by Desiree Holt
“We’d never suggest it,” Dante broke in. He didn’t think Regan would go into the breeding theory but he thought it best to be safe. “According to studies done at some of the universities in Texas, the belief is that the creature breeds like other animals, just not as prolifically. And it travels. It seems to keep coming back to Texas, though, and we’ve been looking into that.”
Tina shuddered. “The boys wouldn’t let me see Harley’s body but just the description is enough to give me nightmares. I told Dan last night I remember hearing the legend of the Chupacabra when I was a kid visiting West Texas. I’d just forgotten all about it until now. And of course, never in the world did I believe there was any truth to it. Tell us what we can do?”
“As I was explaining,” Regan went on smoothly, “based on our research and experience, these are the places we’ve identified as possible next targets. If you know any of these people, we’d appreciate it if you could help us warn them of danger.”
Dan’s eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. “From a creature that’s like something out of a horror movie?”
“No. Not at all.” Regan looked at him directly. “But there are things they can do. “Tell them there’s some kind of wild boar or something that’s gotten into the area. Whatever it takes. But please tell them to keep all their outside lights on at night until we give the all clear. Not to open their doors unless they know who it is. Tell them whatever you have to in order to get them to listen.”
“For how long?” he demanded.
“If the beast holds true to form, this should hopefully all be over in the next twenty-four hours. That’s the pattern of behavior it follows.”
“And what will you be doing?” Dan Hammond demanded.
Dante really couldn’t blame the man for his disbelieving attitude. And he was still grieving for his friend. “We’re going to contact them also, but it always helps if someone they know warns them. They trust a friendly face.”
“That’s it? With this big organization you say you have?”
Dante held on to the edges of his patience. “We’ll also have our people out tracking in the target areas tonight, and I’ll be in a helicopter, checking from the air. One of my team will be riding with me, toting a heavy-duty rifle. We know what it takes to stop the beast. We’ve done it before. We want to do it now before there’s another victim.”
No one said anything for a long moment. Then Tina looked at her husband.
“It won’t take much time for us to touch base with everyone.” She looked at Dante and Regan. “A couple of them we can call. The other two we’ll visit personally. We’ll do our best.”
“I know you will,” Regan assured her. She pushed back from the table. “We’ve imposed on you enough. Again, thank you for agreeing to help. And for the coffee.”
“I hope they do what they said they would,” she told Dante when they were back in the SUV.
“I plan on notifying the targets also,” he said. “I just figured their warning would carry more weight.”
“So now what?”
“I’ll call the ranch. We’ll hit a couple of places and Ric can send a team out to the others. And we’ll plan tonight’s trek.”
“You think it will attack tonight?” she asked.
“Maybe. Most likely tomorrow night but we need to keep an eye out anyway. Just to be sure.”
They were quiet as they drove to the first target site.
“Dante?” Regan’s voice broke the silence.
“Yes?”
“I— Nothing. I just…”
He reached over and took one of her hands in his. At the connection, some of the tension drained from his body.
It’s okay if I do this. Feel this. I have mourned Felicia and in some way always will. But the beast that took her away from me also brought Regan into my life now.
“That conversation we had yesterday in the car?”
“Yes?” A tiny tremor ran through her voice.
“I meant it. About the healing. About us. About everything. And when this episode is over, I’m going to show you just how much. Seeing the latest victims reminded me how quickly life can be taken away. I think I’m through hiding from it.”
Regan linked her fingers through his. “I know this all happened so fast, and that Felicia will always be a part of you. I’d never want you to forget her. But I’ve been worried that everything between us is just sex. Nothing more.”
“It’s a lot more than that,” he assured her. “I just need the time to prove it properly.” He lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles. “Okay?”
“Very okay.” He could hear the smile in her voice.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, how about some directions?” he asked.
Regan slipped her hand from his and grabbed her tablet from her tote bag. “The Lamars. They have a cutting horse ranch. About five hundred acres, it says here. Because they don’t need a lot of pasture for grazing. The notes say except for a few acres right around the house and barns, most of the land is pretty hilly and forested.”
“Great hiding places for the beast. What about right around the house itself?”
“Let me pull up their place on Google Earth. Okay, it looks like beyond the barns it’s pretty open for a couple of acres but they’ve kept a lot of the big old oak trees right around the house.”
Dante said nothing. He didn’t have to. They both knew the trees made good cover for the Chupacabra to approach.
“Well, let’s get to it,” he said finally. “And hope Dan Hammond really does come in behind us and support what we say.”
“Garth is going to contact all of them too,” Regan reminded him. “Hopefully the Texas Rangers will have enough clout to get them to listen.”
By the time they had visited all four spots, taken their own pictures and driven around to get a sense of the landscape, most of the day had passed. They arrived back at the ranch to find Clint had left his part-time bartender in charge of The Black Wolf and had come home with barbecue for everyone. Once sated, everyone got down to plot out the evening’s activities.
* * * * *
Cissie Lamar unsaddled her horse, removed the bridle and put everything in the tack room.
