"It was them. The truck had the same engine rumble.
Hunter couldn't leave Rourke's truck, as he was wedged in between the half-jammed door, trying to get it opened wide enough to get me out. Ashton was in the same predicament, and Hunter didn't want Meara leaving, figuring you were safe inside the locked SUV. But when you fired the rifle, he swore you'd never mind him if you joined the pack. Meara said you nearly unmanned the one guy, and if she'd gotten a hold of him, she would have done the rest. You got her vote. Guess you're an alpha after all."
"Sure." Like Tessa really believed that now, laid up with an injured ankle, unable to help anyone.
The sound of footfalls crunching on the frozen roadway caught their attention, and Tessa was relieved to see Hunter and the others, although seeing Rourke unconscious made her heart hitch.
"Here comes the rest of the crew. Help me into the very backseat, will you, Tessa? It's going to get a little crowded."
Tessa helped Cara into the backseat and was mad at herself for saying ouch when she pressed against her ankle. Cara and Rourke were the ones with the real injuries.
She smiled at Tessa. "Believe me, my head doesn't hurt a bit. I know what it's like to have torn ligaments or a broken ankle. It hurts. Nothing to be ashamed of. And if you hadn't dove over the cliff, that maniac might have injured you a hell of a lot worse."
Meara jerked the car door open, letting in a whirlwind of cold and snow. Hunter lay Rourke on the middle seat, his eyes shut, unresponsive.
Her heart hammering, Tessa leaned over the seat to touch Rourke's forehead. "Is he going to be all right?" He had to be. Didn't their kind have recuperative abilities? Yet, what if-- "He's got a concussion. We're returning to your place," Hunter said, his voice dark and strained.
"I'll sit with Rourke." Meara climbed in and lifted Rourke's head onto her lap.
Ashton got into the front seat with Hunter, then slammed the door shut.
"You didn't happen to get a license plate number off that truck, did you, Tessa?" Hunter backed away from where Rourke's vehicle had left the road and turned around.
"Before or after the one guy slugged me?" she asked. Hell, she was lucky to see that the truck was pale blue and had tinted windows in this snow. And now a bullet hole with a spider web of cracks trailing out from it in the center of the windshield. If they didn't replace it, she would recognize it anywhere.
Hunter chuckled darkly. "Yes or no would have sufficed."
"What are we going to do about them?"
"End their pathetic existence."
Rourke moaned.
"Can you hear me, Rourke?" Meara asked.
Tessa leaned over the seat again to get a look at him, keeping her hand still planted on the hat over Cara's wound to stem the bleeding. He focused his eyes on Meara and gave her a devilish smile.
Meara leaned away from him and folded her arms. "He's going to live."
Hunter looked in the rearview mirror and caught Tessa's eye. He hadn't thought Rourke would be all right. But now his shoulders relaxed, and he concentrated on the road again.
She took a deep breath of relief.
"Did you at least shoot one of them?" he asked.
"I shot the windshield. I wasn't sure the truck was theirs."
"It was them."
Rourke said, "I... got... a... call... just... before--"
"Shh, let Ashton tell the story," Meara said.
Ashton cleared his throat. "The Department of Transportation sent out the word that the coastal highway was closed because of downed electric lines, flooding, slides, and fallen trees and--"
Tessa looked up from pressing the cap on Cara's forehead to see why Ashton had quit talking.
Hunter pulled to a stop in front of a Douglas fir blocking the road. "Unless anyone thought to bring along a chainsaw, looks like this is the end of the road."
"How many miles left before we get to Tessa's place?" Meara asked.
"Two." Hunter shut off the engine. "Ashton and I can go back and grab your chainsaw, Tessa, and cut up the tree, then we'll drive home."
"No," Tessa said. Everyone waited for her to speak further on the matter. She had expected Hunter would just ignore her response. She straightened her shoulders. "We can't wait here like proverbial sitting ducks. Unless you think Cara and Rourke are too injured to move, and then we'll have to take our chances."
"Not me," Cara said.
"I'll be all right. Just someone help me up." Rourke tried to sit up with Meara's help.
"I'm thinking of you, Tessa," Hunter said.
"Well, I'm perfectly fine."
"We'll discuss this stubborn streak you have later. If everyone is agreeable, we'll all walk back to Tessa's place."
Both Rourke and Cara looked paler than normal, but they put on stoic faces and began the trek home. Tessa had planned to somehow walk on her own, but Hunter lifted her in his arms.
"You can't carry me all that way."
Everyone chuckled.
"If I didn't have a lupus garou's strength, you'd probably be right."
"I don't think I've heard anyone question Hunter's strength before and get off that easily," Meara said, her voice amused. Rourke stumbled and she took hold of his arm and kept glancing at him as if to make sure he was okay.
Ashton had his arm around Cara's waist, and she snuggled under his arm.
"About the driver of the truck, I couldn't kill him. I was afraid he might not have been the same guy who was stalking me. And even if he was..." Tessa let her words trail off. She couldn't have murdered him in cold blood. If he had tried to run her over with the truck again, she wouldn't have hesitated then.
Hunter shook his head. "The bullets wouldn't have killed him."
"Unless they were silver?"
"So legend says. I don't know of anyone who shot a lupus garou with silver bullets. But it could have happened. That's often how legends get started."
They all grew quiet. The snow fell around them, the wind still blowing hard, and they slipped as they walked on the icy road. After a mile, Rourke had slowed his pace even more, and he seemed to be leaning on Meara's strength. Ashton finally lifted Cara and carried her. But before they reached the house, Tessa saw a black Hummer parked in the driveway. Her heart tripped.
"Leidolf," Hunter said, his voice couched in annoyance.
"The red lupus garou is back for the redhead," Meara said. "Don't you think?"
"Back for me?" Not that there were any other redheads in their little party. "Red lupus garou?"
"There are red and grays," Meara explained.
"Better not be the reason why he's returned," Hunter responded.
Tessa didn't see any sign of Leidolf in the Humvee, then observed him looking out the picture window.
"How'd he get in my house?" Her frigid skin turned icier.
Leidolf opened the front door and came outside. "Back door was unlocked. Road was blocked by downed wires the way I was headed. Looks like you ran into some trouble, too."
Tessa felt sick to her stomach. At least she was pretty sure she had locked the back door. Unless someone had gone out that way and hadn't relocked the door.
"Rockslide our way. Then on the return home, a tree had fallen across the road," Hunter said.
Leidolf dropped his gaze to Tessa as if he had only now noticed her in Hunter's arms. "Is she injured badly?"
"No, she is not injured badly." Tessa frowned at him.
He didn't have to act like she was a child or didn't exist.
He smiled and then looked at Hunter. "We need to talk about the woman."
Woman, as in her? Hunter didn't respond, just carried Tessa into the house and headed for her bedroom. The red lupus garou was so intolerably arrogant.