Chapter Thirty-Two

When dawn was about to break, I draped blankets over the two wolves after removing the muzzles. Didn’t need to see the humans’ nudity once they transformed.

The change looked painful. Their bones reshaped into those of man and woman while the hair receded and disappeared into their skin. It took nearly a full minute to leave a middle-aged couple on the cabin floor. The tranquilizers kept them asleep through the process.

I waited for them to wake.

We hadn’t needed to dose them since the forest and that was around five hours ago. I opened the drapes in the nearest window so the sun would do its job.

The woman was first to jingle the chains.

“…what…?”

“You’re safe. The restraints were for everyone’s protection,” I said.

She rolled onto her butt, holding the blanket close her with fingertips. “Who are you?”

“Are you aware you turn into a werewolf every full moon?”

She sighed. “Hunters.”

“I’m with The Agency.” One hand on a gun, I walked over and handed her my badge. “When someone is infected with the werewolf virus, we give you training and the means to lock yourself up each month so no one gets hurt.”

Her lack of surprise shocked me. I didn’t expect to find someone who thought they could live with the virus on my first hunt.

“I’ve lived with this for thirty years, girl, and never killed anyone. We don’t need your interference.”

Uh-huh. “Know why I’m here? Forest rangers called. Hikers were leaving wolf reports in a state with no wolves.”

She averted her eyes. “We’ll be more careful.”

“Has your husband—I’m assuming—visited the Catholic church recently?”

The man groaned awake. “Regina?”

“I’m here.”

“Sir, I’m here about your wolf problem.”

Pale blue eyes met mine, but he wasn’t sporting the attitude of Regina. Tears welled up and he blinked before she looked at him. “You know what’s happening to me? You’re here to help?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t talk to her!”

I glared at Regina. This poor man. “You were bitten by a dog or wolf at some point, yes?”

He nodded vigorously. “Six months ago. That has something to do with why I’m missing time?”

I unlocked the cuffs on his wrists. He was no threat. “You were bitten by a werewolf and infected with a virus that changes you into one, too, every full moon in every month. My employers help people like you be safe.”

He grabbed my hands. “I thought I was going crazy.”

I squeezed his fingers. “You’re not crazy. You have an illness and we’re working on the cure.”

My team came out of the bedroom. The boys had crashed in there after getting full bellies. I didn’t know where Amelia and Thirteen were.

“Your name, sir?” I asked the man.

“Jeffrey. We live on Grayback Road.”

“Do one of you have pants for Jeffrey to borrow?”

Five went to his duffel. “Sweats. They’re clean.” He tossed them to me.

“Awesome.” I took the restraints off Jeffrey’s feet and handed him the pants.

He pulled them on under the blanket while we averted our eyes. “What about Regina?”

“She’ll stay here while I take you up to your house, okay? Guys, make some coffee.”

“On it,” Lev said.

The she-wolf continued to glare at me.

Jeffrey kept the blanket around his shoulders. I guided him out to the SUV.

I wanted to talk to him alone about his woman and we also needed to get their ID and pack them up for the werewolf facility.

Grayback Road led away from town into the hills. Jeffrey lived several miles back. We passed a mine and a Jehovah’s Witnesses building.

“That’s it.”

I’d given him the spiel on the way up about the facility and how long he’d be away and the help we provided. He continued to be grateful he wasn’t crazy and someone knew what had been happening to him.

It was a small house; just enough for a couple living off the land. Jeffrey had told me how he came up here to be a prospector and met Regina.

He eagerly showed me around the homestead.

A back door had been left open.

Time to break his heart. “Jeffrey, Regina is a werewolf, too.”

His eyes went wide. “She never told me she got bit.”

“She told me she’s been one for thirty years.” Please work it out so I don’t have to say it out loud.

He shook his head. “That can’t be right. I’ve never seen…”

I stayed quiet while he processed the information.

He continued shaking his head. “It’s not her fault. I never know what happens to me when I lose time.”

“Maybe.”

Then he must’ve run out of plausible denials.

“You think Regina bit me?” He dropped onto the back porch, his gray head in his hands.

“I know this is all difficult and confusing, Jeffrey, but for now, I need you to pack a bag—one for you and one for Regina—and get ready to travel.”

