Chapter Six
Nicky closed the door to his room and didn’t bother with the light. The metal shutters had gone down over an hour ago, leaving the room shrouded in darkness during the long hours of the day. He did hear the rain outside, though, as it bounced off the roof. He loved the rain. He loved the feel of it on his skin. And he loved the smell of it.
It had been an awfully long night with Lucan’s break-in and Cooper’s precarious situation. Taking Cooper to Killian was like leading the lamb to slaughter, but Nicky knew it had to be done. Cooper had screwed up and had to find a way to redeem himself in Killian’s eyes. This was something Nicky couldn’t help him with.
Nicky wasn’t sure how the situation with Cooper was going to come out, and, based on how angry Killian was, Nicky had serious concerns of how this was going to affect Cooper’s future with the Enforcer team. Nicky was the new guy, but even he had picked up on Killian’s intolerance for disloyalty of any sort. With the Sabrina thing still lingering on Killian’s mind, this latest Cooper debacle was just the thing that could set Killian off and alter Cooper’s future for the worst.
As he walked across the room to flop on his bed, he tried to stomp down the disappointment that he hadn’t gotten a call from Olivia. Her birthday was two days ago. Technically, since it was just past dawn, it had been three days ago. He’d verified with the delivery service that his gift had been delivered. So why hadn’t she called him?
He’d felt her respond to his touch and he’d smelled her wolf. He’d scented her arousal when he’d held her against him, and she’d not been a passive recipient of his kiss. She gave as good as she got. Olivia was keen on him. So why didn’t she call?
He pulled his phone out of his pocket to look at the screen. No missed calls and no new text messages. Tossing the phone down on the bed, he began unbuttoning his shirt for a shower. Although he never gave up hope as some males did about finding a mate, he never let his lack of a companion get him down. He’d lived a long life, but at one hundred and sixty-nine, he wasn’t even close to middle aged yet. There was still a lot of time to find her if she was out there.
It was unusual for a female to plague his thoughts as Olivia had. There’d been dames hanging off his arms every night when he was in the mob in Chicago. Back then, there had rarely been a night when there wasn’t a willing female to warm his bed, but though those days were regretfully long gone, he could find someone to share his time with if he really wanted to.
He didn’t have the hang-up that a lot of male wolves had with human females. From his work with the Council, he knew enough to make sure he prevented bringing a half-baked crackpot child into the world. But that was why the wonderful invention of the rubber was so useful. It allowed him to spend time with a willing human female and not bring Armageddon down upon his head.
He sighed as he slipped out of his loose-fitting slacks and made his way over to the shower. Wonderful. He must be one of the last ones to use the shower because the water was only slightly warm. He hurried to wash his hair and body and quickly shut off the water and dried.
As he was walking back into the room, his phone began ringing. Hurrying over to the bed where he’d tossed the phone, he smiled when he saw a number with a 406 area code. He knew that was the area that Olivia lived in because Hunter Daniels’ cell phone number began with 406, but this call wasn’t from Hunter. He slid his finger across the screen to answer the call.
“Hello, kitten,” he purred as he sat on the bed. “Did you like your gift?”
There was a pause then a throat being cleared.
A male throat.
“Is this Nick Petruccio?”
Nicky didn’t recognize the voice. “Yeah. Who’s asking?”
“This is Sheriff Sam Gunn over in Wolf Glen, Montana.”
The sheriff must be Olivia’s old man, and, judging from the gravel and strain of his voice, he was an older man, or else he had a habit of gargling with rocks every morning.
“Hunter Daniels said if I needed any help with anything involving wolves that I should call you if I couldn’t get ahold of him.”
“Yeah,” Nicky confirmed. “What’s going on?”
Sheriff Gunn took a long, slow, shaky breath. “My Livvie’s been taken.”
“What’s happened to Olivia?” Nicky was now at full attention and cradled the phone against his ear with his shoulder as he hurried over to the dresser to pull out clothes.
