Page 109 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

“Hey, Johnathan,” Hayden said, pushing the twins in their stroller. Genevieve and Parker just celebrated their second birthday while their big brother Asher was preparing for pre-K, and Emmeline was enjoying second grade. “Having a good day?”

“You could say that,” he replied. “Question...” He closed the distance between them. “Have you heard about the complaints of a wild dog or loud screaming at night?”

Hayden stared at him. The impish expression on her face, drew a smile to his lips. “We are shifters.”

He chuckled. “I agree. Unfortunately, I have fifteen reports of people in town hearing horrible crying/howling noises at night, to the point people can’t sleep.”

Hayden frowned. “Are you sure the kids aren’t playing a prank on the adults? I wouldn’t put it past them, especially after Kalkin’s story hour.”

“Kalkin thought the same thing, however, as far as he’s seen, none of the kids are involved. Plus, those who were there, they aren’t the children or fosters of the residents calling in. They’d have no idea about the Wild Hunt story Kalkin told.” Johnathan frowned. Like every culture, he too heard the stories about the sky devils who took the souls of all those who didn’t hide during the hunt. He looked at the tales as a cautionary parable for kids to not be out when it got cold.

Nothing more.

Hayden screwed her face up. “Weird.” Then sighed. “I haven’t heard anything, but I can put a few feelers out if you want. Plus, mine and Nico’s services are available should you need us.”

Johnathan shook his head. “No. It’s better for me to catch the person by surprise than have them lying in wait. As the offer of help, I’ll let you know.”

“Good thinking,” Hayden agreed. “Well, all the same, if you’d like to spend Halloween with us, we could always use an extra trick or treater this year.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“You should,” she said. “I know it’s not been easy since your return from China. Everything you did for Winters and Jochi is, and will always be, invaluable. His family is settling in well now and their slowly learning English. They’re thriving because you and Maxine found them.”

Pride warmed him even as that bit of him, he didn’t quite understand, sank. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a lunch date with their daddy at the diner.” Hayden waved then started for the diner, talking to the twins as she walked.

When Johnathan first met her, he’d been a little older than her, she’d been in his English class, but he hadn’t cared about some little girl who was smart as hell. He also hadn’t had a lick of sympathy for her. She’d always been so damn afraid of her shadow. How could someone with Raferty blood be so damn scared? Even her father hadn’t tucked tail like she did. Then Johnathan learned the truth after she’d been kidnapped. Sure, there were rumors abound about her. Most of them nasty, spoken by three little bitches who deserved what they got. The simple truth? Hayden was one badass little wolf who endured and overcame so much before even arriving in Window Rock. He was honored she considered him a friend.

Also helped she was his boss, too. It allowed them to get to know each other on a different level. Hayden’s personal motto was, she wouldn’t allow him or others to do any job she wouldn’t do. She reaffirmed that the day they found Emmitt inthat disgusting lab at the wildlife center on a medical table near death. Had Hayden not found the bullet in his leg, Emmitt would have died. According to the report Hayden had written up, days before them freeing Emmitt, he’d been chained to a centrifugal machine caught in a cycle of arousal and orgasming, giving sample after sample. He’d also been injected with some kind of drug that kept him in a euphoric state.

Johnathan shivered at the recollection.

Some memories were best kept chained up at the back of his mind.

The accolades didn’t stop at the wildlife center, however. Hayden then went to Boston and captured her aunt—with the help of her family. She testified in front of congress and court, recounting her story. Hayden fought the beast who sired her—not the man she called father—but the uncle she never knew, Henry Worthington, who’d chased her all her life, thanks to Holly, and won that battle, too. Hayden was the strongest she-wolf Johnathan had ever met, and it appeared, as the Co-Alpha of the St. John/Raferty pack and clan, she was continuing to level up.

He strode across the street to the secondhand shop owned by Annabelle Blackhorn and pushed into the store. Like so many times when he’d been younger, he inhaled the scent of fresh-baked cookies and warm tea. At the jingle of the bells, Annabelle appeared. She smiled at Johnathan as she folded her hands on the glass top counter, just like her grandmother used to do. Hell, seeing her stand there reminded him of Mrs. Martin.Fuck,he missed her something fierce.

“Johnathan,” Annabelle said, “what a surprise. What can I do for you today?”

“Well,” he replied, “I was hoping we could talk for a moment, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” she said, motioning for him to follow her to the backroom. “What’s going on?”

He grinned. The last time he’d been back there, he was sixteen. He’d gotten into a fight with a mountain lion, not on purpose, and Miss Martin had patched up his floppy ear. “Well,” he took a seat at the well-loved table and ran his palms over the old powder-blue flower print tablecloth, “you called the police three nights ago and said you heard a weird noise that didn’t sound like our coyotes or wolves?” Everything about the room had stayed the same. From the old military locker Mrs. Martin used for the supplies to the 1956 Frigidaire refrigerator that was shaped like an upside-down U. The scuffed laminate floors could use a good stripping and waxing, as well. Then again, if he did that to help Annabelle, the last bit of Mrs. Martin’s presence would disappear.

Annabelle joined him at the table with fresh tea and his favor cookies, bringing him out of his morose thoughts. “Yes.”

He took a cookie. “Care to tell me more? Kalkin put me on a special assignment off the books. He’s not sure what’s happening either.”

“If anyone can figure this out,” Annabelle stated, “it’s you.” She cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders. “It happened about ten at night. Far away at first. It just sounded like a quail whistling. The tones changed octaves occasionally. Deeper to high pitch. Almost like someone was scared. It didn’t sound like any of the wolves, nor was it any of our children. The boys were fast asleep. The others are away at college.”

“How long did the sound last?” He took a bite of his cookie and sighed. Still, the best cookies ever as a wave of nostalgia washed over him.

“A couple of hours. The noise would get closer to the house, then drift away. Jerome was the one who told me to call whilehe went outside to have a look around. After everything that’s happened in this town...” She shrugged.

“Best thing you could do was call,” Johnathan said, taking notes. “Has it happened again?”

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