Her Perilous Wolf by Julie Steimle (free e books to read .txt) 📖

down at her chest, she saw the charm the witch doctor had given her had split into three parts, broken, the wound and colorful string barely holding it together. And weirdly, there was a hole in it. Odder still, she could see frost form on the silver bullet, the name Deacon standing out. It was like a message. It was like Wang Ruyi was saying, ‘He can’t protect you here’.

When they brought her into the hospital, Audry felt light headed. They got her to a doctor rather quickly and the doctor had them identify the snake.

“You are in luck. I have anti-venom for that.”

Audry looked at him, wondering if he really did. It was a demon bite, not a snake bite.

Yet Juma nodded, urging her to take the anti-venom while the doctor cleaned the wound and dressed it.

“What was that talk about you being a rich man’s granddaughter,” Mercy said as Audry leaned back against the table, allowing the anti-venom to do its work. The doctor was no longer in the room.

Turning her head, Audry shook it. “What does it matter? I don’t take money from my grandfather.”

But Juma was just beyond the curtain, over hearing her. He stepped in with a curious expression on his face. He pulled up a stool, sat on it quietly, then said, “But you never told me.”

Audry shrugged. “It didn’t matter, and it still doesn’t.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” Juma shook his head at her. “You are from a wealthy, important family. Your grandfather would be upset if you got hurt.”

“I am not from a wealthy family. My family is middleclass,” Audry huffed, staring at the ceiling. “My father was practically disowned for not going into the business.”

“Sure, princess,” Mercy said with an eye roll.

Grabbing Mercy with her wounded hand, Audry growled back, “Don’t call me that! We have never taken a penny from my grandparents. They didn’t approve of my parents’ marriage or any of our careers. They think we are a bunch of hippies.”

“Oh?” Mercy huffed with a peek to Juma who was still staring at Audry with a degree of disbelief as well as dismay that she had never shared this one secret with him—as if it had been a secret she was keeping. “Then how come that Chinese man practically bowed to you when you came in?”

“I was supposed to be a distraction!” Audry snapped, tossing up her hands. Her wounded hand throbbed. She immediately clenched it. Through her teeth, she said, “I figured ‘What the heck, why not drop a name?’ So I did. I’ve never done it before.”

Mercy rolled her eyes.

“What about the wolf?” Juma brought up, reluctantly accepting what she had said. “Was he talking about that werewolf you know?”

Audry nodded.

“And that man Chen?” Juma asked, his eyes focused on her eyes. “The one he got angry about?”

This time Audry shrugged. “I met Chen once, and just recently. The only thing I know about him was that he’s an American, but he had been in China for a while and had just returned to the States. Maybe Chen had done something to upset him when he was in China.”

Juma considered this with a nod, yet he said, “How would that snake man know your werewolf?” It was starting to feel like an interrogation.  

But she shrugged again. “No clue.”

He shook his head. “You can’t say that. You told me that if you mentioned his name, I would know who he was. You said he was famous or powerful.”

Shrugging more, she recalled having said that. But she did not want to divulge anything more than she had already said.

“What’s his name?”

She shook her head. “I’m not saying.”

“You will tell him!” Mercy demanded.

Audry turned her gaze onto Mercy, sat up straighter, and replied, “No. I won’t.”

Juma rose up from the stool, huffing.

“Juma. There is more to it than I told you. I may have saved his life twice, but he has been protecting me for years from even more dangerous… things.” She reached out to Juma. “You were right. The bullet is a good luck charm—but only because he feels like he owes me. He tried to hire a bodyguard for me once. He even tried to buy me a car.”

But that only got a dark look from Juma. Mercy looked smug.

“But he is an amazimu,” Juma said.

Audry shook her head. “No. It is different.”

“It is the same!” Juma snapped.

But she knew it was different. Whatever an amazimu was, they were African in origin and nature. They were also cannibals. Rick was nothing of the sort.

Mercy said, “Her brain may be addled from the bite. Maybe after a rest she will see clearly.”

Juma nodded, but he looked betrayed.

It hurt.

As they rode back to the group from the hospital, Juma was silent while Mercy stayed close to him, consoling him. Audry was not sure she liked or hated that. On one hand, it meant she was losing a friend. On the other, Juma would finally stop proposing to her. It wasn’t that she had not been flattered by it, but in good conscience she never did feel able to say ‘Yes’. He was just a friend to her, though precious.

“Audry,” Juma said when they arrived at the police station where the others had gone, “Would you ride back with Sefu and Luis while we make sure all the poached items are destroyed?”

Something dropped within her stomach. With a glance to Mercy who coolly maintained a pleasant face over her personal glow of triumph over a ‘competitor’, Audry sighed and nodded. It wasn’t like he was her boyfriend. She resigned to the fact that Mercy was getting what she wanted—and maybe finally she would let her alone. That woman’s jealousy was stupid to begin with.

Sefu and Luis, with Hezzy and Akachi, surrounded her to see her wound. Akachi pointed to her evil-eye charm. “That is broken. When did it happen?”

Audry shrugged. “I think when the snake bit me.”

Akachi drew in a breath. He looked to Sefu then the others. He whispered, “Does Juma know?”

Shrugging again, Audry said, “I don’t know. Actually, I think he is mad at me, so he probably didn’t see.”

