Wolf On the Job

by Amanda M. Lee

  I stroked her hair to keep her quiet. It was early, and once she rose things would become more difficult. I love my wife, don’t get me wrong, but she can take a conversation from a two to a ten with minimal effort. My father was apparently worried about the same thing, because I caught a hint of movement under the door, telling me he was up and about and eager to talk. I kissed Zoe’s forehead and reluctantly extricated myself from her before grabbing a robe and draping it over my shoulders.

  I wasn’t surprised to find Dad standing in the hallway.

  “Did I wake you?” he asked.

  “Do you care if you did?” I motioned for him to move away from the bedroom and trudged toward the kitchen. “Sami isn’t up, is she?”

  “Sami is down and out,” he replied. “I checked on her. She sleeps sideways on the bed and still clutches that dog you got her when she was five. It’s kind of cute.”

  I smiled. I was familiar with the scene. “She sleeps like her mother.”

  “Most wolves would be up by now.”

  Whether he meant it as a dig or not, I took offense. “She’s eight and had a big day yesterday. Leave her alone.”

  “I’m just saying ... it must be the mage in her. The sleeping thing, I mean.”

  “Or she’s simply a girl who needs her rest.” I wasn’t in the mood for an argument with my father, but it looked as if the day was going to start that way. “Stop trying to make her something she’s not.”

  Dad balked. “I’m not!”

  “You are.” I grabbed the coffee pot and filled it with water from the tap. I was going to need the caffeine. “She’s fine the way she is.”

  “Did I say otherwise?”

  “You insinuate it quite often. I won’t have her growing up thinking she’s less than perfect simply because she’s not full wolf.”

  He opened his mouth to argue and then snapped it shut, thoughtful. “I didn’t mean to make her think that,” he said finally, resigned. “If I did ... you know I love her.”

  “I do know that.” I scooped coffee into a filter. Zoe was likely to need an extra jolt, so I added an additional scoop. “She can’t ever be what you want her to be, though. You need to love her as she is.”

  “I do.”

  “Then why did you bring the council here?” I expected to be able to hold off the conversation until it was just the two of us and there was no chance of being interrupted but I couldn’t stop myself from pressing the issue. “Why invade my territory?”

  “Your territory?” His eyebrows flew up his forehead. “This is family land I gave to you when you married. This has always been wolf territory.”

  I didn’t like his tone. “And this was land you weren’t particularly interested in,” I reminded him. “I’m the one who asked you for the land. I was willing to pay for it. I still am. If that’s an issue ... .”

  “It’s not an issue. Stop setting fires when it’s not necessary. I wanted you to have this land because you always loved it. You’ve made a fine home here. The council considering a presence in this area is a good thing ... and it’s solely because of you.”

  The mere notion of that grated. “I don’t want them here.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Why wouldn’t you want the council present in your life? I understand you lived too far away to make regular meetings before, but now ... .” He purposely left it hanging.

  “I don’t want to attend regular meetings.” I was firm as I crossed to the refrigerator. “That’s not even remotely important to me.”

  “But ... think about how it could benefit Sami. She knows almost nothing about her own heritage.”

  “She knows that she’s loved,” I fired back, leading with my building fury. “She’s not a wolf.”

  “She’s half wolf.”

  “And she’s half mage. She’s not a pack member. You’ve got to get that through your head.”

  “She could be a pack member.” My father was stubborn, I had to give him that. He had no intention of backing down. “Just because she’s not pure blood, that doesn’t mean she can’t be part of the pack. As your daughter, she has a special place in our hierarchy. Why won’t you let her enjoy that?”

  “Because I know what that will entail,” I replied without hesitation. “She won’t be able to keep up physically so she’ll always feel left behind. Some of them will look at her with suspicion because they don’t understand the mage part of her. I’m not putting her in a world where she’s not comfortable.”

  “And this is why you should’ve married a wolf,” Dad muttered under his breath.

