by Marie Fraser
Harry went to the woman now and showed her what he was on the inside. He could see fear there, a natural human instinct. But then she smiled and petted his head. “It’s okay to go now. I’m fine, son.”
***
Harry woke to his clothes soaked in sweat. Beside him, Katie slept quietly. Getting up he tiptoed from the room and down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, his heart gave a hard squeeze in his chest. In his heart he knew, when the woman in is dream had told him to go, that was the moment his mother had died.
Hurt spiraled through him for his loss. How would he ever live without the woman who’d saved him? Unable to stop it, his wolf came forward, howling as the pain of his loss peaked, hard and high. He could hear commotion upstairs, but it didn’t stop him from grieving.
“Easy now,” Javier was saying. He heard Katie’s scream and turned to see her, her eyes huge with shock and a hard mixture of fear. “It’s not what it seems.”
“So there’s not a huge wolf sitting in your living room?”
“Oh, no,” Javier chuckled. “That’s real, but let me ask you, have you seen Harry this morning?”
“No,” Katie shuddered.
“He’s grieving.”
Harry watched his dad pull Katie into a hug and it soothed him to know they could lean on one another. It only made him love her more, that she would cry for a woman she’d only just met. “I’m sorry,” she was saying. “I’m so sorry she’s gone.”
“She’s on to bigger and better things,” Javier smiled, wiping his eyes. “Always did have to be first.”
Katie gave a watery chuckle and hugged the man again. Turning she stared at the large black wolf who sat near Teresa’s body. Its eyes were intent on her and she couldn’t quite suppress the shudder, although she wasn’t so sure it was from fear. There was something beautifully majestic about the massive animal, even though he looked as though he could eat her and still have room for more.
“He won’t hurt you,” Javier said, stepping down the rest of the stairs and going to pet the wolf. “It was a shock to us as well, when we first learned that Harry was like this, this beautiful, wondrous animal.
“Wait, are you trying to tell me that animal is Harry?”
“At first it scared us, to be near him when he was like this. But then he showed us his crew and we knew that Harry being like this wasn’t odd at all, but an incredible gift. He doesn’t show this side of himself often, but I think he needed to grieve Teresa like this. He needed his animal self to be able to express its own sort of sadness.”
“But…how do you talk to him when he’s like that?”
“We don’t talk, per se,” Javier smiled. “It’s more of a way of communication. He has a unique knack for understanding what we say, even if he can’t talk back when he takes that form.”
“Hi,” Katie said, her voice shaking a little as she stepped closer to the wolf. “Does he always look like he wants to eat people?”
“No,” Javier laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s just you, doll.”
Katie blushed then, feeling foolish. When Javier left the room, she just stood there, waiting. Why did it feel as if her future depended on this moment? “You’re beautiful,” she whispered, reaching out a hand. She pulled back when he moved toward her. He stopped, eyeing her and she reached out her hand again. This time her hand connected with his large forehead and she was instantly oohing and ahhing over the softness of his fur.
“Oh god,” she sighed. “It’s like touching a mink coat.”
He chuffed at her and she giggled. “You’re too pretty for that though,” she smiled. “The reporter in me has so many questions! Can you change into other animals? Are you a wolf who turns into a man or a man who turns into a wolf? Are there others like you?” She was still touching him when he turned back into a man, her hand considerably lower on his anatomy, now that he was on two legs. Quickly Katie yanked her hand back. “Sorry,” she blushed.
“Don’t be,” Harry grinned. She felt his hand on hers, drawing it upward. She watched him kiss her palm and wondered how something so simple could set her soul on fire. “You haven’t done a thing to be sorry for.”
“I…I’m sorry about your mama,” Katie said, her voice hoarse with tears.
“Me too,” Harry said, pulling her close. “Give me a minute to get dressed?”
Katie shook her head yes and watched Harry head upstairs, laughing lightly at his naked backside. Turning she headed toward the kitchen, deciding that a cup of coffee in Javier’s company was time well spent.
***
Harry found them there, talking as if they were old friends. “Don’t you two look chummy,” Harry teased.
“Well it took you forever to get dressed so,” Katie smiled back, lifting her coffee cup as if that explained everything.
“Ten minutes tops.”
“Forever,” Katie grinned with a wink. “Just like I said.”
Javier was laughing so hard the older man was practically wheezing. “She’s pegged you, son,” Javier laughed.
“Don’t remind me,” Harry winked back at her.
Harry enjoyed a cup of coffee with his dad and Katie before they called the coroner. He came out, accompanied by a police car and an ambulance. Harry, Katie and Javier were all questioned about the details surrounding Teresa’s death and once it was confirmed that her time of death matched their story, they loaded up her body and left.
“Katie,” Javier said. “Will you be able to make the funeral?”
Harry smiled when Katie nodded. “I took a sabbatical from work to be here, to support Harry.”
“Takes a strong woman to know her own mind like that,” Javier said, slapping his son on the back. “An equally smart man wouldn’t let her go.”
