“Is me. How do we find where they are?”
“That’s the tough part,” said Susan. “Paulie wouldn’t be dumb enough to take her to his place, or even to Willard’s, and he’d never sneak her into his parent’s house.”
“Where else does he have to take her?” asked Caleb, his frustration growing.
“Literally anywhere in town. Paulie’s a real estate agent. If there is an empty house in town, he has access to it.” Susan turned on her heel and slapped the keys on the closed trunk. “Follow me. I at least know where to start.”
Chapter Eleven
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” said Dick. He stood at the corner of the service alley just off the main drag, watching for any passersby who might see them parked back there. Susan was bent down at the lock of the estate agent’s employee entrance, picking the lock with a pair of bobby pins. Her face was screwed up in concentration. Caleb stood over, her urging her on.
“Just keep your eyes on your job,” snarled Caleb. His ears pricked when he heard the lock click and the door swung gently inwards.
Susan beamed. “We’re in,” she said.
Dick gave another quick look up and down to make sure no one was coming and followed the two into the realtor’s office. Susan navigated through the dark for the light switch. She flicked it, fully lighting the back room .
“What now?” asked Caleb. He peered out into the front where there were several cubicles with desks and computers, filing cabinets, and a large cupboard on the wall.
Susan put a finger to her lips to shush the pair of them before stepping out into the darkened front space. She walked to the cupboard on the wall. She pulled it open and began scanning the little fobs.
“There are two sets of keys missing: thirteen and twenty-eight,” she whispered. “Caleb, checked the listings over there. There should be an address for each of them. Dick, find the sign out sheet. Paulie’s boss is very rigorous about making sure he knows where the keys are and who had access to them last. Paulie complains about his system all time.”
Caleb slipped through the cubicles and started rifling through the filing cabinets. He found the listings for the houses they were showing right now.
“Thirteen is over on Oak drive and twenty-eight is on the corner of Elm Tree and Pine.”
“The house on Elm Tree and Pine was legitimately signed out for an after office hours showing. Oak drive should still be here, according to this.”
“Paulie must have taken them. He could get them back as he’s usually first in, makes a point of it, no one would know they’d been missing,” said Susan, shutting the cupboard and using the sleeve of her scrubs to wipe her finger prints.
Caleb and Dick copied her. Together they headed back into the alley, being careful to make sure the door was pushed back into place. Susan and Caleb looked at each other as if they knew where they were headed now.
Dick, however, had stopped dead and stared at the cars. The trunk to the Impala was wide open.
“I think we have a problem.”
All three of them rushed to look into the trunk. The cords used to bind Willard’s wrists and ankles were in loops on the trunk floor. In the middle was a shredded mass of cloth and a wet sock.
“He had enough energy to shift after resting in the trunk,” growled Susan, smacking the lid down. “He’ll still be slow to run though.”
“He’s got a head start,” said Dick.
Caleb started pulling his clothes off.
Dick turned away. “What are you doing?”
“We need to get after him fast,” said Caleb, looking to Susan who got his drift and started to strip too. “We can move faster if we shift and run. We can track him better too and we won’t have to stop for lights or intersections. Take my keys and drive to the address. We’ll see you there.”
Dick heard the sound of flesh and bone reshaping, saw the shimmer of deep magic and turned to see a large black wolf and the same slim petite brown wolf he’d seen before, dash away following a scent.
* * * *
Kerry struggled with her bonds. She slowly worked her wrists free in increments while Paulie was busy trying to create a romantic atmosphere. He dragged a mattress down from somewhere above them, some pillows, and an old picnic blanket. He produced a boom box which played romantic melodies, some Celtic sounding harp and flutes behind a woman decrying the absence of her lover, while he set up candles on almost every area of floor that was clear
Kerry shook her head. She liked Paulie but never in that way.
“What is all this?”
Paulie turned around to smile at her. He opened a bag of pink and red potpourri that smelled like roses and gardenias. He sprinkled liberally around the mattress in a circle.
