That night, Ryan pondered whether to go right to bed, or return to the forest and shift and...well, just explore. Wait. Look to see what feral wolves might be hanging out there.
No shifters should be, at least.
He’d said good-night to Maya right after dinner, then done the same with Piers a short while ago. His aide had taken Rocky and headed to his room. Now, Ryan was alone, which should be good for letting him relax and fall asleep.
He was, in fact, in bed, looking up some things about the area on his tablet computer, mostly stuff he had already read. But he hoped to find more on the history of wolves around here.
Also, out of curiosity, he tried looking up that guy he’d met and Maya had mentioned, Trev Garlona.
Maya had said Trev had invited her downstairs for coffee that afternoon, after her talk. They’d discussed what had occurred in the park, she told Ryan—what Morton Fritts had said and how he’d wanted to kill all wolves, and how Pete Sharan had confronted him about it.
Maya indicated that Trev seemed a bit confused, even though he was a wildlife lover and claimed to have come to Fritts Corner mainly because he’d heard that she, as a representative of WHaM, was coming here to talk about the influx of wolves and how wonderful that was.
Was, perhaps, being the operative word now.
Well, Ryan hadn’t been able to find anything about a Trev Garlona, his background, where he’d come from, whether he’d ever done anything to help protected wildlife.
And Ryan realized that he’d looked mainly because he felt irritated that someone, even a wildlife aficionado, would invite Maya out for coffee. A dumb irritation. She was here to talk about wildlife protection, particularly wolves. And of course she’d be thrilled to talk to anyone else who felt the same way. It was her job. It was her passion.
Although...well, no, it was totally wrong to even consider her thinking of Ryan as her passion...
He gave up soon on Garlona, figuring he’d check the name in the morning. Instead, he did some more research to locate any additional posts about wolves in this part of Washington State. He did find a couple of social media posts about the apparent attack on Morton, some anger by people who weren’t on the side of protected wildlife, but nothing indicating they intended to do anything about it—a good thing.
Starting to nod off, he shut down the computer, turned out the lights and settled in.
Until—a howl! It interrupted and ended his twilight sleep status. Was it real? Or had he dreamed it?
Another one. He jumped up and reached for his phone to call Piers. They needed to find out where this wolf was. What it was. It had to be feral since the moon wasn’t full. And Ryan would need to chase it away before its life was endangered...any more than it already may be.
That meant he had to shift.
But before he pressed in his aide’s number, his phone rang. He looked at it.
Maya.
“You heard that howl, right?” he said immediately after pushing the button to answer. “I did, too. Piers and I are going to check it out so you can just stay safely in your room. Got it?”
“But—I want to come with you.”
“You’ll only slow us down.” And no way was he going to allow her to see him shift. “You’re slowing me down right now. Promise you’ll stay in your room. Now. So I can leave.”
“But—”
“Promise.”
A silence for a beat, and then she said, “Okay, I promise, if that’s the only way—”
“It is. Bye. I’ll call you later and let you know what we find. Now, stay in your room. You’ve promised.”
With that he hung up—hoping that the woman would actually do as she’d said.
Then he called Piers—who turned out to be in the hallway outside his room.
And when Ryan opened the door he wasn’t surprised to see that Piers was without Rocky—and wearing his heavy backpack.
“Great,” he said to his aide. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Maya stayed in her room for all of a minute, staring at the walls. The windows.
The door.
Sure, she had promised...but had crossed her fingers to take some of the sting out of her lie. She’d had to promise, and she knew that Ryan’s heart was in the right place.
He wanted to protect her.
Well, she wanted to protect him, too—but at the moment that wolf was on her mind. If they’d heard the howls, the likelihood was that a lot of other people in this town had, too.
Possibly including the Frittses and their cohorts who wanted to get rid of the newest visitors to Fritts Corner.
The wolf’s life was undoubtedly in danger. Also undoubtedly, Ryan, of US Fish and Wildlife, would do all he could to protect and save it.
Well, so would she.
With a sigh, she dressed quickly in dark clothes and athletic shoes, issued a silent apology to Ryan and sneaked her way into the hotel parking lot, which was filled with cars but no other people. She didn’t see the rental car Ryan and Piers used. They were undoubtedly already on their way.
Thanks to the direction from which the howls had emanated, she would assume that this latest wolf incursion was around the same location as the last—on the forested slopes beyond the park. The two of them—Ryan and Piers—couldn’t cover the entire area, although they had one advantage: Rocky, whose nose could help them find the wolf more easily than people could.
But her advantage was that she thought she knew where the guys would at least start out: the location where they believed Morton Fritts had been attacked, where she’d spotted the stain on the ground that they’d assumed to be blood.
She would head there.
Sure enough, their rental car was parked in the nearest lot to that location. She exited her car and looked around. She didn’t see anyone else, though there were a few more cars in the lot. That could be the situation every night, as far as she knew.
She headed toward the path she had taken before in daylight. She hadn’t heard any more howls. Did that bode badly for the wolf?
She wished she could run toward her target area, but that would be foolish. First, despite the beam from her flashlight, it was too dark. She might trip and hurt herself—and make herself more vulnerable in the event that wolf truly was ready to chew up some more people.
Second—and probably more critical—she’d most likely make enough noise that not only wolves would be able to hear her. She didn’t want Ryan or Piers, or anyone who might be hunting that wolf, to know she was around, even though she might prefer being somewhere near them in case she got into trouble.
And so she moved slowly, frustrated, sure, but this was the safest way to go. She hoped.
