So different than how he’d been when they’d first met.
“We’re going to South Dakota,” Slade announced the moment Noah fastened his seatbelt.
“What’s in South Dakota?”
“Hopefully, a pack.” As much as Slade hoped to find others of Noah’s kind, his heart hurt. Even the thought of saying goodbye ripped at his insides. The naked man he’d found shot in the woods kind of grew on him.
Slade searched the Internet on his phone for likely spots in southern South Dakota. A wilderness area sounded promising, though not the badlands. Plenty of room for a pack to run. Several small towns nearby. If he drove all night, they’d be there for a late breakfast.
“Get some sleep if you can.” Slade settled in with his cup of truck stop coffee. Occasionally he glanced into the rear-view mirror at Noah, who’d put on the collar and nestled on the backseat in wolf form. Maybe Noah used wolf form as a comfort, like a small child with a stuffed animal. Whenever Noah got upset or nervous, he turned wolf.
Damn, the night hadn’t ended the way Slade intended. Dinner, a movie. Things were going so well. The expressions on Noah’s face! The wonder of a child who’d never seen a movie on the big screen before. How he’d taken such joy in popcorn and snuck the cardboard coaster with the restaurant’s logo into his pocket. A souvenir?
The things Slade took for granted were pure magic for Noah.
“How will we know when we find a pack?” Slade asked after the third town they tried.
Noah stared out the side window, dawn visible on the edges of the world. Swiveling his head back and forth, he watched anyone coming into view. “I should be able to sense them, and they should sense me.”
A whole lot left up to “should.”
Noah retrieved Slade’s phone from the cup holder. He’d learned the basics of Internet surfing after a few quick lessons. “The wolf shootings stopped shortly after we left.”
“Type ‘wolf killing’ into the browser,” Slade instructed.
Noah fell quiet.
“What?”
Noah turned the phone toward Slade. “One hell of a lot of wolves were killed around the time Paul found me, but in North Carolina, not Michigan.”
Shit. Slade hadn’t even thought about possible connections to other werewolves.
Noah wiped the back of his hand across his eyes. “We can look at the article later. No, I don’t see anything after the other night.”
It didn’t mean no wolves died; they’d just died in small enough numbers not to raise suspicion or remotely enough not to be found. Slade placed a reassuring hand on Noah’s knee. “Getting hungry? Ready to find something to eat?”
Noah nodded, eyes still glued to the phone screen. Had showing him how to operate one been a mistake?
A diner came into view, with two cars parked out front. Good enough, and plenty of room to park the behemoth of an SUV and the trailer.
As he’d learned to do, Slade picked a table near the exit. Instead of sitting with his back to the door, he sat on the same side as Noah. Sharing the phone screen gave them an excuse.
Noah’s eyes appeared haunted, as they had since they’d left their cozy little cabin. He hadn’t wanted to do more than cuddle. Slade couldn’t blame him. If Noah needed skin-on-skin contact, well, Slade had plenty of skin.
The diner reminded Slade of so many more he’d visited in his travels, hand-lettered signs on poster board announcing specials, which raised more questions than they answered. What the hell was “bierocks?” The homey scents of coffee and bacon permeated the air. Not for the first time, Slade wondered how differently Noah perceived smells.
Noah didn’t answer when asked to order, head cocked to the side, shifting his gaze over the server and around the room. Slade ordered the hungry man breakfast for them both. He’d slip some of his bacon onto Noah’s plate. He must take care of his wolf.
Noah ate mechanically at Slade’s urging. “Hey, you gotta maintain your strength. You need to eat.”
“Something’s not right,” Noah replied. “Don’t you think it’s weird, us being the only customers at a breakfast place at this hour?” He leaned closer to Slade, voice nearly too low to make out. “I hear whispering in the kitchen. I just can’t tell what they’re saying. Someone’s cell phone rang four times since we walked in.”
“I haven’t heard anything.”
“They have the sound off.”
“You can hear the vibration?”
