Raised by Wolves

by Geonn Cannon

  For now, though, she would enjoy not having responsibilities or commitments. She stuck her hands in her pockets and adopted a casual, leisurely pace toward the water.

  Epilogue

  Ari dropped the balled-up sock, used her foot to bump it into position, then eyed her shot. Her hockey stick was a roll of unopened wrapping paper she’d found in the front closet when she decided it needed to be organized. The goal was a trash can she had laid on its side. She swung the “stick” and knocked the socks into the front of the entertainment unit, sending them bouncing toward the “goal.” They hit the lip of the can and rolled away.

  “Ahh, damn it.”

  Milo’s voice came over the phone pinned between Ari’s shoulder and ear. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s supposed to be hockey,” Ari said, “but I think it’s more mini-golf than anything else. But I’m in a hockey jersey so I think it counts. Keep talking, I was listening. You’re at the airport?”

  “Yeah, Gwen’s checking us in. She’s worried about having the book in our carry-on, but I’m more comfortable having it where we can keep an eye on it.”

  Ari said, “Probably smart.” She lined up another pair of socks. They were on their way to Germany to meet up with a pack who occasionally worked with the Kirsches. They planned to secure the book, keep it away from prying eyes and anyone else like Isaac Hayden who might use it for evil. Gwen was concerned about the fact he still had copies, but Dale was confident he wouldn’t be able to get them published. “He needed the original for authenticity,” she’d said last time they met for coffee. “But I think the publisher was still hesitant without a personal testimony. That’s where I was supposed to come in. Now he’s lost me and the original, they’re not going to publish it based on his word alone.”

  For the time being, they could only hope she was right. Isaac had vanished after the airport. They had no idea if he was still in Seattle or if he had fled but, either way, they had all upped their security just in case. Gwen was confident that taking the book back to Germany would remove any reason he had for sticking around and causing more trouble for them.

  Ari’s next shot also missed the trash. “Damn it!”

  Milo laughed. “Maybe you ought to try shuffleboard or something.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “You’re going a bit nutso, eh?”

  “It’s been over a month.” Ari used the tube to pull the socks back into position. “I know Dale needs her space, and I want her to take as long as it takes. But I don’t want to go back to work if Dale’s not there, don’t want to be at home because Dale isn’t here, either. So I basically just don’t want to be anywhere or do anything.”

  Someone knocked on the door and Ari thwapped the socks against the wall. “Someone’s here, so I’ll let you go. Good luck with security.”

  “Yeah, thanks. We’ll call when we’ve landed.”

  Ari hung up and tossed the phone onto the couch. She was almost to the door when whoever it was knocked again. “Hang on a sec.” She opened the door and was so stunned to see Dale on the other side that she couldn’t think of what to say.

  “Hi,” Dale said. She held up a newspaper. “I’m here about the ad.”

  “The...” Ari blinked. “You’re what?”

  “The ad you put in the paper? You’re looking for a roommate?”

  Ari stared at her. She had a twinge of panic that Dale’s brain had been broken by the essays, that whatever recovery she’d made had now taken a bizarre left turn. But then she saw the look in Dale’s eyes, the expression that she knew meant ‘come on, puppy, figure it out.’ And then she remembered.

  “There’s some appeal to the situation,” Dale had said weeks earlier, at the very beginning of the Burroughs case. “...in an established relationship. One person is at the bar, their significant other comes up and pretends to be a stranger, they flirt, they make up outrageous lies about who they really are, and it ends in wild sex in a hotel room.”

  “Is the room still available?”

  “The room,” Ari said. “Uh, yeah, I... sorry. Please come in.” She stepped aside, staring at Dale as she entered the apartment like a stranger. She closed the door and tried to think of what to say next. “So... so you, um, are you new to Seattle?”

  “No, I’ve lived here a while. I went through some stuff recently. Almost lost everything. But I’ve been getting back on my feet, and I think it’s time to put down some roots.”

  Ari’s emotions swirled, but she tried to keep a straight face. “Oh. Well, that’s good. I’m glad to hear that. So... this is the apartment. Living room and dining room here, kitchen through there. Laundry room at the top of the stairs. We share that with the landlady. She’s cool, you’ll like her.”

  Dale nodded and then pointed at the open bedroom door. “It looks like there might only be one bedroom...?”

  “Oh. Yeah, that’s the bedroom. We’d be sharing a bed. I hope that’s not awkward.”

  “You’d think that’s something you would mention in the ad,” Dale said. “But it’s not a deal breaker. Are you a snuggler?”

  Ari swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yeah, usually.”

  “Noted.” Dale turned to scan the apartment. “This is a great place.”

  “Thanks. Someone really special chose it for me.”

  Dale looked at her again. There were tears in her eyes. “You know, um... in the, um, thirties or whenever, Yellowstone wiped out wolves from the park. The whole thing crashed. The elk population blew up, they overgrazed, beavers and birds started dying out. It was bad. They finally reintroduced wolves in the nineties, and it was like a rebirth. The ecosystem might never be exactly the way it used to be, but it’s alive. It’s thriving. I want my wolf back, puppy.”

  Ari smiled.

