“I don’t need to get anything off my chest. I dealt with it, like a big girl.” She slipped the baking sheet into the oven. Once she was done, she put the rest of the dough in the fridge and began to fill the sink full of sudsy water. She washed the utensils, the cutting board, and the rolling pin, then set them aside to dry.
Owen washed his hands. “Can you control your shifting?”
“Better. But not fully during the full moon or waning and waxing gibbous.”
“Yeah, we all have trouble with that.”
She frowned. “You’re kidding. Does it mean we’ll have no control over it forever?”
“For years, at least. From what we’ve learned. We can’t shift during the new moon. That’s when I’ll take you to see your uncle.”
“That won’t give us a lot of time, with the deadline to claim the inheritance so close.”
“I don’t know any other way of handling it. In the meantime, you could get to know us.”
She glanced at his dress shirt. “Do you always dress so formally on a PI job?”
“I was trying hard to make a good impression. It’s not every day a guy meets a famous author.”
Candice made a derisive sound.
“Well, it’s true. How do you ensure no one learns the truth about you?”
“You mean when I sell the manuscript?”
“Yeah. Book signings. The like.”
“All done online, as far as selling and publishing the manuscript. I do book signings during the new moon only.”
“Maybe we could help you with a signing.”
“How’s that?” She seemed interested, but also wary.
“None of us can shift during the new moon, but those who have werewolf lines going back a few generations can shift at will during the new moon and avoid shifting during the full moon. We could maybe solicit a couple wolf shifters to come to some of your signings as wolves during the new moon.”
“Some were born this way? You’re kidding.”
Owen felt bad for her, knowing she’d had no one to help her deal with this. “Yeah, see, there’s a lot you need to know. I looked at your books online and noticed that you only write about white wolves.”
“Right, because…” She leaned her back against the counter and folded her arms. “Don’t tell me there are other types.”
“Yeah. There are.”
The timer went off, and she whipped around to take the cookies out of the oven and set them on top of the stove. “Red wolves? Gray wolves? I know Arctic wolves are a subspecies of gray wolves, but some of the other kind are werewolves too?”
“Yeah, even something else that we’re just learning about.”
“Coyotes?”
“Yeah. And jaguars.”
She turned her head to the side, her chin down in a get-real look.
“Really. Who knows? There may be lions and tigers—”
“And bears, oh my.”
He laughed.
“It would be cool to have real wolves at the signing, but I’d be afraid they might scare off potential readers.”
“True. How long before the cookies cool?”
“Half an hour, all night, doesn’t matter. Then I put frosting on them. Okay, so you say you’ve been managing this shifter business for seven years. You and your partners? You couldn’t have fed a ravenous wolf cub, like I did, and have him bite every one of you.”
“Uh, no. My PI partner, David, and I were bear hunting—”
She tilted her chin down and gave him the look that meant she didn’t like hunters shooting wild animals.
“We never bagged one. In all the years we tried, we never came close. Until that day.” He explained about David’s heart attack and nearly losing him and the guide’s pet Arctic wolves that had accompanied them to track the bear, instead of the guide using dogs.
“Wow. So the wolves who turned you and David weren’t exactly bad guys. They saved David’s life in the only way they could, and they were trying to protect you and themselves from you giving them away.”
“Yeah, except we wanted to resume our old lives, and we needed to tell our PI partners, Cameron and Gavin, what had happened. They only knew we had vanished on the hunt, so they came to Maine looking for us. The alpha female of the pack bit Cameron, and he accidentally shared what he was with Faith, turning her. At that point, Gavin was the only one who hadn’t been turned. Later, I was sleeping so deeply as a wolf that Gavin got worried. He touched my chest to see if he could feel my heart beating. I felt something touching me, and half asleep, I whipped my head around and bit Gavin on the wrist. I felt terrible about it. We assumed he’d want to be just like us sooner or later, but if at least one of us could have driven us home without the trouble with shifting, it would have helped. What a nightmare it was for all of us to travel back to Seattle with so little control over our shifting!”
“Seattle?”
“Yeah. That’s where we were born and raised and had our office. Wolves are extremely territorial, and when we arrived home, it didn’t take long for a gray wolf shifter from a local pack to catch David and me ordering Starbucks drinks. We smelled him and were shocked that another wolf was there. He eyed us warily, didn’t bother to order anything, and slunk right out of there. We thought we’d scared him off. We had barely picked up our drinks when a car rolled up, and two men got out. One was the gray pack’s alpha male and the other his second-in-command. The alpha pack leader told us in a low, growly voice to get out of their territory—and pronto. We explained we were all from there and had a PI practice there, but he said to sell and move. No other pack was moving into their territory unless they wanted to die. Especially a newly turned Arctic wolf pack.
“Well, since we were newly turned, we weren’t as knowledgeable about fighting other wolves, and we didn’t know how big their pack was. So we made the decision to move. We kept running into other gray wolf packs as we made our way back east, and we finally ended up in northern Minnesota where there were no shifters and, in the winter, lots of snow.”
