CHAPTER 4

By the time Eli was ready to call an end to his shift about twelve hours after leaving the veterinarian’s office, he estimated that he’d caught himself thinking about her approximately seven hundred times. Which was only about once a minute, he figured. Wasn’t that about as often as men supposedly thought about sex? He couldn’t remember, but he did have to admit that sex factored into more than a few of those seven hundred thoughts.

Part of that, he recognized, had to do with how obviously the surprisingly attractive doctor had reacted to him. Whether or not she might also be thinking about sex, he didn’t know, but he’d bet that on some level she had developed a very physical awareness of him. What else could account for all those blushes he’d seen creep up her cheeks while they talked? It was October in the Northwest, so it couldn’t be the weather, and he knew for a fact that Josephine Barrett was way too young to be having hot flashes. She smelled nothing like a woman in menopause. She smelled warm and sweet and ripe and absolutely delicious.

A sudden tightening in the fit of his uniform trousers made Eli shake his head and push away from his desk. There he went again, mind wandering back to the vet when it ought to be focusing on the job. At least now he would have the excuse of being off the clock when it happened again. And Eli had absolutely no doubts that it would.

Locking his office door behind him, he shrugged into his jacket as he walked through the open area that housed the desk of the part-time secretary-dispatcher and the cubicles used by his two full-time and three part-time deputies. At the moment, one of the part-timers, Tim McGann, sat behind the gray fabric dividers filling out the never-ending paperwork that went with a job in law enforcement. If Eli had once thought there might be less of it in a town as small as Stone Creek than there had been in a city like Seattle, he’d been doomed to disappointment.

“I’m heading out, Tim, but I’ve got my pager,” he called, lifting a hand when the deputy’s sandy-red head popped up from behind the cubicle wall. “Here’s hoping you’ll have a quiet night.”

“I imagine I will,” the younger man grinned. At twenty-three, he was the rookie in the department, but he had been born and raised in Stone Creek and knew every resident and every square inch of the town. That and his mellow, amiable disposition made him an asset to their small force. “After all, it’s a school night, so most of our favorite hooligans should be under curfew. Thank God.”

Eli snorted and stepped out into the brisk autumn night. It was true that most of the crime in Stone Creek had more to do with teenage delinquents and bar fights than gangs, drugs, or career criminals, but that only made the situation with the Lupine that much more puzzling. The hunters out here knew what game was in season during which part of the year, and they sure as hell knew that wolves still appeared on the state’s endangered species list. Since a good portion of them were just as likely to hunt on four legs with teeth and claws as on two with rifle and shot, they were also not inclined to shoot at any game they thought might end up being a neighbor out for a breath of fresh air. The idea that a hunter had shot at a wolf and then left her in the woods to die just didn’t make sense. There had to be more to this story, and Eli intended to find out what it was.

One of his first orders on arriving at the office this morning had been to send the deputy on duty out to the site where he’d found the Lupine. Initially, he’d planned on going out there himself, but a surprise visit from the town’s mayor had nixed that idea and tied him up for most of the morning. Even after Ed Whipple had finally left, his reminder of the upcoming town council meeting had forced Eli to put his curiosity on the back burner while he dealt with the paperwork and reports he needed for the meeting. As much as he wanted to go over the shooting site himself, that was the kind of thing his deputies were paid and trained to do; they weren’t paid or trained to do his more tedious administrative tasks.

He still planned to go out there himself, especially since his deputy had reported finding nothing suspicious in the forest. The other man had taped off the area to deter people from mucking around there, but Eli wanted to see it for himself. He had a better nose than most of his officers, and he had more experience than all of them. He wouldn’t rest until he double-checked that—literally—no stone had been unturned. Solving this shooting case had jumped to the top of his list of personal priorities.

In fact, he decided, shrugging against the restlessness that had plagued him all day, there was nothing stopping him from going out to the shooting site right now. It wouldn’t be any substitute for a daylight walk-through, but even without the benefit of light to guide his eyes, his nose might pick up something interesting.

And prowling through the woods might burn off enough of this restless energy to keep him from planting himself under a certain veterinarian’s window and caterwauling a few Feline mating calls later tonight. He’d heard they lacked the desired effect on human women. Especially ones who weren’t completely tone-deaf.

