Dirty Wolf Page 8

  The biggest and baddest of the Troika enforcers, ten of them, filed forward and received their assignments. A few, mostly the ones he suspected all had human girl friends stopped and shook his hand after they found out their doom. Once they were set off, the enforcers left behind drew together in small groups.

  These shifters hadn't been chosen for the A-team, but they were about to become Max's new elites. They weren't as big and burly as men like Aleksei, but they were warriors just the same. Max had never been as big as Niko either. If he could step into shoes that big, these men could too.

  Poitr joined his sons, pulling them into a big bear hugs. "Aw, my boys. You two must keep the pack safe and running like the well oiled machine the rest of the packs need to think we are. I will bring back reinforcements and a mate for each of you."

  Great. "Don't worry about mates for us, sir. It's more important to get those packs on our side."

  Piotr clapped both brothers on the back. "How do you think I'm going to get them to agree? It's why I raised such handsome sons. I always knew pack alliances would make us strong."

  He shifted into a his great tri-colored wolf and howled at the near full moon. Take care of this town and your mother. I'll be back.

  Kosta waited a full three-minutes before he mimicked his father with a pretty good Arnold Schwarzenegger impression. "I'll be back."

  "Yeah, and apparently with mates for us." The idea had Max's stomach churning and his thoughts turning back to Gal. Which was stupid because he couldn't mate with her. She was a human. He was a wolf.

  Or rather, it hadn't been done under the reign of the Volkov Tzars. Before that he couldn't say. The law must have come from somewhere and sometime when a wolf and a human had done enough stupid shit to create the need for the ban in the first place.

  It would be so easy to do a whole lot of stupid shit with Gal invading his thoughts every second of the day.

  "Fuck that." Kosta waved him off. "Roshambo with me to see who gets to go harass the Grimms and who gets to play nursemaid to mom and that poor girl we took off those dumbasses last night."

  Max didn't think either was a good idea. He played the game anyway. "Rock, paper, scissors."

  Kosta threw a rock. He always did, without fail. Max and Niko had made a pact when they were young and stuck babysitting to never reveal that observation to their little brother. "Damn it. I don't know why I even play with you. You always win."

  Games were the perfect enticement to most any wolf. They were all competitive by nature and their own parents had turned everything from cleaning their rooms to learning to shift into a game for them. It was the perfect way to get the remaining enforcers skills up to snuff and turn their rote routine of patrols around town into an interesting training. "Remember when mom used to take us out to the Reserve and play hide and seek in wolf form?"

  "No." Kosta folded his arms and pulled a very put upon expression. "Don't make me do it."

  "Take half of our remaining enforcers. I want their stealth skills so solid I don't hear or smell them coming. I'll take the others. First entire team to get to get to the Sheriff's department unseen by anyone, humans or wolves, and especially Grimm pack enforcers wins."

  "Fine. But I'm hiding at Heli's and you owe them all round at Sleepy Folk when we're done."

  "Heli doesn't live in the Reserve or anywhere near the Bay County Sheriff's department so she's off limits for this training exercise and if you can sneak up on me beers are on the house."

  "I'm kidding. Don't go getting all serious on me just because you're the heir now. Fuck, dude. That's what Niko did and look how that turned out."

  Before Max could smack his brother upside the head, Kosta shifted into his dark black wolf and bounded over to pick his team of wolves for the game. What a douche.

  Max shifted into his big grey wolf and gave the instructions for the game to the enforcers on his team. The team that would win. As he guessed, the wolves went from down that they weren't picked to go on the alpha's mission to excited with a renewed energy. He knew for most of them that last nights fight was the first series serious pack battle they'd been in. This would blow off steam and allow him to make sure the wolves and people of Rogue were safe and protected.

  He howled signaling the start and his hunting pack ran into the forest, disappearing into night. He nipped at a few of his wolves to get them back into hiding, but near the west edge of the Reserve something not quite right caught his attention. A spicy floral scent that should not be there.

  Gal.

