"Thanks," she whispered, struggling to get over the top. "We'll have to bring wire cutters next time."
"Won't be a next time." He dropped on the other side, and then he reached up and helped her to the ground.
They dashed for the next fence and the promise of deep woods and the security of Forest Park, the bugs cricketing in a chorus as if cheering them on. As long as no park rangers caught them running in the park after it was officially closed for the night, they'd make it just fine.
"How are your knees?" Cassie asked, trying to reach the top of the next fence.
"Need some tender loving care."
She shook her head. He gave her another boost. "Ahh," she said. "Watch where you put your fingers."
"Sorry, hand slipped, but someone seems ready for me again."
"Yeah, but this isn't a really good time." She glanced back at the first fence. The gray wolves were watching them from their enclosure. "Hope nobody sees them watching this way and comes to inspect."
They'd made it over the second fence when Leidolf grabbed Cassie's hand and ran full speed for the safety of the forest.
Footfalls hurried toward the wolf exhibit, and Thompson's deep voice said, "I know, Joe. I'm not happy about it, either. The crew to install security cameras won't be here for another couple of weeks. They have to get funding approved, work orders, you name it."
"That means we'll have to do some surveillance. But the word's not going out until tomorrow. If anyone's going to steal them, it'll take some planning and..."
Leidolf continued to race with Cassie through the woods and then pulled her to a stop. "Let's shift. You okay?"
She nodded, her face flushed, her breathing fast. "I get to do a lot of running when I'm around you."
He shook his head. "Running away from me, you mean. This time we're running together." He kissed her lips again, rubbed her chilled arms, and said, "Let's shift."
"Any second, Thompson and Joe are going to know we've escaped," Cassie said.
"Where are they?" Joe asked.
Cassie shape-shifted and then waited for Leidolf. "Stick close to me, Cassie." Then he shifted and ran off in the direction of Carver's home, his wolf mate by his side.
But this time he meant to keep her safe.
Tynan stood a little way away, while Irving tilted his head to the side and smiled, but the look was pure maliciousness as he faced Alice and her sister. "Your father wouldn't want you girls running around in a closed park at night, now would he?"
Tynan shook his head. "Nope. You belong in bed. Run along now."
"Leidolf's--" Sarah said.
Alice bumped her arm as if she lost her balance. She didn't trust the men, and the girls were supposed to be quiet about Leidolf and his confinement in the zoo.
"We were just taking a walk. Guess we lost track of time," Alice coolly said.
"We won't tell your dad. Run along home now." Irving wasn't much taller than Alice, and the way he considered her--like he'd finally noticed she was not just a kid--gave her the creeps.
She didn't like it that he thought he could boss her around, either. Her father, yes. Leidolf, certainly. One of the other sub-leaders, of course. But not these men who broke Leidolf's rules all the time.
"Thanks," Alice said, then grabbed Sarah's hand and hurried her back in the direction of the house.
"What about Leidolf?" Sarah whispered to her, trying to keep up with Alice's quickened pace.
"We'll have to go farther around, maybe by the elk exhibit." Alice's phone vibrated, and she jerked it out of her pocket. "Evan, where are you?" she asked, her voice hushed.
"I'm right outside the fence for the wolves' exhibit. But I smelled Leidolf and Cassie beyond the fence. I think they've already escaped. If they did slip out, they'll be headed for your house," he said, his voice low.
"Irving and Tynan are out here."
Silence.
"Evan?"
"Go home. I'm headed that way. Don't stop for anything. Just go."
"Evan, what's wrong?"
"Trust me... just go."
Alice's heart was beating spastically as she shoved her phone back in her pocket. She grabbed her sister's hand and rushed for the house.
"What's wrong?" Sarah whispered.
"I don't know. Evan knows something about Irving and Tynan, but he wouldn't say. It's not good. The good news is Leidolf and Cassie freed themselves and are on their way to our home."
That's when gunshots rang out. Alice and Sarah froze and then dropped to the ground.
"Where is the shooting coming from?" Sarah whispered.
"Directly behind us."
"From where we just left Irving and Tynan," Sarah added.
"But neither was carrying a rifle." Alice listened for any sounds to indicate the men were headed in their direction, but except for the bugs making all their ruckus and the breeze tossing the branches about, no other sounds intruded.
