"Why are you really here? Talk about evasions and half-truths! Look at you. You show up here, nobody knows you, nobody even knows where you came from--"
"I told you, north of Fairbanks. By way of Boston, if we're going to start being honest with each other now."
So, he wasn't actually from Alaska, just flew in from Outside. She couldn't have been less surprised. As casually as she could, she put her hand down on top of his forearm and leaned in closer, as though she were a cop questioning an uncooperative witness. "How did you get to Harmony when everyone else has been grounded by bad weather the past several days? For that matter, how did you get out to the Toms settlement after you left Harmony last night?"
"I walked. On snowshoes, of course."
"You walked more than forty miles in the middle of the night." Alex laughed, but without humor. She listened for the prickling of her instincts as she kept her hand resting on his arm, waiting for her senses to tell her whether he was trustworthy. Nothing registered. He was as clear as glass, unreadable. Still, that didn't change the crock he was trying to feed her. "Such bullshit. You stand there and accuse me of lying to you, when you've told me nothing about yourself other than your name is Kade and you're a bounty hunter looking to cash in on an innocent pack of wolves."
He gave only the barest shake of his head. "I never said I came here to hunt wolves, for a bounty or otherwise. You made an assumption. And you are wrong."
"Okay, I give up then. What are you doing here, and why did you come loaded up with a hell of a lot of serious firepower? What exactly do you want, Kade, the non-wolf hunter from north of Fairbanks by way of Boston?"
"I told you that when we talked earlier today. I want answers. I need to have the truth--the entire truth--about what happened to your friends. I think you can help me with that, Alex. I think you might be the only person who can."
He glanced down to where her hand was still settled on his arm. Alex abruptly drew it away, his deep voice vibrating inside her, his words making her feel that she possibly could trust him, whether her instincts could confirm it or not.
She did not want to warm to him, dammit. She didn't want to put her trust in anything he said when her heart was racing at hyperspeed and everything in her screamed for her to run. Run, before she made the mistake of letting this man into her private hell when she didn't know anything about him.
"What are you trying to pull?" she asked softly, wishing she had the strength just to walk away and leave him standing there instead of giving in to the curiosity that made her want to know more. "What kind of game are you playing here?"
"I don't know what you mean," he said, despite the intense steadiness of his gaze that said there wasn't much that escaped his keen intellect. "What game do you think I'm playing?" Alex stared back at him, forcing herself to try to read in his eyes all the things he probably wouldn't tell her. "You tell me you're not a wolf hunter, but you let Big Dave and the other men believe that you are. You tell me you want information from me, yet you give up nothing in return. You're either one of the good guys, or you're not. So, which one are you, Kade?"
Something flickered across his expression. "Do you view everything in terms of right or wrong, black or white? Is everyone either good or bad in your judgment?"
"Yes, they are." She hadn't really thought about it in those terms, but she had to admit she took a certain comfort in the clarity of that. Right was right and wrong was wrong. In her experience, there was a very distinct line between good and bad.
And Kade still hadn't answered her question.
To her astonishment, he reached out and brushed his fingers across her cheek where some of her tangled hair had fallen into her face. She knew she should balk at the uninvited touch, but the warmth of his caress--even as fleeting as it was--felt too good to deny. "You can be honest with me, Alex. You can trust me that whatever you tell me, I mean you no harm."
God help her, but she was tempted to blurt out everything right then and there. She didn't know this man from Adam, really, and yet when she was looking in his eyes, still feeling the trailing heat of his touch on her skin, she wanted to believe that she truly could trust him. In some frightened, little-girl corner of her heart, she actually hoped that he might be able to help her banish some of the demons that had haunted her nearly all her life.
She felt, inexplicably, that if she told him about the beasts that killed her mom and her little brother-the same beasts she felt certain had killed the Toms family, as well--Kade would understand. That he, of all people, would be her strongest ally.
"You can tell me," he said, his deep voice so gentle and coaxing. "Tell me about the track in the snow. You know what made that footprint, don't you? Tell me, Alex. I want to help you, but I need you to help me first."
"I ..." Alex swallowed hard, finding it took more effort than she expected to work up her courage.
"What I saw ... it's hard to say the words ..."
"I know. But it's okay, I promise. You're safe with me." She drew in a nervous breath and got a sudden whiff of acrid smoke and the odor of unwashed clothing from somewhere nearby. No sooner had she registered the stale stench than she saw Skeeter Arnold and a couple of his stoner buddies shuffling from the bar back to the game room. A cell phone decorated in a skull-and-crossbones motif in one hand, a beer in the other, Skeeter tipped his bottle in Kade's direction as he passed. "Thanks for the brewskies, dude. That was straight-up righteous of you, man." Kade hardly spared Skeeter a glance, but Alex couldn't hide her revulsion. And she was glad for it, because the disgust she felt for Skeeter Arnold doused some of the temporary insanity that was making her think she could trust the stranger who was playing her like an instrument of his own design.