Wolf to the Rescue Read online

  Copyright © 2020, 2022 by Terry Spear

  Cover and internal design © 2022 by Sourcebooks

  Cover art by Kris Keller

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.

  Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

  (630) 961-3900

  sourcebooks.com

  Originally published as White Wolf to the Rescue in Legend of the White Wolf in 2020 in the United States of America by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks.

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Haunted by his last mission, FBI agent Andrew White stalked through Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park on Lake Superior as an Arctic wolf, keeping an eye on Nettleton, one of the men he would arrest at the hotel in Ontonagon as soon as Nettleton’s coconspirator Rizzo showed up and Andrew had the search and arrest warrants in hand for both men. At this point, Andrew figured the best way to keep an eye on Nettleton was to run as a wolf in the forest, sight unseen.

  The park boasted sixty thousand acres of lakes, waterfalls, and hiking trails, half of the acreage in old-growth forest, a haven for wolves—both for his kind and those that were all wolf. A light snow was falling, adding to the two feet of snow already accumulated on the ground. With the chilly wind blowing his white fur and the adrenaline running through his blood, Andrew was glad for the chance to run as a wolf after the flight from Alaska, his home base.

  Andrew’s FBI partner, Garcia Ramirez, hadn’t arrived yet, but he was human, so Andrew couldn’t have run as a wolf after Nettleton if his partner had already joined him.

  In the snowy woods, Nettleton was hiking quickly along the path as if he was planning to meet some other scum out here who needed clean money. A multimillion-dollar money launderer hiking in the woods wasn’t something Andrew had envisioned.

  Then he saw a group of Arctic wolves, four males and a female, standing in the woods half-hidden in the snow, their white fur blending in like his did. Their ears perked up to see him, but when they saw Nettleton, they lay down behind the snowbank so the human wouldn’t see them. Andrew wondered if these wolves belonged to a lupus garou pack here. He hoped they weren’t territorial, but he didn’t think they could be regular wolves. Not when they were Arctic wolves. Only gray wolves lived in the area.

  Further along the trail, Andrew saw another wolf, a female gray, racing through the woods. Was she part of a mixed pack of gray and Arctic lupus garous? It wouldn’t be that far-fetched if they were lupus garous. Arctic wolves actually were a subspecies of the gray wolf.

  He had the strongest urge to take chase, an instinctive need instilled in his kind from birth. A she-wolf, perhaps unattached, and she wasn’t with the other wolves. As an unattached male, that intrigued him to no end, making his heart pound harder. It didn’t matter whether they suited each other as humans, not in that moment. He just naturally wanted to chase after her.

  Nettleton had headed back to the parking lot, so Andrew ran after the she-wolf. What if she was all wolf and not a shifter? They did exist here—at least for now, though wolf hunting had been approved by the current administration. If she was all wolf, that would be a bummer.

  She was fast and wily, realizing right away that she had a male wolf on her tail, and she was doing everything she could to avoid meeting up with him. Which made the chase all the more exhilarating and caused him to believe she was one of his kind.

  When Andrew reached a river, he lost her scent. He glanced both ways, up- and downriver, looking for any sign of the wolf. He didn’t see her anywhere. Across the river, he considered the pristine snow. No wolf prints over there either. She had bested him. He smiled, his tongue hanging out, panting from the exertion. He’d needed the run. But she’d made it even better. He just wished he’d caught her, met her, greeted her, and learned who she was. Still, she was a mystery and would remain so, which fascinated him.

  He loped back to the parking area, sticking to the woods and not on the trails until he reached the place where he’d hidden his clothes. He shifted, the warmth filling his muscles with the change as the brisk, chilled air moved about him. Dressed in his jeans, hiking boots, sweater, and parka, he headed back to the parking area, determined to arrest the perps later tonight and return to Alaska for his next assignment. Though tonight, he would dream about chasing the she-wolf and catching up to her.

  He just prayed this time when he arrested the perps, no one came after them to free them. Or kill them. The FBI never learned which was the reason for the catastrophe that had turned his life upside down. The memory of the accident that took the two men’s lives and nearly cost him his own would haunt him forever.

  * * *

  When money launderer Mark Nettleton drove to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park to take a hike, Stacey Grayson, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, also known as the USFWS or FWS, followed him. At the park, she stripped out of her cold-weather gear and shifted to take a run on the wild side, assuming there wouldn’t be any problems with hunters or other hikers seeing her in the snowy cold. She hadn’t expected him to go to the state park and had been worried he’d gotten wind of the FWS’s plan to arrest him and was going to run.

  She’d also worried he’d learned they were after him and planned to take his own life, like the last criminal she’d apprehended. Intellectually, she knew there would be a slim chance that another of her perps would try to commit suicide, but still, she couldn’t shake the concern that it would happen again. After seeing the man who’d sold $4.5 million in elephant tusks slit his throat to avoid going to trial, she didn’t think she’d ever get the horrifying vision out of her mind.

