With her eyes closed, she performed a mental search and discovered it was. Smiling faintly, she opened her eyes. “How did you do that?"
His gaze flickered over her face. Lifting one hand, he removed her sunglasses and set them in her abandoned seat. For a stilled moment of time, they merely looked at one another. His gaze moved to her lips, one hand settled along her jaw, and his face drifted closer. She closed her eyes, lifting her lips in offering. His lips brushed along hers, making them tingle with awakening sensation. He nuzzled his face against hers and sighed gustily, melding his lips more firmly against hers in gentle pressure that gradually increased as he moved his mouth over hers as if in search of the perfect fit.
She turned more fully toward him, lifting her hand to explore his lean jaw with her fingertips, parting her lips for him when he at last settled his mouth firmly over hers and traced her lips with the tip of his tongue. Warmth spread through her as he raked is tongue along hers, filling her with his taste. For a handful of moments, the kiss was nothing more than a sort of lazy exploration. It changed the moment she ceased to merely accept his exploration and returned his kiss. His arms tightened around her. The hand along her cheek slid deep into her hair, cupping the back of her head and drawing her more tightly to him as he deepened the kiss, sucking at her lips, his tongue thrashing along hers in restless, possessive need.
Heat rose inside her, rose between them. She felt the tremor of crumbling restraint in him and it magnified the need growing in her.
He was panting hoarsely for breath when he broke the kiss, his eyes tumultuous. The tension left him slowly, as if he forcibly restrained it. He dragged in a shaky breath. “So ... now I know,” he said raggedly, a touch of humor in his voice.
Danika looked at him with a mixture of reproach and uncertainty. “What?” she finally asked when he didn't elaborate.
He shook his head dismissively. “Bad idea."
She frowned a question at him, but yielded to his urging and collected her sunglasses, climbing awkwardly back into her own seat. A mixture of amusement and disappointment filled her when she glanced at him and saw him struggling to adjust his erection.
He noticed, favoring her with a grin that was almost more of a grimace. “Strangling the poor bastard. These jeans are too fucking tight."
She tried to hide a smile.
"Pleased with yourself?"
"No,” she lied.
"Liar."
She chuckled, switching the truck on. “It's nice to be appreciated,” she murmured.
He grunted, retrieving the map. “Let's try this place first,” he said, pointing.
She lifted her brows at him, but noted the spot. “You don't want to pick up supplies first?"
"We'll do your thing and then mine."
Danika smiled.
"What?"
She shook her head. “You're sure you don't mind?"
"Nope,” he said, sliding down in the seat and closing his eyes.
Taking that as a sign that he didn't particularly want to chat, Danika focused on her driving, content enough to have it that way. She wasn't used to having anyone to talk to anyway and conversing could be a strain when one wasn't, particularly if one had to carry the bulk of the conversation. For all that he seemed more asleep than awake, Con seemed to sense when they were nearing their destination—maybe because she slowed down.
"Pull over here."
She glanced at him questioningly. “It's still a pretty good way."
"You don't want them to hear you coming, though."
She looked at him in surprise, but pulled over. “I doubt it would get them too stirred up. I'm sure they're used to hearing cars."
"No two cars sound the same, though,” he said cryptically and climbed out before she could voice the question that arose in her mind.
"You think they know what my truck sounds like?” she asked in disbelief when she met him in front of the truck.
He shrugged. “Maybe. They've been hanging around the camp long enough it's possible—just like they'll know your scent a mile off."
"You seem to know an awful lot about wolves."
He glanced at her, studied her a long moment and finally looked away again. “I hunt."
She would've liked to pursue the comment to learn more about him, but he hadn't seemed inclined to encourage her interest and beyond that talking wasn't a good idea. Sounds carried in the woods. They were still well over a mile from the old barn she'd suspected the wolves might be using for a den, but it didn't necessarily follow that they'd all be there even if she had a hit with the first try. Ordinarily, they did most of their hunting at night and tended to stay close to the den during the day, sleeping much of the time, but she'd already discovered she couldn't count on ‘ordinary'.
Shifting the strap of her bag for comfort, she dug her pistol out and shoved it into the waistband of her jeans. Con was eyeing her with amusement when she glanced at him. “Is there anything you
don't
carry in that bag?"
Mildly insulted, she frowned at him. “Lots of things—no kitchen sink, no bed."
She winced inwardly at the last, wondering if he would comment on the direction of her thoughts.
He grinned at her. “That's a shame."
She reddened. “Really?"
"Mmm. I'm thirsty. A sink would come in handy right about now."
