Something moved to the right of her. Her ears twitched back and forth, trying to determine what she’d heard. The wind blew through the trees, ruffling the branches, whistling and howling like a banshee, the snow falling in soft plunks all around her.
The crunching of boots in snow? The breaking of twigs? Tom?
She loped through the snow toward the sound and stopped dead in her tracks. Tom had his rifle slung over his shoulder as he broke twigs off a dead tree, gathering them for more kindling.
Her heart jumped as she saw a big gray wolf watching Tom. If it attacked him, Tom couldn’t get to his rifle quickly enough and wouldn’t stand a chance.
She ran to intercept the wolf, growling fiercely, warning Tom to ready his rifle. The wolf turned, surprise lighting his amber eyes. He ran off.
She raced after him, instinctively pursuing him. This was now her territory, she realized. She was part of a pack, protecting their land. And damned proud of it!
“Elizabeth!” Tom shouted, his tone a definite “Come back here!” as he chased after her and the wolf.
With his longer legs, the male wolf soon outdistanced her. She did worry about him leading her into a trap, except that he had been watching Tom, not her. Still, he could be steering her straight to the other wolves, and they could rip her apart.
She lost sight of him, so she followed the path he’d made. Tom ran as fast as he could manage in the deep snow as a human, but he was still a long way back.
Then the wolf let out a pained yelp. He’d been hurt. But by what? Would she fall into the same predicament?
She loped off in the direction from which she’d heard his cry. The closer she got to where she thought he was, the slower she went. Humans could feign a cry of distress, but werewolves in wolf form couldn’t fake such a pained sound.
Tom drew closer. He hadn’t spoken her name again, just followed her trail.
The wolf panted hard out of her line of sight, just around another tree. Her heart in her throat, she edged around the snow-covered Colorado blue spruce, half expecting to see three gray wolves ready to make short work of her.
Instead, a lupus garou’s worst nightmare came into view. A steel leg-hold trap had snapped over the wolf’s right leg. He struggled to get loose, his leg bleeding, his bone at an odd angle. Tom would have to spring him. The trap had broken the wolf’s leg.
The wolf snarled at her. She barked for Tom to come this way, as if he wasn’t already headed in her direction. She also alerted him that she’d found her prey.
It didn’t take too much longer for Tom to reach them. He cursed under his breath as he considered the wolf. She hated to see the pain reflected in the wolf’s eyes.
“What the hell are you doing out here, CJ?” Tom asked, sounding suspicious.
Was he one of Tom’s pack members?
“I’m going to free you, but if you even think of biting me…” Tom let his words trail off threateningly. He stalked forward, set his rifle next to a tree, and leaned down to untie his bootlaces.
What was he doing?
The wolf, CJ, was growling low, but not at Tom, she didn’t think. At the trap, his circumstances, maybe even at Elizabeth because he’d been running from her when he ran into the half-buried menace.
Tom dug the snow away from the trap, then slipped a bootlace out of the boot and tied one end of the lace to the top of the spring where it ran along the jaws. Then he ran the string through the bottom spring loop and up through the top again.
Tom stood on the chain that held the trap in the ground. He pulled up on the string, compressing it, and tied it off. Then he put the safety catch on. In a hurry, he did the same procedure with the other spring. Once he had finished, the wolf leaped back, freeing his leg. He snarled at the trap.
She was glad Tom had known what to do because she would have just tried pulling the trap apart. Probably unsuccessfully, and maybe to the wolf’s further detriment.
“Okay, I’ve got to splint your leg now,” Tom said.
While he searched for a tree branch he could use, she watched CJ, but she was sure he wouldn’t run off.
Tom returned with a branch and dropped it on the snow. He untied his bootlaces and triggered the trap to snap shut so that it wouldn’t catch any other animals. Then he made a makeshift splint the best he could for CJ. Elizabeth was glad Tom was trained on ski patrol to handle emergencies like this.
