Page 5 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Five

Thomas

N ose to the ground, the scent of rotten leaves mixed with the fresh rain. Nothing.

He threw his head back, and a howl ripped from his throat. Waiting, he gazed at the moon. Its silver light fought to shine against the onslaught of storm clouds, haloing the fine needles of the pine trees and spring buds. His eyes had no problem seeing into the depths of the forest’s shadows. His ear twitched; he heard them coming in from the west before he saw them. Three sets of heavy feet running over the forest.

“ Hiya, Tom ,” Sam thought.

“ You called, Alpha ,” Nathon thought.

Sara came up last, sitting quietly at their sides watching, like normal.

“ You know you don’t have to call me that, Nathon, ” Tom replied.

He loathed that term, associating it with the previous generation of tyrants and jackasses. A long and terrible legacy that he was unfortunately a part of. One he was trying so hard to rise above. Despite the progress he’d made, this last year had been absolute hell.

The second he’d stepped in for his dad, he’d lost any semblance of privacy or self he may have had, the pack always in his house, on his mind, and on his damned phone.

Taking it in strides, he opted to make the best of it, using his position to make changes to the stale pack traditions. The elders fought him every step of the way and his pack was bound to have some sort of melodramatic crisis every other week. The strain of it all was wearing him down to the bone.

Unwillingly, his mind wondered back to the accident. The sound of the chain snapping, tons of lumber crashing to the earth, and the deafening screams of his father. As shifters, they were used to being next to impervious … The accident shook the pack to its core. The angry knot of anxiety that’d been building in his core for the last year clawed at his chest.

“ That’s what you are though, isn’t it? ” Nathon thought.

“ I prefer ‘boss of the family,’ it’s more ‘Godfather.’ ” Sam snorted a chuckle.

“ Amazing movie! ” Nathon added. “ Sara, add that to our list, we’re watching it on our next movie night. ”

“ Have you never seen it, Sara? ” Sam was incredulous. “ It’s a cinematic masterpiece, how can anyone get to adulthood without having seen it? ”

“ She lives a sad life. I’m doing the best I can to educate her, ” Nathon thought.

“ Will you two idiots shut up! ” Sara’s thoughts came as a snip. “ Can’t you tell boss man’s a bit worried over here? The pack is being threatened, you two could stand to take that more seriously. ”

“ Sorry, boss, ” Nathon apologized.

“ It’s okay, ” Tom replied. “ Did you find anything? I tried to track the bear myself but couldn’t get past that patch of wood. ”

Bears … Tom internally cursed. Bear shifters were nasty business. If they decided to stay camped out in Fairville, their small town would become a bloodbath.

“ Sorry, boss, but he’s gone, ” Sam thought. “ We cased the entire woods where you scented it, and we had the same issue. ”

“ What about Emmanuel? ” Tom asked.

Emmanuel was Nathon’s younger brother and the pack’s best tracker. If anyone could find them, it would be him.

“ Nada, ” Nathon thought.

“ We’ve been patrolling in the area just in case, ” Sara added, “ but found nothing. These bears must know we would have been on their trail after what happened. Hunting in our territory like that. They’re bound to be extra cautious and covering their scent somehow so they don’t lead us back to their den. ”

“ After we determined the trail in the woods was cold and found nothing in the area, we went back to The Barrel, ” Sam thought. “ And, well, it’s not good, boss. The one who hunted wasn’t alone. We caught fresh scent of five distinct bears at that diner next to the bar. They spent a good amount of time there recently. ”

Tom snarled, his hackles rising. “ When? ”

“ Few hours ago, ” Sara thought. “ We tried to track them but ran into the same issue. ”

“ Was his scent there, the one that hunted? ” Tom demanded.

