Page 19 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Nineteen

Thomas

A fter driving Clarissa home, he sped down the back roads, racing back home. Sam was waiting for him.

“I sent Sara and Emmanuel ahead,” Sam said, “and I sent Maria home with Tori.”

“Good.” Tom pulled off his shoes and started unbuttoning his shirt. Sam mirrored his movements. “What’s happening at the mansion, the other shifter families?”

“Atticus, Brittaney, most of them are staying the night. Menna and the foxes, along with a few others, freaked and left, saying it was irresponsible of you to invite them here when there are bears in our territory.”

A growl tore from his throat. Leaping at the tree line, heat tore through him as he phased. His limbs and body extended, growing broader and stronger, and his senses sharpened in an instant. He bounded into the woods, running as fast as his paws could take him. Sam’s wolf right behind him.

“ I know, boss, ” Sam thought, “ but you’d a been proud of Michael. That kid jumped to your defense faster than a jackrabbit. Speaking of, Brittaney also vouched for you. Saying this was a new development and you’d invited them all on good faith, the crowd of shifters could have drawn in the bears. She went on for a while. ”

Tom didn’t respond. But he made a mental note to go a bit easier on Michael from now on.

Feet and hands beating against the wet earth, mud coating his arms as the forest flew by in a blur of green. Soil, ferns, rotting leaves—the scents filling his nose were choked out by the stench of thick smoke.

Emmanuel, Sara, Nathon, and Luna stood in their path. Why weren’t they doing anything?

“ Boss, ” Sara thought.

Something about her posture and the tone of her thoughts made him pull up short. She was taking point in their group; the third-ranking wolf in the pack was delivering the news. The pack never stuck to formalities like this; if they were doing it now, it was bad. They were afraid of his reaction.

Though his nerves were screaming for him to pace, he forced himself to sit. Sam’s brilliant black wolf sat next to him. Trepidation was plain on Sara’s sandy blonde wolf as she braced herself.

“ We got here as fast as we could, but the flames had already engulfed the whole house, ” Sara thought. “ Based on what we saw, there was more than one origin to the fire, it was quick to spread. ”

Tom grew agitated. She was focusing on the flames, dancing around the most important part.

“ But it wouldn’t have mattered how fast we got here, ” Sara elaborated, “ because they were already dead. Darel and Velma, all their kids, some others; they were strung up from the oak tree in the front yard, their abdomens slashed open. ”

Standing on his back legs, Tom let out a ferocious growl, stringing profanities in his head. His overgrown hand swiped across the closest tree, his claws cut deep. The cracks of breaking wood echoed off the forest.

Pouring his anger into his every muscle, he slammed into it. The pine collided with the forest floor, falling away from his pack. Pacing, he continued his litany of profanities.

Darel and Velma left the picnic early. They’d wanted to scope the place out before bringing their children. Being beaver shifters, they were helpless in a fight. After deciding the other shifters in attendance weren’t a threat to them, they’d driven out to collect their three kids and some cousins.

“ Are you sure there were no survivors? ” Sam asked.

“ Positive, ” Sara confirmed.

“ The authorities? ” Sam asked.

“ Tori called in an anonymous tip; the firefighters arrived shortly before you, ” Sara thought.

“ Have you tracked the bears from the fire? ” Tom asked.

Emmanuel shuffled his big gray feet. “ I tried, boss. I smelled them all over the house, the yard, but it just … stopped. ”

“ Fan out, all of you circle the property and see what we can find, ” Tom commanded. “ We need anything we can get if we’re going to stop them. ”

Ten minutes into their search, they hadn’t found anything new. The scent of four bears was thick on the property, but they couldn’t trace it. Tom was growing agitated when a howl pierced the air.

His heart stopped. It was the emergency signal, and it was coming from the direction of—

“ Maria! ” Sam ran like a bat out of hell, Tom quick on his heels.

He felt the others running behind them. He didn’t pause to turn around, refusing to slow down until they reached Maria and Sam’s driveway. The stench of a bear hit his nose out of nowhere. The pavement was stained with blood. A pile of shredded pink clothes laid abandoned. Tori had phased in a hurry.

Bounding up the front steps, Sam phased to human as he burst through the door.

“Maria!” he bellowed. Tom phased too, running in behind him.

Tori blocked the entryway. Her halo of black curls was disheveled, and she’d wrapped herself in Sam’s bathrobe.

