THE LAST WEREWOLF

CHAPTER 12 (Avery)

After staying up late on her laptop working on the latest Good Samaritan story, Avery popped into the office early the next morning to finish up the article, line edit it, and put a final proofread and polish on the text. By mid-morning she had completed the next-to-last draft, the one that needed only Lexa Nash's few tweaks and approval. With that version saved to her documents file, she composed an email, attached the story titled Encounter of the Wolf Kind, and sent it to her boss.

When Lexa strolled into the office, Avery swiveled her chair and caught her before she entered her office. "I know you said my story was due by the end of the day, but it's done and waiting for you in your inbox."

"Impressive," Lexa replied. "I'll check it out and have it back to you by nine. Once you make the revisions, we'll forward it to the presses."

She inserted the key into her office door, but before she turned it, Avery said, "There's something else I need to talk to you about. It could be huge."

Her boss frowned.

"Just hear me out." Avery bolted up from her chair. "Sixty seconds."

"Thirty."

"Deal."

She followed Lexa into her office and shut the door behind her back, hearing the mechanism click in the frame. As soon as the woman put her purse on the floor next to her desk and sat in her plush leather chair, Avery started her pitch.

"You said if I got video evidence of the hero, maybe including the wolf too that's been terrorizing the town of Pineridge, you would approve the big story I'd shelved. This is personal, I admit it, because whether anyone believes me, I know the town hero rescued me from that burning car three months ago. The driver's side door was ripped off, and it wasn't because of the crash. The fire chief said it was highly unlikely that the door would have come off during the accident. He said it looked like it had been sheared from the car after it came to rest, like someone had torn it off."

Lexa looked at her watch. "You have ten seconds left."

"I believe I know how to lure the hero and maybe the wolf out of hiding."

"How?"

"I believe both of them are drawn to me in some strange, unbelievable way. Maybe it's because I'm a reporter and they want me to get their stories straight or they want to shut my stories down. I don't know. It could be some other reason. Maybe they're madly in love with me."

Lexa's brows furrowed.

"But one thing's for sure, they're hanging on every word I write."

Lexa pursed her lips in serious thought. "I can't sanction something that puts your life at risk... so don't share the details with me. If you can get solid proof the hero exists, especially if you can catch him facing off against the wolf, we'll run with your story. If you nail this, it won't be a first section, back page article, I'll put you on the front page."

Avery's eyes bulged. "I'm on it."

"Now get out of my office so I can read the story you submitted this morning."

With that, Avery spun on her heel and left the room, shutting the door behind her, her mind whirling around her. She could do this, bring actual proof there was a hero in Pineridge, not just a figment of everyone's imagination. If she could catch him battling the wolf, she could show his supernatural power to the world. But as for his identity, she would keep that to herself... she smiled warmly as she considered who the hero was. She believed she knew.

When nine o'clock rolled around, Avery made Lexa's changes to this week's story and emailed it back to her to publish. Just in case her plan fell through, she brainstormed on ideas for the next article, but couldn't take her mind off of Dorian Steele and the story she really wanted to write.