Animal Instinct

  Animal Instinct

  Men of Alaska – Book 2

  By Paige Tyler

  Chapter 1

  Why did married people seem to have an uncontrollable urge to play matchmaker with every single guy they knew? Cell phone to his ear, Luke McCall leaned back in his chair and propped the heel of his well-worn Timberland boot up on the edge of his desk as he considered that. He supposed his brother, Hunter, and new sister-in-law, Eliza, were just trying to be helpful. More likely, though, it was just another case of Hunter thinking that he knew exactly what Luke needed. Hunter had only been born about two minutes before Luke, but that didn’t stop him from playing the older brother card whenever he thought he should. Like now, when Hunter was trying to hook him up with one of Eliza’s friends. What even made Hunter think he was looking to get involved with anyone right now?

  Luke supposed he probably shouldn’t be too hard on his brother. Now that Hunter had Eliza in his life, it made sense that his twin would want Luke to find happiness with a mate, too. But finding happiness was a tall order. Hell, just going out with a woman was hard enough in his situation. If anyone should know that, it was his brother. Dating was tough for any guy, but when that guy was a werewolf like he was, it added a whole new meaning to the word “complicated.” It was difficult to get close to a woman when he was keeping a secret that big. Most women intuitively picked up on the fact that he was hiding something, and were quick to bail on the relationship.

  Of course, since Eliza was a werewolf, too, Hunter didn’t have that problem. Though Luke was happy for his brother, it was hard not to be a little jealous at the same time. Hunter had literally hit the jackpot with Eliza. Not only was she beautiful, sexy, and thrilled about living in Alaska , but she hadn’t freaked out when she found out he was a werewolf. And to top it all off, she had completely embraced becoming a werewolf when she’d gotten bitten herself. A woman like that didn’t come along very often. She was definitely one of a kind. Which meant that Luke wasn’t likely to find anyone like that anytime soon.

  “So, can I tell Eliza that you’re coming up this weekend?” Hunter asked, interrupting his thoughts.

  Damn, his brother was persistent. “How ‘bout I think about it and give you a call later in the week?

  “Eliza’s friend is going to be bummed if you don’t come up,” Hunter told him. “She really wants to meet you. Eliza has told her a lot about you.”

  Luke’s mouth quirked. “Well, at least she knows what I look like. Like I said, I’ll call you later in the week.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” his brother said.

  Luke shook his head as he flipped his cell phone closed and shoved it in the pocket of his jeans. Even if he hadn’t wanted to avoid the whole blind date thing like the plague, he wasn’t sure he should be going to Fairbanks for the weekend anyway. He’d only moved back to Anchorage a couple of weeks ago and he was still trying to make a good impression on his new boss. That meant coming in on the weekend to get extra work done.

  Getting to his feet, Luke picked up his backpack from the floor, grabbed his laptop and hand-held radio from the desk, then headed for the door. “I’m going up to Chugach,” he told the gray-haired secretary as he passed her desk.

  Madge looked up from what she was doing to give him a smile and a nod. She had probably heard everything he’d said on the phone, and was even now thinking about setting him up with one of her unmarried daughters; she just had that look in her eye.

  Luke hurried out the door before Madge could say anything. Outside, he took in his surroundings as he made his way over to where his Mercury Mariner was parked. Built on a strip of coastal lowlands at the base of the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage was one of the most beautiful cities he’d ever seen. Of course, since he’d grown up there, Luke supposed he was a little biased. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. While Anchorage was more populated than other parts of Alaska , there were so many parks and so much untouched wilderness around that it seemed less citified somehow. In a way, with its cultural influences and trendy shops, it reminded him a lot of Seattle . Though he’d enjoyed living in the Pacific Northwest for the past four years, he had definitely missed Alaska, so it was no surprise that he’d fallen in love with the place all over again when he’d come up for his brother’s wedding. A few days after being back, he’d applied for a job with the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game. Luckily, they had been looking for a biologist at the time, so they’d hired him right away.

