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“Yeah, but are you friends of his?” Thompson persisted.
“Did you say you’re a police officer?” Carver asked.
Thompson smiled, but the look was not friendly. “Not exactly. I help police wild animals running loose in the area that might come to harm. ”
“Okay, so I said we don’t have any dogs here. Or wolves. ”
“May I have a look around your backyard? Your neighbors said you have a dog door in your back gate. ”
Because of the woodland setting, the neighbors were a long way from each other and a mini-forest surrounded each of the homes in the development. The neighbors couldn’t have seen the dog door in the gate unless they’d come onto Carver’s property.
Carver smiled, his expression dark and threatening. “No, you don’t have permission to traipse around my backyard. ”
Thompson turned his attention to Anna and Bjornolf. “Do you know Leidolf?”
Bjornolf thought Thompson would have made a good alpha wolf with his tenacity.
Both he and Anna shook their heads. Bjornolf had never met the red wolf leader.
“I’ll find the wolves. I always do. ” Thompson’s threat was a promise. Then he turned to leave, paused, and said over his shoulder as an afterthought, “You can tell Leidolf I said hi. ” Then he headed for his pickup truck as Carver shut the door a little too forcefully.
“Lock the back gate, Alice, just in case Thompson decides to snoop around back there and sees wolf prints,” her father said.
“We can sweep the snow,” she said eagerly.
Carver watched out the window. “It’s too late. He’s headed to the cul-de-sac, and then he’ll go through the vacant woods and around the back of the property. He’ll see the tracks leading up to our gate even if he doesn’t try to enter the backyard. Dogged damned bloodhound. ”
“I’ll lock it. ” Alice grabbed a broom out of a closet and flew toward the back door and outside to sweep the snow anyway.
Thankfully, Leidolf and his men weren’t coming to search for the teens. If Thompson had found them here, what would he have concluded?
A blue sedan pulled up out front, and Carver muttered under his breath, “Finally. ”
Nathan and Sarah. Now how would he handle this?
Chapter 13
Aimée joined Carver—along with Bjornolf and Anna—in the living room and took hold of Carver’s arm as if to calm him. Before Nathan and Sarah reached the front door, Aimée said to Bjornolf and Anna, “Thompson’s the one who put Leidolf and Cassie in the zoo when they were running as wolves. ”
“Thompson and Leidolf sound like they have a history, and not a good one at that. ” Bjornolf wanted to put his arm around Anna, but she was already headed for the door and opened it as Sarah raised her hand to twist the doorknob from outside.
Anna stretched out her hand. “Hi. You must be Sarah. I’m Anna Johnson. ”
If Nathan had been in his wolf’s coat, he would have appeared as bowed as he did in human form, and his tail would have been between his legs. He glanced at Anna, avoiding Bjornolf and Carver’s gazes, and looked as though he wanted to be swallowed up by the terra-cotta tile floor in the entryway.
“We were so worried about you. ” Anna pulled Nathan into a hug.
***
Bjornolf had no idea how they managed to get through lunch. Carver was furious. Bjornolf was upset with Nathan for putting everyone in danger. Bjornolf was even more concerned about Anna’s state of mind. She barely ate more than a couple of bites of food, withdrew from the small talk, and avoided looking at anyone.
Nathan and Bjornolf couldn’t help glancing in her direction, both wanting desperately to make her feel better.
Nathan cleared his throat and rushed through his words to Carver. “I want to date Sarah. ” His eyes were dark with challenge as he met Carver’s.
Bjornolf swore the older man was fighting a smile as he paused in the process of cutting a slice of roast on his plate.
“When and where?” he asked.
Nathan’s mouth dropped open a little, then he clamped it shut.
***
On the trip home, no one said a word for several miles as Bjornolf drove a rental car with Anna up front with him. Nathan was in the backseat behind her.
“You really like Sarah? She seemed like a nice girl,” Bjornolf said finally.
“Yeah. Um, I like her. A lot. ”
Anna swore Nathan wasn’t telling them the whole truth.
Nathan cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry that I ran like I… I did. ” His voice broke on the last word. “I thought maybe if I saw Sarah again, I’d realize she was more suited to me than Jessica. Because Sarah’s a wolf. It didn’t work. I like Sarah, but she’s not… Jessica. ” Nathan let his breath out on a heavy sigh. “Sarah will want to kill me. ”
Anna reached over her seat back, took Nathan’s hand, and squeezed it. “You don’t really want to date Sarah, do you?”
