Wolf on the Hunt by N. J. Walters

him to keep eating. He was shoveling this into him like a starving animal. No manners whatsoever.
    Way to go to impress the lady, LaForge.
    He placed his fork on the edge of his plate and took a sip of coffee. “Our metabolism runs much higher than a human’s.”
    She nodded. “I figured that. “I’ve always been able to eat whatever I wanted. I have curves but I don’t seem to get any smaller or larger.”
    “Shifting and healing take a vast amount of fuel.” He didn’t want her to think he was always like this. He did have some manners.
    “You mentioned that.” A smile hovered at the corners of her mouth. “You’re hungry. Eat. Don’t mind me.” She filled a plate with two slices of toast, a few spoonfuls of the eggs and two slices of ham. She didn’t come to sit beside him but remained standing on the other side of the counter as she ate. Shadow strolled over and stared at Gray until she handed the beast a slice of the ham.
    The dog took the treat and gave a happy grumble as he devoured it in one bite. Shadow gazed up at Gray with sheer devotion in his eyes. He knew exactly how the dog felt.
    Louis shrugged and went back to eating. He needed to be at full strength in case those hunters decided to double back. He didn’t trust them. Then there were his enemies who were out there somewhere. They might not be in Salvation today, but they’d be here eventually. It could be a day, a week or a year before they showed themselves. Louis had to be in peak condition at all times.
    And speaking of time…he glanced around for a clock and found one on the stove. When he saw the time, he swore.
    Gray’s head snapped up.
    “Shit. I’m sorry. It’s just that I don’t want the others to worry about me.” He should have been home by now. Jacque would be concerned.
    “Others?” He heard the slight quaver in her voice.
    “The rest of my pack.”
    * * * * *
    Jean Paul Dupointe hunkered down behind a large rock and watched the hunters move out of sight.
    “Should we kill them?” his brother asked.
    Jean Paul prayed for patience. Robert was a good man, if not a particularly smart one. “ Non , we don’t want to let anyone know we’re here. Killing the hunters will bring search parties and police.”
    Robert nodded and hung his head slightly. His brother meant well, but he didn’t always think before he acted. Jean Paul had worked too hard to get into the position he currently held. Getting into Pierre LaForge’s inner circle was not an easy task. It was a long, bloody process. Many in their pack had perished in this war with Jacque and his small pack. It was time for it to stop.
    “You think Louis is dead?” Robert asked.
    They’d both scented their former packmate in the woods and seen the blood. They’d followed it straight to a small house on the edge of the town but hadn’t found a body. They’d gone searching for the hunters to make sure they didn’t have it. Last thing they needed was the damn thing to start disintegrating quickly, as all dead werewolf bodies did. That would lead to questions none of them wanted humans asking.
    But the hunters were empty-handed. It was for that reason only that Jean Paul let them live. If they’d had Louis’s body, he’d have been forced to kill them and dispose of all the bodies.
    “ Non , he isn’t dead.” Which meant he must be back at that house where his scent had ended. That was interesting. It would be worth finding out who lived there. “Come,” he told his brother. “Let’s go into town and have a beer and listen to what the locals are saying.” He didn’t want to mention the house and his suspicions to Robert. His brother was just as likely to blurt things out that should be secret.
    To Robert, the world was black and white. The alpha was always right and the rules were never to be broken. That’s what made him very good in the position they now held at Pierre’s side. It also made him a danger to them both. A wolf who couldn’t keep his