Another shot was fired, then two more. Another three. The humans who were shooting at them could never catch up to them. But what if whoever was shooting at them had seen them come out through Carver’s back gate?
Though Sierra and Adam were still keeping their distance from each other, they were within earshot to ensure they didn’t lose each other. They kept running away from Carver’s place, and she assumed Adam worried about the same thing. They didn’t slow down for several minutes, and finally when they knew they were far enough away that the humans wouldn’t be able to catch up to them, they slowed down and then made their way to each other.
Their hearts were racing, and they were panting. She didn’t think the humans would ever be able to locate them in the dark now, not without the ability she and Adam had to run as fast as they could. And the shooters wouldn’t have the wolves’ enhanced sense of smell so they could track them.
But returning to the house was another story, if what she was afraid of turned out to be true—that the shooters had seen them leave Carver’s backyard through the gate.
Adam shifted and crouched down in the ferns. “If this has to do with Dover and they tracked us from the house, we can’t go there. They could be waiting for us to return there.”
She shifted. “Then what do we do? What if we make our way to the front of the house instead, sneak in through the front gate and get dressed out back. I mean, if they saw us naked, they couldn’t very well shoot us. Right now, they could say they were shooting at dogs, well, coyotes, not people. I’m sure they figure that at least one of us has to be the ‘dog’ in my hotel room that day that Dover got caught. And they’re determined to kill it. If it has to do with Dover and his people.”
“As long as they don’t want to kill us even if we’re in our human forms too. Carver has a keypad lock to the front door, and he has a security alarm set whenever he’s away. We can make our way to the house as wolves and shift in the shrubs before we reach it. You’ll remain hidden and I’ll race to the house and unlock the door, turn off the security alarm, and wave to you to come inside. Then we can take it from there.”
“They have a spare bedroom with clothes for guests who run into trouble. He told me that when I first moved into the area and planned to run in the park.”
“Exactly. So I’ll grab something to wear in there and let you in. Let’s shift and go. There’s a break between homes at the cul-de-sac and we can hide there,” Adam said.
She sure hoped this worked out and no neighbor saw them running naked through the front yard.
Adam said, “I’ll make sure the coast is clear in the backyard, and you come through the front gate. Shrubs hide that area more than they do the entryway and front door.”
“Good idea. I worry when I park a vehicle at their house and they’re gone, believing neighbors will think I’m breaking in.”
“He let his neighbors know he lets his friends use his property whether he’s here or not.”
“And you know the keypad and security number?”
“I’m a police detective. If they ever have trouble while they’re away, they want me to check on it. Or Josh, even though he’s retired, or Ethan.” Then Adam shifted and so did she.
She prayed they wouldn’t run into the shooters on the way back to Carver’s house.
Chapter 14
Adam and Sierra began moving back in the direction of Carver’s house but way around from where they had run initially, just in case the shooters were trying to track them down. She really didn’t think they would be successful. Initially, the shooters had a couple of chances to hit Sierra and Adam, but after that, they’d lost that chance. Man, did she want to terminate them. If they had killed either Adam or her while running as a wolf, they would have turned back into their human form. She could just imagine the shooters trying to explain that away and the mess all the wolves would be in, not to mention how awful it would be to lose a pack mate. She suspected whoever survived would have to kill the shooters—not out of revenge, but they couldn’t risk the shooters telling what they’d seen.
It took Sierra and Adam a good hour to make it safely back to Carver’s house because they were trying to avoid running into the men. They never saw them, though they were watching and listening for any sign of humans tromping through the underbrush in hot pursuit. When they reached the cul-de-sac, she waited in the shrubs as a wolf, figuring she would be well hidden if the men ended up around here somewhere, while Adam, to her surprise, stayed as a wolf too, ran to the front door, and disappeared in the deep recesses of the entryway.
She assumed he’d thought better of running naked through the front yard with the streetlamps giving off a fair amount of light. If anyone saw him as a naked human, they might have called the police, but in his wolf form, they would most likely think he was a dog or possibly a coyote, not a wolf anyway. There weren’t any wolves in the Portland area, only coyotes.
She heard the front door open and close. It seemed like it took him forever to turn off the security alarm before he came around through the backyard to the side gate, opened it, and whistled for her to let her know it was him and not anyone else. She raced into the yard and past him into the house.
He was wearing a pair of jeans, and she assumed that was the reason it had taken him longer to come for her.
She shifted. “You can get our clothes out of the shed since you’re partially clothed. I’m going to get a glass of water for each of us.” She was dying of thirst. She imagined he was too.
He soon returned with their clothes and they dressed and drank the water.
“Well, that was quite a run that I hadn’t expected,” she said, relieved they were safe for the moment but worried about who the shooters were and why they’d been shooting at them.
“Yeah, and not in a good way either.” Adam already had his phone out and was calling the incident into the police. “This is Detective Holmes. My friend and I were sitting out back having a drink and heard gunfire in Forest Park, north of Carver’s place.” He gave the officer the address. “Yeah, thanks.” He ended the call. “They’re sending some officers, but I’ll need to go with them to help search for the shooters. I know the park as well as the park rangers who work there. Even better than them, actually.”
“From running all over the place as a wolf. Besides having the nose of a bloodhound.”
“Exactly. I have to get my gun from the Hummer. After the police get here, I want you to drive to my house. I’ll most likely be tracking these men down for a couple of hours, and you can get some sleep in the meantime. I’ll get one of the officers who is helping with the manhunt drop me off at my house afterward. I have a spare house key, so you can take the one I have with the key to the Hummer.” He grabbed his gun, flashlight, gloves, and baggies for evidence from the locked glove box and walked Sierra back inside.