But Kieran had shut out every faculty, every sense, every need but one. He jerked free of the other man’s hold and began to run again. He breathed in the mingled scents of the nearby town and forest, sifted through them, isolating the one he must track to its source.
Alexandra’s.
He knew Gévaudan followed, and he welcomed the other man’s trailing presence. If Kieran should be the killer, if he posed Alexandra any threat at all, another werewolf would be there to stop him.
* * *
Dawn.
Alex sat shivering beside the small fire Arnoux had laid for her. He’d roused her just before daylight, though if she’d slept at all she hadn’t been aware of it. His truck was parked just out of sight, so that he could watch from among the trees without being seen.
She’d smelled the stuff he rubbed on himself to disguise his scent. She prayed it wouldn’t do him any good. Kieran, for God’s sake… But she didn’t complete the thought. For the past thirty minutes, in the feeble light, she’d been trying to locate something——anything—to use as a weapon against Arnoux. But he’d done a remarkable job of clearing away the snow and any potential objects, in. eluding the smallest sticks and stones.
One could say that he simply knew the proper way of making a woodland fire. Or it could mean he didn’t trust her at all.
She knew he was watching. She felt his eyes like some malignant presence, scanning the forest. He made no sound, had given no indication of his presence since he left her there. “You know what to do,” he’d told her.
But she didn’t. God help her, she didn’t. She’d gone along with Arnoux, hoping for some break that would allow her to escape once they’d reached Lovell, or some moment when he wasn’t alert. Neither had come. She berated herself again and again. There must have been something she could have done, something she’d missed.
When the time came, she’d do whatever she could, no matter how desperate. That was the only plan she had left.
She thought of her backpack. Arnoux had failed to return it to her, and she hadn’t dared appear anxious about it. But if he found her diary—
A single twig crackled behind her. She whirled around in a crouch. No, Kieran!
But it was Arnoux. She lost none of her wariness as he approached, surprised to see him come out in the open. A slipup, she thought hopefully. Maybe in his fanatic zeal he’d lost some part of his judgment.
“I thought you were staying out of sight,” she said, feigning indifference. “You aren’t going to lure him in this way.”
Arnoux smiled his cold, hard smile. “I appreciate your concern for my mission, Miss Alex. But now that we’re allies, I thought I should return this to you.”
Her backpack dangled from one big, rawboned hand, his rifle from the other. She shrugged and reached out to accept the pack just as he flipped it out of her grasp.
“I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I’ve already searched the pack for weapons,” he said mildly. “But all I found was this.
He crouched just out of her reach, unzipped the pack and pulled out the journal.
“Do you know, Miss Alex, for many years I also kept a diary. A record of my work with Kieran. In time I found the words were meaningless.” He flipped open the cover and stroked the paper with roughened fingers. “To confine your life to these pages is to run from your destiny. Or destroy it.”
Alex smiled thinly. “You’ll forgive me if I disagree. I’ve found my journal to be very useful in my studies. Now, if you don’t mind returning it to me…”
“It’s private. Of course.” But still Arnoux did not relinquish it. “Does this contain your observations of Kieran, perhaps? You promised to share them with me, Miss Alex.” He began to thumb through it, skimming pages and passing on. Until suddenly he stopped, the weight of his concentration focused on her neatly handwritten lines.
” ‘And after all that happened, Mother, I didn’t want to fight anymore.’ ” Arnoux read in a flat voice. ” ‘I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted more, but I didn’t dare take it. I knew I’d never earned that kind of happiness, that it could. never work.’ ” Arnoux lifted his head, expressionless. “Fascinating research, Miss Alex.” He jerked the book open to the final page. The page she’d left blank except for a single line. She clenched her fists, fighting off waves of panic.