As soon as Cody reached a point where the trees hid him from anyone watching from the house, Tom intercepted him, covering his mouth before the teen could cry out.
Tom quickly released him and Cody whispered, “Oh my God, Tom, I’m so glad to see you.” The teen looked around at the trees. “Are you it? No one else? Where are Minx and North?”
“Minx and Elizabeth hauled an unconscious North back to town on your sled. See if you can catch up to them and help them out. Their trail should be easy enough to follow.”
“What about you?”
“Maybe I can send Anthony on his way in a bit.”
“That Quinton guy said he’d kill Anthony and Eric if I didn’t bring North and Minx back with me.”
“You say Eric isn’t in on this with him?”
“No. He was using the place as a safe house. After Minx, my brother, and I arrived, North came. He had come to see Eric, because he and his brothers had been searching for Elizabeth. North thought the brothers knew where she was. Believing North was involved in her kidnapping, Eric socked him in the eye. Quinton and some other guy arrived and took us all hostage. He’s got a gun.”
“Okay, good to know. I have a rifle and a Glock.”
“The other one isn’t in the house,” Cody warned.
Tom’s blood chilled. “What other one? Where is he?”
“Some guy named Sefton. After North and Minx left the house, Quinton muttered to himself that Sefton was taking too long to get back. I don’t know where he is. He went out in his wolf coat after they took us hostage.”
Tom prayed one of the search teams had picked Sefton up. He was torn between going after Elizabeth and Minx and ensuring they stayed safe, or remaining here to try and take Quinton out.
“All right. Hurry and find the women. Send reinforcements this way if you see any of the search teams.”
“Search teams?”
“Yeah, three others are out here.”
“Okay, I’ll take good care of them. Just… don’t let any harm come to my brother. Okay?”
“Yeah, you know I’ll do anything I can to protect him, Cody. Go.”
Cody glanced back in the direction of the house, then nodded to Tom and started to take off, jingling.
“Wait, leave your hat here. You can use mine.”
Cody looked torn. He loved that jester hat. On the other hand, wearing a pack sub-leader’s hat was an honor. All the other guys would be envious. They exchanged hats, and Tom set the jester hat on one of the tree branches as Cody hurried off.
Tom hoped Cody was correct and that Eric hadn’t pretended to be something he wasn’t. Gambling that Eric had planned to explain what was going on to Darien, Tom moved out of the trees for a moment. He caught Eric’s eye as he watched out the living-room window in the direction Cody had gone.
Eric’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
Now or never. Either he would alert Quinton, or he would keep Tom’s presence here secret.
Eric smiled, wearing one of his evil smirks.
What did that mean? He would get Tom back? Or he was glad to see him?
Chapter 29
Tom reached Mr. Winston’s shed at a dead run, praying that Eric wouldn’t reveal his presence. Tom ran behind the shed and around to the back door of the house. If everyone remained in the living room, no one would see him. His biggest problem would be picking the lock to the back door.
If everyone talked, it might cover up the clicking sound he’d make with his lockpicks. If not, Quinton could very well hear him with his enhanced wolf hearing. The wind whipped about and the old cabin creaked, which helped somewhat to disguise his work.
“You can’t kill us, Quinton,” Eric said suddenly. “The red pack and the Silver pack will want your heads.”
Good. Eric was covering for Tom.
“I have no intention of killing anyone here,” Quinton said.
“So why do you want the woman so badly?”
“I have a business arrangement with my niece. I’m having a time getting together with Elizabeth.”
“You can’t hurt her. I suspect she’s Tom’s mate by now,” Eric said.
Quinton growled, “No wolf in his right mind would take her for a mate.”
Tom wanted to wring the bastard’s neck. He was glad Elizabeth wasn’t here to witness this.
“What kind of business arrangement?” Eric asked, louder this time as Tom continued to attempt to pick the back-door lock, his gloves lying on the porch, his hands sweating despite the frigid weather. “Is that why you had her brought back to Colorado?”
“I told you, North brought her here,” Quinton snapped a little too quickly. “He wants her for his own. Always has. He was always mooning over her.”
