Pack Dynamics

by Julie Frost

  “Why in the world would you want to contact one of Mr. Jarrett’s chief business rivals, Mr. Barnhardt?” she asked sweetly. “Oh, wait, never mind. The answer is in that folder that Mr. Jarrett tossed on the table.” She held her finger up to forestall another outburst. “Also? If you attempt to ‘expose’ me in the future? Your credibility will be so shot that you won’t be able to get a job in a charity soup kitchen, let alone the corporate world. You need to remember that not everything came out in those Senate hearings a few years ago. Oh, and your little dog Peterson, too. Are we clear?”

  “Crystal,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Good.” She smiled brightly. “Anything else?”

  “No.”

  “Excellent.” She spun on the impossibly high heel of the Louboutin platform pumps she’d bought specifically for this meeting, flashing the red sole at him, and walked back into the room. He trailed behind her like a whipped puppy and slumped into his chair.

  She stopped next to Alex. “What did we miss?” she asked him.

  “Just some small talk. You all combobulated?”

  “I think that Mr. Barnhardt and I understand each other eminently well,” she said with a Cheshire Cat grin.

  O O O

  If Megan’s smile had too many teeth in it, so did Alex’s. “That’s wonderful news. I’m always glad when my colleagues can work together in harmony. With that little chore out of the way, I think we can start this meeting.”

  He sat down in his chair at the head of the table and rested his feet up on the corner, tenting his fingers and spearing each board member with his gaze, one by one. Some were merely curious, a few were openly uncomfortable, one or two were amused because they’d seen this before. And Barnhardt and Peterson looked as if this was the last place on the planet, or maybe in the galaxy, they wanted to be.

  “First of all, I’d like to introduce you all to Ben Lockwood. Mr. Lockwood has been instrumental in uncovering a fair amount of industrial espionage for me, some of which originated on this very board.”

  Ben was stiff in the custom-fitted Armani suit, but he tilted his head at the people around the table.

  “Mr. Lockwood has also paid a very heavy, very personal price for uncovering this information. One that I may be, ultimately and to my sorrow, unable to reverse.”

  Oh, Alex was having a good time right now, even though Megan had made sure that he’d had nothing but fruit juice and coffee to drink that morning. He glanced over at her, and she looked proud of him. It made him feel kind of warm and fuzzy. Until he remembered why they were here.

  “What company is engaging in the espionage this time?” Clarke said. He was one of the people who’d been amused.

  “Ostheim Industries. Miss Graham?” She had a folder for each board member, filled with the evidence that Ben had dug up, and she passed them around.

  Alex watched with vicious satisfaction as the color drained abruptly from the faces of Barnhardt and Peterson after they opened their own.

  “However, they won’t be a problem anymore. I have it on very good authority that Hans Ostheim has disappeared, along with his wife Idna, leaving their household in complete disarray and their company not much better off.”

  Clarke’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead as he read through the material in the folder. “This is really good work, Mr. Lockwood. Even with the access that Mr. Jarrett had to have given you.”

  Alex didn’t bother pointing out that he hadn’t actually given Ben much access at all, or that their pet hacker had found several security leaks on his own that needed plugging. The crack he’d made in jest a few days ago about hiring Ben away from the PI firm seemed like a damned fine idea now that he had the final results in his hands.

  He wondered if Ben would go for it …

  And realized that the room had erupted into pandemonium and people had started shouting while he’d been ruminating, and that wouldn’t do, especially since Ben was shoved back into his chair like he wanted it to absorb him. Barnhardt and Peterson were yelling something about private memos and personal emails. Alex slammed the flat of his hand on the table, once, which was all it took to get everybody’s attention.

  “My servers, my company, my business,” he said into the shocked silence that followed, because he never took control of meetings, not ever. “Also, don’t upset my hacker. You wouldn’t like him when he’s upset.”

