bumps rising on his arms. He looked around but only saw other residents of the manor going about their evening, no threat that could have caused his instincts to act up.
Shrugging off the feeling, he headed for the back door near the kitchen. There was a lot of noise coming from there as dishes from both dinners had to be cleaned up. Luckily, Beth had gotten more help with the influx of residents, so there were a half dozen people in there helping her.
He slipped outside and stripped, quickly shifting into his wolf and bounding into the trees just behind the manor. His dark coloring would make his wolf harder to spot than his fair skin or red hair, both of which tended to make him stand out anywhere he was.
He’d never been to the home of Robson and Teresa’s parents, but he knew where it was and that Robson had been living there since returning from the military, so he carefully but quickly made his way around the edge of town to the small farm.
The cows in the field just south of the house made his approach tricky. He needed to get close enough to see if Robson was home and keep an eye on him, but if he got too close, the prey animals would go into a frenzy at his nearness, drawing attention outside from anyone in the house.
Carefully, he picked his way past an old shed that leaned precariously to one side and toward where several cars were parked in front of and to the west of the house. He hunkered down between two vehicles and trained his ears toward the two-story farmhouse with fresh white paint and shutters that looked dark blue in the setting sun’s light.
He heard a lot of different voices inside, including Teresa’s and Patrick’s every once in a while, but nothing from Robson. The scent of manure and at least a dozen people overwhelmed his nose.
Crawling a little closer on his belly, he froze when he heard a crunch of stones behind him.
“Hey there, big guy. What are you doing out here?”
Shoot. So much for observing Robson Medina without him knowing.
Chapter Five
Robson might have made a mistake.
He’d thought the shadowed animal hiding between the cars had been a large dog, but when it rose and turned, he stumbled back at the sight of the enormous dark brown wolf.
“Fuck! Uh, good wolfy.”
The beast took a step toward him, and Robson’s lizard brain told him to stop moving; he’d never be able to outrun this large creature, so he needed to convince it he wasn’t a threat. Holding his breath, he slowly lowered himself to the dirt and stones of his parents’ driveway. He didn’t want to take his eyes off the wolf, but he could remember hearing somewhere that predators took eye contact as a sign of aggression and might attack to establish their dominance.
On one knee and face tilted toward the ground, he shakily raised an arm toward the unmoving animal. “Easy, boy. I won’t hurt you, okay?”
He started to get dizzy and realized he’d stopped breathing as he waited to see what the wolf would do. Sucking in a breath, he tried to see out of the corner of his eyes, but the deepening shadows hid the dark fur of the animal too well. His ears were ringing they were straining so hard to hear the slightest movement or growl.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, he heard a sort of… huffing sound. Then he felt a wet nose on his fingers, and he flinched so hard he fell on his ass.
“Ouch. Well, that was graceful,” he muttered, peering up and smiling at the wolf’s cocked head. “Don’t tell anyone the big bad infantryman just fell on his ass, okay?”
Tail wagging a little, the wolf crept closer, nose audibly sniffing. Robson held still, the fear from before slowly draining away as the wolf simply smelled him for a few moments, then sat on the gravel waiting for something.
“Um… Are you someone’s pet? Jesus, why am I talking to you like you’ll answer?” He scrubbed at his face and sighed, suddenly feeling drained. “What a weird fucking day.”
After what had happened at the witchy shop in town, Robson had driven around for hours, trying to figure out what he should do. It wasn’t like he could go to the sheriff and tell him what had happened, using it as evidence to open a real investigation. There was no way he’d know