  “I don’t want to start over, though.”

  Ari nodded, lips pressed together. “Neither do I.” She was trying to keep her cool, but it was increasingly difficult.

  “That would mean forgetting the past ten years happened. And I would rather throw myself into Puget Sound than do that. I’ve spent the last week aching for you, but also still so scared I was going to relapse. I haven’t had a bad thought or a nightmare in that entire time. If... if you’re nervous about having me nearby or--”

  Ari interrupted, “I was never scared. Or worried. I’m the one who put the loaded gun in your hand, Dale. I only agreed to let you stay with Diana and Lucy because it’s what you wanted. You’re the woman who fought to protect a wolf, then gave it the only food you had. And when the wolf turned into a person, you let her buy you a coffee and listened to her insane story. Why would I ever doubt that person?”

  Dale lowered her head and Ari stepped forward, wrapped her up in her arms, and held her. They started with phone conversations, which eventually evolved into actual dates. Conversations over dinner, getting coffee together, going for walks by the water. They had touched during those encounters, held each other and even kissed, but something about this time felt more real, more normal. She cupped the back of Dale’s head and pulled back just enough to find her lips. They kissed, and Dale moaned a surrender into Ari’s mouth. It wasn’t a single kiss, but a series of smaller kisses and pecks. It felt almost like they were making up for every kiss they hadn’t shared in the past few days, leaving her breathless and flushed.

  Eventually they ended up with their foreheads touching, Dale’s eyes closed and Ari examining her features.

  “I’m Ari, by the way.”

  Dale opened her eyes. It was her turn to be confused. “What?”

  “Ariadne. People call me Ari. What’s your name?”

  “Oh. Right, uh. Dale. I’m Dale.”

  “That might be the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard.”

  Dale grinned and closed her eyes again.

  “Do you want to test out the bed?”

  “Yes.”

  They went into the bedroom and Dale toed off her shoes as Ari crawled onto her side of the bed. She
pulled back the blanket and let Dale settle in, cozying into the slight dip her body had made in the mattress. Ari drew the blanket up over her, tucked it around her shoulders, and left her hand resting lightly on Dale’s upper arm. Dale sighed and pressed her cheek into the pillow. Her hands found Ari’s waist under the blanket and pulled her closer.

  “C’mere.”

  “It’s a little early to go to sleep,” Ari said, although she sounded like she was just pointing out a fact rather than complaining.

  Dale said, “So we’ll just lay here for a while.”

  Ari nodded. “I like that plan. I wasn’t doing anything anyway.”

  Dale kissed the corners of Ari’s mouth, her cheeks, her nose, and chin.

  “Tell me a story.”

  Ari searched her memory for something, anything, but it was a blank. She couldn’t even think of a movie or TV show she could recount. Then she realized the perfect story.

  “Once upon a time, there was a woman named Vivian Burroughs. Her goal in life was to continue her family legacy. She had four children--”

  “Wait,” Dale said, touching Ari’s cheek with two fingers. “Does this have a happy ending?”

  Ari smiled. “Yeah, Dale. This story has a very happy ending.”

  “Okay,” Dale said, relaxing again. “Carry on.”

  “Vivian Burroughs had four children... and a tapestry called Crossing-Over Place...”

  About the Author

  Geonn Cannon lives in Oklahoma. He is the author of several novels, including the Riley Parra series which is currently being produced as a webseries for Tello Films, and two official Stargate SG-1 tie-in novels. Information about his other novels and an archive of free stories can be found online at geonncannon.com.

  More from Geonn Cannon

  "Riley Parra is a strong, badass heroine for those that like their coffee and their cop fiction bitter." - P Industry

  No Man's Land isn't the kind of place you go after dark, even if you have a badge. But Detective Riley Parra was born there, and she refuses to surrender it to the drug dealers, killers and criminals who have made it there home. The case of a body stuffed into a drainage pipe leads her to discover that there is far more at stake than she ever imagined.

  -- Riley Parra, Season One.

  “Cannon’s prose is beautiful. This isn’t the most plot-filled of his novels but highlights the splendour of everyday life that it’s so easy to take for granted. It’s there to remind us that love can sometimes happen, not at first sight, but through the captivation and enmeshment that comes from truly listening and being heard by someone out of reach.” - Jo at Goodreads

  For the next two years, Colonel Noa Laurie - the sole survivor of a disaster which destroyed the International Space Station - will be orbiting Earth in an experimental craft called ODIE. Her mission: to clear away the treacherous minefield of space junk that has accumulated around the planet and endangers future missions. Her only lifeline during this mission will be the radio connecting her to the command center and whoever happens to be assigned to the communications desk.

  Or so she thinks.

  Because tucked away and almost forgotten in an Indiana woodshop is an antique radio. Its owner, Jamie Faris, occasionally uses it for eavesdropping on the truckers passing by on the highway. One day in the third month of Noa's mission, Jamie uses the radio to vent her frustrations by screaming into the ether. She screams and rages and curses into the thick static knowing it won't matter because no one will hear, but she's wrong... someone is definitely listening.

  And she's about to say hello.

  -- Can You Hear Me