The Wolf You Feed Arc (30 page)

Johan was beside himself with excitement. He was going to meet Rune’s mom. None of the others would know, and he’d have a bigger secret than they did.

 
28

One Hour Earlier, Cody, Wyoming.

“Hey Lynol, where you at?”

“Up town. Was sup?”

“Nothin’, man. I’m picking up stuff for the commune. You wanna grab a beer?”

“Nah, Mika! Look, I’ll catch you later. I’m just doin’ a little job for my old man, okay?”

Lynol ended the phone call. He pretended to admire some cheap tacky tourist stuff in the window of a shop. To anyone else, he was just hanging out. But Lynol’s perceived nonchalance and casual wanderings, disguised his real purpose. He focused on the reflections of his target through the gallery window. She was definitely up to something. It had been the fifth time she’d stopped and looked around in the last five minutes. In fact, it was also the third time she’d come down this road. Each time she walked past the stores, her pace slowed around about here. Then her furtive glances became more obvious the closer she got to this building.

Lynol glanced at his watch. Enough already, he thought, just get on with it, woman! Even if he weren’t one of Erik’s best trackers, this dumb broad wouldn’t have caused him any problems. She might as well have walked through wet paint. She’d been that easy to follow. He smirked at her attempt at a disguise. Dark glasses and a headscarf, so Hollywood! Did she think it made her unrecognizable? Honestly, she only needed to add a trench coat and turn up the collar to look more conspicuous.

The woman seemed to have trouble making up her mind about going into the hotel across the road. What crime was she attempting to commit?
 

Erik had been making him follow her for weeks and nothing ever happened. At the commune, she went about her assigned tasks. Talked to only a handful of people, her mate, mother, and some of the other women when she was cooking or cleaning. She only drove into town once a week to buy a few grocery items or mail a letter before returning.

Lynol wasn’t sure why Erik and Dad assigned him this job. Any damn rookie could have followed her. Hell, even a pup could have done it. Maybe it was some sort of pay back or pre-test. He was due to go through his initiation process any time now. His dad had been trying to pull a few strings for him. Maybe this was his initiation! Though he wasn’t sure this ridiculous assignment would be enough to get him into Erik’s select group.

Damn! The woman had disappeared. His lack of concentration had cost him big time. How the hell would he live this one down? Lynol crossed the road, flicking his eyes up and down the street. Where did she go?

Maybe she’d plucked up the courage to enter the hotel. It couldn’t hurt to look inside
.
After all, what other option did he have? The lobby was busy. It seemed to be check-in time. Lynol worked his way through the crowd of vacationers and began to scan the open areas.

Bloody July! So many stupid, annoying tourists clogging up everywhere.
Walking through the reception towards the lifts, her canary colored headscarf caught his eye. Bingo! There she was, over by the pay phones. He laughed out loud. Who the hell disguises themselves in a bright yellow headscarf!
 

She pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and laid it on the shelf beneath the phone. Lynol slipped behind a marble pillar, so she didn’t catch sight of him. He watched her glance around then pick up the phone. Forty feet in a crowded open area was a stretch, but his acute wolf’s hearing had its uses.

It was a few seconds before someone answered. The woman mumbled into the phone, giving her name and waited for recognition from the other end. There was a short conversation, then a long pause. Lynol’s hearing was good, but there was no way to make out what the other person said. From the tone of voice it sounded like another woman but other than that, he had nothing.

Hmmm, so she wasn’t calling a lover then. Maybe Dad got it wrong. Perhaps she wasn’t having an affair after all. There’d been no evidence of that so far. Over the last month or so, the only male she’d been near was her own mate. Every time Lynol followed her into town, she’d never met anyone male — nor female for that matter.

His ears pricked when she asked for directions. Lynol didn’t catch the address but she mentioned Casper. A few seconds later she ended the call, telling the recipient to expect her around two.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. Lynol was going to need a car to follow her. It wasn’t practical to drive three hundred miles on his dirt bike. It was okay for the ten miles across country between here and the commune, but his ass would be numb if he drove the thing all the way to Casper. While he phoned, he kept his eye on his target. She was not getting away from him a second time. He didn’t know where she would head once she got there, but Lynol could catch up with her before then. She wasn’t exactly a speed freak.
 

Nea fiddled around with her purse, then was on the move. She headed across the lobby towards the door. As he prepared to follow, Lynol caught sight of something by the call-phone. Please let that be what he thought it was. He put in a call to his Dad as he made his way over to the phone booth.

“Hey what’s up Lynol?” David said.

“I need a car, we got anything close?”

“Give me a minute.”

The line went dead for a moment. Lynol crossed the foyer hoping to get to the pay phones before Nea remembered what she had left.

“Yep. There is a black truck behind the Bar N Grill that’s ours. Mika has the keys. He’ll meet you there. Give him your bike, so he can get back here.

“Thanks, gotta go.”

Lynol grabbed the piece of paper from under the pay phone. Yeah, this woman was clueless about this cloak and dagger stuff.
It was some sort of letter. Lynol scanned through the contents hunting for information as to where Nea was going. He couldn’t believe his luck. There was an address in Casper
and
a telephone number. Someone named Kachina had signed the letter. He read back over it, checking it in more detail this time.
 

