Bayou Wolf

by Debbie Herbert

  Payton had been expecting this news, but the determined expression on Angier’s face made his blood chill. This sheriff would stop at nothing to solve the case.

  “Imagine my surprise when I found out that this crew transferred to Bayou La Siryna after completing a job in Fayette, Montana.” He paused and took off his sunglasses. “Where the latest victim in these strings of attack was found mere days before you arrived down here.”

  Still, no one spoke. No one moved an inch.

  “Coincidence?” Angier asked, skepticism in his gruff voice.

  “It’s also come to my attention that one of your crew members has gone AWOL.” He turned to Matt. “Russell...? What is his last name?”

  “Hull.” Matt’s one-syllable reply was robotic and flat.

  How did Angier find that out? Payton’s lips went numb and he swallowed past the hard lump in his throat. Tallulah. Had to be. She’d even talked about going to the police. He’d just assumed after their night together that she’d drop the matter. Anger whipped through him. Russell needed treatment, not punishment.

  “Where is Mr. Hull?” Angier asked.

  Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. Haven’t seen him since he left one night without a word to us, taking his old truck with him. No one’s heard from him since. Guess the heat down here wasn’t his thing.”

  “I see. Did Mr. Hull own an attack dog?”

  “No,” Matt said curtly.

  “You sure of that?”

  “Very.”

  Angier turned abruptly from their alpha. “Each of you, pull out your driver’s license. Right now.”

  Payton dug his wallet out of his back pocket, as did the rest of the men. Had any of them guessed Tallulah had brought this on them? No one looked his way.

  Angier spoke again. “I’m going to speak with each of you individually in the patrol car. My deputies will stay here with the group until everyone has been questioned. There will be no talking amongst yourselves. Is that understood?”

  “Couldn’t you have waited until the end of the shift?” Adam complained. “Even better, you could have waited until we returned to the farmhouse to question us. It’s hot as hell out here.”

  Matt frowned at the youngest wolf, but the damage had been done.

  A cold smile tightened Angier’s face. “Oh? Have I inconvenienced y’all? On behalf of Jeb Johnson’s sons, who have been grieving for their father, my sincerest apologies.” He walked within a foot of Adam. “It’s only May, summer hasn’t even begun. I can promise you, though, the heat is on. And it will be unrelenting.”

  Angier’s meaning was clear. He’d be hot on their tails until he broke the case. He wasn’t buying the coroner’s report.

  “Let’s begin with you.” He snatched the license from Adam’s hand. “Adam Bentley.”

  Adam scowled but kept his mouth shut as he followed Angier to the waiting patrol car.

  Men shuffled impatiently, a few wiped their brows. None uttered a word, but several shot him surreptitious glances. Oh, they blamed him for this all right. The divide between him and his brothers widened another fraction. One day, it might be too big a gap to bridge.

  And then where would he be?

  Payton stared straight ahead at Matt. The alpha’s eyes locked on his. Once he finished his turn with Angier, Matt would have his own interrogation later. His cool blue eyes held that promise.

  A deputy answered his cell, nodded and disconnected the call. “Payton Rodgers, you’re up.”

  Conscious of all eyes on his back, Payton picked his way through the mounds of limbs and stumps. Cool air smacked him as he entered the passenger side of the air-conditioned vehicle, chilling the layer of perspiration on his skin. By contrast, Angier appeared crisp and in command.

  “The man I most wanted to see,” Angier began.

  Then Tallulah had been to see the sheriff. “I can guess why.”

  “Don’t worry. She was adamant in her defense of you. It’s the others she’s not too sure about.”

  “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “Even Russell?” he countered.

  “Can’t tell you that.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  Payton hedged. “I don’t know where the man is.”

  Angier stared him down. “Did Russell kill Jeb Johnson?”

  “I couldn’t say for sure.” It was sort of the truth. Not like he had actually witnessed a murder—he’d only assumed that Russell killed their neighbor because of the fever. Still, the technicality didn’t ease the guilt that weighted him down.

  “You’re no different than anyone else on the crew,” Angier said with a sigh. He handed over a business card with his phone number. “If you decide you want to talk, call me. I can help find Russell if you have any leads. I don’t want to see anyone else killed.”

  Payton slid the sheriff’s card in his wallet.

  “I especially don’t want to see Tallulah Silver hurt again—mentally or physically.” The warning in his eyes was unmistakable.

  “Message received,” Payton said curtly. “You done with me?”

  “Get outta here. And don’t leave town.”

  Payton hustled out, resisting the temptation to slam the door. He made his way back to the pack and waited with them until the last man had been questioned and the sheriff and his deputies drove off.

  “What prompted that visit?” Matt asked the group. He waited for a response in the hot sun, the work site unnaturally quiet.

  “Payton?”

  Everyone turned and stared.

  For the second time in the space of an hour, Payton was led away for a talking-to. And he was damn sick of it.

  At least Matt had the courtesy to pull him away from the curious stares of the pack. He’d ordered everyone to return to work and the buzz of chain saws again filled the bayou.