  When Nettleton arrived at the park, she’d wondered if he was meeting up with Tommy Rizzo here instead of at the hotel. Sick bastard had ordered the killing of rhinos for their horns and intended to turn the money from the sale of the ivory over to Nettleton for laundering.

  Stacey’s partner, Kimberly Wayfair, was sick at the hotel, suffering from either stomach flu or food poisoning, which was why Stacey had decided to run as a wolf to follow Nettleton. He wouldn’t have a clue that a gray wolf had him under surveillance if he chanced to see her.

  A light snow had begun to fall as Nettleton finally headed for the parking area. Stacey had started to run that way too, but then she caught sight of a large male Arctic wolf chasing after her! Where in the world had he come from? Though she’d gotten
a kick out of it, as persistent as he’d been in trying to catch up to her. He’d never succeeded, not after she reached the river and swam down it a way. It had been as much a game for her to ensure he didn’t catch her as it had been for him to chase after her. She knew he had to be a lupus garou. There weren’t any Arctic wolves living here, she didn’t believe.

  Once she lost him, she returned to where she’d left her clothes in the woods, partly buried under snow and far enough off the trail for no one to see. Then she shifted, dressed, and drove back to the hotel where Nettleton’s BMW was parked near the lobby. As special agents for the FWS, she and Kim took into custody criminals who were involved in the illegal trafficking, sale, and disposition of wildlife, though in his case, he was the launderer for the money from the sale of the wildlife. She was eager to arrest him and his cohort, Rizzo, who actually dealt in illegal wildlife trafficking.

  She got on the phone and called Kim. “I’m returning to my room.”

  “Nettleton is here, right?”

  “Yeah, driving a BMW. He went to a state park for a hike. Go figure. But first things first. I’ll put a GPS tracker on his BMW.”

  “Good. Make sure he can’t find it.”

  “Yeah, not like the second-to-last case we had, eh? But that guy was really paranoid.” Hoping this guy wasn’t just as paranoid, Stacey put the tracker on the BMW where Nettleton wouldn’t see it. His room was next to hers, and like them, he had a poolside view, so she knew he couldn’t see her from his room. “How are you doing? Do you feel like this is subsiding at all?”

  “I’ve been out of the bathroom for fifteen minutes and then back in again.”

  “Ugh. I’m so sorry, Kim. I was going to go for a swim and then get something to eat. I’ll check on you afterward and see if you can eat by then too.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be here—or in the bathroom.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you in a little bit.” Stacey climbed the stairs to the second floor of the hotel and finally reached her room down the hall.

  She worried she was going to have to take these men into custody by herself, and she was really afraid this could go sideways without her partner assisting in the arrest. She was so hoping Kim would get better soon, not just for that reason though. They were taking these guys into custody tonight as soon as the wildlife trafficker showed up. In any case, she wished her friend wasn’t so sick.

  Stacey stripped off her clothes and put on her shimmery pink bikini. She pulled a hot-pink, tie-dyed cotton boho cover-up over her head and slipped on her flip-flops, then went downstairs to the pool.

  She would swim laps and look up at the balcony periodically to see if Nettleton was sitting out there. The swimming pool area was hot and humid and empty, perfect for swimming some laps.

  * * *

  Andrew was sitting at a table in the café overlooking the swimming pool, drinking a beer while observing a pretty brunette swim across the indoor pool, though his mission at the hotel was to watch for Nettleton, money launderer extraordinaire, who had turned millions of dollars of bad money into good. Nettleton had retired to his room, but he had a balcony that overlooked the swimming pool, so Andrew had perched himself in the café to keep watch over the room while his partner was out front, having a smoke and keeping an eye on the lobby in case Nettleton ran out to his BMW for something.

  The perks for Andrew? Observing the brunette wearing a hot-pink bikini and swimming laps back and forth, back and forth. He could watch her all day.

  Garcia preferred hanging around out in the cold and taking a smoke break to sitting in the heat and humidity of the café with a view of the pool. He hadn’t seen the woman swimming in the pool, but he had a wife and a son, so he probably wasn’t as interested as Andrew was. Not that anything would come of it, other than observing her. He didn’t want to have a dalliance with a human female.

  Andrew ordered a plate of tacos and sat back to continue to observe the woman, glancing around at the other balconies and the patrons in the poolside café from time to time. Suddenly, the scent of five different Arctic wolves wafted in the air, four males and a female, mixed with the aroma of grilled beef in the café and the slight odor of chlorine from the pool.

  Andrew turned to get a look at them. Naturally. Wolves were curious about other wolves in any event, but they were also territorial, and he hoped these weren’t part of a pack living here and not liking that he was here.

  Not that he could help that. He had a job to do, and he was doing it. Were they the same Arctic wolves he’d seen at the state park? The park was only a couple of miles from here, so it was reasonable to assume they had gone running too. If they were staying at the hotel and not just eating here, they were probably also out-of-towners. He hadn’t smelled the wolves’ scent in the woods, so he couldn’t know for sure if it was them, but because there had been four men and a woman, he assumed it was them.

