Eager to run, Elizabeth paced back and forth in the living area, out of the men’s way. She couldn’t contain her excitement.
“You stay close to us, Elizabeth.” Tom crouched beside her and ran his hand over her head. “Don’t stray.”
“No rabbit chasing,” Radcliff said with a wink as he zipped up his parka.
“No deer chasing.” Kemp smiled at her while he slipped on his gloves.
“No chasing wolves down,” Tom said, ultraseriously.
She licked his mouth and the brothers chuckled.
Once they had bundled up, they carried the toboggan outside.
Tom shut the door to the cabin, then joined the men and Elizabeth in the snow. Wearing snowshoes, the men trudged through the drifts while Elizabeth ran ahead. She had to. Walking at a snail’s pace next to the men wasn’t an option, as far as she was concerned. Besides, she’d keep an eye out for CJ’s brothers, and if she smelled a whiff of anyone she didn’t know, she’d warn Tom and the others.
Tom slung the rifle over his back, while Kemp pulled the toboggan for the first part of the journey.
Tom and Radcliff hollered out every once in a while to let the searchers know they were all right, if any of the searchers could hear their voices. They’d have a fight if CJ’s brother came after them and meant to cause trouble.
Elizabeth was certain the brothers wouldn’t come for them, though. Too many people were out combing the area for Tom. And if the brothers did come upon Kemp pulling the toboggan and Radcliff and Tom, what could they do? If they wanted to take CJ with them, they’d still have to transport him to the doctor. So she felt the brothers would leave them alone.
She dashed ahead, jumping into the snow with exuberance and having the time of her life. She’d love to do this again when Tom was a wolf and could play with her.
“Elizabeth!” Tom yelled at her.
She turned her head, snow clinging to her fur, a few flakes sitting on her nose, and woofed back. Then she bit at the snow, having wanted to play in it since that first time she visited Silver Town. Now she was finally able to do it.
She rolled around in the snow, then shook it off. When she looked back again at Tom, he was shaking his head as he and the others trudged after her. The brothers smiled.
Kemp said, “You sure are one lucky SOB.”
“I sure am,” Tom said.
Elizabeth smiled in her wolf way, right before she tore off again. She would laugh if she could.
“Elizabeth!”
She was quite a distance ahead of the men and hidden by spruce trees when she saw Sam, a rifle resting on his shoulder, staring straight at her. She did her best impression of a dog as she observed the two men with him. Deputy Trevor and the one who had to be the human farmer. Great.
The gray wolves wouldn’t recognize her in wolf form, and she could smell their scents, but she stood downwind of them.
She woofed and wagged her tail vigorously. Then she leaned down with her front legs, her butt up in the air, still wagging it in play, but didn’t move any closer.
“It’s a wolf,” the farmer said, pulling his rifle off his shoulder.
Chapter 24
Sam grabbed for the farmer’s weapon, hurriedly saying, “It’s one of our dogs. Don’t shoot!”
Trevor likewise hurried to disarm the man. Why in the world would they have allowed the farmer to be armed?
Elizabeth’s heart pounded like crazy as she went into pretend dog mode. Having a devil of a time not lifting her chin like a coyote or wolf that was about to howl, or even a coyote when it barked, Elizabeth woofed in response—a nice dog-sounding bark.
“Elizabeth!” Tom said, winded as he tried to run on top of the snow in the snowshoes.
She turned her head in his direction, though she could only hear his approach and not see him. She did a happy bark, then raced back for him like any loving dog would who wanted to please its master. Okay, so she could do this and make it convincing because she didn’t want to get shot. She’d been through enough already.
Tom came around the trees and saw Sam, Trevor, and Bill just as Elizabeth jumped on him and bit at his clothes like an unruly, overgrown puppy thrilled to see her master.
“Good dog,” Tom said, his voice relieved but hard.
He tried to pet her, but she nipped at his gloves and woofed. She was good at this playacting, she thought.
