Doe and the Wolf (Furry United Coalition, #5) (9 page)

“It was,” Dawn teased.

His glare her way just made her smile.
Hot pig on a stick, I am so screwed
. Her evident pleasure did things to his insides he’d rather not contemplate. For both their sakes, he really needed to do something about their sleeping situation; this whole sharing a bed thing was driving him nuts. A woman in his bed, especially one as sexy as Dawn, should involve little sleep and lots of sex. If he didn’t do something soon, he’d probably explode, and then they’d take his man card away for not having any balls. But he’d deal with that problem later. Right now, they had a fetid cave to explore. “Tom, I want you keep watch while I check this place out.”

“Better you than me.”

To his surprise, Dawn stuck by his side as he entered the gecko’s lair. She stepped gingerly among the trash—empty cans of pop, cellophane chip bags, a few shoes, scraps of cloth, and holy shit, was that the remnants of a black bear?

Her nose wrinkled as she looked around. “This is gross.”

“Very.”

“I did my part. I led you to Joey’s home, now what?”

“We look for clues.”

“Clues of what?” she asked. “The fact he might be distantly related to you given he’s also not one to clean up after himself.”

“Ha. Ha. Aren’t you just the funny one.”

She smirked. “I try. Seriously, though. What do you think we’ll find?”

“Hopefully something that will tell us where he’s gone.”

“Why don’t we just conceal ourselves and wait for him to come back?”

“Because I don’t think he plans to return,” Everett announced, toeing through the garbage.

“And you can tell this because...” she prompted.

“For one thing, it’s been at least a day, maybe two, since he’s come here.”

“I don’t understand why that’s a clue to his behavior.”

“Simple. Look at the stuff around us. He obviously prefers to snag his food and bring it back to enjoy at his leisure.”

“So he decided to eat al fresco.”

“That’s not all. Whatever he was using as a bed is gone. You can see the outline over here where he must have had a sleeping bag on the ground. It’s missing. As well, I see a few pieces of clothing abandoned.”

“So he doesn’t like to eat his victims’ outfits.”

“Except these didn’t belong to his victims. First off, there’s no blood on them, and I highly doubt they’d let a monster strip them for dinner without a fight. Secondly, smell them.”

“Do I have to?”

He ignored her expression of disgust and waved the discarded rags under her nose.

She sniffed. “They smell of lizard.”

“Exactly. These belonged to him, but are dirty or torn. Rejects. I think our gecko prey has packed up his stuff and moved on.”

“But to where?”

“That is the question.”

“Well, he can’t have too many places to go. I mean, people will notice a giant lizard walking around.”

“Don’t be so sure. When in his shifted form, he might be easy to spot, but if he’s still able to retain a human shape and wear clothing and whatnot, he could blend in quite easily with humans.”

“But we’d still smell him.”

“We would if we could find him. Do you know where to look?”

She shook her head.

“And therein lies our dilemma.”

“So you’re just giving up?”

Everett barked out a laugh. “Give up? Like hell. Hunting criminals is what I do. Do you really think most of them stick around in their last known location waiting for me to pick them up? Hell no. Bounty hunting is about chasing them down. Figuring out where they’re going, what they’re going to do, and getting one step ahead of them.”

“But Joey’s not a regular criminal.”

“He’s got anger issues. Sooner or later, he’s going to snap, or shift, and when he does surface, we’ll have to make sure we’re paying attention so we can nab him.”

“In other words, someone else needs to get killed.”

Everett shrugged. “Hopefully not. I don’t suppose you know what, other than humans and bears, he likes to eat?”

She shook her head.

“Then it’s back to my house we go for more research. There’s got to be something in his file or on the Internet about geckos that will give us a clue. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find out he’s got a thing for IHOP pancakes. The only one for hundreds of miles around is only a few blocks from my place.”

“Did someone say pancakes?” Tom popped his head into the cave.

“Gotta love a sidekick with selective hearing.”

“Nothing wrong with my hearing. It’s my tummy that likes to eavesdrop.”

“Then what are we waiting for? If we get moving now, we can make it out before dusk. And get home in time for
Survivorman
.”

