A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing (Welsh Wolves) (3 page)

That left Fergus and Jason.

And Diana, that crazy bitch assistant. She was still out there. For two years Reese had been tracking rumors about secret labs and tall, blond doctors. A surprising number of rogue werewolves were on the Internet...you just had to know how to recognize them.

He’d recently put out a new batch of feelers, just dropping hints that he knew something to see if anyone bit. So far, it was the same crap.

Humans trying to sell him drugs or guns. Werewolves claiming they hadn’t heard anything. One from this last group had come back promising.

He sent a message to a guy not far from where Reese and his pack had chosen to live. The guy said there was a creepy building where animals were taken in at night and were never seen again.

Reese didn’t need another conspiracy, but it might be something to check out. In truth, he’d have to ask Micah to check it out. Someone with eyes that worked.

He arrowed down to the next message and choked when the computerized voice read “From: Jason T. Subject: Is this you?”

Reese’s fingers trembled as he hit the “enter” button, telling the computer to read the message.

“Don’t know if this is you. I don’t want to say too much. I think I’m being watched. I was there. After it happened. After they did it to you.”

Reese’s stomach turned at the memory. They’d killed his eyes with the lasers, then injected him with a serum that wouldn’t let him change. For three days, he’d lain awake, staring at the white walls, hoping something would move into his vision.

And the whole time, Jason sat beside him, reaching through the bars of his cage, petting Reese’s hair, murmuring soft, assuring words that “everything would be all right.”

“I can’t say any more until I know it’s you but...well, I just wanted you to know I’m here.”

“I’m here. I’m here.” Jason had whispered that over and over again when Reese started to panic, when he realized his sight wouldn’t return.

A fist thumped on his bedroom door and jolted him from the memory.

“Reese, come on,” Dex shouted through the door. “We’ve got to get going before this storm gets too bad.” As if punctuating his sentence, lightning crackled overhead.

Reese growled and tossed the laptop aside. Every instinct told him to stay, contact “Jason” and see if it really was the wolf from the cage next door. Find out what had happened to him two years ago.

But Reese’s wolf clawed at the inside of his throat, demanding he heed the pull of the full moon and go run with his pack. He climbed off his bed and stripped down to his shorts. From the sound of it, everything was going to get soaked anyway.

He opened his door and followed the familiar path downstairs, using voices to identify who was around. Dex and Maddock. Micah typically went ahead to make sure the hunting ground was safe.

“Finally,” Dex sighed in typical drama queen fashion.

“It’s pouring rain,” Reese said. “Why are you so eager—?” The scent of arousal stopped his question.
Ah.
Dex wanted to run so he could come back here and fuck his mate.

Reese didn’t begrudge his friend his happiness, but damn, sometimes it was difficult to be around. When the two wolves got close to each other, their auras sort of reached out, blending at the edges, Dex’s bright colors adding light to Maddock’s darker tones.

Maddock stood up to his full height. He wasn’t quite as tall as Micah, but Maddock definitely took up a lot of space.

“You get Reese down to the hunting grounds, babe,” Maddock said.

Reese heard the tap of a hand hitting skin, probably Maddock patting Dex’s ass.

“I’m going to get a blanket,” Maddock said.

“It’s just going to get wet,” Dex pointed out.

“I’ll keep it dry. I don’t want you to be cold when we get done.” Maddock’s aura vanished into the hallway.

Dex practically melted next to Reese. “Isn’t he sweet?”

“Yeah. Pure sugar. Now let’s go.”

Dex giggled. It would take a lot to kill the kid’s buzz tonight.

The pull of the moon intensified as they stepped outside though with the rain pounding down, Reese couldn’t be sure it
was
a full moon.

“What the fuck?” Reese asked as his hair and shorts became instantly drenched. Rain and wind battered their faces as they started down the path. “We have a weather witch living in the house.” He flipped his shoulder-length hair away from his neck to shake off some of the water. “Why the hell are we running in the rain?”

“She’s still pissed.”

Reese winced, but it was only
partially
his fault. No man should try to comfort a pregnant female, he decided. All he’d said was she only had six months to go. He’d never expected the firestorm that followed.

