Wolf Tales III

by Kate Douglas

  Now, instead of anger with Jake, Shannon felt indebted. She might have gone through life as her mother had, always searching for an identity just out of reach.

  Sweat soaked the T-shirt and it clung to her skin. Even the shorts were damp with perspiration. She stopped at a small spring to drink when she realized how much fluid she’d lost. Kneeling down, palms planted in the soft mud at the edge of the woodland pool, Shannon saw she’d knelt as an animal would, leaning forward to lap the water with her tongue rather than bringing it to her mouth with her hand.

  The realization stunned her. She sat back, hard, her butt flattening a patch of ferns. The muscles in her arms and legs twitched and she felt a strange crawling sensation along her spine.

  Sitting perfectly still, Shannon tried to separate each of the new sensations but they were all-encompassing. Every part of her felt primed for…something. She tried looking inside herself, much as she had in her dreams when she’d discovered her healthy reproductive system in the body of the wolf, but she wasn’t quite sure what to look for.

  Maybe one more pill, one more day of change. Shoving herself to her feet, Shannon headed back to the cabin. Tia had gone through this, knowing what to expect. At least, knowing more than Shannon did. She’d call Tia.

  Either that, or she could swallow her pride, admit to Jake she was still taking the supplement and ask him how she’d know when she was ready to attempt the shift.

  Nah. She’d call Tia. Jake needed a little more time hanging out to dry…at least until she got so horny she had to give in. Just thinking about him now brought her nipples to attention and made her aware of the heat between her legs. Damn…the man had power over her whether she wanted to admit it or not.

  Grinning at her own fickle nature and refreshed from her short break, Shannon headed back down the narrow path to the cabin.

  Shannon sensed the presence of others long before she got near enough to see the black sedan hidden off to the side of the long driveway. She worked her way quietly through the thick undergrowth until she was close enough to make certain the car was empty, but it was still way too familiar.

  She might not recall her brief time spent in the trunk, but Shannon certainly remembered her time with Jake.

  Jake! He could be coming home any time now, and there was no way he’d see the sedan until he was practically on top of the car.

  Panic set her heart to pounding. She crouched down behind the thick trunk of a maple tree. Jake. What the hell do I do now?

  Don’t move. I hear you. What’s wrong? Where are you?

  The mind talking he’d told her about! She hadn’t even thought of it. At least her Chanku nature had evolved far enough to understand him. To communicate from a distance. Sighing in relief, Shannon collapsed back against the rough tree trunk.

  In the woods beside the driveway, on the north side. The black car is hidden just across from me. There’s no one in it. I have no idea where they are or how many, but it looks like those men have found us.

  I’m coming. Don’t move.

  Shannon held perfectly still for what seemed hours, but could only have been about ten minutes or so. She heard a low whine, looked up and saw the wolf watching her from just a few feet away.

  Without any hesitation, she held our her arms. The wolf ran to her. Placed his broad head against her chest in what could only be a hug.

  Wait here. I’m going to find out where they are.

  “Be careful, Jake.” There was a quiver in her voice Shannon couldn’t hide. Jake stared at her for a long moment, the expression in his amber eyes unreadable. Then he turned and melted away into the thick forest.

  Shannon hugged herself, suddenly chilled in her sweaty clothing. Again she waited, but this time at least, Jake kept up a running dialogue with her.

  There’s one guy under the front deck, just behind the stairs. Hope he doesn’t mind spiders…

  A minute later, he filled her mind again. Talk about hiding in plain sight. There’s a big sucker standing by the back door. I guess he figures we’ll come in through the front on the bike.

  Shannon fought a powerful urge to poke her head out around the tree trunk and look at the house, but she managed to hold her position. Jake’s voice sounded in her mind once more.

  There’s one, possibly two men, hiding inside the house, damn it. Hold tight, I’ll be right back.

  Shannon remained huddled behind the thick tree trunk. Jake slipped through the thick underbrush almost soundlessly, but he saw her head snap up and her eyes turn in his direction when he was still a good twenty yards away.