Harry grinned and winked at her when his dad exited the room. He held out his hand, feeling right for the first time that day, when her hand slipped into his. “Wanna take a walk?”
“Sure,” she smiled.
***
“So, about the whole hey I’m a wolf-man, thing earlier…”
“Sorry you had to find out like that,” he said shrugging. “I…it’s not something that usually comes up in conversation and I didn’t even tell Javier or Teresa before they just sort of found out.”
“Have you always been able to do that, turn into a hairy dog?”
“Ever since I can remember. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure it was something I was born able to do.”
“And you just happen to figure this out, when?”
“I was about nine. Ron had just gotten a brand new puppy and I was so jealous. Then I was angry, that dog should have been mine. So I thought at the time anyway. I was sitting in the tub and the next thing I know, I’m a wolf pup. I couldn’t howl worth a shit back then.”
Katie laughed at that picture, a little wolf pup boy, trying desperately to howl for help and confused about what happened to him.
“How’d you turn back to a boy?”
“I scared Teresa half to death,” he grinned at the memory. “When I saw her face that was all it took. I was a precocious nine-year-old again. Naked as a Jay bird too. She scolded me and then we sat together and did research to see what we could find on my condition. We didn’t find much, back then. Somehow I managed to end up heading a crew of firefighting wolf-shifters.”
“You mean they all shift?”
“That’s why we’re called the Lobo crew,” he smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
They’d been walking and talking for nearly an hour when Katie yawned. “You’re tired.”
“I just…didn’t sleep well. Not to mention, the chaos this morning.”
“I can’t express my gratitude for you being here with me.”
“You don’t have to,” she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I was glad I could be here. Thankful I got to meet your mother.”
“Me too,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. “She liked you and that’s saying a lot for Teresa Denismore. Sh
e’s never liked any girl or woman I’ve brought home.”
“Have there been many?”
It wasn’t prudent to pretend he didn’t know what she meant, Harry decided. She was a reporter after all, dealing in facts and such. “Not especially,” he said. “And certainly none like you. You are one in about seven billion, give or take a million.”
Katie laughed, leaning into him and warming at his embrace. “I like it here,” she said, sighing contentedly.
“Katie,” Harry said, stopping and waiting for her to turn toward him. “I don’t really have a lot, materially speaking anyways. And I know my job is hectic, to say the least. I know I couldn’t have made it without you here and I…I was wondering if you’d marry me.”
Katie could just imagine the look on her face, a mixture somewhere between shock and elation. Still, this was a massive decision and she couldn’t keep that reality from showing. Tears welled in her eyes when he took out Teresa’s ring. “Oh god,” she said. “Harry…oh. Shit!”
“I know the timing is crummy, and we haven't known each other long, but my wolf just knows that you are the one for me.” he said and Katie could already read that he was pulling back, trying to brush off the fact that she hadn’t immediately jumped for joy and accepted his proposal. “I just…Teresa always said that I had all the ambition anyone ever needed and that figuring out how to go about using it was my only problem. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Harry,” Katie said, stopping him when he tried to turn away from her. “I do want to marry you. I just…logistically it’s a little difficult to fathom.”
“We work in the same city, relatively speaking.”
“That’s true, but you’re only there six months’ at a time. What if you need to come back here, or decide you’re done fighting fires and want to move here?”
“Are those deal breakers for you? You can’t imagine moving here with me or is it quitting your job or trying to find a new one?”
“They aren’t deal breakers for me, Harry,” Katie said, touching his arm, hurt when he pulled away. “We don’t have to figure anything out tonight right? We’ve got five months before I have to return to work. That’s a long time to get to know each other, to love one another.”
“Sure,” Harry said, a half-smile tilting his mouth up.
Katie didn’t say anything, but she felt him growing colder toward her. He was upset, obviously, about his mother dying. She’d give it a few days and see where they were. Hopefully he’d come to understand why she hadn’t accepted right away, why she needed time.
***
Katie spent two weeks with Harry and Javier. They had a memorial service for Teresa and Katie had resolved herself to the fact that things with Harry were pretty much over. He hadn’t said as much, but the signs were there.
It was a pretty Sunday morning when Katie informed Harry that she was going back. “I have to, Harry.”
“You’re on sabbatical,” he said, as if that explained why she should stay.
“That doesn’t mean I’m on leave from life,” she said, a soft grin curving her lips. “I have friends, family whom I’d like to see. That doesn’t mean I expect you to pick up and come with me. I get that you’re still grieving and that you need time. We’ll talk when you’re reading to head back to your crew.”
“And if I never go back?”
“Then maybe one day soon I’ll come back here.”
“Yeah,” Harry said, but Katie knew he didn’t believe that. “Sure.”
Katie stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Then she whispered, “Bye, Harry.”
She turned away then, not able to bear that he’d just stand there, as if they hadn’t opened their hearts to one another. She climbed in her car and drove away, stiffening her lip when tears threatened.
Chapter Four: Long In-Roads
Harry busied himself with making sure Javier was well taken care of. Four weeks after Katie left, Harry knew it was time to go back to work.
