The Last Shifter’s Baby

Chapter 4

Luke at least had the decency to look a little sheepish as he looked her in the eyes and lied. “We don’t have any new wolves.” He told her.

“Yes, we do. I saw a black one this morning, it was following me in my ATV, it even ran right in front of me. You and I both know that there are no black wolves in this habitat.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just in the shadows? That it just looked a darker color?” He asked.

She huffed. “I think I know how to tell the color of fur, even in the shadows.” She said, her voice rising a little.

Henry let out a loud yip in Luke’s arms and Rebecca had never seen him look so relieved. “Right, well, we can figure that out later. Right now, we need to get these two taken care of.”

Rebecca knew he was right, but she never liked to leave an argument unfinished, another quality that she was sure didn’t help her keep any boyfriends. “Fine, but we’re going to talk about this later. Don’t think I’m going to forget.”

Luke smiled at her fondly. “Believe me, I know you won’t.” He said and she almost got caught up in his eyes before shaking herself off.

“Okay, you’re more familiar with the pack then I am, you take the lead, I’ll follow.”

They got to work, moving seamlessly together as they got the ramp up and transferred the holding cage from the truck to flat ground. The wolf in the cage raised her lips in a snarl as she saw Rebecca but seemed to calm when Luke moved into her line of sight. “Sh…” He soothed the wolf. “We’ll have you out and with your family in a moment.”

“So, what are we waiting for?” She asked.

“The pack.” He answered shortly. “They come through here every day.”

“What?” She asked. “You can’t be serious.”

“Where better to reintroduce them to the habitat then by using the pack.” He told her.

“You’re not worried that they’ll reject her and the pup?” She asked.

He shook his head. “I know these wolves; they won’t reject their own.” As he finished speaking, they could hear the wolf pack approaching, the soft crunch of their paws against the cold ground and fallen leaves. Luke sprang into action, opening the door to the holding pen and gently guiding the wolf out. He held the pup in one arm as they waited for the other wolves to show themselves.

The first one emerged from the tree line slowly, gray head bent and ears pressed flat against his head. The others came out of the trees, forming a half circle behind the leader.

Rebecca stayed where she was, afraid to move, afraid to breathe too loudly, she had never seen wolves behave like the ones in this sanctuary did. They acted as if they were taking part in a trade, ignoring her completely with their eyes locked on Luke.

Luke, for his part, looked completely calm while standing in a clearing half surrounded by wolves. He even smiled and began to greet them by name. “Bucky,” he addressed the leader of the pack, his voice fond yet firm. “You and your boys just stay where you are.” He placed a hand on the back of the mother wolf’s head, firmly guiding her towards the group. She walked the rest of the way to the group with ease and the pack leader, or Bucky as Luke called him, pressed the black tip of his nose into her neck. He huffed softly as he scented her, and a low growl rumbled from in his chest. Rebecca felt her heart thump loudly, expecting the worse, but the wolf did nothing as the mother walked past him and greeted the rest of the pack.

Luke turned and smiled at her. “That was the easy one.” he said and walked up to Bucky, paying no mind to the snarl on his lips and set Henry down right in front him, in the sight line of his mother.

Rebecca moved before she could stop herself and wrapped her hands around his arm as the wolf snarled and growled at the pup. Luke put his arm around her waist, drawing her close against him. She took comfort in the strong arm steadying her and the gentle whisper against her ear telling her, “It’s going to be fine, Rebecca.”

In that moment she believed him and watched as the pack leader nosed roughly at Henry, knocking the pup over in his attempt to scent him. The wolf pushed his nose into the soft fur covering the pink belly and then pulled away, letting the pup run back to his mother. The wolves didn’t stay long after that, disappearing together into the trees.

As her breathing slowed, Rebecca realized they were still clutching each other. Her chest constricted tightly as she looked up at his face, feeling strange about the look she saw there. The air between them had changed from one of relief to something charged and tense. One of his hands came up and brushed across her cheek.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’ve just never…” She trailed off, not knowing how to explain that she thought all of his methods were crazy and that there was nothing technical or by the book how he worked at all.

“I know it’s a little unconventional but it’s the way I’ve always done things and it works.” He said.

“I think you take a lot of risks.” she finally said.

“Maybe,” he answered, “but it always works out.”

“It might be working for you now, Luke, but they’re animals. You can’t always predict how they’re going to react, and you can’t control them.” She said and for a moment it looked like he was going to argue with her before finally just shaking his head, looking at her fondly. She was starting to hate that look, the one that said she didn’t understand but that’s okay because she was cute. Not that I think that Luke thinks that I’m cute, she quickly thought. “You still need to tell me about that wolf. The black one that I saw this morning.”

“Listen, I’m not sure what you saw but we don’t have any black wolves, we don’t have any new wolves, and even if we had a breach in the fences there aren’t any wolves in the local area.”

“I know what I saw, Luke.”

“Then I don’t know what to tell you because I can guarantee you that there are no new wolves in this habitat.” He said and before she could press him for more answers, he took her hands in his.

She quickly forgot what she was going to say, with her hands wrapped up in his warm, large ones. Her eyes locked on his, warm and brown. This was the first time that she was close enough that she could see the flecks of amber in his eyes, giving them the golden brown, whiskey color.

“I want to take you out to dinner tonight, if that’s alright with you.” He said.

“I’d really like that, Luke.” He smiled at her, thumb tracing a pattern on the back of her hand. “But this time I want to take you out as my date, not as my colleague.” He continued and Rebecca could swear that her heart stuttered to a stop.

She knew that she hadn’t exactly been subtle with her crush on him, but she never imagined that he would notice her in that way. “I would love – I mean – that would be – I mean – yes. Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.” She finally managed to say, thankful that he wasn’t laughing.

“Great. Same time as last time? Seven?” He asked.

She nodded. “That sounds great.”