Wolf on the Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

form that revenge would take.
    That all changed when she heard of Erik Danniken’s older brother, Jake.
    Erik, the town’s mayor-cum-alpha werewolf, hadn’t made his family a secret. He never said much about them either, but that’s because, honestly, there just wasn’t all that much to say. He had a handful of brothers and one sister, and they’d all gone their separate ways, as siblings do. Since becoming Jamesburg’s alpha, he met Izzy, his human mate, they had a pup, and things were pretty calm around town, barring the odd alchemical explosion or accidental zombie bear love attack.
    Don’t worry about it—it’ll all make sense.
    Seriously. Don’t worry about it. At some point, it’ll all make sense.
    Probably.
    “The hell do you mean it ain’t that simple?” Petunia winced at her own foul grammar, but couldn’t bring herself to correct herself for fear of appearing weak. “All you have to do is kidnap Danniken’s brother and bring him to me. How can that be so hard for a gang of beer swilling idiots with motorized bicycles?”
    Once she figured out the alpha had a brother, and that brother had plans to come to Jamesburg? Petunia knew exactly what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. Take the alpha’s brother captive, hold him for ransom, get rich as hell and get out of town for good. What could go wrong?
    “What could go wrong?” she asked. “There are eight of you!”
    “Ten,” the dim-witted biker said, looking at his fingers with a slight bit of doubt. “Eleven. I can’t remember.”
    Petunia shook her head. “Too stupid to live, but too dumb to know it.”
    “Yes ma’am,” he said with a broad smile. “He got himself a girl.”
    Petunia raised her eyebrows as mischief twinkled in her irises. “Really, now? Isn’t that nice?”
    “I s’pose,” the man said. “After all, love is one of the best things in the world, you know. I imagine anyone who finds love can get through just about—”
    He fell silent when he realized Petunia was staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot impatiently. “You done with the sap yet? Or should I go buy you a Hallmark card and a bunch of Kleenex?”
    “I don’t have a cold,” he said.
    “For the tears, stupid! For the whining and the tears and the... never mind. Just never mind. I don’t know why I even bother trying to joke with you morons. You’re just hopeless. So, did you capture him and his girlfriend? What the hell’s the problem?”
    The big wolf turned his eyes down to the floor. Something about his mistress was terrifying to him on a very deep level. Her unwavering stare and the intensity of her jaw clenching was such that he couldn’t stand being in the same room with her for very long. He started shaking, even if he didn’t realize it. “Er, well...”
    “Answer me! You got her, right? Got him, too?”
    “No, ma’am,” he said. He winced, expecting a blow to the face, or even worse, a nasty tongue lashing. Instead all he got was a cold stare. That, probably, was worse than either of the other punishments. He felt compelled to explain. “See, we tried, but Danniken is real big, you know? He’s... well you know his brother, so...”
    Petunia clomped down the table top to the other end, spun on her heel and tromped right back into the man’s face. She stuck a finger in his chin, parting his beard into a gray fork. “I didn’t ask for excuses, Jimmy,” she hissed his name. Just like a kid when you call them both their first and middle names, Jimmy knew he was in trouble.
    “N-n-no excuses Miss Petunia,” he said. “He just took us by surprise and we—”
    “Wait, what? How can one man take an entire gaggle of soft-brained morons by surprise? Surely one of you had to be...”
    “We were busy,” he said sheepishly. “We found, uh, somebody and we were...”
    “Oh just great!” Petunia had started waving her arms. “You were doing some petty theft, and you missed