“Good job today,” she crooned as she wiped him down and groomed him. “You’re turning out to be really good at this.”
Checking to make sure he had everything he needed, she backed out of the stall and closed the gate. Training a cutting horse was hard work but something she enjoyed tremendously. She and Spence had been doing it for close to twenty years, with what she considered great success. Not only did people bring their own horses to them for training but the ones they bred were now in great demand.
Spence often suggested expanding the operation, hiring more trainers and hands, increasing the breeding, but she liked it just as it was. They made a very good living and had all the work they could handle. She also wasn’t anxious to hire on new people. Everyone who worked for them currently had been handpicked and was pretty much like family.
They had no children to hand the reins down to, something that she didn’t allow herself to dwell on too often. They would have liked to have them but apparently it wasn’t to be. Instead they lavished all that love on their horses and the new foals.
Wiping her hands on her jeans, she walked out into the yard, startled by the appearance of a small dog. The moment it spotted her, it began yipping in a high, shrill voice and dancing circles around her.
“Well! Where did you come from?” She reached down to pet it but as her hand got close, the animal drew back its lips and a snarl rumbled up from its throat. She yanked her hand away.
The back door to the house slammed and Spence jogged down the steps.
“Is that damn dog still hanging around?” He advanced on it. “I thought we shooed it out of here this morning.”
“Where do you suppose it came from?” Cissie asked.
“Don’t know and don’t care. I just want i
t out of here.” He looked toward the barn. “Kevin,” he shouted.
Kevin Delaney, their foreman, came trotting out. “What’s up? Oh hell. That fucking dog again.” He hurried back into the barn and came back with a lasso in his hand.
“You’re going to rope the dog?” Cissie was incredulous.
“It’s the only way to get hold of it,” Kevin said. “Try to get near the thing and it’ll bite your damn hand off.”
The moment the rope looped over the dog’s head it tried to tug away, an ugly sound rippling from its throat. Cissie watched as their foreman circled the animal, looping more of the rope around it before managing to get it in the bed of one of the ranch pickups.
“I’m taking it way down the road to that land that’s up for sale,” he told them. “This pest can be someone else’s problem.” He jumped in the cab and headed off toward the road.
“I can’t imagine where it came from,” Cissie commented.
“Neither can I,” Spence agreed. “I started to chase it away this morning but Kevin led one of the horses out into the yard and the thing took off like its fur was on fire.”
Cissie frowned. “If it’s afraid of horses, why do you suppose it’s hanging around here?”
“No idea. But I’ll tell you, as much as I love animals, if it finds its way back here again I might just have to shoot it.”
* * * * *
The devil beast crawled into the makeshift cave it had found and curled up on its side.
When it had been captured by the two-legged creature, everything in its body had wanted to shift from the dog form it had assumed, but whenever it tried, a sharp pain pierced its brain. It wasn’t until it had been set free—practically tossed from the truck—and had raced away from its captor that it was able to assume its normal form without distress.
Already the hunger was blooming inside it again, the thirst for blood, for ripping flesh. The appetite was growing. Today’s indignity had been worth it because its next prey had been identified. When the signals raced through its body, it would feast again.
Soon.
Placing one of its clawed hands over its face, it closed its eyes and slept.
Chapter Eleven
Dante took a swallow of hot coffee and scanned the faces of the people in the room. Tonight, Garth Myers had also joined them. He had managed to clear his desk of everything else for the moment and arrived just after dusk, announcing he wanted in on what they hoped would be the end of this episode.
“Everyone rested?” Dante asked.
“More than rested,” Sam Brody told him. “Ready to go.”
“If the devil beast follows its usual program, the third kill could be as soon as tonight.”
“Do you have any idea which of the four best prospects it might be?” Chelsea asked.
“I wish. But we’ll do what we did last night. Ric will drop you from the chopper at two different locations and you’ll scout. Jonah and Mark, you’ve done this before so you’ll each take the lead in a group. Be on the lookout for the beast and watch out for each other.”
“I’ll be riding in the chopper tonight too,” Garth told them. “Dante will be the spotter and Ben and I will each have one of the rifles. If we get a sighting, we’ll need to flush the creature out, so Ben and I can take a shot.”
“Luckily,” Dante went on, “the target areas are close enough together that each group can advance on two of them. We have two hours until it’s completely dark so take the time to eat or whatever you want. We’ll assemble on the back porch at that time.”
He’d watched Regan carefully. She was obviously nervous and exhilarated in turns, tense because she wanted the creature dead and worried that they might not get it in time.
“I don’t know how I’ll feel when I see it,” she told Dante. “I think I might want to be up in the chopper with one of the weapons myself.”
“You’ll be fine.” He rubbed her arms then pulled her close to him. “And afterward, I’ll help you burn off some of that energy.”
* * * * *
The moon was drifting in the sky when they all loaded into the helo and took off from Desolation Ranch. Ric made the two drops, Dante checking off each wolf as he or she leaped from the cabin. Then they were up, cruising, Ben and Garth in the open doorways, rifles at the ready.
