The Patient Wolf (Wicked Urban Fantasy #1)

by Karen Hodges Miller

  Ida shook her head. “Nothing good comes of denying who you are. You know that, Ana. This Chris Spier sounds like he has a lot of problems.”

  “So you are all saying that Chris set up the attack on me, then just pretended to save me? This really is nonsensical,” she said heatedly. “I was there. I would have known.”

  “Think back, Ana,” Alexander said gently. “You were surprised and afraid. How clear are you about what happened? You said Spier hit the animal with a stick. Couldn’t he just as easily have been giving it a signal?”

  “No…maybe…I don’t know,” she said, her distress and confusion clear in her voice. “But why would he do such a thing? It’s not the only time I’ve seen him.” She carefully avoided looking in her grandfather’s direction as she said this. “I think I would have noticed if her were as unbalanced as you are all suggesting. This makes even less sense than that you are a rogue wolf, Alexander. And I know that is what my grandfather thought before you came here tonight.”

  “Yes, I was suspicious of Alexander. But he has convinced me he isn’t the culprit. I trust him. At least for now,” Hank gave Alexander a look that made it clear that his trust only went so far.

  “Alexander tells me he’s had run-ins with this fellow, Spier, before. Alexander even wonders if Spier has, not a dog, but a shapeshifter who is under his control. Someone he can use to frighten people, bring more business Spier’s way.”

  “But it killed his own brother-in-law. Chris wouldn’t do that. I know him,” Ana protested again, more weakly this time.

  “And you know this because he’s been so honest with you?” Hank said sarcastically. “He never told you what he does.”

  “Well I didn’t tell him about myself, either…”

  “Ana,” Danny said kindly, “It says a lot for you that you are trying to stick up for him. But what do you really know about him?”

  “What I know is I’ve really had enough of everyone putting their noses in my business. Alexander, don’t you think it is time we got home?” she asked, pointedly standing up, and wishing she had her own car here. It was really annoying to be dependent on this man—any man—right now.

  “We’ve been extremely lenient with you, Ana,” said her grandfather, sternly. “We’ve excused you from most of the monthly gatherings. In fact, if you’d been here, with us, the other night, you would never have been in danger.”

  “And what about Sophie,” her grandmother added. “We never see her.”

  “Yes, it is about time Sophie learns about her heritage. Ana, I expect you and Sophie to be here in three weeks for the next full moon. It is on October 31 this year. That makes it a very important evening for us.”

  “But…but…”

  “Ana, I’ve let you have your way long enough. You are going to do what I tell you now. Alexander,” he said, turning away from Ana and shaking the man’s hand. “I’m so glad you are in town to keep an eye on my granddaughter and great-granddaughter. I feel better knowing they are in your care.”

  “Of course. I’m happy to watch out for them.” Alexander stood up, put on his suit coat and followed Hank to the stairs; Ana trailed behind, seething.

  As they stopped at the front door Ida kissed Ana, then Alexander. “I’m very glad my granddaughter is in such good hands,” she said. Danny finished it up with a slap on the man’s shoulder. “We’ll have to get together sometime. I want to have a chance to take a better look at that car of yours.”

  By the time Ana got to the car she wasn’t sure if she wanted to strangle her family, strangle Alexander, or drop dead of embarrassment. Her thoughts circled from fear that Alexander was offended that her family assumed they were dating, embarrassment he might think she had told them that, and anger that, as a woman, she was always being told what to do.

  “I am so sorry for the way my family acted, Alexander. They just assume you are dating me, even though I’ve told them I’m just working with you on a project.”

  “Chérie, your modesty is charming,” Alexander said, starting the car and pulling away from the house. “But you can’t tell me you haven’t realized I am interested in you; and not just for your help on my seminar.”

  Ana was glad it was dark. She knew her mouth was hanging open and she could feel her face getting red. No, she really hadn’t thought that the sophisticated Professor Alexander Fontaine could ever be interested in her romantically. Her first thought was, “Boy, Monica is really going to be impressed!”