The lock clicked open. Keep talking, Eric.
“Why take us hostage?” Anthony asked quickly, his voice raised as if everyone in the house had hearing problems.
“You can be my witnesses. You’re not hostages.”
“So what’s the business deal? If you want us to be witnesses, you might as well tell us what the situation is,” Eric said.
“Can I fix anyone anything? Coffee? Sodas?” Mr. Winston suddenly asked.
“No, just sit where you are,” Quinton said.
“I gotta pee,” Anthony said to Mr. Winston. “Can I use your bathroom?”
The back door led into a laundry room, and Tom tried to close the door as quietly as he could. He was afraid to leave it open as the cold wind blew in, and he knew they’d soon sense the change in the temperature and smell the fresh snowy breeze. Thank God the door hadn’t creaked when he opened it. He set down his rifle and pulled out his Glock, but he stopped moving across the laundry room and waited for a response to Anthony’s request.
“Be quick,” Quinton snapped.
“This way, Mr. Winston?” Anthony asked.
“Yeah, second door on the right.”
“Thanks. I’ll be real quick. Sorry.” Anthony hurried off down the hall and gave Tom the coverage he needed as he left the laundry room.
Tom gave a nod to Anthony, who said softly to him, “He’s got a gun.”
Tom showed him his pistol. Anthony’s eyes widened. He turned and pushed the bathroom door open and whispered to Tom, “Good luck.”
“Stay in there.”
Anthony looked rebellious, like he wouldn’t let Tom do all the fighting if he needed help. Tom didn’t want Anthony getting shot. “Stay,” Tom whispered again.
“Elizabeth still owns her parents’ property. She’s going to sell it to me,” Quinton said from the living room as Tom continued down the hall one step at a time, trying to ensure he didn’t make a board squeak beneath the carpet.
“So why do all this?” Eric asked. He turned his head a little in the direction of the hallway leading to the laundry room, bathrooms, and bedrooms, but he didn’t look, knowing that would cause Quinton to glance in that direction and see Tom.
Tom quickly assessed the situation. Quinton stood near the couch armed with a 9 mm revolver. Mr. Winston sat on the opposite end.
“Are you sure nobody wants anything to eat? I’m hungry,” Mr. Winston said.
“No!” Quinton snapped. “Eric, look out the window. See if Anthony’s brother or the others are coming.”
Anthony flushed the toilet and ran the water full blast in the sink, making more noise for Tom. He’d have to thank the kid later. And Eric.
As soon as Eric moved toward the front window, Tom had a clean shot. He aimed at Quinton’s gun hand and fired.
The sound reverberated through the house. The bullet hit Quinton in the hand. He screamed in pain and dropped his weapon.
Eric swung around and dove for him, taking the older man down. Quinton whacked his head hard on the sharp edge of a table with a thunk and crumpled to the wooden floor.<
br />
Anthony rushed out of the bathroom. “I missed all of it! You should have waited for me!”
“That was the whole point—to ensure you missed all of it,” Tom said. “Thanks for the help, though. You did a damn good job, Anthony, Eric.” Tom stalked over to check on Quinton.
Eric examined him for a pulse.
“I’ll get some rope out of the shed,” Mr. Winston said, heading for the front door.
Anthony glanced out the window. “Holy crap. Wait, Mr. Winston! North’s pulling the sled and headed toward the house.”
Tom’s heart pumped double time. How did North get loose?
“Elizabeth, Minx?” Tom said, hurrying for the window.
“A red wolf is on the sled. Small. Female,” Anthony said. “And another red wolf is running alongside the sled. I think it might be that guy Sefton. No sign of Cody or Minx.”
Tom started stripping as soon as he heard Anthony say a red wolf was on the sled. Once he was nude, he shifted. Anthony ran to open the front door for him.
Tom charged out of the house and across the snow to tackle Sefton, figuring that’s who the wolf had to be, hoping North would stay out of it. At least North was unarmed unless he shifted. Elizabeth was tied to the sled, blood on her mouth. She gave a little whimper in greeting when she saw Tom. He wanted to free her, but first he had to deal with Sefton.