“Do you like it? It’s the best I can do when I had only a little time to prepare everything. If the situation hadn’t changed I promise this would have been better—a proper bed in a hotel somewhere nice.”
“Why? What do you think is going to happen here?” Kerry needed to keep him distracted while she kept working at the rope binding her.
“We’re going to have a little mating dance of our own. Just like your parents did. As soon as Willard lets me know that Caleb is dead.”
“Are you crazy? Paulie, I have never thought of you like that.”
“Yes, you have. I know you have. I feel the attraction when we go dancing and you grind yourself up against me.”
“That’s just dancing.”
“Sure it is,” he said, opening a second bag of the dried smelling flowers and added to his circle.
Kerry growled at him. “Even if you do kill Caleb,” she said grinning feral, as one of her wrists pulled loose. “I would never just lie down and say, ‘let’s go at it’.”
Paulie chose to ignore her now, setting his back to her as he busied himself with lighting candles which, too had, a scent, vanilla & chocolate—adding to the overwhelming, sickly sweet perfume of the night he had planned. The combination of scents made the room stuffy and claustrophobic.
Kerry drew her knees up under her, pushing to kneel, and slowly bringing her hands around the front of her body. She set her hands on the ground. The rope was still tied around one wrist and she prepared to shift.
Willard burst in, naked as a jay bird and bloody. “They know. They’re coming,” he said, collapsing into a heap at the bottom of the stairs.
Paulie looked at him angrily. “You idiot you’ll have led them right here,” he said.
He whirled to secure Kerry. Maybe he could get her out to his car and to another location before they arrived. He was startled to see her on all fours.
She gave him a brief look before committing to the change. Kerry’s wolf body burst out of her skin and her clothes. The gleaming snow white and cream fur spread over her as her face became a wolf muzzle and her teeth lengthened and sharpened. Her bones locking into their new alignment was like the popping of bubble wrap. Her fur always smelled damp just after a change, so she shook dry. Her paw stepped out of the rope which she picked up with her teeth, tossing her head from side to side with it trapped in her jaws before letting it fly free against a wall. Her eyes narrowed at Paulie.
“Kerry now, be reasonable. You don’t want to hurt me. We’re friends.”
Kerry snarled. They had been friends right up to the point he confessed that he tried to kill her mate and intended to force her to become his after Caleb was dead. Kerry bared her teeth at him—a sentiment echoed when a brown wolf she recognized as Susan entered. She was followed by Caleb’s black furred wolf.
“Susie, you’re not going to take his side are you?” asked Paulie.
Susan strolled around Caleb and to Kerry, whom she nuzzled affectionately, reassuring herself that her best friend was alright.
It also told Paulie clearly whose side she was on. Panicking, he grabbed the nearest piece of ply wood. He smacked it into Caleb’s jaws and ran for the stairs. He stripped out of his clothes as he went, shifting and runni
ng.
Kerry butted the stunned Caleb with her head, whimpering. She pleaded with him to get up, licking at his muzzle. Caleb got to his feet, barked at Susan while looking between her and Willard. He angled himself for the stairs. Susan trotted over to Willard who was wheezing on the floor. She sat her hulking brown furred butt down on his legs. Kerry followed on Caleb’s heels.
Caleb let Kerry overtake him and lead. She knew Paulie the longest and knew his scent the clearest. She broke into a run through the gaps between house, across deserted roads, until they reached the edge of the land that became the woods and then beyond that the mountains. Kerry was like white lightening through the trees.
Caleb remembered the first time he watched her run like this. He had been following her as she led the way. Soon he saw the silver wolf ahead of them. They had caught up to him with little difficulty and Caleb took the lead, with a visual target he could charge ahead, take down their quarry.
Kerry veered to the left, running full out to get a head of Paulie. Caleb let her. He trusted that she wouldn’t do anything reckless. Together they could trap him.