  Chapter 18

  Despite her initial reaction, when Monday morning came Ana wasn’t sure she really wanted to go into all of the details of the last few days with anyone. So when Monica asked, “How was your weekend?” as she and Ana arrived at the door of their office almost at the same moment, Ana’s only response was, “Complicated.”

  “Well, that sounds intriguing.” Monica was never one to be put off by an obvious message that the other person was not interested in talking.

  “My ex’s wife, Melanie you know, is pregnant...”

  She was about to continue telling about her weekend with a slightly edited tale of two men, when Monica cut in. “Oh, honey, I know just how you must be feeling. You’ve said you always wanted another baby, and here that bitch is having one.”

  Ana laughed. You always knew where you stood with Monica. If you were her friend, you were always in the right and everyone else was wrong. Maybe, she thought, it would be easier to just focus on Melanie and the baby. That was going to be complicated enough. She wouldn’t even think about Chris and Alexander right now.

  “Do you think I should give her a baby shower?” she asked.

  “What! No. That is entirely too nice of you, Ana. I know you are friendly with her, for Sophie’s sake, but really, that is going way above and beyond. You let people just walk all over you.”

  Ana smiled. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to think about Chris and Alexander for a while. Monica could run on about babies and Melanie for the rest of the day.

  The hours passed quickly, too quickly in fact. She knew Chris would be waiting for her at the front entrance to the university when she headed home after her class. She had a feeling of dread that sat like a lead weight in her stomach. What was she going to say to him?

  As she approached their usual meeting spot, he walked up to her, smiling, to give her a kiss.

  Ana turned away.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You lied to me.”

  “I lied to you? What do you mean? Has someone been talking to you?” Chris asked.

  “You see. You know you haven’t told me the whole truth or you wouldn’t have put it like that,” Ana said. She turned away from the man and crossed the street quickly, trying to get away from him before she started to cry.

  “Ana, I don’t know what you are talking about.” Chris caught up with her on the other side of the street and took her arm, stopping her on the sidewalk so that she had to face him. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk to you. You lied to me. You used me.” Ana pulled her arm away and continue to walk home as quickly as she could.

  “Ana, you have to tell me what you are talking about. I can’t answer if I don’t know what the problem is.”

  “I checked you out on PackNet.”

  “Oh,” he said flatly. “So you know about …”

  “Yes,” she said, stopping and turning to face him so suddenly he almost ran into her. “I know what you are and I assume you know what I am. There are a lot of shapeshifters in this town, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You want to get rid of us. To hunt us. But we don’t cause trouble. We keep to ourselves. We don’t bother anyone else unless they try to bother us.”

  But Chris had stopped listening at the word “shapeshifter.”

  “You are a what?” He sounded genuinely stunned.

  Don’t pretend like you don’t know. My grandfather is the head of the pack here. He has been for years. A werewolf Hunter,” s
he spit the words out at him, “of your caliber should know who Hank Bertrand is.”

  “Your grandfather is Hank Bertrand? Yeah, I know who he is. But how was I supposed to know he’s your grandfather? All I knew, all you told me, was that you were Ana Dugan. You didn’t tell me your maiden name and it didn’t occur to me to ask.”

  Chris tone turned from confused to angry as he talked. He’d been thinking about this evening ever since he left Ana on Sunday morning. He’d walk her home. He could spend some time getting to know Sophie, and then maybe have a little alone time with Ana on the sofa once Sophie was in bed. And now? Ana was a shapeshifter? She was right. She was the very thing he had come to hunt. How could he have not known?

  Ana turned away from him and continued her march down the sidewalk. He watched for a moment, still stunned, then hurried to catch up to her.

  “Isn’t that why you were stalking me the night that animal attacked? You wanted to see me turn, didn’t you? It was a full moon. You wanted to scare me into turning, and then you were going to expose me.”

