Peyton flexed his arms, his legs, but he was trussed tightly and in a way that, even if he shifted, he still couldn’t easily escape because of the neck and body ropes binding him.
Almost like the man knew exactly who—or what—he was dealing with.
That’s when the man’s words finally hit Peyton.
Oh, shit. He knows I’m a Prime.
That meant he was either dealing with a wolf, or someone intimately familiar with wolf shifters.
Finally, Peyton opened his eyes and spotted the man standing farther back in the shadows of what was, yes, a cave.
He also resembled a wild man, with a long, scraggly beard and strong BO, and?—
Yep. Wolf.
Peyton’s nose wrinkled because this wasn’t a wolf he knew.
Still, there was…something.
Something familiar about him.
He also couldn’t help drawing parallels to when Ken and Nami had stumbled across Duncan in the Idaho wilderness.
“Who are you?” Peyton finally asked, belatedly processing the man not only spoke English, but he did so with an American accent. “What’d you do to me?”
The man changed position but didn’t approach. He wore a couple of blankets draped over and around him, but he wasn’t wearing any clothes Peyton could see.
“Sorry about that.” He pointed to something on the floor that looked like a couple of strips of cloth with several large rocks dumped next to it. “Primitive, but effective. Sling,” he added.
“You could have killed me.” Peyton couldn’t even sit up, he was trussed so tightly.
“Not when you’re a wolf. Didn’t want to kill you. If I’d wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we? I’d have come at you with a spear or a knife or garrote after knocking you out.” His American accent sounded…odd. Like maybe he hadn’t spoken English to another person in a long time. Not even the way Duncan sounded, but…
Like he’d been used to speaking something besides English. For years.
“That was you following me,” Peyton said.
The man nodded. “You might have thought you were being quiet, but I know every noise in this area, and you sounded like a drunk elephant in a china shop. I was tracking you for over an hour once you entered my territory. I know every inch of this place, even in fog.”
Well, that explained what Peyton had felt. “What do you want with me?”
The man considered him for a long moment. “Who are you running from?”
“Why is a wolf living out here in the middle of nowhere in a cave?”
The stranger smiled. “We going right to it, then? I think I’m the one with the advantage here.”
“I suppose so.” Peyton wriggled around into a better position so he didn’t have to crane his neck as much to see the guy. “You sound like an American.”
“So do you.”
Stalemate.
“Do you want money?” Peyton asked. “Is that what this is about?”
The guy harshly laughed, more a bark, and held out his hands, indicating the cave. “Do I look like I need money to survive? The further off the grid I stay, the better. I want to know what the hell you are doing out here in the middle of no-fucking-where.”
Back to square one.