“Three nights ago, we thought another girl had been taken, so Livvie organized a search party. Turns out Sherry Carter had been at the lake with her boyfriend, David, and the two of them wandered into town after the search party had gone out. I called all the points to let them know the girl had been found, but Livvie didn’t answer her phone.”
Nicky struggled to understand what the sheriff was telling him. Hunter had told him very little of what went on in the woods outside the small town of Wolf Glen, but he was pretty sure it involved the wild wolf Hunter had called Derecho.
“Did you go out and look for her?”
“We’ve been looking for three days. We found her backpack about six miles outside town. No woman is ever supposed to search alone and her partner, Scott Beauchamp … well, he’d been at the bar when the search party had organized, and he stepped away for just a minute to relieve himself. He said when he came back, she was gone.”
Nicky cursed. “So, this Derecho guy has her?”
There was a pause. “I’m not sure how much you know.”
“Hunter has been tight lipped, and I don’t know from nothing.”
Sheriff Gunn cleared his throat. “Well, the Beast in the Woods, or just, the Beast, has been around for hundreds of years. No one knows his story for sure, but the rumor goes he lost his mate to human trappers. His mate was with child and, when they died, he was so overcome with grief he sort of went feral. Now, no woman is safe alone in the woods. We don’t know exactly what he does with them, but from what some of the women we’ve recovered have said, the experience is pretty traumatic.”
“Let me guess, this is why you have so many wild child half-breeds in your jail cells.”
“That’s the best we can figure. We’ve posted signs warning the tourists and passers-by not to wander in the woods, but inevitably we lose half a dozen every year. Sometimes we find them, sometimes we don’t. The mayor set up the “wild child” program with the Lupine Council in the attempt to keep them from overrunning our town and exterminating the woods to find the Beast.”
“That’s why the Council wolves walk through the woods when they collect the half-breeds. They’re trying to draw Derecho out.”
“That’s what Hunter speculates, and he’s our resident Beast expert. But my main concern right now is that the Beast has my little girl and has had her for three nights now. I don’t even want to think about what he’s going to do to her if we can’t find her in time. Hunter tells me you have an excellent Tracker who might be able to follow her scent.”
Nicky grimaced. Cooper’s nose was unrivaled in skill, but he had his hands full trying to find the female who duped him and “borrowed” some files from Lucan’s computer. Apparently, the files copied pertained to his research on the healthy half-breeds and their potential role in the species’ future. Given that Abby’s information was among the files copied, there was no way Killian was going to let Nicky bring Cooper with him to Montana to look for Olivia.
“My nose works just fine. I can be there in ten hours if I leave now.”
“I sure appreciate your help, Mr. Petruccio.”
“Call me Nicky. Olivia is a special dame. I will find her before this Derecho guy has a chance to do anything to her. You have my word on that.”
“I will be in your debt.”
“I’ll touch base when I’m near town.”
Sheriff Gunn thanked him again before ending the call. Before he could leave, Nicky had to get Killian’s approval. There wasn’t a chance he wouldn’t go, so Nicky hoped Killian allowed it. Knowing Killian signaled him with a mental ping when he wanted Nicky present, Nicky tried doing the reverse then he set about getting his bags packed.
Five minutes later, there was a knock on his door, and Nicky rushed over hoping it was Killian. The male on the other side looked slightly annoyed but as soon as Killian saw Nicky’s expression, he lightened his mood.
“What’s going on, Mouth?”
Nicky opened the door to let Killian in. Killian glanced down at the packed bags as well as Nicky’s attire during the early part of the day.
“Planning a trip?”
“You remember what I told you about Wolf Glen?”
Killian nodded and sat down on the chair near the door.
“Well, there’s been a development there and they need my help.” He gave Killian a summary of the phone call from Sheriff Gunn.
When he was done, Killian cursed. “I really can’t afford to lose you right now with Cooper off who knows where chasing down that blasted female he brought in.”
“Olivia is special to me, Boss.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Killian stood and began pacing. Nicky watched him without interrupting, but he was eager to be on the road. Finally, Killian stopped and turned to face him. “Go and track down your female. You have one week, then I want your tail back here.”
