Vivian Arend - Wolf Tracks

Something inside paused. Since when did she call it making love? Sex was sex. You took care of your partner, had some fun then moved on.

A rustling in the nearby trees made her sit up, and she watched carefully for signs of what made the noise. They hadn’t spotted any wildlife yet, and that was one thing she hoped to change before heading home.

She stood to have a better view. The lower limbs of a bush wiggled. Something small. The sound of sniffing reached her ears and she hesitated.

That didn’t sound like a deer or a caribou or some other four-legged vegetarian. The head that popped out from the forest was brown washed with streaks of grey. One plate-sized paw followed another and Pam froze in terror.

Bear.

Oh my God, what was she supposed to do? She racked her brain for the training session she’d taken on bear encounters, but it had been a long time ago. Stay still. It can’t see me if I don’t move .

No, wait—that’s what you’re supposed to do for a T-Rex.

There was still a fair distance between her and the bear, so she took a cautious step backward. The animal’s head pivoted in her direction and it sniffed harder.

Pam clenched her teeth together to stop them from chattering.

The animal reared on its hind legs, scenting the air. It snorted at her, twice.

She took another step backward and spoke softly. “Go away. I’m human. I’m not interesting at all. Oh damn, damn, damn, TJ, this is a rotten time to be out strolling.” Sneaking a peek over her shoulder to see if there was any action by the lake tempted her, but that would have required taking her eyes off the bear and that was physically impossible.

The beast wavered, its upper body rocking from side to side for a second before it suddenly dropped to all fours, and with a nerve-racking grumble, it rushed her. She shouted, adrenaline flashing through her veins. She looked around frantically for a stick or a rock or anything to defend herself, but there was nothing at hand, and besides, her limbs were frozen in terror.

A blur of silver fur flew past her from behind. She stumbled back and swore as she identified a canine-like body darting at the bear. Her attacker jerked to a stop, and snarled, its teeth gnashing together before spinning around. It disappeared into the bush with a crash, the wolf hard on its heels. A loud howl rang out as her protector paused at the tree line before pacing over to sit a short distance from her feet.

Pam wrapped her arms around herself to stop the shaking from taking over even as she stared at the animal.

How in the world ?

“Wolfie?”

Keil

Granite Lake is empty. There’s no sign of him at any of the pack’s summer retreats. We even checked the old-timer’s trapline cabins and came up blank. As for Shaun, he did a supply run up north to Old Crow then parked the chopper and said he was taking a week-long vacation. The locals saw him head into the bush with a backpack. Looks like he’s the only one who knows where Pam and TJ are, and he’s making sure no Alpha can contact him and order him to spill the beans.

I discovered a couple of the other single guys in the pack put together a food package for TJ. Seems he called in favours from all his buddies. All they can say is TJ asked for help and no one turns him down.

BTW, Maggie texted. She said you don’t have to worry about Pam suing us, but you might not get a chance to skin TJ. Pam is very capable of handing out her own chastisement. Did you remember she’s an RCMP? You’re going to die when you hear the division she works in.

Robyn

Shit.

Shit .

Pam was totally going to kill him. And after that Keil was going to rip off his fur and use him for trimming coats. Halfway back from the lake he’d spotted the bear rearing before her. It was probably just trying to figure out what she was—bears had rotten eyesight—but he wasn’t sure Pam knew it simply wanted to catch her scent. And while there was no reason for it to really attack, he couldn’t risk her misunderstanding if it made a false rush forward. His wolf demanded he take action, and before he knew it he had stripped, shifting as he ran to convince ol’ Bruin to hightail it off for a different patch of berries.

TJ moved slowly toward Pam who stared around in confusion. She yelled his name out a few times. “TJ! You ass, get your butt up here.”

She was a freaking dog handler. How was he supposed to talk to her? For the millionth time he wished they were completely mated like full-blood wolves. That he could talk to her mind and have her hear his voice.

“Okay, you look like the pet wolf I met at Maggie’s. But that’s flipping impossible. Stay.”

He froze. Anything to make her more comfortable.

“Shit, you’re not supposed to be trained. How did you get here? Come.” She snapped her fingers and TJ trotted to her side as she continued to call his name out loud in the direction of the lake.

His internal debate continued. If he ran into the trees and doubled back behind the cabin, he could shift and pretend to have been in there the whole time. Except that would explain his absence, but not the presence of the “wolfie”, and it would be a lie.

He didn’t want to lie to her. Didn’t want to keep up the deception. He ached to tell her everything, and following at her heels as she ran to the cabin, he made his decision. He was going to show her.

Maybe it was too soon. But…they’d hit it off, right? Surely it would be better to be honest now instead of coming clean later and having the lies held over his head. She pushed open the door and searched the cabin.

“TJ, where in the hell are you?”

He blocked her path when she would have left the cabin, nudging her instead toward the couch.

“Stop it, I need to find TJ.”

He forced his body weight against her legs to make her move the direction he wanted, and suddenly sharp pain radiated out from his ear, followed by his throat, as she put him into a chokehold.

“Stay.”

Okay, enough of her ordering him around like a dog. He hesitated for all of two seconds before shifting back into his human form.

Pam’s heart rate hovered around three hundred beats per minute. It had shot up there when the bear appeared and pretty much stayed at that level all the way until the damn dog blocked her path. Fuck this, she needed to get out of the building and no animal was going to stop her. Of course, feeling the fur under her elbow change to human skin and discovering she clutched the ear of a naked TJ did things to her blood pressure she was pretty sure were dangerous.

She released him and slammed back into the door. TJ rose to his feet and stepped away from her, his hands held out non-threateningly.

“What. The hell. Just. Happened,” she shouted. He cringed. Okay, maybe she was a few decibels over the safety levels, but… fuck .

“I can explain.”

Pam gasped for air. She wasn’t sure if she was going to throw up or laugh. Her stomach rolled a little more, and she would have closed her eyes but she wanted to make sure she knew where he was at all times.

“Start now. Make it snappy.”

TJ glanced down at his naked body. “Can I pull on some clothes?”

She nodded. Even while freaking out she found him distractingly attractive. He turned and disappeared into the bedroom they’d shared last night, his naked butt teasing her.

He’d turned into a wolf. That wasn’t possible.

He returned and dug into the cooler, poured a glass of something and gestured for her to sit on the couch. She had to peel herself off the door.

“You planning on…” She couldn’t think what to accuse him of. He’d turned into a freaking wolf.