by Angela Foxxe
Hannah shrugged.
“I wanted to be an artist, but I had to drop my art classes when my dad got sick. It’s just me and him, and I can’t afford to keep him in the rehab center unless I work full-time. I’m still trying to finish up high school, and I’m taking classes in the summer to get ahead so I can graduate early and take care of him. Being an artist is a dream I’ll have to let go of. Life gets in the way sometimes, and we have to do what we have to do.”
Senora’s heart broke at the girl’s words, but she kept her feelings to herself. She knew all too well the sacrifices that were made when parents were absent either in body or in mind. Senora felt for the girl, but it wasn’t like she could fix the girl’s father and make him whole again. He would need round the clock care until the end of his life, which could get costly even with state disability. She didn’t envy Hannah’s situation.
They sat in silence for a long time, and Hannah finished as the smell of food began to dance along the breeze and into the open doors and windows of the cabin.
“I’m done,” Hannah said.
“That’s so much detail. You’ve done more than most would be able to do, and this is very helpful.”
“Thanks,” Hannah said. “I just hope that I didn’t leave someone behind in that place. I feel so selfish. I didn’t even think to look in the other stalls.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. You did what you needed to do to survive, and you’re bringing help. That’s the important thing. Hold onto that, and don’t burden yourself with guilt that’s not your burden to bear. You’re not responsible for the things that the Sheriff and his men have done.”
“Rationally, I know that, but I just feel like I could have done more. I should have done more. I know the feeling will pass, but I know I won’t feel good about what happened until I know for sure that no one is trapped there while I’m free.”
Senora smiled and patted Hannah’s leg.
“You’re a good soul, Hannah Wise. Your name suits you. It will be dark soon, and it’s time to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” Hannah said.
“You need your strength. If you want to be completely present for this, you need to fuel your body. You’ll feel better on a full stomach.”
“I know you’re right; I guess I just want to get this over with, and we’re just sitting here waiting for darkness.”
“We have to do this right; we only get one shot at it.”
“I know you’re right about that. I’ll eat. Hopefully, Laken will be out there, and I’ll get to meet him before I ride with him.” She laughed. “Or on him. I think that requires at least a brief introduction.”
“I think you’re right,” Senora said.
The two of them walked out of the cabin and made their way to the common area where people were already gathering at a long, large table with a bench on either side for chairs. They brought every kind of food imaginable to the table and set it down to share with the entire pack and their guests. It was different than anything she’d ever experienced, but Hannah seemed to be less impressed than Senora had been the night before.
“Is this normal around here?” Senora asked.
“Family style eating? Yeah. We have a lot of restaurants that are like that. Texans are friendly like that. Don’t you have anything like this in D.C.?”
Senora shook her head.
“I eat alone and with my head down, and I don’t make eye contact. Unless I’m at the diner where all the other agents like to eat, then I sit alone and make awkward conversation with the agent at the next table instead of sitting with them.”
Hannah laughed.
“You can’t be serious.”
“That’s how it’s always been, but I’m thinking that I’ll try sitting with the agent next time. Who knows? Maybe I’ll start a trend.”
A woman passed by them holding several serving dishes on her arms and balanced against her chest. She looked like she was about to drop something, and without missing a beat, Hannah swooped in and grabbed two dishes, handing them to Senora in one smooth motion before going in for two more, leaving the woman with a manageable amount to carry. The woman’s gratitude was breathy, her grin wide and welcoming.
Hannah and Senora followed the woman and set the dishes on the table, then took a seat in the center of the bench as others began to sit down. Ty took a spot across from them, joined by a tall but slender teen with deep auburn hair and startling golden eyes.
“This is Laken,” Ty said, introducing Senora and Hannah.
Hannah shook the boy’s hand, and for a moment, they held their hands without moving. Senora caught Ty’s eye, and she knew by his wink he was seeing the same thing. Something had passed between Laken and Hannah, and Senora had a feeling that all of Hannah’s trepidation over riding a strange wolf into the night had dissolved in that instant. Senora didn’t believe in love at first sight, but if she did, she would have felt certain, in that moment, that she was witnessing the beginning of the rest of their lives.
Someone handed her a plate, and when she looked back, Laken had released Hannah’s fingers, and his cheeks held a hint of pink that suggested that Senora wasn’t the only one surprised by the very public moment Laken and Hannah had just shared.
Senora watched the two of them as she ate, keeping the conversation light and focusing on everything but their plans for the night. Senora’s adrenaline was already beginning to flow, and she could feel her body gearing up for the fight. She finished her meal quickly, then stood and helped clear the table as the others finished their meals.
She took a stack of plates to the cabin that served as the mess hall and began washing, her eyes on the sky outside as the blue sky began to display hints of orange and pink. The sun would be down soon, and then they would be on their way. Senora couldn’t help but wonder if every wolf that led the charge with Senora and Ty tonight would come home to their family. They were entering a volatile situation, and there was sure to be bloodshed. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be on their side. She couldn’t live with the guilt if one of the wolves that had jumped at the chance to end the Sheriff’s reign of terror was killed while protecting people like Hannah from other humans. It didn’t seem right, but she wasn’t about to shun their offer of help. She couldn’t do this alone, and with a town full of corrupt law enforcement officers, she needed all the help she could get.
