Kodiak's Claim (10 page)

Just after seven, Jan poked her head into Reid’s office. “I’m leaving, boss, and so should you.”

“I will as soon as I get done here.” And by done, he meant staying late enough to ensure Tammy would be abed—without him.

“Done what? Travis and Boris don’t leave until the day after tomorrow. That leaking hydraulic line is going to have to wait until Danny opens his shop in the morning. You’ve got no paperwork left on your desk, and you’ve yet to eat a proper meal today.”

Because the meal he wanted wasn’t on the menu. “I had a large lunch.”

“For a supposedly big strong bear, you’re an awfully big pussy.”

“For an animal lower than me on the food chain, you’re treading a thin line between friendship and dinner.”

A perfectly groomed blonde brow arched as Jan sassed, “Big tough guy doesn’t want to admit the cute little human scares him, so he resorts to threatening his perfect secretary.”

“Perfect?” He snorted. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“Hey, if you can lie about your attraction and avoidance issues with the city girl, then I can pretend I’m in the running for a major raise and employee of the year award.”

“I don’t know what makes you think I’m attracted to her.”

“Let’s see. When she was here yesterday, you paired her with the oldest, most solidly married guy on staff to take her on tour.”

“Tom is knowledgeable.” As well as very dedicated to his wife. Not that the thought crossed his mind when he selected him.

“You called Ursula about six times today to check on her.”

Actually it was eight, not that he counted. The stupid call log mocked him the last time he went to dial. “She’s a guest in my home.”

“And if I told you that Ursula left for her knitting group and the human is alone?”

Alone, wearing those ridiculous pajamas that begged for a big strong bear to shred them from her body? “My house has satellite and hundreds of channels. I’m sure she can find something to keep herself entertained.”

“Someone has an answer for everything, so I guess you’re not concerned at all then that someone claims they saw wolves out on the eastern ridge.”

Jan hadn’t even finished her sentence and he was moving. He ignored her laughter as he layered himself against the cold.

“In a hurry, boss?”

Stupid zipper working against him! “Just being cautious.”

“Oh please. I just mentioned the lupines as a joke. We get wild ones out there all the time.”

“Yes we do, which means no one would suspect a thing if they were part of the gang that accosted Travis and Boris on the road.”

Her eyes rounded. “You don’t think… Surely, no one is stupid enough to go after a human under your care. The kind of attention that would draw goes over a line even for someone making a bid for supremacy.”

“So you also think the attacks are a challenge for power?”

“Seems most likely.”

‘Who else thinks it is?”

Jan shrugged as she zipped up her own parka, hers co-operating, unlike his that remained jammed halfway, the teeth snagged in fabric. “Pretty much everyone is saying it. Not that we think anything will come of it.”

“Meaning?”

“We know you’ll take care of it.”

Damn straight he would.

Whilst he wanted to believe Jan’s assertion no one had the balls to assault someone in his own home, Reid still sped quicker than he should have on the icy roads. Call it bear instinct, but the nagging sensation of something wrong wouldn’t leave him. Repeat calls to his house phone kept going straight to voice mail, but that didn’t mean anything. With his grandmother out, Tammy probably didn’t think she should answer. The smart thing to do to reassure himself would have involved him giving Tammy’s cell a call, if he had the number. But he’d not bothered and so now the lack of contact made him grit his teeth–and his bear paced within him, agitated.

The feeling intensified as he pulled into his driveway and noted the lack of lights in the house.

Doesn’t mean anything’s wrong. Maybe Tammy went to bed.
At not even eight o’clock at night? He practically tore the truck door off its hinge when he swung it open, his bear seething as it noted the small wolf tracks crisscrossing the snow of his yard. Those tracks didn’t belong to any of his people. Wild wolves had dared invade his territory. Dared to come near his home.

Grrrr.
He couldn’t help the rumble, not when he knew this was strange behavior considering his home was marked—personally and copiously—in numerous spots. Someone had led the wolves right to his doorstep, and he didn’t like it one bit.

He bounded across the icy walk and pounded up the steps to the front porch. He grabbed at the door handle and twisted it, only to find it locked. “What the fuck!”

