by Terry Spear
She hadn't expected wolf killers to express concern for her safety, as normal humans would. But even though they seemed human in that respect, the hunters still were dangerous for the lupus garous and the wolves she'd made it her calling to study. She dashed for the cover of the forest, figuring she could outrun them. Ben took a couple of hefty strides and snagged her wrist.
Chapter 17
Leidolf's cell phone jingled and he jerked it off his belt, flipped it open, and saw Sheriff Whittaker was calling again.
"Yeah?" Leidolf said, wholeheartedly expecting that the sheriff had Cassie and the Jag, that he'd learn if Sarge was with her, and that everything was well under control.
That misconception was instantly shattered when the sheriff spoke over the phone, huffing and puffing, half-winded. "Got the Jag in good condition, Mr. Wildhaven."
Hell, Leidolf didn't care anything about the Jag. It was the former pack leader's chick magnet. Leidolf didn't need anything that flashy, and the car was the next item on his agenda to get rid of.
"The woman?" That's all he cared about. Well, and Sarge. But Cassie was his first priority.
"The little lady nearly wrecked your car after jumping out of it while the brake wasn't set, and the Jag drifted down a hill. I dashed for the car, never thinking she'd run into the woods, but that's exactly what she did.
"At least I think. I was too busy saving your Jag. And the guy with her? Sarge? He was trying madly to get into the driver's seat. I figured he'd planned to tear off, but I managed to jerk the keys out of the ignition. When I finally returned the Jag and him to the scene, she had vanished. Unless someone picked her up."
Leidolf swore to himself. He didn't figure anyone would have picked her up along the isolated road without the sheriff noticing it, even as busy as he was trying to stop the runaway Jag. The way she was dressed in this cold, she'd never make it far. And changing into the wolf and running on all four legs with an injured shoulder? She'd never manage that way for very long, either.
He jammed the gas pedal down even more. "I'll be there shortly."
"I've got this guy in bracelets. He wasn't very cooperative."
"He's a friend's cousin who needed a good job and someone to watch over him to keep him out of trouble. He'll adjust eventually to life on the ranch. I'll be there in a few." But in truth, he was ready to terminate Sarge for taking Cassie hostage, because he knew she wouldn't have permitted him to leave with her any other way.
Minutes later, Leidolf saw the lights flashing on the sheriff's vehicle, his Jag parked in front of it. The sheriff was waving a flashlight into the woods, but it was too dark to find anything. As soon as Leidolf pulled in behind the sheriff's vehicle, the sheriff rushed out of the shelter of trees and waved at him.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Wildhaven. I wouldn't have thought in a million years she would have run off like that."
Several pickups parked behind Leidolf's. "We'll take care of it," he said, climbing out of his Humvee.
"She mentioned someone named Alex Wellington. Know the man?"
Leidolf frowned. "A friend of hers." Although from what Leidolf had seen, the wolf biologist was more of a nuisance than a friend.
His men and Evan gathered around them.
"All right if we take Sarge with us?" Leidolf asked.
"Yeah. As long as you don't want to press charges, he can run along with you."
Leidolf nodded to Elgin, who hurried to the sheriff's vehicle to move Sarge to his truck.
"She said Alex was a friend, and at first she thought he might have reported the murderers' whereabouts in the 911 call. She changed her story, protecting the guy, I'm sure, once she learned none of us knew his name. We need to know what he heard exactly and what he might have seen," the sheriff said.
Leidolf ground his teeth. Hell, what if she'd been with this Alex Wellington and one of the murderers had shot her when she was in her wolf form? All along, Leidolf had thought a hunter had shot her. "We'll find her, Sheriff."
"Are you sure? I could arrange a search-and-rescue mission."
"No. I've got enough men with me. I'll take care of it." Not wanting Evan out in the woods on a mission like this, Leidolf waved at the teen. "Take the Jag back to the ranch, will you, Evan?"
Evan's whole face lit up. "Sure thing!" He hurried toward the sports car.
"Drive safely," Evan's father said, coming up behind Leidolf. "No speeding."
