“Well, nice to see you two here,” Gladys said, approaching our booth with what appeared to be a genuine smile. Her graying brown hair was pulled back in a bun and her face was bare except for a slick of red lipstick. “What can I get you?” She gestured toward the menu that was written artfully on a chalkboard near the service window.
Morgan glanced at me and I shrugged. “How about a couple of beef sliders and two Cokes, my dear Gladys,” he said.
She rolled her eyes at his exaggerated charm, but wrote our order on a pad from her apron pocket. “I’ll put you down for a couple sliders each. They’re really good but small for our appetites.”
“Brilliant, thank you.” Morgan showed her a toothy grin.
“Hey, do you have some kind of a security system here? Rick Bowman’s here, he’s trouble,” I said.
Her stance shifted and she crossed her arms. “Ezra told me not to worry about him,” she said. “You two should bowl, have a good time while it’s the new moon.”
“But if he—”
“Good advice. Thank you,” Morgan interrupted, sliding an arm around my shoulders.
Shaking her head, Gladys returned to the kitchen to put in the order.
“That’s terrible advice,” I hissed.
Morgan shrugged. “They seem confident. Maybe they have some kind of deterrent planned.”
My phone buzzed with a text from the girls, asking how it was going. I replied to let them know nothing had happened yet and hit Send. Meanwhile, Morgan strolled over to check out the bowling games in progress. He returned to the table a few minutes later, just as Gladys delivered the sliders. My mouth watered at the smell of the tiny burgers and the haystack of fries garnished with rosemary and garlic. “Wow, so gourmet. Nathaniel didn’t let us down.”
“Beats the fare down at the Pioneer Pub.” Morgan held up a fry, inspecting its golden color. “Decent chip,” he said, around the crunchy bite that followed.
I tried a bite of the slider and it too was delicious. I peered over at the kitchen and saw Nathaniel watching our reactions. He caught my smile, and then disappeared back through the doorway. Morgan moved on to his slider, while I swooned at the taste of the fry. The extra herbs added a big punch of flavor. Nathaniel knew what he was doing in the kitchen.
“So far so good?” Dad said, walking up to the table a few minutes later. His radio squawked on his belt, so he turned it down.
I nodded, since my mouth was full of the last of my second slider.
“I’d say a practically normal night at a werewolf-owned bowling alley,” Morgan said, saluting him with his Coke. Dad sniffed at our nearly empty baskets and I swear I could hear his stomach growling.
Then he raised his head, seeming to notice Ezra holding court from the center booth. Gladys was there, cracking open a can of beer for him. “I suppose I should make contact,” he said, his mouth settling in a semi-frown.
“Go ahead.” I dabbed at my face with a napkin, finding more sauce splotches than I liked to admit. “We’ve got our eyes on the Bowmans. So far, they’re bowling like everyone else.”
Dad turned toward the lanes where Rick was throwing down yet another strike. Giving me a shrug, Dad then strolled over to speak with Ezra. Meanwhile, Morgan paid the check and Gladys cleared our table.
“What a bitter old coot,” Dad said, returning wearing a scowl a moment later. “I congratulated him on the opening and you’d think I told him there was a backed-up toilet in the men’s room.”
“Can’t be accustomed to receiving a compliment from a rival,” Morgan observed.
Dad’s radio squawked again. A second later, Sheriff Polson bolted over from the far lane, where she was bowling with friends. “Turner! Shots fired over near West River Road! Dispatch just texted me.”
Deputy Mac ran in and waved Dad toward the parking lot. “Let’s go!” he yelled.
The sheriff was on her phone, talking to someone. Her friends were at the counter, trying to return their shoes to a confused Jonah. All the other bowlers paused in mid-game, trying to see what the commotion was. I kept my eyes on Rick, who didn’t look at all disturbed as he reached for his bowling ball for the next frame. I placed a quick call to Rose and Fawn to make sure they were still at Lewis’s house.
When I hung up, Sheriff Polson placed a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wreck your dinner,” she said.
