by Bianca D’Arc
Tales of the Were ~ Grizzly Cove #17
Wolf Tracks
by
Bianca D’Arc
Copyright © 2020 Bianca D’Arc
Hawk Publishing, LLC
New York
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Author.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
www.biancadarc.com
OFFICIAL BIANCA D’ARC NEWSLETTER
He’s a tracker, following danger is his job. She wants to save his life. When worlds collide, can they ride out the storm together?
Jim is a tracker, newly hired by SeaLife Enterprises to find a man who was involved in sinister blood magic. The miscreant has fled the scene of the crime and it will take all Jim’s skill to locate him.
Helen is a healer, part of a highly magical family. When the clairvoyant in the clan sends her to Jim, armed with fireworks and a directive to save Jim’s life, Helen does what she has to do to get the job done. She’s too attracted to Jim to let the man die. Not on her watch.
Outfoxed, but not undone, Helen and Jim set off together to corner their prey near the town of Big Wolf, Texas, where a showdown is on the agenda. Thrown together by fate, Helen and Jim can no longer deny the sparks that flare between them, but is a relationship between them possible? How can they make their very different backgrounds blend? And, can they bring down the evil operation just outside of town, and find a missing boy before it’s all just too late?
Dedication
Dedicated to my Dad, on the occasion of his 95th birthday. He doesn’t read my books, and frankly, I’m glad of that, but I do like to acknowledge his love and emotional support, which makes it possible for me to continue to write in these worlds.
Special thanks to Lila Dubois, who helped keep me on track to finish this manuscript when all I really wanted to do was take a nap. LOL. Thanks also to my editor, Jess, and my dear friend, Peggy, who helps spot continuity errors before these books make it out into the world. Any errors that may dare to remain after all our combined efforts, are purely my responsibility.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
About the Author
Other Books by Bianca D’Arc
Prologue
In the enchanted glow of a decidedly fey garden, a family of werebears, reunited with their lost little girl, accepted the hospitality of their new friends. The papa bear, Martin, was a retired Marine whose specialty was tracking. He’d tracked his cub from the schoolyard in Southeastern Pennsylvania where she’d been abducted, to the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, where she’d been found. The trail had been tricky. Deliberately fouled by evil magic. He’d been stumped several times, but the belief of his human mate and the love they both felt for their missing cub propelled him forward.
He had kept the faith that little Melissa would be found alive, and she had been, just that afternoon, by a mixed group of shifters and other magical folk, who had contacted him and his wife. He’d driven straight to the little town and the paper mill on its edge, finding his cub, much to his great joy and relief.
Martin Ebersole and his wife, Lisa, after much excitement, were now sitting in the fey garden of a cottage rented by one of their cub’s rescuers. The woman, like his mate, was non-magical, but she had wisdom about herbs and had played a role in ending the evil bitch that had kidnapped his child. Kiki Richards and her newfound werebear mate, Jack Bishop, sat on the other side of the patio table, holding hands. Kiki’s sister, Helen, who was a healer, sat beside the younger of two ex-military werewolves, with a human Navy SEAL filling out the group that had saved his little girl. He owed them.
After the family had been reunited at the mill, Kiki had generously offered her cottage to Martin, Lisa and Melissa, so they could clean up and rest a while before heading back home. Her generous heart had touched Lisa, and she’d decided for the family, taking Kiki up on her kindness. Which was how the small family had ended up having dinner with the group in the backyard of that cottage with the magical fey garden.
Melissa had shifted into her bear form and was curled up, asleep, on her mother’s lap while the ladies drank some after-dinner tea. The men were drinking beer, but not heavily. They were all just relaxing after a very trying day.
In the case of Martin and his wife, they’d been on the road for weeks, going from place to place, following the faintest of trails to find their daughter. They’d been close when the call had come in from the Lords, relaying that Melissa had been found. Martin had driven them as fast as he could get away with toward the mill where he’d been directed by those he could trust, and sure enough, Melissa had been there. A bit thinner than she had been. A bit weaker than she should be. But alive. Thanks be to the Mother of All.
Apparently, the team had found her in a laboratory darkroom, restrained with a silver chain that had burned her tender skin, silver being poisonous to many magical creatures. Helen had taken away the marks with her healing power, and Jack had offered to sell the pure silver to a group of Native American artisans who would melt it down and turn it into trinkets for the human market. In that way, they’d be turning something that had been made for evil purposes into something harmless. The money from the sale of such a huge hunk of silver would go toward Melissa’s recovery and future education, which was an even more generous offer.
