Page 48 of A Wolf’s Wound

Hannah

It’s late afternoon by the time I get into Stonehaven, and the city looks busier than when I was here a few days ago. Traffic is backed up as I try to make my way to the clinic.

“What is going on?” I say and Shadow shrugs. I slow down and crane my head out of the window. All I can see is a line of cars stretching out for blocks.

We inch forward, one agonizingly slow minute at a time.

Frustrated, I pull over to a side street and park.

“We’re walking from here,” I tell Shadow.

He jumps into my bag and smiles at me. “Okay, I’ll walk, and you’ll ride,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Sometimes you’re so lazy it’s actually impressive. ”

I set off quickly. Now that I’m out of the car I can see that there is some sort of accident ahead. That must be what’s causing the slowdown.

Then I see what caused the accident. In the middle of an intersection a few blocks ahead, a large deer is lying on the road. “Oh no!” I cry and break into a run.

“What happened?” I gasp as I approach the animal. I can see how frightened the deer is.

“It ran into traffic,” a young woman standing near the deer says. “A car hit it.” She gestures to the other side of the intersection, where a car with a crumpled front end is being lifted up onto a tow truck.

“I’m a vet,” I tell her, moving closer to the animal.

“Someone called animal control,” she says. “But they’re taking forever to get through the traffic jam.”

“Hopefully they’ll be here soon,” I murmur, putting a hand carefully on the deer’s neck. I can feel its heart beating wildly. Its eyes are open and staring around at the scene.

“How badly is it hurt?” she asks.

“I won’t be able to tell for sure until it gets to the clinic,” I tell her, moving my hand up to the deer’s head. “No bruising here, though, which is good.”

“Can you call them?” she asks. “Find out what’s taking so long?”

I shake my head as she offers me her phone. “No, they’re already on their way. Me calling again won’t do any good. Once they’re here, they’ll be able to transport the deer to the clinic.”

I begin to examine the rest of the deer. He flinches when I touch his back left leg, and again when I put my hand on his stomach. “I think he broke a leg and might have some internal bleeding,” I conclude.

“That doesn’t sound good,” the woman says worriedly.

“It’s painful but not fatal,” I assure her. I open my bag, and Shadow pops out so I can rummage through my supplies. I pull out a needle and quickly fill the syringe with a clear liquid. Then I give the deer a shot.

“When animal control gets here, tell them that Dr. Kelly gave the deer a dose of liquid anti-inflammatory,” I instruct the woman. “And that I’ll be waiting for them at the clinic.”

“I will,” she says. “I hope they hurry!”

“They’re doing their best,” I say reassuringly and then stand up. It’s going to be all hands on deck at the clinic today. I shouldn’t have told Ryder I’d be back at the cottage before sundown; that’s not going to happen now.

Shadow hops back into my bag, and I begin walking quickly in the direction of the clinic.

I wonder if I should try calling Ryder again and telling him what happened.

But that would mean turning my cell phone on.

I don’t want to take the risk of using my phone for even a few minutes, not if that means that the stalker could somehow track me.

No, I’ll call Ryder when I get to the clinic, I decide. Even if the animal control vehicle pulls up right now, it’ll take them at least fifteen minutes to get the deer safely loaded in. Not to mention how much traffic they’ll have to get through on the way to the clinic.

“I’ll have time to call him when I get there,” I tell myself. Still, I feel horrible that I might make Ryder worry about me even more than he already is.

Assuming he’s back at the cottage, that is. For all I know he could be in Stonehaven too, on patrol. That idea makes me ridiculously happy. What if I ran into him right now?

So when a hand grabs my arm, my first thought is that Ryder really is here. Which is why I turn around with a smile.

But it’s not Ryder standing next to me. It’s the Creepy Man. My smile wilts and is replaced by a hot fear that fills my body and makes me gasp.

“You!” I gasp.

“Hi, Hannah,” he says. “I’ve missed you.”

“What do you want?” I ask, trying to pull my arm away.

In response, his fingers tighten against me. They feel like iron bands across my skin.

“I’ll tell you, but first you have to come with me.”

“Or I could scream,” I say. “There are people around this time.”

“You scream, you’ll regret it,” he says evenly. “Don’t test me, Hannah.”

The cold look in his eyes convinces me that he’s not bluffing. And for all I know, he could have a weapon. So I reluctantly follow him for a few blocks. His grip stays firm, so I can’t wrench my arm away.

But he only has one of my arms. I think back to the lesson Ryder gave me, the different techniques he taught me. I don’t know if I can execute the more complicated maneuvers. But I do know that if I can catch Creepy Man off guard, I can do some damage.

I wait until we approach a restaurant. I look through its large plate-glass window and see it’s pretty crowded. Good. This way, even if I can’t execute my plan perfectly, there should be plenty of people around to help me out.

“Hold on, you’re walking too fast,” I complain.

“Then speed up,” he snaps but slows down slightly. It’s just enough for me to make sure we’re still in front of the window when I stop walking.

“What now?” Creepy Man says, turning to me.

Without a word, I slug him across the face. He spins around and smashes into the window. He doesn’t break it, but the people on the other side jerk back when they see his face slam into the glass.

Creepy Man starts to turn toward me. And even though there are plenty of witnesses, including some people who are moving from their tables to the door, I still feel a nervous fear rush through me when I see his expression. If he had a weapon, I’d be dead.

Before he can take another step, though, Shadow leaps out of my bag. He jumps right onto Creepy Man’s back and bites him squarely in the ass.

“Way to go!” I cheer as Creepy Man lets out a bellow of pain. “Run!” I tell Shadow, not caring how many people might be willing to help us. I just want to get out of here and away from this guy.

Shadow scurries ahead of me as we fly down the sidewalk. At the corner I hesitate and look over my shoulder, wanting to know how close Creepy Man is to catching us.

But he’s just standing where we left him on the sidewalk, seemingly oblivious to the people gawking at him. He stares at me with the strangest expression. Is he… is he smiling ?

My blood runs cold. What does this guy have planned for me? Am I playing right into his hands?