The fight with Sefton wouldn’t be fair, but from what Tom could see, her half brother had already injured Elizabeth, and he had tried to kill her before. Sefton’s right flank was bleeding, which meant she must have gotten in a good bite first. Tom was damned proud of her. He noted that North was trying to untie Elizabeth.
What was he doing? Whose side was he on?
Tom clashed with Sefton, snarling and snapping his powerful jaws, but he only managed to grab a mouthful of fur before Sefton scampered away. Growling, Tom smelled fear on the red wolf. He should be fearful. Tom wouldn’t let him live.
He charged again at Sefton, trying to get the wolf’s neck, but Sefton bolted out of his path. Tom wanted to get the red wolf pinned down so he could fight with him wolf to wolf. He finally maneuvered Sefton against the trunk of a spruce, heavy snow on the branches shaking so hard from the wolves’ movements that it created a makeshift snowstorm. Tom bit into Sefton’s flank, drawing blood. Sefton yipped and jumped through the branches, snow collecting on his fur as he escaped another chomp of Tom’s wicked canines that missed him by inches.
“Tom, watch out! Sefton killed Elizabeth’s parents!” North shouted.
Sefton had killed them. Not Quinton. Though Quinton’s attempted killing of Elizabeth made him just as guilty. With the way Sefton avoided clashing with Tom, he wondered how the red wolf ever had the guts to kill his own father.
Tom and Sefton both panted as they circled. Tom angled for another charge. He leaped for Sefton, but Sefton dove through more branches. Stay and fight, you coward!
Sefton licked his wounds a short distance away. Tom glanced at North, who was still trying to untie the knots in the ropes keeping Elizabeth in place. She lay still, eyeing Tom, but suddenly she glanced in Sefton’s direction.
Sefton had crept closer to Tom while he’d pretended to be distracted. Tom was tired of chasing down the red wolf. When he swung around to confront the wolf, Sefton lunged at him. Tom jumped back out of the path of Sefton’s sharp canines as they snapped shut near his ear, just missing the leather.
North untied the last knot securing Elizabeth. She sat up for a second, then jumped off the sled.
Don’t come near us, Tom wanted to tell her. Stay put.
She circled around the fighting male wolves.
Eric ran out of the house, Glock in hand. Mr. Winston and Anthony followed. Someone should have stayed with Quinton!
Sefton leaped at Tom again. He was agile and strong, but Tom was more muscular, a bigger gray. He tore into Sefton again, ripping at his uninjured flank. The wolf moved so quickly that Tom lost his hold on him.
Tom went for Sefton’s throat at the same time the red went after Tom’s, but teeth met teeth, and Tom tasted blood. Sefton’s. Maybe a little of his own.
Tom eyed Sefton, the two of them drawing the frigid air into their lungs, panting, readying for the next bout.
Sefton went for Tom’s leg but he jumped out of Sefton’s path, the red’s teeth clamping together on thin air with a menacing threat. A red blur of fur dove past Tom.
No! Stay away, Elizabeth!
Elizabeth sank her teeth into Sefton’s tail. He yelped. And swiftly turned to retaliate.
Fatal mistake. Never turn your back on a bigger wolf.
Tom leaped onto the wolf’s back, bit him in the neck, and held on until Sefton sank into the snow, his blood coloring it cherry.
Worried that Sefton would still try to shake him loose and hurt Elizabeth, Tom didn’t let go until the wolf took his last breath.
That’s when he saw Eric holding the gun on North.
Anthony shouted at North, “Where’s Cody? And Minx?”
“Minx got away. I saw Cody spying on us from the trees when I had to tie Elizabeth on the sled. I motioned with my head to him, letting him know which way Minx took off, and he went after her,” North said, smiling.
“I’m going after them,” Anthony said.
“No,” Mr. Winston said. “You’ll stay here until Tom says what you’ll do.”