“No, it’s my fault Dad didn’t hear the call. He turned down his radio a minute ago when we were talking,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Farm reporting some wolves in their cow field. Took one head of cattle down and then the critters looked like they might be heading toward town.”
“Ivan’s hybrids?” I asked, looking at Morgan.
“Could be,” he replied. “Did they threaten the humans?” The sheriff gave him a strange look and Morgan rephrased. “I mean, the people at the farm.”
“Unclear. We’ll have to see what George finds when he arrives on scene.” She waved toward her friends. “Sorry, kids—I’ve got to turn in these rental shoes and go.”
“West River Road is only a few miles away,” I murmured to Morgan when we were alone again.
“It could be a planned distraction,” Morgan said, his tone serious. “Designed to take our focus off the alley. Call away the on-duty deputies and the off-duty sheriff across town.”
I reached for my coat and bag. “But what if it’s not? What if there’s something going on out there that puts my dad in danger? Not as a cop—you know what I mean.”
“Cooper’s not here tonight,” Morgan said slowly.
“So it’s either him shooting at his own hybrids—”
“Or a farmer trying to protect his cattle.” Morgan’s tone was grave. “Or other hunters.”
“If it is Cooper, I want to talk to him. You heard Gladys, they aren’t worried,” I said, putting on my coat. “Maybe Jonah and Nathaniel can handle Bowman. They aren’t listening to our warnings anyway.”
We didn’t wait for the change from Gladys, who seemed to be taking her time. Morgan grabbed his jacket and scarf and we got up from the table.
Ezra beckoned us as we passed his booth. “You enjoy yourselves?” I didn’t even want to stop and talk. We needed to go now. I glowered at Ezra. “We really could use more help around the alley,” he said, leaning back and spreading his arms wide as if to take up more space. His yellowy teeth gleamed as his smile widened.
“Thanks, we’re good,” I growled as I pulled Morgan toward the exit.
Outside, the growing darkness, punctuated by the neon red and white of the alley’s sign, looked alien, unfriendly. I touched a hand to my collarbone, the place I’d normally find my lupine stone. But my bare skin offered no comfort. The stone had been something that soothed my nerves once upon a time. Not having it there was still strange.
Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I should just wait to see what my father found out there at the field. But the idea of Cooper wielding a gun on the creatures his father had loved bothered me. If there was anything I could do to help him see that killing wolves was not the answer, I wanted to do it. I owed that much to him.
“You okay?” Morgan asked, reaching for my hand.
I nodded and we proceeded through the rows of cars. As we reached Morgan’s Subaru, an engine started up nearby. A green SUV tore out of the lot. The Bowmans must have wrapped up their game while I was busy debating what we were going to do and wasting time with Ezra.
They were on the move, too. And I had no doubt their destination was the same as ours.
***
“Stop here, please!” I told Morgan as I pointed at the thick woods lining West River Road. “Over there, see that?” Two miles from town, lights from a farmhouse flickered through the trees, but there was movement too, dark shapes.
Morgan pulled the Subaru over and cut the engine. “Shouldn’t we see your father’s squad car? Or Rick Bowman’s SUV?”
“They probably parked up the road a bit.”
Morgan had a point, so I texted Dad. In the meantime, Morgan came up with a flashlight from the glove box. “What did you see?”
“I guess hybrids,” I said, putting away my phone. “We should track them.”
“Lily, neither of us is going to transform knowingly if shots have been fired. That’s madness.” Morgan’s tone held a warning, as if he knew I was thinking about transforming. Which I was, since I’d learned how much easier it was to track something in wolf form. Still, he was right. If someone had fired on wolves, the last thing I wanted to do was show up as one.
“We’ll just take a look.”
Morgan put a hand on my arm and said, in a forceful tone, “And then we’ll drive up the road to wherever your father is.”
“He hasn’t answered my text yet,” I said, checking my phone again.
“Only five minutes.” Morgan arched a brow. “Agreed?”
I put a hand on his cheek and kissed him. “Yes. I get it. We’re only taking a look.”
Trekking through the woods toward the place I’d seen motion, I pushed aside huckleberry branches and sword ferns, holding the flashlight low to the ground. Morgan was close behind, trying not to trip over me as I clumsily navigated the terrain.
