First Moon (New Moon Wolves) BBW Werewolf Romance (2 page)

At the same time, he was no ordinary wolf. In light of the wolf who attacked her earlier, she wanted to take this one back to the ranger station and see if she could figure out why these strange wolves were in the area. Then she could decide his fate properly. Maybe she could even take care of his wound so that he might one day be released in the wild again.

“I’ll take him,” she said with a firm nod. Her mind was made up. She would save this wolf and set him free.

***

Tao worked hard to look like a dumb animal as his fate was discussed amongst the authorities. Inwardly, he cursed the injury that kept him from shifting back into human form. Nick had caught him by surprise, the bastard. Worse, their fight had landed Tao in a crude pit trap and his current home, a large metal cage. Now his wound was healing slow enough to get him into serious trouble.

Nick might just kill him yet.

He could only hope the pretty girl who had come in with the sheriff would buy him some time. If he died, she would suffer too.

He’d smelled Nick’s essence in her skin even before he laid eyes on her.
Judging from the bandage on her arm, he’d bitten her. If Tao didn’t get out of his current mess, there would be no one to stand between her and Nick come the full moon.

His nose also caught something else, a sweet scent that made him want to bury his muzzle in the girl’s lap. It carried the flavor of strawberries mixed with the dryness of sand and the aroma of summer heat on sun kissed skin. He sniffed, savoring the smell and a little tingle went through him as she filled his senses.

Tao’s eyes narrowed and studied her through the bars on his cage. Anyone who hit his nose like that bore a closer look. She was tall with a softly rounded shape. Her drab uniform was ugly, but did a nice job of outlining her natural curves. Her light hair kept falling loose from its ponytail and she swept it out of her eyes with the faintest expression of frustration on her heart-shaped face. Humans wouldn’t have caught it, but Tao didn’t miss the emotional nuance.

As they spoke, his ears swiveled to hone in on her voice. She spoke in a pleasant alto, the tone low and husky. When she looked at him, her eyes widened in awe and he could hear her pulse quicken, even from across the garage.

Tao found himself preening under her gaze, doing his best to attract her attention. He wanted her to like him, to let him get close so he could fill his lungs with her scent. She smelled so good.

It worried him how much he wanted her. His mother—may the moon shine bright on her soul--always used to say, “Trouble starts with a smell.” He’d found this to be particularly true when it came to women.

You’re not here to find a mate, Tao
, he growled at himself.
Don’t forget what happened the last time.
His heart gave a little lurch. Love hadn’t been very kind to him lately. Sometimes he wondered if he would ever find a mate. His pack didn’t consider him to be prime mate material.

And this woman who smelled so good wasn’t even pack or a natural werewolf. She was wolf made. Worse, she’d been made by his pack’s number one enemy. Not exactly mating material.

Unfortunately, his nose begged to differ, and as sensitive as the organ was, it had no common sense. It kept filling his head with bad ideas. Things like romance and wild lovemaking under a full moon. He wondered what it would be like to peel off that uniform and run his tongue over her generous body, to hear her scream as he took her. He almost groaned, but caught himself and quickly swallowed the sound.

Quit acting like a pup who’s smelled his first woman in heat.

The deputy offering to kill him brought a much needed dose of reality, enough to keep Tao’s nose in check. Barely. His focus returned to his present predicament and, with rising apprehension, he watched the deputy finger his gun.

Tao whined softly and blinked at the woman. She was the only person in the room who wasn’t a police officer. More importantly, she didn’t have a gun she was itching to shoot.

When she said, “I’ll take him,” joy leapt in Tao’s heart. His nose quivered and he gave a soft yip of excitement. No one noticed, which was a small blessing. There was nothing worse than a grown wolf acting like a love sick puppy.

Down boy,
Tao reprimanded himself.
Remember the mission. I’m here to protect the pack, not roll in the hay.

His nose twitched as if to say, ‘We’ll see about that.’

