Her smile was faint and fleeting. "I don't want Jenna to see ..." She gestured toward the front yard as her words trailed off. "She'll have to know the truth, of course, but not like this." Kade nodded. "Yeah, of course."
As they spoke the rest of the warriors roared up to the cabin on their sleds. Kade went out to intercept them, informing them that the Ancient had been there just a short while ago and that the victim outside was the brother of Alex's friend.
Chase and Hunter fell in to perform a discreet cleanup, while Tegan and Brock walked with Kade back inside.
"This is Alex," he said, making quick introductions to the two warriors. It was difficult not to touch her as he explained what had occurred before they arrived, just to reassure himself that she was whole and unharmed.
"Are you and your friend all right?" Tegan asked, the Gen One's voice deep with respect despite the fact that he'd come there to assess a situation that had gone from mildly screwed up to fucked up beyond all recognition.
"I'm okay," Alex replied. "But I'm worried about Jenna. I didn't see anything wrong with her, but she doesn't seem quite right to me, either."
Tegan glanced at Brock, but the big warrior was already heading over to have a look at the woman across the room.
"What's he going to do to her?" Alex asked, worry creasing her brow.
"It's all right," Kade said. "If something is wrong, he can help her." Brock smoothed his hands over Jenna's back, then gently swept aside her hair and placed his dark fingers against the wan paleness of her cheek. "She's been tranced," he said. "She's coming out of it, though. Gonna be fine."
Chase and Hunter strode into the cabin and looked to Tegan. "The yard is cleared. The two of us can start searching the area for the Ancient's trail."
Tegan pursed his lips, blew out a sharp sigh. "He's miles away from here by now. A needle in a haystack. We'll never catch him in this wilderness. It's not like we can track the son of a bitch across the whole damn interior in this blizzard."
Kade felt Alex's gaze light on him. "What about Luna? If you used your talent with her, would she be able to help us track the Ancient?"
Tegan eyed the wolf dog that had come over to nuzzle Kade's hand. "It might be our best shot, man."
"Yeah, I can do it," he said, "but what about the rest of you? Are we all going to run with her, fully loaded with weapons in case we catch up to the bastard?"
"I can fly you," Alex suggested.
"No way." Kade shook his head. "No fucking way. I'm not going to put you any farther into this whole thing than I already have. That's a risk I'm not willing to take."
"I want to do it. I'm not going to leave Luna, and I can carry all of you in my plane while she tracks the Ancient on the ground."
"It's dark, Alex," he bit off harshly. "And it's snowing like a bitch."
"I'm not seeing your point," she countered. "And the longer we stand here arguing about this, the farther that creature can run. That's a risk that I'm not willing to take." Tegan leveled a questioning look on Kade. "She's right. You know she is." Kade slanted his gaze to Alex, seeing in her eyes all of the courage and determination that had made him fall in love with her in the first place. The fact was, the Order needed her right now. He was proud of Alex and petrified at the same time. But he exhaled a low curse and said, "Yeah. Okay, let's do this."
"What about the human?" Chase asked, gesturing toward Jenna. "We'd better scrub her before she sees anything more than she already has."
When the ex-Enforcement Agent started to walk toward her, Brock wheeled his head around, fangs gleaming behind his lips. "Back off, Harvard. You don't touch her. Got it?" Chase paused at once. He gave a negligent shrug and withdrew as Brock turned his attention back to the human female.
As the tension in the cabin subsided, Alex kneeled down beside Luna and wrapped the wolf dog in a loving hug, whispering something to her before she looked up at Kade. "All right, she's in your hands. Promise me you'll be careful with her."
"I promise," he said, meaning it completely.
As Alex moved away, Kade took Luna's chin in his palm and met her intelligent gaze. He established his connection with the canine's mind, then gave her the silent command to show him where the Ancient fled.
Alex had her arms crossed over her chest, one hand pressed to her mouth, as Luna took off running from the cabin and into the swirling snowstorm outside.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Not long afterward, Alex was flying them over the dark wilderness landscape, with Kade in the copilot's seat and three of his Breed brethren huddled in the cargo area behind them. Kade called out directions to her, navigating their course through his mental link to Luna on the ground. directions to her, navigating their course through his mental link to Luna on the ground. Alex couldn't see her. They were too far up, the snow too thick in the darkness, for her to make out anything much farther than the nose of the plane. These were dangerous conditions to fly in--potentially deadly--but Alex knew this terrain intimately. She followed Kade's directions, practically able to anticipate the path Luna was tracking along the Koyukuk, the most logical route the Ancient would have taken into the bush.
"Keep following the river," Kade told her. "The trail is getting fresher now. We're gaining on him." Alex nodded, focusing on her flying and the heavy gusts that blew down off the Brooks Range as they pushed farther north along the frozen river below. Although she could barely see the icy ribbon of water, she knew that they were coming up on a spot where the fleeing Ancient would have been forced to make a choice: stay low to the ground and trust the thickening woodlands to conceal him from pursuit, or veer to the west and take his flight to higher terrain, up into the craggy ridges of the mountains. Neither option would provide the best landing conditions, but in this weather, there was little more treacherous than attempting a short landing on high, potentially unstable rock.
"The trail is turning," Kade announced. "We need to bank left."
"Okay," Alex replied, sending up a silent prayer as she changed course away from the river and headed toward the mountain range instead. "Hang on, everyone. There are going to be some bumps as we turn into the headwinds."