Tom certainly looked like he could just about strangle CJ. He whispered something in Elizabeth’s ear and moved to leave. Elizabeth followed, casting CJ a sympathetic look, and they walked out of the hospital room.
Darien shook his head. “And knock him out before you break the leg,” Darien added.
“You got it,” Doc said.
Darien turned to Peter on the way out. “Let me know when he wakes up. All right? Come on, Jake.”
As they headed out of the hospital, Jake said to Darien, “I think he was telling the truth.”
“I don’t know. If our cousins were looking for a way to get back in the pack, why scout out the human farms? I feel like there’s something we’re still missing. Let’s go home and learn what more we can from Tom and find out how Elizabeth ended up with him in the woods during the blizzard.”
“You know he’s got to have mated her by now.”
Darien smiled. “If Silva thought she was done knitting baby booties, she’s got another thing coming.”
Chapter 25
When Elizabeth was dressed in a warm, blue wool sweater, jeans, and a pair of comfy slipper boots, she and Lelandi joined Tom and the others in the living room. Tom wished he hadn’t been so antsy about Elizabeth taking so long. But he suspected they’d had a lot of girl talk and Lelandi had gotten the whole story from Elizabeth.
Noticing how tense he was, Sam, Radcliff, and Kemp had cast amused looks at each other, but they hadn’t dared say a word.
Tom quickly handed Elizabeth a plate with a ham sandwich, chips, and a pickle. “Compliments of Sam.”
They took their seats, Elizabeth sitting as close to Tom as she could without being on his lap. He loved how she wanted to be as near to him as he wanted to be to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she ate her sandwich.
“So the next step is to find CJ’s brothers,” Lelandi said.
“I… think we need to find North.” Elizabeth bit off the end of a pickle spear.
“North?” Sam said. “How do you know about him?”
Elizabeth looked at Sam. “My father was in the red pack when Bruin was pack leader.”
Lelandi frowned at her. “When? I… never met you.”
“I guess I was a well-kept secret. Did you know Sefton? And Quinton?”
“Why, yes. They were in the pack. Quinton’s brother was said to have died. That’s why Quinton was raising Sefton, his nephew.”
Elizabeth stiffened a little. “I guess that explains why the pack never had anything to do with us. We didn’t exist. Quinton was my uncle and Sefton my half brother, though he wouldn’t wish to admit it to anyone.”
“I can’t believe they conned all of us. But… you knew North?” Lelandi asked.
“Yeah. I was running in my wolf coat one day, and North followed me home. He was curious about who I belonged to. When he learned I was related to Sefton and Quinton, he was shocked. Quinton found out North was coming to see me and threatened him with bodily harm. That was the last I saw of North. Recently, he discovered evidence that could prove my uncle’s part in my parents’ murders and learned where I’d ended up. I wanted the evidence to turn over to Hrothgar so my uncle could get his just rewards.”
Lelandi shook her head. “If only I’d known.” She got her phone out and called someone. “Hello, Uncle? It’s me. Lelandi. Yeah, we found Tom. And someone else. Someone related to a couple of people in your pack. Elizabeth Wildwood. She’s the half sister to Sefton and she’s Quinton’s niece. The possibility exists that her uncle murdered her parents. But we don’t have the proof. Another of your pack members, North, was supposed to give it to her.”
“I haven’t been able to get in touch with him,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t know if he’s come to harm or not.”
Lelandi passed the information to her uncle. “She’s staying with us now. I believe… permanently.” She raised her brows at Elizabeth, waiting for confirmation.
Before she could respond, Tom said, “Damn right.” He wanted the whole world to know Elizabeth had a home with him, with his pack, that she wasn’t going anywhere. She would never again be in a situation where she didn’t exist.
Elizabeth smiled. “We’re… mated, if no one guessed.”
Everyone cheered them, then Kemp said, “I don’t know what I’m cheering for. Tom got the girl.”
Everyone laughed.
Sam’s smile faded and he said, “Excuse me for a moment, and don’t say anything important until I get back.”
