by Delta James
Ava made her way down the dark steps, careful not to fall. It was paramount that she not be found out. She had no doubt in her mind that should anyone in the pack discover her plans, she would be taken to Ioan immediately and disciplined harshly.
Once she was at the lowest point of the passageway, she followed the tunnel away from the sea. As a child she had explored the tunnel system that ran under the estate and committed to memory which tunnels and turns led to which end point. The one she followed now would put her not only outside of the estate but a mile past the town that abutted it. Ava planned to double back and borrow a car to take her to Cardiff and her new life. She didn’t see it as stealing as she planned to send the owner a note as to where the car could be found and money to cover any and all expenses associated with retrieving it.
Ava found a car she knew she could borrow easily. She didn’t start feeling like she’d made a clean getaway until her forged passport had allowed her to board the plane, the plane lifted off and turned toward the United States. Pleased with herself, Ava allowed herself to relax and sleep, dreaming of her new life.
* * *
Bethan grew more worried as the morning got closer to noon. Finally, despite everything else, Bethan knew she had no choice but to tell Ioan she thought Ava had gone missing. Bethan had noted that Ava was missing from breakfast. She’d chalked it up with her not wanting to deal with Griffin and Maddie. Bethan had tremendous sympathy for her, but was happy that her younger brother had indeed found his fated mate. Griffin’s Madeline was perfect for him.
She asked one of the other pack members to locate Colum and ask him to join her and Ioan in the latter’s study. She knocked on the door before poking her head in.
“Might I disturb you, my love?” she asked quietly.
“My love, is it? At this hour? Has my mate regressed to the naughty ways of her youth?”
Bethan laughed. “Nay, my love. You and your strap cured me of that nonsense.”
“As I recall,” he said, “it took more than one lesson.”
As she got closer to her mate, Ioan reached out and pulled her into his lap, kissing her soundly and running his hand down her back to cup her derriere fondly.
There was a knock and Colum entered. He smiled broadly at the sight before him. His alpha had his mate in his lap and her face was flushed with desire.
“I was told you and Bethan wanted to see me, but I can come back at a more convenient time.”
Bethan tried to rise and straighten her clothes, but Ioan wasn’t having it. He pulled her back into his lap, trapping her there.
“I wasn’t aware we were meeting, but it would seem my mate has something to tell us,” Ioan said, looking at Bethan.
Bethan bit her lip. She had no desire to tattle on any of her ladies, but feared Ava might be doing something foolish, bordering on reckless and dangerous.
“What is it, sweetheart?” Ioan asked, realizing his mate was in distress.
“I suspect,” offered Colum, “that one of her ladies has done something naughty for which she will need to be disciplined. And if I had to wager money, I’d bet on Ava.”
Bethan remained quiet.
“Is that it?” asked Ioan. “Has Ava done something?”
“I don’t know,” answered Bethan. “I went upstairs to check on her and her bed hasn’t been slept in. There are a few clothes missing and some things I know are dear to her.”
“Bloody hell,” swore Colum. “This is my fault, Alpha. I failed to discipline her as harshly as I should the last time Griffin was home and she threw herself at him. Then last night I only threatened to spank her if she misbehaved.”
Ioan shook his head. “Tis not your fault, Colum. Ava’s a smart girl. I rather suspect she’s been planning something for a while. If she overheard Bethan and me talking the other day about finding her a suitable mate, it may have tipped the scales and made her feel she had to run.”
“Ioan, you don’t think so truly, do you?” asked Bethan, quite concerned.
“I do indeed,” was his reply. “Colum, contact the airports and train stations. I fear she has a head start of at least several hours. I’ll call Dylan Grainger in the States. He’s Skylar’s new mate and Ava may reach out to her if she’s headed to America.”
“Should I put out word with the Ruling Council?” asked Colum.
“No. I fear they have been compromised by the rogue element in our society. That would literally paint a target on her back. I will ask Dylan to spread the word quietly in North America and Marco DeMedici in Europe. We will offer a reward to anyone who can either return her to us or give us information that leads to us finding her.”
“I am sorry I failed you, Alpha.”
“You did no such thing, Colum. Ava is a headstrong girl. Always has been. We just need to find her and bring her home. Once she is home, we will deal with her reckless behavior. And like it or not, mate, when this rogue element has been put down, I will make finding Ava a suitable mate a priority.”
Colum nodded. “Aye. She’ll learn to behave if a good welting is followed by a good round of lovemaking.”
Ioan chuckled. “Don’t they all?”
Bethan rolled her eyes. “That’s really all the lot of you want... to get your hands on our bare asses and then get us on our backs so you can get between our legs.”
Colum was shocked. Normally Bethan was the model of the perfect quiet-spoken wife.
Ioan laughed aloud at her. “I fear, mate, that it will not be her mate’s hand that curbs Ava’s naughty behavior.”
Colum smiled. “I agree. It’ll take a strong arm with a good strap applied liberally and often.”
