Linda Johnston - Protector Wolf

Finally, smiling to herself, she actually relaxed. And slept.

Still, when she woke, the same visions and questions captivated her mind.

Well, somehow she would find a way to use it all, to continue to inform locals who were otherwise unaware that wolves had returned to the area—and how wonderful it was. First thing, she would check her video to see how it looked, since she would show her results to as many people as she could.

And expound even more about wildlife—probably without revealing she’d put herself in danger.

But wouldn’t it be fun to let the world know she’d been saved by one of those wolves? Sure, but then she’d have to let everyone know that she’d felt threatened by the others.

Somehow, she finished showering and dressing and prepared to visit the local world again today.

She looked at her video, thrilled at what she’d captured, yet a bit uneasy that it did show the wild and potentially dangerous nature of those feral canines. But, heck, that was who and what they were. People could admire them as wildlife, stressing the wild part. She certainly did.

She didn’t exactly have a plan, but first thing would be to find somewhere to grab breakfast, hopefully someplace busy. Maybe she could start expounding on her latest lesson about the visiting wolves there.

She pulled on a nice blue shirt over jeans, then looked out her hotel room window. Sun shone between an irregular blanket of clouds. She looked down through the partial brightness toward the street, trying to recall what restaurants she’d seen in the area—and noticed that Ryan and Piers were out there walking Rocky on the Washington Inn’s narrow lawn next to the sidewalk.

Hey, no matter that she hadn’t reached them before. Now, they would be good targets for starting to tell her story about the night before. They’d at least be interested.

She put her camera into her purse and headed out the door. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, she walked the couple of flights of stairs down to the decorative lobby and hurried through it to the door, then outside and down the walkway to the sidewalk. She looked around and saw the men and dog still on the lawn but near the end of the block. She headed briskly in their direction, noting that a few other people milled around outside the charming structure, probably additional tourists who were staying there.

Now wasn’t a good time to stop and be friendly and talk up wildlife to strangers, she realized—despite how strongly the urge shoved at her.

Before she could get to Ryan, though, Trev exited a car parked at the curb and hurried up to her. “Good morning,” he said. “How are you today?” He aimed his geeky grin at her again, and she briefly smiled back at him. He was dressed in a white button-down shirt tucked into blue jeans.

“Okay,” she said. “Have a good day.” She turned away, ready to hurry off toward her goal.

“You, too. You know, I heard about your organization WHaM before. I saw online, on the WHaM website, that you were going to give a talk here, and that’s why I came to town.”

She stopped for a moment. “Then you don’t live in Fritts Corner?”

“No, but I wanted to hear you.”

“That’s very nice,” she said, meaning it. She’d have to tell her coworkers that the small mention they’d put up on the website was achieving what they wanted, at least a little—attracting people to learn more about them, and wildlife. “Then you care about wildlife?”

“I think about wildlife a lot,” he said.

“And did you hear the wolf howls last night?”

“I did, from my hotel room. They must have been pretty close to town.”

“You could say that,” she said.

“Hey, would you join me for breakfast?” He looked so eager that she considered saying yes to this wildlife aficionado who’d come here because of WHaM. But that wasn’t how she wanted to spend her morning.

“Sorry, I can’t. I have other plans.” And she did, even if they didn’t work out the way she hoped. “I hope to see you later, though.” Maybe. Especially if she had an opportunity to give another talk on behalf of WHaM.

For now, she said goodbye to the guy, who appeared disappointed. She felt bad, at least a little, as she strode away. But if he truly was flirting with her, and not just because he liked WHaM, she didn’t want to encourage him.

And right now she wanted to find out if Ryan and Piers had heard the wolves, too. They were the ones who’d been defending her and cheering on the return of those canines to this area. And if they had heard the wolves—well, she would enjoy the opportunity to describe her own adventure last night to them.

Should she tell others, too? Maybe. What she could do, after she reached Ryan and his crew, was to talk loudly enough that people around them could eavesdrop and hear it all.

Before she reached them, Ryan looked toward her. She couldn’t quite interpret his smile, though. Oh, yes, there was a smile on that really great-looking face of his, and yet it didn’t look exactly humorous or welcoming or glad to see her, the way she expected. Well, hoped, at least.

Instead...she couldn’t quite interpret that smile, but the first thing she thought it conveyed was irritation, maybe. Scolding? Wry, certainly.

“Good morning,” she called out, feeling somewhat annoyed herself. Why should she have to interpret this man’s expressions?

“Good morning, Maya,” Piers said. The smile on the shorter, heavier guy’s face looked a whole lot more friendly. “Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

“Yes, I did. But not before—”

“Have you had breakfast yet?” Ryan interrupted. “If not, why don’t you join us?”

Somehow his words, and his now-challenging expression, definitely turned Maya into the one who was irritated. Maybe she should tell him she already had plans and go find Trev again.

But she really wanted to tell them about her night and at least find out if they’d heard the wolves.

She first hurried toward Rocky. “Good morning, boy.” She greeted the friendly wolflike dog by patting his head and scratching behind his alert ears. “And, no.” She turned to face the men. “I haven’t had breakfast yet. I’ll be glad to join you. I had a very interesting evening and would love to tell you about it.”

“And we’d love to hear about it,” Ryan said. The expression on his face didn’t change.

“How about Andy and Family’s?” Piers gave the name of a restaurant Maya had noticed a couple of blocks from the hotel, the opposite direction from the park.

“Sounds great to me.” Maya strolled around Ryan to stand beside Piers. She’d walk beside him, and hopefully Rocky, too, till they got there. Her conversation with Piers was likely to be a lot friendlier than if she spent the time with Ryan. Although she’d like to understand why. “Let’s go!”

Chapter 5

As he walked along the sidewalk behind his three companions toward his upcoming breakfast, Ryan wondered if this was a good idea.

Oh, yes.

What he’d really wanted to do, upon first seeing the lovely, upbeat—and foolish—woman was to grab her by the shoulders and shake her and tell her she could have been killed.

But he would give too much away by doing that. No, he’d have to be a whole lot more subtle, yet still find a way to get that chastisement across to her.

The sky was somewhat overcast this September day, the air a little brisk, although it would warm up later. He felt warm enough now, though, partly because of his suppressed anger—and concern.

What would have happened if she’d been attacked by the wolves? Those wolves would have undoubtedly been considered feral and dangerous and possibly hunted and killed.

And would Maya have survived such an attack? To his surprise, that mattered as much to him as—maybe more than—whether the wolves who might be fellow shifters would have gotten out of the situation okay.