4. Chapter 4
Micah
Something felt different between Lee and me in the next two days.
I could sense the change but couldn’t put my finger on it.
We wolfed up and ran Wednesday night and Thursday as well, and in fur, Lee felt more and more like my pack.
Those hours were glorious. But once we were back in skin, a distance opened between us that hadn’t been there before.
I wondered if he was more enamored of Peggy than he was willing to admit, and depressed about her coming departure, but that didn’t quite fit. If she’d mattered that much to him, I think he’d have dropped Chuck off a cliff long ago, laws be damned.
Regardless, he made a quick plumbing run to fix some leaking pipes Friday morning and was back at the house by eleven-thirty. I’d stuck around his main room all morning, keeping my ear out for his phone, but Hannah hadn’t called. It seemed like we were a go.
“Let me get cleaned up, and then we’ll get you ready,” Lee said, walking past me to the bathroom. The scent of his body wafted to me as he passed and I breathed deeply. Something inside me perked up and wanted that presence, that scent, needed to stay close to Lee.
Not just for my wolf but for me, an ache for his voice and touch that was almost sexual in its intensity.
Sometimes I looked at him and my skin felt too tight and my dick almost wanted to rise like he was Janet, the woman I’d loved.
Like we needed to be melded together, one creature with a single purpose.
The thought was crazy— surely the product of too long spent as a lone wolf, denying my need for pack and bonds— but there were moments when knowing I’d still be near him tomorrow was the only thing that kept me breathing easy.
Every time I wondered if I should move on, a moment like that would sink deep into me and make me decide to stay. A little longer.
I headed into Lee’s bedroom, where I’d laid out the dress— the little storeroom I slept in barely had space to turn around.
I’d stripped down to my skivvies when I heard Lee say, “Oh!” behind me.
When I turned, he was standing there wearing just a small towel, his skin damp from the shower. “I… need to get dressed,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, me too. At least you get to put pants on.” I eyed the dress. “Although perhaps I should wear my clothes under that, just in case. Wouldn’t want to be arrested for indecency.”
“Yes. No. No indecency.” Lee still sounded tongue-tied. He turned away from me and dropped the towel, fumbling in a drawer for his underwear. While his thighs and chest were heavily furred, the round globes of his ass had smooth skin like a woman’s.
My body obviously got confused too, because I felt my dick stir, then harden.
I reminded myself that wasn’t the first time that’d happened around naked male flesh.
There’d been no women for a thousand miles over months at a time in the Pacific.
We’d all— or many, at least— helped each other out and, naturally, a reaction to the sight of a naked man became a side effect some of us came away with.
But I’d never reacted to another wolf that way.
“Queer wolves are a fatal risk to the pack. They must be hunted out and purged before they bring us all down.” I could hear those words in my father’s voice from the time I was thirteen, our Alpha laying down the laws.
His intensity had terrified me then, before I even knew what a queer wolf was, and the memory made my stomach lurch now.
I’m not queer. But I couldn’t risk Lee even suspecting I was. I didn’t think he’d try to kill me, but seeing our friendship turn to disgust on his face would break me.
I whirled to face the bed and fumbled for my Levis, tugging them back on. Thinking about the beaches of Okinawa awash in bodies and blood took care of my stupid erection quickly, letting me tuck my softened dick away. I tugged the zipper up and sucked in a breath before turning.
Lee was dressed in khaki work pants, buttoning them as I watched. His naked chest and rippled abdomen under their layer of dark curls seemed to mock me, pulling my eyes. I turned away again.
It’s been too long since I got laid. I couldn’t even remember the name of the last woman I was with, some blonde in a bar. Perhaps I never knew it. I worked my head and arms into my T-shirt, then lifted the dress over my head.
I was slim for a wolf, but Peggy was far more slender.
We’d had to cut some of the seams till it was more a dress-shaped drapery than a garment.
Still, I got tangled in the sleeves and Lee had to help me guide my wrists through the remains of the cuffs.
His fingers were hot on my skin as he tugged the light-green sprigged cotton around me.
