Kade observed the knot of twenty-something guys, smiling with satisfaction as the group disbanded and Skeeter was left standing alone while his friends took off in a rumbling old F150. When Skeeter started to walk toward the back lot, Kade peeled away from the shadows to follow him and have a word or two about the hazards of pissing off a bunch of vampires.
But before Kade took two steps toward the ass**le, headlights came on in the parking lot and a black Hummer rolled out behind Skeeter Arnold. The vehicle gleamed under the weak lights of the lot, and compared to the other clunkers parked at Pete's, Kade would bet his left nut that whoever was driving it wasn't local. When the truck slowed down to deliberately keep pace with Skeeter, who paused to stick his head inside the open passenger-side window, Kade's hackles raised along with his suspicion. What the hell would someone with Hummer-style tastes want with a low-budget loser like Skeeter Arnold? Something was said to the stoner in barely audible tones before he chuckled and eagerly nodded.
"Yeah, sure. For the right price, I might be interested in hearing more about that," he said, then opened the door and hopped inside.
"What the f**k are you up to?" Kade muttered as the vehicle sped away, kicking up clots of snow in its wake.
He had a feeling that whatever transaction might be taking place between Skeeter Arnold and his newfound business associate, it was going to prove to be much bigger than the small-time dealer's usual fare.
A low, hissing heat and a sentimental old country song drifted from the dashboard of Zach's stateissued Blazer as Alex glanced at the side mirror, watching the parking lot at Pete's fade into the darkness behind her.
"Thanks for the ride, Zach."
"No problem. I've got to run out for eggs and hot sauce, anyway. Breakfast of champions, you know. And single thirty-five-year-old cops with no nutrition sense."
Alex gave him a polite smile as they traveled the last of the short two blocks to her house. She felt every bit as relieved as she did foolish for having run off on Kade as she had, but the fact was, she had welcomed the rescue. God knew she'd needed one, before she'd been tempted to do anything more with him right out there in the open, among the pickup trucks and snowmachines.
What had she been thinking, letting a complete stranger put a move on her like that? She wasn't the type to let a guy take advantage of her with empty flattery or free-range hands--and being a young, unmarried woman in the Alaskan interior, she'd known plenty of men who'd tried. Except with Kade tonight, it hadn't felt like any sort of play or move, as smooth as the art of seduction seemed to come to him. And although she'd never so much as seen his face before he showed up yesterday, she had to admit--to herself at least--that he seemed like anything but a stranger to her. Kade seemed to know her--to understand her--on a level that astonished her. He seemed to be able to look deep inside her, into the dark places not even she was brave enough to face, and that's what terrified her about him the most.
It was that unnerving sense of awareness that had made her so desperate to escape him tonight.
"Home sweet home," Zach said, breaking into her thoughts as he rolled to a stop outside her weathered wood-sided house. "Jenna probably told you already, but I got word the AST unit out of Fairbanks should be here later this week." At Alex's nod, he lifted his right arm up onto her seatback and leaned in a bit closer. "I know this can't be easy for you. Hell, it's not easy for me, either. I knew Wilbur Toms and his family for a lot of years. I don't know how this kind of awful thing could have happened to them. But the truth will come out, Alex. It will."
Zach's face, half illuminated by the pale lights of the dash, seemed troubled, cautious. And after her blurt at the town meeting, she could hardly be surprised if his cop instincts told him she was holding something back.
"If there's anything more that you recall about the crime scene, Alex, I need you to tell me, all right?
Anything at all. I'd like to know we're on the same page by the time the Fairbanks unit arrives and starts throwing its weight around town."
"Sure," she murmured. "Yeah, Zach. If I think of anything else, I'll make sure to tell you." Even as she said it, she knew she would speak no more of the track in the snow or the bone-deep fear she harbored that something terrible was on the loose in the frigid wilderness not far from where they sat now. The thing she feared was worse than any kind of danger posed by man or animal. It was monstrous. It would not be stopped by Zach Tucker or a bunch of Staties, and Alex was going to try her damnedest to forget all about it.
She was going to try to forget everything that had happened in the Florida swamps so long ago, too. Best to just let it all go, bury it deep, and move on.
Or move away.
Run.
"Sleep well," Zach said as she climbed out of the Blazer and closed the passenger door. "You call me anytime, you hear?"
She nodded. "Thanks, Zach. And thanks again for the lift." He flashed a quick smile that was there and gone before he put the truck in gear and drove away. As Alex walked toward the front door of the old house she'd shared with her father since she'd been that frightened little girl, uprooted from her entire world--her entire reality--the notion of running away from it all only deepened. It would be so much easier, leaving her memories behind. Starting over somewhere new would be the best way for her to purge the fears that dogged her, that had come back darker now, more dreadful than ever before.
She could not face horror like that again.
Nor could she allow herself to be wooed into a state of false confidence that anyone--even a man like Kade--could stand firm against an evil like the one she knew existed. Getting involved with him on any level was the last thing she needed. Yet that didn't keep her from wondering what he thought of her now, or from wishing she would have apologized before ditching him in the cold.