“Can you make it to the cabin on your own?” Tom grabbed his rifle.
The wolf stared at Tom, glanced at Elizabeth, then limped on three legs toward the cabin.
Tom tilted his chin down at Elizabeth and shook his head. “You were supposed to stay in the cabin.”
She half expected him to tell her to run back to the cabin, but he didn’t. She wouldn’t have, either. Whether he liked it or not, she would watch his back in case others were with the injured wolf.
CJ used the same trail that he and Elizabeth had made, but because of his injury and the deep snow, he kept falling, yelping, and suffering considerable pain, and he had a devil of a time traveling.
Tom finally gave in. “I’ll carry you. But if your brothers attack… I’ll dump you and shoot the lot of them.”
Brothers. Tom sounded serious, but Elizabeth thought he also was upset that some of his pack mates could be the ones causing trouble for the rest of the pack.
He gathered the wolf in his arms. CJ growled softly, but he didn’t snap or bite. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.
“If you weren’t my cousin…” Tom said under his breath.
Elizabeth stared at the wolf. Cousin?
When they reached the cabin, she dove through the wolf door, sniffed the air, ensuring no one had entered the house while they were gone, and waited for Tom to enter the cabin.
Tom shoved the door open, then kicked it closed and said to her, “Stay here. Don’t shift back.”
Chapter 20
Elizabeth had no intention of shifting right away when they entered the cabin. Her first thought was still that CJ’s brothers could appear at any time. She would protect Tom in case anyone showed up.
Carefully, Tom crouched and set the wolf on the floor next to the fire. “Stay,” he said to CJ, though she was certain he didn’t need to tell his cousin that.
Panting, the wolf laid his head down. Blood matted his fur, and his leg was bent unnaturally. He had to be in a lot of pain, but he bore it stoically.
Tom locked both the wolf door and the human one. He went to the bedroom and then the bathroom. “Place is all clear,” he hollered. “If the guys are wearing hunter’s spray to hide their scents, I had to be certain we had no uninvited visitors hiding in here.”
She’d forgotten all about that. No wonder he’d told her not to shift.
“I’ll get you a robe so you can shift, CJ, and redo the splint,” Tom said from the bedroom.
Before Tom returned, CJ shifted. He shivered on the floor next to the warm fire. He resembled Tom but was more wiry in build, with curly sable hair.
And he looked eerily familiar.
Elizabeth loped over to the sofa, grabbed a blanket with her teeth, and hauled it over to him. He mumbled thanks and tried to pull it over his shoulders, but he accidentally moved his leg and groaned in pain.
She felt for him and wished she could do something more to ease his suffering.
Walking into the living room, Tom gave CJ an annoyed look. Tom might not like that Elizabeth was scrutinizing his naked cousin, but she was serving in guard-duty capacity for the moment.
Tom helped CJ into the robe, then turned to Elizabeth. “You can shift if you want to. He’s not going anywhere. I’ll be right back with something better to splint the leg.” He grabbed the clothes that she’d left near the front door and deposited them in the bedroom for her.
She appreciated that Tom had offered, not commanded h
er. Especially since she’d do what she thought necessary. Not trusting CJ, she remained where she was while she tried to remember where she’d seen him before.
After a few minutes, Tom returned with a splint and something to wrap CJ’s leg in, saline solution, and towels. He slipped a piece of plastic under CJ’s leg, then poured the solution over the wound. “Trap was new, not rusty,” Tom said, “but you’ll still need a tetanus shot when we get you into town.”
Gritting his teeth, CJ looked pale, but he didn’t say anything.
When Tom straightened the leg a little, CJ swore.
Tom dried the wound, bandaged it, and wrapped the leg in gauze before he splinted it. He cleaned up the saline solution, then elevated CJ’s leg with pillows and gave him a pillow for his head. “Why don’t you lie down?”
CJ nodded.
