Wolf

by D. M. Turner

  Tommy frowned up at him. “What’d she do that for?”

  “She wants you to sit down. You could fall while you go through the Shift. I don’t think she wants you to get hurt.”

  The boy’s chin rose. “I’m a werewolf now. I won’t get hurt.”

  Colin suppressed a grin. “Oh, you can still get hurt, and it’ll be just as painful as it always was. You heal way faster now, that’s all.”

  “Oh.” He dropped the short distance to the deck and closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, he yelped and opened his eyes. For a moment, he tensed, then his gaze fell on Tanya’s hovering form, and he visibly relaxed. He groaned and panted as the Shift occurred.

  A whimper at his side pulled Colin’s gaze away from the young wolf’s struggles. Tanya nudged Colin’s hand then paced back and forth between him and his father, her worried gaze on the half-human, half-wolf pup form writhing close by.

  Lord, please let Tanya be right about this boy’s chances tonight. I don’t think she could take it if he died. She’s emotionally invested in him already. To be honest, I want him to make it, too. He’s a nice kid. Please, Lord, help him through this. Give his weakened body strength.

  Seconds dragged into minutes. Finally, after almost five minutes, a wolf pup lay on the deck. Panting was the only sign of life at first, then he opened his eyes and rose on wobbly legs. The skinny, long-legged gray form with dashes of red through his coat, on his face, and down all four legs looked more coyote than wolf with those huge ears.

  Colin bit back a grin. Had he looked so… gangly and awkward at that age?

  The pup slowly closed the distance to Tanya.

  She licked his muzzle and eyes.

  He sneezed, lost his balance, and plopped onto his butt.

  Tanya shot Colin a glance full of joy. The first time he’d seen that in her eyes, and it made his heart stutter.

  He and his father dropped to all fours and soon joined Tanya and Tommy. Dad led the pack, hopping the two feet to the ground off the deck and starting for the forest. Colin and Tanya followed then stopped to wait for Tommy.

  He stood at the edge of the deck, his gaze going between them and the drop-off. Then he backed up and jumped. Only to land and tumble onto his face.

  Colin nudged Tanya to keep her from returning.

  Tommy picked himself up, shook off the indignity of the face-plant, and ran toward them with uneven puppy strides.

  * * *

  By the time Ian led them back to the house, Tommy could barely walk straight.

  Tanya stayed close, not wanting him to fall behind and get lost. Colin could find him, so that wasn’t a concern. She didn’t want him frightened his first night out.

  As they’d trotted and walked through the forest, he’d figured out how to make four legs work together. Mostly. As energy had given way to exhaustion, his gait had become unsteady. They still had a few hours until sunrise, but Tommy couldn’t go much longer. When they reached the house, he stopped at the edge of a deck he couldn’t see over.

  Ian hopped easily onto the deck and entered the house without looking back.

  With a gentle nudge, Colin directed Tommy to a spot further down, where the ground rose toward the deck, creating a step-up less than a foot in height. The pup still had trouble, too tired to jump or climb. Once his front paws were on it, Colin put a nose under his haunches and hiked him the rest of the way. He tumbled forward on the deck then staggered to his feet.

  Morning would be soon enough for pup to return to human boy. Tanya led him into the living room and sprawled on her side on the rug in front of the unlit fireplace.

  Tommy plopped down by her, fitting himself to the curve of her front legs and throat.

  Colin nosed the sliding glass door closed then padded over to join them, lying against Tanya’s back with his head across her shoulders.

  Lord, please help the pack find his sister. This boy needs his family.

  Tanya closed her eyes and let sleep come.

  * * *

  Saturday, August 29, 2015

  When Tanya awakened, light filled the living room through the wall of windows at the back of the house, and she was alone. A plate of cooling, roasted elk sat on the hearth. She made short work of it then looked for the others.

  Tommy ran around in the long grass, still in wolf form. He appeared to be playing tag with Colin while Ian sat on the deck and watched. Both men were in human form and fully dressed.