“Wow, I would never have thought wolf shifter packs would be territorial like that. I’m glad you were able to find a place to settle where everyone’s safe. I guess I got lucky too.”
And in meeting Clara here, Owen knew he’d gotten damn lucky.
Owen’s phone rang—a call from Cameron. He looked over at Candice and said, “Let me take this, and then we can go for a run.” Into the phone, he said to Cameron, “Hey, listen, I’m here. Candice is an Arctic wolf like us. I’ll explain later.”
“Uh, okay. Soon.”
“Yeah, we’re going for a run,” Owen told him, ending the call. He wasn’t taking no for an answer as far as running with Candice as a wolf. The chance of meeting another Arctic female wolf was so rare that he wasn’t going to let this opportunity to know her better pass. As a newly turned lone wolf, she would never have experienced running with another shifter wolf. Besides, Owen had every intention of convincing her to go with him to meet the pack. That meant meeting Cameron, Faith, and their kids, but also his footloose bachelor partners, and he wanted her to get to know him first. Maybe she’d be more interested in them. He could live with that, if she found happiness with their pack. In any event, she shouldn’t be on her own.
But Owen still wanted the chance to be with her a while before he took her to see them.
“All right. I want you to know I’m not a pushover or anything, but I planned to run tonight anyway. It will be…different, running with another wolf. We run, then after we return and ice the cookies, you can take some back to your friends. When the new moon is here, I’ll see my uncle and the lawyer and take care of that.”
That was a start, but Owen still felt he had to convince her to meet the others. She shouldn’t be running as a wolf alone. If she ever wanted a full-time guy in her life, settling down with a human wouldn’
t work. Changing someone could present all kinds of problems, as she well knew.
“You won’t meet the others in the pack?”
“Maybe later.”
He thought that meant never. She seemed satisfied with being a lone wolf. Then again, before she met him, she’d had no other choice. If she was anything like him, she had to adjust to the notion of being a wolf with a pack, so he needed to take it easy.
He started to unbutton his shirt before she changed her mind.
“Whoa, Mr. Alpha Wolf. You can strip off your clothes in the guest bedroom down that hall. Oh, and I just vacuumed. Try not to shed too much fur in the house.” She hesitated, then retrieved her can of mace and raised her brows a little as if to say she was armed and dangerous, in case he had any notion of giving her grief.
Owen smiled back, loving her tenacity. She walked through the living room, disappeared into another room, then shut the door.
Feeling he’d won a small victory, which thrilled him, he headed for the guest bedroom decorated in forest greens and a moose motif. He quickly took off his clothes, shifted, and raced out of the bedroom and down the hall.
He met her coming out of the master bedroom as a wolf, and he recalled the day he’d first laid eyes on her standing across the river watching him. She was just as beautiful now, mostly white, but she had a soft tinge of gold on her lower body. She stood her ground, but she looked a little…startled. Maybe because he was a much bigger wolf. Even though she knew he was human too, he was certain she wasn’t used to encountering other wolves this close up. Which was another reason she needed to join the pack.
He thought she would love Faith and Cameron’s pups.
Owen moved toward her to greet her like wolves would do in friendship. She stepped back. He knew this was going to be a real learning experience for her, despite her having been a wolf for two years. She’d had no wolf socialization.
He took another step forward, and this time, she remained in place, ears perked, eyes on him, while he touched his nose to hers. Then she responded, and he took a relieved breath. He would have to take baby steps with her until she learned some of the wolf cues they all knew. Then he headed for the wolf door and she ran after him.
After that, they raced all over White Wolf Mountain in the snow, and Candice seemed to really enjoy her run in the wild. Owen ran alongside her for a while, wondering if she had ever howled. Maybe not. She might have been afraid to gather real wolves to her. And she would have no reason to howl. Yet it was part of who they were.
There was nothing out here but snow and more snow. He stopped, raised his chin, and howled. Then he looked at her to see if she’d give it a try. But she suddenly turned her attention to the west side of the mountain, ears perked, listening. He heard it too then, the low rumbling of snowmobiles in the distance—three of them.
Owen and Candice were on the back side of the mountain, and it would take them nearly an hour to make it through the thick snowdrifts to her home. Both of them headed that way, intent on avoiding the snowmobilers and the disaster their recklessness could create. The wolves couldn’t outrun the snowmobilers, should they catch up to them. Not unless Owen and Candice reached the trees and the snowmobilers couldn’t maneuver through them easily enough. He hoped that the humans wouldn’t follow them.
The heavy snowfall was too recent, and the wind had begun to pick up. The slope was steep enough to provide the momentum for an avalanche. Even a small slide could prove deadly. One that might carry a snowmobiler off a cliff or into a tree could be just as dangerous as a heavier slide burying the rider. If they were smart, only one of the riders would traverse the slope at a time.