Yes, he understood she was uncomfortable and yes, someone really should have told her before she got pregnant that werewolves gestate longer than humans and she’d be carrying
the thing
for almost two years.

By this point she’d been screeching so he hadn’t pointed out that much of her increased aggression was probably related to the werewolf blood circulating through her body as the baby grew.

Dex hadn’t helped by commenting it was “the price you pay for getting knocked up by a werewolf.”

So Rhian, their normally calm, sarcastic weather witch, had thrown a fit. Lightning cracked the sky open and a new burst of cold rain fell down on them.

Shivers raced across his skin as they picked their way down to the pack hunting grounds. It wasn’t much of a trail, but then they didn’t want hikers to stumble across it.

Dex’s hand gripped Reese’s arm, guiding him.

He felt a change in the air as the narrow path opened into the clearing that marked the edge of their hunting grounds. With no other packs in the area, it wasn’t that critical to delineate the territory, but it didn’t hurt, just in case someone else came through and thought this might be a good place to settle.

Knowing the space was safe, Reese released Dex’s arm.

“You just had to say something to her, didn’t you?” Micah groused from the edge of the clearing.

Reese shrugged. Really, what else could he do?

He shivered again as the rain fell, just cold enough to feel like it should be snow.

“Let’s do this fast,” he called out to his pack mates. His fur would be warmer and hiding under a tree in wolf form wouldn’t seem as girly.

“We’ve got to wait for Maddock,” Dex yelled back. The pounding storm made it difficult to hear each other across their clearing.

“Asshole,” Micah muttered. Micah and Maddock had never gotten along.

Lightning sizzled across the sky followed seconds later by a huge rumble of thunder.

Damn, Rhian was
not
having a good night.

“Reese, make the change if you want,” Micah said. “At least one of us will be comfortable.”

Despite refusing to acknowledge them as a pack or declare his position as Alpha, Micah still commanded on full moon nights. It was as if his wolf needed to take charge.

The moon’s influence affected wolves in different ways.

For Reese, it strengthened his sight. He still couldn’t see but his vision could detect minute traces of heat allowing him to maneuver around plants. Or recognize dead spots in the forest which often meant a pathway. It wasn’t much, but any improvement helped on a full moon night.

A normal wolf pack typically ran together and then broke apart, pairing off. But Micah never let any of them wander. He said he was trying to protect them, but Reese knew it was mainly because of him. God knows what a blind wolf would run into alone?

The sound of the mechanical voice reading him his email flitted through his memory. Jason was alive. Fuck. Reese had assumed that he’d been killed in the explosion. Dex hadn’t remembered seeing him escape the building.

But somehow he had. Jason. Alive.

And alone from the sound of the email.

Given a free moment, his mind jumped back to those pain filled days right after they’d blinded him, but the wolf inside him rebelled, scouring his soul of the memory. The animal needed to be free.

Reese rolled his shoulders backward, trying to break the brutal grip on his muscles, but the moon’s power was too much.

The wolf howled in his brain and his face split. Pain lanced through his jaw as the bone broke and re-formed. Fuck, he hated this part of it. The physical pain wasn’t the worst of it.

It was losing command of his body.

The wolf came alive, seizing control. His human brain fought the invasion but lost and slid to the back of his mind, an observer.

He glanced up, recognizing the human forms of his pack. He growled, urging them to move.

“Keep your fur on,” the slim one laughed.

Reese snarled and trotted away, not going far, the land around the clearing familiar, safe. The wolf’s mind searched out fascinating scents, muted by the heavy wet falling from the sky.

He growled. A crack of lightning seemed to respond, shattering the air above him. A bolt slammed into the tree beside him and the old wood burst into flames.

Fire. Heat.

The wolf yelped and skittered away, cowering from the flames. In the distance, he heard human voices, but the wolf’s scattered thoughts made them impossible to decipher. The burning tree branch snapped and started to fall.

Instinct took over. Panic filled the wolf’s veins and the animal ran. Shadows and scents meant nothing. He ran to escape the flames.