Decision made, Eli changed direction and strode back toward the front of the sheriff’s office. Climbing into his black SUV, he carefully backed into the street and pointed the hood toward the spot where he’d discovered the wolf the night before.

The drive took less than twenty minutes, but even that short spell of enforced stillness had tension crawling up the back of Eli’s neck like a poisonous spider. By the time he pulled to a stop and parked at the side of the road precisely in the same spot he’d used last night, he had concluded that getting out of town had been a very wise choice. In his present state, yeowling outside of Josie Barrett’s window seemed less likely than crawling straight through it and into her bed. And subsequently into her.

Slamming the truck door shut, Eli pocketed his keys, checked his service revolver’s position in its holster, and headed into the forest. Then he took his first deep breath and swore.

Smoke.

Quickening his pace, he stepped away from the path that led to the spot where he’d found the Lupine and headed south in the direction of the sharp, bittersweet scent of burning wood. While the wildfire danger in October might be less than it had been during summer’s dry spells, it never took much for small fires to break out in the woodlands surrounding Stone Creek. Given the abundant trees and dried pine needles for kindling, one careless camper could place the town in a precarious position. It was why all fires built outdoors within three miles of the city limits required a permit from the Stone Creek sheriff’s office.

Eli hadn’t signed any permits in more than a week.

He expected that he’d have to lecture a bunch of teenagers on the laws and responsibilities of building fires in the woods and maybe even confiscate a few illegally obtained six-packs. Then another quick lecture on under-aged drinking—he had that one down so pat, he could recite it in his sleep—and he could get back to the real reason he’d come out here tonight. At least, that was the plan until the smell of the smoke changed from acidic to acrid, wood fuel and pine kindling suddenly overpowered by the stench of burning fur and charring flesh.

He broke into a run.

Within a few hundred feet he began to hear voices, not the boisterous sounds of partying delinquents, but adult voices filled with the deep, thick rumble of anger. His hand moved immediately to the top of his holster and he slowed his pace, deliberately softening his footfalls until even he could barely hear them over the muffled sound of conversation.

His fingers tightened when he neared the edge of a small break in the trees and saw the bright glow of firelight seeping into the surrounding dark of the forest. Within the space of several long strides, he could make out the size and shape of the fire and begin to feel the heat against his face.

It was a bonfire, more than four feet in diameter, with flames that leapt at least ten feet into the air. In the center, Eli could see a dark lump resting atop a bed of logs, and around its perimeter at least three or four men circled, continuing to add more fuel to the already raging inferno.

Catching sight of one particular face, Eli swore under his breath and took his hand away from his weapon. He stepped forward into the clearing.

“What the hell is going on here, Cobb?” he demanded.

The face that turned in his direction was taut and set with visible fury. Above the square, clenched jaw, Lupine golden eyes blazed nearly as bright as the fire.

“I’m taking care of my dead, Pace,” Rick Cobb growled, his body turning into a confrontational angle. “I’m going to advise you not to interfere.”

Eli’s gaze flicked again to the dark form atop the blazing fire, and he felt himself scowling. “Who?”

“Sammy Paulson. He was found out here this morning by another member of the pack. He had collapsed at the foot of an old-growth pine and was cold by the time we stumbled across him.”

The name rang a bell, and it took only seconds for Eli to connect it to a tall, lanky teenager with fair hair and a decent head on his shoulders. He hadn’t stuck in the sheriff’s memory because of past misdeeds, but because he’d been a good kid from a good family whose members always did their part to help out the community.

“Shit. I’m sorry. What happened? Was he sick?”

“We don’t get sick.”

“You know what I mean. I’m not talking swine flu; I’m talking cancer.”

“No, he was a normal Lupine kid. Chris Meadows is the one who found him.” Rick gestured toward the two men tending the fire. “He came out here for a run and almost tripped over... it. He came and got Lucas and me immediately. Of course, we assumed he’d had an accident or been attacked, but from what the three of us can tell there wasn’t a mark on him. His neck wasn’t broken; hell, his claws weren’t even chipped. So we have no fucking clue why he’s not out catching footballs instead of catching fire.”

