The pop of bones and then the jut of shoulder blades stretched the skin on Gibson’s back, thinning it out so it was nearly translucent. Then before Zach could take another breath—another staggered, sympathetic gasp—Gibson changed.
His pelt was a frosty shimmer for a few seconds, maybe even less, because time shifted alongside Gibson’s transformation. Eternities seemed to fold into a single blink of an eye, stretching out impossibly, then snapping back into a normal pace. It was both awe-inspiring and awful to watch Gibson curl in on himself, his legs stretching out behind him, thighs shortening and calves forming bends where no bend should be. His tail was a quick sprout of bone and skin from his spinal cord. Then with a shake of his body and the shedding of nearly transparent curls, a magnificent black wolf stood silhouetted against the afternoon sun.
Gibson was out the door before Zach could recover, trusting him to keep pace. Hefting a shotgun he had little to no chance of firing anywhere remotely near what he was aiming for, Zach followed the shadowy wolf over the uneven ground. They went uphill, toward where Ellis’s howl echoed not moments before. He didn’t know what they would find, he didn’t know what he could do to help, but he was going to be damned if he didn’t at least try.
If his physical therapist had been a sadist, then trudging at a fast jog behind the nimble black wolf while holding several pounds of metal and wood was a punishment found in one of Dante’s circles of hell. He lost track of how many times he twisted his ankle or felt a very real flash of fear when he could no longer see Gibson, only to find him a few yards ahead of where he looked. They didn’t have to go far, or at least he could still see the cabin behind them, but his body burned with the effort and then with the shock of seeing Ellis cowering against a rise of gigantic boulders with the sheriff who’d questioned Zach standing over him.
Ellis’s muzzle was bloodied, a gaping hole where a canine once was. The sheriff’s gun was drawn, but his knuckles were scraped raw, and a length of steel pipe lay on the ground at his feet. There were splatters of blood on the snow-speckled grasses in front of the boulders, and Ellis’s hackles were raised, his legs stiff and his stance threatening. He snarled when Zach approached, snapping his teeth at Gibson, who padded around the armed sheriff, his amber gaze shifting between his brother and the man who came to kill him.
Sheriff Pat Brown cast a long shadow across the rocky clearing, an Atlas of pressed brown cotton and fury. The look in his eyes and the hard stance he stood in while bearing his weapon down on Ellis told Zach there would be no reasoning with him. His hand wavered when Gibson slunk in front of him, his tucked-down long shaggy body stiff and threatening. The cop’s attention shifted for a split second, finding Zach’s face and then touching on the shotgun Zach clenched in his hands. Ellis moved, and the ground shifted beneath his enormous paws. A tumble of gravel broke the tense silence hanging over them, or rather stole away any calm left between them, because the noise snapped Brown’s crazed stare back to the wolves in front of him.
“One of these damn things killed my father. Maybe not this one but definitely this line. These things have been running loose for years,” the sheriff spat. “And one of them tried to kill you the other day. Don’t deny it. I’ve got a man coming to me this morning about you running scared down the mountain and ending up in the lake. Saw you and that big black monster from his fishing boat, but by the time he got it turned around, you were already gone.”
“I told you what happened.” Zach kept his voice low, hoping his calm tone could de-escalate the sheriff’s insatiable fury. “I wasn’t attacked. I fell. Gibson was out walking with his dog and found me. That’s all that happened. Did you see any bite marks?”
“No, but then you didn’t show me anything other than the bruises you had on your arms and face. Something didn’t add up with your story…. Something just didn’t sit right. Why would a guy like you go hiking so far off the trail and away from your property?” Brown shuffled his feet back when Gibson eased in front of his brother. Ellis snapped at Gibson’s throat, catching a chunk of his pelt and skin in a loose bite. The tussle was fierce, and Zach called out Gibson’s name, hoping to break up the fight. Brown glanced over his shoulder, then back to the wolves. “Is Keller out there? Keller! If you are out there, I want you to come out with your hands up.”
“He probably can’t hear you. Went to go get the SUV in case we needed to get the dog to the vet’s.” Zach fumbled over his tongue, the lie sounding unconvincing in his own ears. “He went down the mountain when I went up after we heard… Blackie bark. He sounded as if he was in pain.”
“Is that why you brought the shotgun? Or did Keller know I was already up here looking for his dogs?” His sneer dripped with the derision Zach could almost taste in the air. “Funny how you’ve been here how long? And you spend one night with Keller and his dogs, then suddenly you’re best friends? Maybe you buying the Wilson place is just a way for you and Keller to launder money or give you a cover for drug running. Seems kinda odd that he’s up here, doesn’t need a job but seems to always have a lot of money. Maybe that’s how the family operates. Maybe that’s why they’ve got these uncontrollable animals. To make sure no one gets close to their property.”
“And what do you think they’re doing out here?” His mind scrambled to follow the sheriff’s reasoning, but Zach couldn’t see where he was going with his arguments. “Can’t be much of a grow operation, and counterfeiting is out. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get the right kind of paper and ink? They’re on generator half the time—”
He could’ve sworn he heard Gibson laugh, a wolfish, sardonic rasp amid the low growls he and his brother were exchanging.
“God, you are as stupid as you look,” Brown said, leveling his weapon back toward the wolves. “Meth, you idiot. Or does your new boyfriend, Gibson, fuck you so hard you can’t see what’s right in front of you?”
While now was not the time for Zach to point out how inappropriate it was for the sheriff to comment on his sex life or lack thereof with Gibson Keller, Zach’s anger was beginning to get the best of him. The brothers were jostling against the stand of boulders, agitating Brown further. If they weren’t careful, the sheriff would decide to shoot both of them, and it would be Zach’s word against his that Gibson and Ellis hadn’t attacked him.