“Didn't your mother ever lock herself in a room for long periods of time so she could write?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Mike grunted. He knew Bill was right. Bill was always right.
“Don't you think she's probably in book land right now, not ignoring you?”
“I guess she did give me a copy of her book.”
“And you read it in one day. I know,” Bill said, as if repeating Mike for the hundredth time.
“That means something, doesn't it?” he asked.
“Yes, it means she's a nice person. I think you should go over there and see her. Say you wanted to tell her you liked her book in person or something. You did like her book right?” Bill asked. Mike had a strange feeling Bill was getting tired of hearing about Lucy and her quietness.
“Yes, I liked the book. It was one of the best books I've ever read.”
“Are you saying that because it's her or because you really liked it?” Bill asked. It was a valid question, even if it made Mike sound like a love-drunk teen.
“I thought the book was really good. I'll admit, it's not something I would normally read, but it was good. Yes, I think I like it more because she wrote it, but I'm not going to lie – it really was good.” Mike was thinking he might be over-analyzing it some. He was talking in circles just to get one sentence out. That wasn't like him.
“Okay. Well, go tell her that. Maybe not in those words, though.”
“I'm going to come over as some crazed fan who's turning into a stalker. Why can't she just come into the bar?”
“Because Basil said her sister went back home,” Bill said.
“What? How would Basil know?”
“Because he's the alpha and knows everything that happens in this town,” Bill said with a ‘duh’ tone.
“I guess that makes sense. The man is the sheriff.”
“Mike, get your ass over there and talk to her or shut the hell up. I'm tired of the brooding,” Bill said, and walked away.
***
Lucy stretched for the hundredth time in the past few hours. She'd been at her computer all day working on her book. The story was finally progressing well and she was happy with it. But she was getting stiff from sitting in the same position all day. Getting up, she decided to make some dinner. She loved to cook and was getting good at it. She could spend all day cooking. It was relaxing to her. It wasn't that day, though. Her thoughts kept coming back to Mike: his soft hands as he took care of her arm; him helping her figure out her book; him offending her but not meaning to; his blue eyes and black hair; the off-tattoo on his arm. He was sexy. She shook her head and started chopping some onions. It wouldn't help her writing if she chopped a finger off. She needed to concentrate if she was going to get dinner. She had to.
His strong callused hands popped into her mind as they smoothed the band aid down on her arm and as he helped her into his truck. No. She couldn't keep thinking about him. She needed to think about what she was doing. It wasn't working, though. Instead, she moved to her computer and turned the volume up and started singing at the top of her lungs and swaying her hips to the music. Before long, she was jumping up and down as she danced, and singing off key, but having a blast. It was something she needed to just clear her head, and it worked.
***
“Good, you're on time. I was afraid I'd have to wait," he said to Paul. "Any more word on the wolverine?”
“No sir. I've been keeping an eye on the papers and talking to the locals. They say it doesn't come out very often, but it’s never bothered anyone, so they leave it alone. They think it escaped from the circus or a rare animal collector.”
“Do you think they'll miss it when we kill it? Is it going to cause any problems?”
“I don't think so. The locals notice it, but that's all. Everyone's afraid to approach it. Honestly, they'll probably think it just moved on,” Paul said as he held open the door of the airport. The man was trained: that was something he was very happy about.
“Good. Then this should be an easy in and out. Any signs of it now it's been found out?”
“No, none that I've seen. I haven't seen it out, but I just saw it a few days ago so that's nothing unusual. I haven't heard anything around town either.”
“Good. I want to do this on my own. I need to fix my mistake, so I want to keep this quiet. I don't want anyone to find out. I also want to be the one to take the shot. You observe only,” he said. He's told Paul to keep it quiet, but he's found with some of these men that he has to keep repeating himself, otherwise they'd forget and it'd be published in the papers. Paul was a good soldier and wouldn't say anything, but he was afraid the one time he didn't repeat himself would be when someone forgot, thereby fucking up his whole plan.
“Sir, with all due respect, I don't think that's a good idea. You know how vicious these animals are. Let me call in a team to help. I'll hand pick everyone, making sure they are good men who can keep their mouths shut.”
“No,” he yelled, as he got in the car. He’d made the mistake in the first place; he was going to be the one to fix it.
“Yes, sir. I'm sorry sir.” That's what he liked to hear.
Chapter 6
“Paul, any sign of him?” he asked quietly through his walkie talkie.
“No sir,” he got back. Fuck! They had been searching the woods for days and hadn't found so much as a paw print. This fucker was hard to find. He was starting to believe the wolverine didn't exist. He refused to fail, though. He would find it. He would kill it. He would skin it and use it as a fur rug.
“Are you ready to head in, sir?” Paul asked. He looked at the sky and saw it was getting dark. He didn't like being out too late, when it was hard to see. He would be opening himself up to an attack. He had learned that the hard way and had the scars to prove it.
“Yeah,” he said, and walked to the SUV.
