On the Edge (Adirondack Pack Book 3)

by K. C. Stewart

  She wasn’t quite asleep when she saw it. In fact, her eyes were open and she was staring out at her little room. Her mind was resting though and her body was both heavy and weightless. Her room didn’t look like her room. It felt familiar but strange. She blinked, her eyes closing for a long moment then opening again. On the back of her bathroom door, she had a full-length mirror. From her spot on the bed, Mira could see herself. She looked utterly relaxed. Mira smiled. A nap had been a fabulous idea.

  Right as she closed her eyes again, she caught sight of something else in her bed. She moved her head an inch to see further into the mirror and at the bottom of the bed by her feet was a wolf that also looked to be enjoying an afternoon nap as well.

  Mira pulled her eyes from the mirror to her bed but when she looked down at her feet there was nothing. Back in the mirror, though, she saw the wolf watching her. This didn’t alarm her as it should have. The wolf was familiar to her like they had done this a million times before.

  “So it’s true then?” she asked the wolf but she didn’t need or expect and answer. Mira found her wolf. And from the look and feel of it, this wasn’t the first time they had met either.

  “What does this mean for me?” she asked with a trembling voice. “What do I do now?”

  Again, the wolf did not answer. It merely yawned and closed its eyes.

  Mira woke up crying. She rolled over toward her wall, unable to look at herself any longer. Her life, as she had known it, was over. Some people might want was she was given, but not Mira. All she wanted was the life she had. She was content with who she was…what she was.

  But now…

  Now she was lost.

  *****

  “Hey Chuck, what’s up?” Lee asked into her phone, admittedly a bit distracted as she looked for the right exit off the highway.

  “Nothing much,” he said easily. “It’s an average Friday night. A bit busy.”

  “Yeah,” she responded not really listening. The exit was coming up and if it was anything like the last one, it would sneak up on her.

  “Wouldn’t be so bad if the bartender had shown up but she was a no-show.”

  Ah! A sign for it. She hadn’t missed it after all. “That sucks. Who was scheduled?”

  “Jesus. Where is your head at girl? You, Lee. You were scheduled to come in but low and behold, no Lee.”

  Shit.

  “Where are you?”

  She took the next exit and found another sign for the wolf sanctuary. “I’m out.”

  “I’ve gathered that.”

  Lee was distracted and neither situation she was dealing with had her complete attention. She needed to abandon one.

  “Does this have to do with Vince?” Chuck asked with suspicion when she didn’t elaborate. “You’ve been secluding yourself more and more. I want the man to be found as much as the next but this is not your job.”

  She pursed her lips as she drove down the wooded road. “And serving the same people day in and day out is? At least I’m trying! It seems like everyone has just chalked him up as dead. He’s one of us and no one seems to care that he is in trouble.”

  “That’s not true. You know that’s not true, Lee,” he urged. “We care about him. Never doubt that.”

  “It’s not…I didn’t mean you, Chuck,” Lee said with a sigh. “But don’t lie to yourself. He wasn’t born into this pack so people have a prejudice toward him.” She found a large enough spot and pulled her car off the road.

  Chuck didn’t seem to know what to say. “Jesus, Lee. How can you think that? Do you really have that little faith in us? No one considers him an outsider and no one thinks you are damaged but yourself.”

  “Low blow, Chuck,” she murmured. But he had hit the intended mark, none the less. He didn’t see it like she did. When you were already an outcast, you could see how the majority treated the minority. You could see the side eyes and hushed comments.

  “Lee, you’re paranoid. Where are you really?”

  Tears pooled in her eyes. He just didn’t’ get it. He never had. “Goodbye, Chuck. Sorry about tonight.”

  “Lee. Lee!” he yelled into the phone but she had ended the call.

  She dropped her forehead to the steering wheel and tried to breathe through the impending sob storm that was on the brink of exploding from her. Once she found Vince—and she would—she was gone. She was done being part of a pack where half the members glowered at her and the other half thought she was paranoid for it.

  But first, she had to find Vince. She owed it to him.

  Lee wiped the few tears that had fallen from her cheeks and pulled the car back out onto the road. She drove another five minutes until she saw a sign for “Pine Grove Ranch: A Wolf Sanctuary.” She was part of the 10:30 tour and was just going to make it in time. Lee parked and was surprised to see a dozen cars already there. Most of the tours she had been on were small groups of five or six. She checked the time before turning off the car. Seconds to spare. Lee grabbed her purse and booked it to the front door.

  “Welcome! You wouldn’t be Lee Reece, would you?” A man behind a small desk asked as she came in.

  “Uh, yes. I am. I’m sorry I’m late. I got turned around.”

  “No worries at all. You just made it in time. I just need you to sign this and then your tour fee and you can go and join the others.”

  Lee did as she was asked and quickly found the group outside. A dozen people stood milling around. Lee pulled out the information packet she had received and flipped through the photos of the wolves they had at the sanctuary. None of them resembled Vince but he would be new, they probably didn’t have time to get him added to the website and literature yet. At least, that’s what she had told herself at every place she had visited so far.

