A SEAL Wolf Christmas hotw-12

by Terry Spear

  Bjornolf breathed in a sigh of relief. Sarah’s father would have killed Nathan. Bjornolf tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel.

  Nathan sat morosely staring out the windshield. Soft, white snowflakes began to flutter down from the heavens.

  “If she’s a wolf and pregnant and your mate, she should come to our open house tomorrow. It’s a pack gathering. Everyone should get to know her. It would be the perfect time to make her feel welcome. Give her a network of wolf families to fall back on,” Bjornolf said.

  “If she wants. She might be too overwhelmed with the whole thing.” Nathan paused. “What are we going to do when you and Anna leave?”

  Bjornolf took a deep breath. “Anna and I haven’t even decided where we’re going to be living beyond this mission.”

  Nathan studied him carefully, then quietly said, “I hope you both decide to stay here.”

  Bjornolf smiled at him. “I don’t think anyone has ever told me that before.”

  Nathan looked skeptical for a moment, then seeing Bjornolf was serious, he grinned. “Well, I have.”

  “I’ll have to talk with Anna. But we’ll see.” Bjornolf looked back at the drugstore.

  “You’re worried about her.” Nathan looked from the windshield to Bjornolf.

  “Yeah,” he said. “She’s taking too long. Not her style. Let’s go.”

  The two of them headed for the drugstore as an elderly lady and man using walkers tried to get through the door. Barely able to suppress the urgent need to dash into the store and ignore the older couple’s troubles, Bjornolf held the door open for them.

  Once the elderly couple had made it outside, Bjornolf and Nathan rushed inside, following Anna’s scent. They found she’d lingered in front of a display of boxes of dark chocolate thin mints. Not what he’d expected. They headed for the aisle where the pregnancy tests were shelved.

  “She was here,” Nathan said, anxious. “But then she moved right on past as if she didn’t linger.”

  “It’s okay. We would have seen her leave the store. She must have thought of something else we needed for dinner tonight or decorations or something.”

  “I’ll go that way,” Nathan said, motioning to the right, “and you take the other half of the store.”

  Bjornolf didn’t argue about who was in charge, just nodded, seeing something of himself in the kid and approving. With his long stride, Bjornolf ate up the drugstore’s linoleum tiles, avoiding the aisles she hadn’t walked down. He soon spied Nathan headed in the same direction he was. The employees’ back-door entrance.

  Shit. Not only must she have left the building this way, but she’d been with one hulking brute of a man named Everton. From the scent she’d left behind, Bjornolf could tell she had been angry, and so was Everton. Bjornolf’s heart was pounding furiously. He and Nathan burst outside, letting the door slam behind them. They quickly surveyed the parking lot for any sign of movement.

  “What would Roger Everton want with Anna?” Nathan said, hurrying with Bjornolf to search the employee parking lot to the strip mall.

  There was no sign of Anna or any vehicle that Nathan recognized as belonging to the Everton family or any of their staff work trucks. No movement at all.

  “He thought she discovered something at the tree farm?” Bjornolf said, racing with Nathan around the strip mall because the employee door was locked and they couldn’t get back in without a key. How had Everton gotten the upper hand with Anna? Bjornolf knew she’d be armed. She had tons of tricks to use on a man who tried to take her hostage.

  His blood cold with worry, Bjornolf was already on his cell phone to Hunter before they reached the Land Rover. “Roger Everton abducted Anna at Riley’s Drugstore. We’re not sure where they’ve gone, but we’re heading to the Christmas tree farm. He’s the same man that said he was Everton when he caught us investigating the farm.”

  “I’ll send the troops, Bjornolf. We’ll get her back.”

  Yeah, but alive and in one piece? Or dead like the wolf DEA agents? Bjornolf floored the Land Rover.

  When Bjornolf got off the phone with Hunter, he heard what he assumed was Nathan talking to Jessica on his phone.

  “I don’t know what’s going on with your dad, but he just abducted my aunt.” Nathan sounded both worried and hot with anger.

  Bjornolf had nearly forgotten their cover in all of this madness.