  The population studies on gray wolves that he was currently conducting had him spending most of his time either in Chugach State Park or the Kenai Wildlife Refuge. He’d never been one for sitting behind a desk all day, so that was more than fine with him. Any job that involved getting his boots muddy was a great job as far as he was concerned.

  Less than an hour later, Luke was pulling into the parking area onCrow Creek Road. Grabbing his pack from the seat beside him, he threw it over his shoulder. Though it was still fairly warm, he could feel that fall was right around the corner. Temperatures would start to drop sharply in the next several weeks as the abbreviated autumn turned into the true Alaskan winter. He was looking forward to it. When it was warm, Alaska was beautiful, but once the snow began to fall, the state became truly spectacular.

  Luke cinched the straps of the backpack more tightly across his chest as he headed up Crow Pass Trail into the forest. He planned on looking for wolf tracks along one of the major streams near the trail, hoping that would give him some information on the size of the pack that was living in the area. The moment he passed underneath the first huge alpine spruce, he took a deep breath. God, he loved the smell of the forest. In fact, he loved everything about the forest—the wind in the trees, the sound of animals scurrying in the underbrush, the solitude. With its five point four million acres, Chugach Forest was a complete wilderness area. He could walk all day and not see another person. That kind of freedom made him look forward to getting his work done quickly, so that he could stash his pack in a tree, change into a wolf, and go for a run.

  * * * *

  Heidi Gibson couldn’t help but smile as she slowed her car to a stop and patiently waited for the trio of Dall sheep to cross Seward Highway. They paused in the middle of the road to regard her with a bored expression for a moment before finally going on their way. Finding wildlife on a major highway back home in Denver wasn’t a common occurrence, so Heidi had been disconcerted to see moose, bears, and sheep frequently sharing the roads with cars here in Alaska. But after being in Anchorage for the past two months, she was used to seeing them.

  She sighed as she started down the road again. It was difficult to believe she’d been up in Alaska that long. She had come up to Anchorage to get inspiration for some new watercolor paintings and had originally only intended to stay for a couple of weeks, but one look at the gorgeous mountain backdrop and lush arctic landscape, and she’d fallen in love with the area. It was the perfect place for an artist like her to go for inspiration. And she’d certainly been inspired. Not only had she finished dozens of paintings, but she’d taken hundreds of photographs that she could work from when she got back home. In fact, she was going hiking in Chugach State Park that afternoon to take some more. She was eager to get as many pictures as she could before she left the next week.

  On the way to the park, Heidi made a quick stop at the ranger station in Girdwood. Even though she carried a small radio with her, she liked to check in with the park rangers to see if there was any news she should know about. As a woman out hiking by herself, she always wanted to have the latest information on any possible dangers, of both the wildlife variety and the human sort. She also liked to let the rangers know where she was going and when she expected to be back. That way, if someth
ing happened, there would be someone to know she was missing.

  As she got out of the car and walked over to the small building, she waved to several rangers as they walked through the parking lot. She knew almost all the rangers who worked in the park, and was friends with most of them. But as she opened the door, she found herself hoping that Ryan Ackerman, one of the rangers, would be out patrolling the trails today.

  Ryan had been one of the first people she’d met when she had arrived in Anchorage . Nice, in a shy kind of way, he had given her some great information on where to find the most scenic views around Anchorage , as well as which places to avoid. She had appreciated his help, and had even stopped by to show him one of her paintings. So, when he had asked her out to lunch a few weeks ago, she had just accepted without thinking. Though it had been fun, she’d immediately realized Ryan was interested in more than the food at the diner they’d gone to. She, on the other hand, wasn’t. Besides the fact that she was only in town for a little while, and therefore not looking to get involved with anyone, there just weren’t any sparks where Ryan was concerned. He simply wasn’t her type.