  Scared and in trouble.

  Max signaled to the closest wolf to him. Continue on. I'll catch up. I need to check something out. Win the game and not only are beers on me, so are burgers.

  He waited until the pack was well on their way and pivoted to bolt in the direction of Gal's scent. Even with the power of his wolf, his lungs, heart, and muscles were pushed to the max in his speed to get to her. It didn't take him long to find her hurrying along the main path through the reserve, holding her side, little beads of sweat dripping from her hairline.

  "Max? Can you hear me? Max? I need you. Please be out here."

  Fuck. Why would she think he'd be in the Reserve after dark? The park closed at dusk, specifically to give the wolves a chance to run free for a while in a safe space. The pack did a good job of scaring away any rebellious teenagers from breaking that law. He'd obviously not done a good enough job frightening her on her last late night walk through here. He'd need to do a better this time.

  "Max?"

  He bounded out onto the path, raised his hackles and growled at her. He would not be above giving her comfort later in the form of naked snuggling to help her get over the fright of being hunted by a big wolf. Scaring her was a horrible thing to do when she was already worried about something else, but she absolutely had to learn this lesson.

  Gal jumped back a foot and put her hand over her heart. Good. Max put the darkest menace into his growl as he could. His wolf was rolling its eyes at him. She was no prey or threat, it would prefer to go lick her from head to toe and back again. His beast liked her. A lot. Maybe because of the way she seemed to sparkle in the moonlight.

  No. Bad wolf. Bad, bad wolf.

  Max howled just for good measure. Both Gal and his wolf needed to know who was in charge here.

  "Thank Allah." Gal rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in the warmth of his fur.

  She hugged him so tight he didn't know what else to do, so he plopped down on his haunches, waiting for her to release him. Gal sniffled for another moment into his scruff and then sat back. She grabbed his face between her hands and looked deep into his eyes. "I need to get a message to Max. Please."

  Max whimpered, louder than he meant to. It was either that or speak into her mind again and that was a very bad idea. He was doing an awful job at scaring her away. That was a losing battle. His wolf laughed at him and licked her cheek where a tear had streaked down.

  That got him a smile. Damn, she was beautiful. And in danger if he didn't get her out of these woods to find out what had her scared and searching for him in the first place.

  He had an idea, but it was risky. Gal was smart and she probably wasn't far from figuring out who and what he was anyway. This is why wolves didn't date humans. She was intelligent, but it was a real stretch to think he and the wolf were one in the same. It would probably be better if he could steer her toward thinking the wolf was some sort of pet.

  There went his wolf rolling its eyes again. Whatever. It was the best idea he had.

  Max wiggled away, pretended like he heard something in the woods, looked from Gal to the woods again and then ran off. Moon above he hoped she understood his message from those less than stellar acting skills. She hadn't followed so he ran as fast as he could back to the clearing to get his clothes.

  He shifted and shoved his legs into the pants and shoes and took off back toward the path. He couldn't run in human form even half as fast as his wolf
, especially while trying to put a shirt over his head and not crashing into a tree because he'd put his arm through the head hole and his head through the arm and couldn't see.

  A hundred yards away he put his plan, that was feeling more and more lame by the moment into action. Max whistled and then called out, "Wolfie? Come here boy."

  "Max? Max! Over here." Gal jumped up and down, waving her hands, and then ran toward him. "Max. Thank goodness I found you. I knew you had a connection to that wolf."

  He pretended to ignore that last part of her sentence and focus on the rest. "What did you need to find me for? What's wrong, lapochka?"

  Gal looked over and around his shoulder, back into the woods where he'd come from, and rubbed her arms. "We went to the sheriff's department."

  The blood in Max's arteries and veins went sub-zero. He had to grit his teeth to hide the outward chill shaking up his spine. "The sheriff's?"

  If those fuckers touched a hair on her head, arm, leg, or even her big toe, he was going to eat them all for breakfast. His wolf pushed hard to get back out, make sure the area was secure, protect her at all costs.

