My phone rang as I emerged, steamy clean. I’d left it on the table. “Clap for the Wolfman” —Chris.
“Hey,” I answered, surprised at the relief in my voice. “Are you back?”
“I am. Is everything all right?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“That’s why I’m calling. Why don’t you come over tonight?”
I frowned. “Didn’t Josh tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“I called him about an hour ago, told him I was coming there. I’m running late.”
Silence from the other end.
“Chris? You still there?”
“Yeah.” His voice sounded odd.
“Peter’s had another memory lapse.”
“Another?”
“Yeah. Since last night.”
“He had one last night?”
What the heck? Whatever he and Josh have been up to, it didn’t involve talking. I supposed Chris had been away for a while, so perhaps they’d been preoccupied with other things. “Yeah. Ask Josh about it, he was here with us.”
“I will. You on your way?”
“I’m bringing Peter.” I considered the behemoth outside. “And a surprise.”
He sighed. “Lately, that’s all I’ve been getting. What’s one more? Bring it on.”
I laughed, although it sounded strained to my own ears. “See you soon.”
* * *
The relief evident on Keen’s face when I opened the door would have made me laugh if I weren’t so damned worried about Peter. Her fur stuck up in wet clumps and debris covered her. I hauled an old dog kennel out of the barn and squeezed the puppy into it—it took both Peter and me to do it—before fastening it into the box of Peter’s truck.
The tail issue dealt with, I offered to drive and received another surprise when he agreed. He must be more shaken up than I thought.
I was pulling out onto the highway when he spoke.
“I think the ATV is near the cedar grove, stuck in the mud.”
He thinks? “Okay. I’ll pick it up tomorrow morning, before I go to work.” I resigned myself to another night with little sleep. If I change, I can get there fast. It meant driving the ATV back in the buff, but it would be dark. Nothing like a little nudist all-terraining to bring out the kid in me.
I worked out the scenario. “So, you got stuck and shifted to come home?”
Peter squirmed in his seat. “Yeah.”
Okay. Made sense.
“I can’t remember shifting.”
The words dropped like a bomb between us.
“Not at all?”
He shook his head, a movement I caught out of the corner of my eye as I focused on the road.
“I remember getting the ATV out to go work on that big cedar that came down over the winter. Hit a muddy patch in the bog and the machine sank. That’s all.”
If the vehicle had become mired, Peter might have shifted to tap into the strength of his wulf. Although he wouldn’t have needed a full shift to accomplish that.
“Maybe you did a partial shift to get the ATV out?”
He scowled. “A partial? I don’t do partials.”
“Never?”
“Never been very good at them,” he confessed. “And it got ugly once. Was enough for me. I’m either wulf or human. None of this in-between stuff.”
I considered what I’d done earlier that day with Buster. “I’ve found it useful.”
“You’re doing partials?” The alarm in Peter’s voice surprised me.
“It’s no big deal.”
“Does Chris know?”
I frowned, suddenly annoyed. “Chris isn’t my keeper. He told me about the risks. I’m careful with my visualization and manage the emotions. It works for me.”
“Did he mention you could die?”
“Yes, but I’m careful.”
“Liam, you’re very new to this. Partials are more dangerous than you know.”
“Okay, I get it,” I said, wanting to calm Peter down. We had enough to worry about, without him concerned for me.
“Promise me you won’t do more partials.”
“I can’t promise that. I saved a horse today by doing it.”
“You did it today?” Peter’s voice almost squeaked in disbelief. “And you’re still upright?”
“I told you, I’m careful.”
“Careful has nothing to do with it. Partials are very hard on your body. The few times I managed it, I passed out afterward. Slept for days.”
“I’ve seen Chris do them. They don’t wipe him out.”
I glanced at him. He regarded me with wide eyes.
“Chris doesn’t do partials unless he absolutely has to. No one does.” He sounded incredulous.
“Yes he does. His teeth, his claws.”
He scoffed. “Those aren’t partials, not really. Those are parlor tricks.”
I considered. Chris had talked of partial shifts and I’d made assumptions. He’d mentioned that doing partials involving the body core was dangerous, but I hadn’t realized he didn’t do them.
“You’re not doing just teeth and claws, are you?” he guessed. “Can’t see them helping a horse.”
I sighed. “No.”
“Liam, you’re playing with fire. Please talk to Chris about it.”
He seemed concerned enough that I relented. “Okay, I will.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
He subsided at that, gazing out the window at the farms we passed by. “Where’d you get the puppy?”
“Whiterock Dairy. Barb picked him up on the highway.”
“He’s already a monster. You hoping to pawn him off on Chris and Josh?”
“Yep.”
Peter smiled, and something inside me unwound a little. Keen stuck her head between the seats and nudged his elbow with her nose. He stroked her.
I looked back to the road. Peter had to be okay. Nothing else was acceptable, and certainly not the consequences of being unable to control one’s wulf.
19
Josh and Chris came out of the house when we pulled up with the truck. Over the last few weeks I’d seen Chris angry and worried, but I’d never seen him on edge. Always in control, the enforcer handled whatever life threw at him. Yet there was a haunted look in his eyes that added to my angst. But when he slapped Peter on the shoulder and made a crack about getting old, and Peter smiled and told him where to stuff that idea, I guessed he wanted to play it cool for now. So I
