First Moon (New Moon Wolves) BBW Werewolf Romance (7 page)

Chapter Seven

Audrey quickly settled the bill at Antonio’s Tavern, grateful that Lori had changed their order to take-out without being asked. She felt awful for Tao and the situation with his brother. She’d grown up as an only child, desperate for a sibling who never materialized. Her parents had loved her and had been wonderful, but they couldn’t fill up the loneliness.

Growing up, her best friend, Mary, lived across the street with three brothers and three sisters. Audrey tried to spend the night as much as possible, loving the feeling of being embraced in a big family. Once she asked her friend what it was like, and Mary said, “We’re pieces of the same heart. Our hearts don’t just beat for us, but for each other.” It had been poignant even with her child’s understanding of the world. Looking back on that exchange as an adult, Mary’s response carried even more weight.

Now Tao was going to carve out a piece of his heart and shatter something that had to mean the world to him. While she’d never had a sibling, she knew how much it hurt to never have that connection. Tao’s pain would probably be ten times worse just losing his brother, but if he had to actually take his life, too? She couldn’t imagine what that would do to someone.

Audrey bit her lip. How did someone come back from that?

Maybe there’s a way to save Nick. Maybe there’s a way to make this better.

She headed out to her truck, takeout bag in one hand, her jaw set with determination.
I’m going to help him. No one should face something like this alone.

She called the sheriff on her way home. “Sheriff Martin, it’s me, Audrey, from the park service.”

“Make it quick,” came his terse response. “I’m on my way to a head-on collision on route twenty.”

“There’s a rabid wolf running along the beach and in the dunes. I wanted to let you know the park rangers will be closing the park. If you see the wolf, shoot on sight.”

“What’s he look like?”

“Bigger than a Great Dane and blond as a Norwegian.”

The sheriff gave a low whistle. “That’s a big wolf with some very light hair. Do I need to know something?”

“I suspect it’s an albino and maybe has a growth disorder, making it over large.” As seat-of-her-pants science went, Audrey felt she’d concocted a believable lie.

“Gigantism in wolves? Is that even possible?”

“Well, you shoot him and I’ll do an autopsy to find out, sheriff.”

“All right, I’ll let the guys know if we run into him. I think I have a few cars I can send out to patrol the dunes and beaches to help you guys out. Anything else?”

“I’ve got a casting of his tracks,” Audrey lied again. “His paws are big enough to be what marked Bob’s door.” She figured that would get a response. They needed all the help they could get to track down Nick, and nothing would motivate law enforcement like the opportunity to solve a murder. At least, she hoped that was the case.

“So this might be the animal that killed the old kook?” The sheriff did sound a little more interested than before.

“Yep.” She nodded even though he couldn’t see her.

“Okay, this changes things. Once we process this accident, I’m putting all units out on the search. We need to put this wolf down before he kills anyone else.”

“My sentiments exactly, sheriff. We’ll have rangers out too looking for him.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

“No problem. Good luck out there.” Audrey hung up, finishing her call with the sheriff as she pulled into her driveway.

Rushing into her house, she slammed the door behind her, sighing with relief when the lock clicked home. She dropped her purse on the entry way table, and marched into the kitchen as she dialed her boss. When the call went to voicemail, she hung up and called the main number instead.

Christine picked up on the first ring. “National Parks Service. How may I help?”

“Hey Chris, it’s me, Audrey. Can you get me Jay?”

“I think he’s on the phone.”

“Tell him to hang up. It’s urgent.”

“Something go wrong with that wolf of yours?” Christine asked, her tone concerned.

“Just get me Jay. It’s an emergency.” When Christine hesitated, Audrey growled a loud, “Now,” into her phone.

“Okay, okay. Geez. Calm down. I’ll go get him.”

The phone line switched to music as Christine put her on hold. A second later, Jay picked up the line.

“Audrey, what’s going on?” He sounded frazzled. “I’m a little busy here.”

