“Richard said Eric growled and snapped back at Waldron. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to him. Besides you. I wish I’d been there.” Susan sighed.
“Eric is a real alpha wolf. I was surprised he didn’t stay and fight Waldron to the end.” But Pepper was glad for it. She wouldn’t have wanted to see Eric hurt further since he’d already been wounded. Even now, she wondered if he was okay.
She didn’t want to call and check on him though. She let out her breath on a frustrated sigh.
She hadn’t expected to have any trouble on their camping trip into the national forest. She was a forester and used to working with groups on forest management. Many of her pack members worked in some forestry job or another, with Susan supervising their own forest nursery and Christmas tree farm. Some of the pack members worked there or on other tree farms, and some worked on other forestry projects, such as tree removal. But they hadn’t had a chance to visit this forest together as a pack in five years or so. It had been a vacation, and before Susan injured herself, they’d been having a blast.
Pepper had a lovely log home for pack meetings, with 250 acres of woods and a covered stone patio for outdoor gatherings. Most of her pack members had log homes of their own situated all over the territory to give them privacy, but close enough together that they could gather as a pack whenever they needed to.
“What if Eric could chase away Waldron permanently?” Susan asked.
“Then what? What if he expected something in return for his help? Our pack? Our land?”
“You? If I were the pack leader, I’d seriously consider it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not interested. We’ll continue to deal with Waldron like we have since he moved into the area with his pack two weeks ago.”
“I don’t think Waldron will get the message without someone taking him to task physically. As alpha as you are, you couldn’t beat him as a wolf. Not one-on-one. Not like you took that other wolf down.” Susan moved her leg off the table and winced. “I’m going to call it a night. When do you see the Boy Scout troop tomorrow to talk about being a forester?”
“First thing in the morning, and another after that. And I have two sessions after lunch, so I’ll be hanging around the area. I’ll have someone stop in to feed you while I’m gone.” Because Susan was using crutches, she was staying with Pepper for a couple of days. Longer, if she needed to.
“Thanks for putting me up for a couple of nights.”
“No problem, Susan. You know I always enjoy your company. If you think of it tomorrow, you could give Eric Silver a call and tell him that you’re all right. I’m certain he’d like to know that. While you’re at it, you can thank him for the rescue and, if it comes up in the conversation, ask him if he’s okay.”
Susan smiled broadly at her. “You are interested in him! But I doubt he’d want you to know if he was injured. Macho wolf syndrome, you know.”
“Possibly. Unless he wanted to get our sympathy. The doctor said it should take about four weeks for your leg to mend, which means half or less time for us. Just don’t put any stress on the leg for now. You don’t want to increase the fracture.”
“No, that’s for sure. It already hurts enough. I hope Pauline can run things until I return to work.”
“Pauline will be fine, but I’ll run over there to check things out. You don’t have to worry about anything. Just rest.” Then Pepper raised her brows. “You didn’t do this on purpose to get some time off, did you? You know I’d spell you for a while if you needed vacation days.”
Susan laughed and hobbled off to bed, saying good night.
Pepper retired to her bedroom, hoping she could figure out how to keep Waldron away from her pack and her lands without having to take more drastic measures. He’d been scent-marking all over her territory and so had some of the males of his pack. She’d taken him to task for it, but what else could she do? They outnumbered her more than two to one, from what he’d said. And she couldn’t complain to human law enforcement about Waldron and his men peeing all over her property. She still wouldn’t give in to him no matter what. But his actions could be a real problem for the wolf pack if they ignored them.
She tucked herself into bed, thinking about Waldron attacking Eric and drawing blood. She should have told Susan to call her when she learned how Eric was, if he was willing to tell her the truth.
* * *
His injuries throbbing, Eric answered Sarandon’s call while he got on the road to return to Silver Town. “Hey, what’s up?” Like Eric, his brother loved the outdoors. He was a guide for anyone who needed one—photographers, nature lovers, hikers, and rock climbers. He loved doing it all.
“Just a heads-up. I might be a little late to the forestry careers talk tomorrow,” Sarandon said. “I’ve got a Lepidopterist Society meeting first thing in the morning so the members can count butterflies and identify different varieties. If we have a big showing, we’ll be there a while. So I might have to talk after you do.”
“I’ll let the Scout leaders know,” Eric replied. “I have something to do after I speak, so if I’m not there, just give your lecture and I’ll meet you after lunch at the next Boy Scout campground. They’ll love hearing what you do.”
“I thought you said you had the whole day scheduled to talk to troops.”
“I do. We have two other Scout troops to meet in the afternoon, but when everyone’s busy with lunch, I have other business to take care of.”
“I thought we could get lunch together. We don’t often see each other during the duty day.”
Eric suspected his brother sensed something was up. He couldn’t get anything past Sarandon. His younger brothers, sometimes yes, but not Sarandon. Even though the quadruplet brothers were born only minutes apart, he and Sarandon were the closest to each other, just like Brett and CJ were close.
“Okay, so what are you going to do that’s so important?” Sarandon asked.
