“THE BEAR! AFTER IT!” Marcell cries.
Oh, sweet lord.
I’m tempted to leave him to it, but Hazard would have no problem accidentally losing him out here. I do not want to spend the night hunting this moron down.
He’s already spent two hours showing me pictures of his cats, Snowball and Dark Pepper. Apparently, Snowball has a yeast infection and is being treated with herbal remedies that he learned from the native people he met, supposedly, while he was searching for the rare and endangered horned puff adder, which has ancient medicinal properties in its tears.
I had worked very hard not to roll my eyes.
I’m wondering if the person who’s paying him to do this is secretly hoping he’ll try to pat something poisonous and die. To be fair, it’s an effective way to kill someone. I don’t think there’s any way to trace the death back to the boss, especially if he removes paper trails.
I need to stop thinking about offing this guy, get him back to town, and get back to my mountain, without a rap sheet, preferably.
I grumble as I follow the loud sounds of Marcell. He suddenly explodes through a bush, holds a finger to his lips, shushes me, and then cups his ear, listening intently.
Who is this guy, and what’s wrong with him? Did he forget his meds this morning?
To my absolute annoyance, Wrath is sitting right behind him, staring at his face, slowly wagging his tail back and forth.
“This way!” he shouts loud enough to wake the bear he’s trying to hunt down and runs off, never once seeing the predator at his back.
This is ridiculous. I turn to the wolves.
“Which one of you picked him?”
Wrath looks at Riot. The pitch-black wolf snorts and slinks into the bushes as I gesture rudely to him.
None of them come to save me, but I think they are getting some kind of perverse pleasure out of this. I trudge up the path as my date darts from bush to bush, shouting when he finds something of note, which, of course, is anything but.
“Shall we head back to the car?” I suggest.
He gives me such an offended glare that I immediately feel guilty and then wonder why.
“We’re on the verge of discovery; it’s our duty to this planet to see this through.”
“Humanity never did much for me.”
He doesn’t hear me but continues on. He undoes his jacket, and I watch in growing horror as he uncovers a hidden fanny pack, stuffed full of–what is that? I peer closely as he pulls out…oh, a sample jar. At this point, I’m not even surprised.
Hazard bounces out and woofs at him.
I cover my face with my hand as Marcell screams in a high and strangely female way.
“Do you see that? Do you see it? It’s a wolf. A big red wolf.”
I remove my hand as Hazard rolls on his back and paws at the air.
“That’s a dog, not a wolf.”
“Excuse you, but I’m the wildlife expert, and I think I would know. I spent seven years studying at the highest ranking university with the best animal courses.”
“Oh, did you?” I snap. “I know that is a dog.”
“How do you know that? It’s clearly a wolf.” The dismissive arrogance of this man is maddening.
I growl in frustration. “Hazard, come.”
He snaps to his feet, jumps three bounds, and lands beside me, woofing up at me. Appearing for all intents and purposes like he’s a red Labrador Retriever.