  She was standing up and waiting with her arms open wide when he reached her. Without conscious thought, Jake shifted and practically flowed into her embrace. He felt her body trembling when he held her, felt her heart thudding against his chest, the pressure of her breasts with each breath she took.

  She certainly didn’t feel all that pissed off.

  No, she felt damned hot and sexy plastered close to his naked body, if just a little bit afraid.

  Jake kissed the top of her head and tried to ignore the heated rise of his cock. She’d left him horny as hell last night. Horny, and miserable, and filled with regret. Now his only regret was the fact they’d have to deal with the bastards hiding around the cabin before they could get into that making up process he’d heard so much about.

  Jake held Shannon away from him, just far enough so that he could see her face, close enough that his cock still rode against her belly, a hot brand between them. Her green eyes sparkled with tears, shimmering like precious jewels.

  Shannon was worth more than emeralds. She was more precious than anything else in his life. Jake would protect her, somehow. He swept his palm over her sleek hair, fought the hard desire that made him want to pull her close, to devour her mouth, breathe in her scent.

  He took a deep breath, calmed himself. “We have two choices. We can go back to the bike and get out of here. It’s parked back at the edge of the property, hidden from view. Or…”

  “We fight?” Shannon smiled at him, her straight, white teeth flashing in a shaky grin that told Jake exactly where she stood.

  “I fight. There’s no we about it. We have no weapons and you can’t shift, but I can. I doubt they’re prepared for a wolf.”

  Shannon shook her head. “Didn’t you say the wolf got me away from them in the first place? Are these the same guys?”

  Jake shook his head. “I dunno. The ones outside aren’t the same ones from the motel. I have no idea who’s inside, or even how many.”

  Shannon frowned. “It’s the same car we ditched, isn’t it?”

  “No. Different year. Same make. They look similar. Government issue…very little creativity there. When you choose your car, it’s this black sedan or that one.” He risked a glance around the side of the tree. The only man visible shifted his position beneath the front porch.

  “There’s a guy at the back door. He didn’t look all that alert, probably because he figures we’ll come up the driveway. I’m going to take him out first. Next I’ll get the one under the steps, but I should have the first man’s weapons by then…” He grinned at Shannon, imagining the chaos he was going to cause. “I doubt he’ll be expecting a naked man armed with his partner’s gun.”

  Shannon slowly rotated her hips against his cock. Jake bit back a groan. “That isn’t helping me any, Shannon.”

  She leaned close and kissed him, her lips a soft benediction against his mouth. “Hmmm…just giving you a reason to be very careful.”

  Jake reluctantly put her away from him. “You’ve made your point. Now keep an eye on the one under the deck. Let me know if he moves.” He turned away, but looked back over his shoulder. Shannon stood straight and tall in the shadow of the ancient maple, her hands clasped in front of her, her lips caught between her teeth.

  As much as his cock ached, Jake suddenly realized his heart ached even more. Dear God, but he loved her. Somehow he had to make her realize it was more than Ch
anku, more than the act of sex, more than anything he’d thought himself capable of feeling.

  Jake winked and shifted. With a flip of his tail and one last, backwards glance, he put his nose to the ground and followed the edge of the woods as silently as a wraith.

  Do you see any movement from the guy under the porch?

  No, unless you count him shifting around like he sees bugs he doesn’t like.

  Spiders. Big ones. I sure wouldn’t go under there.

  Jake heard Shannon’s soft laughter in his mind. He studied the big guy waiting by the back door. The man was huge, built like a linebacker with shoulders twice the size of Jake’s. He held a large semiautomatic weapon in his right hand, but the barrel was pointed at the deck and his stance looked relaxed.

  In fact, he looked bored out of his skull. All of a sudden, some movement must have caught his attention, because he turned and stared out across the meadow. He seemed to be watching something at the edge of the woods, but Jake couldn’t see what it was from his position in the tall grass.