Quiet followed and time slowed. The animal senses were stronger than his human form. He trotted along cautiously, searching for familiar smells. Rain soaked his fur and confused the space around him.

Another bolt of lightning shook the sky and the wolf flinched, running blind. Scents changed, but Reese couldn’t restrain the frightened animal.

Metal teeth clamped down on his paw and the clank of chains dragged him to a stop.

“We got one!”

The wolf crouched low, baring his teeth, snarling at the unfamiliar human forms. The pain in his front paw was too much to ignore. He leaned forward, licking the spot, the sickening taste of metal clogging his tongue.

A human approached. The man’s aura screamed red and green—passion and fear. Reese lifted his head and snarled. The warning seemed to frighten the man and he jumped back.

“Someone get a tranq over here!”

His human mind processed the information and sent renewed panic into the animal. Ignoring the pain, he tugged on his foot, trying to free himself.

“Get him. Shoot him.”

He snapped and growled, spinning around to face the intruders.

A bright stab pierced his hip.

“Got him.”

His brain registered the significance even as his back legs collapsed beneath him. Black painted the vague edges of his vision.

“This one will be out soon. Easier to kill when they aren’t fighting.”

“I-I’ll do it, Uncle.”

“You sure? You ain’t got much of a stomach.”

Despite the panic running through his veins, the tranquilizer was too strong. His front legs gave out and Reese crumpled to the ground. The thin bone in his forearm snapped as he fell.

“I want to.” Warm fingers petted the back of his head. “I’ll do it humane.”

A sharp laugh hovered just out of Reese’s hearing.

“Like I care. Just kill the damn thing.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

* * * * *

The pounding dragged Kieve out of his bed. Tempted as he was to ignore it, he knew anyone coming to his place at midnight had to be in dire need of a vet.

He stumbled through his kitchen, through the back door and into his kennels. He only had two dogs with him tonight. One barely raised his head as the light switched on. The other wagged his tail and hurried to the front of his cage, a tiny “yip” escaped as he called to Kieve.

Kieve gave the puppy a quick scritch on the head and headed toward the back door.

He peered through the window and sighed when he saw Lonny Traven standing on his porch. The kid had a good heart but he tended to bring every broken and hurt animal to Kieve’s office. It was hard to tell the kid that he couldn’t save every bird that fell out of its nest or every turtle that got hit by a car.

If he wasn’t living in the backwoods of nowhere, he might have thought the kid was flirting with him, bringing him animals just so he could be near Kieve.

But he’d never seen any open signs of interest and Kieve would never consider dating anyone that far into the closet.

Bracing himself for the onslaught, Kieve opened his door.

“Lonny.”

“Hey, Doc, I’m sorry it’s so late. I’m hoping you can help me.”

“Lonny, the office will be open in a few hours—”

“Please, Doc, I’m worried about this one. I don’t know that he’ll last a few hours.”

The possibility that an animal might die tugged on Kieve’s heart. He knew he couldn’t save every wild animal that had an accident—it probably wasn’t even smart to try—but the animal was there. And Kieve couldn’t ignore it.

Jamming his feet into sandals he kept by the back door, Kieve followed Lonny out to his truck.

“I’d’ve carried him in myself, but damn, this boy’s heavy.”

So definitely not a bird with a broken wing.

Kieve walked to the side of the truck bed and stared at the animal lying in the back.

“That’s a wolf.”

“I know. My uncle set out a couple of traps tonight and we caught one, but I couldn’t kill him. He’s just too pretty, but I’m pretty sure his leg’s broke or all torn up or something.”

“Lonny, he’s a wolf.”

“But, Doc, it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t mean to run into that trap.” Lonny raised his eyes and, damn, if there weren’t tears filling up the lower edges. “I’ll just feel terrible if we killed something so pretty. Please, Doc.”

Kieve sighed. Lonny was right. The wolf was very pretty—all black with shots of grey through its coat. His fingers twitched with the urge to stroke the soft fur.

But it was
a wolf.

“Please, Doc.”

“Help me bring him in.” As they grabbed the wolf and dragged him to the end of the truck bed, he saw the blood and mangled foot. “Anything else wrong with him?”