  “Let me know if you see your dad return home. My uncle and I are headed for the tree farm. Some friends of his are also. Okay, Jessica?”

  There was silence for a moment, then Nathan said, “I love you, too.” He sounded almost embarrassed to declare such a thing in front of Bjornolf, and when he ended the conversation, he quickly looked at Bjornolf to see if he’d been listening.

  Nathan laid the phone on his lap and stared out the windshield.

  “Is everything all right with Jessica?” Bjornolf asked. He was full of worry for Anna, but he was also concerned about Jessica, should Everton turn on her.

  “It’s all my fault,” Nathan said.

  “No. It isn’t,” Bjornolf said sternly. “We’re here because we’re trying to uncover a couple of murders. It appears Everton is involved in this murder business, and it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

  Nathan shook his head. “Not about that. Jessica texted me when we were shopping earlier. She’d spoken to her father about coming to our place for dinner. He wanted to know where we were so he could talk to you. She said she could tell he was angry, but he was trying to hide how he was feeling from her. She asked which store we were at, hoping that you and Anna would convince him it was fine that she had dinner with us. He must have gone to the store, saw us leave in the Land Rover, and followed us to the drugstore.”

  What the hell was going on with Everton? Bjornolf wondered if he suspected they were not Nathan’s relatives, that they were there to investigate the murders. Hell.

  “Where’s Jessica and her mom?” Bjornolf asked, attempting to sound in control of his emotions when he was about to have a meltdown. He thought it best that both of the women be away from the farm, immediately.

  Nathan studied him. “Her mom was in Portland for the day. Jessica’s by herself.”

  “Is Jessica’s home near the Christmas tree farm?”

  “On the property. Behind the gift shop. There’s a road that skirts around to the back of the shop. The house is set back, surrounded by pine trees that tower over the place.”

  Bjornolf ground his teeth. He wanted Jessica to stay put until they arrived, reporting to them if Everton and Anna showed up. On the other hand, she would be safer with one of the wolf-pack families until they could sort the situation out. He didn’t trust that Everton would not harm her if he knew she’d learned what he was up to.

  “We could have a wolf pick her up and take her to his home, but it would take longer. Or we could tell her to drive to one of the family’s homes, but she might not feel comfortable doing that. Her father might catch her trying to leave,” Bjornolf said.

  “We’re half an hour from there,” Nathan said. “Everton’s got at least ten to fifteen minutes head start on us. But we don’t know if he’s really going to the tree farm or not.”

  Nathan called Jessica back. “We’ve got friends on the way, but it will take some time for them to get there.”

  “He was angry, Nathan. I’ve never heard him so mad.” Tears choked Jessica’s voice.

  “Okay… okay, um…” That was one thing Nathan couldn’t handle. Women’s tears. Worse, he couldn’t think of what to tell her to do to stay safe.

  “He said that your aunt and uncle weren’t really your aunt and uncle. He thinks they’re trying to steal me away.”

  “What? That’s crazy! You don’t believe that, do you?” Nathan meant about the stealing part. He’d have to explain that they weren’t really related, though.

  “He said… he said he caught them sneaking around the property like they were trying to find a way to break into the house.
He told me he didn’t call the police on them because he knew they were friends of yours, and I care for you.”

  “Do you believe him? That they were trying to break into your house?”

  “No. He lied. No one was anywhere near the house but my mother and father and me. Well, and you when they weren’t around.”

  Nathan took a settling breath. “Okay. Bjornolf and Anna aren’t dangerous, alright? They’re like my godparents. They—”

  “He’s back,” she said in a strangled whisper, sounding scared to death.

  “Anna? Is Anna with him? Jessica, answer me!”

  “He’s… he’s opening the trunk.” Her words shook.

  Nathan barely breathed.

  Bjornolf’s heart was racing so hard that Nathan could hear it. Bjornolf couldn’t drive any faster without getting himself and Nathan killed on the road, but he was pushing it as hard as he could. Nathan knew Bjornolf was straining to hear what Jessica was saying. He didn’t want him to hear the truth if Anna was no longer alive.

