Page 42 of So I Won a Werelion

“You know Lars. He’s part of the security team.”

“Oh! Please forgive me. I’ve only had a few sips of green tea so far today. But I promise I’ll never forget you again.”

I held my hand out to him. He took it in his and gave it a firm shake. His hands were huge. It wasn’t easy to make me feel small, but Lars did just that. “No worries. I like to keep to myself. But with all the changes and newcomers in the forest, it’s time to take action. So when this guy put out a call for help, I answered.”

“Lars is based deep in the forest, near Mount Deception, so he sees things we don’t. Some shifters get real comfortable when they don’t think anyone’s watching.”

“I appreciate all your hard work. I take it that means we have some news on our mysterious Montana wolf that made it toThe Mating Gamestage.”

“Not exactly, but we do have news about one of our contestants.” Hugo handed me his phone. It was a fuzzy, surveillance-style video, and it took me a moment to figure out what I was looking at.

I clapped my hand over my mouth and gasped. “Is that Gabe? And is henaked?”

“Yup.”

“Where was this?”

“Wolf Rock. Where they’re building those houses,” Hugo said with disgust.

“They’re calling it Ranchero Hills now.” I sighed. The new housing development put humans too close to shifter land for comfort. Humans were welcome on Colorado Ranch, as long as they proved themselves friendly. “The only reason Gabriel would be on a motorcycle in the middle of Sunset Springs in his birthday suit is if he’d shifted.” I took a closer look at the photo. “That’s Wendy with him.”

“There were some wolves bragging about scaring the human onThe Mating Gamethis morning,” Lars added. The deep rumble of his voice was a surprise even with his considerable stature. It had a little rust to it, like he hadn’t used it in a while. “I thought they were full of shit, because as far as I knew, we were between contestants. So I got in touch with Hugo, who was able to pull this surveillance video.”

I eyed Hugo. “Ranchero Hills is private property. How did you get your hands on this video?”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

His explanation sent a chill down my spine. I would prefer to have no enemies at all. “Would you gentlemen be open to coming into the office so I can review the rest of the footage with you? Then we can call Wendy and Gabriel and see what they have to say about this situation.”

Hugo and Lars looked at each other and nodded.

“Think we can fit two big, handsome men into a sportscar?”

The only vehicles in the yard were my vintage Firebird and my motorcycle, so it wasn’t clear if my visitors had arrived as human or beast. They were fully dressed, which leaned human.

Lars grinned as he checked out my car. “For a sweet ride like this, I can be uncomfortable for a little bit.”

“Exactly! Sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort for style.”

Took us a bit to figure out who should go into the back seat—the shorter but stockier Hugo, or the tall, dark, and handsome Lars. Hugo climbed in back, and Lars won the honor of riding shotgun.

“Tell me more about these wolves that paid you a visit this morning.”

“Not sure where they’re from. They’ve only been in town a few weeks.” Lars had the advantage of seeing things before they unfolded closer to the shifter villages.

“Montana,” I groaned.

He shrugged. “They aren’t the same ones that were here as last time. But they said they’re protecting that new housing development at Wolf Rock.”

Where Wendy found that intriguing artifact. “We’ll be driving by it on our way to the office. Maybe we should stop by and make some introductions? Give these humans a proper welcome to town.”

“Not until we hear Gabe and Wendy’s side of the story,” Hugo suggested.

“The wolves said they caught the two of them trespassing last night, and let them get away with a warning. Said next time, they won’t be so accommodating.” The rumble in Lars’ voice was stronger now, and the unfamiliar sound had my wolf on edge. I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of creature he shifted into when he went furry, but something told me it was a good thing he was on our side.

Nothing looked unusual when we passed Ranchero Hills. I slowed down as much as I could without drawing attention, until the SUV behind us laid on the horn. I gave them a little wave when we wound up next to each other at the red light.

This town had welcomed me and felt more like home than anyplace else, but right now, a brand new element of danger had surfaced.

---