She didn’t hear him come into the cabin, so when his hands went to her hips, she almost jumped out of her skin.
“I’m going to miss sharing meals with you,” Ty said, leaning down and kissing her on the cheek.
The gesture should have been chaste, but it was anything but.
“We’ve known each other for two nights; I’m sure you’ll find a way to live without me,” Senora said.
“Please, tell me how you really feel,” Ty laughed, but his hands didn’t move from her hips.
Senora continued washing dishes, in no hurry to move his strong hands from her body. He was so close she could smell him, and without thinking about it, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
“It’s alright to admit you’re attracted to me,” Ty said. “It’s pretty obvious, and I have to say that it goes both ways. I should get a medal for keeping on my side of the bed last night. It took a monumental effort.”
“I don’t mix business with pleasure,” Senora said smoothly.
“You should try it sometime.”
“Wouldn’t you love that?” she teased.
“Absolutely,” he said, his lips close to her ear. “It’s not often that a woman’s body calls to me and I ignore it. But you don’t seem the type to enjoy a roll in the sack with someone you’ll never see again.”
“No, I’m not,” Senora said, though that was a lie.
She wasn’t normally someone who enjoyed a one-night stand, but this was different. Ty wasn’t just some guy she picked up at a party. He was someone she’d gotten to know in the past two days so thoroughly that she felt like she knew him completel
y. They butted heads sometimes, but they worked together effortlessly, and if she were going to have a partner, she would choose Ty. Not that she wanted to spend her days vacillating between ripping her hair out and wanting to find a quiet room to hole up in with him. But if she ever had to work with someone, he was better than most.
It didn’t hurt that he made every view better just by existing. That was definitely a plus.
“You’re so tense when you lose yourself in thought,” Ty said. “What I wouldn’t give to know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
“You don’t want to know,” she said.
Ty laughed, and this time, he kissed her neck and lingered for a moment before he stood beside her and started rinsing the dishes that she’d washed, then placed them into the large wooden dish rack that someone had clearly custom made for this kitchen. By the time Ty filled the rack up with what had to be at least fifty plates, the first were already air dry and ready to put up.
The woman she’d helped earlier sidled up to them and gently moved Senora away from the sink.
“Guests don’t do dishes,” the older woman said with a friendly smile. “The sun is about to set, and I think y’all better get moving.” She gave Ty a pointed look that dared him to argue. “You make sure my favorite nephew makes it back here in one piece. I love that sweet little boy more than life itself.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ty said with a laugh.
He kissed the woman on the cheek and left the cabin with Senora right behind him.
“Is that Laken’s aunt?” Senora asked.
“No. She’s mine.”
A giggle bubbled out of Senora without warning.
“That’s sweet.” She turned and walked backward as she reached out and grabbed his cheek. “I’ll make sure her sweet little boy comes home in one piece,” she said, pinching him gently and laughing.
Ty scooped her up off the ground and threw her over his shoulder. She couldn’t help the squeal that escaped her, even if she immediately pounded on his back and ordered him to put her down.
“You’re playing with fire, and you’re going to get burned,” he warned, setting her down on his front porch.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, glaring at him even though she’d enjoyed the playful encounter.
But she was on the job, and she couldn’t forget that. Not now, not ever.
“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” He leaned in a little, and Senora’s stomach clenched. “I have a feeling you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her before she could speak, his mouth capturing hers as he kissed her passionately right there on the porch that wrapped around his home in plain view of anyone who happened by. She knew she should push him away, but she found herself leaning into him, opening her mouth to his and tasting the sweet heat of his mouth. Her arms went around his neck, and she pulled him closer.
When he finally pulled away, she was breathless, his deep brown eyes as hungry as hers must have been. She scoffed then turned away, but she made no move to pull herself from his arms.
“That was a bad idea,” she said, though her heart wasn’t in it.
“Why?”
“Because we’re colleagues. The bureau has a strict no fraternizing policy.”
“I’m not in the FBI,” Ty said, his expression confused.
“But you consult for them.”
“Not exactly.”
“Then, what in the world were you doing where Addie’s body was dumped?”
“I was doing my job.”
“I’m not sure I know what exactly your job is,” Senora said with a touch of anger.
“Why are you getting frustrated with me? I never claimed that I worked with the FBI or anything like that.”
“The Sheriff said you were a consultant of sorts.”
“What did you want him to say? That I get called up when someone needs to get near a wolf? Or should he have told you that I was out there to investigate the death of one of our own.”
“What?”
“Addie. I was out there for Addie.”
“Addie was a werewolf?” Senora asked, shocked. “So, then Mabel is a werewolf, too?”
