Why a Wolf Cries - Julie Steimle (read a book .TXT) 📗

than that. I need you to go back to my campground and get my stuff. Then… well, I’m going to need your help so we can stage a car accident.”

“Car accident?”

“And I’m going to need you to help me divert Audry from the whole wolf connection with me,” Ricks said, going back to eating the rest of the food off Ranger Douglass’s breakfast plate.

Ranger Douglass stared amore at him, feeling dizzy. “She doesn’t know?”

Shaking his head, looking more like a wolf as a man, Rick replied, “Not in the least. Audry is a pragmatist and a scientist. She doesn’t believe in werewolves, and neither should you.”

“Then… what am I talking to?” Ranger Douglass felt even dizzier.

Rick popped up from his seat and caught the ranger in flash before he could fall. “Whoa! Sit down for a second. I know this is too much at once. But I really need help. And I can’t so this all by myself.”

“Because?” Ranger Douglass murmured, his head swimming, overwhelmed.

Sighing, Rick replied, “Because… half my skin has been peeled off by a cougar and my wounds are opening up again.”

Reality smacked the ranger once more in the face. This man was the wolf. 

“Why did you do it?” Ranger Douglass murmured, staring at him. “No wolf is up to taking on a cougar.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Rick replied, stepping back as the ranger was finally sitting up without the risk of fainting. “Let the cougar kill the little girl?”

Ranger Douglass stared at him. Yet he whispered, “Were you stalking that family too?”

Shaking his head slowly, Rick’s face revealed annoyance. “No. I was hunting rabbit. It was the full moon. I was trying to stay away from people. And when I smelled that cougar, I was going to go another way—until I found out whom he was stalking.” Rick shook his head and closed his eyes. “I’d know Audry’s scent anywhere.”

The ranger took in a breath. He stared more at him, almost grinning in amusement.

“Don’t do that,” Rick said, blushing. He covered himself then grabbed the pillow for more cover. Finally human modesty had settled into the werewolf’s brain.

But the ranger shook his head. “You too, huh?”

Rick closed his eyes, groaning.

“She is pretty hot,” Ranger Douglass said, winking.

Meeting his gaze fully, Rick growled low in his throat. “Don’t talk about her like.”

“Does she know you like her?” Ranger Douglass asked, watching Rick carefully.

Rick shook his head, but not to say ‘no’. “She is a vegan.”

“And?”  

Laughing, Rick looked to him. “You don’t know very many vegans, do you?”

Ranger Douglass shrugged. “I know a few.”

But Rick met his gaze. “But not Audry. She thinks meat eaters are barbarians and rich men are scum of the earth. So, of course, she loathes me.”

That sunk in.

The ranger pulled back. He eyed Rick for a moment, then said, “Maybe. But she sure loves the wolf.”

Rick immediately blushed and quickly lowered his eyes, nodding. “Yeah. She loves the wolf.”

And the ranger laughed. He could not help it. The irony. And it took a mite longer for him to gather himself, as the notion was rather funny—a woman of that magnitude loving the wild savage animal, but hating the handsome and wealthy man—which seemed counterintuitive to nature and logic. “But she does not know the wolf is you?”

“I told you,” Rick muttered with a painful groan. “She is a pragmatist and a scientist. She does not believe in werewolves—even though she had heard the rumor that I was one.”

“Wha… what? There’s a rumor that you are a werewolf?” Rising, the ranger stared again. This was news to him.

Rick nodded frankly then winced. His wounds were stinging. He could feel the skin separating, and consequently oozing blood again. “It’s on the internet. Look. I’m in pain here. Can we finish this conversation later? I need my pants. I’ll write down the combination for the lock, and all you need to know about my campground. But I need you to break down my tent and pack it all up, then to bring me my stuff. Please help me. You’re all I’ve got.”

“So we can stage a car accident,” Ranger Douglass said, remembering.

With another nod, Rick cringed, arteries now pulsing along his forehead. He was starting to feel a bit faint if not sick. “Yeah.”

“And how will we do that?” the ranger asked, eying him up as he was sure a car accident would do Rick worse.

Flopping against the bed, Rick groaned. He rolled over onto his belly. “One thing at a time.”

All his wounds were seeping blood again. The ranger stared at them, stepping back with a nod. Whatever they were going to do, they had to do it fast.

As soon as he had Rick Deacon’s directions to his campground, Ranger Douglass went out, crossing the space between the cabin and his actual lodgings. Rick agreed to stay indoors. And to prevent anyone from walking into the cabin on the naked and wounded wolf-man, the ranger hung a sock on the doorknob.