“ No, ” Sam clarified. “ We think his pack split up to try and pick up our scents. ”

“ That doesn’t make sense. We’re the only pack in this region, and our numbers are formidable, ” Tom thought. A small sense of pride bubbled up in him despite the situation. Yeah, his pack drove him nuts, but still, he had to allow himself some moments. “ Our scent is all over the town. They can’t feign ignorance of our territory! We’ve never hidden from other shifters when they come near. If his pack leader doesn’t formally respond with an apology and a punishment for his insurrection … ”

Getting to his feet, he paced, snarling a string of profanities. The pack had been searching for the bears ever since the incident.

While the others seemed to think the bears were tracking his wolf pack, Tom wasn’t so sure. To him, it seemed the bears had come back to scope out the diner, and he didn’t like that one bit. Catching the three of them giving each other sideways glances, he snarled at them until one of them felt like explaining themselves.

“ Well, the thing is, boss, ” Sam thought carefully. “ We aren’t denying that they would have known this was our territory. And, well … thing is, your scent was the only one at the diner before we got there. ”

“ Get to the point, Sam, ” Tom snapped.

He usually had more patience for his brother-in-law, but tonight he was driving him mad.

Samuel Hernandez had been in the running for Alpha of his pack up in Maine. He hated the idea of the role about as much as Tom did—something they’d bonded over. But while Tom ended up saddled with the role of Alpha, Sam had fallen in love and followed Maria to Fairville. Falling into a lesser role in the Sinclaire pack suited him just fine.

Sam was living his dreams here in Fairville, owning a bakery and having as many babies as he and Maria could. Albeit a touch bitter about his own situation, Tom was happy for them—although he tried not to think too hard about that last part and how those babies were going to come about.

Sam’s happy-go-lucky attitude was usually a breath of fresh air within the pack, but tonight, Tom just wanted him to get to the point. He snarled as much at him.

“ You went out that night when news of another pack traveling through came out. You were the one who stopped their hunt. You were the one who beat the snot out of one of their pack. Wouldn’t it figure you’d be their next target? ”

Tom stopped pacing.

“ The pack’s scent is all over town and the lumberyard, but yours is isolated at the diner. If they were hunting you, that’s where they’d go, ” Sam finished.

“ You insulted them, boss, ” Nathon added.

“ They were on our lands! They hunted without permission! ” Tom bellowed, incensed.

“ Of course, we know that, ” Sara thought. “ But these are bears. They don’t follow the normal rules. They don’t care. They do what they want, consequences be damned. ”

“ Hard to care about consequences when you’ve already sold your soul to a demon for power, ” Nathon thought.

“ Or a witch, ” Sam added.

Tom started pacing again, a nervous habit he’d picked up this last year. “ Alright, this is what we’re going to do. We are going to run extra patrols, day and night. We watch, we listen, we wait. We can’t strike if we don’t know where they are or how many they number. If any patrol catches a new trail, signal the pack. We stick together until this is resolved. No solo runs until further notice. I’ll get a hold of the rest of the family, you three tell who you can in the meantime. The pack is on high alert until we take care of these bears. ”

“ Sure thing, boss, ” Nathon replied. “ You know what the ponies would do in this situation? ”

Sara and Sam groaned.

“ What? ” Nathon was incensed. “ The ponies are brave and majestic creatures who teach us the importance of love and friendship. ”

“ Can we kick him outta the pack, boss? ” Sam asked.

“ You were harmed as a child, weren’t you? ” Sara thought.

“ Enough! ” Tom barked at them.

“ Changing topics! ” Nathon yelled.

“ Are you going to keep checking on the waitress? ” Sara asked. “ You shouldn’t be alone where they’ve already hunted, now we’re fairly sure the bears are after you. ”

“ She’s right, Tom, ” Sam thought. “ I think you should drop the checkups on the diner girl. ”

“ I’ll be the one to make that decision, ” Tom snarled.

“ Course, we could dole out protection duty among the pack, ” Nathon added quickly. “ If you’re still worried about her. ”

“ I wouldn’t mind some hash browns. ” Sam’s stomach growled.

“ They got fresh pies there too, ” Nathon added.

“ I volunteer for first watch! ” Sam thought.

