Wolf Fever

Chapter 25

CAROL SIGHED DEEPLY AND RESTED HER HEAD AGAINST Ryan’s shoulder as the truck rumbled toward Darien’s house. She was tired, but this virus had to be stopped and the effects counteracted.

“No, I haven’t seen any visions of Doc Mitchell.” Carol wished she had—anything to know what had happened to him. She snuggled closer to Ryan, feeling more chilled by the situation they were in than by the weather.

“But the way the doc disappeared makes me surmise that either North and his men kidnapped him, thinking that he might be able to help with their medical problem, or he shifted, ran off, and was unable to change back. If North and his newly formed pack came down with this before we did, I need to interview them.”

Ryan stiffened beside her. “You can learn what you have to over the phone. You’re not meeting any of North’s people face-to-face. I’ll be leading a force to learn their whereabouts, the lab they’ve been using— and hopefully find a vaccine.”

She tapped her fingers on her lap. “It’s remotely possible our people could eventually change back on their own.”

“But that most likely would mean only a few like Lelandi, who is a royal, could avoid shifting during any phase of the moon.”

“What if…” Carol’s eyes brightened. “What if when the new moon appears, the condition vanishes? Those of us who aren’t royals can’t maintain our wolf forms. So what if the condition ceased to exist?”

“Maybe. But the first full moon made its appearance this morning. The three-quarter moon appears in the morning nine days later, and the new moon, eight days after that in the evening. That’s a long time to wait to see if we make it out of this on our own.”

Surprised he’d know the exact timing of the phases of the moon, she raised her brows.

He shrugged. “I’d considered the moon’s phases might knock out this anomaly, so I checked the timing of the phases for Colorado for this month.”

“Hmph, you could have told me you’d already thought of it.”

He rubbed her arm. “You haven’t been a werewolf long enough to think in those terms all the time. So what happens if half our pack or more can’t keep from shifting while we wait about seventeen days for the new moon to appear? What if the town is no longer run by the werewolf kind? And humans decide to take over? Worse, what if those who are stuck in their wolf shapes are still unable to shift back when the new moon appears?”

Ryan’s phone rang, and he saw it was his assistant mayor. “Yeah, Grandbury?”

“Your admin assistant is fine. Ingrid had already shifted and changed back. She knocked out whatever ailed her—she suspected food poisoning and that whatever she ate could be more easily tolerated by her wolf’s stomach—and she returned to work. She didn’t want me to tell you in case she shouldn’t have shifted, per your orders. But she didn’t get word until it was too late.”

“Thanks. I’ll check on her shortly.” Vastly relieved, Ryan put away his cell phone. “My admin assistant was sick, shifted, knocked out what appeared to be food poisoning, and shifted back to her human self,” he told Carol.

She relaxed against him.

“We may have an isolated case of this virus here in Silver Town. Which probably means that Connor and his bunch did engineer this sickness and brought it specifically to Darien’s people.”

“Thank goodness. If we can immunize enough people in the area—it’s called ‘herd immunity,’ in our case the term ‘pack immunity’ suits us better—we could stop the spread of the virus. But letting other packs know about a vaccine wouldn’t be easy, would it? Lelandi said that the packs are not very open about where they’re located.”

“Let’s worry later about other packs contracting it.”

“All right. So we need to know who was sick in our pack first.”

“When they were dancing, Mervin said Becky told him she was worried about shifting and not being able to change back. He thought it was a strange thing to say and just figured she’d had some weird nightmares. But the word has spread through the pack that Doc Weber can’t shift back due to this virus, and now she’s really scared.”

“She should be.” Carol frowned and then shook her head. “A virus can be contagious from a day before a person becomes aware of having it to five days after. What if Marilee and Becky brought the virus from their pack?”

“I’ve checked,” Ryan said. She admired the way he could put his investigative skills to use and was one step ahead of her. He continued, “Their pack is clean. But it doesn’t matter.”

“Why not?” Carol asked.

“Becky and Marilee haven’t been with the pack for a couple of weeks. I suspect they’ve been with Connor’s people all this time.”

Carol swore under her breath. “And you danced with Marilee.”

“Only because she was acting nervous.”

“So you danced with her out of concern for her?”

He chuckled darkly. “No, because she seemed unduly nervous. Like she’d set an explosive device in the house and wanted to leave. It made me curious, but when I tried to learn what the matter was, I didn’t get anywhere with her. I assumed she was just anxious about finding the right mate. Now it seems she was even hotter than I suspected—germ warfare.”

Carol pressed her lips tighter together. “I can’t imagine anyone doing anything so despicable.”

“Offer money and a lot of people will do something they’d never do otherwise.”

A frisson of dread suddenly worked its way up Carol’s spine. Before she could analyze what was making her feel so antsy, her vision blurred and she closed her eyes, not welcoming the vision and what it might foretell, but having no choice. Ryan’s words faded into the background like a conversation in the distance as the vision clarified.