"Then someone's shooting at them."
"I want you to stay in the Humvee," Carver told Aimee as they pulled up along a street near the zoo, with five other pickups owned by pack members parking behind them as they arrived in rescue mode to free Leidolf and Cassie from the zoo.
But Aimee wasn't staying behind. If she could save her cousin this time, she'd be there for her. "What's the plan?" She climbed out of the vehicle wearing Carver's shirt and jacket and his boxers, while he was left wearing his sweater and jeans.
"You're not dressed for this kind of weather, no shoes even," he scolded, trying to convince her to stay behind.
Elgin, Fergus, and the other men gathered around. Elgin offered, "I'll leave a couple of my men with you."
"I'm not worried about Irving if I stay with you," she said, tugging at Carver's sweater.
Elgin sniffed the air. In a hushed voice, he said, "Leidolf and Cassie have already broken out on their own. But Evan's out here, too."
Fergus growled under his breath, "He'll be grounded for a year."
Carver hurried to join them with Aimee in tow, joining in on the conversation but keeping his voice low in the event that zoo personnel were in the vicinity. "They'll be headed for my place. Come on. Let's go."
That's when they heard men rushing out of the wolf's pen. Carver and the rest of Leidolf's people stood in the woods quietly listening.
"I can't believe they're really not there," Joe said. "How in the hell did they know the wolves were here already? And free them so quickly? No fences cut that I could see. Just a man and woman's bare footprints. Hell, how could anyone be running around in bare feet in this cold, and why?"
"We'll stop them this time," Thompson said. "They can't have freed the wolf with pups and Big Red, too." He paused at the next exhibit. "Gray wolves are still here. The thieves were only after the red wolves. Come on."
"You know what this reminds me of?"
"What, Joe?"
"That Bella Wilder found naked here last year. You don't think they're some kind of cult that runs around naked with wolves, do you?"
Thompson laughed. "Hell if I know. Maybe they didn't think we could track them if they left footprints instead of boot treads. Who knows?"
Carver and the others returned to the vehicles and drove to Carver's home just up the road. Built back in the late eighteen-hundreds, the house had large enclosed porches and five bedrooms. It was perfect for pack gatherings when members were in Portland because the house backed up on Forest Park. For once, Carver felt a pang of sympathy for Fergus having to deal with a son who was too busy kissing the girls to do any real ranching--and now was in as much trouble as their new pack members. Although he remembered being the same way when he was a teen, and he sure as hell didn't want Evan around his daughters because of it.
When he arrived at his home, he did a double take when he spied Leidolf's yellow Jag sitting in the driveway, and immediately he thought of... Evan.
But what was he doing at his house? No, they'd smelled his scent at the zoo. He had to have gone to rescue Leidolf.
His girls!
A sickening dread filled him. He'd kill Evan if the girls went with him and anything bad happened to them.
"Did your bullets hit Leidolf?" Tynan whispered, somewhere several yards away from where Alice and Sarah lay still in the ferns.
Terrified, Alice reached for her sister's hand and held on tight.
"I don't think so. He would have yelped," Irving whispered back.
They meant to kill Leidolf?
Sarah shivered, and a chill ran up Alice's spine. They had to warn Cassie and Leidolf. They had to warn Evan.
Alice's phone vibrated in her pocket, but she didn't dare open it for fear Irving and Tynan would see the light from it.
"We've got to reach them before they get to Carver's house. The pack will gather there as soon as the rest get word Leidolf's thought to be in the zoo," Irving warned.
"I think we should just get out of here. Leave well enough alone. We couldn't find that woman's body, and if Leidolf or any of their men discover it, we're in big trouble. We missed killing Leidolf again. We're going to end up just like Alfred, feeding the worms beneath the earth," Tynan said.
"He took us in, damn it. When no other pack wanted us, Alfred gave us a home and taught us what we needed to know about being werewolves. He appreciated us for all that we did for him. That damn Leidolf took over, and if he learns what we've done... hell, once we get rid of him permanently, we can take over. Elgin and the others will never be able to run the pack on their own without having to look to someone else for guidance. And they'll get it. From me. Come on, we're wasting time."