I turned around. “What?”
We’re coming with you, Luna said.
Chapter Five
“Nice idea, but you guys would only slow me down. No offense.” I looked at each of the werewolves. What was the top speed of a dog? I entered that into my smartphone’s browser and got 45 mph for a Greyhound. And that was not sustained. So, if I went with sled dogs, they usually pulled at 10 to 15 mph for long distances with sprints as high as 30 mph. “The Vespa can go 50 to 60 mph.”
Tara growled at me. You’re thinking conventional dogs, not werewolves.
We can keep up with you, Luna said. But I’ll ride because I’ve always wanted to try a scooter.
I raised my hands in defeat. “Okay, but keep up.”
Don’t think they can, Magic Man? Luna hopped on the back of the Vespa. There wasn’t much room, but somehow, she got all four paws up on the back and waited for me to mount. I climbed on and we headed off.
Back when I was in college, I and a buddy got our motorcycle licenses. He was the one with the motorcycle—a little crotch rocket called a Kawasaki Ninja. It was used and not in the best shape, but after he got his motorcycle license, he taught me how to ride. It scared the bejesus out of me and I seldom, if ever, got on a motorcycle after I barely passed my license. I did, however, keep the license current just in case the DPDS needed someone to use a motorcycle. Thankfully in my short career as a rookie cop, no one asked me to use it. I was the world’s worst motorcycle rider.
If I had been concerned about the werewolf females keeping up with me, my fears were completely unfounded. Sure, they say you can go 60 mph on a Vespa, but it was beyond scary at 45 mph. I would’ve gone 20 mph, but Diagonal Road aka Colorado Highway 119 speed was marked 55 to 65 mph.
So I stayed way over to the right, almost on the shoulder and put up with the insane drivers who made the trek between Boulder and Longmont. We must have been quite a sight—a chicken-shit guy driving a scooter with a wolf hanging on the back and four more wolves loping beside us. I glanced at Luna who had her nose in the breeze and her eyes closed. “You okay back there?”
She opened her eyes and waggled her head with her tongue lolling. I can hang on just fine. Not a normal canine—remember? For emphasis she extracted one of her feet from the seat cushion and held it up. Her feet were more like a cat’s with retractable claws. Dogs can’t hold onto motorcycles, but werewolves can. She dug her claws back into the seat and closed her eyes again, looking like she was enjoying every minute.
“This wasn’t what I planned for a first date,” I said. “I was thinking maybe a movie and dinner afterwards…”
Luna laughed. This is awesome! I’ve never had anyone outside of the pack try to rescue me.
“This has happened before?”
You can take me out to dinner afterwards. Right now, we need to rescue those Commerce City Wolves.
~ * ~
We passed by IBM and Celestial Seasonings. As we approached The Magickal Tea Company, Luna nipped my shoulder. I almost dumped the scooter in surprise. “Whaaaat?” I shouted.
Stop here! I remember reading an article in Howling about the wizards at The Magickal Tea Company.
“They have wizards?” I exclaimed.
Yeah, they hire wizards for their customer blends. I think they’re druids, but they’re really powerful.
“What are we supposed to do? Go into the lobby and ask to speak to their wizards?” Despite my reservations, we slowed down and I took a right onto the road that led to the tea factory. As we approached, the intoxicating scent of herbs and spices filled my nostrils. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for the werewolves.
Yeah, something like that.
As I pulled into the visitor parking lot, I heard Luna tell the other werewolves the new plan. I parked the Vespa and got off the scooter. Luna hopped off and she and the other weres followed me toward the entrance.
“Uh, do you think they’ll let werewolves in?”
The weres laughed. Who’s going to stop us? Tara asked.
“Good point.” I took a deep breath at the entrance and opened the door. Yeah, a magic user and five werewolves walked into a tea factory—sounded like the beginning of a bad joke.
Chapter Six
“Sir, you can’t bring your dogs in here.” The receptionist looked sternly at me. He was a spindly little man with glasses and a clipboard. He wore an impressive gray, three-piece suit, complete with vest.
Tara snarled at him. We’re not dogs, idiot. We’re werewolves.
He stared at her. “I don’t care. Health regulations require no animals in this factory.”
Tara glanced at the little pack. But humans are okay? Is there a dress code?
“No, why?”
All five werewolves shifted into their human forms. Buck naked. Both the receptionist and I needed to pick up our jaws off the floor. To say all the women were amazingly gorgeous would’ve been an understatement, but I have to admit I stared at Luna the longest. She was muscular and built like the proverbial brick shithouse. To my surprise, she didn’t quite entirely change to purely human. Fur covered most of her body and her private parts, and she still had a tail.
Tara waggled her eyebrows at the receptionist. “Now will you let us in?”
“Uh…uh…”
I turned to the guy. “Look, we need to see one of your wizards…”
He didn’t take his eyes off Tara. “Uh, the mages?”
“Yeah, them.”
“Sure…uh...through the doors…”
“And?”
“Right at first hallway. Goes back to the
