The Wolf Code

They weren’t lovers; they were two law enforcement officers working together to solve a case.  When this was all said and done, she would go back to her life, and he would go back to his.  She might think of him from time to time, but now that he’d admitted that he was being forced to protect her, she had her doubts that he would think of her the day she left.  And weeks and months later?  Forget about it.

“I don’t need a bodyguard.  If you could give me a little space, I would appreciate it.”

“I’ll stay a few yards back, but that’s as far as I’m willing to take it.  It’s not worth the risk.”

“I forgot; because I have knowledge that you guys need.  It’s not about my life being innately valuable or anything.  If I’m so important, why don’t you share the big picture with me?  Or am I just here to deal with the Sheriff so you can run the town how you see fit?”

“You know that’s not what’s going on here,” Ty said, and for the first time since they first met, Senora could tell that he was angry.

But she didn’t care.  He wasn’t the only one under duress here, and at least his was on his home turf and surrounded by people he knew.  Senora didn’t have that luxury, and he had no idea how it was to be completely isolated from every resource and having to rely on a man she wasn’t sure she could trust herself around.

“You can take your indignation and shove it,” she said, and just like that, she turned and walked out the door.

She heard him come after her, but she ignored it, breaking into an easy jog and sighing as her body fell into its natural rhythm and she made her way around the edge of the village.  She kept the houses in sight, hoping that Ty would see that she was being careful and mindful of the boundaries and therefore staying safe, but he continued to follow her a short distance behind.  He was jogging, too, and Senora wondered if his muscles were as sore as hers were from the day before.  She doubted it, which made her even madder, and she pressed her pace faster and faster.

Ty didn’t adjust his speed to match hers.  As she pulled away from him, she smiled, feeling a bit of vindication.  Maybe he just hated running or he was actually stiff from their crazy adventure the day before.  Whatever the reason, she was outrunning him and getting a taste of the alone time, she’d been craving ever since she’d woken up in the middle of the night to find Ty’s body wrapped around hers.

 Without any thought to the pillow she’d placed between her side and his to encourage him to stay on his side, he’d been drawn to her warmth in his sleep, and she’d cuddled into him without realizing it.  When she’d woken up and carefully removed herself from his embrace, she had rolled over and gone back to sleep, which was when the dream had manifested.  She should have taken a run then.  If she had, maybe they wouldn’t be engaged in this power struggle and Senora wouldn’t be irritated beyond what was rational with him just for wanting to protect her from the Sheriff and his men.

She smiled.  Her endorphins were kicking in, and she was starting to feel less grumpy.  With the flood of feel-good hormones came clarity, and once that happened, she would be ready to dig into that file.  She just had to shake off the past twenty-four hours so she could concentrate.  She didn’t want to miss anything, and an early glance at the records showed that Robin wrote her notes in some sort of shorthand that would take some doing to decipher.  Senora needed all her brain cells at the ready, and she was finally feeling up to the task.

About to turn over her shoulder to check on Ty’s progress, her attention went to the sound in the woods to her left.  At first, it sounded like a small animal like a rabbit or a fox bounding through the underbrush to get away from a predator.  Her money was on a feral cat or a bobcat since larger predators weren’t that common where they were. 

But when the crashing grew louder and she realized it was headed straight for her, her mind went to mountain lions and the news story she’d heard on the radio about a mountain lion who had attacked a horse not far from where they were.

Crap, she thought, preparing herself for a fight and now frantically searching for Ty. 

Her eyes landed on him, and relief flooded through her just as a blur of colors burst forth from the trees and ran into Senora.  She went down hard, scrambling to get the beast off her for an instant before she realized it wasn’t a beast at all.  She froze, looking into a pair of the most frightened blue eyes she’d ever seen.

“Help me,” the girl said, then collapsed in a heap and rolled off Senora and onto the grassy meadow floor.

Chapter 15

Senora was sitting by the girl, rubbing a cool cloth over her face and brushing her hair back onto the pillow behind her head.  Ty had come to check on her a few times, bringing fresh water to dribble over the girl’s parched lips, and this last time, returning with a plate of simple foods that he placed by the bedside.

“You need to eat,” he said to Senora. “If she wakes up and she’s able to eat, I’ll bring more.  But I can’t have you weak and off your game right now.”

Senora was about to protest, but she knew he was right.  She hadn’t left the exhausted girl’s side since they’d brought her into the cabin and laid her on the bed.  Senora had skipped breakfast, sitting with the girl instead as she went over the files from Robin’s office. 

And that’s where she’d been for the past two hours, sitting quietly beside the teenager, waiting for the girl to wake up and tell them who she was and who had been chasing her.

Senora had her suspicions.

Grabbing a peach from the plate, she took a bite and closed her eyes.  There was nothing like a summer peach, and these were freshly picked from the small orchard the pack kept behind the acres of cleared land in the middle of the woods that served as their home.  They had everything they needed where they were, and even though Ty admitted to taking frequent trips into town to get what they didn’t grow or catch themselves, the village was almost completely self-sufficient.