Which was why he still hadn't chosen a mate. At a guess, he had to suppose the others had the same problem—no trouble getting any number of women in their beds, an enjoyment of the variety offered that made them disinclined to settle for just one, and a complete lack of tolerance for those same bed partners once they'd shot their seed. A mating didn't have to be forever, but a few years of hell could feel like forever and he hadn't felt the need to breed strong enough to feel like taking a chance on tying himself to a woman he couldn't get rid of fast enough.
Frowning at the turn of his thoughts, he shook them off and focused on weeding the
weres
from the humans as the church goers made their way up the walk and into the chapel.
"What was your count?” he asked Con once the doors had closed behind the last of them.
Con reddened guiltily. “I thought you were counting."
Shrugging off his own discomfort, Balin eyed Con coolly. “I was. I wanted to compare notes."
Con nodded, frowning in intense concentration for several moments. “A round dozen ... including the preacher."
Balin's lips tightened in annoyance. “I made the preacher as a
were
."
Con's eyes widened for a moment. “I didn't get close enough to tell."
"He shook your hand,” Balin pointed out dryly.
"Was that the preacher?” Con asked uncomfortably. “Oh, yeah. I should've said a dozen
ex
cluding the preacher."
Balin released an irritated huff. “I wasn't paying attention either, damn it. We'll have to stay until they come out again."
"Well shit!” Con exclaimed in disgust. “I'm hungry. I sure as hell don't want to wait around and then try to beat them down to the diner when the preacher turns them out."
"There is that,” Balin said thoughtfully. “Fuck! Let's just go in and do a head count. We might as well forget subtlety. When the shit hits the fan they're going to know what's going on anyway."
They met up with Xavier, Jared, and Dakota at the diner thirty minutes later. Dakota, who'd drawn the smallest church, was waiting when they arrived. Xavier and Jared arrived shortly behind them.
"I counted thirty five,” Dakota reported when the waitress had taken their order and left again.
"Forty to fifty,” Jared said.
Balin gave him a look.
"What? They haven't fucking changed yet. You know as well as I do that the scent isn't as strong until they've made the change. Besides which, the
weres
weaving in and out among the humans confused the scent."
"You should've gotten closer if you weren't certain,” Balin pointed out. “Con and I counted forty eight—definite."
Jared and Xavier both glared at him at the rebuke but swallowed their spleen. “Alright, so we're talking maybe a hundred. What was the population of this little burg again?"
"The sign at the city limits claimed a thousand, but it looked pretty damn outdated to me. I'm guessing they've had a decrease in the years since that sign was put up, but it'd just be guessing,” Balin said.
"It's just guessing all the way around,” Jared said disgustedly. “It didn't seem to me that there was much of a turn out for church. Half the place was empty and we don't know it that's usual or not."
"Same here,” Dakota put in. “Everybody seemed nervous, though. I'm thinking a lot of people stayed home because they know something's going on even if they haven't figured out what."
Balin frowned thoughtfully. “That would explain the streets being so empty on a Saturday when it should have been the busiest day of the week. So we're looking at around a hundred, definite, that haven't been infected—yet—possibly several times that many that are too scared to come out. Short of blowing this wide open and doing exactly what the council feared—removing the illusion the humans have that there's no such thing as wolfen or werewolves—we need to come up with something they'd more easily believe to protect the lie and still protect the uninfected."
"A bio-hazard?” Jared asked a little doubtfully. “I don't how convincing that would be in such an out of the way place."
Balin looked at him in surprise, but he immediately saw the merits of the suggestion. “I can guarantee they aren't so cut off they haven't heard all the hype about terrorists,” Balin retorted. “And that would not only be easier to believe than the truth, but I doubt they feel insignificant enough to be a target. Besides, it would be something to explain the things they've noticed—that a lot of people aren't behaving ‘normally'."
"It could create a panic,” Dakota pointed out. “There's not going to be anything ‘quiet’ about that."
"We've already agreed that there's no way to hush this up like the council wants. It's too big already. If we're careful, we could contain the panic to this one small area, though, and I think it would serve the council's purposes well enough even if it got out. They'll be satisfied as long as the story that gets out has nothing to do with wolfen,” Balin said.
"An outbreak of some kind of rare disease or contamination of the water supply might create less noise,” Xavier pointed out.
Balin shrugged. “We don't actually have to tell them anything beyond the fact that we're looking for something. We can let their imagination do the rest. What we need is to get an official looking vehicle, hazmat suits, and equipment that looks convincing enough to turn everybody out to get checked. We find a place big enough, and solid enough, to guard them and ‘quarantine’ everyone that isn't infected. After transition we can explain away any deaths as the results of riots and/or the illness.