"I'll follow him back to the ranch," the sheriff assured him. "Let me know when you have the girl safely back, will you?"
"Yeah, I'll do that, Sheriff." Leidolf waited until Evan was behind the wheel of the Jag and headed back to the ranch with the sheriff following him. Then Leidolf turned to his men to give orders. "No wolf coats. It's much too dangerous. Create enough noise so that if any hunters are out here, they'll know you're just a bunch of men like them. And, Fergus, make sure one of our men takes Sarge back to the ranch--and sits on him, if he has to."
"Yes, sir." Fergus motioned to one of the men and spoke to him in private.
"What if we don't find her?" Elgin asked Leidolf.
"We'll find her, if it takes all night. Spread out, men. One little redheaded lady isn't about to give us the slip for long." Leidolf noticed Satros stiffly climbing out of Carver's mini-SUV. He gave Leidolf a small smile. Leidolf acknowledged Satros's finding Cassie with a return smile, even though Leidolf hadn't gotten word until he'd found her himself. He still appreciated that Satros had tried so hard to find Leidolf a mate to ensure he stayed with the pack.
"Good thing you had spotted her at the river fishing earlier, Satros. Now, the trick is to keep her." Which Leidolf was bound and determined to do, the more he got to know the little lady. Everything in his life had been a challenge. Cassie would be the ultimate challenge this time around. "Let's go."
"This way." Elgin pointed at the ground as he followed her trail. "She's moving fast."
"Spread out," Leidolf said, quickening his own pace.
They rushed through the trees, stopping only long enough to listen, sniff the air, and catch her scent.
"Do you think one of the men who murdered the woman was the same one who shot Cassie?" Elgin asked from several feet away in the darkened woods. "And she was with this guy named Alex?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I think," Leidolf growled.
"Think he's a lupus garou, too, and that's why he didn't hang around and tell the police who he was?"
"No. He listened to her lecture at the town hall. He's a wolf biologist also, only of the human variety." Leidolf ground his teeth. What the hell had Alex been doing with her in the woods? Had he pushed himself on her when she hadn't wanted him around? Or maybe the reason she was so desperate to get back here had nothing to do with a female red wolf, but rather with a human wolf biologist. Which meant even though he could usually read his people's actions, he was clueless about Cassie. And that he didn't like.
Leidolf strode forth, trying to get another location on his would-be mate.
* * *
Cassie was determined to break the hunter's grip on her arm and run free while the other man punched in numbers on his cell phone.
"Sheriff Whittaker?" the man said. "This is Everett Hollis. My brother, Ben, and I found a woman in the woods half naked, and we're about half a mile from--" He looked down at her and then nodded. "A pretty redhead." He smiled.
"Yeah, she's the one. Ben said she spoke at the town hall. She's that wolf biologist from California. We'll bring her to the road to hand her over to Mr. Wildhaven. Sure, Sheriff. She's not going anywhere."
He snapped his phone shut and said to Ben, "The little lady borrowed that rich rancher's Jag." He looked down at her clothes. "Looks like she took a little more than that."
Ben furrowed his brow at her. "I always thought rich folks didn't have any troubles." Then he gave her an evil smile. "Here I thought you were one of those stuck-up educated women, and come to find out you're down-to-earth like the rest of us." His grin broadened.
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"You're hurting my wrist," she complained, frowning at him. He did have an ironclad hold on her, and it was cutting off the circulation, although her complaint was a little more devious than wanting to protest about the pressure on her wrist.
When Ben loosened his grip a little, Cassie twisted around and down, breaking his hold on her, and dashed south again for her vehicle.
"Damn it, Ben. How could you let a slip of a woman get away?"
They tromped after her in rabid pursuit. If she could just reach the truck before these men caught up to her, she could move it. Then she could return to the area where she'd left the salmon and locate the mother wolf and her den. Alex would most likely have left the area already.
She frowned as she plowed through tree branches and underbrush. Unless he worried about the wounded wolf--her--and was searching for her. Damn. Once she got to her truck, she could call Alex on her cell phone, if the cell-phone signal could reach him, and let him know she'd taken the wolf to a vet so he wouldn't worry about it--her. The lies would soon strangle her.
