Cry of the Wolf

by Karen Whiddon

“Did you enter the Witness Protection Program? Is that why you’re here in Anniversary?”

  “No.” Her bleak look told him how little she trusted anyone, including him. “The risk was too great. Leo had guys on the inside, for all I know. I cut my losses and ran.”

  “You’re on your own?” He could scarcely believe her courage, both then and now.

  “Yes.” Swallowing, she twisted her hands together in front of her. “And I’m not…well.”

  Something twisted inside him, a tug at the place in his chest that housed his atrophied heart. “Not well,” he repeated. “I hate to pry, but is it terminal?”

  “It could be, but I’m hoping to get better.” Since he was blocking the doorway, she went to the window instead, turning the heavy oak blinds to peer outside. When she turned again to face him, her expression was resigned. “What do you want?”

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “You. Obviously you want something from me.”

  He thought for a moment, pushing away the thoughts of hot, wild sex. “No.”

  “Then why tell me this?”

  “I thought you should know. For your own protection.”

  “I see.” But he knew she didn’t, not really. “I’d better be going.”

  At her words, he knew without a doubt she didn’t just mean going back to her rented cabin. “You’re leaving town?”

  A flicker of surprise in her eyes, then she nodded. “I don’t have a choice. If you and this other man recognized me, so will others. It won’t be long before word gets back to Leo, if it hasn’t already.”

  “New York is a long way from east Texas.”

  “Not far enough, apparently.” She sighed. “Maybe that’s why my brakes failed. Maybe he’s already found me.”

  Though he could identify with her paranoia—he’d been paranoid, too, right after Angela haddied and he’d learned his wife had been dealing drugs behind his back—he realized with a mild sense of shock that he didn’t want her to go.

  “Let me help you,” he heard himself say. “I think you could use a friend.”

  Stone-faced, she regarded him. “Why would you want to do that? You barely know me.”

  “Why?” How could he explain to her what he didn’t know himself. “My daughter died because of drugs.”

  “So I heard. Men like Leo distribute them, all around the country. He got rich from people like your daughter.”

  “You helped put him away.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you left it all behind. The money, the mansions and fancy cars, all of it.”

  “Yes.”

  Now he moved to touch her arm, and this time she didn’t flinch. “That’s why I want to help you. Please, let me.”

  Chapter 5

  At the police impound lot a day later, checking out her ruined car, Colton swore. “You were right.” He stood, dusting his hands off on his jeans. “The brake line was split.”

  “Split? You mean cut, don’t you? Damn it.” She paced, the wind catching strands of her hair. “He’s found me.”

  Colton wanted to touch her. Instead, he crammed his hands into his pockets. “Don’t jump to conclusions. We need to check with the police. The first thing they always do in situations like this is check for brake fluid. It would have squirted out when you went to apply the brakes.”

  She folded her arms. “Tell me the truth. Does it look like it’s been cut?”

  Reluctantly, he nodded. “Yes.”

  “Let me look.” She dropped to the ground, peering under the twisted wreckage. “Show me what to look for.”

  He showed her the left front brake line, the only one that had been cut. The right side was still intact.

  “That would be enough to make my brakes fail?” she asked. “They wouldn’t have to cut both of them?”

  “No.” He got to his feet. “Let me make a call to the police station. I’m sure they saw this, too.”

  “Then why wouldn’t they tell me?” Her eyes widened. “You don’t think one of them…”

  “Come on, Jewel. You can’t be suspecting everyone. You’ll make yourself a nervous wreck.”

  “I know.” Sighing, she lifted her face to the sun and sniffed. “I can’t even get a scent.”

  “Get a…” He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Her startled look told him she hadn’t meant to speak out loud. “Nothing. Never mind.” She got to her feet, her expression heavy. “I guess what happened doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s time for me to move on.”

  “Move on?” She’d startled him. “Why? You don’t know for sure he’s found you.”

  “Why else would my brake line be cut? Come on, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Especially where he’s concerned. You don’t know Leo. When he says he’s going to do something, he won’t rest until it’s done.”

  Since her ex-husband had very publicly sworn to see her dead, Colton could understand her paranoia. Still, though he hated to admit it, he didn’t want to see her go.

  “Let’s think this through. The man’s in prison. If this really is him, how’s he finding you?”

  Her troubled gaze touched on his face before skittering away. “He has his ways.”

  “Not a good enough answer. Did you contact anyone back where you used to live?”

  She shook her head. “I have no one back there. Both my adoptive parents are dead.”

  “What about friends?”

  “Leo made sure I had no friends.”

  The way she spoke of what must have been complete and utter isolation touched him. How lonely she must have been.

  He forced his mind back to the subject at hand. “Have you used a credit card or a cell phone?”

  “No. No credit cards and I threw away the cell phone Leo’d given me. I brought a prepaid one with cash, under my new name. There’s no way he could trace me with that.”

  “What made you choose Jewel Smith?”

  A faint flush colored her cheeks, though she lifted her chin and squarely met his gaze. “Because I think of myself as emerging from under the ground. Someday, I’ll shine again. Though I’m no diamond,” she added.

