Call of the Wilds (13 page)

“Yeah, yeah.” Glenn gripped the crowbar like a baseball bat. It moved in a smooth arc and struck the upper corner of the window.

“You swing that thing like a pro.” Frank watched him rotate the iron lever to clear the remaining shards from the frame.

“Shit, you forget I was the Wolverine’s most powerful switch-hitting first baseman. We won the state championship every year.”

“High school was a long time ago,” Frank muttered.

“Yeah, but it’s like fucking. It’s just one of those things that comes natural to me.”

“Cut the crap.”

“Hey, if you’d stop sniffing around the refuge manager, you’d get some too.”

“Stay out of my business,” he spat. The words struck home. Glenn might be right, but he didn’t need to hear it. He’d been pussyfooting around Karin ever since she got here. She didn’t confide much in him, but he knew she came with baggage. He figured she was worth waiting for, and he held off, but she never gave him a tumble. Now he knew why. Connor got there before him. Women were all the same. He’d been a fool to think otherwise, and once everyone found out, he would be a laughing stock. It wouldn’t happen. He’d see the bastard in hell first.

“Shit!”

He heard a dull thud and almost tripped over Glenn.

“What the hell happened?”

“Nothing,” he snapped. “Some idiot left a bunch of fucking crates out here.”

“Well get up and let your eyes get used to the dark. I’d rather not turn any lights on.”

Frank backed up a few steps and waited until Glenn scrambled to his feet. The deputy kicked the boxes savagely.

“Can’t you move any faster?” Glenn navigated as slowly as a full moon rising, and he wanted to get this over with ASAP.

“Get off my back, chief,” he answered irritably.

They made it down the dark hallway. Glenn opened the door to the treatment room and stopped short.

“Jesus!”

Frank plowed into his back. “What’s the problem now?” He pushed the smaller man out of his way. Across the room, two amber orbs glowed like embers in a coal fire.

“Christ, she spooked me. Get a light on.”

“What the hell is the matter with you, Glenn? You’re gonna piss yourself.” Frank fumbled for the light switch. There were no windows back here to give them away. “Didn’t you ever see a wolf before?”

“She’s staring right at me.”

“And she’s locked up tight as Hannibal Lecter.”

“Yeah, and he ate his jailers.”

“Nobody’s eating you, Glenn. You don’t have enough meat on your bones.” Frank blinked in the light as he moved into the room and started looking in the cabinets “I got it.” He eyed the wolf. “Damn. She’s big.”

“Give it here. I’m a better shot.”

“You don’t need to be a good shot with a jab stick. You just poke it through the little opening where the food goes and jab her.” He tossed the stick to Glenn.

Glenn feinted to the right, then the left, taunting the wolf with the three-foot stick. Only her eyes followed his movements.

“You could be one of those dog whisperers, Glenn. The bitch is just sitting there waiting for you.”

“Just like a female, too stupid to react.”

“Just do it already. Let’s get this over with. It stinks of wolf in here.”

“Sleep tight, bitch.” Glenn poked her in the left flank and administered the drugs.

“Good job. In ten minutes, we’ll be able to drag her sorry ass into the Jeep.”

I’d love to see your girlfriend’s face when she opens up in the morning and her prize patient is gone.”

“You just let me worry about Karin.” She’d be upset, but he’d be there to offer support. Pretty soon she would realize how much she depended on him.

* * * *

Karin stepped out of the Mule gingerly and took small careful steps. The ankle hardly bothered her anymore, but she’d gotten into the habit of favoring it, and she put most of her weight on her right foot. She hobbled across the porch, crunching something under her feet. Confused, she looked down. Shards of glass twinkled in the morning sun. For a minute, she thought her eyes played tricks on her, but when she looked up, a big gaping hole stared back where there had once been a window.

A cold chill ran down her spine, and she peeked inside. The overturned boxes and supplies scattered all over the reception area made her suspect kids looking for drugs. What else would anyone be looking for?

Oh, shit! The wolf.
She forced back her fear and grabbed a good-sized tree limb. For sure, any intruders would be long gone, but she felt better with a weapon in her hands. She unlocked the door and held the stick up for protection.

 
The empty cage shouldn’t have come as a surprise. On some level, she expected it. Her stomach churned with guilt and frustration. If she hadn’t been so wrapped up with Malcolm, she would have done a better job protecting the wolf. The sour feeling in her belly increased.

At least she didn’t find any blood. It had to be a good sign. She took out her cell phone to call Frank.

He showed up so fast he must have been on his way.

“Tell me again what happened when you got here?” Frank perched on the side of her desk and handed her a Styrofoam cup of coffee.

She shook her head. The thought of it made her stomach turn.

“I saw the broken window and came inside.” Replaying the scene in her head, she told the story once again. “As soon as I saw the open cage, I called you.” There wasn’t that much to tell. Grateful for his help, she tried to answer all his questions, but how many times would she have to repeat this?

