The Porch Wolf

Liv didn’t hear back from the Sheriff until late afternoon. The FBI had released the scene, and they would have deputies there to turn over the property to her. “I don’t know if I can see where Grandma was killed,” she told me as she hung up. “I’ll never be able to sleep there again.”

“Can I show you something?” I’d been busy setting up security and organizing the help, while she had been sitting in the living room with Vicki and six others, all watching movies on Netflix.

“I guess,” she said.

“Sharkbait!” Vicki looked up at me, as everyone else in the room answered with “SHARKBAIT, HOO HA HA!”

“Yes, Unky Leo?”

“Come on, I want to show you something.” I opened a door in the back of the dining room, one they’d probably figured was a closet. Instead, it opened up to a staircase. I started up, with the two following me. “When Catherine and I bought this land and started to build, it took a long time to finish the house. My company had to do paying construction jobs first, and it took a lot of nights and weekends to get it done. The first thing we built was the garage, and above the garage, we built this to live in.” The door opened into a large apartment that ran the length of the four-car garage. The roof came down sharply at the front and back, with dormered windows letting in lots of light. The ceiling was twelve feet tall in the middle, and the ceiling sloped down until vertical walls intersected at about four feet tall.

“This is nice,” Liv said as she walked into the kitchen and dining area.

“The master bedroom and bathroom are at the end of the hall, and there is a smaller bedroom to the left on the opposite side from the kitchen,” I said. “A laundry closet is on the left, past that is a three-quarter bath for the main area and guest bedroom. It’s completely private; the only entrance is the stairway we came up, although the bedrooms have emergency exit ladders under the windows. I’d like to offer you this apartment for as long as you need it.”

“It’s more than we need,” she said. “I can’t possibly afford it.”

“It’s not about affording anything, it’s about keeping you two safe. Someone wants both of you so much that they killed an innocent grandmother that got in the way. It’s not safe for Vicki to return to school, or for you to work right now.”

“So, this is our new prison?”

I couldn’t let her get defensive. “This is your new refuge. You’ll have a place of your own, and you can involve yourself with me and the others in the main house as much or as little as you want. If you want to cook your own meals, the kitchen has everything but food. The apartment is furnished and ready to move in.”

Vicki had moved off, looking out the window in the dining room over the back yard. “My room?”

“This way,” I said. I opened the room; it had a twin bed with side tables, a dresser with a mirror, and a small closet. Vicki bounced on the mattress before Liv pulled her off. “The master is right here.” Inside was a queen-sized bed with a vintage cherry bedroom set. I opened the door to the master bath.

“Momma, TUB,” she said. Inside was a two-person whirlpool tub near a window overlooking the back yard. “Bubbles!”

“It’s nice,” Liv said.

“It’s yours for as long as you need it,” I said. “Brent is taking a small room in the basement of the house, and Mike and Anita are moving into the larger bedroom downstairs. The others won’t stay on after we stop the threat.”

“Is that normal? For your Pack to live in the same house?”

“It’s common for smaller Packs. When you have more than a dozen in the Pack, you need a mansion, or you start building or buying multiple homes close together. When I was Alpha, I helped them buy the land and build their homes.”

“Is that why your home is so big?”

“I thought I’d have a lot of children. This apartment made sense if one of them mated young, and needed a place of their own while still being close. That’s how I think of you two. I want you to be close by for safety while still having a place you call your own.”

She sat on the bed, looking out the window. “I accept, Leo. It’s very generous of you.”

“It’s one less thing you have to worry about because you have too much on your plate right now.”

“I need to get my stuff out of my old apartment,” she said.

I’d sent a mental summons to my Pack when she accepted the apartment, and they knocked on the door before coming in. “We need to talk about security,” I said. “It’s too dangerous for either of you to be out alone. I’ll be around whenever I can be to watch over both of you, but your Pack will be helping as well. Anita will be the primary bodyguard for Vicki, with Mike as your driver and roving security. Brent will be your primary bodyguard.”

“Not you?”

“It will raise fewer questions if you tell people I’m your Uncle Leo since that is what Vicki calls me. I’ll watch over you both. If things go south, Anita and Brent will get the two of you to safety while Mike and I deal with the threat. All three of them are legally armed and trained for this.”

She looked at Brent, who I knew was VERY happy with this assignment. “If you’re my uncle, what is Brent?”

