SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(9)
“It sure as hell sounds like it. On the other hand, what if it is a lupus garou, and he covered his tracks by making it look like a werewolf hunter was after her? If that’s the case, his victim wouldn’t have turned him.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking that too. And if he’s not recently turned, that can be good and bad. Good, because he won’t shift unexpectedly around humans and give our kind away. And bad because he’ll be harder to track down.”
“Either way, we have to stop him. But if he hasn’t been turned, we need the police to handle this.” Paul headed into the kitchen and got them each a bottled water. Then they moved to the living room and took seats on the couches.
“Agreed.” Allan noticed Paul’s cane leaning next to the couch, but he wasn’t using it today. “How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine. If one more person asks…”
Allan nodded. He knew how much that had to bother Paul. “But you’re getting around without the cane, and I don’t see you limping.”
“Inside buildings I’m fine. Plowing through snowdrifts or walking on ice…” Paul shook his head. “Besides, I get enough coddling from Lori, Mom, Rose, and Grandma. I don’t need it from you too.”
“Me coddle you? When have I ever done that? It’s not in my SEAL or wolf nature. Hell, any of us, broken leg or not, can have trouble on ice unless we’re in our wolf form and have better traction. It’ll get better.”
Paul grunted, then took a swig from his water bottle. “There was a lupus garou pack that had to deal with a werewolf-hunter group. They successfully turned one of the men, and he works for the pack. The others had to be put down. The pack members couldn’t have the men arrested and tried for murder, but they had to deal with the threat permanently. Otherwise the men wouldn’t give up their quest to destroy the wolves and convert new wolf hunters.
“They hadn’t even been looking for werewolves initially. They were searching for Bigfoot but saw a lupus garou shift. The same could have happened with this case. I could be mistaken, but I suspect the shooter is someone who had prior military service or is a hunter. I can’t imagine the average man taking up a gun to hunt werewolves.”
“All right, so that’s a possibility,” Allan said. “That the hunter didn’t know about our kind until the woman shifted and he saw her. I would agree with you about him being a hunter or prior military.” Allan set his bottle on the table.
“Here’s another thought, though it’s even more far-fetched,” Paul said. “After seeing the murdered woman, Rose told Lori that while we were away on a mission, she had looked into one of those live-action role-playing—LARP—groups in southern Montana: werewolf versus villager werewolf hunters. She wanted to see if it was just a game or if any of the players were real wolves.”
“Hell, Paul. Why would she even do that?”
“She had been corresponding with one of the players online, thinking he was one of us. She had no one to date in the area, and she had discovered his website where he talked about werewolves and being one.”
“Which should have clued her in that he wasn’t.”
“I agree. But no lupus garous had passed through our area in months, and she was lonely. When she began to talk to him, she convinced herself he really was a lupus garou. So she went down to see him. This was a month before she met Everett. Which shows we were right to stay here and take over the pack.”
“Sounds like it.” Allan couldn’t believe his sister had done that. “I’m surprised Mom wasn’t upset about her doing something like that.” Rose was way too curious for her own good.
“She told Catherine she was going on a shopping trip to pick up leather-crafting supplies to make some things for her shop. Catherine never knew the real purpose of her visit because Rose brought back leather-working materials. When Rose arrived in Helena, she had lunch with the man, Guy Lamb, and discovered he really was a wolf.”
Allan’s jaw dropped, then he shook his head. “I never would have believed it. And by the name of Lamb?”
“Yeah, it was his parents’ idea. Everyone teased him about being a lamb when he was a kid, so he had fun with saying he was a werewolf on his website.”
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“Right. Anyway, he liked Rose, but once she met him, she wasn’t interested in getting to know him further. She said he was too weird for her. Loved horror stories, music she didn’t care for, books she wouldn’t read. He was such a big horror fan that he loved to act in plays of that nature and visit horror conventions. They just didn’t have anything in common. But she wanted to check out the game for curiosity’s sake, in case one of the other players was also a real wolf. Someone she might connect with more.
“Rose did manage to meet with the group, which had eight werewolf hunters, one seer, and two wolves. Though who was playing which roles was a mystery. She said no one smelled like a wolf. But when she and Lori came across the woman’s body, Rose was pretty rattled and told us about the group, in case it had any bearing on this situation.”
“Okay,” Allan said. “I can’t think of any other scenario offhand. The notion the killer saw the lupus garou shift and then eliminated her has my vote.”