  A musky scent teased his nostrils. Jake raised his head barely enough to see over the grass and spotted the full rack of a large buck. The deer nibbled at one of the shrubs growing along the meadow’s edge, upwind from both the wolf and the man on the deck.

  It was an extremely welcome diversion. Jake lowered himself to his belly as the man stepped away from the back door and leaned out over the railing. He brought the gun up to his shoulder and sighted. Jake imagined the buck in the crosshairs, wondered if the guy was stupid enough to shoot.

  A soft, whispered ka-pow! reached his ears.

  The dumb schmuck.

  “Ka-pow! Ka-pow!”

  The deer continued browsing, reaching above his head to nibble at the tender leaves. Jake quietly followed a line of tall grass to the edge of the deck, out of sight of either of his targets, and shifted back to human.

  He’d never mastered the art of walking across a wooden deck without the telltale click, click, click from his nails. Moving swiftly on bare feet, avoiding windows in case someone inside might see, he got into position behind the first target, shifted back to wolven form and attacked.

  Other than a soft grunt and the thump of the man’s gun hitting the grass below the deck railing, Jake’s kill was silent and swift. Only someone standing very close would hear the snap of vertebrae, the gurgle of air leaving the dead man’s lungs. Clamping his jaws tightly around the limp throat, Jake lowered the man’s body to the deck, then leapt silently to the ground below. He crouched over the gun, a modified semiautomatic loaded with armor-piercing shells.

  These guys were playing for keeps. If he wanted Shannon safe, Jake knew he’d better be damned careful. He reached for Shannon.

  One down. What’s going on in front?

  If I didn’t know better, I’d guess he was jacking off! He’s leaning against the piling under the right side of the steps and it looks like his hand’s in his pants.

  These guys aren’t necessarily the brightest bulbs in the batch. Let me know if he changes position.

  What if he comes?

  Spare me the details.

  Her laughter caressed his mind, took away the stink of death, the danger of his next kill. Jake shifted back to human, grabbed the deadly weapon and slowly worked his away round the far side of the cabin.

  Shannon wasn’t kidding. The guy really was jacking off. He had his dick wrapped in his fist and was doing a slow, thorough job on himself when Jake got close enough to draw a bead on him.

  There was something abhorrent about shooting a guy in the back before he came. Jake settled himself against a piling beneath the deck, checked for spiders, and fixed the guy in his crosshairs.

  He heard a creak in the floor just over his head around the same time the one he was watching began to groan.

  The front door squeaked on its hinges. A strange voice whispered loudly, “What’s going on out there?”

  The guy jerking off didn’t slow his strokes and he was obviously too close to shooting his load to talk. Jake heard the one above him say something to someone else in the house. That answered one of his questions. There were at least two of them inside.

  Jake set the gun down and moved forward, quickly, silently on bare feet. He wrapped his forearm around the man’s neck just as he reached climax. A twist and a snap and the man slumped in Jake’s grasp…dying with a groan of satisfaction on his lips and his ejaculate all over the piling in front of him.

  Jake carefully placed the man’s body against the wall and moved to a spot beside the steps, partially hidden beneath the deck. He glanced toward the forest but saw no sign of Shannon.

  He breathed a sigh of relief.

  Jake? Are you okay?

  Yeah. Two down, two to go. Stay hidden.

  Be careful. I don’t want you hurt.

  I don’t want me hurt, either, Shannon? I love you.

  The minute the thought left his mind, Jake wished he could pull it back. Damn, she’d think he just said that to, to…what?

  He heard a sound behind him, a whisper of movement. Twisting, Jake flung his body to one side, barely escaping the bullet that whizzed by his ear. Tucking and rolling, he fought the instinct to become Chanku. The wolf was no match against two assailants.

  Another shot, but this one was close. Dirt spattered beside him. He ducked behind the front steps and reached for the weapon a dead man didn’t need.

  Footsteps pounded on the stairs above him. A shadow skirted away, hidden beneath the deck. Jake’s fingers closed around the gun lying beside the body.

  “Hold it. Drop the gun!”