“Nothing. Just checking out an area on the nearby creek.” He wanted to learn more about the pack that had rented the cabin, like where the wolves lived. Which meant checking their reservations. Since he worked for the park, that would be easy to do. He needed to know if they were involved in the illegal cultivation of cannabis.
“For…what?”
Eric couldn’t lie to his brother. After the way their father had lied to Eric and his brothers, Eric wouldn’t do that to them. But he wasn’t about to tell Sarandon he’d seen a fantasy in the forest that he wanted to know more about, and that he wanted to prove to himself in the worst way that Pepper was innocent of any wrongdoing. Pepper was the only name he had to go by. And she was just as hot and spicy as her name. “Just checking it out.”
“Okay, well, let me know if you discover anything interesting.”
“Will do.”
“I bet,” Sarandon said, sounding skeptical.
Eric knew he had to get his injuries looked at, and better that Sarandon hear about the fight from him rather than through pack gossip. “A couple of wolves bit me.”
“Is it bad? It has to be, or you wouldn’t have told me. Do you need me to come get you?”
Sarandon knew not to make a big deal of it.
“Not a problem. And I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I hadn’t wanted Doc to look at it.”
“Hell. It is bad or you wouldn’t be seeing Doc.”
“Just to be on the safe side.”
“How bad—”
“Minor.” Though both wounds were still bleeding and hurting like crazy.
“This has to do with the drug wolves.”
“One of them, yeah. CJ and the rest of the sheriff’s department are checking into it.”
“One? What about the other?”
“He was a…guard wolf for another pack, just visiting the park.”
“You’re going after him tomorrow then?”
“No.” Not that wolf. The she-wolf.
“Then—”
“I think he was protecting his pack. Anyway, I was just curious where his pack is from.” Eric pulled onto the main road going to Silver Town.
“Related to the drug business?”
“I don’t believe so.” He sure as hell hoped not.
“Any woman you’re interested in seeing more of in particular?” Sarandon asked, his tone bordering on amused, but he was also curious. “You wouldn’t be interested if there wasn’t more to it than that.”
“As if it’s any of your business, but yeah. There were some women in the pack.”
“Hell, Eric.” Now Sarandon sounded surprised. Which, given Eric’s lack of interest in women for the past two years, was understandable.
“They might be mated.” Eric knew Sarandon would assume he was interested in one of the women. He didn’t want to tell his brother that her pack, or some of her pack, could be involved in illegally raising cannabis. Not without proof.
Then again, Pepper had been the leader of the group at the creek, not necessarily a pack leader. The other women had fluttered around her like she was a goddess, everyone attentive to her, and when she entered the cabin, she’d definitely been the one in charge.
“Do you want me to go with you when you check the area out?” Sarandon sounded worried.
“No.”
“The wolf who attacked you could be her mate.”
“She didn’t have one. Apparently some wolf has been wanting to court her though.”
“Do you have a name for her?”
“Pepper is all I got.”
“All right. Let me know what Doc says about your injuries.”
“Sarandon…”
“All right, all right. See you tomorrow if we can get together. Otherwise, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sounds good.” They ended the call. Despite the fact that Eric’s shoulder hurt like crazy, he was trying to see the point of view of the wolf who had bitten him, but he was having a difficult time with it. He called Doc, hating to make this a late-night call, but Dr. Weber always took calls anytime of the day or night. Not that he would be happy about it. Doc wasn’t a late-night person.
Still, Eric was damn glad they had a wolf doctor in their pack. Reporting that a wolf had bitten him to a human doctor would be bad news all the way around for wolves, his kind and otherwise. And lying and blaming a dog could cause problems too. Of course, Eric could have called their pack vet, because he didn’t mind taking care of anyone any time, but Eric really didn’t want to see the vet.
“Hate to be calling you like this,” Eric began.
“Another snakebite?” Dr. Weber asked, sounding grouchy.
Eric was still irritated with himself for not spotting a coiled-up rattler only a week ago while he had been out searching for a missing hiker. He’d been wearing heavy-duty, snake-proof boots, but the rattler had struck out at him from a stack of rocks and dug his fangs into Eric’s thigh.
“A couple of wolf bites this time. I probably shouldn’t even be bothering you with them.”
“Wolf bites? While you were in the national park? A regular wolf? Couldn’t have been one of our pack. If you’re calling me at this hour, it needs to be seen. How long before you get here?”
“Half hour. Yes, I was at the park. No, it wasn’t one of our people, and before you ask, it was a lupus garou.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“You don’t need to tell Darien.” Eric knew he would anyway.
“When a wolf bites one of our people, Darien needs to know about it. I take it you didn’t provoke the wolf.”
“One of them is involved in the drug business. The other bite happened in a different location, and the wolf was just being protective of his pack.” Eric didn’t want Darien sending out a hunting party to take down the “dangerous” wolf.
“All right. I’ll let Darien know.”
Fifteen minutes into the drive, Eric got a call. Darien. Eric let out his breath and explained about the woman’s injury and the subsequent events.
