Page 5 of Wolf Bound

Oh, God, so one of the men was running as a wolf. But that didn’t make any sense.

“Yeah, I shot him, and he went over the cliff,” a younger sounding man said. “We can’t leave the kid here on his own.”

One of the men was stocky, wearing camo clothes, black sneakers, had short cropped black hair and a thick black beard. “I told you what we’re doing. Like I said, if you want to stay, so be it. Come on. We’re going and he can stay behind.”

“We can’t leave him here. If we do and they catch him and he talks…,” the other man said. He had shaggy brown hair, scruffy beard, and he was wearing khakis and hiking boots and a lightweight olive-green jacket.

“All right, I’m coming.” The younger, blond-haired guy hurried off after the men. He was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and a black jacket, his face sporting a light smattering of hair. It appeared he wasn’t able to grow a beard yet.

Kira wanted to take down the men. She really, really did so they couldn’t kidnap any other kids. But she had to get the boy to safety no matter what. Yet, she had to check on the wolf. Wolves were protected, but what if it wasn’t even a wild wolf but a wolf shifter out for a run in the park?

She moved slowly through the woods, ducking down when she saw the three men heading through the woods in the direction of a trail. To intersect with the trail, they would have to hike a good twenty minutes, which meant the boy was a long way from the trail so no one who was just hiking along it would ever see him here.

As soon as the three men were completely out of sight, she hurried toward the boy. At first, he didn’t see her, but then he did and cried out. She put her finger over her mouth to shush him. All she needed was for him to alert the men that he was in trouble and for them to come racing back to shoot her.

She quickly showed the boy her badge as she continued to run toward him. As soon as she reached him, she pulled him into her arms and gave him a hug, then spoke low for his ears only. “I’m taking you away from where those men are going and then I’ll get you home, alright?” Though they needed to check out the wolf too. She hadn’t lied. She needed to keep the boy far away from those men.

He nodded.

“I’m Kira. What’s your name?” she whispered, taking hold of his hand, and moving him in the direction that she had smelled the blond guy and the wolf run.

“Billy.”

“What’s your last name?”

“Billy Forsythe.”

Even though she was sure of that, she had to have actual confirmation from the boy’s own mouth. “Okay, well, Billy, I was after those men, but I need to get you home safely first.”

“The one guy was shooting at a wolf this way,” Billy said.

“It wasn’t a wolf, just a dog that looked like a wolf. We’re going to check on him.” If the wolf was a shifter, she had to let on he was a dog so she could take care of him.

Billy pulled her to a stop. “What if he’s injured and mad and tries to eat us?”

“He won’t. The blond guy said he went over a cliff. We just need to check on him and we need to stay far away from the men who took you hostage.” Kira was trying to move the boy quickly through the brush, but she realized he must be exhausted. He might not have had anything to eat in a while. She stopped and reached into her backpack and fished out an oatmeal bar for him to give him some energy. At least he had a bottle of water.

“They said I couldn’t drink very much of my water.”

“I’ve got more if you need it. You can drink as much as you want now.” Then she walked more slowly with him while he munched on the bar. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, just tired. My legs hurt from walking so much.”

“As soon as we get farther away from the kidnappers, I’ll use the satellite phone to call for help.”

“The kidnappers’ phones didn’t work out here.”

“Right. They wouldn’t. There are no cell towers out here.” She kept smelling the younger man’s scent and the other wolf’s anxious scent. The younger man’s scent was more pronounced because he’d retraced his steps and run the other way to meet up with his co-conspirators.

But then the younger man’s scent stopped, and she knew he must have fired that final shot right here. The wolf had continued on. Maybe he had been wounded. She sure hoped not. Then she reached the edge of the cliff. “Stay back, Billy. I don’t want you falling off the cliff.”

She peered over the edge of the cliff. Down below, probably thirty feet on a narrow ledge, lay a wounded gray wolf, his shoulder bleeding. Her heart went out to him. He lifted his head to look at her and lay his head back down as if he was too hurt to care that she might plan to shoot him next.

“I’ll call this in first.” They were far enough away from the kidnappers, but if she became injured, she might not have a chance to call this into anyone. She brought out her satellite phone and called the pack leader. “Devlyn, this is Kira Westwood. I’ve found the boy the three men I’ve been tracking had kidnapped. They’ve headed back on the Greenhorn Trail in the Rocky Mountain National Park toward the trailhead, but one of the men shot a uhm, a dog that looks like a wolf.”

“One of ours?”

“I don’t know. He’s lying on a narrow ledge below a cliff. He fell about thirty feet. I’m climbing down to him to see if I can give him first aid, but?—”

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