  Unfortunately, Ryan hadn’t picked up on that vibe, though, and had asked her to go out to dinner with him several times since then. He was never pushy or anything, but Heidi knew that if she agreed, he would read something more into it than there was, so she had politely declined his offers.

  When she walked into the building and saw the female ranger at the front counter, Heidi was thinking she might actually luck out and avoid running into Ryan altogether, but then he stepped out from the back. He was flipping through a guide book and didn’t see her at first, but he looked up the minute she walked over to the counter.

  “Heidi!” he said, giving her a grin. “I was just thinking about you.”

  Great. She pasted a smile on her face. “Really?”

  He set the book down on the counter. “Yeah. I was going to give you a call and ask if you wanted to get together this weekend. Maybe go to the Market, then dinner and a movie, or something.”

  At the expectant look in his hazel eyes, Heidi felt her resolve start to slip. With his dirty blond hair and average looks, he wasn’t the most handsome guy she’d ever seen, but he was always so dang nice. Maybe she should just go out with him. But then she reminded herself how desperate he had gotten after a simple lunch date. She didn’t want to think how he would act after dinner and a movie. Fortunately, she didn’t have to make up a reason to turn him down this time.

  She gave him a rueful smile. “I’d really like to, Ryan, but I can’t. I’m going back to Denver next week and I have a ton of things to do before I leave.”

  He looked dismayed at that. “Already?”

  She nodded. “I know. It feels like I just got here.”

  He regarded her in silence for a moment, absently fanning the pages of the guidebook with his thumb. “Maybe we could go out to dinner before you leave, then?”

  Heidi let out a regretful sigh. “I’d love to, but I can’t,” she said. “I have a load of packing to do. I have to get all my paintings boxed up and shipped.”

  Ryan said nothing, and she could see his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed.

  As the silence stretched out between them, Heidi reached up to tuck some long, blond hair that had escaped from its ponytail behind her ear. “Anyway, I just stopped by to let you know that I’m going hiking on Crow Pass this afternoon,” she said. “Any warnings I should know about?”

  Ryan didn’t answer right away, and when he finally did, it was with a distracted, “Um, no, not that I know about. Are you doing some painting?”

  Heidi shook her head. “Just taking some more pictures.”

  He nodded, but made no comment.

  She sighed. “Okay, then. I’ll try to get back up here before I leave, but if I don’t, it was really great meeting you.”

  “Yeah. You too,” he said.

  Giving him a smile and a wave, she started for the door, but his voice stopped her.

  “Heidi.”

  She turned back to the counter to find Ryan looking at her with those puppy-dog eyes of his.

  “Are you sure I can’t take you out to dinner?” he asked. “We could go after you come back from your hike. I get off work at five.”

  Heidi almost groaned. Sheesh, he didn’t give up, did he? “I’m sorry, but I can’t,” she said. Then, before he could reply, she added, “I’d better go. I want to get back before it gets dark. See ya.”

  Afraid that he might actually throw himself at her feet and beg her to go to dinner with him if she didn’t hurry up and get out of there, Heidi practically ran out the door. To her relief, the ranger didn’t follow, but a quick glance over her shoulder showed him still standing at the counter, a crestfallen look on his face. Dammit. Maybe she should have agreed to go to dinner with him just to be nice. She was leaving in a few days anyway, so where was the harm in it? Suddenly, an image popped into her head of Ryan Ackerman showing up on her doorstep in Denver saying that he’d moved there to be with her. Okay, on second thought, maybe it is better to nip things in the bud right now.

  Getting back in her car, she started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. The access point for Crow Pass Trail wasn’t that far from the ranger station and within ten minutes, Heidi was hoisting her pack on her shoulder and heading off into the woods.

  Since she wasn’t looking for anything in particular to photograph, Heidi snapped pictures of everything from the beautiful purple fireweed flowers growing on the hillsides, to cascading waterfalls. She was glad she had a digital camera. There were so many beautiful things to take pictures of that she would have run out of film a long time ago. With a digital, she could take as many shots as she wanted.

