Doe and the Wolf (Furry United Coalition, #5) (15 page)

“Only until we know Joey’s taken the bait and isn’t watching you or the house,” Chase explained. “He needs to think Dawn’s alone and vulnerable.”

“It makes her an easy target.”

“She won’t ever be out of our sight. I’ll be in the van watching and listening from the camera we’re going to have pinned to her jacket,” Miranda said.

“That won’t keep her from harm if Joey decides to attack her instead of trying to kidnap her,” Everett growled.

In the end, Everett got outvoted. Joey wouldn’t come out of hiding if he thought for a moment the wolf was nearby. So, they had their fake fight, Dawn stomped off and prayed nothing went wrong. Despite all their reassurances they’d be close by, Dawn couldn’t help but hunch her shoulders as the prickly sensation of being watched creeped her out. She might not have a super-duper nose like Everett, but the woodland creature in her sensed danger nearby. Joey was watching.

The neighborhood, which sported a mix of suburban housing, low-rise complexes, and town houses, was quiet this time of the day. Mid morning and mid week, most people were at work, so the sidewalks were mostly empty, and only the occasional car whizzed by. Dawn’s footsteps slapped the concrete sidewalk in a steady rhythm as she tread block after block away from Everett, the distance increasing her angst.

Ahead, parked along the side of the road, right in front of a mini strip mall boasting a corner store, drycleaner, and Chinese takeout restaurant, she spotted the utility van Miranda hid in with the surveillance equipment. Despite Miranda’s boast of being an excellent marksman, the guys deemed the bunny too pregnant to participate in the takedown. But Miranda didn’t give in without a fight.

“Honey bear, you’re tempting me to cut off your supply of pie.”

“I’m doing this for your own good,” Chase snarled back, arms crossed over his chest, an implacable mountain in the face of her perky fury.

In the end, cute threats and too many references to pie later, he won. And Dawn learned a whole bunch of new eye-opening insults.

The FUC duo was a mismatched couple. How she would dearly love to know how a bunny and a bear got together and somehow made it work. Did it mean a pairing between Everett and Dawn could as well, minus the pie?

Everett was right. Opposites did attract, and despite her fear, a part of her desperately wanted to try. If she did though, she’d have to divulge her secret. Could Everett handle it? She barely could. She knew her family wouldn’t if they knew what Mastermind did to her doe.

But maybe the fact he’s not one to conform will make him more accepting.
There was only one way to find out. She’d have to bite the bullet and reveal herself to him. Either he’d accept her for who she now was, or he wouldn’t. Only one way to find out. She’d have to shift, and in front of an audience so that maybe at the same time she could finally allay Tom’s fears. Or reinforce them.

The big revelation would have to wait, though. First, she needed to help capture her unwanted suitor.

She strolled along, a ball of anxiety roiling in her tummy as she waited for Joey to make his move. She went several blocks, past the panel van with the watching Miranda, past the bushes and shadowy crevices between homes and low-rise apartments. She was ready for Joey to leap out at her, eye twitching, blubbering his inane claims of affection.

She reached the intersection with traffic lights and stopped. He’d not made his move. She pursed her lips. They’d hoped Joey would make his presence known before she reached this busy area. Less chance of their actions getting noticed by humans.

But he’d foiled that plan. So there was only one thing to do—return the way she came with an even slower step and hope Joey fell for it this time.

As she drew even with the van, the logo Critter Exterminators Inc. painted on the side, the panel in the side slid open, and she turned her head to ask Miranda if she’d seen anything. The bunny had. As a matter of fact, Miranda was entertaining Joey, who held a gun against her large belly.

“Get in, or we’ll be having bunny stew,” Joey declared with all too much glee.

What the heck had gone wrong? With no choice, Dawn clambered in.

The door slammed shut, and Joey motioned her into the driver’s seat, all the while keeping his gun trained on the pregnant belly of one seriously annoyed Miranda.

“My dearest Dawn. So glad you could join us.”

“I don’t think you left me much of a choice.”

“I thought having a chat with your friend might get your attention.”

“You have my undivided attention. What do you want?”

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Joey stated in a low, monotone voice. “You’re going to pull out and, obeying the rules of the road, drive us to the national park. You’re going to do so without attracting attention, or else.”

“Else what?” Miranda asked, followed by a loud snap of her chewing gum.