Dawn snorted. “You don’t seriously watch that, do you?”

“Love it. Do you know I was in one of the episodes? I was the wolf making him just about piss his pants in his lean-to one night. You can even see the glint of my eyes. Ma was so proud.”

“You are so whacked.”

“And I am so hungry, so if you’re done yapping, can we get going?” Tom grumbled.

Fine with Everett. The faster they got back and ate, the quicker he could hopefully ditch Tom and get to work on getting a certain doe to lower her guard—and morals.

Awooo!

U
p the street from the IHOP.

Joey twitched as he walked. He couldn’t help it. A nervous man before his change, he’d become even more paranoid since his transformation.

Everyone’s watching me.
But they hid it well, averting their gazes when he peered suspiciously at them. The tin foil hat he’d fashioned to prevent the FUC agency from beaming into his brain waves did nothing to prevent the humans from suspecting there was something special about him. Just like his humble clothes couldn’t mask his greatness.

Once so low on the totem pole of shifters, Joey had skipped several rungs on the evolutionary ladder when Mastermind gifted him with her magic potion. Where once he’d reviled the rodent who caged him, now he posthumously thanked her. He would have to remember to thank the FUC agents who made his change possible, right before he ate them. His tummy rumbled.

Goober on a stick, he was starving. The last thing he’d eaten was a family of raccoons, hours ago. His empty belly gurgled again, expressing its discontent. It would have to wait. Before he took care of his increased dietary requirements, he needed to do something about his appearance. His shining greatness was drawing to much attention.

When he’d first escaped FUC custody, covered in blood and high on the adrenaline of the kill, he’d pounced on the first human about his size he’d come across. A naked blood-smeared man running around the city tended to attract notice almost as much as a giant murderous gecko. The human male he chose to rob didn’t survive—broken necks tended to be fatal—and neither did his wardrobe. The victim’s wallet yielded an address, and a pocket coughed up some keys.

After dumping the naked body in a dumpster, Joey used his acquired goods to raid his victim’s apartment, clothing himself, taking what he could to pawn, and buying himself a train ticket out of the city. Not as far as he would have liked, but distant enough he didn’t have to worry about running into FUC every time he turned around. Or so he’d hoped when he’d ended up in boony land.

For a while, he’d hidden in the protected parkland, feasting like a gecko king on campers and wildlife, stealing picnic baskets like a favorite cartoon character and hiding out in a cool cave, just like Batman. And then there was his favorite indulgence, spying on Dawn.

Sigh. He loved thinking of Dawn. So delicate. So perfect. So ladylike. His idea of a perfect mate and woman.

Until that stupid wolf came along and ruined it all.

It wasn’t enough the mangy mutt had found Joey and compromised his hunting ground, he’d taken Dawn. Took her! Away from the forest and away from Joey.

He didn’t like that part one bit. Sure, he’d not technically declared his love and intentions to the soft-eyed doe, but only because he was shy.
I was still working up the nerve to ask her out.

But now, with that nosy wolf on the scene, he didn’t stand a chance. Poor Dawn was his prisoner. Forced to leave with the smelly canine. Torn away from her destiny.
Me.

Despite the setback, he wasn’t giving up. Somehow, some way, he’d find out where the dastardly wolf kept his one true love prisoner, and he’d free her from the hairy beast. And Dawn, also one of the lucky ones given the change, would be so happy at being rescued she’d fall in love with Joey and they’d live happily ever after.

That or he’d eat her. He’d always wondered what venison tasted like.

O
ver food, they discussed their next plan of attack.

“I say we stake out the entrances to the park,” Tom said between mouthfuls of fluffy pancakes smothered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

Everett snorted. “Oh, yeah, because the gecko is so law abiding, he’s just going to park in a designated spot and hike on in. Come on, Tom. You’ve been doing this as long as I have. Do you really think that’s going to work?”

“Where else can he hunt and hope to get away with it? Hikers go missing all the time in these parts. It’s why they have the big signs all over the place warning campers to beware and not feed the wild animals.”

“And I’m telling you, he’s not going back. He knows we’re onto him.”