  “No, not a diamond,” he said softly, unable to help himself. “More like an opal, mysterious and quiet, until you turn it the right way and it flashes fire.”

  She laughed and he could tell she was pleased.

  “Where will you go this time?” he asked, when he really wanted to know if she had someone, somewhere, to help protect her.

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe north, into Canada. I’ve heard British Columbia is beautiful.”

  His chest felt tight. She might as well have said Australia. There was no way he could keep an eye out for her so far away. Why he even wanted to, he couldn’t explain, even to himself.

  Crossing his arms and watching her, he shook his head. “You’ll run again, find a place, settle, and make a home. Until the next accident happens. And then what?”

  “This was no accident. Come on, Colton. How many people do you know who’ve had their brake line magically snap on them?”

  She had a point, but he wanted to make a point of his own. “Hear me out. Are you going to spend the rest of your life running?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I do. Every time you think he’s tracked you down, you’ll go. What kind of life will you have, always looking over your shoulder?”

  Her expression turned hard. “Why do you care?”

  “Damned if I know.” He turned, thought about walking away and realized he couldn’t do it. “But, for some odd reason, I do.”

  She stared at him. From her silence he could tell he’d surprised her.

  Ah, damn. He’d even surprised himself.

  “What are you suggesting?” she asked.

  He stayed silent, afraid to open his mouth, afraid he’d say the wrong thing.

  “So I run. And I live. If I don’t, I die. What choice do I have?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “There�
��s got to be another option.”

  “Really? Then tell me what. Give me some suggestions.” Her eyes had gone dark, the color of the lake in a storm. “Maybe I should hunt this guy down, find out who he is and stop him.”

  He started to chuckle, before realizing she wasn’t joking. “You’re serious.”

  “Yes.” Now she came closer, lifting her gaze to his. “Even if I stay on the run, I want to be prepared for an attack. Why do you think I signed up for the self-defense class?”

  “An excellent idea.”

  “Maybe. But not against cut brake lines and bullets. If the car had exploded, I’d have been killed.”

  She was right, though looking at her, he couldn’t even tell she’d been in an accident only yesterday. All of her bruises had completely disappeared.

  “I’m thinking about buying a gun,” she said.

  Now she’d shocked him. “A gun. Do you know how to use it?”

  “No, but there are classes I can take, right?”

  He nodded. “In Texas, you can get a license to carry a concealed weapon once you’ve completed the course.”

  She moved even closer, so close he could smell the light, musky scent of her. “Do you have this license?”

  Barely able to concentrate, he tore his gaze away from her lips. “Yes.”

  “Then you know how to shoot.”

  Too late, he saw where this was going. “I do,” he said reluctantly. “I use target practice to relieve my tension.”

  “Teach me,” she breathed, her breath tickling his chin. “Please, Colton. If I stay, you’ve got to help me.”

  Now he was confused. “You’re staying?”

  “Maybe. For a little while. If you help me.”

  “Earlier, you said you were ill. What’s wrong with you?”

  “I am ill.” The expectant look vanished from her face. “Just not in the way you think.”

  Colton shook his head. “If I’m going to help you, I need you to be honest with me.”

  “Not about this. There are some things you’re better off not knowing.”

  His chest clenched. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. His ex-wife, Paula, had thought that way, too, hiding both her own addiction and that of their teenage daughter. Never again.

  He took a deep breath. “When you say that, I think of one thing. Drug addiction.”

  She stared, her green eyes wide and guileless, but her expression pinched and worried. He waited for her to speak, hoping she’d tell him he was wrong.

  When she didn’t, he lifted his hand. “I’m out of here. You do whatever you want.”

  “Colton—”

  One last chance, damn her. He’d give her one last chance. “Are you addicted to some kind of drugs?”

  “No. Not even close.” Unsmiling, she met his gaze to let him know that this at least, wasn’t the secret she was hiding. “Not even Leo could force me to do that. And believe me, he tried.”

  “He tried?” This was incomprehensible. “Why? Why would anyone do that?”

  “You don’t know Leo.” She sighed. “He wanted me totally compliant, his own personal slave.” She shuddered, lost in the horror of her own memories.

  Feeling as if he were tumbling down a particularly steep hill, Colton touched her—how could he not? He put his arms around her and drew her close. She tucked her head under his chin, her initial stiffness giving way slowly.

  For a moment, he simply held her, knowing she could hear the thudding of his heart. Finally, he asked the question he’d never understood, even before he’d known this woman, when he’d watched her husband’s trial on TV. “Why’d you marry someone like him, Jewel?”

  “I didn’t know.”

  Three simple words, yet his imagination ran with them. He knew from personal experience how easily someone you loved could hide their true nature.

  “I—” she began.

  “Shhh.” Keeping his arms around her, he tried not to let the feel of her full breasts affect him, or the curve of her waist and intoxicating scent arouse him. “Tell me about your illness.”

  At his request, she stiffened and moved away.

  “I can’t.” The flatness of her tone came not from fear, but something else. “It has nothing to do with drugs. That’ll have to be enough for you.”

  Again, the reporter in him was intrigued. The man in him wanted her back in his arms. “Jewel…” he started.