Chapter Four
Declan Collins parked his Jeep and headed into the local diner. The Red Rooster was a favorite amongst those who lived in the small harbor town in Northern Maine. He turned and looked toward the harbor. It was a beautiful, quaint village with a horseshoe-shaped harbor whose one side was dominated by a powerful lighthouse. On the other side at the top of the cliff was the enormous manor house that had been in his family for more than two hundred years. The harbor was dotted with just a few fishing boats. Even at this hour, most had headed out for the day.
“Declan, how are you, son?” asked Doc Baker.
Declan chuckled and shook his head. At 6′5 with a muscular physique and well past his youth, there were very few people who referred to Declan as son or anything other than warden—especially when he was in uniform. Declan worked as one of the State of Maine’s game wardens. His job was to help people and with any investigations into missing persons, poaching, and accidental or suspicious deaths. But Doc Baker had delivered him and Declan was still that little boy who’d had to have stitches above his eye resulting in a slight scar through his eyebrow where the hair never filled in.
“I’m good, Doc. And you?”
“Not too bad. You heading in for breakfast?”
Declan nodded.
“Mind if an old man joins you?”
“Not if the old man is you,” Declan said, holding the door for him.
They grabbed one of the old retro booths and ordered.
“Did you ever find that poacher?” asked Doc.
“We did,” said Declan. “Caught the SOB red-handed... literally. Just rolled in last night from a missing child case.”
“Oh, I hope that went well.”
“It did. Little boy had watched some show on television and knew to use pine needles and leaves to cover himself and keep warm. He was cold, tired, and hungry, but other than that, he was fine.”
“So, taking a few days off?”
“I will, but we’ve had a report of a large black wolf roaming in the forests outside of town.”
“Isn’t that a bit unusual?” asked the town doctor.
“It is. First, wolves were pretty much hunted to extinction in our parts and a lone wolf is unusual and is often sick, dangerous, or both. I want to check it out—see if I can either see it or at least find its trac
ks.”
“Somebody saying they see a wolf is enough to send a warden out?”
“Not just one person, but several and they all describe it exactly the same and say it’s the largest wolf they’ve ever seen.”
An hour later, Declan was feeling proud of himself. He’d managed to snag the check from Doc and paid for both their breakfasts. He and Doc were leaving the diner with Doc still arguing with him when Declan backed into a woman coming into the diner. Declan turned around and was dumbstruck. The woman was stunningly beautiful—not overly tall, raven haired with a strong, athletic body with just the right amount of curves.
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“It would take more than the likes of you bumping into me to hurt me,” she said in a haughty and foreign accent.
She pushed past them both and entered the diner.
“Do you know her, Doc?”
“You don’t know?”
“Should I?” asked Declan, genuinely intrigued.
“Unless I miss my guess... that’s your new tenant. Jim Ross said he’d rented out the carriage house on your family’s estate. She’s some kind of freelance computer guru. Didn’t he run it by you?”
Declan nodded. “He did, now that I think about it. Said she wanted to do a month-to-month with a six-month minimum and paid up front. He spoke with two of her clients who both vouched for her and she paid cash. Well, maybe I’ll walk down and introduce myself.”
Doc Baker headed toward his office and Declan rang up the town’s attorney, Jim Ross. Once he had Jim on the line, he wasted no time in asking him about his new tenant. “I know you told me, but what’s her name?”
“Elizabeth Owen. She’s newly immigrated out of Wales. She has her proper visa and other documents to be legal in the country. She came with great references and paid six months up front in cash. Is there a problem?”
“No. I just ran into her literally and she kind of brushed me off. Doc clued me in as to who she was so I thought I’d walk down and introduce myself. I just didn’t want to sound like the clueless landlord.”
“I’ve heard you called a lot of things, Declan, but never clueless. She’s pretty direct. I don’t suspect you upset her.”
“I don’t either, but I thought it might be the nice thing to do. Maybe get Bess to make her some scones or something to take down to her.”
“Well, anyone who’s had scones from your housekeeper will be inclined to be friendly if for no other reason than to get more.”
Declan laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.”
Bess had been with the family all of her life. Her mother had been the housekeeper before her. When Declan’s parents had perished in a plane mishap, it was Bess’ mother who’d helped provide him the stability he needed to be declared an emancipated minor. Bess’ father had worked as the groundskeeper. When they had been ready to retire, Bess stepped up and offered to take her mother’s place. She was a classically trained chef with a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, but had found the rat-race, back-stabbing life of an executive chef had not been for her. She always told Declan that she much preferred to be home and to take care of the home in which she too had grown up. Bess was about twenty years his senior and Declan loved having her there. He could be away for weeks at a time and know that his home was safe and that there would be a light on and a hot meal waiting when he arrived.
Declan was just getting into his Jeep when his cell phone rang. It was his supervisor, Tom Walker.
“Tom? What’s up?”
“You still planning to see if you can find that wolf that’s been spotted?”
“I plan to see if there is a wolf and if so if it’s sick or hurt. It’s not normal for one to be alone.”
“I know. Well, don’t spend a lot of time on it.”
“Tom, if there’d only been just a sighting or two, I wouldn’t give it much thought. Most people not only can’t tell you the difference between a coyote and a wolf... they don’t even know there is a difference.”