No one ever locked their doors out here. No one except a city girl, he’d wager.

“Tammy, if you’re in there, open this door,” he bellowed while pounding. “Ta-m-m-m-y!”

The click of tumblers had barely stopped when he was pushing the door open and scanning the dark interior, not for long as his gaze was caught by the raised barrel of his grandmother’s shotgun.

“Are you seriously threatening me with bodily harm again?” he demanded, sniffing the air to assure himself she was uninjured.

“Just making sure I’m not unprepared in case you were entering under duress.” For a girl wielding a loaded weapon, she seemed remarkably collected, but beneath her veneer of bravado, he could still sense a thread of fear.

“First off, what makes you think anyone could make me do anything? Two, duress from who? And thirdly, what’s up with the lack of lights?”

“Close the door, it’s cold out there,” she said with a shiver as she lowered the gun.

He slammed it shut then advanced on her. She retreated.

“I’m waiting,” he growled. “Answers. Now.”

“Short version. Someone knocked. I answered. He demanded I go with him. I said no. He didn’t like it. And then a few minutes ago, the lights went out.”

“Did he say who he was?”

“Nope. Just claimed he knew why the shipments were disappearing. But that I’d have to go with him if I wanted to find out the answer.”

At least she had enough city smarts not to leave with a stranger. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with him. Isn’t your job to follow all leads?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t like the look of him, and I don’t do well with orders.”

“Well, you’d better learn because I want you to stay in the house while I go check outside to see if he’s still around.” He also planned to check the electrical line coming into the house. He’d bet his last dollar the outage wasn’t due to a downed line.

“Are you sure that’s wise? Shouldn’t we call the cops or something?”

“To tell them what? That a stranger came to the door and asked you to go with them?”

“A scruffy looking one who tried to force his way in when I said no. Then the power died.”

“Happens all the time.” It did, usually because of a storm, though, not someone cutting it.

She glared at him. “Why are you making me sound like a paranoid freak?”

“Just pointing out the same things the cops would.”

“Fine. You want to confront this guy and the wolves running around outside, be my guest.” She strode to the door, swung it open, and gestured to the cold outside.

His brows shot up. “Are you giving me permission?”

“Yes, and would you mind hurrying? We’re losing all the heat.”

Bemused at the novelty of a human giving him orders, Reid exited his home to investigate. He couldn’t help but chuckle as Tammy engaged the locks behind him.

Silly little city girl. Didn’t she know a mere door couldn’t protect her if he decided to come in?

However he couldn’t fault her for taking precautions, she didn’t know that her best form of protection had arrived. Even better, judging by the breaking glass he heard around the back of the house, neither did the trespassers.

In seconds his clothes—including one torn winter jacket with a stubborn zipper—littered the snowy ground, and an irritable Kodiak bear went lumbering to find those who dared to threaten what was his.

The big idiot went back outside. Tammy couldn’t believe it, and despite knowing he was out there, possibly with a psycho who enjoyed terrorizing women, she locked the door after him.

If Reid wanted to pull some macho act, then that was his prerogative. However, she wasn’t making it easy for anyone to get in. Nor did she offer the shotgun, which in retrospect was a tad selfish. She justified it, though, as her needing it more than him. He was a big guy. He could probably defend himself, and given the wildlife in these parts, chances were Reid carried some kind of weapon—and not just the loaded one in his pants.

I’ll bet he’s pretty handy with his fists.
She could see him as a hands-on kind of guy. An old-school bare knuckles fighter, although who would have the stupidity to engage him she’d have to wonder. While many of the men in town seemed built on larger lines than she was used to, Reid still took the cake when it came to size and sheer menacing presence. Well, menacing maybe to others. Tammy didn’t fear him even when he used his big voice or loomed in her space. On the contrary, when he tried to intimidate, it roused her blood and gave her the fire needed to confront him—mostly so she didn’t molest him.
What is it about him that makes me want to ravish him when he gets all dominant and growly?

