by Terry Spear
“Next phase of the new moon, we’re only going to have fun.”
She smiled at him. “You know what? Being with you is all the fun I need.”
He chuckled. “Even when I’m being my mad-wolf self?”
“I was so thankful you had one. Me too.”
“So about the rest of the schedule…I guess we can fit it all in the next time.”
She pulled out the list and examined it studiously.
“Well? Where did you want to go next?”
“I know it’s not on the list,” she said, reaching over and running her hand over his thigh. “But I thought we might return to the cabin for a week of hibernation during the full moon.”
He raised his brows. “So you did want to sleep some.”
“Ha! No way. I need me some wolf loving.”
Fully dressed, she pulled out her cell phone. “Wait. If Rowdy figured out where I called him from, he could come to see why we were out here.” She was about ready to tuck her phone away when she had another thought. “I’ll wait to call him from the cabin. But you said you’d talk to Paul. I’ll call for us.”
“Good thinking.”
“Paul? We’re on our way home.”
“Helluva job, Debbie. Welcome to the pack.”
* * *
When they arrived home, Allan was concerned about how she was feeling, emotionally and physically. She loved him for being so sensitive.
“I have to admit, this whole situation is disturbing, but I can see how important it is to keep our kind secret. Wish me luck when I call Rowdy.”
“Should we have a fire after showering or—”
“I’m all for going to bed after we take a shower together.” With great reluctance, she called Rowdy, grateful that the case was solved to their satisfaction, even if it wasn’t for Rowdy. “Hey,” she said as Allan helped her out of her parka.
“Hey. I’m at the storage unit where the weapons and such were found. Is that Vaughn Greystoke another wolf?”
She just sighed. “I guess just about everyone is.”
“Not me.”
“Except for you.”
“They’ve run ballistics on the rifle. It’s not the one that was used to shoot you and Tara.”
She hadn’t thought he even knew about Tara. Just that she had been shot. “No? I thought Vaughn believed it was Otis’s.”
“It is. It was registered to him. But it’s not the one he used in the shootings.”
“Ah, okay. Well, I thought you might have had it all tied up.”
“I need Otis’s body first.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment as Allan helped her out of her boots.
“You still there?”
“Yeah. Well, Vaughn said that the surveillance showed the kind of vehicle he was driving. Did you put an APB out on it?”
“Yeah. But I have a feeling in my bones that he’s no longer among the living.”
“You mean like a sixth sense?”
“Yeah, you know me and my paranormal musings. Anyway, yeah, like a sixth sense.”
“You think maybe a hunter got him?”
“I ’spect we’ll be finding him come spring, if not sooner, wearing a few predatory bite marks. Nothing ominous—just a hazard of running around in the wilderness in the dead of winter when on the…lam.”
“So you’re no longer worried about him?”
“Are you?”
“Not when you’re on the case.”
Rowdy sighed. “Are you really doing okay?”
“Yeah.” She was naked now and so was Allan, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead, cheeks, and chin. “I’m fine. Thanks, Rowdy, for everything.”
She swore Rowdy knew the truth. But why let Allan and his pack know it? Why not pretend they didn’t exist? He didn’t seem to fear that they might turn him or eliminate him.
“I’ve been hearing you’re marrying one of them,” Rowdy said.
“Ah, Allan. Yeah. I finally caught my man.”
“Well, more power to you. You can’t say I didn’t try to save you, but I figured once he wanted you, it was like a dog with a—”
She cleared her throat.
He didn’t finish what he was going to say.
“Allan says it takes one to know one. Are you sure you’re not one of them?” Debbie asked.
“Not yet. But I imagine that it’s coming.”
“You don’t mind?”
“It’s either that or end up like that poor fool.”
“He murdered innocent people. And you would never do what he did.”
“You think? It’s hard to say. If I saw one of them killing another, I don’t know. Whole different world out there.”
“Well, all I know is Allan’s the right one for me.”
“What about our Friday night pizza?”
“Maybe once a month now. We have some newlywed time to nurture.”
“No pizza night during the full moon though, right?” Rowdy asked.
“Only if you like living dangerously,” Debbie said and kissed Allan on his throat. She was certain Rowdy was taking notes. New moon—no wolf change.
“You’re on. Usual time? I’ll be there,” Rowdy said.
Then they ended the call.
“What’s up?” Allan asked, pulling her toward the shower.
“He knows. Or at least he suspects. I think he believes we’re the good guys though.”
“Well, we are.”
“Is it wise to keep meeting with him?” she asked.
“Yeah, it is. If only to ensure he knows we’re just average folks like everybody else when we’re not wearing our wolf coats.”
“And so we can keep up on what he’s thinking or doing with regard to our kind?”
“Absolutely. Vaughn said to watch out for Rowdy. He believes he’s sitting on the fence—he can either try to prove we exist or join us. So we’ve got to prove we’re worth joining.”
“Or just turn him against his will.”
“If we have to, but it would be a whole lot better if we could make him one of us because he wants it.”