Notwithstanding the light she carried, darkness enveloped her among all the tall trees as she trod slowly along the underbrush. She tried to stay alert to all sounds around her, since she would probably hear any wolf before she spotted it in the dark forest.
Any people, too.
The forest at night smelled lightly of pine trees and other plants. Her breathing was heavy, and she thought she smelled a light skunky odor—but nothing nearby.
She’d gone a significant distance, believing the clearing she aimed for was fairly close, without hearing or otherwise getting the sense that any wolf was nearby—and then she heard a sound.
Voices. Soft, yes, but it sounded like one man’s voice, followed by another. Off to her right.
Could that be Ryan and Piers?
Or someone out to get the wolf?
Remaining as quiet as she could, she maneuvered in that direction. If it was them, should she let them know she’d lied and come out here this night anyway?
She’d observe them for a while and decide.
A ray of light seemed to emanate off to her left and she headed that way, shutting off her own flashlight.
There. This was a different, smaller clearing. The two men she assumed would be there were, in fact, there.
But what were they doing?
Ryan stood there in the nude. In the nude! Under other circumstances Maya would be more than impressed with his amazing muscular physique. Her gaze was drawn below to his even more amazing man parts, large and taut and the sexiest she’d ever seen.
But why was he undressed?
The light she had seen emanated from a large battery-operated lantern that Piers held, aiming it toward Ryan.
Ryan suddenly let out a sound that resembled a cross between a groan and a growl—and then he began to change.
What was going on? This couldn’t be real!
The man writhed as his limbs shortened. The rest of his body shortened, too, even as fur began to emerge from his skin.
And his head. His face. It elongated into...
Oh, heavens! Maya had never even considered that the old myths could be true.
In moments, a creature resembling Rocky, whom Maya had not seen here this night, crouched on all fours on the ground.
Even with the information Maya had seen, and laughed about, online, she’d never considered this as a possibility.
Ryan Blaiddinger was a werewolf!
* * *
The discomfort and pain of a shift never became easier. And this time there was the additional distraction.
He had drunk the elixir. Piers aimed the light toward him. And then he had heard and scented and become fully aware that they weren’t alone.
They had checked the area before. No indication of wolves or those who wished to harm them, or even other humans.
But she had somehow located them. Maya.
She had seen him shift.
He needed to protect her—and himself and Piers. He quickly motioned his head toward his aide, who had shut off the light. He then turned to indicate the direction he would now be going.
In moments, he was in the woods. He slunk toward her as if in submission, hoping she would not feel threatened or scream.
“What are you?” she demanded. She sounded hoarse, incredulous, frightened, but fortunately kept her voice low.
He made a noise deep in his throat that was not a growl, then nudged her side with his muzzle. At the same time, Piers joined them.
“What are you doing here?” his aide demanded, keeping his voice low.
“I—I wanted to help protect the wolf. I hoped to find you but didn’t know you were here. And—” She turned and faced Ryan. “What is going on?” Her voice had risen and Ryan nudged her again.
“Come with me.” Piers took her arm. “We’ll stay together and talk. This wolf has work to do.”
Good. His aide had things under control as much as possible. Ryan loped into the woods.
He listened with his enhanced, wolfen hearing. Yes. He heard human voices in the distance and ran that way.
Then he scented something off to his side. Another scent similar to his and to other wolves’.
He changed his course, heading in that direction.
He spotted the other wolf soon. Heard the sound of his paws on the underbrush.
He was heading in the direction from which the voices had come.
He had to be stopped, and so Ryan accelerated his pace, aiming to place himself in front of the other canine, soon succeeding.
The wolf growled, showed his fangs, acted altogether threatening.
So did Ryan—for the protection of this fellow wolf. This fellow shifter, for his scent seemed somewhat familiar.
Yet another shifter on this night with no full moon? He would need to learn answers...later.
For now, the only language they shared was that of their wolfen sides. And so Ryan growled as well, crouching as if ready to leap, to attack.
He showed his own fangs first, then nodded his head. Closed his mouth as if in submission. Moved forward to bump his counterpart, urge him to run off in the opposite direction.
He sensed confusion in the other wolf. Stubbornness at first, until Ryan pushed him again with his head against the other wolf’s side. And again.
The communication worked. With a look toward him first that looked puzzled yet belligerent, the other wolf stopped. Stood still. Then ran off into the woods—going the way Ryan had urged him.
Away from the sound of the voices.
For minutes, Ryan stayed still, listening in an attempt to be sure the other wolf wasn’t simply skirting around to return to where he wasn’t welcome.
Then Ryan headed stealthily in the direction of those voices.
In the same clearing where blood had been found stood several humans. One was the male Fritts who had allegedly been attacked here. The others were his female, and that Silling human.
They were listening. Talking about wolves and how they would make sure all were disposed of—properly.
Properly in their point of view.
Ryan had an urge to leap into the clearing and dispose of them properly from a wolf’s point of view, but that was his wild and wolfen side.
His human side took charge and he listened some more. Smelled the air.
No other wolves were nearby.
Even if these humans had weapons, no other wolf would be harmed that night.
After a while, they began laughing. Said that seeing no wolf here, despite the howls, was fine.
They began walking farther up into the forest.
He walked back toward where he had left the other humans.
When he reached that clearing, he found the two he had left there remained.
But he also caught the scent of the wolf he had chased off from the other location.
He moved around the clearing until he found the other canine, who also simply stood there in the shadow of the nearby trees, staying at the periphery and appearing to listen.
Not seeming in attack mode.
This shifter outside the full moon. Like him.
They looked deeply into each other’s eyes, but only for a moment.
And then the other wolf ran off down the hill.