Finding the Texas Wolf

by Karen Whiddon

  So far.

  As far as she could tell, there appeared to be two separate factions. If they were connected in any way, she couldn’t tell how. They were quite vocal, especially about what they wanted. Each group wanted different things.

  But in the end, she figured they were the same. Money and power.

  Though West Latvia had been mentioned a couple of times, she still didn’t understand what the small European nation had done to deserve such a horrible fate.

  The first group, a small, extremely loud trio of short, round men, wanted to destroy the antidote. Though Carmen couldn’t fathom how anyone could be so stupid, she carefully kept her face expressionless. She’d kill them before she’d allow them to do that.

  The second faction was comprised of seven people—six men and one woman. They appeared more intellectual than the others, and in fact she’d heard snippets of their conversation that seemed to indicate they all had once worked at the CDC. They wanted to coldheartedly release the virus into six major US cities, in a timed and calculated manner. As people sickened and died, they wanted to hold an auction, for the purpose of selling off the antidote to the highest bidder. They then claimed they’d split the proceeds among all of them, including the other group. Carmen knew she didn’t believe them.

  When the men had come storming her lab, they easily captured the team of Rick’s friends, led by a man called Pete. No one seemed to notice that the battle went too quickly, and that the rough and battle-scarred men gave up too easily. No one besides Carmen, that is. She figured they, like her, had allowed themselves to be captured in order to learn about what the terrorists wanted. And make no mistake, Carmen considered them to be terrorists. Anyone who harmed people and wanted to harm more, for the sake of ideology or wealth, should have been considered such.

  When the right time came, she’d take them down. She’d even considered killing them all, but decided she wanted them to answer for their crimes.

  However, right now she took care so that no one was the slightest bit aware of her power.

  As time passed, the arguments became more strident, erupting into small bouts of violence. She, along with Pete and the rest of his team, watched silently, waiting for the fools to turn on each other.

  Finally, one of the short, round humans pulled out a semiautomatic rifle and began shooting. He took out his entire group in the space of seconds before swiveling around to aim at the others, all of whom stood frozen in utter shock.

  “Enough,” Carmen roared. He laughed, bringing up his weapon to fire on her.

  Except she was already on top of him. One of the advantages of Vampiric speed. She knocked him to the floor and snatched his gun away from him.

  “Don’t move,” she ordered.

  “How did you do that?” one of the former CDC group wanted to know. “One second you were there—” he pointed “—and the next...”

  “Never mind that,” Pete chimed in. “Carmen, when you have a minute, please cut us loose.”

  Just then, three large wolves streaked into the room. They’d obviously run straight into the sound of gunfire, probably aware that there were no silver bullets.

  The humans, predictably, stared and gasped, nervously moving closer together. Since Pete and his crew were also Pack, they grinned.

  “About time you got here,” Pete said, eyeing the largest of the three beasts. “I don’t know how much longer we could have kept up this charade.”

  “Gentlemen, let me remind you we still have a dangerous virus,” Carmen pointed out. Keeping the rifle ready, she moved over to Pete and used one of her superstrong fingernails to sever his bonds. “You can free the others,” she said.

  Jake, the human reporter, appeared. Though wild-eyed, he took in the situation with a long look. “What do you need me to do?” he asked Carmen. She smiled to show him her appreciation. Then she directed him to tie up the remaining terrorists. When one of them began to complain loudly, she squeezed off a round of shots, deliberately missing him, but effectively silencing him. “Anyone else?” she demanded. “Next time, I promise you I won’t miss.”

  No one spoke.

  Staying close together, the wolves moved over to the group of captives. Baring their teeth, they gave growls of warning low in their throat. Wide-eyed, they struggled against their bonds, with no success.

  “Jake,” Carmen said loudly. “Why don’t you take your wolf friends outside and bring back Maddie and Rick and their friend? I need to have a discussion with them.” That way they could figure out what to do next.

