A Date with a Werewolf by MH Bonham (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📗

still numb from riding behind Jessica, my main objection was the noise. When 15 Harleys pull up to someplace, you know. I mean, the element of surprise is completely gone. When dealing with another magic user, taking them on unawares gives you a serious advantage. You might have read about magic duels in books or seen them in the movies. In real life, it never happens that way. Only idiots do the “Gunfight at the OK Corral” thing. What real wizards do is surprise their enemy, attack, and run like hell. Basically, we’re cowards at heart and like going home at the end of the day.

“Have fun storming the castle,” I said, and took Brandon’s Vespa. Red insisted on taking Brandon along and had Jessica carry him instead of me. To make sure Brandon didn’t escape, they handcuffed him to the bike with silver handcuffs. Looking at his face told me a lot about silver. It burned bare werewolf skin and as long as Brandon was cuffed, he couldn’t shift. Nasty business.

I watched as the pack took off toward the warehouse, thinking how stupid it was. Even though I was a cop, my advice counted for naught, and they were going at the Boulder Five head on. If it were just between werewolves, I might bring some popcorn and watch. But as I said, with a magic user, you can’t be too careful.

I saw the granary and warehouse from a fair distance away. The warehouse was basically a large Quonset hut next to a granary silo. Niwot is on the plains with few trees near the sugar beet and grain fields which stretched for miles, making visibility simple. I also saw the Harleys parked in front without riders. Brandon wasn’t cuffed to Jessica’s bike anymore either. So, as I approached the granary and warehouse on the Vespa, I parked a few blocks away and walked. I didn’t take the direct route either. Instead, I made for some dilapidated steel buildings that might have served as a place to park tractors, but were now mostly rust. A few were the Quonset-hut-type variety. The long grass and weeds told me these hadn’t been used for a while.

As I crept toward the warehouse, my wizard-senses were tingling. They’re sort of like Spiderman’s spidey-sense, only having to do with magic. Alarms were also going off in my head. Something big happened, and it wasn’t good. I was so preoccupied with watching the warehouse that I didn’t see the female werewolf slip up to me.

It was only when I turned that I saw the were in her werewolf form. She was a pretty silver werewolf with a gentle face and friendly demeanor. I jumped and nearly yelled in surprise, but I managed to keep quiet.

Hi Magic Man! Luna greeted me. I knew it was Luna because her mental voice sounded like her and because she’s the only one who calls me that.

“Wow, you’re telepathic?” I asked.

All weres are, Luna said. Are you with the Commerce City Weres?

“They joined me to find you,” I whispered. “They heard the Boulder Five hit the Denver Wolfpack. Is everyone all right?”

The girls got out safely, Luna replied. Right before the macho team showed up. They got captured. The Boulder wizard is really powerful.

“Crap, are you saying you got out before Red’s pack came in?”

Luna nodded.

“And they’re now captured?”

Luna nodded again.

I frowned. “How did they get captured by just four guys?”

Five guys and one is magic user, Luna said. We were able to negate him for a while when I bit his balls.

“How many women did they kidnap?”

Five, counting me.

“The magic user’s name is Michael?” I took a wild guess.

Wow, how did you know? Luna looked impressed, even as a wolf.

“Trade secret. What did he do to capture the Commerce City pack?”

Luna scratched her ear with her hind leg. He said something that made them freeze, even in mid-motion. Any ideas?

“Hmm, could’ve been a paralysis spell or something as complex as a freezing time spell.” I scratched too, and hoped she didn’t have fleas. “You don’t remember the words, do you?”

Luna shook her head.

“Thought not.” I looked around to see the other werewolf females approach. I waved as Luna explained I was here to help, but I was thinking about how to free the Commerce City Wolfpack. I could go through official channels, but chances are the Commerce City Wolfpack—and possibly myself—would get arrested. Wouldn’t make a good impression to my bosses at the Denver Police Department Supernatural Unit. So, that was out.

But, I knew I was out of my league here. I didn’t have any of my magic books or magazines with me. I had a mean fireball and a solid shield, which would prevent the magic user, Michael, from freezing me, but counteracting a spell like this was something I wasn’t used to.

They just didn’t teach that sort of thing in Magic 101 in Undergraduate studies. Now, I had five female werewolves sitting before me and waiting for an idea. I was pretty sure they could take out the Boulder Five themselves.

Well? said Tara—one of the higher ranking Beta females. Her agouti gray coat gave her the classic wolf appearance. She didn’t really like me that much, but because Luna liked me, she tolerated me. Can you take out the magic user and free the Commerce City Wolfpack?

I shook my head. “I need help. It would be different if he didn’t have Red and Red’s pack frozen, but we don’t have that luxury. If I took him out, we’d still be looking at how to unfreeze them.”

They wouldn’t unfreeze if you killed him? Lorelei, a white wolf, asked.

“I don’t want to kill him. But to answer your question, it might free them from the spell. It might not. Depends what kind of magic he used.” I sighed. “I need a higher level mage.”

Well, hell, we’re near Boulder. There’s got to be magic users around. Some better than you. Tara shook herself.

“Good point.” I checked my smartphone. It