  “I’d like to go home,” she interrupted, her expression fierce and determined. Only the slight catch in her voice revealed her inner emotions. “I can’t think, and I need to clear my head.”

  “You won’t tell me.” This wasn’t a question.

  Regardless, she answered “No.”

  He fished his keys from his pocket, jingling them. “Then you’re right. It’s time for you to go.”

  “Let me get one thing out of my glove box.” Without waiting for a response, she went to her wrecked car, leaned in the busted-out passenger window and retrieved a box.

  Silent, they both got in his truck and buckled their seat belts. He started the motor, debated questioning her again, and decided against it.

  While he drove, he told himself this was for the better. He’d drop her off at her place and from then on, leave her alone.

  He didn’t want a woman with secrets. Hell, he didn’t want a woman at all, especially this woman, with her own brand of trouble.

  As he drove, aching to touch her, he wondered when he’d started lying to himself.

  Unsmiling, Jewel watched Colton’s truck disappear around the corner, staring after him until long after he was gone.

  Dragging herself to her front door, she let herself in and, once inside, began to pace. It was a good thing she’d sent Colton packing. Well-fed and restless, the wolf within lunged, tearing at her fragile control. She wanted out of the human-body cage.

  Jewel knew it was time. She would have to attempt to change once more, even if the results were disastrous.

  If only she had someone, another shifter, with her to help in case she failed. But, even back in New York, Leo had kept her isolated from the other women, claiming at first she was ill. Eventually, even her old friends had given up. For the entire five years of her marriage, she’d not been allowed a single female friend.

  The one time she’d tried, Leo’d beaten her to within an inch of her life. She’d been lucky shifters healed fast. No one seeing her then would have questioned Leo’s story that she was seriously ill.

  After that, she hadn’t tried again. She’d learned how to live alone, relying on herself. A Pack member who truly wasn’t permitted to be part of the Pack. Leo’d even left a guard watching her. After each visitor had been turned away time and time again, people had stopped trying.

  She ought to be used to being alone, but God how she wanted a friend. That was why she’d toyed with the idea of telling Colton. Luckily, she’d come to her senses before she had. Foolishness like that could get her killed.

  No, she was better off alone.

  Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how Colton would have reacted. He already half believed her a druggie—what would he think if she started babbling about being a werewolf?

  The wolf within howled, making her shiver.

  Once, she’d thought a wolf’s howl one of the loveliest sounds of nature. Now, the cry of the wolf within pointed out the bleakness of her current existence.

  A shifter who couldn’t change. Worse than the constant fear, the inability to change chipped at the core of her being.

  Of course she had to try again. She was a shifter, part wolf. Whatever Leo had done to her, given her, had to be wearing off by now. Had to be.

  Time to set her wolf free.

  Though the sun blazed high overhead, she stepped outside. The heat of the day hit her like an open oven, the humidity making it difficult to breathe. She walked to the edge of her lawn, enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin, dipping her toe into the tepid lake waters.

  Moving into the sl
ightly cooler shadows of the trees, Jewel took a deep breath, holding back the wolf with her last bit of strength.

  Though her sundress would be ruined if she succeeded, she left it on, not wanting to be found naked and unconscious by some other man. Fingering her wolf necklace for luck, she muttered a quick prayer. She prayed this time the change would overcome her. That this time she’d be free to run and hunt as her lupine self.

  Then, tears streaming down her cheeks, she crouched close to the ground, inhaling the moist scent of earth. Reaching deep within herself, she touched her wolf, awakening her sleeping other-self. Then, giving herself over to the change, she released the beast.

  No matter where he went, Colton couldn’t escape Jewel. The entire town was talking about the accident and her subsequent self-discharge from the hospital.

  Colton had already finished his piece for the paper and turned it in. Like any good reporter, he’d stuck to the facts, merely mentioning that Jewel’s injuries didn’t appear to be as severe as first believed.

  Or as severe as the X-rays had indicated, according to the doctor. Colton had gone back to interview him after he’d left Jewel. “Something had to be wrong with your machine.”

  “Maybe,” the doctor admitted. “But I don’t see how. Even if her bones weren’t broken, which they were, she had internal injuries. She shouldn’t have even been conscious, never mind walking.”

  None of this made any sense.

  “She mentioned she was ill.” Pen poised over paper, Colton watched the other man intently. “Do you happen to know what’s wrong with her?”

  “Ill?” For the first time, Dr. Wilson appeared to realize who Colton was—or wasn’t. Pushing his glasses up his sharp nose, he glared. “I thought you were her husband or a family member. After all, you did help her leave the hospital.”

  “No, I’m just a friend.”

  The other man eyed his pad. “Are you a reporter?”

  “Yes. For The Anniversary Beacon.”

  “I see.” Shoulders sagging, Dr. Wilson shook his head. “Unfortunately, privacy laws prevent me from commenting further.” White coat flapping, the doctor hurried away, clearly already regretting what little he’d revealed.

  So Colton had written his story, turned it in, and told himself he was done worrying about Jewel. He’d gone to Timberwolf’s Pub to eat and watch the sun set over the lake.