Night of the Billionaire Wolf

by Terry Spear

  “So you hadn’t made a success of your business yet,” Ryder said.

  “I hadn’t gotten off the ground floor with my company yet, no.”

  “When you became famous, did he come around?”

  She smiled. “About a year after I’d made my first million, I saw him with a woman and a couple of babies—he was already mated. I wanted to say something to him about how helpful he hadn’t been, but who cares? It was just better to get rid of a toxic relationship. Anyway, while I was running in the park, I stayed near the cliff edge and I heard a dog crying way down below.”

  “Oh, not unlike the bear cubs.”

  “Yeah. Weak, starving, trapped. There was no easy way down the cliff, but then I saw what looked like a deer trail so I tried to go down it. I was a wolf, after all. But we’d had a lot of rain and the narrow ledge crumbled. I slipped off the edge and fell into the ravine. I was fortunate I didn’t kill myself as I banged against the rocks on the way down. I landed at the bottom, breaking my left hind leg. I couldn’t climb or crawl or do anything, and I had no water with me—naturally. Plus, I was a wolf.”

  “Right, so either rescuers would find an injured wolf—”

  “And put me out of my misery, or they could find a naked human woman. I still had to rescue the dog. Which I figured wasn’t going to happen in the shape I was in. I woofed at him to let him know help was coming. Afraid howling would scare him, I woofed and woofed, hoping someone would hear me and come to help us. In considerable pain, I finally managed to stand on three legs and hopped over to the tunnel of the cave where he had fallen. I woofed at him, reassuring him I wouldn’t leave and would stay there with him until help came. I stayed in my wolf form for as long as I could because at least my fur kept me warm when temperatures dropped at night and protected my skin from sunburn during the day.”

  “Hell, Lexi. I wish I’d been there for you.”

  “We both might have fallen off the cliff then.”

  “At least you wouldn’t have been alone.”

  She smiled at him.

  “Somebody must have seen your car,” Ryder said.

  “The police did. And my parents had dropped by the apartment when they couldn’t get ahold of me to see if I wanted to go to a movie with them. It wasn’t like me not to respond to their calls. Of course my phone was in my car while I was running as a wolf. The police told them they’d found the car. My parents had checked with my boyfriend, too, and he said we’d broken up. My parents worried I was off hiking, upset, and they knew I’d be alone. They joined the search party. Unfortunately, someone else found my clothes hidden in the woods.

  “My parents wanted to locate me first, and with their sense of smell they could. I’d been gone for two days, lucky enough to catch some water when it rained. I finally decided to shift and crawl into the tunnel to reach the dog, hoping I could get him to where he could get some water too. It nearly killed me, shooting pains shot up my leg every time I bumped it, but I finally managed to get down into the cave where the dog had fallen.

  “He turned out to be a she, and she was afraid of me at first. Shy. I talked to her and held her, comforting her. Then she licked my face, and I hugged her to my chest. I made the torturous climb back out of the tunnel with her in my arms. She wasn’t injured, just starving and dehydrated. We had a welcome rain and deep puddles formed, giving us something to drink.

  “My parents were able to track me, but others followed their lead. My dad said I usually took that path to give a reason why he was so sure I headed that way, when in truth, I’d never hiked in that direction before. They asked why he hadn’t told them that in the beginning, but he had to find my scent first. He said he’d forgotten about it.

  “When they saw me at the bottom of the cliff with the dog, a helicopter was sent to my location to pick us up. No one could climb down the cliff and get me out of there fast enough.”

  “No wonder you’re afraid of getting too close to the edge of a cliff. What did they say about you having no clothes?”

  “I was dehydrated and disoriented. I just told them I didn’t remember what had happened. Except I heard the dog crying and tried to reach her, and the cliff gave way. It didn’t explain why my clothes were so far away, but I just stuck to my story. My parents were so upset with me and furious with the ex-boyfriend.”

  “And the dog?”

