Page 4 of The Last True Hero
Adam nodded. There was his answer, right there. "No other reason to stay."
Mia looked troubled again. "You know, sometimes you say things that make me want to smack you upside the head. And sometimes... sometimes you know just the right thing to say."
"I—" Adam shut his mouth, hearing bootheels ringing on the front porch. Company by the sounds of it.
Mia followed his gaze toward the door. "What?"
Three seconds later a pair of hands hit the doors, sending them swinging inward. A man appeared, wearing a long trench and a black Stetson he dragged from his head. There were small weathered lines at the sides of his eyes, a Kevlar vest shielding his chest and a pair of guns at his hips. Adam's gut clenched hard. A bounty hunter by the look of it, just like him. If anyone could recognize the signs of a warg in human clothing, this stranger would be it.
Mia sucked in a sharp little breath as if hit.
Thatmade Adam's gaze jerk back to her, but she was hastily polishing the clean counter again.
The bounty hunter pulled up a chair at the bar and tossed his hat on the counter. He eyed Adam with hard eyes, but didn't seem particularly curious. "Mia, long time. How 'bout a drink?”
"Sinclair." She tipped her head politely, pouring him a whiskey and sliding it his way.
The man sipped it, arching a brow. "You know you can call me Jake," he said. "Now that I'm married to Sage."
"I keep forgetting," Mia said, with a tight little smile. "Since you've been gone so long."
That earned her a wry twist of the mouth. Adam sat very still. He still wasn't certain if he was reading things correctly, but there was tension here, and he didn't like leaving a woman behind to deal with a strange man who may or may not be dangerous.
"Just as long as your sister doesn't forget," Sinclair replied firmly.
"Oh, she doesn't. Sage always did think that men'd keep the promises they made." Mia looked dangerous. "I'm the one who knew better. That's why it was so easy for you to break her heart."
"Well, I haven't missed that mouth," Sinclair said. "That's enough, Mia. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I don't enjoy walking into this war zone every time I ride in. Can't we just form a truce, for once in our lives?"
"That depends," she said, "on how soon it will be until you ride out again?"
"Not soon enough." Sinclair glanced again at Adam, clearly eager to talk to someone else. "You hunt?"
"Yes."
That earned him an appreciative look and a deeper perusal. "That bike out front yours?"
Adam sat back. "Yeah."
"Gas is hard to find out here."
It wasn't quite a question. "An old friend of mine rigged it up for solar. Sunshine's the one thing we've got no problem finding here in the Badlands. That, and scavengers."
"Man or beast." Sinclair grunted. "That's the truth. Catch anythin' lately?"
"Just trouble." Certainly no sign of Johnny Colton, the warg he'd been hunting until the bastard vanished clean off the map. He spared Mia a faint smile, which only seemed to set her back up more. "You?"
"Been north." The man raked a hand through his dark hair with a sigh. "Chasing rumors of some warg who'd been living in the heart of a town up there for well on eight years. Nobody even knew what was hiding in their midst. Hell of a strange story. Wouldn't tell me his name, wouldn't tell me where he went, or how he did it. Just clammed up real tight whenever I mentioned it. Let's just say I wasencouragedto leave quietly."
Hell.Adam froze. Those were his people. After they'd asked him to leave, he'd have expected them to sell his secrets for the price of a glass of whiskey. Eden. It had to be Eden, pleading for the town to spare her brother and keep his secrets. They might shun him, but they sure as hell wouldn't risk incurring the wrath of the only healer in that part of the Wastelands. Eden was worth her weight in gold for her doctoring.
Mia's eyebrows shot up. "How in the seven hells did a warg hide in plain sight for so long?"
"Don't know." The man looked troubled. "Makes me nervous. They're isolated hicks, but they're not stupid. Everyone knows the signs out here, and how the fuck did he hide his nightly rampages? That's the true question I want to know. 'Cause if one of them can do it, then how many of them are sitting here, right beneath our noses?"
If only you knew....Adam smiled grimly. The “hicks” comment put his back up. Wastelanders grew up hard and they were wary, but they weren't stupid. Down here in the Badlands, where it rained more and towns were closer together with more supplies running up from the borderlands down south, they grew too soft. Soft and arrogant. "Sounds like a tall tale to me."
"That's what I thought when I first heard it." Sinclair leaned on the counter. "Found a reiver gang out there. Once I were done cutting them down, I got some time to ask the last survivor a few questions."
