Chapter 493 Chapter 493
Tripp watched her eat in silence. She hadn’t said three words since he’d gotten back. Not that he was the chatty type either, but her silence made him wonder what she was thinking about. He still couldn’t believe she hadn’t shifted to heal her injuries—and get rid of some of that stink. It wasn’t going to leave easily, even after he’d taken off down the mountain, he could still taste it. His animal was less than impressed with the strong odor.
“Visibility down from here isn’t great.” He picked up his water and opened it, “I doubt he’s coming back up tonight.”
She paused in picking off another piece of the rabbit and looked over at him, “he said he wasn’t returning until he heard back.”
He watched her put another piece in her mouth and chew it slowly. “Any idea what they were driving?” Pulling off a piece of meat, he got up and went over to the silent prisoner, “open up.” He placed the piece of meat in his mouth and then turned to see her giving him a void look, he shrugged. He wasn’t for starving anyone, that would be an awful way to go out. His preference was a quick death, none of this seeing-it-coming shit. That sort of death was reserved for those that deserved nothing else or the ones that pissed him off. So far, this one hadn’t and the fact that she hadn’t already killed him yet meant he hadn’t done anything to warrant her revenge.
“Jeep.” She said and then took an awkward drink, pouring the water past her sore mouth.
Sitting back down, he stared into the fire. “He might be able to navigate back up here, but visibility is still crap.”
“Are we waiting up here for him?”
She’d shared the phones with him when he’d returned and they knew where he’d gone, but he wasn’t comfortable with the idea that she would still be here when he did come back. He’d found her relatively unharmed and didn’t want to take a chance that anything would happen to the Alpha’s daughter. “I’d like to cut him off before he gets back up here.” What he really wanted to do was to chip this place and go down far enough to get a signal to call in the cleanup. He glanced to where she’d dragged the two bodies, those would be bringing animals to investigate once the snow let up. Popping the rest of the meat in his mouth, he got up again and went over to the smallest tent, and pulled the stake that was holding the tarp over it.
“We can do that,” she said quietly, “go cut him off.”
Tripp paused on the last stake, “we?” He shook his head, “you need to stay clear of the action, so I can get you home to your family intact.” Pulling the stake free, he yanked the tarp off the tent and dragged it toward the bodies. “These two are going to be advertising a free buffet for every wild animal in the area soon.”
She got up and came over to him, “I’m not going back to my family,” she tugged the tarp from his hand, “I’m finishing this and then heading back to the teams.”
He went over and helped her cover the bodies and then stabbed the stake into the ground and stomped it in with the heel of his boot. “I don’t think so.” He did the next two stakes and then stopped when she stood where he’d have to put the last one in. He’d already figured out she wasn’t the princess he thought, but she should still go home to her family.
She jerked the stake out of his hand and then stomped it into the ground. “I’m staying.”
Tripp’s cat was alert and intrigued. He made fast work of telling him to settle down, Alpha daughters were not on the menu, ever. Even more so, Vesper Hughes’s daughter was a never-ever. He watched her spin on her heel and go over and look at the tents. She glanced over at the man sitting under the snow-covered blanket and a look of annoyance came over her face.
“We should move him to one of the tents, then take turns watching him,” she motioned toward the tree she’d been tied to, “we’ll tie him over there before we head out,” she paused and looked at the sky, “if we leave before first light, we can find a good vantage point to catch him on the way back up.” She didn’t wait for his input, just went over, opened one of the flaps on the tent, and looked inside it, “this one.” She announced and then turned around and gave him a look that said he should already be moving to do what she said.
Tripp rubbed the animal grease off his hand down the side of the jacket. He’d grabbed it out of the tent, so he didn’t care about the state of it. He was all for equal rights and women’s equality, but that all sounded too much like taking an order and he didn’t do that very well. Hell, he had to bite his tongue often when it came to Kenzo’s orders, so bowing his head or saluting her and then jumping to do her bidding wasn’t going to happen—even if her plan was a good one.
He started to go over to her to clarify it and then decided doing it from a distance was a better idea. He’d confiscated her taser, but he still had no idea where her little blade was or if she had more on her and wrestling the rescued princess to the ground, would be frowned upon. Getting stabbed by the person he’d been sent to find wasn’t a good outcome either.