  “Did that woman go to the sheriff again? I’m sure we have her to thank for this fiasco,” Matt said.

  “Appears that way.”

  “Can’t you control that female?”

  As if. Payton snorted. “Are you kidding me?”

  “What did she tell them?”

  “I have no clue. Didn’t know she was going to the cops.”

  “I sense you’re hiding information. As your alpha, I’m commanding you tell me the entire truth. Now.”

  His gut twisted. No way to sugarcoat the devastating news. “She saw me shift last night,” he admitted.

  Matt sucked in his breath.

  “Tallulah guessed the rest—about the pack, that is. She also knows Russell’s a killer and wants him brought to justice.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Matt’s face was as dark as thunder. “You’ve violated the number one rule of the pack—secrecy and loyalty above all.”

  “It was an involuntary shift.” Payton’s spine stiffened. “I was under tremendous pressure.”

  “That’s no excuse. You should have run away at the first sign you were shifting. Who else saw you?”

  “No one.” At least there was that.

  “Spill it,” Matt said, words dropping like hard pebbles. “How did it happen?”

  “I went on a night hunt with Tallulah and others like her. They’re called shadow hunters. Turns out, they have unusual abilities of their own. Not shifters, but they can sense ancient, evil creatures that live deep in the bayou woods.”

  Matt raised a brow. “Evil creatures?”

  “Strange shadow beings. The way she explained it, there’s always been a remnant of the Choctaw that exist to keep the shadow world contained. These hunters keep the power of light and dark in balance. Anyway, as a hunter, they have heightened hearing, sight and smell, especially at night.”

  Some of the anger diffused from Matt’s stern express
ion. “Incredible. No wonder she saw Russell in wolf form that night.”

  “So, see? Tallulah and her people have their secrets, same as us. It’s not like she freaked out and is going to run and blab this to everyone in town.”

  “You’re still not off the hook for losing control and shifting. Explain yourself.”

  Payton chafed under Matt’s brusque questioning, but refusing to answer his demands was unthinkable. “We were under attack by the shadow beings. I was afraid Tallulah would be hurt, and my protective instincts overrode all logic.”

  Matt let out a deep sigh. “I hate this, but I can see how it happened.” He narrowed his eyes. “But don’t let it happen again. You found out how Tallulah sees what other humans can’t. Come back to the farmhouse now and distance yourself from that female.”

  That female? Resentment flushed his face. “C’mon, Matt. You’ve gone too far.”

  “You still trust Tallulah after she’s gone to the cops on us? And this is the second time she’s done it.”

  “It’s not like she lied to me.” Angry as he was that she’d gone to Angier, he couldn’t say she’d betrayed a trust.

  Matt ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed. “I suppose it’s better to keep an eye on her up close. Are you sure no one else saw you shift to wolf?”

  “Only Tallulah.”

  “Let’s keep it that way. No more hunting. Got it?”

  “Got it,” he grumbled, thoroughly annoyed.

  “Sorry.” Matt laid a hand on his shoulder. “We can’t chance any more exposure. Tell Tallulah not to let the others know.”

  “I can tell her, but I promise nothing.”

  Chapter 12

  “Maybe it’s time I got a spare key,” Payton suggested.

  Tallulah shifted the bag of groceries in her arm and unlocked the front door. She casually accepted his comment, as if it were no big deal. “Works for me.”

  “I’ll get that.” He took the bag out of her arms and they entered the cabin. “Got a visit today from your friend Sheriff Angier.”

  She cut him a sly glance. “Oh, yeah? What did he have to say?”

  He set the bag on the kitchen counter and began unpacking groceries. “Pretty much let me know that if I hurt you in any way I’m dead meat.”

  “You’ve been warned,” she said drily. “Everyone in Bayou La Siryna looks out for each other.”

  “Why did you have to go to him, Tallulah?”

  She opened the fridge and set a carton of milk inside. “Like I told you last night, the sheriff can find Russell better than y’all can.”

  “Can’t you just trust us—trust me—that we’ll find Russell and deal with him in our own way?”

  “Trusting you has nothing to do with the facts. A man is missing. The cops can put out an APB. If he’s headed out west, like you suspect, the cops will get him.”

  “The problem is what the cops will do to Russell.”

  Tallulah shrugged. “They’ll arrest him and bring him to justice. Pretty clear cut to me.” She went to the den, kicked off her dress shoes and settled on the sofa. “Case closed.”

  “You’ve no idea what you’ve done,” he insisted. “If he gets arrested and placed in a jail cell, what do you think will happen if he shape-shifts to wolf form? We can’t have people knowing we live among them. They’ll ferret us out and hunt us down like wild animals—until every last one of us has been extinguished.”

  She blanched. “You can’t control it?”

  “You saw what happened last night. When we get in a highly emotional state we can’t always suppress our wolf nature.”

  “Well, we can’t just let him get away with murder!” Her brown eyes flashed like lightning. “What’s your pack planning to do if you find Russell?”