She didn’t underst—

The sound of breaking glass interrupted her train of thought, and the shotgun in her hand rose as she aimed it at the archway leading to the kitchen. At least she assumed she was aiming it there. She had only the faint glow of the outdoors—which was a shade lighter than pitch black—to aid her, as she’d not had time to hunt down candles between the power outage and Reid’s arrival.

A swirl of cold air spun through the room, lifting strands of her hair, pimpling her skin despite the sweater she wore. A whole body shiver swept her, yet it wasn’t just the low temperature affecting her but the closeness of the howling that erupted. It sounded as if the wolves were just outside.

Where Reid is!

What should she do? He’d told her to remain in the house. Ordered her, as a matter of fact, but one, Tammy didn’t obey very well, and two, was she really going to be one of those cowardly girly-girls who cowered inside where it was safe when she had a shotgun and, thanks to her departed father, the ability to hit what she aimed at?

Several yips and growls erupted all at once as if in answer to her silent mental argument. Sharpshooting skills or not, only an idiot would go out there, outnumbered, and in the dark. But, that didn’t mean she couldn’t do damage from in here via a hole someone had conveniently created.

She crept to the doorway, the broken-glass sound having come from the kitchen. She’d wager the strange fellow had thought to enter the house via the side door by smashing out a pane. If he’d yet to fumble the lock open—
please let him still be outside and not waiting on the other side of the damned arch—
then she could maybe scare him off. He probably didn’t expect her to meet him with a gun in hand. And if he wasn’t waiting for her, then she’d fire off a few rounds to scatter the furry menaces looking for an evening snack. Thus saving Reid’s hide and making him oh so grateful—so grateful he’d have to show his appreciation, naked if she was really lucky.

A great plan, except for one big problem. When she got into the kitchen, there was no human home invader waiting for her. Nope. Even in the dark there was no mistaking the yellow eyes at about waist height as anything but wild. And mean. And probably hungry for a chubby, city-girl snack.

It snarled.

She let out an “eep!” of surprise, and then her training kicked in. She could practically hear her dad and his smooth baritone whisper,
“Breath in. Steady your arm and choose our spot. You’ll only get one chance. Don’t waste it.”

She had no sooner taken aim than she fired. Even though Tammy expected it, the recoil caused her to stumble a step. Given the confined space, the blast made her ears ring, but despite that, she didn’t miss the yelp of pain as pellets hit their mark.

Take that, wolf!

A wolf that didn’t move. Nope, despite a muzzle full of buckshot according to the snarl, and the immense shadow still standing in the kitchen, she still faced the beast, only now it glared at her with its one good eye.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Did it have rabies? Something was surely wrong with the wolf because it should have gone running.
It also shouldn’t be standing in the kitchen, seeing as how it can’t open doors.

Obviously someone let it in and had trained it to stand its ground.

“I really hope there are no laws against me keeping your fur, buster, because I am so going to bring it home with me and make some mittens out of it, just for scaring me,” she grumbled as she aimed again.

Before she could fire though, a roar—the treble of which vibrated her entire body—split the air. That got the wolf’s attention. It got hers too.

What the hell was that?

The wolf swung its head to look behind, and while she didn’t see what it did, there was no mistaking the quickness with which it whipped around, tail tucked, and flew out the door.

Anything that could spook off a wolf intent on a tasty, chubby snack probably wasn’t something she wanted to meet. That didn’t stop her from crossing the kitchen floor under the guise of shutting out the cold.

Such a lie. Curiosity killed the cat, and would possibly claim Tammy’s life, but she couldn’t
not
glance. She had to see what could cause a grown wolf that had shown extreme signs of aggression, to run off like a cur.

Hand on the doorknob, she froze. Forget closing the back door. Astonishment had her staring as a massive bear, the same one she’d seen previously, she’d swear it, came barreling into view. The wolf, which had not managed to quite escape in time, skidded to a stop on the icy ground, claws digging in.

This was taking the concept of the wild untamed north too far, even for her. Like seriously. A giant wolf and bear facing off in the yard? She really needed to carry around her phone more often, especially around here it seemed, so she could start taking video footage of the increasingly odd shit happening because no one would ever believe her. Heck, she had a hard time believing the craziness herself.
I need a witness.