“A she-wolf, you mean.”
He smiled. “Yeah, what can I say?”
“That homicide detective couldn’t hang around for very long. The sheriff said he works in Montana. I love the location where I’m living—”
They took their seats at the table. “But…?”
“I have to admit that being with a pack has appeal. But what if it didn’t work out? Still, I can’t really see going back to the way things were. Completely isolated. No one to talk to about these issues. And I don’t mean to do it just online either. Though that would be better than nothing.”
“No matter what, we’re willing to make this work. Just give us a chance.”
“You don’t feel desperate or anything, right?” She had to ask. She still couldn’t quit thinking of it as being like she was the last woman on earth, and no matter how incompatible they might be, he would still want her as his mate.
“Does the desperation show? Too much?”
She laughed. She really did like him.
“So…you’ll stay with us?” He looked like he was trying to act nonchalant about it.
“I just got here. What if in a couple of weeks, you decided you couldn’t tolerate living with me?”
“Then I’d be certifiable, and believe me, Gavin and David would be knocking down my door to offer their hospitality. In fact, when I went to see them off, that’s exactly what the two of them said.”
“You told my uncle you know I am Clara. How did you verify it?”
“I didn’t. I just intended to ask you, and then there was the wolf of my dreams standing at the door. You don’t know how many times I went to that camping area to see if you ever returned. As if by some miracle you would. I had the idiot notion when I saw you across the river that you might be the one for me, though we’ve never crossed paths with an Arctic wolf since we were bitten in Maine and left there. I more than fantasized about you. I searched for you, but I came up with nothing. Then when I saw you at your door, I just knew it had to be fate. I was the only one who had seen you. Twice now. If I hadn’t gotten the job, one of the other guys would have been there instead.”
“Ha! I assumed I was hallucinating when I saw you at the river that time. Later, I thought your son had bitten me. At least, that’s what I believed. No way would I have ever returned. I definitely wasn’t thinking of how much I wanted to meet you again. I was thinking about what an alien world this whole situation had turned out to be.”
“Are you sure? I thought when you saw me as a wolf you were wearing an intrigued look.”
She smiled. “It was more of a curious and a little worried look. I mean, what would I have done if you had crossed the river and come to see me?” She would have been afraid of him, afraid he wouldn’t want her in his pack’s territory. And, if the little one was his, afraid she might be a danger to the pup.
“I would have greeted you and tried to convince you to see the pack then, not knowing you had been newly turned. You really never thought about me after that?”
“Oh, all right. Yes. But I reminded myself you had a litter of pups and probably a vicious mate.”
He laughed. “Well, I didn’t, on either count.”
She saluted him with her wine. “Do you want to take the canoe out? I want to see the lake.”
His cell phone rang, and she waited for him to answer it. But when he looked at the caller ID and then looked at her, she wondered if her uncle had somehow learned the truth. She wasn’t on a book tour anywhere.
Chapter 9
“Hello?” Owen saw that the caller was from Montana, probably Rowdy Sanderson. He was surprised the homicide detective would call him after Candice wouldn’t take his call. The detective sure was persistent. Owen figured Candice was right and Rowdy must have taken down his license plate number when he came snooping around Candice’s place.
“Hello, I’m Rowdy Sanderson, a homicide detective with the police department in Bigfork, Montana. I don’t want to alarm you, no murders committed or anything, but I was in South Dakota when two wolves rescued a couple of snowmobilers.”
“Wolves? You can’t be right about that. They’re wild animals. No one could train them to do something like that. Even if that really happened, I don’t know what I have to do with it.”
Candice sat down on the barstool, frowning. Owen moved closer to her and swept his hand down her back.
“You were at Candice Mayfair’s place when this happened. And she lives close enough as the wolf runs to reach the injured men and return to the house.”
Now Owen was frowning. “You were the one trespassing on her land?” He figured it was time to turn the tables. Put the detective on the defensive.
“I was just tracking the wolves. I wanted to talk to Ms. Mayfair and offer my help in any way that I can.”
“Help with what?” Before Sanderson could answer, Owen said, “Okay, listen. If this isn’t a case of homicide that involves me…or her, then I have nothing further to say to you. I don’t own wolves, and neither does she. But I’ve got business to take care of. Have a great day.” Owen cut Sanderson off, ending the call before the detective could respond.
“He did see your license,” Candice said.
“Yeah, but he’s not going to come all the way out here to see me. And he won’t know you’re here.”
“Except that you left, and I’m gone too.” Candice got off the barstool and put on her coat. “That’s if he put two and two together, and he seems to be really good at following up on leads.”
Owen grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. “When we were eating breakfast that morning, he told the sheriff that he was on vacation. I doubt he’d use all his vacation time trying to track down a couple of wolves.”
Once they were all bundled up, they headed outside.
“What if he does come here?”
“What would he do? Tell us he knew we had wolves when we don’t? Then what?”