He walked into the den and pulled out his phone. “Silva? Did you… need any help with the opening of your… tearoom?”
Elizabeth smiled up at Tom. He leaned down and kissed her mouth, glad he hadn’t waffled around about wanting Elizabeth for his own.
Lelandi said to her uncle, “Yes, Elizabeth is now part of our pack. Permanently. If you can check into the whereabouts of three of your pack members—North, Sefton, and Quinton—we’ll be grateful. Thanks so much. Love you, Uncle.” She ended the call.
Elizabeth reached up and clasped her hands around Tom’s neck. She kissed him with passion and longing, claiming him for her own in front of some of his pack. It felt good to show off that she was loved, and that she loved someone back just as much. That she was mated, but this time to a real wolf who wouldn’t stray. That she was accepted for who she was and that her relationship with Tom was just as well received.
No one could take that feeling of elation away from her. She knew mentioning North bothered Tom, but he had nothing to worry about. No one could steal her away now.
Sam returned to the living room, frowning, but he didn’t say anything.
“Why go after North first?” Tom asked Elizabeth.
“We need to learn the truth,” Elizabeth said, but what concerned her most at this point was whether North was even still alive. “Given North’s disappearance, I don’t think he was involved, but we don’t know for sure what part he plays in all this. CJ didn’t seem to know who hired the men who kidnapped me, or if Eric was working with them or not. Where were they headed? Must have been somewhere that they could land. One of the kidnappers said they were a half hour from their destination. Unless they were way off course.” Elizabeth paused.
“Uncle Hrothgar will put the word out to his pack about the three red wolves. We’ll also call the alert roster about them. Anyone who sees any of them will detain them, if they can, or report their whereabouts. We also need to track down CJ’s brothers,” Lelandi said.
“I can help track them. I want to do this,” Elizabeth said.
Tom furrowed his brow, looking concerned.
The front door opened, and Sam and Tom jumped to their feet in protective wolf mode.
“Just us,” Darien called out as he shut the door.
“Did you get anything more out of CJ?” Tom asked as his brother entered the living room.
Darien snorted. “That he’s sorry he left the pack. I’ve called in the plane crash. They have investigators coming who will take care of it. I told him you didn’t find any survivors, Tom.”
“What if they find my ID? Or my deed?” Elizabeth asked.
“Stolen,” Darien said. “We’ll come up with a story when the time comes.”
“Good,” Tom said, taking hold of Elizabeth’s hand. “We don’t want to have to explain to the media how she came to be with the men, or how she survived the crash.” He took a deep breath. “Elizabeth wants to help track the wolves.”
“You mean our cousins, right?” Darien asked.
She stood. “I’ve done this kind of thing before. I’ve worked with special teams who search for missing hikers. I’m good at what I do. Of course, most of the teams I worked with didn’t know I had a unique ability to smell trails. Some would tease me about being a bloodhound in another life. As if I would have ever been a dog.”
That e
arned a couple of chuckles from the men who had been with her as she played the perfectly lovable but—according to Tom—disobedient dog.
“Okay, she’s with us,” Jake said, as if he was in charge instead of Darien.
Darien, however, looked to Tom to see if he was agreeable, which surprised Elizabeth. Why wouldn’t the pack leader just make the decision?
“I think she should rest up a bit more from her ordeal,” Tom said.
Elizabeth was about to say she’d go it alone if she could help—just to prove her worth because she was desperate to let the others know she really could be an asset to a pack and not just a liability. But before she could respond, Lelandi cleared her throat.
Everyone looked at her. Lelandi said, “She should go. She’ll be a welcome resource.”
Darien smiled at her. Elizabeth loved the way he treated his alpha-leader mate. Elizabeth couldn’t be annoyed with Tom, though. She suspected he was just worried about either her previous injuries or the possibility of one of the red wolves injuring or trying to kill her. She was a good fighter. She might not be as hefty as a gray wolf, but she had a set of wicked canines and was extremely wily, like a coyote.