As a wolf, Darien paced, panting, his teeth and lips bloodied. Wounded, he limped. A dead wolf lay near the bed on the blue carpet in his and Lelandi’s bedroom. Carol felt Darien’s satisfaction that the wolf was dead—and his frustration and dread because he couldn’t change. He was stuck as a wolf.

Lelandi looked miserable, tears streaking her cheeks as she wrung her hands. Carol wanted to help and console her. But then Lelandi grabbed her phone off the bedside table and punched a button.

Carol’s phone rang and nearly gave her a heart attack, yanking her from the vision. Perspiration trickled between her breasts, and her heart rate accelerated as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the Caller ID. “Lelandi?”

“Come home quick. I need to see you. But no one else.”

“All right.” Lelandi didn’t have to tell Carol what had happened, that Darien had been victorious in a wolf fight, but he couldn’t shift back. It was too late for Darien, too late for Doc.

“Not a word to the others,” Lelandi made Carol promise.

“All right. We’re nearly there.” Carol hung up her phone, trying not to shake. Everyone would have to know their pack leader was in a real bind. Jake and Tom would have to take over until Darien could change back.

“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked, pulling into the drive and parking in front of Darien’s home.

“Nothing.”

“Your face has lost every ounce of color, Carol. Your voice shook when you spoke with Lelandi. You’re not a good liar.”

She ground her teeth and looked at Ryan. Lelandi didn’t want her to tell, but everyone would know before long anyway.

“Darien’s shifted. And he can’t change back.”

“Hell.”

Jake parked his truck next to Ryan’s vehicle and hurried out. “Lelandi just called me. Told me the news.” He gave Carol an anxious look.

Lelandi must have realized she couldn’t hide the fact that Darien couldn’t shift back. Did Jake worry he would be next?

“We’ve got to find the lab where these men made the virus and destroy it, Jake,” Ryan said, taking Carol’s arm and guiding her toward the house.

Wolves in motion, Tom and Sam bolted from around the side of the house, and Carol jumped. Her heart took a dive. They shouldn’t have shifted.

“Hell,” Jake said to his brother and Sam. “You better be able to shift back.” He opened the door to the house, and the wolves dashed inside and up the stairs, tails straight out, indicating both were tense.

“I should go with you, Ryan. To identify the vaccine, if they have one.” Carol figured Ryan would say no because he’d worry about her safety, but she really thought it was the best way to handle this. “If they have a lab that produced the virus, they may have created a vaccine.”

“Lelandi wants to see you,” Jake said to Carol, motioning to the stairs.

“Don’t you dare go anywhere without me, Ryan McKinley.” She gave him a hard look, hoping that he wouldn’t take off to search for the lab and leave her behind. Then she ran up the stairs.

“I see who’s in charge in your family already,” Jake said with a smirk.

Ryan folded his arms and watched her disappear upstairs. “I would leave her behind for her own safety. But she’s got a valid point. We need her with us. You need to stay with Lelandi. I’ll take Tom and Sam with me.” As an afterthought, he added, “If that works well for you.”

Jake shook his head. “Can’t give up being a natural born leader, can you, Ryan?”

“Nope, it’s in the blood.” He just hoped he wasn’t making a grave mistake by taking Carol into the enemy’s territory.

Carol knocked on Lelandi’s bedroom door, not wanting to intrude on her and Darien and their new dilemma. She felt terrible. If she couldn’t solve this situation, Lelandi’s children would never know their father as human.

“Come in, Carol,” Lelandi said, opening the door, her voice tinged with alarm as she waited for Carol to enter the bedroom. Lelandi wrung her hands and watched Darien pace back and forth in his wolf form. Thankfully, someone had removed the dead wolf’s body.

“What’s happening? I don’t understand what’s happening. How can we stop this?” Lelandi asked. Her green eyes turned to Carol, and tears filled them. “He can’t change back. You have to do something!” Lelandi pleaded, her voice strained and choked with emotion.

Carol took Lelandi’s hands and guided her to sit down on the bed.

“Take a deep breath. Calm yourself. We’ll figure this out and reverse the effects.”

At least she hoped so. What if they could only vaccinate against the virus before someone contracted it, but there was no hope for those poor souls who already had it? “Do you know who Darien just killed?”

“Yeah, Connor. Darien killed his brother after the guy bit you. During the initial battle, Connor had given up the fight so Darien had let him live. Not this time.”

Carol rubbed Lelandi’s arm. “So he came here to avenge his brother’s death, I suppose. His plan to make us all sick hadn’t worked out the way he wanted, so he’d decided to kill Darien. I wonder if they thought they could take over Silver Town if all of us had gotten sick and couldn’t change back.”

“Possibly. The renegade reds left their pack. What better way to start over than to come into a town already run by werewolves, eliminate the leadership through the use of the virus, and take over.”

“Except that it backfired, because now they’re getting sick, too. What happened to the men who were protecting you?”

“They chased the other three reds off. Connor stayed to fight Darien.”

Carol nodded, figuring this was one thing she’d never get used to, fighting amongst wolves. “Where’s Silva? She was supposed to be staying with you.”

“Downstairs making me hot cocoa.”

“All right. I’m going to leave with Ryan and some others to try to find the reds’ lab. In the meantime, Darien and Jake can protect you.”