  Peterson’s expression was one of amazed contempt as he took in Ben’s shorter-than-average height, his slender build, and body language that told everyone that he wanted to disappear under the table or possibly out the fortieth-story window. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  “Really not,” Alex said between his teeth, because Ben’s eyes had changed color, and wouldn’t it be fun if he wolfed right here and now? Not so fun for Ben, though, so maybe he should give him something to do. “Ben, why don’t you show them how the bunnies react to you?”

  Ben visibly pulled himself together, breathing hard through teeth that were bigger and pointier than they should be. He stood up and walked around the table toward the rabbits. They grew more and more agitated at his approach, until they transformed into little tiny wolves right there in front of everyone’s horrified eyes. The wolferized nano-lycan-bunny was the same size it had been as a rabbit, but the regular lycan-bunny nearly filled the cage.

  Chairs slammed against the wall as the Board members scrambled away from the scary bunnies. The tension in the room escalated several notches when Ben’s muzzle lengthened and his suit tore across his shoulders. Oh, shit, Alex should have thought of this, what a stupid idea, and he hadn’t even brought a tranq …

  “Ben!” Megan shouted. “Stop.” Why she thought that would be effective, Alex had no idea.

  The wolfed rabbits smashed themselves against the sides of the cages, attempting to attack Ben with no regard for the size difference or their burning hair. The big bunny-wolf got its claws between the bars and ripped them wider, jamming its head and shoulders through, snarling. The reek of scorched fur filled the room.

  Ben lunged forward, still only partially transformed, and his fangs met through the thing’s throat and wrenched its head off in a spray of gore.

  “Ben!” Megan’s voice whipcracked through the room, stifling various screams and shouts. “Back. Off.”

  Panting heavily, Ben lowered his ears and stepped away from the cages. Slowly, his fur and teeth and claws disappeared, and he stood huffing in the bloodied ruins of his suit. He closed his eyes and collapsed into his chair.

  “You okay?” Alex asked.

  “I will be,” Ben answered. Alex slid a glass of water over to him, and he gulped it down.

  “How’d you do that?” Alex said to Megan.

  “Alpha,” she said with a little shrug.

  “I don’t pay you enough. Clearly. Give yourself a raise, Miss Graham. Another one.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  People found their chairs again, the remaining bunny went back to being a bunny, and Alex crossed his arms. “I told you that you wouldn’t like him when he’s upset.” He glared at Barnhardt. “This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don’t want Jarrett Biologicals messing around with paranormal crap. There’s too much fallout, too much we don’t know and have no way of finding out … and too much that can go wrong. As we have all just seen. Barnhardt, Peterson? I’ll expect your resignations on my desk no later than noon tomorrow. Yes, I’ll be coming in, try not to die of shock.”

  He stood up and moved toward the door, gathering Megan and Ben in his wake, pleased that not too many people had been able to get a word in edgewise. “Anything else?” Silence. “Then I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “What about the rabbits?” someone ventured.

  “Barnhardt can clean up the dead one, and Peterson can have the live one. They wanted to get into the paranormal aspects of the business—they can deal with some of the consequences.” And he swept out the door with Megan and Ben, highly satisfied at leaving the memb
ers of his board wondering just what the hell he’d done and how he’d done it. Again.

  O O O

  Ben dropped onto the sofa in Alex’s office, stripping off his loosened tie. Reminding himself to breathe. Good thing Megan had been there, because he wasn’t sure that Barnhardt wouldn’t have followed the bunny.

  Alex poured all three of them a generous measure of scotch, braving Megan’s glare. “We did good work there, you guys. Bottoms up.”

  “It’s ten in the morning, Alex,” Megan said.

  “What’s your point?”

  Ben swallowed the scotch in three gulps. Alex poured him another, and he downed half of that, letting the warmth flow through his stomach and into his limbs. “So, it’s over?” he asked.

  “Other than fixing your wolf problem, yeah. The bad guys are all dead or neutralized.” Something in Ben’s face must have given his state of mind away, because Alex looked concerned. “Hey, are you all right? You look a little rocky.”