  “Okay.” Jake turned to gesture to the wolves, but they’d already turned and begun to make their way toward the door.

  As Maddie went past, she stopped and looked up at Carmen, grinning. Carmen reached out and tangled one hand in the soft fur. “Good to see you, girl,” she said, before letting go.

  At the door, Jake stopped. She noticed he didn’t follow the wolves outside. She realized this might have been the moment he first realized Maddie’s true nature. If she remembered correctly, the gift of that knowledge carried some heavy significance. She hoped Jake understood how difficult it must have been for Maddie to put herself in that position. And how much he meant to Maddie. That, too. Though Carmen had spent most of her long life staying out of other peoples’ personal business, she felt sorely tempted to say something to Jake. Just this once.

  “Hey,” she called out. “Jake, come here for a second.”

  He glanced at the door before looking at her, as if torn. “I...”

  “She’ll be back in a minute,” Carmen said. “I just have one quick question for you.”

  Expression wary, he crossed the distance between them. “Okay. What is it?”

  “Do you love her?”

  Clearly, whatever he’d been expecting, it hadn’t been this. “It’s complicated,” he began.

  “No. It’s not. There’s nothing complicated about it. Either you do or you don’t.”

  He swallowed. Before he could answer, Maddie, Rick and another man rushed inside. With their heightened color and disheveled appearance, Carmen could tell they’d rushed through dressing immediately after shape-shifting back to human. From what she’d heard, they really would have had to hurry, as the act of changing brought often unwelcome consequences, unless one was with their significant other. Judging from the way none of the three made eye contact with the other, they were working on getting that under control.

  “Carmen.” Rick hurried over, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She felt the force of his arousal and smiled.

  “I’m glad you saved that for me,” she purred.

  “Always.” He kissed her cheek. “Believe me, we’re all so used to that happening when we change, we’re able to control it easily. But when I saw you...”

  His flattery made her laugh.

  “Hello there.” The strange man who’d accompanied Rick, Maddie and Jake walked over and stuck out his hand. “I’m Colton.”

  “Carmen.” After they shook, she studied him. “You look familiar, but I can’t say why. I’m usually pretty good at remembering faces, but I swear I haven’t met you before today.”

  “I’m Maddie’s brother.”

  That explained it. “Ah. And you two do resemble each other.”

  Maddie walked up, carefully avoiding glancing at Jake, though he tracked her with his gaze. “What’s going on here, Carmen?” she asked.

  “That’s my Maddie. Straight to business.” Carmen stepped away from Rick to hug her friend close. Again, she considered asking Maddie what was going on with her and Jake, but figured now was not the time. Maddie would tell her later, probably over a drink at Broken Chains.

  “Jake,” Carmen called, ignoring Maddie’s almost imperceptible wince. “Come here. Everyone gather around and I’ll tell you what I know. We’ve got to figure out what to do with these people.”

  When Jake joined their group, he stood as far from Maddie as possible. Not good, but she had other things to worry
about beside the two lovebirds.

  “There were two groups here,” she said. “I’m not sure how they managed to work together long enough to capture me, but they did.”

  “What about my team?” Rick asked. “Pete and the guys were there to protect you.”

  “From what I could tell, Pete and his men allowed themselves to be defeated, so they could be captured.”

  “Right,” Pete agreed. “Rick, sorry to leave you like that, but we knew you’d understand. Headquarters got intel that these people were about to make a huge move with the virus. We needed to stop them any way we could. Turns out, the infighting got so bad that one group took out the other.”

  “Saved you all some work,” Rick said, his voice grim.

  “Yes.” Carmen felt that familiar tug of desire when Rick turned his blue eyes her way. “But the group that’s dead was the one that wanted to destroy West Latvia. Now we may never know why.”

  “Oh, I’m sure there are more of them,” Rick replied. “The head honcho always sends his flunkies to do the dirty work.” He glanced at the now surly group, still tied up and clearly not happy about it. “What about those guys? Where do they come in?”