He darted, following the silver wolf’s path, letting his scent become more familiar to him as he tracked him. Paulie looked back over his shoulder. Seeing how close Caleb was, he turned suddenly to his left, pounding through the bracken towards where light penetrated the thick trunks.
Caleb followed. He burst into the middle of a small heard of deer already scattering and panicking as the silver wolf darted through them, purposely riling them to provide a smoke screen. Caleb lost him in the throng of smaller brown bodies. He dropped his nose to the ground, trying to root his scent out from the grass.
He soon picked it up heading into the hills. Half-way up a dirt track, Kerry’s scent crossed his. She had caught up to him quicker and would be ahead of him. He would be proud if she took him down. As he rounded a large boulder that narrowed the path, he found his mate. Her white muzzle was stained by blood and a man lay panting on the ground, bleeding crimson lines down his chest. The wounds weren’t enough to kill him. Caleb hadn’t known Kerry long but he was positive she didn’t have it in her to kill another human being.
“Kerry, please,” Paulie gargled blood as he tried to speak, showing the wound in his neck. “Can’t we just talk about this? We’ve always been able to talk about anything.”
The white wolf rose up onto its hind legs. The woman emerged from inside the beast. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and spat his fetid blood onto the dirt.
“What is there to talk about? You tried to kill my mate and in the process nearly killed me, not once but twice. Then you tied me up in preparation to do God knows what to me as soon as your third attempt on my mate was over. Do you want me to forgive you?”
Paulie lay there silent with his eyes on her, taking in her savage beauty. Her hair was mussed up and her fingers red from his blood.
Caleb stalked up behind her, rising to his human shape. He wrapped one arm across Kerry’s breasts and the other slung love around her hips, concealing her from him, both a possessive display and an insult to the wounded rival. He growled seductively against Kerry’s neck and she arched, enjoying the sensation.
Paulie looked away from them. Kerry turned her head to look at Caleb and her eyes softened just a little. She turned back to their captive with a long sigh.
“What am I to do with you?” she asked herself more than she asked the man on her ground who had once been her friend. “Caleb is well within his rights to kill you; so am I; so is the pack when they learn of this.”
“You’re going to turn me in?” asked Paulie, half-question and half-statement. Kerry shook her head which was the only warning Caleb got of what was on his mate’s mind.
“No. You were my friend since we were kids. Run Paulie. Run now. Leave everything and just go. Get away and never come back.”
Paulie looked at her, shocked.
Caleb couldn’t keep his own confusion and frustration off his own face, but Kerry ignored that.
“I mean it. Go now, before I change my mind. I brand you a lone wolf Paulie. Get out of my sight.”
Paulie pulled his body in on itself, taking his silver furred wolf shape again. He turned to go, swaying slightly as he walked. He stopped to look back at her.
Kerry kept her face hard and watched him disappear out of sight.
Chapter Twelve
Caleb watched Kerry as she walked down the aisle towards him. She was radiantly beautiful. Her hair had grown out so that it touched her shoulders and it was crowned by Tiger Lilies. The dress she wore was a similar color. The entire chapel was decorated with fall colors to reflect the time of year.
Caleb stuck his hands in his pocket and adjusted his trousers. She beamed at him, catching the motion. Then she took her place opposite him, making a space as the bride now made her triumphant march down the aisle.
Susan looked beautiful all decked in white lace and cream silk. Her hair was bound neatly in a chignon at the base of her neck from which hung her veil which trailed down against the pearl buttons on her back. The train was relatively short and was manageable for the small child who followed along behind her.
Caleb turned to look at Luka, who beamed with pride at the minister, at his groomsmen, at the bridesmaids, at the bride, and the guests. Caleb was pleased to see that he looked so happy to have this union.
Susan reached the preacher and practically shoved her flowers into Kerry’s waiting arms. She turned and secured her hands around Luka’s. Her face was glowing.