“It’s a national park, not a place a lupus garou pack can claim for its own,” Darien said angrily after Eric had finished. “And you didn’t act aggressively to the wolf or threaten his pack in any way.”
“I know, but it’s okay.”
“I know you, Eric. It’s not okay. You’re going to try to locate the pack.”
“Yes, as a human and in my capacity as park ranger, I am checking on the status of the woman’s injury. I won’t be running as a wolf. They have to respect the uniform.”
Darien didn’t say anything. Eric knew Darien didn’t want him going alone, not after what had already happened between him and the wolf. Eric was concerned about the woman’s injury, but he was also bothered by the notion that some wolf was hassling Pepper. Not that she’d appreciate Eric stepping in and chasing off the other wolf if she thought she could handle it herself, but if it worked out well for her, he was certainly willing to help her out.
“I haven’t had a chance to check in with CJ. What happened when he and the others investigated the trouble I had up on the cliffs?” Eric asked, not assuming Darien would have gone himself, as busy as he was with pack matters.
“No bodies. No marijuana plants. But all the wolf prints and trace evidence of blood, including your own, were there. The wolf pack had to be close by to clean it up as fast as they did and move out. Eric, you’re not to investigate these people on your own any further. You’re not immortal.”
“I had to take a chance. This is the first time any of us have actually encountered the wolves responsible.” Not that it did a whole lot of good, since the wolves were now dead. What if Eric learned Pepper and her pack were involved up to their wolf ears in this shady business?
“Take Sarandon with you,” Darien said, breaking into Eric’s thoughts. “You said you both were giving talks to Boy Scout troops in the area. Take him with you when you investigate this visiting wolf pack.”
Darien was giving a pack-leader order, and Eric didn’t like it.
“Eric? I know you’re perfectly capable of handling this on your own, but for my peace of mind, will you take him along?”
Eric was surprised that Darien had changed his tune. Normally he wouldn’t alter a command making it a request instead—except with his pack-leader mate, Lelandi. No way did he order her around.
“They packed up and left already.”
“Okay, but I still want you to take Sarandon.”
“Yeah, all right.” What else could Eric do? He had gone against Darien’s rule on occasion, but not when it might involve another wolf pack and get his own into trouble.
“Let me know what you learn.”
“Will do.” Eric hadn’t wanted the whole pack in on this. Sarandon would keep Eric’s injury a secret from their younger brothers, Brett and CJ. But Eric was afraid news would somehow get out that he’d been bitten by a wolf from a neighboring pack and now was trying to track down the pack.
Others in the Silver pack would want to help him. Including his brothers. He really didn’t want anyone’s help in this. The more who got involved, the more the she-wolf would feel he was being too pushy. He’d been accused of it—well, of being too bossy—when he wanted to help the three new she-wolves in the pack to renovate the Silver Town Hotel. He wasn’t one to stand by and not offer advice when he came up with brilliant ideas of his own.
Eric was also worried that if the wolves were involved in the drug business, they might get spooked and run off to another park that he didn’t have jurisdiction over.
When he arrived at the clinic, Doc Weber let him in, glanced at the blood soaking his shirt, and shook his head.
“Did you call Darien about this?” Doc asked as Eric stripped off his shirt in the exam room. He then removed the bandages Eric had
applied.
“I did.”
“So how did it happen?”
Eric had to explain all over again.
Doc stopped stitching him up for a moment to consider him, his white brows deeply furrowed. “I’ll have to give Darien a medical report.”
“Over a couple of lousy stitches?” Eric snorted, wishing he could have pretended nothing was wrong, but because of the location of the second bite, he couldn’t have stitched the wound closed himself. Plus antibiotics could help keep the bite from becoming infected. Suturing it would help it heal faster than if he’d just let his enhanced wolf-healing abilities take care of it.
“Twelve on one shoulder, ten on the other. And they’re fine stitches, if I do say so myself. I could tell you to take it easy for a couple of days, no running as a wolf, and by the end of the week you should be mostly healed. But I know you won’t listen to me.”
Eric grabbed his shirt but didn’t put it on. With the suturing and the new bandages, he wouldn’t bleed on the driver’s seat, and he didn’t want to wear the bloody shirt.
“Take it easy, and if you need anything for pain…”
“Nothing. Thanks.” Eric left the clinic, and when he arrived home, he called Sarandon one last time for the night. He really didn’t want to take his brother with him tomorrow, but pack leader orders had to be obeyed. He’d begun washing the blood out of his shirt when Sarandon answered.
“Hey, what did Doc say? You must have already seen him by now.”
“Couple of stitches. Why don’t you come with me to try to locate the pack tomorrow? I want to check on the woman and see how she’s faring.”
Sarandon was so quiet, Eric thought he’d lost the connection. “Okay?”
“I know you didn’t threaten the women or this wolf, or you would have taken a chunk out of him. You didn’t, did you?”
“No. I just left the area.”
“If he’s a lupus garou, he shouldn’t have reacted so aggressively unless he was provoked.”
“I didn’t provoke him.”
“I know. I’m just saying, it seems odd. He seems to have more at stake here.”