Page 32 of Wolf's Midlife Bite

Joan pulled in a slow, deep breath. Her eyes remained closed, and when she spoke, it was so quiet that Brody had to step closer to hear her. “She’s in town, but she’s not close.”

“What does that mean?” He took another step, wishing he could dive into his mother’s vision and see for himself.

“Mmm,” was her only answer for the moment.

Dawn was next to him now. “Just give her a minute,” she whispered. “She’ll get there. It just takes a bit to hone in, especially on someone she’s never met before.”

“The other side of town,” Joan said, a little stronger now. “I can see a home. It’s big. Old. Prestigious. The kind with towers and a lot of fancy trim. Like a Victorian mansion or something.”

His patience was growing so thin it was barely in existence anymore. Architectural details weren’t going to help him much. “What’s she doing there?” He wasn’t even sure if that was something she could tell him.

Joan’s face during the entire process had been peaceful and serene as she’d focused in on her abilities. Now her brow furrowed, and she frowned. Tiny muscles in her face began to twitch, and every movement sent a bump of fear through his heart. Brody pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, fighting the urge to question her more than he already had.

“She’s being held.” His mother’s words were quick and angry. “She can’t leave, but she wants to. I can feel that in her.”

“Held?” His wolf was going wild now, thrashing and clawing. He didn’t know what any of this meant, but he had to find out. “By who?”

His mother’s face crumpled further. She looked like she was in pain, but she didn’t break her stance or her concentration. “There’s a powerful witch. She’s young, yet she’s not. She has a very strange energy about her, one that I don’t like even from a distance. Whatever she’s up to, it isn’t any good.”

“Anyone you know?”

Her head gave a quick shake of insult. “Definitely not.”

“Tell me where,” Brody growled.

“On the west side of town, but it’s wooded. There’s enough cover to get there on all fours without getting into the streets.” Joan opened her eyes.

He’d inherited his hazel coloring from her, but he hoped the fear he saw there wasn’t reflected in his own eyes. He sure as hell didn’t feel it inside. Anger, rage, and a tremendous desire to protect Robin, but definitely not fear. “I’m going to fucking destroy her.”

“We all will.” Rex put his hand on Brody’s shoulder.

Brody hadn’t even realized that everyone else had stood. They were there with him, waiting for the information as though she were a member of their own family. Robin was, in a way, but they hadn’t even met her yet. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Don’t start with that,” Rex advised. “You know that’s not how we do things around here. Mom will lead the way since she knows where Robin is. Max, it’s up to you whether or not you want Hunter to come along.”

“I’m ready,” Hunter told his father. They could all see the light that shone in his eyes, the one that said not only was he ready for battle physically but emotionally, too.

Max gave him a nod. “Fine. You stay at my back and don’t be a hero. That’s Brody’s job.”

Without much more discussion, they were out the back door. Brody didn’t hesitate to allow his wolf to take over. It came on more quickly than usual and sprang to life as he ran, his feet leaving the ground as human and coming down as paws. The others flooded behind him, their movements so soft, they could only be heard by each other. The moon was full and bright overhead, a promising sign.

Brody lifted his head just long enough to soak up some of that special moonlight, and he hoped it would be enough to get him through this.

17

Robin sat staringat the wolf. It was beautiful, and she felt like she’d seen it before. It sat peacefully across from her in this dark space, its fluffy tail wrapped around its paws. It regarded her with its gold eyes, slanting up slightly at the outside corners. The wolf knew something, but it wasn’t going to tell her what that was. It got up and ran off into the darkness.

She tried to call out to the wolf, but her voice didn’t work. She wanted to run after it, so she wouldn’t be alone, but her body wouldn’t work either. Robin sat frozen where she was. Whereverthiswas. Everything was so confusing.

Pain pounded through the blackness, thudding off the walls and reverberating through her brain. Robin fought against it, trying to figure out how to drive it back, but the pain was so heavy.

“She’s starting to come to.”

The voice was familiar, but it made her want to shrink back into the unknown. She found she couldn’t, though. Consciousness pulled harder than the darkness did. As she roused, she realized the walls the pain had been ricocheting off of were actually the inside of her skull. Her eyelids were so heavy that it hurt to lift them.

“I’m not sure why I’m bothering.” This voice, a female’s, wasn’t familiar. “She’s a bit old and barely worth the trouble.”

She managed to get her eyes open enough that she could see, but it didn’t help. The room was dim, lit only by a weak, flickering light. The floor was hard beneath her. The last floor she remembered seeing was white linoleum. This was old hardwood, and it hurt as it pressed hard against one side of her body.

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