Cry Wolf (Big Bad Wolf #5) - Charlie Adhara Page 0,1

An honest-to-god werewolf? What was I supposed to do? I was terrified and I made a mistake I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life.” She paused. “But there’s a saying I believe in very strongly: from the greatest mistakes come the greatest discoveries. I’ve discovered wolves aren’t something to be frightened of. I’ve discovered the woman I really want to be.” She smiled at him. “See? I’ll get less than two years.”

“All right,” Cooper said. “Let’s say that’s true. Then what do you need me for?”

“It’s what happens after that worries me,” Freeman said. “If I’ve learned anything about these creatures, it’s that they’re a network of information and...rumors. I’m safer in here than out there. Why else do you think I turned myself in?” She smiled. “But when I get out, I want...protection. A new identity.”

“And will Dr. Beeman make a miraculous werewolf discovery three years from now?”

“How do you expect me to do that with your furry friends strategically placed in every profession across the globe, poised to efficiently silence any whisper of their existence?” This time Cooper couldn’t help the flicker of surprise that crossed his face, and Freeman noted it with interest. “You really don’t know very much at all about the creatures you’re in bed with, do you? Why do you think they like to keep you in the dark?”

“A whole new life is a big ask,” Cooper said, ignoring that.

“They’ve done it before, they can do it for me, too. But I’m guessing you don’t know about that either.”

“Since I’m so clueless, maybe you should talk to someone higher up the food chain.”

“Ignorance and influence are rarely as unrelated as they should be. You have a lot more power than you think. I’m not the only one who’s noticed.” Freeman sat back in her chair and let her eyes drift shut, as if already dismissing him. “You don’t realize the danger you’re in, Mr. Dayton. But when you do, come back and see me. I’d love to talk.”

Chapter One

Three months later

There were more werewolves here than he’d expected. More vampires, too. Even a simply sheeted ghost or two among the more contemporary or clever costumes. Apparently, there was still an appreciation for the classics at Halloween.

Cooper Dayton leaned back against the outdoor café table as another mob of screeching, giggling children swarmed past. The National Zoo in DC was hosting its annual holiday event, inviting guests to stay past regular hours, don costumes, sing spooky songs and roam the decorated paths between animal exhibits and treat stations. Off the top of his head, Cooper could not imagine a place he’d less like to be.

Fortunately, his own costumed niece, eleven-year-old Cayla, seemed similarly skeptical of the proceedings. They’d managed to avoid the carousel and—Cooper shuddered—kid karaoke station in favor of the quieter areas where Cayla could point out various animals to Cooper and tell him everything she knew about them. What she knew turned out to be a lot. She’d known the exhibits like the back of her hand ever since her mother, Sophie, an expert in all things reptilian, had been asked on as a temporary consultant for some kind of conservation video series the zoo was developing.

Meanwhile, Cooper’s brother Dean had left his old job and started working from home, so he and the animal-enthusiastic Cayla would drive to DC with Sophie once a week to spend the day at the zoo together. They’d tried to convince Cooper to come along many times, but it was Cooper’s father, Ed Dayton, who had shown up at the house this morning insisting that the whole family was going in costume and if Cooper didn’t pin this sunflower to his head and join them for Boo at the Zoo he would “break Cayla’s heart.”

More like coup at the zoo, Cooper thought, pulling off the too-tight headband with the big plastic flower hot-glued to the top as his father waded through a particularly contentious pileup of children with ease. Ed sat on the bench next to Cooper, sighing heavily in the way of old, tired men and people who had just stood in line for a cup of zoo ice cream so small it was finished by the time you made it back to your table. Ed was both, and Cooper felt the brief, alarmed pang of recognizing your parent as mortal and unfamiliar.

Ed had changed a lot while Cooper wasn’t looking. To be fair, Cooper had purposefully and determinedly spent many years