Werewolf in the North Woods

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  Abby couldn’t remember ever being so tired. Cameron kept grilling her, and she’d managed to avoid saying anything incriminating, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d hold up. Cameron had switched to coffee, but he didn’t offer her any. He wanted her groggy and confused, and she was fast getting there.

  Cameron’s study had a fireplace, but it wasn’t lit, which figured. Everything about the bastard was cold, including his hearth. Leaving her chair for another walk around the study to stay awake, Abby glanced at the mantle clock. After four in the morning.

  She turned to Cameron. “I vote we call it a night. You can keep asking your questions, and I’ll keep giving you the same answers.”

  “Maybe. And maybe I’ll outlast you. I’m an insomniac, anyway, so late hours are no hardship for me. However, if you’d like to go relax on a nice pillow-top with thousand-thread-count sheets, tell me the truth about your arrangement with Wallace, and someone will escort you to a guest room.”

  Abby’s composure snapped and she whirled to face him. “My arrangement with Roarke is exactly what you implied back at the camp. We’re one hot combo. We can’t get enough of each other. He decided to combine business with pleasure, and we screwed like bun—” She gasped as the study door opened and Roarke, one of the bunnies in question, walked in, followed by a man with a similar build to Roarke’s but with darker coloring.

  Abby instantly pegged him as Roarke’s older brother, Aidan, and just as instantly wished she could melt into the floor. She would have to lose her temper right then and make a very bad first impression on Roarke’s brother.

  Roarke crossed to her and took her by the shoulders as he gazed into her eyes. “You okay?”

  “Other than terminally embarrassed, you mean?”

  “Don’t worry. It’s just my brother.”

  “I know.” She loved having Roarke’s hands resting on her shoulders, but under the circumstances, she decided to scoot out from under his touch. She glanced over at Aidan. “Nice to meet you, Roarke’s brother.”

  “It’s Aidan.”

  “I knew that. I was just being cute. I’m Abby Winchell.”

  “I knew that.”

  She couldn’t read anything in his expression. Well, at least she wasn’t tired anymore. That little episode, coupled with having Roarke back, had given her a shot of adrenaline. It wouldn’t last, but for now, she was wide awake.

  “So, Aidan.” Cameron rose from behind his desk and walked toward the dark-haired man, hand outstretched. “It was good of you to fly out on short notice.”

  “No problem.” Aidan exchanged a brief handshake with Cameron before turning back to Abby. “I understand you’re visiting from Phoenix.”

  “That’s right.” So Aidan had been doing his research, too. “The rest of my family is down there,” she said. “Grandpa Earl is the only one still living in the Portland area.”

  Cameron walked over to join the group. “Abby’s a claims adjuster in Phoenix, but I wonder if they shouldn’t switch her to sales, with her gift of persuasion.”

  “I don’t like sales,” Abby said.

  “But you’re so good at it. You managed to talk Roarke, here, into taking you out on the trail with him, even though he knew full well that was a really bad idea. Either you’re the best little saleswoman around, or you had something to hold over Roarke’s head.”

  Abby took a deep breath. “Sex. That’s all we’re talking about here, gentlemen. I used sex to convince Roarke to take me on his Bigfoot hunt. I was determined to validate my grandfather’s claim, and seducing Roarke seemed like the way to go.” Her cheeks felt hotter than the desert summer sun, but she’d decided this was her best defense and she’d stick to it.

  Roarke shrugged. “What can I say? It worked. Abby may not like sales, but she can be extremely persuasive.”

  Aidan shook his head and let out a long, despairing sigh. “I can’t say I’m surprised that my little brother succumbed. He’s always had a weakness for the ladies, and now that I’ve met Abby, I completely understand what happened, Cameron.”

  Cameron balanced on the balls of his feet, as if he wouldn’t mind being a few inches taller when he stood next to the Wallace brothers. “You know, I could almost buy that explanation. Almost. Except that two people who head into the forest with sex on their minds would want one big tent, not two single-person tents.”

