“You’re not responsible for me.”
“I am. I made myself responsible the day I took Shadow into the cabin.” She laughed, a strange, lost sound. “No, long before that. I promised to help you, and by God I’m going to keep my promise if it’s the last thing I do on this earth.”
“I don’t want your help,” he told her harshly. “I don’t need you. I know enough now to find my own way.” He bared his teeth. “No more tame wolf, Alexandra.”
Her eyes were dark as black ice, her skin pale as new-fallen snow. “I know you’re not,” she whispered. “I know—”
“Where I’m going you can’t follow.”
She blinked rapidly. “Where?”
“To find—” He stopped. Until now he’d had no need to put it into words. An image came into his mind, and he grasped it. “To find my own kind.”
Astonishment transformed her face. “You remembered?” she said. “You know others like you exist?”
He couldn’t tell her it was something within himself, something he could never explain to anyone. It had come with the distant call, and that he’d never spoken of. He was grateful for that now.
He bent to pick up his jeans and began to pull them on. “Go home, Alexandra. Tell the police whatever you choose, but don’t follow me.”
Her hand came down over his. He felt the prick of her blunt nails as they drove into his skin. “Damn you,” she whispered. “I’ve invested too much in this. I’ve lost my Father, and Peter—” She made a little choking sound and bit down hard on her lip. “I’m not going to let it end this way.” She glared up at him, her mouth mere inches from his. “If you run now, I’ll follow you. No matter where you go, I’ll find you.”
He stared at her mouth, at the passion in her eyes, and trembled with the force of his desire. Desire, even now, amid so much tragedy and horror. He didn’t even have the strength to pull his hand from hers.
“There’s still no proof that I didn’t kill Peter. And if I did kill him, I could do anything. I could turn on you, Alexandra.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “You would never hurt me.” But her voice was no more steady than his heart.
He could still make her go. There was doubt in her, just enough to use. He could make her believe he was a mad beast capable of anything, at the mercy of a nature even he didn’t understand. It might even be true.:
And if there was a risk, any risk at all…
He twisted his hand to trap hers. “You should be afraid, Alexandra. It would be so easy to—”
“No more time for chitchat,” someone said. “You’ve got to get a move on.”
Julie walked into the clearing and regarded them both with grave intensity. Alexandra whirled to face her, breathing hard.
“Julie! What—”
“I’m going to help you two get out of here. And don’t try to argue. You don’t have any choice but to accept our help.” She looked directly into Kieran’s eyes. “My grandma and I have been talking, Kieran. My family owes you one. We know you saved Tracy’s life.”
* * *
It took a moment for Alex to realize exactly what Julie was implying. “What—what are you talking about?” she blurted.
“Don’t bother,” Julie said. “Your secret is safe with my family, and so are you.” She put her hands on her hips. “Right now we’ve got to get Kieran onto the rez where we can hole him up for a bit.”
It was all happening too fast. Impossible that Julie meant what she seemed to mean.
But nothing was impossible any longer. Alex had started down a path from which there’d be no returning, and it was fraught with shocks and revelations.
“Come on,” Julie said, starting toward them. “I know you don’t want to be caught. We’ve got to get going.”
Kieran didn’t move. His face had gone from hostile to unreadable. Alex folded her arms and held Julie’s gaze. “Not until you explain—”
“I knew you weren’t going to make this easy.” Julie sighed. “Word’s out that the police believe Kieran murdered your friend Peter Schaeffer.”