  “Don’t push me,” I hissed, leaning closer. I wanted to shake him and yell, but that would only make matters worse. “I love Zoe. I’ve always loved her. If you think I’m sorry about the world we’ve built together, you’re wrong.”

  “I love Zoe, too.” He was calm in the face of my rage. “Do you think I don’t? She’s hard not to love ... even when she’s being impossible. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  “I know exactly how you meant it.” I surveyed the eggs, hash browns, sausage and bread on the counter and debated where to start. “Sami is going to be a remarkable person. She’s going to be more than a wolf.”

  Dad’s expression told me he thought that was an insult, but he wisely kept his opinion to himself. “We need to talk about the dead wolf you found ... and Franklin.”

  It was an abrupt shift, but I welcomed it. “Great.”

  “We definitely need to talk about it,” Zoe agreed, padding into the room. Her fuzzy pajama pants and unicorn slippers made me smile. Her hair stood on end — it always did in the morning — and her eyes were muddled with sluggish crabbiness.

  “Hello, Trouble.” I kissed her cheek. “I thought you might sleep a little longer.”

  “I smelled the coffee.” She headed straight for the pot. “Is Sami still asleep?”

  “Last time I checked,” Dad answered.

  “That’s probably good.” Zoe sipped her coffee and eyed my father contemplatively. “I don’t want her to hear me yelling at you.”

  “Oh, geez.” Dad rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Now what?”

  “Stop pushing the council on her,” Zoe replied, matter-of-fact. “I mean it. We don’t want them in her world.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they’ll try to change her.”

  “They won’t.”

  “They will.” Zoe was never one to back down, and she held strong opinions about the pack. “They’ll try to mold her into their image, put the pack before individuals. That’s not who she is, and I don’t want her to feel pressured to make decisions she doesn’t want to make.”

  “Oh, is this about what happened when you were in college?” Dad complained. “That wasn’t a big deal ... even though you insist on making it one.”

  I upended the package of sausage links into a frying pan. “We broke up over it,” I reminded him. “It was most certainly a big deal.”

  “You made up.”

  “Because I’m a benevolent soul and decided to forgive him,” Zoe countered.

  I shot her a look. “And you missed me,” I prodded.

  She grinned despite herself. “And I missed you,” she conceded, lightly patting my rear end as she crossed behind me and grabbed the hash browns. She wasn’t much of a presence in the kitchen, but even she could pour potatoes into an oiled skillet without ruining a meal.

  “It doesn’t matter why we don’t want them here.” I steered the conversation back to what was important. “It matters that we don’t want them infringing on our lives. You should be aware that if they come here I will not be attending meetings.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I enjoy spending time with my family. Wednesday is bowling night.”

  It was meant as a joke, but Dad took it seriously. “So bowl on Thursdays.”

  “That’s s’mores night,” Zoe interjected.

  “It doesn’t matter what night the meetings are held, I don’t
want to be a part of them.” I met Dad’s disappointed gaze. “I’m sorry. I know this upsets you, but ... this is the life I want.” I slung an arm around Zoe’s shoulders. “That kid sleeping sideways on her bed upstairs and this woman with her hair standing on end are important to me.”

  Zoe made a face as she dragged her fingers through her hair. “You could’ve told me.”

  “Your hair is like that every morning. You should already know.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Dad shook his head. “Spending time with you two is often painful. I hope you know that.”

  “We work hard to create just the right mystique,” Zoe drawled. “In fact ... .” She broke off and jerked her head to the right, her eyes finding Sami at the exact moment I realized our daughter had emerged from her upstairs bedroom. “What’s wrong?”

  Sami’s hair was a snarled mess. She wore pajamas that looked a lot like what Zoe was wearing. Her slippers, however, were wolves. “There are people outside,” she murmured.

  I abandoned the breakfast preparations and hurried to her, peering out the window. I recognized the three men standing in the backyard talking. They were part of my father’s cleanup crew. I had no idea they were still hanging around. “Sweetie ... .”

