The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65-1

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I realized then that I was no longer afraid for myself or for what might happen, but for the possibility that they might hurt the sheriff and his wife. I wasn’t afraid they would hurt me. I was afraid this wouldn’t end well, because of a misunderstanding.

If I dared to say something, would anyone listen to me? I tried, at least:

“Wait, Alexander… please! Why don’t you listen to him? He says he only wants to talk.”

The one being addressed narrowed his eyes and took a step toward us.

“Talk, huh? About what do you want to ‘talk, cat?” he demanded, chin held high.

“I think you and I both know very well what I came to talk about. I’m not going to shoot anyone if you don’t either.”

It was hard for Alexander to make a decision. I can’t say he didn’t have a point if he thought all of that could be a trap. I turned toward the sheriff, but even though I could see nothing but the nose at the end of his short sand-and-white muzzle, I asked:

“Luke, what’s going on? I know you. You aren’t like this. Why are you doing this?”

“Mrs. Grant, I truly regret dragging you into this problem,” he answered me, in a low voice and a bit grudgingly, “I have no choice. Dogs aren’t very benevolent toward my kind, and I have a woman and a baby to protect. I didn’t come looking for a fight, but this is important.”

“Do you swear it to me? By your badge and your position as sheriff-do you swear it, Luke?”

“We both swear it,” he replied, and his wife lowered the weapon she had been aiming at Alexander for a while. “By our child, who is more sacred to us than any position.”

Well, if I was wrong about that, I was going to pay for it very dearly anyway. I turned toward the house and stretched my hands out in front of me again.

“Trust me, Alexander! I told you I knew them-trust me, tell yours not to shoot! I just want to talk to you!”

Several emotions crossed his face at once; it was very confusing. Not only for Alexander-1 think it was for everyone.

Even before anything was settled, slowly, I felt the sheriff’s arm loosen around me; but even though I could have run the moment he lowered the gun from my head and freed me, I stayed at his side. I wasn’t going to let them fill them with lead-so far as I knew they were good people-so I tried to steel myself with that. My pulse calmed once I felt myself free. She was

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pregnant, and he was a county authority figure.

How bad could they be?

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Human or not, the two of them had a life where they were respected people. Just like

Alexander had it in Alaska, with his wife and children, or like Hans and his children surely had

it somewhere else in the world, or Richie in Australia, Ishida in his native Japan…

Everyone lived inside their own reality.

I think I was starting to take the whole thing with a disturbing naturalness.

“All right, don’t make me regret this,” I told Kaylee, the first one who came into my view.

When I turned back to face Luke, I expected not to see his human face with angular, Southern features anymore-but I also hadn’t imagined he would be such a beautiful creature, and so fierce-looking. A puma-I recognized it the moment I saw him. His pink nose, fur with grayish sand and dark gray tones, black lips and white muzzle. His body varied so little in size that it seemed he didn’t even have to undress to transform, because he was in uniform and yet his head was no longer a man’s. He pulled off the gloves to free his claws, showing the world those paw-hands-so elegant and stylized, almost human, but covered in short, tight fur that was slightly gray. It was chilling to see how, with just a squeeze of his knuckles to loosen up, his retractable nails slid out of the folds of skin at the tips of his fingers and were exposed in their full length. I didn’t see a tail.

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& Chapter 65-2

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twisted ball on his back, and with white fur soaked in blood, the fearsome tiger who had attacked me two days earlier lay there-dead. His mouth open in a painful grimace, his hands twisted into strange positions over his chest crossed with wounds. His throat exposed and broken, his ears flattened against the floor of the truck. For a moment, it reminded me of the way Walter slept on his cushion: belly-up with his paws tucked in, head to one side and his throat exposed to the air.

If not for the blood flooding the bag and the black plastic, I would’ve thought I was seeing a huge cat asleep.

But there was no way to say he looked at peace. He had suffered a lot. It was horrible. I took a step back, stunned, but my back bumped into something hard-and that was when Alexander wrapped an arm around me. I covered my face with my hands, trembling; I didn’t know what to do or say. My instinct was wiser and took me in the right direction: to hide myself fully against the chest of the man who was so close to me, the one I felt safest with. My stomach turned, because very soon I became aware of the piercing smell of spilled blood and I thought I might vomit at any moment.

“Ajay Singh,” Luke declared, in an ironic tone, as if savoring some feat. “His brother Sanjay had the good sense to flee the town and not get mixed up in this. Ajay was a bit stupider and didn’t have as much luck.”

My blood went cold again, and suddenly I felt very dizzy. Ajay? Was it the same Ajay from the gas station-the one who gave me Hindu blessings?

Ajay was a tiger-man, and he had attacked me in my own house?

I couldn’t believe it. I pressed myself against Alexander without thinking, seeking protection from God knows what. I had never seen anything like it. So horrifying. He was dead. Ajay was a tiger-man and he was dead. Alexander didn’t say anything either; he only held me close. Had Luke killed him? By himself? At first glance, it didn’t seem like someone smaller than the tiger could defeat him…

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