“Okay, but I keep thinking of that story you told me about the werewolf hunters.”
Hell, Owen hadn’t thought that this Rowdy might believe in werewolves like those other nut jobs who’d tried to kill them. “I’m sure if he were a werewolf hunter, he’d have some buddies, not be doing this on his own. And that’s the only time we ever ran into anyone like that. I’m sure it’s a fluke. The guys were chasing down Bigfoot.”
Owen smiled at her and took her gloved hand, squeezing it. He was thrilled to take Candice out in the canoe, so he was annoyed with the detective for worrying her over this. Once they got back in, he’d call Cameron to let him know what was going on with this detective, and Cameron would tell everyone else.
He’d love to take Candice out for a sail too in the summer. Anything that would convince her she’d love to live here. With him. Was he desperate? Yeah, just a little.
After they got into the canoe and paddled out, he guided them near the bank to see the Christmas lights on Cameron and Faith’s house, his own, and David’s reflecting off the water. The homes were separated by a lot of forest acreage to give them each enough privacy, yet close enough that the pack members could run as wolves or hike on the trails as humans to one another’s homes. Gavin was always forgetting to turn his outdoor lights on. But the Christmas lights decorating the tree inside were on and visible through his big lakeside windows.
“Beautiful. I never would have imagined something so magical.” Candice was sitting up front, paddling like a pro.
Owen recalled that she and her hiking companions had taken canoes at one point and he had lost her trail completely. “I’d love to take you sailing when it’s warmer in the spring.”
“Okay, it’s a deal. There’s only one problem.”
He couldn’t imagine what could be a problem, though he detected a hint of a smile.
“Who’s going to use the lake as a setting for his or her werewolf romance???
?
He chuckled. “For you, I would give up anything. But I imagine the way I’d describe it could be much different from the way you would. Different voices, right?”
She smiled. “Yeah. I just wanted to make sure it was okay if I used it. It’s just so romantic. Uh, one other thing.”
Now she looked serious. “Yeah?”
“About Christmas…”
“Low key. No worries.” He hadn’t given it a lot of thought. Not when he wanted to do everything he possibly could to make her feel welcome. And get this business with the inheritance over so she could be settled here safely.
“Right. So exactly what happens?” Candice didn’t sound like she thought Christmas would be low key.
It really was just a relaxed, family-filled gathering of the wolves. “Christmas dinner with Cameron and his family. One of the guys always has Christmas Eve dinner. Usually two of us prepare most of the dishes, though everyone pitches in with something. I did it with David last year. We have snowman contests, if we have fresh snow. Play board games.”
“I’ve never made a snowman. Not a lot of snow in Houston, you know. Sure, South Dakota has snow, but it wasn’t something I’d go out and do by myself. But with a bunch of us creating them, that really sounds like fun.”
“It is. The cocoa and baked goods to warm us up afterward are great too. We have to do a lot of extra running to wear it all off, but it’s worth it. The guys and I get a little fishing in. Now that the kids are growing older, they’ll probably do some too. They did before, but they got too cold.”
“I hadn’t really considered I’d be staying over Christmas while I was here.”
“It’s low key. Really. Nobody expects you to buy them anything.”
“And no one will be picking up anything for me. Right?”
“Are you kidding? If Gavin and David think it might make a difference in winning your affection, they’ll be getting you something. The MacPhersons too, because they’ll want you to feel welcome and stay with us.”
“But you’re not, right?”
“Hell yeah. I want you to feel welcome most of all.”
Candice sighed. “Okay, so when we return to the house, you can tell me what everyone would like and I’ll order them gifts online. They should arrive in time.”
“You don’t have—”
“Yeah, I do. I want to. It’ll be fun. I haven’t done Christmas in a couple of years. No gift giving, no celebration. I always decorate, but I just continue to work on books as if it’s any other day of the year.”
Owen had suspected that might be the case. He was glad she was here to celebrate the holidays with them, and that she fully intended to participate. “I can’t tell you how excited everyone is that you’re here. You’ve made the holidays truly special for all of us. But especially for me. A couple of days ago, I would never have imagined boating on the lake with a beautiful she-wolf.”
Candice took a deep breath and dipped her paddle into the water. “I never imagined doing this with the beautiful wolf from across the river. Never in a million years.”
The sun was beginning to set, the pinks and oranges reflecting off wisps of clouds, turning them pink, and coloring the water pink and orange in places as the sun’s rays filtered through the trees bordering the lake. A snowy owl hooted in a dying tree near the shore.
“In the summer, you’ll hear the mournful call of the loon to its mate, and she’ll call back to let him know she’s nearby.”
“More story material.”
He laughed. “Does everything go in a book?”
“Only what I can remember.”
A wolf howled, and then another. She turned to look in the direction of the howls. She probably hadn’t heard a chorus of wolves howling before.
“The first one was David; second one, Gavin,” Owen said.
Then the wolves began running out of the woods and along the opposite bank as Owen and Candice paddled home. She waved at them. Then another howl sounded and several others deeper in the woods.
