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

“Jase didn’t seem too impressed with me.”

“Jase is an idiot.” John turned to Mark. “Anyway, our new friend needs to rescue some werewolves from a rival pack.”

“Wow! Am I going?” Mark’s face lit up at the thought.

“No, but you are helping.” With that, John sprayed his kid with the potion.

“Whut…?” Mark dropped to the floor.

Alarmed, Luna and another werewolf named Cynthia sniffed his face. He looks asleep. Luna glanced up at me.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s powerful. Is he all right?”

“Oh yeah,” John said, handing me the spray bottle. “He’s just fast asleep. He’ll wake up in about an hour.”

“He’ll be pissed.”

“Yeah, but he’s used to it.” John waved his hand and the teen disappeared. “He’s back at his desk, sleeping it off.” He paused. “And caffeine counteracts it, so if the bad guys have been drinking coffee, it won’t last as long.”

“Thanks.” I looked at the bottle impressed. “Any ideas how to get the wolves out of stasis?”

“Knocking out the magic user usually works,” John said. “I like to use YouTube to get ideas for my new spells, so you might check there.”

“YouTube?” I blinked. “I like the wizarding magazines.”

“Yeah, but you have to pay for those. And you can learn just about anything on YouTube. I was thinking of becoming a surgeon next.” John nodded. “Here, take some tea samples and my card while you’re at it. You might enjoy them. Good luck. And have fun storming the castle.”

Chapter Eight

I rode north toward Niwot with my werewolf guard. I slipped the spray bottle, samples, and John’s business card in a zippered jacket pocket and hoped I wouldn’t crash. We were hitting rush hour and just about everyone drove 70 mph when I was terrified at going more than 45. I decided to ride on the shoulder with my flashers on to warn people to go around.

Most of the traffic was heading the same direction as we were traveling. Boulder, Colorado has frightfully expensive real estate, which make Niwot and other outlying towns more attractive. Not that they were cheap or anything. We took Niwot Road and parked in the same place where I had parked recently.

It was a little after 5 pm, which meant we had about two hours before sunset. That should give us enough time to rescue the Commerce City Wolfpack plus take care of the Boulder Five and their wizard.

While I had silver bullets for my 9mm, I didn’t want to use them. This was a rescue operation, not a hit. And I figured it would look bad on my job record as a police officer shooting someone while technically off duty and out of jurisdiction. While I could argue that I was saving lives, I didn’t know who had police records or spent jail time, and a judge might think I was helping the wrong guys.

Look, shooting people usually amounts to bodies and tons of paperwork. Something I wasn’t in the mood for.

I climbed off the Vespa and followed the werewolves to the warehouse where the Commerce City Wolfpack had been in suspended animation. I waved at the Denver pack wolves to wait until I was sure there weren’t any magical traps or tripwires. After I scanned the area, I motioned the female werewolves behind me and we crept toward the warehouse. I did a quick Ignore Me spell on our party so we wouldn’t garner attention. The spell works as a semi-illusion to make us look innocuous, but it also has an auditory component, making the sound of your movement and even your voice appear like the ambient noises. It wasn’t foolproof, and wouldn’t work if the Boulder Five were actively looking for us. But it’s a handy spell I learned from an article written by a professor in California. Apparently, he uses it a lot.

As I approached the back of the Quonset hut, we heard the Boulder Five werewolves talking.

“What are we going to do with them?” I heard Brandon’s voice distinctly. “We can’t just let them go—they’ll come back and beat the shit out of us.”

“I say we hang onto the girls,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. “We can kill the guys and make the chicks into our sex slaves.”

“Dude, that’s like really over the top.” Another voice spoke up.

“Name’s Anthony, not ‘dude.’ Anyway since the Denver bitches escaped, we can expect the Denver pack coming to pound us into the ground. I told you we should’ve killed Alaric, Michael.”

“No way, Anthony.” Michael spoke up. “It’s bad enough you made me into one of you. I’m not going to kill people just to get dates.”

“How long will the stasis last?” Brandon’s voice sounded worried.

“Maybe a few more hours,” Michael said. “I can’t hold them indefinitely. There’s more than a dozen here.”

“All the better that we move the Harleys and kill the guys,” Anthony spoke.

“What do you think, Justin?” Michael asked.

“I don’t know. That sounds really bad.” Justin’s voice hedged.

“Ryan?”

“Hey man, I was against it from the beginning.”

“Are you guys going against me?” Anthony’s voice came out in a low growl.

“Not me.” Brandon’s weaselly voice cut through the growls.

“One and a half against three,” Michael said. “You knock me out or kill me and you’ll have the Commerce City Wolfpack in your lap.”

I glanced at the female wolves. “What do you think? We aid Michael?” They nodded. I held up a finger for them to wait.

“One and a half?” Anthony was saying. “Nice. You always were a bit of a joker. How’d you like those girls biting your balls, eh? Still missing parts?”

“Fuck you!” Michael said and I heard what amounted to an explosion. The telltale magic use made me itch. The noise turned from growls into snarls as the sounds of a vicious pack fight started.

“Now!” The female werewolves and I leapt at the door. We all slammed against it. A stout steel door, it wouldn’t budge. I forgot to check if Boulder Five had locked it. We all bounced off and I swore.

“What the fuck was that?” Justin shouted from