While the wolfs away, p.14
While the Wolf's Away, page 14
She laughed. “Nice segue.”
It took them a good hour to reach the cabin in the woods. The one-story home featured a lovely wraparound deck with big rocking chairs and small round tables that overlooked a pristine lake. David was thinking it was a really nice place to be a wolf, so at least the dad had that.
They saw a red Dodge Neon sitting next to the cabin. Jimmy called David on his phone and said, “That’s Dad’s car.”
“Good.” David hoped Mel was in human form and wouldn’t run away from them as a wolf. He watched for any movement at the house or surrounding area but didn’t see any.
“Look,” Elizabeth said. “The door to the cabin is wide open. I don’t see a doggy door. He would have had to leave the door open as a wolf.”
They left their vehicle and Jimmy rushed into the cabin, calling, “Dad! Dad, it’s me, Jimmy!”
“Hold on.” David glanced down at a flannel shirt and jeans lying on the wooden floor. “Are these his? Looks like he’s out running.”
“Yeah, they’re his.” Jimmy began stripping, dropping his shirt right next to the pile of clothes David had just pointed out.
“No, you need to stay in your human form so you can reason with him. He won’t know it’s you, otherwise. His sense of smell might not be developed enough yet to recognize your scent. Elizabeth and I will run as wolves to try and track him down. We’ll howl when we find him, so you’ll know he’s safe.”
“All right.” Jimmy pulled his T-shirt back over his head.
Elizabeth and David stripped and shifted. After using the clothes to get his scent, they shot out the door and started tracking him. Mel had marked the area with his scent, whether he meant to or not. His paws left a scent, and he’d peed in a couple of locations, the instinctive urge to mark his territory coming into play.
They kept running, noses to the ground, then up in the air, twitching, recalibrating, losing him, then finding him again. Finally, they spied the wolf standing next to the lake about two miles east of the cabin. He hadn’t seen them yet, but David knew it was him. He was a gray wolf, his fur all blacks and grays and tans. Though the Arctic wolf was a subspecies of gray wolf, their coloring was nothing alike.
David shifted. “Mr. Warner, your son, Jimmy, is here. We’re all wolf shifters, here to help you through this.” Then David shifted back into his wolf form.
Mel just stared at them, not moving an inch in any direction, not that David blamed him. The whole business could be such a shock to the system that he could understand the dad’s reluctance to go with them.
David shifted again so he could speak with him further. “Mel, we need you to come to the cabin with us. Your son is waiting for us to tell him we found you. He’s worried about you. We’ll explain more there.” Then he shifted back to his wolf. Elizabeth shifted next to him, then back again, to show Mel that David was telling the truth.
They waited. They weren’t returning without him. David howled then, calling for Jimmy, hoping he could convince his dad to return with them. It would take a while for his son to reach them, but like earlier in the day with the car, Jimmy had already been on his way. He raced into the clearing, skidding on his hind paws as he spotted them.
So much for listening when David told him to stay put. Not that he blamed the teen.
He woofed at his dad as if Mel would understand him, and then, after the barest of hesitations, Jimmy shifted into his human form. He walked toward his father, who took a step back.
It was one thing to realize his son was a wolf, another to accept the reality. And to accept his son was the one who had done this to him.
“I want you to come home. I’m sorry I bit you. I didn’t want Mom to divorce you. You’ve been the best thing for me, keeping me in line, just like a wolf father would have done, had I known my own. But I realize now how wrong I was to do this, to turn you without giving you a choice. I told Mom. She’s furious with me, understandably. Please come back with us to the cabin so we can talk.” Jimmy shifted again, the blur between forms so fast that even his father, who hadn’t once looked away, would have difficulty believing what he had seen.
Jimmy approached his father slowly and rubbed against him, nuzzling his face when he didn’t back away. Then, he gave him a quick lick. His dad looked like he was either shocked by the wolf affection or just didn’t know what to do about it. David felt for him, recalling just how hard it had been for him and his friends when they had first been turned.
Then Jimmy moved away, and his dad still stood there as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted their help or wanted to be by himself to figure this out. But David knew that with friends and family, he would adjust much better than being a lone wolf on his own. Candice could attest to that.
Mr. Warner finally began to follow Jimmy, his tail down, looking like a beta wolf. Jimmy’s tail was straight out, confident, glad his dad was coming with them.
David and Elizabeth brought up the rear. When they finally reached the cabin, they waited for Jimmy and his dad to enter the house. Elizabeth and David followed.
Jimmy shifted and began getting dressed. Elizabeth and David shifted, too, so they could talk to Mel. He probably didn’t have any ability to shift back at will right now. He was lucky he hadn’t shifted while he was driving the car to the cabin.
“Sorry, Dad,” Jimmy said, giving him a hug and burying his face in his dad’s neck. “I just wanted to stay with you.”
His dad licked Jimmy’s hand and rubbed up against him. The quiet sound of muffled tears filled the cabin. Mel stood still, letting his son cry against him. Finally, Jimmy let go. His voice raw, he said, “I hired a private investigator to find you, worried you would get yourself hurt or killed. They’re wolves like we are, so they were the only ones who could help me find you.”
