Bayou Wolf

by Debbie Herbert

  The next time he entered the farmhouse after today, he wouldn’t be sneaking around for a few necessities. Next time it would be for revenge.

  Chapter 9

  Payton swiped at the sweat on his brow and watched Matt approach across the scarred, flat earth where they’d cleared timber. The exposed red clay looked like bloody gashes, the work site an assault on Mother Nature. Payton stopped the skidder and set the brake. A few of the men looked up from their work, but immediately returned to it. His reception today had been on the cool side, but not hostile. No doubt Matt had smoothed things over with the others after he’d stormed out.

  Unlike his exit from Tallulah’s this morning. What a screwed-up morning after a glorious night. He needed to speak to Matt about all this and warn the pack not to search for Russell tonight—or risk getting shot. Even more than that worry was the shock when he’d made love to Tallulah. The moment of his climax, he’d realized the truth. A sucker punch to his gut that had him reeling.

  Tallulah Silver was his fated mate.

  His. She should be his forever. The knowledge had slammed into him, stunned him into an astonished reverie that had quickly turned to bitter irony.

  His destined mate was a woman who hunted wolves at night.

  Matt climbed into the cab beside him now and handed him a cold bottle of water from their cooler. “Glad you showed up today.”

  “Wouldn’t trust anyone else with this baby.” He patted the dashboard and accepted the drink, running the iced container over the back of his neck before unscrewing the top and sating his thirst. “Heard anything from the cops?”

  “Nope. But they’re still hanging around. Matter of time before they connect the dots. I’m thinking the day may come when we’ll have to pick up and leave in the dead of night.”

  “That’s the worst thing you could do,” Payton blurted.

  Matt raised a brow in surprise.

  “In my opinion,” Payton muttered. He wasn’t usually so outspoken with the alpha. It was like he was channeling Tallulah. Remembering her, his mate, he shifted uncomfortably. Sure as hell wasn’t sharing that tidbit of info with Matt or anyone else.

  “I need to warn you that Tallulah and several others plan to hunt down the wolf that attacked her.”

  “Damn it.” Matt threw his hands in the air. “Like I don’t have enough to handle. When do they plan on it—this weekend?”

  “Tonight.”

  “What the hell?”

  “I know it sounds crazy. I’ll talk to her after work and try to figure out what’s going on.”

  “Stop them,” Matt ordered.

  “Easy for you to say. You’ve met her, remember? The woman that’s slowed down our operation for hours with her organized protests.”

  “Lie to her then. Tell her the situation is under control.”

  “That’s not going to go over well if another dead body shows up in the bayou,” he pointed out.

  “Russell’s probably hundreds of miles from here.”

  Payton wasn’t so sure. Russell’s anger and hate had been intense. The fever had warped his mind so completely that he’d been brazen enough to attack Tallulah by day.

  Matt cut through his thoughts. “You coming home tonight or moving in with Tallulah?”

  “Not sure.” He took another long swig of water. “I’m playing it by ear.”

  Matt nodded. “Whatever it takes, keep her and her friends from the hunt.” He opened the door and started to climb down, then paused, as if a sudden thought struck him. “It goes without saying that we expect your undying loyalty when it comes to the pack. You can’t tell her about us.”

  Payton’s jaw clenched and his hands gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. “Of course I won’t.” Some of the bitterness leaked into his words. “That goes without saying.”

  Matt nodded. “I expected no less from you.” He scrambled out of the skidder, shutting the door behind him.

  Payton turned the ignition key and the loud engine roared to life. For once, he took a savage satisfaction in felling the timber, as if he were knocking down the obstacles to his peace of mind.

  Stop Tallulah? He snorted. The best option might be to go along with the hunters and deflect them from discovering anything incriminating about the pack. Surely, she and her friends were harmless—no match against his wily wolf pack.

  Unbidden, he felt his lips curl in amusement. Tallulah was anything but harmless—a sharp-tongued warrior guarding a vulnerable heart. His mate. When he left Bayou La Siryna, left Tallulah behind, he’d be leaving the one woman fate decreed should be joined to him forever.

  Fate, once again, proved a cruel bitch. Much as he admired and desired Tallulah, the selection of her as his mate couldn’t have been worse.

  He wasn’t happy about it. Not a bit.

  * * *

  “You can’t be serious.” Tombi scowled at her and carefully set the historic Native American flute back on the countertop.

  Tallulah returned the artifact to the glass-encased shelving, glad she’d picked this location for announcing the news. She’d been right to ask Tombi to drop by the Native American Cultural Center, where she worked. The trickle of visitors kept her fiery twin from going into full ballistic mode.

  “Hard to hide my true nature from Payton.”

  “Try,” he said harshly. “The man will be gone in a few months anyway.”

  Tombi’s words pinched her heart, but she kept her features stoic. Ever since the attack, her brother had grown more and more distrustful of Payton. “I’m going to tell him about my true nature. I don’t need your permission, but wanted you to know.”

  “He’s a stranger. How can you possibly trust him?”