  “From what I can tell, they used to work for the CDC in Atlanta,” Carmen said. She’d been watching Jake from the corner of her eye, and that remark seemed to jolt him out of his shock. “They appear to be in it for the money.”

  “Of course we’re in this for money,” a tall, thin man with a hooked nose interjected. “The CDC didn’t pay us enough, considering what we did. We came close to identifying the biological components of the virus, but then we heard some outsider had actually gotten much closer.”

  “How’d you hear that?” Carmen asked.

  “Scott worked with us. We sent him in to talk to that fringe group of idiots. They were tied in with them.” He jerked his head toward the dead guys. “We were understandably upset to learn he’d died after being infected with the virus.” His cold gaze locked on Carmen. “Why didn’t you give him the antidote like you did your boyfriend there? You let him die. That makes you guilty of murder.”

  Carmen laughed. She couldn’t help it. And not the toned-down form of laughter she’d learned to adopt when around humans. No, this time she let loose with her real laugh, the Vampiric one, with all its glorious undertones of menace and fury. The one that had once sent people scurrying for churches and homes with doors they could lock, because that sound contained a warning that something awful was about to happen.

  Immediately, the human man went silent, eyes wide. Head back, Carmen bared her teeth, allowing just the slightest portion of her fangs to show. As predicted, the entire group collectively recoiled. This filled her with a burst of savage joy.

  Right then, Rick kissed her. A possessive crush of his mouth on hers, as if he, too experienced similar emotions. Surprised, she kissed him back, pouring all of her energy into the movement of her lips. Since she hadn’t had time to retract her fangs, she accidentally drew blood on his bottom lip. The coppery taste only enhanced her enjoyment. In fact, she had to fight to keep from going wild.

  When he finally drew back, they were both breathing hard. Grinning, Jake shook his head. “You two need to get a room.”

  “Maybe we will, once all of this is settled.” Carmen turned, loving the way Rick kept his arm around her and his body close. “What I want to know is what we should do now. Has the virus been released anywhere else?”

  “Not that we know of,” Colton responded. “They’ve made threats. Do you have any idea who else has the virus besides these guys?”

  Carmen shook her head. She glanced back over her shoulder at the man who’d spoken up before. “Answer the question.”

  “I...no.” He swallowed nervously. “I can’t do that. If I do I’ll be a dead man.”

  “If you don’t answer, your death will come a lot sooner.” This time, she let her eyes turn red as she allowed a lot more fang to show. “Because I’ll kill you. At least it will be a quick death.”

  She focused on the pulse beating rapid fire at the base of his throat. On the surface, he might not yet understand she was a Vampire, but somewhere deep in his psyche, he knew. And he understood exactly what her fangs would do to him.

  “The CDC is the only other place that has the virus,” he finally blurted. “Other than anyone who might have gathered their own samples in West Latvia.”

  She gave a slow nod. “Good.”

  “Not that it matters, since we now have an antidote,” Rick interjected. “Thanks to you. Now all we have to do is contact the proper authorities and have large quantities manufactured.”

  Carmen closed her eyes, taking a moment to gather her composure. “Easier said than done. Finding facilities capable of that kind of mass production quickly will be a challenge, to say the least.”

  “Maybe so, but if they want to save the world, they’ll have to figure out a way to do it.” Rick sounded so certain, so confident that this would happen, she wanted to kiss him again.

  Once, she had been like him. Before centuries of watching humans battle over all the wrong things. She’d witnessed plagues and battle and carnage, and seen firsthand the unspeakable things men did to each other in the name of love and religion. She could imagine the jockeying for power among those in charge, while people died. Seeing the hope shining in Rick’s eyes, the honest conviction of his chiseled features, made her feel lighter than she had in ages.

  “Have you contacted the CDC?” Jake asked, his own inquisitive expression mirroring the same hope as Rick’s.

  “Not yet.” She looked at Maddie. “I wasn’t sure who I can trust. Especially after learning those yahoos over there were all former CDC workers.”