He gave Liv a nervous smile. “The best cover for me would be if I was your boyfriend,” he said. Liv’s mouth opened, so he quickly continued. “Nothing has to happen, but if we sit together, hold hands, that kind of thing. No one will think anything except how lucky a guy I am to be with a woman like you.”

Smooth. The boy was smooth as frozen custard. “Don’t think of taking advantage of this,” Liv said. “Nobody knows I have a boyfriend. Hell, I haven’t dated in years.”

“We met in class, and we’re taking it slow because of your daughter,” he replied. “I’ll stay by your side during the funeral, or anywhere else we go.”

“I need Pack members close because the people involved are wolves, and the two of you can’t scent the danger like we can. Since we’re all Pack, we can communicate silently between us.”

“I hear Unky Leo in head, he no hear me,” Vicki complained.

“Anita will be helping you with that,” I said. “She will start training Vicki on using her wolf senses and preparing for her shift.”

“I’ve helped teach the Pack youth for years, she’s in good hands.”

I looked at my watch. “We should be going, the deputies said they would be ready in twenty minutes,” I said. “Anita can watch Vicki back in the main house if that’s all right. We’ll all take my truck, and Brent will drive you back in your Lexus. I’ve got moving boxes and tape out in the garage; let’s grab all the things you and Vicki need, and we’ll take care of the rest later.”

We arrived at her apartment on time, and the Deputies handed over the keys. It took thirty minutes for us to go through their rooms, filling boxes that Brent and Mike took out to the vehicles. Liv couldn’t handle going into her Grandmother’s bedroom, so she had me pack everything for her to sort through later.

We got home just before dinnertime; I could smell the lasagna and garlic bread as soon as I opened the door. With the extra help, we got all the boxes unloaded and up to their new apartment in five minutes.

My in-laws arrived as we were sitting down to eat. They didn’t look happy. They sat at the open chairs at the large table, and I could tell by his eyes I wouldn’t like the news. “My brother,” I asked.

“Yes.” Larry took a gulp of the red wine in his glass. “The Stillwater Pack has legal and illegal sources of income. The pair you killed had mostly done burglaries and insurance scams. The Alpha was apologetic; he had no idea the target was a werewolf, much less one under your protection. He’s working to limit the damage, and he’s furious about them killing your grandmother. It’s bad business, and it is bringing too much law enforcement attention to his people.”

“He’s furious,” Liv said coldly.

“Yes. The kidnappers should have waited until you were both at home alone, or grabbed you when you were driving her. The contract was to deliver the mother and the child to a location in Hudson, Wisconsin. John Petersen, your younger brother, was the one who ordered the kidnapping. He paid them ten thousand dollars in advance, another twenty was due on delivery.”

“Is it enough to take to the Council,” Mike asked.

“Yes, but I don’t know what that would accomplish. Vicki is a child, a werewolf that hasn’t shifted and was not a member of a registered Pack at the time. The Council won’t take action on what happens to lone wolves out there. When they hear about the Alpha Mantle, their first reaction will be to take her into custody for her own good.”

My wolf didn’t like that a bit. “That won’t be happening.”

“I agree. You’re going to have to resolve this with a challenge against the Marengo Lake Alphas at the Alpha Summit in February. That gives you six weeks to get your sorry butt in shape.”

“It will be enough,” I said. “Nobody is going to hurt them again.”

“We won’t let them anywhere near them,” Brent agreed.

Not much else was said about it the rest of the meal; Vicki talked excitedly about her new bedroom, and soon she left with her mother to start unpacking. When the door closed, I looked over at Larry. “Does Alpha Doug know?”

“We talked to him for almost an hour on the drive back,” Larry said. “He can’t keep twelve of us here long-term, but he’ll do what he can. You need to prioritize expanding your Pack.”

“I have an idea there,” I said. “We need to get through the funeral first. That’s the next likely time for John to try to get them again.”

“If he and Brenda wanted them alive so they could watch, that’s out the window now. They already killed once, they’ll target Vicki and get the hell out.”

“Brent, see if you can find a bulletproof vest small enough to fit a child her size,” I said. “Order one in Liv’s size for her, and one for each Pack member. Expedite shipping, here’s a card to use.” I handed him a charge card out of my wallet.

Donna looked at the others at the table. “Anything else we can do?”

“I can’t use the human authorities on this one,” I said. “The Stillwater Alpha would have kept himself clean, and there won’t be a cash trail.” I stood up. “I need to get some sleep. I’ll see you all in the morning.”