Chapter 45

When Taggart reached the bottom, Deva changed her mind. This was a bad idea. As his animal, he had no weapons. She moved closer to the edge and found him with the scope. He didn’t even have his run pack on. Why had she agreed to this? He moved fast but still wasn’t faster than a bullet. They had no idea what weapons the man had. Taggart had teeth and claws at best but had to be too close to use either. Aside from shooting him, she had no way to let him know that this plan was not a good one.

“Just watch his back.” She whispered and blew out slowly. Moving along the tree line, she checked for animals or man. This was far enough North that bears could be down there having an after-hours party, and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself against something like that. When her sights were on the camp, she moved a fraction of an inch at a time, pausing long enough to see if anything moved or caught her attention.

The man was inside one of the tents. With the light on, she could see his outline. He obviously wasn’t concerned with being seen. Turning her head, she kept her eye on the scope and blew on her hand to warm it up. Her gloves were too thick to feel confident if she needed to pull the trigger. Flexing her hand a few times, she put it back against the trigger guard and exhaled.

Should she keep watch of the tent and make sure the guy stayed put or scan the area and watch for any unwanted critters or people? “Bad plan.” She mumbled.

She hadn’t looked at the time when he went down, so she had no clue how much had passed. It felt like a week, but she knew that logically it was probably five minutes. “Where are you?” She backtracked in the direction of her location, looking for Taggart. She didn’t see him anywhere. “It’s a good thing I can’t see you.” Moving slowly, she paused to check if she could find him. “It betters your chance of me not shooting you, so you’ll stop taking these risks.” She snorted softly. “Like that would stop you.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, she huffed out a breath. “Get it together.” She opened them again and looked through the scope. As she was adjusting her position, she saw something move. She froze and stared at the spot. It was him. He was creeping along, close to the ground. It was a smart move and explained why it was taking him this long.

He probably did things like this for kicks. With his lifestyle, she didn’t doubt it at all. She flexed her hand quickly, trying to warm it. If she didn’t have to watch him, she’d cut the finger off her other glove, so the rest of her hand was warm.

She sucked in a breath and held it as he reached the back of the tent the guy was in. Why wouldn’t he go around it and stay in the shadows of the trees? Her breath left her body all at once when he was by it. That was the good part. The bad was she didn’t have a visual of him now. It wasn’t like she could move to a different location to get a better look. This outcrop wasn’t big enough to offer a lot of options.

“Where are you?” She tried to relax her shoulders, but it was hard lying on the cold ground. She finally saw him on the other side of the second tent. There were no lights on in it. “Their count better be right.” Her eyes widened when he shifted right there beside the tent. If it hadn’t been for the light from the other tent, she wouldn’t have been able to see him. “He’s insane.” She moved to check the other tent. Shifting wasn’t a loud show, but if another were nearby, they’d hear the bones snapping. The outline of the guy showed he was still sitting in the lit tent. He’d moved from where he had been but was still inside it.

“Okay, Taggart, time to come back now.” She moved to find him again. She found him as he went inside the tent. Going into the tent was not part of any discussion they’d had before he went down there. If Cassius’ people were wrong and there were more than five, he could be walking in on someone. Naked, with no weapons.

She was up here half frozen while he was down there strolling around the enemy’s camp without a stitch on. Did fate think she was bored and needed excitement in her life? Was that it? Because at this moment, she couldn’t think of a single thing she’d done to warrant a mate that was going to give her a coronary or mental breakdown—or both.

She blew out a breath, trying to stay relaxed, even though she knew that was not happening. She wasn’t even cold now. Her adrenaline was pumping so fast she was surprised she wasn’t sweating. It was hard not to feel disappointed. The talk they’d had when he said he would consider what she said—had it meant nothing to him? Sure, she’d asked him not to continent hop and put himself into dangerous positions, getting others out of bad situations across the oceans. This wasn’t crossing the sea, but the principle was the same. Maybe it was a language barrier, and she should have said, Do not take stupid risks. Would that have changed anything? Probably not.

“Okay. You need to get your bare butt out of that tent and get back up here now.” If she didn’t have to keep one eye closed, she would have glared at the tent and willed him to listen.