Chapter Two

Deputies loaded the wolf’s cage into the back of Audrey’s blue Ford pick-up. As she pulled out of Bob’s driveway, she called the ranger station on her cell phone.

Christine answered with a bright, “Hello. Michigan State Park Ranger Station.” She’d just started working as a ranger a few months ago and found everything new and exciting. Some of the crew found her annoying as a result, but Audrey liked the reminder that she had a pretty cool job.

As she spoke, she navigated the smooth but winding roads of northern Michigan. “Hey, Chris. It’s me, Audrey. I’ve got a wolf I’m bringing in.”

“Oh, no can do,” Christine said. “Jonathon put a black bear in the big kennel. Someone was taking pot shots at her. We just got her out of surgery.”

“Aw, nuts.” Audrey smacked her steering wheel. She’d been counting on the other rangers to help her lift the cage out of her truck. “I guess I’ll take him home then for the night.”

“You don’t want to put him down?” Christine asked, curious. It was common for the park service to terminate captured wolves because they were vector animals for rabies. However, as a wildlife specialist, Audrey had some discretion in the matter.

“He’s not rabid, just needs a little TLC.” Audrey hesitated, hoping what she said was true. “Besides, he’s a species I’ve never seen up here and that other wolf was from different stock too. I want to try and sort out why they’re here.” If the area was being invaded by a new apex predator, it was her job to know about it.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about your bite. How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Audrey said, neglecting to mention how the bite tingled almost non-stop. She’d been bitten by everything from rats to owls to snakes, but this was the first bite that felt weird. It was almost like something crawling under her skin, spreading through her body…she cut off the thought because the last thing she needed was to get all spooked over a little bite. She’d had all the shots, she was on antibiotics just in case, there was nothing to worry about and that was that.

The bite tingled even more fiercely as if to prove her wrong.

It must be Bob’s death messing with my head.
She shook it off and focused on the present.

“So is Bob really dead?” Christine seemed to be reading Audrey’s mind.

“Yep.” Audrey kept her response short, not sure how much she should or wanted to say. There was an active police investigation after all.

“And the wolf is from his house?”

“Yep.” Audrey rolled to a stop at an intersection and checked for cross traffic. Off in the distance, the lake gleamed like a polished sapphire. The sun hung low in the horizon, a ball of fiery orange dipping itself into the blue water of Lake Michigan as if it just wanted to cool off. Given the frigid lake could make her legs go numb within minutes, Audrey figured the sun had chosen one of the few places on earth that could take its heat.

Christine gave a low whistle. “Wow. Keep me posted on what you find. Sounds like we have a few mystery wolves on the loose.”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Audrey said goodbye and tossed the cell phone into the passenger seat. Aiming her truck toward home, she hit the gas pedal. On days like this, she wished her parents were alive, particularly her mom, but a heart attack had taken her dad five years ago and cancer got her mom not long after. She missed their thoughtful insights. Her mom had been a great listener and loved to hear what she called ‘Audrey’s animal stories.’

Audrey sighed and looked to the sky. “I miss you, Mom and Dad.” There was never any sign they could hear her, wherever they were, but she couldn’t keep herself from talking to them every once in a while.

Wanting to combat the wave of melancholy that overtook her at the thought of her parents, Audrey blasted the radio, singing along and tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. She had a long drive ahead of her, might as well make it a happy one.

Since the lakeshore where she worked had some of the most expensive real estate in the state, Audrey lived almost a forty-five minute drive inland. The place she called home was a modest two-bedroom ranch with a yard full of bird baths and feeders brimming with birdseed. The landscaping consisted of a tangled mass of wildflowers which fed the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. As a result, her lawn was always buzzing with activity.

Pulling into the driveway, she put the truck in park and hustled into the house. She was late; her charges would be hungry. Sure enough, when she stepped into her house, a chorus of anxious chirps and muffled snuffling greeted her.

She grabbed the birdseed and went to work. “Hush, sweeties, I’m here. The food is coming.”