  She trotted to the guestroom, took a shower, dressed, and then returned to the deck.

  Ian glanced over his shoulder as she stepped outside.

  Tommy was still trying to catch Colin.

  “You didn’t have him return to human form?”

  Ian half-smiled and shook his head. “What for? He’ll just need to change back this evening. Back and forth Shifting is hardest on the young ones, so we’ll wait until tomorrow to have him Return.” He jutted his chin for a moment to point at Colin and the pup. “Besides, him chasing Colin around is great proprioception exercise.”

  “Pro… what?” Talk about a ten-dollar word. She narrowed her eyes. “Is that a real word?”

  He chuckled. “Proprioception is very real. It’s how to use all four legs at the same time, knowing where each one is at and what it’s doing in relation to the rest of the body. It’s a very different experience to be on four legs than two, wouldn’t you say?”

  She nodded and smiled. “True.”

  The phone sitting on the arm of the Adirondack chair rang, making her jump. She hadn’t even noticed Ian had it with him.

  He picked it up and hit a button. “Yes?”

  “We found them.”

  Tanya’s ears barely picked up what the other wolf said. O’Neil? She couldn’t be sure. Isaac, Graham, and Brett were the only pack members she’d had sufficient contact with to readily identify by voice, or face for that matter.

  “They’ve secured a new compound. I’m tracking at least five males.”

  “Can you tell if the women are there?”

  “Three, possibly four.”

  More missing women? She’d only heard about Donna and that waitress from Black Canyon City. Who else had they snatched?

  “Our priorities, sir?”

  Ian glanced at his watch. “There are still a few hours until moonrise. Get the women out of there, if at all possible.” He glanced at Tommy, who Colin had led closer to the forest. To get him further away from the phone conversation? “Take enough men to get the women out and kill the rogues.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll call when it’s done.”

  Ian punched a button to end the call and laid the phone back on the arm of the chair.

  Tanya swallowed. Had he really ordered the deaths of five men?

  “We can’t turn them over to the police. Surely you know that?” Ian glanced sideways at her.

  Her breath caught.

  “I know exactly what I’d be thinking in your place. If we drive the rogues from our territory, they’ll set up shop somewhere else. Quite possibly where there’s no pack to pull them back into line. Turning them over to the police to be tried and incarcerated won’t work, for obvious reasons. Werewolf justice isn’t pretty, but it is necessary, to protect humans as much as us.”

  “Do they need me and Colin to help with the women?”

  “I think that would probably be a good idea. They may be frightened beyond reason and unwilling to come to my men. You could reassure them.” He glanced out at the boy playing with his son. “I’ll keep Tommy busy for the rest of the day. Hopefully, he won’t have time to worry about his sister.” He let loose with a shrill whistle.

  Colin stopped in his tracks and turned to the porch. He broke into a trot toward the house at Ian’s wave.

  Tommy bounced through tall grass, trying but unable to keep up with the man’s long strides.

  Colin vaulted onto the porch without breaking stride and stopped at his father’s side.


  “Call O’Neil. He needs you and Tanya elsewhere.” He stood and offered the satellite phone.

  Colin accepted it.

  Ian half-grinned at the pup making a valiant attempt to climb onto the deck. “Tommy and I are going for a run. Maybe find a rabbit to chase.” He started stripping off his clothes, tossing them on the chair he’d vacated.

  Her cue to leave. Tanya turned and went into the house.

  Had they found the women before they’d been mauled and raped? If not, they’d be a bloody mess. Even if they hadn’t yet been brutalized, their captors had probably stripped them. When Tanya had awakened in that concrete cell, she’d been stripped of all her clothing. She hadn’t told the police that, or her family, no one. Everything else had been horrifying enough to share. Those women would need clothes, but she had no idea of sizes. Men’s t-shirts, sweatpants, and blankets would have to do. She grabbed plenty of all three from the guestroom closet and carried them back to the living room.

  Colin waited, his brows rising when he saw the load she carried.