She didn’t waste any time getting down to business. “There’s a rabid wolf out in the parks. We need to shut down the parks and get the tourists off the beach and dunes.”

“What? How do you know this? You’re not even scheduled to work today.”

“I know. Listen, I spotted the wolf that attacked me at Glen Vine this morning. I tracked him down to the lake and lost him, but he’s headed toward the public beach.” She paused, thinking fast. What would Jay respond to? “He was foaming at the mouth and acting aggressive.”

“Oh.” Jay fell silent. “All right. I’ll lock it down and send out the troops.”

“We should set up traps, too.” Nick was no ordinary wolf, but it didn’t hurt to try to capture him. Maybe he could be tricked into a cage. Sometimes animals—not to mention people--would do things in a panic that they would never do under normal circumstances.

“I know how to do my job, Audrey,” he said, his tone full of reproach.

“Sorry. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.” She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. When they’d dated, Jay always complained she was too bossy and it had become a sore point even in their working relationship. Everyone had told her it was a bad idea to date her boss, but a girl like her couldn’t be choosy. So she’d taken the chance, and while things weren’t exactly easy between them, she didn’t feel the need to go look for another job. Not yet, anyway. “I notified the sheriff too. This wolf is probably the one that killed Bob.”

“It got Conspiracy Bob? No kidding.” Jay whistled, impressed. “You don’t say.”

“Yeah. The sheriff is going to send some units to help with the search. They’re going to shoot to kill since he’s suspected of attacking humans.” She hesitated, and thinking of Tao added, “There’s another wolf out there too. Same huge size, but black as night. It’s not rabid as far as I can tell. If you spot it, don’t worry about it.”

“You’ve been seeing a lot of wolves lately.”

She gave a nervous laugh. Jay didn’t know the half of it. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s been a weird week.”

“So are you coming in to help with the wolf hunt? I need all hands on deck for something of this magnitude.”

Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to think of a graceful way to say no. She happened to agree with Tao that she should be hiding out. The last thing anyone needed was for Nick to find her and start pulling the puppet strings. She would become a weapon, unable to deny his commands.

At her long silence, he said, “I was more telling than asking. You’re the wildlife specialist. You kind of have to be here, Audrey. It’s your job.” He sounded petulant and she grit her teeth. Maybe she was bossy, but Jay whined. A lot. Although that hadn’t been what broke them up.

“I know,” she said. “I’ll be there as soon as I change my clothes.”

“Great. Since you saw him last, I’ll let you determine where we’re going to search.”

He hung up and Audrey hurried to find a clean uniform, trying not to think too hard about how dangerous it was for her to leave the house.
If I see Nick, I’ll just have to shoot him before he says anything. That’s all.

Except if he could talk, that would mean he was in human form and she would be committing a murder no one would understand.

Chapter Eight

Tao ditched his clothes under a tree in the forest that ran along Lake Michigan. With a sweep of his leg, he covered everything with the leaves and sticks littering the ground. Satisfied no one would spot his belongings and filch his wallet, he shifted into his wolf.

Immediately, his sense of smell heightened. He caught the scent of the pine trees, the faint sweetness of maple, the nearby lake, the birds above and the multitudes of small animals that had frozen in place once they realized a predator prowled among them. Their t
iny heartbeats pounded in his ears, fluttering at such a rapid pace he sometimes wondered if the little guys ever passed out or had heart attacks. If they would’ve understood him, he would’ve shifted back and said, ‘Hey, I’m not here to eat anybody and most of you are too small to bother with anyway. So, relax before your hearts explode.’

Remembering Audrey’s reaction to his hunting, he snorted and shook his head. A vegetarian werewolf? He’d never heard of such a thing. Tao bet she would change her mind once her wolf nature came to the fore. Wolves had no moral qualms about eating other animals in cold blood. Their thoughts were linear. If they were hungry, they ate whatever they could hunt. Wolves didn’t second guess or dither, they acted. And if Audrey didn’t compromise her principles? Well, she was a stronger wolf than he was.