Nicky let out the breath he’d been holding. He had Abby to thank for Killian’s agreement. He bent to pick up his bags. “Thanks, Boss.” He hurried over to the door.
“Oh, and Nicky,” Killian said causing Nicky to stop. Killian almost never used any name other than Mouth.
“Yeah?”
“If things work out, Olivia is welcome back here. Just something to keep in mind.”
That thought hadn’t crossed Nicky’s mind. He’d been so concerned about getting there before anything happened to her, he hadn’t thought beyond her rescue. But now that Killian had mentioned it, the idea of having Olivia here with him, in his home, and in his bed, was something he found rather appealing.
“I will keep that in mind,” Nicky nodded and hurried out of the room. He practically ran through the house to the kitchen and tore open the emergency hatch. Not even bothering with the ladder, he jumped down and landed with a thud and a grunt on the bottom. Okay, that wasn’t the smartest thing he’d done today. He took a moment to shake out his legs then took off in a jog down the long tunnel that connected to the garage.
Now that he was officially on the Enforcer team, he got his pick of a vehicle. Figuring that both Killian and Rajah would nix the suggestion of a vintage 1931 Buick sedan, black of course, he instead opted for a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, lava grey metallic with carbon-striped accents. She was a peach of a vehicle and considering she could go from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds and could sustain speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour, he just might be in Wolf Glen sooner than planned.
Rajah, being the thrifty wolf that he was, politely suggested a more economically reasonable vehicle but when Nicky didn’t relent, Rajah agreed to pick up the first fifty grand. Nicky was responsible for the rest. That was okay. Nicky had bank accounts in more cities than he could remember and easily gained access to the hundred grand balance. He paid cash for the car, much to the delight of the Porsche sales associate.
Nicky pushed the button on his key fob and the trunk popped open. Nicky unceremoniously tossed his bags in the back and slammed the trunk as he walked by. Slipping into the driver’s seat like the car was made for him, Nicky pushed the button to open the garage and, after covering his sensitive eyes with dark sunglasses and starting his car, he backed out and peeled down the long driveway to the main road.
It had been an awfully long night with Lucan’s break-in and Cooper’s precarious situation. Taking Cooper to Killian was like leading the lamb to slaughter, but Nicky knew it had to be done. Cooper had screwed up and had to find a way to redeem himself in Killian’s eyes. This was something Nicky couldn’t help him with.
Nicky wasn’t sure how the situation with Cooper was going to come out, and, based on how angry Killian was, Nicky had serious concerns of how this was going to affect Cooper’s future with the Enforcer team. Nicky was the new guy, but even he had picked up on Killian’s intolerance for disloyalty of any sort. With the Sabrina thing still lingering on Killian’s mind, this latest Cooper debacle was just the thing that could set Killian off and alter Cooper’s future for the worst.
As he walked across the room to flop on his bed, he tried to stomp down the disappointment that he hadn’t gotten a call from Olivia. Her birthday was two days ago. Technically, since it was just past dawn, it had been three days ago. He’d verified with the delivery service that his gift had been delivered. So why hadn’t she called him?
He’d felt her respond to his touch and he’d smelled her wolf. He’d scented her arousal when he’d held her against him, and she’d not been a passive recipient of his kiss. She gave as good as she got. Olivia was keen on him. So why didn’t she call?
He pulled his phone out of his pocket to look at the screen. No missed calls and no new text messages. Tossing the phone down on the bed, he began unbuttoning his shirt for a shower. Although he never gave up hope as some males did about finding a mate, he never let his lack of a companion get him down. He’d lived a long life, but at one hundred and sixty-nine, he wasn’t even close to middle aged yet. There was still a lot of time to find her if she was out there.
It was unusual for a female to plague his thoughts as Olivia had. There’d been dames hanging off his arms every night when he was in the mob in Chicago. Back then, there had rarely been a night when there wasn’t a willing female to warm his bed, but though those days were regretfully long gone, he could find someone to share his time with if he really wanted to.
