Rogue Wolf

by J. C. Diem

  Mark was waiting for us in the lobby. He’d booked two more rooms and both Reece and I were doomed to disappointment when he advised us of our new sleeping arrangements. “Kala and Lexi, you two will be sharing a room. Reece and Flynn, so will you.” As usual, he had a room to himself.

  “Damn it,” I muttered and Kala’s face screwed up with fresh giggles. Mark’s warning glance quelled her amusement slightly. The receptionist was watching us from the corner of her eye. She was trying hard to listen in while pretending not to be interested. Her shirt was tight and sheer again. She winked flirtatiously at Flynn when he glanced at her.

  “Careful,” Kala warned him. “She looks like a man eater.”

  “You have a lot in common with her,” I said as we headed to the elevator.

  She was instantly insulted. “Such as?”

  “You’re both cougars.”

  Her outrage was replaced with amusement. “Good one.” Her mood swings could be mercurial at times.

  Entering my room for a final time, I packed my things and sensed that I wasn’t alone. I turned to find Reece standing right behind me. His stare was hungry and I stepped into his arms. We only had a few moments to steal and we made the most of it.

  Crushing me to his chest, his mouth devoured mine and his hands dropped down to pull our hips together. I’d been momentarily worried that being attacked would make me want to avoid sex, but that wasn’t the case at all. My insides heated and Reece’s body responded.

  A fist banged on the door, breaking us apart. “I can hear you two getting it on in there,” Kala said. “Mark wants us to meet him in the lobby in twenty minutes.”

  That was enough time for us to complete what we’d started, but I desperately needed a shower. After one last kiss, we parted.

  Reece and Flynn’s room was right across the hall from ours. Kala stood in the doorway, impatiently tapping her foot. Her golden hair was mussed and dirt stained her clothes from rolling around on the ground in her uncontrollable laughing fit. I didn’t dispute her claim to have a shower first. I waited for her to finish before taking my turn.

  We met Mark in the lobby at the appointed time and headed for a different restaurant than the one we’d previously used. Zeus followed us, staying out of sight as I’d asked. His black fur helped him to fade into the shadows. If I hadn’t sensed him sitting across the road watching us through the window, I’d never have known he was there at all.

  A waitress seated us and took our orders. Two uniformed deputies sat at a table across the room. They’d turned to stare at us when we entered. One of the men kept glancing at our table. After a few moments, I realized he was looking at Kala rather than at our group as a whole.

  Aware of his scrutiny, she flicked him a lazy glance then winked. The object of her flirtation blushed and hastily looked away. He broke down after a few seconds and stared at her again. In his early twenties, he was cute rather than handsome. His red hair was cut short and his green eyes were earnest.

  She’s going to eat him alive, Reece thought at me and I choked on a sip of water. Flynn pounded me on the back while I wiped tears away with my napkin. “Must have gone down the wrong way,” I managed.

  We mutually agreed not to speak about our mission until after we ate. There wasn’t much to say anyway. Our search was going slowly without a scent to follow. Conscious of being watched, Kala ate with more delicacy than usual when our meals arrived. It made a nice change for once.

  We returned to our hotel after dinner without lingering for coffee. Kala went straight to her suitcase that she hadn’t bothered to unpack and rummaged around inside. Finding what she wanted, she showed no modesty or embarrassment at all at stripping down naked. She wriggled into a lacy bra and matching panties that were so brief they practically didn’t exist. She then donned a slinky red shirt that dipped down low to reveal her cleavage. A tight pair of jeans finished off her outfit.

  “Going somewhere?” I asked.

  “I have a date with a redhead,” she said with a wink.

  “You didn’t even talk to him.”

  “We didn’t need words to convey our mutual attraction,” she smirked. “I’m heading back to the restaurant before he thinks I’m not coming and leaves.”

  “How do you know he’ll still be there?”

  “He’ll be there,” she replied with supreme confidence. “Don’t tell Mark where I’m going. He doesn’t approve of my dalliances.” Neither did I, but I wasn’t her mother and it wasn’t my place to lecture her. At least he’d seemed like a good guy. He wasn’t the type I’d figured she’d go for at all. He seemed too meek for a werecougar. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

  “Have fun.” I didn’t warn her to be careful. She was more than capable of taking care of herself.

  “I plan to.” She opened the door stealthily, checked that Mark wasn’t lurking in the hall then slipped outside.

  Is Kala gone yet?

  I jumped when Reece’s thought popped into my head. She just left. She’d moved so quietly that the guys hadn’t even heard her. How did you know she was going out?

  From the way she was flirting with that deputy, it was obvious she was planning to sneak out.

  He’d hidden his suspicions well. Do you think Mark knows what she’s up to?

  Of course. He knows her as well as I do. It’s her nature and there’s nothing any of us can do to change her.

  That made me wonder about her species. Are all werecougars like that?

  It isn’t just the cougars, he replied. All were-felines are the same.

  Don’t they ever take mates?

  Sometimes, but it’s rare. My lack of sleep and two long days of searching were finally beginning to catch up to me and he sensed my weariness. You’re tired. Try to get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.