Looking anxious, Radcliff quickly joined them, huffing and puffing, his warm breath mixing with the icy air and turning into wisps of vapor. “Oh good, you caught up with her,” he said, glancing in the farmer’s direction and then stating the obvious, “Hey, we found Tom.”
“And his dog,” Trevor said, a brow raised. He didn’t smile, but she could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.
Sam stared at Elizabeth. She woofed back at him in greeting and, for good measure, wagged her tail.
“We found more than that,” Kemp said, joining them, still towing CJ on the toboggan.
“What happened to him?” Sam asked.
“He stepped in a leg trap,” Tom said. “We need to get him to the hospital and call off the other search parties. Bill can come with us. Trevor, you and Sam can locate the rest of the teams and let them know we’re all right.”
Trevor nodded.
What was Tom thinking? Elizabeth didn’t want to have to play like a dog the rest of the way to Silver Town. Then again, that’s just what she’d looked like as she’d frolicked in the snow. She suspected Trevor and Sam didn’t want Bill to come across any other wolves, if some of Darien’s people tried to locate Tom in their wolf forms. This was a way to get Bill back to town, still supervised, before he caused any trouble.
She ran off and Tom shouted, “Elizabeth! Stick close!”
“Cute dog,” Bill said. “I didn’t know you owned one.”
“Yeah, but she definitely needs to go to obedience school,” Tom said.
Radcliff and Kemp laughed.
He’d pay for the obedience-school comment later. But for now? She dove into another snowbank. She came out covered in the cold, wet white stuff, shook it loose from her fur, and dashed off again. She was having the time of her life as a wolf, coyote, dog, whatever.
Bill chuckled. “She sure is cute.”
“Yeah, she stole my heart as soon as I saw her,” Tom said.
“If he hadn’t caught sight of her first,” Kemp said, handing the trace to the toboggan to his brother so he could haul CJ for a while, “I would have claimed her.”
She woofed. No one was claiming her! She had done the claiming—and Tom was the one for her.
Before long, several searchers came to join them—Sheriff Peter, the two Viking-looking twin brothers from the ski resort, Cantrell and Robert, and a slew of others she didn’t recognize.
Everyone was curious about her and probably also about the fact that the farmer was with them and hadn’t shot her.
“Tom’s new dog,” Kemp said to the sheriff. And so it was. Elizabeth became Tom’s new pet dog for the duration of the trip into town. She would be there already, if she hadn’t had to move at the humans’ slow pace.
“Get the word out to the alert roster. We’ve found Tom, his dog, Elizabeth, and CJ has a broken leg and is being brought in on a toboggan,” Sheriff Peter relayed over his phone as they got near enough to town and had reception. “Yeah, hold on.” He handed his cell to Tom.
“Yeah? Hey, Lelandi. CJ has a broken leg from an animal trap. He’s in a lot of pain. Conscious, but barely. Have Doc ready. I’ll tell you the rest when we get there. Bill Todd’s with us.”
Elizabeth knew that said it all. They had a human with them, and Tom couldn’t tell Lelandi everything that had happened, including how Elizabeth came to be with him.
“They’re calling off the search teams. We’ll be to the road in about half an hour. I
f you can have a car pick us up and an ambulance for CJ, that would be great. Peter will accompany him.” Tom glanced at Elizabeth as she waited for them to catch up to her. “Yeah, Elizabeth is fine. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you, too.” He gave coordinates of where they’d meet up at the road. “Okay, talk to you in a little bit.”
He ended the call and handed the phone to Peter. “Lelandi says she can’t wait to give you a hug, Elizabeth.”
She woofed.
Smiling, Bill shook his head. “She’s one smart dog. I don’t care what you said about the obedience training. Sometimes you just need to give them a little extra leash. You can tell she’s intelligent.”
She woofed at Bill and wagged her tail. He grinned. “See?” He turned to Tom. “If you ever need a home for her, I’ll take her in.”
The guys laughed.
“You’d have a fight on your hands over that one,” Cantrell said.
“I don’t doubt it,” Bill said. “A really good dog is hard to come by.”