Twenty yards ahead, a low wire fence wrapped around a giant meadow. The funk of cow dung, wet grass, and wood smoke hung in the air. The faint hint of riverbank drifted up too. As we got closer, I could tell we’d reached the backside of a farm, a barn and house at one end of the property. An ambulance’s red glow flooded the area near the porch, casting sinister shadows. Two police cars were on the scene, blue and red lights streaking the dark. A little tremor of fear rolled through my gut, worrying about Dad and Deputy Mac. A few vehicles were parked along the driveway, including Cooper’s work truck. My pulse kicked up, fearing what we’d find.
Making slow progress, a small tractor with its excavating bucket raised lurched toward the center of the field, where flashlights were trained on something on the ground. A herd of cattle grazed a little farther away, oblivious to the human activity.
“Probably collecting the remains,” Morgan whispered.
I shivered. “Why the ambulance? Do you think someone actually got hurt?”
“Seems like it.”
I retrieved my phone from my pocket and saw a text from Dad: Don’t come to farm.
I relayed the message to Morgan. “Well, too late for that,” I added.
The tractor scooped up something large, and then struggled to balance its weight as it trundled back across the field.
“Looks a bit heavy to be a hybrid or a wolf,” Morgan said.
My breath caught in my chest. “Unless it’s two of them.”
Morgan let out a low whistle. “Oh, bloody hell.” Two paramedics were wheeling something or someone on a gurney toward the waiting ambulance. A cold chill crept down my neck. I strained to see better who the patient was, or if there was a sheet pulled across their face. “Can you see who it is?” I whispered. “Are they alive?”
A branch snapped behind us. I whirled around, but didn’t see anything at first. A few leaves rippled in the light breeze. Morgan lifted his face to the wind, a confused look on his face.
“What is it?” I said, my muscles tensing as if I’d need to run.
“Nothing. I mean, it can’t be,” Morgan mumbled. “We should get back to the road.”
“Wait, did you sense something? Is there anyone out here with us? Hunters?”
I sniffed the air, at first getting only forest smells, nothing like the sulfurous gunpowder smell I got from Rick. But there was something faint, something musky along with a spicy cologne I didn’t recognize. Male. Animal. And above that, something floral, like a perfume. A woman had definitely been through this way. I turned in a circle, following the scents toward a stand of bushes. The leaves held a barest hint of the scent. I frowned, trying hard to make sense of what I was smelling.
Morgan grabbed my hand. “Really, love. It’s not safe to be out here.” He hurried me through the woods toward the Subaru. A little freaked out that we might be followed, I kept glancing over my shoulder. So when we reached the road, I was startled by the sight of two figures leaning against the SUV. Morgan’s steps slowed to the pace of someone stuck in quicksand. “What’s going on?” I asked.
Morgan’s face had gone pale, his mouth slack. “Ah, well. It looks like—”
“Hello, stranger!” called a large man with an accent like Morgan’s, cutting off his words.
There was a woman next to him. When she turned around, I’d never seen anyone quite as beautiful. Long auburn hair, dark gold eyes that gleamed in the light. There was something familiar about those eyes.
“Lily,” Morgan said, “I swear, I didn’t tell them to come here.”
“I don’t understand.”
The man rose to his full height and stalked toward us, his upper lip curling as if he’d tasted something sour. “Ramsey McAllister,” he said, sizing up me and then extending a hand.
“My parents,” Morgan whispered.
I gaped at him, unable to process what was happening.
Meanwhile, the woman—who had to be Morgan’s mom—swooped to his side, her plaid woolen cape edged with leather releasing a floral aroma and musk. She encircled Morgan’s shoulders and planted a kiss on his cheeks. “You naughty wolf.”
“Your mum insisted,” Ramsey grunted, releasing my hand from his energetic shaking. “I told her you’d figure it out on your own, but she wasn’t having it.”
“Please forgive my manners. You’ve caught me off-guard, obviously,” Morgan stammered. “This is Lily, Mother. Lily, meet Scarlet.”