Leaving the hunters far behind where she didn't think they'd ever catch up, she kept running until she saw the narrow turnout where she'd parked her vehicle. When she reached the location, she found Alex's truck parked behind hers, blocking her in. She could scream. But the fact he hadn't left set her to worrying about his safety again.
She didn't have any other choice. She used the keypad to unlock her truck, then tossed her clothes--Leidolf's clothes, rather--inside and yanked off the bandage over her shoulder. Sharp pain streaked through the muscle and radiated down her back, and she let out a sorrowful groan. She shoved his garments and the bandage under the passenger seat, relocked the door, and shifted.
The shifting hurt. Landing on her front paws in her wolf form hurt. Everything hurt. But if Alex's truck was still here, he wasn't safe. Neither was she. For now, she had a couple of frantic rescue missions to accomplish, and she wasn't stopping until she did.
* * *
Leidolf's cell phone jingled again, and he quit walking through the woods to glance at the number, while his men stopped to hear the news. The sheriff. Leidolf jerked the phone to his ear. "Yeah?"
"Just got the word two hunters came across a woman dressed like the one driving your Jag. Ben and Everett Hollis worried she was a runaway or had been traumatized, the way she was dressed, but then realized she was that wolf biologist who gave the lecture on wolves the other night. Ben said he's got her in tow, headed toward the road to hand her over to you."
Leidolf breathed a tentative sigh of relief. "Good news." He didn't think the sheepherders would do anything but keep her safe, even if they wouldn't like her wolf politics.
But before he could sign off, the sheriff said, "Wait, got another message coming in." He seemed to pause forever before he spoke again to Leidolf, and the suspense was killing him. "They lost her. She shook loose of Ben's grip and headed south again, but they're in pursuit of her."
"Wearing nighttime goggles?" Had to be if they could see like wolves in the gloom of night.
"Yeah. You want them to keep after her?"
"Sure. I'll give you an update in a while." Leidolf didn't want to make it sound as though he needed to keep the whole thing secret from the sheriff's office. Not at this point. He figured Cassie wouldn't allow the brothers to catch her again anyway. "We're headed in that direction." Leidolf signed off with the sheriff. He wanted Cassie under his protection and didn't like the idea the men would be manhandling her.
"She's headed this way," Elgin said, a little way away. "A turnout is just ahead."
"She's probably parked there," Leidolf responded. "Hell, if she gets into her vehicle, that's the last we'll see of her." He started running. He wasn't letting her go until he knew her story. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He didn't intend to let her go ever, although convincing her he had her best interests at heart was going to be some task.
Elgin and the others began to run in their spread-out configuration. Hunting the female made the wolfish side of him want her all the more.
Then they broke into the clearing for the turnout. They saw two pickups, both dark, no one in either, one blocking the other in at the trailhead.
"The green one's hers. The black one is Alex's." He turned to Pierce. "Pick the lock, and wait for her in the cab in the event she returns. Quincy, you take the truck behind it. If she returns with Alex, she might try to leave with him. We need to make sure that neither takes off before I can question them further."
"Yes, sir," both of his men said.
Elgin motioned toward the Willamette River. "She's headed this way, Leidolf."
A good half hour later, he heard the rush of the river and saw her in her red wolf form near the edge of the water, limping as she paced, sniffing and searching in the area... for what? And what the hell was she doing in her wolf form, risking getting shot again? Trying to locate Alex? Although a sense of relief washed over Leidolf to see her there, unharmed except for the old injury.
When Cassie heard them approach, she stopped and narrowed her eyes. Their fluorescent color shimmered in the still dark, early-morning hour, but she seemed tired, her body, tail, and head sagging. Her shoulder had to be giving her fits.
"Are you looking for Alex Wellington?" Leidolf asked, motioning for his men to surround her but keeping her attention. He wasn't letting her go, not the way she was injured. She wouldn't make it anywhere safe when the sun shone in a few hours.