  I set the alarm and changed into my usual bedclothes. Before I turned in, I checked to make sure the window and door were securely locked. In the room across the hall, I heard someone moving around. I had a feeling Flynn and Reece were going to take turns keeping watch, just in case the rogue wolf returned.

  Zeus was somewhere outside, keeping a vigil as well. Trusting them to warn me if there was any danger, I succumbed to sleep

  A couple of hours later, I woke when I heard the door open. I opened my eyes long enough to see Kala sneaking inside. She flashed me a self-satisfied smile, which told me the deputy had indeed been waiting for her as she’d predicted. I went to sleep again, relieved that she had returned safely.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Twenty-One

  We met at the SUV well before dawn. Mark handed out enough food and water to keep us going all day. Breakfast was a couple of filling, but fairly tasteless energy bars. Even Zeus’ meal looked more appetizing than mine, but I wasn’t tempted to try it. I might have been able to choke down some of his dog biscuits in a pinch, but the canned food was never going to pass my lips.

  Kala and I had woken early enough to guzzle down some hastily made coffee in our room. It would have to sustain us until we returned to town. We were both used to several cups of coffee a day. The lack of caffeine was likely to make us cranky.

  Ranger Delgado met us at the campsite parking lot again. It was a dull, cloudy day and a drenching rain set in as we headed for the trail. Mark resigned himself to being thrown over my shoulder again. I sprinted through the soggy trees to our search area. Our chances of picking up the trail had just been demolished with the rain, but we weren’t going to give up until we found the succubus.

  After another full day of slogging along the winding paths, we had no luck. We returned to our hotel with the promise to Bruce that we’d be back in the morning. We continued the pattern for another five days, giving up and returning to our cars before darkness fell each night.

  “Reggie must be dead by now,” I said in frustration when we gathered at the SUV on the seventh day since Reece and I had begun our search.

  Bruce nodded in unhappy agreement. “The succu
bus will be getting hungry again. She’ll start looking for her next meal soon.”

  “How long will she stay in this forest?” Flynn asked.

  “A few weeks at the most,” Mark replied. “They tend to move around frequently to avoid suspicion. I’ve heard that they tend to return to their old hunting grounds every decade or so.”

  That explained why similar incidents had occurred in the woods ten years ago. It was a sheer stroke of luck that we’d been in West Virginia when she’d returned. Hopefully we’d be able to catch her before she stole another life.

  There had been no further sign of the lone shifter and we hadn’t sensed him anywhere nearby. He must have fled back to wherever his pack was hiding. I wished I knew what his endgame was, but we wouldn’t discover that until after we caught and questioned him. I had no doubt that we would be able to track him down once our current mission was over.

  Mark’s phone rang during the long drive back to the hotel. Reece was driving, leaving our boss free to use his cell phone or to perform research on his tablet. “Yes?” he said, recognizing the number. Mark protected his sources and never referred to them by name in our presence.

  “There’s been another disappearance, Agent Steel,” a female voice said.

  “When?”

  “Last night. I only just heard about it.” She sounded upset that she hadn’t been able to tip him off sooner. “A young couple was hiking a few miles away from the campsite where the first man disappeared. The girl took a bathroom break and when she returned to the path, her boyfriend was gone.”

  “Thanks for the heads-up,” Mark said. “We’ll investigate it in the morning.”

  “Hopefully, we’ll be able to follow his trail this time,” Reece said grimly as Mark put his phone away.

  While it was bad luck for the hiker, he would hopefully be able to lead us to our target. Even narrowing down the search area would be helpful at this stage.

  Waking up to the insistent blaring of the alarm clock the next morning, I only had a few minutes to dress and to eat a hasty breakfast. I quickly chugged down the coffee that Kala had made.

  Cocking her head to the side, she paused with her mug halfway to her mouth. “It’s raining again.”

  Now that she’d mentioned it, I could hear the rain hitting the window. I instantly lost all hope that we’d find something useful today. It almost seemed as if fate was conspiring against us.

  I wasn’t the only one who was sick of getting up well before dawn. “This sucks,” Flynn complained when he stepped into an ankle deep puddle on our way to the SUV. The rain was holding steady. We’d become thoroughly soaked once we began our search in earnest.

  I blew out a sigh and a white puff of air was expelled from my mouth. Mark wore a jacket, proving he felt the cold far more than we did. It wasn’t quite cold enough for hypothermia to set in for anyone who was lost in the woods, but I hoped the missing man was being kept somewhere warm and dry. His life force being sucked out would be traumatic enough without losing his fingers and toes to frostbite as well.

  We sped to the campsite to find Bruce already waiting for us. He left his jeep and jogged over to speak to Mark.

  “Did you hear about the second missing man?” Mark asked after powering down his window.

  Bruce nodded his shaggy head. “The Sheriff called me last night and asked me to search the area. I told him I’ve called in outside help, just in case he and his deputies show up.”

  “Good thinking. Lead the way to the hiking trail. We’ll be right behind you.”

  The ranger hurried to his jeep and crammed himself inside. We followed him a few miles down the highway. Hiking trails were dotted all over the area. Each had their own small parking lot. The trail where the second man had gone missing had a lot that was just large enough for two cars to park side by side. If the police did show up, they’d have to park on the side of the road.