  “You’re right,” Maddie said slowly. “We need to go higher up. Someone above the CDC.”

  At that, Rick and Colton exchanged a glance. “I think we know exactly the right person,” Colton said. “Trent Paxton. He’s head of the Protectors, but he also is in charge of the US Department of Health and Human Services.”

  Their confident hope felt infectious. “Perfect,” Carmen said. “Does one of you want to make the call?”

  “I’ll do it,” Colton said. “Trent and I used to golf sometimes, back when he worked here in Texas. He’ll take my call.”

  While Colton walked away to take care of that, Carmen noticed Maddie appeared to be on the verge of tears. About to ask what was wrong, Carmen swallowed back the question when Jake took Maddie’s arm.

  “I was wrong,” he told her, looking deep into her eyes. Though his words were meant only for her, he spoke loud enough so everyone could hear.

  Since Carmen suspected he did this on purpose, she didn’t move. Evidently, Rick had reached the same conclusion, as he stayed, too.

  “I’m sorry,” Jake continued. “Now everything makes sense. If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes...” He looked down. “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me the truth.”

  Though his words were kind, they clearly weren’t what Maddie wanted to hear. She gave a stiff nod and crossed her arms.

  Then Jake leaned in and kissed her. A rough kiss, possessive and decisive. The kiss of a man who knew what he wanted.

  Seeing this, Carmen and Rick exchanged smiles.

  “I love you,” Jake declared, pulling Maddie close. Once he had her nestled into the crook of his arm, he turned to face Carmen. “I love this woman,” he said. A second later, he told Rick the same thing. “When Colton gets back, I’ll tell him the same thing.”

  Like the sun bursting out from behind heavy storm clouds, a brilliant smile appeared on Maddie’s face.

  But Jake wasn’t finished. Before Maddie could speak, he kissed her again. “You’re beautiful. Not just now, but then.” He glanced over at their captives, clearly aware he couldn’t say much.

  Eyes huge, Maddie clearly hung on his every word.

  “I’d like a committed relationship,” Jake continued. “In every sense of the word. In fact, if yo
u’re willing, I think we should look for our own place. Once all of this settles down. For sure I’m going to need your help figuring out how to frame my story. There’s so much and I’m not sure...”

  Though he let his words trail off, his meaning rang clear. He wouldn’t do anything to endanger Maddie and her people. The Pack Protectors would have no reason for concern with him.

  With a glad cry, Maddie leaned in for yet another kiss. This one was the kind of kiss that should have been shared in private.

  Marveling at all this, and overjoyed for her friend, Carmen turned away and took Rick’s arm. About to suggest they leave the two lovebirds alone, she winced when one of the captors yelled out in a mocking voice, “You two should definitely get a room.”

  Maddie broke away from Jake, blushing. They touched foreheads and then, arm and arm, walked outside. Hopefully in the opposite direction from Colton, who still hadn’t returned.

  * * *

  Careful to hide his annoyance at the interruption, Rick turned to Carmen. “Can’t you do something about those fools?” he asked, gesturing toward their captives. “Like knock them out until someone from the government shows up to collect them?”

  His question made Carmen laugh. “I wish. Unfortunately, I’m not a witch. There’s not one stitch of magical ability in me.”

  “Lucky for them.” Glowering, Rick took Carmen’s elbow and led her as far from the others as they could get without leaving the warehouse. “What do you think about Maddie and Jake?” he asked.

  Grinning up at him, she shrugged. “If Maddie’s happy, I’m happy. He seems like a good guy. I don’t think you Pack Protectors have any cause for concern, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “It’s not.” He pushed away a sudden rush of nervousness, determined to say what he needed to say. “We make a great partnership, too, you know.”

  Carmen went very still. “I agree.” She watched him, expressionless, as if bracing herself for whatever he might say next.

  He refused to be nervous. “You know how I feel about you,” he said.