Martin had called the Lords directly when they’d driven away from the mill and headed for this cottage and learned that these people were able to make such expensive decisions and were as good as their word. Overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit of these people, Martin had taken his wife and cub into his arms when they reached the safety of the fey cottage, and all three had just held each other for a good long while. His wife had cried. Melissa had cried. And, yes, Martin wasn’t too proud to admit there might’ve been some tears of joy and relief in his own eyes, as well.
They’d had a few hours to relax and regroup at the little cottage set in the middle of the most fantastic garden. Martin and Lisa had been on the road for a long time, and it was nice to just sit still, secure in the knowledge that their baby girl was finally safe, with them. Lisa had taken charge, leading Melissa to the bathtub for a long soak. Not l
ong after the girls emerged from the bathroom, smelling of bubble bath and flowers, the others had arrived with bags and bags of take-out food for an impromptu celebration.
They’d taken every chair in the little house out onto the patio in the garden and sat together for a delicious Italian meal. They had talked about general things. The men had compared their military service dates and locations. Martin had been a Recon Marine in Viet Nam. Extended shifter lifespans meant he was still in the prime of life, though he’d been out of the military a long time. Shifters had to move around a bit to conceal the fact that they had much longer lifespans than the average person.
Arch Hanson was a little older than Martin. He’d been a Navy SEAL around the same time and was still considered a legend in Special Forces circles. His nephew, Jim Hanson, had also been a SEAL, though a lot more recently. Both men were werewolves from a reputable Pack in Iowa, and both were friendly with the lone human Special Operator at the table.
Ben Steel was a former Navy SEAL, as well. He was a regular guy who had gotten mixed up with shifters while on an op in South America. Once he’d learned about the secret world of shifters living under the radar, he’d been recruited by an ancient order of watchers known as the Altor Custodis, or AC, for short. He’d worked for them for a few years before realizing that there was something desperately wrong with the organization. Now, he was working to set things right, which was something Martin could respect. Ben had called Arch and Jim for help when he’d realized they were dealing with some seriously bad magic at the paper mill.
Of the others, the three men were all bear shifters, like Martin and his cub. Ace, King, and Jack Bishop had been jokingly referred to as the three little bears sometimes, but seldom where they could hear it. King, in particular, had been known to take offense at the moniker, and a few teeth had been knocked out from other people’s faces as a result.
All three of the bears had found mates recently, which was plenty cause for celebration. Ace had found himself a weather witch named Sabrina, who had a sweet disposition. King had found his mate in a shy werewolf named Marilee, who had originated in a Canadian Pack. Both couples now lived in Grizzly Cove.
That left Jack and his new mate, Kiki of the enchanted cottage, who had apparently only just become mates during the recent crisis at the paper mill. Kiki didn’t have much of a magical gift of her own, but she came from a magical family, and her sister, Helen, was a healer of great ability. Martin knew he owed them all for rescuing and then taking such great care of his daughter. They had all impressed him, and he was trying to come up with a way to pay them back.
The opportunity arose when Melissa fell asleep and the talk turned more serious. The men started discussing what had happened at the paper mill and the loose ends that still needed to be tied up. They had until Monday to clear the site and get it ready for the human workers to go back to work. If they had to take longer than that, their cover story blaming everything on a chemical leak might fall apart, so it was in everyone’s best interest to get things cleaned up as quickly as possible.
“We need to figure out what to do with the freezers,” Sabrina said, looking pointedly at Melissa, asleep on her mother’s lap. They all knew what she meant, though. She didn’t have to spell it out.
Jack had told Martin that, among other things, they’d discovered a few bodies that had been mutilated in various ways, including exsanguination, stored in freezers in the warehouse. Those bodies couldn’t just be turned over to human authorities. For one thing, they still had to identify a few of those poor victims first.
The creature of evil that had kidnapped Melissa had also been abducting adults and killing them. Stealing their power and using their blood and body parts to fuel her sick, twisted, evil potions. If Jack hadn’t already killed her, Martin would have enjoyed ripping her limb from limb and dancing on her entrails.
“Some were employees,” Kiki said softly. “We identified them from their personnel files. They’d been fired—on paper, at least—and none listed any next-of-kin.”
Jack picked up where his mate left off. “We suspect the witch had been singling out loners and people with no family. Nobody to miss them or raise an alarm when they disappeared.”
“That’s so sad,” Lisa said. Martin reached out to take his mate’s hand, squeezing softly in reassurance.
“We can trace the employee victims back through their personnel files and see if there’s anyone who might want to be notified of their passing,” Ace went on. “Some of our government contacts might be of help there with paperwork and such. It’s the ones we haven’t been able to identify yet, that are going to be the bigger challenge.”