“Be careful.”

“I will be.” Carol gave Lelandi a hug, fought the urge to pat Darien on the head—figuring he probably would not appreciate it—and hurried out of the master bedroom. When she reached her room, she ditched her scrubs and changed into jeans and a sweater, and then joined Jake and Ryan downstairs in the great room. To her profound relief, she watched Tom and Sam exit the kitchen, tall and dressed and very human.

Ryan asked, “Ready to go?”

A big gray wolf loped out of the kitchen, headed straight for her, and her mouth gaped. “Doc Mitchell?”

“Some of the men found him on his way to the house to see Darien. He’s been trying to tell us something, but we’re not sure what. We think he may have been searching for these guys long before we were aware of what was going on,” Jake said.

“All right, let’s go.” Ryan took hold of Carol’s arm and hurried her out to the truck. Doc Mitchell loped alongside them.

“Guess he thinks he can help,” Carol said, and she prayed he could.

Driving south from Darien’s place, Carol and Ryan were quiet as Doc Mitchell rode in the backseat of the truck while Tom and Sam followed in Tom’s truck. Carol watched Doc Mitchell’s antics and interpreted them. He wagged his tail when they took the right roads and growled when they didn’t.

If Carol hadn’t been worried about how they might all become just like him, stuck forever as wolves with human brains, she would have admired his ability to guide them in the right direction. Even more, she worried that she might not be able to find the cure.

She took a deep breath, tried to give up thoughts of failure, and considered another situation that concerned her—bringing were-kids into the world, where they had to live in secret. She didn’t think she could cope with taking care of them, not when she hadn’t been raised as one. She thought about her mother’s comment that she should talk with Ryan about children before they were married, or in this case, mated. Better late than never.

“I don’t want children,” she blurted before she thought better of it. Now really wasn’t the time to discuss this.

Ryan’s hands tightened a little on the steering wheel as he continued to watch the road. “It’s a little late to consider that now.” He didn’t sound mad, just a little concerned.

“I’m on birth control.” She hadn’t needed it for a long time, but she always wanted to be prepared—just in case. At least she’d been careful and not reckless.

She couldn’t read his expression at first, but his pause made her think he wasn’t happy with the idea.

“Pills?” he asked.

“Yep. Not that I’ve needed them, but…” She shrugged.

“Doc give them to you?”

She didn’t like the way he asked, as if he was investigating one of his cases. She folded her arms. “No. I had enough of a supply before he came to work here.”

“So… no one told you they won’t work for us.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“They don’t work for all women,” he said.

She knew that from personal experience because a friend of hers had gotten pregnant while on the pill—but at least her friend had been married. Her friend’s sister also had gotten pregnant on the pill, only she was in love with the guy, not married. The day she learned she was pregnant, she also discovered her lover had a wife and two daughters. Bastard. And he had no intention of leaving his wife, because her dad was a rich man and would have ruined him.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, annoyed.

“Well, our women are like that. We normally don’t use birth control. Like humans, some of us can have children without any problem. Others never do. But as with any pack mentality, procreation of our species is important and most of us want children. As a pack leader, it’s essential. Are you afraid they’ll have your psychic talents? And be ostracized?”

She frowned at him. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Oh.” He sounded like he regretted mentioning it. “Then what?”

“How in the world can I teach my own were-children anything about growing up werewolf when I never did?”

He smiled. “You’ll learn, and that’s what a pack is for. All pack members care for each other’s kids.”

She sighed. “A mother is supposed to know these things and be in charge. I’ll be like the child.”

He chuckled. “Not on your life. You’ll be fine. Unless…” He glanced at her. “…you want to abstain from sex.”

“Like that’s really an option.” No way was she abstaining from anything of the kind with Ryan.

“Other forms of birth control work reasonably well.”

She leaned against him. “It’s not that I don’t want kids. I always planned to have a couple. It’s just this… were-issue.” She guessed this was one more aspect she wouldn’t have any control over. At least her mother would be happy. If she never learned what Carol’s children’s secrets were.

The tension left Ryan’s body, and he wrapped his arm around her. “If we’re meant to have children, we will. If not, so be it. But you’ll be the best mother a litter can have, Carol. Don’t you worry.”

She smiled, thinking of raising more McKinleys and attending the Scottish games, just like having their own little clan.

The thought of having a couple of sons who would help their dad in a game of tug-of-war, or a couple of daughters who danced to the Celtic tunes and captured the boys’ attention, made her forget for the moment the potential danger that lay ahead.

About an hour and a half from Darien’s home, Doc Mitchell began to pace in the backseat, make little woofing sounds, and growl. Her thoughts quickly shifted to the peril they could all be in.

“Must be close,” Carol warned, feeling Ryan’s whole body tense. She was fairly certain that another wolf fight would ensue. These guys never seemed to resolve anything between them in a nice, conversational way. She tried to relax and not be uptight, but as soon as Ryan drove toward a single-family dwelling surrounded by woods, the tension returned to every muscle, and she prayed she wouldn’t shift again.