“So what makes you think he’s even still in the area? What’s to stop him from hopping on a bus to anywhere? If Joey knows you’re looking for him, then wouldn’t he move to the next town or forest?” Dawn queried as she nibbled on her whole wheat toast, all that was left of her country fried steak and egg breakfast. She’d pounced on the grub as soon as her plate arrived. It was all Everett could do to keep up. Who would have thought a woman with such a healthy appetite would be such a turn-on?

“It’s a possibility. But, if there’s one thing I know, it’s predators.” Everett flashed some teeth. “We don’t like ceding territory to anyone, especially not other males. If this Joey character has any testosterone in him, then he’s not going anywhere. On the contrary, I’d even go so far as to wager he’s looking for me.”

“But he thinks he killed you.”

“He didn’t see me die. First rule of being a predator, unless you’ve seen them take their last breath, then never assume the enemy is dead.”

“He’ll still have the same problem as us though, how to find you. I mean, it’s not as if you can take an ad out in the paper and say, hey, crazy gecko monster, I live at—”

“Hot damn. That’s it! You’re brilliant, little doe.”

Dawn blinked as she rewound the conversation and still ended up with a blank. “Excuse me? I think I missed something.”

“You’re right. I need to get his attention. Tell him exactly where he can find me.”

“But how?”

“By doing something spectacular enough to make the front page news.”

“In other words, by being an idiot,” Tom added.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” she muttered.

Tom guffawed, and Everett glared. “Ha. Ha. You are both so funny.”

“Thank you,” she replied primly as she leaned over and stole his last piece of toast. “So what spectacular thing are you going to do to make yourself get noticed? Because I don’t think conceit will get you on the front page of the paper.”

“No, but solving a case, or doing something cool and heroic will.”

Tom tried to interject some reason. “You can’t stage a rescue.”

“Says who?”

“I’m with Tom on this one. Acts of heroism are usually random. You can’t plan them.”

“That’s what you think.”

Less than two hours later...

How did I end up roped into this crazy plan?

Strutting down the sidewalk, in front of the newspaper office for the town, where a light shone in the window as the editor worked on the last-minute items before sending the paper to print, Dawn swung her overlarge and bulging purse.

This is never going to work.
But it wouldn’t be because they hadn’t tried. The plan they’d concocted was ridiculous; however, Everett wouldn’t allow himself to be swayed so with a shrug, she and Tom agreed. They gathered their supplies and now put the plot in motion.

Footsteps rushed in behind her. She fought the urge to glance over her shoulder.
Just act natural. Be a victim. Shouldn’t be too hard.
Deer, after all, weren’t considered predators to anything except vegetation and gardens.
Watch out, romaine lettuce, or I will tear you apart!

Biting her lip so as to not burst into hysterical giggles, she managed an authentic scream when her purse got yanked off her shoulder. The snatcher darted past her, swinging it as he pounded the pavement. Just one problem. This stranger was not part of their plot for attention!

Annoyed at the young thug who sprinted away, foiling their inane scheme, Dawn kicked off her heels and bolted after him. “Thief!” she shouted. “You get back here with my purse. I need that.”

The juvenile delinquent had the nerve to flash her the bird.

Oooh, he did not just do that
. The old Dawn would have probably burst into tears. Old Dawn, being a law-abiding citizen would have rushed to the nearest police precinct and reported the crime. New Dawn, though? New Dawn got mad.

Adrenaline coursing through her at the temerity of the thief, Dawn sped after him, her bare feet slapping the concrete sidewalk.

The purse snatcher turned, and his eyes widened when he noted she’d just about closed the gap between them. She bared her teeth and growled, “I said give it back.”

He had the nerve to say, “Like Hell, you crazy lady!”

Crazy, huh? She showed him no mercy. Launching herself, she tackled him. Down they went, her atop the thug, his body providing a cushion for their hard landing on the pavement. Jabbing her knee in his spine to keep him down, she grabbed the arm with her purse and twisted it behind his back before she harangued him. “What is wrong with you? Stealing from women? Didn’t your mother teach you any better? Well?” she snapped tersely when the delinquent didn’t reply.