  An hour later, she was just taking a few shots of a huge alpine spruce tree when she heard a rustle in the bushes to her left. Thinking it was probably just a rabbit, she didn’t pay any attention. But as the rustling got louder, she realized that whatever it was, it was bigger than a rabbit. Not only that, but it seemed to be circling around behind her.

  Forgetting about the spruce tree for the moment, Heidi slowly turned to survey the woods surrounding her. The forest was so thick here that it almost blocked out the sun, making it hard to see. But abruptly, she caught sight of something moving between the trees. Though she couldn’t make out exactly what it was, she knew it was big. What is it? A bear, maybe? That thought made her stomach lurch. There were a lot of bears in Chugach, but she had never actually come face to face with one, and she didn’t want to now. They were really cute in the zoo, but out here by herself, more than an hour down the trail, they were just plain frightening. She tightened her grip on the digital camera and searched the forest, straining to catch another glimpse of whatever it was, but she didn’t see anything. Well, just because she didn’t see the animal, didn’t mean it wasn’t still out there.

  Forcing herself to breathe evenly, Heidi put her camera back in her pack, then turned and calmly began to walk down the trail the way she had come. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of rustling again. Oh God. It was following her. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, but still didn’t see anything. She could hear it, though. Heart hammering in her chest, she turned around and started back down the trail again, this time at a fast walk. Though every instinct in her told her to run, she resisted the urge. All the guide books she’d read had said that running would only make a bear chase her. But does that rule really even apply in this situation? The thing was practically stalking her now. Surely, running wasn’t going to hurt. If anything, it might actually save her life.

  Heidi was still trying to decide if she should run or not when she suddenly heard a deep growl right behind her. Startled, she whirled around. Her eyes went wide. Standing in the middle of the trail was the biggest black wolf she’d ever seen. The thing was freaking huge. And it was eyeing her like she was its next meal!

  Swallowing hard, Heidi slowly took a step back, then
another. The wolf followed, slowly taking one step forward, then another. Terrified to turn her back on the animal, she began to backpedal. To her horror, the wolf kept coming toward her, quickening his pace to match hers. He was going to attack, she knew it!

  With a muffled cry, Heidi dropped her pack, then turned and ran.

  * * * *

  Luke was counting wolf tracks near one of the streams when a woman’s high-pitched scream suddenly echoed through the forest. He looked up with a frown. What the hell…

  A second scream pierced the stillness of the forest, this one even more terrified. Forgetting all about the tracks, he tossed his spiral notebook on the ground beside his pack and took off running in the direction the sound had come from. Taking the trail would have been easier, but going through the forest was the more direct route, so he chose that way instead. Though he was used to running through wooded areas, doing it on two legs instead of four made negotiating the uneven terrain a little harder, but he paid little attention to it as he raced through the trees. That was when he heard the low, savage snarl of a wolf. He swore under his breath. Wolves didn’t usually attack humans, but when they did, it was serious.

  Just then, the breeze changed direction and brought with it an all too familiar scent. Luke skidded to a halt. It couldn’t be. But there was no mistaking that deep, musky scent. It wasn’t just a wolf, it was a werewolf.

  Swearing under his breath, Luke forced his feet to move. As he sped through the forest, the other were’s scent grew stronger the closer he got to the beast. God, he hoped he wasn’t too late.

  He burst onto the trail, expecting the worst, and was relieved to find that the girl was still alive. She was far from fine, though. While the werewolf hadn’t killed her, he had bitten her at least once. She was lying on the ground, clutching her bloody thigh with one hand, her face contorted in pain as she warily eyed the beast circling her.

  The pair was too intent on each other to notice him and Luke paused only long enough to grab a thick branch before racing toward them. Gripping the branch tightly, he brought it down hard on the werewolf’s back. Though the makeshift weapon had little effect on the were, it did startle the beast, and he jumped back from his prey with a snarl.