Snorting, Sefu shook his head. “What for? You got attacked. Is he brain dead?”

But Akachi scratched the back of his neck, his face going hot. “Ah. I think I know.”

They looked to him.

Flushing more, Akachi whispered, “Our sweet lady is an heiress.”

“Am not,” Audry huffed, folding her arms—but instantly regretted it. Wincing, she grabbed her wrist.

Akachi shot her a chastening, yet understanding look. “You are. Your grandfather is a wealthy man.”

“And my father is not,” Audry countered.

They all stared, not comprehending.

She explained. “My father did not believe in the philosophy of working to just get rich. He wanted a career that benefitted society’s health—so he became a chiropractor.”

“A what?” Hezzy looked confused.

“But that’s still a doctor,” Luis protested with a laugh. Hezzy looked to him, wanting to know what kind of doctor it was.

Audry shook her head. “In the western medicine view, it is considered less, um, scientific. Chiropractors are not as respected as, say, mainstream medical doctors. My father is also into homeopathy.”

This time they all looked confused.

Except Luis said, “It still makes you rich.”

Sighing, Audry nodded. “Yes, we are well off. But I am not an heiress. I inherit nothing from my grandfather or father. I was homeschooled as a child, so I did not hang out with all the rich kids in fancy schools. I worked to put myself through college. I had academic scholarships besides.”

“And yet you used your grandfather’s name,” Akachi said, testing her.

Shooting him a sharp glare, she replied, “I knew his name had weight in international circles. And we needed a distraction.”

They thought on that silently.

“Why do you come to Africa, Audry?” Sefu asked finally.

“I am an anima—”

“We know that,” Luis interrupted impatiently. “But there are animals all over the world. Why Africa?”

She sighed. Why indeed? She shrugged. “I… have been trying to figure out my life. I love animals. I want to help them. And when I was first invited to Kenya years ago by a professor, and I got to rescue animals who were endangered, I felt so alive. I knew rescuing endangered animals was what I wanted to do. And though I have tried to help the animals in my country a number of times, including volunteer at clinics and research better ways to make a balance between civilization and nature, I…” she shook her head. “I’ve hit a brick wall in my research. And Africa seems to clear my head.”

Hezzy sighed. “So, you came here to clear your head?”

Audry shrugged. “And Juma invited me.”

They looked to where Juma was. Mercy was now hanging on his arm. They critically took that in.

“Do you like Juma at all?” Akachi asked.

“As a friend.” Audry rolled her eyes.

They all sighed heavily.

“You didn’t want to hear that, did you?” Audry shook her head. “Sorry.”

But Luis patted her on the back. “It’s ok. It was a longshot to begin with. We were just hoping.”

“Look,” Audry said, “I like Juma. I do. But I am not in love with him.”

“No, you are not,” Sefu murmured. “You love the wolf.”

She immediately colored. “I…”

“You just didn’t know the wolf was a man,” Sefu added wisely.

She averted her eyes.

“I do not understand,” Hezzy said. “What wolf? What man?”

“We’ll explain on the way back,” Sefu replied, and with a nod to Luis, added, “I think Audry is riding with us now. You come with us and we will tell you.”

“Or she can tell you,” Luis said.

Audry nodded. It wasn’t going to stay a secret anyway.

It was after another half hour before they finally rode back to the compound. It was late into the afternoon by then. Audry rode in the back with Hezzy and Darth, while Sefu drove with Luis in the front. They retold Audry’s story about the werewolf she had unknowingly rescued. They urged her to tell the rest. Audry did, still not divulging his name.

Hezzy asked, “Why will you not say his name?”

She closed her eyes. “Because… I’ve seen the bullet wounds in his body. He has been dodging hunters since he was thirteen. And he didn’t know what he was until then. It messed up his life. He’s not an amazimu. He’s not a cannibal. His favorite meat is chicken. Believe me. I know. I once tried to convince him to be a vegan, and he laughed at it. Besides, there was a time he was in Germany—and I get this from a friend who was with him at the time, eye witness—there were some German werewolves there who had trapped him and his three friends while they were there on a vacation, and those werewolves tried to get him to eat his friends. Normal human beings. And he refused.”

“Well—” Luis started.

“He protected them with his life,” Audry cut him off. “I saw the scars on his body that he got from fighting off that pack of werewolves to save them—and he could only save two of them. Those werewolves murdered one of them—and I knew the guy they killed. I had me him before on a ski trip. They were roommates at college. Good friends.”

“And who was this witness?” Hezzy asked. “Did he not get hurt?”

“Yes!” Audry snapped. “He had half his leg chewed up. They had to amputate it.”

All three of them went silent. Darth had been resting his head in Audry’s lap as the car rumbled on the bumpy road, gazing dolefully at her with sympathetic eyes.

“But I also spoke with people from their rescue crew.” Audry closed her eyes. “Rick is not a monster.”

“Rick?”

Audry slapped her sore hand over her mouth.

“What rich man do we know is named ‘Rick’?” Luis murmured.

Sefu shrugged.

Yet Hezzy looked thoughtful, murmuring, ‘red wolf’ under his breath.

Then a thought occurred to Luis. “Hey! Was he the wolf on your tee shirts?”

Audry nodded. “And laptop, and cell phone. I really didn’t know he was a werewolf. I just thought he was a really cool wolf.”

“You like