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"I already said, I don’t have a boyfriend"

"Hue hanging out whenever you’re around" I sighed and Molly shook her head, vexed, starting the van "Take care, Big-Cat"

She was pulling away before I realized that she hadn’t asked me to the house for dinner No invitations to visit with her there had been forthco at all, and I didn’t think it was because of er trusted ood reason

CHAPTER THREE

You Fight Dirty

I straddled the long seat, turned the key starting Fang, and waved to Molly taking off in herthe road in the opposite direction and stopped in the e where the wolves attacked Itty Bitty The water was up, several feet higher than last night, the power co opened the dam to make power and provide water for the businesses that depend on the releases Evidence not collected overnight, or missed before the water release, had been washed away A commercial raft rounded the bend in the river, the occupants wet and laughing Kayakers played in eddies and s Itty Bitty and her beau, I found et up here pronto and heal the injured, before the were-taint turned the the locals more vamp-friendly Satisfied I had done all I could for the injured, I gunned the bike

On the far side of the river, I followed rindy on the breeze The scent see Mountain No big surprise there, yet rindy-scent worriedthe bike, I passed in front of the RV ca after, I headed sharply uphill, crossing the state line back into North Carolina

The peak of Stirling Mountain is nearly six thousand feet high with aall the way up I would be stopping at the national park to check out a theory and talk to a guy I had been avoiding--pretty boy Rick LaFleur, the boyfriend-asn’t, that Molly had mentioned This little side trip hy I had taken the bike instead of asking one of the twins to fly oire’s helicopter Well, that and the fact that Beast had flatly refused to fly in the metal contraption

The cli Creek--its rindy scent--on one side of the road was dried to a trickle this time of year unless a heavy rain hit Then the hair-head, adrenaline-junkie kayakers would be all over the place, taking the steep, highly dangerous creeking-run through its rocks, trees, and boulders All around me on the climb were farmhouses on small farms, fallow land, horses, cattle, and harvested fields, so round hay bales on the peripheries Wildfloere everywhere If I had been riding a quieter ht have seen deer, turkey, even bear this ti Harleys weren’t built for stealth

I ravel road that had been cut from the side of the ht uphill, the other down, sharply, to the boulders of Big Creek I passed through the horse area with its special ca posts, the distinct scent of horse andwas full of cars, but I rowth and trees dense on both sides, to the ca area The air enty degrees cooler here, fresh and damp and rich with scent I closed my eyes and breathed deeply The weak bouquet of wild orchids that blooer were the odors of flowering bee balm, mountain mint, milkweed, and crushed jeeed, the reen ferns and amey were raccoon, squirrel, opossum, with dozens of bird varieties, and the horses Faintly, fro it all was the stench ofof beer, food, charcoal, and seared ht It wasn’t the smells of The People, the Cherokee of my distant memory, but it was reminiscent

And over it all rode three of the scents I’d co ht this ti in these hills, not ever They had the under-tang of foreign lands, of jungle, rushing violent rivers, and darkest, -cat smell, feral, fierce, ferocious Alien

I opened her up the round muffled my boot steps I hadn’t been here recently, but I knehere I was going The scents told ht chill, I slipped out of er over -cat I wasn’t ar the day in a national park, no matter that I was licensed to carry concealed Sometimes it wasn’t smart to taunt law enforce had taken place last night