  “I thought they’d left,” Dad said, joining us. “I’ll get rid of them.”

  “Who are they?” Sami asked. “Why are they here? Did you find the missing man?”

  “No.”

  “They pick up dead bodies,” Sami pressed.

  I cocked my head to the side, curious. “How do you know that?”

  “Because I’ve seen them before. They were here a few weeks ago when Mom was lighting off fireworks in the yard. At least … that’s what you said she was doing. I knew better. I saw the bodies.”

  I knew exactly what incident she was talking about and felt sick to my stomach. Two vampires — both hungry and on the hunt for special blood — sought out our house because they could smell Zoe and Sami’s unique genetic life force from miles away. Zoe easily killed them, and their bodies disintegrated. Unfortunately, they had two human companions who needed to be dragged away after the fact. I thought Sami had been asleep during the melee. Apparently I was wrong.

  “Sweetie, um ... Mom and I found something in the woods last night.”

  “The missing man?” Her voice was flat, cold.

  “No. We still haven’t found him. We did find someone else, though, and he was dead.”

  Slowly, her eyes tracked to me. “Did you kill him?”

  “No! He was already dead.”

  “Oh.” Sami pursed her lips. “I guess it’s my fault, huh? I should’ve been able to find him. I heard stuff in my head, but it didn’t tell me about the body.”

  “It’s not your fault.” I dropped to my knees and turned her to face me. “You did so well yesterday. You took us to the spot where the blood was. We wouldn’t have found that without you.”

  “I didn’t find the dead man.”

  “I don’t think you could’ve found him. He was a bit away from the original spot ... and we don’t know what he was doing there. Heck, we don’t know how or when he died. You did your very best and I’m proud of you.”

  “You are?” Sami’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why? I didn’t do anything.”

  “You did exactly what we asked.” I scooped her up, gave her an extended hug and carried her into the kitchen. Zoe was back standing in front of the stove and watching the food, although I didn’t miss the thoughtful look on her face. “What kind of juice do you want?” I placed Sami on one of the stools so she could watch us work. “Orange or apple?”

  “Tomato.”

  I frowned. Zoe lived on tomato juice in the mornings. Sami kept trying the juice because she wanted to be like her mother ... and hating it. “How about orange juice?” I suggested. “We’ll save the faces you make when you’re drinking tomato juice for another day.”

  “Fine.” She blew out a dramatic sigh. “Why was there a different dead man in the woods?” It was an obvious question and she seemed keen for answers. “Where is the missing man?”

  “We don’t know,” Zoe answered honestly. “It’s a mystery we’re trying to figure out.”

  “Speaking of that, I have a name for the dead man,” Dad said, moving to the computer he had set up on the kitchen table. “Ralph Stewart.” He read from a document on the screen. “It says he owns a restaurant in the area. He’s a wolf, but not part of our pack.”

  I didn’t know what to make of that. “Can you find any ties between him and Horton?” I asked. “I mean ... it seems weird that Horton disappeared within a mile of where the body was found. We still don’t know where he is.”

  “Maybe he killed him,” Sami suggested. She’d grown tired of waiting for me to bring her juice and had hopped down to get it herself. Even though she initially seemed upset, she’d perked up since I’d insisted nothing that happened was her fault. I was glad for it. “Maybe he only came with the other men so he had a reason to be here that no one would ask him questions about. You know a ... a ... a ... .” She snapped her fingers to jog her memory. She had an expansive vocabulary for a kid her age, but she couldn’t always remember.

  “Alibi,” Zoe supplied, smiling at her. “You think he came with the wolf council contingent to create an alibi and then somehow took off into the woods.”

  Sami shrugged, noncommittal. “I think it’s weird that he was in the store and then he was gone out of nowhere. No one saw or heard him leave.”

  That was true, and I’d yet to ask her about the moments leading up to it. “Do you remember seeing him?”

  “Yeah. He was making faces — and not good ones — when I was showing Mike how I could do a roundhouse cartwheel.”