  The Arctic wolves all glanced in his direction about the same time, and he realized they’d picked up his scent too. He inclined his head slightly in greeting. They did likewise, and he turned to watch the object of his fascination—the woman in the pink bikini. How many laps had she swum? It wasn’t an Olympic-size pool, but still, she had swum maybe ten laps already.

  Nettleton came out on the balcony with a drink in hand and looked down at the pool. Andrew felt an uncontrollable urge to slap the guy in handcuffs and take him in just for looking at the woman swimming. His kind of scum had no business around decent people. Though Andrew didn’t know a thing about the woman. She could be just as involved in crime as Nettleton. The perp sat down on one of the chairs on his balcony and watched the woman swim.

  Andrew and Garcia were still waiting for Rizzo to arrive and on the warrants to arrest the two men. Andrew hoped the FBI would get on the ball and send word soon so they could finish this and start a new case.

  The woman in pink swam to the stairs and climbed out of the pool. Man, oh, man. Toned, lightly tanned, nicely curved in a modest way, she was one looker. She caught his eye and he smiled. She returned the smile, her pretty hazel eyes reflecting the warmth from her expression. Yeah, hell, caught in the act. He was a wolf and a man, after all. But then he smelled her scent. Miracle of miracles, she was the gray wolf he’d chased in the forest. Hot damn! He couldn’t believe he’d finally caught up with her!

  Not that anything could come of it. He was on a job. Yet for an instant, he wished he was just here vacationing. He had to admit that changed the way he viewed her—not just as an attractive, physically fit human female but as a she-wolf he’d played with in the woods.

  She smiled at him in a way that said she wasn’t annoyed that he’d been observing her. How could he not look? He wondered if she knew he’d been the wolf following her in the forest when she’d made her escape.

  Then she glanced at another table, and he checked it out. Hell, the wolves were all watching her too, their tongues practically hanging out. If they’d been wearing their wolf coats, their tails would have been whipping up the air in a frenzy. All except the guy with the she-wolf. He was smiling, but more in amusement, Andrew thought. He frowned at the bachelor males. He’d seen her first!

  * * *

  What was this? An Arctic wolf convention? Stacey Grayson had rarely seen Arctic lupus garous in person, but to witness five of them at one table and another lone wolf at another in one establishment? That was a first. They must have been with a pack. But the lone wolf puzzled her. He didn’t like the others? Or he didn’t know them? What amazed her was that the lone wolf was the one who had chased her at the park. She felt a little smug about being the victor.

  The group of four men and the woman were wearing sweaters and jeans, looking casual and like they were on vacation. The lone wolf was wearing a blue dress shirt and dark-gray dress slacks, not casual at all. At least he wasn’t wearing a suit coat, jacket, or blazer. He was a blue-eyed blond and had a wolfish smile.
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  She smiled back at him, assuming he knew she was the wolf that had escaped his attentions in the park.

  Buddying up with any of them—she figured the way the guys were watching her, at least four of the men were bachelor males and very much interested—wasn’t going to happen. Not that she wasn’t interested in the lone wolf. Sandy-blond hair with sun-tinted highlights and a kissable mouth that turned up as his clear-blue eyes studied her—and the fact that he had chased after her in the woods—made him appealing, and she wanted to learn more about him. Just for curiosity’s sake. Did he always chase after lone she-wolves he’d never met before on forest runs? Or was there something unique about her that had fascinated him?

  She loved her job with the USFWS, arresting the scumbags who made money off killing wildlife or selling exotic animals to the highest bidder. Of course, if people wouldn’t buy them, there wouldn’t be a market, so she was just as upset with them as she was with the money launderers, hunters, traffickers, and anyone else who was involved in this horrid business. She hadn’t really had the time or the inclination to get involved with a male wolf who might sidetrack her from her work.

  She pulled her cover-up out of a bag featuring wolves, then slipped the cotton fabric over her head and slid her feet into her sparkly flip-flops. She left the pool area and headed up the stairs to the second floor.

  As soon as she entered her room, she checked her phone for messages. No search and arrest warrants yet. Great.

  She pulled off her cover-up, removed her wet bathing suit, showered, and dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a soft blue sweater. Lifting the swimsuit off the vinyl chair, she took it outside to hang on the railing of the balcony overlooking the pool area. She was going to leave it out there, hoping that it would dry faster, rather than in the shower. It should be dry by the time she finished dinner.

  She’d no sooner hung the bikini over the railing when the top slid off and fell into the shrubs below. In surprise, she just stared at it as if hoping that if she observed it long enough, it would hop back up onto the balcony railing. She glanced at the wolves sitting in the café, all of them watching her, and felt her face heat. Then a knock on the door sounded. After leaving her bathing-suit bottom in the bathroom, intending to retrieve her bikini top from the shrubs below and have dinner, she went to answer the door.