Tao lifted his nose and sniffed, testing the air.

Nothing new filled his nose. The scent of his brother was absent, which made him give a short, testy bark. Even in human form, Tao had been able to track Nick through town and to the spot where he’d ducked into the woods, but then somehow his brother’s scent had disappeared, leaving him to wander in circles. Now that he was in his more sensitive form, Tao hoped he could pick up Nick’s trail again.

So far, though, that wasn’t happening. He tossed his head and snorted in irritation. Nick’s ability was the bite of the wolf, not hiding. That was more Leo’s provenance. His brother, named for the leonine color of his coat, could creep up on anyone, even other wolves. He had a subtle scent that made him hard to smell. His mother had often said Leo would make a great spy, but the wolf had an honest heart. As far as Tao knew, he’d never lied, not even as a kid. If Leo ate all the cookies, he would own up to it, which is probably why their mother never punished him.

Tao, on the other hand, would eat all the cookies and then stay in the woods until his mom gave up on getting him back into the house, let alone punishing him. Kai, the runt of their litter, always followed the rules. Seriously, the guy never got into trouble. Nick, on the other hand, would eat his fill and be sure to sprinkle the crumbs in one of his brother’s beds so that they would get in trouble instead of him.

Now that he thought about it, Nick had always been wily and prone to devious tricks. Tao just never anticipated it would come to this.

He began to run in ever widening circles, sweeping past every inch of the forest until he came to the sand dunes that ran along the beach. Instead of pine, he smelled the dry, dusty scent of hot sand and still no Nick.

Where could he be?

Tao thought hard.
What would I do if I were Nick?

His brother told Audrey he wanted to bite more people, which meant Nick was looking for victims. Tao growled at himself. He’d been an idiot, searching the remote woods instead of focusing on areas with people.

I was thinking like a wolf, not a madman.

His feet swift on the ground, he headed for the lake. Outside of town, the beaches held the highest concentration of people and the sand dunes provided good cover with their reed-like beachgrass. All Nick had to do was hunker down, wait for the right target, dash in for the bite and then run back to the safety of his hidey hole.

The only question was, which beach would Nick pick?

Chapter Nine

Audrey pulled into the parking lot at work and parked her truck. Before she stepped out, she looked around carefully in case Nick was lurking nearby. She even sniffed the air, but while she could smell the water, she didn’t have the super sharp senses that Tao and his brother did. She couldn’t identify people by scent. Not yet, anyway.

Hand on her gun, she jogged to the entrance of the park ranger station.

Jay greeted her at the door, the expression on his narrow face tense. Wasting no time, he said, “We’ve officially shut down the beaches and are working to sweep them clean of tourists.”

She nodded, relieved that he hadn’t decided to ignore her. She’d been concerned he would change his mind or treat her like the girlfriend he’d never quite respected versus the professional she was. “Good.”

He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to her. “Here. You’ll need all the caffeine you can get. We’re working round the clock until we hunt this wolf down or don’t spot him anywhere in the vicinity for the next twenty four hours.”

She took the coffee and added sugar and cream. “Thanks.”

He motioned her to follow him. “Come into the conference room, we still need you to set the search perimeter.”

She trailed after him and blinked when she entered the building’s small conference room. Everyone was there. Normally the rangers worked in shifts of four, so it was like spotting one of Conspiracy Bob’s dune aliens to see everyone in one place.

Jay gestured for her to stand at the front of the room. “Tell us what to do, Audrey.”

She went to stand where he indicated and cleared her throat as dozens of eyes looked at her expectantly. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s start at the Glen Vine beach, that’s the location of the last known visual on the wolf. We’ll sweep north, south and east of that location.” Her hand went to where her gun sat in its holster at her waist. “He’s rabid and aggressive. Shoot him on sight.”