“Well, let me know what you find. And good work with the Matthews’ kid. The parents singled you out for praise.”
“Kid was smart. We just found him. He saved himself.”
“That’s not the way he or his parents tell the story. Take it easy and be safe.”
Declan smiled as he hung up. Tom always ended his phone conversations with the same line. He was a great supervisor. He’d worked his way up through the ranks and the men he supervised respected his experience and knowledge. And Tom, in turn, respected that those he supervised were well trained and knew what they were doing.
Declan started his Jeep and headed up to the trailhead outside of town. He could follow the first part of the trail and then split off toward where the wolf had been spotted a couple of times. After parking, Declan got out and secured his sidearm and then grabbed the tranquilizer gun. If he spotted the wolf, he intended to tranquilize it, take it in for a health check, and then release it somewhere further away where it might find other wolves.
It was a chilly, but sunny day and Declan made good time on the established trail. As he veered off, the going got tougher as he made his way toward the meadow where the wolf had been spotted. He approached the meadow with caution but saw nothing other than a large black bear on the far side of the meadow.
Declan began a systematic search of the meadow to see if he could find any sign of the wolf. He’d almost given up, when he saw them. There they were, right by the stream—wolf prints. And they were huge.
He knelt down to examine them and began to follow them. So engrossed in tracking the wolf, he forgot all about the bear until suddenly he could smell it. Declan stood to his full height and turned toward the smell. The bear made a distinctive clacking noise combined with a moan indicating that it was fearful. Declan began to back away quietly to avoid being seen a threat.
The bear stood up and bellowed a challenge. As it came down on all fours, it prepared to charge him. Out of nowhere Declan heard the distinctive growl of a wolf before an enormous black wolf broadsided the bear, knocking it over.
Normally a bear/wolf confrontation was a toss-up—the bear being heavier and with longer, sharper claws, but the wolf being faster and more able to change up its attack and/or defense. The wolf circled the bear, snapping at its nose and then biting its flank. The bear, realizing this was not the size of wolf it was used to and not wanting to take on the wolf and a human, turned tail and lumbered back across the meadow.
The wolf looked at Declan, growled a warning and then it too made to bound away. Declan pulled up the rifle with the tranquilizer, aimed, fired, and hit the wolf in the flank. He expected the wolf to try to run further away, but instead the animal stopped, turned, grasped the tranquilizer dart in its teeth and pulled it free. It dropped the dart, growled again, and then ran for the relative safety of the forest.
Declan let it put some distance between them before running to where the tranquilizer had been dropped.
“Damn it,” he said.
The tranquilizer had been able to dispense less than a quarter dose. It would most likely slow it down, but Declan doubted that amount would cause it to lose consciousness. Nevertheless, Declan began to follow the wolf. The only good thing to come out of the confrontation was that Declan could confirm the wolf was in these parts and appeared to be alone and healthy.
Declan was able to track the wolf for more than a mile. It seemed that the tranquilizer had only slowed it a bit, but had not been enough to fell the wolf. He tracked for another mile, but the underbrush got much thicker and both the tracking and the going got tougher.
Finally, he stopped and scanned the forest all around him. Seeing nothing, he admitted defeat and turned to head back to his Jeep.
Chapter Five
Motherfucker, Ava swore under her breath. That dart had hurt. She’d pulled it out before it had been able to dispense much of the tranquilizer but she was feeling the effects. She felt a bit lightheaded a
nd woozy. Why the hell had that bastard darted her? She’d stepped in and run that stupid bear off. And the game warden thought the proper way to thank her was to shoot her in the flank?
Ava had run in wolf form as far as she could. She could hear the warden pursuing her. As the wooziness threatened to make her vulnerable, she laid down some tracks, shifted back to her human form, and then made her way back to a hollowed-out log where she could hide and watch the warden. The fact that she was naked was only a minor inconvenience. She would give him time to vacate the area and then shift back to make her way to her Range Rover.
Once she could feel the effects of the tranquilizer had dissipated completely, Ava left the safety of the log. As she stood up, a honey badger growled a warning.
“I’ve had enough of this bullshit for one day,” she said, looking at the badger before shifting back to her wolf self and growling, showing plenty of teeth and raising her hackles.
Suddenly confronted by a large, predatory black wolf instead of a human, the badger turned tail and ran. Damn straight, thought Ava as she headed to her vehicle, careful to avoid the way the game warden had gone.
Once back at her vehicle, she shifted and changed into her clothes. She slid into the driver’s seat and headed back to the carriage house she had rented.
She parked her vehicle next to the carriage house and went inside. It was small, but comfortable. Basically one bedroom with one bath and then an open area for kitchen and living. While she had grown up in the main keep at Calon Onest, her own personal space had consisted of a large bedroom and attached bath. Nothing else there was hers. Nothing, she reminded herself with a shake of her head.
She went into the kitchen to start a kettle for a proper cup of tea and then passed by her computer, switching it on before heading into her room to change. She was going to get some work done, but since she worked from home, she planned just to wear a pair of sweatpants with a t-shirt. Pulling her hair back, she put on a pair of fuzzy slippers she’d always loved and padded back into her kitchen area.