coat and fur, and tossed her over his and my head and into the snow.
Miranda broke from the surface sputtering like I had and her heated eyes could have melted the snow. "You will pay for interfering with our law!" she screeched.
She was so busy shouting at Adam that she didn't notice Cain come up behind her. He whacked her upside the head with his fist. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her legs buckled. She fell fo
rward face-first into the white powder and a poof of snow rose up around her.
Adam came over to me and helped me out of my snow pile. When I stood firmly on my feet I pressed my palms against his chest and sweetly smiled at him. "Adam, why did you do that?"
"To protect you. She could have scratched you," he explained.
I traced a teasing pattern across his chest with one of my fingers. "So you don't think I can handle myself in a fight?"
"That isn't-" I didn't give him time to finish before I shoved him backwards. He fell butt-first into the snowy path he'd made, and I towered over him with my arms folded across my chest.
"I can handle myself, Adam. You just need to trust me more," I growled.
"It isn't a matter of trust, it's a matter of strength," he argued as he climbed to his feet.
"If I might interrupt, we have a new problem," Cain spoke up.
I half-turned, but kept my attention on Adam. "Don't think I'm done pushing you into the snow," I warned him.
We crowded around our fallen foe, and I looked to my companions. "So what do we do with her now?" I asked them.
"We will take her with us until we reach a small town. There we might drop her off," Adam replied.
Cain shook his head, but there was a smile on his lips. "Adam, you have a great deal more humanity than I. I have missed the company of that."
Adam stooped and scooped her into his arms. "We should leave before more deputies come searching for her. We may not be able to smell them, but they might not be far off."
Cain and I followed Adam to the car where he opened the driver's side rear door and set her in the back seat. "Um, should I be worried about sitting back there?" I asked him.
"No," Adam replied as he reached into his bag and pulled out a thick steel chain. He tied her arms behind her back with the chain, and tied the chain to the back of the front seat and the seat belt. If she did awaken she couldn't move far.
I nodded at the chains. "I thought we were supposed to pack light," I teased.
"Necessity is more important than weight, and I could bear the weight," he pointed out as he pulled out of the car and shut the door.
I nodded through the window at our new passenger. Her head lay back and her eyes were closed. "So how long do you think she's going to stay out cold?"
"Perhaps five minutes, perhaps five hours, but the chains will hold her," Adam assured me. "For now we should continue on our journey."
Chapter 6
It was a little uncomfortable being seated next to an unconscious werewolf who, only minutes before, had taken a running leap at me. I kept glancing at her for signs of consciousness between rubbing my wet pants to dry them. "So-um, should we not talk with her around?" I asked the men in front.
"It would be best," Adam agreed.
Cain shook his head. "You two can say nothing that she wouldn't already know. The deputies of Judge Hawthorne are not foolish. She will have deduced we are headed towards the manor, and our purpose in finding my innocence shouldn't be kept a secret."
"How far is it to the manor?" I spoke up.
"Four hours along the road, but less if we travel by countryside," Cain told me.
I cringed and stopped my pants rubbing. "So more snow?" I guessed.
"More snow," he concurred.
I slumped in my seat and sighed. "Great. Things can't get any worse. . ." I mumbled. I spoke too soon as my companion by my side stirred. My eyes widened and I scooted so I was squished against my door. "Uh, Adam? Sleeping beauty is waking up!"
"Remain calm, Chris. We will see what she does," he advised me.
What she did was moan and flutter open her eyes. Miranda raised her head and swept her eyes around the small car. Her gaze swept over our faces, and her lips curled back in a snarl. She tried to spring forward and grab at Cain, but the chains held her. The woman looked down at her bindings and tried to wiggle loose, but Adam's tying held. "You monsters! Release me at once!" she growled.
"We mean you no harm," Adam spoke up from the front seat.
Miranda spat on the ground. "That is what I think of your word, monster!"
"You may think of us what you will, but we still won't harm you," he insisted.
She wiggled in her chains and her eyes fell on me. Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. "You are a human."
"On good days," I agreed.
"Release me at once," she ordered me.
I looked over the mess of chains that was wrapped around her. "You know, even if I wanted to I don't think I could. Adam's pretty good at tying knots around our enemies."
She sneered. "If I am your enemy then you are the enemy of justice."
I tapped my chin and furrowed my brow. "Yeah, about that. We're kind of trying to prove that Cain didn't do it, so it'd be great if you could help us out by not trying to kill us."
"I will do no such thing! He is guilty and will be judged!" she snapped.
