A Mate for Lance (The Program Book 5) (24 page)

Wolf Whisperer: Novella (Previously published as ‘Shifter beneath the Mistletoe’ in the ‘Shifter Wonderland Box Set’)

Chapter One

The gathering storm clouds looked ominous. Dark and angry. Maybe it would be a white Christmas after all. Jackie sighed.

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly…” She changed the radio station. “Jingle bells…Jingle Bells…” She changed it again. The next station was no better. A duet, something about love and eggnog and Christmas cheer. Jackie turned the radio off with an even heavier sigh.

It wasn’t that she was a scrooge or anything. It was just that this was the first year that she would be staying in Sweetwater for Christmas. Her family was only a five hour drive away. However, she had to work today!
Who the hell worked on Christmas Eve?
To make matters worse, she was also on stand-by for the entire holiday.

She had been invited to Christmas lunch by her best friend, Angie, but she felt like she would only be a third wheel if she intruded on their day together. She didn’t really belong. Angie and her hubby were great people. Their two kids were adorable. If she was really honest with herself, she was maybe a little bit jealous of them and what they had together. Going would remind her too much of everything she was missing in her own life. She had two failed relationships behind her and no real prospects for the future. At this rate, she might just end up as a spinster complete with twenty cats. So far she had two, so eighteen more to go and her road to spinsterhood would be paved.

Though on the other hand, there were a ton of things that she still had going for her. Jackie loved her job. She really did. There was nothing better than making a difference. Saving a life or sometimes having to end one. Always doing what was in the best interest of the animal in question, no matter how difficult. Her patients were way better than any human ever could be. They were so loving, so trusting. It was all that innocence and unconditional love that made her feel happy and needed. There was nothing better than receiving a wet kiss or running her hands through soft fur. It lifted her spirits like nothing else could.

Screw it.

So what if she was alone this Christmas. Jackie glanced down, she switched her radio back on just as the soppy duet reached its climax.

She lifted her eyes just in time to see a large object in her direct path. It was hairy and moving quickly. Jackie slammed on the brakes. Her tires locked. There was a skidding, screeching noise. The vehicle veered slightly to the right. She grit her teeth, wanting to close her eyes, but couldn’t. She was unable to take them off of the still moving object. An animal of sorts.

Dammit!

For a second there, she thought that the creature would make it, and then came the impact. There was a loud thud. A sickening noise as metal hit flesh. The creature catapulted, flying through the air in an almost graceful manner before landing hard in a heap of mangled, broken limbs.

Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, her hands were white knuckled on the wheel. She was panting. The whole thing had only lasted mere seconds and yet she could feel that she was sweating. Her foot hurt from the pressure she had exerted on the brake pedal. There was a ringing noise in her ears.

“Oh god!” She whimpered, covering her mouth with her hand.

From the size of the heap of fur, it had to be a bear of some sort. The creature shivered and one of its legs kicked out uselessly before stilling.

“It’s still alive.” She whispered to herself, unable to believe what she was seeing. Surely something so broken, had to be dead. Blood leaked from several wounds. Oh no! She should have been paying attention. She reached for her bag on the back seat. Maybe she could still save it. For a split second, she hesitated, worried that the injured creature might end up hurting or even worse killing her. Then she grabbed the door handle and yanked it hard. There was no way she was leaving this animal to suffer. She should never have taken her eyes off of the road in the first place, not even for a second. This was her fault.

As she moved closer, she could hear its labored breathing. Quick, shallow breaths. The animal was bigger than she first realized. She glanced back at her vehicle, there was a major dent in her fender and the right headlight was broken.

Damn.

Her eyes were drawn to the streak of blood that marred the white paint on the center line. It made her heart beat even faster.

“Holy freaking hell!” She gasped as she drew closer. It was a wolf.

No way!

Wolves were not this big. Not by a long shot. The creature that lay before her, seemingly on the verge of death, was about three to four times the normal size of a wolf. It wasn’t as dark as she first suspected but rather a mottled, gray with hints of rust through its fur. She crouched down next to the creature. Its chest continued to expand and contract in quick succession. Still alive, but for how long?

On the plus side, none of the wounds that she could see seemed serious. Jackie did suspect internal injury though. After hitting an animal with that much force, it was pretty much a given. Its pulse was rapid. Jackie pulled back a lid, its eyes were glazed over. Not a good sign. Without thinking about consequence, she pulled back one of its lips, noticing that the gums were pale. This didn’t look good.

One of the animal’s legs was clearly broken. Thankfully it was a closed fracture, but it was bad enough that the wolf’s tibia was at an angle. There may be a couple of greenstick fractures, but none of that concerned her at the moment.

The animal was already suffering from shock. Jackie began palpitating its abdomen. It whined and tried to move. The heart wrenching sound tore at her.

“Okay, buddy,” she soothed. “You”—she touched the area again—“don’t like that do you?” The animal made another whining noise.

Next, she palpitated the animal’s large chest. It seemed that two of its ribs might be broken.

Double damn.

It looked like a damaged liver and a possible pulmonary contusion as well. It was difficult to tell without the use of the practice’s equipment though. A couple of x-rays and a sonogram would go a long damn way.

The creature needed to be stabilized but she didn’t have oxygen, steroids or any of the other required items. They were on the side of a country road, technically, in the middle of nowhere.

“What am I going to do with you?” She ran her hand along its fur. “You wouldn’t fit in my car and even if you did, there is no way I could carry you.” She sighed.

One thing was for certain, she couldn’t just leave the animal here to suffer and die. “Sit tight.” She instructed. As if it was going to miraculously get better and run off. Would be nice if it did. “I’m going to get help.”

Who was she going to call? Someone with a flat bed truck and enough muscle power to lift this brute? Though, moving it might not be the best idea at this point anyways. The jostling might cause further injury, particularly if it was bleeding internally. On the other hand, not doing anything would mean certain death for the creature. As she made to stand, the wolf began to shiver. He made a throaty growling noise.

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed it.

Its shivers became more pronounced and the fur on its body began to retract. As in, disappear.
Poof. Goodbye. Gone
. She made a strange noise in the back of her throat. Part of her wanted to run away screaming while a bigger part of her needed to watch. Was riveted to the spot. Eyes glued to the wolf…although it wasn’t going to remain in that form for very long.

There were loud cracking noises as limbs began to reshape and shorten. His eyes flashed open. They were a bright golden color that mesmerized her. It snarled as its jaw shortened and its long, ivory teeth retracted. Paws became clawed fingers which curled into fists. The growling, snarling noises became groans and long drawn out moans. His chest heaved as he sucked in deep lungfuls of air.

Wolf Whisperer
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