When the flap moved, she stiffened. He came out, and he was carrying something. What was it? It was hard to make out.

“You’d think with all the toys the Alliance has, they’d have a scope with night vision or something.” She didn’t even know if that was a real thing, but it definitely needed to be. She watched as he closed the tent back up. “Oh, come on.” She knew he had to, or it would alert them to the fact someone had been there, but hello, human footprints in the snow was a pretty big neon sign.

She watched him walk backward over his prints as he reached down and swiped his hand over them. For a split second, like faster-than-a-blink, she wished for more lighting so she could see him in his current state of undress. She clicked her teeth together when she realized her cat was right under the surface and probably had been since he’d gone down there. She was just too freaked out to notice. “His nakedness isn’t going to mean a damn thing if he gets dead before he gets back up here.” Deva clenched her teeth together. He might even get dead when he gets back up here, she thought for a second.

When he reached the side where he’d shifted, he dropped down and let his animal out again. Picking up the sack or pack, she wasn’t sure that he’d just liberated from the tent. He turned and moved quickly into the darkness of the trees.

Checking the guy in the tent hadn’t moved, she lifted her face from the cold gun and moved her head from side to side, hoping to release some of the rock-hard tension in her muscles. She let her head drop forward until it rested on her wrist. They better get this done tomorrow, or she was going to march down there, tranq that guy, and then go hunt the other four down. Exhaling for a few seconds, she lifted her head and looked through the scope again.

What was going to happen tomorrow when that guy realized there was a missing bag from the tent? That was going to change things. Did she tell Calum? Gnawing on her lip, she continued to look to find him. She’d wait until he got back up here and see what was so important that he had to take it. “It better be so important that they write songs about you, Taggart.” She whispered.

Her phone buzzing startled her. Shifting, she awkwardly dug it out of the suit, trying not to have to reposition completely. Holding it inside the fabric so the light wouldn’t be a beacon, she unlocked it. It was a message from Taggart. Is good. Catch breath. Be back. She clicked it, so it was off. He had his phone? Where did he have it? He wasn’t wearing his run pack. Did he carry it in his mouth?

Shaking her head, she adjusted her position and looked through the scope again. She went back to the camp to check that there was no movement. It was barely visible now with the light off in the tent. Good. That guy was grabbing some sleep, so she could relax. She was about to sit up when she thought she’d better do a once over of the area and make sure he wasn’t out wandering around.

Satisfied that everything down there was sleeping, she sat up. Her phone slid down inside the suit, and she cursed in her head as she dug around inside it. He had his phone. Setting the rifle on the canvas, she got to her knees and stretched her arms over her head. She was definitely not cut out to man a rifle for long periods of time.

Not much time passed before he hopped up onto the ledge. She hadn’t even heard him climbing. He dropped the bag and then walked behind the tent to shift.

Deva stood there, hugging her waist, and waited. She wanted to know what was in the bad, but she didn’t want to encroach on his ‘find,’ so she didn’t go look. That and she didn’t trust she wouldn’t smack the man for scaring her.

He came back around as he was pulling his shirt on. “Is good I go to look.” He nodded and then went over to the tent and opened it. Reaching in, he got his jacket.

“Taggart, where did you keep your phone?”

He stood up and grinned. “I show you.” He went back around to the back of the tent and came back carrying fur. Her eyes widened. “Is man Niklaus know. He make it for us all.” He came over and opened it. “Is only hold phone, but it no get wet.” He took out his phone and held the fur out to her.

Deva took it and immediately knew it was real fur. It was a fur collar that blended right into his animal’s coat. “Is it…”

“Is from lynx, yes. Was only way to make it match.”

She turned it over in her hand and then handed it back to him. “It’s quite an idea.”

“Some time is no time to carry all, but phone is needed, so we has it.” He tucked it into his pocket and went over to the bag he’d dropped. “Niklaus use tape to check how big my cat’s neck is and tell friend who make it for me.”

The part where they had to drop everything and run sent a shiver down her spine. “What was so important you took it from the tent? What happens when they notice it missing?”

