Page 40 of Triumph of the Wolf
My stomach, on the other hand, writhed with nerves, though that had to do with Chad’s presence in the area, not real estatedevelopers. For someone whom I’d never wanted to see again, he was popping up a lot this week.
Another thought occurred to me. “Can you tell if my son is with them?”
“I’ve only met one of your sons. Austin. He’s not here.”
“No, I know. You probably didn’t notice last night, but as Chad was driving off, I saw Cameron in the passenger seat of the car.” I waved back toward the Toyota, but we’d traveled far enough through the densely packed trees that the vehicles were no longer visible. “He’s twenty with straight brown hair down to his jaw and an athletic build. Leans toward snark, if you can imagine that from one of my kids.”
“Strangely, I can. Is he more supportive of his father than of you?”
Was he asking if Cameron would be a problem if they were together?
“I’m not sure. He hasn’t talked to me much since he moved out, but I don’t know how close he is with Chad.” I dearly wanted for Cameron not to be close to his fatherat all, but their showing up here together… didn’t bode well for that. A dense tangle of emotions centered around distress joined my nerves in upsetting me.
“A son should always speak with his mother,” Duncan said. “That’s a rule, isn’t it?”
I smiled sadly. “It should be.”
I thought of my own mother, who, because of the subject she kept bringing up, I’d been hesitant to be around. I needed to visit her again too. Who knew how much time she had left?
“Not enough,” I murmured.
Duncan, nose in the air and leading the way between ferns, over moss-blanketed logs, and around the pond, didn’t look back at the words. I crept after him, my shoes squishing in water-filled muddy footprints on the ground. Even without a wolf’s keen senses, following these men wouldn’t have been difficult.
I was surprised how far from the road we traveled before we heard voices. Still in the lead, Duncan slowed down and stopped behind a thick cedar, resting his hand on its rough bark. We’d come up a rise that overlooked a gully.
The same one that ran some distance behind my mother’s cabin and led to the magical cave? Yes, a familiar stream gurgled roughly down the middle of the depression, ferns dense on either side of the waterway.
Was it possible these men knew about the cave? Wasitthe reason they wanted the land? Maybe their motivations had nothing to do with resorts and hot springs. But, unless some of them had the blood of paranormal beings, would they sense anything special about that cave?
Duncan raised a finger, directing my gaze to a draw perpendicular to the stream. It had to be close to a mile from the cave, but the voices came from back in that direction. Most were male, but at least one woman spoke intermittently. From our perch, I couldn’t make out any of their words. I didn’t think I heard Chad among the speakers but couldn’t be certain.
After holding a finger to his lips, Duncan indicated that he would move closer. Curious about everything, I crept after him.
We chose our route carefully, not wanting to step on branches or trip and make noise. Once we crossed the stream and advanced into the draw, the gurgling of the waterway faded, making it easier to hear the speakers.
“…not that impressive,” a woman was saying.
“What did you expect?” a man asked. “The Hollywood version of an Old West mine shaft?”
“Well, sort of.”
A third speaker said, “We can spruce these up. Add some wooden supports and make them look more like what peoplewould expect. And we can bring in old rusty sluicing equipment from our resort in Alaska. We can give people the opportunity to pan for gold out here in the stream.”
“Come and get a massage, facial, and seaweed wrap, and then pan for gold?” the woman asked.
“Sure. Package deal. People eat that stuff up. And don’t forget the hot springs. You saw the tests on the water, right? It has all sorts of minerals that are good for the body. There were even traces of gold in some of the samples. Who wouldn’t want to soak ingold?”
“Does that have health benefits?”
“Our brochures will promise it does.”
Duncan looked at me. I shrugged. Maybe these peoplewerehere because of the mines and hot springs, and it had nothing to do with the magical cave.
“The legends of werewolves in the area should add to its appeal too,” a new speaker said.
I froze. That was Chad.
“We’re not going to put that in the brochure, but we’ll have some seemingly unaffiliated social-media accounts mention it. People eatthatstuff up too. If you find any old werewolf relics, like you said you could, we can put them in glass cases in the lodge.”
