“Let’s start by learning everything we can about McLaughlin for the past couple of months when all the trouble seemed to start.”
“In a small town the size of Wolf Creek, that won’t be hard,” Hunter said.
“Can you afford to take a few days off from the business while we do some legwork around the county and ask some questions?” Drake asked.
“Sure I can, for a woman that fine.” Hunter gave a wicked smile.
“Okay. Let’s do it,” Drake said, making up his mind. Drake wondered about this one. Something about their first meeting with her told him she just might be special.
* * * *
Morgan pulled up the truck outside the large farmhouse that was the home of Nathan’s mother and father. She took a deep breath. She knew she could do this. Nathan’s parents didn’t like her, but enough time had gone by now. She knew Nathan had talked to them before he got lost in his wolf form. If she was lucky, maybe his parents knew what the problem was and would share it with her.
Mr. McLaughlin, Nathan’s father, opened the front door and showed her inside to a sitting room. He was just like Nathan, just as good-looking, only twenty-five years older. He also had that same intensity about him Nathan always possessed. She could see where Nathan got both his character and his winning looks from.
Nathan’s mother was already seated in the sitting room waiting for her. Morgan had called ahead and let them know she was coming by. Mrs. McLaughlin didn’t look pleased to see her.
“Won’t you have a seat, my dear,” Mrs. McLaughlin said to Morgan.
Mrs. McLaughlin was a hard woman, and Morgan had her figured out. She was the perfect shifter mate when around others, submissive to her husband in all things. But Morgan knew from the little Nathan had discussed his parents with her that Mrs. McLaughlin really called the shots in this family behind the scenes, and most of the animosity Morgan had gotten from these two had come from her.
“I have chores to do out on the land,” Mr. McLaughlin said, excusing himself and leaving the two women alone to talk.
“I was just having some tea. Would you like some, dear?” Mrs. McLaughlin asked and began pouring the hot water even before Morgan had a chance to decline.
“I’ve come to talk about Nathan,” Morgan announced, getting straight to the point of her visit. Mrs. McLaughlin didn’t like her, so there was no point in pleasantries.
“How is he doing?” Mrs. McLaughlin asked with an unconcerned smile.
“I don’t know.” Morgan had a hard time keeping it together here, but she knew she would. It seemed so surreal to discuss Nathan like this. It was almost as if he was dead already. Morgan had to hold back her tears. “Mrs. McLaughlin, he shifted into his wolf two months ago. He’s been one ever since. He either won’t or can’t come back as a man. I am terribly worried about him.”
“You aren’t a shifter, dear.” Again there was an insincere smile on Mrs. McLaughlin’s face. “You wouldn’t understand our ways.”
Morgan sighed and decided on a different tack with the older lady. “Mrs. McLaughlin, I love your son, and he loves me. I would do anything in the world to help him get better. But it’s hell for me right now because I don’t know what to do for him.”
“You’ll never understand shifters, dear.”
“I think that may be true,” Morgan admitted. “But I want to understand Nathan.”
“You really came to ask me what the best thing you can do for yourself is. Isn’t that right?” Mrs. McLaughlin was like ice, and she was talking about her own son, too. Morgan couldn’t imagine the lack of emotion on the woman’s part.
“No,” Morgan corrected her but remained polite. “What I really came to ask is if you knew what’s wrong with Nathan and what caused him to shift and then not be able to come back to me?”
Mrs. McLaughlin smiled and drank her tea. “You want to know when he’s coming back to you, or if he’s coming back at all.”
“Yes I do.” Morgan sighed. Talking with this woman was every bit as hard as she knew it would be. “Do you know the answers, Mrs. McLaughlin?”
“I don’t know when my Nathan is coming back,” Mrs. McLaughlin answered. Now she seemed a bit sad or perhaps even worried about her son. “But I know he will be back. However, when he does come back, I’m not sure he’s going to return to you, dear.”
“Tell me what’s wrong with him.” Morgan was desperate. This was the question she needed an answer to.
“I’m surprised Nathan didn’t tell you himself before he shifted.”
“I don’t think he wanted to worry me. Nathan is very protective of me, and he didn’t tell me what’s wrong. But I know he had seen the doctor in Wolf Creek. My fear is that he’s sick. If he is, then I think he needs help.” Morgan looked Mrs. McLaughlin straight in the eye. “Since Nathan and I love each other, I think I’m the best one to help him.”
“Well, if Nathan didn’t trust you enough to tell you, then I’m not going to break a confidence of my son.”
Morgan sat on the edge of her chair. Her nerves stood on end. “Will you at least let me know if he’s sick or if there’s anything I can do for him?”
Mrs. McLaughlin sat her teacup aside and regarded Morgan. “I have some advice for you, dear,” she told her. “Go back to the big city and leave Wolf Creek and my son. You don’t belong out here on the land. You never did. You’re a city person.” Then she gave her another wintery smile. “You never belonged with my son, either.”
Morgan bowed her head. She felt defeated. “Maybe you’re right, Mrs. McLaughlin,” she replied and kept her voice as neutral as she could. “I’m sorry to have taken up your time this morning. I won’t be bothering you anymore.”
“No trouble at all, my dear.” Mrs. McLaughlin got up to see Morgan to the front door.
Just before she left, Morgan stopped and turned back to her. “Be honest with me about one thing, Mrs. McLaughlin,” she said. “Are you worried about Nathan?”
This caught the older lady off guard, and she had to think about it for a moment. Her eyes turned serious when she answered. “Yes, dear, I am terrified for my son right now.”
An ice-cold terror gripped Morgan’s heart.
Morgan was on her computer in her bedroom. Well, it was really hers and Nathan’s, but now it was just hers.