The skirt draped over my Levis, and he moved to button the front for me.
“Very fetching, if a little loose here.”
No doubt that was meant to be a joke, but his fingers tweaked the fabric of the bosom of the gown right over my nipple. I took a breath, and our eyes met for an instant. I saw gold deepen in the moss green of his irises. I didn’t dare wonder what he saw in mine.
I turned away. “I’ve got the rest of this, thank you.
Get yourself ready, or I’ll end up the stereotypical wife.
” I pitched my tone high. “Come on, husband. I’m all ready and you’re only half dressed.
” Then I flinched, because channeling my mother to Lee, while wearing a dress, was confusing my brain.
“Not that you’re my husband.” And that’s making it worse.
But Lee laughed. “Bet I can put on my shirt and socks before you get your hair done.”
His humor relaxed the twisted-up bit inside of me. “No bet.”
In fact, it took five more minutes before we had my hair done up in a high ponytail like Peggy’s. I draped the shawl over my shoulders and turned the hat in my hands. “I hope this works after all the effort. I’m going to sweat like a pig.”
“I hope it works for Peggy’s sake,” Lee said, opening the front door for me as if I were a woman.
“Well, of course.” I stalked through. I was doing this for Peggy, Lee’s friend, a woman I didn’t even know.
As big as I talked about drag, I knew that if the Sheriff pulled us over with me a dark-skinned, supposedly-poor man in a dress, I’d be in for a lot more than a sideways look. This charade was all for Lee’s benefit.
He opened the truck door for me too, and I got in. At least the fashion for women’s clothes had skirts shortening every year, so the hemline landed barely below my knees. I settled in my seat, the hat on my knees, and turned to Lee as he swung in beside me. “What do you think?”
“You look… almost believable. I’ll let you know when to add the hat. Keep your face turned toward me and we may pull this off.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.”
Lee started the engine, then asked me, “How fast could you get out of that get-up if you needed to?”
“Thirty seconds if I’m allowed to destroy it. We already did in most of the seams. Why?”
“Just running through scenarios. Here we go.” He headed us down the drive toward the road.
We didn’t pass the Beauforts’ or Fletchers’ houses on the way to town, so we could only hope all was on schedule.
Lee approached Main Street and Chuck Fletcher’s pawn shop by the back roads, to reduce the number of people who might see me.
I held a magazine up beside my face to further mask myself from a casual glance.
Once we turned onto Main, he had to slow his pace and people waved as we passed. Folks were too damned friendly. I kept my face turned behind the magazine and hoped they couldn’t see my hair clearly.
“Coming up on the pawn shop,” Lee told me. “Put on the hat. And… bingo. Chuck’s eating at the table all right.”
I dropped the magazine, set the hat on my head with the brim dipped low on the right side, and wound down my side window so the bastard would have a good view of hair, hat, and shawl. I wanted to look over there, but this scheme would only work if I kept my face averted. “Did he see us?”
“Not yet. Not…” Suddenly Lee barked a laugh. “Oh yes, he’s spotted you. Jumped to his feet. Hang on.” He braked for the stop sign, then powered quickly through the intersection with a roar of the engine.
I took a peek in the side mirror and saw the backside of Chuck Fletcher, running around the side of the pawn shop. “Going for his car, you think?”
“Yep. No doubt. I’m going to keep driving slowly for a bit. Let him catch up.”
“You’re the one who knows this town.” I quickly rolled up my window.
“Hm. Maybe a little more speed. Don’t want to make it too easy.” Lee stepped on the gas.
We left the last of the Main Street businesses and began passing homes, each more spread out than the last, before Lee flicked a glance at his rearview. “And there he is. Hang on now.” He sped up farther, the pavement humming under our tires.
“Can you outrun him?” I asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not. He’s got some horses under that hood. But if I can make my plan work, we won’t have to.”
“What plan?”
“I might’ve bribed Bobby Olson to tell the sheriff that a couple of the young guys were planning a drag race for noon on the flat strip of road along Cedar Lake.”
After a moment’s thought, I grinned. “So you have the sheriff out there speed trapping for them.”
