Page 3 of Baiting the Werewolf

“You broke up with that dickhead? Good for you.” Her voice is filled with the kind of pride she rarely spares for me.

I shake my head. “Why did no one tell me he was a dickhead when I was dating him?”

“I did. Repeatedly. So, you’re sulking with Logan this time?”

“No, we’re not always together, Marissa. We both have our individual lives,” I say primly.

“Sure you do.”

“What does that mean?”

“C’mon, Wes. You know exactly what I mean.”

I take a deep breath. Leave it to Marissa to bring up the worst subjects at the worst possible time. “Sure, kick me while I’m down by calling me the biggest cliché and accusing me of crushing on my straight best friend. Why wouldn’t you?” Have I had some seriously non-friendly dreams about him? Sure. One was a little too vivid for my liking. But dreams don’t count. Everyone knows that.

Marissa’s judgmental scoff fills the car.

I ignore her implications. She’s wrong. And even if she wasn’t, it doesn’t matter. “We’re just friends,” I remind her. Besides, I have way more important things to do.

“Wes, Wes, Wes… I know you’re not that stupid. You know what? I kept his secret for as long as I could. He told…” Her voice breaks. “...and I caught him…” A loud crack of thunder startles me.

“You’re breaking, Marissa. Can you repeat that?”

“Wes? Logan is totally…” With three beeps, the call disconnects.

My heartbeat picks up. What did Logan tell her? No, why am I even taking her seriously? Ugh! She was obviously just playing around. She has a proven track record of doing that. I can’t think about that right now.

My eyes flick to the phone screen. Logan has finally stopped. Just as well, because there’s no way my car would have lasted much longer under the onslaught of bumps.

I stop the car too. He’s parked just a few feet away, but the trees give me perfect cover.

I sit there and stare at the dot on the screen. Guess they’re planning to stay for a while.

Am I seriously doing this? What’s the plan? Sneak up on him and accuse him of lying to me? Wouldn’t that just prove Marissa right? Am I really a cliché?

No. I just care about my best friend. That’s totally normal. I’m here to help him, and I can’t do that unless I know what he’s gotten himself into.

Taking another deep breath, I square my shoulders and get out of the car after grabbing the charger that was going to be my excuse when he found out, but now I can see how stupid it sounds. I carry it anyway.

The cold air hits me unexpectedly. An eerie chill hits the back of my neck. Like I’m being watched.

Chapter Two

Logan

The forest is quiet. Which is never a good sign. But that’s exactly what we’re here for. Trouble. There’s still some visibility, not that the dark would stop us.

Then thunder cracks overhead, so loud it drowns out the song my colleague insisted on playing the entire way, only pausing it for a few minutes when I took the call.

“Are you sure this is the place?” he asks from the passenger seat, lowering the volume. My ears are still ringing from how loud it was.

I nod. “The forest ranger spotted three werewolves right here. The description matched our killers.”

Nick pulls out his phone to check the coordinates again. The man is not used to being in the passenger seat, literally or figuratively. But this was my department. He was just the closest available backup.

“What would it be like to be a human scared shitless of an unnaturally large wolf, and the animal control just directs your call to a person awfully curious about the fur and eye color of the said wolf? But at least this one was alive enough to answer the questions.” I can’t imagine Wesley reacting well to a situation like that. Not that he’ll ever be in that situation. I’ll make sure of that.

“Only because he was smart enough to drive away without questioning what he saw.”