  Zoe’s forehead puckered. “You were tumbling in the store?”

  Sami adopted a “well, duh” expression that reminded me so much of her mother that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Maybe.”

  “You’re not supposed to tumble in the house.”

  “I wasn’t in the house.”

  “You were inside.”

  “But not inside the house.” Sami, much like her mother, never met an argument she was willing to back away from. Sometimes it was annoying, but often it was adorable. “You never said I couldn’t tumble inside the store.”

  Zoe looked to me for help. “Tell her.”

  “Hey, you never said she couldn’t tumble inside the store,” I repeated. “That space is open. She wasn’t hurting anyone. And ... .” Zoe’s eyes narrowed, causing me to sigh. “No tumbling in the store, Sami,” I ordered. “You can only do it outside.”

  “I’ve never broken anything,” Sami complained.

  “I’m not worried about you breaking something other than your head,” Zoe shot back. “You could hit your head on the fireplace or those huge stacks of logs your father keeps in the office and really hurt yourself. I’m not trying to be mean. I have a legitimate reason for not wanting you to tumble in the house where there are a lot of sharp edges. The same goes for your father’s store.”

  “Fine.” Sami folded her arms over her chest and jutted out her lower lip. “I can’t do anything.”

  “You can drink your juice,” I suggested, my eyes flicking to Dad, who was still working on his computer. “What are you doing?”

  “I can’t find any connection between Horton and Stewart,” he replied. “I’ve been over everything I can think of. As far as I can tell, they didn’t know each other.”

  “Then why is one of them dead?” Zoe challenged. “I mean ... I guess it could’ve been a crime of passion. That was a bloody scene. It didn’t strike me as something that just happened. I think there was a true motive behind it.”

  “And what would that motive be, Zoe?” Dad queried.

  “I don’t know, Jack.” Zoe’s disdain for my father’s question was obvious. “We’re missing something. You need to dig deeper. I’m not sure what we’re dealing with
, but there’s an answer evading us. We simply need to find it.”

  “Oh, well, if you say so.” Dad turned haughty. “It must be nice to know more than everyone else combined.”

  “It is,” Zoe fired back. “Being a genius is difficult but worth the effort expended.”

  This time whatever Dad grumbled under his breath was impossible to make out. That didn’t stop Zoe from poking him.

  “I heard that!”

  Is it any wonder I love her? She’s an absolute delight morning, noon and night.

  Six

  Sami had school, and she wasn’t happy.

  “I want to stay with you.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at Zoe and me as we dropped her in front of the oversized building’s main entrance. The school security guard — a man we were familiar with because he was a wolf — watched us deal with our petulant child, and while I couldn’t see the smile on his face I knew it was there.

  “You have to go to school.” Zoe was firm. “If you don’t learn stuff you’ll embarrass us, and that’s not good for our self-esteem.”

  I flicked my wife’s ear and shook my head. “Don’t tell her things like that,” I admonished. “You’re a very bright girl, Sami. We want you to keep learning. Besides, we’ll go to jail if you don’t attend school. Do you want that?”

  She didn’t look upset at the prospect. “Maybe,” she hedged, thoughtful. “I would have the house all to myself if you went to jail.”

  “You would be living with your grandparents if that happened,” I countered.

  She broke out in a smile. “They spoil me. I’m fine with that.”

  “My mother and father,” Zoe corrected, smirking as Sami’s smile faded. She was fond of all her grandparents, but my parents definitely spoiled her more. Zoe’s parents seemed to understand there was a line that didn’t need to be crossed. In the end, Sami would appreciate them for it. For now, she gravitated toward the indulgent set of grandparents because it benefited her.

  “Fine.” Sami let loose an exaggerated sigh. “I’ll go to school. What are you guys going to do while I’m stuck here? Oh, wait, let me guess,” she continued, her tone persnickety. “You’re going to play in the hot tub all day, aren’t you?”