Tom helped ease him onto his back, then covered him with the blanket. “Will you be all right?”
“Thirsty, nauseated,” CJ finally said, wincing.
He was shaking, too. Tom covered him with two more blankets and got him a glass of water, setting it next to him.
“We’ll talk in a little bit. Just rest.” Tom rose, then said, “Come on,” to Elizabeth as he headed for the bedroom.
She growled at CJ, telling him she wouldn’t hesitate to bite him if he moved an inch.
CJ grumbled, “Tell your wolf-coyote I’m not going any-damn-where.”
“Come on, Elizabeth,” Tom coaxed by the bedroom door.
She growled again at CJ, not about to let him get in the last word, then loped into the bedroom. She saw that Tom had placed the rifle on the dresser. He didn’t shut the door to the bedroom, and she suspected he still didn’t trust the man and was listening to ensure he didn’t move from his spot by the fire. Tom had set her clothes on the bed. Then he headed into the bathroom and washed up.
She shifted and slipped on the sweatshirt while he put the extra medical supplies away.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take so long, Elizabeth. Nice fire, by the way. You’re pretty handy to have around, you know?” He looked around and shook his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have turned my back on you and missed seeing you shift.”
She smiled, loving him. “Yeah, well, you might get other ideas.” The sweatshirt was long but barely covered her buttocks.
“I always get those other ideas when I see you—naked woman, wolf, coyote, or otherwise.” He came to her before she could pull on the sweatpants and wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh, you’re so cold,” she said, trembling in his arms, the chill of the air outside clinging to every inch of him. Her skin was still warm from having been in her wolf coat. She took in deep breaths, smelling the crisp, clean air on him.
She noted she did not smell CJ on him. Hunter’s spray, camouflaging his scent.
“That’s why I came over here to hug you—to get warmed up.”
She curled into him, wanting to rub his arms to warm his icy body, but he chilled her and she folded into him instead. “He’s your cousin?”
“Yeah,” Tom growled. “I figured we’d stay here until someone worried about me being caught in the snowstorm and came looking for me. But now we’ve got to get CJ to the doc. His bones will knit together too quickly but not correctly, and Doc would have to break them again to set them right.”
“Your cousin. I can’t smell him. He’s one of the ones that’s been prowling the territory, then?”
“Looks like it.”
“Great. Do you have something we can haul him in?”
“Yeah. Got a toboggan for emergencies.”
“So when do we leave?”
“Tomorrow, first light. If no one comes for me before then, we’ll head out on our own.” He rubbed her arms, looking into her eyes. “I’m sorry about everything that’s happened. That you’re in the middle of all this.”
She sighed, cuddling with Tom. “We don’t know anything for sure.” She reached up to help him out of his parka.
“You know, if you change roles and start stripping me out of my clothes…” Tom said.
“Just your parka.”
“Aha, then next you’ll want to remove my sweater and jeans, and who knows where it will end.”
She smiled as she peeled off his jacket and tossed it on a chair.
“So now that we have that out of the way and you know what you could be in for…” Elizabeth trailed off. She pulled off his ski hat and dropped it on the wooden floor, then cupped his face and looked up for a kiss.
His lips were just as cold as his coat had been, his nose, too. She quickly warmed his face, her hands cupping his chilled cheeks, her kisses turning his mouth hot and insistent. He slipped his hands into her hair and held her close.
They took a breath and he leaned his forehead against hers. “You shouldn’t have left the cabin, Elizabeth. I can’t lose you.”
“I’m okay. Really, Tom. Are you sure we can’t leave now to get your cousin into town?”
He pulled away to look down into her eyes. “It’s too late in the day to attempt to leave the cabin with CJ in his condition. We’ll have to start out in the morning. How do you feel?”
“A hundred percent.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Seems I’ve heard that somewhere before.”
“I am. Really. I don’t need any more help dressing and undressing.”
“As far as the undressing part goes? You might not need my help, but I’m happy to oblige anytime. In fact, I insist.”