“Or else the rabbit gets it!”

“No need for violence,” Dawn replied in a soothing tone, trying to keep him calm.

It might have worked if Miranda was on the same wavelength. “Hey, is it true you can lick your own eyeball?” Miranda asked in all seriousness. Dawn could not decide what was more shocking; a serious Miranda or the oddball question.

Joey gritted his teeth and proved his bulging eyeballs could both tic at the same time. “I am not warning you again, rabbit. Keep your mouth shut, or you and the bun in the oven will be saying bye-bye.”

“You know, all these threats to me and the baby, not to mention the whole kidnapping thing, are really going to piss my husband off,” Miranda claimed. “Chase might seem like a soft and cuddly grizzly, but he’s a real bear where I’m concerned.”

“I’m not worried about your partner. I’m more than a match for Yogi.”

Miranda winced. “Ooh. He hates that nickname.”

“I don’t care. Soon, he and the rest of FUC gang will be filling my belly. I’m stronger than anything they can throw at me.”

“And I thought Mastermind was nuts,” Miranda muttered.

“Don’t call me that!” Joey yelled. He pushed the barrel of the gun against the bulging midsection of the FUC. agent, who could have really used a duct tape gag. The tic under Joey’s eyes pulsed faster and faster.

Uh-oh. Dawn was starting to realize the rapidity of the muscle spasm was the precursor to trouble.

“You’ll have to excuse her, Joey. Pregnancy hormones, you know, they make women a little nuts.” Dawn twirled a finger beside her head and pasted a weak smile on her lips. “She’s going to behave. We both are, aren’t we, Miranda?” Dawn stressed with a pointed glare in the bunny’s direction.

“Some people are no fun.” Miranda sulked in her seat, but clamped her lips tight.

The twitch eased. “That’s more like it. What are you waiting for, my beloved doe? Get us out of here.”

With no other choice, Dawn squeezed into the driver’s seat and eased the panel van out onto the road. She waited until they’d driven a few blocks before asking, “Mind if I ask how you and Joey got acquainted?”

“I had to pee,” Miranda admitted, her tone embarrassed. “When I got back to the van, he was waiting inside, masked under the smell of a bag of freshly baked carrot muffins.”

“You didn’t find it odd someone left muffins in the truck?” Dawn couldn’t help but query.

Miranda shrugged. “Chase is very considerate that way. So no. I didn’t find it strange. But don’t worry, despite what fly breath here thinks, Chase and the boys will find us and rescue us. Or at least distract our lizard friend here long enough for me to take care of business.”

Dawn almost mimicked Joey’s snort. Given the sweat beading Miranda’s upper lip, the way her eyes dilated, and her nose scrunched very two minutes, Dawn, who’d seen a fair number of her aunts go into labor over the years, suspected the only thing Miranda would take care of was birthing the babe in her belly.

Dawn wanted to bounce her forehead off the steering wheel in frustration. In all their planning, the bunny going pee or giving birth while trying to apprehend Joey had never made it into any of their scenarios.

Everett was going to freak when he found out she’d gone missing. As for Chase...they all heard the roar of rage even from a few blocks away, and a peek in the rearview mirror showed a rare sight. It wasn’t every day you saw a grizzly running down the street chasing traffic.

But even a predator such as a bear couldn’t outrace a gas vehicle. It wasn’t long before they were out of sight.

And hope, because Dawn wasn’t stupid. Miranda was in no shape to fight, and as for Dawn, well, what could her doe do against a raging lunatic gecko?

Eep!

“W
hat do you mean they’re gone?” Everett huffed. “What happened to this plan is foolproof?”

“It was—”

“—Not!” Chase roared at Tom. The grizzly was not at all happy his wife was in the slimy hands of the gecko.

Tom pursed his lips. “How were any of us to know Joey would use the manhole the van was parked over to sneak into it while your wife went to pee?”

“Instead of assigning blame, why don’t we figure out where they’ve gone?” Everett was getting mighty tired of his new role as pacifier. When would things revert back to normal where he was the idiot out of control with everyone else trying to keep him out of trouble?

“How are we supposed to locate them?” Chase growled. “It’s not like the lizard left a map or a note.”

“They’re in an FUC van. Call head office and get them to pull the GPS coordinates on it.” What a scary day when a wolf was the voice of reason.