“Yeah.” He sniffed. Walked into the house.

It wasn’t too different from the cabin we were staying in—kitchen, living room, and one bedroom and bathroom. The fridge was a small old model from the sixties, so there wouldn’t be much fresh to clean out if anything was in there.

He pulled two suitcases out from under the bed.

My company cell buzzed. Text from Thirteen.

You should’ve waited.

He’s a scared and harmless old man. And I’m still packing.

Is he ready, yet?

Starting now.

The phone went silent. Guess he decided to trust me with this.

Jeffrey and Regina didn’t have much, so it didn’t take him long to pack clothes and toiletries. He’d put on his own clothes and shoes. Found his wallet and her purse.

“It’ll get better, Jeffrey. I promise. You’re not alone in this anymore.”

He nodded. Locked the house and we returned to the SUV.

The ride back to the cabin was quiet.

Regina had one hand free to hold a mug of coffee and the other arm was cuffed to the coffee table. The blanket was wrapped around her body like a towel.

I carried her suitcase. “Ma’am, if you’d like to dress.”

“About time,” she snarled. Oookay…

Thirteen sat with a tranq gun on his lap, so Regina had clearly not been the model prisoner while I was away.

The bathroom had no means of escape, so she was moved in there with a set of clothes and underwear from her suitcase. “You have two minutes to make yourself presentable, then I open the door,” I said, setting my watch timer in her sight.

Poor Jeffrey just looked resigned and sad. Lev brought him a cup of coffee.

Regina opened the door at a minute-fifty-eight. I re-cuffed her wrists. Deliberately infecting someone with the werewolf virus was a crime.

“The pilot is waiting at the airstrip,” Amelia said.

“I’ll take them,” Thirteen replied. He ushered the couple out the door.

I rubbed my tired neck.

“What did you leave me for breakfast?”

I had some cereal, then the boys and I walked to the Bigfoot statue that was Happy Camp’s famous landmark and took a photo. Nothing classified about three kids in front of a goofy sasquatch.

We started packing when Thirteen returned with the car. The werewolves had been shipped to Idaho. I’d wiped down the kitchen one last time.

“Now what?” Five asked.

“The nearest major airport is in Medford,” I replied.

“We check in and get our next assignments,” Thirteen said.

Since I knew the way, I was in the driver’s seat again. Somehow, Thirteen ended up next to me, with Amelia in the center and the boys in the back. Luggage was packed everywhere it could fit in the SUV.

It was an hour on 96 to return to the 5. When I reached the interchange, Thirteen said, “Head south.”

“That’s the wrong way,” Amelia argued.

“We all deserve a decent meal and Yreka is a proper town. Head south.”

She didn’t add comment, so I obeyed. It’d be less than twenty miles, so not a hardship.

It was charming.

A big arched sign announced Yreka by a restaurant named Grandma’s House. Good enough for me. Walking in, I felt instantly at home.

This was the kind of comfortable working-class restaurant I grew up with. By the smell, they were making meals from scratch to order. A server in a floral uniform greeted us and showed us to a table. We had too many for the four-person booths.

Once we ate, I’d stop at the gas station next door to fill the tank.

The males ordered pancakes.

I splurged on bread pudding.

Amelia only asked for tea and a bowl of fruit. I don’t know how she exists on so little.

When we’d been served beverages, Thirteen raised a glass of orange juice. “To ridding the world of monsters and getting paid.”

“Here, here!”

“Have a bit of decorum.”

“Amelia, add more sugar to your tea. Maybe it’ll sweeten you up,” I teased. She shook her head. But we didn’t get a lecture about sacred duty.

“What’ll they do with Fifteen if he has agent power and is a werewolf?” Lev asked.

“Above your pay grade, kid.”

“He should have to do community service helping the wolves at the center,” Five said. “Just desserts.”

Better that than pondering the possibility of The Agency using their new pet werewolf for other things. “Can we not talk about work for the duration of the meal?” I asked.

Thirteen met my eyes across the table and gave a small nod. Then the charming smile that probably got him into most girls’ pants. “I spy…with my little eye…”

Amelia groaned.

She was rescued by the arrival of pancakes.