Dante alternated between checking the ground beneath them and following the tracking lights on the medallions. This case was the first time he’d really had a chance to observe the wolves running across the landscape, racing with incredible speed. They were amazing, sleek and fast, their strong legs eating up the ground. The sight amazed him, especially knowing that once they were back at the house, they would all shift back to humans.
“So…” He glanced at Garth. “I know you’re aware of the wolf DNA found in Reed Fortune, but I’m going to take a wild guess here and say this is the first time you’ve ever seen anyone shift.”
Garth snorted and shook his head. “No shit. It’s one thing to hear or read about it, another to actually see it happen.”
“You didn’t appear too freaked out.”
The other man shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how I’d react, but I’ll tell you…I’ve seen so much strange shit in my life, I guess even stuff like this doesn’t freak me out the way it once might have.” His lips curved in a half-smile. “Although I don’t think I can say the same thing for my fellow Rangers.”
Dante’s laugh was a rough sound. “You’ve got that right.”
“If they can help us track these devil beasts, they’re okay by me.”
Dante studied him carefully, satisfied that the man seemed good with everything he’d learned in such a short time. He gave him a lot of points for keeping his cool.
They spent an hour circling the four target areas. Dante tracked the GPS locators on the wolves, directing Ric first in one direction, then the other.
“I hope we get the fucking thing tonight,” he told Ric. “And that our wolves manage to escape unharmed.”
“They know the danger,” Ric reminded him.
“Look.” Dante pointed out the window. “There are two of them, right below us.”
“And I think they’ve got something.” Ric hit the spotlight on the chopper, flooding the ground with a bright yellow light.
Below them the wolves were circling, snapping—trying to herd the devil beast.
“Holy fucking shit!” Garth gasped.
“Yeah. What you said. The first time I saw it, I nearly crapped in my pants,” Ric stated matter-of-factly.
Dante set the laptop on the cockpit floor, slid the window open and fitted the rifle to his shoulder.
“Can you get us just a little closer?” Garth asked. “It’s moving pretty fast.”
“I don’t want to get so close I chase it away. Then we have to hunt it again.”
“I’ve got it,” Ben said.
Dante turned his head to watch as the man took aim, sighted the creature and pulled the trigger. But just as he fired, an updraft caught the helo, wasting the shot.
“Fuck!” Ben shouted.
The beast took off, running faster than any animal they’d ever seen, a kind of hopping movement where its hind feet barely seemed to touch the ground. The wolves took off after it but the beast outpaced them.
“I think I see it,” Garth shouted. “I’m taking a shot.” The rifle boomed but the bullet hit a tree. “Shit, that fucker moves fast.”
“I lost it. Damn!” Ric pounded his fist on his thigh.
Dante kept his eyes glued to the laptop, watching the GPS markers.
“Two others from the pack are heading in this direction,” he said. “Yeah, here come the rest of them. They’re closing in.”
Likely drawn by the sounds of the shots, the other wolves streaked into the area, converging on the scene.
“But where’s the fucking creature?” Ben asked.
“There.” Dante pointed through the windshield. “Just emerging from those trees.”
“
I see it,” Ric acknowledged. “Ben? Garth? Get those rifles ready.”
“We are,” Ben said, “but I don’t want to hit the wolves. Damn it! The thing headed back into the trees. Shit, shit, shit!”
They’d been shouting at each other to be heard. With the cabin door open, the roar of the rotors was louder and the wind just magnified everything. They all watched the wolves take off after the beast again.
“Craig needs to create some kind of special ear bud for the shifters,” Ric said. “We need to be able to communicate with them from the helo.”
“I hear you,” Dante agreed, “but that’s for later. Right now we need to kill that abomination before it gets any of the pack members. Okay, look. I can see them through the gaps in the trees now. There.”
“If I can just find it…” Ric circled overhead again, going as low as he could, shining the spotlight into the darkness. Nothing.
“How the fuck could it just disappear?”
“I don’t— There!” He banked. “It’s headed toward the left. And so is the pack.”
“Wait. We’re right near the Lamar place.” Dante peered into the night. “There it is. There’s the house. And there’s the devil beast.”
Ric hit the button for the spotlight, flooding the Lamars’ yard with light. As if signaled by it, the other wolves changed direction, all of them heading toward the Lamar home, herding the beast away from the trees and into the open yard.
The back door to the Lamar place opened and a woman in a nightgown and robe stepped out onto the porch.
The devil beast raced ahead, apparently bent only on human prey.
“Christ! She wants to see what’s going on,” Ric said. “Probably heard the helo and saw the lights.”
“Shit, Ric,” Ben yelled back at him. “The creature’s heading toward the porch. I have to take a shot. If it gets to her, we won’t be able to save her.”
“Get those damn rifles ready!” he yelled.
“What are you going to do?” Garth hollered.
“Just get the rifle ready.”