“All right,” Tom said. “Our team should probably start at Mr. Winston’s, see if he knows anything, and then branch out from there.”
Darien nodded. “Tomorrow morning. We’ll have four tracking teams. I want everyone to report at regular intervals. Oh, and while you were gone, Tom, we met Peter’s brother. The guy’s likeable. I’ll give him that. He said he and his mate are not staying, that they’ve settled down on the Oregon coast with a gray pack out there. He just wanted to see his brother and have him meet his mate. But he did say he’d like to give us a hand with tracking down these men. His mate, Anna, also wants to help. They should be here any moment.”
A knock on the door sounded and Jake said, “Right on time.”
He headed for the door and returned with a man and a woman. Elizabeth gaped at Bjornolf Jorgenson. He was Sheriff Peter Jorgenson’s brother?
“Bjornolf Jorgenson?” He was just as hot as she’d remembered, only his burnt sienna brown hair was cut short this time, military style. His mouth curved up as he saw her, but a white parka hid his tanned muscles.
“Elizabeth Wildwood, I’ll be damned. You get around, woman.” He appeared to want to give her a hug, but he glanced at the feral expression on Tom’s face and just smiled a little.
“The two of you know each other?” Tom asked, mentioning the obvious and not sounding really comfortable with the notion.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth said, slipping her arm around Tom’s waist. He reciprocated by wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She hoped he would get over his newly mated possessiveness soon, but she didn’t mind for now. Then again, Bjornolf was an unknown to Tom. Not part of his pack. If it had been someone from his pack, he probably would not act as possessively.
“We worked together on locating a kid one time. The boy was autistic and had gotten separated from his parents on a campout. I was doing a story on Palo Duro Canyon, and Bjornolf was there for some reason. He never told me why. He scented what I was right away, of course. He was practically the only male wolf I ever met who didn’t act like he wanted to kill me. Prior to coming here.”
Bjornolf shook his head and slipped his arm around his mate’s shoulders.
“That’s because he reserves those feelings for me.” Anna had silky auburn hair tied back in a tail. Her eyes were a lovely shade of green, her smile infectious. She wrapped her arm around Bjornolf’s waist.
He laughed, leaned down, and kissed her. “Anna, this is my tracking partner, Elizabeth Wildwood. Between the two of us, we found the kid. Only he wouldn’t come to me.”
“You were a much bigger, badass wolf,” Elizabeth said.
“You were just a pretty red dog,” Bjornolf said, smiling.
“You’d better smile about the dog reference,” Elizabeth said. “I didn’t know you were Peter’s brother.”
“I didn’t know you knew Peter.”
“I didn’t. I only just met him a few days ago.”
Bjornolf bowed his head a little to Tom. “Will you be on our team?”
Before Tom could say anything, Elizabeth said, “Yes. For old time’s sake.”
“Jake, Tom, Elizabeth, join me. I need to talk with you,” Darien said. “Sam, you want to fix Bjornolf and Anna some lunch? Make them welcome?”
“I’m on it. If… you’re discussing the teams,” Sam ran his hand through his hair. “Silva wants to go with us. With me. On… the same team. The… two of us.”
Darien smiled. “You got it.”
He waited for his brothers and Elizabeth to enter his office, then shut his door. “Lelandi wanted to sit this one out because she won’t be on the hunt tomorrow and is off to see to the kids. So, tell us what’s going on, Elizabeth. We’ve heard bits and pieces, but we need to know everything.” He took a seat in a chair in front of the coffee table where two love seats were situated.
Tom sat next to Elizabeth on one of the love seats as Jake sat on the other. Tom pressed his leg against her, unable to keep from showing his possessiveness, despite both brothers being mated wolves. It was just instinctual. He would have held her hand, but she was using her hands to explain her situation, family, what had happened to her up until now. So he just sat close, watching his brothers’ expressions, reading them as they listened to all that she had told him already.
Until she came to one minor point. North Redding.
Tom turned to look at her. She blushed.
