SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(40)

“So I started a new game with some of the same players and some new ones. I asked Sarah if she wanted to play. She was all for it, but I thought she’d want to be a hunter, not a werewolf. Most of the time, the women want to be the hunters and not the prey. You never know people very well until something like that happens, you know?” Tears spilled down Zeta’s cheeks, and she hastily brushed them away.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve had friends like that before—you know, one minute they’re your best girlfriend, doing everything with you, and the next thing you know, they’re stuck to some guy like peanut butter. And that’s the end of the all-girl activities. So I was annoyed with her because she dumped me like I was no one of importance after we’d been really close.”

Before Debbie could ask Zeta any more questions, Allan queried, “So what was she like? What did she like?”

Zeta stared morosely at the table. “I thought she would have a falling-out with Lloyd and come back.” Then she frowned at Debbie and Allan. “Not that I’d just take right back up with her. How she’d acted was not the way to treat friends.”

“Why did you think she might have a falling-out with Lloyd?” Debbie asked.

“He wasn’t right for her. I don’t know. Something was off with both him and his friend. They said they were actors, and they really acted their parts, but they just seemed—intense. Too intense. Like they were getting into their roles a little too much. They had one of the women in tears because they thought she was the wolf and really bullied her. I had to put a stop to it and told them if they didn’t obey the rules, they had to leave the group. They were fine after that. I really thought they should have been the wolves.”

*

Why? Because the wolves were always growly, aggressive, and needed to be put down? Allan hadn’t heard of any Vaughn Greystoke, but many lupus garous used “Grey,” “Gray,” or “Silver” in their names to portray their gray wolf heritage, so that immediately caught his attention. Particularly if Sarah had been in this man’s pack and he was trying to track her down.

Allan had heard of a Devlyn Greystoke, a gray wolf pack leader in Colorado who had mated a red wolf. He’d been in Portland, Oregon, where she had been incarcerated at a zoo and the incident had made national news. Naked woman in the Oregon Zoo penned up with a real red wolf in freezing weather? Then she disappears from a hospital?

Even Allan and his pack members had heard the news and knew the two had to be wolves, though the media thought that Devlyn and Bella were animal advocates, intent on releasing the red wolf into the wild.

Debbie asked, “So what was Sarah like?”

“She was really different from me. She loved to stay out really late, and she was raring to go early in the morning. Who can burn the candle at both ends and still function? Not me. Anyway, she loved the woods. We went camping one night, not really my thing, but she was so enthusiastic about it. So I thought maybe going with her would make a difference. But then she left the tent in the middle of the night. She had me worried sick because she took so long to return. I thought something had gotten her. A wolf or bear or cougar.

“Anyway, she finally returned and I gave her hell for leaving me all alone for so long, well, in a sleepy way. She looked worn out but really happy and climbed back into her sleeping bag. I asked her where the hell she’d gone. For a run, she told me. I knew she was just teasing me. I figured she had to go to the bathroom. But sheesh, I’m not a camper. It scared the tar out of me to be alone in the woods with all the wolves howling, bugs making their racket, and owls hooting.”

“Wolves howling?” Allan asked.

“Well, maybe just one. All it takes is one to send shivers up your spine.”

“Did she have a passion for anything in particular?” Allan asked.

“She ate barely cooked steaks. We’d go out and she’d say she wanted them rare. Not medium rare. But just seared for a couple of seconds on the outside. Yuck. I’m vegan, so it was really hard for me to watch her eat something that was bleeding all over the plate.”

“Did she have family?” Allan asked.

“No. She said she was an only child and her parents had died. So she was footloose and fancy free. Me? I’ve got four sisters and tons of cousins, but I’m not close to any of them. Not like I was with Sarah. We just, I don’t know, had fun together. Kind of an odd pairing, I know. But we still had fun. She used to play her wolf role to the hilt. With me. She couldn’t with the others.

“She’d mention how she’d behave if she were a werewolf. Like she was trying to convince me they could be good, and if it wasn’t for the villagers trying to kill her, she wouldn’t have to kill them. She really wanted to change the villagers’ minds, convince them werewolves were really good guys, not creatures to fear.” Zeta sniffled. “I just laughed it off and told her that wasn’t what everyone signed up to play. No one would believe it. It wouldn’t be any fun. Someone had to be the villain. She said the hunters were.”

Allan disagreed. Some lupus garous were just as evil as humans could be.

Then Zeta sobered. “I can’t believe she’s dead. And Lloyd too. What happened? A home invasion? His home? I checked at hers, but she was never there, so I figured she was at his place. But I didn’t know where it was. The address he gave to play the game was false. It didn’t exist at all. I checked when she just disappeared. That had me worried he was a criminal. And Sarah was no longer answering her phone.