Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) (26 page)

“Yeah, got a movie to go see. Did you get the bank money?”

“Half of it,” the officer said.

“What? Hell, the guy who was wearing the motorcycle helmet. He had to have run off with the rest. Maybe the other men hadn't been called to take out Allan, but were just meeting the bank robber to divide up the money in the woods,” Paul said, furious they didn't know who the robber was by name and hoping the police didn't think Paul and their pack had anything to do with the missing money. But he and Lori did know the motorcycle guy by scent and by sight, and if they caught sight of him, they'd notify the police and he would be picked up.

“Hey, I gave you his license plate number. Remember? That first time we saw him going into the bank wearing the helmet, and you were suspicious then,” Lori said.

“You sure did. SEAL material.” Paul opened his vehicle, pulled the slip of paper out of his console, and handed the note to the police.

“Great work. You ever need a job on the force…” the officer said.

“Diving,” Paul said. “Allan and I are settling down here and we'd love to be on the diving team.”

“I'll put in a good word for you. You folks are free to go.”

“You want me to drive?” she asked Paul.

“How are you feeling?”

“I'm fine now. I'll drive.”

When they reached the clinic, they found Allan in a hospital bed surrounded by Catherine, Emma, and four pretty she-wolves, newly joined. Allan was groggy but looking like he was in heaven. Paul was glad for that. After giving him their well-wishes, they stopped by to see Everett recovering in another room, Rose holding his good hand, all teary-eyed.

“Thanks for everything,” Everett said.

“Hell, we owe you our thanks,” Paul said, meaning it.

“Are your mother and sister ready to join the pack?” Lori asked.

“Hell, yeah,” Everett said smiling.

“Good,” Lori said.

Before they could leave, Dr. Christine Holt pulled Paul aside and insisted on looking at his flesh wound. But that wasn't all. She checked on Lori too, after the fall she'd had. “If you don't mind,” the doc said to Paul, “that geneticist is here to take your and Allan's blood samples. Dr. Aidan Denali is doing gene mutation analysis and more, trying to determine why our longevity changed from a shifter's to a human's life span. And if there's anything he can do about it.”

“Sure. I'm game.” The worry among the shifters was that they'd suddenly begin aging more quickly than humans.

She called the other doctor into the exam room, introduced Paul and Lori as the pack leaders, and then made her excuses and left. The man was tall, wearing a white lab coat, his hair a dark, wavy brown, his eyes just as dark brown. He appeared about thirty with a rugged build, like he worked out. But Paul couldn't figure why the doctor was wearing glasses.

“Thank you for allowing me to take a sample of your blood,” Dr. Denali said as he prepared Paul's arm for the needle.

“Are you learning anything?”

“Discovering why something like this happens can often take years. But I'm hoping to learn something sooner than later. One thing I will say, in the very early years, we lived much longer lives. Over the last hundred or so years, our prolonged endurance has been shortening, but so subtly that we didn't realize a change had been occurring until the last decade or so.

“For one thing, we've had a significant number of older members die earlier than we anticipated based on the earlier life spans of our kind, a year for every thirty of theirs—all of natural causes. I don't have figures on all the
lupus
garous
that exist here or in the world, but from those that I've learned of, our life span appears to have changed significantly.”

The doctor took the blood sample, then said, “If you or any of your pack experience aging that's more rapid than a human's, let me know, will you? Or anything else that concerns you about this matter.” He handed both Lori and Paul business cards.

Paul had to ask because at first he'd thought the doctor wasn't a wolf, and that had him worried.
Lupus
garous
didn't have vision problems unless they had an eye injury. “What's up with the glasses?”

Lori looked as eager to learn, though her cheeks turned a little red, and he guessed he'd embarrassed her by asking the personal question of the doc.

Dr. Denali readjusted his glasses. “So that no one confuses me with my younger twin brother. And people, both in the field and laymen, take me more seriously.”

Paul wondered why the doc wouldn't want to be mistaken for his brother, but figured he'd asked enough. He could understand why some might not take the doctor seriously since he looked to be only thirty.

After Paul and Lori were finished, they said their good-byes to everyone and headed to the theater.

“They caught the bank robbers in Seattle. I saw it on the news while I was at the dojo teaching a lesson. Then Everett called about Allan's emergency. Did you know that Everett intends to build a log cabin for Rose and himself on Catherine's property? She gave them five acres to build on,” Lori said. “Catherine's so excited about her triplet grandchildren and about our wolf pup or pups. She's never talked about it before, but she's just over the moon about being a grandmother.”

“That's great to hear.” Paul had never thought about how Catherine would react now that she was going to be a grandmother. He was glad she was thrilled. “I like Everett. In a pinch, he was there for us, and he took a bullet for Allan. He respects pack laws too. He'll be a good mate for Rose, I think.”