  “Grandpa Earl outfitted us for the trip,” Abby said. “And a girl doesn’t want her grandfather to know what she has in mind.”

  “I didn’t relish the idea of Earl knowing, either,” Roarke said. “I didn’t want him coming after me with a shotgun. Two single tents seemed like the prudent choice.”

  Now that Abby had backup, she decided to go on the offensive. “Cameron, if you’re so sure that I had some information that I used to force my way onto the expedition, what do you think it was?”

  Beside her, Roarke tensed.

  Cameron gazed at her for a long time. “Oh, it could be something that would tarnish his reputation as a professor at NYU, or embarrass his family back in New York. They’re very prominent back there, just as the Gentrys are in Portland.”

  “Well, there you go,” Abby said. “You found me out.”

  Roarke laid a warning hand on her arm. “Abby.”

  “No, Roarke, we need to let Cameron know that he is right, because he’ll keep digging away until he finds out. And God knows nothing ever dies on the Internet.”

  Roarke turned to stare at her. “The Internet?”

  “I’m sure you don’t want this told, Roarke sweetie, but I need to get it off my chest.” She turned back to Cameron. “Once I heard Roarke was out here giving lectures that embarrassed my grandfather, I sexted Roarke, and he—”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” Roarke’s grip on her arm tightened. “You never—”

  “I sent some nude shots of me, and Roarke responded very…favorably, I have to say. Before we ever met I had plenty of explicit emails from him, and they certainly weren’t anything he’d want his family to see, or his department head at the university.”

  Beside her, Roarke was muttering under his breath, but when she glanced at Aidan, he gazed at her with something that looked like admiration.

  “So you have these emails, then?” Cameron said.

  “Oh, no. I deleted them all once I got what I wanted. Roarke stopped maligning my grandfather and took me on the Bigfoot search. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything that I could report to Grandpa Earl, but Roarke went off on his own, and maybe he has something to report. Do you, sweetie?”

  Roarke opened his mouth, but all he seemed to be able to do was stare at her in amazement.

  “Never mind that, now,” Cameron said. “Roarke, did you save some of those email exchanges on your BlackBerry?”

  Roarke continued to gaze at Abby. “Nope. ‘Fraid not.”

  “How convenient. Maybe it’s a little too convenient.” Cameron glanced at Aidan. “You’re some kind of Internet guru, I hear.”

  Aidan shook his head. “Not really.”

  “Oh, come on, don’t be modest. You’re in charge of security for Wallace Enterprises, for crying out loud. Retrieving a few deleted emails should be child’s play for you.”

  “Even if I could do that, I wouldn’t invade my brother’s privacy. If he and Abby have deleted those emails, then we need to let the matter go.”

  Cameron steepled his fingers and tapped them against his chin. “It’s not easy to believe in stories that have absolutely no evidence to back them up.”

  Roarke stepped toward him. “Frankly, I don’t care what you believe and don’t believe. This poor woman is dead on her feet. I’m taking her back to her grandfather’s place.”

  “I don’t advise that,” Cameron said.

  “I don’t give a shit what you advise or don’t advise. We’re done here. Come on, Abby.”

  “Roarke, I can’t leave.”

  He frowned. “Sure you can. We’ll just walk
out of here. I’d like to see Gentry or any of his henchmen stop me.”

  “They have Donald shut up somewhere. I can’t leave without Donald.”

  Roarke’s jaw tightened as he glanced at Cameron. “So Donald Smurtz is still here?”

  Cameron looked smug. “It would appear so.”

  “Why? He’s just an innocent bystander in all this. Turn him loose.”

  “I have evidence that he was in the process of robbing me. I don’t want to bother the police at this hour, so I’m keeping him here and I’ll press charges tomorrow.”

  Abby touched Roarke’s arm. “I need to stay so I can vouch for Donald.”

  “Right.” He glared at Cameron. “Slight change of plans. I’m taking Abby upstairs. I give you my word that neither of us will leave.”