  “Send him to a treatment center out west. He can’t help these attacks. Russell’s infected with a lycanthropic fever that affects his behavior. It slowly makes him lose all humanity until he’ll stop at nothing to satisfy his blood cravings. He needs our professional assistance, not your criminal punishment.”

  “Don’t expect me to feel sorry for him. He killed my neighbor. Then the bastard not only attacked me, but he also tried to frame me for Jeb’s murder by putting one of my dream catchers by the body. Remember?”

  “I haven’t forgotten.”

  He sat beside her on the sofa and reached for her hand. It was so small and soft in his own, yet he knew it held skill and power. He caressed her smooth palm and the long, artistic fingers that were unadorned. Her right ring finger had a compressed, smooth band of white flesh encircling it. “Missing a ring?” he asked curiously.

  “After he died, I used to wear Bo’s engagement ring there.”

  Damn, she’d been through so much. “When did you stop wearing his ring?”

  “The first night we made love.”

  She gazed at him with dark, steamy eyes and he gulped, remembering that first time. It had been a milestone for each of them—he’d realized she was his mate, and she’d taken a symbolic break with the past.

  Tallulah was a heady combination of femininity and warrior woman—a real Diana, goddess-of-the-moon kind of lady. Payton looked up and caught her tremulous smile.

  It was almost his undoing. No. He still needed to get a few things straight between them. “You can’t tell anyone about me or the pack. Promise me.”

  “But, what if—”

  “Promise me.”

  She pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms. “No. We can help you. If Russell’s still around, who better to find him than me and the shadow hunters? It’s possible he’s lying low in the woods somewhere.”

  “His truck is gone.”

  “Doesn’t mean he won’t return. From what I gather, the pack is like a family?”

  “Yeah. A dysfunctional one.” But he couldn’t deny she had a point. There was a bond between them that went beyond friendship. It was a primitive need to belong, to be a part of a community. “Russell wouldn’t be welcome in other packs. They’d be suspicious if he approached them. Maybe you’re onto something.”

  “We can search for him. The shadow beings are mostly active on the full moon. In a few days, the full moon phase will pass, and we can concentrate on tracking Russell. If he’s near, in either form, we’ll pick up clues.”

  “No. Absolutely not. Don’t tell them about me or the pack.” His chest constricted at a sudden thought. “You haven’t already told anyone have you?”

  “Not yet. But I don’t—”

  “You can’t.”

  “The other hunters won’t breathe a word outside our group.”

  “We can’t risk it.”

  “The biggest risk here is doing nothing.”

  “You don’t understand.” Payton’s jaw clenched. “I’ve been ordered to not let this go any further. When Matt found out you’d seen me shift, he was livid.”

  Tallulah rolled her eyes. “I’m mighty sick of Matt and his orders.”

  “Easy for you to say. You aren’t part of a pack.”

  “True. But I’m in a special group, too. Remember? We’re all extremely close and work as a team.”

  “It’s not the same.”

  She threw up her hands. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You’re a man. You have free will, don’t you?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I do.” Or did he? He stood and paced the room, uncomfortable with her probing.

  “Doesn’t sound like it to me,” she insisted.

  The woman was relentless. He had to make her understand. “You don’t know my history. I’m lucky they accepted me. Without them, I’d have floundered in the foster system. When I was a teenager, my parents died in a freak boating accident. Because of my dad’s past, I didn’t think any pack would t
ake me in.”

  Her brows rose. “What did your dad do that was so bad?”

  Damn, he hated talking about it. “He killed another pack member in a fight. Dad said the guy was making passes at my mom. He warned the guy to leave my mom alone, but he kept on. The two men got in an argument one night and both shape-shifted.” He spoke quickly, eager to get the story over and done. Losing control like his father had done was sinful, a disgrace to all wolves. They had evolved past such primitive wildness; it was what allowed them to exist undetected in the modern world.

  Until the lycanthropic fever had erupted and set them back hundreds of years.

  “That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

  Payton avoided her eyes, determined to spill it all out. “Dad was kicked out of the pack four years before he died. He broke a cardinal rule of the brotherhood and was never forgiven.”

  “And they held his act against you? That’s not fair.”

  “Agreed. But that’s the way it is. Matt took me in when no one else would have me. I owe him. I owe the pack.”

  “He did the right thing. I commend him, truly. But your life is your own. Surely Matt doesn’t expect you to follow him from town to town the rest of your life, working a job where you destroy the land in your wake. That’s no way to live.”

  Tallulah hit the sore place in his soul, where he’d been wrestling with the same thoughts of late. He lashed out, immediately defensive. “I have a perfectly respectable job and just because you’ve lived in the same small town all your life doesn’t mean that’s what everyone else wants, too.”

  She quietly folded her hands in her lap. “What do you want, Payton?” she asked softly.

  No one had ever asked him that before. He dropped back onto the sofa beside her and rubbed his chin. What did he want? She had hit on some truths. The constant traveling had gotten old. And the way the pack turned on him with suspicion after the Russell incident still gnawed at him. As far as the job...it did kind of suck. He loved working outdoors and using his hands, but felling timber didn’t sit well with his conscience.