Wolf-Crazy

by Palmer, Linda

"I have no idea."

  "Is Germain dead?"

  As if just remembering him, Zeke checked for a pulse. "No."

  "What about Melita?"

  "She's okay, too. Just a little chewed up."

  "Oh God. How will we explain that?"

  "I have no idea."

  A shadow shifted to my left. I spun around. The white werewolf had stepped from the trees again. I saw the glowing eyes of others behind him. "What about those guys?"

  Zeke looked where I pointed, though I knew he'd smelled these werewolves long before I became aware of their approach. "What about them?"

  Realizing he must be too exhausted to cope, I took control of the deadly situation and addressed Rick's back-up pack. "This is over. You can all go away now. No one will ever know you were here. And don't forget what I told you. There really is a cure that works…well, most of the time, anyway. You don't have to do this anymore. I'm sure if you approach Zeke in a very public place in a nonthreatening way, he'll tell you who to contact."

  "Um, Skylar?"

  "Yes?"

  "Those are real wolves."

  I gasped. "No way."

  "Yes way, so you might want to keep your distance."

  Keep my distance from the wolves I adored? Not likely. I'd never have a chance like this again. I stole a moment to glory in the sight of the white, noting that he was smaller than a werewolf, something I'd been too scared to notice. Smaller, but no less perfect. Then, fearless, I approached him.

  "What are you doing?"

  I didn't spare Zeke a glance as I answered. "Meeting a real live wolf. Not that werewolves aren't amazing, but you know what I mean."

  "Skylar--"

  I heard the fear in his voice. I ignored him anyway.

  "Stop right there!"

  Rocks skittered as he rushed to grab me. I darted out of reach, never really taking my eyes off the real wolf I addressed. "Was it you that killed Rourke tonight? Did you save my Zeke from being murdered?"

  The white wolf tossed his head. Mesmerized, I held out my hand again. He clawed the ground and hunkered down, but didn't back away. Slowly I took another step. Miraculously, he edged forward. I got close enough to touch and did, brushing my fingers over his face. He edged forward. I slipped my arms around his neck in a brief hug and then ran my fingers through his fur, reveling in his magnificence. No wonder so many cultures revered wolves. They were nothing but incredible.

  "Holy freakin' shit."

  Zeke's soft curse brought me back to the present. "Thanks for helping me," I whispered to the wolf, stepping back. That star of worldwide myth and legend tossed his head again and turned away. A heartbeat later, I stood there alone. It took a second to catch my breath. Then I whirled and ran to Zeke, leaping like a cheerleader in my glee. "Did you see that? Did you?"

  "Hell, yeah I saw it. You scared ten years off my life."

  "I surely hope not. I want those years."

  "You love me."

  "And you love me." I looked at the bodies lying at our feet. Germain had begun to stir. "Maybe we should leave."

  "I think you're right." Zeke dug into the pocket of his borrowed jeans and pulled out a set of keys. With a grin, he jingled them in front of me. He next pulled a wallet from the back pocket and swiped it clean on the leg of his jeans before dropping it. "Gotta find my billfold first, though. We don't want anyone to connect us to this."

  "Oh God."

  "What now?" He never stopped scanning the ground and kicking aside rocks.

  "I don't want the wolves blamed for those bites on Melita."

  "Then we should make two calls. One to report gunfire; another to report a pack of wild dogs."

  "Ooh, you're good."

  "Living a life of crime has its perks. Aha!" He picked up his wallet and tucked it in his back pocket. "Did you touch that gun?"

  "No."

  "Neither did I, so we're good there. We'll leave it right where it is and let the deputies sort things out. And now that I think about it, we should probably leave the SUV here, too, though I should wipe it down just in case you touched something." He gave me his full attention. "Are you up for a hike through the woods?"

  "But you're barefooted."

  "Guess I'd better borrow shoes, too." He stole Germain's.

  After wiping my fingerprints off everything I'd touched, we took our time, zigzagging and covering our tracks as we walked. We took especial care not to break off limbs and twigs, either. Zeke, who'd clearly tracked before, told me it would be impossible to remove all traces, so we veered north and approached the cabin in a roundabout way. Once there, we got in his car and drove to the nearest pay phone, located in the parking lot of a gas station that was closed for the night. We made the 9-1-1 call and left.

  When we got back to the cabin, I headed to the bathroom to clean up. My gasp brought Zeke running. He found me staring at myself in the mirror mounted over the sink. What a sight. My tangled hair had leaves in it. Tape residue stuck to my lips and cheek. And the blood…all the blood. On my face, on my clothes, under my fingernails.

  "Ew." I began stripping right there.

  Zeke backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. When I emerged about twenty minutes later, I had clean, wet hair and wore a towel around my scented body. Zeke immediately took my place in the shower. I found him some clothes that Dax had left there and then dressed in some of my own. So when Zeke opened the bathroom door, he found jeans, underwear and a t-shirt on the hall floor. He had them on when he came to me in the kitchen, where I stood scrambling eggs. I glanced at the clock. Four a.m. We could eat and still get home before my neighborhood came alive.

  "What do I do with these?"