“I might be able to help there,” Ben piped up. The lone human male at the gathering, he probably had connections the others knew nothing about. “That janitor that was supposed to be watching the plant for the Altor Custodis was taking copious notes. He might have something in there about it, but there’s a lot of material to sort through.”
“Digital or analog?” Lisa asked, earning some surprised looks from those gathered at the table. They didn’t know his mate, after all. Martin sat back and let her educate them, feeling pride in his ultra-intelligent wife.
“A little of both,” Ben replied warily.
“If you can get me a scanner and internet access, I might be able to help you,” Lisa said, her confidence in her chosen field clear in her words and expression. “We can take the digital records and set up a search algorithm that might help find the information you want faster. Likewise, we can scan in the handwritten pages and run optical character recognition. It’s not perfect, but it’s not as bad as it was in the past. I have some personal tweaks that I’ve made to handwriting analysis that might make it easier and a little more accurate, as well.”
“Is this what you do?” Kiki asked, clearly intrigued.
Lisa nodded. “I own a company that assists large law firms with the discovery process. We analyze lots of data all the time. I have a few hundred employees who all work remotely, each working with specific, dedicated client accounts, to avoid any possible conflicts of interest or possible leaks of information.”
“That’s fascinating,” Sabrina said, looking impressed. Actually, they all looked impressed. As well they should be. Martin was very proud of the business Lisa had built. She was a powerhouse. A computer nerd and loveable math geek. And she was all his.
“Do you have to get on the road right away tomorrow?” Jack asked, a hopeful note in his voice.
Martin looked over at Lisa and knew she wanted to repay these people for their help in finding Melissa as much as he did. Also, helping them clean up the mess that witch had left behind was the right thing to do for everyone.
“We hadn’t planned that far ahead, to be honest,” Martin told them all. “We’ve been on Melissa’s trail for weeks, so staying in one place for a bit to regroup is appealing.”
“And we really want to help you,” Lisa put in. “You’ve all been so incredibly kind.” Lisa’s eyes teared, and she stopped talking. Martin squeezed her hand again.
“I can have whatever equipment you need delivered first thing in the morning,” Jack promised. “There are scanners and computers at the plant, but I wouldn’t ask you to split up or to take Melissa back there. You can work from the cottage, if you want. Or the hotel, if that’s easier. I can get you a suite, no problem. In fact, you can have mine, since I’ll be with Kiki.” He reached into his pocket and took out his hotel key, handing it over to Martin. “Come to think of it, you’d probably be more comfortable there. It’s a big suite with a couple of private bedrooms, a kitchenette and dining area. We could set up the computer equipment on the big table in the main room, and there are plenty of outlets.”
“Something this cottage lacks, unfortunately,” Kiki said with a cringing smile. “Though, it does have other compensations, there’s no WiFi here.”
“We’re all staying at the hotel, too,” Helen put in. “All our rooms are next to ea
ch other, in a block. It’s very safe and clean. They also have nice amenities, including a pool, hot tub, and sauna.”
“The hotel sounds perfect,” Lisa said, having reined in her emotions. “Thank you. I’ll just jot down what I’ll need.”
She reached into her purse with one hand, taking out a small memo set that had a pen clipped to one side of a small pad. The logo of her company was emblazoned on the front as she flipped it open and started to write. While she did that, the others kept talking.
“There’s also the matter of Buford Somersby,” Jim mentioned. “The warehouse worker who wanted so desperately to get into that freezer section. He had to be in on it with the witch. He wasn’t under her spell. He was part of her organization. Had to be.” Jim’s expression was grim.
“He already skipped town,” Arch put in, looking disgruntled, but resigned. “Trail is either clouded by dark magic or getting cold by now. Or both.”
And that’s where, Martin realized, he could be of some help. Since it looked like they were staying for the weekend, he would do his best to use his superior tracking skills to help them find their target. He could at least get them headed in the right direction before he took his small family home.
Chapter One
Jim Hanson, ex-Navy SEAL and nephew of Arch Hanson, a legend in his own time, stepped on the gas of his pickup truck. He was part of a small convoy, following both the Ebersole family’s truck and Helen Richards’ compact car as they all got on the highway, heading east. Jim was really following Martin Ebersole’s lead. Helen was just traveling with them as far east as the trail led them, for added safety. Her sister, Kiki, had insisted.
Oddly enough, Kiki and Helen’s mother had called last night to discuss Helen’s return travel arrangements. Their mother was clairvoyant, so when she suggested Helen tag along with the trackers, Helen had agreed without argument. After their mother had hung up, both Kiki and Helen had exchanged a knowing look and explained that it was just easier and usually better to do what their mother asked them to do. She always had a reason, and things always worked out better if they listened to her casual advice.