  “Trust me.”

  He nodded then led her through the laundry room into the garage. “I reached O’Neil. He told me where to find them.”

  Would she have to face her abductors? She shivered.

  * * *

  The scent of fear filled the car. Colin snorted to clear his nose and rolled down the window, glancing sideways at his passenger. “What’s wrong?”

  She shrugged and looked out the window on the far side of the car.

  “You’re terrified, Tanya. You can’t hide it. What are you afraid of?”

  “I don’t want to see him.”

  “Who?” He thought he might know, but he wanted to be sure.

  “The one who… Turned me.”

  “O’Neil and some of the others will deal with the rogues. You and I and Brett will deal with the captives.”

  “Brett? Really?” That got her attention. She turned to him and, for a moment, forgot to be afraid.

  “He helped me get you out, remember?”

  “Yeah. He wanted you to leave me behind.”

  “You caught that, did you?”

  “What am I? Deaf?” Her derisive snort had him forcing down a grin. “Of course, I caught that. I thought you might actually do it, too.”

  “Well, I didn’t.”

  “No. You didn’t.” A faint smile relaxed her face. “I’m not sure I understand why though. I haven’t been such a great find.”

  Colin raised his brows and glanced at her before putting his eyes firmly back on the road. “What in the world makes you think that?”

  “You didn’t expect to get stuck with me, for one. If my parents hadn’t… had let me stay home, you wouldn’t have to worry so much about me.”

  “Have I even once complained about you being at the Preserve?” He shot her a look.

  “No, but—” She shrugged. “You’ve wasted an awful lot of time on me these past three months.”

  “I don’t consider so much as a moment of it wasted.” He reached for her hand, wrapping it in a strong grip. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Don’t you know that?”

  “Seriously?” She turned toward him, her mouth falling open.

  “Seriously.” He smiled, gave her fingers a light squeeze, then steered the conversation back to what lay ahead. “Brett will be waiting for us. We’ll wait for his signal then go in for the women.”

  Tanya nodded, her expression thoughtful and distant. It was her that pointed minutes later to Brett waving from a storefront a couple of blocks from where O’Neil had told him to go.

  Colin pulled the car to the curb.

  Tanya opened her window.

  Brett leaned down, resting his palms on the open window. “We’ll wait here then go in when we get the signal.” He pointed over his shoulder to a van just visible at the edge of a parking lot at the back of an empty building. “I’ll take the van in ahead of you. However many women they’ve got in there, they’ll easily fit. It has few windows, so no one’ll see our cargo as we drive through town.” His gaze dropped to Tanya. “I’ll need you to ride with me to keep them on the floor and quiet.”

  She nodded without making eye contact.

  Brett returned to his vehicle to sit and wait.

  The wait was interminable. Colin glanced at his watch as minutes ticked by. Those minutes turned into a half hour, then an hour, then two. How long should something like this take? Had the mission gone sour? Maybe the rogues had beaten O’Neil and the others.

  Finally, Brett’s van moved. He pulled onto the street, waving for Colin to follow him.

  About blasted time.

  Graham stood outside when they reached their destination. The watchfulness on his face and tension in his body were more than a bit unsettling.

  When Colin got out of the car, he looked around. Quiet. No one about.

  Brett climbed out of the van as Tanya rounded the car to join Colin.

  “How does it look?”

  “We’ve still got one rogue missing.” Graham glanced briefly at Tanya then away. “O’Neil said those women need to go. Two of the four are already dead. They were too badly wounded. These idiots have no idea what they’re doing. You should see those bodies.”

  “Been there, seen that. No thanks.” Brett’s gruff comment drew a sharp look from Tanya.

  Did she think the man had liked what he’d seen the morning they’d rescued her? Brett had seen the condition of the other two women she’d heard screaming.

  “As you go in, the live ones are in the first cell on your left and the second cell on your right. Ignore the other two. There’s nothing we can do for them.”