She was going over her bank account online. Things did not look good. She was running out of money to pay the bills. Even if she got the farm aspect of their land going, and she wasn’t doing a very good job of it at the moment, it would be months before she could sell any produce at market. Before that time, she would run out of money.
Of course, Nathan had a lot of money in his account, and Morgan had only brought a small savings out here to Wyoming with her when she’d moved. But she couldn’t get access to Nathan’s money at the bank and wouldn’t have wanted any of it even if she could.
Morgan thought about her dad. They hadn’t been close after her mom died. But he was still there for her and had told her as much every time she spoke with him. Perhaps he could help her now.
Morgan hated to ask someone for money. She had even hated to ask the bank for student loans when she was in college. Now she dreaded making a phone call to her dad, even though he would definitely give her whatever she asked for.
“Hey, Pop!” she greeted him when he answered on the second tone.
“Morgan!” he was happy to hear her voice. “It’s been a while, honey. How are you guys doing out there in Wyoming?”
Morgan groaned inwardly. Things were terrible right now, but she would never admit that to her dad. “Nathan is sick,” she told him.
“Is it serious?”
“I don’t know yet.” Morgan wanted to tell him that she didn’t have a clue as to what was wrong with her boyfriend. Maybe he was dying, and maybe he just would rather run through the forest as a wolf than be with her. “Nathan isn’t here right now, and I’m staying by myself.”
“Is he in the hospital?” her dad asked. He didn’t know Nathan was a shape-shifter. No one in Chicago would have believed it even if she had told them, so Morgan had never told anyone about the special talents of her boyfriend.
“No, he isn’t in the hospital,” Morgan explained. At the moment she didn’t know where Nathan might be. Probably out in the foothills of the mountains as a wolf. “He’s just not here,” she said to her father, although it was a lame excuse.
“You sound kind of down, honey.” Her father was concerned.
“I don’t want you to worry about me, Dad. Really, I’m okay.” She would just have to tell him a few small untruths so he would be okay with her present situation. “So tell me how you’re doing?” she asked, changing the conversation.
Her father sighed on the other end. He had some news of his own. “I didn’t want you to worry, honey. But they closed the plant last week. I’m officially on unemployment now.”
This was a shock to Morgan. Her dad had worked at an auto parts factory for twenty years. “I’m really sorry, Dad.” She didn’t know what else to say. It was bad news. Her world seemed to be filled with bad news now every place she looked.
“Nope!” Her father had a way of waving away bad things and paying them no attention. “I’m not worried in the least. I’ve wanted to sit back and take it easy in my old age. Now here’s my chance. Besides, there’s talk they’ll reopen the plant in another six months. I think of this as just a long vacation.”
Morgan laughed and smiled at all the memories she had of her dad before he divorced her mom. “You never did let anything get you down, did you?” she asked him.
“That isn’t in my nature, and I hope we raised you to be the same.”
“You sure did.” She gave another smile into the phone.
She spent the next hour catching up with her dad. It felt good. At the end of the call, they said their good-byes, and she told him she loved him and would write him a letter soon. What she had not done was ask him for any money. There was no way she could do that now, not after what he had just told her. He would still have given her any amount she asked for, but he was dealing with enough in his life without her unloading more problems on his doorstep.
No, Morgan decided, her dad was not the right person to turn to for help.
He had asked her when she was coming back to Chicago. He had meant just for a visit, but she wanted to tell him she was leaving first thing in the morning and not returning. However, that was the coward’s way out. Now she was more determined than ever to stay out here in Wyoming and see this thing through.
If Nathan came back as a man and told her he didn’t want her anymore, she would leave. She would be heartbroken, but then she could leave with a clear conscience, knowing she had done her part. But she couldn’t just run away with things up in the air like this.
However, she didn’t know what she would do. She was exhausted from all the work around the place and almost flat broke.
When she put her computer away, she looked overhead at the bedroom ceiling. It was raining outside that night. A leak had developed in one of the ceiling panels. The carpet was already getting soaked. There was another piece of work that needed doing. It was also another expense to add to her growing list.
* * * *
Drake and Hunter owned a sawmill and lumberyard on the outskirts of Wolf Creek. They also owned a private forest they used for logging. They were not only an effective team at seducing women into their bed. Together they had pretty much cornered the lumber industry in this part of the state.
Hunter had been out in the yards working with some of their men. He was shirtless and sweaty and toweled himself off as he entered the trailer his office was located in with Drake.
Drake was seated at his desk, going over some reports. Hunter took a seat in front of him and put his boots up on the desk, leaning back in his chair to rest.
“I’ve got more information on Morgan Richards and Nathan McLaughlin,” Hunter told Drake.
Drake looked up over his reports. Hunter knew he had his friend’s attention. Drake was better at disguising his lust for a beautiful woman than Hunter was, but Hunter knew he felt it passionately all the same. Morgan Richards was one beautiful woman they had both set their sights on.
“I got it out of old Doc Hughes,” Hunter began. “He was at my card game in the bar last night. I spotted him a hundred bucks for the information he had on McLaughlin’s case.”
Drake laughed. “I hope you had a hand to back it up, my friend.”
Hunter knew he was a wicked card player. He never cheated. He was just always lucky. His card playing was much like his relationships with women. Winning came easy to Hunter. At that moment, his bad-boy smile had never been darker as he thought about Morgan Richards.
“I had a flush,” he announced. His victory in cards over the old country doctor already behind him, he was ready to move onto other challenges, namely the seduction of Morgan Richards.
“So what did Doc Hughes tell you about McLaughlin?”
“He’s sick—real sick.”
“And?” Drake probed him for more.
“He’s got a shifter disease. It’s a rare one, from what I understand. He’s dying as a man. The doc told him he had to shift back into his wolf and stay. If he didn’t, he was going to die.”
Drake raised his eyebrows. “So the man is dying and the wolf is not.”