  “Sandy had a collar on her with her family’s name and phone number on her tag. They were reunited right away. You should have seen her with me and the other rescuers when they fussed over her. She rolled onto her back and wanted her belly rubbed. Her family was so grateful to me and were so sorry I had been injured trying to rescue her. They sent me flowers and chocolates. Anyway, I try to fight the fear when I’m near a cliff. Sometimes I don’t have any trouble, but sometimes I just can’t fight it off.”

  Ryder said, “If we ever have a fight, we’ll work it out. No running off to fall down cliffs.”

  “But I saved the dog.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, and if that happens again, I want to be there with you, helping out again.”

  “And me,” Kate said.

  “Me too,” Mike said, smiling.

  “Pizza after this, right?” Lexi asked, wanting to get off the topic of cliffs.

  “Yeah, we’re still on for pizza,” Ryder said. “We couldn’t come here without a visit to the pizza parlor.”

  “I’ll drive,” Mike said.

  “I’m famished,” Kate said, her stomach growling.

  Lexi laughed. “I can hear that you are all the way over here.”

  “That makes two of us,” Ryder said as they all piled into Mike’s truck and he drove them over to Little Italy Pizza Parlor in the small town nearby. The restaurant owners, Antonio and Maria Lupo, and their two daughters, Gabriella and Adriana, greeted them as if they were all family. Which, in a way, they were—considering they were all gray wolves, like members of a secret family.

  Statues of maids wearing togas and men wearing loin cloths poured pitchers of water into mosaic-tile fountains. Flowers filled tall mosaic-tile planters, and blue glass vases sat on each of the tables. Pictures of vineyards in Italy, where the family had come from, hung on the stucco walls, the brick exposed in part to make it appear to be an old-world restaurant. They were Apennine wolves, native to the Italian Peninsula.

  Lexi loved the ambience as a couple of men tossed pizza dough in the air behind a counter, the Italian music of love played overhead, and the scent of cheeses, pepperoni, wines and spices filled the air. Everyone was enjoying the conversation, food, and drink, when several more people entered the restaurant.

  Lexi and her party all watched the new arrivals, but none looked like trouble. They ordered a large pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni, extra cheese, and black olives, and a bottle of wine.

  Ryder got a call and answered his cell. “Hell, okay. Thanks, Edward.” He ended the call and told Lexi, “The thugs left the cabin. He suspects they want to see where you went, not because they feel the heat’s on and are leaving for good.”

  “Too bad it wasn’t for the latter reason.” Lexi settled against her chair.

  “I agree, but then we’d worry about what they were up to. Like if Tremaine had sent new people we didn’t suspect because these guys had blown their cover,” Ryder said.

  Their pizza finally arrived, and the server poured each of them a glass of wine. When she left, Lexi glanced at the door and saw two men arrive wearing suits. Why they would wear suits was beyond her. They looked like they were FBI or CIA or from some other governmental agency. Not someone working for a crime boss like Tremaine.

  “They’re here,” Lexi said to the others.

  They all glanced in the direction of the door.

  The two men working for Tremaine looked around the restaurant, then spied the table where Lexi and her friends were sitting. They grabbed
a table near the door so they could watch them and not lose sight of them.

  Mike was about to get up from the table to say something to them, but Lexi took ahold of his arm and shook her head. “We don’t want to make a scene here. We wouldn’t want to anywhere, but especially not in our friends’ establishment.”

  “You know if we told the Lupos what this was all about, they’d make them leave,” Ryder said.

  “I’d just as soon the thugs be here so we can keep an eye on them.” Lexi took a bite of her slice of pizza.

  “Like they’re keeping an eye on us.” Kate cut into her pizza.

  “Why don’t you just eat it with your hands?” Mike asked.

  “Because it’s messy.” Kate motioned with her fork to the tomato sauce, melted cheese, and pepperoni grease dripping on his hands from his slice of pizza. “See? Look at your hands.”

  Mike smiled. “This is the only way to eat a pizza.”

  Ryder and Lexi were both eating with their hands as well.