Eli’s gaze flicked to the funeral pyre, and he winced as he saw the young wolf’s limbs begin to curl back on themselves from the heat of the flames. “If you’d ease up on tradition for once, we might be able to find out. We could have an autopsy done. Or we could have had.”

The Stone Creek tradition of burning the dead dated back far enough that no one knew when it had started, or precisely why. Some speculated about a possible connection to pre-Columbian Viking explorers, and some pointed out that in a forest, it was easier to burn than to dig; either way, the practice was an old one, and a deeply honored one.

Rick shook his head, firelight glinting off the light brown strands. “No. He wasn’t a cub anymore. He deserved to be treated with dignity. He deserved to have his smoke spread to the stars. It’s what his mother asked us to do.”

It didn’t take great empathic abilities to read the rage and bitterness in the Lupine’s voice. Rick Cobb might have been Alpha of his pack for only a few years, but he took his duties to heart. Eli suspected, actually, that duty to the Stone Creek Clan was Rick’s heart, and he knew that the loss of any pack member wounded. Which made the next words out of his mouth taste so damn bitter.

“Normally, I would agree with you, but the current circumstances aren’t what I would call normal,” he said, catching the Alpha’s gaze. “You really should have returned my calls before now, Rick.”

The flames that flashed in the Lupine’s gaze had nothing to do with the reflection of a bonfire. “Well, excuse me, but I was a little busy today, Sheriff,” he snarled. “You see, I had to find a member of my pack dead on the forest floor for no known reason, and then I had to break the news to his mother that her only cub wouldn’t be coming home again—ever—and ask her what arrangements she wanted to make for his corpse, so you might say I had a lot on my plate.”

“And you might say that I’m about to serve you another helping.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s why I called you last night, and left you three more messages today. Sammy Paulson isn’t the only member of your pack who’s gone down in the woods lately.”

The Alpha’s response to that news didn’t bear repeating, but it did prompt Eli to quickly and quietly outline the situation with the unconscious Lupine he’d delivered into Josie’s care. “Any idea who it might be?” he concluded.

“No, but give me ten minutes and you can be damn sure I’ll find out.” Pulling a cell phone from the pocket of his jeans, the Alpha flipped it open, then looked back at the sheriff. “You don’t think they’re related, do you? Sammy and the female you found last night?”

Eli hesitated, waiting to see who would win the war between his head and his gut. Stalemate.

“I don’t see how,” he finally said, forcing out the reluctant conclusion. “The female was shot, either accidentally or on purpose, and we have no way of knowing that Sammy didn’t have some kind of heart defect or something that caused him to collapse. Shifters might be immune to a lot of contagious diseases, but we aren’t immortal, and there’s a lot of leeway between a germ and a congenital anomaly.”

Rick looked as dissatisfied to hear that as Eli had been to say it. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself a happy camper right now.”

“Me neither.”

The Lupine sighed. “I need to make some calls.”

“Right. Do you plan to come to Dr. Barrett’s office? Take a look at the patient yourself?”

“Not tonight. There are still things that need to be done here. But as soon as I find out who she might be, I’ll send someone over.”

“I’m sure the doctor will appreciate that.”

“Tell her she can expect me tomorrow, though. Whoever she’s got in her office, I’m going to want to see for myself.”

Eli nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.” He took a step back and nodded toward the fire. “If you or Mrs. Paulson needs anything, you know where to find me.”

Rick’s mouth twisted ruefully. “You know, that’s your biggest problem, Eli: Everyone always knows where to find you.”

Turning away, Eli snorted and started back into the forest. His search through the shooting site could wait until daylight. With the area taped off by his deputy earlier in the day, he was reasonably comfortable that no one would tromp through it tonight, especially not with Rick and other members of his pack out. The Lupines would prove an effective deterrent to passersby. And they deserved their privacy. All mourners deserved to be left in peace.

Despite the Alpha’s half-joking words, Eli had the very uneasy feeling that his problems were about to get a whole lot bigger. The thought sank its burrs into him and clung, riding him all the way back to the road, refusing to be shaken even as he climbed behind the wheel of his truck. It needled him as he started the engine and followed him all the way back to town, as persistent as the lonely, heartbreaking echo of howling wolves that carried sharp and poignant on the cold night air.

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