  “And he’ll stay a stranger if I’m not honest. Besides, look how quickly you and Chulah confided everything to your girlfriends.”

  “Who later became our wives.” His voice rose. “You really see a future with this dude?”

  Tallulah cocked her head, indicating that he’d drawn the attention of an elderly couple that had been eyeing a woven Choctaw blanket.

  Tombi nodded and leaned in. “Well?” he muttered. “Do you?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Hope was a foreign emotion but it had seeped into her armored heart last night.

  “Maybe isn’t good enough. The last man you fell for tried to kill us.”

  Anger, pain and shame rumbled in her gut. She rushed to a defensive stance, squelching the little niggle of doubt about her judgment of men. “That’s not fair. Hanan was your friend, too.”

  “You’re right.” He held up a hand. “Sorry.”

  “That was different anyway—”

  “How?”

  With Hanan, it had purely been a sexual affair, a friends-with-benefits deal. Not that she would admit that to her brother. Ewww.

  “It just was. Let it go.”

  Tombi’s eyes narrowed, as if he’d guessed her thoughts. She glanced at the clock—almost closing time. She couldn’t help it; a little bubble of joy rose in her throat. Payton had promised to come by for dinner.

  “I see you’ve made up your mind so I won’t bother arguing with you.” He lightly rapped his knuckles on the countertop. “But I don’t agree with your decision.”

  He didn’t trust her judgment. Not that she could blame him. Her own confidence in matters of the heart had been shattered by Hanan’s absolute betrayal.

  Tallulah lifted her chin, determined to prove her twin wrong about Payton. “Understood.”

  “Excuse me, miss. I’d like to buy this blanket.” The gray-haired man placed the colorful woven blanket on the counter.

  Tombi eased away. “See you tonight.”

  Tallulah rang up the purchase, her mind on Payton. What would h
e think of her shadow hunting? Would he even believe her? Maybe she should invite him to the hunt, show him what she was capable of, share her secret world.

  She was still pondering the questions when she arrived home. Payton’s beat-up Chevy was already parked out front. Before she reached the end of the driveway, he emerged from the truck, a huge pizza box in hand. When was the last time she’d arrived home to a handsome man with dinner waiting?

  Years, actually.

  She climbed out of her car, grinning.

  “Figured you’d like pizza,” Payton said. “Who doesn’t? Pepperoni with extra cheese, okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Hell, if I’d known all it took was a box of pizza to make you happy, I’d have ordered one before now,” he joked.

  “I’m not cheap, but I can be had. Pizza’s my weakness.”

  “Good to know for future reference. Whenever I tick you off, I’ll remember to order pizza instead of roses.”

  “Cheapskate.”

  He chuckled and followed her up the porch steps, with the tantalizing scent of melted cheese and spicy pepperoni wafting toward her. She threw her purse on the coffee table. “Let’s just eat in the den. I’ll get some paper plates and soda from the kitchen.”

  Despite the heavy weight of unburdening her secret, the coziness of Payton in her home lifted Tallulah’s spirits.

  Uh-oh. Don’t get used to this.

  Tallulah kicked off her shoes. What the hell. Enjoy it while it lasted. She sat down on the sofa.

  Payton nodded approvingly. “Good idea.” He shrugged out of his work boots, placing them in the entryway. He sat beside her on the sofa, threw an arm over her shoulder and they dug in, their socked feet propped on the coffee table and playing footsie.

  Tallulah inwardly grinned in wry amusement. Footsie? Who the hell would have thought she’d enjoy that? As much as she wanted the moment to last, the clock ticked. Tombi and the other hunters would be here within the half hour.

  “About the hunt—”

  “Tell me about—”

  They both spoke at once, then stopped.

  “Yes, go on—the hunt,” Payton said.

  She set her empty plate on the table and rose, sitting in the chair opposite Payton. The distance gave her courage. “How open are you to believing in the supernatural? That there are secret worlds others are blind to?”

  “Totally open,” he said at once.

  “Because...wait. You are?” His quick answer caught her off guard.

  “Let me make this a bit easier for you. The first day we met, you saw a wolf, in total darkness, cross the field and enter our farmhouse. You’ve also said the darkness is no problem in seeing to hunt.” His gray eyes hardened like steel. So something weird was definitely up. “I want to know how all this is possible.”

  “As far as my sight, I can see almost as well as the owls and bobcats at night.” She clenched her hands in her lap. This was the first time she’d tried to explain the shadow world to an outsider. “Bayou La Siryna has been home to my people forever. Through the ages, a select group of us inherit special abilities to protect the bayou from evil shadow spirits that roam in darkness. The shadow beings seek power over men and feed on human suffering.”

  Payton leaned forward, drinking in every word. “Go on.”

  “We are called shadow hunters. Like our ancestors, we seek and destroy the spirits, especially during nights of the full moon.”

  “How do you kill them?”

  Her face heated. They carried a bag of stones, a slingshot, a compass and the weight of the dark shadows that constantly threatened their people. Payton needed to observe them in action to see their effectiveness.

  “This will sound primitive, but we use the same weapons that have always been used. You’ll see tonight.”