David and Elizabeth finished dressing. David stepped forward. “I’m David Davis, a private investigator with White Wolf Investigative Services. This is Elizabeth Alpine, my associate. She’s a royal like your son, daughter, and wife, which means they have very few human roots mixed up in their genes. I’m more like you, bitten against my will, though it saved me when I was having a heart attack.”
David sat down on the couch with Elizabeth, and Jimmy took a seat on a chair. Mel lay down on the floor, listening to David speak. He explained about the phases of the moon. He told Mel all about how he had been turned and about the difficulties he and his fellow PIs had had with their business because of it. “Not only did we have the shifting issues, but when we returned to Seattle, we learned a gray wolf pack lived there. They didn’t want Arctic wolves living in their territory. And they didn’t like that we were newly turned—dangerous to their kind. We had our established PI practice there, so we had to move to another location where we could manage the agency and still hide what we were. You probably won’t be able to function in a job where you have to go to work on a regular basis. Online jobs are the way to go.”
“We know it’s a lot to take in,” Elizabeth said. “All the changes, learning how to communicate with each other, learning about the good things—the increased longevity and faster healing abilities, better hearing and sight—but the shifting can be a real issue. Eventually, you’ll have some control over it like David does. It just takes time. But you’ll have Jimmy to help. And us.”
Mel let out his breath, and David wished he knew what the man was thinking. But at least he had people to talk to who were knowledgeable about wolf shifter business. When David and his friends had been turned, they were all totally clueless.
Jimmy got a call on his cell phone. “It’s Mom. Yeah, Mom, we found Dad.” He glanced down at his dad. “He’s a wolf and he hasn’t been able to shift back. He’s all right though, not hurt or anything… Yeah, at Granddad’s cabin. We’re staying here. Cass is at her friend’s house. Okay, I’ll tell him. We’ll see you in an hour, then. We’ll be right here. Love you, Mom.” He ended the call. “She’s coming here to help. You should know, she didn’t have anything to do with this. If you’re going to be mad at someone, it should be me.”
“We mate for life as wolf shifters,” David said, glad the wife was coming. He hoped the situation between the wife and husband would be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. “In other words, no divorce. The problem is she married you before you were a wolf. We have no unwritten rules about that. We’re supposed to be with others of our kind to continue our species. Not only does that mean you don’t have to remain with her since you were human when you married her, but you can try to find a wolf who would be interested in mating you too. It means for life, and we live very long lives.”
Mel raised his wolf brows.
“Yeah, Dad. So if you and Mom can’t get along, there’s no sense in you staying with her. I never thought I would say that, but it’s not fair to either of you. Maybe she’s interested in seeing some other wolf. You might be happier with someone else too. I hate to say it, but it’s true.”
“Are you with a pack?” David asked Jimmy.
“No, not around here.”
Then David told Mel where he knew of packs that were located elsewhere. “We’ll help you find one that’s suitable for you to join. They’ll want you to be able to do some kind of work, something that won’t be an issue when you shift, and you’ll have to follow their rules to protect yourself and for them to protect themselves. But it’ll be a good life. You can still have a good life.”
Mel finally shifted, grabbed up his clothes, and headed for a bedroom.
When he returned, he ran his hands through his blond hair. He opened and closed his mouth three times before he settled on: “I–I don’t believe any of this. Does anyone want any water?”
David thought Mel needed to be doing something, anything, while he tried to come to terms with this.
“Sure,” Elizabeth said, David asking for some too.
Mel came back empty-handed, as if he’d completely forgotten what he went into the kitchen for. Knowing he had changed but unable to comprehend the extent of what had happened to him. “You’re saying you’ve always been a wolf?” he asked Jimmy.
“Yeah, Dad. From birth. Whenever you were away on business trips, we would run to our hearts’ content as wolves. One time you came home earlier than expected, and we were scrambling to shift and dress before you saw us.”
“I remember that. Cass wasn’t back and everyone was being kind of cagey about it.”
“Yeah, she was hiding in the tree house until I could sneak her clothes out to her. I–I was hoping if you were one of us, you couldn’t leave. That Mom couldn’t divorce you. I never knew a wolf who married a human, so I didn’t realize you both would have to decide if you would stay together. I thought it was a given.”
“Your heart was in the right place.” Mel rubbed the top of Jimmy’s head, and the tension David had been holding eased out of him. At least this part of Jimmy’s case would have a happy ending.
“We can leave when your wife gets here or wait and see how things work out. She might want to just see you for a while as a wolf and maybe things will improve between the two of you,” David said.
“I hope so. I love her and that hasn’t changed. And I love my kids. They’re like my own flesh and blood. This”—he gestured helplessly at himself—“doesn’t change that either. It’s just…a lot to wrap my head around,” Mel said.
“That’s understandable. Another thing you should know: if you are injured as a wolf, your blood will show you’re a wolf, and as a human, fully human. But if you’re killed as a wolf, you’ll shift back into your human form,” David said.
“Naked,” Mel said.