“But you can’t tell him we’re werewolves for real.”
“No. That’s the problem. Once that’s done, he doesn’t have a choice.”
She nodded. “Thank you for loving me, Allan, and for having a pack who cared enough about the two of us that we could be together as wolf mates, even if they didn’t know how it would work out between us.”
“I was angry to begin with, afraid of how you’d feel. On the other hand, I wanted you for a mate and I’m glad you’ve found a family with us. With me. I can’t tell you enough how much I love you.”
“In your every action, you’ve shown me. I was so stuck on you before I learned what you were, but you know what?” She pulled him into a warm embrace and kissed him. “That’s what intrigued me the most about you. Here I thought it was just because you were a SEAL.”
He smiled down and kissed her right back. “You have to know you’ve made me the happiest wolf in the world.” Then he took her into the shower, the one where she had sat as a wild wolf watching him soap that hard body of his, only this time she was soaping that hard body of his.
Allan knew beyond a doubt that when he’d gone diving for trouble, he’d gotten lots more than that—one human turned wolf, his dive partner, the love of his life, his wolf mate. Nothing could be better than that. He couldn’t have asked for a better teammate for making sure the good guys came out on top.
She was everything he needed in a mate, wolf or otherwise. And he couldn’t have loved her any more than he did as she began to soap his body while he soaped hers.
Debbie had thought she loved Allan the most for his mutual appreciation of diving. But it was so much more than that. He’d ope
ned up a whole new world for her, and she was actually looking forward to a whole lot of wolf play inside the cottage and out. She’d actually missed being a wolf during the phase of the new moon, and she was ready to take advantage of both worlds now.
“Do you ever wonder what would have happened between us if I hadn’t been turned?”
“I believe what was meant to be would be. And we were meant to be together.”
She rubbed her soapy body against his. “I think you’re right. Rowdy would have convinced me of what you were eventually, and I would have made you bite me.”
Allan smiled at her. “Would you have been as growly about the shifting then?”
“Absolutely. I probably still will be when it happens and I don’t want it to. Just so you know, if we have babies before I’ve got the shifting under control—”
“I’ll be there to take care of it. You’ve got me and a whole pack to help out.” He was silent for a moment, and then he said, “You’re already pregnant?”
She let out her breath. “You never know.”
He smiled, looking perfectly pleased with the notion.
She sighed. “I should have known how much trouble you could be.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her mouth soundly. “Ditto, partner. We make a helluva team.”
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Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply
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Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply
As a law enforcement park ranger, Eric Silver hadn’t expected to be chasing down pot-growing wolves at San Isabel National Park. Humans, no problem. He would get hold of his boss, who would contact various law enforcement agencies to take the criminals down.
But Eric couldn’t let anyone know about this—not when the lawbreakers were wolves.
The moon was full, the cool, dry wind whipping the pinyon branches around, and he caught the scent of a wolf—one of the wolves involved in growing the illegal cannabis—that was loping through the trees dead ahead. Eric and his pack had to catch the bastards running this operation before humans did. Keeping lupus garous secret from humans was paramount.
Eric had been doing one of his usual searches for more of the illegal plants when he’d come across the scent that evening. He’d already found ten areas where they’d been growing. But he needed to actually catch the culprits, and this was the first time that Eric had been this close. Yet Eric was in a real quandary. Darien, his cousin and the leader of their pack, would be furious if he learned Eric had gone after the wolf on his own without calling for backup, but what could he do? He couldn’t let him get away.
All he could do was concentrate on the wolf’s scent ahead of him. It was confident, not fearful—the wolf didn’t yet suspect that Eric was trailing him. Eric glimpsed a tuft of black fur stuck to some of the underbrush, and it smelled of the wolf he was following.
They reached a goatlike path that led to a secluded patch of marijuana. So far so good—there was no sign of any other wolves in the area.
Eric moved in to take the wolf down, but saw movement to his right. Another wolf, this one more beige than gray, had been hiding in the brush. Hell, one gray wolf against two big gray males? Darien would kill him for getting himself into this bind, if Eric lived through it. He didn’t have a choice now. Kill or be killed.
Eric whipped around before the wolf had a chance to attack. He dove for the wolf’s right foreleg, hoping to bring him down before he had to deal with the other wolf. The wolf wasn’t prepared for Eric’s quick assault, and with two hard chomps in quick succession, Eric brought the wolf down. The wolf yipped and growled, backing away from Eric on three legs, favoring his injured one.
Eric swung around to face the new threat. The wolf he’d been following had tried to sneak up on him silently, like a wolf on a hunt. Eric feinted, then swung around and bit into the wolf’s other leg. With a snap, he broke the wolf’s leg.
Neither wolf was totally disabled. That was the problem with just breaking their legs. He knew of a wolf—a real wolf—that had lost a leg in a trap. She continued to have pups, and when she lost her mate, she began attacking sheep as a way to provide for her young. Luckily, the sheep owner humanely caught her and took her to a wolf sanctuary where she and her pups were cared for. But it proved a wolf could still manage to survive on three legs. Which meant these wolves were still dangerous to him.