He picked up the bag. “They no find out. Man was on phone talking to other man.” He opened the bag. “Was Efem’s language, so I no understand all the words, but I do enough.”

“He was talking to the other ones down there?”

“Yes.” He reached into the bag and pulled something out. “He say they come back when is light and pack to go to new location.”

“They’re packing up and moving to the next area to search.”

He glanced at her. “Yes, is what I understand.” He held up something, but it was too dark for her to make out exactly what it was. “Is wallet for three men in tent.” He nodded and reached into the bag again and took out a book. “Is book to write in. No in language I read, but I see numbers for to call and more numbers I think is address.”

She went over and held out her hand. “You think it’s a list or record of some kind of where they’ve been?”

“I no sure, but I show Efem and he tell me.”

She took the notebook and opened it. She couldn’t make out a word, but it clearly listed phone numbers and addresses. “If these are addresses, we’ve just been handed more people involved.”

He nodded and came over. “On page two it say Chicago and Oregon. I no this places.”

She flipped the page and scanned it. Written in line with symbols, or they could have been letters she didn’t understand it did say those places. “Okay.” She bobbed her head. “I don’t have to shoot you after all.”

“You has to shoot Taggart?” He held out a wallet to her.

“It was a thought when you shifted and went into the tent.”

“Man was busy talk on phone. I safe.”

“You had no way of knowing that.” She jammed the notebook into the bag he held and took the wallet. Opening it, she saw some ID. She pulled it out and looked closely. They were good for being fake. She doubted the man who owned it was actually named Joe Smith.

“I need to see if they has weapons in the tent. A gun or two is okay, more is bad.”

She moved just her eyes and looked up at him. “Any gun is bad. In any form, you can’t outrun a bullet.”

“I know this is true.”

She handed him back the wallet crossed her arms over her chest, and hugged her waist. “We need to let Calum know that they’re coming back in the morning, so he can let the others know.”

“Yes. Is over in morning. We get them.”

She pulled out her phone and then looked at him. “We will follow the plan that Kenzo and Wynter have.”

“Yes. Of course, we do.” He gave her a look. “Deva is mad with Taggart. Why?”

She sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled. “I had hoped that what we talked about – that you were actually thinking about it, but I don’t think you are.”

Putting the wallet back in the bag, he did it up. “I do think on the words we say.” He tossed the bag in the direction of the tent. “I no go over sea. I no run into risky place.” He motioned toward the trees. “I go take a look and listen. Is easy.”

She stood there looking up at him. It was true, what he said, but it still hadn’t been easy to stay up here and watch. “I’m going to send a message to Calum and then try to get some sleep.”

“Okay.” He looked over the edge.

“He went to sleep. The guy in the tent.”

“Good. We rest until is light again.” He moved over to the tent. “I eat some things.”

Deva squatted down, so she could use the phone and have her body block out most of the light. She took off her gloves and typed it quickly. Taggart came out of the tent with the bag their food was in. Her phone buzzed in her hand. She read it and then put the phone away. “Calum says he’ll have them call us when they’re on the move in the morning.

Taggart chewed slowly while nodding his head. “Okay.”

Deva stood up and went over and reached into the bag he had hanging off his arm. She grabbed a bar and opened it. “I’m having bacon and coffee as soon as we’re back at the factory.”

He smiled. “I cook for you.”

“They have kitchen staff there.”

He shrugged. “Is okay. They can sit and take break, so I cook for you.”

She looked out over the trees. “Do you think Wynter and Kenzo are okay?”

“They be fine. Stay in animal is warm for night.”

She thought they likely did that. “What about Hadleigh.”

“Maybe she go back to truck for sleep.”

“I guess she can get there and still be back in the morning.”

“Go sleep, Deva. I watch for a time then sleep.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Do you think we need to watch all night?”

“Is no bad idea to be sure.”

“Okay. If anything happens, wake me up.” She went over to the tent and unzipped it.

“I do that. Sleep sweet.”

She smiled as she went inside and took her boots off. Now all she had to do was sleep in this tiny space next to a man that smelled like her favorite scent she didn’t know existed. It was going to be a long night.