  She nodded her head and bit her bottom lip. "But they didn't believe us. The sheriff wasn't even there, just some stupid lackeys who told us they couldn't do anything until she's missing for twenty-four hours. Max, she could be dead. All the TV shows say the first few hours are critical to finding a missing person."

  Wait, what? He should have fucking warned her the Sheriff's department was....what? The bad kind of werewolves? Yeah, no. He could have at least said they were corrupt and not to try to contact anyone but him if there was more trouble.

  "Gal, babe, slow down a second and catch me up. Who is missing, what were you reporting to the sheriff's?" Dammit. He'd been close enough to her for the other two incidents that she hadn't had a chance to call 9-1-1. The first was dumb luck. He should have known better after that. He'd have to schedule enforcers to keep an eye on the girls from here on out if he couldn't be there himself. His father hadn't questioned yet why these women in particular were being targeted, and he wouldn't be able to for several days. Max could deal with this.

  She had to blink back tears and her voice wavered. "Zara. She's gone. I think she's been taken. You have to believe me. She wouldn't just leave and not say anything. Not after last night."

  Max's stomach dropped like a hot rock. If Niko weren't already dead, he'd kill Max for letting his girl get kidnapped by the Grimms. Because there was no doubt in his mind that's what had happened. Retaliation for killing the sheriff and taking Key.

  Doc had that poor girl under close observation. She kept rambling on about dragons and witches and wolves at a bar. Her mind was either broken by whatever those bastards had done to her or she was having prophetic visions. For her sake, he hoped it was the former because at least she could heal from that. It seemed unlikely if she was a psychic prophet no one would have known. But if she was that would be an obvious reason for the Grimm's to have taken her.

  "I think I know who has her."

  So why had they taken Zara? Whatever the reason he had to act fast to get her back, and that meant doing something with some serious consequences. If his pack found out, they may never trust him again. Hard to be the alpha and enforce wolf law if he'd broken it himself.

  Even harder to be a leader who couldn't make the tough decisions. Saving a woman's life, especially one who was important to a member of the pack, dead or alive, had to be more important than preserving their secret. He had to trust that Gal wouldn't freak out, that he could trust her, that the entire Troika pack could trust her.

  "I was worried you might. Max, what's going on with you, your family? I'm I going to have to go into the Witness Protection program?" There wasn't the slightest hint of joking in her voice.

  "No, you won't. Gal, we aren't in the mafia. Although it would probably be safer to let you think we were."

  "What's worse than the dark underworld of organized crime? Oh, man. Zara's already dead isn't she? She's hanging in a meat locker somewhere. Are Heli and I next? Shouldn't we call the FBI? I'm sure they'd make you a deal."

  Uh-oh. Fear was pouring off of her in waves of words and the scent of spoiled fruit. She was on the verge of freaking out which meant it was now or never. Either she continued to freak and he'd have to take her to Doc to sit in the nice padded room with Key, or she'd understand that he and his family would protect her for the rest of her life.

  Galyna was about to become a Troika, whether she wanted to or not.

  God forgive him.

  "Shh, shh, shh." He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He needed the strength from her as much as he needed his. "Lapochka, I'm going to let you in on a secret. I don't want you to freak out, although, you might a little bit anyway. But more importantly, you can never tell anyone. Not your family, not your friends. No one."

  "Okay. Lay it on me." She stepped back and made the signal with her hands to bring it on. "Although, you should know, I've already planned my WitSec cover story. What do you think of the name Jane? It's nice and boring. No one will come looking for a Jane, who works at the grocery store, and runs a book club on Thursday nights, right?"

  "I promise. No WitSec. I'm trusting you to keep my secret. Trust me that I will protect you. Okay?"

  Gal's throat bobbed as she swallowed. She didn't want this, and it was probably going to ruin any chance he had at a relationship with her. He'd never been so nervous in his entire life. Not the first time he shifted, not the first time he'd kissed a girl, not ever.

