Page 3 of Fixer
Dustin Palmer.Here.Why?How?
Seeing his wolf at my window, huge paws planted onmyfire escape, had sent a wave of fury through me so strong, I’d almost leaped through the glass pane to get at him.Almost ignored all the dangers of discovery to see how red his blood was.Seven years ago, I’d have done it.No risk of disaster afterward would’ve stopped me.Time had taken my red-hot anger down to something colder, something that could see the consequences, and bide my time.
How did he find me?
I’d left my first pack— our pack— when Shawn died, seven years ago.When Shawn was murdered by Dustin.Alpha had accepted that I needed to go, even if he had no clue how much I was hiding in the maelstrom of my emotions.He’d driven me to the boundaries of a neighboring pack and cut my bonds in front of their Alpha so I could join them, making sure someone else would control his problem wolf.
It’d taken me just a few months to convince my new Alpha I wanted to head to Alaska, make a whole new start as a lone wolf.My grief and anger had been poisoning the pack bonds, so he agreed.As soon as I was free, I’d run, fast and far.Bus and train, changing my name, picking up odd jobs and moving on.
I’d thought I was safe to settle here at last, five years back.
Turns out one of the rules of pack was that you were never safe.
As dawn approached, I’d tried to plan, wondering when Dustin would return, surveying my belongings, considering what I could carry if I ran again.Thinking about how much I hated the idea of leaving this small home I’d made for myself, and all the people in the building I’d taken under my protection.Deciding…Fuck Dustin and fuck the pack, I’m not running.I’d die here in my own space, if it came down to that.
A deep, lonely void in my head wished Dustin was still a wolf I could trust.I ached at the long absence inside me of bonds, of packmates and the brotherhood of wolves.A fake brotherhood that discards you as soon as you step out of line.I knew the darkness underlying “pack”, and yet, from the moment my second Alpha cut my bonds to him and my packmates, the empty places in my head had ached with loneliness.That loss had stayed with me through all the intervening years.
Though never as badly as the loss of my brother.
Fuck Dustin!Goddamn fuck Dustin, and not in a good way.I laughed bitterly at the ridiculous thought that there was a good way.Kill or be killed, now.Somehow, from the moment the man I’d admired had turned into my worst enemy, I’d known this time would come.Odds were I’d be the one bleeding out on the floor, but perhaps I could make him sorry before I died.
When the early light filtered through my tightly closed curtains, I made myself breakfast, despite my stomach being tied in knots.A hungry wolf is a careless wolf.A hungry wolf is a distracted wolf.I repeated that mantra as I forced down bagels and cheese, eggs and fruit.I was only average size— five-nine and a hundred seventy pounds— but my shifter body burned a lot of energy.Mom used to complain about the food bills—I squashed that thought away with the rest.
People began stirring around me in the building as the sun rose.My human hearing was nowhere nearly as acute as my wolf’s, but I detected the wheeze of the ancient elevator that meant Mr.Kawashima was heading down to go to work.I heard the clatter on the stairs that was Susan Cole trying to take a little of the energy out of her twin boys before putting them on the school bus.The faint scent of burned toast reached my nose, marking old Mrs.French across the hallway getting distracted again.
My new pack, in all but bonds.Four stories, sixteen apartments, fifteen of them holding fragile humans.At least I knew Dustin wasn’t a risk to anyone but me.The prime directive of wolfdom was “The humans must not know about us.”Dustin’s whole job with the pack for most of my years there had been to make sure no human found out.
No matter who died for that safety.Shawn.Damn it…
Anger rose again, choking me, and I pushed the last of my food aside.Enough.Time to go see what Dustin wanted.He’d be waiting for me to come outside, I was certain.Waiting patiently, because Dustin was a hunter to the bottom of his soul.Hunter.Killer.
I put on lightweight sneakers I could fight in and a loose T-shirt over my sweatpants.I picked up a sharp knife, turning it in my hand.As a woodworker, I had a wide range of lethally edged options.But I wasn’t fool enough to think a blade would make much difference.Dustin was fifteen years older, four inches taller, much heavier even now, and a far more experienced fighter.If our fight became a direct hand-to-hand battle in skin, I’d have already lost.I set the knife back in its place and headed out the apartment door.
Judging by the sounds, the elevator was still on the ground floor, but it didn’t matter.I’d never gotten into that little box voluntarily.I jogged down the stairs, stepping back against the wall as Laura came into the stairwell from doing her shopping.She climbed toward me doggedly, carrying a pair of stuffed paper bags which gave off the scents of bread and carrot greens.
“Is the elevator broken again?”I asked.
She huffed a laugh.“I don’t know.I decided not to test it out, but now I regret it.”
“Let me.”I reached for her bags.
“I shouldn’t.”
“Yes, you should.”The slender, young brunette was pregnant, just starting to show, with no man in sight.No friends I’d seen, either, to ease her burdens so I did what I could.
After another second of hesitation, she passed the handles to me.“Thanks.You’re a good man, Wade.”
“I try.After you.”Lugging her bags to the fourth floor took a little of the edge off my tension.Whatever came next, there were babies to be born, and people living their lives.Dustin loomed ominously over everything in my head, and yet Laura would never even know he existed.
I set the shopping bags on the worn carpet outside her apartment door, declined her offer to come in for coffee with a wave, and headed back down, jogging the flights of stairs, striding along the hall to the lobby.Where’s that son-of-a-bitch Dustin?What’s he up to?My anger rekindled as I neared the entryway.
In human skin, my nose was limited by wolf standards, but not human-feeble.I pretended I needed to tie my shoe and got low to the ground by the locked inner door, sniffing hard.No scent of Dustin came to me from the hallway tiles or the inner knob.I pushed the door open and stepped into the lobby.
Still no clear wolf scent, and his was not one I’d ever miss, in skin or fur.Was he lurking outside?I went to the glass front door and stood there, scanning the street.Except here… yes, some small hint on the edge of the door tunneled deep into my brain.Dustin touched this door.Touched it, and yet didn’t come in.Why?What was he doing here?
I put my back to the wall and scanned the small lobby interior, sniffing hard.Another thread of scent came to me.Tracking that hint took me to the mailboxes, to my box.Leaving me a note seemed low-key for Dustin, but I could see white paper through the perforations in the brass cover.I dug out my keys.
Unlocking my box took longer than it should’ve, my fingers stiff and clumsy.I removed an unmarked envelope and turned it over in my hands.There was something inside, one stiff piece of paper.