Scarlet McAllister released Morgan from the embrace and cocked her head at me, her gaze traveling up and down my casual outfit and landing on my eyes. “Ah, there’s the George in you.”
I felt mesmerized by her voice, her mannerisms. There was something captivating about her. Something commanding. “Nice to meet you,” I mumbled. “Did you see what happened out there in the field?”
Ramsey gave out a laugh. “She’s a funny one, this bird,” he said, winking at Morgan. “We happened, of course.”
I swallowed the curse on my tongue. “Wait. You attacked the cows?”
Scarlet smiled, running a finger at the side of her red mouth, as if to remove flecks of gore. “It was a bit unfair, with the beasts corralled in this paddock, but a good hunt is always a bit unfair, isn’t it?”
I stepped closer to Morgan. “It’s nice to meet you both. Just so you know, though, our town’s already on edge about wolves. So you’ve probably stirred things up,” I said, summoning all my bravery.
The corners of Scarlet’s mouth lifted slowly in a smile. “You’re right, of course. We ought to have restrained ourselves, but we’d been cooped up for hours on that flight. We needed to run.” She made a little gesture of apology with her hands out.
I was too mesmerized to keep criticizing her.
“Be a good lad and give us a lift to our hired car,” Ramsey said. “It’s down the road toward the next farm.”
“I take it you secured a room at the inn?” Morgan said, giving his father an uneasy glance.
“They’ve no business calling that hovel an inn, but yes,” Ramsey said with a hearty laugh that resonated around us.
“Dear, please.” Scarlet planted a red lipsticked kiss on Morgan’s cheek. “Please don’t look so cross. We’ve come all this way. Aren’t you even a little happy to see us?”
“Of course,” Morgan replied. But it was clear to me that he’d shut down. He stole a glance at me, his smile embarrassed, ashamed.
“And wee Lily,” Scarlet said, drawing my name out long and slow. “I’d very much like to see your father. Perhaps you could set a meeting up for tomorrow?” I was confused by the look in Scarlet’s eyes. It was like a blend of curiosity and antic
ipation. Nothing like any other parent who’d wanted to meet my dad before. Of course there was history—something bad. Seeing Scarlet’s obvious beauty, I wondered if there’d been something between Dad and her.
“What do you think, dear? Breakfast, perhaps?” Scarlet asked, turning to her husband.
Ramsey’s big features bunched in a frown. “Outdoors would suit me better,” he said in a sharp tone, then perhaps thinking he’d come off gruffly, added, “Beautiful, this countryside. We should take advantage of it.”
As Morgan started up the Subaru, the silence in the car between the four of us was as thick as the scent of cow’s blood and forest. His parents were responsible for some kind of attack in the field, but was the person being loaded into the ambulance okay? What if it was Cooper? I didn’t want to throw out accusations, but if the McAllisters had hurt anyone it was going to cause issues for all the local wolves.
Clearly, Morgan’s parents were in town for more than a casual visit. I had a sinking feeling that everything good was coming to an end. They’d come to get him.
Chapter Twelve
At home, I took a quick shower, feeling unsettled, nervous. The thought of losing Morgan was awful, but the worry that someone, or some wolf, had been injured in the field worried me too. Dad wasn’t answering his phone and Rose and Fawn were over at Lewis’s place. Sometimes, alone is the worst place you can be. Fears seem bigger, problems more insurmountable. I felt myself start to spin deeper into the dark. The water couldn’t get hot enough to comfort me. I turned off the tap and stepped out, wrapping myself in a big towel, rubbing my skin to warm it. I found my coziest sweatshirt and pajama pants and threw on thick socks and a bathrobe. As I wrapped my hair in a band, I heard the back door slam.
I ran down the stairs and found my father pulling a beer from the fridge. “You didn’t answer my text. Was someone hurt?”
Dad popped the cap and took a swig. “You didn’t avoid West River Road as directed. Not that I’m surprised.” His brow furrowed as he leaned against the counter. “Two cows killed in the field, partially eaten.”
A Forest So Deadly (Pioneer Falls Book 2) Page 14