"We're going to have our hands full during transition, but it'll bring out the rogues that started this mess. Once we take care of them, I don't think we'll have too much trouble cowing the rest. There's no going back for them. We'll have to make them understand they'll be expected to abide by tribal laws, have them settle on a leader until the council decides who to put in charge of the territory."
"Danika might be a problem,” Con said.
"She already is a problem,” Balin agreed. “A distraction we can't afford."
Con reddened faintly. “I meant, she'll know it's a ruse. And if I know how her mind works—and I'm beginning to get a feel for it—she'll be totally pissed off at what she sees as interference with her own agenda. She was sent to evaluate the situation and come up with a solution. Even if we could convince her we were sent here by the CDC or some other government agency, she'd going to want to know why she wasn't kept in the loop."
"I'll keep her distracted,” Dakota offered, mock solemn.
Balin wasn't amused.
"Try it and I'll fucking rip your head off,” Con growled.
"Seems to me you're getting damned territorial over a woman that isn't yours,” Jared snarled. “You kissed her. You didn't mark her."
"Exactly!” Xavier agreed indignantly.
"You can't mark her,” Balin said coldly. “None of us can. She's human, not wolfen, not even
were
. It wouldn't take."
"How do you know?” Con demanded. “You ever tried?"
Balin narrowed his gaze on Con at the challenge. “I haven't, but it's been tried."
"Myths and legends,” Con spat with disgust. “She responded to me."
Balin tamped his rage with an effort. “She would. We're wolfen. Even as weak as the human instincts are, they can't resist something as powerful wolfen pheromones. But that doesn't change the fact that they don't choose mates as we do, or feel the ties we do."
"Who the fuck is talking about choosing a mate?” Dakota demanded. “None of us are stupid enough to try that.
I
know it wouldn't take. She could fuck every one of us and not feel anymore bound to one than another."
"But would you feel the same?” Balin asked pointedly.
The question rocked all of them back on their heels. He could see it hadn't occurred to them, being alphas, that they might get caught up in something they'd have a hard time shaking.
"I'm willing to risk it,” Jared offered after an uncomfortably prolonged silence. “Someone needs to or she'll be in the thick of this and then there'll be no covering it up."
Jared had a point he hadn't considered, Balin realized, wondering if it was an actual problem or he was just as eager as the others to find a reasonable excuse to do what he wanted. They needed to keep Danika distracted and out of the thick of things. “Your willingness to sacrifice yourself for the good of all moves me,” he murmured sardonically.
"Moves me, too,” Con snarled. “Maybe I won't wait to take your fucking head off!"
"I volunteered first, god damn it!” Dakota growled.
"To take his head off?” Xavier asked doubtfully. “I thought that was Con offering to take
your
head off."
"Shut up, Dupree!” Jared snapped.
Xavier glowered at him. “You think you can make me?"
Balin sought patience and failed. “We'll settle it ... tonight.
* * * *
Danika's preoccupation nearly ruined her goal in going into the woods to start with. She'd already crossed the bisecting path where she'd seen the tracks before she thought to check her pedometer again. She spotted the tracks the moment she looked down.
"Well shit!"
Turning, she retraced her steps, further disgusted when she saw she'd already trampled all over the tracks. Focused now, she moved to the edge of the trail, staring at the ground until she found a wider area where the ground was soft enough to make a better mold of the prints. Crouching down, she pulled a small measuring tape from her bag and her note pad and pen and began trying to sort the tracks. When her knees and thighs began to feel the strain of her position, she got on her knees and crawled around in the dirt, straightening from time to time to relieve the strain on her back and neck.
She counted fifteen. A little surprised to discover such a large pack, she carefully studied the tracks again. Definitely fifteen, she decided, making note of it in her notepad, although she would've been much happier if she could have seen the pack. She still needed to. The variation in the size of the tracks just wasn't conclusive enough, especially when the wolves crossed and recrossed each other's tracks and it was an unusually large pack from what she could tell.
The alpha male was easier to discern. His tracks were noticeably bigger than the others.
And the same size as the tracks she'd found outside her cabin.
A shiver of uneasiness went through her as the memory arose, unbidden, of Balin's comment about the hunter becoming the hunted.
Why would the alpha male have been at her cabin? If, indeed, it was the same wolf, and she saw no reason to doubt it. There might've been some room for doubt if not for the fact that this was the only wolf pack in this area.
Undoubtedly, he'd tracked her from her observation post, but aside from understanding how he'd found her that still didn't explain why he'd hunted her to start with.