  The muscles in his chest contracted and he swallowed hard. Now or never.

  Max raised his face to the waxing moon and slowly let the shift take over his body. His bones cracked and bent, reshaping themselves into their supernatural form. His skin split and burst allowing his new shape to take over and his fur to protect him. His teeth elongated and became sharp and deadly.

  The clothes he wore fell to the ground in a shredded heap and Max stood in the center of them on four paws and silently waited for Gal's reaction.

  Gal

  Tingles rushed all up and down and across and sideways and inside out of Gal's skin. Not the bad kind that signaled her flight or flight response was kicking in. Nope. This feeling was more like sugar cubes were melting in her heart.

  The wolf.

  Max was the grey wolf.

  Unbelievable. Yet not. It all made perfect sense. The signs had all been there. The universe was practically screaming at her to figure it out.

  The wolf that was Max sat down on his haunches and made the sweetest little whine. Oh, geez. He was waiting for her to say something. She'd barely even reacted. She'd simply stared at him, with her jaw hanging open wide enough for the flies to get in. He was probably freaking out. Should she pet him on the head? She had the urge to thrust one hand up in the air, Superman style and whisper shout 'Yes!' to the forest. But Max had said she needed to keep this a secret.

  In the end she went with a little clap and a whispered "yay." Which she was rather proud of herself for. Especially since inside she was clapping up a storm, cheerleader pom-pom style. A teeny tiny part of her said she should be freaked out. The rest told that part to quit being a grumpy-grump baby and see this for what it was.

  Really. Effing. Cool.

  The wolf turned its head sideways like a funny puppy trying to figure her weirdness out. Maybe he couldn't understand English in his wolf form. "Max? Can you understand me?"

  Yes, lapochka.

  "Whoa. You're psychic too?" Gal pressed her fingers to her head and closed her eyes tight. "What am I thinking now?"

  I can't read your mind. I'm a little surprised you can even hear me. Mindspeak is a connection that is usually only for our kind and others like us.

  He couldn't seriously be telling her monsters were real. Ooh. Maybe unicorns were too. Gasp. And mermaids. No. No. That was silly. She was being ridiculous. He probably meant other werewolf type things. Like rugaroos, maybe bigfoot, and
chupacabras. At least those had a basis in cryptozoology which she had guided many a young reader toward in the 001s and the 398s. But you know what else old Dewey had put in the 398 section? Fairy tales. "What do you mean others?"

  Dragons, other animals shifters like bears, lions, foxes, you know.

  "Okay, okay. I can buy that there might be other shifter animals, but dragons? Come on. You're kidding." Please don't be kidding.

  Dragons are real. Real assholes if you ask me. The whole lot of them are so totally focused on fighting off the demon dragon plague that they put it above all else. They don't know how to even have a little fun.

  She blinked trying to process more new information. Anymore blowing of her mind and she was going to run out of brain cells. "A demon plague? Humans can't catch it can they?"

  It would explain why creepy Mr. Sinul who used the library computers to look at porn always seemed to have a new boil on his face. Definitely the demon plague.

  Max made a huffing sound that she thought might be a wolf laugh. No. Demon dragons are not a disease, they are beasts from hell. They haven't been seen in the Americas for centuries, so you have no need to worry about them. There is a lot for you to learn about my world, Galyna. I will answer all your questions in time.

  He stood up and kicked his shredded clothing into the underbrush. For now though, I need you to swear to me you will keep this secret. It is forbidden for wolves to show their true selves to humans. I've broken wolf law because I trust you. We both must be prepared for the consequences.

  A lump formed in her throat. She wasn't sure if it was because of those mentioned consequences or because Max trusted her with something so important. Gal raised her right hand in the air. "I swear in the name of Allah, that you can trust me. I will tell no one what I've seen."

  Thank you. I'd love to sit with you and show you the forest and let you scratch my ears, but I've shared this with you because I couldn't see any other alternative. We're going to have to work together. I'm afraid Zara had been taken by a rival pack and she is in danger.