“And we’re luring Chuck Fletcher right to him at…” Lee checked the dashboard. “Sixty-four miles an hour. Might take that up a notch.” He stepped on the gas.
“Hey, doesn’t that mean we’ll get speed-trapped too?
” I threw a quick glance behind us. Fletcher’s Buick was slowly gaining ground, although still far enough back he’d be unable to make out my face.
I wouldn’t risk turning again, though. Even if he couldn’t see my features, my skin was nothing like Peggy’s.
Lee dodged around a slower sedan. “It’s hard for the sheriff to stop two cars. We’ll blow past Tomlinson with Chuck on our tail, and he’s only going to get Chuck.”
“And if Chuck doesn’t stop for the sheriff?”
“Well, that may turn out to be more exciting than Chuckie planned for.” Lee grinned.
We’d been lucky so far that the road had been almost deserted.
A van driving the other way gave us an admonishing toot on the horn as he passed.
Then the Greyhound bus went by, heading toward Highcrest. We could only hope Peggy was back there waiting at the stop and would be onboard when the bus rumbled its way south out of town.
“Come on,” Lee muttered. “Keep chasing us, Chuck, you bit of gutter filth. That’s it. Ignore the bus.”
“Is it working?” I asked.
“He’s still close on our tail. Now to see how far we can lure him.
” Lee took the next bend at speed and swept down toward the lakeshore.
We had to slow for another family sedan ambling along, where passing was not just forbidden but potentially suicidal.
“Slump in the seat,” Lee told me. “Nothing but the top of the hat visible. He’s right on my ass. ”
How close was brought home when he struck our rear bumper with a thud, making the truck lurch. I grabbed the dashboard.
“Oh really?” Lee suddenly hit the gas, swerved around the sedan, and picked up speed. “You want to play that game, bozo? Come on, then.”
I slouched lower and kept my grip on the dashboard. “Did he just try to run us off the road?”
“Seems like.” Lee slowed for a curve, tires squealing, then straightened out. “Here he comes again. Hang on.”
“Can’t we outrun him?”
“Maybe but I don’t want to because… Brace now!” He flung one arm sideways across my chest as Chuck hit us in the rear again. The pickup jumped and shuddered.
Fighting the wheel one-handed, Lee stomped on the gas to gain space, then a siren sounded close behind us. “Hell, yes,” he muttered. “Helloooo, Sheriff Tomlinson.”
“Are we stopping?”
“Let’s see what Chuck does first. I don’t want him plowing into us.” After a few seconds, Lee added, “He’s not slowing down. The sheriff’s on his ass.”
“Now what?”
“If you can manage without getting tossed around, take off the dress and the shawl. Stuff them under the seat. Take down your hair. Leave the hat for last. Chuck’s too busy to pay attention now.”
I wasn’t sure what Lee had in mind, but I would always back his plays.
Ripping the dress off my body was harder than I expected as the truck’s speed jostled me against the door and then tried to slide me across the seat, but I managed.
A few moments later, I was in respectable Levis and T-shirt, and down to the hat alone from my disguise.
“Brace again. I’ll try slowing.” Lee eased off the gas, then powered up again as Chuck tapped our bumper.
“Is he crazy?’ I asked. “He’s hitting us in front of a cop.”
“He can’t handle the idea that Peggy’s getting away from him. We’d better pray she gets clear, or I think he’ll kill her.”
“Not on my watch,” I muttered, and my wolf growled down in my chest.
“Well, now…” Lee’s attention focused forward, and I heard it too. Another siren approaching. “That makes life interesting.” He frowned, and I recognized Lee’s get us out of this mess look. When he got that expression on his face, I used to know to not ask questions and just follow his lead.
“Right,” he said. “Brace up good. I bet that approaching car is going to try to stop us by blocking the road. I’m going to head up the embankment around them. Let’s see what Chuck can do.”
I glanced at the steep hillside to our right. “Embankment? Won’t we roll?”
“Have a little faith. I drove a Jeep through the mountains of Italy along roads that doubled as goat tracks. Hold tight!”