“All right, so for once in my life, a red wolf was interested in me. But he couldn’t stand up to my uncle. He didn’t protect me from my brother or my uncle.”
Tom took Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed gently.
Elizabeth continued, “But he said he would give me evidence of my uncle and half brother’s involvement in my parents’ murders in exchange for me giving him my parents’ horse farm. I was willing to do it, since I didn’t ever want to go back there. All I want is to see my uncle brought to justice. Anyway, I called North the morning I left and there was no answer. I’m worried that Quinton might have learned North’s plan and gone after him. Or worst-case scenario, they deliberately let him find the evidence and are using him to lure me to them.”
Darien nodded grimly. “And we still have CJ’s brothers to find. Since you and Tom agreed to go with Bjornolf and Anna, that’ll make one team. Peter will head up another. He’s taking Randolph and Kemp and somebody else, whoever he decides on. Trevor will be in charge of a third. He’s taking Cantrell and Robert and someone else he chooses. Jake and I will have Sam and Silva on our team.”
“Will you be able to manage the two of them on the same team?” Tom asked. “They’ve been out of sorts with each other, even if there appears to be a truce between them for the moment.”
“Yeah,” Darien said, “just to ensure they don’t kill each other.” He took a deep breath. “So the two of you are really mated.”
Tom leaned over and kissed Elizabeth’s cheek. “Yeah. I had to beg her to mate with me.”
Elizabeth cocked a brow at Tom. “Don’t believe that. He told me we were mating sooner or later, so just plan for it.”
Darien and Jake smiled. “Welcome to the pack, Elizabeth,” they both said at the same time.
“Thank you. I have a home in Canyon, Texas, and a job there, though.” Not that she wanted to go back to it and abandon what she could have here, but she did have to settle things there.
“We’d love for you to start up our first newspaper here,” Darien said, jumping right in as if he was afraid he would lose both his brother and Elizabeth to Texas. “Lelandi said she’d love to do a weekly advice column on psychological issues. Silva wants to advertise her new Victorian tearoom. The new owners of the old Silver Town Inn want to, too. And Bertha sai
d she’d pay to have her B and B included. Mason said he’d give tips on savings and financial investment tips. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, everyone’s excited about it if you’d like to start up a paper.”
Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. Before she was even part of the pack, they’d been making plans to include her. “Thank you. I’d love to.”
“I was going to look for a house, come spring, but we’ll start right away,” Tom said, kissing her cheek. “I’ll return with you to Canyon to help you get your place ready to sell as soon as we can.” Tom asked Darien, “What are we eating tonight?”
Darien looked at Tom like he was crazy. Elizabeth also wondered why the interest in dinner. They’d just eaten lunch.
“I believe chicken is on the menu.”
“Chicken,” Tom said. “Do we have any steaks?”
Elizabeth smiled. “Chicken sounds great.”
“I promised you—” Tom said.
Elizabeth shook her head. She didn’t want them to hear the whole story of how she’d been taken hostage. “Chicken is fine.”
Darien and Jake still waited for an explanation.
Tom cleared his throat. “Elizabeth had bought some steaks at a butcher shop and—”
“It’s all right, really,” Elizabeth said, taking his hand and squeezing it. If she was going to be alone with Tom, sure, then she’d want steaks. But whatever his family had planned was fine with her.
“She lost them when they took her hostage,” Tom said, sounding angry now that they had kidnapped her. “I promised her when we reached your place, I’d fix her a steak.”
Darien and Jake grinned.
“Yeah, steaks. Yeah, that’s what really appeals to me,” Darien said. “You, Jake?”
“I’m always interested in a tender, juicy steak.”
Elizabeth felt her face flush with heat. “I was just a little angry that I’d paid for the steaks, good price, too, and…” She shrugged. “Lost them.”
“Whatever you’d like is fine with all of us. That’s about all I have to say about the tracking tomorrow. We’ll get together for dinner in a few hours, call it a night early, and leave before dawn,” Darien said.