She chuckled. “What will we do about him tonight?”
“I’ll tie him up. Even if he’s not going anywhere on his own, he could manage to unlock the door to the cabin and let in some of his buddies. No sense in taking any chances.”
She pulled free to finish dressing. “I’ll fix us something hot to drink and warm up some more of that venison chili. Sorry that you missed getting the kindling.”
“That’s okay. We might have caught one of the bad guys. I’ll talk to him before he falls asleep. Join me when you’re ready. After we eat, we’ll pick up where we left off.”
“You don’t think we could get down the mountain sooner?” She still worried that CJ’s brothers would show up and huff and puff and threaten to blow the cabin down. Most of all, she wanted to get CJ to the hospital.
“I hiked up here looking for wolf tracks, so I don’t have a snowmobile or I would have taken you down as soon as the weather cleared up a bit.”
“We could both turn into wolves. You could tow the toboggan. We both could. It would be easier for us to run in this snow and—”
“Farmers are antsy about wolves. Darien doesn’t want us running in our wolf coats anywhere near town in the farmers’ vicinity. I know some have risked running as wolves out here. Nearer to the town, no. The farmers and ranchers have been told not to shoot any wolves they might see, but it doesn’t guarantee they’ll abide by the rules. Besides, I’ll be armed with my rifle just in case. You can run alongside in your wolf coat, and we’ll pretend you’re my new dog.”
“The things I do for you.”
“Yeah, but that’s not really what I want you to do for me.”
He kissed her again and then left the bedroom.
Tom closed the door to give Elizabeth privacy while she finished dressing. He was concerned about CJ, yet he wanted to wring his cousin’s neck if the cousins were up to no good and CJ had had any part in it.
Tom stood over his cousin, watching him as he appeared to be sleeping.
Elizabeth quickly left the bedroom. “Asleep?” she whispered.
“Seems to be.”
She entered the kitchen and looked into a cupboard. Tom joined her, moved around her, and opened another cabinet. He brought out a couple of mugs. “Coffee? Tea?”
“Tea, plain.” She poured hot water into the mugs.
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“About your half brother and uncle… we take care of our own, Elizabeth,” he said seriously. If they had been in his pack, her uncle and half brother would have been dead the first time they laid hands on her.
“I could have used a champion.”
He leaned up against the counter, his mug in hand. “Where do they live?”
“You can’t go after them now. I need the evidence to turn over to Hrothgar. He can take care of it.”
“Where do they live?”
She chewed on her lip.
“We’ll find them,” Tom said.
“I don’t want the Silver pack fighting with the red.”
“Okay, fine. We’ll get Sheriff Peter and Deputy Trevor on it when we get back.”
She let out her breath. “Twenty miles west of Bruin’s old home.”
Tom’s face hardened. “Damn it, Elizabeth. You should have told me all of this already.”
“I knew it. Already you’re having second thoughts about us.” She slammed her mug on the countertop, stalked out of the kitchen, and headed for the fireplace.
Taken aback by her response, Tom didn’t react at first. How could she think he’d ever have second thoughts about them? For a moment, he watched her as she stood near his sleeping cousin in front of the fire, rubbing her arms as if she’d suddenly become chilled to the bones. Tom set his mug down with a clink on the counter, then crossed the living room to join her.
She stiffened. He wrapped his arms around her, his chest to her back. Not to be put off, he buried his face in her hair, nuzzling her ear and cheek and neck. She deserved tenderness and loving. “I’m not having second thoughts. I’m just surprised. You told me you weren’t related to the reds,” he said gently.
“I’m not. My uncle and my father joined Bruin’s pack as adults. None of us are blood related. I wasn’t ever part of the red wolf pack—or any other, for that matter.”
“What about North or any of those red wolves? Do you think it’s possible they’re the ones that have been prowling our territory?” He’d much prefer believing it was them and not his cousins.