Neither attacked, but both eyed him, growling, which made him suspect they were both beta wolves. When one lifted his chin to howl, Eric knew he was calling his pack for help. And then Eric would really be a dead wolf. He leapt in a single bound and tore into the wolf. He bit him in the throat just as he felt the other wolf tackle his back.
Once Eric took out the first wolf, he twisted around, but fell on his side. The wolf took advantage, but not for long. The injured wolf couldn’t manage well on three legs. He was in pain, trying to kill Eric with all his might, but it wasn’t good enough. Still, the wolf managed to bite Eric’s flank, and then he lifted his snout to howl.
Hell. His heart racing, furious with the damn wolves for doing something illegal and putting all their kind at risk, Eric tore into the wolf. He only wanted to take him in. He didn’t want to have to kill him. But when he heard another wolf coming, Eric finished the injured wolf off, and raced back down the mountain. The other wolf would have to deal with his dead pack members. Eric could fight another, but not a whole pack if there were even more of them in the vicinity.
His flank was burning, but he tried to ignore it as he ran full-out as if a whole pack of wolves were on his tail. With the enhanced healing abilities of the lupus garou, it would heal up sooner than if he were just human, but it could still take some time, depending on how bad it was.
Eric reached his truck and shifted, the shift warming his muscles and bones, though his wound burned even more. The shift was instantaneous and he quickly unlocked his door using the code, grabbing his medical bag and fumbling around inside it for the disinfectant. Then he bandaged the injury. It wasn’t too deep, thankfully. He hurried to pull on his clothes when he heard a wolf yip about a half a mile away, in a different direction than where he’d just been.
His need to protect a wolf kicked in, yet the wolf could very well be from the same wolf pack that was growing pot. What would the odds be that members from two lupus garou packs besides his were here in the park?
He grabbed his medical pack and headed out at a run, calling CJ, his deputy sheriff brother, at the same time. “Killed two of the wolves involved in the drug operation. Left when a third was on its way. Now I’m investigating a wolf injury.” He gave coordinates for the drug site.
“Wait for me to get there. I’m calling it in to Darien and the sheriff, but I’m on my way.”
“Can’t wait, little brother. I’ll be cautious.”
“All right. I’ll let everyone know what’s going on.”
Eric approached the area, careful to stay downwind. When he was close enough to see what the problem was without the wolf seeing him, he witnessed five wolves around an injured she-wolf. She was lying on her side near the base of a cliff where evidence of a recent rock slide littered the area. By the way the other wolves were reassuring the injured wolf, Eric assumed they were lupus garous, which surprised the hell out of him. He hadn’t seen any in the park before his run-in with the other wolves earlier today. But owing to the size of the national park, it was understandable. Unless they were just visitors and not from the area.
He smelled their scents and was assured none of these had been near the cannabis plants he’d already located. Although they could still be members of the same pack and involved with the operation in other ways.
He slowly walked out of the cover of the trees toward the rocky cliff, wanting them to know he wished to he
lp the injured wolf. He quickly told them who he was, since he was off duty and no longer wearing his uniform. “I’m a park ranger. My name is Eric Silver. I can take her in my truck to the clinic in Silver Town, two hours south of here. It’s wolf-run.”
Two of the wolves snarled and growled at him, but they didn’t draw closer. He assumed they were betas, trying to figure out what to do. They couldn’t take care of the wolf themselves, not as wolves. And running around in the woods as naked humans carrying an injured wolf was going to take a lot of explaining if they ran into anyone else.
The injured wolf was still lying on her side. She tried to sit up and yipped, lying back down.
“Just lie still,” Eric said, motioning for her to stay put, his voice gentle and reassuring.
He needed to get closer so he could examine her, but he was cautious about the wolves who were threatening him. Even beta wolves could tear a person apart, so he needed permission to draw closer. Though they probably wouldn’t hurt him, he couldn’t risk injury by ignoring the threat.
When they wouldn’t back down, he tried again to convince them he only wanted to help. “I can carry her to my truck, only a mile from here. Some of you can come with me so you know I’m serious about getting help for her.”
They continued to snarl at him, protecting her, but Eric wouldn’t back off either. He wasn’t leaving until someone took care of her.
Then one of the men shifted. He was maybe in his forties, with black hair and hard amber eyes. “We don’t need your help.” Even so, the man was obviously in a quandary.
Eric took the wolf’s shifting as a good sign. Not of friendship, but the wolf would have remained a wolf if he had felt threatened, especially since he appeared to be in charge. He would have led the wolves into attacking Eric if he was going to do it.
At that point, Eric slowly drew closer to the injured wolf. Then he crouched down to examine her, hoping they would finally let him help.
When he touched her right hind leg, she yipped. “Okay, girl, I’ll be gentle. I just need to check to see if it’s broken or something else.” He carefully ran his hand over her leg, and she pulled it away from his touch.