Page 16 of Her Wolf Protector

Tate blew out a breath. "Fuck."

Emphatic nodding.

Well, at least they were on the same page.

THIRTEEN

"Someone's been here," Wolf Man said, dropping into a crouch.

Arwen nodded. She could smell the bitch, and if she came back, she was going to rip her throat out.

"Stay close," Wolf Man said, as he made his way around the cottage, before cracking open the back door.

He should just shift back into a wolf. Then he'd know the woman had left, but she was probably still nearby, watching them. Arwen might be able to sniff her out, but she was so new to this wolf thing, she couldn't be sure. Whereas Wolf Man could probably beat a bloodhound.

"Come inside. No one's here," he said, and Arwen did.

Huh. Her scent ringed the cottage, but she hadn't stepped inside. Odd, seeing as Wolf Man hadn't bothered locking the doors.

"I'll make us some lunch, okay? Then we can plan our next steps on a full stomach," Wolf Man said.

He'd run out of Scotch eggs, but the cupboards were filled with cans, so he poured some sort of chunky soup in a pot and started heating it up. There was meat in it, at least, so Arwen figured if it wasn't enough, she could always fill in the gaps with a squirrel or three. Or one of those tricksy waterbirds she'd missed out on this morning in the pond. Next time, she'd get more than a mouthful of feathers. She'd eaten a couple of mushrooms to get the taste out of her mouth. They hadn't been that bad, which was why she'd given one to Wolf Man. Maybe they could go back and pick some more later.

Wolf Man set two bowls on the table, then pulled out a chair for her. She might not be herself right now, but at least he still acted like a gentleman. He wasn't just a nice arse.

Someone rapped on the front door. Arwen darted forward and sniffed the gap. The bitch was back! She let out a low growl, warning the woman away.

Wolf Man was too trusting. He opened the door and greeted her.

"Hi, I'm Phene. I don't know if you've heard, but a girl went missing around here a few days ago, and I was wondering if you'd seen her." She held up one of the posters from in town.

"I had heard that, and no, I haven't seen her." The lie tripped smoothly off his tongue. At least he wasn't that stupid.

"Are you sure? Maybe if you take a closer look..." She shoved the poster right in front of his face, her spare hand reaching into her jacket.

Arwen leaped, knocking Wolf Man out of the way as she tackled the bitch to the ground. The bitch blocked her teeth with a metal stick that ticked and sparked, but Arwen closed her jaws around it until the metal cracked and the sparks stopped.

"No! Down, girl!" Wolf Man cried, wrapping his arms around Arwen as he tried to wrestle her inside. With her jaws still firmly clamped around the taser or cattle prod or whatever it was, she found it hard to fight Wolf Man's greater weight, as he pushed her back into the house. As this brought him further away from the bitch, Arwen stopped fighting so hard and let him half drag her all the way to the bathroom.

It wasn't until she heard the metallic clink as something closed around her neck that she realised her mistake. He'd chained her up with a fucking collar? Like a dog?

"Stay there. I'll be back soon," he said. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Then he went back to the bitch.

Growling, Arwen broke the bitch's weapon into crumbs.

"Sorry about that," Wolf Man said. "She gets defensive around strangers."

"Is that what happened to Arwen Snow? Tell me where you buried the body, and I'll forget I ever saw you."

Arwen growled.

"We only came up here yesterday, and I only saw the missing posters when I went into town today. She went missing a week ago, I heard from the Police Inspector in town. He asked me to come up here and look for her. I figured I'd have lunch before I went out searching."

"But her scent is outside. I tracked it here from the road," the bitch protested.

"Maybe she came here while I was out, and when there was no one home, she left. You're barking up the wrong tree, lady. This cottage is where we bring kids from the local youth group for camping trips and woodcraft. Sometimes a bit of hunting and trapping. Talk to Police Inspector Hartwin Scott in town. He and I came up here as kids ourselves. Which is why he asked me to track down the missing girl. We go way back."