Shades of the Wolf Read online

  One dark eyebrow arched, his face showing an uncanny awareness of how uneasy she was becoming.

  “What makes you think that? If we knew everything, I’d know exactly where to find my sister.” He turned away, staring out at the road ahead of them. “And I wouldn’t need you.”

  Good point. Somewhat relieved, she decided to keep on trying to help. “Let’s head to the police station. I’ll figure out something to say that won’t get me thrown in jail.” She hoped.

  * * *

  Tyler rode in the passenger seat of her car as if he were alive, just because he wanted to study this Anabel Lee a bit more closely. When he’d received Dena’s frantic pleas for help, he’d searched for the most powerful witch he could find. He’d been drawn to the energy radiated from Anabel, just like all the other ghosts, apparently. He’d immediately realized he’d made the right choice when she not only looked at him, but could hear him when he spoke.

  One thing that had taken him by surprise was her beauty. Tall and graceful, slender and shapely, and her delicate features left him momentarily speechless. Her midnight hair tumbled carelessly down her back, adding to her attraction. But her copper eyes fringed in long, sooty lashes had done him in. He’d never seen anything like her. Exquisite, enchanting and sexy as hell. The instant he’d met her, he’d felt the impact of her femininity like a sucker punch to the gut.

  Which pissed him off royally. After all, he’d come back as a ghost to save his sister, not fight an overwhelming attraction to a witch. Which, despite Anabel’s claims to the contrary, she most definitely was.

  He didn’t understand why she insisted on lying about her magical ability. Maybe if he told her they were most likely dealing with not only a serial-killer psychopath, but a powerful warlock, she’d come clean. Because everyone knew to fight magic with magic, didn’t they?

  Or maybe, maybe she just didn’t know.

  The instant that idea occurred to him, he discounted it. How could she radiate power and not understand who and what she was?

  For now, he decided to let that topic rest.

  “So,” she asked, shooting him a sidelong glance that told him she felt nervous, “in the afterlife, do you still shift into a wolf?”

  “Of course,” he answered, playing along. “We are what we are. Dying doesn’t change that.” He thought for a moment and then completed his statement. “At least, until we’re reborn into a new body.”

  “Of course.” And she laughed, as if he’d made a joke. “Reincarnation too? Why not.”

  Not sure what to think about this, he decided not to pursue this topic either. Things were confusing enough, what with warlocks and serial killers and ghosts. What choice did he have but to let it go? For all he knew, powerful witches thought differently from everyone else.

  And, he reminded himself, Anabel Lee had to be a witch with very strong powers. She had to be, if they were to have a prayer in defeating the man who’d captured and enslaved his sister. If it turned out she wasn’t, then he’d chosen wrong and Dena would die.

  Contenting himself with looking out the window, though Leaning Tree looked exactly as he remembered, he was struck anew by the rustic beauty. Right now the green leaves flirted with shades of yellow, red and orange. In a few weeks, they’d blaze with color, as soon as the first crispness started to creep into the air. Autumn had always been his favorite time of year.

  A moment later, they pulled up at the police station. The one-story, redbrick building looked the same. Again, memories surfaced. He’d spent a fair amount of time here as a kid, when his father was arrested for whaling on his mother.

  “Wait here,” she ordered, shooting him a stern look as she got out of her car.

  “Right.” He did exactly as she said, for maybe ten seconds. And then he materialized inside the station, waiting for her by the battle-scarred counter of the front desk as she walked in.

  The dirty look she gave him made him smile.

  “Anabel Lee.” The frizzy-haired woman behind the counter sounded less than thrilled. “What do you want?”

  To her credit, Anabel didn’t react to the overt hostility in the receptionist’s tone. “I’d like to see Captain Harper, please.”

  The other woman, whose name tag read Brenda Winder, appeared unmoved, squinting at Anabel through thick glasses. “Of course you would. Why don’t you tell me what it is you need, and I’ll see if I can find someone to help you? Since I am, you know, the dispatcher. That’s what we do.” Her unkind smile had Tyler clenching his fists.

  He glanced at Anabel, to see what she would do. To his surprise, she’d assumed a deferential posture. “I’d prefer to discuss it with him, thanks.”

  Pursing her mouth, the other woman glared at her. “Have a seat. I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  Without commenting, Anabel found a metal folding chair and lowered herself into it.

  Enraged, he went to her. “What was that? Why do you let that person talk to you that way?”

  Her sigh sounded more weary than exasperated. She kept her voice down, since to anyone else it would appear she was carrying on a one-sided conversation with herself. “I tried to tell you. Most of the people around this town consider me crazy, an unwelcome nuisance at best. No one in Leaning Tree wants to have anything to do with me, never mind talk to me.”

  “Because of your power?”

  She moved her hand in a chopping motion. “Enough about the power. I don’t have any, so stop pretending I do.”

  Before he could respond, Anabel looked up. Her entire body stiffened. “Now look what you made me do,” she hissed, her porcelain skin turning tomato red.