  “Oh my God. He’s carrying something in an old army blanket,” Jessica said.

  “Like a body, Jessica?”

  “He’s putting the… the… oh God, I see a hand. A woman’s hand. He’s tossing her body into the bucket of the backhoe.”

  “Jessica, listen to me.” Nathan’s blood pounded so hard that he could hear it throbbing in his ears. “Jessica, I want you to leave. Now.”

  “He’s taken the keys to my car. I looked. They’re gone.”

  “Open the back door to your house. Remove your clothes and shift into a wolf.” He felt Bjornolf glance in his direction, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Jessica, listen to me. I know you’ve done it before.” Nathan suspected she must have shifted a few times since she’d reached puberty. He spoke forcefully, urging her to break through her fear and take care of herself in a wolf way. “We can’t see it because of the clouds, but the moon’s full. You must feel it. You can shift again. I can also. Bjornolf and Anna are just like us. Get out of the house. Hide in the woods until help arrives.”

  He heard a door squeak open and his heart plunged. Was it her father, returning after disposing of Anna?

  “Jessica?”

  “All right. All right. Promise me you’ll come for me.” She stifled a sob. “I love you. I have to go,” she whispered.

  He listened into the phone. He heard the rustling of clothes, and then the scrambling of wolf claws on the tile floor before the sound of the backhoe’s engine growled in the distance, moving away from the house and into the woods.

  Nathan gripped the phone so hard that he was surprised he hadn’t crushed it. He couldn’t look at Bjornolf, couldn’t tell him that they could be too late for Anna. Her first Christmas… and her last. Hot tears filled his eyes.

  “Turn wolf as soon as we get there,” Bjornolf suddenly said.

  Breaking free of his thoughts, Nathan glanced at him. “What?”

  “You’ll run faster. Howl for the pack. One of us needs to remain in human form. I’m trained to take down the enemy as a human. You aren’t. You’ll do better protecting Jessica with your wolf teeth.”

  “We go after Anna first, right?” Nathan asked.

  He wanted to protect Jessica, but he knew she could hide from her father, while Anna was the one who needed rescuing pronto. He yanked off his sweater, then began tugging at the buttons on his shirt.

  “Yeah. But you can’t bite Everton unless we have no other option. Then you find Jessica. Keep her safe until the troops arrive.”

  He prayed that Anna wouldn’t need the troops. That he and Bjornolf would save her before it was too late.

  Chapter 17

  Shit.

  Anna hated shopping, but as soon as she’d spied her favorite dark chocolate mints—the sole thing that made her take notice of the holidays—she felt a gun poke her ribs.

  With a quick twist of her head, she’d looked up into the mottled red face of one very angry Everton.

  She couldn’t register why he had targeted her in the drugstore. Why he had a gun. Why he acted like he wanted to kill her.

  “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” he growled softly in her ear.

  “One of whom?” she asked, honestly not knowing what he meant. Her first thought was that he knew she was a wolf. He couldn’t know that unless he was also a lupus garou, but he wasn’t.

  Did he think she was DEA? Hell. That’s probably what he thought. That she was investigating the other agents’ murders and also was one. Which meant? A death sentence for her. It also had to mean he was involved in the men’s killings or the cover-up, or both.

  She wanted to use her martial arts on him. But because she was in such close proximity to two ladies picking out vitamins and four elderly customers looking at other kinds of health remedies, she was certain his gun would go off, and he’d hit somebody. If not her.

  She couldn’t risk it.

  With a gloved hand shackled to her arm, he pulled her through the store and into a short hallway that housed an employee bathroom. His target was the employees’ back door. She quickly noted the fire exit sign and the statement that opening the door would set off the alarm, which gave her hope. With their enhanced wolf hearing, Bjornolf and Nathan would be alerted.

  Apparently the warning sign was just for show because when he opened the door, nothing could be heard except the creaking sound of rusty hinges. She was on her own.

  Once she was outside, she went all ninja she-wolf warrior on him for a few seconds. She slammed her fist into the bridge of his nose, using the bottom part of her hand like a hammer, breaking the cartilage. It twisted and made a loud crunch. Blood gushed forth, and he howled in pain.