  The grimness of the man’s expression revealed the hurting power of those words. Werewolves could take death as it came, in many forms, and they could kill, but the wanton destruction of innocents never set well with them. Unless they were rogues apparently.

  Brett led the way into the building.

  Colin kept Tanya in front of him, so she was sandwiched between them for safety. With one rogue still loose, he wouldn’t take any chances.

  They had to descend two flights of stairs to find the cells Graham had talked about. These guys had meant business in making sure no one could hear their victims scream.

  Unlike the previous prison, this one had barred doors, allowing the odors from within to seep out. Blood, terror, urine, feces, sex. Death. Why couldn’t they have found the women sooner, saved them from the horrors they’d endured?

  Colin focused on the first of two cells Graham had told them about, forcing his gaze away from the neighbor across the narrow hall.

  Brett pulled a set of tools out of a hip pocket. In seconds, the lock clicked. The door swung inward. He stepped back and proceeded to the next door.

  Yikes. Colin grimaced. The smell was almost as bad as Tanya’s prison had been. Except for barred doors, the cells were identical to the ones in the old location. Solid concrete on all sides. Eight-by-eight. No windows or ventilation. The barred doors by themselves wouldn’t have provided much air flow, not with air in the building so stagnant.

  A naked woman lay under the bench, curled into a tight ball in one corner. Blood smeared on the floor bore testimony to serious wounds. The lingering scent of terror testified to her trauma. She whimpered at the sound of their footfalls but didn’t look up, curling up that much more tightly.

  A noise made Colin glance down the hallway between cells.

  Brett marched toward him with a naked, blood-covered woman limp in his arms.

  Colin stepped back to allow him entry into the cell where Tanya stood staring at the terrified woman under the bench.

  “This one’s in pretty rough shape.” Brett set her on the floor. She barely acknowledged him or her environment. “I don’t think she’ll survive. She’s too weak.”

  “Colin?” Tanya’s soft voice drew his gaze. Tears filled her eyes. Ragged breathing and a pounding heart told him she was having a di
fficult time. “Can you get clothes and blankets from the car, please?”

  “Sure.” He glanced at Brett. “I’ll be right back.”

  Brett nodded.

  * * *

  Well, don’t just stand there. Talk to them. Help them. Tanya knelt between the two women and laid a hand on the one Brett had brought in. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. Those men won’t hurt you anymore.”

  The woman under the bench flinched then untucked her head enough to peer at Tanya out of the corner of one swollen eye.

  The woman on the floor remained motionless, her breathing shallow.

  Tears pushed to Tanya’s eyes. Brett was probably right about that one. She wouldn’t make it. She was barely alive as it was, scarcely breathing. How could she survive the first Shift?

  “They just spotted the last rogue a block from here.” Brett headed for the door. “I’m going to help round him up.”

  Tanya nodded without looking up. She scooted closer to the woman hiding in the corner. “My name is Tanya. What’s yours?”

  “Donna,” came a faint, whispered response.

  “Donna Elliston?”

  The woman lifted her head to look more fully at Tanya. “Yes. Do I know you?”

  “No, but I know about you. I—”

  “Well, look what the wolves dragged in.”

  Tanya froze, even as Donna cried out and buried herself as deep into the corner as she could possibly go. Oh, God, I know that voice. Give me strength and courage. Don’t let me cower before him like a beat dog. She got slowly to her feet and turned to face the man.

  “What do you know? I guess I was wrong about you being too weak-minded to come back from the wolf. I thought for sure you’d surrendered to her. Someone managed to draw you back from the wolf, did they, darling?”

  A shudder went through her. “Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that. I’m not your darling. I never will be.”

  “I made you. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be as strong as you are, as healthy.” His gaze stroked her. “I was your first. I remember that about you. You’d never been with a man before. I hope I made you first time memorable.”

  Nightmarish, but she wasn’t about to admit it. He’d be proud of it. His words brought unbidden images to the front of her mind. She lowered her gaze and took a step back, rapping the back of her knees against the metal of the bench.