  “Great! It looks like we are all here,” the guide said. She was a little thing of a woman but with a big voice. There was an enthusiasm about her that had Lee smiling. “My name is Beth and welcome to Pine Grove Ranch! If you could all follow me we will get started. The tour lasts an approximate two hours. Halfway through we will take a short break. Please make sure you have everything with you because there will be no turning around once we are off.”

  They all fell in line as Beth began to explain a little about the ranch and how it got started. They passed two enclosures and she excitedly told them about the wolves they could see. Beth seemed to know a lot about the personalities of each wolf and a genuinely cared for each of them.

  “Up ahead is my favorite new guy.” Beth rose onto her tiptoes. “It looks like he is out too. Geronimo is such a people pleaser. Never misses a tour.”

  Lee lagged behind the group sniffing and scanning each enclosure to see if anyone was hiding. When the group stopped at the next pen, she jogged to catch up.

  “…found in the Adirondack Park, he was badly injured but we got him back into fighting shape. He’s still healing but even in this state the girls have accepted him as Alpha. When he’s all healed, he’s going to be one hell of an Alpha. Definitely a rival to Major, who you will meet a little while later.”

  Lee stopped when she saw the wolf named Geronimo. He was sitting in the shade of a tree only feet from the fence. Those familiar eyes scanned the crowd, when he spotted her, he froze. Lee found it hard to breathe as they stared at each other. She had done it. She had found Vince. And he was alive. And whole. And standing up walking to the corner of the fence where she stood.

  She had to blink a few times because the tears that had been threatening her earlier were back. His tail wagged slowly as she approached the fence. Lee had to stay back the required distance but came as close as she could.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she said in a whisper.

  He barked.

  “Oh, looks like someone made a friend!” Beth said from the front of the group. All heads turned toward her and Vince. She took a small step back away from the fence. “Up ahead is a pavilion where we will break. There are restrooms and drinks available. The latter half
of the tour will begin in fifteen minutes.” The group disbanded and Lee waited till everyone was out of earshot.

  “Are you ok?” she asked Vince.

  He nodded. Lee did her own assessment on his damages from where his fur was shaved and stitches lined his skin in a sort of Frankenstein monster sort of way.

  “I’ve been looking for you for a very long time. I thought that Canidae…” She sucked in a breath. “It’s not important. I’ll call Owen and get a group together. You’ll be out tonight. I promise.”

  Vince took another step forward and stuck his nose through a hole in the chain link fence. Lee looked around before stepping closer and fitting her hand through another hole so she could touch him. She had been functioning on pure determination and when she laid her hand on his head, everything in her sagged. Only the relief at finding Vince held her up from the exhaustion that wanted to drop her. Lee leaned over and kissed the bit of his nose that was still poking through the fence.

  “Hang in there a bit longer, V. I’ll be back later.”

  It took an effort and went against every instinct she had but Lee walked away from the fence and left him there. She had about five minutes before they left. Her fingers seemed to dial Owen’s number on their own as she watched Vince from under the pavilion.

  “Where are you?” Owen barked when he answered. Chuck must have called him.

  “I found him, Owen,” she said quietly.

  “What?”

  A smiled settled on her face. It seemed foreign to her. “Vince. I’m looking at Vince.”

  “Holy shit. Where? Miles! Get over here. Lee found our boy.”

  “It’s a wolf sanctuary called Pine Grove Ranch. I have to finish the tour I’m on but I’ll be here all night and I’m busting him out with or without you.”

  Owen laughed. “We’ll be there. I’ll text you but try to get a sense of their security.”

  Beth was calling everybody over. “Will do. I have to go.”

  Lee took once last look after hanging up with Owen. He was watching her, back in the spot under the tree. She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted to stay there all day until Owen came but she had to keep going. Being caught now was not an option. Lee promised to get him out and she intended to keep it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Mira? Is that you?” Owen yelled through the open office door. He had heard the front door looks beep open. Mira had been suspiciously absent that morning. He had the uneasy feeling that she was avoiding him. Every call he placed had gone unanswered. A text was the only communication he had received from her. She was taking a nap and would call him later. It had left him with a bad taste in his mouth. Lies tended to do that. Not that it was a lie, per say. Chuck had confirmed she had gone home and hadn’t left. But there was definitely something going on. Something she didn’t feel the need to inform him of.

  “Mira?” he yelled again. This time pushing his chair back away from the desk so he could lean back and see out the doorway to the living room.

  “Sorry to disappoint,” Tyson said. “But we aren’t kissing you hello.”

  Miles smirked. “Tyson wants to come with. I figured you’d be ok with that.”

  Owen nodded. It was time to go. Lee had called a few hours earlier with some very good news. Owen, Tyson and Miles were going to get Vince. At this point, they were the only ones who knew he had been found. Owen decided to keep it hushed up until he was in their custody. No sense in getting everyone worked up just for something to go wrong.

  “Lee is parked at some diner a few miles away. We’ll meet her there, get the details of the place and then get him out. I want this to be quick. From what it sounds like, their security system is rudimentary. By passing it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Tyson patted the messenger bag at his side. “I’ve got that covered.”