***
Mike was feeling cramped in his apartment and needed to run. He couldn't hold it in any more. Thoughts of Lucy kept taking over and no matter what he did, she won. It had been days since he’d taken her home that night, and all he could think about was how she looked when she closed her eyes to clear her mind. How she looked when she licked her lips. How she looked in that sweater. He had to clear his mind and get her out of it. If she didn't want to have anything to do with him, then fine. Now he just needed to get her out of his head. Mike parked his truck along the road near the woods and removed his clothes. When he shifted, he felt his muscles stretching and it felt wonderful. He didn't know why he hadn't done this sooner. Sniffing around, he scented a rabbit. Time for a fun chase. Following the scent, he found where the rabbit was hiding. Then it took off with him following behind it, enjoying the play.
When the rabbit went into a hole in the ground, he started rolling around, then jumped up and started playing with anything that moved: a branch swaying in the wind; a leaf blowing by; a dragonfly as it buzzed past him. He was having fun just being himself. Whenever he went out with Bill, the man just wanted to lounge in the Sun, never wanting to play.
By the time Mike got tired of jumping around and chasing animals, he found himself at Lucy’s house. He guessed his thoughts of her never really left, but merely got pushed to the back of his mind. He could see her through her window and he knew he really shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t right to watch her like this, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. There was something about her. Lucy was sitting at her computer, which wasn’t surprising. That’s where he’d always found his mother if she wasn’t around. She moved and stretched her shoulders. She must have been there for hours. Bill was right: she was lost in her world of books. She did have a major breakthrough the other night. When his mother had one, she either had her notepad with her or was sitting at her typewriter. Lucy was moving around, swaying or something. He couldn’t figure out what she was doing until he saw her lips moving. She was dancing in her chair. It was odd, but no one ever said writers were sane. It didn’t matter; it was actually kind of cu
te.
***
He was walking back to the SUV when he heard something. It was small and something no one would think of, but there was something about it that drew his attention. “Paul, I heard something. I’m going to check it out,” he said into the walkie talkie.
“Roger,” Paul answered.
He went to where he thought he might have heard the sound and saw the biggest wolverine he’d ever seen. It seemed distracted, otherwise it would have known he was there. Looking in the direction it was looking, he saw a house. Pulling out his binoculars, he saw a woman sitting at a desk. The animal was after her for some reason and he wasn’t going to let it complete that task. Taking aim, he sighted the chest of the wolverine. He wanted to make sure it was a kill shot, and as it wasn’t moving, he could take extra care to make sure it was a good shot. He squeezed the trigger.
***
Mike watched Lucy as she danced in her chair, swaying and bobbing her head to whatever she was listening to. She was so cute, as she would really get dancing before suddenly stopping, probably to get something important down. He took a few steps into her back yard, wanting to get a better look. She was so beautiful and carefree. She stopped moving and hunched over her desk. At first he was afraid she’d seen him. It wasn’t every day you saw a wolverine at your back door. But she seemed intent on what she was writing, then popped back up and started dancing again. Mike could just imagine walking into the room to find Lucy doing just that, and him wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her neck and began swaying with her. Taking another step, he willed that fantasy to come true, but he knew it couldn’t, at least not now. But he wanted it to, and he was going to do everything he could to make sure it did. There was something about Lucy that made her special.
There was a loud bang before a sharp searing pain in his side. He’d never felt anything like it before and hoped he never would again. It was debilitating. He fell over and curled into himself as best he could, hoping it didn’t happen again and hoping to relieve some of the pain, but it didn’t help. The pain was starting to get worse, like he was being burned from the inside out.
Lucy. He had to make sure nothing happened to Lucy. He couldn’t let her get hurt. She couldn’t feel the pain he was in right now. She was his Lucy. Trying to move, he was able to get up on one leg, then two, but at length fell over. The pain was too much. How was he going to help her? How was he going to save her? He couldn’t lose her now that he’d just found her.
Chapter 7
Lucy was on a roll. She’d just gotten to a good fight scene and was lost in her book. She’d taken quick stretch breaks, but she’d barely moved from her computer in the past three hours. Her fingers were getting tired, but she had to get these words out before she lost them. And she loved every second of it. Getting lost in another world where her characters directed her was heaven. Currently the evil prince was battling the good prince. Who would win? She had no idea. She’d find out when it was over. That was something she liked about writing: she had a general idea, but never actually knew what was going to happen until she typed it.
There was some kind of loud bang from outside. It almost sounded like a gun shot, but it didn’t sound like the ones she’d heard on TV. There shouldn’t be anyone hunting in the area. There were some woods around her, but it was too early for deer hunting and, well, she’d never had anyone hunt around her. Looking outside she saw something there, but couldn’t tell what it was. It was brown and black and in her back yard. All she knew was that it was something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Sliding on her flip flops, she moved outside to get a closer look. She needed to know what she was up against.
Stepping onto her patio, she saw what looked like a bear cub. Its chest was rising and falling slowly so she knew it was alive, but it wasn’t moving. She didn’t know how much longer it was going to be alive. Then it opened its eyes and looked directly at her. With a little scream, she moved as quickly as she could into the house. If it was a bear cub, there would be a mama bear around, and from what she’d heard, they weren’t very nice when it came to the protection of their cubs.
Animal Control. She had to call Animal Control and they’d come get it. They would know what to do, and she had no intention of going outside until that thing was gone. She had no intention of becoming bear food.
