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“So you smelled a human…” Anna said.
“Wolf,” Nathan corrected.
“And?” Anna prompted.
“I called Tessa and told her what I’d smelled—I pretended she’s my aunt. ”
“So are any of the men who work for the owner wolves?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Any other scents in the area where you smelled the dead wolf?” she asked.
“No. You know how strongly the smell of dead things lingers. If anyone had moved the body, and someone had to have, their smells were washed away. ”
“How far out had you gone?” Anna asked. “I feel as though we’ve already walked a mile or two. ”
“Don’t listen to her,” Bjornolf said, squeezing her shoulder. “She just navigated miles of dense jungle, fought kidnappers, you name it, so this is a walk in the park for her. ”
Nathan grinned at her.
“Yeah, but it’s a lot colder out here. Why were you so far away from the gift shop, Nathan?” she asked.
Nathan flushed a little and squared his shoulders. “I was just taking Jessica for a walk. ”
To make out, Bjornolf suspected. The smell of a dead body had to have put a real damper on things.
“She’s human,” Anna said, as if she was playing the role of Nathan’s mother.
He nodded and Bjornolf thought he looked a little sad.
“Aren’t there any girls in the pack you’re interested in?” Bjornolf asked.
He shook his head. “Too young or too old. ”
“You can’t turn her,” Anna said. Bjornolf glanced at her and saw her fierce expression.
Nathan frowned. “Hunter turned Rourke and… and Tessa even. ”
“Rourke by accident,” Anna said. “Not on purpose. With Tessa, it was a different story. Neither had family, so it wasn’t an astronomical problem. But this girl has parents. You can’t do it. ”
“Tessa had a brother and…”
Anna said, “No. Hunter’s the pack leader. He had to take care of the consequences. ”
Hell, Bjornolf hadn’t even realized the boy was thinking along those lines. More than ever, Bjornolf knew Anna was perfect for this job.
For a long time, they walked in silence. Bjornolf knew Anna was right. He knew too that Nathan understood, even if he didn’t want to accept it. The knowledge that Hunter had changed three humans would muddy the water a bit as to what was acceptable lupus garou behavior. Some turned humans ended up being a real liability to a pack. Hunter was more than fortunate everything had worked out all right—for the most part.
“If you are calling Hunter your uncle, why didn’t you stay with him and Tessa?” Anna asked.
“Are you kidding?” Nathan said, his voice full of disbelief. “They’re newlyweds!”
Not exactly, though they still acted like it. But they were about to be new parents.
Anna shot back, “Bjornolf and I are, too! And lots newer, like as of today, I might add!”
Nathan and Bjornolf stared at her for a moment, then Nathan grinned and Bjornolf couldn’t help but smile, really wanting to get into this role.
“Yeah, well, I’ll try to give you two as much privacy as I can,” Nathan said, still smirking.
Anna rolled her eyes.
“Besides, I couldn’t stay with our pack leaders. They’d watch every move I made. ”
“We’ll watch every move you make,” Anna promised, as if that was payback for his helping to set up this arrangement in the first place.
She suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. “Was this where you’d smelled one of the dead wolves?”
Chapter 8
“This was where the body had to have been. ” Nathan waved his hands in the general area between two rows of Douglas firs as he explained to Bjornolf and Anna what he’d found. “The odor of decay was here. As soon as I smelled it, I got hold of Tessa and she contacted one of our police officers in the pack. He and several of our pack members came by to purchase trees for Christmas. Nobody recognized the scents. ”
Still firmly holding Anna’s hand, he headed in another direction. “Over here is where I smelled a second body. ” Nathan pointed to an area between rows of Colorado spruce. “Right in here. ”
Bjornolf frowned, recognizing the odor and not liking this scenario. “It smells like Montoya Sanchez, a SEAL I knew about six or seven years ago. ”
“A SEAL?” Anna asked, looking up at him with inquisitive, worried eyes. “What about the other man?”
Bjornolf shook his head. “I don’t recognize the other. ”
“How well did you know him?” Anna asked.
“About as well as I do anyone I’m serving with during only one mission. He was a good guy. Family man. Kept talking about housebreaking a puppy. I can’t imagine how he could have gotten himself killed here. ”
“I’m sorry,” Anna said with real regret.