  Owen smiled as he collected his phone and keys off the desk. “Good. Miles and I will go in and extract Vince. Lee says he isn’t injured but is healing from some pretty serious wounds. Between the two of us, I think we will be able to handle whatever condition he is in.”

  “What about Lee?” Tyson asked.

  Owen gave him a “what about her” look.

  “You know she is going to insist on going in with you. She’s become a mama bear about Vince.”

  That was an understatement. Lee was obsessed. It may not have been the most mature thing he had ever done but Owen didn’t try to quell this obsession with finding Vince because as long as she had the hunt to focus on, she wasn’t spiraling in depression.

  Tyson had a point, though. She was going to put up a fight. Hell, even trying to convince her to wait at the diner had taken some time. They needed to get there soon or she’d go in alone, guns blazing, and try to get him out. Which would most likely result in her arrest.

  “We’ll see how she is when we get there.”

  Tyson snorted a laugh. “Putting off the inevitable. Good plan.”

  They left after Owen sent a text to Mira saying he’d be gone most of the night. He wanted to tell her the truth but it seemed like this news deserved to be delivered in person rather than an impersonal text. Besides, it was pack business and even though Mira took a polite interest in the pack, she was not officially pack. Something he hoped to change in the near future.

  It took three hours. Miles drove like an escaped convict. Tyson had white-knuckled it the entire way. Even though it had been months since he had come back into the world of the sane, there were some things he had trouble adjusting to. Racing high speeds down the highway was one of them.

  Miles let out a laugh as he began to slow down at the sign of the diner. Lee was leaning against the trunk of her car with her arms folded. Her expression spoke of a level of pissed off that only a woman could achieve easily and at will. She had been waiting for them and for a while.

  Pushing off the car, she stalked over to where they had pulled over. Owen rolled down his window. Before he could even consider a greeting, Lee snapped out one of her own.

  “About damn time.” She took one look at his face and shook her head. “I’m coming.”

  “Lee, I want-”

  “Don’t even try to alpha mind fuck me into staying here. It won’t work. You can follow me.”

  She turned and walked back to her car, started it and tore out of the gravel parking lot.

  Tyson clapped him on the shoulder. “That went well.”

  “Shut up,” he muttered. “Miles, you better go before she gets out of sight.” But he was already pulling out of the parking lot to chase after Lee.

  They found her car off the side of the road a few miles later. There was a bag in the window, the universal sign that her car had broken down. Miles slowed down to pick her up. “It’s then next road on the right. Security cameras start in the parking lot so I’d only go far enough in so you’re not seen by the road.”

  Miles silently did as she had said and parked on the stretch between the main road and the parking lot. Tyson had pulled out his laptop and was finding a way into to their security system.

  “Which area is he in?” Owen asked.

  Lee pulled a map from her purse. “I got this when I signed in. He’s in the orange enclosure, here. This is the path I took.” Owen followed her finger across the page. He was in the first main enclosure. The first few being small and probably for rehabilitation and seclusion purposes. It shouldn’t take them more than ten minutes to reach Vince if they walked fast.

  “And cameras?”

  “I can help you there,” Tyson said, not lifting his eyes from the screen. “I’ve got a few, bad quality, though. I’m working on looping the last hour of feed. The live feed will go to my system instead. I just need a few minutes.”

  “What kind of condition is he in, Lee?” Miles asked.

  “Pretty good from what I could see. He had surgery, a lot of it by how much shaved fur he has. Vince looked stiff but he moved pretty well.”

  A few more taps on his keyboard and Tyson excla
imed, “Done. You have an hour.”

  Miles, Owen and Lee all opened their doors. Owen, however, was fastest and pushed Lee’s back shut. “No.”

  “Owen!” she shouted.

  “No Lee. The fewer that go in the easier it will be. Help Tyson here with security. He won’t be able to control his end of things if someone comes down the road.”

  Owen had put so much force into those words that Lee found it hard to speak. She did persevere in the end. “But I need to go with,” she said through gritted teeth.

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry but no. We need you here. Miles, let’s go.”

  He could feel her fuming behind him but she wasn’t the priority here. Hopefully, she would figure that out and do what he asked.

  Miles was a handy man to have around. He had a bag that contained an assortment of tools which he used to do as little damage to the place as possible. They had nothing against these people, after all. What they were doing was a kindness to his brothers. Whatever they damaged tonight would be repaid in an anonymous donation. Miles got them through three doors quickly enough. Owen had taken the map from Lee and pointed ahead. “The path should start there.”

  Miles grumbled about having such an easy go of it. “The least they could do is make it slightly challenging.” The door swung open.

  “Maybe next time, buddy.”

  He repacked his bag and swung it over his shoulder. They headed down the path spotting a wolf or two as they went. Everyone seemed healthy enough with plenty of land to run. Vince could have had it worse, which was some comfort.

  Owen felt him before they saw him in the dark. His pain was heavy and nearly knocked him back a step. “Vince?” The fence rattled ahead. They picked up their pace and jogged to the next enclosure where Vince was waiting as a wolf by the fence. Owen smiled. It was a good sight to see.