  While Flynn went searching the trail for the missing man, I took a few minutes to feed Zeus. Our SUV smelled like wet dog and dog biscuits, but no one bothered to complain. We were all starting to get used to the smell.

  He gobbled down his breakfast then we jogged over to join the others. I tossed the keys to Reece and he snagged them out of the air without bothering to look. He’d been a shifter for five years and his senses were far more honed than mine. I was still a newbie compared to the others.

  Taking a deep breath, I picked up the faint trace of several humans. Two of them belonged to the deputies that we’d seen at the restaurant last night. Another one would belong to the sheriff. The last two had to be the missing hiker and his girlfriend.

  Flynn emerged from the trees a few hundred yards away. Following the scent that led towards us, he stopped about fifty yards away. “They crossed the road here,” he called. He’d raised his voice for Mark’s benefit.

  “That was ballsy of her to bring him so close to the trail,” Kala said.

  “Can you pick up the succubus’ scent?” Mark asked.

  Taking a deep breath through his mouth rather than through his nose, Flynn tasted the air. “I can pick up a faint trace of something that I’ve never come across before. It’s barely discernable and I doubt it will linger for very long.”

  Zeus had his nose to the ground and seemed to have picked up the same scent.

  “That has to be the succubus,” Mark said. “Can you follow the hiker’s trail?”

  Flynn nodded and we trotted after him as he headed across the road. He entered a different area of the same woods that we’d been searching for the past few days.

  Mark kept up for the first couple of miles before tiring and slowing down. Without bothering to consult him, Bruce picked him up and carried him in his arms like a damsel in distress.

  Kala’s snigger was cut off before it could start when Reece elbowed her in the side. Mark’s expression was very close to being belligerent, but he kept his complaints behind tightly pressed lips. Flynn lost the trail after a couple of hours of searching, but we now had a clearer idea of where our target was hiding.

  Putting Mark down, Bruce consulted his map. “We haven’t searched this area yet,” he said. “We should concentrate here first.” He indicated a wide circle near our current location.

  Mark split us up into the same three groups again and we continued our search. Traipsing through the woods with him floundering in my wake, I compared our mission to the ones that I’d read in the archives.

  Four centuries had passed since Thomas had begun chronicling his encounters with supernatural creatures. Modern technology helped us to some extent, but not much had really changed when it came to hunting monsters. Our weapons had undergone the greatest transformation. For instance, I’d rather use a flamethrower to fry a zombie than a burning lump of wood any day.

  Reporting in every fifteen minutes as usual, no one had anything of interest to say. My hope that we’d be able to find the second missing man quickly began to fade as the day wore on.

  We gave up and returned to our cars just as the sun was setting. We were morose as we headed back to town. Our original task of hunting down the rogue wolf had been superseded by our need to locate the succubus. Our list of problems was rising faster than we could quell them. Locating and eradicating my mother had been shifted down to third place on the list.

  Our mood didn’t improve when we filed into the restaurant for dinner. The girlfriend of the missing hiker was seated at one of the tables. Sobbing into her hands, she was being comforted by the redheaded deputy. Kala sent him a flirtatious wink that made him blush the same shade as his hair, then proceeded to ignore him. As far as I knew, she’d only spent one night in his company. Either that or she was an expert at sneaking out while I was asleep.

  “Have you ever hunted a succubus before?” Flynn asked Mark after our meals had been served.

  “Yes.”

  “When?” Kala queried.

  “It was eight years ago.”

  “Was that the time you were called away for two
weeks?” Reece asked.

  “You left a bunch of twelve year olds alone?” I admonished our boss.

  “Hey, I was thirteen,” Kala said in mock anger. At least, that’s what it sounded like. It was hard to tell when her mouth was crammed full of food. Now that she’d made a conquest of the deputy, she was revealing her bad habits.

  Flynn shuddered at the sight then defended Mark. “We were very mature for our ages.”

  “Yeah, I can see that,” I said dryly. Kala grinned, fully aware that she disgusted us all with her awful table manners. How someone so pretty could also be such a disgrace was an ongoing mystery.

  “How many agents did it take to hunt the succubus down?” Reece asked.

  “We started out with twenty,” Mark replied. “She knew we were after her by our third day of searching. She started toying with us, picking us off one by one every couple of days. We were no match for her skills.”

  “How did you finally manage to catch her?” Flynn queried.

  “We used bait that was too tempting for her to resist.” Mark looked almost ashamed by his admission.

  “You used a shifter,” I guessed and he nodded.

  “I knew our scientists were studying several rogue shifters. They were hoping to discover why they developed a taste for human flesh after just one sample. I requested the loan of one of them and was granted access to a werefox.”

  “Werefoxes,” I said almost to myself. “What next? Wererats?” I received four bland stares at my question. “You’re kidding.” Their stares remained unchanged. “Okay, you’re not kidding.”

  “How did you get the werefox to cooperate?” Reece queried.

  “She was heavily drugged. We carried her to the area where we suspected the succubus was hiding and waited for her to appear.”