“I’ve been expecting this for at least a week,” Javier grinned. “It’s about time you got back to living your own life.”
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’ve got your brother and sister close by. They won’t let anything happen to me while you’re working. Just make sure you bring Katie back to visit when you come. Remember what I said. A woman like that doesn’t come along every day, son. And this time apart doesn’t mean anything’s changed. You still love her, then you need to make sure she knows it.”
Harry left early that afternoon and made it back to headquarters by nine. He hoped it wasn’t too late to call Katie, but when he got her voicemail he hung up without saying anything. “Welcome back, boss.”
“Thanks,” Harry said to Jackson Pike. Harry grinned at the moniker. He was the second in command, but it was the distinction between his job and Jackson’s that made it laughable. Jackson, for instance, made considerably more than Harry, despite that they were both equally qualified for the job. “It’s good to be back.”
“Bet,” he said. “I was sorry to hear about your mom.”
“Yeah,” Harry said with a solemn nod of his head. “I was thankful that we sort of knew it was coming. I couldn’t imagine if it had been a sudden sickness or something of that nature.”
“God, I can’t imagine,” Jackson agreed.
“So how are things now?”
“They’re doing okay. So far we’ve only had a few brush fires, nothing life threatening and certainly nothing like the Pine Crest fire.”
“Thank the gods for that,” Harry said, his mind immediately turning to Katie, whom he’d met out at Pine Crest during cleanup.
“Pike over!” came Alex Hernandez’s voice over their walkie-talkie system.
“Go for Pike, over.”
“We’ve got a fire billowing out on Aldredge Road, south of Aspen.”
“How bad?”
“I’d say three alarm easy, with a possibility of blowing up into a five if this wind doesn’t slow down.”
“We’re on our way. You and Ava try to keep things under control until we get there, over and out.”
***
Katie was just coming into work when she heard about the fire. “We want you and Edison to head that way, see if you can’t get an exclusive from one of the fire fighters for tonight’s ten o’clock.”
“Ready, Kat?”
“You bet,” she said and squelched the nervous feeling that curled in her stomach. She’d gotten a missed call the other night and in her heart figured it was from Harry, not that the caller had said so. It’d been a month since they’d last spoken and in all honesty Katie didn’t know what to think or feel. She liked Harry, a lot. And she hadn’t lied when she’d told him she loved him. But after a month, would he still feel the same way? He hadn’t tried to contact her, other than the silent voicemail. What did that say about whatever it was they had going on?
“We’re here,” Katie heard Dean say, jarring her from her thoughts.
“Okay,” she said, breathing out an unsteady breath. Katie stood outside the yellow perimeter tape, thinking about the first time she’d met Harry, seemingly forever ago. How had so much changed in such a short time?
“There’s a fire fighter coming your way,” Dean said, “And I’m not so sure he’s in the mood for an interview.”
Katie turned and instantly recognized Harry, despite the sweat smears of soot on his face. Those usually warm eyes were molten and Katie felt a shiver go through her body, of fear or anticipation she didn’t know.
Katie saw that Dean had his camera on his shoulder and turned back just in time to see Harry in full refusal mode. “Don’t even think about broadcasting this,” he growled. Katie hadn’t even grasped what he was saying before he was dragging her, bodily, away from the perimeter.
“Harry!” she squealed, still not sure whether she should be mad or not.
“Don’t,” he said, ending her protest, such as it was. “Don’t say anything until I
’m done.”
Katie was so shocked she could only nod her understanding. She watched as Harry paced in front of her, looking much like a caged animal.
***
“I don’t like that you just took off, leaving me there when you’d taken a sabbatical to be there for me. I felt like someone was yanking the rug out from under me, when I’d just lost my mom,” Harry started, pointing a finger at Katie when she opened her mouth. When she shut it again, he continued.
“I didn’t call you because I was angry and hurt. Then I was just angry, pride mostly I guess. I didn’t like that you could leave me so easily without so much as a look backward.
“Then, the longer you were gone the more I figured you were done with us. It soothed my pride, again, to assume that whatever we’d had was over. If it wasn’t, then I was just that forgettable. Or you were so immersed up here that I simply didn’t matter as much.”
Harry sighed before turning to her. “I’m sorry, Katie, for making it harder for you to come home. You drove all the way just to apologize and I sent you home with a burr between us.”
He stepped closer now, taking her hands in his. “I had some good talks with Javier while you were gone. Man knows a thing or two. I don’t want you to ever have to choose between me and your life, Katie. I’d like to think that we can share this life, all of it. If you’ll have me.”
He felt like an idiot, bending down on one knee, but when he saw tears brimming in her eyes, he figured it was worth a little humiliation. “Will you marry me, Katie?”
“God,” she said, her hands shaking. “I thought you were going to tell me you hated my guts.”
“I decided the angry route didn’t suit me. Will you forgive me, and be my wife?”
***
Katie gave a watery chuckle. “Aren’t you full of surprises?”