“You should have called me before you went inside. There could have been someone hiding in here.”

“I had a club.”

He stared at her like she was a stupid kid and shook his head. “Anything else missing? Did you touch anything?”

“I didn’t look. I don’t think so. And I haven’t touched a thing. Do you think she’s all right?”

“I don’t know.” He wiped sweat off his brow with a forearm.

“We should be out there looking for her.”

“Let me do my job. You don’t look so good yourself. Go home and get some rest.”

“It’s just nerves and an upset stomach. We need to find her before anyone else does. They’ll shoot her for sure.”

“And it would probably be for the best.”

“Don’t!” God, she felt sick. “You think she’s already dead, don’t you?” Hot tears prickled behind her eyelids.

“I didn’t say that.” Frank slipped his arm around her, and she let him, too miserable to protest. “Look, let me handle this. I’ll go back to town and call the wildlife bureau and the park authorities. Then Glenn and I will organize our own search. See what we can dig up.”

“Thanks.” She should be out there looking for the wolf, but she really did feel lousy, and Frank could handle it better. He would get more information from the locals than she could. He had his faults but at least she could count on him when she needed help. “I appreciate your help.”

“Hey, you know I want this to be over just as much as you do, maybe more.”

She ignored his wink, in no mood to deal with his infatuation.

Chapter Thirteen

Malcolm looked at his ringing cell phone, but he didn’t pick it up. Karin had already left one voicemail. He didn’t plan on returning this call either. His mind was made up. He wouldn’t see her again.

For once, he was glad Ralf couldn’t talk back. Always the perfect confidant, the hybrid listened but didn’t deliver a lecture. He did, however, look at him with accusing eyes.

“Come on, don’t lay a guilt trip on me.” Pinocchio had Jiminy Cricket to keep him on the straight and narrow. He had Ralf, his own personal conscience.

He sat on the floor, and the dog laid his head in his lap and looked up at him.

“I’m doing what’s best for Karin.” When he told her they would talk he meant it, but after thinking it over, he decided a clean break would be the best way to end it. The more he saw her, the more he liked her, but they had no future together. Why keep leading her on? Better to hurt her once and let her get on with her life. He had no illusions that he would be irreplaceable. She’d hate him for a while and then turn to someone else, maybe the sheriff. “Grrr.”

“
Arrroooo
,” Ralf responded with sympathy.

“What can I do? I want to be a real boy,” he said half to himself. “The problem is I can’t tell her the truth.”

Ralf lifted his head and looked at him reproachfully.

He could deceive himself but not Ralf. He never wanted to be a real boy. In fact, there was a time when he didn’t want to be a boy at all. After his family died, he lost himself and lived as a wolf in the forest. He slept in a den, hunted for his food, and avoided human contact. He had no desire to walk on two feet like the men who destroyed his life.

Then his mother came to him in a dream. She reminded him he wasn’t an animal but a Lycan, a man meant to have the best of both worlds and duty bound not to waste his gift. He believed it then and he believed it now.

He loved the time he spent as a wolf. Everything was simpler on four feet. He saw life in black and white, perceived things in abstract ways. On two feet, his senses heightened even more than a human male. It made living among humans that much more complicated.

Sometimes he envied Ralf, whose biggest problem was whether to sleep in front of the fireplace or in bed with his alpha, but he would never retreat to the animal kingdom permanently because he also enjoyed his human life. He would miss his books, creating things with his hands, experiencing life with a full palette of colors. He kept two feet in each world.

If he still had his mate and family, his life would be perfect. No sense feeling sorry for himself after all these years. Family life was not for him. Mating with a human female was out of the question. How could he tell Karin why they couldn’t have children together?

As far back as he could remember, he’d been taught shifters couldn’t reproduce with humans. He didn’t want to lie to Karin, but he could never tell her the truth. Experience had taught him humans couldn’t be trusted. The irony of his situation wasn’t lost on him. Karin had opened up and trusted him, and yet he refused do the same.

He had only to think about his sister to know it would be a mistake. She and her human husband knew they could never have children, and at first, it didn’t seem to matter. But, in the end, he held it against her, one more resentment he couldn’t live with, and because of it, they were all dead.

Karin might not care now, but one day she would change her mind and turn against him. Better she hate him now. If he took things further, he’d have to tell her the whole truth. Would she even believe him? Or would she call him a monster? It would kill him to see a look of fear or disgust on her face.

But he couldn’t stop his memories. He imagined her soft skin under his hands, her taste on his tongue, and the way she wrapped herself around him. The images tortured him, but he would learn to live with them, just as he had all his losses.

* * * *

Karin wanted to avoid gossip. Rather than be seen buying a home pregnancy test at the local drugstore, she drove two hours to the next town. Macon had two pharmacies. It was a metropolis compared to Black Wolf. Anonymity made the trip worthwhile.