A New Beginning. Joycee Clark
pissed you off, we weren’t sure we could get away with all our body parts.” They all laughed and once again Mariah was at ease.
Lucca and Garret talked about their Special Forces training and how the guys got together and bought land alongside the government land. They felt they could protect theirs for future families as well as the government land. They were all in public service. Firefighters, sheriff, search and rescue, forest rangers, animal protection. They did anything and everything. They explained that Lucca and Garret were raised together, so had always done things together, including their service time. Mariah in turn told them about her sisters and the fun times they had together, how she was already missing her twin even though she had already talked to her on the phone and computer more than 8 hours since she had arrived the day before. She talked about her education, when and where she had studied wolves and how excited she was to get started. Totally excited and looking forward to her wolves arrival, and possibly other wolves in the area.
The meal went by fast, they drove around town to show Mariah what was available as far as stores went, even showed her the local school system, the gym, and town center the guys had built, the sheriff’s office. The grand tour didn’t take long so they headed back to Mariah’s cabin. They had left lights on, but Lucca noticed before they got clear up to the cabin, there was a dead rabbit on the steps. Lucca shut off the truck and told Mariah to stay in the truck with Garret, just to be on the safe side, although she hadn’t noticed the rabbit yet. Garret kept Mariah talking while Lucca removed the rabbit and walked around scenting. If a predator had taken the rabbit down, it would have been a meal, not left on a porch step. Someone was letting her know they were around. Not good. Lucca and Garret would not stand for Mariah being scared or harassed. Time to start guard duty. No one was getting to their mate, they’re dead meat. If they want to play games with her, they’ll not only have to play with Garret and Lucca, they would have to face the entire pack of shifter wolves!
Chapter Nine
Lucca and Garret discussed the situation after they got Mariah settled and locked in. Took another tour around the property to insure she was alone and headed to the Lodge. While they were checking the property Garret got a text from Dean, the Alpha calling a meeting at the Lodge as soon as everyone could get there. Garret and Lucca weren’t the first to arrive, but ahead of most. The look of serious concern on their Alpha’s face let them know this was going to be an intense meeting. When everyone was there they all sat quietly, the couple that couldn’t make it would receive a text with the information, while on patrol.
Dean called the meeting to order and stood at the front with Linc Morris, the Cedar Creek Sheriff. Dean told Linc to begin. Linc began, “tonight the body of Sherry McCalister was discovered two miles south of Cedar Creek in the woods. Naked, severely abused and raped. She did not have an easy death. The mutilation was not animal. In fact she was still warm when Karl and Kane found her when they had gone for their run after work. As Forest Rangers, they knew long before they reached the body from the scent, but whomever it was poured vinegar over everything to ruin his scent, no other traces were found. I need everyone of you to be on the lookout for a stranger, possibly more than one.
Bob and Beth, at the diner are devasted because they called nothing in when Sherry didn’t show up for work at the diner, thinking it was just another youth escapade. Sherry had worked for them for a couple years, and may have met the perpetrators at the diner. Sherry’s family, will of course, cooperate any way they can, but we need to give them time to grieve and I will update them with any new information throughout the investigation.
Lucca and Garret both raised a hand. “Eh, don’t know if this is related, but it certainly might. Someone left flowers on the table on the front porch of Mariah’s cabin, when she was there. She didn’t hear or see anything or anyone and thought we had left them. Then after we took her to town to eat at the diner, when we got back, right before we came to this meeting, there was a dead rabbit on the front steps. Lucca removed it before Mariah could see it. but he also couldn’t catch any new or strange scents. We may need help watching over her if we get called out on a job, but this guy seriously needs caught and removed from this world. Garret finished.
“By the way,” Lucca added, “Mariah Marten is our new tenant and our mate! Both Lucca and Garret grinning. They all congratulated them and it gave them just a bit of hope that they too had a chance of finding a mate. “Hey Garret have you told her yet? They all laughed. “Oh, of course not Sawyer, we just met her yesterday! Garret replied. They all laughed again. Dean entered the conversation, “This means Mariah is now part of pack, whether she knows it or not, so she is entitled to the protection of the entire pack.” They all nodded then back to business.
They discussed a strategy for patrols and protection not only for Cedar Creek, but also for Mariah and her area. This is the first murder on their mountain and they were all going to see to it that there wasn’t another.
Dean also announced weather forecasts for their mountain, and it looked like a blizzard was headed their way. Any of those that had plans to leave the mountain just had their plans changed, everyone had to be available for emergencies.
Chapter Ten
Mariah was ready for her wolves with two days to spare. She had gone over all her paperwork, had her cabin set up, enough wood to last most of the winter and soon Garret and Lucca would be there to take her into town for supplies. They had offered to take her because of the weather warnings that were out for the area. No running out of Beer, diet soda or popcorn! It was beautiful outside, clear sky, and warmth from the sun. Animals scurrying to get their needs ready and a lot of chattering between the squirrels. Mariah loved her little mountain retreat and looked forward to the different seasons she would get to witness along with the wildlife, now she just needed her wolves and the two guys that made her feel so welcome here.
She was starting to relax around Garret and Lucca, a first for her. She had never relaxed or trusted any males even though she knew it was past time to release the memories especially since the nightmares had finally stopped. She wanted to be normal and be loved for the first time in her adult life and was determined this time to give herself a chance at accepting others for what they were and not her negative perception of the world and the guys in it. She had gotten off the phone with Maranda after another pep talk, got her coat on, and went to the front porch to wait for her escort into town.
As she sat enjoying the wildlife in the area, she noticed a huge gray wolf come out of the trees close to her cabin, she tried to figure out what to do. She had already locked the door to the cabin, she didn’t hear the guys truck yet. She noticed the huge wolf watching her really close and very slowly coming toward her. Out of all the thousands of articles she had read about her favorite wild animal, nothing had prepared her for the size or confrontation of the wolf. She sat very still as the wolf walked up to her. He had gray eyes that reminded her of Garret’s eyes with thick gray fur with black tips on most of the fur, also a black throat to match his black paws.
“Well, aren’t you friendly?” Mariah said softly. “Are you here to eat me? Hope not, eh, you are really beautiful, beautiful and very large, you must be into health food.” Mariah kinda chuckled thinking to herself how stupid she must sound talking to the wild wolf. “Oh my, you’re getting closer, do you need to sniff your next meal? Mariah slowly stuck her hand out toward the wolf, quietly praying he had already eaten and was just curious. Just as he reached to sniff Mariah’s hand, he lowered his head and came up underneath, so her hand was on top of his head.
Mariah was so surprised, she didn’t want to pull her hand back too fast for fear of startling her new wolf., so she started petting him and cooing to him at the same time. Then up pulled Lucca in their truck and the huge gray wolf trotted off.
Mariah watched the wolf, then looked at Lucca and said one word. “Explain”. Lucca and Garret had already talked about this and had a plan, so that Mariah could get use to their wolves, because they couldn’t always be here to keep her safe, to protect her. They wanted her to feel safe, even if they weren’t around, and they wanted to start her off with their wolves first.
“Mariah, I know you have questions, and we’ll