  “Ana, this is all crazy talk. I wasn’t stalking anyone that night. I was just out for a walk. I didn’t expect to run into any werewolves in Rivelou, particularly not the one…”

  But Ana wasn’t going to listen, and she wasn’t going to be stopped. She spoke over him. “Is it yours? The wolf? That’s what everyone thinks, you know. That you have a pet wolf, or maybe a shapeshifter under your control. That you use it to scare people and get more business for yourself.”

  “Ana, I don’t know where you are coming up with this. And do you really think the sidewalk is the right place for this discussion? I thought you shapeshifters were the ones who liked privacy.” He knew he shouldn’t speak so sharply to Ana. Her experiences with her ex-husband had obviously made her very susceptible to harsh tones and anything that even hinted at criticism. He needed to slow down. He cared about Ana. They should sort this out. But really, how could he help the fact his tone was angry and sarcastic? She was the one who had attacked him.

  “We’ll have this discussion anywhere I want to have it. I’m tired of being told what I can and can’t do by men.”

  “I don’t know where you are coming up with this. I’m not trying to tell you what to do. And I didn’t know your grandfather was Hank Bertrand. You said your name was Dugan. I don’t do genealogical searches on everyone I meet.”

  Ana started walking again. It sounded reasonable when Chris said it. But Alexander had sounded reasonable, too. Who was she supposed to believe?

  “I told you, my brother-in-law was killed by a werewolf,” Chris continued, following her. “I came here to help my sister move into her new place. I didn’t expect to find a trail to her husband’s killer.”

  “You didn’t tell me anything of the kind. You said your brother-in-law was attacked by a dog.”

  “What was I supposed to say? I didn’t know you were a werewolf…”

  “A shapeshifter,” Ana cut in.

  “Ok, a shapeshifter. How was I supposed to tell you I thought my brother-in-law had been killed by a werewolf? If I said that to any sane, normal person they would have me locked up in an insane asylum.”

  “So I’m not sane? I’m not a normal person? Of course you would think that.” Ana flounced off again as Chris hit his head with his hand.

  “Ana, you know that is not what I meant. I meant someone who doesn’t know about…about your kind.” He rolled his eyes. He knew he was just digging himself in deeper and deeper. How was he going to convince this woman he wasn’t out to eradicate her family?

  “So instead you lied to me.”

  That did it. Now he was through trying to placate her. “And what about you? I didn’t hear you saying, ‘By the way, Chris, I’m a werewolf and my grandfather is the notorious Hank Bertrand, head of all the werewolf clans in this area.’ Oh no. This goes both ways. If I lied to you, you lied to me.”

  “It’s shapeshifter. Not werewolf. And I didn’t lie. I just didn’t mention one thing about myself. Did you expect me to tell you everything on our first date?”

  “This makes no sense, you know, Ana. If you weren’t comfortable telling me everything about yourself, why is it when I wasn’t comfortable telling you something you call it lying? What’s good for goose, right?”

  “What’s different is you are a Hunter. You are out to destroy me and my family.”

  “Why would I be out to destroy your family?”

  “Because that is what you do. I read all about you on PackNet. You look for people like me and you ‘take us down.’”

  “I’m not out to destroy your family—not unless one of you is the rogue werewolf. He’s dangerous. Not just to humans, but to other werewolves, too. If someone doesn’t take him down soon, then all of you will be exposed.

  “Someone has to police the rogues and the monsters. I only hunt the creatures who aren’t following the law. Someone has to do it. Someone has to police the system. And that someone is me. When a werewolf—or a vampire or any other supernatural creature—gets out of line, I’m the one they call to take them down.”

  “How do I know you aren’t the rogue. That’s what Alexander thinks you are.”

  “Alexander? You mean Alexander Fontaine?”

  “Yes, of course. I’ve told you about him. I’m working with him on the seminar.”

  “You told me you were working with someone, but you didn’t say it was Alexander Fontaine.” This time, Chris stopped Ana, taking her arm so he could look into her eyes. “Ana, you need to be very, very careful You need to stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”

  “Dangerous? Alexander is not dangerous. He’s a gentleman. Unlike some people I know.”