The Deacon’s camp was not far from the canyon, but Ranger Douglass decided to take out a horse anyway to make the trip quick. He noticed while hurried to the corral to get a horse, an agitated man with oddly wolf-gray hair and a familiar face leave the education visitors building as if his pants were on fire. He was strikingly like Rick Deacon except for his coloring. The man hurried to his car. It took too long for Ranger Douglass to realize this was Mr. Deacon the Second. But as the man started the car and quickly took off to the highway, too late to flag the man down—he continued on his way to get Rick’s things. Even if it were Rick’s father, there was no way to catch up with him. His car was currently being used by someone else. And they would not return it until later that morning.

Ranger Douglass got a horse and went out.

A Good Conspiracy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

Ranger Douglass, despite his faults for being a young, horny park ranger who had eyed Audry in an inappropriate way, Rick was grateful for his willingness to help him. The man returned to the cabin in a timely manner with all the things Rick had asked for.

“And you left all my father’s stuff there at the campground?” Rick asked while doing everything to draw up his on his pants without disturbing any painfully loose skin. The ranger, this time, politely averted his eyes. It had been weird being stared at by a man while naked, never mind it wasn’t in an erotic way. The ranger simply had been too stunned that he was the wolf.

“Yes. I did exactly as you said,” Ranger Douglass said, handing Rick a new mesh bandage wrap to hold his skin together.

Rick shook his head. “No. We’re not wrapping me yet. We need to damage my shirt. Help me put it in and mark where my cuts are.”

The ranger stared at him. “Wh… What?”

Nodding, Rick cringed as he could feel his skin pulling away, breathing hard. “I… need you… to help me get my shirt on… and then take it off to mark my cuts. Then you’ll use the scissors to cut up my shirt.”

“Why?”

Moaning, Rick felt sick. It all killed. “This has to be convincing. We need to convince the world that I was in a car crash.” Rick set a hand to his forehead and lay down. His back killed, but he was also getting light headed again.

This time the ranger was over him. “Oh… you’ve lost a lot of blood. You shouldn’t even do this. Let’s just get you to the hospital.”

“Normally I’d agree with you…” Rick breathed out, staring at the ceiling, “But it is imperative that we protect Audry’s family.”

“I don’t follow.” The ranger peered down at him.

“We need to stage the accident to protect her,” Rick said.

“How does faking a car accident protect her?” Ranger Douglass asked. He stood over Rick with the shirt in hand.

Nodding, Rick realized he had not given the explanation well enough.

“Look,” Rick said trying to sit up and reach for the shirt. The ranger pushed him down, shaking his head. “First of all, don’t do that. Secondly,” Rick sat up again. “It protects Audry and her family because when my accident makes the news—because it will—the SRA is going to come and hunt down the details of the accident. If they find out about the wolf getting mauled, and there is zero explanation as to why I am hurt, they are going to harass her as she had rescued me. The SRA are vicious.”

“Who?” Ranger Douglass jerked the shirt sleeve over Rick’s arm, helping him pull it on over his head.

“Sorry—the Supernatural Regulators Association. They are an unscrupulous union of monster hunters.” Rick winced when the cloth pulled loose some of his skin while he got the shirt through his other arm. And that was just the tee-shirt. He had planned on putting the flannel on also—but was quickly changing his mind. “Agh. Um… they don’t care whom they hurt, as long as they get their beast.”

Ranger Douglass paused, staring at blood already seeping into Rick’s shirt. His eyes raked over him. “That’s for real?”

Nodding, Rick panted. “Ok, we should—”

“I’m not taking that off you again,” Ranger Douglass said, shaking his head. “You’re already bleeding badly. We really should just get you to the hospital.”

“No,” Rick growled through his elongating teeth. “I told you, we have to stage an accident.”

“But peeling up that shirt will—”

“Then gently lift it and make the cut with those scissors,” Rick barked back. The ideas was for the ranger to cut up Rick’s shirt where he was clawed, using the blood stains as guides. But he really was oozing too much blood for the markings to do much good in that.

Realizing Rick was stubborn, Ranger Douglass tried to gently follow Rick’s instructions. Yet, in the end he just hacked small slits the back and sides of Rick’s shirt to bits, then tore them by hand to make them truly look like something had attacked him. He grabbed the bandage wrap to put some kind of pressure on his oozing wounds to stop the bleeding.

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Ranger Douglass muttered as he then wrapped Rick’s back in a plastic bag before pulling the flannel shirt over it.

“Better me than her,” Rick mumbled as the ranger heaved him up.

Ranger Douglass leaned from him. He shook his head. “Man… I get why you like her, but you’re insane.”

Rick chuckled, nodding as there was no way to refute that. “Perhaps.”

Their intent was to go to Rick’s car then drive up to a location where he would somehow get the car to drive off the road and roll. Rick said his vehicle had a self-driving feature, which he said was compromised by a tech pal of his who had wanted a remote control feature for the vehicle, just in case. The ranger did not quite believe that. It made Rick sound too much like James Bond—regardless of how rich he was.

They had to choose a location where it was not too far from the canyon, yet full of winding mountain roads. Rick wanted a simple roll, but not a deadly one. The ranger suggested a curve on the