  “You will take so long that we’ll eat your slices.” Lexi smiled at Kate.

  “Ha. I can cut up my pizza just as fast, and I do have a fork, you know, so hands off my slices,” Kate said.

  They all laughed. They were having fun, even if the thugs were there to put a damper on their lunch activities.

  Lexi glanced at the pizza makers. “I tried that once. The pizza ended up on the floor.”

  Mike chuckled. “Ryder and I did too. Right after we ate here, in fact. We were headed home, and Aidan dared us to make that kind of pizza—tossed. He said it’s the best and he wanted the best, if we were to make it.”

  “So what happened?” Lexi wondered if they had mastered the ability. She’d love to have a party where Mike and Ryder could entertain them by making the pizzas.

  “Well, each of us had to make our own pizza,” Ryder said. “We were doing really well at first. Not sure what happened, but we figure we got too close to each other, and the next thing we knew, it was like two airplanes colliding midair, total disaster.”

  The ladies laughed; Mike smiled.

  “What did you tell Aidan about the pizza disaster?” Lexi asked.

  “That we’d take another trip to the redwoods and have pizza here,” Ryder said.

  Smiling, Lexi shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d give up that easily.”

  “We haven’t,” Mike said. “But we wouldn’t let Aidan know we’re still trying to perfect it.”

  “That’s good to know. I could have quit so many times when things weren’t working out for me with my business, but I didn’t. I wouldn’t.”

  “What kept you going?” Ryder asked.

  “Me, stubbornly refusing to let go of my dream. It wasn’t just that I didn’t want to fail. I didn’t want my parents to see me fail. They’re successful in their chosen professions. I just floundered, not sure of what to do. But you know what? I began to learn about the issues of carcinogens—substances in cosmetics, hair products, nail products, deodorants, and all kinds of products we use daily that have been linked to cancer. So I don’t do this because I think women should wear makeup to look more glamorous, but because women will wear makeup whether I tell them to do so or not, and while Europe has banned a thousand carcinogens that were being added to makeup, the United States has only banned eleven! Why? You’d think we’d care about our people. But nope!”

  “Big business,” Ryder guessed.

  “Yep. Government cracks down, manufacturers put on pressure to keep producing unhealthy makeup, and voilà, it’s perfectly legal and the FDA gives in and doesn’t regulate it further. I mean, why bother? If the manufacturers can get out the big guns and the government can’t fight it? Something’s really wrong there. In one case, an American cosmetic line had asbestos in its cosmetics. So what did the government do? Same old thing. They tried to put a stop to it. The manufacturers put an end to the government’s attempt to do anything about it. But the word had spread online, yay! And the stores pulled the cosmetic line from their shelves. It took the retailers doing something about it before the company finally changed the manufacturing process.

  “There are sites online where women can go to check out what products are known to contain carcinogens. Armed with information, we can make our own choices. But so many don’t know there’s a problem. Heck, I didn’t know Europe was so much better at keeping their people safe than our country is. It’s disgusting that big business has such a stranglehold on product regulation. I was thinking about those gray-haired old men with their huge manufacturing businesses, making billions of dollars, while their wives, daughters, and friends are using unhealthy products.”

  “So Lexi started her product line based on how the European cosmetic markets create theirs, cutting out so many of the carcinogens in American products. The thing is, it can be done,” Kate said.

  “Like I said, if women are going to wear it, I can at least offer something that is safer.” Lexi drank some more of her wine. She noticed the thugs were having spaghetti and meatballs. Though the pizza parlor was best known for its pizzas, they served pasta dishes too.

  Lexi glanced up at the wall to see the time. Then she pulled her cell phone out and checked the shows at the movie theater in town. “How about we see a movie after we finish eating? Kate and I were going to do that if you guys hadn’t shown up.” She hadn’t seen a movie at a theater in forever, and going on a “guy date” really appealed. Not to mention she was feeling super anxious about seeing her father and thought it would help to take her mind off it before that happened. She wasn’t one to sit still and do nothing, pace, and stew, so she figured this would be perfect.

