Page 5 of Wrong Number, Right Gray Wolf

“Seven, eight, nine.” Her little voice didn’t waver. She was so brave.

“I’m here, I’m here.”

“Stephen.”

“I’m in the car, and I’m coming to your house. I’ll beep the horn when I get there so when I get to the door, I hope you can open it.”

My heart was hammering against my ribs. If the police caught me talking and driving, I could explain, but that would take ages and they’d need to check, and all of that would leave Posy waiting at home. I slapped the phone onto the magnet mount and took off with a screech.

I caught all the green lights, but it felt as though I was on a treadmill and designed to never reach my goal. The world was in slow motion, and I told the universe to speed it up.

Hurry, hurry. My fox was as anxious as I was to reach Posy and find out what happened to her father.

“Where are you, Stephen? I can’t see you and it’s dark outside.”

“Almost there.” I needed to think of something to distract her. “Ummm, I collect buttons. Do you collect anything, Posy?’

“Buttons.” She giggled. “That’s funny.”

“Yeah, it is. I love all the different colors and shapes.”

“I have some teddy bears. They’re lined up against the wall.”

“What color are they?”

“Brown and, ummm, not as brown, pink, and there’s a white one that Daddy says needs a wash.”

I careened around a corner and pulled up at the house. There was a car in the driveway which wasn’t a good sign and one light on at the back. But as I charged up the path, a man got out of the car, and the pair of us rushed to the little girl who was outlined on the porch by the guy’s headlights.

What the ever-loving… who the heck was he? I shoved him to the side as I reached the stairs and put my arms out. “Posy?”

She was wearing a white nightgown with a pink rabbit embroidered on the shoulder. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She nodded, but as I was about to hug her, the other guy wrenched my shoulder, and I toppled down the stairs.

“Posy, go back inside.” I had to deal with this guy and phone the police.

“Daddy.”

Huh? I wasn’t her dad, so why was she calling me that? I glanced up and the guy was hugging her. Oh shit. The guy I’d just manhandled was her father. Yikes. But where had he been and how did he leave a child home alone?

Posy looked at me over her dad’s shoulder. “Are you Stephen?”

“Yes.”

But her father stood while holding his daughter. “Who are you and how do you know my daughter’s name?”

There was venom in his voice, but now that my fury had decreased, I paid attention to his scent. I’d been so desperate and angry when I arrived, I’d pushed it away, thinking only of Posy.

“He helped me, Daddy, I phoned him and he came.”

The guy shook his head, and I understood his confusion trying to piece together how Posy knew me and why I was brawling with him.

I mumbled this and that, and Posy interjected, and we sort of got the story clear. But my head was muddled by his scent. I’d had my head in the clouds, imagining my fated mate was going to be the one calling me. Instead, he was this so-and-so, a wolf shifter by the sniff of it, who’d left his daughter home alone.

But was I his fated mate? He screwed up his face as if he caught a whiff of something bad.

Hey, what’s wrong with him? My fox was ready for a fight.

But I told him to calm down.