"Have you ever thought that maybe you and your precious judge are wrong?" I countered.
That really ruffled her feathers. She sat up and her eyes blazed with anger. "How dare you suggest such a thing!"
"It's pretty easy. I just put my lips together and say the words," I quipped.
She trembled with anger. "The judge is not wrong. He is-"
"Your mate, if I recall," Cain spoke up.
Miranda flinched and I turned my attention to him. "That's the same as a wife, right?"
"Yes. Her full name is Miranda Hawthorne," he revealed.
I blinked at him and jerked my thumb at our prisoner. "So you're saying we captured his wife?"
"So it seems," Cain mused.
I returned my focus to Miranda. "I'd hate to break your bond of trust with him, but whatever he's figured out he's wrong about it."
"I need no blind trust to know the evidence speaks loudest!" she snapped.
I shrugged and my eyes flickered to Adam. "Suit yourself, but it's kind of nice being able to trust in your husband." Or a future one, in my case. That is, if we made it out of this alive.
Miranda tensed and her eyes flickered over us. "I need only my wits and my strength," she argued.
To prove her point Miranda slammed her head into the window to her left. The glass shattered into a million difference sizes of pieces and blood poured from her wound. Adam pressed on the brake and the car coasted to a stop into the mouth of a plowed dirt road. Only the mouth was plowed, and beyond stretched the whiteness of winter. The forest of trees was now only ten yards from the main road, and the dirt road wound its way into their arms.
We stepped out and went to the rear driver's side door. Adam undid enough the parts of the chains that were attached to the car and he pulled Miranda out. She thrashed and twisted in his strong grasp, and he had a hard time holding her.
"Release me! Let me go!" she demanded.
"Not until we can be sure you won't follow us," he countered.
I looked over the damaged window and sighed. "There goes your deposit," I quipped at Adam.
That was the least of his worries as Miranda continued her physical argument against her binding. She used her bleeding head to ram Adam in the stomach, and he stumbled and fell into the snow on the side of the road. Cain jumped at her and wrapped his arms around her body, but she kicked backward and hit him in the vital area. He wheezed and stumbled back. Miranda pressed her arms closer to her sides than the chains were set for and they loosened enough to drop from her body.
I was the only one standing, and I knew I wasn't any match for a werewolf with this much strength and abilities. I dove into the car to slip through to the other side, but Miranda grabbed my feet and yanked me back. My hands clawed at the seats and bags, and my hands gripped the small bag my mom gave me before we left. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly strapped down so Miranda was able to pull me from the car.
She wrapped one arm around my body, pinning my arms together against the small of my back, and pressed the claw of another one against my neck. By this time
the two men had recovered from their beatings and stood on either side of us. Adam curled back his lips and snarled. "Don't you dare harm her," he growled as he stepped onto the road from the snow.
Miranda stepped back and dragged me with her. "Not another move or I will turn this precious human of yours into one of us. She will belong to my scent, and not yours."
Adam froze and his hands clenched at his sides. "Let her go. She isn't involved in this."
Miranda snorted. "Not involved? She follows you and helps fugitives of our kind. And don't deny this one is yours. Her eyes and your scent on her are enough proof for me, werewolf. If that is not involved then nothing is." She shuffled us towards the front driver's seat and she glanced inside. "Where are the keys?" she questioned them. Adam dug into his pocket and pulled them out. "Give them to me. I will take this human with me to ensure you won't harm me when I drive away."
"You know, for someone who's supposed to be justice you sure are great at being a bad guy," I spoke up.
"I am merely doing what must be done," she countered.
"Uh-huh, and I could charge you with murder for threatening to turn me," I commented.
She frowned down at me. "You don't know what you're saying, human. I would not murder you, merely change you into a werewolf," she argued.
I shook my head. "You'd be murdering my life as a human," I explained. I looked up into her eyes and noticed her hesitation. "Do you really want to do that? Change somebody against their will?"
Miranda shook herself and pressed her lips together. "Shut up. You're only trying to distract me so your friends may catch me off guard."
"Actually, I was kind of hoping you were paying attention to them," I revealed.
While we blabbed my hand had been working at wiggling itself into the bag in my other hand. I felt a familiar handle, and at the moment of her confusion I dropped the bag and slipped the object under her coat so it pressed against her skin. Miranda howled in pain and her grip loosened enough for me to break free. I dove to the ground and Adam flew over me. He knocked her to the ground and grappled with her. Cain joined the fray, and in a moment the pair of them had her back in her chains and with a sturdier hold than before.