  Brenda Winder stood back behind the desk, staring at Anabel with a horrified and smug expression on her meaty face. “Talking to yourself again?” she drawled. “Crazy is as crazy does.”

  Stone-faced, Anabel kept staring straight ahead and didn’t bother to reply. Finally, Brenda tired of tormenting someone who wouldn’t respond and went back to reading something on her computer.

  A few minutes later, a stocky man with wide shoulders and an even wider belly stomped into the room. His bushy gray eyebrows lowered in a frown, and he eyed Anabel as if he expected her to present him with something disgusting and distasteful. “You wanted to talk to me?” he asked, sounding anything but accommodating.

  “I did.” Smiling, Anabel got to her feet gracefully. “Good to see you, Captain Harper. Could we please talk in your office?”

  “Out here will do just fine.”

  “No.” Anabel straightened her shoulders, her smile fading and her gaze direct. “It won’t. I need a little privacy, please.”

  The captain sighed, stopping just short of rolling his eyes. “Sure. Why not? Come on back. I’m sure you know the way.”

  Another puzzle. Resolving to try to find out from Anabel what all this meant, Tyler glided along after them as they walked through the crowded open area buzzing with activity. They passed several uniformed officers, a few criminals or complainants, and not a single person acknowledged or greeted Anabel. She made a beeline toward a small office in the back corner.

  Most of the police officers were busy, which might excuse them. Some were on the phone, others talking to people sitting in their desk chairs. Suspects? Tyler looked for handcuffs, noting two people at opposite ends of the room who wore them.

  Despite that, the instant they realized who had just walked into the room, every single person stopped what he or she was doing and stared.

  Tyler would have liked to believe this was due respect for her power, but some of the officers seemed disgusted. A few others exchanged glances with their coworkers, even going so far as to shake their heads or roll their eyes.

  Not respect, then. Eyeing Anabel’s slender form as she marched across the room, head held high, ignoring them all, for the first time
he wondered what her story might be.

  Truth be told, until now he hadn’t wondered about her story. He’d gone to her simply because he’d heard she could see and hear him and she’d radiated amazingly great power. They’d come to an arrangement. He’d help her get what she wanted if she’d help him save his baby sister.

  End of story. Except it wasn’t.

  Even though he’d been a shape-shifter, able to change into a ferocious wolf, wizards, warlocks and witches generally creeped him out. Any shifter with a lick of sense tended to avoid magical beings, since they were powerless against them. Even the vampires were careful to avoid them.

  But now one had Dena. And if Tyler wanted to save her, he had no choice but to take on a warlock. At least he had a powerful witch at his side.

  Once again he eyed Anabel, who’d finally reached the captain’s office and had taken a seat, crossing her gorgeous long legs and tilting her head as she waited for the captain to work himself down into his own chair and work his enormous stomach behind his desk.

  Finally, he grunted and got himself settled. “All right, Anabel. Since Lilly and all the rest of the McGraws refused to press charges against you, I’m guessing you haven’t come here to talk about any of that.”

  Anabel shook her head rapidly, sending her long, dark hair whipping around her face. Tyler caught himself aching to wrap a strand of it around his finger and pull her to him.

  “Of course not,” she said. “That’s history. They’ve moved forward, as have I.”

  “Then what can I do for you?”

  She took a deep breath, her jaw tightening. “A friend of David’s wrote me from Afghanistan. He wanted me to check on his sister. She lives here in Leaning Tree. According to him, she’s gone missing.”

  Brilliant. Tyler wanted to hug her. He restrained himself, not wanting to startle her. Besides, without a corporeal body, she wouldn’t be able to feel it.

  “Really?” The captain’s gaze sharpened. “What’s her name?”

  “Dena Rogers,” Anabel answered. “Her brother, Tyler, is really worried.”

  “Let me see what I can find out.” Using his computer, Captain Harper tapped in some information. “Ah, yes. Here we are. Two weeks ago one of her coworkers asked us to do a welfare check when Ms. Rogers didn’t show up for her shift at the junior-college cafeteria. We checked but found nothing. Her house was empty, but there were no signs she’d met with foul play or anything. My officer determined she must have left willingly.”

  “I don’t think so—” Anabel began.

  “Ms. Lee.” Speaking sternly, Captain Harper interrupted. “It’s entirely possible she went on vacation.”

  “Not without telling her brother,” Anabel shot back, her spine straight. “That’s why he got in touch with me.”

  “I see.” Steepling his fingers, the older man sighed. “Then why don’t you tell me what it is you want me to do?”

  “Find out what happened to her. Her brother told me she’d been talking about several other missing girls. Has anyone in your office put together information linking them?”

  To give him credit, Captain Harper’s expression remained unchanged. Except for his eyes. Those appeared about to bug out of his head. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  “That’s sad.”

  The captain narrowed his eyes but didn’t respond.

  “I would appreciate it if you would look into it,” Anabel continued with a quiet dignity. “As soon as possible. It’s not enough that Tyler Rogers is over there serving our country. I don’t want him worrying needlessly about his sister.”

  “I’m sure there’s no need to worry. She’ll turn up eventually. Young people frequently disappear on some crazy adventure.”