  Too late. The man on the stairs had Jake in his sights. The suit under the house held his weapon pointed directly at Jake’s heart. Slowly he released his grip on the butt of the dead man’s gun.

  Shannon. Stay hidden. They’ve got me. I’ll need to get loose later. Don’t let them find you.

  He waited for her reply. There was no answer.

  Holding his hands away from his naked body, Jake slowly crawled out from under his house.

  They could have been cloned, the two of them, so much alike Jake had trouble telling them apart. It was as much the attitude and the suits as their appearance. They showed no emotion, no reaction to finding a naked man under the house. There wasn’t even a sense of sadness over their two associates lying dead outside.

  The one from the steps grabbed Jake by the shoulder and slammed him up against the side of the house, twisting his right arm high between his shoulder blades. The other man came crawling out from under the deck, brushing cobwebs and dust off his dark suit. Neither one said a word.

  Jake felt the cold steel of handcuffs around his wrists. He grunted when the one holding him twisted his arm and shoved him into a chair on the deck.

  He felt a cold fury, that these men would desecrate the sanctity of this beautiful place. The one spot where he’d felt safe with Shannon.

  Where the hell was she?

  Jake kept his head down, his chin almost touching his chest. He waited, wondering what they would say, what their plan was.

  Finally, the one who’d caught him jerked his head toward the house. “Call the boss. Let him know we got one. The bitch should show up before long. I hear they don’t like to be separated.”

  Jake bit his lip. No way would he implicate Shannon. He heard the second man walk into his house. Jake felt the anger build, to think they’d made themselves at home here. This was his land, his home.

  His woman. Shannon, where are you? Don’t come near. They’ve got me handcuffed and they’re waiting for you.

  Good, because I’m coming.

  No!

  Jake had no time to act. The man guarding him had even less. The wolf leapt over the railing, jaws spread wide, ears flat to her head. There was no hesitation, no fear in her attack. She caught him by the back of the neck, swung her wolven body to the right and snapped his spine.

  He didn’t have time to make more than a gurgling cry, cut off
almost before it escaped.

  His body dropped, hard, trapping the she-wolf with its weight. She scrabbled, her sharp claws raking against the wooden deck, pulling herself free.

  Jake didn’t hesitate. He shifted, thankful the cuffs were loose enough to pull his paws free, and followed Shannon into the house. Questions—and answers—would come later.

  The suit inside whirled around the moment the wolves entered the room. He didn’t even hesitate. He set the phone back in its cradle and carefully laid his weapon on the floor. Then he stood up and held his hands over his head.

  Jake snarled. His hackles rose, his ears went flat against his skull and he crouched, preparing to spring. The bitch moved her body just as fast, blocking his attack. She snarled at the man as well, then turned and stared directly into Jake’s eyes.

  No way in hell could he look away. Not when she was there, totally Chanku, his alpha bitch giving him a silent, yet powerful command.

  Don’t kill. She took a deep breath and nudged Jake with her shoulder. There was a loud roaring in his ears when she sat back on her haunches and turned her attention back to the man standing before them, hands over his head, eyes wary.

  Can’t you tell? He’s one of us.

  Heart pounding, Jake turned to look closely at the agent. Tall, handsome by anyone’s standards, he studied Jake with open fascination through brilliant amber eyes. Jake watched the man’s throat constrict as he swallowed, smelled his fear, sensed his overwhelming curiosity.

  Could it be? Jake glanced at the she-wolf who shouldn’t be, then back at the man who had tried to kill him, and shook his wolven head in a very human gesture.

  The agent seemed to relax. He reached behind him, felt for the edge of a kitchen chair, and sat down. Hard. “I hope you don’t mind, but it’s that or fall on my ass.”

  He talked to them as if he knew. Jake snarled, the growl low in his throat. The agent held up his hand.

  “I know. You don’t exist. For what it’s worth, I don’t agree with Bosworth’s plan. The whole idea of a breeding farm disgusts me.” He held up the phone. “I just called him. His wife answered. Bosworth is dead. He had a stroke yesterday morning…on his front porch of all places.”