Tom’s hackles raised. It was an illogical response, but he couldn’t help it. The thought of anyone else, even a trusted member of his family, being there with Clarissa instead of him … What if something happened? If she got hurt and he wasn’t there to stop it, he’d never forgive himself.

A snarl grew in his chest.

This reaction was a natural instinct for his wolf. However, being Alpha meant following this instinct would be selfish and neglectful of his pack. The others had a point: Clarissa most likely wasn’t the target anymore. He’d have to force down the need to protect her himself and assign others. Probably the pups. Anything else would spread his pack too thin.

“ We’ll go finish our patrol now, ” Sara thought. “ Unless you need us for anything else, boss? ”

“ No, you’re free to leave. ” He watched the three of them bolt into the trees, Sam taking point. He was grateful for those three, the strongest three in the pack. That was after himself and his siblings.

Pacing among the trees, he let his mind wander. He found allowing himself to think without a forced direction was best in these types of situations.

Bears … It had to have been bears.

When Granny Ethal called him Thursday afternoon in a tizzy about a rival pack of shifters causing trouble during her book club, he’d assumed it was coyotes, or foxes. He’d been in contact with the other Midwest packs and extended good intentions to them. It seemed logical it was one of them coming to pay a visit. Of course, when no one showed up at the pack mansion, he’d gotten suspicious.

Granny Ethal was one of the elders who was glad to see his granddad step down and was pleased as punch about some of the changes Tom was making. Her and maybe two others … He called her back to ask more questions, then hightailed it out to the diner. Planning to shift under the cover of dark and catch a scent, he heard a woman scream across the parking lot. Thinking about it made his heart rate accelerate.

The sound of her cries still haunted him, making his hairs stand on end. He’d had to use every ounce of his self-restraint not to rip the bear’s head off right there in front of her. Then the bastard got away.

Friday morning, he intended to return the necklace and keep an eye out for their return. If there were no shifters at the diner, he was going to leave it, and have the pack run a few extra patrols.

That plan had been scrapped the second he went into the diner.

Talking to her, listening to how she interacted with those around her. She was a breathtaking soul to behold. When he returned the necklace, she’d said it was all that was left of them .

He was desperate to know more about her, to learn every facet of her being. But he could see the hesitation, the walls she’d built around herself. The subtle way she avoided his gaze, curled in on herself when he was near. He was desperate to understand why. Today he’d overheard her talking to Donna, asking for more hours to care for someone named ‘Rachel.’

Who was Rachel? Was Clarissa the only one caring for her? So many questions about her ran through his mind, but he could sense her fear. If he bombarded her with questions, she’d run from him, and he’d never see her again.

That was an excruciating thought. Despite the short time he’d known her, he was lost in her being before he knew it, making excuses to go back the next day; maybe that was the day the bears would return. As pack leader, it was his duty to ensure their safety and that of the townspeople, that’s all it was. It was just a coincidence she would be there.

The truth was, he’d been hopelessly lying to himself. Every heartbeat, every breath, had been consumed with thoughts of her. He wanted nothing more than to see her, make her laugh, be the reason her face lit up. To make her his.

But this was getting complicated. Based on her scent, she was human. She would have no knowledge of the supernatural underground. She was already guarded and cautious; telling her he turned into a giant wolfman was not going to help that.

Were the bears really after him and not Clarissa? The bears had a history of hunting humans for sport, and they weren’t likely to let a prey go once they’d set a target on her. But they hadn’t attacked her again. Bears were not patient shifters. If they wanted her, they would have attacked the day after the first failed attempt.

Yes. They had to be after him, not her. As such, was he putting her in danger by going to the diner?

Emotions warred inside him. His desire to be near her, to woo her, was all consuming. So was the instinct to protect her. After pacing a hole into the forest floor, he’d made his decision: he would keep going to the diner until he was able to gain her trust. If she conceded to accepting his phone number, or to see him outside the diner, then he would dish out protection duty.

If he was going to get her to trust him that much, he needed to step up his game … without begging like the besotted puppy he was.