Hunter Moon (Lupine Moon Series) (8 page)

“Yup! Tyler has to work late because of the whole dead guy thing, so it’s all clear. What do you want to watch?”

“Well, I need some cheering up so we’ll need to pull out the big guns. I was thinking about some men in leather. Sound good to you?”

“Huh, so
300
? Gerard Butler does sound nice right about now. I’ll bring some soda.” Yes, Gerry would do nicely, along with a couple Jack ‘n Cokes. Most of the time when we watched
300
we muted it and just ogled all the men.

“Sounds good. See you in an hour?” We hung up, and I got off the couch and walked out to the barn to feed my boys. When I walked in, Tahoe and Roanie had their heads over their stall doors and staring at the big wolf sitting in the middle of the barn. It surprised me that they weren’t terrified by the wolf, but stood there calmly regarding the animal, not even sparing me a glance when I walked in.

“Hello there, wolfy. Coming to check in on me again?” He tilted his head and stared at me as I approached him. I held my hand out and he didn’t move or growl, so I hesitantly scratched his ears again. His fur was softer than I remembered. Reluctantly, I stopped petting him and turned toward my animals. They just stood there, gazing at us.

“Okay, show’s over. Here’s dinner.” I doled out the hay and oats, keeping an eye on the wolf the whole time. He simply sat there stoically as I got out the wheel barrel and mucked out the stalls. Some people minded the smell of horse manure, but it didn’t bother me. It reminded me of home. I dumped the poop outside, and then put the wheel barrow away. I turned to look at the wolf.

He was mostly silver with little black points on his ears, but his two back feet and the tip of his tail looked like they’d been dipped in white paint. It was cute. He sat on his haunches, his icy blue eyes looked blandly back at me. I decided that he must have been someone’s pet to be so tame.

“Okay, Mr. Wolfy. I’m gonna have to ask you to leave the barn. As trustworthy as you might look, I still need my horse and mule alive.” I walked out of the barn and glanced over my shoulder. The wolf followed me out, so I turned and watched him walk into the trees and out of sight.

I shook my head and walked back into my trailer. I collapsed at my kitchen table and stared at my phone.
He did say to call him if you saw the wolf
. I didn’t think the wolf was a problem anymore. He wasn’t aggressive, he hadn’t killed any calves that I could see, and I was strangely comforted by his presence. Would Cash still go after it if I told him what I thought?

I leaned forward and thumped my head on the table a couple times. I didn’t know how I’d gotten myself into this sort of position. I
never
let men get to me like this, but something about Cash got underneath my skin. Part of me wanted to see the warden like a drug addict needed another hit. My skin tingled just thinking about him. On the other hand, his arrogant, chauvinistic attitude made me want to punch him in his gorgeous jaw.

If you call him now,
I rationalized.
he’ll get here when Jesse is here.
Oh, I liked that idea. He wouldn’t be able to pull any stunts with her here.
And,
said my little inner voice.
With Jesse here, you probably won’t attack him and have your naughty way with him.

“Shut up” I muttered to my stupid inner voice as I dialed Cash’s number. I got his machine, again.

Isn’t this guy ever home?
His machine message played again and I decided not to make an idiot of myself.

“Hey,
Ms. Flint
here. Call me back when you get this.”

It was only after I had hung up that I realized I hadn’t ever given him my phone number.
Huh, how did he—
Just then Jesse walked in with a bag of Coke, Candy and men in leather and Cash was forgotten.

Jesse left around midnight. Tyler had been working late, but she still wanted to go home to her husband. It would have been cuter if I wasn’t so jealous that she had a man to go home to. I had been so busy this past year I hadn’t stopped to realize how lonely I really was. I put the Jack Daniels away and the Coke in the fridge. There was nothing left of the candy.

We had a few drinks, a few tears and lots of laughs. I had vented to her about the situation with my cousins and she was appropriately outraged. Her little violent streak that had gotten us in several fights in high school reared its ugly head as she threatened to take out Harry’s knees with a baseball bat. While appreciated, her violence wouldn’t help me save the ranch or find me somewhere to live and work.

Jesse wanted to know all about what was going on with Cash, but
I
didn’t really know what was going on with Cash. We had sighed over Gerry and his 299 hot men, both of us decided the old guy wasn’t that hot. I locked the door and turned off the lights and walked with Reggie to my bedroom.

I changed into my PJ’s and put my Glock .45 on my nightstand. With whoever killed my dead guy still on the loose, I was never far from it. I slid under the covers and clicked off my lamp. The weight of Reg was against my legs and his familiar presence relaxed me to sleep.

The vibration of Reggie’s growl woke me. The sound was deep in his chest, and since few things bothered Reggie, I knew something was very, very wrong. Not wanting to alert whatever it was to the fact I had awakened, I slowly cracked my eyes open. The moonlight streamed through my window, and I could see clearly the shape of a man looking in. My heart stopped.

Through slit eyes I stayed perfectly still and watched whoever it was stare at me for a minute. My fingers itched to get at my Glock, but I didn’t dare move. I didn’t want to tip off the man, I was sure it was a man, that I was awake. A few seconds later, he moved away from the window in the direction of my door.

