Page 86 of A Wolf's Wound
Ryder
“Hannah!”
I’m officially insane, shouting her name out of my car as I speed down the winding streets on the outskirts of town as if she’s some sort of lost pet.
“Hannah!”I slam my fist on the dashboard, which hurts my fist considerably more than the dash.“Damn it!Where are you?”
She could be fine.She’s probably fine.The only problem with believing that is that I’ve pretty much ruled out any of the places she’s likely to be.The clinic told me she hadn’t been in today.No hospitals have seen her.Hell, Gavin told me he’s called the grocery store, nail salon, and the police department, just to cover our bases.
She might as well be a ghost.
It’s not a large town.Unless she’s hiding in the woods, which have also been searched, she’s in trouble.
She could have just decided all of this was too much for her and headed on home, but I know her too well.Hannah goes chasing after trouble like it’s an ice cream cone on a summer day.I don’t think she just packed up and left.
But I almost hope she did.As much as it makes my stomach feel like lead to imagine, the alternative is much worse.
The lights of town grow closer, the trees on the side of the road still tall and imposing but sparser.I hope I’ll see her milling about outside a coffee shop, but I don’t.
Instead, I see the car on the side of the road.
She isn’t in it.
“Hannah?”
I stop my car behind hers and examine it.There’s no sign of a crash, but her purse is in the front seat, and the keys are still in the ignition.
I curse under my breath and go on high alert.I stay in the car.I’m not sure how much ground I’ll need to cover, and I can’t exactly go running around the streets as a wolf.The trace of her scent near the car is negligible.It also helps protect from an ambush attack, which I might very well be walking into.
A few hundred feet away, I see a huge smear of blood.An almost blind panic seizes me, and it takes everything I have inside me to keep from flying out of the car.Instead, gritting my teeth, I slow the car to a crawl and stick my head out the window.Deer.
Maybe she hit it?But why would her car be parked further back?And I’ve seen cars that had hit deer.Many of them were totaled, but her car has no dents or blood.
Maybe she tried to help it.It’s not unlikely to think she might have helped it into a truck bed, perhaps a good Samaritan stopping by to help.Maybe she took it to a larger clinic outside town, one with better facilities for wild animals.
But without her purse or car keys?
I don’t think so.
My instincts, the ones pulling my canine teeth down and growing bristling fur along my arms, insist that I’m close.But I don’t see her.I pore over the tall trees nearby, searching and finding nothing but more trees.
I don’t see her anywhere.
And then I do.
Her scent hits me first, lavender and vanilla and citrus andmine.I pull the car over, slamming on the brakes so hard the tires squeal, and then I’m out the car door, running.I don’t even take the time to shut it.
Because there she is.Running.
A hooded figure trails easily behind, loping like he’s playing some sort of sick game.Hannah, meanwhile, is sprinting at top speed with Shadow just ahead of her.
“Come on now,” the man coos.
No.
Not a man.
A wolf in human form.
