Howl

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Running around neighborhoods in south Denver had not proven to be very successful. Lukas spent all of Sunday attempting to pick up Emma’s scent, only stopping when Amber made him eat. Once night fell, Lukas shifted into his wolf form, as his sense of smell was superior as a wolf. Unfortunately, he had to let Amber put a collar on him so he could better pose as a dog, although anyone taking a good look at him would be extremely suspicious, which was why they waited until night.

Even in his wolf form, Lukas was unable to find her scent, at least not very strongly. There were a few places where he could smell her, but it was faint and there was no trail. Eventually, Amber’s mate came looking for her. She wasn’t about to leave Lukas out on the street, and he wasn’t about to stop searching. Amber’s mate simply grabbed him by the collar and threw him in the back seat of his vehicle.

Lukas found himself dropped off at Sophia’s, still in his wolf form. Fortunately, it was late enough that none of the human neighbors were likely to notice him and he quickly jumped the fence into the backyard, and then ran to the door and started pawing at it.

Talon heard the noise first and came to investigate. He hesitated when he saw Lukas, but he opened the door to let him in. “Nice collar,” he said.

Lukas growled at him, but did nothing else. Instead of getting into another fight with Talon, he went in search of someone who would take the collar off. He hoped to see Sophia or Jason, but he only found unfamiliar wolves. He’d been introduced to them, but he didn’t recall their names. He didn’t like asking strangers for help, but he had no choice and walked up to an older man sitting in a chair watching TV.

Lukas made a small yip to get the man’s attention and he looked down at the collared wolf. When Lukas whimpered, he got the point and undid the collar. Once he was free of annoying piece of material, Lukas ran off, ignoring the old man as he muttered, “Who in the hell was that?”

He sniffed out Sophia, who was in the basement along with Jason. Talon joined them soon, having followed Lukas down the stairs. Once he was downstairs, Lukas took the time to revert to his human form so he could speak.

“I heard we might have a hunter problem,” Sophia said. “I don’t understand why we’re wasting time looking for a damn human, but I suppose you’re the expert and know what you’re doing.”

“I do,” Lukas said, having turned back into a human and regaining the ability to speak. “I should be out there looking for her still…”

“You look like hell,” Sophia said. “Rest for a while and then go back out. I imagine you had to have your ass dragged here by someone else and need a ride back to the area you’re searching.”

“Yeah.”

“Fine.” Sophia picked up a mug and handed it to Lukas. “Drink this.”

Lukas obeyed and started to drink the warm beverage, as he realized how thirsty he was. Once he finished, he remembered why he always asked questions when someone handed him food or drink. He yawned and his eyelids started to feel heavy. “Assholes,” he mumbled, fighting to stay awake. “You drugged me.”

“Jason told me you were worked up over something. I can’t have you running around tired, so I made some damn tea for you and made sure that Amber and her mate knew to bring you here.”

“Hate you guys,” he grumbled just before finally succumbing to sleep.

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