The ceremony wasn’t a long one because they opted out of singing hymns but they had a couple of readings by family members and then the vows. Caleb couldn’t have described the look on their faces as they exchanged rings, almost a primal look of possession even though they already had their mating dance and their first full moon as a couple. A cheer rang up as they exited the church as man and wife, driving away to the reception in a ribbon bedazzled classic car.
* * * *
The reception was alive with music and libation. Caleb couldn’t get a quiet minute alone with Kerry. She was dragged around amongst friends and family. Her father gave him less of a hard time but every once and a while did the Robert De Niro “I’m watching you” action.
Finally it was Kerry who broke away from everyone, going over to Caleb and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. The happy couple were enjoying a solo slow dance in the middle of the floor. She smiled, watching them, and nuzzled his cheek.
“You’re all tucked away over here,” she said and settled into his lap with her arms wrapped sweetly around his neck. Caleb drew circles on her thighs through the material of her dress. He leaned sideways to the chair next to him and pulled out a plate with a piece of wedding cake on it. Kerry smiled at him.
“I saved you a piece,” he said proudly, “I had to secret it away from Susan’s aunt Gemmy who pretty much hovered over the buffet.”
Kerry took the plate from him, setting it on the table so she could give him a long, sweet kiss of thanks. He gripped her knee and let a low, seductive growl tumble over his lips.
“Keep that up and I am going to have to sequester the maid of honor to a closet obstructing her in the performance of her duties.” Kerry giggled and turned to her cake only to have Susan swoop down on it.
“Oh, please. Let me have a bite; I’m starving,” she said. Her eyes were big, round, and guileless. Kerry smiled and pushed the cake towards her.
“Push over,” said Caleb playfully.
“You have to oblige the bride on her special day,” Kerry retorted.
Caleb looked pointedly at his watch. “It’s only her special day for another five minutes.”
“In that case, you cause a distraction. The cake and I will head for Mexico.” Caleb pinched her under her ribs which made her squeal. They turned to face Susan who had more than wolfed down half the cake. Kerry sighed, resigned to letting her finish it.
“Jeez, woman, it’s not like y
ou’re eating for two yet,” said Caleb watching as Susan finished the cake and then started on an unoccupied plate of buffet snacks.
“She did her whole life, don’t see why she should stop now,” said Kerry with a smirk. Susan poked her tongue out at her dropping into a seat next to them in a big poof of white satin.
“I can’t help it. Do you know how many meals I had to skip to fit into this dress? Too many. I aim to bust out of the thing just in time in the honeymoon suite. Not like I’ll ever wear it again.”
Caleb ran his fingers up and down Kerry’s spine playfully. It made her shift about in his lap, which was both pleasant and distracting.
“Susan, some of your guests are leaving. Come say goodbye,” called the down-homey voice of Susan’s mother. Susan looked over to the door to see who was departing the night so early. Her saddened eyes turned back to Kerry.
“It’s the Jamieson’s,” she told Kerry in a whispered voice. Kerry turned her head just in time to catch the look Paulie’s mother threw in her direction. The woman teetered on the edge of anger and regret simultaneously. Caleb wrapped his arms possessively around his mate and leveled a gaze at the woman who made her flush and turn away. Kerry leaned in to Susan.
“It was so nice of you to invite them.”
“There still friends of my folks and yours. I wanted them to still feel part of their community. It’s not them the clan shamed, just their son. Do you think…I mean will we ever see him again?” Kerry shrugged her shoulders.
“His windows closed and Willard sang like a parrot for a cracker, thinking it would somehow help him. Paulie should know he would. I think he knows it won’t ever be safe to come back, even to ease his parent’s minds.”
“Susannah Trixie Verde-Beaumont—yes, that’s right, I’m using your full name young lady—get your butt over here right now,” called Susan’s mother when her daughter didn’t make any progress towards her. Susan gave a martyred sigh, a longing look at her plate of stolen food, and flounced over to her mother in a shimmering meringue of white.
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