Yanking out his cell phone, Chase dialed the tech department. Sheepish expressions abounded and thumbs twiddled as Chase, his brow furrowed, muttered the occasional, “Yup. Uh-huh. Gotcha.”

When he hung up, he held out his device, and they could all see the map with the flashing red icon. “We’ve got them. They’re heading to the park the gecko was recently using for his home base.”

“Interesting choice,” Everett mused.

“Not really. He’s obviously itching for a showdown.” Tom cocked his hands into two guns and mimed a cowboy style shooting.

“Oh, he’s going to get one all right,” Chase rumbled. “And by the time I’m done with him, he’ll wish he’d never been born.”

“I second that!” Finally, something Everett could approve of. Violence and a takedown.

As for Tom, he didn’t add to the bloodthirsty boasts, but the sloth did yell, “Shotgun!”

Jerk.

T
hings I never want to do again.
Top of her list, stumbling through the woods, accompanied by a pregnant bunny clutching her belly and yelling “Ow!” every two minutes. Second on her list was being followed by a twitching gecko, sporting an impressive tin foil hat, prodding them with a gun. What a difference from the last time she’d strolled through these parts.

Couldn’t she rewind the clock and return to Everett’s bed, where the only thing she worried about was the chafe marks on her thighs from his sideburns as he pleasured her?

Thinking of the wolf made her sigh. If she got out of this mess, was there a future for them? Could he truly reform his maverick wolf ways? Did she dare trust him, not just with her heart, but with the fact she wasn’t normal like other shifter girls? She wanted to. Wanted to believe they could have a future together. She loved the hairy canine, even if he burped at the table and left his socks on the floor.

Loved him. Wow. It was probably the first time she’d freely admitted that, even if only in her head. She loved the wolf. She didn’t care about their differences. Didn’t care if her parents wouldn’t approve, or that his family might put on some bibs and pull out the carving knife if they met her.
I love Everett.
But was love enough? She’d never know if she didn’t give it a try. And who cared what anyone else thought?

As for Tom, he’d have to get over his issues with her. In time, he’d see that Everett was still his friend, albeit one with a steady woman in his life. Speaking of which, maybe they could set Tom up with a ladyfriend of his own. If he had less time on his hands to spend at Everett’s, then he wouldn’t be so worried about who Everett chose to spend his off-time with. If that failed, there were always cookies. She could try bribing him with Grandma’s secret recipe to the World’s Best Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Hip-Killing Cookies. Nicknamed the Evil Ones by the women in her family.

But all of her plans hinged on her surviving her current predicament, which given Joey now displayed numerous twitches, not just by the eyes but all over his body, seemed less and less likely.

“Would you stop your moaning?” he yelled at Miranda, not for the first time.

“Don’t you yell at me, you pasty-faced lizard,” she hollered right back. “It’s not my fault junior here has the worst timing.”

“It occurs to me,” he snapped in reply, “that I don’t need two hostages to draw the wolf and his friends here.” He aimed his gun and thumbed the trigger.

“Don’t you dare hurt them.” Dawn stepped in between Miranda and Joey. “She’s innocent in all this, and so is her baby. Let them go. It’s me you want.”

The distraction worked. “Dear Dawn, so kind-hearted even when faced with annoying woodland creatures best served in a stew. For you, my sweet love, I will let the annoying rabbit live. But I’m done listening to her wailing. She stays here.”

Not ideal, but better than Miranda getting killed. “Thank you.” It galled Dawn to act gracious, but at this point, her only hope was to keep Joey calm long enough for help to arrive. If help was on the way.
I won’t think like that. Everett and Chase, even Tom, are surely not far behind us.

Dawn guided Miranda to a grassy spot and did her best to clear it of rocks and branches before spreading her jacket on the ground.

Miranda sank onto it and panted. “Darn it, Dawn. I wish I could help you.”

“Don’t give me a second thought. I’ll be fine. You’ve got enough things to worry about. Starting with keeping calm and remembering your birthing classes and the breathing techniques to work through the labor pain.”

“What classes? My plan was to have this sucker in the hospital drugged to the hilt with an epidural. I saw the movies on natural childbirth. The screaming. The blood. The gore. I might be tough, but I’m not a masochist!” Miranda grunted the last bit.