“I know you had all those plans to go off to college,” Sloan stared straight ahead as she spoke, not wanting her eyes to give away more of her feelings.
“Yeah, well all sorts of plans were blown the hell out of the water after Flagstaff.” Cole kicked a rock so it flew several feet directly in front of him, primed and ready for him to kick again when he got closer. “What about you? What were your plans?”
Sloan shrugged her toned shoulders. She was wearing one of Meg’s old winter running suits. She was a good five inches shorter than Meg at 5’1”, so the sleeves were shoved up and away from her hands, and she had rolled the waistband once before tightening the pull string so the cuffs didn’t drag.
“Meg’s suit is a little big on you,” Cole commented.
“I don’t mind. I kinda like the hand-me-down from her. I didn’t get to know her for very long, but the more I learn about Meg, the more I admire her. She was a strong, beautiful girl.”
“Is!” Cole snapped.
“What?” Sloan turned to look at Cole, surprised by the sudden change in his tone.
“Meg is a strong, beautiful girl. Don’t talk about her in the past tense.” A scowl parked on Cole’s face as he kicked the rock hard, away from their path.
“Of course,” Sloan stammered, “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything.”
Cole said nothing, but quickened his pace just enough to show his annoyance at the girl. That’s when he looked around for Maze. The coydog was nowhere in sight.
He put his fingers up to his tongue and whistled loud enough to scare some birds from the nearest tree.
“When was the last time you saw Maze?” Cole asked, worry darting across his eyes.
“When I stopped running, he came up to me. That was only, what, seven minutes ago?” Sloan was spinning slowly in place peering carefully around them.
Cole whistled again, clapped twice and called Maze’s name.
They waited; sure the coydog would come bounding out of some bush toward them at any moment.
Chapter 46 Gone
All they heard was the breeze rustling the nearby palm leaves.
“This isn’t good,” Cole said aloud what they were both thinking.
“He didn’t have enough time to get far.” Sloan caught Cole’s worried eyes.
“You go to the house and tell whoever’s there that Maze has taken off. I’ll start running north and see if I can’t find him.”
“You’re going to run after a coydog? You’ll never catch him.”
“No, but maybe I can change his mind.” Cole began sprinting away. “I have to do something,” he called over his shoulder.
Shaking her head at Cole’s impulsiveness, she began running the last half mile toward the house with as much speed and concern for her form as possible. Once she rounded the last curve toward the house, she realized she would be running to get help from a woman in a wheelchair and a four-year-old. No one else was at the house.
Damn it, she growled at herself remembering the sad, intelligent eyes of the coydog as he walked toward her for a scratch. Maybe he was saying goodbye, she thought now that she remembered the expression on his face. She had become accustomed to his mournful mannerisms, but his face had looked different.
The coydog had looked resolved.
Sloan picked up her pace forgetting everything Cole had just taught her about form. She flew the rest of the way to the house that sat in a secluded patch of land.
She hunted for the house key in her sports bra and shoved it in place hurriedly.
“Dr. Winter?” she called to the quiet house.
“She’s sleeping, Sloan. What’s wrong?” Evan rounded the corner drying his hands on a dish towel.
“Oh, thank goodness someone else is here.”
“I just stopped by to pick something up before heading back to the lab.” Evan offered Sloan a moment to catch her breath.
“Maze, he’s run off again. Cole is trying to chase him on foot, but we need to get in a car and find him before he gets too far.”
“Shoot. You stay here as the point of contact. Tell Mom what’s going on when she wakes.” Evan ran to his room and came out holding a tranquilizing gun.
“What’s that for?” Sloan blurted, taken aback.
“He’s not going to want to come quietly. He’s looking for his alpha. He’s a pack creature and is determined to find Meg,” Evan said calmly while his hands checked the cartridges and the safety on the gun.
“Across an ocean?”
“He doesn’t know where she is, but he’ll follow her scent to the end of the earth.”
Then he reached to grab the keys to his motorcycle and thought twice. “Let Mom know I took Theo’s sedan. I’ll have to put Maze in a car when I find him. Cole too, for that matter.” He grabbed the keys to Theo’s older luxury car and hurried out the door.