“Correct. Also, we try not to ever get into criminal trouble that will land us in jail. For those who can control their shifting, it’s bad enough to face confinement and not shift if someone’s hassling you on the inside. But as a newly turned wolf, it’d be disastrous.” He had an idea. “One of the packs that would be the best for a new wolf is the one in Silver Town. They run their own town. They take care of their own. You would be safer there.”
“Not with your pack here?” Mel asked.
“As a lone new wolf, you might not find our pack to be the best fit right now. Almost all of us are newly turned, too, and wouldn’t be able to look out for you the way you’ll need it. But if you stick together as a family, and your wife and the kids are there to watch out for you, then sure, we could manage it. If others hadn’t been there for us, I don’t know what we would have done,” David said.
“Which is why my friend and I have joined them. Neither of us have trouble shifting,” Elizabeth said, taking hold of David’s hand and squeezing. “We can run things while the other wolves are…wolves.”
“Okay, so I need to quit my job.”
“Yeah, probably. Accidentally shifting in the middle of a bakery might cause some comment,” David said, trying to lighten the mood. “Plus driving can be a problem. You should have seen us trying to get from Maine to Seattle, and then learning we couldn’t stay there either. The new moon is our friend, no shifting then. Though once you’re used to being a wolf, you miss not being able to shift and run as a wolf then.”
They all went out to sit on the porch and enjoy the view of the lake, the breeze blowing the fir tree branches, the geese flying overhead, the waves lapping gently at the shore. David hoped Mel could find some peace in all the beauty around them.
Mel finally broke the silence: “I have to tell you, when I was bitten, I thought Jimmy was a wild, rabid dog. Once it seemed like it was gone, I wrapped a towel around my arm and left to get a tetanus shot or whatever. But halfway to the hospital, my arm started tingling like crazy, and then I began to feel like I was burning up and I needed to strip off my clothes. I thought I was losing my mind.” He laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in it.
“I pulled off on a side road, yanked off my clothes, having no control over my actions, and the bandage came off. No wound at all.” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. “And then I was a dog, or later I realized I was a wolf. I started to worry that maybe the wolf wasn’t really gone from the house when I left. What if it went after Jimmy? Or jumped out at Cass or my wife when they got home? If a wolf could do this to me, then it could do the same thing to them. I’ve been going mad, thinking about it.” He reached out, squeezing Jimmy’s arm. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“I’m so sorry, Dad,” Jimmy said. “So sorry. I wasn’t thinking, and I’ve messed it all up so bad. You could have had an accident or been shot, and it would have been all my fault.”
“It’s okay, Jimmy. I’m okay.”
A car drove up on the gravel drive, and Jimmy raced down the steps to greet his mom. Mel stayed put. David thought he was afraid to speak with his wife about all this.
David wanted to give them their privacy, but he had to know if Jimmy’s mother was going to take care of her husband or if they needed to contact the Silver Town wolf pack and see if they could take him in.
“Mel,” she said, coming up on the porch with Jimmy. “I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you about what we are, but we couldn’t. And I didn’t want to turn you, knowing this is what would happen. It wouldn’t have been fair to you.” She hugged him fiercely. “I’m so sorry.”
“What now?” Mel asked, looking at her with tears in his eyes.
“We’ll work things out somehow.”
“If things don’t work out, we’ll find a pack for him to join.” David didn’t want to leave this hanging, and he wanted her to know there were other options if she really didn’t want to stay with her husband.
“Thank you. I guess Jimmy’s got your number,” she said to David.
“I do,” Jimmy said.
“How much do we owe you?”
“Nothing. Call it a wolf favor. And if you ever need our assistance with another matter, be sure and give us a call.” David handed her his business card. “I hope it all works out for you. All of you.”
He and Elizabeth got into his vehicle, and she brushed away tears. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. It was just touching to see Mel’s relationship with his son, and I don’t know, maybe even the mother will come around.”
“It might take some work, but maybe it will turn out okay. Maybe she’d been distancing herself from him because he wasn’t a wolf. Think of it. She would have had to watch him die. And explain why the hell she wasn’t aging like he was. Could be she thought she was protecting him, and now she doesn’t have to anymore.”
“That could be, yeah.”
“So maybe it will work out.”
“I loved how you said he could join your pack if his family looks out for him. He looked so relieved. I didn’t know your cases could be this… Well, I don’t know. Real, I guess. Real people. Not like when doing background investigations for employment applications.”
“Yes. We have some really great stories, where everyone’s happy. But we also have not so great stories. It’s really a mixed bag, and we never know which ones will turn out all right and which ones won’t. Otherwise, I would give you and Sheri all the feel-good stories.”
“But then you’d get all the tough cases. I would never want to do that to you.”
He smiled at her. “But I’d have you to lift my spirits.”
“Do you ever feel like you were meant to do something bigger? I felt like where I was I wasn’t doing anything for anyone. I wasn’t needed. Some of that was because I was on the outs with the community, with the wolf pack. But I kept feeling like I was needed to do something more important with my life once my grandmother was gone. She was what was important to me at the time. Her, and seeing you again.”
“Helping us out is a big thing, Elizabeth.”
“I’m glad we can do that for you, for our kind, especially since our own pack members turned you. Do you ever regret having to leave your own home to live here? It’s so different from Seattle, I imagine.”