“I agree. I believe she really lucked out. Um, also I got a call from Cora, the she-wolf artist you helped rescue. She said she wanted to thank you and Allan personally for helping to save her. She's flying out in about a week. She said she was in so much pain that she didn't remember what she'd said on the trek through the jungle or in the helicopter. We talked and, well…”

“Don't tell me.”

“Yeah, she wants to join the pack. I knew you'd be agreeable.”

Then his phone rang and he recognized the policeman's name. “Yeah, this is Paul Cunningham.”

“I just thought you'd like to know we caught the man who owned the bike that you had the license plate number for. Rhett Scott was holding on to the rest of the bank money. It was hidden in his boat.”

“What did the boat look like?”

“It's an inboard bow-rider runabout. Blue stripe on white.”

So now Paul and Lori knew where the Cooper brothers and Jerome had gotten the boat for their drive-by of Lori's dock. “Good deal. And he lives in the area?”

“One of our residents. He never robbed the local bank. But he has robbed four others. He confessed that he and the other men canvassed the banks, drove the getaway truck after he hid his motorcycle, and helped plan the next operation. And you were right in your assumption. He met the others in the woods to split the money, but they heard Allan close by and panicked.”

“Good to know they've been stopped.”

They ended the call and Paul felt good. Bad guys had gone down. Pack was safe. And he was home again with Lori.

When they arrived at the theater, they saw a couple of wolves who had just joined the pack. They smiled and greeted them. Paul hadn't considered this added benefit of having more wolves in the pack again.

The camaraderie, the secret they all shared, their common heritage.

“They love you.” Lori preceded Paul into the row of seats.

Four more single female wolves in their pack sat as close to them as they could get. The pack was gathering.

It was a good feeling. “I love you, Lori Lee Greypaw.”

“Cunningham,” she reminded him.

And they kissed, missing the opening of the movie—boy meets girl, and all the rest. The wolves had found what was most important to them: each other, the family, and the pack.

“And I love you.” Lori cuddled against her mate, glad for all the adventures they'd shared over the years and looking forward to so many more. Their pack. Their territory. Their home.

Order Terry Spear's next book
in the Heart of the Wolf series

A Silver Wolf Christmas

On sale October 2015

Read on for a sneak peek from

Connor James Silver, better known as CJ, couldn't believe it had been a whole year since he and his brothers rejoined their cousin Darien Silver's wolf pack. He was glad they had made amends, though his oldest brother was still butting heads with Darien. But the rest of them were happy to be home. Silver Town, Colorado, mostly gray wolf run, would always be home. It had been built by their ancestors, and he envisioned staying here forever.

Especially now that three lovely sister she-wolves had joined the pack and were remodeling the old Silver Town Hotel. In two days' time, they would have hotel guests. CJ smiled as he strode up the covered wooden walkway in front of the tavern and glanced in the direction of what had been the haunted, neglected hotel across the street, which was now showing off its former glory. The windows were no longer boarded up, the picket fence and the fretwork had been repaired, and a fresh coat of white paint made the whole place gleam.

“CJ!” Tom Silver called out as he hurried to join him. Tom, the youngest of Darien's triplet brothers, was CJ's best friend.

He turned to watch Tom crunch through the piled-up snow, then stalk up the covered walkway. He had the same dark hair as CJ, although his eyes were a little darker brown. Tom was wearing his usual: an ecru wool sweater and blue jeans. The toes of his snow boots were now sporting a coating of fresh snow.

Tom pointed at the hotel, evidently having observed CJ looking that way. “Don't
even
think about going over there to help with the final preparations before their grand opening.”

CJ shook his head. “I know when I'm not wanted.” But he damn well wasn't giving up on seeing the women—well, one in particular.

Tom smiled a little evilly at him. “Come on. I'll buy you lunch. Darien has a job for you.”

Even though CJ was a deputy sheriff and took his lead from the sheriff, everyone stopped what they were doing when the pack leader needed something done. Pack took priority.

He and Tom headed inside the tavern, where the fire was burning in a brand-new woodstove in the corner, keeping the room warm. The Christmas tree in front of one of the windows was decorated with white lights, big red bows, and hand-painted ornaments featuring wolves. The aroma of hot roast beef scented the air, making CJ's stomach rumble. Sam, the black-bearded bartender—and now sandwich maker—was serving lunch without Silva, his waitress-turned-mate. She was now down the street running her own tearoom, where the women ate when they wanted lunch out. The men all continued to congregate at Sam's.

The tavern usually looked a lot more rustic, less…Christmassy. Sam loved Silva and tolerated her need to see that everyone enjoyed the spirit of Christmas either at her place or his, though he grumbled about it like an old grizzly bear.