“No. I mean, she’s a friend. Sure. But… I think she wants me to be more than that. ”
Anna’s own teen years had been such a muddled mess; how could she offer advice? But she was worried about him.
“Was it because of me that you ran off?” Anna asked.
“No… well, and yes. You didn’t make me do it. But I got to thinking about what you said about Jessica being human and you were right. Seeing Sarah didn’t change the way I see Jessica, though. ”
Anna took a deep breath and nodded. She couldn’t think of anything to say that would help, so she turned around to watch out the windshield, glad he was safe.
“I’m sorry I ran away. I promise I won’t again. ”
Anna sighed heavily. “I felt the same way when I was your age. I think sometimes I’m still running away. We’re here for you now. I mean that. You’ve got a pack who cares about you. I didn’t have any of that. It’s really tough out there living without a pack. Believe me. You don’t want to lose what you have. ”
“She’s right, Nathan. I was about your age when I lost my parents. They were missionaries killed while doing what they were called to do. When that happened, I was as wild as could be, no rules, no curfews, no family, nothing. I would have given up all that freedom just to have my family back. ”
“I thought you were fine with not having anyone,” Nathan said. “I heard some of the pack members called you a ghost. That you never worked with a team. That you were your own man. ”
“I worked with several different teams over the years. Lots of good men. The last twenty years or so, I’ve been alone. But you know what? If I needed someone to watch my back, I didn’t have it. No one knew I even existed. If I got wounded, I was on my own. When everyone else left the mission behind, I had to find my own way out. ”
“You were ghosting different SEAL teams for a long time, weren’t you?” Nathan asked.
“I was. ”
“Then you started to follow Hunter’s team. Why?”
“They were gray wolves. Not humans. ”
“And they had Anna working with them,” Nathan said.
Bjornolf glanced in her direction. She was watching him, curiosity in her expression.
Bjornolf chuckled. He’d developed an affinity for Hunter’s team—the camaraderie, the closeness, their successes—and he’d wanted to help them keep it going. He had to admit adding Anna to the mix sure livened things up.
Anna frowned and then said to Nathan, “He began to see them as his family. ”
“And you, Anna,” Nathan insisted. “I loved the popcorn garland you made for the tree. Why didn’t you come get me? I would’ve helped. ”
“You were asleep. ”
Nathan let out a snort. “Not with Bjornolf pacing back and forth across the room. I couldn’t sneak past him. He wanted to be the one with you. He wouldn’t have wanted me to spend the time with you instead. ”
Anna s
miled. “I could have sworn you were both snoring away in your bunk beds. ”
That was something Bjornolf wanted to change tonight. He wanted Anna in bed, in the master bedroom where they should have been together all along.
***
When they arrived at the cottage, the sun had already set. Nathan stirred in the backseat and sat up. “Can I help you take the rental car back?”
“Hunter said one of his people will take it back. Thanks for offering,” Bjornolf added, realizing the kid was trying to make amends and take some responsibility for his actions. He glanced at Anna. Her eyes were closed, her head was pressed against the window, and she had appeared to be sleeping for the short ride home.
Nathan whispered, “Oh, yeah, I gotcha. ”
Bjornolf glanced into the rearview mirror and raised his brows, questioning Nathan’s remark.
Nathan tilted his head in Anna’s direction. Then he said in a hushed voice, “I won’t be any more trouble. I swear it. You can sleep with her, and I’ll stay put. You don’t have to babysit me. Honest. ”
Bjornolf considered Anna, saw the hint of a smile on her lips, and shook his head. He was trying to come up with a way to change the subject before Nathan said too much more about the sleeping arrangements and got them both into hot water, when Nathan said, “You like Anna. A lot. ”
Bjornolf sighed. Yeah, he did. He hadn’t realized just how much the she-wolf had gotten under his skin. He’d thought he could resist her charms on this last mission, just stay in the background watching the team’s backs. But he couldn’t, not when he kept wanting to dash out and save Anna from the threats all around her.
He wanted much more than that. Her. For his own. They could work together. Live at her place in New Jersey, or even find a new place. They could keep track of Hunter’s missions and ghost the team together, or just sign up as part of the crew.
“We’re here,” he said to Anna. In a way, he wished she was still sleeping so he could carry her to bed. It was better that she wasn’t because they had to decide the sleeping arrangements together.