He didn’t have the hang-up that a lot of male wolves had with human females. From his work with the Council, he knew enough to make sure he prevented bringing a half-baked crackpot child into the world. But that was why the wonderful invention of the rubber was so useful. It allowed him to spend time with a willing human female and not bring Armageddon down upon his head.
He sighed as he slipped out of his loose-fitting slacks and made his way over to the shower. Wonderful. He must be one of the last ones to use the shower because the water was only slightly warm. He hurried to wash his hair and body and quickly shut off the water and dried.
As he was walking back into the room, his phone began ringing. Hurrying over to the bed where he’d tossed the phone, he smiled when he saw a number with a 406 area code. He knew that was the area that Olivia lived in because Hunter Daniels’ cell phone number began with 406, but this call wasn’t from Hunter. He slid his finger across the screen to answer the call.
“Hello, kitten,” he purred as he sat on the bed. “Did you like your gift?”
There was a pause then a throat being cleared.
A male throat.
“Is this Nick Petruccio?”
Nicky didn’t recognize the voice. “Yeah. Who’s asking?”
“This is Sheriff Sam Gunn over in Wolf Glen, Montana.”
The sheriff must be Olivia’s old man, and, judging from the gravel and strain of his voice, he was an older man, or else he had a habit of gargling with rocks every morning.
“Hunter Daniels said if I needed any help with anything involving wolves that I should call you if I couldn’t get ahold of him.”
“Yeah,” Nicky confirmed. “What’s going on?”
Sheriff Gunn took a long, slow, shaky breath. “My Livvie’s been taken.”
“What’s happened to Olivia?” Nicky was now at full attention and cradled the phone against his ear with his shoulder as he hurried over to the dresser to pull out clothes.
“Three nights ago, we thought another girl had been taken, so Livvie organized a search party. Turns out Sherry Carter had been at the lake with her boyfriend, David, and the two of them wandered into town after the search party had gone out. I called all the points to let them know the girl had been found, but Livvie didn’t answer her phone.”
Nicky struggled to understand what the sheriff was telling him. Hunter had told him very little of what went on in the woods outside the small town of Wolf Glen, but he was pretty sure it involved the wild wolf Hunter had called Derecho.
“Did you go out and look for her?”
“We’ve been looking for three days. We found her backpack about six miles outside town. No woman is ever supposed to search alone and her partner, Scott Beauchamp … well, he’d been at the bar when the search party had organized, and he stepped away for just a minute to relieve himself. He said when he came back, she was gone.”
Nicky cursed. “So, this Derecho guy has her?”
There was a pause. “I’m not sure how much you know.”
“Hunter has been tight lipped, and I don’t know from nothing.”
Sheriff Gunn cleared his throat. “Well, the Beast in the Woods, or just, the Beast, has been around for hundreds of years. No one knows his story for sure, but the rumor goes he lost his mate to human trappers. His mate was with child and, when they died, he was so overcome with grief he sort of went feral. Now, no woman is safe alone in the woods. We don’t know exactly what he does with them, but from what some of the women we’ve recovered have said, the experience is pretty traumatic.”
“Let me guess, this is why you have so many wild child half-breeds in your jail cells.”
“That’s the best we can figure. We’ve posted signs warning the tourists and passers-by not to wander in the woods, but inevitably we lose half a dozen every year. Sometimes we find them, sometimes we don’t. The mayor set up the “wild child” program with the Lupine Council in the attempt to keep them from overrunning our town and exterminating the woods to find the Beast.”
“That’s why the Council wolves walk through the woods when they collect the half-breeds. They’re trying to draw Derecho out.”
“That’s what Hunter speculates, and he’s our resident Beast expert. But my main concern right now is that the Beast has my little girl and has had her for three nights now. I don’t even want to think about what he’s going to do to her if we can’t find her in time. Hunter tells me you have an excellent Tracker who might be able to follow her scent.”