***
Zeke watched as a woman stepped outside, looked at the wolverine for a minute and then ran back in. He was lucky. He’d almost walked out to check on it, but had happened to see her walk out. Now was the time to check it. She was inside, probably too afraid to go near it. Smart woman. He walked out of the woods, gun held high, ready to shoot if it was playing dead. Instead of attacking like he expected, it stayed on the ground, eyes closed. This was way too easy.
“Did you get it, sir?” Paul asked through the walkie talkie.
“Damn it Paul,” he muttered. He didn’t want to alert the animal if it didn’t know he was there. He knew if he didn’t make sure it was dead now, he wouldn’t get a chance. He had to make sure it was dead. These things had amazing healing abilities, especially if they shifted. And if he didn’t kill it before it changed back to a human, he could be labeled a murderer. No, he needed it in its animal form. Then it was just hunting. Taking aim again, he heard something from inside the woman’s house. She was pulling back her interior shutters. He had to get out of there before she saw him.
“Sir?” Paul said through the walkie talkie again.
He pulled it out as he ran for the woods and said, “I shot it, but there’s a possible witness. I don’t know if it’s dead.”
“Roger,” Paul said.
He kept running until he knew he was covered by the trees, but when he turned around, he saw the wolverine shifting. The bastard was still alive. There was still hope, though: he did get a good shot in. Maybe it wouldn’t last long.
***
Mike knew Lucy was watching him. He could hear the shutters as she opened them. The problem was that she thought he was some wild animal and would probably call Animal Control or something. Yes, there were shifters who worked there, just in case something like this happened, but it was something they liked to prevent from happening. He had to shift. It was going to hurt like hell, but he didn’t really have a choice. Straightening his body as best he could so it would be more comfortable, he let the shift take him over. It would help speed the healing process, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be a bitch to do. He gritted his teeth, keeping in the scream as the wound was stretched from the shift.
Waiting for Lucy to see him was hard. He didn’t have the energy to yell out to her, but the feeling of blood running down his side was making him panic. He needed help. He needed to find out how bad it was to know if he needed to call Bill. Taking a deep breath, Mike tried to calm down. It wouldn’t do him any good to panic. He needed to get his heart rate down or he’d bleed to death before he could get help. Wincing in pain, he moved and looked at his stomach to see blood pouring out of a small hole. Fuck. He should have known he’d been shot. He knew it hurt like hell when you got shot, but he never knew it would hurt that much.
Letting himself fall back, he collapsed onto the ground. He had to wait for Lucy to see him, and he hoped it would be soon. But how was he going to explain to her why he was naked in her back yard and bleeding? He guessed he had no choice but to tell her the truth. Maybe she’d let it slide until he wasn’t bleeding in her yard, but he had a feeling she was going to want answers sooner rather than later.
“Mike!” he heard her yell. He breathed a sigh of relief at hearing her voice. The hard part was over, or he hoped it was. Now he just needed to convince her to not call an ambulance and get her to call Bill. That was not going to be an easy task.
***
Lucy stood at her computer, trying to find the number for Animal Control. Why the hell was it taking so long to find one number? She didn’t want the animal to suffer. She couldn’t stand seeing anything or anyone in pain. She also didn’t w
ant it to attack her out of desperation or fear or something.
“Ha ha!” she cheered when she found the number. Grabbing her cell phone, ready to dial the number, she looked outside again, wanting to make sure the thing hadn’t come to her door or ambled off. It wasn’t there. Maybe it wasn’t as hurt as she’d originally thought? Maybe it was just playing dead or something.
Shrugging her shoulders, she put the phone down, keeping the number handy just in case, and went back to her work. Looking up, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Something was there. Picking up her phone to call Animal Control, she saw a human in her yard. A naked man. Carrying her phone, she moved to her patio door. She wanted to be ready to call the police if needed. There shouldn’t be any naked people in her back yard. Well, there really shouldn’t be any people in her back yard.
Lucy slipped on her flip flops again and stepped outside. Maybe it was a – what do you call them? – naturalist or nudist or whatever. In this day and age, you never knew what you’d find. She wanted a better view of the man, and also wanted to know why he was lying down in her yard. Very slowly she made it to the edge of the patio. For some reason he wasn’t moving, but he was breathing. Now that she thought about it, he was around where the bear had been. Maybe the mama bear got him? She hoped not. She’d heard a lot of bad things about bear attacks – the victims seldom lived. Worried about him, she ran over to him, needing to know whether or not to call an ambulance. Lucy gasped as she got closer and saw who it was.
Chapter 8
“Mike!” Lucy yelled as she squatted down in front of him. She saw all the blood and looked for the wounds, expecting deep gouges, but all she could find was a hole in his stomach. It looked like he’d been shot. How in the world did he get shot and end up naked in her back yard?
“No ambulance,” he said weakly.
“Mike, we have to get you to the hospital. They have to get the bullet out,” she said, reaching for his side. He moaned when she put pressure on the wound. She felt bad for causing him more pain, but she couldn’t let him bleed out.
Lucy's Wolverine (Lilly Town Shifters) Page 3