  Kate looked at her phone. “Yeah, there’s a thriller, a comedy, a kids’ movie, a sci-fi thriller.”

  “Sci-fi thriller?” Ryder started to play the trailer.

  “That one looks good to me,” Lexi said, looking over his shoulder at the trailer.

  Everyone agreed. Once they’d eaten, Ryder and Mike were going to get the bill, but Lexi said, “I already got it.”

  “Then that doesn’t count as a date, right?” Ryder asked.

  Lexi thought he almost looked serious.

  Mike was smiling at them, probably wondering what that was all about.

  “It’s a date. And hiking earlier was a date. Didn’t I mention the other one was too?” she asked.

  “Then we’re beyond three dates.” Ryder smiled. Genuinely smiled.

  He was cute.

  “Yes, we’re beyond three dates. They’re my rules, so if I want to break them?” She lifted her shoulder. “The movie is a date too. You’re still safe.” Lexi paid the bill, and then they said goodbye to the Lupos and headed outside. They piled into Mike’s truck and couldn’t help but notice the thugs hurrying out of the pizza parlor to tail them.

  Mike drove off and soon parked at the theater, where Ryder paid for the tickets before Lexi could. She smiled and took his hand. “We just had lunch, but I need dessert.”

  He smiled down at her as he walked her to the concession stand. “No popcorn, I take it.”

  “Nope.” She pointed at a box of chocolate candies. “That’s what I’ll have.”

  “What about you, Kate?” Ryder asked. “Mike?”

  “I’m fine,” Kate said. “Lexi always has to have the chocolate mints when she goes to the theater. Which she rarely does. I’ve been working for her for a year, and we’ve gone one time. But she said that was her vice—the chocolate mints.”

  “If that’s your only vice, you’re doing good,” Ryder said.

  “I’m good,” Mike said, though he bought himself a soda.

  Lexi saw the thugs enter the movie theater, but Edward and two other men came in right behind them. She took Ryder’s hand. “They’re here.”

  He glanced back at them. “And so are Edward and the others. So we’re good. I�
��m surprised Tremaine’s men haven’t tried to strong-arm you before.”

  “Not these guys. The other one who did is no longer among the living.” Lexi smiled at Ryder with the sweetest smile she could offer.

  “Hell, I knew you were a wolf.” He smiled back at her, squeezing her hand in approval, but she suspected he’d want to know the whole story when they were alone.

  Mike and Kate were studying her, and she figured they both wanted to know too.

  “All right. I’ll tell you after the movie. No one but Rafe knows about it. And some of his men. Not even my dad knows, and I want to keep it that way.”

  “Yeah, sure, we understand.” Ryder walked her into the theater, the others following behind them.

  She’d hated that the hit man had come for her at her home and she’d been forced to kill him.

  When she and the others took their seats high up above in the auditorium, the thugs found seats a few rows behind them, but Edward’s men did too.

  Ryder put his arm around Lexi’s shoulders, and she leaned her head against him, trying to relax. The movie started, and once the aliens landed on earth, she was caught up in the story, almost forgetting she was meeting up with her father later. Feeling the warmth of Ryder’s shoulder and surrounded by his wolfishly delectable scent, she snuggled closer against him. He pressed his mouth against her head, and she felt like she was really on a date, a good date, and she hoped they survived to have many more.

  Chapter 14

  After the movie, Lexi wanted to go for another hike, hating that she felt so anxious. She wanted to just go and go and go until she had to meet up with her father.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Ryder said, and she appreciated that he didn’t mind.

  “Time to work off the pizza,” Kate said. “Hey, do you guys know some martial arts? Lexi and I were going to practice some while we’re here.”

  “Not now,” Lexi said, gathering her water for her backpack. She wasn’t going to take her camera, but she knew if she didn’t, she’d miss the perfect photo op. “There are too many of us.” And she didn’t want to practice in front of Ryder and Mike.