“Cameron was the first. Then Faith and the little ones in a jumble next.”
“Now that’s something I’ve never heard before. A whole wolf pack with pups. It’s beautiful.”
“It is. Makes us remember who we are and lets everyone know we’re all safe.”
“But they won’t hear you howling.”
“They’ll assume…” He saw movement on the opposite beach. “They’re all here, running along the beach, checking on us.”
Candice laughed, loving that the pack was so close-knit. “This is lovely.”
They were still quite a way from the dock when she saw two moose, one in the water and the other standing on the beach near the dock. They were stunning, huge, and she wished she had her camera. “They can be dangerous, can’t they?”
“Yeah. We were up in Alaska one year, looking for a missing husband. We had clues that he had gone up there to get away from family obligations—namely, paying child support for four kids. We were told to wear bear repellent spray, but that the moose were more dangerous to hikers than the bears.”
“Did you have any run-ins with bears?” She could imagine being frozen to the spot if she saw one close by.
“No, never saw a one.”
“What do we do?” She couldn’t even envision what it would be like to tangle with a moose. She’d always wanted to see one, but now she wasn’t so sure. She was growing so cold. She figured she needed warmer gear to go canoeing in the winter if she was going to stay out this long.
“The wind is against us. It’s carrying our scent to the moose. The trouble is, they’ll smell our wolf halves.”
“That should make them run away, right? I mean, most animals run away when they smell us coming.”
“Not moose. They’ve been known to charge after dogs, and humans too. If they feel cornered, or if you are within fifty yards of them and in their space, they can grow riled.”
“Do they attack with their antlers?”
“They can. But they’ll kick out with their hooves and can be dangerous that way too.”
“What do you do if you encounter one? Running would just make it follow, right?”
“Unlike how you would avoid bears—making noise to alert them you’re in the area—you are better off running from an attacking moose. If you move out of the moose’s space, they usually won’t feel threatened any longer. But they can run up to thirty miles per hour. Another way is to climb a tree, or hide behind one to protect yourself. Most bears can climb trees, so that’s not a guaranteed way to escape from one. But those are some ways to safely avoid a moose. They’ve chased us when we’ve been riding snowmobiles too. One charged David’s, and he jumped off to avoid the moose’s antlers. It kept coming after him, and he finally had to run for it.”
“You didn’t go back for him and save him?” She couldn’t believe all those hunky male wolves would run and leave David behind to fend for himself.
“Hell no.” Owen smiled at her. “He aggravated the moose, not us. We watched from a distance, in case he needed us to come to his rescue. We didn’t want to irritate the moose any more than he was already. David ended up climbing a tree. The moose observed him for a while and then finally sauntered off. Moose aren’t on any kind of schedule. They do what they want when they want. But as a matter of preservation, they can be aggressive if they smell we’re wolves.”
“Okay, so what do we do about it this time? I’m growing cold.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Candice. Let’s go to David’s place. It’s closer. And we can leave the canoe there.”
“Wait, the moose is moving off.”
“Are you sure you can wait that long?”
“Yeah. We still have a distance to go, and maybe he’ll move far enough away from the house by the time we reach the dock.”
The moose on the
shore sauntered off, and the other one left the water, dripping wet. He shook, then began to follow the other. They weren’t in any hurry to move.
Since Candice was sitting up front in the canoe, she was growing closer to where the moose was, but she continued to dip her paddle into the water, matching Owen’s strokes, bringing the canoe closer to the dock with every pull. The sun had nearly set, but the lights on the house and the deck and the dock provided plenty of light for their enhanced wolf’s night vision.
The moose were maybe one hundred yards away when Candice and Owen reached the dock. Owen took hold of one of the dock posts and steadied the canoe so Candice could climb out. She should have been watching her footing, but she couldn’t help observing the moose that continued to monitor her. She was as wary of them as they were of her.
“We’ll be pulling the dock out of the water tomorrow before the ice really sets in,” he said. Just as Candice set her boot on the dock, she felt her foot slipping out from under her as she stepped on a fresh sheen of light ice, and she gasped.
As soon as she had tried to leave the canoe, she’d pushed it away from the dock, and now she was falling into the water, her back hitting the edge of the canoe. As padded as she was with all the layers of clothing she was wearing, she didn’t think she’d hurt herself. She fell into the water with a splash. She’d been mortified as soon as she began to fall, worried she might tip the canoe and force Owen into the water too.
She didn’t see what Owen was doing as she was trying to rush out of the frigid water—cold, cold, cold. The layers of wet clothes, icy water, and big boots were impeding her movement as she waded to shore through the waist-deep water. Then she saw Owen shove the canoe onto the shore and hurry into the water to pull her out the rest of the way.
“You didn’t have to come help me and end up all cold and wet too.”
“Like hell I didn’t. No more using the dock until spring. I need to dry you off and warm you up at once.”