CJ glanced at the red, green, and silver foil-covered chocolates in wooden Christmas-tree-shaped dishes on the center of each table. Those were new. Silva had also draped spruce garlands along the bar and over the long, rectangular mirror that had hung there since the place opened centuries earlier. She'd added lights and Christmas wreaths to the windows and had put up the tree, though Sam had helped. He looked rough and gruff, and was protective of anyone close to him, but he was a big teddy bear. Though CJ would never voice his opinion about that.

“We'll have the usual,” Tom called out to Sam.

He nodded and began to fix roast beef sandwiches for them.

“Staying out of trouble?” Tom sat in his regular chair at the pack leaders' table in the corner of the tavern. This spot had a view of the whole place, except for the area by the restrooms.

“I haven't been near there.” CJ glanced around the room, nodding a greeting to Mason, owner of the bank; John Hastings, owner of the local hardware store and bed and breakfast; Jacob Summers, their local electrician; and even Mervin, the barber—all gray wolves who were sharing conversations and eating and drinking. It was an exclusive club, membership strictly reserved for wolves.

CJ looked out the new windows of the tavern—also Silva's doing, now that the hotel was quite an attraction instead of detracting from the view. The new sign proclaimed Silver Town Hotel, just like in the old days, as it rocked a little in the breeze. Only this time, the sign featured a howling wolf carved into one corner. CJ loved it, just like everyone else did.

The pack members couldn't have been more pleased with the way the sisters had renovated the place, keeping the old Victorian look but adding special touches. Like the two wrought iron and wood-slat benches in a parklike setting out front, with the bench seats held up by wrought iron bears.

Tom turned back to CJ. “Darien said—”

“I know what Darien said. My brothers and I were getting under the women's feet. They didn't want or need our help. Don't tell me we can't participate in the grand opening.” Even though CJ would be busy directing traffic for a little while, he intended to stop in and check on the crowd inside the hotel to ensure everyone was behaving themselves.

Sam delivered their beers in new steins, featuring wolves in a winter scene etched in the glass, along with sandwiches and chips on wooden Christmas tree plates. He gave CJ a look that told him he'd better not make a comment about the plates or steins. CJ was dying to ask Sam how domesticated life was, but he bit his tongue.

“I'll be setting up the bar for the festivities,” Sam said. “Silva is bringing her special petit fours, and she's serving finger sandwiches. The hotel had better be ready to open on schedule.”

“Do you think any of the guests will run out of there screaming in the middle of the night, claiming the place is haunted?” CJ asked. It was something he'd worried about. He wanted to see the sisters do well so they could stay here forever.

Sam shook his head. “Blamed foolishness, if you ask me.”

Sam didn't believe in anything paranormal. Some might ask how he could feel that way when they were
lupus garous
—wolf shifters. But then again, their kind believed they were perfectly normal. Nothing paranormal about them.

Someone called for another beer, and Sam left their table to take care of it.

“When you were over there getting underfoot, did you see anything?” Tom asked, keeping his voice low.

Even though they'd been best friends forever, this was one thing CJ really didn't want to discuss with Tom. Neither of them had, not once over all those years. “Darien said he and Jake were just playing tricks on us, making us believe the place was haunted so we'd race out of there like our lives depended on it. We were what…seven? Pretty gullible. Just your brothers having some fun at our expense—like usual.”

CJ took another bite of his sandwich, hoping now that the hotel was opening, he could finally start seeing Laurel MacTire in more of a courtship way. He would never again make the mistake of mispronouncing her name. Who would ever have thought that a name that looked like “tire” was pronounced like “fear” with a
T
? He couldn't know every foreign word meaning “wolf.” But he did love that she was a pretty redheaded, green-eyed lass. She had been born in America, but she still had a little Irish accent, courtesy of her Irish-born parents. He loved to listen to her talk.

The problem was that she and her sisters, Meghan and Ellie, acted wary around him and everyone else in the pack. In fact, they didn't seem like the type of proprietors that should manage a hotel, since they were more reserved than friendly or welcoming. He wasn't sure what was wrong. Maybe they'd never lived with a pack before. He had to admit that everyone had been eager to greet them, so maybe they felt a bit overwhelmed.

The pack members were so welcoming because fewer she-wolves were born among
lupus garous
than males, and many of the bachelors were interested. The women in the pack were also grateful that they had more women to visit with. Besides that, the wolf pack's collective nature was such that its members openly received new wolves.

After eating the rest of his sandwich, Tom leaned back in his chair. “The two painters working on the main lobby left prematurely yesterday after demanding their pay for what they'd finished. They said that when they returned from a lunch break, their paint cans had been moved across the room, their plastic sheeting was balled up in a corner, and an
X
was painted across the ceiling in the study. And that was only the half of it.”