  “Good.” Cameron turned toward Aidan. “I have a room prepared for you, too, but I’d like to have a word before you go up. There are some family matters we need to discuss.”

  Abby guessed that Cameron wanted to talk about werewolf matters and probably about her and what she did or didn’t know. But the jolt of adrenaline was wearing off, and she was too tired to worry about a discussion between Cameron and Aidan. She thought Aidan was on her side, but she couldn’t be absolutely sure.

  She allowed Roarke to guide her up the marble steps to the second floor.

  “Sexting,” he murmured. “How in hell did you come up with that?”

  “I don’t know, but I thought I should give Cameron something.”

  “I’d like to give him something, all right.”

  “Roarke, does Aidan know that I know?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what does he think about it?”

  Roarke sighed. “Abby, could we not talk about that right now?”

  She wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned into him as they walked down the hall. “Consider the subject dropped. Listen, earlier Cameron was bragging about his pillow-tops and thousand-thread-count sheets. Does he have those?”

  “I suppose he does. I never thought about it.” He pulled her closer as they continued down the hall.

  She laughed. “But you’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?”

  “I shouldn’t be. We’re both too exhausted. So have you ever sexted someone for real?”

  “No. Want me to start with you?”

  “Hell, no. I could never be satisfied with a picture after experiencing the real thing.”

  “So no email exchanges, then?”

  He hesitated, as if knowing that it wasn’t the simple question it might sound like. “No email exchanges,” he said.

  “I figured.” Her heart twisted, but it was a small pain compared to what she’d be in for later on. Once they parted, they’d have no contact whatsoever. And that was going to hurt more than she could ever imagine.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Roarke wanted to make love to Abby more than he wanted to breathe, but he had something to do first. And he would accomplish it better as a wolf. Yet as a wolf, he would have limitations that a human could overcome. He needed Abby’s help.

  The moment they were inside the room, Abby sighed with longing. “This is gorgeous.” She walked over to the bed and threw back the covers. “First I want a shower, and then I want a nice, long, slow session in bed with—”

  Roarke groaned. “We can’t yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “We need to go check on Donald.”

  “But how? Not that I don’t want to check on him, because I do. He was incredibly brave when Cameron and his goons showed up. He’d promised you he’d watch out for me, and he did his best. But how could we find him?”

  “I can find him. And this is how we’ll get to him without alerting Gentry.” Roarke walked over to a section of the wall and pushed against the revolving panel.

  “It’s a secret passage!” Abby walked over and peered into the blackness beyond the opening. “Stairs and a secret passage. This is like something out of Nancy Drew.”

  Roarke had never read Nancy Drew, but he was glad to see that she was excited instead of freaked out. “There’s a whole system of tunnels under the house, and if we work together, we can find Donald.”

  “Then let’s go.” She started to walk out through the opening.

  “It’s not that simple. I smelled him earlier, but this is a huge place and I was frantically looking for you. I don’t remember which stairway it was. I could probably find him again as a human, but I’d be much more efficient if I shifted and searched as a wolf.”

  She glanced up at him. “Then shift.”

  “Once I do, we won’t be able to talk. I can understand you, but I can’t speak. So my idea was that I’ll use my sense of smell to find the bedroom where Donald is. It will be very dark, so you’ll need to hold onto my fur as we go. When I find him, you can go through the revolving panel and reassure him that we’re here and we’ll take care of him. But he can’t see me and can’t even know I’m there.”

  She nodded. “Of course not.”

  “He might want to come with you, but you can’t let him do that. In fact, he has to stay in the room. We can’t have him wandering around in the tunnels. It’s risky to contact him at all, but I can’t let him think we’ve abandoned him.”

  “Do the tunnels eventually lead outside?”

  “Yes, but Gentry has posted a guard there. He’d report on anyone who tried to escape. I’ve given my word that we won’t, and besides, I’d never go and leave Aidan holding the bag. Warn Donald not to try and leave by way of the tunnels or he’ll be caught.”

  “Okay.” She flapped her hand at him. “Take off your clothes, Roarke. Hurry.”