His expression told her she'd better not even think of crossing the river. He didn't believe she'd mind him if she wasn't hurting so much. "We'll find him, but you need to return to the ranch for your own safety." He hadn't meant to sound so irritated, but the notion of her risking her life and exposing their kind to be with Alex annoyed the hell out of him.
Suddenly, Elgin and Fergus came out of the brush from behind a Douglas fir, both gripping a man's arms. The man's blue eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't see in the dark like they could.
Alex Wellington.
"What the hell are you doing out here? And who are these guys?" Alex tugged to free himself, but Leidolf's men would hold him tight until Leidolf said otherwise.
Had Alex been Cassie's human lover? If so, Leidolf planned to quickly remedy the situation. He frowned. "Did the men you overheard say they'd murdered a woman also shoot the red wolf?"
Alex didn't say anything, but he turned a little pale.
Leidolf didn't like having to repeat himself, and he figured that if Alex could have seen the look he was being given for his disobedience, he would have taken more heed. Leidolf tried again. This time, he growled: "Did one of them?"
Elgin sounded equally ferocious as he shook Alex's arm, "Answer the question."
"All right, all right. It's none of your concern. Hell, all you are is a damned rancher."
In response, Elgin smirked. Carver shook his head. Satros studied the wolf biologist but didn't say a word, his expression hard. He didn't have much to do with humans, as old as he was. And he didn't tolerate them well when he had to deal with them. Fergus cleared his throat as if he was going to speak but then didn't.
"Was that your truck across the creek on the turnout south of here?" Leidolf asked, even though he knew it was.
"Yeah. What's it to you?" Alex finally shook loose of Elgin and Fergus as Leidolf gave them the go-ahead to release him.
Leidolf growled, "What are you doing out here still?"
"If it's any of your business, I was looking for Cassie and an injured wolf. Instead of my locating the wolf, she found me again. But I haven't discovered any signs of Cassie."
None of which explained what Cassie was doing at the river's edge. Why didn't she lead Alex back to his truck? No, she was restless, pacing near the water like she was searching for something else. "We have a vet at the ranch. We'll take her with us and get her medical attention," Leidolf explained, trying to curb his irritation with both her and this friend of hers.
"If you're a ranc
her, why the hell would you want to take care of a wolf?"
"She's not a problem. We're having trouble with a cougar, though. Killed a couple of our calves. Even so, we're turning the cat over to the zoo once we tranquilize it."
Alex's eyes rounded. "You didn't shoot those zoo men with tranquilizers, did you?"
Leidolf smiled, knowing the man couldn't see his expression in the dark. "We're only out to get the wolf medical attention and put the cougar in the zoo."
Alex's expression indicated that he thought Leidolf had shot the men and taken off with the wolf to protect her. Alex's face brightened, but then he frowned. "You tranquilized the men and took her home with you, didn't you? She must have run away again and come looking for me." He rubbed his stubbly chin and stared at the ground.
"Or she came back because of something else. I don't understand, though. She seems anxious, like she was looking for something but was afraid to leave me alone. She's wounded still, too. Limping pretty badly. Why didn't you keep her safely at home? I mean, I'm grateful she found me and then you did, but you should have locked her up for her own safety."
"Just what I intend to do." Leidolf gave Cassie a look that meant he was going to back up his words.
"Let me go with you," Alex said.
"We can't. Fergus can escort you back to your truck. Sheriff wants to talk to you about what you saw as far as the men are concerned."
"You think he could protect me? She knocked the one down but didn't bite him even. She was protecting me. She's got to have been your pet. Was she?"
"Yeah, she's mine. She got loose. We'll take it from here." Hell, Cassie. How could she have gotten so involved with a human. Leidolf gave her an annoyed look.
"Have you guys got night-vision goggles? I can't see a blamed thing out here with just this flashlight of mine," Alex said, waving the small light around, highlighting a few needles of the Douglas fir straight ahead of him with a pinprick of light. "I figured I'd have to wait it out until morning to locate Cassie, when here comes the wolf. What's her name, by the way?"
"Red," Leidolf said.