She enjoyed the teasing. Everyone made her feel as though she was part of the pack.
When they reached the road, several vehicles waited. One of the men waved to Bill and said, “I’ll take you to your truck.”
Elizabeth swore everyone held their breaths until Bill left. Then the questions began in earnest.
Tom said, “We’ll talk later. I want to get Elizabeth to Darien’s house so she can shift and dress, and we’ll figure out where to go from there.”
They loaded CJ into the waiting ambulance. Peter was on his cell. “Yeah, I’ll tell Tom.” He ended the call and said to Tom, “Darien and Jake are on their way to the hospital to meet with Doc and CJ. All the search teams have been accounted for and are on the way back here. I’ll see you all later.”
“See you in a bit,” Tom said, opening the back door of a black SUV.
Knowing Darien would question CJ, Elizabeth didn’t want to be in his place for anything. She jumped into the SUV and hopped over the middle seat to sit in the rear one. She was glad someone had draped blankets over the seats. She wasn’t muddy, but she was a little wet. She smiled to see the driver was Bertha, owner of the B and B.
“My,” Bertha said, “you’re back. Not that I doubted it for a moment.” She gave Elizabeth a heartwarming smile.
Tom got into the vehicle and saw her panting in the very backseat. “Good dog, my ass, Elizabeth. You nearly gave me a heart attack when I realized you’d run into Sam and Trevor with Bill. We’re just lucky the farmer didn’t shoot you when he saw you before someone could stop him.”
She woofed and wagged her tail. He was right: she wasn’t anyone’s obedient little dog. But she knew she had scared him—and herself—when she came upon the farmer armed with a rifle, so she wasn’t annoyed with Tom for scolding her.
Tom wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug of an embrace. She licked his face. He chuckled, and she snuggled the upper part of her body against his lap.
Sam, Kemp, and Radcliff climbed into the SUV.
Sam glanced over the backseat and said to Tom, “You’re keeping her for real, aren’t you, Tom? I wouldn’t let her slip away again.”
Elizabeth wagged her tail, wanting to tell Sam it was the other way around. She was keeping Tom for herself; no other she-wolf need apply. She wanted to tell him that he should see what he had in Silva and do something about it!
Tom stroked Elizabeth’s head and back in a loving way, as he explained to Sam and the other men what had happened. He left the part out about them being mated wolves. She wondered if they had all guessed as much.
She sighed and promptly fell asleep on the ride to Darien’s house, despite worrying about what was coming next.
***
As soon as they drove around the circular drive to the front door, Lelandi hurried out of the house to greet them. Elizabeth raised her head and woofed. Watching her playacting, Tom knew he loved her.
Sam got out of the vehicle so that Tom and Elizabeth could leave the backseat. “I’m staying,” Sam said, “for Elizabeth’s protection.”
“Me, too,” Radcliff said.
Kemp followed him out of the car. “Thanks for the ride,” he said to Bertha.
“Sure thing. If any of you need a lift later, just holler. My guests are all at the ski resort, so no need for me to be home at the moment.” She drove around the circular drive and the long way through the trees to the main road and then headed to Silver Town.
Lelandi gave Tom a hug. “I’ll take Elizabeth up to the guest room and get her some clothes. Get anything you’d like to eat or drink. I’ll be down in a little while.”
Elizabeth had already raced up the stairs.
“Come on, guys. Let’s make some sandwiches for everyone,” Tom said.
“I’ll make them.” Sam was so used to doing so at the tavern that no matter who offered, he always took over the task. “What will we do about your cousins?”
“I wish it was anyone in the world but them,” Tom said. “But it’s Darien’s call.” Tom said so, though he knew his brother would ask Jake and him what they wanted to do since they were all blood relatives.
When Elizabeth came down dressed in clean clothes from Lelandi, Sam and everyone were making sandwiches, but Tom looked distracted, a contemplative look on his face. Elizabeth pulled him aside.