Tom trotted over to join Elizabeth, nuzzling her face and neck and licking her nose. He didn’t smell any blood on her except Sefton’s, and he breathed a sigh of relief, damned glad for that. He didn’t believe the wolves had planned to let Elizabeth or North live.
“I swear I didn’t have anything to do with any of this,” North said. “You screwed things up for them by going to Silver Town, Elizabeth. They thought they’d catch you at my place because I’d planned to meet you there. I got this weird feeling my phone was being tapped, which is why I hung up on you real quick that time. They must have learned I had the evidence against Sefton, and I went into hiding. I was in such a hurry to clear out of there that I left my phone behind.”
That was why she never could get hold of North. Tom wished to God she’d just told him what had been going on with her, why she’d been there in the first place, and what the business meeting had been all about.
North said to Elizabeth, “Then I worried Quinton and Sefton were going to go after you, so I made it to the ski resort and asked around. Some ski-patrol guys told me Eric and his brothers had asked about you, too, and I came here to find them. Quinton and Sefton must have been following me the whole time.
“He paid to have you brought here and tried to make everyone think it was me. Quinton didn’t want anyone to know he was behind this. Then after he killed you, they’d think I did it. He didn’t plan to let either of us live. Especially since I found the evidence of Sefton’s guilt.”
“What evidence?” Eric asked North.
“Sefton’s murder weapon. Elizabeth’s father planned to give her a boot knife his father had given him. He treasured it. I saw her grandfather use it once. It had a beautiful hand-carved bone handle. But I knew Elizabeth wanted a horse. It was all she ever talked about when we met up. I wanted to buy one of the mares Elizabeth’s father was breaking in because I knew her father wouldn’t give her one. Horseflesh was his business. Catching them, breaking them, and selling them. He didn’t give ’em away free. So I planned to buy her one. I had the money in hand and was going to meet with her father on her birthday to pick out the one her father thought she cherished the most.”
Tom glanced at Elizabeth. He couldn’t read her expression. He’d buy her a whole herd of horses if she wanted them.
“When I arrived that afternoon, Elizabeth was in a state of shock. Her father had been stabbed to death. I helped her bury him, then pack and saddle up one of the horses. She couldn’t find the boo
t knife her father had given her. We were so frantic to get her out of there that we just figured it had been misplaced. I gave her one of my own that she could use for protection. I—I couldn’t tell her that I was buying one of the horses for her. Not after her father had been murdered. After she was gone, I looked for the knife, intending to send it to her wherever she settled, but I never found it.
“A few weeks ago, I was out fishing with Sefton, and he used that same knife to clean and fillet the fish. Why would he have it? Then I made the connection. Sefton was furious his father had given it to his daughter instead of his firstborn son. Sefton often had groused before about the knife, but after the murders, he never mentioned it again.” North swallowed hard.
“I looked Sefton squarely in the eye at the fishing hole and asked where he got such a beautiful knife. I tried really hard not to show how much I was sweating or that my hands shook. Sefton said as proud as could be, ‘My father gave it to my uncle to give to me,’ then smiled. The look was pure menace. I knew he was lying to me and that either her uncle or Sefton had killed her father. No way would he have willingly given the knife to his brother or Sefton. Not after he had given it to Elizabeth.
“I stole it from Sefton’s house. I was over there all the time, so he never suspected I’d slipped in when he was gone. After that, I had to track Elizabeth down and tell her the news. I knew she’d want to know. Her uncle had covered for Sefton, given him an alibi, so he was just as guilty. And Bruin, the pack leader at the time, backed them up.
“When I heard Elizabeth was alive and well, I hoped she might return. Once her uncle and Sefton were dealt with, I thought maybe she might agree to start a new pack with me on her land. I guess Sefton and Quinton watched me the whole time to learn what evidence I had on them, and they intended to force her to sign the deed on her property over to them.”
“Where’s the knife?” Eric asked.
North pulled it out of his boot. “Where a boot knife belongs. Now we just have to get Quinton’s confession and—”
“About… Quinton,” Mr. Winston said, sounding like they might all be in trouble. “We have a problem.”