The sad fact of life was the park service didn’t have the space or resources to save every animal, so Audrey had taken to rehabbing some of her foundlings out of her home. Her boss knew about it, but wasn’t thrilled. It wasn’t strictly against policy, but it did open the agency to some liability if anything went wrong. Plus, it went against the mandate to let nature take its course.

Unfortunately, Audrey had never been able to turn her back on an animal in need. So she’d promised up and down to only take in animals that posed no threat to humans. Her boss would go ballistic if he saw the big wolf currently
sitting in the back of her pick-up. Good thing they’d stopped dating. Otherwise it would be impossible to hide her infraction from him.

“Oh well. Rules were made to be broken, right?” she muttered to herself as she distributed food. The birds received a mix of live insects she kept in the fridge along with birdseed. The squirrels and rabbits currently under her care gobbled up an assortment of fresh vegetables.

At least she didn’t have too many animals. Just a few robins whose momma had gone missing, a baby squirrel she’d found alone on her lawn and some rabbits she’d rescued from a waterlogged nest after a heavy rain. For once, there were more empty cages than full ones, which made her happy. It had been a good spring with lots of babies all over the place somehow staying out of trouble. Now, as summer deepened, she delighted in following how everyone was growing up as she made her rounds through the park’s wildlife reserve.

After her current menagerie was fed, she filled a water bowl and prepped some cat food for the wolf. Wanting to look at his wound, she slipped a quick acting sedative into his dinner, mixing it up with the food. Then she grabbed some antibiotic ointment and went out to check on her new charge. He waited patiently in his cage as if he’d known she’d come back all along.

“Hey, handsome. I have some water and food for you.” She lifted the latch that closed off the cage’s food slot and slid the plate of cat food inside. Given his size, she’d used four cans.

He sniffed the food and then raised his nose in the air.

Audrey laughed. “Sorry, I don’t run a five star restaurant. If you want to eat, this is it, big guy.”

He gave her a look that suggested he’d had a taste of the finer things in life and wasn’t about to compromise his standards. His startlingly blue eyes bored into hers with an intensity that made Audrey nervous. It was almost like he wanted something or knew something.

Also, since when did wolves have blue eyes?

That was weird.

She shook her head, casting off her heebie-jeebies, and pushed the bowl of water into the cage. “Well, at least drink something. I assume fresh water isn’t beneath you?”

The wolf blinked and lowered his head to delicately slurp at the water with his pink tongue.

She sat on the truck bed floor and watched him drink. He really was gorgeous, with thick, silky fur and broad but delicate facial features. If they ever had shows for wolves like they did dogs, he would be a contender. She just hoped the gash in his side wouldn’t be the end of him.

“You’ll have to stay the night out here until I can get someone to lift you into the garage,” she said conversationally.

He paused in his drinking and his ears rotated, tracking her voice.

“I’ve got some medicine I can put on your wound, but I can’t do it unless you’re sedated.” She showed him the tube of antibiotic cream she’d brought with her. “The sedatives are in the food you’re refusing to eat, by the way.”

In response, the wolf lay down, baring his wounded side.

“Well, you’re a smart one.” Could it be he understood her and would he let her treat his injury without sedation? It sounded crazy, but there’d been many times when Audrey had felt a connection with an animal that transcended human speech. Once, an eagle had allowed her to return a baby eaglet to its nest without any aggression. Science didn’t support it, but Audrey firmly believed animals were capable of understanding when humans were helping them. Maybe that’s why the wolf had looked at her like he followed every word.

That didn’t mean she was about to stick her hand into a cage with a wild wolf, though.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve already had one run-in with wolf teeth this week. I think I’ll play it safe.” She patted the cage and then stood. Rummaging in the toolbox she always kept in the truck, she pulled out a combination lock. Wolves were smart enough to open cage latches and Audrey didn’t want to be responsible for any accidents. Snapping the lock in place, she
grabbed a tarp she’d never bothered to unload after a camping trip and tossed it over the cage. “Don’t want anyone catching sight of you and freaking out. Try to be quiet, okay?”