“And then a three-hour hike to Nathan’s cabin,” Jon added. “It’sgoing to be a long day.”
“What about supplies?”
Coughing a little, Skoll reached for his water glass. “We already loaded the truck with enough carry-in rations to last a week. The cabin should be stocked too.”
“Let’s get going, then.” Blade shoved to his feet. “We don’t want to be traipsing around in a strange forest in the dark.”
“Chill, man.” Skoll made an encompassing gesture with his arm, taking in the chainsaw-art grizzly in the corner, the Native paintings on the wall, and everything else in the Alaska-themed room. “We’re in the land of the midnight sun. This time of year, it’ll be light until ten, and we’ll only have partial darkness for a couple of hours.”
Scotty had to push the fries aside before she ate the entire plate. “Seems like an odd time of year for creatures like wendigos to be out. From what little research I managed before we came, they’re more of a cold-weather-and-darkness monster.”
“They are,” Skoll agreed. “That’s why this is so strange.”
“So, you believe they’re real?” Blade’s question was more of a challenge than a genuine query. He’d been skeptical from the beginning. “Not a myth?”
“They’re real.” Jon’s voice was a bear-like growl.
“How do you know?” Blade pressed.
Jon gathered the files on the table. “The stories were passed down in my family for generations.”
“Ah,” Blade said. “So, anecdotal evidence.”
Jon chucked the folders into a box with enough force to nearly knock it over. “My great-great-grandfather was killed by his brother, after he was turned into a wendigo by an evil spirit.”
Blade’s struggle to not roll his eyes was making him twitch, so Scotty quickly drew Jon’s attention. “Any idea why a wendigo would be active in the middle of the summer?”
“There are a couple of theories.” Jon looked between the three of them, but mostly at her. He had gorgeous eyes. Sea green and clear, like the water surrounding her father’s island. This guy might be a pop-the-cherry contender. “It’s possible that it was summoned. Maybe by someone wanting revenge on the missing men or to protect the land. It’s also possible it was awakened from hibernation after a recent earthquake. We don’t know. But that’s what we’re going to find out.”
Skoll tossed some more files into the box. “Our supe says you have some sort of new weapon to test on these things?”
“It collects souls.” Scotty gestured to Blade’s backpack, where he’d stowed the Reaper. Out of the three of them, he was the best shot with a firearm or crossbow. Scotty could kick all their asses with every other kind of bow, though. “But it’ll only work if the wendigos are demons.”
Jon lifted his jacket off the back of his chair. “We brought flamethrowers and flammable arrows. Fire’s the most effective weapon against them.”
Skoll, having nearly drained his ice water, paused with the glass near his mouth. “Disagree.” He had nice lips. Not as full as Jon’s, but less cruel. More like Mace’s. And he had a crooked smile like Blade. “Decapitation kills everything.”
“Scotty is amazing with a sword,” Mace said, and she nodded, because yeah, she was. “So, we got the decapitation thing covered.”
“Good. Because wendigos don’t fuck around.” Jon paused, and when he spoke again, his tone was dark. “I’ve fought a lot of demons and not much scares me.”
Blade cocked a dark eyebrow. “You’re afraid of something that’s probably a myth?”
“They’re cannibals,” Jon said gravely. “And they want you alive when they start eating you.” Jon threw on his jacket and scooped up the box of files. “You’d better hope they’re myths, because if you aren’t afraid, you’re an idiot.”
The ride to the trailhead in the Land Rover took forever. Mace hated taking forever to do anything. When he wanted something, he wanted itnow. If he wanted to go somewhere, he wanted to be thereright now. And when he wanted a female, he wanted herright fucking now.
This sitting-in-a-vehicle shit was for humans. But since Alaska had few Harrowgates—what lunatic demon wanted to haunt frozen tundras and uninhabited forests?—they had no choice but to spend hours on shitty roads, with Scotty squished in the back seat between him and Blade.
Some of the roads could barely even be called such. Rutted dirttrails met with cracked and buckled pavement, and they often narrowed into single, overgrown paths.
They used the time to get to know each other or sleep. Mace had managed to catch a few winks, and Blade had slept almost the entire way. At least his eyes had been closed. Still, Mace suspected the guy had kept track of everything going on around him. Scotty, always a chatterbox, kept the conversation going by asking Skoll and Jon questions about their work and lives.
Mace wasn’t sure he liked how chipper she was, and hedefinitelydidn’t like how much they flirted with her.
She soaked it all up, laughing at their stupid stories. Her words from yesterday kept flashing in Mace’s mind.
I think it’s time to lose my virginity.