I leapt out of bed as silently as I could and tiptoed through my house, grabbing the pistol on my way. Reg just stayed curled up on the bed.
Some watchdog you are.
I stood with my back to the wall by my front door and made sure a bullet was chambered in my gun.
You should call for help,
that niggling little voice said.
Like very
sexy
help.
I scanned my kitchen and living room for my phone. It was on my couch, about ten feet away. Unfortunately, it was also right in front of a window.

I was home alone, in the dark, miles away from my nearest neighbor. Surprise was all I had and I didn’t want to risk it calling for a man who in all likelihood wouldn’t even answer.
Damn that man!
In the dark, I focused on quieting my breathing, which seemed so loud in my ears.

I stood there for what seemed like hours but didn’t hear another sound. I decided I could risk being seen, so I scampered over to my phone and then ran back to my place by the door. Quickly, I punched in Cash’s number.

“Hello?”

At any other time, Cash’s rough, sleepy voice would’ve made me warm all over, but at the moment it meant that the small hope I had been entertaining that Cash was the man outside my house was dashed to pieces.

“Since you answered your phone, I’m guessing you’re not the person circling my house right now?” I whispered into the phone, my ears still straining to hear any sign of my intruder.

“
Shelby
?
What are you talking about?”

 I could hear him getting out of bed and it was another testament to my state of mind that I didn’t immediately envision him in bed, naked. I only did that a few seconds later.

“I woke up to a man standing outside my bedroom window,
Cash.
That’s what I’m talking about. Are you going to do something or not?”

“I’m on my way. I’ll go ahead and call the sheriff’s office while I’m at it, unless you already have?”

I cursed and hit the receiver against my forehead a few times.
Stupid stupid stupid!
That would have been the rational thing to do, but
no,
I had to call a big hunky man to save me.

“Ah, no. I haven’t . That’d be great. I’m going to go now.”

“Shelby, no! Stay on the—”

But I’d already hung up. Feeling a little better, knowing help in all his glory was on its way. I relaxed into the wall. That’s when I heard a twig snap outside. I jumped and stifled the yelp I’d nearly let slip. I sidled over to the closest window and slowly looked outside.

The man walked around the other side of my trailer and paused in the middle of my driveway. He stopped and just stared at my front door. He stood there for probably ten minutes. The waning moon was bright, but the man was backlit so I couldn’t make out any of his features. I did, however, see the light glint off of a gun.
Probably a .22
, I thought to myself,
but mine’s bigger.

I heard him before I saw him. The deep, visceral growl raised the hair on the back of my neck as I watched my wolf pad into the moonlight. Erie green light shone from his eyes where the moonlight reflected off of them. His grey fur looked like silver and it undulated over his massive shoulders as he stalked toward the man.

Whoever the man was, he must not have heard the warning because he didn’t turn to face the beast until the wolf was a mere three feet away. The man spun around to face him, his gun leveled at its head. The wolf’s rumble grew louder and its shoulders crouched down a hair. My breath hitched. Something in my heart gave, and I decided I didn’t want to see that beautiful animal die in front of me.

With the man’s focus on the wolf, I opened my front door as slowly as I could. Luckily, the screen had been on my to-do list, so it had a fresh coat of WD-40, swinging open like a dream. I stepped through the door gun drawn and I could hear the man whispering.

“Down doggie, good doggie.”
This guy is an idiot
, I thought to myself as I crept up a little closer to him, pistol trained on his chest. The wolf’s glare might have shifted to me for an instant, I wasn’t sure, but his growl grew even louder still and he moved forward. I took the opportunity and spoke up.

“If you don’t put that gun down right now you’re going to have a few extra holes in you, and I promise they won’t be the fun kind.” As soon as I spoke, he whirled his arm around. Not hesitating, I squeezed off a round into his right shoulder just as the wolf barreled into him and knocked the man to the ground.

He scrambled to his feet again after aiming a kick at the wolf’s head and took off into the shadows. His gun had landed a few feet away when he’d fallen, but he didn’t stop to collect it as he ran.

Unfortunately, the laws in California are such that shooting an unarmed man in the back is frowned upon, so I let him run. I knelt down by the wolf and gave it a big hug. I rubbed my face in its fur, it smelled of the forest and campfires. It didn’t resist, but when headlights came down my driveway it pulled itself loose and bolted. Disappointed at losing my new hero, I sat there as the sheriff car pulled up in front of me.

“What the hell, Shelby? Why are you out here? Cash called in about a trespasser outside your trailer.” Tyler slammed the car door and he and the sheriff strode up to me. I nodded and motioned toward the stranger’s gun.

“Yeah, he was out here. I tried to surprise him, but he pulled that gun on me. So I shot him and he ran.”

I was amazed at how steady my voice sounded since I had started to shake.
A strange man had pointed a gun at me; I think I’m entitled to shake a little.
I nodded an agreement to myself while Tyler gave out a strangled cry.

“
You did what?
”

“You know, that’s kinda funny. Your wife asked me the very same thing earlier today.” I laughed a little on the hysterical side.

“Oh hell, Shelby,” said Ty sadly. “You’re coming home with me tonight. Jesse will kick my ass if I left you here alone after this. Go inside and pack some stuff while we deal with this outside.”