  “If I’m right, Ana, he’s the rogue. Everywhere he has been in the last five years there have been strange deaths. He’s the one I’ve been hunting for. I wasn’t sure of it until I came here, and found he suddenly moved down her shortly after Jason, my brother-in-law’s, death. It was getting too hot for him in Chicago. I wasn’t the only person after him. Death follows him, Ana. You need to watch out for yourself.”

  “No, he’s not the rogue. He met with Grandpa last night, and convinced him. My grandfather is very hard to fool. You say you know about Alexander? He knows about you, too. He told Grandpa you’re the rogue.

  “But Chris, you know what? I just don’t care if he is the rogue or if you are, or about anything else you have to tell me. The bottom line is you are just like all the other men in my life. You want to control me and tell me what to do. That’s why I just don’t think we can keep seeing each other. Besides, my grandfather wants your head. He believes you are the rogue, too.”

  “How can I be the rogue? Honey, I can be the Hunter or the rogue but not both,” Chris said, trying logic.

  “Alexander explained it to us, to my grandfather and grandmother and brother. He says you are trying to frame him. He says you have a dog you are hiding. That you bring it out to kill people and frame Alexander.

  “That is crazy!”

  “Don’t call me crazy!”

  “I didn’t call you crazy. I said Fontaine’s theory is crazy. Ana, why would I do something like that?”

  “It’s good for your business. You make everyone think werewolves are dangerous and you are the only one with the solution. That’s what Alexander thinks.”

  “I’m sick of hearing about what Alexander thinks. When did you two have time to get so cozy? You know what you are saying doesn’t make sense. My own brother-in-law was killed by a werewolf. I’m just trying to track down the werewolf who did it. I don’t bother any werewolves, or shapeshifters, or other creatures, that don’t bother us.”

  “So it’s us against them. And I’m obviously one of ‘them.’ That is a perfect example of why you and I can’t be together. Goodbye, Chris. I don’t think we should see each other again.”

  They had been so busy with the argument that until she looked up, Ana didn’t realize she had arrived at her own front door. It
was about time. She didn’t want him to know how much he had hurt her. She had thought he was different. She’d been wrong. She wanted to get away from him while she was still too angry to cry.

  She ran up the steps and slammed the door in Chris’s face.

  Chapter 19

  During the next few weeks Ana often found herself in the company of Alexander. He was charming, he was attentive. And she didn’t have to hide who she was when she was with him. Then why was she still looking for Chris every night on her walk home from work?

  She sighed. What was wrong with her? She was pining for a man who obviously wasn’t interested, when the man who was interested in her was intelligent, sophisticated, well-traveled. Yes, he had an ego that was “just a little bit large.” She smiled as she thought that. She wasn’t making excuses for him. After living with Jonathan she knew how to deal with a man’s ego, she added wryly. No one was perfect. But in fact, come to think of it, Alexander was the real thing. He was everything her ex-husband had ever wanted to be.

  And she had to admit she wasn’t beyond using Alexander to get a little of her own back with Jonathan. Alexander invited her to join him for the annual Harvest Dinner Dance at the Rivelou Country Club on Saturday, the weekend before Halloween. Dinner, dancing, and a lot of very important people. Ana knew Jonathan wouldn’t miss it.

  “This is so exciting!” Monica gushed when Ana told her. “What are you going to wear?”

  “I have no idea. I don’t have anything appropriate—at least not anything so old that Jonathan hasn’t seen me wear it before. It’s a nice black dress, but in fact, I may have bought it to go to the country club with him one time.”

  “Well that won’t do! You and I are going shopping.”

  ~~~

  “What does Sophie think of Alexander?” Monica asked as they browsed through the selections at Westford Mall.

  “She hasn’t met him yet.”

  “She hasn’t? I thought you were seeing Alexander almost every day.”