  His eyes widened. “I will?”

  “Well, the other hunters may balk at first when I tell them, but they’ll come around.”

  He settled back against the sofa and drew one leg up over his knee. “That was easy. I was prepared to argue with you. I need to be with you on this hunt.”

  Her breath caught, stifling the flow of oxygen. Not again. This had been the one issue between her and Bo that had caused friction.

  “I don’t need a protector. I can take care of myself. I only invited you because if we’re going to see each other, this is a huge part of my life, one that would be almost impossible to hide.”

  He held up a hand. “Whoa. I saw what happened with the wolf attack and—”

  She rose to her feet, incensed. “An isolated incident. I won’t let it happen again. So if you think—”

  Payton reached a hand across the distance between them and tugged at her shirt. “Sit down and let me finish my sentences.”

  Startled, she plopped back down.

  “What I’m trying to say is that you survived the attack. I’m not sure that I, or anyone else, could have done so. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”

  Tallulah swallowed past the dry lump in her throat. “I expected you to get all macho and forbid me to hunt alone.”

  His grey eyes softened from steel to smoke. “Like anyone could forbid you from your will.”

  “Oh, believe me, they’ve tried.” She couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped her lips.

  Bo had been at her side at all times in the woods, refusing to let her hunt alone. It had irritated her and chafed at her spirit, even though she knew he did it out of a desire to protect. Hanan had also been stifling—but for a different reason. As it turned out, Hanan had always wanted her in sight so he could manipulate and control her every move.

  “I trust you to do what you must. We all follow our own instincts.”

  “Thank you,” she breathed. Unexpected tears formed. Embarrassed, Tallulah stood and paced the small den. “Now then, anything about you I should know?” she asked brusquely.

  Payton stilled, eyes wary. “No.”

  Her tender feelings fled and her eyes dried at once. “I don’t believe you. Tell me about the wolf. You said it was your friend.”

  He shifted in his seat. “A figure of speech. I’d seen it around. Fed it a bit.”

  Payton was lying.

  “I opened up to you,” she complained. “Why can’t you do the same?”

  He rubbed his face with his hands and then ran both hands through his blond hair. A trapped look of sadness haunted his eyes and the turned-down corners of his mouth. “It’s complicated. If it was just me...”

  A loud rap at the door, and Tombi entered with his best friend, Chulah, and half a dozen other shadow hunters, each carrying backpacks loaded with rocks and slingshots.

  Tallulah scowled at the relief that swept Payton’s face. One way or another, she’d learn his secret.

  Chapter 10

  Twilight whispered in the rustling of pines and the long tendrils of Spanish moss that waved in the bayou breeze.

  Without even encountering one, Payton was already half inclined to believe in the ancient spirits.

  He ignored the curious and vaguely mistrustful stares of the men. If someone had dared intrude on his wolf pack’s outing, the results would be bloody.

  “This way,” Tallulah called.

  He followed her lithe figure as she unerringly strode through the woods in the gathering darkness. In human form, his eyesight was no match for hers. Not unless he shifted to wolf, then his vision would prove superior. For now, he stumbled along behind her as best he could.

  She cast him a quick glance over her shoulder. “I’ll walk slower,” she whispered. “I’m used to a brisker pace with the other hunters.”

  Talk about injured male pride. “Where are we heading?” he huffed grumpily.

  Tallulah placed an index fin
ger on her lips. “A little farther south.”

  A bend in the path, and Payton caught his bearings. He’d only explored these woods a couple of times in wolf form, but that was enough. The play of branches and brambles, the feel of the soil beneath, a certain odor of wild onion, and he guessed where they were.

  Sure enough, they entered the circular clearing. A very bare clearing. Tallulah kept walking, not sparing a sentimental glance at her shrine. He tapped her uninjured shoulder.

  “What happened to everything?” he blurted. “All your dream catchers and stuff?”

  “What do you know of this?”

  Even though she kept her voice low, the fierce hiss of her words was unmistakable. Too late, he realized his blunder.

  “I stumbled on them one day out walking.” Which was close to the truth. Russell had found the shrine by pure accident.

  “This is where I first noticed the wolf watching me. It stalked me with an intelligent hate. As if I were an intruder in its territory. Our best chance of catching it is here. The other hunters are circling this same area.”

  “They are?” He hadn’t heard a sound.

  She motioned to an overturned tree and they sat on the rough bark.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “We watch and wait.”

  It was as if their bodies absorbed the darkness and they become one with the woods. Squirrels and possums darted about on the ground, cicadas and mosquitoes buzzed and the air was thick with humidity.

  “Tell me more about Bohpoli.”

  She stiffened beside him. “So you found my memorial to Bo.”

  “We didn’t mean to intrude. We were curious and—”

  “We?” Copper flecks glowed in her brown eyes.

  “I was with a friend.”

  A thin line of white rimmed her tightened lips.

  “I’m sorry. If I’d known we were intruding on something so private, I’d have left at—”

  “He was my boyfriend. My first love. We had planned to marry.” She turned her face, staring into the darkness.