  “God, I wish you were saying that because we were about to jump into that big bed.”

  “Later.”

  He nudged off his shoes as he backed toward the bathroom. “I’ll shift in there.”

  “Shift out here. I don’t care. I’ve already seen you do it.”

  “I know, but…I’ll be right back.” He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. He wasn’t willing to believe she was as nonchalant about his shifting as she pretended to be. But this would be a test, of sorts. They would have to interact while he was a wolf.

  Folding his clothes, he left them on the counter and stretched out on the floor. The mansion’s bathrooms were generous, so he had the room. He was aware of Abby waiting right outside the door, and it affected his concentration. But eventually the shift began to take over, and at last he rose from the floor and shook.

  The second shift had given him another dose of healing power, and his paws felt almost normal. But he’d closed himself in the bathroom with no way to get out. Feeling like an idiot, he scratched at the door.

  “Just a minute.” Abby hurried to the bathroom door and opened it. “Wow.” She hesitated. “This is intense, Roarke. But I want to get to know you like this, too.”

  Kneeling in front of him, she buried both hands in his ruff. “You’re one gorgeous wolf.” She leaned forward. “I even like the way you smell.”

  He touched his nose to her cheek.

  “I like you better as a human, of course, but this is kind of cool.” She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. “All right. This is getting a little bit too Ladyhawke for me. The sooner we do this, the sooner you can shift back and we can hop in that gigantic bed together. Lead the way.”

  Roarke started down the steps. Dried blood marked where he’d been earlier.

  “I’m right behind you,” Abby said, “and once my eyes have adjusted I’ll close the…God, what’s that on the steps? Is that blood? Wait, Roarke. These are paw prints.” She gasped. “They’re yours, aren’t they? You ran until your paws were bloody. Oh, Roarke.”

  He whined to indicate his impatience.

  “All right, we’ll go. But these bloody prints tell me a lot about you. Go on down the stairs. I’ll meet you at the bottom.”

  At the foot of the stairs he looked up and watched her push the
panel closed. During the short time light streamed out the opening, it created a halo around her red hair. Aidan had called it. Roarke was falling for her, whether he wanted to or not.

  “I’m here.” She grabbed a fistful of his fur. “Take me through these tunnels. But don’t go too fast. I’m only human.” Then she chuckled. “A little joke, there.”

  His heart swelled in admiration. She was quite a woman. Any man would count himself lucky to spend a lifetime with her. Any werewolf, too, he silently acknowledged. Aidan had told him to listen to his heart, and it was talking to him now as Abby walked trustingly beside him down the narrow tunnel, her fingers buried in his ruff.

  He paused at the first set of stairs and pulled away from her so he could climb them. Nothing. He returned and shoved his nose into the palm of her hand. She reached blindly for his ruff and they set off again.

  On the fourth try he found Donald. Returning to Abby, he nudged her toward the stairs, and waited in tense silence as she felt her way up in the darkness. She stumbled once, but didn’t cry out. Good girl.

  When she pushed open the panel at the top of the stairs, the room beyond was dark. Roarke reminded himself that it was nearly five in the morning and Donald was probably asleep. Roarke counted on Abby to wake him up without sounding the alarm.

  She was gone for what seemed like forever, but at last she came out, pushed the panel shut, and slowly descended the stairs backwards, feeling her way to each step. When she reached the bottom, Roarke moved in close so she could find him.

  “Oh, Roarke, I’m so glad we did this. Donald was feeling alone and scared. But he’s better, now. I told him everything you said—that we would make sure we got him out, but that he shouldn’t try to escape, especially not through the revolving panel.” She hesitated. “Just to be sure of that, I said there were snakes down here.”

  He nuzzled her hand. She’d done well.

  “I hope there aren’t, though. I don’t mind snakes, but I like to be able to see them, and it’s very dark down here.” She took his ruff firmly in her right hand. “Let’s go, Roarke. I’m trying not to think of you as my service dog, but it’s beginning to feel like that. I’m eager to lay eyes on your manly self again.”