  “Now that no one’s yelling at me and I don’t have rabbits growling in my face, I’m fine. Better than fine.” He put his feet up and loosened all his muscles, using a relaxation technique an Army therapist had taught him. “No hurry on the wolf thing, Alex. I’m coming to terms with it. Hell, I slept wolfed last night and didn’t have a single nightmare. After the week I’ve had, that’s not just a win, that’s a call-the-Vatican miracle.”

  Megan frowned. “But—”

  “It’s not like I have to hide it from anyone I care about. And the wolf makes things simpler. Slows the brain hamster. It lets me just be instead of thinking all the time.” A corner of his mouth curled up. “Also, ear scritches are awesome.”

  Alex balanced a hip on the corner of his desk with a relieved expression, sipping his drink. Ben had no doubt he’d still work on the lycanthropy issue, because Alex liked nothing more than unraveling puzzles. “Well, I promised everyone a vacation, anyway. Ever been to Moab, Utah? You’ll love it there.”

  Epilogue

  Vacationing with Alex, Megan knew, was just as much of a roller-coaster as working with him. He didn’t do anything by half-measures, and he’d bought complete camping gear and a Jeep Rubicon and set them up at a site alongside the Colorado River. It was just the four of them in three tents with air mattresses and sleeping bags and cooking on the grill when they didn’t eat in town. And for a town this size, in Utah of all places, it had ridiculously good restaurants that served ridiculously good microbrews. They wouldn’t go hungry anytime soon.

  Which was a happy circumstance, because Alex kept them on the go from sunup to way past sundown and they were always ravenous by the end of the day. Whether they were hiking to Delicate Arch or jeeping on the Poison Spider trail or climbing up some impossible rock face next to the river, the manic grin never left Alex’s face and he was never far from his supply of scotch.

  Megan insisted on driving, most of the time.

  The fourth day, Alex disappeared, leaving a note that said, “Don’t worry, back tonight.”

  Megan crumpled the piece of paper. “Dammit. He’s gone off to do something stupid he doesn’t want me to nag him about beforehand.”

  With the availability of extreme sports in the area, Megan decided to ignore Alex’s admonition not to worry. She gnawed her lip practically nonstop as they spent the day strolling through the shops on the main street, waiting for Alex to wander in.

  They’d been back at camp for about an hour when he called. “Hey, Megan! Watch this.”

  “Where are you?” Megan’s grip on her phone was white-knuckled.

  “Look across the river, up on the cliff.” A tiny figure waved at them from the clifftop—and leaped.

  “Alex!”

  A parachute blossomed over his head before she got the exclamation all the way out, and he floated toward the ground. “Piece of cake, safe as houses,” he said, and disappeared behind the trees. “Ow. Shit.”

  “Alex?”

  “Ow. Gotta go. Be there in a little while.” The call ended, and Megan stared in consternation at the phone. But, true to his word, Alex showed up in camp about a half hour later.

  Limping. Still with the manic grin. And reeking of scotch.

  “What happened?” Megan moaned.

  “Did you know that base-jumping is a huge sport around here? And it’s even legal.”

  “Alex …”

  “You should try it sometime.”

  “What happened to your leg?” she said into her hand.

  He shrugged, elaborately casual. “Oh, landed wrong, twisted my knee, and hit a cactus. Nothing big.”

  “Alex …”

  “So, where are we eating?” Alex asked blithely.

  O O O

  Ben decided to address the subject they were all avoiding on the fifth evening. “We should go for a run tonight, honey,” he said to Janni as they sat around the campfire after a day of jeeping. Bats squeaked overhead, and billions of stars shone down brightly in the absence of the light pollution and smog they usually had in L.A.

  Janni twisted her fingers together. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Where better to wolf for your first time? Out here in the middle of nowhere where no one’s likely to see you?” He smiled, only not exactly. “Better than the way I first did it.”

  “Sweetie, any way would be better than the way you first did it.”

