Page 1 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

1

Sean

“Where is that old mutt that runs this joint?” a loud, booming, cheerful voice called out.

Sean McCullum, the tall, red-haired wolf shifter who ownedHowlers’ Bar and Grillpopped his head out of the basement, looking for the voice’s owner.

His eyes opened wide, and he gasped when he saw his best friend, Sawyer Cooke, standing at the counter.

Sean was grinning from ear to ear. “I’ll be damned. When did you get into town?”

Sawyer was a doctor who had been working with the program, Doctors Without Borders, for the last several years. He hadn’t been back to Angel’s Creek, New Mexico, for three years. The two men were wolf shifters who belonged to the Nightshade Wolf Shifter Pack.

“I got back last night. I planned on dropping by, but you would have been closed by the time I drove from the airport in Albuquerque. Besides I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to dive into bed. Luckily, my folks still had their guest room available.”

“You mean your old bedroom.” Sean laughed. “The last time I stopped in to see them, your football and basketball trophies were still on the wall, your skateboard was by the door, and all your books and music were on the shelves. It was almost a shrine.”

Sawyer cocked his head back and smirked. “I am pretty awesome and deserving of a shrine.”

Both men laughed. Sawyer sat at the bar and Sean slid a beer over to him.

“What kind of trouble have you been into?” Sean asked.

Sawyer grinned. “I’ve bounced all over this globe like a ping-pong ball. I’ve been to Sudan, Yemen, and Haiti, as well as a lot of other countries. You name the place and I’ve probably stitched up someone or given someone vaccinations there.”

“What’s been the toughest part?”

Scratching his chin, Sawyer thought about it for a minute. “It was probably when I was in Yemen. We had set up a clinic near a conflict area. One minute, I was treating people for malnutrition and the next I was pulling shrapnel out of people. It really took a toll on all of us.”

Sawyer sipped his beer. “There were some great victories as well. I was in Congo last year and they had a small Ebola outbreak. We trained the local health care workers on how to handle the emergencies, those just starting to get sick, and well, the after, if someone didn’t make it. They learned extremely quickly and soon they were running the show.”

“Sounds like you’re out there doing great things,” Sean said. “I’m proud of you.”

Just then, Jade, Sean’s manager and their packmate, came out of the kitchen with a double cheeseburger for Sawyer and another beer. She set it down in front of him and hurried over to hug him.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes. Just as handsome as ever, my friend,” Jade said.

Sawyer smiled. “You look good. You still hanging out with that dragon shifter?”

Jade laughed. “We went through the mating ceremony and have two little ones.”

“Congrats, my friend.”

“Thank you. I’m so glad you’re back. What are you going to do while you’re home?” she asked.

“Actually, I planned on asking Sean if he wanted to go on a week’s vacation with me. I want to take a ski trip at the resort Montaña Maldita.”

“I don’t know about that. I have this place to run,” Sean said.

“Don’t give me that crap. You know as well as I do that I can run this place just fine. You haven’t had a vacation in years. You need to go,” Jade said.

Sean grinned at Sawyer. “You know the place is named ‘Cursed Mountain,’ don’t you?”

“I don’t,” Jade said.

“According to legend, a long, long, long, long…” Sean started.

Jade looked at him, laughed, and shook her head.

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