CJ frowned. “None of the sisters saw or heard anything?”

“The sisters had returned to their house behind the hotel to have lunch.”

“Could it have been kids? Vandals?” CJ figured that what had happened wasn't the result of anything supernatural.

“Who knows? If we discount the ghostly angle, could have been.”

“Did the women smell the scent of anyone who had been in there earlier?”

“Not that they could say. So many people have been traipsing through the hotel, finishing up renovations, that maybe somebody else just moved the stuff. The electrician and a plumber were in earlier.”

“About that…I've seen that they've hired humans for a number of the jobs. Except for Jacob, the electrician. I would think everyone, even if they're new to the pack, would hire wolves.”

Tom shrugged. “They've never been in a pack before. It'll take a little getting used to. Maybe no one gave them a list of who could do the jobs for them. We all know who does what in the vicinity. The sisters wouldn't have a clue.”

CJ nodded, but he was already thinking about how the painters had left the work unfinished. Maybe the women could use his help in painting the rest of the place. As long as the town or surrounding area didn't require him to get involved in any law enforcement business, he was free to help out. And eager to do so.

“Of course, that doesn't explain the
X
on the ceiling,” Tom said.

“Most likely vandals.”

CJ wasn't afraid of any old ghost in the hotel. He hadn't been since that day when Darien and Jake had tried to scare him and Tom when they were all kids. CJ told himself it had just been them. But neither of the Silver brothers had said anything about what CJ had witnessed, and he was certain they had nothing to do with it. He was still telling himself the apparition he'd seen was only a figment of his imagination. That, as a kid, he'd been so scared, he could have imagined anything. That the darkened shadow of a woman was nothing more than dust particles highlighted by moonlight shining through the basement door's window.

Tom sat taller in his chair. “If visitors ask about the hauntings, Darien wants everyone in the pack to tell them the stories are just rumors.”

“Right. Ghosts don't exist.”

Tom let out his breath. “But you know differently. We both know differently.”

That made CJ wonder what Tom had experienced. But if CJ admitted to even one soul that he believed the hotel was haunted, there would go his best-kept secret of all time. Besides, Tom had never shared what he'd experienced either.

Tom straightened a bit. “Okay. Well, as I said, Darien has a job for you.”

If it had to do with helping Laurel MacTire—“MacTear” as in “fear,” CJ kept reminding himself—he would jump right on it. He was certain that she
really
didn't mind that he'd been so in the way when she was trying to get the place fixed up. She was just overcautious about everyone in the wolf pack.

“Hang some Christmas lights on the hotel?” Then again, the job could have nothing to do with Laurel, her sisters, or the hotel.

Tom tilted his chin down. “
No
helping the women with the hotel. Unless they change their minds and ask you to.”

“All right,” CJ said. “What then?”

“We have some ghost busters in town.”

“That's just what we need.” CJ was ready to protect the three sisters from anyone who might try to ruin things for them.

“For now, they're staying in the Hastingses' bed and breakfast, both tonight and tomorrow. But they have reservations at the hotel, and they will be moving over there as soon as it opens. They've been grilling Bertha Hastings and everyone else about the hauntings.”

“That's not good.”

“Of course, we're worried they might stir up trouble for the ladies by reporting the place is haunted to discourage people from staying there. But what we're really concerned about is that they'll learn that something a lot more serious than ghosts exists in the area.”

“
Lupus garous
.”

“Yes. Us.”

“You want me to get rid of them?” CJ asked, surprised. Not that he thought Darien wanted him to kill anyone, but keeping their wolf halves secret was paramount to their well-being.

Tom chuckled. “No. But you're assigned to watch over them. If they see anyone shift when they shouldn't, then we'll have to take care of it.”

CJ's whole outlook brightened. “Right. They're staying at the hotel.” And if he had to really watch them, he'd have to stay there too! That meant he could see Laurel more.

“Can you handle it?”

“Hell yeah.”

“I mean…” Tom glanced around the tavern where pack members filled nearly every chair at the wooden tables. The room was humming with conversation. He leaned forward. “Because of the ghosts.”

“That don't exist.”

“Right.”

“Yeah, I can handle it.” CJ smiled. He would do anything to be able to spend more time with that wickedly intriguing she-wolf. Though he hoped he wouldn't be the one running out of the hotel and breaking out into a cold sweat—again.

More than that, he knew something else was going on. The women didn't just buy the hotel because it was a beautiful building or a great investment opportunity, or because they desperately wanted to join a pack. They'd been reservedly friendly. Like they didn't trust anyone. And they hadn't joined in any pack functions during the six months they'd been renovating the hotel. Not once.