  He stood up and held out his hand. “You can Change in the tent. I’ll walk you through it.” Time for him to help her for once, he thought.

  She followed him into their tent, apprehensive and clearly not at all sure she wanted to do this. “Ben …”

  “No worries, honey.” He pulled her to him and kissed her neck. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and she squirmed and wiggled, but didn’t exactly push him away either. “In it together. Always.”

  “Which is a long time when you’re a werewolf?” she half-laughed.

  “Exactly.” He held her at arm’s length and regarded her seriously. “And you’ll be a pretty, pretty wolf.”

  “You’re not so bad yourself,” she said, dimpling, and that was the expression he was looking for. “How do I do this?” she asked.

  “First, the fun part: we get undressed. Because tearing out of your clothes when you triple in size gets inconvenient and expensive after a while.”

  She huffed out a laugh. “About that. I checked our account today, because we had a bill due that needed paying? There’s an extra million in there.”

  For a second it didn’t register. “An extra million what?” And then it did, and he choked. “Dollars?”

  “Courtesy of Alex. The notation on the deposit said ‘payment for services rendered way above and beyond what anyone should have to endure ever.’ Which has Alex written all over it; the man never uses one word where three will do.”

  Ben took a minute to pick his jaw up off the floor and resisted the urge to go confront Alex about it. The tax implications alone …

  But he needed to do this thing with Janni. His wolf was tugging at the leash, not hard, but pretty insistent. The tall red rocks and wild desert vistas soothed something primal within both Ben and the wolf, and the ever-present knot in his chest had loosened more with each passing day. He’d talk to Alex later, he promised himself, although the billionaire had probably figured out the tax thing already, or Megan had. Something.

  He shook himself. “Okay, wow. So not worrying about expenses for the near future, then. But you should still take your clothes off, because I like watching you do it.”

  He grinned, pulled his T-shirt over his head, and tossed it on the air mattress, and Janni followed suit a second later. The rest of their clothes joined the shirts, and Janni stood there, shivering a little in the cool of the evening. The last thing that came off was the engagement ring, and she let it go with a little whimper of protest.

  “Now what?” she asked, slightly breathless.

  “Feel the wolf in there?”

  She nodded, eyes wide.<
br />
  “Just … let her out. If she’s anything like mine, it shouldn’t be too difficult. Sometimes the hard thing is keeping it in.”

  “Will it hurt?”

  “It’s uncomfortable. Weird. You can feel the bones and muscles and things sliding into a new configuration.” He shrugged a little. “I wouldn’t call it actively painful, unless you’re trying to stop it during the moon. It’s just really strange.”

  “Okay.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing into it and letting it happen. A few seconds later, a huge black wolf with orange eyes stood in front of him. She tilted her head, and her tail lowered a little as she waited for his reaction.

  “Boy, was I wrong about you being pretty.” Her ears drooped, and he clarified. “You’re beautiful.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him, bumping his stomach with her head, which was all it took for him to Change, although he’d wanted to admire her for a few more minutes.

  They stepped out together, and Alex scrambled for the camera. Impatient to be off, they didn’t let him take too many pictures before slipping away into the trees.

  What followed was one of the most fabulous nights of Ben’s life. No danger lurked here, nothing threatened them, and he was able to fully enjoy running through the desert with his mate. She matched him stride for stride, and they found a sandbar on the river and wrestled there, getting soaked in the process.

  Panting and happy, they lay down on the bank and licked each other dry. Ben decided that life as a werewolf really wasn’t terrible, and if Alex couldn’t find a cure …

  Well. He was okay with that.

  He nuzzled Janni, and they made their way back to camp. Alex and Megan had retired to their tents, although both of them were still awake, and they chuffed to let them know that they’d returned before going into their own tent.

  Human again, they snuggled inside the zipped-together sleeping bags. “That was fantastic,” Janni murmured, on the edge of sleep.

  “Wouldn’t mind doing it for the rest of my life,” Ben ventured, “now that no one’s trying to kill me.”