  I turned and saw that Zeke had the borrowed jeans and shoes in his hand. "We should sink them in the lake."

  "Good idea."

  I handed him a trash bag. He stuffed Rick's clothes and mine inside and then cut small holes in the plastic. I heard him go out the front door and left the stove long enough to watch him fill the bag with big rocks and then knot the open end. He headed for the lake barefooted; I headed back to the kitchen.

  We ate our breakfast in silence a little later. I didn't know how Zeke felt, but the events of that night had become surreal to me. Had he really shifted into a werewolf before my eyes? Had I actually hugged a real wolf? Or was it all just another crazy dream?

  We got home by six and only after we made our second call, this one to alert the county Mounties that a pack of dogs, all different breeds, were terrorizing the lake area. As exhaustion hit hard, we stretched out on the couch face to face, our legs entwined. With my cheek resting on his biceps and his arm draped over my body, I'd never felt so safe. I closed my eyes and slept.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The doorbell woke me some time later. I glanced at the clock: only eight a.m. No wonder I felt drugged. Zeke slept on, and reluctant to wake him, I ran to the window to see what I could. A white car with a suspicious number of antennas sat in the driveway. I couldn't tell who stood on the porch.

  The bell rang again. Zeke stirred. I went to him. "Someone's here."

  Instantly alert, he got up to see who it was. My heart pounded. Panic gripped me. Had Melita recovered and sent the law after us? I honestly couldn't imagine why. Not with all we knew. But who'd believe a couple of teens over a former mayor? Or maybe we'd left clues that we'd been on the scene. I tried to think what we might have missed. Nothing came to mind.

  "Who is it?" I whispered from my spot right behind Zeke.

  "The men in black."

  "What?"

  With a heavy sigh and a shake of his head, he opened the door. I expected him to question the two men that stood there, neither dressed in black. Instead, he opened the storm door, too. "Come on in."

  Both men stepped into the foyer. Completely baffled, I tried to make sense of the scene. Did Zeke know these guys? Had to. Why else would he have let them in?

  My boyfriend offered one of them his right hand. "Zeke Sterling."
>
  "Ben DeLuca." He motioned to his companion. "Levi Crane."

  Zeke acknowledged Crane with a nod. Unable to contain my curiosity, I tugged on the hem of Zeke's tee. "Who are they?"

  "Oh, um, sorry." Zeke draped his arm across my shoulders and nudged me forward. "This is Skylar Walker. Nothing that happened last night was her fault, by the way. It was me. All me."

  "What's going on?" I asked, though I was beginning to get the picture. To say I was petrified didn't begin to describe my feelings now.

  "Corteggio," said Zeke.

  I gulped audibly, my worst fears confirmed.

  DeLuca smiled kindly at me. "Why don't we all sit?"

  I nodded. The four of us moved into the living room. The Corteggio reps sat on the couch; Zeke took Dad's recliner. I sat on the arm of it, my stomach already churning from nerves. How could they possibly know he shifted last night? Was there some kind of magical trace on him? And what would happen now? The shift was an accident. Surely they'd take that into consideration.

  DeLuca spoke first. "We were told that Andee Rivera, ensorceler magnifique, cured you last month. Is that correct?"

  "Yes," said Zeke.

  "Yet last night you shifted again."

  "I did."

  "He didn't mean to," I blurted. "The moon was full; he thought Melita was going to shoot me; it just happened. Surely you aren't blam--"

  Zeke caught my eye and shook his head. I bit my lip to keep from saying more.

  "Is that how it happened?" So far DeLuca seemed to be doing all the talking.

  "Yes." Zeke gave them the short version, but still managed to accuse Melita of all her crimes, which now included murder, kidnapping times two, assault with a deadly weapon…

  "We actually have Ms. McGee in custody. Her story varies from yours, of course, but that's to be expected. She knows she's crossed the line one time too many."

  "So you were monitoring her and not me?" Zeke sounded as relieved as I felt.

  "That's correct," said DeLuca. "The Corteggio doesn't take it lightly when humans hire preternaturals for illegal purposes. It usually results in a mess like last night's, and we don't appreciate messes. Not that we can't clean them up. We can and do, even if it involves simply gathering up bits of denim and cotton from the ground."

  "Or picking up knives. This yours?" Crane handed Zeke his pocketknife.

  "Yeah."

  Oops.

  DeLuca spoke again. "No one will know what happened on that mountain unless one of you shares it."

  "As if." My second thoughtless blurt made both men smile.

  "There's still the matter of the unintentional shift," DeLuca next said. "Naturally, this is of grave concern to us since we believed the cure to be infallible."

  "Well, don't blame Andee," said Zeke. "She's does the world a favor every time she takes us on. If anything, she deserves an award for her trouble. Have you watched her work her magic?"

  DeLuca nodded. "We have, yes."

  "Then you know the physical toll it takes on her."

  DeLuca nodded again. "Believe me, we do, and we're not blaming Miss Rivera. We're not blaming you, either, by the way, but we still have to figure out how to handle this."

  Zeke sat in silence for a moment. "Rhyan Knox is still a Were."

  "Yes, but his case was special," said Crane.