Owen and Candice still couldn’t see the snowmobilers on the other side of the mountain, but they heard one of them suddenly turn toward the summit, most likely in a daredevil high-marking contest, accelerating and gaining momentum until he could no longer push his snowmobile upward due to the steepness of the grade and was forced to turn and ride back down.
He would have left his mark, and if they dared, the others would seek to make a higher mark than his. Owen hoped they were equipped with avalanche transceivers. They’d also need to know how to locate the distress signal to rescue someone who had triggered an avalanche and was buried. All Owen cared about was ensuring that Candice and he didn’t end up in a slide if the snowmobilers set one off.
The second snowmobiler rose to the top, and though Owen shouldn’t have cared about anything but their own safety, he was curious who would make the highest mark. Total guy competitiveness coming to the forefront, though Owen wouldn’t do anything so foolish and endanger his life and others’. If the other two were sitting there watching from close by, they could all be buried if the snow began to slide.
The second snowmobiler started to descend the mountain, and then all hell broke loose.
Owen heard the sound of the snow sliding downhill, the way it roared as it gathered speed, and the snowmobilers gunning their machines to move out of its devastating path. He thought he and Candice were far enough on the other side of the mountain to avoid the onslaught. They waited in case anyone needed their help. Even though they were wolves, they would have to act quickly. Chances of survival for a victim buried under the snow dropped drastically after fifteen minutes. They wouldn’t have time to return to the house and call for an emergency crew.
Then they heard one of the men shouting and no others responding.
Owen took off running, hoping the guy would accept the wolves’ help.
Chapter 3
Candice couldn’t believe she was going to attempt to rescue snowmobilers who seemed to have a death wish when she was running as a wolf. But she wasn’t letting Owen do this by himself. She just hoped that no one would want to scare off the evil wolves that suddenly appeared as if they were sharks coming at the sound of the dinner bell ringing.
Her heart was pounding even harder than when they’d first heard the snowmobilers. She knew how dangerous people could be around wolves. Then the avalanche happened, and her adrenaline had shot through the roof. It continued to flood her bloodstream as she worried about the men, the unstable snow, and Owen’s and her safety if others saw them as wolves.
When they finally reached the slide area, one man was probing the snow frantically with an avalanche pole. The other two weren’t in sight, and Candice feared that the snow had buried them completely. The sole snowmobiler who had escaped the avalanche hadn’t spied them yet because he was too busy trying to locate one of his friends. Being white against the white snow helped camouflage Owen and her for the moment.
They moved cautiously across the slide, listening for movement only they could hear, and smelled for the other snowmobiler’s scent. Candice was also looking for abnormalities in the snow indicating anyone might be beneath it. Then she noticed a disturbance in the top layer a few feet away and prayed that someone had moved under it, trying frantically to claw his way out, and caused the collapsed debris.
She headed for it. Owen stayed close to her, watching the other man periodically while she concentrated on listening, looking, and smelling the snow. She heard something moving beneath it and started digging with her paws, frantically trying to reach the man. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than being buried alive.
Owen started to dig near her, but far enough away to give her room. The snow was flying out behind them as they hurried to uncover the top of a black helmet. They kept digging around the man’s helmet to free his face so he could breathe. And he did, thank God, gasping for air. Then they began to dig away at the snow covering his chest, trying to uncover him enough so he could wriggle out a bit and help himself if he wasn’t injured too badly.
He didn’t move though, just stared up at them as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
They turned to look in the direction of the other man, who was standing with the pole in his hand, just staring at them
. So, they’d been discovered, but they still had to help to dig the man out. The first man hadn’t even begun to use his shovel, which meant he probably hadn’t located the other man yet.
Owen barked as if trying to tell him that they had unburied his friend and to come dig him out the rest of the way.
Candice also started to bark, then continued clawing at the snow. She wanted to go after the third guy too, but if they could unbury one, that was better than none.
The first man suddenly came running with the shovel in hand, and she was glad for that.
Wary of him, she and Owen ran in a wide circle around him to keep him from drawing near them as he approached his friend. He reached the place they’d been digging, saw that his friend was partially unburied, and began frantically using the shovel to dig him out. “Hang on. Just hang on!” he called to his friend.
For the moment, he forgot all about the wolves, which was just what they’d wanted to happen.
Candice and Owen ran to the place where the man had been probing with the pole. Thinking she heard someone under the snow trying to call out, Candice put her nose practically on the snow, perking her ears up and twisting her head to hear better. It had to be the third snowmobiler. She began to dig like she had before, and so did Owen. Together, they made a great wolf rescue team. Wouldn’t the humans be amazed? But they couldn’t let them know they’d helped. She could imagine being caught and then studied. Maybe even “trained” for future rescue missions. Maybe the men would believe the wolves were wolf dogs and someone’s pets.
She couldn’t help but feel appreciative that Owen was with her. She didn’t think she would have had the nerve to help humans in a disaster like this if she’d been alone. Working alongside him, she felt more equipped to deal with the emergency. She hadn’t thought to bark like a dog, so she knew she still had some learning to do about their kind. He definitely was ahead of her in that.