CAROL SIGHED DEEPLY AND RESTED HER HEAD AGAINST Ryan’s shoulder as the truck rumbled toward Darien’s house. She was tired, but this virus had to be stopped and the effects counteracted.
“No, I haven’t seen any visions of Doc Mitchell.” Carol wished she had—anything to know what had happened to him. She snuggled closer to Ryan, feeling more chilled by the situation they were in than by the weather.
“But the way the doc disappeared makes me surmise that either North and his men kidnapped him, thinking that he might be able to help with their medical problem, or he shifted, ran off, and was unable to change back. If North and his newly formed pack came down with this before we did, I need to interview them.”
Ryan stiffened beside her. “You can learn what you have to over the phone. You’re not meeting any of North’s people face-to-face. I’ll be leading a force to learn their whereabouts, the lab they’ve been using— and hopefully find a vaccine.”
She tapped her fingers on her lap. “It’s remotely possible our people could eventually change back on their own.”
“But that most likely would mean only a few like Lelandi, who is a royal, could avoid shifting during any phase of the moon.”
“What if…” Carol’s eyes brightened. “What if when the new moon appears, the condition vanishes? Those of us who aren’t royals can’t maintain our wolf forms. So what if the condition ceased to exist?”
“Maybe. But the first full moon made its appearance this morning. The three-quarter moon appears in the morning nine days later, and the new moon, eight days after that in the evening. That’s a long time to wait to see if we make it out of this on our own.”
Surprised he’d know the exact timing of the phases of the moon, she raised her brows.
He shrugged. “I’d considered the moon’s phases might knock out this anomaly, so I checked the timing of the phases for Colorado for this month.”
“Hmph, you could have told me you’d already thought of it.”
He rubbed her arm. “You haven’t been a werewolf long enough to think in those terms all the time. So what happens if half our pack or more can’t keep from shifting while we wait about seventeen days for the new moon to appear? What if the town is no longer run by the werewolf kind? And humans decide to take over? Worse, what if those who are stuck in their wolf shapes are still unable to shift back when the new moon appears?”
Ryan’s phone rang, and he saw it was his assistant mayor. “Yeah, Grandbury?”
“Your admin assistant is fine. Ingrid had already shifted and changed back. She knocked out whatever ailed her—she suspected food poisoning and that whatever she ate could be more easily tolerated by her wolf’s stomach—and she returned to work. She didn’t want me to tell you in case she shouldn’t have shifted, per your orders. But she didn’t get word until it was too late.”
“Thanks. I’ll check on her shortly.” Vastly relieved, Ryan put away his cell phone. “My admin assistant was sick, shifted, knocked out what appeared to be food poisoning, and shifted back to her human self,” he told Carol.
She relaxed against him.
“We may have an isolated case of this virus here in Silver Town. Which probably means that Connor and his bunch did engineer this sickness and brought it specifically to Darien’s people.”
“Thank goodness. If we can immunize enough people in the area—it’s called ‘herd immunity,’ in our case the term ‘pack immunity’ suits us better—we could stop the spread of the virus. But letting other packs know about a vaccine wouldn’t be easy, would it? Lelandi said that the packs are not very open about where they’re located.”
“Let’s worry later about other packs contracting it.”
“All right. So we need to know who was sick in our pack first.”
“When they were dancing, Mervin said Becky told him she was worried about shifting and not being able to change back. He thought it was a strange thing to say and just figured she’d had some weird nightmares. But the word has spread through the pack that Doc Weber can’t shift back due to this virus, and now she’s really scared.”
“She should be.” Carol frowned and then shook her head. “A virus can be contagious from a day before a person becomes aware of having it to five days after. What if Marilee and Becky brought the virus from their pack?”
“I’ve checked,” Ryan said. She admired the way he could put his investigative skills to use and was one step ahead of her. He continued, “Their pack is clean. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?” Carol asked.
“Becky and Marilee haven’t been with the pack for a couple of weeks. I suspect they’ve been with Connor’s people all this time.”
Carol swore under her breath. “And you danced with Marilee.”
“Only because she was acting nervous.”
“So you danced with her out of concern for her?”
He chuckled darkly. “No, because she seemed unduly nervous. Like she’d set an explosive device in the house and wanted to leave. It made me curious, but when I tried to learn what the matter was, I didn’t get anywhere with her. I assumed she was just anxious about finding the right mate. Now it seems she was even hotter than I suspected—germ warfare.”
Carol pressed her lips tighter together. “I can’t imagine anyone doing anything so despicable.”
“Offer money and a lot of people will do something they’d never do otherwise.”
A frisson of dread suddenly worked its way up Carol’s spine. Before she could analyze what was making her feel so antsy, her vision blurred and she closed her eyes, not welcoming the vision and what it might foretell, but having no choice. Ryan’s words faded into the background like a conversation in the distance as the vision clarified.
As a wolf, Darien paced, panting, his teeth and lips bloodied. Wounded, he limped. A dead wolf lay near the bed on the blue carpet in his and Lelandi’s bedroom. Carol felt Darien’s satisfaction that the wolf was dead—and his frustration and dread because he couldn’t change. He was stuck as a wolf.
Lelandi looked miserable, tears streaking her cheeks as she wrung her hands. Carol wanted to help and console her. But then Lelandi grabbed her phone off the bedside table and punched a button.
Carol’s phone rang and nearly gave her a heart attack, yanking her from the vision. Perspiration trickled between her breasts, and her heart rate accelerated as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the Caller ID. “Lelandi?”
“Come home quick. I need to see you. But no one else.”
“All right.” Lelandi didn’t have to tell Carol what had happened, that Darien had been victorious in a wolf fight, but he couldn’t shift back. It was too late for Darien, too late for Doc.
“Not a word to the others,” Lelandi made Carol promise.
“All right. We’re nearly there.” Carol hung up her phone, trying not to shake. Everyone would have to know their pack leader was in a real bind. Jake and Tom would have to take over until Darien could change back.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked, pulling into the drive and parking in front of Darien’s home.
“Nothing.”
“Your face has lost every ounce of color, Carol. Your voice shook when you spoke with Lelandi. You’re not a good liar.”
She ground her teeth and looked at Ryan. Lelandi didn’t want her to tell, but everyone would know before long anyway.
“Darien’s shifted. And he can’t change back.”
“Hell.”
Jake parked his truck next to Ryan’s vehicle and hurried out. “Lelandi just called me. Told me the news.” He gave Carol an anxious look.
Lelandi must have realized she couldn’t hide the fact that Darien couldn’t shift back. Did Jake worry he would be next?