  "I know, but I've heard rumors there are others who aren't special cases. Is that true?"

  DeLuca exchanged a glance with Crane, giving me the impression that he'd been expecting the conversation to take this turn. "Yes."

  "How were they handled?"

  Crane spoke up. "They've all signed contracts stating that ties with The Arm have been broken."

  "That won't be a problem," Zeke said with a wry grimace.

  I glued my gaze to him, hoping that I knew where he was headed.

  "Yes, well, that's not all," said Crane, who looked too young to be a lawyer though he sounded like one. "The contract also states that they will never shift with intent to commit a crime, never reveal the secret of their duality, and never compromise the other mysteries of the preternatural world."

  Zeke shot a glance me, then focused on our visitors once more. "We need a minute."

  Both men nodded.

  He got up, took my hand, and led me into the hall.

  "Are you thinking about staying a Were?" I asked before he could say a word. Bubbling with excitement, I practically danced a jig around him.

  Somehow he managed to keep eye contact. "Yeah. What do you think?"

  "I think you make the sexiest werewolf this side of the moon."

  He grabbed me. "I'm serious, Skylar. This is huge. I mean, it could affect our lives in ways we can't even imagine now. Then there are our parents to think of, not to mention Dax, our kids…"

  I suddenly stumbled over my own feet. "Did you just propose to me?"

  Zeke blinked. "I, um…"

  Now I bubbled with laughter, and more secure in his love than I'd ever been, let him off the hook. "Never mind. Why don't we play this by ear? For now, I assure you I can deal with a boyfriend who shapeshifts every month. As for the future…we'll figure it out."

  Zeke turned on his heel and went back to the living room. "You don't happen to have that contract on hand, do you?"

  "As a matter of fact…" Crane reached into an inside pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a folded document. "If I can just find my pen…"

  "Right here." I pulled one from the jumble of writing instruments crammed into a mug sitting next to the lamp.

  Crane handed Zeke the contract, which was fairly short and not written in legalese. We both read it. Zeke caught my eye as if giving me a chance to nix the whole thing.

  Loving his certainty that this decision would affect me, too, I said, "Do it." He signed on two dotted lines.

  "And now to the matter of you, Miss Walker." DeLuca hesitated. "Dealing with children and teens in this type of situation is always tricky. On the one hand, I don't feel comfortable asking you to lie to your parents; on the other, I must caution that the more adults you tell, the better the chances of accidentally exposing us."

  I thought for a second. "I'm very comfortable with never mentioning this to either of my parents unless they ask me a direction question."

  DeLuca glanced at Crane, who nodded.

  "Very well, then."

  Grinning, Crane handed Zeke his copy of the signed agreement. "Rhyan Knox is engaged to my half-sister, by the way. It's a great match since she's a werewolf, too."

  I gasped. "Girls can be werewolves?"

  "Yes. There's a path called the wolf-way that any Quantauk who desires to become a werewolf must walk. Tehya's the first female to complete it in a very long time."

  Zeke saw the gleam in my eye. "Don't even go there," he said, which made DeLuca and Crane share amused looks. A short time later, we walked them to the door. Zeke shut it firmly behind them.

  I jumped into his arms. "You love me."

  "And you love me."

  "You bet I do." We kissed.

  "I have something for you." Zeke set me on my feet. "Meant to give it to you last night at dinner. Wait here." Taking the steps two at a time, he went upstairs. A couple of minutes later, he came back with a black box on which the logo of a local jewelry store had been etched in gold letters.

  "What's this?" I asked when he handed it to me.

  "Open it."

  I did, and found a silver cuff bracelet with a gorgeous wolf intricately carved into it. On each side of the animal were diamond paw prints leading up to it. Thrilled, I hugged it to my heart for a second, and then put it on.

  "I bought it because you like wolves so much." Zeke chuckled. "Didn't realize I was still one, myself."

  I held up my wrist to admire the bracelet, which fit perfectly. "I am wolf-crazy, aren't I?"

  "No more than I am."

  "Which makes us a perfect for each other."

  "We are, aren't we?" He kissed me. "How would you feel
about this being a promise bracelet?"

  "What, exactly, are you promising?"

  "That I'll love you forever. And that promise isn't an empty one. Wolves mate for life, you know."

  I sat on the couch and patted the spot next to me in invitation. When he sat, I promptly hopped into his lap. "So that was a proposal earlier?"

  "Guess it was."

  "We'd be an even better match if I were a werewolf, too."

  "Skylar--

  "Zeke--" I laid a big, wet kiss on his lips. "Do you have Rhyan's number?"

  "Not happening."

  "But what if I can--"

  Zeke's kiss stole the rest of my sentence. And since several more followed it and we wound up stretched out on the couch, my train of thought thoroughly derailed…for a couple of minutes, anyway. "Are you doing this to distract me?"

  "Yeah." His words were warm against my mouth; his weight pinned me to the couch. "Is it working?"

  "You have no idea." I pushed him off me, sat up, and grabbed the hem of my shirt.

  He captured both my hands in his. "What do you think you're doing?"

  "I thought we could maybe try the mating for life thing."

  "Skylar--"