Satisfied, Lynol pocketed the note and hurried off to find the truck. This time, he used his personal telepathic frequency to contact his dad, hoping he was in range.
 

You know a Kachina?
 

David responded a minute or so later.
No. Why?

Lynol sent another thought.
Rune?
 

Maybe
! The answer returned immediately this time
.

Tore?
He replied.

Lynol’s phone rang. “Wait for me at the truck.” Erik said.

Lynol shrugged and jogged down the High Street. Finding the restaurant, he ducked behind it. This must be something big if Erik was getting involved.
 

It took ten minutes for his dad to arrive. As the red Mustang came to a halt all four doors opened. Henrik and Georg were with David and Erik.
 

What was this all about?
 

***

Lynol stood by the SUV looking confused. Erik frowned. The boy was no doubt wondering why he was interested in this. “Lynol.” Erik put out his hand and Lynol hesitated before taking it. The boy needed to man up a bit. He had some serious tracking skills, but he lacked David’s backbone.
 

“Erik, sir,” Lynol said.

“What have you got?”

“I…I’m not sure.” His eyes flicked over to his father for reassurance.

“Get it out, son,” David said.

“Nea didn’t mail any letters today, but she went to the hotel and used the pay phone. She arranged to meet someone this afternoon in Casper. Left this behind.” He waved the paper he’d found, “I think the woman she talked to, is this Kachina. Her address is in there.”

Lynol held out the letter to Erik. He scanned it.
 

What! Erik’s heart dropped into his stomach. How could this be? Too shocked to say anything, he passed the letter to David to take a look. If this was true, the kid had more potential than Erik gave him credit for.
 

Lynol shuffled from foot to foot in front of them. Hmm, Erik thought, he still owed David. Maybe he could use this. If he gave the kid a free ride into a beta position then he would no longer owe David for what he did to Isak
.
“You did real good. A smart son you got here David.”
 

David nodded as he scanned through the letter, his face showing concern and surprise.

“Good work, Lynol.” He patted his son on the back.

“We’ll take it from here. Get back to the commune and don’t tell anyone about this, especially not Felix,” Erik said.

“So the letter’s important then?” Lynol was still hesitant.
 

Perhaps a free ride wasn’t a good idea, Erik thought. The damn kid needed to toughen up, but that said, this was an ideal opportunity for Erik to clear his debt and shift things the other way. David would be the one owing him then and he could use this as leverage.

“Let’s just say, I think we can skip your initiation, Lynol. If this all works out, I’m going to be in such a good mood, I might even make you one of my lieutenants!”
But you’ll owe me,
Erik added to David.

Lynol stood up taller and pushed his shoulders back.
 

Now that was more like it
.
He looked less like a sniveling whippet and more like his father. Maybe there was potential there after all. The mention of a possible beta position had the kid’s confidence soaring. Lynol tried to reign in his enthusiasm as he gave Erik a nod of thanks.

David floored the gas as the four doors of the Mustang slammed shut and with a squeal of rubber, they took off.

Thanks for that boss,
David said.
 

Skipping the initiation means we’re even. A lieutenant’s position costs extra.

David nodded.

As David drove, Erik read through the letter once more. It seemed Tore had not only come back from the dead but he’d also married someone else. To compound it all, that kid of Nea’s was also still alive. That was going to complicate things for Lynol. If he wasn’t David’s first born he could kiss his beta position goodbye and Erik would need to find another way to put David in his debt. “Damn, this is a right mess. I should have finished this fourteen years ago.”
 

Erik now realized, he’d done a sloppy job back then. How was it possible that Tore and the kid survived? He remembered back to that night. What with that weird storm, all that lightning, and Tore and Annike’s injuries. He’d been convinced they had perished. Damn, he should have gone back to Casper the next morning to check. Now he’d spent fourteen years wrongly thinking that Tore and his family were dead. He scanned the paper once more. Interesting! The letter didn’t mention that mate of his. Oh wait, yes it did. So she did die, well at least that was something.
 

But then something struck Erik. Those damn kids! Would they have already gone through their transition? Erik tried to remember how old David’s boy was when Tore came back to the commune with Nea and the kid: three, maybe four? He must be a similar age to Lynol. In fact, didn’t David say he was about six months older than his own son, and Lynol was now seventeen?

“How old is that Rune kid?”

David glanced over at Erik, he was also doing the math. “Old enough to be trouble. Half-way through his transition year, maybe finished now.”

“The other one, Tore’s real kid. Felix said he was the same age didn’t he?”

David confirmed with a nod and went back to watching the road.

Hmm, that might cause an added problem
.
There were going to be three transitioned males to dispose of rather than one. Erik fished out his phone and rang Lynol.

“Get that black truck and bring Mika and a couple of other trackers, follow us to Casper and wait at the city limits. We might need backup.”

Erik was certain the four of them could handle Tore, but depending on the other boys’ sizes a few more pairs of hands might help. If Rune took after David, they’d have their work cut out for them. Heaven help them if the kid was anywhere near as big or as mean as his father. Then there was the other one, Tore’s real son. His little brother was no weakling and knew how to handle himself. Tore would have prepared his boys well, even if he was arrogant enough to think Erik would never find out he was still alive.