“I don’t think CJ told us everything.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Tom confessed. “I wanted to stay here with you to make sure you’re safe if your uncle has a death wish and tries to steal you away from here”—Elizabeth shot him a look—“but now I’m thinking we should go to the hospital and see if CJ changes his story. I have something I want to ask him.”
***
“He needs morphine,” Doc Weber said to Darien, as he looked at the X-ray of CJ’s broken leg. “I’ll rebreak the bone where it has knit together wrong and realign it properly.”
“I need to question him about his involvement in the problems we’re having,” Darien said.
“You’re welcome to question him,” Doc said, “but I still need to give him morphine.”
Tom and Elizabeth slipped into CJ’s hospital room as Nurse Matthew inserted an IV into CJ’s hand. Jake and Peter stood nearby, arms folded across their chests.
Jake finally said to CJ, “Okay, so you say you didn’t have anything to do with anything, yet you knew about everything.”
“I overheard my brothers talking.”
“And you were where at the time?” Darien asked.
“Mr. Winston’s place on the outskirts of town.”
“And just what did you overhear?”
“Their plan to scout out the perimeter of the territory, around the farms, to see what they could see.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
“I don’t know,” CJ said. “But why would they lie? They didn’t know I was there.”
Darien said, “Or they knew and they fed you a line of bull in case we picked you up and you spilled your guts about what was going on. Or you’re lying to save your ass.”
“No, I swear that’s all that I know,” CJ insisted.
“That’s all?” Darien asked.
CJ hesitated. “Yes.”
Tom spoke up. “CJ, at the cabin, you said you knew I was looking for Elizabeth. But when I heard the plane crash, I didn’t even know Elizabeth had been on it until I found her, so how did you know that?”
CJ didn’t say.
“I could break your uninjured leg,” Jake said. “You know, to take your mind off the pain when Doc rebreaks the injured one.”
CJ eyed the syringe filled with morphine.
Doc withheld it, waiting for Darien to give him the go-ahead.
“Damn it. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but after we found out Elizabeth had gone to the airpor
t in a hurry, we went back to Mr. Winston’s and the guy that Eric had talked to on the slopes was there. He asked to talk to Eric alone. Of all of us, Eric was always the angriest at Darien for everything that had happened. As I said, he wouldn’t even consider just coming to Darien and asking to rejoin the pack.
“So I was worried and went to listen at the door. I heard the guy say he knew Eric had a grudge against the Silver pack. The guy said his employer wanted to bring back the woman Tom was with—Elizabeth—on a private plane and asked Eric if he wanted in on the job.” Everyone’s eyes were glued to CJ.
“What did he say?” Tom asked threateningly.
“I don’t know. I heard Brett and Sarandon coming down the hall, and I had to get out of there. The creep left right after that.” CJ said, looking pained. “Eric might still be angry about our father, but no matter what, I don’t believe he would have agreed to help kidnap Elizabeth. He couldn’t have. We were trying to help Elizabeth! We were still trying to find the guy that hurt her on the slopes only hours before this guy showed at Mr. Winston’s.”
“I recognized all three men who kidnapped me,” Elizabeth said. “No one else took part in my kidnapping in Canyon.”
CJ looked at Elizabeth gratefully.
“You should have told us about the kidnappers’ plan,” Tom said through gritted teeth.
“I wanted to,” CJ said, “but I didn’t want to rat out Eric. I didn’t know what to do.”
“Where are your brothers now?” Darien asked. “Still at Mr. Winston’s place?”
“I don’t think so,” CJ said. “After Elizabeth left, we argued about what to do. I wanted to find another way to get back in the pack. Eric said maybe we should just give up altogether. I left the cabin in my wolf coat to run through the woods, and that’s when I heard the plane in trouble. Since the snowstorm hit and I didn’t go back to Mr. Winston’s, they’re probably out looking for me. They could be anywhere.”
CJ winced at the pain in his leg.
“Give him the morphine,” Darien said to Doc, wishing that CJ had stayed with the pack, but still not positive his cousin hadn’t been involved in any of the pack’s recent troubles.