Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,4
and helping keep the Pack secure.
Uncle Arch was one of Jim’s favorite people, and Arch had been teaching Jim everything he knew for years, which Jim really enjoyed. From time to time, they went on missions together. Arch and Jim had become sort of a team of troubleshooters. When necessary, they’d leave Pack territory to do side jobs for the Pack, friends of the Pack, or Others who needed their specialized help. They’d been finishing up just such a mission when Ben Steel had called for help, and they’d hightailed it right over to act as backup at the paper mill. Luckily, they’d already been near enough to the area to get there fast enough to help.
It had gone a bit like clockwork. They’d arrived on scene just in time to help with the mop-up, which was really the largest part of the job. There were a lot of confused human factory workers who had to be dealt with, and Arch and Jim had been able to arrive on-scene like the cavalry and played the role of first responders to all those dazed employees. It had worked like a charm.
They’d stayed on through the weekend, but the bear brothers had things covered once Monday rolled around and the plant reopened. The Ebersoles had stayed, as well, regrouping a bit after their long journey, with Lisa Ebersole working her computer magic on behalf of SeaLife Enterprises while Martin had done his tracking thing.
Martin had followed the missing employee’s trail eastward to a neighboring town, just down the highway. They would start the hunt in earnest there, and make decisions about whether or not Helen would continue to travel with them. According to Helen and Kiki, though, it was very likely Helen would be with the hunting party for some time to come. If their mother told Helen to travel with them, Mrs. Richards had likely foreseen a large part of the journey already.
Jim thought about that as they drove along in loose formation. What must it be like to grow up with a mother who knew things before they actually happened? How could a kid have any fun—or get into any trouble—with a mother like that? Of course, she could also help a lot of people with her gift.
That Helen, too… She had a healing gift that was incredibly powerful. She was a good person, down deep inside. Her spirit shone as she used her gift to heal that little girl who had been so abused at the hands of evil. Helen had worked with little Melissa several times since she’d been freed, giving the badly drained girl a boost in energy and inner strength each time. Jim had witnessed two such sessions and been impressed with the power Helen wielded with such grace both times.
She was a beauty, too. Classical features and sunshine-blonde hair with pale blue eyes that looked almost gray. Fair Helen was gorgeous, both in body and in soul. Tall and willowy, she looked as if a good strong wind would blow her away, but there was also an odd sort of strength about her. Jim felt a keen attraction to the delicate healer, but he wasn’t sure if she felt the same.
Who was he kidding? A woman like Helen had her pick of male company. No way would she choose a hard-edged ex-soldier werewolf with complications in his life she couldn’t even begin to imagine. Helen was so pure of spirit. So untouched. He wouldn’t mar her life by trying to worm his way into it. He wouldn’t be that cruel.
Helen drove along, between the two pickup trucks, wondering why her mother had been so insistent that Helen travel with the trackers as far as possible. She had driven to West Virginia all by herself and had managed all right. She didn’t need babysitters to get her back to southeastern Pennsylvania and her family.
Mom had to have had ulterior motives. Mom always had ulterior motives. What they were might come clear in time. Or not. Mom’s gift was cagey that way. Helen had, more or less, come to terms with being manipulated by an oracle since birth. When you were born into the Richards family, that was just the way things were. You learned to deal with it and move on with your life.
If Helen were to place a bet, she might think her mother’s machinations were designed to let Helen spend as much time as possible with the dishy werewolf in the truck behind her