Nicky grimaced. Cooper’s nose was unrivaled in skill, but he had his hands full trying to find the female who duped him and “borrowed” some files from Lucan’s computer. Apparently, the files copied pertained to his research on the healthy half-breeds and their potential role in the species’ future. Given that Abby’s information was among the files copied, there was no way Killian was going to let Nicky bring Cooper with him to Montana to look for Olivia.
“My nose works just fine. I can be there in ten hours if I leave now.”
“I sure appreciate your help, Mr. Petruccio.”
“Call me Nicky. Olivia is a special dame. I will find her before this Derecho guy has a chance to do anything to her. You have my word on that.”
“I will be in your debt.”
“I’ll touch base when I’m near town.”
Sheriff Gunn thanked him again before ending the call. Before he could leave, Nicky had to get Killian’s approval. There wasn’t a chance he wouldn’t go, so Nicky hoped Killian allowed it. Knowing Killian signaled him with a mental ping when he wanted Nicky present, Nicky tried doing the reverse then he set about getting his bags packed.
Five minutes later, there was a knock on his door, and Nicky rushed over hoping it was Killian. The male on the other side looked slightly annoyed but as soon as Killian saw Nicky’s expression, he lightened his mood.
“What’s going on, Mouth?”
Nicky opened the door to let Killian in. Killian glanced down at the packed bags as well as Nicky’s attire during the early part of the day.
“Planning a trip?”
“You remember what I told you about Wolf Glen?”
Killian nodded and sat down on the chair near the door.
“Well, there’s been a development there and they need my help.” He gave Killian a summary of the phone call from Sheriff Gunn.
When he was done, Killian cursed. “I really can’t afford to lose you right now with Cooper off who knows where chasing down that blasted female he brought in.”
“Olivia is special to me, Boss.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Killian stood and began pacing. Nicky watched him without interrupting, but he was eager to be on the road. Finally, Killian stopped and turned to face him. “Go and track down your female. You have one week, then I want your tail back here.”
Nicky let out the breath he’d been holding. He had Abby to thank for Killian’s agreement. He bent to pick up his bags. “Thanks, Boss.” He hurried over to the door.
“Oh, and Nicky,” Killian said causing Nicky to stop. Killian almost never used any name other than Mouth.
“Yeah?”
“If things work out, Olivia is welcome back here. Just something to keep in mind.”
That thought hadn’t crossed Nicky’s mind. He’d been so concerned about getting there before anything happened to her, he hadn’t thought beyond her rescue. But now that Killian had mentioned it, the idea of having Olivia here with him, in his home, and in his bed, was something he found rather appealing.
“I will keep that in mind,” Nicky nodded and hurried out of the room. He practically ran through the house to the kitchen and tore open the emergency hatch. Not even bothering with the ladder, he jumped down and landed with a thud and a grunt on the bottom. Okay, that wasn’t the smartest thing he’d done today. He took a moment to shake out his legs then took off in a jog down the long tunnel that connected to the garage.
Now that he was officially on the Enforcer team, he got his pick of a vehicle. Figuring that both Killian and Rajah would nix the suggestion of a vintage 1931 Buick sedan, black of course, he instead opted for a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, lava grey metallic with carbon-striped accents. She was a peach of a vehicle and considering she could go from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds and could sustain speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour, he just might be in Wolf Glen sooner than planned.
Rajah, being the thrifty wolf that he was, politely suggested a more economically reasonable vehicle but when Nicky didn’t relent, Rajah agreed to pick up the first fifty grand. Nicky was responsible for the rest. That was okay. Nicky had bank accounts in more cities than he could remember and easily gained access to the hundred grand balance. He paid cash for the car, much to the delight of the Porsche sales associate.
Nicky pushed the button on his key fob and the trunk popped open. Nicky unceremoniously tossed his bags in the back and slammed the trunk as he walked by. Slipping into the driver’s seat like the car was made for him, Nicky pushed the button to open the garage and, after covering his sensitive eyes with dark sunglasses and starting his car, he backed out and peeled down the long driveway to the main road.
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