“Not exactly. Mabel adopted Addie after she was found wondering the highway. No one knew who she was or where she belonged, and she wasn’t one of ours. Her memory was completely gone, and all she knew was that her name was Addison Wolff. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, but she wasn’t happy in the village with us.”
“Did she say why?”
“She didn’t know. But she could never find peace and would spend the nights rocking in a corner. When Mabel came to tend to her when she sprained her ankle and wouldn’t let any of us touch her, that was the first time that Addie acted like she wasn’t terrified. We knew then that it would be better for Addie to live with Mabel, and Mabel adopted her.”
“Did Addie know she was a wolf?”
“I don’t know. There were a lot of things that Addie couldn’t remember. The trauma of being kidnapped and held were too much for her delicate mind. She was so young when she showed up here.”
“How long was she held captive?”
“No one knows. She didn’t know when she was kidnapped, and she didn’t have many memories of the kidnapping itself. We think that’s part of the reason that she kept faking her own disappearances. We thought she was trying to jog her memory the only way she knew how.”
“That’s beyond sad.”
“She was a tortured soul, though she was trying to turn her life around. I just wish she hadn’t died the way she did.”
“Why didn’t she just become a werewolf and fight back?”
“She didn’t remember anything about herself. She didn’t know that she could shift, and even when we told her, she didn’t believe us. The mind is a powerful thing, and since she didn’t believe she could shift, she was never able to.”
Senora was about to comment when a man appeared, his face serious in the fading light of day.
“It’s time,” he said simply.
Ty nodded, then looked at Senora.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“I sure am. Let’s go catch us some bad guys.”
CHAPTER 18
“Let’s go!” the Sheriff said, yanking her off the ground and onto her feet. Erica squinted as the flash went off, tears still running down her face. “Look up!” the man shouted.
She didn’t move, preparing herself for another blow.
“Are you deaf?” the Sheriff yelled in her face, his breath reeking of coffee, his eyes wild. “Look. At. The camera!”
“No,” she muttered.
She hit the floor before the pain registered, but she didn’t care. She and her friends were going to die here; she knew it. There was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of following his orders. If he was going to kill them, he was going to have to work for it. Erica was not going down easily.
He yanked her up again, and this time, she threw her head back and smiled when she heard a crack and he stumbled backward. He dropped her, covering his nose and squealing like a stuck pig. But Erica stayed on her feet. She ran up to him, kicking him hard in the groin and again in the face, then running out the open stall door with her hands still cuffed behind her back.
She ran to Danni’s stall, turning around and trying to open it with her hands behind her back. The handle was so high that she had to stand on her tip toes to reach it. She screamed in frustration, but the rusty latch would budge.
“Erica, run and get help!” Danni shouted. “Don’t waste time, run!”
Erica looked at Danni, then at Jessica, who was still lying unconscious in the stall next to Danni, then she looked back at the stall she’d escaped from. The Sheriff’s was still groaning and retching, his whimpering almost pitiful. But she knew as soon as he recovered, he would be on his feet, and he would kill her. It was only a matter of how long he would drag out h
er suffering.
She had to run.
“I’ll come back for you,” she promised, then turned and ran with her arms behind her, trying to stay upright despite the drugs that were still coursing through her veins.
She ran out the open barn door and skid to a stop just in time to avoid being seen by a man getting into her car. She pressed against the barn door, hoping the dark shadows and the moonless night would work in her favor. The man didn’t appear to notice her, getting into the car and driving off without a backward glance. Erica felt sick when she realized that he was probably taking it somewhere to ditch it, making certain that their families would never find them and never know what happened to them.
Stop thinking about that, and stay calm! Erica thought angrily. There was no time to freak out. She had to stay calm and pay attention or they would end up dead. She had the upper-hand right not, and she wasn’t going to mess that up by freaking out like a little kid. She had this. She had to believe that she could get away and stop getting into her own head. There were a lot of them, but they weren’t immortals. They had weaknesses, and she had to capitalize on those flaws.
The Sheriff roared from behind her, but he was far away, and as soon as he yelled, he started retching again. She didn’t have much time, but he was still incapacitated, and this was her chance.
She ran into the woods, taking her chance with the forest since instead of the road. She didn’t know who she could trust in the town, and the guy who took her car had gone that way.
She tried to stay upright, leaning back a little so she didn’t pitch forward when her hands were stuck behind her back and unable to break her fall. Running as fast as she could, she ignored the branches and leaves that clawed at her body and slapped her in the face. She had to find someone to help, and she was hoping that there was a neighboring farm on the other side of the wooded area, or a ranger’s station. Anyone that might help her and stop the Sheriff from killing her.
Her foot caught on a rock poking out of the ground, and she pitched forward at full speed. She closed her eyes, preparing herself to hit the ground hard, but the impact never came. Huge arms encircled her in the darkness, stopping her fall and yanking her off the trail and into the trees. Before she could scream, a hand went over her mouth from behind, and a woman’s face appeared in the darkness in front of her.