The ass! She could tell by the gleam in his eyes that his own thoughts weren't
that
far from hers! Deciding to trump him, she unzipped the bag and pulled out a large bottle of water. He chuckled when she held it out but took it, opening it and taking a long draft of water. She studied him, feeling her belly tighten as she watched the movement of his throat. It made her warm just looking at him, resurrected the memory of his kiss—and other memories that were even more heated.
She emerged from her daze to discover he was holding the bottle out to her. Discomfited, she took it and drank a few swallows herself before she put it away. She discovered when she turned around again that Con had dragged his t-shirt off. Wadding it, he tossed onto the hood of her truck.
"Hot?” she asked before she thought better of it.
His lips curled, hovering just shy of a grin. “I expect I will be by the time we've made the walk."
She was warm and she hadn't even started! Focus Danika!
Con stopped and lifted his head, motioning for her to stop when they were just over halfway there. Puzzled, she halted and studied him curiously. It occurred to her that he was no more aware of the odd gesture than she was really aware of commanding her feet to move when she wanted to walk.
"The wind is drifting from that direction,” he said after a moment, pointing. “We should take to the woods."
Danika didn't particularly want to. Moreover, she didn't really see a need for it. There was a slight breeze, she realized, now that he'd pointed it out, but it didn't seem enough to carry their scent. “They'll
hear
us coming. They won't have to catch the scent."
"Just step where I do."
He didn't wait to see if she was agreeable. He stepped off the narrow, rutted cart path they'd been following and into the woods with barely a rustle of the vegetation. Surprised, she glanced at his feet and discovered that he wasn't even wearing shoes. Shaking her head over that, she followed him, wondering if he even knew where he was going. She certainly couldn't tell anything about their direction once they'd left the road behind. There was no trail to follow and the vegetation was dense enough it wasn't possible to catch more than a glimpse of sky.
He moved steadily and without any appearance of hesitation, though, and when he stopped, she could see the old barn. Impressed, she glanced at him. He seemed completely focused on the barn and the overgrown weeds surrounding it, his gaze slowly sweeping the area. She removed her binoculars from her bag as quietly as possible and lifted them to her eyes, adjusting the focus.
"They're not here. They've been here, but they've moved on."
Wondering how in the world he could tell that when she couldn't even see so much as wallowed out weeds, Danika lowered her glasses and glanced at him again. The tension she hadn't even noticed in him was notable now by its absence. He headed toward the barn, making no attempt now to be quiet.
Unconvinced, Danika felt a flicker of both irritation and alarm as she reluctantly followed him. The signs she hadn't noticed were there, she discovered when they reached the barn. There was a wide trail of flattened vegetation leading from the barn into the woods. Dropping the binoculars back in her bag, she dragged out the small camera she carried with her and took a few pictures of the signs she found—gnawed bones that looked like they were from a fairly large animal, maybe a moose or elk—or a cow. At a glance, it was hard to say. They were dry, the little flesh still clinging to the bones too decayed even to have much appeal for the insects.
"I wonder what made them decide to relocate?” she muttered to herself. The place was pretty remote and, from the look of the barn, had been abandoned by human habitation a very long time. The track she'd been following in her truck wasn't even visible near the barn, having long since been reclaimed by vegetation and even a few small trees.
Con didn't comment, either because he realized it was a rhetorical question or because he didn't actually hear her. She saw when she looked around that he was following the trail the wolves had worn from the barn.
They followed the overgrown track back to the vehicle. Con studied her map while she jotted down a few notes in her note pad. They didn't have any better luck with the next two places she'd marked.
Tired, hungry, and frustrated, Danika took the map from Con after the third dead end and studied it. “We've come a long way from the fishing camp,” she said thoughtfully. “Even figuring they cut a lot of miles off by going through the woods it's hard to believe they'd regularly roam this far."
"Hungry?"
Danika glanced at him a little distractedly. “There's a sandwich in my bag."
Con uttered a chuckle, grabbed her bag and started plundering through it.
"The sandwich is on top,” Danika pointed out, glaring at him for going through her bag.
He dragged it out and looked at it. “This sandwich? Or the half eaten one I found at the bottom?"
"Ew! I thought I'd thrown that away,” Danika said in surprise. “No wonder the bag was starting to smell a little off. Throw it out the window. Not the wrapper! Just the stinky part."
"It all stinks,” Con retorted, pitching the whole thing out.
"Litter-bug! You'll get us arrested."
"I haven't seen any cops."
"That's because they only have two in the whole county."