  In the next instant, she kneed him in the thigh with a sharp jab, missing the more vital groin area because he jerked to the side when she broke his nose. He cursed and clamped something over her face.

  She struggled, kicking his shins, and scratching a gloved hand that held a damp cloth over her nose and mouth. The odor from the cloth was pleasant, nonirritating, and sweet smelling. Chloroform, her brain instantly registered. Trying to fight harder, to break loose, she felt herself drifting like a footloose cloud away from all the others bunched together in the sky. Snowflakes collected on her eyelashes as she stared up at the blood gushing from Everton’s crooked nose.

  The red blood, his red splotchy face, the black ski cap stretched across his big head, and even the white snowflakes faded to gray, and then to black.

  The next thing she was aware of was bouncing around in the trunk of a vehicle. She was wrapped up in a scratchy wool blanket, standard army issue. Every bump in the road bruised her as the roar of the tires rolling over the snowy pavement filled her ears. Icy cold air circulated around the top of her head. The uninsulated space was freezing. Worse, she couldn’t recall how she had gotten into the trunk of a vehicle or why.

  Car fumes and the smell of the old musty, moldy blanket and a rubber tire nearly asphyxiated her.

  Then bits and pieces of memories floated into her sluggish brain—she was looking for pregnancy tests in the drugstore. No, the dark chocolate thin mints had caught her attention first, and she hadn’t even made it to the aisle where the pregnancy tests were shelved. Then Everton had grabbed her.

  For a moment, she focused on an image in her mind’s eye of Nathan and Bjornolf, waiting patiently while she ran into the store. No way was she going to admit to them—if she got out of this mess alive—that she’d been thwarted by a display of her favorite chocolate mints.

  Her cell phone vibrated against her hip. She moved her hand to reach her jacket pocket and realized her wrists weren’t bound. Thank God for small miracles! She tried to move her hand to her jacket pocket but couldn’t concentrate enough to get her fingers into it. Ready to scream with frustration, she tried again, missing the pocket over and over.

  The phone stopped pulsating. No!

  The vehicle continued driving, and she wondered where Everton i
ntended to finish her off. The tree farm? Somewhere else? Woods abounded in the area so it would be easy to dump her anywhere, and she might be lost forever.

  She still kept trying to reach her phone. Why couldn’t her brain make her hand do what it was supposed to do?

  Her heart lurched when the annoying buzzing from her phone started up again.

  She shoved at her pocket and this time managed to get her hand inside and grasped her phone. Don’t stop buzzing. By the time she got her cell out, the call had ended. She barely had time to be frustrated and upset before the phone started vibrating again as if the caller wasn’t quitting until he got through to her. God, she loved whoever it was.

  She peered at the caller ID, having difficulty fixing on the name as it blurred. Hunter.

  “Yeah.” Anna held the phone against her ear, straining to be heard. She thought she sounded as though she’d just woken from a hundred-year nap.

  “Anna, thank God. Where are you?” Hunter’s voice was frantic.

  “Trunk… car… driving,” Anna said. Her words were slurred and annoyingly took their time to come out of her mouth.

  “Anna,” Hunter said, his voice gruff, commanding, as if he was going to tell her to get her act together.

  “I’m… here.” She tried to sound as forceful as Hunter, more… in charge of her situation, but her voice was whispery soft without any real body or bite.

  “Drugged?” Hunter asked.

  “Chlor—form.”

  “Okay, listen up. The whole pack is searching for every vehicle that the Everton family and their workers drive.”

  “Everton,” she breathed out, trying to reveal his name so they wouldn’t be looking for the wrong man.

  “Yeah, Roger Everton. Actually, Everton is just the name of the business. He changed his name to that when his father didn’t leave him anything in his will.”

  “Great.” So Everton probably thought she and Bjornolf were DEA and trying to get his adopted daughter away from him by inviting her over to dinner that night. Then they’d interrogate Jessica for all she knew about her dad’s involvement in the murders.