“A SEAL. ” Nathan shuddered. “Damn, if someone could kill one of you guys…” He glanced back in the direction of the gift shop, though they couldn’t see it for the trees. “I should be heading back to work. Any of these trees look all right for our house?”
“Do you have a favorite?” Anna asked.
Nathan’s amber eyes lit up. “Yeah. ” He hurried them back in the direction of the gift shop.
Bjornolf admired Anna for thinking so quickly on her feet. He would never have thought to ask the boy if he’d already made a selection.
“This one,” Nathan said, pointing with his free hand. “A blue spruce. Isn’t it beautiful? I kept hoping no one would buy it—not that there aren’t a million trees out here. But all its sides are perfect, and we don’t have to hide a bad spot against a wall. It’s still short enough to fit in the house, isn’t it?” Nathan looked at Bjornolf for his take on it.
He opened his mouth to agree but Anna said, “Sold. Deliver it after you get off work, and tomorrow the two of you can decorate it. ”
Nathan looked at Bjornolf.
“She never had a Christmas tree before,” he explained. “She doesn’t know the first thing about decorating one. ”
“We’ll show you how,” Nathan said undeterred, tugging at her hand. “It’s easy. I’m off tomorrow until later in the afternoon. We can go to the store and buy decorations. ”
“Is Hunter paying expenses?” she asked Bjornolf.
“I’m paying for it,” Bjornolf said. “This is my first Christmas in years, and I’m going to enjoy it. ”
Anna looked like she wasn’t sure if he was teasing or telling the truth. Then she sighed and looked as though she was finally willing to play along. A little.
After Bjornolf paid for the tree, Nathan slapped his forehead. “I forgot to give you the ham sandwiches to eat while you were walking through the woods. ”
“That’s okay,” Bjornolf said. “You bring them home and we’ll have them for dinner tonight, if you’d like. ”
Nathan glanced at Anna, wondering if she was going to fix home-cooked meals the way his mother used to. Anna was looking back in the direction of the trees where they had smelled the scent of the dead men.
“See you later,” Nathan said and gave Anna a hug before he headed back into the gift shop.
“It’s going to snow,” Anna said as she and Bjornolf got into the Land Rover, and he drove out of the parking lot.
“Lightly, maybe an inch or two. ” He glanced over at her, meaning to ask if she had gotten anything out of the situation with the dead bodies, but she had closed her eyes, her head leaning against the window.
Ten miles down the road, he pulled into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant, ordered burgers, fries, and bottled waters, and they continued on their way. Anna hadn’t stirred.
Light snow was falling by the time Bjornolf drove into the driveway of the cottage, and everything was dusted in white powder. Anna had napped a
ll the way back. He guessed she hadn’t had that much time to recuperate from their jungle mission.
“Are you hungry?” Bjornolf asked as he parked the Land Rover.
She lifted her head and sniffed the air in the car. “You picked up hamburgers and french fries?” She sat up a little taller.
“And bottled water. Before we arrived, Hunter said Tessa and Meara bought some groceries for us and stocked the pantry and fridge. For now, I figured we’d just grab some fast food so we wouldn’t have to wait to cook a meal. ”
“Sounds good. ” She seized the bag of food.
Bjornolf got the front door. “Nathan’s hurting, you know. ”
“I know. ” She sighed, then changed the subject as Bjornolf closed the front door. “Nathan wasn’t trying to make you jealous, by the way. ”
Bjornolf followed her into the kitchen and pulled blue-and-white floral plates out of the cupboard. “You mean when he held your hand and wouldn’t let go?”
She placed the foil-wrapped hamburgers on the plates. “Yeah. You didn’t need to put your arm around me to show ownership. ”
He dumped the fries onto the plates, pulled a bottle of ketchup out of the fridge, and poured some on his plate. After taking a seat, he dipped a fry into the ketchup and met her darkened gaze. “He was afraid you wanted to run away. He was trying to make you feel needed. ”
She shook her head. “He was feeling needy. You didn’t have to act so possessive. ”
He laughed. “Part of the honeymoon, Anna. You didn’t think I was going to let our nephew hold your hand while I stood in the wings watching, did you?”
She shook her head as if she couldn’t believe he’d say that. She took a bite of her hamburger and made the sexiest sound. “Hmm, you know just how I like it. ”
“I know a lot about you,” he said with a smirk. In fact, he knew practically everything about her. Well, nearly everything.
“Really? You know which movies that I love to watch?”