* * * *
Yoshida was beginning to doze when the monstrous wolf stirred awake. She began with a series of heavy puffs—fit to blow a house down, Yoshida grimly thought. Then came low growls and a rattling of the silver chains.
The biker-turned-beast should not be able to break the chains, of course—yet there was no known precedent for a lycanthrope that had been in wolf state for nearly a year.
She had grown even larger than the near-seven-foot height she and her fellow gang members—make that pack mates—had stood, back when he and Hudson’s posse of punkers did battle with them.
This reminded him of something else. Except when running, the wolves had all stood and walked upright. But Aura had moved about mostly on all fours.
Even her once very human breasts had gotten smaller, regressing into her torso to make her body more streamlined. Her teeth, eyes, hands—all were much more wolflike than human.
Had her extended time “in skin” erased all vestiges of humanity?
What if the “magic” effect of the silver chains also no longer applied?
Yoshida switched on the barn’s overhead light and raised the trank rifle, approaching the cage from Aura’s blind side.
She had rolled onto her stomach to raise her head. Yoshida found her glowering at him with eyes that shone like hot coals under the barn’s low-watt bulbs.
She stopped growling and just stared at Yoshida, cocking her head sideways.
She wriggled and shook, rattling her chains like Dickens’s Marley, glaring intently at Yoshida. As if she fully expected him to set her free.
“H…how about you just go back to sleep now, okay?” Yoshida said.
When the wolf shook again, Yoshida deduced she was attempting to loosen the chains. Was she going to try to break them? She jerked her head from side to side as if to test how tight the leather muzzle was, to see if she could shake it off.
“No, come on, dammit!” Yoshida said. “Just sit still.”
The chains rattled again, louder. Yoshida raised the tranquilizer rifle and took a step closer. “I said, sit still.”
She narrowed her eyes, regarding him without fear. Yoshida lowered the rifle, surprising himself.
“Maybe it’d be best to let you go,” he muttered.
He shook his head and put his back to her, finding resolve only once he broke eye contact.
But still—it made sense. To let her go.
She growled again, shaking the chains. Yoshida knew he should go ahead and dart her—but felt like he couldn’t. It would be…disloyal.
The tiny spot where her tooth had punctured him tingled, but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. He pivoted to meet her glowing gaze again.
“Yo!” came a deep-voiced call from the doorway. “’Shida!”
Yoshida spun quick with the rifle.
“Hey, hey, hey!” said the big deputy, hands out. “Easy, Yosh!”
“Oh, God. Sorry.” Yoshida lowered the rifle. It took some effort. “Little on edge, I guess.”
“Sure, sure.” Hudson held out his hand to take the rifle.
Yoshida found some part of himself fighting not to relinquish it—and to pull the trigger. “She’s, uh…starting to come around.”
Hudson took a few steps though the doorway, leading his companions—Ysabella, Maisie and McGlazer. “Ladies, meet Deputy Yoshida.”
Aura issued a low growl, causing the newcomers to stop in their tracks. Their eyes widened as they beheld the monster. McGlazer stepped in front of the witches, instinctively protective of them. “She’s enormous!”
“Yeah,” said Yoshida. “And she’s not in a good mood.” He went to draw his sidearm for safety and decided against it. Increasingly, he did not trust his own hands.
Looking at Ysabella and Maisie, he found himself surprised. He hadn’t known what to expect, but it was not this pair of sweet-faced ladies. Maisie, the younger one, was attractive and unassuming, while Ysabella, the older witch, bore wisdom untainted by cynicism.
“You’re certain she’s secure?” asked Reverend McGlazer.
“Stay here a minute, Abe.” Hudson patted Yoshida’s shoulder, leading him toward the cage. He checked the dart rifle. “You okay, Yoshi?”
“I’m ready to do something else for a while,” he answered, stopping within a few feet of the cage.
Narrowing her amber eyes, Aura growled and snapped, startling them. Hudson brought up the rifle. “Maybe you should draw your weapon now. Just in case.”
Meeting Aura’s ferocious gaze, Yoshida reached for his sidearm. The alarming feeling that, once in his hand, the gun would point to Hudson, or to his own temple, was stronger than before. Avoiding the wolf’s stare banished the sinister urge—partly. “Go ahead and give her another dose.”
“They need her awake.” After warily circling the cage, Hudson relaxed and motioned for the guests. “She’s locked up pretty tight anyway.”
Hudson saw how Yoshida avoided eye contact with the hulking captive, how his gun hand shook. “I think you should go home now, Yoshi. Get some rest.”
“I’m all right.”
“Since this is volunteer time, I can’t order you,” Hudson said firmly. “But I can have Leticia withhold your annual pumpkin loaf.” He motioned for the newcomers.
Aura shifted suddenly, rattling the chains. Hudson pointed the trank rifle at her haunches. “What do you need us to do, Ysabella?”
Ysabella stepped around McGlazer to stare into the wolf’s eyes, much as she had little Emera’s just a short while ago. She knelt, indifferent to the dirty plywood floor soiling her dress. “She’s…suffering in there.”
“Suffering?” scoffed Hudson. “She’s wanted for murder. The human her, that is.”
“In any case,” Ysabella began, reaching for Maisie’s supporting hand, “we can’t leave her like this. Not any longer.”
“What would happen?” asked McGlazer.
“The balance of nature is at stake,” explained Ysabella, reaching out for McGlazer to help her stand. “We won’t be able to hold her for long.”
Maisie helped on the other side. “Wait. We’re going to try to do it now? With just two of us?”
“The deputies will have to assist. And the reverend, of course. Maisie, look around and see if Matilda has…had…anything we can use.” She touched Hudson’s arm. “We’ll need our bags from your truck.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hudson was more than happy to relinquish oversight of this strange situation to this strange woman. He nodded to