“She’s fine.” Tori held up her hands. “Maria and the baby are okay, but I need you both to calm down. You cannot go in there while you’re agitated. Right now, we need to keep Maria and the baby calm; after what happened, if she gets too worked up, she could go into early labor.”

“What happened?” Tom growled.

“She got knocked to the ground,” Tori said. “She has a nasty cut and some bruises, but she is okay.”

“Get out of my way!” Sam tried to knock her over.

“I am the midwife!” Jutting her chin out, Tori pulled rank on them. “And I won’t let either of you pass until I can trust that you’ll be calm around her, understand?”

Sam exhaled sharply, then nodded.

“When you see her, keep your heads. Remember, she will be okay.” Tori led them to the pastel-yellow living room.

Maria lay on the sofa, a bloody towel draped over her face along with an ice pack. Two more ice packs were on her stomach, a fourth on her arm.

Sam ran over, falling to his knees in front of her. He took her hand, alternating between kissing her and tending to her cuts. Her ashen face lit up at his presence.

Tom stood behind the head of the sofa, taking in the damage. Her clothing was torn, a deep black bruise forming over her pregnant stomach, a large gash in her forearm and across her face.

He knew she would heal in less than three days, but it did nothing to stifle the fury burning in his chest, or to mask the horror of her injuries.

“What happened?” Tom barked at Tori.

“When we pulled in, the garage door opener wasn’t working,” Tori said. “I got out to open it manually, but the keypad was smashed. Maria got out of the car to see what was wrong and … The bear came out of nowhere. I didn’t even smell him when I got out of the car. He knocked her to the ground with his claws. I phased and ran after him.”

It was only then that Tom realized the bathrobe Tori was wearing was wet, the stone-gray fabric too dark around her neck and left shoulder.

Pulling the robe aside thick crimson poured over her dark black skin. A gaping bite wound wept; her muscles exposed. She swayed on her feet, her eyes filled with tears.

Scooping her into his arms, Thomas set her on a chair. Taking a clean towel from Maria, he pressed it to Tori’s wound.

“If the bear wanted us dead, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him. I was no match for him, boss,” Tori said.

Tori was in the top five strongest wolves in the pack. She could hold her own in a fight against him. If the bear was too much for her …

“He wanted us alive,” she sobbed.

“Emmanuel and Luna are running perimeter,” Sara said as she and Nathon came inside. “We didn’t find any tracks of the bears leaving the driveway.”

“This is weird, boss,” Nathon said.

“Tori!” Sara ran to kneel in front of her.

“Holy shit,” Nathon said, his gaze jumping between the two injured women.

“Tori,” Tom said. “This will heal, but it needs to be closed first.”

“Do what you gotta do, boss.” Tori’s face had broken out in sweat.

“Nathon,” Sam said, “go into the garage, the tool chest to the right, top drawer. On your way back, stop at the bathroom in the hall, medicine cabinet under the sink, there’s alcohol.”

Nathon ran from the room and returned in less than a minute. “Ummm, boss?” He held up the tool Sam told him to grab, his face white.

“Bring it here.” Tom held out his hand. He took the rubbing alcohol and staple gun. “Alright, Tori, I’m gonna pour the alcohol on it first, you ready?”

Sara gripped her hands. Nathon left to help Sam tape up Maria’s cuts.

Unscrewing the bottle, Tom poured the liquid over her shoulder. Tensing, she held her breath. After pouring the liquid over his own hands, he pinched one end of her wound closed. Working as fast as he could, he punched a row of staples across her flesh.

Tori grunted and ground her teeth. On the last staple, her composure cracked, and she screamed. He poured alcohol over it again.

“It’s over,” Tom soothed, “it’s over. You did good.”

With a huff, Tori fell against Sara. Looking over his shoulder, Tom saw Maria’s eyes droop as she fell asleep against Sam. His eyes were red, his hands trembling, trying to cover her cuts with gauze. Nathon did most of it for him.

Tom knew Sam was feeling the same thing he was. The same unadulterated fury burned in him, the same desire to destroy the one who’d dared to harm Maria when she was vulnerable.

Today the bears sent a message. What Tom didn’t know though, was their end goal. Were they here to cause chaos and bloodshed for the sake of watching them burn? Or were they out for vengeance against him personally?

One thing was painfully clear though. He couldn’t wait any longer. His hand was being forced.

He had to tell Clarissa.