  The man’s patronizing tone set Tyler’s teeth on edge. “If you won’t at least do your job—” Anabel stood, the movement graceful “—I’m going to have to investigate on my own.”

  To Tyler’s disbelief, the police captain winced. “No need to do anything rash.”

  “Twenty-four hours.” Anabel looked him right in the eye. “I want you to investigate the disappearance of several young women in the area around Leaning Tree over the past few months. I’d like to know what you’ve learned by this time tomorrow. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll consider that notice that you want me to take matters into my own hands.”

  From the tight set of Captain Harper’s jaw, he wasn’t happy at all about her proclamation, but he nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

  “You do that.” With that, she turned to go.

  Following her out the door, Tyler marveled at the powerful energy radiating from her. How was it possible she didn’t realize her own strength? It wasn’t. Therefore, he had to believe she simply didn’t want him to know.

  She sailed through the outer room and past the startled receptionist without a word. Outside, she rushed over to her little car, opening the door and climbing inside.

  Only once she was there did Tyler realize her hands were shaking too hard to fit the key in the ignition.

  “Deep breaths,” he told her as he folded himself up into the small passenger seat. He wasn’t sure what he could do to help. “Do you want to talk about it?” In his admittedly limited experience, most women welcomed the opportunity to discuss their feelings.

  But Anabel was not most women. “No,” she said, averting her profile. “I’m fine.” A moment later, she managed to start the car and put it in Drive.

  “What was that, back there?”

  Not looking at him, she lifted one delicate shoulder in a shrug. “I already told you, people in this town think I’m crazy.”

  “But you didn’t tell me why.”

  She shot him a sideways glance, her eyes shuttered. “Does it really matter?”

  “I guess not. But I’d still like to know.”

  “I talk to ghosts. Think about it.”

  He couldn’t help laughing at the sour note in her voice. “They see you walking around talking to air. Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Exactly. And I dress the part. Plus, I did something I shouldn’t have and almost cost a really sweet woman her life. I don’t think anyone will ever forgive me for that.”

  Thus the captain’s reference to the McGraws. He, like just about everyone in Leaning Tree, knew the family. Since they’d declined to press charges, whatever Anabel had done couldn’t have been too bad. Tyler wondered if he should ask, but the raw agony in her expression made him decide not to. Whatever she’d done, it seemed clear she felt bad about that now.

  Neither spoke as she drove slowly down Main Street. He took his time admiring the huge leafy oak and maple trees, the restored old buildings and the bustling shops. “It still looks the same,” he mused. “I see the small Dutch Reform church is now fully restored. And the shops and restaurants appear to be doing a booming business.”

  “We get a lot more tourists than we used to,” she grudgingly admitted. “It’s really busy in the fall when all the city people take drives to see the foliage.” Again she looked sideways at him, almost as if it hurt her eyes to meet his gaze dead-on.

  “I remember,” he said.

  “How long have you been gone from here, anyway?”

  “That’s a good question.” He tried to calculate, failing miserably.

  “A reply like that means you aren’t really going to answer.”

  He laughed. “Give me a minute. I’m trying. Like I said, time passes differently in the hereafter.”

  “What’s the last year you remember? Let’s start with your last tour of duty in Afghanistan.”

  Flashes of light, an explosion, red and yellow and orange. Screams of pain. Wincing, he tried to block the random sights and sounds from his memory.

  When he finally foun
d his voice again, he sounded hoarse. “Not there. Too intense. Let’s start with something better, more pleasant.”

  “Okay. When did you graduate from high school?”

  Now, that he could answer. “Nineteen ninety-seven.” Thinking about that, he couldn’t help smiling. “Leaning Tree High. Did you go there?”

  “I did, but I graduated in 2001. I was just starting high school the year you finished.”

  “Which would explain why we never met,” he said.

  “How do you know we didn’t?” Though her question was casual, for some reason it sent a chill up his spine.

  He decided to keep his answer light. “Because I’d remember.” The rest of it, what he didn’t say, was that she, with her long midnight hair and exotic bronze eyes, was the loveliest woman he’d ever seen. He had to believe his younger self would have recognized that too, even back then.

  Chapter 3

  Apparently oblivious of his chaotic thoughts, Anabel continued to question him. “And then after high school, what did you do? Did you enlist right away?”

  His head had begun to hurt. “My turn. I get to ask you something next.”

  “Really? I had no idea we were playing some sort of game.” Since her dry tone contained a thread of amusement, he decided to take that as encouragement.

  “What did you do after high school?” he asked.

  “I went to college. Columbia, to be exact. Three months in, I loved life and the city. Then I met David Lee. From Tennessee. He was in New York on leave.”

  Though he hated the dark sadness that crept over her lovely face, he wanted to know more. Before he could speak, she forestalled him by making a chopping motion with her hand.

  “My turn,” she said, earning a reluctant smile from him.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Remember, we’re trying to get a rough idea of how long you’ve been a ghost,” she said.

  Though he didn’t know why that mattered, he decided to play along. “Okay.”

  “When did you enlist?”